Another winner from "The Pioneer Woman"

The other night I made The Pioneer Women's Pico De Gallo (pg 16 from her cookbook).
I served it with some tortilla chips and it was gone so fast I had to make a second batch ASAP.  I could have eaten it all myself but I would have had to beat off Julianne first. 

The next night I made her Tequila-Lime Chicken which she blogged about here. I had planned on making it the night before but didn't pay attention to the part where you marinate it overnight. Silly me! It was delicious. My pics don't do it justice ~ mostly cause I killed my normal camera and the back up sucks! But trust me ~ this was fantastic. I didn't do the black beans, just cause I don't like them. But I did serve it with my own spanish rice and more Pico De Gallo. As you can see Nate gave it a big "two thumbs up." And no, as much as he would have liked it, he didn't get a beer with his ~ which, by the way, went perfectly with this meal.

I also set some of the Pico De Gallo aside and mixed some avocado with it ~ OMG! It was pure heaven. Richard even put some of the left overs on his hot dog tonight and said it was really good on that too.

It was really not hard to make. I used my chopper to chop up the ingredients and it went together really fast. The only problem I had was with the limes. For some reason all the limes in the grocery store are really dry so I supplemented with some lime juice, which I always keep on hand.

This will definitely be made again (and again!) 

A Side Story of Me ~ The Wedding

All along I've planned on adding side stories but I was going to wait till I told my entire story so far. I've reconsidered that and have a side story that should actually be told along the beginning story of Richard and I.

I told you that Richard and I got married one year from the day of our first date. That's true except I left off the part where it was actually the second marriage for us. This will be the first time some of my relatives are learning of this but we had a very good, albeit sad reason. Once we decided to make our union legal, we originally decided to wed in the summer (of 87). Unfortunately before we could tell anyone our plan, Richard's father passed away quite suddenly. He had been in poor health for quite some time but his death was still very unexpected.

 Anyway... we knew that we needed to postpone our wedding. There was a problem with this though. You see Richard was born in Venezuela and due to circumstances beyond his control (that's a side story to this side story) he was here in the US illegally. With our marriage, we would be able to quickly and legally remedy that situation and it was becoming necessary to do just that. Richard was working for Sony at the time and had to go to Japan on a business trip. That's hard to do without a passport, especially for an illegal alien!

The solution was for us to get married privately by a Justice of the Peace now and plan a public wedding for later. So, on August 7, 1987 we were married with two of our friends (sworn to secrecy) as our witnesses. We didn't tell anyone for years. We didn't even tell Jen for many years and trust me ~ she is still bitter although she knows that at the tender age of 7, secrets stressed her out and she could have never kept our secret.

So we celebrate two anniversaries. August 7th is the day Richard and I wed each other and December 5th is the day Richard, Jennifer & I became a family.

Now for those of you who might think that Richard married me just for his citizenship (and believe me, it has been said) we are still here, stronger than ever and more in love than ever and we are approaching our 23rd anniversary! So there!

The Story of Me ~ Part 4 ~ From Mr. Right Now to Mr. Right

I know it's been a while since I've posted the continuation of "The Story of Me." It's actually hard for me to write. It is difficult to know how much to write and what to leave out. I believe everything that happens in your life leads you to where you are now so while it's all important ~ I think the condensed version is a better option here.

So when we last left off, I had lost my mom, my grandmother and my job. I got a new step mom and a new job. Life was changing and changing fast. Remember I also said that I made the decision not to date ~ well I started to rethink that decision. Because my children, parental units and various other relatives read my blog, I'll spare you some of the more gory details.

Let's just say that not dating wasn't very fulfilling for a woman about to turn 30. I still didn't want to be "involved" with anyone but hey, who says you can't "date" and still stay uncommitted.

About this time I became friends with "K." Her daughter and my daughter were good friends and we kept ending up at all the same kiddie parties. Turned out she was also divorced and childless on the weekends. She was fun and outgoing and really seemed to know all the best restaurants and clubs. Her family had money and she had connections. They even had their own place on one of the small islands in the Bahamas where Jen and I spent a wonderful week during the summer. Anyway, Jen's dad would always pick Jen up from school on Friday and I would get her back from him on Sunday. So Friday after work I would head to "K"'s and it was an adventure until Sunday morning when I would pick Jen up and resume my normal life.

The clubs in Miami didn't start happening until about midnight and didn't close until 6am. I have to admit we closed a few clubs on those weekends. We met some crazy people. Some very wealthy people with access to private clubs and private rooms in clubs. We drank champagne and we danced the weekends away. We met and partied with some questionable people as well. I'll make a long story short here and say that it was a very crazy time in my life. I'm glad I experienced it and survived and I'm really glad it's over.

I was still working for the computer equipment company and my boss had hired the aforementioned cutie pie who, as fate would have it, had an office right across from mine. He took great delight in listening to my phone conversations with "K" and hearing all about our escapades. He and I became fast friends. We would talk for hours about all kinds of things. He was 5 yrs my junior and leading a pretty sheltered life. Not to say he hadn't had adventures of his own but he was an innocent compared to me. I remember one particular conversation where he told me that he would like to marry and have children. My reply to him was, "Been there, done that ~ never gonna do it again." Little did I know.....

Here's a pic of us with the crew of the computer equipment company shortly after we started dating.  We kept our relationship a secret for a bit and so they still didn't know about "us" yet.

Our first date (Dec 5th 1986) came after a company night out. We left together out of mutual annoyance with others ~ talked pretty much through the night before deciding since there would probably be rumors about us leaving together we might as well turn a rumor into a reality. The rest is history. We moved in together within a month and married a year to the day of our first date ~ December 5th 1987.

Movie Day

So Julianne and I decided to have a "movie" day today. She's been wanting to see"Nine."   While it was rated PG13 I think it was a bit too suggestive for someone her age.  There really was no nudity but it was pretty much all about sex.   Other than that,  I'm still not sure what I think of the movie.

It reminded me a bit of "Moulin Rouge."  Very artsy.  Not a lot of sympathy for the main character ~ basically a whiny, womanizing, writer/director who is having trouble coming up with a script for his current movie. A married man who sleeps or tries to sleep with every woman in the movie.   There were some fantastic women in the movie.  Nicole Kidman, Judi Dench, Fergie, Penelope Cruz, Sofia Loren and Kate Hudson.  His wife is played by Marion Cotillard who I've not heard of before but she was great in this movie.  The sound track is fantastic as are the costumes.   I guess it's just not my cup of tea, but really well done for what it was.

We had a good time having movie day though.  We microwaved some popcorn, got some twizzlers (red vines which are NOT the same and don't taste very good at all) & chocolate and soda, of course.     Excuse the mess on the couch ~ I was going through a bunch of fabric scraps for my next project!

We did also rent "Sherlock Holmes" which we watched tonight with Richard and while I thought it was going to be good ~ it was FANTASTIC.   Really, really enjoyable!

Has it already been a month?

Can you believe our little Charlie Girl is 1 month old already?? Where does the time go? Rich, the kids and I went up to see her on Saturday which just happened to be her 1 month birthday. Julianne and I had done a little shopping for her this week and we wanted to bring the outfits up before she grew out of them.




The kids hadn't gotten to see her since she was born so I had to compete for "Charlie time" with them.  I think they kinda like her ( A LOT) She and Grampy even took a bit of a nap together on the couch. So cute!











Oh, and look how strong she is already...


Holding her head up like a big girl!!

Jen said she needed more burp clothes so I got to work on a few for her. 


These were so much fun to make ~ I may just have to do some for the Etsy shop.  I think they would go over well.  My favorite so far is the Diaper Diva.  I also have the embroidery to do a Diaper Dude.  How cute would that be with cowboy fabric??

Tomorrow I will be in the sewing room again, working on a little something for a different special little girl who has a big girl birthday coming up... stay tuned!

School -is-out-for summer, thank you Alice Cooper

Will that song ever go out of style? I think not. People for many generations to come will sing that song on the last day of school.

Me, I'm doubly grateful. No more "having" to get up early. I'll still probably get up at the same time I always do but now I'll have the quiet mornings all to myself. No more yelling at the kids to get ready to go. No more worrying about Nathaniel's homework...which brings me to... THE BOY GOT ALL A's & B's on his final report card. Julianne did as well ~ but then she always does. Nathaniel, on the other hand pulled an F at midterm up to a B! How awesome is that. He feels so much better about himself. We do make sure to tell Julianne how proud we are of her grades as well. Now if I could just get her to stop yelling at us!

Teacher/staff gifts have been made and given. Hit a small glitch this year cause Julianne wanted me to make her teacher a "Wizard of Oz" Screen bag which I did ~ but yesterday morning she remembered (I forgot too) that we gave her teacher a screen bag at Christmas. That plus the fact that I hadn't gotten the chance to finish the "Betty Boop" screen bag I was making for the front office clerk had me come up with a something else.  Guess I'll put it in my Etsy shop.
Plan "B" turned out to be coasters & gift cards. The two staff gals got the summer watermelon coasters and Julianne's teacher got the Oz coasters. I did wrap them up in pretty ribbons and such so they looked a bit better. Problem solved.

Nate and Sadie both got their summer hair cuts...

Last night was the end of the year softball game. The 4 local elementary schools (teachers) play each other at the big stadium (where the Washington Nationals play their Spring games). Our team played at 7:15 but we always go for the first game too because the school they used to go to plays then and they get to see their friends from that school.

It was actually a great game. We "almost" won. The final score was 11 to 12 which is amazing since NO ONE has ever beaten the team we played. As a matter of fact, no one else will even switch to play them. Our teachers made some fantastic plays. You can tell they've really been practicing. They looked great out there.

The kids always have a great time. We barely see them during the game. They travel in packs and every once in a while we see them walk by. The only time they acknowledge us is to ask for money to buy something (drinks, peanuts, icecream)... but it's okay. We get to enjoy the game that way. Of course I was selling foam fingers again! Last time, I swear cause as of today I am no longer on the executive board for the PTO and I'm telling you ~ It feels great! No obligations on my plate! I'll still volunteer when I have the time but I got pretty burned out this last couple of years. Go me!

In any case... summer is here. We have a cruise planned (Counting the days till that) and we will spend some time up in Jacksonville with Jen, Jeremy & the baby and I'm sure they'll spend some time here as well. My Bestest friend, MaryAnn and one of her daughters plan on coming down for a visit. Mostly I'll be hanging out in my pool and just chillaxing (is that still a word?)

To sum it all up: Today is the first day of the rest of my summer!

4:45 AM

It's 4:45 in the morning and I can't sleep. I hope what I write won't prevent you from sleeping but I can't guarantee it.

Tomorrow (well, today really) is the last day of school here. I found out yesterday that one of the children in our school died the night before. It was a little girl in third grade. She died as a result of peanut allergies. She was at a friends house and ate a piece of chocolate that I guess had nuts in it. The friend's family did not know about her allergies and there was no epi pen. That is pretty much all of the story that I know except her name and who's class she was in.

I don't know if they told her classmates yesterday but it didn't spread around the school if they did because Julianne didn't know anything about it. I guess that's a good thing.

I got a message via facebook tonight from someone at the school letting me know that there will be a memorial service on Saturday and that the parents are asking for donations to help pay for the funeral in lieu of flowers.

I'm not laying any blame here. I can't even imagine what those parents must be going through. And yet, it crosses my mind over and over ~ the thought of losing one of my children. It's unbearable. Can you imagine what the parents of the friend (and her little friend) must also be feeling? How helpless they must have felt. I don't know what was done, or what wasn't. Like I said, no blame here. Just a head and heart swirling with emotions for all the people involved.

I will not be going to the service. I really didn't know this little girl. Julianne looked her up in the yearbook and recognized her as someone who used to wave at me. I get that a lot. As PTO vice president, I'm sometimes in and out of the classrooms a lot as well as being pretty visible at all the functions. I know it would be perfectly acceptable for me to go to pay my respects but I can't. I just can't. I think to sit in a room with this grieving family would be just more than I could handle. Is that selfish of me? Probably. What could I even say to them to give them comfort? I really don't know. I already think life is way to fragile. To see the reality of it isn't something I can put myself through.

As much as I will try to bury my head in the sand and pretend this didn't happen just to make it easier on me ~ while these poor parents try to pay for a funeral they sure didn't expect .... This is why I'm up and unable to sleep at 4:45.

I've already whispered a prayer both for these families involved and to thank God that my family is right here with me. I hope you will do the same.