An Incredibly Happy Woman!!!

I just got a letter from GEORGE W. BUSH!!! Okay, so here is the back story. I was medically retired in 2008 from the USAF. They took 3 1/2 years to get me my certificates so when they sent them to me, the certificate of appreciation was signed by Obama. Well, first, I did not serve under him, second, I did not vote for him, third, I think he is ruining everything good about our nation in so many ways. So, needless to say, I wasn't exactly HAPPY he signed my letter!

I did a little research and wrote to the great man himself and explained the situation and that serving under him was one of the proudest things I have ever done, I would be more honored to put a napkin signed by him on the wall than anything signed by someone who apologizes for the greatness of our incredible nation. So...... I didn't think he would actually write back, but HE DID!!! He's WONDERFUL!!!! I love it!!!

Food Experiements!!!!

So, I have become a full blown Pinterest ADDICT!!! I get on there at work (don't tell my boss), at school (don't tell my teacher), on my phone, at home, I'm totally addicted. Anyway. I find things on there and try them or think, "Self, that looks good, but I think we can make it better!" So today that is what we did. I found a recipe that looked really good, it was for Spinach Artichoke Pasta or something like that. Well, if I tried to give my husband and kids a dinner with no meat of any type in it they would kick me out of the house! So, I made a few adjustments and here is what I came up with, Cheesy, Chicken, Spinach, Artichoke Bake. I have to make a ton of food b/c I have 6 kids so my recipes are large and I don't really measure a lot of stuff, I just go by taste and do what I think will have the best results.

The final product looks like this:

To make it I cut up several chicken breasts (about 4 pounds) into bite sized pieces and sauteed it in olive oil and Italian Seasonings. When it was almost done cooking I added a chopped onion and fresh minced garlic (4 cloves).



To make sure the kids got enough veggies I tried a new kind of pasta that had a serving of veggies included.



While everything was cooking, I chopped up two cans of artichoke hearts and squeezed out two boxes of frozen spinach. I mixed it in to a bowl with a package of cream cheese, 2 cups of sour cream, 2 cups Parmesan cheese, and a cup of mozzarella.



I reserved almost a full cup of the pasta water and drained the rest. Then mixed everything up in a greased 11x15 pan and covered it with another cup of Mozzarella cheese.



I baked it at 425 until it was brown and bubbly, let it cool a little bit and served it up! The family LOVED it and voted it into the "Make Again" files!



I will do a few things differently next time however. I will lower the temperature of the oven to about 400 to start with and will only use 1 1/2 boxes of pasta instead of 2. I think this will make it even creamer and tastier! I'll have to let you know how it works out!

Pretty panties

Just an undergarment? Psh! I think NOT! Think about the last time you wore your big old cotton granny panties all day. How did you feel all day? Blah right? Think about the last time you put on some silky draws! How did you feel all day? Beautiful right? Yeah, panties make or break your day. Today for instance, I have a crap meeting to go to for a crap reason because a crap person decided to be crappy. It had me in a blah mood all day yesterday. Today I got up and got ready for my shower and looked in the panty drawer. I could wear the cotton ones, but then thought about the meeting. Instead, I reached for the lipstick pink satin and lace. Now, I’m sitting here in my chair with a little smirk on my face. You might be craptastic, but I have on pretty panties!
My husband is another example. As long as we have known each other, he has always worn solid colored boxer briefs. They are all blue, gray or black and really boring (though over time bleach has turned most of them pink or orange). Well, we are going through a weight loss together and he had to buy new undies the other day. He grabbed some camouflaged (GASP) ones instead this time. I swear you would think he had bought his first pair of Spiderman Under-roos the way he was running around in them laughing and saying “you can’t see me, I have camo underwear!” LOL Men!
You can’t even say “I’m too big they don’t have any pretty panties in my size” anymore! Because Lane Bryant (shameless plug and if one day I ever become a famous blogger I fully expect a free pair of pretty panties for this) has some of the CUTEST and most comfortable SETS (yes plus sized women, there are sets that will fit you comfortably and you can still look cute and/or sexy) and they always have specials like 5/$25 or something like that. So stop using that excuse!
It’s just a theory, but the next time you have a meeting you don’t want to go to or you are just in a blah mood, grab some pretty panties and see if it doesn’t make your day a little better. Just sayin!

Spandex

Spandex is a privilege not a right people! Just because it comes in your size does NOT mean you need to wear it. And if your jeans are so tight they look like spandex, you need new ones. Just sayin!

The Copy and Paster

You all know exactly who I am talking about. They guy at work that can't do his own actual work and just copies and pastes everything. Have you ever heard of PLAGIARISM!!! Okay, so no, we aren't talking about pulitzer prize winning books here but you copy and paste EVERYTHING. Emails, memos, notes, excel sheets, what DON't you copy?

I bet even your wedding vows were like everyone elses! (Okay, bad example, but everyone gets my point right?)

Seriously, I get no less than 3 duplicate emails a day because I get the initial notification and "C & P" decides to resend it to everyone! Do I care if everyone in an office building 3 blocks away is having a 3 hour lunch? NO! and neither does anyone else in OUR building!

UGH!!! All you C &P's out there, CUT IT OUT! If you have a C & P at your place of work, feel free to send them a link to this blog as a HINT!

sushi..... YUM

So we ended the 3 month celebration of my daughters 14th birthday today! FINALLY! LOL She got an early birthday present in October and went to the Carrie Underwood concert, November was her actual birthday was the day after Thanksgiving while we were in TX with family and today we had a couple friends over and went bowling and had ice cream and cake. We had a great time and came home to watch a movie and make some sushi! Not the normal kind, some the kids actually ask for and LOVE! Here's how to make it:

- Make rice crispy treats (RCT) like normal. While the marshmallows are warming, unroll fruit roll ups but leave them on the plastic

- When the RCT are mixed up allow them to cool until you can work with them but they are not hot enough to melt the fruit roll ups.

- Spread the RCT out on the fruit roll ups and place two rows of gummy worms down the middle of the RCT

- Roll the whole thing up and slice into "sushi" pieces ENJOY!

Here are some pictures of our fun! :)

Wow, it's been a while huh?

Well, it's been almost a year since I got on here the last time. Not that I didn't think about it but seriously, I have 6 kids, so I got a little busy! Plus, I don't know if anyone reads it so I don't think it was missed! LOL It's been a busy year for us, all 6 kids playing sports, Art and I in school, me working, trips, new cars, BOY, I'm tired!

Tonight after I got home from work we went to the Middle School and saw Santa, listened to Mariah play the violin, ate some cookies, came home, made dinner, set up the Christmas tree (FINALLY but we will be decorating tomorrow) and worked on Kayla's quilting. She is sewing her brothers and sisters presents for Christmas this year and I don't know how who it's harder on, her, or me! LOL She's learning though, slowly but surely. It's when I try to teach her something that I truly start to understand why my dad would get so frustrated with me when I was younger! LOL She has now, like I did then, the attention span of a gnat! LOL

We are up waiting for Jonathan to get home from cosmic bowling with his friends and looking forward to a good day tomorrow! Have to bake a cake, Decorate the tree, have cake and ice cream with Ariana and her friends, take them bowling, work on Kayla's presents, and deal with Ariana's sleep over, get Jasmine to her sleep over, Kayla and Teg to Grandma's house for their sleep over! Going to be a long but FUN day! I can't wait!

I am going to try to get on here a little more often, but, I make no promises! :) Night all!

a busy mom

I haven't posted for a while but since I think my cousin is the only person who reads this, I haven't left too many fans waiting. LOL Life has been hectic in the crazy house I live in. All the holidays, the anniversary of my dad passing, had a business trip in there, quick surgery, and then 3 birthdays in a week (the last one is tomorrow and then we will be done for a little while) and class started yesterday. I'm taking a light load though, English Comp, Psychology and Algebra. What the heck am I thinking? LOL

So here are some of the funny quotes I took the time to listen to in the last few months:

- Mariah, "mom, what number president was George Clooney."
- Jonathan, "our friend is Korean."
Ariana, "no he's not, he's Asian."
Jonathan, "that's what I said, he's Korean."
Ariana, "no he's NOT, calls himself the Asian Persuasion Jonathan, He's Asian!"
Two minutes later I interject with "Ariana, where is Korea?"
Ariana, "In Europe."
- Ariana and her friend Bailey, "What country is Africa in?"
- Jonathan, "Yeah, the Nile River is in Egypt."
Ariana, "I thought it was in Africa."

As you can see, Ariana has hit the "ditzy" stage and brings us quite a few chuckles, but quite a lot of frustration as well.

I always make the kids birthday cakes and lately have considered maybe making a small side business doing it for others (b/c I don't have enough on my plate lol). I haven't quite decided yet though. If there is anyone besides Nina who reads this, please let me know what you think of the pictures I am trying to post on here of some of the ones I have done. If you have an opinion, feel free to leave it!

Thanks again for reading!

A Mom of Six Kids!

So for years I teased my friend who had six children about how many children she had. I only had 2, that's it NO MORE! So what happens? Karma bites me! The man I fell in love with (a whole different story I will share later, very cute trust me, it's worth the read) has 4 children and won custody of them from his first wife. So now, what do I have, SIX KIDS!!! LOL And I wouldn't change a thing! I love all of MY children more than I realized I could.

Some say, "Aren't you hurting your kids by having so many and not spending quality time with them individually?" Uh, no. How can I hurt children by teaching them? They are learning to share, to love and to understand sometimes, even when you really want something right now, it's so much better when you have to wait a little while to get it.


Others ask, "How in the world do you keep your house clean?" and the answer is simple, I don't. I HAVE SIX KIDS. As my dad taught me at a young age, things in life do not come free or cheap. You have to earn things in this world. He also taught me about responsibility, and I want my children to know that too. Everyone in my house, even the 4 year old, has a job they are responsible for. If you choose not to do your work, you choose not to (fill in the blank). This can end in, no video games, no sleep overs, no dessert, you name it. I also feel family time is more important than cleaning. I don't remember if my house was messy or dirty when I was a kid, but I remember going to the woods and shooting rifles with my dad, playing softball, basketball and volley ball, I remember climbing trees, riding bikes and skinning my knees up. If a toy is left out over night that's okay, we can get it in the morning, but they will remember you taking the time to sit down and read to them, or letting them read to you, for the rest of their lives.


I'm the parent who believes teaching my child from the beginning about responsibility, choices and discipline will save them and I a LOT of heart ache in the future, starting when they are 10, 12 or 15 is WAY too late and you need to get your court clothes ready, you will be there often.

I believe sometimes a swat on the butt is needed, but never a smack on the face.

I believe telling your children about the danger of child molesters, drug addicts, alcoholics and rapists is the best way to scare them into being more observant of what is happening around them and help them make better choices.

I believe you have 18 years to use my wisdom, house and money, after that, learn to make it! I will always be there for you when you need me, but if you aren't in school, you aren't in my house.

I believe you have to teach your children that you need to WORK to get things, nothing comes free, you or someone else has to pay for it. I believe telling a child NO is one of the best things you can do for them in life, no matter how hard it is or how hard they cry about it.

I am old fashioned in every way, conservative almost to a fault, more loving than needed, more over protective than expected.

I believe the way my parents raised me was wonderful, I'm a good person and wouldn't change anything. And I got "whoppings", got grounded, drank from the hose, didn't wear a bike helmet, rode in the back of a truck on an almost daily basis and had no clue what hand sanitizer was.
I don't live in the fantasy world of people agreeing with me, and I respect their opinion, but, mine works best for me and my children. There is one thing for certain however, I will not see you in court in 10 years!

Me

Things have been a little tense/busy/hectic in the house lately but I'm looking forward to this weekend. Hopefully everything will calm down and be normal again soon. We are helping my friend with her Company Picnic tomorrow and riding some horses so I'm pretty excited. Hope everyone has a blessed weekend as well!
Blessings to everyone!

A relaxed lady

It's so nice to have friends and family who love you. My friend Vicky is going through a bunch of personal issues right now but realized I needed a break and took all the kids last night and kept them until today at 4:30.

It was so nice, last night Art and I went to dinner together and then he had to go to work so I went to sleep early (well, 10:30) and slept in. Then successfully did Jack and Squat today! :D I played on the computer and caught up on a couple shows. I still have a bunch of homework to do but it was nice to just relax for one day. When Art woke up, we went to the Ren Fest and walked around in the cold. I love him so much though it really didn't matter to me, we just walked around and ate good festival food, bought the kids silly things and enjoyed the day with each other.

Tonight I'm keeping Vicky's kiddos for her to have some time to relax. Sitting and watching a movie with the kids is nice. I love relaxing days! I didn't even watched the news today and only got mildly upset when I saw a headline about Obama today. I'm making progress! LOL Hope everyone had a great day as well!!!

A Very Confused Person

Okay, why am I confused you might ask? Well have you seen the news today? I'm not talking about all of the crazy violence you read/see/hear about (I'll write about that another time, I mean seriously kids are beating each other to death, fathers are raping daughters and killing the children they create through those rapes, they have molesters running daycares/schools, there is too much to even bring up right now so I have to talk about that later). I'm talking about the fact that Obama won the Nobel Peace Prize. ARE YOU FREAKING KIDDING ME? Seriously? After 2 weeks (for those of you who don't know and are just saying yay, he won, he was nominated after being in office for only two weeks)? Did I miss something? Like maybe, Hmmmm, Oh yeah, did Al Quieda surrender and Bin Laden is dead? Did Iran and N Korea disarm? Everyone loves Isreal now and the fighting stopped? What the hell did I miss last night when I was sleeping? I can't believe a Jr Senator with NO experience and so many unanswered questions is now the Leader of the Free World (well it is for now anyway) but a FREAKING NOBEL PEACE PRIZE?????? Has the whole damn WORLD drank his freaking Koolaide? Give me a break people! This is the freaking cherry on top.

Next year, MAYBE, but after TWO WEEKS?


Please tell me at some point this nightmare is going to be over.

A New Blogger.

Okay, my cousin Nina has been telling me to start one of these and I haven't for 2 major reasons, a) I haven't had time and 2) I don't know what the heck they are. But, I have a few minutes to start what I guess is a diary type thing. I'll start by telling a little about where I am right now to update everyone I haven't seen in ages.

I was retired from the USAF after 11 years, 15 days of active service. I moved home to KS because I wanted to be close to my dad and my family. My whole world was rocked four short months later when he passed away very suddenly. Things haven't, and will never, be the same again.

I had planned on serving my country for at least 20 years so I signed on to be an Army civilian and will finish my time with them. I was a member of Security Forces in the Air Force and did all different types of Security jobs mainly specializing in Information and Personnel Security and that is what I do now as well.

I'm married to Art who is the love of my life and at times a huge pain, but what man isn't? I wouldn't trade him in for anyone or anything! We have 6 of the most beautiful children you have ever seen. (that's not just me, everyone says the same thing, they even say it behind my back so I know it's true. LOL) Art won custody of his children and I of mine so we all live very happily in a big pink (well dusty mauve) house. It is LOUD, BUSY, CRAZY, TIRING, FRUSTRATING, FUN, LOVING, REWARDING, and the BIGGEST BLESSING I have ever been given. Some people call us crazy or irresponsible for having this many children, but we have more than we need, and love what we have. Our children have 12 year difference from the oldest to youngest and plan on having NO MORE until we have grandchildren which won't happen for at LEAST 10 years.

Next to being a mom, my proudest accomplishment is serving my country, the GREATEST COUNTRY IN THE WORLD!!! I have full faith that one day, we will be able to fix the damage that is being done to it right now. It may take a while, but we will bring it back to it's full glory. I'm not hugely political (unless you ask Art that is :D) but I am what Janet Napolitano would call a right wing veteran terrorist threat who loves the Bible, Constitution and my guns. I feel very strongly about some things and if you don't like other peoples opinions, stop reading now....................


If you continued to read here is my opinion:


I cried the night Obama was elected. Art asked me why and I told him it was the end of the country as we knew it; he told me I was over reacting, I said wait and see. Hmmm, I think I won that one. I will never reform to the socialism our country is headed towards and I only hope "the chosen one" continues down the path he's on now and we are able to put a rational person back in office in 2012. I don't care if they are Republican or Democrat (though I would prefer a Republican, Sarah Palin would be ideal in my opinion) as long as they do what is best for this country.

Taking from one to give to the other is not what is best unless you are one of the types of people who would rather live on welfare, go to food banks and get State/Federal assistance than take your butt out to get a job. If you continue to have children when you can't buy diapers for the ones you have, there is a serious issue and you need to be smacked. I believe you need to earn your way in life and I don't care what color your skin is, what happened to your ancestors or what is in between your legs, EARN YOUR OWN WAY!!! You get what you put in and if you put crap in, you get crap out, that's just how life goes. I believe spanking a child can be good for them if not done in excess. I believe it is okay to use a RED pen to grade homework and it is okay to put F on a paper if that is what it deserves. I believe if after 30 years of watching people die of lung cancer and you still want to smoke, fine, go smoke, but don't kill me when you do it. I believe every person needs to take responsibility for the choice they make in life. I don't care if you were touched wrong, beat, neglected, not hugged enough, your parents were too rich or too poor, if YOU make a choice to be an ASS then YOU take responsibility. If you want to kill another person, prepare to have the same done to you (that means I am 150% behind the death penalty), if you rape someone, prepare your butt to be a pin cushion in prison, if you hurt a child, elderly person or animal, you are a waste of skin and you should NOT get an NFL contract or an Oscar, you should GO TO JAIL!!!

I believe you have the right to defend yourself, your children and your home.

I believe there is ONE GOD, OUR FATHER who sent his only son Jesus Christ to earth to teach us and die on the cross for the forgiveness of our sins; you can ask me this walking down the street or with a gun to my head, there is only ONE GOD! I worry about our open borders and what has already been let into our country. I worry every day what is happening to our troops, to our children and to our country by those we have in office. I believe you have the right to live your life according to what you want as long as your rights don't take way from mine. I happen to want to pray over my food in public, before a football team takes the field, to say "One Nation Under GOD" IF YOU DON'T WANT TO DON'T DO IT, BUT SIT DOWN AND SHUT UP WHILE THE REST OF US DO!!!! I think the ACLU is utterly ridiculous for most of the things they have done and should be disbanned.

I think if you are offended by anything I have written, TOUGH CRAP!!!! My recommendation is to NOT READ IT AGAIN, I warned you before you started.

I think that sums up who I am for the most part. There will be blogs about my family, about work, about life, about the news, but for right now, I will leave it at that. I have another blog to write already. If you are an Obama fan, I will tell you now, don't read it. Wait until I put something else up and save us both the high blood pressure of the argument that will no doubt occur after.

Hope you enjoyed your first read of "A day in the life of....." There will be plenty more to come I'm sure!