January Birthdays

Did  a little celebrating in January for birthdays and anniversaries. We did have 2 cakes. That was my fault. We ordered one cake for the planned big day. At the last minute, we could not go, so they all celebrated without us. Then we planned another day and ordered another cake.

#1 Brandon and Julie's wedding anniversary                      #2  Chris' Birthday  

  

#3 JoeJoe's birthday                                                                #4 Larry's Birthday

 

 Why do you think  some  ran from me and the camera and would not look?

We met at a Mexican restaurant to eat, then went to Jennifer's apt for birthday cake, played Dance 2 on wii, and back home.

gin

A wintry mix

The first wintry mix of 2011 down in the south finds schools closed, businesses sending employees home, grocery stores packed with shoppers -- because you know it just might get a little bit of ice on the overpasses and bridges and we're not use to that. So everything is blown way out of proportion.  So in the winter we actually live for "wintry mix" so we can stop and slow down for a minute.

So here I am at home.     

Icicles are beginning to form on the roof edge on a gray dreary winters day.

There getting bigger by the hour.
 

Soup is on.

 I made homemade vegetable soup with beef, onion, celery, basil, thyme, salt, pepper, peas, corn, carrots, beans, okra, tomatoes and tomato sauce.  It's delicious.

Fire is blazing.

Flannel jammies and sock feet.

Now, all tucked in inside out of the cold. Life stops for part of  a day, just because of mother nature.
Tomorrow we find that it didn't get as bad as the weatherman said it would, so life is back in full swing.

gin

Hornets

The New Orleans Hornets Basket Ball Team makes my headlines today.

Brandon and some friends had tickets to the Hornets home game in New Orleans this week.
He sent me pictures.

They were up top in a private suite thing with catered food, luxury seating, and what ever else comes with the vip treatment.

Remember my plea for pictures? Well it worked. At least someone read my post.

gin

Easy,delicious, oven roast

Try this simple recipe.

1 beef roast
1 can mushroom soup
1 package Lipton onion soup mix dry
Pepper

Line baking pan with heavy aluminum foil. Use a large enough piece to be able to fold over roast and seal along top and edges so gravy does not leak out.

Put 1/2 of the can of mushroom soup on top of the foil in the pan.
Sprinkle 1/2 of the Lipton onion soup mix on top of the mushroom soup.
Sprinkle black pepper on top and bottom of roast.
Place roast on top of mushroom soup and lipton soup mix.
Put remainder 1/2 can of mushroom soup on top of roast. Spread around on top of roast.
Sprinkle remainder 1/2 package of Lipton onion soup mix dry on top of mushroom soup.
Fold alum foil over, sealing top and edges.

Bake 3-4 hours on 300 degree. (Bake 1 hour per pound).

You will have a delicious roast, and a delicious gravy, and no messy pan.

You can also substitute chicken breasts.

gin

Send me your pictures!

And I will be happy to share them with blog land.  I am looking for some good stories to report on. -- I'll be happy to tell about your day.

Aren't these some pretty fish? Pinks, blues, yellows, oranges . . .

And the aquarium set up is just as pretty.

Credit given to Jennifer and Chris == they did a good job on decorating their fish's home and picking out such cute fish. 
gin

Meet Rudy

Rudy is a canine therapist.

He visits Jennifer's medical clinic where she works.
He visits twice a month and interacts with the patients, giving them love and laughter, and I'm sure by his looks he puts on a great show.
Wow, he is a big standard poodle!
What a great job he has.

gin

Celebrating holidays early is nothing new for me. I've already started the next holiday -- Valentines Day.

I have eaten quite a few little boxes of these Sweethearts candies since they have been out on the shelves in the stores just the past week or so.  I've given them to myself. I think I deserve them -- being at work all day, sometimes all alone with no one here but me.

So its me, my computer (where I blog stalk A LOT), my Dasani water, my radio, and the few phone calls and few customers and a lot of UPS and FEDEX guys who come in and out, and my cell phone to take pictures of this.

 It's sweet!!

gin

One of the good things . .

. .  about the ending of winter is all the 50-60-75% off and clearance sales, and of course the great spring warm weather that comes.

Just by hitting the mall during lunch these caught my eye:

Like the sweater with the faux fur around the collar -- clearance rack.

And, boots everywhere!

Some good steals out there. I was good though, I didn't buy anything.

gin

Shuffle

I’m in the shuffle, in the mix, with my new ipod shuffle.

(this is not my hand. but it is the exact ipod shuffle that i have - model, color, and all)



I got a lot of great gifts for Christmas. I enjoyed them all. Thank you for all my great gifts. This was one of those great gifts.

Our family draws names for gift giving and  this was my gift. It’s great. I can lip sync, jive, and work all at the same time.  And you don't want to be around me while it's plugged in my ears, because -- I won't hear you, I won't know that you're even around, and you will probably think I am out of my mind or too old to act like this. But, I'm having a good time! (just ask my husband)

Some of my first itunes downloads are Taylor Swift, Mariah Carey, The Beatles, some Christian music, and a few others. I have tons more space, of course, for many, many, many more.

I ROCK!

gin

2011

The new year started off good. Just hanging around the house doing really nothing.

Found a few sparklers left over from last year and we played with them till we burned them all out.

Just us and the dogs!

A little cuddling with the fur balls. Molly-dog spent her holidays with us.

A little cooking and eating. Some good ol' comfort food -- shrimp etoufee'.

And doing a little bit of spring cleaning -- early!

I've made no new year resolutions this year. Mainly because I know there is a lot of stuff I need to do -- or a lot of stuff I need to do better. So I really work on that every year anyway.

So instead of a new year's resolution, I have a mission. My mission (other than to always be genuinely kind and courteous and helpful) is to search all year for several "choir angel trios" sets. You say what? I would love to have (and to give) a set of little "choir angels". I saw exactly what I want to have --they were displayed at someone's house; they are vintage, old, and really sweet looking. It was a set of 3 little ceramic /glass angel choir boys with robes on, holding their song sheet. You really had to see it to want a set, I guess.  Somewhat similar to this, either choir boys or an angel choir:

   So that is my mission for the rest of this year. I'll be looking high and low, in every nook and cranny, in every antique store, flea market, junk shop, treasure chest. I can't wait to get started and accomplish my mission!!

gin