American Idol Extra....David Cook

Hi. I am sitting here watching American Idol extra. We recorded it last night but I didn't get a chance to watch it so that is what I am doing now. I am so glad that David Cook won, although I do feel that David Archalueta has a wonderful bright career ahead of him. Both were such talents. After watching David Cook on this show, it is such a nice person. I really like him.

The last several days I haven't done much except work. I still have to work tomorrow and then I am off for three days. I am so happy about a three day weekend. The weather is suppose to be simply awesome over the three day break. At the moment, I am planning some quiet time and maybe a cookout with my kids.

Thought about making something like this. Recipe follows:

Ingredients

Serves 24

• 2 recipes White Sheet Cake
• Cream Cheese Frosting
• 1 1/2 pints fresh blueberries
• 1 1/2 pints fresh raspberries

Directions

1. Trim any rough edges from cakes using a serrated knife. Place four strips of parchment paper around the perimeter of a serving platter. Place first layer, bottom side up, on serving platter. Using an offset spatula, spread cake with 2 1/2 cups frosting. Top with remaining layer, bottom side up. Spread entire cake with 5 1/2 cups frosting. Place remaining frosting in a large pastry bag fitted with a star tip (such as Ateco #35). Remove parchment paper strips.
2. Using the tip of a toothpick, outline the shape of a flag on the cake. Fill the upper left-hand corner with a single layer of blueberries. Place one row of raspberries across upper edge of cake to form first red stripe. Pipe one row of stars just below raspberries to form first white stripe. Repeat process with remaining raspberries and frosting until you have 7 red and 6 white stripes.

Do you guys have any plans this holiday weekend? Feel free to share. If your going to be out and about, please be careful. Drive safe.

Have a blessed weekend.

Hugs

!

Technorati Tags: David Cook,American Idol,Recipes,Memorial Day Recipe

Too many things

Happy Sunday everyone. I decided I needed to sit down and let you all know what is going on with me. I know it has been awhile since I posted but it just seems that I don't feel like I have anything to say. Nothing exciting going on but just regular everyday stuff. Days are full of going to work and nights filled with playing catch up or running errands, or simply resting.

Michael has been off the last several weeks as he is in between jobs. He is suppose to start his new one next week. He decided to take another week off so that he can take care of more things here at the house that he is wanting to get done before he starts back. Seems there is always a list of projects to take care of. He has made some great strides in the last couple of weeks. Woo hoo, that means there is less that I have to try to take care of when I get home. He is so thoughtful when it comes to helping me. I am so blessed that he is how he is. Each day when I get home, he tells me to go and lay down for a couple of hours and rest. I always feel so guilty for getting home and taking a nap instead of spending time with him, but it does make me feel so much better.

I am back at a very familiar place, looking for a balance in things. This is a place I know very well. My mind is racing with all kinds of things that I want to do... I am debating on what to get into today. Parts of me would like to do some cooking and baking, another part wants to spend time playing online, and another part just wants to watch old movies and cuddle with Michael, and another part wants to get out and go to a antique mall and reminisce the past and possibly find a trinket. Most likely will not do that, as yesterday Michael and I did get out and go to some yard sales. I found several finds. It was alot of fun. Yesterday the weather was a perfect day for it. Our little town had several community ones yesterday and I think we hit them all. We also went over to the high school to watch the girls softball game. My gf's daughter plays for the team and they are in the playoffs. Then we had to get home because Tori had to get ready for prom.

The prom theme for Tori's class was "Classic Hollywood". She and Matt looked so cute together.

We purchased Tori a pretty pink dress for prom, but she decided she wanted to wear the dress that she wore in our wedding. She got so many compliments on this dress. It really is lovely. The pictures don't do it justice. She has never wanted to wear a dress more than once, ugh! But she wanted to wear this one. She went to her dads last night after the prom so I haven't gotten to really talk to her, but she will home later today. She and Matt and his family are going to see the "Blue Angels" today. There is a air show, and Matt has never seen them perform before. Guess coming from the Navy backgroud that we do, we have had many opportunities to see them. Hopefully it will be a good day. At the moment it is raining here, and it suppose to the rest of the day. Quite a bit cooler than yesterday.

Well girls, I guess I should start on my day. Hope you have a blessed day.

Hugs!

Changing name is alot of work.

Hi ya'll! Dropping in to let you all know that I'm around. I don't have alot of time tonight as Michael and I have to get through some paperwork from work. I/We are changing some of my benefits around since getting married and we have to get that taken care of because time is running out to make the changes.. Changing my name is a big ordeal....you never think about all the places you have to change it....bank, MVA , social security, mail, work, and the list goes on. Mine is incredibly long. Ugh! And I am not a person who likes doing this type of work.

As we all know Mothers Day is coming up this weekend. What plans do you girls have? Unfortunately I will not be with my kids this year, but I am sure we share the time as soon as we can. Maybe the following weekend or one night throughout the next week. Anyhow, I have been doing alot of reading on mothers and by mothers, and that leads me to one of my favorite comedian moms Anita Renfroe. Have you ever heard of her. She is simply wonderful. Adding a little mothers humor her if you haven't heard this before take a listen.

I know most women that are mothers can relate, and my kids love this.

Gotta get to work....hope you all have a blessed evening. Hugs for now!

I'm Back

This is me, after the weekend of yard saleing.  I love to go out on Saturday mornings and look for interesting finds and bargains, and that is just what we did.  This weekend I didn't find a whole lot but I did get some interesting books.  I love old books and cookbooks are a favorite and I found several.  One I found was the Better Homes and Garden  New Cookbook printed in 1953. It has some really wonderful vintage pages, I can just sit and thumb through these books for hours.  This one was really great because it has notes in the margins of some of the recipes and some old handwritten recipes on cards and loose leaf paper. The ones on the loose leaf paper are all tattered and torn, which implies to me was used quite a bit over the years.  Might have to try it myself. 

I also ran across another book that I picked up and looks like I will enjoy it immensely.  It was published in the 1940's by Emily Post.  I am sure I have been doing everything all wrong.   This is what the excerpt had to say "Post was born into a wealthy family and began her literary career as a novelist. Her best-known book Etiquette, first published in 1922, is a practical guide to proper social behavior written in a lively style. Post viewed etiquette not as a collection of details, but as a way of living: "Manners are made up of trivialities of deportment which can be easily learned if one does not happen to know them; manner is personality-the outward manifestation of one's innate character and attitude toward life."

 

I also grabbed another book I have been watching for awhile but didn't want to pay full price for it.  I ended up getting it for $4 and I was thrilled.  

How to Use This Book: An Excerpt
When the first issue of Martha Stewart Living was published in 1990, I could not have begun to anticipate how wide-ranging our readers' homekeeping concerns would be. Since then, we have discovered new solutions to age-old problems, brought in experts to advise us on very specific questions about very specific?c concerns, and experimented with all the new (and not so new) home-care products. Over the years, I've brought these lessons home with me, too, which has made me more organized and made my homes better cared for and maintained.
Households are busy places, works in progress where there is always something needing immediate attention and always something more that can be done. With that in mind, I have organized this book to address the tasks at hand and also to address the "more that can be done" for when you have the time and the inclination go beyond the essentials.
It starts with the big picture--an examination of every room and everything you will find within each. The eleven chapters in the "Room by Room" section take you on a tour through the house, focusing on the surfaces and furnishings you might find in any room, and offering strategies for their care and maintenance. Starting with the kitchen, the central staging area in any home, these chapters open with practical space-planning advice, followed by the golden rules of organizing. This information is intended to help contain your belongings and make each room clutter-free and functional. Relevant homekeeping concerns particular to each room are explored in depth--so stain-removal basics appear in "Laundry Room," the best way to clean grout in "Bathroom," and easy sewing repairs in "Utility Spaces." The equipment essential to each room is also addressed, so if you are considering what kind of bathtub to install during a bathroom renovation or whether a gas or electric range would best suit your style of cooking, you will have the information necessary to make such an investment with confidence.

Other than finding some great books I found a few other little goodies.  Maybe I will share them soon, if time allows. This weekend Michael and I have been working on some organization things as well.  With being busy with wedding plans, honeymoon and such we kinda let things slide on the home front so over the next several weeks we are going to be engaging in some home projects.  Hopefully nothing major, but needed just the same. This weekend has been spent in the yard mainly.  We loaded up with gads of annuals this year (normally I buy perennials) but this year I want more instant color because all the perennials seem to be starting off great.  So time will tell. 

K...hubby is in the shower from his hard day of work outside, so I am going to cut this short for now.  Have a great upcoming week.

Hugs and Blessings,

Cindy

Getting Organized

Welcome everybody. Hope this finds you having a good weekend. Mine has been busy with errands but I have been getting things done around this house...which was in a big need. Since early spring, I have been letting things slide because of getting things ready for the wedding....now that that is over, he and I are settling into our lives as man and wife. Woo Hoo! So much is going on around here it hasn't been boring.

Well guys, I have been fighting something. Not sure what. It all started on Friday. I woke up with a sore throat and it continued into the morning getting worse. By the time I had been at work about a hour, my ear was ringing and my jaw was aching. I got the fear that I was coming down with the flu as everyone in my office has had it this year. Which wouldn't have been a good thing because Michael and I are heading to Houston this weekend for Mothers Day to spend with his mom (and they have basically confined her to the house, because they don't want her around people because of her immune system). Anyhow, I left work after being there 2 1/2 hours. When I got home, I came in and took some pain meds for my aching jaw and arm (another story) and took some thera-flu and grabbed the heating pad for my ear and went to bed, I spent the entire day in bed. All I can say, is that while I am taking meds, I feel okay but definitely can tell when it is wearing off, because the sore throat comes back as well as the ear ache. So not sure what it is. Sinus', Ear Infection, ? What? Needless to say, I am living off of medication this weekend...but I have so much that I want to do in this house, and I know with the upcoming work week and then being away over the upcoming weekend, I have to get these things accomplished.

Now about my arm....several weeks back, not sure when...I must have hit my left elbow or pulled a muscle or something, since then I haven't had much use in my left arm. Sometimes it pains me just to lift a glass, or my little tiny purse. Not sure what I did to it, if I chipped a bone, or pulled a musle or what. In order to sleep most nights, I have to take motrin or something to sleep. So basically what I am saying....I got married and now I am falling apart. Michael has been teasing me about it. He tells me how I am younger than he is and shouldn't be having these problems.

Rememeber several months back, I wanted my computer moved upstairs so that I would have it more accessible to me, Michael is finally moving it for me today. I can't tell you how happy that makes me. I will now have my computer with all my information at my fingertips. Hoping over time to get my recipes and homemaking tips all in one place and organized as well.

In the meantime, Michael has quit his job and will be starting another one in a week or so. So he is trying to get things caught up at home for me. He has been spending lots of time in the yard and he has it looking so good. He finally got in the garage and did some sorting and cleaning....it's not done yet, because we have things to take to goodwill and the dump . Plus he has the furniture from his old office in the garage, but it will go back to his new office when he moves. It's amazing how better you feel when you feel like you are making some headway. Granted we still have a list but we are working on getting it down. Over the last several weeks we have bought quite a few annuals that need to be planted...so I might try to work on that this afternoon. If not, then hopefully we can get that done tomorrow. We didn't want to do it before now, because we got down into the thirties several nights last week. We just want to be out of danger of frost.

Our weather has been so crazy here. Friday it was simply a gorgeous day....wish I could have enjoyed it, but like I said, I was in bed...but Michael did...he mowed the lawn twice. Had too because of the rain over the past week and the grass has grown so fast. Since we got back from Cancun he has mowed the lawn 6 times. Twice each time he has mowed. Not sure what the weather is suppose to be this week, but I know it will be hot in Houston, and I am looking forward to some constant warm weather. Maybe I will actually get more of a tan. Although when we were in Cancun, we didn't get alot of time at the beach, because we did alot of touring.

Well guys, I guess I should get at it. I have things to do and I am wanting to get some reading and bible study in today. Hope your having a blessed week and if you think about it, please pray for my ailments. Thanks!