Moms & July 4th Giveaways

If you're a mom, be sure to check out 5 Minutes for Mom. These ladies have a plethora of good information, encouragement, tips, humor, great things to buy, and so on.

Another thing they do is give away terrific stuff! Nearly all the time. This time it's to celebrate the 4th of July. So be sure to check out their site (bring a cup of coffee or tea, there's a lot there!) and you might find a giveaway (or two) you're interested in.

Oh, speaking of giving away stuff, I won a book from them this morning! They've started a new column about scrapbooking. The woman who's writing that one has a book called, Real Women Scrap and I won one of five autographed copies! Woo hoo!! That's a fun email to find first thing in the a.m.

Tales From the Scales - Week #7

Yes, I missed last week. Only because I thought I needed new batteries in my scales. Turns out that wasn't the problem. About half of each digit is just not showing any more. Phooey! I am, however, still able to figure out my weight. While nothing monumental, I'm down another 1/2 pound.

That's okay, though. I didn't add all this baggage overnight and it won't come off overnight either. At least it's a step in the right direction!

On a happy note, I'm getting much more water in, eating more fruit & veggies, and had NO DR PEPPER yesterday. Just one today. That's HUGE for me! So I'll just keep on plugging away.

Thrill a Minute Monday

My ever so exciting day went something like this:

• Slept well (praise God! - see the end of this post)


• Made iced chai (Tazo Vanilla, of course)


• Took hubby's phone to him at work


• Went to the credit union to deposit money & checks


• Played Zigity with the boys


• Washed the Durango (wow - I haven't hand washed a car in possibly 16 or 21 years!)


• Washed jeans


• Read a few blogs


• Had a yummy smoothie for lunch (lemon yogurt, berries, protein powder, flax, milk & ice)


• Chatted with Mom on the phone (82 minutes)


• Went to the library (2 more Lisa Samson novels)


• Put fuel in the Durango - it was ONLY $50.00 (how wrong is that?!?!)


• Bought a cucumber for chef's salads


• Dried jeans


• Watered the lawn


• Prepared and ate salads


• Played more Zigity with the boys


• Worked on budget


• Created a form for hubby for work


• Read a few more blogs


• Found a COOL blog on bread


• Folded laundry


• Wrote this post (with cool little squares for bullets - all on my own)


• Going to read and go to sleep

I loved every low-key moment of it!

Some days just need to be like that.

Normal Tomorrow

I think I'll return to blogging tomorrow. For the past few days, I've been in a rather funky mood - maybe I caught it from Sprittibee? Or not. Anything I try and blog about is just depressing and pathetic. So I didn't post. I think I'll return to normal tomorrow, though.

LOL! Like there's such a thing as NORMAL?!?!?

So how do you like me disguised as Link in a Deku mask?

We went to see Pirates 3 this morning. We found out that at 10:00 a.m. on Sunday, the theatre is really not very busy at all. No ticket lines, no sold-out show, and no difficulties sitting where you want (next to whom you want). Besides, at matinee prices, we got in plus got snacks for less than it would've cost to just get in the door last night. Makes a big difference when your kids are now considered adults (whatever!) AND prices increase AND they increase prices for weekend nights! It's the first movie we've been to in eons and we had a great time! Even though it's a long movie, we loved it. Right along with the other two Pirates.

We also watched Miss Potter last night (online rental) which is such a charming movie. My boys even liked it! Who'd have thought that at 13 & 12, they'd enjoy such a movie? But they did.

Hopefully tonight I'll get to sleep - during the night. For some absurd reason, I slept until nearly 11:00 a.m. yesterday. Naturally, my body was not at all ready to go to sleep last night at bedtime - it hadn't been up and functioning long enough. Sooooo, it decided to not cooperate in the sleeping department until 4:30 THIS MORNING!! It seems that my body is forgetting who's the boss here! So, tonight I'm sending myself to bed - early. No more of this "not sleeping" nonsense. Besides, if I am too short of sleep, I might start getting really loopy. I might start bossing myself around or something. Who knows what could happen? I sure wouldn't want to be around for the lunacy that could ensue.

p.s. - Just to clarify, we attend church on Saturday nights. Our church has 3 Sunday morning services and 1 (used to be 2) on Saturday night. Hubby runs the sound board on Saturday nights and we don't arrive late and cranky. That's how we went to a movie on Sunday a.m. Not that I have to justify such actions. But I didn't want y'all thinking I was skipping out on God & church in lieu of "Pirates." No way, not this gal.

I Scream, You Scream

Last week I purchased the necessary ingredients for homemade ice cream. It is that time of year, after all, so I wanted to be all set when the mood struck. Father's Day seemed like the perfect evening. My sister, brother-in-law, and nieces were here. A little grilling, a little chilling with the First Scrumptious Batch of Homemade Vanilla Ice Cream of the season. Mmmm yummmy!!

Seeing how I am a veteran ice cream maker creator, I deftly whisked my ingredients together in my handy-dandy Pampered Chef 2-quart batter bowl. Then the wonderfully creamy mixture was poured into the can and I added the remaining milk. My sister and I chatted all the while I was preparing this tasty, fabulous concoction. Since it was the first batch of the year, I pulled out my trusty Most-Favorite, Most-Used, Best-Ever Recipes to be sure that I used accurate measurements. The remainder of the year, I'll just know it by heart. And no, I didn't take step-by-step pictures like dear, sweet Barb does. Maybe next time. Or not.

Sadly, my sister and her family had to get home as it was getting a little late, so they did not stay and participate in this monumental moment of 2007 ice cream history. I felt so bad for them, I really did. As kind of a consolation prize, she did pick up some STORE-BOUGHT ice cream to take home with them. Oh well, I suppose it would do until another time when we could start the process a little earlier.

Hubby got the ice cream maker running (it's a little slow getting started after nearly 20 years in service), and in no time we had 4 quarts of vanilla bliss. I promptly dished up bowls for the boys which they scurried inside to consume while watching "Curse of the Were Rabbit." Hubby headed in the house with his and I followed.

Naturally the boys had chocolated theirs up quite nicely. I asked how it was and they enthusiastically replied, "GREAT!" Hubby told me to "taste it." Not real sure why he would make such a request, but I happily complied.

You know, it's really an interesting fact of life. If you don't put ALL the ingredients into your recipe, your end result might not be what you anticipated. In fact, it might not be very sweet at all. Particularly if you leave out the sugar. I truly hadn't intended to make sugar-free ice cream. Not that it might not be such a bad idea with all the Tales From the Scales stuff. But that's beside the point. When I want homemade ice cream, I want the real deal. I have made some effort to decrease the fat and points, but leaving sugar out is most definitely NOT one of them.

So we all added some form of sugar (granules, Hershey's syrup, Nesquik, etc.) to render our ice cream acceptable. It wasn't too bad. But it sure wasn't the extraordinary, delectable indulgence I was expecting. Sigh.

I suppose you could insert a little Gumpism here - Life is like a bowl of ice cream, if you put in all the right ingredients, it's pretty darned good.