Thankful Thursday

This week I am thankful for:

1)  McDonald's Iced Tea. 

Seriously, I could drink a gallon of this stuff every day.  I often will swing through a drive-through and pick one up if Sam and I are out and about to sip on throughout the day.  Six Splenda, please.  What?  It's a big cup! 

2)  Recipes that make enough for left-overs. 

Picture not my own...stolen borrowed from Food Network

I made Bobby's Goulash this week, and let me just tell ya...Paula Deen cooks like my grandmother did!  That recipe made a TON of food.  In my opinion, it's easier to just make the entire recipe then freeze 1/2 of it rather than splitting a recipe, so now we have a pre-cooked dinner ready and waiting for us for some night in the future. 

3)  E-Coupons.  I love the idea of couponing, but let's just be honest:  this gal ain't spending hours and hours clipping coupons and organizing coupons and sifting through coupons when I get ready to go shopping.  (Those extreme couponers are C-R-A-Z-Y!!!)  But with e-coupons, I can just log in, load them to my Kroger card and bing, bang, boom I've saved money!  So far, I'm using the Kroger website, Meijer website and Cellfire.  What are some other e-coupon sources that you use?

Linking up to Black Tag Diaries.  Pop over and tell her what you're thankful for this week.

A 'Zoo'pendous Day

We recently took our first trip to the zoo.  After some debate about which one to visit, we settled on the Louisville Zoo. 

Because it was so hot (95 degrees, people!!), the animals weren't very active, but we still got to see a few...

While I think Sam enjoyed the elephants, baby giraffe and the tiger, he was ALL ABOUT the goats in the petting zoo.  Seriously.  I really think he would have been perfectly content to just pet the goats and then leave.  We even tried to kiss the goat. 

I tried my darnedest to get Sam to sit on the elephant, but that stuff just wasn't happening.  Good thing Momma was able to snap a quick photo before we tried to eat the mulch on the ground.  Sidebar:  I totally had that typed as darndest and my spell checker said that was wrong.  But don't you think darnedest just looks dumb?  And that's not how I say it...  darn-ed-est.  Um...no.

And look who else went to the zoo!  Pooh (or better known as "Boo" around these parts) has become another appendage for Sam.  Shawn made fun of me for taking this picture, but I'm sure Sam will appreciate it someday.  Right???

I think Sam's second favorite thing at the zoo (a distant second behind the goat) was the sea lion tank.  This friendly fellow kept making laps around the tank.  As he would swim closer to us, Sam would reach his hands out and try to grab him, then as he would zoom past and swim away, he would scream loudly.  Around and around the sea lion swam as again and again Sam repeated our cycle of giggle...scream...giggle...scream.  

I loved our day at the zoo...probably more than Sam.  It was so fun for me to see him experience something totally new and see it through his eyes.  Can't wait to go back...in the fall...on a weekday perhaps.

Meet Molly

You know, it's a funny thing about plans.  They just have a way of taking on a life of their own.  Take this week, for example.  We had planned on being at the beach.  I had not planned on getting another dog any time soon.  But some circumstances that were beyond our control came up and we postponed our beach trip.  We're hoping to reschedule later this summer if we can work it out with our employers.  We were both a little bummed about our change of plans, so we decided to do a couple of fun things this week.  We went to the zoo (more on this later), had friends over, and decided to just visit a local dog rescue.

Meet the result of that visit... 



Molly is an 18 month old lab who was surrendured to the Somerset Humane Society because her previous family was moving.  Can you believe this sweet girl was going to be euthanized because the shelter was too full?  I'm so glad the Kentucky Lab Rescue came and took her away so that we could make her a part of our family.  

Sam is quite smitten with her.  They have spent hours chasing each other around our house, and they have exchanged thousands of kisses already.  In fact, I'm pretty sure if we were to do DNA analysis on Sam right now, we would discover that he's part lab.  She's a big couch potato, and she thinks she's a 70 pound lap dog. 

To be honest, I was reluctant to bring another dog into our home because we were just heartbroken when we lost Maddie.  But Molly has somehow wriggled her way into my heart just like she wriggles a little closer to me on the couch, and we are already crazy about her. 

Congratulations, Molly.  You have hit the pet jackpot. 

40 by 40

I have decided to do a 40 by 40 list--forty things that I want to do by the time I'm forty years old.  Here's my plan:  I'll post the list, then as I complete each one I will update it with the date completed, and I'll also do a separate post about that accomplishment.  Fun, right?  Some of these things are big things, others are not so big.  Regardless, my plan is to do each and every one of these things by the time I hit the big 4-0. 

Oh...one more thing.  One of these things is going to be checked off very, very soon.  Now do I have you interested???

Joe's 40 by 40 List

1.  Make a quilt.

2.  Read one of the classics.

3.  Go on a mission trip.

4.  Purchase (and learn how to use) a really great camera.

5.  Invite someone outside of my family to Thanksgiving dinner.

6.  Organize the junk room in our basement.

7.  Learn to crochet.

8.  Learn to snow ski.

9.  Run a 5K race.

10.  Adopt a shelter pet.  Done 7/19/11

11.  Get a hot stone massage.

12.  Camp out in my back yard.

13.  Go on an overnight girls-only trip.

14.  Go on a picnic.  Done 8/27/12

15.  Fly a kite.

16.  Go for a sailboat ride.

17.  Cook a meal with ingredients purchased entirely at a local Farmers' Market.

18.  Have a movie marathon day...complete with pajamas and popcorn.

19.  Shop in New York City.

20.  Pay my respects at the Vietnam Memorial Wall.

21.  See the Nutcracker at Christmas time.

22.  See a show on Broadway.

23.  Drink a fruity umbrella drink on the beach.  Done 8/28/11.

24.  Make a  gingerbread house.

25.  Spend a day volunteering.

26.  Throw a coin in the Fountains of Bellagio.

27.  Read the Bible cover to cover.

28.  Swim with dolphins.

29.  Sing karaoke.

30.  Take a helicopter tour in Hawaii.

31.  Get super dressed up and go on a date with my husband.

32.  Spend Christmas in a far away place with my family.

33.  Fly first class.

34.  Tour a vineyard.

35.  Go ice skating.

36.  Find a ministry at my church and get involved.

37.  Take a class just for fun.

38.  Wear a hat and drink a mint julep on Derby Day.

39.  Get my make-up done at one of those fancy make-up counters.

40.  Hike in the Grand Canyon.

Does This Make Us Dysfunctional?

One night this week, I came home from work, greeted each of my boys with a kiss, then turned to go change clothes.  As I walked past, Shawn swatted me on the butt, and Sam giggled. 

Intrigued, Shawn swatted me again.  And Sam laughed again.

So Shawn smacked me one more time.  And this time, Sam cackled. 

So there we were, Shawn smacking me in the rear, and our son watching and howling with laughter.  And I couldn't help but think, if someone were to peek in our window right now, would Child Protective Services get involved?  And how long would it take us to regain custody?

Thankful Thursday

This week I am thankful for:

1)  Date night.  I had some family in to visit for a few days last week, and my cousin surprised Shawn and me by insisting that we go out on a real, bonafide date!  Shawn and I were so excited, we almost missed our opportunity by planning and replanning our evening several times.  I love my little boy, but I have to admit:  it was nice to be able to finish a complete thought during dinner without saying, "What's wrong, honey?  Did you drop your cupee?  Here...Mommy get it."  Small confession:  I had to fight the urge to cut Shawn's food into tiny pieces juuuuuust a little. 

2)  Sam's laugh.  Seriously, it's one of my most favorite sounds in the entire world.  Sam laughs with his whole body.  He laughs loud and long.  He doesn't get embarrassed if he snorts when he laughs.  He doesn't mind that he's the only one laughing or if he's laughing the loudest...he laughs anyway.  He doesn't really know how to chuckle; instead, he just throws his head back and lets out a guffaw.  I should take a lesson from him.


3)  Answered prayers.  Especially the ones that are answered in such an obvious way that God may as well have smacked you upside the head.  That's what I need from Him.  No guesswork.  There are a couple of areas that we have been asking for direction in lately, and this week we got some pretty obvious answers.  And while I might not necessarily have chosen some of the answers, I have a certain peace in knowing that we're doing what God has led us to do. 

Hair We Go!

Sam got his first haircut this week.  Shawn has been trying to convince me that it was time for one for months.  I have been reluctant to get his hair cut, but when he woke up from a nap this weekend and his hair looked like this...

...I could no longer deny that it was time for a trim. 

I have to admit, he did pretty well.  At first, he was so impressed with the cartoons playing on his own personal television and his race car barber's chair that he hardly noticed the lady cutting his hair.

Then, he started really thinking about it, and he got the Joe Look.  Perplexed.  Perturbed. 

Come to think of it, that's just plain annoyed.

Then someone told him that babies are supposed to cry when they get their hair cut, so he figured he'd better do that a little. 

But you know the great thing about getting your hair cut?  They give you a balloon! 

Balloons are great.  You can do all sorts of cool things with them.  You can take them with you when you chase the cats. 

Where'd she go??? 

You can hold on to them while you sort laundry... 

...and you can even use them as a prop during your gymnastics floor routine. 

Maybe getting your hair cut isn't so bad after all.

Bookworm

Sam has really taken an interest in books lately.  It's not uncommon for me to lose him during the day.  When I go investigating, this is usually what I find:

He has all of his books in the floor, and he will be sitting there just quietly flipping through them.

Sometimes he gets so engrossed in the story that he doesn't even notice me watching him.

First Harvest

Last week, I went out to check on Zed.  Zed is the baby zucchini that I had on my zucchini plant.  (Don't worry...Shawn sufficiently made fun of me for naming the zucchini.)  I had been checking on Zed every couple of days, but we had several rainy days in a row and I didn't make it out to visit.  When I did go back out to check on him, this is what I found!

Zed had grown!  And he had friends!

It's hard to judge their size in the picture, but these are some of the biggest zucchinis I have ever seen.

In true Southern fashion, we fried Zed up and ate him.

In other garden news, my tomatoes are looking great!  We're not quite ready yet, but before long, I'm going to have some lovely tomatoes...

...that will go even lovelier with this basil...

...and this parsley...

...to make a wonderful bruschetta .  Can't wait!

Mommy's Helper

This week, dishes.  Next week, laundry.  I think I'm on to something here.

Dinnertime Conversation