Memorial Day weekend

I had a good time at home last weekend. Friday night my brother and 2 nieces came over and we grilled. I didn’t get to make those stuffed peppers for Bunco a couple of weeks ago so we tried them out Friday night instead. They were yummy!

It’s funny how some peppers were hotter than others. The hot ones would always catch you off guard, for some reason. My dad made the Pioneer Woman’s chocolate sheet cake.

It was very similar to my mom’s recipe. We have some picky eaters that don’t like walnuts, so some of the icing has nuts and some doesn’t. When I was growing up I had to learn to like them or I wouldn’t get dessert. But now for the grandchildren, we do whatever they want!

Jaisle and Ree playing with makeup

I told them when I was their age and my brother would see me playing in makeup, he would say, “I didn’t know we were playing clowns!” It used to make me so mad. I thought I was doing such a good job and then he would make fun of me.

J doing what she does best!

Chad and his girls

Saturday night I met Tina and Cynthia, a couple of friends from high school, at Ponchatoula's for supper. We ran into Andrew and Ashley James there. I hadn't seen them in years! It's funny how when I'm in Ruston, I feel like I'm supposed to know almost everyone I see, but it's getting less and less like that. But sometimes I like knowing that I can run to Wal-Mart here and most likely not bump into anyone I know. Depends on how bad I look and if I'm in a hurry. For those of you that haven't been back to Ruston in a while, you would be amazed at all the changes, especially on Tech's campus. Be careful on the new one way street in front of Wal-Mart. :) And there's a new exit off I-20. They are moving on up...now there are FOUR exits.

On another note, please pray for my Bunco friend Melinda. She was put into ICU last weekend with viral spinal meningitis. She is out of ICU and hopes to go home today. Doctor's orders are to rest and she is going to have a hard time doing that. Thanks for your prayers for her!

one last pic of Aunt Mandy and her girls

graduation and puppies

It's 95 degrees outside right now at 6:00 in the evening!!! I hope that doesn't mean we're going to have a miserably hot summer! Ugh!

Last week I went to see my friend Karen get her masters degree at DBU. We taught across the hall from each other in 2nd grade for 6 years. Her family was not fond of the "behave yourselves" rules about no cheering for the graduates until the end. It was quite funny. All you could do was quietly stand and show your support as they walked across the stage. Her dad was frustrated at this rule. I sat next to her son who is in the 4th grade. He had quite a short attention span so we entertained each other. After it was all over, I thought I was going to have to call for help to find my car. A good sense of direction is something I was definitely not born with! But luckily I remembered my way back. :)

Congrats, Karen!!! You're going to make a great principal!

This past weekend I went with a friend to pick up his new puppy. Isn't she adorable?!?! It makes me want one sooooo badly. But I don't think I'm quite ready for the responsibility and expense of having a dog. I'd have to leave it in its crate a lot and I would feel bad about that. And I'd also hate having to take it out if I got home late at night. Plus it wouldn't have a yard to play in. See? I'm just not ready. But the summertime sure would be a good time to get a puppy because I'd have time to train it. No, I better not! :)

She likes to sleep as much as I do!

I think I'm going to go home for Memorial Day weekend. We're off on Friday because it's a bad weather day we never had to use. So I think I'll take advantage of my 4 day weekend to go see my nieces. I bought Reanne some books at the Book Fair last week. I guess now I need to find something for Jaisle.

Mother's Day and The Pioneer Woman

My mom came to visit me for Mother's Day last weekend. A little backwards, I know. But she hadn't been to Dallas in a while so we decided it would be a good weekend for her to come here. She's a good sport like that. :) If you've never been to the Dallas Farmers Market, I would highly recommend it! We went there on Saturday morning and bought some vegetables. The flowers were gorgeous too but with living in an apartment, I have no place for them. My one pot of petunias is all I have room for.


We also went to see Made of Honor. It was such a cute movie! Michelle Monaghan's red highlights made me want some. We did some shopping after church on Sunday. I can always trust my mom's judgment when I try on clothes! Then I took her down to the Ft. Worth Stockyards for dinner. We had fun. Thanks for coming to visit, Mom!


The Pioneer Woman

A few months ago I came across http://www.thepioneerwoman.com/. It is my new favorite website. It's this lady that lives on a ranch in Oklahoma and she blogs alomost everyday. My favorite part is her recipes she puts on there. She puts a picture of EVERY step to the recipe as she's making it. It's quite helpful for people like me!

Every now and then she has giveaways of really cool stuff. Today it's a kitchen aid mixer. http://thepioneerwoman.com/cooking/ All you have to do is leave a comment answering the question she asks. Then she uses a generator that picks a comment randomly and that's the winner. She loves photography, obviously from her great photos, so she's given away a camera and a printer before too. So I was looking at her blog this morning and she already has over 5,000 comments after posting just this morning!

She writes all about her life on a ranch, how she met her husband after moving back from California, cooking, etc. She hass a great sense of humor! She's even thinking about hosting a ranch version of the Bachelor to help find a girlfriend for her husband's cousin. (http://thepioneerwoman.com/2008/05/heels_to_wheels_part_deux.html)


I'm going to make her stuffed jalapeno recipe (http://thepioneerwoman.com/cooking/2007/07/bacon-wrapped_j/) for Bunco Friday night. I've made them on a campfire and a grill before but never in the oven. Yummy! Just reading her cooking site makes me hungry! Next I want to try her chocolate sheet cake but I'm afraid I'll eat too much of it.



Anyway...just thought I'd share this website with you in case you needed some good recipes with easy to follow directions and pictures. :) Enjoy!