Honey, I'm Hooo-mmme!

Well. I have just been busier than a one-armed paper hanger lately.. We have been twirling at a fever pitch around the lake. My niece, M, has graduated high school, selfishly also turning 18 the same week, so there were TWO milestones to celebrate. My bro and his wife were here, so we got a good visit, then they took M to Peru for a couple of weeks, to visit Macchu Pichu, Cuzco, Lima, etc.. My SIL is from there, so they will stay with family, part of the time at their beach house.. must be nice..lol They're having a great time.. Here are a couple of pics of her at her prom, and her senior pic.. Not that I'm proud, or anything...

And, in other news, we had the big yearly Auxiliary Barbeque today! We had it at our local horse ranch, in the arena.. we had pony rides for the kids, (and one adult) live music, boneless ribs, chicken and sausage, cole slaw, potato salad, baked beans, your choice of almost any kind of desserts, door prize drawings, a bake sale, with those cinnamon rolls we had last fall.. remember those, Maria and Kelly??LOL We had a blast. We didn't have quite the turnout we wanted, but it was a success, and the pony rides were quite popular!

But, now I'm dead tired!! So, I think I'll go and save more rambling thoughts for another post.. You all be good, and get to blogging! Don't be a slacker like I've been!

Mother's Day Swap!!

Well, hello again!! Sorry I'm late for our swap reveal! I've been sick, then busy, and then having photo challenges!! I was Shannon's "giftee" this time, and am I glad! She is so clever. I got a HUGE box, filled with gifts and peanuts which my cats have truly enjoyed. Inside were 4 lovely gifts, wrapped in my favorite color... PURPLE! Plus a wonderful pack of Violet candies, and a beautiful note card! YUM.

Then, opening them!! There was a lovely journal, perfect for blog ideas, or a great prayer journal, some note cards and a notepad, all with a great design. There was also a great dish with a blackboard center and a piece of chalk! And I got a Joy Jar!!!! Yea! The greatest joy thoughts on pieces of paper..when you need a dose of joy, you just open one up! And it's a pin cushion on the lid.. How handy is that?? Then there was an adorable apron to wear while I cook! I needed one, too.. It's a beautiful bright floral pattern. THEN, there is a bath set of wonderful shower gel, lotion, and a great scrunchii for them. All things to pamper myself and improve myself!! What a wonderful gift box! And the candy tastes just like lavender smells. I'll get a pic up as soon as I resolve the weird problem I'm having with downloading..

This was so much fun! Thank you so much Shannon! You're such a creative person! I love these swaps!

Computer Surroundings Week!!

Well, I'm finally back.. I've just not been myself lately.. don't know who I've been, but they're not bloggers, whoever it is! I must have spring fever! Been overthinking everything, and find myself just sitting and staring! It's beautiful today.. 65, sunny, gorgeous. We've had everything from 70's down to 30's, sunshine to sleet and snow in the last week!! And every time a new weather front goes through, I can tell it before the weather changes!!

Well, Katsoup tells us it's the week to post where we compute! So, I didn't clean mine up as much as some people did.. obviously..lol but, it has everything I need close at hand!!lol

Maybe too much "close at hand"? LOL Unfortunately, I also have cats that knock everything around whenever I move away from the desk! It was my grandmother's desk, so it's a little small, but I love it.
So, there it is.. now go take pictures of where you blog and post them!!

Sorry

Sorry I've been sooooo absent lately! I've just been very, VERY busy! My bff has been off on vacation days, and seems to think I should spend more time with her when she's home all week!! She's about to kill me! We also had an Auxiliary meeting last week. Very weird stuff going on there! And I will be on the board for ANOTHER YEAR!!! Just shoot me now!
Anyhoodle... my bff and I decided to make some Chinese food.. we used to do this fairly frequently.. it's somewhat hard, and time consuming.. but absolutely wonderful. So, we made our menu, bought our stuff, and Saturday I went to town to chop and slice, and spend the night so we could start early Sunday to feed 6 or 8 people.. It was a wild time, folks.. but we finally prevailed. Then, we did it again today!!! We're nothing if not psychotic! But, I must say, we are the queens of Chinese food. You won't get food that good in the buffet line.. and you'll never find egg rolls that good!! We made: egg rolls(40), crab rangoon(100), sweet and sour shrimp, beef and vegetables in oyster sauce, fried rice, steamed rice, and banana pudding for dessert. Every bite was homemade, chopped, sliced, etc from scratch.. not a pre-prepared bite in the bunch!! J thinks it was harder than I do.. I think the main thing was just not having done it for a while, it was hard to get organized. It was much easier today.. but, umm umm good!
And this weekend is our Soup and Chili Luncheon with the Auxiliary!! Next week I'm collapsing, as I so richly deserve to!!lol So, sorry I haven't been around for a while.. I'll be back!!

Fun!!

I got this from Manda.. It's really fun! Some of them come out pretty amazing! Go try it and post it! This is mine.

1 - Go to "wikipedia." Hit “random”or click http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Special:RandomThe first random wikipedia article you get is the name of your band.

2 - Go to "Random quotations"or click http://www.quotationspage.com/random.php3The last four or five words of the very last quote of the page is the title of your first album.

3 - Go to flickr and click on “explore the last seven days”or click http://www.flickr.com/explore/interesting/7daysThird picture, no matter what it is, will be your album cover.

4 - Use photoshop or similar to put it all together.

5 - Post it so we can see what you got!

Valentine's Swap!!!

Well, I got my Valentine's Swap today from Nora, a new "swapper", and it is FABULOUS!! She couldn't have picked anything better for me! It's a beautiful cookbook, from the Symphony Guild near her.. It is all Southwestern food (Mexican and tex-mex)(YUM), and even has art in it! They have quite a few artists that allowed them to copy an original oil painting and place them at intervals in the book! They're wonderful.. I can tell what I'm going to be doing for a while! Cooking out of this book!!

For just looking through my blog, Nora sure nailed me!! Thank you sooooo much!! This is wonderful!!

For those of you wondering, my Dad is doing great! He's still getting physical therapy, and the nurses are drawing labs and teaching him, and watching him. His doc is very pleased with the way things are going.. Thank you all for all the prayers and good thoughts sent to him!!

Tornados-- Are we in Oz?

Well, we are all still alive! The horrible tornadoes were centered more to the southwest of us. It's awful when a twister touches down..if it stays down, there's damage as far as the eye can see. And so many strange stories. Everyone in Oklahoma has their tornado stories! There are so many of them every year, that we all have ours. Tornadoes can do very odd things, like put a straw straight through a board without breaking it, or totally demolishing one house on a block and only minimal wind damage to everything else around it. Or demolishing an apartment complex, and leaving some cabinets standing with a puppy inside, unhurt. All we had was some big wind, heavy rain, thunder, and lightening , which is fine by me!! I love thunderstorms, but I'm not fond of tornadoes. Although I admit to being like most Oklahomans, which means we run outside when we hear the sirens, or hear on the TV to seek shelter!!LOL It is a little unusual to have February tornadoes, as it must be warm enough to spawn them. But, it's been in the 60's and 70's this week, so I guess it was long enough to do it.. I hope everyone else's week is going a little more calmly!

How Wonderful!!

WooHoo! I got something in the mail today! Some time ago, our blog friend Shannon, at Sweet Blessings, asked us to pick one word we wanted to focus on in our lives this year. I picked "Hope". She has taken the time in her busy life to make a wonderful reminder of these words. This is so special!







Hope:
the feeling that what is wanted can be had or that events will turn out for the best

to look forward to with desire and reasonable confidence.

to believe, desire, or trust

Faith is the evidence of things hoped for.. without hope there is no faith.

The color doesn't show well on here, but it's a lovely light purple! It's so special, THANK YOU, SHANNON!!! You're so thoughtful, and kind.(And talented!)

He's Home!

I'm doin' my happy dance!! Which you all reaaally don't want to see.. lol You guys are the best with the prayers, good vibes and wishes! Dad just came home! He came out of ICU Friday night, and was able to get off the oxygen. So, they decided he could recuperate at home, now.. We're all breathing a big sigh of relief. It could have been strokes, heart attacks, anything.. Lots of people don't survive Pulmonary Emboli.. (blood clots to the lungs) So, thank you all for the good thoughts and prayers. It always feels good to know you all are out there!! I'll be back later.. got to go do stuff over there. Hugs to all of you..

Keep it up!

Thanks for all the prayers for my Dad. He's still in ICU, but doing well. The pneumonia is getting better.. he's still on high dose anti-coagulants, but he might get to go to a regular room tonight. He still needs oxygen, so he won't be home for at least a few days.. You all are good pray-ers!! Keep 'em coming, please! He's not out of danger.. but it's looking up.