To the person that was at the Linens and **ings on Sunday morning in Littleton, Colorado that stole a Coach wallet I have only a few things to say….HOW DARE YOU.
How dare you assume that I wouldn’t be generous enough to give you money should you ask.
How dare you assume that my debit card is yours to play with.
How dare you assume that money grows on trees in your yard.
How dare you assume that I don’t have a family to support and take care of.
How dare you decide that your 52 inch flat screen was more important than my precious two children by trying to use my card

Shame on you. To think that I wouldn’t notice right away. *scoff You could have gotten more had you hawked the coach wallet you threw on the floor. Instead you took one worthless card.
If only you had known that if you truly needed money, I would have given it willingly to you. If only you had known that the card you took was worthless without the code on the back. I feel so sorry for you.

I pity you.
Sorry just had to vent my little frustration.

My uncle came up for a visit this past week. He said that he found something in the huge house of my grandparents. The house is in Nebraska and is falling apart at the seams. It’s big mind you. The basement had 10 rooms in it. They were little but 10 rooms none the less. My grandfather use to speak of house they lived in the basement for a year while they fired bricks to build the rest of the house. Recently, we discovered some paperwork that may put a hole in my grandfather’s rantings of how they were forced to fire bricks, build barns from toothpicks, and ride a horse 10 miles to school. (in the freezing winter with no coat and no socks)
We found a receipt from Sears for house plans. LOOK HERE This is primarily what my grandfather’s house looked like. The parlor and the kitchen were switched because that’s what my great grand mother had wanted.
What a fun discovery. In all of these years we have been told one thing. Now they may still have fired bricks, but they definately did not design it on their own.
History is so cool.

Tonight I didn’t know what to cook for supper. A lot of times I have it planned to the max. Tonight I didn’t feel like cooking what I was suppose to. (lasagne) Instead I relied on my old favorite that takes literally 5-10 minutes to do.

Here it is….

Angel Hair Pasta
Basil/garlic Pesto
Shrimp
Yellow Squash
Sugar Peas
Tomatoes
Cauliflower
Broccoli
Shrimp

Easy as pie.
Steam all Veggies minus tomato
cook pasta
cook shrimp

Empty everything into one big bowl…stir in fresh stinky cheese

Now you have the recipe to my kid’s favorite dinner. I love 5 minute meals.

Thank you so much for your birthday wishes. It was an interesting birthday to say the least. I was home alone. That for me is an odd one. Hula Hubby was out of town working. OY! Kids in school most of the day.
The leaves are changing. In light of all the changes that will be happening this year I look at the trees and know that they will change no matter the election, floods, car accidents…etc. At least that change is a change we can count on. The same changes that I am in awe of. The beauty of this change captivates me every single year.
I pray that any changes you may be facing in your life at this time, when the financial market is kapoot and the struggle from day to day is exhausting, is as smooth an adjustment as the leaves that change from year to year.

The phone rang this morning very early. It does this day every year at roughly 6:09. My father then with his gruffed up voice tells me that I woke him up at this time how many ever years ago. In this case it is 39.
We will meet after I take the children to school. Why? Well he still likes to take me down to the old house that we use to live in. Then he likes to drive the route that “changed and marred his life forever!” His sarcasm is lovely. His didn’t know that sleepless nights, and worry existed to such a high extent until the day I was born. I now understand that.
Then he likes to explain that his life had never known such change until today at 11:45 am 39 years ago I was born. He was 38 and my mother was 27. He was a confirmed bachelor until (in his words) my mother stole his heart and never let it go. He was 35 when they married.
This morning we will drive the same route, go to the hospital, and then have lunch together. It is our tradition. It is a tradition that I have loved for many years. On the years that I have not been able to go he still calls with the same wispy choked up voice that tried to be macho but doesn’t quite succeed where his girl is concerned and tells me the story of his doom. Of course he also use to tell me that I stunk pretty.
So daddy….Happy Celebration of your 39th life changing day. You’ve always made me feel so special.

When I was growing up I use to love to go to my grandparent’s farm. A kid could not get bored on the farm. There were too many kittens, cows, pigs, motorcycles, and bulls…etc.etc. Right around this time of year my cousin and I were out in the fields. We decided we were going to shoot cans. It was kind of a fun thing to do on a day that was starting to get nippy. While we were looking for a good spot we noticed for the first time a good-sized pen with a worn down house inside. So of course being an 11 year old and him a 15 year old we had to see what it was. When we approached the fence, we saw the meanest, crankiest, pure Satan of a bull shuffling his angry feet. Of course since he had the BB gun in his hand we decided to sit on the rail and then just peg the bull with a once cocked gun. For those of you that know BB guns, that isn’t much. It would sting but not cause any fatal injury.
It was his turn. He took aim with the BB gun and fired. The bull didn’t even move. I thought for sure he had missed him. So we both moved a bit closer and popped him again right on the tush. Then my cousins did something total insane…he handed his cousin that had never handled a gun, the gun. So i guessed it was my time to shoot.
I got up to shoot the bull and took aim. I could see the irritation from his reaction. I cocked and shot again. This time I smacked him right above his personally a little too private and I never want to see him pee again parts. Oh my word. It was like I had told him he was going to hell and brought my own fire. He turned and looked at me and started to charge the rail on which I was sitting. In a brief panic of a moment I dropped the gun and fell off of the post right into the pen. In a matter of a moment I scurried up the fence and over the side just in time to see that old bull hit the fence with quite a thunderous bang. To this day I still remember that sound. It was the sound of groundation until the earth ended I was certain.
All this being done and said the moral to the story was such, “Never piss bull off for any matter so that you can leave at peace all that he is packing.” From the complaint that the neighbor issued, they could never find the culprit but had quite strong words about his cows near castration.

In all that has happened in the last 6 months I have to say that there is blessing hidden in little secret places all over the place.
Because the completely tore out every wall and every molding we have now a freshly painted home in the basement. LOVELY
Because the freezer got water in it and it ruined everything in it, we get a new freezer and a freaky budget. (forgot how much I had stocked in that freezer!)
Because I had no home to speak of, I got to go visit the lovely Mamacita It was simply a ploy, and excuse to take a couple of days and run away. XXOO Mamacita. You know we love you.
Because our car was totalled we were able to purchase a new car with a few less miles and it didn’t cost us as much. You have to love that.
I learned that holding my children that extra second at school does not constitute late. It merely means that I leave with no regrets should something happen. Sounds weird I know, but the car accident really shook us all up.
I learned that I could not live in an apartment and keep my sanity. So the whole thought of running away and being independant is so out of the question in more than one way. My children were like wreckless yard apes in such a small space.
Being a pack rat did nothing but make more for the people to throw out for me. So why keep it to begin with?
We were blessed with fabulous people around us that heard of our situation and put their best foot forward. We were blessed to get to know more people. Their heart for our family was apparent and appreciated.
Last but not least…we have each other. What more of a silver lining could I ask for?
Among the stinky parts of this summer there was so much blessing.

You may ask what we have been doing lately because I have not been around the block. Well here’s the scoop. WE ARE FINALLY MOVING BACK INTO OUR HALFWAY FINISHED HOME AND WE ARE THRILLED!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
There’s an update for you. More to follow