And the winner is...

Lookin' Up at Come What May! My 7 year old, Bailey, randomly picked a number.  The first number picked had no contact information, so she had to pick a second number.  Congratulations!

Surprise, surprise!!

 Last night, the sisterchicks and I got  together to swap cruise pictures.  We all made cds or dvds of our cruise pictures for the other girls.  We all met at Taco Mac for dinner.  Dinner was lovely, except for the rotton tomatoes in my salad.  That was vomitrotious! I just kept hoping I didn't get sick, but so far so good!

After dinner, we're waiting for the check and all of the sudden, Staci pulls out this huge cookie cake that she had been balancing on her lap the entire dinner! My birthday isn't until August 7th, so imagine my surprise!  I didn't see it coming.  It was so yummy

I'm so surprised!

We finish the yummy cake and again are waiting for the waitress to bring our checks and...surprise again!  Out pops presents from everyone!  I was so surprised!  I got some wonderful gifts from my wonderful friends- an Old Navy giftcard, some Harry Potter candy, a beautiful necklace, a lovely purse & jewelry and some back to school supplies!  Wow!  I am so blessed!

 

Here is Staci eating a rotton egg flavor Bertie Botts every flavor beans!  Eww.

I don't think she liked it!

Sorry for my disheveled appearance!  If I had known my picture would be taken, I would have done my hair/put on makeup/jewelry!

Wordless Wednesday

Sorry about the glare of the lamps in the background!  Bad photography on my part!

These are my mom's parents.  Ralph and Anne Hansen.  Don't you just love their outfits and hair dos? Ralph was from Norway and Anne was from Russia.  Correct me if I'm wrong, mom, but I think they were the first of their families born in America.  There's a lot of cool family history- mom- you should start a blog and just blog about all the stories you've dug up with cousin Lorraine!  Grandma Anne died before I was born and I never really got to know Ralph- as my only memories of him, he was senile.  I'm so happy my kids have relationships with both sets of their grandparents!  They are soooo lucky.

I just noticed while posting this that Bailey has the same shaped face as her great grandmother!!

A foody blog

I don't think I've ever actually blogged about food...but I have a few of my favorite things right in front of me, so why not blog about them?

Every year, one of my co-workers goes to Wisconsin to visit her family. Every time, she brings home cheese curds for the kindy teachers.  She brought me my very own cajun and pizza flavored curds.  What is a curd, you ask?  It's the freshest part of the cheese.  It's what they press into molds to make the cheese in the store.  It's a morsel of squeaky goodness.  Yes, it actually squeaks on your teeth when you chew it.  :)

 Next, I have something a little strange.  I grew up in Florida, with easy access to exotic fruits.  So, I was raised on mango, papaya, kumquat, pomagranate, lychee...ah lychee...  fruit of the gods...spiky on the outside, sweet and tender on the inside...I digress.  So, you get it. I love lychee fruit.  A few years ago, I was able to satisfy my lychee craving whenever I wanted because my gas station sold a lychee jelly candy- similar to jello, but bite sized.  Then, my gas station owner was deported back to South Africa (I'm not kidding you!) and I was no longer able to eat my delicious lychee flavored jello....drumroll...until yesterday!  My mom took me to a wonderful Spanish market where I found...you guessed it...lychee coconut jelly- the same candies from my past!  Yeah, so most of the container is gone, but I dont' care.  I'll eat to my hearts content.  It's been too long.

 Next, on to something more healthy- my favorite drink.  I absolutely love to drink cucumber water.  What the heck is cucumber water, you ask?  Well, you go out to your garden, pick a cucumber, wash it, slice it into a big glass and fill with ice water.  The water tastes refreshingly like a cucumber.  Mmmm.

Sisterchick Giveaway

My winner is number 78, thanks to Bailey- who picked the number! I hope you enjoy the book! 

Rocks in my Dryer is hosting a giveaway called The Dog Days of Summer Bloggy Giveaway and I'm joining in on the fun!

If you're one of my readers, you know that I'm a sisterchick.  What is a sisterchick, you ask?  A sisterchick is a friend who shares the deepest wonders of your heart, loves you like a sister, and provides a reality check when you're being a brat. Basically, a sisterchick is a girlfriend, who, no matter how long you've been apart, you can pick up right where you left off.  My sisterchicks are Amanda, Kristen, Mandi, Mandy, and Staci.  We recently took a cruise together for our 30th birthdays! So, what is my giveaway, you ask?

An official sisterchicks novel by Robin Jones Gunn- Sisterchicks on the Loose! "Zany antics abound when best friends Sharon and Penny take off on a midlife adventure to Finland, returning home with a new view of God and a new zest for life."  This is one of my very favorite sisterchicks books.  You can see the book here.

To win this novel, simply leave me a comment telling me the best book you've read lately, other than Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, of course...because that's the best book written lately! 

Head over to five minutes for mom for a great contest for Horizon Organics coupons!

Bailey's idea of fun

Bailey spent two days and countless hours building a clubhouse out of construction paper. Notice the "no boys" signs. :)

Wordless Wednesday

This is Lesley and I when we were babies.  We've been best friends forever! Amazing to still have someone as your best friend who you played with, potty trained with, learned to swim with, grew up with.  Lesley's more than a friend, she's the sister I never had.  I love you, Les!



This is Lesley and I now...we look a little mellow, but I swear that was my first drink! This was at the Hard Rock hotel and casino in Hollywood, Fl.

Mail with a double surprise!

My wonderful sisterchick, Staci, sent me this sweet card with a cute weird looking chickie.



Isn't she thoughtful?



So thoughtful that she put a 33 cent stamp on the card...when stamps are now 41 cents...plus with the added weight from the chick, even that wouldn't have covered it!  LOL  Sooo...I got this lovely bill from my postman, who kindly paid the 17 cents for me... thanks, Staci!  You're the best. Hee hee!

$243 later...

...and Kahlua is home! In 3-4 weeks, after giving him liver meds, he'll go back in for a checkup to see if his numbers are normal. If they aren't, then we'll do a biopsy. Keep your paws crossed. He's so glad to be home and we sure did miss him. It's been hard sleeping without him. We're so used to him in our bed. Even Dave asked if the dogs could sleep with us last night...I vetoed that one right away!


Look at his shaved paw where the IV was! :(

Kahlua's update

His liver function numbers went from in the 700s to the 500s so that means no cancer.  woot!  They're going to wean him off the fluids today and I can get him tomorrow.  They have him on a liver healing supplement and I am to continue that for 3 weeks. Then they are going to test his blood again.  If his numbers aren't completely normal, they're going to do a liver biopsy, as it probably means that he has liver disease.  Keep your paws crossed for Kahlua.

Freaky Friday

Today, we took the cat to the vet for his yearly appointment.  He's been doing some weird things lately like obsessively licking the bricks on our fireplace, so they decided to run some bloodwork.  Unfortunately his liver numbers are sky high and his kidney numbers are elevated too.  They think he may have liver cancer.  :(  This was quite a shock, as Kahlua is only 10 years old and seemed to be so healthy!  He's staying the weekend and they're giving him IV antibiotics and fluids to see if his numbers improve. If they don't, then it's probably cancer and we'll go from there.  Please keep kahlua in your prayers.

Dave finally got a tattoo!

So, Dave has wanted a tat forever. He's gone back and forth with designs from a cross, to something meaningful having to do with the kids. He finally decided that he wanted a Z with a J and a B intertwined. So, after much planning, my brother Tim asked him to come watch him get his fourth tattoo. Dave goes and on a whim decides that it is time. He scrapped the original design and instead chose a letter style out of a book.

Here is Dave mid-tat.



Here is Dave with the tattoo artist, Alan- who was really great!


The final product. Isn't it awesome?! Of course, it's covered with ointment, but you get the picture.



Here's Tim's tattoo. It's a little hard to see.

Wordless Wednesday

The picture...

Contest time!

5minutes4mom is having a super huge giveaway (how ’bout some ice cream, a bathing suit, calling cards, a trip to Arizona, a baby wrap, a tshirt, memorization cards, a necklace, some placemats and a few hair clips?!) in honor of the 4th of July! (ends July 4th) Head over there to enter.