My First Sims 2 Video

I made my first fashion show video with Sims 2 today. I know that it's not the best that it could be, but I think that for my first try that it's pretty good.

Girl Scout Camp

Well we sent our daughter Emily off to girl scout camp yesterday. I feel really guilty about enjoying my nice air-conditioned house while she's out there in the heat. Oh but I know that they will take care of her and she'll be ok. There's lots of shade there and the main dining hall has fans. The theme of the particular program is Soaring Among the Stars. Last night they got to look at the stars with a high powered telescope. I know that because I got on the website Bunk1.com. It's a really neat thing. Parents can go on this site and look at photos in the photo gallery and send the camper an email. It was really hard to leave her yesterday. But I know that she'll have fun and she'll make some new friends. I think that this will be a good experience for her.

Making Swaps is So Much Fun!

Emily and I are making swaps for her to take to camp. What are swaps you ask? Well the word swap stands for   Special Whatchamacallits Affectionately Pinned Somewhere. And they usually have a theme as to the event that the girl scout is going to. And since it's summer and she's going camping her swaps have a summer/camping theme. The first picture is a picture of popsicle swaps. And second one is going to be a hobo stew swap. They are really fun to make and even more fun when you swap them with friends. Every swap is supposed to have the event name and date, and the troop number of the girl scout. Girls can pin them on their vest or sash, a t-shirt or a hat. But one rule of etiquette concerning swaps is that a girl scout never ever refused to take a swap from another girl scout.There are also lots of websites to give you ideas for swaps. Here are just a few. http://swaps-a-lot.ecrater.com/   http://www.scoutmom.net/swaps/index.htmhttp://www.gsnc.org/resource_room/swap_howto.asp

Cole Slaw

Tuesday nights menu was spaghetti with meat sauce. I love to make dishes that will stretch for a few days. In this economy you have to do whatever you can do to make ends meet. This may sound kind of strange to ya'll but this is how I grew up eating spaghetti. When I was a kid, my mom would make spaghetti using hamburger meat, bell peppers, onions, mushrooms, spaghetti sauce (sometimes it was from a jar but a lot of times she made her own sauce) and spaghetti then mixed the meat sauce together with the noodles. She never just poured the sauce on top of the noodles like you see in magazines sometimes. And then she would make green beans and cole slaw. It may sound weird but cole slaw is really good with spaghetti. And we also didn't eat garlic bread with our spaghetti either. We ate, and I know this sounds strange, crackers. Yes, that's right we ate crackers with our spaghetti. In my family when I was growing up, every meal had to have bread of some kind. If it wasn't light bread then it would be crackers. And if it wasn't bread or crackers it would be biscuits. So back to the cole slaw. I made some slaw because I ate it growing up with spaghetti and I like it. I'm the only one in my family who likes it so I only made a small amount. Here's how I make my slaw: I buy the ready made cole slaw mix because it's quicker than grating up a cabbage. And it also has carrots and other stuff in there. It just makes you job easier. I take a little bit out of the package and I chop it up real good with my Pampered Chef chopper. The mix in the package is not chopped fine enough for my taste. I probably chop up about a cup of slaw mix. Then I add about a couple of tablespoons of light mayonaise. To that I add a very small amount of yellow mustard. You don't want too much or you'll have mustard slaw. That's ok if you like the taste of mustard and if you do then by all means add some more. Then I add a package of Splenda to give it a little sweetness without adding a lot of extra calories. Add a dash of salt and pepper to your taste. Mix all of that up and you have cole slaw! I think that cole slaw is an aquired taste. You either like the stuff or you hate it. But to me it tastes great.

Sims 2

Ok, many of you may not know that one of the things that I love to do is to play Sims 2. I don't get to do it much during the school year because it can take a lot of my time up. One of the things that I love to do is to add custom content to the game. I like getting new outfits and hairstyles for my sims. And I just learned how to make my own custom content by using Sims 2 Body Shop. I recolored a t-shirt and added a picture of Hello Kitty to it. It's not the best but I think that it's pretty good considering that it's my first time. The picture that I've included is a sim that I simply named Mary Jones. Her hair was downloaded from xmsims2.com.

Planking

So there is this new trend/fad that is sweeping the internet. It's called planking. I really think that it is a stupid and ridiculous thing to do. There is even a picture of a baby planking. Now who in their right mind would put a baby at risk like that just to get a little attention? There has even been one person who has died from doing this. A man from Australia (where the trend got it's start) who was trying to plank on top of his roof fell to his death. You know the whole fad of planking kind of reminds me of the flag pole sitting craze that was started in the 1920's. Here's a link about it:http://www.badfads.com/pages/events/flagpole-sitting.html So you will not be able to see any pictures of me planking because I think that it's dumb! And the only time that I will plank is in the privacy of my own living room.

A Fun Day at the Water Park

Today we all went to Hurricane Harbor at Six Flags Texas. I'm so glad that we live in an area that has fun  places like that to go to that are relatively nearby. Six Flags is in Arlington, Texas which is only about an hour and a half away from where we live. I'm originally from TN and when I was a kid the closest attraction was in Nashville. Opryland was about a four hour drive from where I lived which was Dyersburg, TN. But anyway we did have a great time. We're all pretty tired but it's a good tired. Emily's favorite attraction at the park above anything else was the wave pool.

Make Up Time

My daughter came into my room tonight and started showing me how she put her "make up" on. Of course it was play make up and it was one of those moments that I knew had to be captured on video. And I'm glad that I did. My daughter has such a vivid imagination. I swear that someday she'll be an actress or something. So I recorded it on my camcorder and uploaded it to YouTube.

Fireworks At WinStar Casino

Well, we had a great time watching the fireworks at the casino. I brought my video camera so that I could video the fireworks. It was quite breezy so the first video is noisy. Then you'll notice that at the end of the first video it all goes dark because it started to rain on us. Then it's not as noisy in the second video but there are little comments made from the back seat! I called this version the commentary version of the fireworks display. I hope that you enjoy it as much as we did.

Happy Independence Day!

I hope all of my readers have a very happy fourth of July! Tonight for supper I am making grilled lemon chicken, potato salad, and baked beans. And we are going to go to the Winstar Casino to watch the fireworks. We usually go to the park to watch the fireworks but because of the burn ban they have been canceled. The casino can get away with doing fireworks because a) they are out of state and b) they are located on an Indian reservation so basically they can do what they want. And I'm sure that they'll want to do the fireworks display because of the business that they'll attract. Well anyway happy fourth!

When it Rains It Pours!

Yesterday we were coming home from Denton and I noticed someone pointing down at our car as they passed us. So I told Tim that I thought that something maybe wrong with our car. It was then that I saw that the tire pressure indicator light was on. Then it happened. We had a blow out in our car. The tire was completely gone! So at about 2:30 in the afternoon in the sweltering Texas heat, we waited in the car until Tim changed it. I'm so glad that it happened when he was with us cause I don't know anything about changing a tire! Luckily, someone was nice enough to pull over and help Tim with it. So now we have to buy new tires!
And then today as I was warming up Emily's mac & cheese, I tried to get the microwave oven door open but it broke. It's been really hard to open for a few days now and today it finally broke. We did manage to get her mac & cheese out by prying the door open but then it quit working. It was at least 10 or 15 years old anyway so I knew it's time had come. They say that things that break comes in threes so I'm just wondering what will be next?

Movie Day

Today I am going to the movies with my daughter to see Cars 2. If it's as good as the first one, then I'm sure that we'll enjoy it. This will be a day just for the two of us. It should be fun.

Physical Therapy Week 2

About a month ago my podiatrist ordered physical therapy for my plantar fasciitis. Actually, it is a complication of the plantar fasciitis because of the way I unconsciously roll my foot to the side. His orders were 3 days per week of PT for 3 weeks. I've already completed 2 weeks and unfortunately, my foot doesn't feel any better than it did when I first went in for therapy. The therapy session begins with putting my foot into a small jacuzzi (which feels very good) and doing several exercises involving rotating my ankle in both directions in sets of ten. I do that for 12 minutes. Then after drying my foot, I sit in a chair and pick up a rubber ball with my toes and hold my foot up for a count of 5 for a total of 2 minutes. After that, I do 10 stretches against a wall by bending my left knee while stretching the other leg (my bad foot). That stretches the whole calf muscle which is attached to the fasciia. Then I sit down and draw the whole alphabet with my foot twice. After that is finished I go into another room and I lie down on a table and stretch my foot with a rolled up sheet for 5 minutes. And then comes the piece de resistance: the dreaded ice bottle! I roll my foot on a medicine bottle filled with ice for 8 minutes. By the time my timer goes off, my foot feels like a popsicle. Then last but not least, I get to lie on my tummy and just do nothing while the therapist uses ultrasound on my foot for about 5 minutes. That's really the best part. So that's how my therapy day goes. And I have 3 more sessions to go. Then I will make an appointment with my foot doctor and we'll go from there. He told me the last time that I saw him that if the therapy did not work, then he would put me in a boot to wear on my foot. I just hope that something works soon because I have been dealing with a lot of pain for several months now.

Crustless Mushroom Spinach Tart Recipe

I tried out a new recipe last night and it was a big hit! We only had one piece left and my husband ate that for lunch today. I got the recipe from Taste of Home's Guilt Free Cooking cook book. Here's the recipe:

2 tbsp. seasoned bread crumbs
1/2 lb. fresh mushrooms, sliced
1/2 c. chopped onion
2 tbsp. olive oil
1 package (10 oz.) frozen chopped spinach, thawed and squeezed dry
1 c. 2% milk (I had fat free and it worked out fine)
1 c. egg substitute
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon pepper
1 1/4 shredded reduced fat Mexican cheese blend, divided
1/3 c. grated Parmesan cheese

1. Coat a 9 in. pie plate with cooking spray. Sprinkle bottom and sides with crumbs; shake out  the excess. Set plate aside.
2. In a nonstick skillet, saute mushrooms and onion in oil for 12-14 minutes or until all of the liquid has evaporated. Remove from the heat; stir in spinach.
3. In a bowl, combine the milk, egg substitute, salt and pepper. Stir in the spinach mixture, 1 cup Mexican cheese blend, and Parmesan cheese. Pour into prepared pie plate. Bake at 350 for 35-40 minutes or until a knife inserted near the center comes out clean. Sprinkle remaining Mexican cheese blend around edge of tart. Let stand for 5 minutes before slicing.

To me this is sort of like a quiche but without the crust. It yields 6 servings and 1 slice is 218 calories. Not bad!

My Top Ten Movie Favorites

Here is my list of my top ten favorite movies that I own:
1. E.T.
2. Close Encounters of the Third Kind
3. Gone with the Wind
4. Fried Green Tomatoes
5. Titanic
6. Big
7. Where the Heart Is
8. Steel Magnolias
9. Coal Miner's Daughter
    Places in the Heart ( a tie for no. 9)
10. When Harry Met Sally

Word of the Day

Sabbatical : (suh-Bat-i-kuhl), noun
1. Any extended period of leave from one's work, especially for rest to acquire new skills or training, etc.
1.Of or pertaining to the Sabbath.
2.Bringing a period of rest.

I guess as a teacher that you could say that I am on a sabbatical. I went to a workshop this summer and hopefully learned something. I learned how to put 60 ears of corn up in the freezer. And trying to improve my writing skills by writing this blog. And I am definitely trying to get some needed rest. I hope everyone whether you are a teacher or not have a good summer!

Puttin' Up Corn

Well I bought 60 ears of corn from the market today to put up as cream style corn. This is no job for sissies! First you have to shuck the corn and remove the silks. Then you have to wash the corn and try to remove most of the silks. This corn was really wormy so I had to cut a lot of the ends off. There were a few ears that were so bad that I just had to throw them away. Then I had to cut the corn off of the cob. And after that I had to scrape all of the cobs so that I could get that good milk out of them to make cream style corn. (That is the hardest and messiest part) And now all I have to do is to put the corn into my containers to freeze. I ended up cutting my finger pretty bad with a knife. So I can truly say that I put a lot of blood, sweat and tears into making this corn! But I know that this winter, I'll be glad that I did it.

Cat in the Bag

My cat found it interesting to play with the corn husks as I was shucking the corn today. And then she was curious about the bag that the corn came in. But then she soon lost interest and went back to lying in her window.

Sweet Corn

I got six ears of  Peaches & Cream sweet corn today at Gainesville's Fresh Market stand. I had to throw one away because it was wormy and some of the others were too but I just cut the ends off. That's something that you just can't tell about corn is if it's filled out enough or if it's wormy. Then I cut the corn off of the cob and I cooked it tonight for supper. Oh it was soooooooo good! I'm going back tomorrow to get two boxes to put up as cream style corn for the winter. That will taste so good this winter when there are no fresh veggies around. My mom gave me a recipe for putting up corn in the freezer where you don't have to cook it first. Here it is:

Linda Craig's Corn for the Freezer

15 cups corn cut off the cob
3/4 c. sugar (she uses less)
1/4 c. salt (she uses less)
5 cups ice water

Combine all ingredients in a large stock pot.  Let stand for 1 hour.
Stir every few minutes. Put in freezer containers and freeze.

Then when you are ready to cook the corn, just thaw and cook on top of stove in an iron skillet with a couple of tablespoons of butter on medium high heat. When corn starts to bubble, turn down on low and stir constantly for a few minutes until done. This corn is so good that it doesn't take very long to get done. And it's so good!

Hairstyles

While I was at my mom's house, I dug up some old pictures. One of the pictures was a picture of me in something that was a once in a lifetime style. It was taken in about 1979 and about the time that Bo Derek's 10 hairstyle was all the rage. Well I was taking a Cosmetology course in high school and I always loved experimenting with my hair. I asked one of my fellow students if they would braid my hair in corn rows. And they  graciously obliged. I think that it took two girls about an hour to do my hair. I kept it like that for a whole week. Needless to say, I got a lot of attention from other classmates! And I just wish you could have seen my hair after I took all of the beads and rubber bands out.

Going Home

I won't be able to post on here for a few days because I will be leaving for Tennessee tomorrow. I've got a lot of laundry to do and packing up for the trip. Every time we get ready to go somewhere on a long trip, my cat Kylie jumps into the suitcase like she's all ready to go with us. I'd take her with us but I know that she'd be an awful traveler. It's funny how our animals sense that we are going someplace. The one good thing about cats are that if you leave them with plenty of food and water they are fine to left alone for at least a week. Of course we're only going to be gone for four days. I'm going to see my mom who is not in the best of health and I never know which trip will be the last one that I'll see her again. So as far as my eating plan goes, I'll try to do my best but I can't be sure that I can follow it all the way. We will be packing sandwiches for us which will be cheaper and better than going to the drive through. So I'll see ya'll on Wednesday!

Day 4

Well I did not post yesterday because I did horribly on my eating plan. I had to go to a teacher workshop so I went to Sonic and had a bacon croissandwich . Then after the workshop we all went out to eat at Chilli's. I ordered Bacon Ranch Quesadillas. I only ate half of the order and I gave the other half to my husband so that wasn't too bad. But overall I had a bad day. But today was a new day and I did better than I did yesterday. I'm really trying not to beat myself up over this. So here's what I had today:
Breakfast- Whole Grain Total cereal with fat free milk and strawberries
Morning snack- hard boiled egg
Lunch- Boca flame broiled veggie burger with reduced fat cheese, tomato, lettuce, pickle, light mayo, and yellow mustard, Baked Lays Sour Cream and Cheese chips.
Afternoon snack- apple with tablespoon peanut butter
Supper- Broiled tilapia with Parmesan cheese sauce and mock mashed potatoes (made with cauliflower)

Favorite Summer Recipes

I have a summer recipe that I just love! I've just got to make this again next week! I got the recipe from Cooking Light's Fresh Food Fast. It is called Grilled Grouper Sandwiches with Tartar Sauce. Now I used cod because grouper is very hard to find around here. I really think that any fish that is white would be good. But anyway here is the recipe:

4 (6 oz.) grouper fillets (about 1 1/2 inches thick)
2 teaspoons olive oil
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon black pepper
cooking spray
Tartar sauce (recipe below)
4 (1.8 oz) whole wheat hamburger buns
4 green leaf lettuce leaves

1. Prepare grill.
2. Brush fillets evenly with olive oil; sprinkle evenly with salt and pepper. Place fillets on grill rack coated with cooking spray;(I use a fish grill rack that I spray with cooking spray and cook over the grill) grill 3 to 4 minutes on each side or until fish flakes easily when tested with a fork.
3. While fish cooks, prepare Tartar Sauce. Spread about 2 1/2 tablespoons Tartar Sauce over cut sides of each bun; place 1 lettuce leaf on bottom half of each bun. Top lettuce with fish; top with remaining bun halves. Yield: 4 servings.(serving size 1 sandwich)  Calories 388 per serving.

Tartar Sauce
1/2 cup light mayonaise
2 tablespoons chopped green onions
 1 tablespoon sweet pickle relish
1 1/2 teaspoons capers, drained
1 1/2 teaspoons fresh lemon juice
1/2 teaspoon Worcestershire sauce

1. Combine all ingredients in a small bowl, stirring with a whisk until well blended. Yield: 2/3 cup (serving size 1 tablespoon) Calories: 43 per serving.

This is in my honest opinion, a very good fish sandwich. It is much better than any other fast food fish sandwich.

Day 2 So Far

Well, here's how my day is going so far. For breakfast I had a cup of Whole Grain Total again with a cup of sliced strawberries and a cup of fat free milk. And for a snack this morning I had celery sticks with some spinach and artichoke hummus. That stuff is really good! For lunch I had a Boca veggie burger with reduced fat cheese, pickles, lettuce, tomato, and low fat mayo on a whole wheat sandwich round. The veggie burger was really good and I couldn't tell the difference between that and a real meat burger. That's what I've had so far. Tonight I'm going to make a Caesar salad with grilled chicken breast.

Day 1 So Far

Well so far I have done pretty good on my eating plan. Here's what I've had to eat so far:

Breakfast- Total Whole Grain cereal- 1 cup, 1/2 banana, 1 cup fat free milk
Morning snack- 1 hard boiled egg
Lunch- Tuna Salad (made with 6 oz chunk white tuna, 1 tablespoon reduced fat mayo, 1/2 cup chopped celery,1/2 small green apple, small onion chopped, ground black pepper to taste) over plate full of mixed salad greens, 1/2 whole wheat sandwich round, 1 cup fresh pineapple chunks

I can definitely say that I am full! For dinner tonight I am having grilled chicken teriyaki with stir fried veggies. And for my exercise, I did 30 minutes on my recumbent bike.

How to Cut Up a Pineapple

Do you love fresh pineapple but just don't know what to do with the darned thing? Have noticed how much more expensive pre-cut pineapple is than one that isn't? Well I found this video that takes all of the guess work out of cutting up a pineapple. So if you love fresh pineapple try cutting up one for yourself and save lots of money!

Weight Loss Adventure

I'm starting an adventure as of tomorrow. I have steadily gained back the weight that I lost last year. I lost great deal of weight last year (20 lbs.) without really trying too much. I was battling some depression from what believe now to be a hormone imbalance. I found out about three months ago that I am pre-menopausal. And also I've been having a lot of foot pain from plantar fasciitis. But I have decided to quit my whining and just do something about my weight. Right now I weigh 152 lbs. And for a woman who is 49 and 5'2" that's not good. I'm going on the 3.2.1 plan from a book from Prevention magazine. The first week, I'll be in Phase 1 and eating 1500 calories. I'm going to post everything that I eat and everything that I do on my blog.
I bought my groceries for the week so I'm ready to start this adventure. I like to think of it as a challenge or adventure rather than just a diet. Because diets just don't work.

‘Super 8’: Not your ordinary sci-fi flick

We saw this movie today and I loved it! I think that it would not have been my first choice to see if my husband had not suggested it. The name of the movie made me think about the hotel. But one part of the story is that these kids are making a movie with a Super 8 mm camera. And after they witness a train derailment in their town, some strange things start happening. The setting of the movie is the summer of '79. The movie reminded me of the movie Goonies but it was much better. I hope that you'll take my advice and go see this. I think that you'll like it.

Garden Woes

This is the second year that my husband and I have tried to make a go at a vegetable garden. We put out corn, beans, cucumbers, tomatoes and sunflowers. The tomatoes and beans look pathetic. The corn started tasseling out too soon. And so far no cucumbers. But the sunflowers look great! But we're not going to give up just yet! I know that we have a lot to learn about gardening. Does anyone out there have any great gardening tips? We live in the northern part of Texas and the weather can be quite unpredictable. In May we had torrential rains and wind. And now in June it's gotten really hot and no rain so far. I'm thinking that if I want some corn this year that I'm going to have to get it from our local farmer's market.

I Love Cats

One thing that all of you bloggers need to know is that I love cats. And I'll probably be telling you things about my cat Kylie. My Kylie is really a spoiled little cat. She loves to jump in my lap whenever I'm sitting down to type at the computer. It sometimes makes it hard for me to type. She's not here right now or I'd have a lot more misspelled words. I also love finding funny cat videos on YouTube. So if any of you find a funny cat video that I haven't seen, please share it. Here's one that is pretty funny.

Double Duty

How do you turn a boring job into good clean fun? Take one car that needs a good washing. Add soap. A water hose and some kids in bathing suits that want to get wet! And you have one good old fashioned fun time!

Casserole Night

Tonight I made one of  Tim's favorite dish. It is Tater Tot Casserole. It's a really simple dish to make and most of the ingredients are probably found right in your pantry. Here's the recipe:

1 lb. of ground beef (I use lean ground beef)
2 cans of cream of mushroom soup (you could use 1 can of cream of mushroom and 1 can of cream of chicken but that's what I like)
8 oz. can of sliced mushrooms (you could skip this if you're not too fond of mushrooms)
1 small onion diced
12 oz. bag of tater tots
1 cup of grated sharp cheddar cheese

Saute the onion in about tablespoon of vegetable oil and then brown the ground beef until no longer pink. Then drain ground beef and put into a 8 X 11 casserole dish. Top the ground beef with tater tots, mushrooms, and pour the 2 cans of cream of mushroom soup over the tater tots. Cover with aluminum foil and bake in a 375 degree oven for 30 min. Then uncover and top with cheddar cheese and bake for 5 minutes until cheese melts.

Great Garage Sale Find

My husband took my daughter to play at a playground last night and when they came back, my daughter had something that she wanted to show me. He found a Little Tikes play kitchen at a garage sale. The lady wanted $25 for it at first but he got it for only $20. It was dirty and needed a little cleaning up but other than that it is in great condition. It used to make sounds when it was new but now it doesn't work. But with a little imagination, I'm sure that my daughter will have hours and hours of fun with it. Little Tikes make such great products. They literally last for years and years.

School's Out for Summer!

Today was the last day of school for the summer! Yay! You know kids may not know it but the teacher's are just as happy to see the end of the school year as the students are. I think that I have the greatest profession of all to be an educator. And I work for the best school district of all. One the last day of school, we do something that is really wacky at our school. We put on crazy looking glasses and hats and we stand by the buses to wave good bye to the kids. The kids really love it. I hope that everyone, whether you're a kid or a teacher or maybe even a parent, has a great summer!

Grocery Cart Observations

I went to the store today to pick up a few things for tomorrow. I got some broccoli cheese soup, 2 boxes of mac & cheese, Little Debbie cakes, and apple juice for our surprise breakfast that we are having for a staff member who is leaving. As I was in line, I noticed what the lady in front of me had in her cart. You know you can tell a lot about a person by what they shop for. She had 4 loaves of bread, about 25 cans of dog food, a big bag of dog food for dogs 7+, about 5 cases of canned cat food, and  a bag of Purina One dry cat food. Her cart tells me that for one she likes bread. And that she has an old dog, maybe more than one dog. At least one cat, maybe more. Or maybe she runs a shelter for animals. Who knows? What does your cart say about you?

3 More Days

Only 3 more days and school will be out for me for the summer. I think that I am so fortunate to work in a profession where I am off on the weekends, holidays, and summer. But now I am going to have to find things for my daughter to do so she will not get so bored. Lately she has been playing on the computer a lot but I really don't want her to be on it all day. I remember when I was a kid that the only time I was in the house was for lunch, supper and bedtime. The rest of my time was spent outside playing in my backyard or with the neighbor kids. You know I probably sound like my parents. Well you know back in the day we used to......... blah.....blah......blah. Times certainly have changed. I just wonder how it will be for my daughter's kids?

Well anyway, I'll probably go to our public library this week and sign her up for their summer reading program. She loves to read and that will keep her entertained for awhile at least. And then she'll be going to a water park next weekend with the Girl Scouts. And in July she's going to Girl Scout camp for a few days. So her summer will be pretty busy.

Happy Memorial Day!

Today is a day that for many Americans marks the beginning of summer. And I think that for many people, the day's meaning has gotten lost in all of the barbeques, picnics, sale ads and all of the commercialism. But today the real meaning of Memorial Day came to light through our children. I had to work today ( which was a bummer) but to celebrate, our staff grilled out hot dogs. Then afterward, we had a little celebration for our students. We only had a handful of students today (about 39) because we are doing our OFYP (optional flexible year program). To help you understand what OFYP means, I'll tell you a little about it. Most of our students who pass all of their state mandated tests, have good attendance, good grades, and good behavior get to go to school for 170 school days while the ones who don't have to go 180. It's just a little incentive to do well in school. Well anyway to get back to today's celebration, we played a little video about the history of Memorial Day and a video of soldiers fighting for our country with a very sad song playing in the background. After the last video played, a kindergarten student said, "Well that was very sad.". I tell you I was almost in tears. Then we all sang God Bless America and we said the pledge of allegiance to the American flag and to the Texas flag. We then handed out popsicles to the students and they all went outside to play. Overall, it was a really great Memorial Day. And I hope that it was a day that our students will never forget.

Cheap Eats

Tonight I cooked a pot of beans in the crockpot. It's really one of the easiest and cheapest meals to make. All you need is a pound of dry pinto beans, four slices of thick sliced bacon, and  a teaspoon of Fiesta brand's pinto bean seasoning. First I wash the beans real good to make sure that there are no rocks or dirt in them. Then I pour the whole pound of beans into the crockpot. I cover the beans well with about a couple of inches of water. Then I cut up four slices of the thick sliced bacon and put them in the beans. I cook the beans on low for about six to eight hours. Then just about an hour before they are done, I season the beans with the pinto bean seasoning. To me, it's the pinto bean seasoning that makes all the difference in how the beans taste. It really gives them a great flavor. You know if you have a pot of beans and a slice of cornbread, that's all you need for a hearty meal. And country girls can survive!

Crockpot of pinto beans

Fiesta Brand Pinto Bean Seasoning

Standing in the Rainbow

I got my idea for starting a blog when I read Fannie Flagg's book Standing in the Rainbow. I enjoyed that book so much. It was one of those books that you just don't want to put down. Sometimes I'd just love to go back to the days when life was much simpler. But now that we have all of the gadgets with all of the bells and whistles, could we ever think about doing without them? I don't think that I could. Or maybe I could downsize a bit. That's what we are thinking about doing as soon as some of our contracts on our gadgets run out. We've got over 200 channels on our satellite TV and there are probably just a few shows that we really watch. So yes, I think that if we had to we could do without. After all, what's really important is not all of the things that we have but that we have each other.