my addiction

So, I am totally addicted to the "fried" squash recipe I featured earlier this month. You can find it here. With the exception of last night, I have made it every night this week. I also just made the same recipe using zucchini for my lunch today. MMMM!!!

glad to show ya

My gladiola

being silly

Here are 2 silly pics I took of myself. Meghan and I are constantly talking about how we need new pics for our facebook/myspace accounts. I snapped these 2 crazies this morning. Enjoy!

Saturday 6: six blogs I think would be fun to read

Here is a short list of 6 friends who do not have blogs, but if they did I think they would be fun to read.
1) Jill
2) Meghan
3) Kelly
4) Julie
5) Camille
6) Beth

Thursday 13: thirteen reasons why I didn't get my 13 published yesterday

I am blogging from the back seat of Meghan’s car during the last carpool of the week.
Here is a list of 13 reasons I didn’t get a chance to blog the Thursday 13 last night.

1) I had to go to the grocery store, which I have been to every day since Saturday.
2) I had to go get cash to take to Mr. D. who was at the cash only haircut place.
3) I made more "fried" squash.
4) I made 3 batches of my most requested brownies.
5) I took a bowl of batter to Kelly- because that is what she likes best about the brownies
6) I made cubby tags, hook tags and bag tags for 26 lovelies in the summer class.
7) I emailed my super awesome boss to make sure I could be off for my anniversary trip.
8) I looked at the place we are going on the internet and got all excited.
9) I washed, dried and folded 3 loads of Montessori laundry.
10) I watched the 2 hours season finale of LOST. I didn’t move for the entire show.
11) I created the new summer sign in/ sign out sheet.
12) Emailed with my Minnesota family to plan their trip home. YEAH!! I can hardly wait.
13) Made a list of things to discuss with my Mom about the upcoming visit.

two outdoor updates

The tadpoles are getting bigger. They are also dwindling in numbers. My plan is to wait until they are a little bit bigger and easier to catch and then starting Operation Relocation.

My lantanas in the front yard are in bloom and looking beautiful!

the thing I do

Whenever we have a cookout or people over for dinner, I always like to try at least one new recipe. I have even been known to have a dinner party or two with an entire menu of things we had never tried. Brave- I know. Today, we had a few friends over for a cookout. Here are the 2 new recipes I tried.

The first is called Crispy Cheese Cookies.

It called for:

1 cup of sharp cheddar

1/2 cup of butter

1 cup of all purpose flour

1/4 tsp of salt

1 cup of rice crispy cereal

Mix together and roll into 1 inch balls. Place on a ungreased cookie sheet. Press down and crisscross with a fork (like those super yummy peanut butter "fork" cookies my Aunt Patsy makes). Bake at 350 for 15-17 minutes. Cool on a wire rack. It said to store them in an airtight container- but since the recipe only makes 2 dozen- we didn't have left overs. Also, all Brady friendly ingredients-so he got one as a treat. I would definitely make the cheese cookies for an appetizer again.

The second recipe was a big hit. It only took a few minutes to make- but as you can see from the picture, it looks like I put a lot of effort into this dish. It only has 3 ingredients.

strawberries

strawberry cream cheese

cream cheese frosting

Wash, slice and hull out strawberries. Mix equal parts of strawberry cream cheese and cream cheese frosting. Pipe into the hulled out strawberries. Replace tops. Refrigerate until ready to serve.

We had so much fun at our little cookout today. I am looking forward to many many more as the summer progresses.

the after picture

Here is a picture of our newly arranged screened in porch area. It was well worth our efforts. Our friends really enjoyed spending time out there this afternoon at our cookout.

so today we...

*took all of the furniture off of the screened in porch
*swept the screened in porch floor
*pressure washed the screened in porch floor
*went to CVS for cleaning supplies
*washed all of the furniture
*vacuumed the rug
*put the furniture back and rearranged it 2 million times
*treated the pond for algae
*put the last 2 coats of polyurethane on the door
*put away laundry
*made a grocery list
*paid bills
*relaxed

my date

Mr. D. took me on a date last night. We went to a restaurant that he has been to before but I haven't. The name of the place is Fire and Ice. Click on the name to go to the site. We had so much fun- in fact I said in the car "that was fun" and Mr. D. was like- do you realize you have said that like 12 times since we left. Well, it was fun!!! I want to go back. Basically it looks like a huge salad bar, but in reality there is only a small portion that is salad. The rest of the bar contains any kind of vegetable and meat you can imagine. I even thought it would be a great time to try something new I had never tried before - but when I mention trying muscles to Mr. D. he told me that they are slimy and that was the end of that thought. At the table they brought us chips, salsa, rice and tortillas. I had a salad first, which next time I would skip to make more room for the other stuff. The first main dish I made consisted of chicken, shrimp, bacon, water chestnuts (which I LOVE!!!), mushrooms, pasta, and onions. This concoction had a honey garlic sauce on it. Mr. D. made steak, onions, mushrooms, talapia and potatoes in a Saskatchewan sauce. We took it to the grill and hung out while it was cooked. The chefs were very entertaining. They talked to you, sang, fussed at each other, etc. It made the cooking time fly by. We ate that and then went back for more. The second time around we decided to make something to share with the other one. I chose a hamburger patty, bacon, onions and mushrooms with a barbecue sauce. Mr. D. chose broccoli, pasta, chicken, onions, mushrooms and an Alfredo sauce. We went to the grill. They created me the most yummy cheese hamburger. I even picked up on a new technique I will be using at home. Mr. D. had some pretty great pasta Alfredo. After that, we were done, full, finished, couldn't eat another bite (even thought they had super yummy looking chocolate cake).

how I spent my Saturday

While I was out shopping for 4 super cute summer tops, Mr. D. decided to sand down the front door to be refinished. We took a journey to our home away from home-- the Home Depot to purchase stain, brushes, a drop cloth, painters tape, cheese cloth and polyurethane. We came home and taped the areas that didn't need staining. We stained the door in the afternoon and we will be putting on the polyurethane today. The door looks FABULOUS!! If the people 5 houses down only knew that it was originally their door, they would want it back. Luckily we bought first and I had the builder switch the doors. :)

did you know?

Did you know that this weekend 9 years ago was supposed to be the weekend we got married.... just a little trivia for you all.

on Tuesday....

Kelly and Meghan had us over for a nice dinner. We were so happy to go and it was a delightful distraction from the demon possessed printer. I had the most yummy thing there. Kelly was sweet enough to give me the recipe. I am looking forward to an entire summer of this yummy yummy dish. Please do yourself a favor and try it.

"fried squash"

cut squash into thin slices

heat oven to 400 degrees

line pan with foil

spread thin layer of vegetable oil or olive oil

roll slices of squash in Jiffy corn muffin mix

place on pan

spray with butter cooking spray

bake at 400 degrees for 10 minutes

turn

bake another 15 minutes

enjoy!

congratulations Tiffani

Today, I took Tiffani to Sonic for her prize she won on my blog contest. However she kept insisting she owed me $7 for her part of dinner last night so in reality she bought her own prize. What a crazy girl!!! We came back to the house and played Mario Kart. It was so much fun!!

Thursday 13: the Thursday version

This little cutie and her sweet sister will be spending 10 days with us this summer. We are very excited about it. Today she told me some things she wants to do during her visit.
1) play
2) play with Brady
3) make cookies
4) make cookies with sprinkles
5) buy some doughnuts at the doughnut store
6) get new sunglasses for her
7) paint
8) do lessons
9) play with the tadpoles and frogs
10) make bracelets and necklaces
11) swim
12) fix hair
13) get some pink flowers and strawberries

Thursday 13: thirteen crazy funny things about my day with Tiffani

I met Tiffani today for some girl time and to go and purchase her Wii Fit game. Here is a list of 13 crazy funny things that happened. When you get to #10 you'll understand why I am publishing it on a Wednesday.



1) Tiffani was late meeting me so I went to Hobby Lobby. I happened to walk out of the Hobby Lobby right when she was driving to the parking lot. I hopped in her car and she was on the phone. She got off of the phone and I was like "I'll drive" and she was like "no, it's ok" and we are discussing all of the reasons each of us should drive while all the while driving around the parking lot in her car. She ended up driving us.


2) When we got to our next destination Tiffani parked like 2 million miles away. I pointed out that there was a space directly infront of the door. Tiffani proceeds to inform me that she needed a pull through space because it uses more gas to back up. I offered to give her a quarter.


3) We went to the Christian book store. I kind of forgot where we were as I proceeded to inform Tiffani (ie gossip) about a different person used to know being slutty (a hem.. I mean a jezebel).

4) Then I proceeded to LIE at the Christian bookstore as well. I hate when the people ask me my number and stuff for their databases so I made up an alias. Tiffani assured me that telling lies, gossiping and judging people at the Christian book store are all considered to be a sin.

5) We went to get Tiffani's Wii Fit and the man asked her if her name was Tiffani Jones (her first name and her recently deceased boyfriend's last name). This was very ackward- but she handled it like a trooper. This isn't crazy funny- but ironic. It was funny though because I thought his name was Ryan Atwood- not Ryan Jones.

6) We decided to try the Bubble Tea that Meredith has been raving about. First we casually walked by the place. Went into a store and discussed it. Walked by the place again. We made a plan of that we wanted. We then proceeded to ask the guy what we should have and then promptly ordered what we had chosen before. I don't even know why we asked him. We went with the pineapple coconut. We split one.. just to try.

7) While the guy was making the bubble tea- I snapped this picture. He asked if we were taking pictures of him and we totally denied it. Tiffani was like - no, she is showing me pics on her phone. We later discussed when we started telling so many lies.

8) The man said the little tapioca thing-a-ma-bobs would come up through the straw and to just eat them. He assured us they were delicious. I thought I was going to VOMIT the first time one come up through that straw. It was so slimey and gross. We both agreed we liked the tea- but not the tapioca.

9) Upon leaving the mall I somehow managed to shut my big cluncky shoe between the door and the seat. I had to ride like that unable to move my leg until we got to a stop sign. Then I couldn't get the door open and had to beg Tiffani had to unlock the doors so I could free my leg and foot.

10) On the way to dinner, Tiffani told me that I should type the Thursday 13 of all of this silly stuff and she would link her readers to it. I was like I have 2 more days- it is only Tuesday. She was like- no it is Thursday. I told her I was sure it wasn't Thursday. Imagine both of our surprises to find out it was Wednesday.

11) We went to dinner and I ordered a sweet tea. I made the comment that I was glad to know that there wouldn't be anything coming up through my straw other than tea. About 10 minutes later a lemon seed came up through the straw. I again thought I would vomit because I was thinking about the tapioca balls.

12) We ordered a cheese dip but before our meal came Tiffani was like we should save some cheese dip for our tacos. Then she proceeded to tear the chips into the most tiniest little trial sized pieces to make the dip last longer. It was so funny.

13) I must need a bib because during the course of dinner I managed to drop the following items down my shirt...
salsa
steak from the taco
a chip
and a drop of cheese dip

my printer is demon possessed

My printer is demon possessed!

I feel like I am in college again, you know with a big paper due and the printer goes nutzo crazio. This is report week. It is one of three weeks in the year where I have to be a total recluse until the last report is printed. I even started early this time, working on them here and there. Monday night, I decide to start printing out. I am chilling on my couch sending the list to the printer from the laptop. I go to collect the goods and discover only lots of white paper sitting in the outbox of the printer. Even though the printer received the data and printed the right number of pages, it didn't print anything on the pages. I thought maybe I was out of ink. Tuesday after school, I stopped and bought $30 worth of ink. I changed out the cartridge and the same thing happened. So, being creative I emailed my reports to my email. I opened it up on the desktop and printed it. No problems. Then tonight, I sent them from the laptop (the 5 I didn't get finished in time) and it is all working normal. So who knows what happened the first night. I am just SO glad that all 25 reports, 1o pages each are finished and printed!!! WHOO HOO!!

despite my best efforts...

Looks like the plague of the frogs may be appearing in my back yard anyway. I have about 10 million of these little guys happily swimming around the pond.

funny quote from Meghan

"Are you seriously explaining The Brady Bunch to me?"

do dah day

Today we took Brady to Do Dah Day, which is a festival for dogs and cats in our city. We saw lots and lots of dogs and a few cats. It was a fun day. We took Meghan (the world's best dog sitter) with us. Brady was exceptionally well behaved. We parked and walked to the event. It was fun hanging out with Mr. D, Meghan and of course BRADY! We met another couple there too, and all of the dogs got along. Brady was fascinated with his travel water bowl. He just LOVED it. We watched the parade of animals. I have never been so glad in my life that Brady hates dog biscuits. The people were throwing them from the floats. I can't imagine how sick he would be if he had eaten all of the dog biscuits thrown to him. We also got Frisbees, coupons, magnets, dog food samples and stuff like that.
If we go again next year:
1) I will definitely not wear my yellow box flip flops (great for being cute- not so great for walking 3 miles)
2) I will bring a back pack for all of the free stuff
3) I will try not to lose my Blackberry again. (thanks goodness it was found quickly!)
All in all, we walked about 3 miles today and Brady is worn slap out.

tales from the unorganized...

Friday night, I was cleaning out an unorganized drawer. We had to laugh at something I found. It was a paper that we were supposed to fill out for my niece's time capsule. So, since she will be 4 next week and the thing was sealed up 3 years ago.. I guess I need to fill it out. I swear they should put me on one of those shows for an intervention.

the big day

Today- well actually tonight- is the first night for my Mom at her new job. I forgot to post that she got promoted. I am so very proud of her and her acheivements. Her new store is only 6 little miles from my house. I will be able to pop in and see her more. We are all very excited.

stay tuned readers!!!

I am cleaning in the closet again.. I just scanned in some photos that I got from my Granny in December (see post below). Wow- that only took me 5 months to complete. Who knows what else I might find. Tales from the unorganized will be coming all weekend long!!!

this little cutie...

...grew up to be my Daddy.

a funny quote

This week, we have been visited by a very talented musician at our school who happens to be a 6th grader. Yesterday after my kids performed Three Little Birds for him, he responded by saying "This is so cool, I never learned Bob Marly in preschool. You guys are lucky" I thought it was very funny.

Thursday 13: Thirteen things I have to accomplish before the last day of school

I realized today that next Friday is the last day of the regular school year. Here is a list of 13 things that need to happen before that day.

1. finish teaching the lyrics to Surfin USA
2. make end of your gift for the kids
3. REPORTS... 24 of them
4. Parker's birthday party (this is actually a fun thing on the to do list)
5. Olympic day
6. the art show
7. box top pizza party
8. help childen make thank you cards for support staff
9. last day of art class
10. conferences with any families requesting one
11. start planning for summer session
12. have fun!
13. Enjoy every minute with my sweet little ones, especially those who are leaving!

hair today...

I finally got the haircut that almost wasn't. Last week we had to cancel for unforseen circumstances. Then we couldn't get back to back appointments as that hairdresser for 3 more weeks. Roberta, my friend I was going with made us appointments at a different hairdresser who could see us this week. I felt like I was betraying my friend (sorry Kate!!) who recommended the first lady to us, but I had to get a cut and it is getting very very hot here. So, we went to a hairdresser that Roberta had past experience with. Here is a pictorial of the events.

I am thrilled! I love love love it! Mr. D. just said "you look like Kim" and I do. I actually knew that would be what he was going to say before he even said it. I consider it a compliment!!!

So, the hair has been cut and donated. I hope the person who gets my hair will be as happy as I was when I wore it.

pictures I couldn't get to upload last night

Sorry for the delay. I have been having the hardest time with the blogger uploading. I could not get these pictures to upload last night. Here are my petunias and the walk way after I put down the mulch.

where in the world have I been???

Friday night, we attended the Ecology Festival at my school. It was amazing!! For the first time in the history of my current teaching career, my class had 100% attendance at an out of school hours function. The kids totally rocked at their song. I was so very proud of all of them. I packed a picnic of Publix subs, chips and brownies. They were so yummy! The weather was perfect and I really had a lot of fun!!

Backtracking, Friday morning at 4am, Mr. D. woke me up from a deep and restful sleep to see if I could hear this cricket. I couldn't while I was sleeping but once he pointed it out- then of course that is all that I could hear. We determined that it was somewhere near the dining room window because whenever Mr. D. would bang on that window it was stop for a few minutes. After the Eco-Fest, we were in the driveway talking to Matt and we heard the noise. Matt informed us that it was not a cricket, but a frog. Sure enough, I looked at the pond and found this.

I scooped this noisy frog up in the fish net, covered the top with a magazine and proceeded to relocate. I left our yard, crossed the street, walked 4 houses up and dropped it off. we had a peaceful nights sleep. The next morning, Mr. D. had to work so we were up getting him ready to go and I heard the frog again. You have got to be kidding me!!! I can't believe that the frog had found it's way back. Upon investigation I found that not only was the frog back- but apparently it invited a friend to the yard as well. ***Warning, following photo may not be suitable for young readers***Upon further investigation on Sunday, I found that this little rendezvous produced a few hundred million of little frog eggs in the pond. Fortunately for me, the fish were eating them like crazy. I am just glad that we aren't going to have the plague of the frogs in my own back yard.

Other random things I need to catch you up on are:

Ceci is out of the hospital and gaining weight. She has now exceeded her birth weight. We are all very excited to hear this.

Tiffani is making it the best that she can. She came home last night and went back to work today. It is a hard process, so please keep her in your thoughts. We actually got to go and pick her up last night from Montgomery, so I got to spend some time with her in the car.

Mr. D. and I are getting geared up for a busy summer. We have so much planned!

The baby bird in the nest on the porch hatched on Mother's Day--- much to Mr. D.'s dismay. They are a noisy bunch!!

Mr. D. drew the winner of my Blog-iversary contest. He drew #2 and that happened to be Tiffani. Congratulations- you have won a trip to Sonic.

I downloaded my first I-tune for our Ipod Nano, it was Sunshine Days by the Brady Bunch for my class. And yes, my kids know every word and LOVE the song.

Mr. D. took the day off today. He had his first golf lesson- which was a Christmas gift from his Mother. He said it was great and he got lots of good pointers. He has 5 more lessons to go. Watch out Tiger Woods.

Since 3pm this afternoon... I:

drove home

talked to Mr. D. , Julie and Tiffani

went with Mr. D. to Home Depot for the rest of the mondo grass and a new trimmer

cleaned the pond filter- super yucky!!

got the 3 dead fish out of the pond

got the old dead plants out of the pond

picked up all of the Brady poop out of the yard

swept sand into the cracks of the patio

deadheaded the petunias

finished planting the mondo grass

put black mulch around the mondo grass

washed off the patio

picked up dinner

watched tv/blogged/read other blogs

you be the judge

This afternoon, we were having our usual spring severe thunderstorm/tornado type weather. I was on the bed watching the weather and a huge thunder clap shook the whole house. Brady jumped up into the bed (a huge no no!) on top of me. Yes, all 87 lbs of him. My question to you dear readers is... was Brady
A. protecting me
B. being a big baby

Either way he got kicked out of the bed. I just can't decided which he was being.

don't forget to enter

I am having a contest. All you have to do is comment and tell me your favorite blog entry I have made in the last year. Go HERE to enter. Enter as many times as you like. The drawing for the winner will be on Sunday.

what a Wednesday!

Today was one of those day that I couldn't have predicted from the start. There were many things that happened that I hadn't expected but totally loved.
Today at school, we had the first full run through of the Ecology Festival. My kids totally rocked. They didn't even need me. I was very proud!
This afternoon, I went to Hobby Lobby and they hadn't gotten in any more of the white paint. Being in kind of a bind I ended up buying black paint. I then went to Sonic to a little after school snack and came home to start t-shirt work. It is a total nightmare. The black paint is totally different from the white in thickness. It is bleeding through my stencil and not going on as nicely. I just keep saying to people..."from a distance these shirts will look fabulous!!"
After making 5 more shirts, (leaving only 12 more), I got a phone call. The sweet little voice said "can I come to your house and play??" The answer to that question is ALWAYS yes!! So, Parker came over and I introduced him to the Mario Kart. He stayed until his dinner time (about 40 minutes) and then I took him home. I came home and started dinner of my own. I also fed the fish. We had Ravioli for dinner. After their dinner, Parker, Julie and Caleb came to visit. Here is a super cute picture of the boys playing Mario Kart!

Parker and I mailed my Mother's Day cards. Some were mailed from my mailbox and some were mailed from his mail box. We also played with the basketball in his driveway. We had fun.

After he went home for the night, I started back to work making a stronger stencil for t-shirt 101 tomorrow night. Nothing like the last minute for getting things done around here. The kids as so excited about Friday night and so am I.

to be continued...

Due to circumstances beyond my control, I did not go and get the big haircut today. Stay tuned for the reschedule.

t-shirt factory

Tonight I started working on the 25 t-shirts I need to complete by Thursday night. I went to the other Hobby Lobby this afternoon to see about getting more of the white fabric spray paint. They had 2 cans. So, that made me a total of 4 cans, the entire supply of 2 Hobby Lobby stores. I was talking to my friend Karen and remember saying "surly I can get 6 t-shirts per can"..... WRONG!!! I am out of paint, all 4 cans and I only completed 11 shirts. Hopefully I will be able to find more paint tomorrow. The shirts are super cute. They will look very good from a distance. Here is a picture of one of the shirts.

Here is a picture of my factory. It is hard to believe that less than 2 hours ago this room was "company clean". Mr. D. didn't know what to think when he came in from dinner.

Cinco De Mayo

Also known as the night I ate an entire bowl of cheese dip.

For some reason none of my friends are admitting to helping me with that bowl of cheese dip. I must have truly eaten the entire thing. We waited forever to eat- but that is understandable on Cinco De Mayo. Meghan and Kelly were there. Tiffani felt like eating, and she had the t-shirt from last year, so her attendance was a must. She brought her Mom who I was glad to finally meet!! Mr. D. had the tshirt from last year too! Here is a picture of the two of them... and yes- Mr. D. is actually letting me put one of him on the blog!! Enjoy!!

Baby Ceci

Ceci is in the hospital with dehydration. She is having some trouble digesting stuff. Her Dad just called to let me know they will be keeping her for a few days to monitor her intake and outtake. They will be testing her for bacterias, viruses and food allergies. Keep her in your prayers.

a giveaway

My 1 year blog-iversary is May 6. I will be giving away a fun prize. To enter, leave a comment telling me your favorite blog post. Enter as many time as you wish and I will announce the winner next Sunday. Good luck.

so much to blog about

What a weekend!

Friday night we went to dinner at my #1 favorite place to eat- J. Alexanders. We met Natalie, Jesse and sweet baby Ceci. At 3 weeks, Ceci is now 6 lbs, 9 ounces and 19 inches long.. just almost the size I was when I was born. She is a tiny little sweet thing. I got give her a bottle and change her diaper and outfit. She was the perfect baby in the restaurant and didn't fuss at all. We had so much with them.

Saturday, we got up and had breakfast at home. Then we went to pretty much every hobby and craft store in the area to find supplies for my classroom's t-shirts for the upcoming ecology festival this Friday. Nothing like the last minute on the t-shirts designs. They are going to be awesome and I will so a blog entry on them as I am making them later in the week. We also went to Toys'R'Us where we bought a gift for Alice's 3rd Birthday, and an extra Wii wheel for us. Now, we can race each other on Mario Kart.

Saturday Afternoon, we picked up Meghan and went to the birthday party. Alice has a M&M themed party. It was lots of fun. For the cake, we had M&M ice cream sandwiches. I thought it was such a cute idea. I always have fun at parties at the Young's house.

After the party, Meghan, Mr. D. and I went to Walmart. We all needed to get stuff. The buggy filled up quickly. I got the most beautiful white wave petunias- which I will take a picture of for you when I plant them. We got the makings for a cookout and came home to grill burgers. Here is a picture of something funny we saw at Walmart. It was supposed to say "Live, Laugh, Love". So much for out sourcing...

Meghan and Kelly came over for burgers, onion rings, fries, and fun. The burgers were so yummy! Mr. D. is an awesome burger maker- if you haven't had one, you should ask him to grill you one!

On a super sad note, Tiffani and I were texting all evening about her boyfriend being MIA. I went to sleep expecting her to call me when she talked to him, unfortunately, tragedy struck and the phone call I received this morning didn't hold the news I was hoping for. You can read the news story here. There is also a video here. If you have time, please go to her blog and offer her some encouragement as she is in a great deal of pain at this time.

We went to be with Tiffani early this morning and stayed until after Tiffani's Aunt arrived. I came home and took a nap. I then took a shower and got dressed up to go to Emma's dance recital. I have never ever been to a dance recital before. I was so very excited. I didn't know where I was going so after 97 days, I drove LOLA for the first time. Here is a picture of me in Lola.

Lola is super fun to drive. She is very sporty and she like to go very fast. She guided me straight to my destination. I was even able to parallel park her fairly easily.

While I was at the recital, I realized that my New Year's resolution started today. My resolution is to be a tourist in my own city. Tonight, I attended the recital in the most historic theater in town. Click here to see for yourself. It was stunning inside.

When I got home from the recital, Mr. D. had prepared a marvelous dinner. He made barbecue chicken on the grill, baby new potatoes and fresh green beans. I was such a wonderful treat. Thanks Mr. D.!!!!

Thursday 13: thirteen things I am doing in the month of May

In honor of today being the first day of May, I thought it would be fun to make a list of 13 things I am doing this month.

1) dinner with Natalie, Jesse and baby Ceci
2) a couple of birthday parties
3) Emma's dance recital
4) Cinco De Mayo with my amigos at Cozumel
5) Hair cut/donation
6) Ecology festival at school
7) School Dance
8) finishing up the patio area
9) having people over for cookouts
10) lots and lots of holidays, birthdays and anniversaries to mail cards for
11) shopping for these cards
12) possibly taking my Mom to a real civil war reenactment
13) end of regular school (getting ready for the summer session)

my hot date

With Mr. D. out of town this afternoon, I had a hot date.... with Parker. We went from school to the fish pond store. They have (but do not sale) Koi. The Koi would eat out of your hands. Parker thought that it was so much fun. They also had tadpoles that he found interesting as well. We got Anacharis which is a submerged plant I needed for the pond. We then went to the store and Parker helped to pick out the 19 fish we added to the pond. He picked the 15 little goldfish and I picked the 4 larger comet goldfish.

Parker gave them names like Diego, Dora, Socks, Cheese-it, Cheeto, and then he wanted me to name the rest. I don't remember the names I gave other than Fanta for the smaller round white fish with the feathery fins. We had so much fun! Once I get more of the algae out of the pond, I am sure I will enjoy it more. It's a good thing these little goldies like to snack on algae! I have had so much fun this week working on the patio area!