Matthew putting on my boots.

Matthew helping daddy

Mike working w/ Honey.. Natural training.

Grizz sleeping

Our elk chandelier

Some current pics

light over staircase

valves to our radiant floor heating system

Honey with her "coat" on.

So pretty.

Radiant floor heating zones being placed

First night time shots w/ our chandelier and fan light.

Tim putting in the black electric plugs.
Kim's vanity.. we had to do it this way b/c the air conditoning vent goes right thru her bathroom.
Kim's room.

Current cabin pics ~ this past week

New railings on front stairs.
Side deck by dining room.
Back deck.
Upstairs balcony.
Ohhh, can't wait to add that garage to the mudroom.

Close up of Riverbed granite

Riverbed counter in kitchen

Closer shot of kitchen

Riverbed granite in kitchen

Elk chandelier in kitchen

More cabinets

Ceiling fan

Honey up in Beaver

Kitchen cabinets

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Matthew's Blog: On our way to Dr. Tenby's to check lungs

Matthew's Blog: On our way to Dr. Tenby's to check lungs

Matthew's Blog: Matthew had pneumonia again *sigh*

Matthew's Blog: Matthew had pneumonia again *sigh*

Kim's bedroom dormer w/ tung n groove

Plumb tuckered out

Waiting in ER

Matthew's Blog: Some fun pictures of the GooMan

Matthew's Blog: Some fun pictures of the GooMan

Look at this beautiful girl! I can hardly wait to get her to Beaver!!

Matthew's wall

Veggies from our garden

Riverbed Granite

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TnG & siding

TnG in Kims room

Siding in room

Matthew's Blog: 4 years ago July 28th ~ a new beginning...

Matthew's Blog: 4 years ago July 28th ~ a new beginning...

Posting pictures to a select blog

I have two blogs, one for me and one for Matthew..... Does anyone out there know how I can select which blog I want my pics to post to from my Blackberry?

Right now, all my pics are going to Steel Magnolia.

I'd like to be able to choose.

Matthew and furry friends

LoL

Facebook put me in "time out"

Yep.. it happened to me...

apparently I was abusing my privilege to comment, post and send private messages...
HA! Muah?

Anyway...I kept getting nasty messages from FB that my account was going to be disabled...

I yi yi... we must have a Facebook Czar out there.... I can't even e~mail or call them.
FB won't even tell me what their threshold is of comments per day.

I really don't think I am commenting more than usual...other than the fact that a very sweet young couple found us via Matthew's blog... their darling baby girl Ruby was born w/ the same awful heart defect as Matthew. I've been trying to give them support and find other "heart moms and dads" to help them too...

*sigh* I feel like a small child that is being punished.... *pouts*

Look at that grain on the Tung N Groove

Master log siding

Log siding in our room

Our new baby - this is Honey

Upstairs balcony

View from Kim's balcony

Our room

Kim's tubbie

Passed our rough inspection!

Getting those corners right

Starting interior walls

Skies over cabin

Unloading the railing

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A friendly horse in Beaver

Upgraded interior railing

Front entry railing

Railing up

Cabin appliances are ordered!

I spent 2 days looking at appliances... we ended up w/ Sears Kenmore "Elite" Black appliances. I am most excited about the double drawer dishwasher and the tri door refrig. They are scheduled to be delivered at the end of July.

Talked to the granite guy (Ryan English Granite & Marble) ... we want "riverbed" granite. We saw this awesome "riverbed" granite on Blog Cabin.

Gosh, by the end of summer we should be good to go!

We just need to coordinate with the cabinet maker (John from Southern Nevada Cabinet) the appliances and granite guy. We are very excited about the prices we got. Hoping for great prices from the granite guy so we can get exactly what we want. We are going with the same granite for bathrooms as the kitchen to save $$.

Can't wait to post pictures for ya'll.

Entry done!

Almost done w/ stairs

Halfway done w/stairs to porch

Working on entry stairs

The medical examiner in Salt Lake City determined that it is not a human hand after all, it's a gosh darn BEAR CLAW!

Look what the dogs brought home.

Beaver rain

Railing we ordered for loft and stairs

Our cabin on the hill

Lovin the pool

*giggling*

Daddy's helper

What an amazing day. The 65th Anniversary of D~Day... the beginning of the end of the German Army. God bless those thousands of young men who gave their lives that ONE day to help free Europe.


They are such hero's. They are the reason the French don't speak German. I can't imagine how horrific that day was for those boys.


God Bless Our Military!!

USAA made good on our cabin insurance

I just received a call from USAA and they will insure our log cabin. WAHHH HOOO!!

I spoke w/ the cabin inspector the other day and was given a list of all the things we needed to complete to get a "certificate of occupancy". I promised we would be "complete" in three months. That is why they changed their mind.

THANK THE GOOD LORD.

I am so relieved that I feel weak.

Just chillin on the way to Beaver

Our amazing garden in Beaver

So many of you are asking, so here is a quick post re: the Beaver garden (pictured in the next post).

We have everything you can imagine planted.

Pumpkins, cantaloupes, tomatoes, squash, carrots. I can't even think of it all.. but you name it, and it's probably in there. Corn! You can't have a garden without corn!

If Matthew is doing good, we'll head up on Sunday. Tim is running tubing for our water thru the house right now. Almost ready for the rough inspection.

OH OH OH, can you believe USAA dropped covering our cabin??????

After being an A+ customer of 14 years paying and NEVER filing a claim...
they dropped the cabin ... they have covered the cabin for 1 1/2 years now.

I kept record of every single person I've talked to in two years... they all knew we were building a log cabin.

Cabin pic

Our big garden

Our garden

stairs to the deck

working on Kim's balcony

finished cleaning all the walls inside.. ready for caulking and staining or protectant.

Just got out of hospital w/ Matthew, been real busy. He'll be home on oxygen for a couple months.. hopefully in a couple weeks he'll only need the oxygen at night. This illness really kicked his bupp. He's still not feeling good. Poor little guy.

Matthew will spend a couple more days w/ his nurses and RT's

Matthew's Blog

He can't keep his oxygen levels up when he's sleeping... even while on 2 liters of oxygen.

Matthew is in the hospital w/ respiratory problems

Matthew's Blog

31 years ago in June

Wow... check out the difference in these two pictures! Our friend Mark, who owns Mountain Lighting up in Cedar City, Utah fixed up this very old picture ... he did an awesome job!!

I was only 17... my sister Kim was 16 and my brother Keith was 12. Mom and LeRoy got married June 2 1978. I was about to graduate from high school. I took off for Alaska right after I graduated (with Casey's dad). Wow... gotta love the 70's.... and those polyester pant suits!! LOL

Upstairs balcony

Septic tank/line, power line and water line in!

Water line from the well to the cabin.

Power line from the house to the transformer box.

Our first "clean out" for the septic tank line... in case we have anything get stuck...yuk.. in the line.
Working on the septic tank line... we had to go 180 feet from the house to the septic tank and leech lines. Needless to say, the tank is very deep b/c they had to make the line go down at an angle so everything would roll nicely into the tank.

This young girl is simply amazing

Matthew's Blog: ECHO & EKG went great today

Matthew's Blog: ECHO & EKG went great today

My childhood friend who has a place in Beaver too! Chris, Jim and Taylor. We were eating at the famous Maria's in Beaver.

Matthew enjoying a trampoline jump on the built in tramp over at Trish and Av's.

Silly boy! Matthew and his glasses....LOL

*big sigh* Quixa got tangled up in some barbed wire or something!! Ripped about 5 or 6 inches of her skin from the underarm down.. it was nasty. Had to take her to the vet over in Milford for some stitches. The shirt keeps her from licking the wound.

Poor girl... that must have realllly hurt! But she looks so cute in this shirt!

Our first water line to the house w/ a Manabloc system.

Our main electrical box and meter.

Pulled the trailer out for the first time in about 6 years to take to Cedar for servicing.. and to fix the heater that quit working last winter.

My new pink "mud boots" Mikey bought me. I love pink!

Baxter hanging out on top of my poor pregnant Spookie. Spookie should have these kittens any day now!! Kittens having kittens... what are ya gonna do??

This is where the corner tub will be in the master bath.

This is the service cable for the power... this thing is HEAVY!!

The drainage line going out the basement wall ... to the septic tank. Now that this is finished, the excavator will come up and dig out our 180 foot line to the septic tank.

Cabin pics

Standing on our neighbors deck looking towards our cabin.

Getting that entry way deck up.

This is the Beaver Courthouse!! Isn't it darling!! Love this small town.

This is hecka funny!

Only 1.23 minutes.... it's a police voicemail... LOL

We had lunch w/ a fellow blogger and Facebook buddy!

Mike and I met Scott & his adorable wife Heather (G~Man/Man Overboard) yesterday at the Excalibur for a wild and crazy lunch. They flew in from Maryland for a mini vacation.

We met at Dick's Last Resort and let me tell you.. it was crazy!! The people there treat you terrible on purpose. They burp while serving you...make you pass out the utensils to everyone... cuss at you etc. I had to wear a dunce had that said something a little crass.

The waitress came over to dump off our "crap" as she called it... and Scott said jokingly,
"thanks for nothin"... and she yelled "a@@hole" as she walked away.

A very different experience. I have some pics I will post when I get some time. They get points when people get upset and leave. ?? Crazy. Prices were very good, though!

It was fun, but like Mike said... kinda wish we went to a quieter place to really talk to them. Mike was very interested in Scott's profession and wanted to get to know them better.
We only had about an hour.

Off to Beaver

I'll e~see ya'll in about ten days ;-)

When I get home, I'll be meeting up w/ blogger G~Man and his wife... they are coming to Vegas for a few days. We have a great place we want to meet them for lunch.

Guess what ... no TV or news for ten days ... our friends don't have cable or satellite. I'll be listening to Rush, Glenn and Laura on talk radio to keep informed.

Toodle woo!!

Taxing us on our employer provided healthcare benefits

For two days now, I'm hearing lawmakers are now seriously considering taxing all of us on our employer provided health care benefits. I saw this on Fox all day yesterday and today they were talking about it on MSNBC.

This would cost the average individual approx $3000 a year in taxes!

I just wrote to Obama, Reid, Ensign and Titus telling them not to consider such a thing.

It's so easy for these lame lawmakers to tax US when they don't pay a dime and it's all free for them.

http://capwiz.com/politicsol/home/
The link above is a quick and easy way YOU can write to all your law makers in one email.

Here is the NY Times link:
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/03/15/us/politics/15health.html?_r=1&partner=rss&emc=rss

This on Michelle Malkin:
http://michellemalkin.com/2009/03/15/administration-is-open-to-taxing-health-benefits/

I swiped the picture off the Right Truth Blog... thanks Debbie.

It would be best for my emotional well being to never watch the news again.

It is so maddening.

Our lawmakers don't listen to us anyway ~ that's how I feel.

I've spent four years writing and calling re: healthcare, the illegal alien problem and the way they are spending our money.

They don't really care what WE want. They care what THEY want.

They will never have to deal with the day in and day out stuff that we deal with.

So why bother caring anymore? I think I was better off being completely clueless in the world.

Trust me ... I was sooo clueless before Mike.

I'm so irritated and mad all the time at the crap that is going on.

So, as I say I should quit watching the news.... I am compelled to do it.

You gotta love senior citizens!!!

This is the funniest clip I've seen in a long time...
I love Ellen DeGeneres...she's great...

Watch this, it will make you laugh and smile:

http://www.boreme.com/boreme/funny-2007/ellen-gladys-hardy-p1.php?emf=1

Hat tip to my mom, she emailed this to me.

I received permission from Joel to post this funny picture. I placed the pants over top the blanket.

Casey bought him these Dr. Pepper pajama pants so that when the specialist finally came in, Joel could shake his hand and say...Hi, I'm DR. Pepper....LOL....such goof balls they are!!

Joel and Casey stopped by yesterday after Joel ran in for more blood tests at Mitch's office.

Poor guy, he is feeling crummy. He spent a week on morphine and he said it's not fun coming off of it. He has no appetite at all. Hates the fact he has to go in every couple days for blood tests.

Hope he starts feeling better soon.

We just love Joel.. he's such a great guy.

Latest Beaver Cabin pics, in random order

Matthew and Mike at Home Depot in Cedar City. Matthew loves going in w/ his daddy while I sit in the car w/ the bird, dog and kitties.

The master bathroom corner "garden" tub. Kim will have a jet tub in her bathroom, too.

The interior doors. I believe Mike said this is "alder" wood.

Front w/ the side covered porch. Can't wait for the stairs!

I was standing down the side of the hill to take this picture.

I encountered lots of deer pooh pellets while roaming around down the hill. They are eating all the little trees Mike planted.

My favorite spot on the porch. Such a fantastic view and breeze! We'll be putting a porch swing there on the end.

Dining room and living room area and Matthew's room up top.

View out the dining room window. The upstairs bathroom plumbing. Tim is doing a great job.

Guess we get the railing very last.

Me and my little green girl, Aimie... Matthew in the back seat. This is one spoiled parrot.

We had such fun time.

It was very muddy, we thought we were stuck when we first drove in. Rainy and cold the first couple days.

We had lots of good dinners and yummy Amish bread.

Update on Joel: He is checking out of the hospital right now as I type .... no one knows how or why this happened to him. He will have to go get blood drawn every few days ... then eventually once a week ... still has the clot in kidney, but he's on a blood thinner. He'll go back for more tests in six months. I feel sorry for him. To spend almost a week in the hospital, but not really have any answers.

Off to Beaver this morning

Have a great week. I won't be watching the news, but I will listen to Rush, Glenn, Laura and Sean on talk radio to keep up. I'll be home Thursday morning.

My son's wonderful partner, Joel was admitted into hospital on Friday night w/ a blood clot in his kidney. He's only 27 and this is all very odd to be happening to a youngster. My BIL said that in 30 years of medicine, he hasn't seen this. The doc at the imaging center said he has not seen this either... basically, Joel had a heart attack in his kidney.

Of course since this happened on a Friday night... he's just hanging out in hospital on morphine. Hopefully we'll know soon what is going on. His mom drove down from the Reno area yesterday.

(and yes, I am feeling totally guilty leaving town while he is in hospital... *sigh*... but I am only a couple hours away if I have to come back. My son, his mom and all his friends are there.... but I still feel guilty. Mike is insisting that I go b/c I haven't been up since Thanksgiving and we won't be going next week.)

Please say a little prayer for my buddy.

Death of the United States as we know it

I felt this way the day Obama was elected... and I feel this way today as he's about to sign that Generational Theft Act or the Swindle Us Package.

He is a President on steroids... trying to be the President of Everything. Has his little hands in everything like Hugo Chavez.

The Socialist States of America.

http://michellemalkin.com/2009/02/17/yes-we-care-porkulus-protesters-holler-back/

Destruction of a nation

Update on the little Koala w/ video

http://gretawire.foxnews.com/2009/02/11/update-on-a-story-we-followed-on-the-record-at-10pm/
This is so heartwarming.

I. Love. This. Picture.

SYDNEY – It was a chance encounter in the charred landscape of Australia’s deadly wildfires:

A koala sips water from a bottle offered by a firefighter. David Tree noticed the koala moving gingerly on scorched paws as his fire patrol passed. Clearly in pain, the animal stopped when it saw Tree.

“It was amazing, he turned around, sat on his bum and sort of looked at me with (a look) like, put me out of my misery,” Tree told The Associated Press on Tuesday.

“I yelled out for a bottle of water. I unscrewed the bottle, tipped it up on his lips and he just took it naturally. “He kept reaching for the bottle, almost like a baby.”

The team called animal welfare officers to pick up the koala Sunday, the day after deadly firestorms swept southern Victoria state.

“I love nature, and I’ve handled koalas before. They’re not the friendliest things, but I wanted to help him,” Tree said.

Koalas normally drink almost no water because they get almost all their fluids from the leaves they eat.

After the scorched koala sipped from the water bottle and Tree’s crew moved on, animal welfare officials came by.

The koala was in pain but recovering with antibiotics.

She is lovely — very docile — and she has already got an admirer.

A male koala keeps putting his arms around her,” Shaw was quoted as saying. “It will be a long road to recovery, but she should be able to be released back into the wild in about five months.”

Wood burning stove up and running!

We love that 8 inch stove pipe! We get great draft.

Our first fire.

We love how big the opening is... we could stick a stump in there!

New bedroom set w/ new shutters, too.

Notice the vanity and chair that Mike made for me out of maple... he stained it w/ pecan. How lucky did we get to find furniture to match!

We needed to say room for our girl, Aimie... her cage is her bed.

Pictures are all hung up now.

MRI/MRA went really well today... it was totally painless. I was home in an hour! I was sure to be the very first patient. My doc should get the results in the next couple days.

Going tomorrow for an MRI and MRA on the ole brainola.
I go in next Monday for an ultrasound on my carotid artery and I'll get an ECHO, too.

I am of course, WAY hoping it's just a crazy virus that as settled into the right side of my face. I am currently taking meds for that. Keep your fingers crossed for me.

I really need to be healthy and I need to stay healthy for my little Matthew.

I should know all results on Feb. 23rd. Had a bunch of blood tests, too.

If you are on Facebook, let me know. ;-)

Having problems w/ my internet connection

It's been a nightmare ... hopefully I'll be up and running soon.

I keep getting kicked off... Mike needs to do something w/ our router, per the cable guy.

And I am still so irritated over this 819 billion dollar "Porkish/Spending/Welfare Package"

I think we should go with the Obama/Limbaugh Stimulus Package... Rush has a grrreat idea.
And, it will work... and his idea will actually work.

No wasteful spending, just tax cuts.

Slate for the wood burning stove to sit on.

Putting in the stove pipe.

There she is.

Air conditioner and duct work is in.

The Naperville Church my great grandfather made ~ Mike refurbished it.

It's about a hundred years old. I spoke of this church in my previous post. You can see the church on the table behind us in the picture. My little grandma used to always set it up w/ "snow" around it and little Christmas trees. My grandpa and grandma got married in the Naperville church wayyyy back when. She just passed away a couple years ago at the age of 101.

Me when I was 5 yrs old

Matthew's Blog

If you click on Matthew's Blog... This is me ~ the one on the right in the clunky shoes,

my sister Kim in the adorable Mary Jane shoes... (that was a little sore spot back then)

and my sweet little brother Danny back in 1965. Danny joined the Angels in Heaven back in October of 1974.

There is a church in the background, my great grandfather handcrafted ... it is a replica of the beautiful Naperville, Illinois church. Mike actually refurbished it a couple years ago and it's looks awesome. I should find the picture and show you.

New Sheriff in town

Flashback to exactly one year ago

If I am remembering correctly, those beams are about 2000 pounds each.

Fox News was the only major national TV outlet that carried a live telecast of former President Bush's homecoming speech to cheering supporters in Midland, Texas.

http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/showtracker/2009/01/alone-among-net.html

Glenn Beck on Fox News saluted President George W. Bush with these heartfelt words:

"Mr. President, on the darkest day, you gave us hope when we were hopeless.

You were unafraid when we were terrified.

You led when nobody else wanted to.

Mr. President, you don't have any idea what you meant to me personally and my family right after 9-11.

Job well done, good and faithful servant.

Thanks."

Mr. President, I cannot myself say it better. I echo Glenn's sentiments.
Thank you and God bless you for keeping us safe.
More Americans love and are grateful to you than you realize.

If you come to Susannah's blog, there is a beautiful tribute to Bush from Time Magazine:
http://getbigideas.blogspot.com/2009/01/farewell-mr-president-and-thank-you.html

Yay, new cabin pictures!!!!!!

The covered porch... wah hoo, this looks fabulous. I haven't been up since the end of November.

Brr... it looks quite chilly up there.

The corner of the porch... doesn't that tung 'n groove look awesome? Gosh it's pretty. Tim is amazing.

The air conditioning duct work. Mike and Tim are going tomorrow to get a bunch of plumbing and electrical stuff.... it's really moving along.

This is where the vents will be on the floor. I know this is kind of a boring picture... but ... it's exciting still...LOL

Covered porch

Timmy sent these to me while I was up in Reno.

I'd post more pics, but blogger is taking forever

Here I am at my most favorite place to eat in Sparks, Johns Oyster Bar

Lazyman's Cioppino! Jumbo shrimp, crab meat, baby shrimp and chunks of cod in a tomato base soup.. it is soo good. Comes with loaves of freshly baked bread w/ pats of soft butter!!

Off to Reno for a few days

I'm getting a little bit of R&R ....
going to see one of my very best friends, Marci. She had some surgery and is off work for several weeks.

I haven't been to Reno since last September. I'm very excited to go see all my old friends, we have a few lunch dates scheduled. I had lived in Reno for about 20 years, thru the 80's and 90's.

Mike will be Mr. Mom. While I'm gone our new bedroom set is coming, I can't wait.
I think the new shutters will be here, too. Woo hoo.

C~Ya!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! LOL Hugs ya'll.

p.s. We'll be going back up to Beaver next weekend, I'll post current pictures of the cabin. The deck and porch is coming along nicely, they are now putting up the tung 'n groove!!
I think the air conditioner and ducts are being put in now, too.

Happenings

Mike couldn't go up to Beaver last week b/c it was snowing too bad. So he stayed home and finished up our master bedroom. We got rid of the bedroom furniture that I've had for 26 years (I was actually very sad to see it go, it was so functional) and non matching furniture. *lol*
This was the last room in the house to get attention.

Anyhoo... Mike put down maple laminate flooring, crown molding with really thick beautiful baseboards, chair rail painted white and he painted our room mint green.

Our home is french country so we wanted to keep that theme. He also put up the 20" flat screen TV we WON over 2 years ago!!! It looks awesome. We love our sleep numbers bed too. It is sooo comfie.

We went to R.C. Wiley and bought a beautiful bedroom set w/ a four poster king bed.
Some before and afters are posted below, keep scrolling.

It's tough to find lighter furniture these days ... everything is sooo dark and contemporary. We wanted lighter wood with a country look. Did not want oak.
We got so lucky, it was all on sale and it's so pretty. We'll get it this week while I'm in Reno goofing off.

Regarding our cabin, we ordered up the air conditioning and duct work. Once that gets put in, the boys can start the plumbing and electrical.

I have been a baking and cooking fool... but I'm going to slow down a bit b/c I am trying to lose weight. It's hard when I'm always making such good things. This being a stay home mom hasn't been good for my girlish figure. *lol*

My goal is to get up at 4 am, six days a week and run on the treadmill. I will take Sunday's off.

I am sick of feeling bad about myself. I don't want to leave the house when I feel so chunky.
My dear blogger friend Kate is my little support girl, she's so cute. Thanks Kate.

I am perplexed because I just run all day long after my little tornado. *big sigh* Could it be my age? Thyroid. Or .. could I just be shoving too much food in my mouth.

The new bedroom set we picked out

We planned to only get a couple dressers b/c we knew someday Mike would make us a headboard. Then we saw this.
We got the bed, two of those nightstands, the dresser on the right and a "gentleman's dresser" not shown. It's real pretty.

This will look pretty in our "french country" house.

Before and after pics

I loved this bed... it had all kinds of drawers and cabinets. I bought this when I was only 22 yrs old. This was the very first thing we ever bought on credit ... and the very last thing we bought on credit besides our home. I was so sad to get rid of it ~but then again, I don't like change ~ that's just me.

This is our new Sleep Number Bed. Let me tell you, it is sooo comfortable!! Now we know what the big deal is. My mom, sister and brother in law all have one. They got us started.

Mike putting up the crown molding. We'll be getting our new white shutters next week.

Mike laying down the maple laminate flooring. He's done our whole house.

Look, no wires! We're so excited. We won this TV at a Christmas party over 2 years ago and we're just now getting around to using it. Didn't Mike do a good job!

Mike and his squad on New Year's Eve

Aren't they so cute! This is Mike's very first squad and he's like a proud papa. LOL

We treated the guys to some yummy Memphis Bar & Grill black eyed peas w/ ham during briefing so that they would have extra good luck for the entire year.

Auld Lang Syne ~ a repost from last year

Do you know more than the first couple sentences of this cool New Years Eve song?

Well, I never did until a guy on the radio asked... so Mike and I looked it up.

Auld Lang Syne ~ "For old time's sake" or "to the good old days" may be modern-day expressions, in common use as a toast, that capture the spirit of "for auld lang syne."

If you want to know the lyrics to the song, check this out ... it's pretty neat. Scroll down a bit on the link for the lyrics.

Now, for the BEST PART!

Auld Lang Syne (Millennium Mix) Video ~ this is soo awesome! Played by Kenny G w/ little soundbites of major news stories/events in the 20th Century. The very end is my favorite part.



HAPPY NEW YEAR EVERYONE!

Happy New Year Black Eyed Peas ~ have good luck the entire year!

Mom went to Memphis Bar and Grill yesterday and bought some of their black eyed peas ... and OMG, were they ever good! I found this recipe on All Recipes.com and it looks awesome as well.

INGREDIENTS
1 pound dry black-eyed peas
2 cups chopped cooked ham
salt and pepper to taste
1 pinch garlic powder
2 onions, diced
1 (14.5 ounce) can whole tomatoes

DIRECTIONS
Place black-eyed peas in 8 quart pot. Add enough water to fill pot 3/4 full. Stir in ham and diced onions, and season with salt, pepper, and garlic powder. Place tomatoes in a blender or food processor, and blend until the tomatoes are liquefied. Add tomatoes to pot. Bring all ingredients to boil. Cover the pot, and simmer on low heat for 2 1/2 to 3 hours, or until the peas are tender.

MERRY CHRISTMAS!

The porch/deck coming along!

Corner.. look at that view!
Back side
Basement french doors

Matthew's Blog: A night at the Magical Forest

Matthew's Blog: A night at the Magical Forest Click on link for more cute pics of Magoo's smiley face.

Just look at that face...he was grinning from ear to ear the entire ride!!

When the carousel took off, I was surprised at how fast it was going... I was trying to hold on to Matthew w/ my left hand and to the pole that was moving up and down, with my right hand ...

and I ALMOST FELL OFF!! LOL, I should have been on the other side, but as we went flying past Heidi, I said, "OMG I almost fell!" and she was laughing and said, "I know, I saw!!" There was only a small area for me to stand on.