Katie's New Hair Style for 2009

Well to begin it any way!

Turned out just like the picture!

RESOLUTIONS

Well here goes mine for 2009

1. Get back to the gym.

2. Learn something new. Either I take the pottery classes or I take guitar or the cake decorating classes....

Maybe if I keep the list short I'll make them!

The SpotBot inspired me. I've been deep cleaning areas all over the house. I decided to get the area in the bonus room CLEAN. So I moved part of the sectional and found stains MAJOR STAINS... moved more hot cocoa stains, coke stains....OMG! So far the SpotBot has gotten most of the stains out except for a very old red Kool aid stain I hadn't much real hope of it getting out.

Stain from under the sectional ( this should come with it's own creepy music like Jaws)


One go at it with the SpotBot. Still a bit of the stain there but who knows how long it has had to set. I've moved this sectional maybe twice in 5 years. It's a BEAST.



After I put it on for a third go later it was barely there. I really had to look hard. I'm going to put it on the spot one more time. I'm actually pretty pleased with how well it works.

MY NEW TOY!

Some husbands buy their wives jewelry... BUT I have the BEST kind one that listened and bought me exactly what I really wanted! He searched high and low for a double boiler. The poor guy seriously went all over the place trying to find one. To his total chagrin couldn't find one till the nice lady at Bed Bath & beyond pointed to Marshalls where there was just ONE. He ran over in the pouring rain. I mean buckets of pouring rain to get it. He also bought me my SpotBot. If you don't think that is a romantic present think again! I flip a switch and it does all the work of scrubbing when some has been messy or my little devil dogs have a Oops on the carpet. Any thing that makes cleaning easier and quicker is terribly romantic to me since I HATE house work. I've been happily rubbing out set in old stains all afternoon. All I have to do is refill the tank and empty a tank. It couldn't be easier! My hubby is a prince! Plus wait till you see my birthday present... LOL!

MERRY CHRISTMAS!

LET AVARICE ABOUND! a.k.a. Our family Christmas haul...I mean tree with Presents

Courtney being the "perfect child"

Katie being a BEAST. I can't wait till she out grows this stage!

got a picture any way...so there...

Dyson being cute!

What daddy needs to get through vacation at home...LOL!

me and my shadows!

We had a great Christmas! Thank you to all our friends and family that thought of us. It is appreciated. To all my blog buddies I hope your holidays are a special as ours!

Woo hoo!

Part of my Christmas present was delivered via the Titans! Now they just have to get through two play off games and on to the super bowl!

I'm DONE making oreo truffles. I am SICK of making oreo truffles. I don't even want to eat another oreo truffle for a LONG time. LOL! Now to deliver them all. i'd ran out ....

Now to do all the last minute things...

Sports, Sports, & MORE Sports

The Predators won last night against to NY Islanders (who really, really suck). They should have killed them... BUT they won 1 nothing ( Yeah! Peka, another shut out!) hey it is 2 points. Preds better get their offense on the 26th or the Red Wings will slaughter...YIKES!

ALL I WANT FOR CHRISTMAS IS A RED WING DEFEAT BY THE PREDATORS! Don't disappoint!

Steelers vs Titans today. BIG GAME. Hope the Titan offense doesn't take the day off like last week... No bone head calls Fisher!Should have let Rob kick the freaking field goal.... Yes, I'm still smart over last weeks give away of the game in Houston.

Our tail gate partners have wimped out because the temperature is below freezing. You know they didn't grow-up Up north.... Oh well!

ok and maybe one more thing.... I WANT ALL THE AFC PLAYOFFS TO GO THROUGH TENNESSEE AND THE TITANS TO GO TO THE SUPERBOWL. (that isn't asking too much)

GO TITANS!

Christmas is sneaking up on me! HELP!

WASN'T IT JUST THANKSGIVING?
Here I thought I had all this time...BAM! FLASH! No more time...
To top it all off one of the girls accidentally deleted my Christmas letter... Thank goodness I put the rough draft in my blog...

I finished making Christmas gifts mostly. Oreo truffles and pen bouquets. Pen bouquets are fun and the person will never have an accidental pen thief again... LOL! Kitschy Christmas by Kate. Thanks to Debra that bought all the supplies for the pens....well I bought lunch most of it ...love Chinese... it was truly fun making them.

I finally got Katie school photos so Christmas cards will go out tomorrow!

Jim finally got his Christmas bonus, YIPPEE! Now we can actually pay for Christmas!

Good luck everybody Christmas is just a week away!

15 minutes??? Voices

Well, more like 2 maybe 3 minutes of fame....LOL! I got to listen to my comments on NHL LIVE. All I could think is my voice really that high? The way I hear myself I have more of a Kathleen Turner or Lauren Bacall voice, low and raspy. Talk about illusion shattered! At least I wasn't pictured... After seeing the episodes of DIY Scrapbooking all I could think was how freaking fat I was and how awful I looked with overly frosted hair. I lost weight and I'm a confirmed red head now... So how do you fix your voice? Diction lessons? Any Henry Higgins around? Though he help with accent not the tone & timber of her voice... Maybe I just don't have the voice for radio.

You know what is really funny is at my class reunion this year I ran into one of old friends? frienemies? We were revels for choirs soloist or lead in the high school musical... We were always 1 and 2... she ask me if I still sang. I haven't in years. I ran into a very small road block in college and never pursued it again... Back then I had some other priorities (mainly boys)...LOL! She said what a shame that I should because I had such a pretty voice... Of course she doesn't live near Nashville where there are a million and one pretty voices. But why not sing in a community or a church choir. I'm not Celine Dion or Whitney Houston but I did enjoy it... something to think about. Use it or lose it... Guess I better join a church or volunteer at the community arts center...

I was on NHL LIVE!

I can't believe it! I called in and was the first call of the day. At least I got to vent on national TV and XM radio.

BTW refs you SUCK!

Zebra's from HELL

this is from Saturday night. Courtney got Jesse to do the full face painting and she just got paw prints... Poor boy is just smitten.

Last night I was so angry. The Canucks did not deserve to win this game the refs gave it away once again. The calls they ignored hurt a player.
The NHL has to do something about the horrible inconsistent calls and non-calls of it officials on the ice. I've been complaining about this since the season began. Scott Nichol was hurt last night by an illegal hit and the bonehead stupid refs didn't call it! This 6'3" man jumped, left-the-ice, with his elbows up and hit Scot in the head. He should have been thrown out of the game. The jerk targeted Scot's head. I've seem MUCH milder hits get HUGE calls these stupid bias Canadian officials let it go...

From NHL site
The scoring was a sideshow to the hitting. The first came on Nashville forward Scott Nichol in the first period and knocked him out of the game with an upper body injury.

Then at 5:12 of the second, Burrows left his feet and pushed his right elbow into Dumont's face, knocking him down. Jason Arnott went after Burrows and was given a game misconduct along with an instigator penalty and fighting major.

Burrows wasn't penalized, Vancouver defenseman Shane O'Brien was given a game misconduct and the Canucks wound up with the man advantage for seven minutes.

Arnott said he thought the NHL was cutting down on such hits. He was even more furious that Burrows was not penalized.

"I knew he left his feet. You see it on the replay, and he lands after he hits J.P. It's a blatant call, and there's two guys out there. I don't know how they didn't see that. Then the guy runs Webby (Shea Weber) from behind. He didn't need to hit Webby like that, from behind, run his head into the glass," Arnott said.

Burrows said he didn't see the replay but thought his hit on Dumont was clean.

"I don't want to injure the guy. I know the guy. We work out togther in the summer. That is the last thing I want to do," Burrows said.

Burrows made a dirty hit in my book. Made worse by bad refs, those refs should be reprimanded and fined. Sick of bad calls! period!

Christmas inches CLOSER!

Cookie with a little holiday cheer!

Heavens to Betsy! It's the 9th! Just 16 more days till Christmas. Today I'm going to finish up the out of town presents, and try to get a Christmas letter done...

I don't why writing a letter is so darn hard. Heck I blog every day just about BUT that Christmas letter. The problem is I'm such a smart ass. I make fun of the "brag" or the "keeping up with the Jones" letters we receive... a lot of them are one big list of how great their children are, or how fabulous their vacations were, etc... I know they are just hitting the high points but sometime it just comes off wrong. SO now I've put all this pressure on myself NOT to do that... My friend JoBeth sent me the funniest white trash letter a few years ago. I wish I could come up with one as clever as that was. It was the perfect foil for the infamous brag letter. Oh well I can but try ...right?

Here is my rough draft...

Dear Friends & Family,

We hope that this letter finds you healthy and happy! We wish you all the joy the season brings!

Now that is out of the way, I can get down to bragging about our wonderful children, Courtney & Katie. I have a lot to hit on since last year I was too lazy, I mean busy to get a letter finished in time to send. Courtney was lucky enough to be nominated to be a part of People to People and went on a fabulous trip to Australia summer of 2007. This year the crazy girl opted out of a fantastic trip to Europe to be a service camper at Camp YI. She’s flat out NUTS. We’ll be committing her soon… That is as long as it won’t go on her permanent record. We need her to get into a good college so she can take care of Jim and I in our old age since the 401k is in the toilet after this year. She’s the best hope being on the president’s list and all… That brings us to Katie who has grown probably a foot since you’ve seen her. We’re hoping she’ll be a super model since she sure is tall enough for the job. With her contacts, boobs, and braces she just doesn’t look like the same girl. We’ll be pedaling her to an agent soon… well as soon as we can get her away from the mirror… Which brings me to Jim & I. Since Jim is always on the road somewhere trying to keep me in the style I’m accustomed to, so I’ve taken on a lover, sports. Jim doesn’t mind it keeps me from complaining. I get to watch all the eye-candy I can stand…
Gee don’t you wish you were us?

HAPPY HOLIDAYS! FROM THE CHILDERS
Jim, Kate, Courtney and Katie

My Truffles

I opted to put sprinkles on them instead of melted white chocolate. I made peppermint bark with the white chocolate.

Peppermint bark



All ready to be put in jars and be delivered!


My friend Jennifer sent me this and I just had to share....

Quote of the day:
'Whatever you give a woman, she will make greater. If you give her sperm, she'll give you a baby. If you give her a house, she'll give you a home. If you give her groceries, she'll give you a meal. If you give her a smile, she'll give you her heart. She multiplies and enlarges what is given to her.
So, if you give her any crap, be ready to receive a ton of shit.'

Jar Project with Oreo Truffles

My version! At least the proto type. I need to glue the top on a bit better. I bent this one...Oops! I got to use my punches! The jar isn't square, BUT I did have to fork out any $$$ for it. I save jars. My DH makes fun of me for doing it. BUT they do come in handy at times... No I'm not as bad as cousin Mabel (Willa, Bruce & Andy) FAMILY JOKE... I'm going to put Oreo truffles in them for the neighbors.

These are so easy to make and so easy to eat! Cookies and Cream in truffle form. Divine!
40 truffles (approximately)

Ingredients

1 lb Oreo cookies (3 sleeves)
8 ounces cream cheese, room temperature
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract (using different extracts allows for subtle flavour changes...I've used mint extract, upped to 1 tsp) (optional)
1 lb milk chocolate
1/2 lb white chocolate

Directions

1 Using a food processor, grind cookies to a fine powder.

2 With a mixer, blend cookie powder, cream cheese and vanilla extract until thoroughly mixed (there should be no white traces of cream cheese).

3 Roll into small balls and place on wax-lined cookie sheet.

4 Refrigerate for 45 minutes.

5 Line two cookie sheets with wax paper.

6 In double-boiler, melt milk chocolate.

7 Dip balls and coat thoroughly.

8 With slotted spoon, lift balls out of chocolate and let excess chocolate drip off.

9 Place on wax-paper-lined cookie sheet.

10 In separate double boiler, melt white chocolate.

11 Using a fork, drizzle white chocolate over balls.

12 Let cool.

13 Store in airtight container, in refrigerator.

These truffles ROCK!

Christmas Band Concert

Katie is the one with the sax all in black.

They were pretty darn good! The band directors are very dedicated. It was a lovely concert. Very quick! We even got back in time to watch two periods of the Preds game so even though we couldn't go we saw some of it. Preds won btw...

Tonight is Agi-sales Christmas party. Jim planned it. We bought all the favors. I love them they are Santa head ornaments Woodland and traditional. It should be a nice party, but I doubt seriously if it will match Flyte's food. That is a culinary experience extraordinaire... This is a hole in the wall Italian joint very casual. I'm still wearing my gorgeous red shoes though...LOL!

Speaking of gorgeous red... I need to get my hair done and nails... ROFL!

Have a good one!

Swim meet

Courtney doing the back stroke
this was the best pic EVER. LOL!

I'm starting to get a feel for the "action" shots. I was very pleased with how in focus I was able to get the shots. This lens is very cool.

It was a fun meet Blackman doesn't have a very big team so it was more of a scrimmage than a real meet. Good practise for the kids to swim, and me with the camera! LOL!

Finishing touches

Trees are now freshly flocked!


Gold bows top off the jardinieres!


The dining room table is dressed. I arranged this center piece the first Christmas in this house. I'm surprised and happy that it has survived all this time with just a little freshening up.


The Halls are decked with fake pine bows mixed with fake holly does that count? LOL!


I found the Santa and snowmen table mats. They are now on the "breakfast" nook table. I dressed the lighting with a garland of stars and found a Santa in a sleigh for the center piece. The Christmas towels are out in the "guest" bathroom. I think I'm about DONE with decorating maybe a tweak here or there. I need to work on a Christmas letter...

DESIGN TO MATCH

COURTNEY'S TREE
KATE'S TREE

Bit over the top, but Courtney requested a personal tree for her room. So Katie had to have one too. They have the small trees in all sorts of colors at Michael's bright lime green and pink prelighted matches their rooms perfectly! They had fun putting them together.

IT'S BEGINNING TO LOOK A LOT LIKE CHRISTMAS...

It's a work in progress! Here's what is done so far...

i swore I wasn't decorating the outside of the house, and I didn't except for the gold wreath on the door. The out door lights are all courtesy of Jim and Courtney. (They can take them all down too!)
My mini master piece Titans/ Predator tree greets people in the foyer.
new this year on the "big" tree is red and gold butterflies instead of bows. A very ME touch!

Sorry this is an awful picture... My wire "present" basket finds from Hobby Lobby.
The mantel so far. I found that sign to cover some of the white box under the TV. It is still missing something... I think every thing is too tall I need some smaller items to break it up. I like how my jardinieres turned out with the pine cones and Christmas balls.
Probably the only type snowmen or people will see here in the south for Christmas.
Old favorites!

I still have garlands to put up, and more small displays to finish. We aren't having any parties, or people for Christmas so I'm not really going to do much more. Maybe a cookie exchange or a morning coffee.... We will see....

Hope you all had a lovely Thanksgiving! Happy decorating for Christmas!

Getting Ready for Thanksgiving!

I've been decorating, cleaning and BAKING! Oh My! the main reason I haven't been blogging...

Yesterday I made banana bread, two pumpkin pies, yam cake (I posted the recipe not too long ago here), a pecan pie, and Cinnamon tarts out left over pie crust dough... They were GONE in seconds I took them when I picked up Katie, Shelby and Emily after school... ANYWAY I'm so DONE with baking for at least a few days. I guess I'll be roasting a turkey tomorrow...

My parents are coming from Ohio to visit. They'll be here sometime this morning. I was scrambling to get the gift baskets done for them to take back. (Willa if you are reading this you just spoilt your surprise.) I think they turned out cute! It's all the ingredients for my current favorite recipe Curried chicken with peanut sauce. A lot of WOW factor for little work, and taste divine!


Well I've got last minute things to get done... Start the chili, shop for fruit for the fruit salad, get the ladder off the front porch...

HAPPY THANKSGIVING!

I'm in Form Filling Out HELL!

My husband's company has been informed of a HUGE increase in premiums on health insurance because of some major claims with in the company. So it will be cheaper for us to pay for me and the children on a different health insurance policy, the jump for family was obscene! That is how I got in form filling out H-E double hockey sticks... unreal the information that they want. Our complete health history for the past 10 years and all prescriptions for the past two years... I have calls in all over to get the information. I'm not organized about health stuff because the girls and I have been pretty healthy...knock on wood... I'm not sure why they need all this from me since they will be asking our old insurance company about claims. Just another form of bureaucracy to drive a person NUTS.

Football food

Food yesterday for all day football watching was New England clam chowder. (Titans were away in Jacksonville)

Here's my recipe

1 small onion minced/ chopped
2 T butter
1/4 to 1/2 cup ham chunks or Canadian . bacon
1/4 flour
1 large can of whole baby clams
2 cans of minced clams
4 bottles of clameto
1 bag of hash brown potato chunks
1 cup of milk
salt
pepper SPICES TO TASTE ( about ½ teaspoon to 1 teaspoon)
garlic powder
onion powder
old bay seasoning

Heat the first 3 ingredients till onions are translucent. Add flour to make rue. Add the rest of the ingredients except milk. Heat till boiling let boil about 10 minutes till potatoes are done add milk reduce heat let simmer another 10.

I had saltines and corn muffins with this. YUM!

10 & 0 TITANS! Scrappin Halloween, & GO PREDS!

Justin Gage two AWESOME catches!

What can I say? THE TITANS ROCK!



the theme of this page is all the little wiggly eyes, eyes period. I put eyes on everything. It was fun page. I'll be plugging away on these pictures for a long, long time.

The Predators play the Sharks tonight at HOME! It's been a while! I've missed going to games! Nothing like hockey live! GO PREDS! make sushi out those fish! Pretty please!

Got Your Game Face On?

ME from after the last home game. I'm amazed I didn't sweat off that tattoo!

The Jags are going to gunning for the Titans in Jacksonville. GO TITANS!

Yesterday was a fairly busy day. I took Katie to get her "skinny" jeans. Reward for a GOOD report card. I bought a birthday gift for Jeanne Hepborn's BIG 40. They had some very lovely smelling and looking candles at Kohl's with matching candle plates. I bought the HOPE one with the pecan caramel scent. I thought it smelled yummy.

Courtney went off to the movies with Jesse. He is now work at the movie theater. One nice perk of that job is two free movie tickets a week and all the pop corn you can eat! I remember those days Jim use to work at the theater in Conneaut...

Jeanne's Birthday party was lovely. It was at one of my favorite restaurants, Goodness Gracious. GREAT FOOD! I didn't think to tuck my camera in my purse. DRAT! Shawn got her the most beautiful cake! I'm getting the name of the cake lady Courtney's sweet 16 is coming up fast. The price was reasonable and GORGEOUS.

Watch the end of the Vanderbuilt game against Ketucky. They won! 6 games bowl bound!

Predators took on the the LA Kings last night. Elis stood tall in goal and got Nashville the win. Hope he is as good again Monday for the Home game against San Jose snarks...I mean Sharks. the only thing good about them is they wear teal....LOL!
they'll be gunning for the Preds because they spoilt their unblemished home game win record (snicker, snicker). Preds back in 8th for the play off hunt...

In my own little fog...

I'm having one of those lost weeks... I really don't feel like doing much of anything. I have the normal stuff laundry, kitchen cleaning, etc... but I'm not very inspired. I think I used up all my inspiration in October, and I'm still stunned it is November... heck it's half OVER!

BETTER GET IT IN GEAR!

Salute to the election.... Jennifer & Carl at the Halloween party


On a happier note yesterday the girls got their report cards. MUCH to my surprise and JOY Katie got all A's & B's well she missed the B in math by 2 points ( didn't an 83 use to be a B?) Any way I already knew she was getting an 83 because of Ms Gray Email. Courtney my darling over achiever got straight A's. She got a 102% in her Science course something to do with bonus points. Any way I'm a proud and happy mama.

Woo Hoo! tomorrow is FRIDAY!

Not much happening around here right now. Tonight is Bunco night. I need to drink fruit juice, take a B complex vitamin, and take an aspirin...LOL! Totally looking forward to it!

Jim brought the dogs raw hide bones home day before yesterday. I think Cookie is in LOVE. She keeps stealing Dyson's bone too and hiding it. Spoilt little princess.
She sure is a cute ball of fur That's what keeps her alive when she wakes me up at 4 AM.

Happy Thursday!

PS Oakland lost the swim meet by just a few points...BUMMER

PREDS BEAT SHARKS! aka All is Right in My World & Courtney's Swim meet too!

WOO HOO! Ruined the Sharks streak. Preds really needed a win!


OAKLAND(Patriots) VS RIVERDALE ( Warriors)

Getting all ready to GO!

My action photography with the long distance lense needs WORK.
Courtney racing! Watch out Michael Phelps. ROFLMAO!

that blur on her swim cap is Patriot logo


Yesterday was Oaklands second swim meet against Riverdale. I was there the whole time took pics, but I can't tell you who won... Jim even kept up with some of the stats. Still clueless...SAD! Courtney swam in it doesn't know... Guess I'll find out tonight. It was our first meet. They had to do the math. I don't think it was done yet. Oakland had one other meet they won. I think this was MUCH closer. It was fun to watch there was always action going on, a lot of noise. Maybe by the end of the season I'll master my camera and understand the scoring... maybe, maybe not there IS hope.

Terrific Tuesday

Katie was a studying fool Monday afternoon after school. Threaten her clothing supply and you get results. We'll see how this turns out.

Yesterday I was very productive I cleaned up the kitchen started the laundry, dusted the bedroom... I knew I had to get the heck out of the house! after pestering Debra with a barrage of texts. I get one back asking if I'd go to Cool Springs to get Michael's hockey stuff. Heck yes! PRISON BREAK! Guess staying home all weekend pretty much with no parties or games got to me... We did eat out as a family sushi...
guess I wasn't in hermit mode as much as I thought...

Any way we got all the hockey gear, then went off to worship SHOES & PURSES. I could have easily spent a couple of thousand.... DIDN'T, not that NUTS. Matter of fact I didn't spend any money till we got to Marti & Liz's where I bought the same shoes I was looking at Belk's for almost 3rd of the price $25 not $70. the $70 at Belk's was the SALE price they had been $120... LOVE Marti & Liz's. We went from there to Marshall's and I got the jardinieres I've been wanting for displays for $9.99 a piece. I was thrilled!!! Same thing was $40 on sale at Pottery barn last year I got 2 for less than half that price. those Cinnamon pine cones will have a happy home with some gold and red balls!


these are HUGE! 2 feet tall
Gotta love RED SHOES!

This put in a Christmasy mood! WOO HOO! Too bad it's November LOL!