Congratulations Laura!

This is my niece, Laura, in Kansas. She recently got her learners permit and is SOOOOOO excited! Her mom is SOOOOOOO scared! Yesterday her mom and dad got her this car and now she is even more excited! Laura sent this picture so I could see the car and share it with my friends. I think she is such a cute girl, but she is my niece! The car is great!

Congratulations on your first car Laura!

Rock Chalk Jayhawk

GINA! DON'T LOOK! :)

My sister and her family live in Kansas, which, of course, means they are KU fans. So when they came to visit on the 6th this month they brought a special surprise for Ethan. They outfitted him in KU garb. He loves it! See the big cheesy grin. He has to have his chocolate milk in the Jayhawk cup and we play ball incessantly. We had a lot of fun with my sister and fam, wish they lived closer!

Busy, Busy, Busy (& A New Camera!)

Wow! That last week of school sure is busy! The kids last day was Friday and our last day was Saturday. That included three meetings I had to attend: 1) the GT Committee met to go over the stories submitted and score them. 2) The second grade teachers met to sort the kids into seven new classes for their third grade year. 3) The big district meeting was held at the Jr. High as usual. The retirees were honored, people with 5, 20, 15, 20, 25, and 30 years with the district were honored with pins. Two of the 30 year people were from our campus. In 3 years I'll have my 25 year pin.

Last week we kept my niece's standard poodle while she and her fiance went to Las Vegas to be married. His name is Dragon and he is the sweetest dog. He and Rusty got along fine, but Rusty had to remind him sometimes that this is actually Rusty's home so he was top dog. She came and picked him up on Sunday.













Speaking of Sunday that was the day of David's family reunion. We all met at Salmon Lake Park. It isn't too far away, just about a 30 minute drive. Click on the link, click on Rental Photos then scroll down to Family Reunion Buildings and you will see a picture of the Crazy Horse Saloon building where our family meets almost every year. We took Ethan with us and he had a great time. The lake there is spring fed and he spent a lot of time swimming, and I spent a lot of time on the shore watching him. We all brought simple food. David and his cousins went through a lot of old photos and a good time was had by all.



Here is a portion of the lake.









May 26th was my birthday and, as promised, David got a new camera for me. A Rebel XTI! The store was having a "special" where you could get 75-300mm lens with the camera kit, so of course I had to get that. I got a case and two rechargeable batteries and a 4gb card because it was "on sale." Now I've never filled up the 1gb cards I have in my Kodak so why I thought I had to have the 4gb is beyond me, but there you have it.




Now I have a little free time to read up on this and try taking pictures!

ABC Wednesday - S

I've Selected Several pictures to use for the S theme this week. To begin on a Serious note, I present this picture of a Stunning Sunset taken last Summer while Strolling along the Shore.

Now for a Self portrait in Sun and Shadow taken on the Shore of a local lake.

Here we have a great-niece indulging in Some Serious fun Sliding.

I'll end this Series of S themed pictures with some Silliness. Here you can See my nephew, Shannon, and his Son acting, well, Silly!

ABC Wednesday is hosted byMrs. Nesbitt at her place.

Good Stress Test Today (Wed.)

My husband went in for his check up the other day for his prescription renewals. The local doctor said his EKG "looked different." He wanted David to go to Tyler to his cardiologist, the one who cared for him when he had his triple by-pass. I took off work today and went with him.

Well, the Dr. there said his tests looked GREAT! YES! I was somewhat concerned with the "looked different" comment and the fact that the local Dr. got him an appt. so quickly for the stress test. I think the things that have been happening around here (for one thing, Ethan) have been weighing on him. But it's all good.

God is good, y'all.

Grandson (pictures below)

The time has come. As I stated in a post a couple of weeks ago, our own busy little grandson has come to Texas to live with us for at least 6 months. He is 3 years old, cute as a button, and VERY active. He will spend part of his time with his Granny (that is his great-grandmother, my step-daughter's grandmother) and part of his time with us. His mom and he flew in from Seattle, Washington last Wednesday and his mom flew back home yesterday. Granny took her back to Dallas for her flight. They split their nights between Granny and us, then on Tuesday night Ethan spent his first night with us alone. I was so afraid that he would be upset but it all went VERY well. He went to bed and slept the whole night away! Wednesday morning, yesterday morning, he got up in a good mood and had a great day with his Granpa while I went to work. They came to the school to visit and he met a lot of my friends there.

Friends have been helping me with necessities. Teresa gave me a booster seat, an umbrella stroller, a potty seat (the kind that adapts the toilet for tiny hineys), and a little net barrier that slips under the mattress and keeps the child from rolling off the bed. I think he is fine without it, but....

He loves Rusty, they get along so well! They run around like a couple of, well, 3 year olds.

One of my friends at school gave us a wooden car and track set that should provide hours of fun.
I am going to hit garage sales in search of 3T jeans and shorts. I've got to go to the store for tiny socks and 3T undies and size 8 shoes.

Life as I know it has changed, at least for 6 months.

Here is the Busy Boy ready to tour first Monday last Saturday with his great grandma (Granny,) his mom, and me (Nana.)
Here's Busy Boy with the Devil Dog Marine stuffed toy his granpa and I picked up in anticipation of his visit. Granpa was a Marine in his younger days so.....

Waiting at the Window

Early Saturday morning I was eating a biscuit standing at the kitchen sink looking into the backyard. I noted that the window needs to be cleaned. The morning was clear and bright, the sky a brilliant blue. I was waiting for my step-daughter and her Granny to come pick me up for a day at First Monday.

I noticed a mockingbird working over a pecan in the yard near the patio. I glanced at our lab, Bear. She too had noticed the mockingbird but seemed uninterested. Then she made a half hearted lunge in the direction of the mockingbird which flew to the fence and sat fussing at her.
Bear nosed the pecan then trotted to the back of the yard to visit with the dogs in the yard behind us. When she was a few paces away the mockingbird returned to the pecan.

I finished the biscuit and was watching a couple of squirrels playing in the pecan trees and thought I should call Rusty and let him out so he could bark at the squirrels, his favorite pass time. Before I could turn a crow flew down from one pecan tree and up to the next with a mockingbird in hot pursuit. I caught another glimpse of them as the crow was chased out of the yard and into the next.

Then I saw the truck, containing my companions for the day, and headed for the carport.

Spring Break

Last week was Spring Break and boy was I busy. I had a great time. First of all I finished off the little half bath I was redoing, and got some spring cleaning done. Pictures here. I cleared out a little and took stuff to Goodwill. It doesn't look like anything is gone *sigh*. Then on Thursday my sister from Kansas and her family came down for a visit. I hadn't seen her since last summer when she got married and moved to Kansas. We enjoyed catching up, playing games, and spending Easter with family and friends.

We also exchanged our Christmas presents, which we hadn't mailed to each other. We always have a great laugh when we do this. This is because we try to out do each with useless and stupid gifts. We tend to pass some of them back and forth over the years.

Easter at Teresa's house was wonderful as always. We ate, and ate, visited and visited, played with kids, took pictures, and visited more.

Then today David, who had taken the week off, and I went back to work and Sandi and fam went back home. I'm back on a schedule now!

Life Happpens!

Life happens, and it doesn't happen conveniently. You can slide along for months, going about your everyday routine with nothing much happening. Wake up, drink your coffee, tend the animals, go to work, come home, do house work, cook dinner, tend to the animals, watch a little TV or read, go to bed.
Then all of a sudden life just starts happening. Here is what is going on around here:

1. I decided to redo the bathroom and it is finished now, but it took about a week, mainly two weekends, fitting it in around the regular life stuff.

2. My niece, who has started her own photography business, is going to teach me about cameras, so I'm in the process of reading up on good cameras and trying to decide what kind to get. She says the Canon Rebel would be good for me since I just want a good "enthusiasts" camera not a professional. Cameras have come a long way and I am still the point and shoot kind of photographer.

3. My sister, her husband and daughter are coming to visit for 4 days from Kansas. I haven't seen them since last summer when she got married and moved back to Kansas.

4. David's daughter is coming in from Seattle, Washington on April 2 to visit us and her grandmother (her mother's mother) for about a week. She is bringing with her her youngest son, 3 year old Ethan. When she leaves she won't be taking Ethan with her, he is to stay with us and his great-grandmother for 3 or 4 months. We're not really sure why she decided to do this or even if she is going to come back to get him. The two older boys are with their father in Seattle (or there abouts,) who isn't Ethan's father, or I suspect he'd be there too.

So. Life. It goes along smoothly for months on end, then WHAM, a whole big bunch of it lands on your door step. Ya gotta love it. It keeps you from becoming stuck in a rut. I think a three year old will do us a lot of good, really get us out of the old rut.

An Uneventful Weekend - Love 'Em

It was, totally uneventful. Quite and restful. I slept till 8! (See the afore mentioned pain preventing prescriptions.) My DH and I sat around the house then went to the cafe for lunch. We had both vehicles inspected. We both found some New Balance shoes on sale!

The main event of the day was a fund raising supper for a friend of ours who is running for constable in our district. Right now he works with my DH at the courthouse. He would do a great job. My friend D came with us.

After the supper the three of us went to see Cloverfield. I couldn't watch it, the jerkiness of the filming made me ill. It may have been a combo of a pain pill and chili, but I don't think it would have set well anyway. All the reviews I've read of it, by monster movie aficionados, say it is great. I don't see it. It starts out slow, then it all goes downhill quick, and jerkily. That's not even a word is it?

After we got back home, D helped me with an ongoing pantry door-Rusty problem! Rusty learned to pop the pantry door open by pushing it with his nose. I was keeping a chair in front of it, however forgot to pull it up one day. The results can be seen here, complete with guilty canine. The next day I came home and he had shouldered the chair out of the way and nosed the door open a little, not enough to get in, but enough to encourage him to pursue this line of shouldering. So I put two chairs up, and was going to the hardware store to get a hook or something to put over the handles of the door. Enter D with a spare shoelace. TA DA.

Three Cool Things (&Weekend Snapshot)

Weekend Snapshot

Over the last 3 weeks I have aquired three things that I think are pretty neat. Mostly, I guess, you'd just have to be me to think so. So here they are:

1. This pillow!

I found it while shopping at a junk an antique store. It doesn't look like much, kinda worn and all. Someone cut an old quilt apart and used this to make a pillow. I got it because of this:

My grandmother's quilt from the 40's. It is now hanging in the corner of my bedroom and this pillow will be on the bed. (For my weekend Snapshot friends, this is the end, unless you want to read about the strikethrough or Nutella.) :)














2. The Strikethrough

My sister and I have employed the strikethrough for years. We didn't know it was called a strikethrough, though that makes perfect sense. Whenever we went on vacation we would send each other postcards that went like this:

Dear Sis,
We are having so much fun here. Glad you're not wish you were here.

Imagine my delite when I started blogging in November past and found that the strikethrough was here! At Rusty's blog, the strikethrough is simply a choice to click like b for bold. But here I couldn't find anything to click. You may remember that I am a point and grunt type technology person. If I can't point at it and click it, well, whatever it, it is lost to me. However, I have the Blogging for Dummies book checked out of the library. I checked it out for another two weeks. In there I found the secret to the strikethrough. Wow!

I know, I am easily amused.






3. Nutella!! YUM I've seen this stuff on the shelves at the store and read about it, but never tried it. Well, I can't believe all the wasted time! It is wonderful on whole wheat toast for breakfast. This is not one of those paid advertisements either. This stuff is good, chocolate and hazelnuts, what's not to love.

(Note to self: better not buy this very often. It is way too good to be anywhere close to healthy to eat!)

First Monday!

Today the dear husband and I had a lot of fun or got a lot of exercise. Or maybe both. We got up and had breakfast at the Birds Egg Cafe, Wanda's place. I'm planning to say more about her at a later time. We then went back home, picked up Rusty and went to Canton to First Monday. If you live around here you know it's great fun. Acres and acres and acres of places to shop. What's not to like? Part of it is like a giant flea market. The pavilions have mostly new things to sell. The variety is infinite. The weather was perfect.The temp was in the low 70's with some wind. Wonderful!

We walked for around that place for about 4 hours. I bought three books for 50 cents each. Not just mass market paperback size, but the trade book size. I added a pair of large Shawnee style Smiley pig salt and pepper shakers to my collection. They are just there to hold a place until I can get the real ones. They are cute and if I don't tell anyone no one will know they are fake. Unless you tell someone!

We got two bottles of balsamic vinegar and two kinds of flavored pastas.

Tangerines were purchased from a farmers type market. Rusty got a pound of home made dog biscuits. He liked that shop! Almost forgot to mention the peanut brittle, yum.

Rusty was so good! He didn't pull his lead (too much.) He didn't dive for other dogs. He didn't bark even at yappy little dogs that barked at him. He usually doesn't get to go because of the heat. We see other people with their dogs there in the dead of summer and they look so miserable. The dogs, not the people. As I write this he is laying on the floor beside me dead to the world. He is just worn out!

New Years Eve & Recipe

Yesterday was a busy one. I was preparing goodies for the party at my friend's house, we went to get my 21 year old niece, her husband and baby to go with us. They will be spending a couple of nights in the guest house. ;)

The goodies I took were simple but edible. With all the young people and kids that were there that's fine. I brought cokes, sandwiches, a meat and cheese plate with crackers, apples with two kinds of fruit dip, tortilla roll-ups, and a relish tray. This is always a family party with lots of eating, laughing, game playing, talking and more eating. We palyed Apples to Apples and Are You Smarter Than a Fifth Grader? The little ones watched Dora the Explorer and High School Musical. We toasted at midnight with sparkling grape juice and egg nog. My friend makes THE BEST home made egg nog. We visited a little more then cleaned up and every one went home. We had a great time! Below I will give two recipies for versions of this appatizer.

Tortilla Roll-ups

20 flour tortillas

3 8oz. blocks of cream cheese

1 8oz cour cream

5 pickled jalapenos (or more to taste)

Picante sauce

Mix bottom three ingredients together, warn tortillas in microwave and spread mixture on tortillas, roll up, refrigerate until set, slice, arrange on platter, and serve with picante sauce. I usually use more than 5 jalapenos and take out the seeds. Also I usually add at least a teaspoon of juice from the jalapenos to the mixture.

Rolled Trotillas

3 8oz blocks of cream cheese

1 8oz carton sour cream

g to 8 green onions (chopped)

1 Tablespoon jalapeno peppers

1 large package flour tortillas

Picante sauce to taste

Warm tortillas in microwave and let cool. Mix other ingredients. Spread over each tortilla, then roll. Chill overnight, then slice into 1/2 inch slices. Serve with picante sauce.

Notes From Children

I just love getting notes from little kids! This one is from my precious great-niece! She created it at her nannies house where we all were for Christmas. As you can tell, it is now on my refrigerator and it will stay there for awhile (a year?) before it goes into the file cabinet. She is in first grade in the school where I teach and is always so cute when we happen to cross paths.

Rusty now shares ;) my love of notes from youngsters because he recently got a Christmas card from one of my students. I posted it on his blog, but will re -post it here. The little boy created it especially for Rusty, drew and colored bones on the front. So cute.

They all know Rusty because I have him as the wallpaper on my computer at school. I also found a stamp that is of a Yorkie and it looks just like Rusty. I use it everyday on their folders. They have started calling it their "Rusty," as in :

"Do I get a Rusty today?"

"I want my Rusty upside down!"

"I'm making a pattern with my Rustys!"

"I didn't get my Rusty!"

"He doesn't get a Rusty! He was in trouble in PE."

OK, I'm still working on the tattling thing, but you get the drift. They have fun with it.

Christmas Trees

Christmas trees are my favorite Christmas decoration. No two trees are alike. Looking at friend's trees is always a treat. I've seen some really beautiful theme trees and have thought about doing one, but can't bring myself to leave my old treasured decorations in the boxes. I like to think of my tree not as a hodge podge of decorations and of styles, but as "eclectic." Many of the decorations were given to me by students. I write the name of the student and year it was given if there is a place. Others were given to me by my sister and nieces. (See the Gossamer monster near the top of the tree.) Many I picked just because I liked them. I've been trying over the last few years to find lamb ornaments. I call it my "Lamb of God" collection. My sister is always on the out look for them as well. Hanging inside the tree where it isn't visible is a replica of a nail from the cross. There are candy canes that tell the story of Jesus. Small glass fruit ornaments hang on the tree, each one naming a Fruit of the Spirit. Several cross ornaments are there, also. "Manger" nails hang from many branches, unseen unless you know to look since they are not colorful. Some were my mom's ornaments, familiar and loved since childhood. Won't be going to a theme tree any time soon. They are beautiful, but my "eclectic" tree holds so much meaning for me.

No Refund

Don't you love these new photo kiosks? I like to go in and get instant gratification, pictures now, not in two weeks! I use them a lot. Certain rules apply, of course. Now.......

I took my SD card in to my friendly neighborhood (unnamed drugstore here) to print a few pictures (finally) from my sister's wedding this summer. (A little behind I know. I still have rolls of 35 mm that need to be developed. ) Anyhoo, I had 1 5X7 printed. As I stood and watched, the girl behind the counter CRAMMED it into an envelope that was obviously too small for it. As I watched the edges wrinkle up, the girl never flinched. I took it out of the envelope and handed it back to her and told her I needed a refund as this one was bent up. She said, "We don't give refunds on digital pictures." It sounds like a joke, but I assure you that it is true.

Life is funny you just have to laugh!

Christmas Recipe - No Bake Cookies

I love these cookies and so do the kids in my family! It is an old recipe so you probably already have it, but here goes:

Chocolate-Peanut Butter No Bake Cookies

2 C sugar

1 stick butter

1/4 C cocoa

1/2 C milk

pinch salt

Bring above ingrediants to a rolling boil and cook 2 - 3 minutes. Remove from fire and stir in:

1/2 C peanut butter

3 C Quick Oats

1t vanilla

Quickly drop by teaspoons full on to waxed paper.

Cool and enjoy.

Christmas Recipie - Sweet Potato Souffle'

It is getting to be that time. Usually I do a turkey and dressing, or ham and dressing. My nieces love my dressing and fake giblet gravy. This year my husband has to work and my sister has moved to Kansas (where they are freezing their patooties off) so I'm going over to a friend's house and have been requested to bring my sweet potatoes. They like them a lot. The recipe calls it a souffle' but it's not. So here it is:

Sweet Potato Souffle'

3 c cooked sweet potatoes, mashed

1 stick margarine

1 t vanilla

2 eggs

1 c sugar

pinch of salt

Topping

1/2 c pecans - chopped

1 c brown sugar

1/3 c flour

2/3 cup melted margarine

(can add 1/2 cup shredded coconut)

Instructions

Beat souffle' ingredients together. Place in greased pan or oven proof dish.

Spread topping over the mix and bake 30 min. at 35o degrees.

Note

I always add extra pecans, I usually use real butter and I never add coconut.

When I need to make double of triple batches (depending on how many people will be there) I try to cut back on the butter some.

Card Making (for gift cards)

Christmas is getting here quickly! I've been through an orgy of shopping, card making, phone calling etc. Not to speak of the stuff for school. I think these are the final Christmas Card creations of this year! These are gift card holders. They look light blue in this picture but the ink for the swirls and the solid back are teal. The design is from a Staampin' up wheel. The larger one is holding an i-tunes card. The other two are regular sized cards.

Hustle Hag

Someone asked me why I called this blog "Hustle Hag" so I thought I'd just write it down! I tried several names and they were all taken, of course. You know how it is. While mulling this little problem over this little tid bit from the past came to mind.

It started when my niece, Laura, was about 3. We went to First Monday (a huge flea market in Canton, Texas.) I was carrying her on my hip when she looked up and saw that her mom, my sister, had walked a few booths up from where we were. She kicked me with her heels, like I was a riding horse, and said "Hustle, Hag." She was pointing toward her mom with a concerned look on her little face, then kicked me again and bobbed her body in the direction I needed to go. My sister and I still laugh over that. However, at age 13 now, Laura doesn't find it nearly as amusing as we do! When this came to mind I thought, "Ah ha!" And so there you have it: Hustle Hag. It says a lot about my life. I'm always hustling to try to get things done and I'm always behind anyway!