Random Crap from A to Z

A - Attached or Single? Attached
B - Best Friend? Yep, NONA- Since 5th grade, 1981
C - Cake or Pie? Cake. White cake. I hate chocolate cake.
D - Day of choice? My day off of work :)
E - Essential Item? Ummmm...depends on the day. Tampons.
F - Favorite Color? Baby blue
G - Greatest Accomplishment? Ummm.....hopefully being a good mom and role model to 3 girls
H - Hometown? Does this mean where I was born? Pocatello, but I never lived there. So I guess it would be Moreland or Boise. Or Nampa, where I now live.
I - Indulgences - Chocolate, chocolate and more chocolate. This is why I have a jelly belly.
J - January or July? July. It brings summer fun.
K - Kids? Yep, 3 little darlings
L - Life is incomplete without? My family. I wish I had more time with everyone.
M - Marriage Date? February 6, 1993
N - Number of Siblings? 3 - 2 awfully mean sisters and 1 brother
O - Oranges or Apples? Oranges.
P - Phobias? Heights, swimming in lakes, rivers, oceans, (unless I can touch and see the bottom)
Q - Quotes? I AM MASTER OF MY OWN FATE ( I live by this one)
R - Reason to smile? When my kids are happy to see me
S - Season? Spring. I love the "newness" of everything
T - Tag 3 friends - How about 6? Mom, Michelle, Sandee, Jen, Deana, and Country Girl. How about this.....if you read this, you're tagged! :)
U - Unknown fact about me - I have NEVER played Monopoly. Ever. No desire to either.
V - Very favorite star? Gee, I wonder. See pictures on sidebar. MM. Also love Reese Witherspoon.
W - Worst Habit? Eating. Grazing, actually.
X - X-ray or Ultrasound? Definitely ultrasound. It's so cool to see your baby growing inside you.
Y - Your favorite food? Fried chicken and mashed potatoes and gravy.
Z - Zodiac? Capricorn.

A Baby, A Pitchfork and 2 Awfully Mean Sisters

I was reading my niece to be's latest blog and it brought back some memories from my childhood. Her post is about being aftraid of the dark. Let me tell you, I am absolutely and completely afraid of the dark. Always have been. Always will be. I'm afraid of everything, really. A big ol' scardy cat. Seriously. I scare so easily. Since Jen is engaged to my nephew, her post reminded me of a time when he was still a baby. I was in the 5th grade when Eric was born. And he was the light of my life. Michelle still lived at home at the time, so all of us took part in taking care of him until she moved out and on her own.

Me in 5th Grade. (You don't have to point out that I look like a boy. I already know that. I used to pass this picture off as my twin brother "Chris" who lived somewhere else. The kids at school all believed me too!)

Anyhoo, one night, Michelle, Sandee and I watched one of the Friday the 13th movies. It was number 3 or 4 or 27....I don't remember which. It was 3-D and took place on a farm and involved a pitchfork. Well, I absolutely love scary movies. But, being the scardy cat that I am, they scare the crap out of me. No matter how dumb they are, they still scare me. Even now, at 37, I still can't watch a scary movie by myself. No way, At All!!!! Anyway, the movie scared the crap out of me. And Michelle and Sandee took great pleasure in making fun of me for it.

Sandee and Eric, circa 1982

When the movie was over, they both decided that we needed food of some sort and they were going to the grocery store to get some. Eric was upstairs sleeping, so I had to stay home to babysit. I begged and pleaded to let me go. They just laughed and told me how rediculous I was being. That nothing was going to happen. It was just a stupid movie. They were so mean! Big sisters!!

Michelle and Eric, circa 1982

So off they went to the store, leaving me and Eric alone. I was so scared that I parked my butt on the couch and never moved the entire time they were gone. Every noise I heard, scared me to death. I was absolutely certain that I heard footsteps upstairs where Eric was sleeping, but did I go check it out? ARE YOU FRICKIN KIDDING ME? Sorry Eric! Obviously my life was more valuable than yours. I just sat there, frozen with fear, waiting for Michelle and Sandee to return from the store. There was no way I was moving. If I moved, whoever was making those footstep sounds would know that I was there and would undoubtedly come kill me. Then, all of a sudden, there was a loud knocking on the sliding glass door (which was right next to me) and I jumped up (and out of my skin) and pulled back the curtains only to find Michelle and Sandee standing there with scary looks on their faces and HOLDING A FRICKING PITCH FORK!!!!! O.K., maybe it was a rake, but they scared the freaking crap right out of me. I screamed so loud I woke Eric up. They laughed and laughed and laughed. They scarred me for life with that one.

SISTERS!!!!!!

Yummy To The Tummy

Thursday night, my friend Deanna and I went to a Taste of Home cooking show. I've never been to a cooking show before. It was a lot of fun. In 2 hours time, the demonstrator prepared 9 different dishes. Most of them looked very yummy. We each received a goodie bag full of coupons, recipes, sampes, etc. We also got a copy of the Taste of Home Spring 2008 cookbook. It's just a magazine, but all 9 recipes that were prepared came from this magazine. Anyway, as I was thumbing through it before the show began, one recipe stuck out and I decided that I was definitely going to make that one. And lo and behold, it was the first recipe she prepared. It was meant to be. LOL! It's a very easy and basic recipe, and I haven't made it yet, but I know I will love it. And I think you will to. So here's a picture and the recipe for you.

TACO MEATBALL RING

2 cups shredded cheddar cheese, divided

2 Tbsp water

2 to 4 Tbsp taco seasoning

1/2 pound ground beef (or turkey)

2 tubes (8 oz each) refrigerated crescent rolls

1/2 head lettuce, shredded

1 med. tomato

4 green onions

1/2 cup sliced olives

Sour Cream

2 small jalapeno peppers, sliced

Salsa

In a large bowl, combine 1 cup cheese, water and taco seasoning. Crumble beef over mixture and mix well. Shape into 16 balls.

Place meatballs on a greased rack in a shallow baking pan. Bake, uncovered, at 400 for 12 minutes or until the meat is no longer pink. Drain meatballs on paper towels. Reduce heat to 375.

Arrange crescent rolls on a greased 15 inch pizza pan, forming a ring with pointed ends facing the outer edge of the pan and wide ends overlaping.

Place a meatball on each roll; fold point over meatball and tuck under wide end of roll (meatball will be visible). Repeat. Bake for 15 to 20 minutes or until rolls are golden brown.

Fill the center of the ring with lettuce, tomato, onion, olives, remaining cheese, sour cream, jalapenos and salsa. You can use whatever taco filling you want here.

Eat and enjoy!!!

Poetry

My darling 7th grade daughter wrote a poem and posted it on her blog. It is rather cute and reminded me of a poem I wrote with my BFF, Nona, in the 6th grade.

The Sneeze

I bought some new pantyhose

I found I had to blow my nose

I got a kleenex, it was blue

All of a sudden, AAACHOOO!

We were so talented back then.

Horror Scope

I always read my horoscope in the newspaper at work. Sometimes it is so true to how my day is going that it really freaks me out. And sometimes it is so stupid and doesn't make any sense at all. Well, my horoscope today sort of hit a nerve, so to speak. This is what it said.

Capricorn: Check in with the mirror for one of your you-to-you pep talks. Express to yourself what you admire, enjoy and expect of you. It's not vain.

My first reaction was this: WHATEVER! Like there is anything I like about myself. And to be caught talking to myself in the mirror? It reminded me of the guy from Saturday Night Live. GAG! Plus, all I could think of were all the things that I didn't like about myself. The things that I wish were different. The things that make me want to crawl under a rock and die. But then I decided to embrace this and really try to think of the things I do like about myself. I'm sure there's something. If I just think about it. So here goes.

Things I admire about myself:
* I make friends pretty easily and have kept my very best friend, Nona, for 26 years.
* I'm a good listener. And I LOVE gossip! Tee hee
* My kids love me and are always excited to see me, so I must be a good mom.
* I'm honest and sincere. I don't know how to lie.
* I'm very trustworthy. I would never betray anyone. Intentionally, anyways.
* I'm a hard worker and I have good work ethics. I'm liked at my job and it shows.
Things I enjoy:
* I love listening to music. It brings me great joy.
* I love a good movie. I'll watch my favorites over and over and over again.
* I like to paint when I have the time. The last time I painted was Jan 07. It's been a while.
* I love food, food and more food!
Things I expect of myself:
* To work hard
* Keep up with exercise. I've got to lose those last 20 pounds!!!
* Be a good mom. My kids are the most important thing I've got.

Well, I know these are all pretty basic, but it's what I came up with on a whim. I'm going to tag a few people who I know read my blog (thankyouverymuch) and ask that they make their own list and post it on their blog.
I tag:
Mushy Oatmeal
Sandradee
My Mom
My niece "to be"
Teenage Drama Queen

I know these are pretty basic, but it's what I came up with.

Grandma Dort

My mom is in town. She came to see her old friend, Suzanne, before she passed away. Suzanne had lung cancer and was very sick. They were able to have one last visit before she passed away on Monday. It is a very sad time right now for my mom. They knew each other for many years and had many adventures together. Suzanne even lived with us for a while years ago. I'm glad they were able to have one more visit.

My mom lives about 6 hours away from us so we don't get to see her very often. She manages a grocery store (the same company that I work for) in northern Idaho. So I gathered my kiddos and had Flyboy snap some photos of us together.

My girls and Grandma Dort (short for Dorothy). When the girls were little, they pronounced it "Doit". It was really cute.

A rare photo of me and my mom. No, I am not pregnant, just fat. And No, I did not cut and perm my hair. My hair is naturally curly. And the curl takes away any length I may have.

Jump Creek Canyon

Flyboy found this beautiful place called Jump Creek Canyon. It's only about 30 minutes away and it's an awesome place to take the kids for the day. I took my new toy and took some pictures. I'm still learning how to use the darn thing. It's pretty fancy and I don't have a clue what to do with most of the buttons. But I do know one thing. It takes WAY better pictures than my other digital camera. Anyway, here are a few pictures from our adventure at Jump Creek.

This is the canyon entrance from the parking lot. There is a trail that takes you to the waterfall.

Here are my girls posing inside a cave. There are a lot of rocks and caves to explore on the way.

Oh No! Emily has fallen into a hole! My girls all love to explore.

Jessica posing against a rock. Isn't she lovely!

Flyboy and the girls scaling a rock wall. They didn't get very far. It was steep and slick and nothing to hold on to. But they tried. And they had fun. By the way, the water there isn't very deep. Probably up to their knees. Any deeper, and my little darlings wouldn't be scaling that rock wall.

Here is a view inside the rocky cave we were in. I love the mirror image on the water. I could probably take a better picture if I knew how to use my camera properly. But it's still cool.

We finally made it to the waterfall. It doesn't look like it, but the water is deep enough that people (not me) climb up and jump from the top of the falls.

Brave people like Flyboy. It's too cold for a swim this time of year, but nothing ever stops Flyboy from climbing and exploring. Especially if it scares the crap out of me. I was content to stay at the bottom.

I was a little brave and did a bit of rock climbing, but had a few heart attacks on the way. Going up isn't bad. It's the coming back down that scares the crap out of me. But I'm getting better about at least trying.

Here are my little darlings inside the cave that you climb through to get to the falls. Emily bonked her head on the rock above her and wasn't too happy at the moment. But this is keepin it real.

Wicked Cool!

I just discovered that Photobucket has new editing tools. So I played with one of my "self portraits" that I took the other day. Isn't this way cool? It's called Neon.

New Toy

I got me a new toy. It is a Canon Rebel Digital SLR. I have been trying to figure out how to use the darn thing. Holy crap is it complicated. Anyway, here are a couple of self portraits I took of myself this evening. Pay no attention to my smeared mascara. I fell asleep watching tv. That, and I've been up since 2:00 am this morning. :)

Aren't I cute? NOT! It's hard taking pictures of yourself and ending up looking good.

One must always indulge in a bit of silliness when taking self portraits. Hideous, but fun.