I'm Puzzled!

~*~

I was looking for a new picture to decorate my church notes journal and found this picture of a country afternoon tea!  And guess what ~ it's a 500 piece puzzle!  I lurve puzzles!

~*~

I'm dreaming...

~*~

I'm dreaming of Lemon Cookies!

It's o'dark-thirty and I'm up baking!  Creamy, melt in your mouth lemon cookies... frosting and all!  I haven't figured out the calorie count yet to see how many I can have today but it better be more than one!  ha ha  But probably not because after I have a delicious lunch made my beautiful friend Jenifer, I'll probably have already exceeded my allotment for the day.  But I WON'T complain because this calorie counting thing is working!  I've lost 6 pounds in 10 days!  Yahoo!


Update: Click here to get the recipe... and by the way, they are 145 calories EACH!  Whoa mama!

Then it's off to Grandma's house for cards and board games! 

And a LARGE salad for dinner!  ha ha

Hope your first day of the holiday vacation is lurvely!

~*~

Cars and Music

~*~

Last week we had some fun in the sun and spent the day listening to great live christian music along with a car show that raised money for the US Armed Forces!

We don't have one of those fancy tents so we camped out under a HUGE tree

Actually this simple Ford truck was the one I liked the most.  Not all fancy, just clean with a nice paint job.  Everyone should have a truck ya know.  

Here was our snack!  Lurve chips and salsa!

We drank LOTS of water!

We shared a YUMMY strawberry funnel cake!

We even met a new little furry friend... Lizzie!

Kids and animals... they just go together!

~*~

The Joy of...

~*~

The Joy of having a Pet!  

Our kitten recently had a birthday and we celebrated with a song and a present ~ a TINY carton of special cat milk!  

You're curious...

You like to travel...

You like to play Hide~n~go~Seek...

You like to get cozy in the blanket...

You like to sleep in MY place on the couch... ahem...

Sometimes you'll even take a nap with the kids...

Your happy to help... ahem... while we wrap a gift or two...

You lurve to distract the kids while they do homework...

You've learned so much that you even leave us messages on the refrigerator...

You surprise us with the ease of where you find places to sleep...

You enjoy getting in the Word before taking a nap...

And your just darn adorable when you find my cozy robe all laid out on the bed and so instead of waking you up to get it, I leave you be and grab a blanket instead.

Happy Birthday Samson!

~*~

Keep your eyes on the prize

*~

Son: Mom, can I have that new mechanical pencil.

Me: Do you have any money?

Son: Nooooooo, but you do!

Me:  Budget is T-I-G-H-T so you'll have to earn it.

Son:  Okay, what do I have to do?

Me:  Car needs a bath, since you know.... a'hem I can't go through the car wash right now... cause you know, the antenna is broken. (Read the Jonah post to refresh your memory)

Son:  OKAY!  That will be fun!

Me:  Glad you think so Son!

Here is the broken antenna today... 

this is as far back as we can get it in while in it's broken state.

The Prize ~ Mechanical pencil & erasers

The Krazy String was just because it's FUN...

and on clearance!

~*~

My new favorite app

~*~

My new favorite app is...

Lose It!

Recently my girlfriend and I were sharing about our favorite apps.  Mine was for my local library for checking out audio e-books and hers was Lose It!  She has been slimming down for the approaching summer and was keeping track of her calories.  Now I have never been a calorie counter...

ev-ah, but I was intrigued with the EASE of the app as it is very user friendly!  She suggested I should track my food for a week just to SEE the total count of calories I consume on a average day and I agreed to see what happened because I lurve food and eat anything I want cause remember I don't count calories!  ha ha

 HOLY SMOKIN' ROCKETS! 

Can you say nearly 4700 calories was my daily average in a week!  Yikes, double the recommended daily allowance.  Now that I'm over 40 I know that is not a healthy average, so on Wednesday I immediately cut back my PORTIONS on high calorie foods and also made a few healthier choices for snacks.  For example, we have a Air Popcorn Maker that we use everyweek for family movie night.  I also use butter and salt ~ whoa I found out the calories are through the roof on that one.  But to have just the plain air popcorn - I lurve plain too so not a problem - was only 30 calories per cup.  I could easily eat 3 cups and still be below 100 calories for a snack. 

Since Wednesday I've already lost 3 pounds ~ still eating whatever I want, just choosing to have smaller portions and adding a few healthier choices along the way. 

Check it out - ~ IT'S A FREE APP!

~*~

Observed

~*~

Everyday I meet a lot of people, but none make more of an impact than those who unknowingly yet visibly show their lack of self esteem.

"The worst loneliness is not to be comfortable with yourself."  

~ Mark Twain

~*~

Fun in the California Sun

~*~

Having fun in the sun today! I think I hear my name being called from the Funnel Cake tent... I must answer the call!  Still trying to figure out how to mobile post... Hmmmm

~*~

A Jonah Day!

~*~

Actually it's been a Jonah week!

(a Jonah day refers to what Anne says to Marilla after a day of everything going wrong in the book, "Anne of Avonlea" - hence Jonah in the bible getting swallowed up by the whale)

First was some very upsetting news that I know God is going to resolve, so I just have to be obedient while He works it out...

Next... my Man offered to go fill up my car with gas while I was finishing my to-do list and while he was there, thought it would be nice to get the car washed as well since it needed a bath.  As he drives through the car wash listening to the RADIO, he hears a gnarly sound of metal on metal.... 

~ yep you guessed it ~

My antenna was UP!  Now in his defense, on his car the antenna is built into the glass windows, so he doesn't even THINK about an antenna... ev-ah.  So when he went through the car wash, the thought didn't even cross his mind as to the antenna on my car.  Yeaaaaaaaaa, so now I've got a gnarly looking antenna... Sweet!

Okay this one I can laugh about now... but at the moment I was NOT laughing...

In the normal routine of the morning, I grabbed the container of leftovers from the refrigerator as that was going to be my lunch for the day.  Lunch time comes around and while at my desk I open the lid off the container, only to exclaim "Oh Crikey" as I looked into a lovely pudding pool of GRAVY!  Yes, I grabbed the container of gravy and not the container of pork and potatoes.

My co-workers got a chuckle (rolled on the floor laughing) out of it though and eagerly offered to run down to KFC to get me some biscuits so I could have biscuits and gravy for lunch.  Awe how sweet huh?  Well I was already in lousy mood for the week, so this was my Jonah moment for grabbing the wrong container, simple mistake I know but I wasn't having it and instead realized that it was Cinco-de-Mayo and I should be having chips and salsa instead!  What was I thinking having pork and potatoes anyway, right?  So I walked over to the nearby mexican haunt and got me some chips & salsa!  Of course the joke at work now is... "Gosh I wish I had some gravy to go with my lunch."  It's all in good fun!

By the way... I forgot to take pictures of my Mother's Day gathering but my lurvely Niece did!  She even did a post about it!  Check it out here!

~*~

Happy Mother's Day

~*~

Happy Mother's Day!

I've spent this weekend with my Mom and most of the close-by ladies in my life.  Yesterday enjoyed a wonderful brunch using a recipe from my own Grandmother's collection and today made two delicious pies... great memories!

~*~

I'm fond of...

~*~

I am fond of a long walk...

especially when it's taken by people who annoy me.

~*~

My Royal-Tea Table at the Annual Spring Tea

~*~

I hosted a table again at my church's annual spring tea, so come join me as I take you on a tour of our day!

Here are Heidi and Tina who were the greeters & guest registration...

Here is Denise ready to assist you with signing up for any of the many summer groups we have planned...

May I suggest MY summer book club!!!

Alright, let's get down to what this post is about, the tables!

~*~

I just thought this table was beautiful!  It was a Lighthouse Ocean theme and you know how I lurve the ocean!

The plates were different shells...

Our very own Alcatraz Island Lighthouse...

This table was Ivy & Innocence...

I lurved these Cobalt BLUE dishes...

Christmas in May!

This was the Superhero table complete with capes on the chairs...

This was the Chinese New Year theme...

This Cars ~ Radiator Springs table was darling and the china beautiful!

These pictures do not do the Buttons of Elegance table justice, trust me it was beautiful... 

This was Spring itself, made me want to go out and buy a melon!

Beautiful Sunflower table...

This was the Luau table complete with MUSIC piped in...

This was beautifully decorated with grapes and roses, very pretty!

And now for my table that my sister and I decorated and 

WON A PRIZE for!!!

~*~

The Royal-Tea table!

Jenifer, this pic is for you to show you how the gorgeous Crown spreader was a HIT in the butter dish!

My Niece graciously let us borrow her tiara's to use as part of the decorations with the Princess Diana pictures!

~ I have a couple of friends who will be sending me a few more pictures this week so I will post those here as they arrive but I couldn't wait to show you how beautiful and creative the ladies are at my church!

~*~