Productive Day and Spring Fever

Yesterday being President's Day, I had the day off. Other than cooking beans, we worked around the house. Greg washed and cleaned out his truck. The day was a little cool but the sun was great. I think I have spring fever........

This poor bird house looks so lonely and forlorn.......waiting for spring and its new occupants.....

This tree looks so barren......waiting for spring and the awakening of new growth......

And then I am pleasantly surprised by my daffodils (jonquils) blooming.......they are so pretty and are God's promise of spring and new life (grandbaby) and things to come......

Thanks so much Millie!!

When we were in Pensacola at Thanksgiving, Millie made a pot of beans for us one evening. I thought they were navy beans but were a bit bigger. Millie said they were Great Northerns. They were really good and Greg said he really liked them. So several weeks ago, I bought a couple of bags and knew I had a frozen ham bone from a spiral ham that we had at Christmas. I soaked the beans last night and since I was home today, I figured I could check on them. I threw the soaked beans, ham bone, chopped onion, and some chopped celery plus some water in the crock pot on high at about 8AM this morning. A little after noon, I checked them and they were pretty much done. At that point, I threw in some spices, pepper, and took the ham off the bone and put it back in the beans. I turned the crock pot off about 2:00 PM as the beans were done, and made a pan of cornbread. At dinner tonight, Greg pledged his undying love to me for cooking these beans!! He said he had been wanting them for a long, long time because he remembered that his mom used to cook them when he was at home but he never knew what kind of beans they were. Then Morgan comes home later, after having eaten a bowl of beans before she left the house, and she bragged about them as well. So, I was a hit!! Thanks Millie for telling me about Great Northerns!!!

Happy President's Day!

Happy Birthday Beth Kelly!!

Hope you have the wonderful and relaxing day that a sweet sister in law deserves!!

Have a good one!!

HAPPY VALENTINE'S DAY!!!

El Gato Returns

August 2007

Short version of the story. Greg took the cat to the vet to get her shots so we could take her to the spay clinic to get her fixed. The bill was $90 for the visit, which made us both gasp, but oh well, it had to be done. My comment at that point was "I hate to spend money on a cat that runs loose outside because I figure the next day it will get run over". Low and behold, the next morning we couldn't find her. It was just too strange. Greg searched all day. She has always been good to stay right around the house. I kept telling him she might turn up but he was sure that something had happened to her. When he went outside this morning to let the dog out, I heard his excited exclaimation and he walks in with Kitty!! He tried to pass his excitement off as being glad he hadn't lost his $90, but I think he was just a bit happy that she was back home. If there is such a thing as a good cat, she is one. Madison was not gentle with her but I never once saw the cat try to hurt her. She is a good mouser, too. So we are all happy that Kitty is back home again.

IT'S A BOY!!!!

Happy Birthday Nash Kelly!!

Wishing you the best birthday a nephew can have!!!

Sorry - no picture available. (Isn't that what they say in high school yearbooks?)

Happy Birthday Brother in Law Pat!!

It appears that Pat doesn't care for turkey carving.....is that a tear I see?

Thanksgiving 2006

Hope you have a fun birthday Pat!!

Robinson Powerlifting Team

Meatloaf's for Dinner

In trying to keep up with Kristy's blog, What's for dinner?, I will again share what we dined on. I rushed home from work to make meatloaf, a once dreaded thing in my book. But over the years, I have come to like it. In fact, it was pretty good tonight. I haven't made it in a long time. Unlike in years past when cholesterol and healthy eating in general were not heard of, I used ground turkey for this meatloaf, which is also very economical. A pound tube of frozen ground turkey sells for $.99, which is a bargain. I use it in place of beef in all my recipes.

Knowing how my husband loves stuffed peppers, I generously let him have the one and only bell pepper.
We do try to eat healthy around here. I also made a fruit salad tonight. (This is a beautiful bowl that was given to me by a very special friend from work who is now my boss. When I told him the bowl was way too large, too pretty and too fancy for me to use and what in the world was I to do with it, his response was that I could serve spaghetti in it.......he knows I am a redneck at heart......)

Which will it be?

Hopefully we find out next week......

Happy Birthday Millie!!

Happy Birthday to a wonderful mom, meemaw, and mother-in-law!!

Hope you have a great day!!

Love you bunches,

Greg, Paula, Dustin, and Morgan

Buffalo Wings and $50!!!

In honor of the Superbowl, I had been google-ing for a baked buffalo wing recipe. I was trying to be as "healthy" as possible. We really aren't into wings that much but I thought it would be fun to try them for the occasion. I found several but only tried two. I had 5 pounds of wings. One recipe was baked and then rolled in the spicy seasoning sauce. The other involved boiling the wings in hot spices for 15 minutes, then broiling them in the oven, then rolling them in a spicy sauce. The boiled ones got Greg's vote, and I have to agree. They were somewhat crispy and they seemed less greasy as I assume that most of it went into the boiling water. They were good enough to make again in the future.

And, after 20 years of playing the Superbowl football pot at work, I finally WON!! Two quarters with the score ending in Patriots 7/Giants 3, got me $50!!!! Yahoo!!!

Lunch Today

Marci and Jeremy hosted lunch today. We picked up pizza, Samantha brought yummy stuffed shells that Brandon had made earlier (he was doing guy weekend for the Superbowl somewhere out in the vast wilderness...while the others were hunting, he has no Texas license yet so he was going to "hunt" with his camera) , Nana supplied pecan pie (Greg and Morgan think it is pretty special stuff), and it was nice enough that we had the back door open and sat outside on the deck after lunch.

The existing play yard for the expected offspring.
The nursery of expected offspring....
.........can hardly wait.........

Belated Birthday Wishes to a Sweet Niece!!

OK, the family birthday list I have is a bit old, and a lot of the spouses and even newer children are not on it. Ashley was nice enough to update me with some dates and I must apologize for missing this cutie in January!!!

Hope you had a fun day, Miss K!!

Little Dribblers

Greg spends many Saturdays refereeing Little Dribblers games. This particular Saturday, he had three games starting with 3rd/4th graders and on through 6th grade. At this age, they are just figuring out the concept of basketball, but really not quite understanding what to do. Greg says sometimes it is like trying to herd cats. Occasionally they will even shoot at the wrong goal. Many times he is coach as well as referee.

Here he is watching intently to see who is going to get the rebound.I don't know about you but I can NOT tell who has the ball......and I am not sure Greg can tell either from his expression....
Isn't this a train wreck??? Girls everywhere......and let me tell you, girls just don't mind fighting over the ball!!
This poor child. Greg stopped her before she threw the ball inbounds and told her to stick her tongue out at me.....thankfully she wasn't too scared to smile.......
It was a hard fought game. Check out the final score!!!

The best thing from the games was seeing a team that had the sponsor name of Tradinghouse Bar and Grill. I asked someone about it and was told it was a really good place to eat. We came home, changed clothes, got the motorcycle and headed there. It was a quaint little place out in the boonies (Axtell), where we had really good chicken fried steaks. We will certainly go there to eat again!!

Valentine Haircut

Tipsy got her hair cut this week. She looks so much better. It appears she might not think so.....

What a bargain!!

I found this rocker on Craig's List for $20!!! I am so pleased with myself!! I am not normally lucky enough to stumble onto ANY kind of bargain. This will be quite useful with the grandkids!!

Happy Birthday Brenda!!

Sisters are different flowers from the same garden......

We celebrated my younger sister Brenda's birthday with lunch on Sunday. I took a couple of pictures of her blowing out her candles (when, by the way, reversed read "94"). She threatened me if I used those pictures on the blog. So, I had to find some picture to use and this is what I came up with. And to be perfectly fair about it, I included myself in the picture. I bet next time she lets me use whatever pictures I might take......

"Sisters......we are more than just acquaintances......it's as if we were cut from the same fabric. Even though we appear to be sewn in a different pattern, we have a common thread that won't be broken--by people, or years, or distance."

I love you, Brenda!! Happy Birthday!!

Happy Birthday Sister Ashley!!

Sorry this is late. My goal is to try to keep up with birthdays. I may not always have pictures to post, but we will see......and at least I used a current picture of you unlike your older sister.... :)

Love you Ashley!!

Boy or Girl???????

Happy Birthday Kailen!!

Hope you have a great day!! Luv ya!!

Powerlifting Meet

Robinson held its powerlifting meet today. It is an all day affair. It is slow.

Greg compares it to watching grass grow.

This is niece Katie (all 93 pounds of her) preparing for her deadlift.

This is Lucas, the pesky nephew. He was a spotter and was to keep the weights from falling on the lifters that were so unfortunate as to drop them. This picture was taken before the deadlift started and his partner decided to add weights on his end of the bar and caused the empty end (Lucas' end) to pop up and hit him in the eye. He had quite a shiner by Sunday.

Morgan in the midst of her deadlift.
Coach Beasley and Morgan really like each other......
Morgan got third in her weight class. Way to go Morgan!!!

Happy Birthday Carolyn!!

Dinner was great!! Hope you had a terrific day!!

Concert

The concert last night was wonderful!! Someone (me) was trying to decide what to wear and had us running a little later than the other someone (him) would have liked. Waco Hall is on Baylor campus and we were not exactly sure where it was. Once it was located, we had no problem finding a place to park within several blocks. We arrived with time to spare. Most attendees were over 30 so were dressed appropriately, suits or sport coats and ladies in nice dresses or slacks. Our tickes were on the second row of the upper balcony. The hall only holds 2300 so there really are no bad seats. The Waco Symphony opened with a couple of selections, one of which was the William Tell Overture. It reminded me of the old Looney Tunes cartoons we would watch on Saturday mornings. They always used a lot of classical music in those old funnies. I was very, very impressed with the quality of the music. After a short intermission, it was time for Mr. Garfunkel to perform. When Greg first mentioned wanting to go see him, I was a little apprehensive. I wasn't so sure he could handle things without the help of Mr. Paul Simon. But I was wrong. Garfunkel was awesome!!!! The music took us back to a time in our lives when our world was uncluttered by the worries of adulthood, when we were younger and carefree. I even shed a few tears during some songs, for old memories and longing for a more innocent time. Garfunkel was quite the performer and his own small band was great! The symphony accompanied him on many of the selections and did a wonderful job. We have decided that attending more functions like this are a MUST!! It was lots of fun!!

Getting Some Culture

Greg and I are going to this concert tonight, which has sold out. We have never been to the symphony so will see how it feels to rub elbows with the freu-freu of Waco. I don't think we will wear our jeans and boots for this affair, although in a college community the dress at most anything here ranges from shorts and flip-flops to formal wear. Since we are in the cheap seats, we may need to bring binoculars though..........

Hmmmm......what will it be??

More Grandbaby Pictures

Grandbaby waving "Hi, Mimi!!"

Still too early to know if it is a boy or girl. Stay tuned.

Marlboro Man's Favorite Sandwich

I made this tonight and it was pretty yummy!!!

Happy 1st Anniversary to Us!!

Whew.......we made it!!

Have you had your black eyed peas today?

We had them for lunch. I never know quite how they are going to turn out. This time they were rather tasty. But could I reproduce them? Maybe not. I was grabbing different spices to add at the end, i.e. cajun seasoning, seasoned salt, Julio's seasoning. They did hit the spot. I also did something that I haven't done since they told us it was bad for our health to do. I FRIED pork chops. Yep, I can't remember the last time a meat in this house wasn't grilled. But it is hard to make homemade gravy when you grill. We had pork chops, gravy, rice for the gravy, black eyed peas and cornbread. If that don't tighten your clutch, nothing will.......

And I have been told by my mother, and probably her mother before her, that the peas MUST be cooked from dried, not from a can. I guess the "luck" is different????? Brandon and Jeremy were never very fond of black eyed peas. But Jeremy would always eat just "one" to pacify me. I am not sure who will force them to eat them now........

Wishing you a GREAT 2008!!