Thats the fact...

On Facebook this past few weeks, people have been posting facts about themselves as prompted by others. I have been busy with midterms (fact) and don't spend as much time on Facebook as before (lie), and did not participate. I did get to thinking that it would make a great blog post. So hold on to your top hats, because here are ten facts about myself that you may not have known before.

1. I am very self-deprecating. There is nothing that a person can say to me, that I have not already told myself worse.

2. I do not like to talk much outside of those I am close to. It usually leaves me feeling like I said something stupid, and going back to numero one.

3. I love to get lost in a good story. One of my favorites is Gone with the Wind, and I have recently started the sequel Scarlett, and recently found that there is another story written from Rhett Butlers perspective Rhett Butlers People which is definitely on my to do list.

4. I day dream more than any adult should. I have some great stories in my head, if only I could get them onto paper as eloquently as they are portrayed in there.

5. I have an odd fondness for coffee cups and cardigans. My husband says I am like Mr. Rogers.

6. I love to be outdoors, and experience natures awesomeness. One of my to do's is to visit all of the State Parks in my state. I adore photographing nature, and wish I understood it better.

7. I would love to eat my way across the globe. I enjoy trying new foods and would like to try the regional delicacies in each area.

8. I love old things, buildings, photos, and oddities. Old buildings are another of my favorite to photograph.

9. The only real friends I have anymore are my sisters. I guess I am lucky to have been given so many of them.

10. People believe I am indecisive, mostly I don't care about the little stuff. I am more laid back then people give me credit at times.

Yummy, Garden Chowder

This chowder is one of my FAVORITE fall recipes! It is super easy to make and is so delish! You could even alter it to fit your tastes, adding meat other veggies or switching to vegan dairy products.

4T      Butter
1        Onion, Diced
3        Bell Peppers, Diced
1pkg  Corn, removed from the cob (approx. 4 ears)
3c      Broth, Chicken (or whatever is handy)
1/4c   Flour (I use wheat, because it is handy at my house)
2c      Half and Half
1c      Monterey Jack, Shredded
1c      Pepper Jack, Shredded


* In your pot, melt your butter. Then add your onions so they can start to cook, after a few minutes and when they become translucent add in your bell peppers. After allowing the mixture of onions and peppers to cook for a few minutes add in your corn and allow it to cook for a minute or two.

* Sprinkle your mixture with the flour and then combine. Add your broth and stir, then allow to thicken for 4-5 minutes. Turn to low as you add in your half and half, and allow to simmer for 15 minutes.

* Stir in your cheeses. Once they have melted completely and it has reached desired temperature, devour!

Halloween

So it's about time I do a post about Ty's Halloween.

He went with his daddy a few weeks before to pick out his costume, Bumble Bee from the Transformers, and he is already planning costumes for next year. I had to work so he got to go around town with his Mimi, aunt's, and cousins. However, I did get the privilege of having them come visit me at work! They were all so stinking cute! Poor daddy was working too, so he didn't get to go either, but little man had a blast.

Lets play a game

Here is how it works I will show you a photo and you guess the significance of the group of items. Sounds easy, huh?

Okay, lets get started...

So we have:
 1. A battery pack
 2. A brown crayon
 3. A black ink pen
 4. A pair of birthday candles
 5. A small thing of bubbles
 6. A small infant sock

What do these all have in common? Not as easy as it sounded. Some of you mothers may have figured this one out though.

These are all the items that I found under my couch cushions, when I cleaned the other day. Ty has been the only one using this couch since we rearranged the living area, so how did he manage to place all these things in the cushions... I have no clue.

Take a look under your cushions and see what you find...
What kind of interesting tale do the items tell for your family?

Oklahoma...

After months of being away from my sister, I finally made the trip down to visit! It was well worth the 7 hours in the car. For one, I got to see my sissy and I have missed her bunches and two I got to go to Braum's and it is one of my favorite places to eat in OK. If only we would have been able to stay longer and been able to hit up some of my other favorite restaurants. I was able to knock off one of my goals from my 101, seeing her play volleyball at SGU. That school is gorgeous. It is on the site of an abbey and monastery; it has such a long history and the buildings definitely show it (in a good way). Ray ray was saying that they have a museum on site that even houses a mummy. We didn't get a chance to go, and it looks like there is a pretty cool children's museum about 20 minutes away. Maybe next time!We were only able to spend Saturday there, as we arrived at 11:30p Friday, and had to leave Sunday to be back in time for bed. We were able to make a stop along the way home at Bass Pro in Springfield, MO. I believe Ty had a bit of a sensory overload walking through there. His poor little neck had to hurt, with constantly looking up trying to take in all the animals and fish. Be prepared for some photos!

I asked Ty what his favorite parts of the trip were, he came up with:

The powdered donuts the hotel had at breakfast. (Driving the elevator was a close second when it came to the hotel.)

Wrestling with Aunt Rachel.

The horses that they had on the roads.

Still happy and ready to go at 11:30pm when we arrived.

"The Future of Music"
The sign made me giggle.

Before the game, warm ups.

Ty was impressed with the McDonald's, that was over the road.

Watching the fish with Daddy.

One of the many horses that decorate the town.

There it is...

We saw the great pumpkins!

Sunday, we took a little trip to the pumpkin patch. Boy, did Ty have a grand ole' time! He got out of the car and ran straight for the bounce house's. He didn't seem to care as much about looking or feeding the animals, as they had some sheep and goats for your viewing pleasure. He did get nervous about the hay ride to the pumpkin field, but warmed up to it once he realized it would not be as loud as he expected. Gee, did picking the best pumpkin take a while. That boy could not find one he like... that one is to big... that one is to green... that one is smooshed... Finally he found those itty bitty little pumpkins and just had to have almost all of them, we got him down to four! His dad on the other hand had to have the two biggest and roundest pumpkins for carving he could find! I am not looking forward to cleaning out all the goop out of those! Don't worry I didn't get left out, I bought a jar of homemade apple butter, Yum!

Ty and his Papa

Ty with Gma and Papa on the hay ride

Ty with daddy and Papa on the hay ride

Ty riding a little tractor

Where did my little baby go?!

Well my little bitty baby started school a few weeks ago! I was so not ready for this, however he was. He has loved school every day. He had a rough few weeks getting into the routine with his schedule at school and following the rules, but now he tells me "I learned the rules at my school mommy, no dancing or wiggling in line."
He has learned so much in the short time that he has been there. He can sing his whole alphabet song and identify almost the whole alphabet. (He could identify most before hand) He is learning to identify his numbers. They even teach how to sign the alphabet in ASL as they learn each letter! I am so impressed with his progress.

The sign for Ty's pictures for his first day of school!

Little Man on his first day of school!

Master Bedroom...Check

I have managed to get one more of my goals completed this month... we painted the master bedroom. It took multiple weeks as we could only work on it over the weekend, and we could not just move all of our furniture out of the room. However it is now complete! Yay! I love the color, it is at times gray and times greenish, much better than the purple that looked tarnished because it had been there so long! Now we just need to replace the molding because it was so old it did not handle the being taken down to be painted very well.

(I am doubtful that the beauty of this color will come across via the computer and the nasty of the other color, but believe me it is a definite improvement)

Summer fun with my Little Love

I have had a room full of supplies for projects that I had found on pinterest, that I have yet to complete. So this summer I decided I would work on summer of them with my little love. One of which being painting fabric (sheets, pillow cases, shirts). I decided we could start with shirts and see how it goes before we get the yard covered in fabric. Well he loved it and it was so easy! I just mixed regular acrylic paint with some textile medium and let him at it. We will definitely be doing this again.

 

 

We taped off his name before letting him go at the paint. Once he was done it dried for 24 hours. Then the tape came off and it was ironed to set. He was very proud of his work! 

 

 



Softy for my Sweety!

Well it is about time I get this posted! I have completed one of the items on my list of 1001! I made a little blanky for my dear niece, Aaliyah. Nothing large, just a small little one that she can carry around with her; a softy as my baby sister use to call hers. It had to be made with pink as she is the first baby girl in the family for quite some time!

 Along with making it I hand embroidered her initial into one of the squares. Only my second time doing so, and free handed. Now to find more projects to try out my embroidery techniques on.

101 in 1001

Start: June 16th 2013
Finish: March 13th 2016

Completed 1. Learn to Sew
Completed 2. Have a productive Garden
3. Get sister tattoo's
4. Build a Home
5. Improve film shooting technique
6. Learn to develop film
7. Run 3 miles 3 times a week for 3 months
8. Go to an Opera
Completed 9. Run a 5K
10. Pay off Debts
Completed 11. Learn to Crochet
12. Take family to Michigan
13. Learn and practice Yoga
14. Learn conversational French
15. Compete in NANOWRIMO
16. Read 1+ book per month for a year
Completed 17. Complete 5 Pinterest Projects I
18. Become a Certified Storm Spotter
19. Train for a Marathon
20. Strength Train twice weekly for 6 Months
Completed 21. Graduate with my BSN
Completed 22. Pass my NCLEX on the first try
23. Watch a meteor shower
24. Drink 64oz. of water a day for 7days
Completed 25. Go some where I have never been
26. Complete a 52 week project
27. Update scrapbooks
Completed 28. Learn to can foods
29. Have a day with out Technology
Completed 30. No soda/ carbonated beverages for 30 days
31. Visit a winery for a wine tasting
32. Go to a movie at a drive in
33. Write in wet concrete
34. Create a Will
35. Blog at least twice monthly
36. Buy an external hard drive
37. Back up all photos
38. Make an "If anything happens" note/ video
Completed 39. Review budget
40. Take vitamins/ supplements daily for 6 months
41. Reach 1 gallon of blood donation
42. Learn to drive a manual transmission
43. Invest in a nice DSLR
44. Watch 3 classic films
Completed 45. Prepare Ty for school
Completed 46. Create a family schedule
47. Watch all episodes of "Monday Mornings"
Completed 48. 5 Random Acts of Kindness
49. Go to the Dentist
Completed 50. Go to a hockey game
51. Learn a new word each day for 30 days
Completed 52. Secret
53. Increase flexability, ie. be able to touch toes
Completed 54. Watch one of RayRays games at SGU
55. Write something positive eachday for 30 days
56. Read 3 Classics
Completed 57. Pay for someone else's food/ drink
Completed 58. Paint master bedroom
59. Paint bathroom
Completed 60. Go on Vacation
61. Go apple picking
62. Eat at an Indian Restraunt
63. Host a holiday
64. Hike 3 trails
65. Take the train
66. Start School of Life Album
67. List of 101 life accomplishments
68. Visit 5 state parks
69. Eat a meal featured on food network
Completed 70. Learn to cook eggs
71. Get my wedding dress cleaned
Completed 72. Save for Christmas before December
Completed 73. Journal my dreams for a week
Completed 74. Complete my geneology for at least 4 generations
75. Complete geneology for Ty
76. Register as a bone marrow donor
77. Watch 3 TED Talks
Completed 78. Watch 3 documentaries I
Completed 79. Quit
Completed 80. Do my hair and makeup everyday for a week
81. Organize all rooms
82. Donate all uneeded items
83. Donate to a different charity monthly for a year
Completed 84. Get hired at a hosptial
Completed 85. Make a blanket for my niece
Completed 86. Donate food to a pantry.
Completed 87. Get Tucker a check up.
Completed 88. Buy a nice Stethoscope
Completed 89. Buy a good pair of shoes
90. Do all chores as scheduled for 30 days
Completed 91. Have family pictures taken
Completed 92. Complete this list
Completed 93. Get education on glaucoma
Completed 94. Get back to goal weight
Completed 95. Secret
Completed 96. Secret
Completed 97. Find the good in everyday
Completed 98. Get CPR certified
99. Donate $5 for each item not completed
100. Save $5 for each completed items
Comleted 101. Do not bring work home for a month

Grandpa

 

Throughout our many years together you left me with so many valuable insights. I enjoyed greatly our time together, when you were teaching me stained glass. I was always to weak to score or break the glass, but I didn't fair to bad on the grinder. I have always aspired to have as luscious of a garden as you always grew. Each year I fair better, but I have yet to compare to your prestige. I can always remember back to my first day of wood working my Junior year of high school. I was called out in front of the class for my technique with the table saw. The instructor was impressed with my use of safety skills and was curious to were I learned them. I proudly informed him I had no prior experience, but my grandpa had given me some pointers. You were always an inspiration in the kitchen and I have missed our Sunday family dinners for years! Your home has always been one of my favorite Restaurants. I continue to try to emulate you and grandma's recipes. I love you and I will miss the time we shared together. I am grateful to have such amazing memories to carry with me and share in your honor.

The Visible Man

I started reading this book after recommendation from my coworker. I was surprised at how quickly I was sucked into the plot. For those of you who may end up reading it I won't give away too much. It's a story about a creeper and his therapist. Throughout the beginning of the story I kept trying to diagnose what was causing his problems, the ending surprised the hell out of me in a way. In another I saw it coming. From working in the mental illness field I could definitely relate at times with the way the therapist responded and her suspicions.

First Time Camping

Ty loves to pretend camp. He had been asking to go camping. We had been unsure about how well he would do with sleeping in a tent and with having the lack of technological stimulation. So we came up with the idea of doing a test run. We went camping in the back yard: Tent, Fire, Smores, etc. Everything a boy could ask for. We had a blast, until it got cold over night. (which Ty never even woke up and noticed) Ty slept better in the tent then he has in bed in a while. I was so surprised with how well he behaved, and that he did not like smores. What child does not like smores! At least he ate the marshmallows un-roasted.

Eating Marshmallows!

Playing in the Tent!

Roasting Hot Dogs!

Science Center

We took Ty to the Science Center. Needless to say he LOVED it. All he has done since is asked to go back. He got to make a build-a-dino and he named it Rockcereatops! He ran around touching and experimenting with everything.

How much it would cost to send Ty to space!

We built an Arch, and then Ty tore it down!

Learning about Physics with Daddy.