mmmm....soup!

My cbabes buddy, er.....The Gridiron Girl....made this delicious soup a few weeks ago and posted it on her blog. I made it last week. Good. Easy. Good for you(except for the heavy cream!) and did I say good? Yes. Then yesterday, the boyfriend - soon to be cap'n of his vessel - made Ancho Pork and Hominy soup! He heard about the recipe on a news show, went to the store to collect ingredients, made the soup and cleaned up the mess..................all while I took a nap!!! (good boyfriend or what?????!!!!!) It was sooooooo good. I mean, really good! and on the same night as the broccoli soup, I cooked a piece of salmon and some lemon pasta. This is almost my most fave way to fix pasta. I'm a spaghetti and meatballa kinda gal but my boyfriend doesn't like the red sauce, so I usually always cook it in other ways. This was just a butter/lemon/cilantro and parsley sauce on a mix of angel hair and thin spaghetti. So good.

Why didn't God make pasta be as calorie free as carrots or celery???!!!

It's Time!!

....to go get the ol' girl out of hurricane hibernation and hit the seas!! Yep, the cap'n is packing up his shorts and flip flops to fly outa here on Tuesday morning to reunite with his other girlfriend...Blew Bayou! I'm staying behind until the following sunday, so I can go to our niece's wedding....somebody has to represent!!! On that Sunday, I will fly into Ft. Myers to meet up with him, where we will spend the next week sailing around SW Florida...........SANIBEL ISLAND!!! Ever since I began reading the blogs of those shelling gals......Shellbelle, ILove Shelling , Artfully Graced, Essential Beachcomber and many more, I just knew I had to go there. To photograph, to feel, to smell, to be in awe of all of those wonderful shells! And since our boat is right down there, we're just gonna sail to this lil piece of heaven to check it out. I will only stay one week because I need to be back for my babyboy's wedding planning and parties......the cap'n is going on down to Key West, where he and a friend are participating in a sailboat racing school. So lookout south Florida................here we come!!

Blast from the Past!

So, this morning, Kim from Daisy Cottage and I, were swapping cake stories back and forth and I happened to notice a picture on her sidebar of two young girls. She told me it is a pic of she and her sister. It immediately made me think of the pic I have of me and my best friend at 3 yrs old in my backyard where I grew up. She was my next door neighbor. And it is almost identical to the one Kim has on her blog!! So funny. And since that picture sits on an old desk that was my mom's where she sat EVERY Monday to pay her bills (how do I remember that? no clue!), I wanted to write about it here so my kids would know the story. Remember, this blob is truly a diary of our lives that I make into a book every yr for them, so I like to include stories that they may not have heard before.....this way when they see this pic, they'll know who and what it was about! Martha Mikel. We were 3 and bosom buddies. Everyday, everywhere we were together. I had no grandparents so she let her grandmother be mine too.....I loved her for that. She soon after moved to another part of town but we ended up going to the same high school and being cheerleaders together!! I haven't seen her since I left high school but I will never forget that first bond of friendship that we shared. And I remember the day this pic was taken like it was yesterday!! She was dressed up like a cowgirl and I refused because I had made my mind up that day to be "girly"!!! hahahahahaha......stubborn way back when!!!! (boyfriend, forget I said that!)

that's me on the left!!

Thank you so much, Kim, for giving me the opportunity to stroll down memory lane.....the world of blobbing has given me so many new friends!!

CAKE!!

I'm chuckling and chuckling remembering this scenario. What you should know is that our lil Lilli is very particular and studies every little thing. She will crawl around, with her forefinger fingering every little bitty speck of anything she may see on on the floor or carpet....and then show it to you. So, when presented with the cake in front of her, she just wanted to delicately touch every little thing on it. Her dad finally had to dig into it a little bit to show her that it was ok to do that! The pictures will tell the story!! In this first one, she's looking around like....Ok, what's all this talk about cake? Lets see some! And then while everyone sang to her she was a little bit, um..confused!

She finally got the hang of it.....but then soon decided something else would be fun.....!!

FEEDING MAMA!!

Happy Birthday Lilli!!! - Tuesday, January 25, 2011

Dear Lilli ~~Your first year with us has been amazing. You are so much more than I ever anticipated when finding out I was going to be a grandmother! I look forward to every day of every yr. with you......growing and laughing and learning and well....just being Lilli! Your birthday party yesterday was so much fun and so many of your friends and family came to play and celebrate with you. Here are just a few of the (100's) of pics I took of your special day!!

Hi Everybody! It's mah birfday!

My YaYa had lots of pink poodle decorations there!

This was a special gift from my YaYa! My daddy wasn't so sure about it!
If she chooses to use it at her own wedding, the groom"s name is to be engraved on other side and date of wedding. Like Lilli said....her daddy wasn't so thrilled!!

Opening presents!Some of my friends and my uncle even came in from the deer camp for my birthday...can ya tell how much fun they're having?!!!

Zoe, my girlfriend, who is 3 months younger than me. She's still just a baby!! And Sophie, who is a big big girl....19 months!

I had a fun day.....can we do it again tomorrow??!

So............as you can see, it was a glorious day! Next (and last) post will be a photostory of ms. thang eating her cake!

A Happy Day!

Today was Lilli's birthday party and it was a glorious day!!! Sunshine... laughing babies... brothers and sisters...pink cake and tutus!! I have so many pictures that it will take me a while to get them up but here's a looksy at our birfday girl!!

Sneak Peek!!

On January 25, ms. thang.....ms. sweetcheeks.....ms. Lillian Leigh.....will be 1 yr. old!!!!!! Can you believe it? I sure cannot....WoW!! Where has THAT yr gone??

So, tomorrow we will be celebrating her birthday with family and freinds and my son is prolly gonna kill me.....may be lookin' a little tacky and a whole lotta pink around there....heheheheh!!

(I've never gotten to throw a lil "pink" bebe birthday party for someone in this boy family before!!)

No real pics before party time............but just a sneak peek never hurt anyone!!

any idea what the theme just might be?? Heheheheheheh!!

Cherry Pudding Cake....aka....Pioneer Woman, almost!

So Ree Drummond, over at Pioneer Woman, posted a recipe yesterday of cherry cake pudding. I didn't have to look twice to know I wanted to try that one. Only it also didn't take long to know I didn't want to make the cake from scratch. I'm lazy like that. Plus, I didn't have any cake flour in my pantry...how's that for a good excuse??! Oh wait, it called for all purpose flour. Go back to the lazy statement. Heh. So. I made it with a boxed yellow cake mix....aaaacccckkkk. Followed all the rest of the directions, except for using almond extract instead of vanilla and a touch of Amaretto. I could tell by her pics that her cake was more dense but for the ease?? I got over it! And if you change at least 3 ingredients in a given recipe, you can change the name and call it your own; hence, the mixup of words in the recipe name!! It was good! No complaints from the audience!! Enjoy!

A friendship that continues to bloom!

A buddy of mine from way up in I-da-ho....me da ho? No, she's da ho. Ok, Ok,....just a joke we have...sent me the neatest surprise Christmas fun.! First of all, they have a new house complete with the most wonderful wine cellar/room so she sent me a bottle of wine with their own label on it! How cool is that? Love to tell my friends the story when they're here!! She also sent me an amaryllis bulb in the box. So, I soon planted it and began taking pics as it grows. Of course, in all of my image organization, I cannot find the first one I took when I planted it (but I will) but here are the ones I took last week. sorry for the fuzzy focus, what up with that? I just think it's neat that after all these years.....about 10....my internet friend and I remain fun friends!
Do you have friends you've met in this wild wacky worldwide web of ours??