America's Got...Edward?

The winner of last night's finale of America's Got Talent is Neal Boyd, a man Edward knew and graduated high school with. What an exciting thing for him! You can't help but be happy for someone who has worked for years and years at his dream, and it has just turn into a rewarding reality.

Although we never watched the show, we've checked in a couple of times to see if he was still in the competition. Elizabeth, especially, would ask for an update every so often. This morning I told her the big news that he won. She gasped and cheered at his accomplishment. I told her how he has mentioned Sikeston, Edward's hometown, throughout the competition, and he made mention of it again last night for the finale. She then excitedly asked, "Did he say Daddy's name too?!!?!?" No, darling daughter, he forgot to mention Daddy in all his excitement.

Home Improvements

After buying our fixer-upper, Edward and I are becoming quite the DIY-ers. We very much regret not taking before and after pictures. Truth be told, the house was so outdated that I didn't want to take the time to take pictures. I wanted to start the remodeling immediately. I did document one of our latest projects, the kids' bathroom.

Before - dark wood with 80's style hardware

I stripped all the wallpaper and painted before taking a picture of the wallpaper. This is what was under the chair rail. The white floral paper was on the top half of the walls, and the blue was on the bottom. This is just a little glimpse of the type of decor that covered the ENTIRE house. Pretty!

Before and After Lighting

I am usually the "handyman" of the house, but Edward really got down and dirty on the installation of the new faucets.
And Drew was kind enough to let Edward borrow his toy safety goggles. :)

We worked on this project six months ago, and Mallory was very helpful when it came time to install the flooring.

Here is the fresh new vanity, complete with chrome hardware and faucets.

The new flooring that I love! This is the fourth room that we've used the Peel and Stick vinyl flooring. It sounds kind of cheap and cheesy, but it really looks nice! It is so easy to install, inexpensive, and easily removable when we want a change. I highly recommend it!

Here is the view from the shower. I decorated the walls with the kids' framed artwork. The colors work really well. I just recently added the star hooks, and the kids can hang their own towels after they're finished using them. Yipee!

Now on to our latest project. After spending months and months on the cursed leaking upper deck last year, we didn't want to mess with it for a long time. Thanks to gorgeous weather last weekend, we were able to stain the upper and lower decks and paint the faded staircase. I'm very pleased with how the staircase turned out especially.

Before & After

Everything was so faded and weathered looking before.

And here is the finished product!

I feel like the Wizard of Oz when I say, "Pay no attention to" the room to the left. That is the sun porch that is directly under the upper deck. That is where we had a lot of stinky water damage due to the not-very-planned-out engineering of the flat roof. We plan to just turn that into a screened porch.

And there you have it!

Yuck!

This is a yucca plant, and it has become my evil Nemesis. This one is not ours. I found it online. The one we had in our front yard was ugly, overgrown, brownish, ugly, big, uncontrollable, and ugly. Therefore, I decided to tear it out last year. Therein lies the problem. Apparently, you can not get rid of a yucca plant. Ever. After the world is destroyed, the only things that will survive will be cockroaches and yucca plants. It's true. Take my word for it.

This is the pretty dirt patch in our front yard that once housed our yucca. The area is about six feet by four feet, with the plant taking up the entire left side. After it was taken out, I dug, and dug, and dug huge roots out. I even had Edward help me. We thought there wasn't any way it would come back with the amount of roots we removed. They filled two wheel-barrow's full. Pretty much the second we turned our backs, the rotten little sprigs began popping up.
Here is a closer view. Apparently, the offshoots just start growing up where ever you cut the roots off. All of these offshoots have come up from a root we've cut. Nice.

I've gotten online to figure out what other people have done to get rid of theirs. Pretty much I haven't read of one success story. Nothing has worked for anyone. I thought of covering the area with a big tarp or something, but someone said they tried that and the offshoots just meander around to the edges of the tarp or plastic. Some one else said they laid their new, small yucca plant in a wheelbarrow and left it there untouched for two months. When they went back to check on it, it was still thriving. Impossible!

So far, here's what we've found out DOES NOT work: destroying the root system with a shovel and axe, root killer, straight bleach, lighter fluid and fire, and finally willing it's painful and immediate death.

Yucca plant, I hate your stupid guts.

Anyone have any suggestions?

Paci-B-Gone!

I think I can now say, knock on wood, that we are paci-free! I took a gradual approach this time, as opposed to going cold turkey with the others, and spread out the process over about three weeks. With Mallory being our last {planned at least} child, she's getting to do things a lot longer than the others because she's the baby or because I know she's the last one. That may not be fair, but it's true. With poor baby Ross, I pulled the plug at 12 months, and he was pretty scarred. It took him a good two weeks to return to his normal, non-sad self. If I had it to do over again, I wouldn't be such a drill sergeant about it. He was just a little guy. It bugs me to see three year olds with pacifiers, so I didn't want to be that parent.

With the other two, I just layed them down for a nap without it when they were both 15 months, and neither one fussed or cried. They simply went to sleep. It was very easy!

I knew it would be a bit tougher for Mal because she has three older siblings willing to aid and abed her. At 16 months, she can pretty much say anything (and she has A LOT to say!) so she would always ask for her "papi" whenever she saw it, was sad, or sleepy. Last week, she fussed a bit and asked for it when I laid her down for a nap without it. When I went in to get her after nap time, she was gleefully sucking one as she looked up at me with smiling eyes. Apparently she had some contraband hidden behind the stuffed monkey in her bed. Later that night, as Edward laid her in her crib at bed time, he said she didn't even fuss at all. She just laid very still, and then slowly slid her hand under the monkey, looking for her "papi." He said her shocked look upon not finding it was hilarious! Anyway, she as gone all week without asking for it, so I think we're in the clear. I'd be lying, though, if I said I wasn't tempted to go looking for one during some of our fussy times. A paci is just as much for me as it is for my babies!

This is a picture on about day two of the hijacking. She was willing to settle for a fuzzy Build-A-Bear pacifier that I'm sure one of the big kids offered her!

As the great Kermit the Frog says, it's not easy being green.

Because the kids have no school today due to teachers' meetings, the boys invited their cousins Grant and Harrison over to spend the night. We traded Elizabeth for them, as she went to spend the night at their house with Emmaline. The boys asked to sleep on on the air mattress. Edward and I figured the best place to put it would be between Elizabeth twin beds (Ssshhhh. Don't tell Elizabeth that *gasp* boys slept in her room. She would be LIVID!), giving the four boys room to spread out. Because the air mattress has a leak somewhere (can't find it), it deflates during a peaceful night's slumber, resulting in its' inhabitants getting extremely cozy with each other. Ross is the only one that had any sense to move to his own comfortable and stable bed, as this is how three of the boys looked during their sleep-over, or should I say sleep-on-top-of:
This morning, I found out what Harrison was up to last night when he didn't have a good explanation for what he was doing in the bathroom. After PJs were on and teeth were brushed, he went into the bathroom for a long time and then came out. I asked him to please go back and flush, and he told me he didn't go to the bathroom. I then asked, "Well what were you doing in there then?" to which he replied, "I don't know." I just laughed because he is so silly, but Edward went in to investigate. He came back out after finding everything in its proper place. We just shook it off to Harrison being his crazy self.

Fast forward to this morning after everyone was up and going. Drew whispered in my ear (snitched) that Harrison brought his frog over last night. What!?! He smuggled a frog he found yesterday into Chez Felker. We were all at an uncle's birthday party last night when the boys found a frog outside while playing. I guess he didn't feel like turning it loose like his mom asked, and instead thought it a better idea to keep it for a pet. So I said, "Harrison, do you have a frog in my house?!" He just had a look on his face that he knew he was busted! When I started laughing, that busted face changed to a look of relief. He finally answered, "Yes, but it died in the middle of the night." I asked, "Did you carry it home in your pocket?" He slowly shook his head yes, with a serious look on his face. I think he was still trying to determine if I was mad or not. I asked, "Weren't you afraid it would get smashed in there?" He shook his head no. I asked, "You took it to your house when you went to pack your bag, and then you brought it over here?" He shook his head yes again. I asked, "How did you get it over here?" He said, "I put it in this" (showing me this plastic egg) -

The egg was filled with water, hence the sneaky behavior in the bathroom last night. I said, "You filled it with water??!!" He answered, "Yes, but it's head was sticking out." Hmmm. Imagine that. The little critter died in a three inch plastic egg with no air-flow, filled with water. He then told me, "Last night I would pick it up by the leg, and it would kick, but when I picked it up by the leg one time, it didn't kick so I knew it was dead." I just said, "Oh, Harrison. Go throw it under the bushes in the backyard."

That one makes me laugh!

I {Heart} Peeping Toms

A while back I added a Traffic Feed to the bottom of my blog because I was curious as to who (other than a few loyal friends/family that leave comments - thanks guys!) was reading it. While I don't know exactly who everyone is just by reading their locations I usually have a guess as to who some long lost acquaintances might be. I can also figure out who some might be because the Live Traffic Feed tells me how someone got to my blog.

It's funny because the first time I came across a Traffic Feed on some stranger's blog, I felt like I was caught doing something I shouldn't. I thought, "Oh no! These people know a lurker is reading this!" It was weird! But in thinking about it further, I am perfectly happy when someone I don't know comes upon my blog. I feel pretty safe with what I put on it. I try not to put anything on it that makes my family's exact location known. The whole reason I started this blog was to share pictures and stories about what is going on in our family's lives with our far-away family and friends. If some stranger is interested enough to read about our crazy happenings, great!

Tonight, as I looked through the Live Feed, I made two observations:
1. I don't know world geography so well! Sure, I know where most countries are of the people that read this, but I've never heard of some of their towns/cities.
2. If I want more people to come to the blog, I need to include a famous person's name in a post. I've had quite a few people google the name "Maura Tierney" (I made mention of her name in the previous Monkey post), and they've come to my blog. I found it interesting that people came to my blog by googling her name rather than two more well-known actors I mentioned, Denzel & Jim Carrey.

On perhaps my favorite stranger blog that I visit daily, Dawn often posts about strange and sometimes weird things people google that get them to her blog. That's one of my next things to figure out how to do because I'm just nosy. :)

P.S. How do you end a senctence when you want to put one of these----> :) little guys in? Do you end it with punctuation, or is that your punctuation? What exactly is :) etiquette? :{o

5 Little Monkeys

Friday night our local Parents As Teachers organization hosted a Diego party. They had different stations set up, all related to a Diego theme (vest decorating, painting a clubhouse, animal games, live kittens and puppies, and someone dressed as Diego). But the most popular attraction by far was the 3 month-old chimpanzee. You can't even imagine how cute she was!!!!

She was so tiny and adorable!!! I'm guessing she was about 8 pounds. The woman who brought her to the party owns about 8 chimps (and other anminals) and has had many others over the years. She and her husband operate a rescue. Many of the chimps they have had over the years are ex-animal actors. She had a photo album of some of the actors her animals have worked with over the years. She had pictures of Denzel Washington (I don't know what movie he was in with a chimp), Jim Carey dressed in full Ace Ventura costume, John Leguazamo and Maura Tierney from an ER episode, and there were a few others.

These people travel to people's houses for "Chimparties." For a mere $150, they will bring a chimp to your party for 30 minutes for up to 10 people. For $200, up to 8 people can go to their ranch for an hour. It sounds like an astronomical amount, but if you think about it, the money they charge goes toward the care and upkeep for their animals and ranch.

This baby chimp (Makayla) clung on to her human Momma, kissed her on the lips, and snuggled with her just as a human baby would. You could tell she was a bit timid of all the strangers, just as a human baby would be. She had her own security blankie, and travelled around in her own car seat.

Mallory was so funny with her! After waiting in the HUGE line, Edward set her down on the table right next to the chimp. The chimp was sitting very still, and Mallory put her arm around her, I guess thinking it was a stuffed animal. When she moved to look up at Mallory, she just just about soiled herself. It was too funny!

Lucky #20

We just got a call this evening that we have a new nephew! Andrew McKay Sanders was born to Jan, John, Caroline, Julia, Sterling, & Angel Baby Kathryn. He was 9 lbs. 1 oz. and 22 inches long(How do my skinny sisters-in-law grow such big babies, while I have six pounders?!?!) We're grateful for this new blessing that Jan, John and kids (and the rest of us) have been given.

And, he makes grandchild #20 on Edward's side. The oldest grandchild is 11! Welcome baby Andrew!

Mmmm. What's for lunch?

Yesterday Drew came to me to tell me he was making his "world famous cheese taco." In my mind I was thinking, "Not another mess to clean up!" But I allowed the chef to work his magic because sometimes I tend to do a bit too much for my kids just so I can avoid unnecessary messes. I just stayed out of the kitchen so as not to see his creation take shape. Bad idea. I got busy doing something else, when a few minutes later Drew came to me and said something about it burning at the exact same time I smelled something burning. I ran into the kitchen to find smoke pouring from every crack in the microwave. The time was at 12:00, so I have no idea what he set the time at. Maybe 17 minutes? Apparently Chef Drew knows how to make the world famous cheese tacos, but his lovely assistant, Elizabeth, usually controls the microwave.

I now have see-through "china." And my house smells like an ash tray.

Funny things I've heard recently

Saturday night Edward and I took Ross and Elizabeth to another Cardinal's game. As we were walking to the stadium, I smelled yucky sewer gas and said, "Eww. Something stinks!" Elizabeth said rather seriously, "It could be a homeless person, Mom." (The kids have a fascination with hobos.)

And, as we got up to the stadium, there was a wedding party posing for pictures on a walk-way connecting the parking garage to the stadium that was above the street. Obviously, the bride and groom wanted Busch Stadium in their background. Elizabeth asked, "What's going on?" I replied, "Someone got married." She asked, "On a HIGHWAY?!!??!!"

And then on Sunday, we were making the rounds visiting some of our grandparents for Grandparent's Day. The kids enjoyed picking apples from my grandma's big apple tree in her front yard. Yesterday, as Drew and I ate an apple for our snack, he said, "Grandma Wright makes really good homemade apples."

Yesterday, Ross said to me, "You know Mom, I've become more popular since Mallory has been born." Yes, son. Now you see why babies are also known as "Chick Magnets."

Daredevil

One day last week I was typing at the computer when I heard Mallory saying something over and over and over and over. When I turned to look at her, this is what I saw:

She was standing on the back of the couch saying, "Careful. Careful. Careful. Careful. Careful."

She likes to climb up the stairs, walk through the railing, then jump down on the couch. She makes the circuit continuously, giggling the whole time. Yes, I anticipate several ER visits with this one as well!

Inspiration

Today at church, one of our friends shared an experience that totally impressed me. In our church, the first Sunday of each month is called Testimony Meeting. After a few songs, prayers, and the passing of the Sacrament, anyone who would like to can come up to the microphone to share his/her testimony of the gospel. One of our friends, Brad, felt inclined to share some of his feelings.

First, a little background: Brad had some trauma at his birth that has left him permanently disabled. He walks with a pretty severe limp. He has faced numerous surgeries through out his life. He also has a significant speech impediment that can make it hard to understand him at times. He had a pretty rough childhood. Fast forward to his adult life, he married and had two children - a four-year old girl, and a six-year old boy. His son has ADHD and can be a challenge. About two years ago, kind of out of the blue, Brad's wife decided she wanted a divorce. Even though they share custody of the kids, Brad has them most of the time, as he juggles part-time college with a full-time job at a residential facility for trouble teen-aged boys. He is the type of person who deserves so many breaks in life but never seems to get them. He just keeps plugging along, doing the best he can with a positive outlook.

Back to today: He was sharing with the congregation his feelings of gratitude to The Father for his trials. TRIALS! He related the following story: A few weeks ago, he was dropping his nephew off at home after church (he diligently brings the 11 year-old to church, along with his own two children). As he was slowing down to turn into his sister's driveway, he stopped to let a pedestrian cross the street. The man waited, and Brad motioned for the man to go ahead. The man motioned back, so Brad went ahead and turned into the driveway. As Brad got out to help his nephew into the house, the man said, "Sir, I would like to talk to you." Brad said, it was obvious the man was drunk, and he was rather intimidating looking because he was 1.) covered in tattoos and 2.) very large. Brad has a hilarious, dry sense of humor, and he said, "I thought, 'There's no way I could take this guy if he wanted to do me harm'." He told the nephew to go on in, and he got his own two children out and sent them in, just in case this wasn't a good situation. Anyway, this man basically just fell into Brad's arms, sobbing that he'd lost his wife and children. Brad began hugging him and telling him he, too, knows how devastating divorce is because he has also been through it. The man told him it wasn't because of a divorce, and he began saying he wanted to join them. Before he knew it, Brad was sitting on the curb with this man, this stranger, giving him comfort. He said his arm was around his shoulder, and he was holding his hand, just as he would a small child. The man talked of wanting to end his life because it was too much to bear. Brad continued to show compassion to this broken man. After a while, the man made mention of wanting a cigarette, so Brad told him he would go in the house to find one, knowing full well that he would take that opportunity to call the police instead so they could provide the man the adequate help he desperately needed. As Brad got up to go into the house, the stranger pleaded, "Don't leave me." Brad returned to the man's side to offer him his shoulder and the unconditional love he was deserving of. A few minutes later, three police cars pulled up, as a neighbor had made a call upon realizing what was taking place. He was then taken away to either sober up in a holding cell or to receive mental health care.

Brad didn't tell this story to be boastful - that is not in his character at all. He simply told the story to relay his gratitude to The Father for the life he has been given. He was reminded that so many others have if far worse than we.

Upon hearing the story, I can't help but think, how many of us would think badly of the drunken man stumbling in the streets? How many of us would take the time to speak to him? Or would we come up with some excuse as to why we couldn't? Even more, would we put our arms around him, and embrace him as he hopelessly cried on our shoulders?

I am touched by Brad's humble Christ-like service. He has certainly made an even bigger impression on me. His story made me think of Matthew 25:31-46. Jesus speaks of the day when He returns and will separate the people of the earth as a shepherd divides the sheep from the goats. The sheep on His right hand are those who have served others while the goats on His left are the selfish, thinking only of themselves.

He tells the sheep (34-40) "Come, ye blessed of my Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world: For I was an hungered, and ye gave me meat: I was thirsty, and ye gave me drink: I was a stranger, and ye took me in: Naked, and ye clothed me: I was sick, and ye visited me: I was in prison, and ye came unto me."

"Then shall the righteous answer him, saying, Lord, when saw we thee an hungered, and fed thee? or thirsty, and gave thee drink? When saw we thee a stranger, and took thee in? or naked, and clothed thee? Or when saw we thee sick, or in prison, and came unto thee?"

"And the King shall answer and say unto them, Verily I say unto you, Inasmuch as ye have done it unto one of the least of these my brethren, ye have done it unto me."

The last verse is what immediately came to my mind as I was hearing the story -- "Inasmuch as ye have done it unto one of the least of these my brethren, ye have done it unto me." Compare that with what he tells the goats who did not serve others, "Inasmuch as ye did it not to one of the least of these, ye did it not to me."

As I've been thinking of this today, I ask myself, "What do I hope to be -- a sheep or a goat?"

Labor Day Weekend

Our Labor Day weekend was spent visiting with not-seen-often-enough family. We got to go to a fun birthday party for my cousin's little girl, Ellie on Saturday. She got quite the haul, and all the little girls in attendance were rather envious, to say the least! Thanks Kate & Jason! It was fun!

We moved westward to visit Edward's mom & her husband in Jefferson City, where we spent the rest of the weekend. His brother's family from Columbia, and his oldest sister's family from Kansas City were kind enough to make the effort to meet up with us there. We had a great time BBQ-ing and just visiting for the weekend. And of course, everyone gathered around the TV Saturday night to watch the big Mizzou/Illinois game. We pretty much didn't have any interaction with our oldest three kids the entire weekend because they were playing with their cousins the whole time. Jani & Papa Otto's pool table and backyard were in use non-stop from Saturday to Monday.

Sunday was spent at church, and of course there was more visiting and playing afterward. I have to share a funny story about our church experience. When we got there that morning, I settled into our seats in the back while Edward took the older three to the bathroom and drinking fountain before we got started. Other people were finding their seats and visiting with each other in the chapel. At the very front of the room I spied an older woman, probably in her 80's with short white hair. Just about that time, Mallory starts shouting, "Grandma! Grandma! Grandma!" I looked at her eyes to see where she was looking, and she was watching that same woman. Mallory watched her make her way all around the room, never taking her eyes off her and saying, "Grandma! Grandma!" over and over. As the woman passed by us, "You must look familiar to her!" The woman was indeed a sweet, animated grandmotherly type who took the time to talk to Mal and play with her. She told me many children call her Grandma when they see her - she just has "that look" I guess! Anyway, we saw her several more times through out the morning, and every time we saw her, Mallory had the same response. I suppose she thought she looked like my Grandma, although the resemblance was very slight in my eyes. After church, we waited in the foyer for our large group to reconvene when the sweet lady, Sister Herndon, walked toward us again. Once more, Mallory began shouting, "Grandma!" She stopped to speak with us again for several minutes before heading toward the door. Mallory called out, "Bye Grandma!"

Monday we headed over to our beloved Columbia where we went to Rock Bridge State Park to visit the famous cave - Devil's Icebox. The park is great, but Devil's Icebox is definitely the draw. As you descend about 50 steps toward the cave, you feel the air get cooler and crisper with each step. I think it is about 65 degrees down there year round (it seems like I heard that once, but I could be wrong). Anyway, we had a fun time exploring the cave entrance, climbing on rocks, and splashing in the cold water. After we left, we stopped off to get ice cream before parting ways. Thanks Felkers, Hildebrands, and Carles for a fun weekend!

Bathing Beauties - Mallory & Katrina

The whole gang minus Jani & Papa Otto (I think they decided to stay home and nap and enjoy a quiet home!) & Uncle Andrew (studying at law school)

My Little Old Lady

We love teaching Mallory new tricks!

Mother of the Year, I am not.

Here is what a one-year old eats for breakfast when her mother is not feeling well:

Chocolate Chips.

Not chocolate chip pancakes. Just plain ole chocolate chips in a bowl. On the floor.

I have a cold that is knocking me down today. Every thing I pulled out for Mallory to eat for breakfast she was refusing this morning - even her favorite- frozen pancakes. So it was on to the pantry where I showed her Pop Tarts. "No." "Toast?" "No. Caw-caw." "Chocolate?" was my reply. "Yeah! Yeah! Yeah!" with an emphatic shaking of her head. Frankly, I didn't feel like trying to talk her into something else, so she got what she wanted. I don't guess it can do her too much damage! Heck, I occasionally have chocolate for breakfast myself!

And doesn't she look so pleased to have gotten her way?

Go Cards!

Last night, Edward and I were able to go to a St. Louis Cardinals baseball game. He and his two secretaries, through lots of hard work, qualified through a promotion in his district to attend the game with their spouses. All in all, about eight agents were there along with their office staff and spouses. It was a lot of fun, and the Cards pulled through in the end to beat Milwaukee 5-3. They were down the whole game, and everyone from our group had left except for his district manager, his secretary and her family, and us. It paid to stick it out because the Cards rallied in the seventh and eighth innings to pull out a win. I think that's the best kind of game to attend!

We parked right under the arch to make the LLLOOOONNNNGGG walk to Busch Stadium. It was only about four blocks away, but those are city blocks. Then, when we got through the gates at the stadium it was quite a haul up the three stories of winding ramps, and then we had another flight of stairs before we reached our seats. We were running a bit late (shocking for us, I know), so we were really bookin' it to get to our seats. My little legs were quite tired by the time we got there.

When the game was over, and we were walking back to our car we saw quite a few obnoxious drunk people. I'm always so amazed at the herd mentally some people have. I know without the large mass of people (and without the alcohol) normal people wouldn't be using such awful language or behaving extremely inappropriately with statues. But living my sheltered life, I am aware those things do happen.

What in the world?

Do you ever see people out and about, and upon seeing their attire or behavior wonder, "What were they thinking?" I've been asking myself that a lot lately. Today I was at the store where I observed a young man wearing shorts and a THICK wool sweater. What? It's August. In Missouri. Granted, it's much cooler here (80 degrees) than it normally is in August, but that hardly warrants breaking out the winter clothes in my opinion.

It had me thinking about the people I observe in theme parks during the summer. I'm always baffled when I see people who wear black from head-to-toe, especially long pants and long sleeves. I recognize some religions require the head-to-toe dress, so certainly that's not what I'm talking about. It's usually "Goth" teen-agers. I don't get it. I understand they are trying to express themselves, but is that a higher priority to them than comfort?

And what about the ladies at theme parks or malls that walk around in stiletto heels? How in the world do they do that?!!? Or bling out with 47 pounds of jewelry. Give me comfort any day!

And what about extreme thrill seekers? I really don't get that! Specifically this guy:



What in the world was he thinking? I'm guessing he's really going to regret making that decision. But apparently he wasn't the only one who thought kite-boarding in a tropical storm sounded like a good idea. There is another guy helping him that is also in kite-boarding attire! Birds of a feather...

What to do with all these green peppers...

We are happily being bombarded with green peppers from our first ever garden. I'm trying to come up with some new recipes to use them up. I found some on my favorite recipe site, and they were delish! They were in no way healthy, but oh, so yummy!

Philly Cheesesteak Skillet Dinner

2 cups uncooked elbow macaroni
1 pound lean ground beef
1 medium onion, chopped
2 green bell pepper, seeded and chopped
salt and pepper to taste
1 (8 ounce) package processed cheese food, cubed (I actually used 4 oz. of Cheese Whiz)
1 (10.75 ounce) can condensed cream of mushroom soup
1/4 cup milk, or as needed

DIRECTIONS
Bring a pot of lightly salted water to a boil. Add the macaroni, and cook until tender, about 8 minutes. Drain.
Meanwhile, place the ground beef and onion into a large skillet, and cook, stirring to crumble, until meat is no longer pink, and onion is tender. Just before the beef is done, add the bell peppers, and cook until tender, but still green. Season with salt and pepper. Stir in the cheese food, condensed soup and milk to make a thick sauce.
Remove from the heat, and stir in the macaroni noodles. Serve and enjoy!

Spicy Sausage and Rice Casserole

28 ounces fresh, ground spicy pork sausage
1 cup uncooked long-grain rice
1 slice onion, diced
3 cloves garlic, minced
1 green bell pepper, chopped
1 red bell pepper, chopped
1 (28 ounce) can whole peeled tomatoes, crushed (I used fresh tomatoes.)
1 cup chicken broth
1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon ground black pepper
1 teaspoon cayenne pepper

DIRECTIONS
Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C).
In a skillet, brown sausage and drain grease. Stir in rice, onion, garlic and peppers. Cook 5 minutes. Stir in tomatoes, chicken broth, salt, pepper and cayenne pepper. Pour into 9x13 inch pan.
Bake for 1 hour or until rice is tender and most of the liquid is absorbed. Or, at this step, you can cover and freeze it. (I actually just cooked this in a skillet on the stove - much quicker!)

School Started Today!

Not So Great Clips

I am a bargain queen. I love the thrill of the victory when I know I've saved money. Even though I have found a hairstylist that I really love (I enjoy her even more because she just charges $12 for a cut!!), I had a $5 off coupon to Great Clips that was burning a hole in my pocket. Normally, I'm comfortable going there if I just need a trim. For a new style or a shorter cut I usually go somewhere else.

Today I decided to take advantage of my niece's babysitting services before she goes back to school. I made a quick dash to Great Clips while Mallory napped. I got right in and told the "beautician" that I just wanted a little trim. Apparently, that translated to "cut off two inches and do whatever you want." She literally was done in 10 minutes. My left side had layers while my right didn't appear to have any. She started to blow dry my hair when I spoke up and said, "Um. This side looks quite a bit longer than the other side." She took out the scissors again and barely cut anything. I spoke up again and said it still looked longer. I part my hair on the side and she told me, "It's really because of the side part. When I pull both sides down, they look even." In my brain I was saying, "That's fine and dandy, but I don't go walking around in public pulling both sides down now do I!" She picked up the scissors and started cutting some more. I was terrified because she made way shorter layers than I wanted. They were about an inch shorter on my right side." I had to tell her three times to please trim my bangs. She snipped the scissors, but I don't think any hair ever fell down. She would ask, "How is that?" After the third time I just said, "That will work" all the while knowing I would cut my own bangs when I got home.

I feel like I'm walking around with a helmet. I hate the back the most. I wanted to keep it slightly stacked. There is NO shape at all - just a straight, blunt cut with one shorter layer. Ugh!

After I got home, Ross commented that my hair looked longer on one side. Ahhh! I hadn't even mentioned that to him! For a nine year old boy to mention it, it must be pretty obvious. Then later tonight, as I was bathing Mallory, I caught a glimpse of myself in the mirror and I said, "I HATE MY HAIR!!" Drew, not to go against the grain, said, "I hate your hair, too, Mommy."
After MUCH work (and hairspray) tonight, I'm feeling a bit better. This short of hair shouldn't have to take so long to make it look decent. I'm worried I'll find myself in the black of Glamour magazine as their "Don't."

It doesn't look as bad in this picture as I think it is. I will let it grow out for about a month before I go back to get it fixed. Remind me not to use my Great Clips coupons again!