Get Your Drink On!

I am going to be lame this Friday. Lame and Lazy! Today's Drink is called Bailey's White Russian.
See why I am lame and lazy? Like Nikki said the last time I used Baileys in a drink..."How about just drinking the Bailey's straight from the bottle?" Yes, I do that occasionally...anyone else can feel free to just have some Bailey's straight from the bottle...skip making a mixed drink and just drink it straight! Sometimes one just needs a stiff drink! I really wanted to post a bottle of wine today and tell ya'll just to go out and buy your favorite bottle of wine and get your drink on that way. Then I thought I'd be letting everyone down if I didn't show a mixed drink.
Here is a look at what you need today...

-2oz Bailey's Irish Cream
-2oz Vodka
-3-4oz Milk

Combine ingredients in a rocks glass half-filled with ice cubes. I used an Old-Fashioned glass... which I think is the same as a rocks glass...you can use whatever you want...your coffee mug your kiddos Diego or Backyardigans cup...just make sure you don't leave it siting around they will think you poured them a glass of milk with ice in it!! This is so yummy they would drink it all up so maybe using their cups for getting your drink on is not a good idea. Scratch all of that okay? Okay!Now...I have a confession to make...I wrote this post before making the drink...what you are looking at in that glass is chocolate milk....no I kid! It is actually 2 oz Baileys,2oz vodka, and ONE oz of milk...I think I need a bigger glass! Upon tasting the 4 to 1 ratio you defiantly need a bigger glass and MORE milk! This is STRONG! I also suggest using at least 2% or whole milk or even half and half! 1% and skim doesn't make this creamy enough... it waters it down..as that is all 1% and skim is...watered down milk!
Have a great weekend ya'll and don't forget to be responsible... Don't drink and Drive!!

Wisdom from the Rear

Happy Hump Day!!

Shout it from the Rooftops!

I received my FIRST BLOG AWARD!!! Lil' ol' me was bestowed the "You Make Me Smile Award"by Debs over at her Melon Patch. She is so sweet! I feel all warm and fuzzy knowing I make someone smile!!

This is what the person who created this award says about it- the thing that I love most about blogging is that I learn so much about a person just by reading their blog. I have met MANY wonderful people with wonderful stories to tell, and I am grateful every day for each person that I have the pleasure of crossing paths in life with. I wanted to create something special for the top ten people who have inspired me through their blogging; the stories they tell, and the lives that they lead with grace and dignity. I visit their blogs for inspiration and encouragement. Although there are MANY people I want to give this award to at this very moment, I am going to choose ten bloggers: Please grab your badge and wear it(with a smile) proudly, and pass it on because you inspire and encourage me, thank you. So, now it is my turn to pass it on.

Me? Pass on a blog award? bwahaha! That is funny. I am still a newbie here...I don't feel like I have the authority to pass out awards and anyway Debs picked at least 5 out of my top 7...her 1,2,3,7 and 10 make me smile...Willowtree makes me smile but that man is running out of room on his side bar...plus it is getting a tad cramped in this blog world with his ever expanding ego with each award he receives! So really the only one left that I feel I can pass this on to is my BFF Fianna! I love you girl! You always make me smile!

Thanks Deb for giving me my very first award! XO!

Fun Monday Whatcha' got Cookin'?

Today's hostess is Lisa The Food Snob. Her challenge was this...

"I want to see your favorite recipe, be it either because your grandmother wrote it, it's the easiest thing you can slap together that everyone likes, it makes you feel healthy, it's cheap, etc. You don't have to make it (although you could if you want) but let us see the index card, cookbook, printed paper from the web, and why it's a favorite in your house. If you have a lot, just pick one, I know I'll have to!"

It is always hard for me to pick one thing...I can never choose one of anything...so Lisa was kind enough to say I could have more than one!! Woo Hoo! Otherwise I was gonna pull a Swamp Queen and not follow the rules!! I got blessed with another damn cold on Saturday so there will be no photos of my food. You can thank me later!

Here is the what holds all of the family's secret recipes. My hubby and I were given this as a wedding gift. One of my Aunts hand copied onto notebook paper recipes of hers, my other aunt's, a few of my cousins contributed a few and last but not least my late Grandmothers famous recipes and some of my Great-Grandmothers too! This was my favorite and most cherished wedding gift. I have since added to it and have put the recipes in document protectors.


Here are 2 recipes inside the one on the left is one I found perusing one of my favorite recipe sites allrecipes. I have tweaked it just a tad. Everyone in my family loves this dish. The recipe on the right is from the same place but my oldest son brought it home with a few others when he was in a cooking club in 3rd grade. This is a very yummy easy mini cheesecake recipe. I do not like cherry pie filling so I have made it with strawberry(which is my fave) and blueberry and blackberry....
There you have it! A little sampling of what I cook around here. Now you can go check out Lisa for more delicious recipes after you thank me for not giving you drool visuals! ;)

Get Your Drink On!

This is the late,late edition of Get Your Drink On! I apologize for being so damn late this Friday.
Tonights drink is called Bookmaker's Luck. I choose this in honor of the Book Swap I just participated in. It was loads of fun! I am looking forward to doing more.

Here is a peak at what is needed to make this concoction... 1 oz vodka
1oz white rum
1/2 oz creme de banana
orange juice
lime juice
ginger ale

Pour the vodka, rum, lime juice (to taste) and orange juice (to taste) into a cocktail shaker half-filled with ice cubes. Shake well, and strain into a highball glass 1/3 filled with ice cubes. Fill with ginger ale, add creme de bananes on top, stir once and serve.

What the Fuck Chuck? Stir once? What if I have OCD and need to do everything 5 times? I also have a problem with the "to taste" I am the type of gal that needs to know how much I need to put in. Since it calls to add those 2 things prior to shaking how the heck can it be to taste? Am I supposed to taste from the shaker? This just really upset me. I did a quick squeeze from my plastic lime... I bet it was close to a TB. Now the OJ was 3 small pours which I bet ended up being an oz to 2 oz. What I shook in the shaker was way more than what would have fit in my highball so I filled my highball half way with the shaker stuff then added the ginger ale and 1/2 oz naner stuff. This is very tasty. I like it and may use a lil less OJ next time. This drink is very refreshing and I may want a bigger glass. Enjoy!!!

Book Swap

Some of you might not know that my family and I went on a small road trip last week. We left Thursday the 14th and returned home Monday night(the 17th). We went to KS...that is where my family lives. We had a great time. We went to Manhattan on Sat. which happened to be a home game! It was great seeing all that purple pride!!! We didn't attend the game...but we listened to it on the radio on the car ride back to G-ma's! Sunday was a trip to the Zoo! A great time was had by all! I will have a few zoo pictures for another post! Oh what the hay! Here is the Lone picture from our Wildcat day in Manhattan!It is not as clear as I would like. It was an overcast day and I took this from inside the drivers side of my car...yes the light had just turned green. No traffic was held up in the taking of this photo!
We get home Monday night 8-ish PM. We unload the car and start getting all 3 ready for bed...I check the mailbox and what is in there but a padded envelope with what feels like 2 books inside...I am thrown a bit as I was expecting a pkg from a different state than the one on the return address. For some strange reason I thought the person I was sending to was sending to me! How very silly of me!! :) It was a nice surprise to come home to that evening and have 2 new books and a nice lil card!
Julie at Abbilyeverafter said: " These are the last 2 books I read- one is total fluff and the other is so not. Personally I enjoyed the fluff better but I thought I would send you one of each. I hope you have not read either one and enjoy them. I'm also a big believer in passing books on so I hope you don't mind the "used" copies :) Enjoy reading!"

I have never heard of these 2 books. After reading the lil blurbs on the back of each book they both sound like they will be good. My problem is going to be finding the time to read them!! I am still trying to re-read Harry Potter 6 before I get to Harry Potter 7....I may prolong the end a bit longer and read these...no...yes...no...yes..NO. I will try to read HP 6 and one of these...I have never done that before. I can't read 2 different fiction books at the same time. I CAN read a Fiction and any number of Non-fictions but never 2 fictions...but I will try!!! If you will be looking for my book review of these... leave me a comment or email me and I will email you when I have posted said review... say sometime ooohhh next year!
Thanks Julie for the great books and the sweet card!!! I try to buy used whenever possible. Reuse...part of the 3 R's!! A HUGE Thank You to Emma for hosting this lovely Book Swap!!! Emma has the list of participants on her side bar so go check her out. She will be updating the side bar as we post the books we have received!! How much fun is this? I bet you wish you had signed up!!!

Rear View

Happy Hump Day folks!!!

Fun Monday Artsy Fartsy

Today's Fun Monday is being hosted by Sayre who asked us to:

Brush off your interview skills. Talk to everyone who lives in your house. I want to know what their, and your, favorite piece of art is in your home. Photographs do not count. If there was a fire in your home, everyone would grab photographs, but what is the non-photographic piece of art you would grab on your way out - and why? (Edit: These don't have to be paintings - these can be wall hangings, statues, lumps of clay by your child, anything that is artistic expression of some kind EXCEPT photographs.)

I talked to my hubby and there was nothing he would feel compelled to grab. Since that went so well I just skipped asking the other 3 lil men in my house, I figured I would get the same answer.

All of my photo albums would be first for sure but since this is all hypothetical... if all of my loved ones are safe along with my hubby, kids, and pets...if I was still able to go back in for more I would grab my cedar chest full of saved works of art from my boys...sorry no photo...along with the stack of artwork of theirs on top of my dresser that I have been wanting to frame..again no photo...(my camera battery died)

Then it would be this beautiful piece that my firstborn made for me when he was in 1st grade!

After that it would be these 2 works of art that I bought in Germany the first time I was there.

There is a third print I bought and framed but it was broken during our most recent move and I have not yet taken it to be repaired. It is probably my favorite of the 3...No all 3 are my favorites! I love them all equally!

Just a small note...The Fam' and I have been wandering around doing a bit of traveling... everyone has been having a great time...we mosey on back home Monday so I will be doing a bit of catching up this week even though it may take me all week to get it done...I have been really looking fwd to seeing everyone's favorite work/s of art! So go check out Sayre's place for the list of all the artsy participants!!

Get Your Drink On!

It is that time again...I just now realized that I forgot to tell you last week what this weeks drink was going to be. I bet you tuned in anyway, didn't ya?!
This Friday's drink will be Bitch on the Rag!

Oh yea that's right! Here's a peek at what you will need.... 1/2 oz creme de bananes
1/2 oz Bailey's Irish Cream
1/2 oz Grand Marnier
1 tsp grenadine syrup

Pour the Bailey's Irish cream into a large shot glass. Add the creme de bananes and top with Grand Marnier. Drizzle the grenadine through to the bottom using the long end of a bar spoon. Serve.
Now, you really do need a large shot glass...I thought I had a large enough one but I was only able to fit the first 2 liquors in...I guess I might have been able to get the last 1/2 ounce in but it would have been to the brim! You have been forewarned! This does taste yummy... once ya get past the alcohol burn...it has been forever since I did shots...this all does taste delicious together.

Have a great weekend!

Junk from the Trunk

My 3yr old uses "hate" in a lot of his sentences. I know I do not use that word...I just realized where he did get it...his oldest brother tells him that he hates him whenever he plays/breaks his toys or draws on his walls... Hate is not a family value of ours...I am trying to teach him and the other 2 that there are other ways of expressing their feelings by using words other than that... yet I still feel bad the word is even in their vocabulary... But it is still OK to hate Bush right?

This needs to be a button I wear before consuming my coffee!

Oh yea Baby!! Happy Hump Day folks!!

I'll Never Forget

It was a Tuesday.
It was a beautiful morning, sun shining, not a cloud in the sky, dew on the grass, a nice comfortable temperature….a great day for a walk. I put the dog on his leash and took my almost 4 yr olds hand. We loved our walks. While we walked I kept thinking about how beautiful the morning was. I started hearing sirens and thought nothing…these were common sounds on our walks. The sirens kept coming. Once we reach the park I don’t hear a break in the sirens. They are continuous…over and over and over…they come and come and come they keep coming. They don’t stop. It is eerie. A lady came out of her apartment, comes to me and says”2 planes just hit the World Trade Center.” I am in disbelief. I don’t believe her. It sounds too wrong… too unreal…I thought “No way that would never happen what is this crazy lady talking about?!” She points to the sky. There is big grey cloud…there were NO clouds in the sky that day…now that cloud was the only one and it would grow.

I forced my almost 4 yr old son to come home with me. He protested, I felt bad, but I needed to know, I needed some sort of proof…the lone cloud was not enough.

We get home, turn on the TV and there it was 2 towers, 2 plums of smoke rising from the towers. I am in shock and disbelief. I take my son up to the roof of our 6 floor high rise building. We are 7 miles from the towers…I can see them from up there…I need to see them with my own eyes…I don’t believe what I see on the TV screen.

“Oh my god! It IS real. I see it. Oh my god! What is going on? How is this happening? This is happening in front of me…I see this with my eyes.....”Mommy, what’s wrong?” I can’t answer him. I don’t know what to tell him…how to tell him. I don’t even know how to explain it to myself…I can’t wrap my brain around it…how can I explain it to my almost 4yr old? I can’t…I don’t know how.”

I had my camera with me. I took 2 photos…eerily I snapped the 2 right after the first tower fell…I did not realize until I had the roll developed what I captured. Right before I put my eye to the viewfinder to take the picture I could still see both towers…that is what I thought I was taking a picture of.

Today is a Tuesday…6 years ago that was my morning. It is forever etched in my brain and in my heart. My thoughts and love go out to all who lost a loved one that Tuesday 6 years ago today…

Robocop has this video on his Remembrance post... I hope you take the time to watch it...it is very moving...grab the Kleenex...go check out his post...He listed the casualties by name...

Fun Monday's Good Deed's

It is finally Fun Monday! I am so happy to get back to it! Even though having a Monday off felt kinda nice too! So this weeks Fun Monday Queen is none other than Nikki aka Weird. She has challenged us to do a good deed! She asked that it not be something we have done in the past, but rather something we go and do during the 2 weeks we had between Fun Monday's!

My first deed happened quite by accident. I didn't need to go visit an old folks home. Turns out all I needed to do to make the senior citizens smile was to go grocery shopping wearing my favorite T-Shirt! Clink the link to read about it, trust me it's that good you don't want to miss out. Willowtree was glad he didn't miss out!! ;)

Both of my younger boys are in preschool this year. The middle guy has the same teacher he had last year and the youngest has the teach across the hall. Last year our teacher was the only one out of 4 that wanted in on the paper recycle pick up I was offering. Well of course my middle guys teach wants to continue, so we got the teacher across the hall to recycle all her classes paper too! Woo Hoo! So good deed #2 is picking up, sorting it to take out the stuff that inevitably 3 and 4 year olds want to feed Mr. Munchy Mouth, and taking it along for the ride to the recycle center (transfer station...it is stinky there) with the rest of my recycles! Before you know it I will have the whole school district recycling paper!!

My boys preschool teachers are at a new school...same program just in a different school...added 2 more teachers at the previous location to serve even more kiddos. Needless to say they were not allowed to bring along much. Lots of things were purchased new and then the $$$$ was gone. This program offers these neat lil things called Book bags. They are these fabric tote bags filled with one book and a game and 3 or so activity sheets for the child to do..."homework". They were not allowed to bring ANY of the pre-made games, which there were at least 4 copies of each game. They also only have one book per title, which they were used to having like 6 so that if one was misplaced it was ok. The bag wasn't put out of commission until the book was found or a replacement bought. One of the teachers mom's spent all summer making these cute lil tote bags, all 100 of them! At orientation they told us that the bags were not ready as they had to make all the games from scratch. Here comes me with good deed #3. I offered to color cut paste...whatever it was they needed to help them get the book bags ready I would do! I also asked for a list of the books so that when I am out at used book stores I know what they need and can get them extra copies.
I have made these games before. It is extremely time consuming. All the cutting, coloring, pasting... I have done this when they offered to let parents come in and choose a game and make their own to keep... here is the one I made...Here are a couple I was given already to get cuttin' on...

I love this preschool program so much, I am tempted to go back to college (scary scream!)I love these teachers so much!
But ya know these are things I would do even without Nikki's Challenge. That is just who I am. I am the woman that holds the door open for strangers, the one that picks something up that a stranger dropped, I smile at strangers and most times say Hello. I enjoy sending out thinking of you cards or just because gift packages. As for the bigger scale good deeds like giving blood.... I have a fear of needles so that would be a true challenge for me! Go check out all the warm fuzzy amazing things the rest of the Fun Monday peeps have done!

Get Your Drink On!

I told you I had no fucking clue what drink I was going to feature this week. That is why this is so late! I found the perfect drink after yesterdays post...which a majority of you read today...I posted it uber late too! Go check it out if you haven't read it yet!

Today's drink will be NICE MELONS!

Here is what ya'll need to make today's drink....
2 ounces white rum
1 1/2 cups watermelons
2 TB Lime juice
1 half canned peach...I'm sure fresh would work too
1 cup crushed ice

Combine the rum,melon,lime juice,peach, and ice in a blender.
Blend well,pour into a glass. Add a straw,serve.

This made 2 drinks for me. It was rather tasty but I had to ditch the straw as it was very chunky. I failed to blend well! I ended up chewing more than drinking....not a good thing. I learn for you! Debs will enjoy this one for sure!!! Go get your drink on peeps! Have a great weekend!!

My Good Deed

Oh yeah, that's right! I did a good deed today and I didn't know I was going to do it.
I didn't set out to the grocery store today thinking to myself..." I am going to do a good deed today at the store!" But it happened and it's a shame I cant count this for Monday! It is so good!

I went to the grocery store today. I had more than a few things to get today...not a whole cart full...more like half and with no list. I forget things if I don't have a list. I am minding my own and during my 35 plus minutes at the store I was stopped by 6 people asking me questions, giving me kudos...huge props for what I was wearing. One guy even said I was bold!! Today must have been old folks day at the grocery store. They were the ones stopping me. I love old people! There was one old Lady and 5 Men that stopped me. I had a huge smile on my face the entire time I shopped and for probably 2 hrs afterwards. If I did not make their day they made mine! At least 5 out of the 6 were no younger than 70 and one guy couldn't have been younger than 60.

One of the men that gave me a comment made me think of my Grandpa who was brazen and an ornery old fart. Always talking to ppl in the store. This man came up behind me in line and told me a joke...reminding me even more of my G-pa! OK I know I am loosing Willowtree here so I'll just get to the point!

This is what I had on...
I thought of WT while I was getting comments at the grocery store....I just knew if he had been in there he would have been one of the old men that had to say something to me. There were at least 5 other old guys that I saw smiling at my shirt...they just weren't brave enough to say anything. Who knows how many other people I made their day by me wearing this shirt!
I got this shirt as I hate ppl saying KS is flat. I know I am not flat but I never thought I was giving it justice but after today...apparently I am doing just fine!!

Wisdom from the Rear

Mother Earth is NOT a trash can nor an ashtray!

LOVE...that is all that should be needed. People marry for all kinds of reasons...Love should be the only one and it should be legal for ALL!

This is my kind of dog!!!Happy Hump Day!!