Proud Mommy Moments – Just Socks

Holy Cow!!

How and when did I become an uncool older person?!?!

When I was younger my grandma bought me socks every year for Christmas.  I can remember thinking… Oh boy, more socks {insert sarcasm!}.

Then as I got older, I LOVED getting new Socks {no sarcasm at all!}.

When my grandma passed away in 2007, shortly before Christmas I asked my mom who was going to buy me socks now?  She asked me if I needed socks.  I told her, No but that’s not the point.  Grandma ALWAYS bought me socks for Christmas.

So jump forward to Monday of this week or maybe a bit before.

When my {step}daughter (she’s 9) started getting a bit bigger and out grew the socks she had, instead of buying her any (because I’m horrible and kept forgetting) she just started wearing mine.  Mine fit her just fine, she likes the low cut kind which is what I have a bunch of, so it was just easier so I didn’t have to try and keep socks separated.

Two weeks ago though, I bought her socks.  6 pair in fact.  They are the low cut kind she likes.  And so easy to keep them separated from mine because they have Hello Kitty on the top (like the top of your foot – top).

She loves Hello Kitty so I thought she’d be extremely excited.

Unfortunately they’ve been at my parents house until Tuesday of this week.

Monday she was walking around a store with us and I saw socks and I was so excited that I had to tell her I bought her socks.  I think my heart was crushed though because she looked at me and said, They’re just socks.

I was like but they are new socks and they are just for you.  Again she said, they’re just socks.

I was like but they have Hello Kitty on them.  She’s like, “Mom (remember she calls me that), they’re just socks.”

Right then I looked at hubby and said, “Wow, I’m so uncool!  When did this happen?”
He said, “She’ll like them when you actually give them to her.”

She was a little more excited when she actually got them in her hands…. but maybe that’s b/c I gave her so much grief.

I also told her my sock story and she told me she’d get me socks for Christmas…  LOL 🙂

But come on people aren’t they cute?!?!  Please don’t leave me hanging here!

Grandma S’s Chocolate Cake

So a few weeks ago when I found my Grandma’s handwritten cookbook of recipes she either liked or wanted to try, I ran across this chocolate cake. I’m not a huge fan of chocolate, but at the same time your taste buds change every 7 years and I’m growing to like it more and more.  So jump forward a couple of weeks and my other Grandma’s family reunion hit and we were looking for something to make to take and I saw that I had all the ingredients for this cake.  Therefore I wanted to make it! (more…)

My Cheapo Purchase

Last year, just before the 4th of July sometime hubby bought an ice cream maker off eBay.  We’d been wanting one for a while and this was the wooden barrel kind that had an electric motor.  Truthfully, I can’t say I was all too thrilled with his purchase.  Especially after he lent it to a friend, they used it, gave it back and come the day of the 4th Party at our house, the darn thing didn’t work.  One of hubby’s cousins ran to a friend of her’s house to borrow theirs.

So ever since then, he’s talked about going on eBay and either trying to find replacement parts or find a new one, etc.  I haven’t been the most thrilled about that idea, but I never just flat out said NO either.

So Monday of this week we were walking around Bass Pro and he was talking about our rewards points and how we had $43 and change in Rewards money.  He said he was saving up for something, dunno what can’t remember… whoops… But that if we didn’t use what we had soon we’d lose them.

We wandered down into the camping gear area and I walked past a brand new Ice Cream maker, originally $99.99 but on sale for $79.99.  I was like, well you know, if we put the rewards points toward that and then split the difference of the remaining price.

He’s been wanting another one and so he agreed.  So we walked up to the counter to check out and told the guy we had rewards points to apply toward it also.  The guy ran my rewards account and said I had $23 and change in rewards money.

WHAT?  CRAP!

He said maybe some had already fallen off when hubby said that he’d just checked it last week.  The guy told us to go talk to Customer Relations and if they recently fell off they’d be able to put them back on, so away we went to Customer Relations.  When we got there and told him, he looked at my account and said, “Wow, you’ve had a bunch fall off.”

He placed them back on my account and we went to pay for our ice cream maker.

Oh did you notice I didn’t tell you how many they put back on??  Are you wondering?  I had $83 and change in rewards points put back on my account (total) so I wound up buying hubby a brand new, wooden barrel, hand crank & electric motor ice cream maker for $2.86.

You can’t beat that with a stick!

We had to try it out Monday night!

Gosh, I love him!

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Sweet & Salty

For Mother’s Day this year, my {step}daughter & husband gave me both of Trisha Yearwood’s cookbooks.

Lately I’ve been watching her on her Food Network show, in fact since she started, this was the first weekend she was re-runs.  Ok so I can’t lie, my favorite between her and Pioneer Woman is still Ree Drummond, but I like Trisha’s show none-the-less!  It is set to record on my DVR at home.  Sorry I don’t like commercials!

My Mother-in-law watches her show too!  And on a recent episode she created Sweet & Saltines.  It just so happens to be in her Home Cooking with Trisha Yearwood cookbook as well.

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Faux Monday

I had a completely different post in mind for this morning, but this was too great not to share… I think…

Just call me the crazy lady after this post I think!

So at 4ish am this morning my little dog (the Cocker) is barking her head off.  I finally decided I needed to get up and at least make sure she or the Lab hadn’t fallen in the pool and were trying to get our attention.  Nope.  So I went back to sleep.

Well tried anyway.  About 5 minutes later I got up to yell at her and tell her to quit barking but hubs beat me to it.  She quit for all of about 5 minutes and then started up again.  So he got up, went outside to see what was going on.

When he came back in he said it was sprinkling.  Yey!  (side note sorry) and I said I thought it had been thundering.  He said, no the Lab has been running across our roof.  (Now remember, my house is a Berm house so it’s surrounded by ground on 3 sides and it’s only about 2 feet from the ground to my roof.)  So he yelled at them for that and we proceeded to go back to bed.

Nope, the Cocker starts friggin barking again.  But eventually I must have been tired enough because I fell back asleep.

Hubby got up and left early this morning because he had a dentist appointment so when he went to leave our Cocker ran him back into the woods where we have an old pickup parked like there was something out there.  When he went to investigate she ran tail between her legs all the way back to the house like she was scared of him or something.  Don’t know if that is involved with any of this story or not….  but it’s weird it happened today!

So as a side funny, my alarm goes off at 6:35 and I must have been dreaming because about the time the alarm went off in my dream I slapped myself in my face.  Weird I know.

So I’m up, getting dressed and I hear this thump thump thump thump thump starting from the far end of my house to right above my head.  I realize its the dogs running across the roof again.  btw, they’ve never done this before that I know of!  So we have a door in our bedroom so I go running out of it.  Now please remember I’m getting dressed so at this point… well I might have been naked…..  I live in the country and have a privacy fence for all but about 6 feet outside my door.  Anyway I go running outside yelling at them.

They looked at me like geez lady, take a chill pill.  So I went back in the house to finish getting dressed.  About 5-10 minutes later I hear the thump thump thump thump thump starting from the far end of my house to right above my head again.  By this time I might have been swearing just a bit.  I go running out the door again, this time, bra & panties with my dress in my hand trying to get it over my head.  I proceed to yell at them again.  This time they ran from me.

So I went back in the house to finish getting ready.  I had enough time to put on what was left of my make-up, turn the tv off, brush my teeth, call hubby and tell him about this ruckus, find my shoes and grab my cell phone.  Hubby told me to put them in the crate if I could.  So I go walking down the hallway and realize they are walking around on the roof of the house.

I kicked my heels off and took off running out the front door as quietly and as quickly as I could so I could catch them in the act.  I just about ran out into the front yard (where they generally do their business…. buttheads 20 acres and they choose that patch) so I ran back in, grabbed my flip flops and tore off outside again.

Sure enough they were on the friggin roof.  I took off one of my shoes and threw it at them which caused them to go up and over the top to the back side.  So I tore off across the patio toward my bedroom and jumped on the roof, one shoe on, one shoe off and in a dress (yeah I was cute) yelling at them to get off the friggin roof.

Have you ever run across a roof barefooted?  It doesn’t feel so good.  Just saying.

Anyway they tore off the far end and turned around and looked at me with front paws on the guttering, so I took my other shoe off and threw that at them.  They got down then.  I decided I’d leave my shoe on the roof and let hubby get it but, but then decided that well, if I can’t get them in the crate they’ll eat my shoe so I ran back across the roof, grabbed my shoe and jumped off the roof and ran around the back side of the house barefooted.  {Not a brilliant idea because these dumb dogs tore our Christmas lights off last year and who knows if there is broken glass :(.}  So I take off running and screaming at them and they hightailed it to the front of the house.  I ran across the gravel barefooted, grabbed them and put them in their crate.

So here we are, my dogs are in trouble, my throat hurts from screaming and my feet are aching b/c of the roof.  Oy, it might as well be a Monday!

Popsicles

Do you remember being a little kid and eating fruity Popsicles?

They were great, weren’t they?

Mmmmm!

Well with summer coming upon us, we were at the store a few weekends ago and found the little kits to make your own Popsicles. You know the ones where you add your juice, stick the lid on (ie the handle), and freeze. Then when they are frozen you have popsicles.

Hubby really likes Cherry, black cherry, etc so we bought some Black Cherry Koolaid. Mixed it up as package directions said and viola, you have the juice.

Now that the juice is ready, pour into the cups.

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Happy Memorial Day

Memorial Day is a federal holiday observed annually in the United States on the last Monday of May.  Formerly known as Decoration Day, it originated after the American Civil War to commemorate the fallen Union soldiers of the Civil War. (Southern ladies organizations and southern schoolchildren had decorated Confederate graves in Richmond and other cities during the Civil War, but each region had its own date. Most dates were in May.) By the 20th century Memorial Day had been extended to honor all Americans who have died in all wars. Memorial Day is a day of remembering the men and women who died while serving in the United States Armed Forces.  As a marker it typically marks the start of the summer vacation season, while Labor Day marks its end.

Many people visit cemeteries and memorials, particularly to honor those who have died in military service. Many volunteers place an American flag on each grave in national cemeteries.

By the early 20th century, Memorial Day was an occasion for more general expressions of memory, as people visited the graves of their deceased relatives in church cemeteries, whether they had served in the military or not. It also became a long weekend increasingly devoted to shopping, family gatherings, fireworks, trips to the beach, and national media events such as the Indianapolis 500 auto race, held since 1911 on the Sunday of Memorial Day weekend.  (~Found here)

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I want to send a special Thank you out to all the Men & Women who have served our country proudly!  Thank you so very much!  I believe this Day is also about honoring those who are currently serving or who are retired (but still living!).  Thank you all so much for your serving our country to make us free!

5 Lessons About the Way We Treat People

I got this in an email.  I liked it.  I wanted to share!  Happy Memorial Day!  I’m off to a Family Reunion!

Five (5) lessons about the way we treat people 
 
1 – First Important Lesson – Cleaning Lady.  

During my second month of college, our professor gave us a pop quiz. I was a conscientious student and had breezed through the questions until I read the last one: 

“What is the first name of the woman who cleans the school?”

Surely this was some kind of joke. I had seen the cleaning woman several times. She was tall, dark-haired and in her 50’s, but how would I know her name?

I handed in my paper, leaving the last question blank. Just before class ended, one student asked if the last question would count toward our quiz grade.

“Absolutely, ” said the professor.. “In your careers, you will meet many people.  All are significant.. They deserve your attention and care, even if all you do
Is smile and say “hello..”

I’ve never forgotten that lesson.. I also learned her Name was Dorothy.

2. – Second Important Lesson – Pickup in the Rain

One night, at 11:30 p.m., an older African American woman was standing on the side of an Alabama highway trying to endure a lashing rain storm. Her car had
broken down and she desperately needed a ride.

Soaking wet, she decided to flag down the next car.  

A young white man stopped to help her, generally unheard of in those conflict-filled 1960’s.. The man took her to safety, helped her get assistance and put her into a taxicab.

She seemed to be in a big hurry, but wrote down his address and thanked him. Seven days went by and a knock came on the man’s door. To his surprise, a
giant console color TV was delivered to his home.
 

A special note was attached.  It read:
“Thank you so much for assisting me on the highway the other night. The rain drenched not only my clothes, but also my spirits.  Then you came along..
Because of you, I was able to make it to my dying husband’s’ bedside just before he passed away…God Bless you for helping me and unselfishly serving others.”

Sincerely,

Mrs. Nat King Cole.

3 – Third Important Lesson – Always remember those who serve.

In the days when an ice cream sundae cost much less, a 10-year-old boy entered a hotel coffee shop and sat at a table. A waitress put a glass of water in front of him.

“How much is an ice cream sundae?” he asked.

“Fifty cents,” replied the waitress.

The little boy pulled his hand out of his pocket and studied the coins in it.

“Well, how much is a plain dish of ice cream?” he inquired.

By now more people were waiting for a table and the waitress was growing impatient..

“Thirty-five cents,” she brusquely replied.

The little boy again counted his coins.

“I’ll have the plain ice cream,” he said.

The waitress brought the ice cream, put the bill on the table and walked away The boy finished the ice cream, paid the cashier and left..  When the waitress
Came back, she began to cry as she wiped down the table.  There, placed neatly beside the empty dish,
Were two nickels and five pennies..

You see,  he couldn’t  have the sundae, because he had to have enough left to leave her a tip.

4 – Fourth Important Lesson. – The obstacle in Our Path.

In ancient times, a King had a boulder placed on a roadway.  Then he hid himself and watched to see if anyone would remove the huge rock.  Some of the
King’s’ wealthiest merchants and courtiers came by and simply walked around it..

Many loudly blamed the King for not keeping the roads clear, but none did
anything about getting the stone out of the way.

Then a peasant came along carrying a load of vegetables.  Upon approaching the boulder, the peasant laid down his burden and tried to move the stone to the side of the road.  After much pushing and straining, he finally succeeded.

After the peasant picked up his load of vegetables, he noticed a purse lying in the road where the boulder had been. The purse contained many gold coins and a note from the King indicating that the gold was for the person who removed the boulder from the roadway.  The peasant learned what many of us never understand!

Every obstacle presents an opportunity to improve our condition.

5 – Fifth Important Lesson – Giving When it Counts…

Many years ago, when I worked as a volunteer at a hospital, I got to know a little girl named Liz who was suffering from a rare & serious disease.  Her only chance of recovery appeared to be a blood
transfusion from her 5-year old brother, who had miraculously survived the same disease and had developed the antibodies needed to combat the illness.

The doctor explained the situation to her
little brother, and asked the little boy if he would be willing to give his blood to his sister.

I saw him hesitate for only a moment before taking a deep breath and saying, “Yes I’ll do it if it will save her.”  As the transfusion progressed, he lay in bed
next to his sister and smiled, as we all did, seeing  the color returning to her cheek.

Then his face  grew pale and his smile faded.  He looked up at the doctor and asked with a trembling voice, “Will I start to die right away”.

Being young, the little boy had misunderstood the doctor; he thought he was going to have to give his sister all of his blood in order to save her.

Most importantly…. Live with no regrets, Treat people the way you want to be treated, Work like you don’t need the money, Love like you’ve never been hurt, and Dance like you do when nobody’s watching.

Trisha Yearwood’s Deviled Eggs

When we threw my Father-in-law a surprise retirement party, I knew we had to make him deviled eggs.  He makes them anytime the family gets together.  Well it just so happened that that weekend on Trisha Yearwood’s Food Network show, she made…. Deviled Eggs.  I told hubby I wanted to make his dad some of those and he was like, you’ll try her recipe right?!?!  So here ya go folks 🙂

Ingredients
6 large eggs

Filling: 1/4 cup mayonnaise
1 1/2 tablespoons sweet pickle relish
1 teaspoon yellow mustard
Salt and pepper
Paprika, for garnish

Directions Place the eggs in a medium saucepan with water to cover and bring to a boil. Remove from the heat, cover the pan, and let stand for 20 minutes. Pour off the hot water and refill the saucepan with cold water.

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