Saturday, November 21, 2009

Mexican Chicken Soup...

Of course there is nothing better for a cold than a nice big bowl of chicken soup! My favorite kind of chicken soup is the "Mexican" version called "Caldo de Pollo" - it is so easy to make and taste so so yummy! I've been home with the flu, and finally got myself out of bed and decided that chicken soup was just what I needed. So I ventured out to the grocery store and picked up what I needed. I also made a pot of Mexican rice to go with the soup. My kids love this!

Recipe:
5 chicken drumsticks
5 chicken thighs
2 stalks celery
2 carrots sliced
1 cilantro bunch chopped
1 zucchini sliced
1 small onion sliced
2 potatoes cut into chunks with skin
1/2 head of cabbage cut into bite sized
2 corn on the cob, cut into 2 inch pieces
salt
pepper






Serve with warm corn torillas and garnish with a slice of lime.

Saturday, October 24, 2009

I'm Back...

Hey all.....I'm BACK - went offline for a while - lots goin on in my life and well I really couldn't keep up with it all. But, my favorite time of the year is here - I LOVE Fall. I'll be workin on getting my blog back up and running. Miss ya'll!

Sunday, July 5, 2009

Amazing Video - Declan Galbraith

A friend of mine forwarded this video to me. WOW - you have got to watch this!





Wednesday, July 1, 2009

The Champs!


My boys won their championship and came in 1st place for the season! They were SO happy and mamma is so proud!


Friday, June 26, 2009

Feeling the Looove by Risa Green

I stumbled upon this article today, and thought it was interesting enough to share with all of my blog friends. I think I'll give it a try...get ready hubby - LOL!

Feeling the Loove by Risa Green....

By all accounts, my husband and I should have been divorced three years ago. We met in college, then spent two years in a long distance relationship, and then I dropped my entire life and moved to a new city where I didn’t know a soul in order to be with him. With that kind of a story (Too young! Not reality! Asking for resentment!), the odds of our relationship lasting past year one of parenthood, let alone past the seven year itch, were totally against us. But, so far we have defied the statistics, and we recently celebrated our tenth anniversary. As I wrote in my card to my husband, I really do love him more every single day. (Okay. Maybe not every single day. There are definitely some days when I want to strangle him, especially when he obsesses over how many calories are in three Red Vines, or when he treats me like I am a total moron who is incapable of performing even the most basic things without him.) But these days are far outweighed by days when I really do like him a whole lot, and so if you were to measure my love for him every single day and then take a daily average, I am pretty confident that it would turn out to be a net positive.)

But still, loving my husband and, you know, loooving my husband are two totally different things. Love is what you get when you realize that, despite his flaws, there is probably no other man on the planet who you could tolerate on a daily basis. But looove is what you get in the beginning of a relationship, when you’re stomach does all kinds of flippy things and you just want to be with him all. the. time.

After more than fifteen years together, I feel lucky that I love my husband as much as I do. But do I looove him? Yeah, not so much. Of course, it happens, on occasion. A drunken night in Vegas, a surprise gift from the Barney’s shoe department. But those are few and far between (and, given the economic situation, even fewer, and even farther between). But is it possible to looove the man you are married to on a more regular basis? It turns out that you can. Well, sort of. Short of having an affair, you’re probably never going to feel that crazy, new relationship adrenaline rush ever again. But you can have spurts of something close to it. I’ve been doing a little bit of reading on the subject lately, and what I’ve discovered is that the looove feeling is created by doing things together. New things. Different things. Fun things. Things that you don’t do every single weekend, like going to the same little hamburger joint every Friday night and then walking across the street to the same theater to see a movie, and then afterwards going to the same ice-cream shop for a fro-yo. What? I’m just saying.


Our president, apparently, is aware of this. His little jaunt into New York for a night out on the town with his wife was way up there on the loooving scale. Say what you will about using taxpayer money to finance the First date night, but he scored a home run with that one, and in turn got the entire population of married women to collectively nudge their husbands. Because the truth is, we don’t need research and studies to tell us this. Deep down inside, we all know that in order to spice things up a bit, you just need to break out of your rut and do something new. The studies suggest that simply going to a different, new restaurant for dinner, or to a different, new theater, or ordering a different, new flavor can be enough to get you from love to looove. Because trying something different or discovering something new together reminds us, they say, of what it was like in the beginning of our relationships, when everything was different and new. But, somehow, I’m thinking that it might require a little more than a change from lo-carb chocolate cheesecake to low fat cookies and cream.

I have a friend who has been married for twenty years, and she and her husband do new things together all the time. A cooking class, a weekend writing workshop, a drive up the coast. She swears that this is the secret to a long lasting relationship. So I decided to try it myself. A few weeks ago, instead of our usual hamburger/movie/fro-yo combo, my husband and I went down to the beach and took a bike ride together (which we’ve never done), then went and had dinner at a place on the sand that we’d never been to before. It was romantic, and fun and exciting, and for a moment, I forgot that we even had kids and a house and a pile of bills sitting on the desk in our bedroom. For a moment, I felt like we were back in college again. (Well, at least, I did until I went to the bathroom and looked in the mirror). But the point is, it worked. When we were riding, and he stopped to point out how the sun was setting behind the mountain, I looked at him in a way I hadn’t in a long time, and my stomach did those flippy things that I had thought it had forgotten how to do. And as we walked into the restaurant, he held my hand, and I was feeling it. I was feeling the looove. But then at dinner, as we sat there, talking about ride, he wondered aloud how many calories were in the bread sticks, and just like that, it was gone.

Friday, May 29, 2009

My Babes Are Awesome...

Both of my boys play on the same little league baseball team, and we are having an outstanding season so far. We have won 12 games and lost 1. It was tough to swallow to lose that one game, but we are trecking on. Both of my boys are turning out to be some great ball players, both of them pitch, and my older one also plays short stop, and the younger one is a first baseman. They are a dynamic duo when they're out there together. Proud momma and daddy are always there to cheer them on. One of my favorite things to do is watch them, I could spend all day just watching them play ball, and enjoying the day at the field. Sunny days seem to be here, and I am just enjoying this time. Hope everyone is doing well.

My first born on the mound


My baby on first

Sunday, May 10, 2009

A Blessed Day for My Babe...

Today we celebrated my youngest boy's first holy communion. It was such a special day for our family. My siblings came in with their families from out of town, and all of my husband's family joined us afterwards for a celebration luncheon. My baby looked SO handsome. I got teary-eyed when he went up for communion. I'm just so proud of the young man he is becoming. A few pics to share of his special day today. Happy Mother's Day!



He just thinks he's so cool!
A pic of me with my mom and dad

my boys (brothers)

Adam with his cousins

Tuesday, April 7, 2009

Spring Projects Begin...

Well we have finally gotten to this ugly corner at the end of our drive. Let me tell ya, that section has bothered me since the day we moved in. There was a huge ugly overgrown bush there that my brother-in-law pulled out for us with his truck this past summer, then it left a hole and the bricks all out of sorts, so it's been an eyesore! I always knew what I wanted to do, but other projects took priority. But we knew we could not go another year without addressing the ugly corner. So, the landscapers spent the day working to clean it up and added this corner fence, and lined it with boxwoods, which will turn into a hedge eventually. It turned out great. They also left the area ready for planting once the weather permits. I'd take any suggestions if you have any of what should go in the planting bed. My thought was to add 3 pretty bushes and some perennials, but I'm not sure yet. I guess I'll see what the nurseries have that may catch my eye. So, I hope you like how it turned out. I'm happy!



Monday, March 30, 2009

Spring Break 2009

Whew...well our spring break week is over, and now back to reality! This year we went to Monterrey, Mexico. It is a large city in Mexico where my dad's family is located. When we were growing up, it was our yearly summer vacation. We would all squeeze in mom and dad's car and drive down to visit our grandparents and family. I had not been there in 17 years, since the passing of my grandmother, but we've always been close to the family, so going back there was a special treat. This is the first time my husband has gone, and my two boys. I was pretty worried that hubby was not going to adjust well....you know the way of life there is so much different than it is for us in the U.S. But to my pleasant surprise, he had a wonderful time, and my aunts spoiled him rotten with their daily cooking frenzy! My boys also had a wonderful time with all of the cousins, and so they are already asking to go back next year. The weather was perfect, all week was in the 90's and even into the 100's for a few days. Our week was action-packed. Every day we did something different, and spent a lot of time visiting, and partying with the family. I must admit that a piece of my heart stayed there. I was sad to leave. But, it's also always nice to come home, and to sleep in my own bed. A few pictures below to share our spring break vacation with all of you. Hope everyone is doing well. I hope to get around to paying you all a visit really soon and getting caught up! Monterrey is located in the Northeast part of the country, approximately 3 hours from the U.S. border.

I took this picture from the truck. This is the bridge that divides Mexico and U.S.
We were headed into Mexico.


This is the view driving around town in Monterrey
This is a picture of my grandparents' grave -
dad took fresh flowers
That is my two boys, my dad, and my aunt
from Mexico. It was really hot on this day!
This is a snapshot I took out the backseat
window as we were leaving the mountains
This is a snapshot of the caverns - a big mountain
that you get pulled into and the tour is approx.
1 hour long - we were really tired by the end.
It's called "Las Grutas de Garcia"
A view from the vestibule that took us up to the
mountain, the view was breathtaking...
This is the most famous mountain in Monterrey, Mexico
It's called "Sierra de la silla" which means
mountain of the sadle, because it's peak resembles
the sadle of a horse.
This is a new attraction where you ride the boats for a
1 hour tour. It was relaxing and beautiful.

This is a view of a market where vendors were
selling food, candy, and baked goods...wish you
could smell this....
A view at the "Mercado" - a marketplace
where vendors sell their goods.
This is at the bottom of one of the
mountains, the stream was calming...

Looking up from the stream was this cave in the
mountain, where bats congregate at nightfall... This is my favorite...the roosters were just
roaming around at the bottom of the mountain...

A view from our truck just minutes from the house...

Hope you all had fun! I know we did!

Friday, March 13, 2009

THANK YOU - PRAYERS ANSWERED!

She came through surgery very well, is now alert and talking and the best of all, they got it all! She's on the road to recovery. GOD IS SO GOOD! THANK YOU ALL for all of your prayers, he heard us...he heard us!!!! Best news of all, it was not a tumor, it was a parasite!

Thursday, March 12, 2009

Update on Friend.....


My friend is in surgery as we speak to remove the brain tumor. Please pray...pray...pray.....

Tuesday, March 10, 2009

Please Pray For My Friend.....


I have been very sad these past couple of days. One of my closest friends at work (Carmen) has been diagnosed with a brain tumor. She is the most beautiful woman you could ever meet, both inside and out. I am worried sick about her, and I need all of my wonderful friends who are so close to God to put her in your prayers. I don't know all of the details, only that she is being transferred to one of the University hospitals, so she will be in good hands. I have faith that she is going to get through this. I ask for your prayer for this wonderful friend that I love very deeply.

Monday, February 16, 2009

A Generous Gift of China...

Mom came over and we spent Saturday morning cleaning out the china cabinet. My dear aunt from California, you know the one....the one who made the beautiful drapery for our guest room. Well, while she was visiting she noticed that I did not have any cups and saucers in my china cabinet. I told her that I did not own a full set of china. Well...that was all it took. She immediately told me that she had a full set for service of 12 that she wanted me to have. She thought it would match well with the brass touches on my cabinet. So, I received the china by UPS late last week. When I unwrapped it, I thought it was SO beautiful, and I could not wait to get it all set up. Thank you sweet aunt Rachel, you are so generous. You know I will take such good care of this set. You helped make my dining room look beautiful!




Friday, January 30, 2009

Anti-Aging Products....


Last night I finally met with a dear neighbor and Arbonne (http://www.arbonne.com/) Consultant, Carol. We had coffee and conversation while she introduced me to Arbonne. I had really never heard of this line of cosmetics until I met Carol. So, she sends me home with a bag of full-sized bottles of this 6-day anti-aging regimen. Now, last summer I would have said "What? I'm too young for anti-aging product!" But you know I found that patch of grey hair, and I could swear that the wrinkles showed up pretty much right after that. Aaaaarrrrrgggg!


I went straight home after our coffee and jumped in the shower. Washed my face with the facewash, then sprayed with the toner, then used the eye creme...and finished up with the night creme. I actually kept going to the mirror to see if I looked any younger....blah! This morning I woke up ready to start again, with the washing of the face, the toner, the eye creme, the lift, then the daily moisturizer. I know it sounds exhausting...trust me, I wash with Oil of Olay foam and put on the moisturizer and I'm good to go. No fuss kind of gal! But I was surprised how quickly I got through the routine.


BUT, my birthdays seem to be creeping up faster than I can count....and that alone is freaking me out! So....I will give these products a try...and see if I see any changes or improvements! For now, I wanted to share these products with you, just in case you'd like to give them a try. They are all natural products, and it's good stuff.