I have been keeping busy. Sunday night,Monday,and Tuesday I had Joy to take care of. Today I cleaned and did some shopping afterward. The traffic was crazy. I was so happy to get home. The problem with cleaning other peoples house is that I feel guilty if mine is not clean. So, usually when I get home I end up cleaning mine too. I have to say I always sleep real good after working hard. John is planning to camp out in the back yard tonight. He is smoking the turkey. The boys are going to sleep out there with him. I plan on climbing in my nice warm bed tonight at a reasonable hour. I warned John that on Friday we may need to get up real early and go to some of the sales. I shouldn't use the word need I guess. I really enjoy getting up and going to the sales. I know I am crazy. John said he would be fine. He is such a good sport. I am looking forward to tomorrow. I love Thanksgiving. We always have such a great time at John's parents house.

pictures from this weekend

The boys had a lot of fun at grandma and grandpa's house for Halloween. Christopher dressed up as a pirate and Michael dressed up as a prisoner. They had a great time trick or treating with Nathan. I think they have eaten most of their candy by now.
This weekend was very nice. Friday night we took Robin to the dance. When we picked her up she was all smiles and she gave me a hug. I asked why she was so happy. She said because work was done and she got paid. I told her that always makes me happy too. She cleans house for her sister. Robin is such a sweet heart and I really enjoy taking her to the dance.Saturday Darla and Henry stopped by it was nice to visit with them. Also on Saturday John and I cooked. I love to listen to music while we are cooking. I was dancing around to the song "I wanna dance" on the Shall we dance soundtrack. As I was dancing I had an egg in my hand which with one of my o so cool moves ended up cracking and sliding across the floor. Of course John will never let me live this down. The food did turn out great inspite of my dancing moves. We made potato salad, oatmeal raisin chocolate bars,lemon aid, and some nice sandwiches. We took our food to the park and had a picnic. I took some pictures of the boys playing lacrosse at the park and then showing off there muscles. Sunday we went to church and then relaxed for the afternoon. We went to Walmart and bought some more eighties music. A girl has to have music to cook by.

Friday night we spent the evening with Henry and Darla. We had a great time talking, eating pizza,and watching a movie. On Saturday I woke up at 5:00.I let the dogs out and Pepper's little tip tap of her paws on the floor woke everyone else up. It was so nice to spend the morning together just sitting around and watching The Munsters. I am so use to getting up early that I have a hard time sleeping in except for Sunday. It must be that by Sunday I am exhausted. On Saturday John and I went to BJ's to pick up a few groceries. After grocery shopping John and I went to Crate and Barrel. I love their store. They have such beautiful displays. John bought a wooden salt container. We are like to kids in a toy store when we go there. To bad it is such an expensive toy store. I just love looking. When we came home my friend Jacquie and her son came over. John helped her son with a science fair project. My husband is such a sweetie. We went to church this morning. Tonight we are just relaxing. They having been running a House marathon today. What a treat. I love the show. It has been nice to just eat and watch tv. I took a few pictures. One is of the boys and Angel watching The Munsters on Saturday morning.One is of Christopher making a cake for the Fall festival. I thought it turned out real cute. One of John's new salt container. The other is of some conditioner I want to try. John made me laugh. I told him the shampoo was anti-poof shampoo. He said "You could put it in a magician and really mess him up." I know it is lame but it made me laugh.

I am typing this on my newer laptop John got me. It is so nice. John's dad got us a real good deal on it.Chris is very excited about getting my old lap top. We thought it would be good for him to have his own. They do a lot of school work using the internet. Today I went to the Bible study in Satelite beach with Darla. We had a great time. Tomorrow John and I will be taking Robin to the dance. I got my first pay check from the new company I work for today! Yea! All in all today was a really pleasant day. Make sure you check out John's new web site. I put a link.

Chris the chef

I have been having fun teaching Chris how to cook. Here are a few of his creations. The brown dish is a peach cobbler.

Delicious dish

I made this Santa Fe beans and rice recipe. It is very good.
This tastes like the weight watcher's Santa Fe beans and rice dinner only fresher.

2 cups cooked white rice
1 (15 ounce) can black beans, rinsed and drained
1 cup frozen corn
1 (10 ounce) can of diced Mexican-style tomatoes (like Rotel)
1 cup salsa
1 cup low-fat sour cream
2 cups shredded reduced-fat Mexican cheese blend, divided
1 small red onion, chopped
1 (2 1/4 ounce) can sliced ripe olives, drained

Not the one? See other Santa Fe Beans and Rice Recipes
< 60 mins Side Dishes
Tex-Mex Side Dishes
White rice Side Dishes
Preheat oven to 350.
In a large bowl, combine beans, corn, tomatoes, salsa, sour cream, 1 cup cheese and cooked rice. Season with salt and pepper.
Transfer to a greased 2 quart baking dish and top with onions and olives.
Bake uncovered for 30 minutes. Sprinkle with remaining 1 cup cheese and bake 5-10 minutes longer until cheese is melted.

Pictures from last weekend

I forgot I wanted to post some of these pictures. Last weekend John helped our neighbor cut down one of his trees. You have to look very close but you can see my husband the monkey up in the tree.

Thanks for your prayers. The dance went well. Robin had a great time. There were a ton of people there. I have never seen so many happy people in one place. Several people came up to me to shake my hand and ask if I was having a nice time. It amazes me that people who have to deal with mental and physical handicaps in there life can be so happy. What a joy to be around them. Saturday was very nice. John was suppose to take Chris to the gun and knife show. Chris decided he didn't want to go. So, John and I went out for breakfast and to some yard sales. I found some cool wood boxes at one of the yard sales. I am not sure what I am going to do with them. Do you have any ideas? Church went well today. I really enjoy the little kids in my Sunday school class.

Weird Bird at Our Bird Bath

I forgot to say in my last post that Chris won the election for class treasure.

I had a lot of fun today. Darla and I went out to the chapel in Satelite Beach for the Bible study there. The women are so kind. I ate to much but that was fun too. I really enjoy spending the day with Darla. Tomorrow I will take the handicap girl I am watching to a dance. It should be a lot of fun. My only fear is that I won't be able to understand her. She does not speak clear and is very hard to understand. I hate having to ask someone to repeat things. Please pray that I will be able to understand her and that she will have a great time at the dance. I am very excited about January. It sounds like Ben and Gina will be coming for a visit. I miss them dearly. It is so nice to have something to look forward to.

Today I had to go to the police to get some finger prints for the new company I will be working for. I had to get finger prints for the last company I worked for so I figured no big deal. I have policophobia! I am not sure what caused this. When I was little my parents would tease me and say if I cut the tag off my pillow the police would come and arrest me. You know the one that says do not remove upon penalty of law. One time they had a police officer friend of their's come over after I had removed the tag as a joke. Go ahead laugh! It is funny. I have also had the police come to my house twice and say that my car was involved in a violent crime. Only to find out that they read the license number wrong. So with fear and trepidation I went to get my finger prints done. I paid the meter for over an hour just in case so I won't get a ticket. It only took 15 minutes. I was nervous as I crossed the street. There was no light so I had to jay walk.(also afraid I would get a ticket for that) I don't know why I get so nervous. I have never received a ticket and have nothing to hide. Why is it the people who have nothing to hide get so nervous around police? I am just glad it is over. The police women who did the prints had to tell me to relax several times. I told her about the pillow thing. I made her laugh. I think I made her day.

We spent this past Saturday with Darla and Henry' having a yard sale. We did pretty well. Michael and Chris love going over there. As soon as I told Chris where we were going he got excited. Darla always has soda in her frig. I have never felt safe letting the kids ride their bikes in our neighborhood. So it is a real treat to get to ride bikes at Darla and Henry's. Last night we went to Taco Bell for dinner. Then we worked on Christopher's campaign posters. He is running for school Treasurer. I also made some cookies for Chris to give out. Look how nice the my $5.00 table came out. John did such a great job on it. I also found some cute new pillows for my sofa on clearance. They have a nice denim cover that comes off and are stuffed with feathers.

Lost in my own world

I guess I have been lost in my own little world. Sorry, it has been so long since I posted. Right now I am greatly disturbed. John is watching a Jeff Foxworthy special. Kenny Rogers and Jeff Foxworthy are holding hands and singing Islands in Stream. How scary is that? He is sitting on the sofa laughing his head off. Anyway, we have been working around the house. I found a solid oak dining table at an auction for $5.00. John has been refinishing it. I have been decorating my house. I have been working on Michael's room lately. He loves maps. I wanted to get him some map wallpaper but couldn't find any I liked. I also hate the idea of having to take down wallpaper some day. So I found a old atlas. I taped a bunch of maps together to make my own wall covering. I really liked the way it turned out. I covered the whole wall like wallpaper. It is attached only at the top of the wall so when we want to take it down it will be easy. The best part of it is it only cost one dollar for the atlas. I will post some pictures of it soon. John is now watching an infomercial. John should not be allowed to have the remote. He does keep me laughing.

The Weekend

We had a full weekend. After redecorating lately, I decided I needed to sell some of my old stuff. So, we went to the flea market to sell. The boys went through their toys and got rid of a bunch they are to old for. It was sad to see some of the toys go. I can't believe how fast time goes by. The boys had a fun time selling their stuff. They made $100.00. Which they promptly spent. They had the cute factor going at the flea market. We noticed that some things would not sell at our table but if we put it on theirs it would sell. So John and I ended up doing pretty well with the help of the boys. After being in the hot sun we came home and jumped in the pool. It felt fabulous. Sunday we went to church and Sunday afternoon we relaxed. All in all it was a nice weekend.

The bank found my driver's license!!

Can I charge the bank?

After today I am seriously thinking about switching banks. While going through the drive thru to deposit a check and get some cash back they lost my driver's license. I realize there is human error but this is not the first time. So far they have given my license to someone else(luckily the guy returned it),deposited money in the wrong account, not given me enough money back in the drive thru,and now lost my license. The day they gave my license to someone else they wrote a note for me to carry around just in case I was stopped by a police officer until the license was returned. I can just see me pulling out my note for the officer! Back to today's drama. I had two deposits to make and I wanted cash back so I put my license in the tube with the deposit slip and the checks. When the tube came back I counted the cash and looked for my license before I even pulled away. I promptly pushed the call button and let her know I didn't have my license. I then sent the tube back. She looked a little and said she didn't have it. Then a lady from the bank came out and helped me search my car. Nothing! So I am still waiting to here from the bank. I just wish I could charge them for their mistakes like they charge us if we make a mistake. I did receive and apology from the bank about the other incidents but cash would have been nicer.

John and I

While looking through pictures of the cruise on my computer I came across this picture. I didn't know that John had put it on the computer. It is one of my favorite pictures of John and I when we were first married.

Mexico pictures and John relaxing on the ship

When we were in Mexico we went to a private beach. They had a nice fruit buffet.Instead of regular seats around the table they had swings.

Mexico pictures

We went horse back riding along the beach. It was wonderful!

More ship pictures

more Keys pictures

The Florida Keys

When we were in the Keys we rented a little electric car. We visited the beah,went to the Pirate museum, and visited a grave yard. The grave the boys are standing by was a lady who was a hypocondriac. The grave read "I told you I was sick".