Not Yet...

Just an update....

We have yet to find Gilligan. We are all pretty torn up about him not being here. Sam told me the other morning, "It's just not the same around here without him here". We all agree. I have been busy this week looking for him. I've gone to four animal rescue centers daily (one being the humane society and the other three were what you would call the pound), two vets offices that are near us, two PetCo stores, two PetsMart stores, posted on Craigs List, have put up signs in three neighborhoods, have posted on PetFinders.com and a few more websites like that along with getting emails out to a lot of dog rescue groups. I don't know what else I can do except for going to the shelters every day. In fact this afternoon while surfing on the computer I found yet another shelter that I can add to my list. The sad fact of the Humane Society of North Texas is that they get 150 - 200 dogs DAILY! So sad.

I know that I shouldn't live in the "what ifs" right now, even my my reminded me of that on the phone the other day...but...I keep thinking in the back of my mind, what if I had just let them in a little bit earlier to feed them. Maybe this wouldn't have happened. I was the only one home that morning and I keep replaying those last thirty minutes in my head and wonder what I could have done differently. Then there is the fact that I'm out there every day looking at all the shelters and seeing all of those lost dogs. I get back into the car and just cry. Not only for my own dog but for all those other dogs that don't have a warm place to call home.

I'm just so heart broken. We all are. Especially Sam. He's helping as much as he can by hanging the posters. I won't take him to the shelters at least not yet.

Lost

We have been having very windy conditions today. It has been gusting anywhere between 25 and 30 mph with a steady wind around 17 mph. With that said....This morning at 9:20 I found out that the gate to our back yard had flow open. It had to happen between 8:45 and 9:20. I thought that I was letting both of our dogs in to be fed their breakfast but only one came inside. I have been driving around our neighborhood since then and I can't seem to find him. The dog that is lost is Gilligan. We've had him now for about a year and we are so sad. Sam of course has taken it the hardest. We're still looking and will keep looking for a while longer.

Pinewood Derby

Last week Sam and I spent most of the week working on his pinewood derby car. He drew his design on the wooden block and then we proceeded to cut it. We didn't have access to someone with a jigsaw so we cut it by hand. I let Sam do a little bit but it was taking quite a long time so I ended up sawing it by hand. He then helped with the sanding, painting and of course decorating it. Since this was our first year participating in the race I didn't plan on us placing so I prepared myself for a huge let down and a very disappointed son. I didn't prepare for him winning though

HE WON!!!!

He came in first place for his rank! Then it was time to sit and wait for the other ranks to have their races before the finals. He didn't place in the finals but he came in 7th out of 35 racers. Not bad for our first try at it! I was so proud of him and as you will see in the pictures below so was he.
After cutting the car we needed to sand it. Here it is pre-sanding.
Sam sanding away on the car. It was a lot of hard work and we both took turns.
The car after several coats of paint. Quite a few more to go before the night was through.
Sam's car winning one of the 6 heats for his rank.

He placed first in 5 out of the 6 heats.
Receiving his trophy for first place!

The car and trophy.

Here is a short video with more pictures that I took during the making of the car and also the race. We all had a lot of fun and are already planning next years race. You will have to pause the music on this blog to the left so that you can watch this video. Also I couldn't change the speed at which the pictures change but there is a pause button with each picture if you need to use it. Enjoy!

Make a slideshow - it's easy!

You Too Can Help!

You have heard me talk about Bernie over at A Place to Bark before and now I am going to plead to all my friends and family out there for your help. I have contemplated about putting this on here but I know it is for a wonderful cause and I know that you will all be able to help. Bernie is competing to win a $50,000 grant and she needs every ones help. I've added her donation badge in my left column and hope that you will help promote this too.

I am asking you to do the following: Go to her site and read through her posts for all of January at least, watch the video below (there are a few more videos of hers on her site if you want to watch those too) and then you do what your heart tells you to do. It's really amazing as they rescued over 400 animals last year. She is truly an amazing person.

Are You Listening?

This last Wednesday at choir rehearsal we were rehearing a song called In The Calm for this Sunday. We sung through it once and our director stopped us and spoke to us. He was saying how so many people will pray and then are done. They say that their prayers are never answered but have they ever stopped to listen for the answer. The words of this song explain what we all need to do. Forget what you need to cook for dinner, what the boss wants you to do, where your kids need to be next, etc., etc. Just clear your mind and listen. It really hit home to just about every member of our choir. Thought I would share the words of the song with you.

In the calm of Your presence

I am listening, Lord

I am still, I am quiet

I am Yours

Let Your Word speak to me

Let Your Spirit draw near

I will obey

The truth that I hear

In the calm of Your presence

I am listening, Lord

I am still, I am quiet

I am Yours

There's a thirst in my soul

For Your wisdom divine

I long for the peace

And life that I find

In the calm of Your presence

I am listening, Lord

I am still, I am quiet

I am Yours

Written by Scott Krippayne and Tony Wood

Arranged by Tom Fettke

Let's Have It Again!

With it being cold outside I decided to make a Chicken Pot Pie for dinner tonight. The last time I purchased a pot pie for Sam he turned his nose up at it so I wasn't to sure how he would react tonight. I searched my recipes and the Internet for a good recipe to use. Found several that I liked and decided to make up my own after reading those. It turned out so good that they have asked to have it again! I took mental notes for the recipe so I'm writing it down here so I know what I did and I am sharing it with all of you!

Chicken Pot Pie

1 box Pillsbury Pie Crusts (follow the directions on the box to bring them to room temp)

2 cups frozen Mixed Vegetables thawed

1 small Yellow Onion chopped or diced

Pepper

2 Chicken Breasts

2 cans Cream of Chicken Soup

1/3 cup milk

Preheat the oven to 375 degrees. Cook the chicken breasts and then cut them up to bite size pieces. In the same pan as you cooked the chicken cook the chopped onion with a pad of butter till transparent. Place one of the pie crusts in your pie plate and then place the mixed vegetables and onion on the bottom. Next put in your chicken. On top of the chicken layer sprinkle with pepper. Next you will place the cream of chicken soup on top of the chicken layer. Pour the milk on the top around the edges. Sprinkle with pepper again. DO NOT add any salt as you will not need it. Place your second pie crust on top of and crimp the edges. Poke holes in the top of the pie crust for venting. Place either a cookie sheet or a sheet of foil under the pie pan to catch any drips. Cook for 30 - 40 minutes. Let sit for 10-15 minutes before cutting and serving. Before

After

Once it was cut into you can see that we were to hungry to let it sit. But once it did sit it wasn't so soupy.

Mizzou Wins!

2008 Cotton Bowl Champs!

Mizzou wins the Cotton Bowl!

Go Tigers!

Socks!

This past weekend I started on two different pairs of socks. The first one pictured here is my first pair that incorporates a little bit of lace. So far so good! The pattern, Dublin Bay, can be found here.


The second sock that I started is just a good ole Stockinette Stitch sock.


I hope that I can finish both of these in the next couple of weeks. We'll see!

2007 In Review

Found this fun meme at Mother, Daughter, Sister, Friend...Me, who found it at D...'s blog, who found it at Patois' blog - so I had to get in on the action!

Post the 1st sentence (or 2) from the 1st post of each month of 2007 - This should be a great way to look back on the year. I did however link the whole month and then linked the first post of each month. Enjoy!

January 2007
January 1st: I want to wish everyone a Happy New Year! May 2007 bring you joy and happiness.

February 2007
February 2nd: I've started on Bunny's Tail.

March 2007
March 1st : I have finally finished the "Ruffled Scarf". It wasn't as hard as I thought it would be.

April 2007
April 1st: I'm off again. I know that I said that I might take a break this week in my walking but once I was here my Mom stated that she wanted to walk every day.

May 2007
May 2nd: I have finally started my first sock. I started it last week and Sam's soccer practice and I've been mainly working on it at his practices.

June 2007
June 1st: I did it! I can't believe that in two months I have walked/biked 101 miles! I still have a full month left to go.

July 2007
July 3rd:Here are some more pictures of our time at VBS last week. Sam and I both had a lot of fun.

August 2007
August 3rd:What is it about a child in just his shorts with some pants on his head singing "We Are Family" and dancing around the living room.

September 2007
September 2nd: We are here in Texas now!

October 2007
October 6th: I've missed blogging but have been either busy with Sam, running errands, going to activities for myself, keeping up with the house, unpacking, or getting sick.

November: I didn't post in November...bummer. But here is something that happened in November that I blogged about in December: Last month Sam and his second grade class put on Seussical the Musical Jr. They had a lot of fun putting it all together and we had a blast watching them all.

December 2007
December 11th: Welcoming Home the Troops

I've had fun going back through this past year. It's always good to reflect. I hope to do more walking/biking this year, craft more, finish unpacking either this house or another one depending on what happens with that, blog more, and of course stay involved not only in my family but also in my church.

This Christmas...

This Christmas was a wonderful one. This year we didn't have a sick child. This year we didn't spend a good part of Christmas Eve or several days after in and out of an urgent care and doctors offices. This year my son enjoyed Christmas the way a child should enjoy Christmas. This year I enjoyed watching my son enjoy his Christmas. This year...I enjoyed Christmas.

Enjoy the pictures:

Make a slideshow - it's easy!

Santa Cookies

I asked Sam the other day what kind of cookies he would like to make and leave for Santa this year. He told me that he wanted to make peppermint chocolate chip cookies. Okay, I've never seen a recipe for that kind of cookie. I told him I would look on the Internet because I had never seen a recipe for them before. Lo, and behold, there were many recipes for peppermint chocolate chip cookies. We made them today and I have to tell you...WOW! They are some cookies! I found the recipe that I used on Home Baking Association's website. The cookie recipe will follow below. But first, there are pictures to share with you!


Here is Sam putting out the cookies for Santa. The note that he wrote to Sana says "Santa! You Rock" on the front.

This is probably the last year that Sam will believe in Santa so I'm trying to make the most of it. He is such a sweet and loving little boy and it will be a part of his childhood that will be gone forever once he doesn't believe in him anymore. Of course, I still believe in him!

Peppermint-Chocolate Chip Cookies

½ cup granulated sugar

½ cup packed brown sugar

1/3 cup margarine or butter, softened

1/3 cup shortening

1 tsp. vanilla

1 egg

1½ cups all-purpose flour or whole-wheat flour

½ tsp. baking soda

½ tsp. salt

½ cup chopped nuts

1/3 cup crushed hard peppermint candies
1 package (6 oz.) semisweet chocolate chips (1 cup)

Preheat oven to 375°F. Mix sugars, margarine, shortening, vanilla, and egg in bowl. Stir in remaining ingredients. Drop dough by rounded teaspoonfuls about 2 inches apart onto ungreased cookie sheet. Bake 8 to 10 minutes or until light brown. Cool slightly; remove from cookie sheet. Cool on wire rack. Provided by General Mills Serves 42.Approximate Nutrition Analysis (per serving): calories, 95; protein, 1 g; carbohydrate, 12 g; fat, 5 g; cholesterol, 5 mg; sodium, 55 mg.

My notes: I used all-purpose flour, omitted the nuts, and increased the chocolate chips to 1 1/4 cups. I cooked them for 9 minutes on parchment paper and then cooled them for 2 minutes before putting them on the rack to cool the rest of the way.

ENJOY!

Finally Up!

Finally have our tree up! I know I'm late in getting it up but with everything happening with us not knowing if we have a place to live and when anything will happen about it I kind of put it off. That and we've just been terribly busy. So, yesterday and today we got the tree up and decorated! We also finally did something that I have always wanted to do. We strung popcorn and cranberries! Sam even said, "Mom, this is really fun!". Boy was I surprised. I will have to say that I did most of them but it was still time that we spent as a family. Even Andy strung some of them. (Remember that if you want you can click on the pictures below to seem them full size.)

What started as this......

Slowly after much limb arranging turned into this...

Which finally today turned into this wonderful looking tree. At least it is wonderful looking to me. Sam and I worked on it for quite some time. I'll admit there were times where I got agitated at where he was putting some of the ornaments but I got over it and guided him to where some of them should go. He was wanting to put them basically all in the same area. Half way through decorating he asked if he could have a break. I said yes and kept decorating. We've waited long enough to get it up and I didn't want to finish it later this evening. So it is finally done!

Here are two more pictures of the tree close up. Enjoy!

Dinner and Singing!

Last Friday evening my dear hubby took me out to a wonderful dinner at Rockfish Seafood Grill. It was so delicious! My favorite item there is one of their soups.

It's the Red Pepper Crab Bisque. In fact it is so good that I am going to search for a recipe similar to it and fix it here at home.

After dinner we went to the Christmas Show of The Vocal Majority. WOW! Those men can sing.

We were going to go out for dessert afterwards but we had to sit in traffic due to an accident on one of the highways. Oh well. It was still a wonderful evening.

Thank You Andy! I love you!!!

Pay It Forward

I read this on Pink Knitting Adventures blog (who read it elsewhere) and thought it sounded great!

I will send a handmade gift to the first 3 people who leave a comment on my blog requesting to join this PIF exchange. I don’t know what that gift will be yet and you may not receive it tomorrow or next week, but you will receive it within 365 days, that is my promise! The only thing you have to do in return is pay it forward by making the same promise on your blog.

I love the pay it forward idea and I love that it gives you 365 days. ;)

Harry Potter Scarves

I know I'm late in posting pictures of the Harry Potter scarves that I knitted for my nieces but here they are finally!

They got there just in time for them to wear for Halloween this year. I didn't know if I was going to get them done in time or not. In fact one of them isn't quite the "real" pattern. But it works and that is what counts. Not to mention that they loved them.

What's Going On.....

Boy do I have a lot to update you all on!!!! I hope that you have a minute because this may get long.

Last Tuesday my husband checked his voice mail to hear that the guy that owns our house is having it foreclosed on. I must tell you that I was a wreck! The lady that is our agent here in TX, and manages the property, has been just wonderful with helping us. We are trying to get the bank that now owns the note on the house to give us the amount that it would take to purchase the house as we have quite a few interested parties that would purchase it and let us rent it from them. The big down side to all of this is that there is still a chance that we will have to move again. Now remember that we just moved here a few months ago! The up side to all of this is that we are currently living rent free!!! We haven't told Sam as of yet mainly because if we end up staying here then he never needs to know.

The same day my mother-in-law went into the hospital severely dehydrated. They couldn't do any tests until they hydrated her but once they did they found a blockage in her lower intestines. They did surgery and took out roughly 8 inches of her lower intestines. After surgery she went into the ICU as her heart was fluttering and they were having a hard time getting it to stabilize. She is now in a private room. She is recovering well from surgery but is still waiting for the lower half to begin functioning. Her heart is now in a good rhythm. But now she is battling fluid in lungs which has now turned into pneumonia. She is getting antibiotics, physical therapy and inhalation therapy to combat that. We haven't been able to make it up there to visit or help out but Andy's big sister did get to go down along with one of his younger sisters going up to help out.

Okay...let's move ahead to last Friday. I was frantically running around the city trying to find an all black dress as I was singing the Messiah Sunday evening and we were all wearing black attire. Finally found a dress with just a few minutes to spare before I had to head back across town to pick up Sam from school. On the way there my temperature light went on in my car. I called my husband to let him know what was going on. As I'm pulling into the school parking lot the car dies. I had two people help me push it into a parking space and Andy met me over there to put some coolant in it. He followed me home with Sam and we tried to start it again. When we did everything in the radiator poured down our driveway. Had to have the car towed the following morning and ended up spending a bit over $400 to get it fixed.

With all of that last week you can only imagine my stress level went way up and my body said that it had had enough and I started to get sick. So I just took it easy for a few days and got myself in order. Never did get sick but I can still feel the stress in all of my muscles.

I think that is me in a nutshell as of right now. Oh, yeah, I got a new computer! So I've been trying to reload everything back on to this one but it's okay because it runs so much better than my old one.

It's cold here and looks like it will stay cold for a while now. I still need to decorate my house for the holidays which I am hoping to do this weekend. As soon as I do I'll take some pictures to share with you.

We've been busy since we moved here getting involved in just about everything. I am going to get back into the groove of blogging and have missed it terribly. I do want to thank all of you that have either left comments or have emailed me asking if everything is okay because I stopped blogging. It meant a lot to me.

Sam in Seussical the Musical, Jr.

Last month Sam and his second grade class put on Seussical the Musical Jr. They had a lot of fun putting it all together and we had a blast watching them all. There were risers on the stage and two sets of risers on either side of the stage on the floor. They did a fantastic job and I'm so proud of them all. Here is just a little snippet of one of the songs. Sam was also one of the narrators for the musical. In fact he had most of the narrator lines memorized and could say them all for me on cue before the show.

Sam is on the front row towards stage right. I love watching him towards the end of the song when his arms are up in the air and they are moving them up and down. He puts his whole body into it.

Welcoming Home the Troops

Make a scrapbook!

Small Update & More Recipes

For all of you that have emailed me asking....My voice has pretty much returned to normal! It only gets scratchy at night after using it through out the day. My singing voice is another story. It will take a bit longer before it is back.

Sam received his first report card for 2nd grade and I am proud to announce that he has all A's and one B! We are so proud of him.

I have been trying out quite a few new recipes since we moved here and have two more to share with you.

Beef Taco Bake

1 pound ground beef

1 can (10 3/4 ounce) Tomato Soup

1 cup Salsa or Picante Sauce (I used the Black Bean and Corn Salsa that Wal-Mart makes)

1/2 cup water

6 Flour Tortillas (8 inch) or 8 corn tortillas (6 inch) cut into 1 inch pieces (I used the flour tortillas)

1 cup shredded cheddar cheese (since we love cheese I used 2 cups)

Cook beef in a skillet until browned. Pour off fat. Add soup, salsa, water, tortillas and half of the cheese. Spoon into 2-quart shallow baking dish. Cover. Bake at 400 F for 30 minutes or until hot. Sprinkle with remaining cheese.

Easy Shrimp Pasta

1/c cup balsamic vinaigrette dressing

1 lb. shrimp, cleaned

2 cups chopped tomatoes (about 4 medium)

1/2 cup fresh basil leaves, chopped, divided

4 oz. cream cheese, cubed

3/4 lb. fettuccine, cooked, drained

1/4 cup shredded Parmesan cheese

Pour dressing over shrimp in small bowl; cover. Refrigerate 20 minutes (or longer if needed) to marinate. Remove shrimp from marinade; discard marinade. Heat large skillet on medium heat; add shrimp. Cook 3 minutes or until shrimp turn pink, stirring frequently. Remove shrimp from skillet, using slotted spoon; cover to keep warm. Set aside.

Add tomatoes and half of the basil to same skillet; cook and stir 3 minutes. Stir in cream cheese until well blended. Add shrimp; cook until heated through, stirring occasionally.

Place hot fettuccine on large serving platter; top with the shrimp mixture. Sprinkle with the remaining chopped basil and shredded cheese.

Winter Wonderland Coffee Swap

Coffee and Yarn....a great combination! The Winter Wonderland Coffee Swap will open up it's registration on October 24th, for those of you that are interested.