My Top 5.....My Bottom 5

The top 5 favorite things:

1. Traveling with my husband (and spending quality time with him)
2. Spending quiet time on the porch with my youngest
3. Spending time working side-by-side with my oldest
4. Using my brain. (e.g. trivia, puzzles, general detective work)
5. Doing things for my family (cooking, gifting, etc.)

The bottom 5 things:

1. Being so disorganized (I used to be a master at organization)
2. My dirty house (just can't find the time or the desire to get it done)
3. My weight
4. My lack of time to do some of the things I used to really enjoy (cross- stitching, crafting, etc.)
5. My total lack of patience (I want everything NOW)

Need some more hours in the day

Wow.....the blogging has really fallen off this month.

Honestly, it's not that I haven't wanted to -- it's just that there hasn't been enough time.

There is always paperwork to catch up, marketing to work on, laundry, painting the house, getting ready for a hearing before the Appraisal Board, planning, and doing whatever else gets thrown my way.

I really miss some of those fun things that I used to get to enjoy on a regular basis. Like cross-stitching, reading, or laying out in the sun. Now there is no time for any of that.

When the evening comes -- I collapse into bed totally tapped out of all energy.

Trust me though.....I've got lots of pics to post of some of the things that have been happening. I've got lots of ideas floating around in this crazy head of mine.

I just need 32 more hours in every day to get it all done.

Taco Tuesday night with the Family

I know that I am seriously behind in my blogging. I apologize.

I have a camera full of pictures that need dowloaded, edited, and posted somewhere for us to enjoy the memories from them.

I'll get to it someday.

Back to the subject on THIS post.....our monthly family dinner night. This last time it was a Taco Tuesday. These boys and their friends have grown up on my delicious tacos -- so it was an overwhelming YES when this was decided as the entree.



There was lots of noise, food, laughing, and fun. We introduced a new game called Party Gras and it was the highlight of the party. The object of the game is to have the most strands of beads at the end of the night. You get beads by having cards that tell you what you need to do. In addition, we offered up a $20 bill as a prize for the winner of the game.

For example: see someone scratch their nose (you take away a strand of their beads)
or catch somone texting on their phone.

We have never laughed so hard and we really had a great time. The winner at the end of the night was Lucas.

Next month it was voted that we would have a Lasagna night and we will have even more people attending this next event. I am so glad that we started this. It's a great way for us all to get together one night a month and spend some time with each other. Plus it's a night when I can cook for all of them (it's nice that they love my cooking).

I think that this will be a tradition that we will have for a long time. In the meantime, enjoy the pictures from our most recent fun!

Mushy stuff

For Richer or Poor

In Sickness and in Health

Til death do us part

I will love this man for ever and ever with every fiber of my being

Thank you God for bringing this person into my life!

I am blessed..........

Shhh......it is secret!

Don't tell anyone......we snuck out of town..............

Wordless Wednesday: Sad Face

Trying another new food

Last night I made another new entree. So far we've been really lucky with all our new foods that we've been trying.

This time we made Black-Eyed Pea Cakes topped with Corn Salsa. The cakes we made were 10x better than the ones we had in Atlanta. The ones we had in Atlanta had been topped with a Peach relish and we elected to do something a little different. The Corn Salsa was perfect on top!

We also served it up with a side of Asparagus with Hollandaise Sauce.....seriously I really love Asparagus!

Watch for the blog about Brussel Sprouts. We both want to give them another try since it's been many years since we've had them. Who knows....maybe we'll like them this time.

Wordless Wednesday: Finally it happened!

Waiting for the green to turn red

I've waited a long, long time for this. Ever since the month of March.

Sorry the picture is blurry. I've been waiting for these plants to grow these for so long.



And now they are everywhere all over the plant. Now I'm waiting for them to turn red so that I can start using them to make my spicy foods even spicier!



All those flowers mean another one is coming. Can you see them?

Pass the Polenta Please

Something about being older makes me more adventurous in tasting new foods. I figure "why not give it a shot" -- you might find something you really like that you're missing out on.

Guacamole for example. I am so mad at myself for not trying it years before I finally did. I could eat Guacamole every single day.....I love the stuff. I'm not about to let something like this ever happen again.

Case in point......polenta. Seen it, heard about it, watched cooking shows with it. Never had it.....but in our continued quest to eat healthier, we decided to make it.

Found a recipe online that said it was Emeril's Perfect Parmesan Polenta. Read the ingredient list over and sounded like the perfect recipe for me.



I think it probably is meant to serve as a side dish, but for our dinner it was going to be our main course. It was so easy to make and quick to clean up.



I ate mine with a little salad and it was a perfect meal. We LOVED the polenta. Looks like this is something we'll be eating more often. We also have ideas of other things that we can add to jazz it up and make it different. This could get interesting!