Boob tube babble

I'm so excited someone's doing this because every week I want to talk about my shows but didn't know if people cared.

So without further adieu here's what I'm watching {ok well just a sampling, we don't have all day!}...

~Real World.
Juicy drama this week about Dustin.  He previously admitted to doing an online frat house type show.  Then it turned out there was something more.  That something?  No one can get him to commit to a firm answer but I was too afraid to look it up online.  Regardless, he really should have told Heather.  And is it just me or are his eyes really beady and ferret like?  He makes me nervous!

~Real Housewives.
NYC- Kelly is still a space cadet.  I don't get her and I really hate that she uses her kids as an excuse to get out of everything.  No she is not a great mom in my opinion, even as good as she's faking it.  Good call Ramona on fronting LuAnne about being a "weekend mom".  I don't care if they're grown up- they're still kids and in school and they need their mom!  And I could go on about Sonya but I won't.  But suffice it to say she's awful.
OC- I liked Gina but I'm disappointed that she's friends with Simon.  Also, Vicki please WE GET IT!  You work.  Shut up already.  And Peggy was so pretty but I hate what she's done to her face. It pains me when her face moves when she talks.

~Celebrity Apprentice.
I have never seen this show before this season so I'm not sure what the end goal is but if you were a smart competitor wouldn't you want the weakest link to stay so you could outshine them all to the end?  I'd have gotten rid of Star Jones a long time ago.  The woman is a snake.  And hello has NO ONE noticed that Hope hasn't done a dang thing? Anyway, glad they got rid of Gary Busey last week, he was nuts.

~Better with You.
I'm afraid not enough people watch this show and it may not come back.  It's really funny and worth the watch!  This week made me laugh out loud several times!


What shows did you watch this week?

How does your garden grow?

If you remember we just started our garden recently.  We planted lettuce, carrots, cantaloupe, tomatoes, and cucumbers.  All my faves!

We've only had to water a few days because the North Texas storm season is upon us and we have had some darn good rain. 

Every morning before school and every afternoon after school my sweet girl loves to run out and check what's going on.  And you know what?  There's a lot going on!

The first day there were a few little buds like this one.

And the next day a few more getting bigger like this one.

And now those buds are getting even bigger.

What the heck?  Could it be?  Are we growing something?  Is it still alive?  YES YES YES!  I can't believe it. 

What about you?  Do you have a garden?  Would you like to garden?

Sweet Sweet Valley

This gets a big fat OMG from me!

Do you guys remember when you were younger how you loved to get completely lost in a book?  Maybe you had a favorite series.  Perhaps they were about blonde twins in California.  You with me?  Remember?

Sweet Valley books encompassed a good portion of my reading in my youth.  I still remember the day I came home from school and there was a Sweet Valley Twins book on the kitchen table that my mom had bought me {with some nail polish too if I remember right, random}.  I went on to read every single one that I could get my hands on from SV Twins, to SV High, then SV University and all the offshoot mysteries...

Was anyone else crazed when Elizabeth and Todd broke up?!

I LOVED Elizabeth and Jessica and all their friends!

Freakin' Lila- always causing drama!

I'm not going to lie- I was still reading them when I was married and had my son!  I couldn't help it.  They were that good.

Jessica was always in some kind of trouble!

As the years have gone by I've thought about them off and on.  I even saw the ones I still have sitting in my closet in a storage container.  They look so sad.  Old and worn they sit collecting dust.  But I'm busy and don't have time for them.

But the greatest thing happened the other day.  I was reading the newspaper and it mentioned something that took me back.  Took me to those days when I could get lost reading.  Days when I had little troubles.  Days when I got excited over a $2.99 book.

This is now available.




Oh. My. Gracious!  It's 10 years later.  Say wha?!




Guess what's uploaded on the Kindle ready for me to fall back in love with?

Miscellany Monday

It's random musings time!

~Is anyone watching Celebrity Apprentice?  I didn't care for Star Jones before and this show has reaffirmed my distaste for her. UGH!

~Yesterday at church I got to see the family of a long time friend.  I love them so much.  It's really comforting to see people like that and just know they love you too.  And I especially like this saying, "Friends are the family we choose." SO TRUE!

~I'm looking forward to the wedding on Friday.  You know... this one.  But I was thinking about it and you know what?  I really don't like the ring.  Granted if I was proposed to by a prince of course I'd take it, and of course it's huge and worth a lot, and then there's the whole sentimental value but still- just not my fave.

~Yesterday was Easter and we didn't dye eggs.  It's ok because we're doing it tonight.  And the kids didn't want to hunt for them anyway.

~Those cookies we got from my friend Kat?  We got 6 and so what if I ate 5 of them?  I happen to like my big butt :)  If you ever get the chance to try them you'll want to eat them all too.


What's on your mind?

Glorious goodies

The Easter goodies have been overtaking my house as of late.  Seriously, it's gotten a little out of hand.

~First off we got a special delivery from the Popcorn Factory.

Three kinds of popcorn, chocolate, jelly beans, pretzels, and peanuts oh my!

~Then we got a shipment of Cheryl & Co cookies.  If you haven't had these yet order yourselves some today.  They're delish and pretty dang adorable!

~Then some friends of mine from church brought me some Dove chocolates.  Do you like Dove chocolates?

~Then a neighbor gave the kiddos a basket full of chocolate covered pretzels and pretzel sticks.  I may have snuck a few.

That's a lot of junk food folks.  And the kids don't snack a lot.  So guess who's eating it all?  I have a feeling a weight loss post is in my future....


Happy Easter to you all! 
And said unto them, Thus it is written, and thus it behoved Christ to suffer, and to rise from the dead the third day:

 And that repentance and remission of sins should be preached in his name among all nations, beginning at Jerusalem.

Luke 24:46-47

Earth Day

Yesterday was Earth day and we spent the day appropriately- planting our garden!

Now I should say that I don't like dirt.  I'm not a fan of the heat.  I also don't care for bugs.  So I'm sure this is going to work out splendidly right?  The kids are like me too so this may be the only time you'll ever see their hands dirty ;)

When we first started thinking about having a garden I realized how much work it was going to be {thinking back to when we tried to dig a hole in my parents backyard to help level the pool- yeah not so much!} so we decided to do a raised box type idea.  However I'm not sure how a box was going to be constructed and who was going to put all the dirt in there?  Finally we decided on one of those little wading pools and it's the perfect size.  It may not work but hey we tried right?

We'll water and feed our little pool garden {don't worry- we've poked holes in the bottom for drainage!} and see what happens.  And maybe next year we'll work a little harder and make a "real" garden.

Even if it doesn't pan out these guys were awfully proud of themselves...

I've got the fever!

Wedding fever. 

Mine?  No.  One day though!  And when I do I'd like this dress please. 

White chocolate dress featured on Say Yes to the Dress.

 With a higher neckline of course :)  But back to the fevah...



The wedding I'm talking about the ROYAL wedding.  You know, with these two...

But I'm not the only one who's got the fever.  TLC is starting their festivities off on April 24th leading up to the big day on the 29th.

It's such a big deal that even one of my favorite shows, The Middle, had their whole episode centered around it.  Sidenote- if you haven't started watching this show you need to.  It's just hilarious in every way!

I love to watch the royals- from any country. It's kind of fascinating to think that just by birth that one could be considered better than everyone else. I'm not judging though because I'd totally take the role of princess on :)

I'd wear this baby every day!

I'm still deciding if I'm going to stay up or wake up early.  I'm thinking about just staying up and watching all the festivities before and after.  I need to figure out what kind of snacks I need too!! 

Are you guys going to watch it? 

Movie review... Eat, Pray, Love

Ok so I'm behind on the times.  But I just watched this movie for the first time.  I'm lame I know.

Have you seen it?


I was not impressed.  Probably in part due to the fact that the first half reminded me of this movie- which is one of my favorite movies.

I also didn't particularly care for the length of the movie. I mean come on- 2 1/2 hours?  I was done at least 30 minutes before it was over.  Was it just me? 


But I must profess my undying love for Julia Roberts. Love her <3  So what did you think of the movie?

Guess what day it is?! Target Tuesday!

Oh yeah, I've been waiting for today!  It's.... say it with me now.... TARGET TUESDAY!

So there's not a whole lot I need in this world.  Granted sometimes I might think I really need something but honestly it's a want. *Sidenote, this makes me sad I missed out on teaching my Junior Achievement class this year. In 1st grade we teach needs/wants!*



~Like these shoes for example.  They're super cute I think.  The colors are nice too!  I have 3 pairs of Nikes that I wear but I washed one and they smell funny and the other I got grout on and it stained so I've been looking for a new pair of tennis shoes.  These just might fit the bill! And they're $30, come on!

~And maybe I might need a dutch oven.  I don't know what for but if I had it I'd probably use it, right? RIGHT? I could cook some of this stuff in it! Now this is by Giada, whom I love, but if there was a Paula Deen one that would be even better.  Cuz I love me some PD.  You didn't know we were on an initial basis with each other? Well we're not. But you know...

~And I just might need this too.  My purse weighs like 50 pounds.  There's probably one of everything you could want and more in there.  I'm thinking that maybe this will help eliminate all the crud in there and balance the weight out on my body, no? I'm just wondering if I can pull off the cross body purse? Am I too old? Not cool enough?

What are you eyeballing at Target this week?

Top 2!

Top 2 things I collect?
Well if you know me then you probably know.  I couldn't decide which one to put first because I love them equally.  But I just decided.  Because one was cooler than the other :) 

1~ Wizard of Oz memorabilia... I love it all!  I have salt and pepper shakers, dolls, Pez dispensers, mouse pads, figurines, etc.  This obsession started over 10 years ago and if you ever need to get me something that might be a good place to start. Love.

2~ Green pens. Ugh, I feel dorky saying it but it's soooooo true. Actually I just got some the other day {thank you daddy!} I tell you what, if I ever become rich I am going to find a pen company and have them manufacture me a whole slew of green pens in different styles.  My favorite all time pen doesn't come in green so I need that to change.

Yes I'm kind of lame.  But it's ok because kind of I like me.

What are your top two collections?

Miscellany Monday... my first time!



Here's what's on my mind...



~The Kennedy's mini series. Did anyone watch it?  I watched the first 4 hours and I've enjoyed it so far. I'm not much of a history buff but this is some pretty interesting stuff. And yes, I do realize some of it is probably not factual.

~Trial subscriptions.  Ok this one is my bad but still. I did a trial Weight Watchers thing and wouldn't you know I forgot all about it {shows you how hard I was working at it} and I never cancelled it so they billed me the full rate!  Grrr.  Then I wanted some vacuum ratings so I did a monthly subscription to Consumer Reports and the same thing, I forgot about it. DOUBLE grrr!  Perhaps these aren't for the absentminded?

~Scary movies. I love me a good and scary movie.  But let's face it, I'm a girl and I sure as heck can't watch one by myself.  It would be way too scary. However, no one I know likes them!  I used to make my baby goosie {that would be my baby sister} go with me but she got all grown up and moved.  So I'll be living through everyone else.  How was Scream 4?

 What's on your mind?

Today is....

.... the last day of National Volunteer Week!

Who knew?

Well I should have probably taken a clue seeing as how the hospital I volunteer for held a banquet for volunteers this week.  Duh.

Anyway, I know we're all busy and all that but if you're on the fence I say go for it! I started volunteering at the hospital in hopes of getting some hands-on patient experience for PA school but now I really love it. 

Even if at 7 am on a Saturday morning with no kids I might not think so.

I'm loving.... being prepared!

Do you all remember just a few short months ago when a freak storm system put some form of snow on the ground in almost all states in the US?  I do- we here in Texas got 4 days off of school... in a row... for snow! It was a big deal. I thought it was awesome.

What wasn't so awesome was that some people had to get out in the snow and ice because they didn't have their essentials. 

Even for a few weeks after the storm it seemed that some of the shelves in the stores were bare or had minimum surplus. And that was just because of some snow and ice- I can't imagine what it would be like if we were in Japan!

What to do you might be asking yourself?  Food storage or a some stash of emergency essentials.  Now my church has been advising this for as long as I can remember and it's always seemed like such a daunting task I just kind of put it on the backburner.  I mean, where do you start?  How much food do we need?  And what the heck do I buy?  Let's be honest I'm not the grinding-wheat-making-my-own-bread kinda gal so what am I going to do with 50 pounds of wheat?  Or rice?  And let's not even talk about evaporated/condensed/whatever kind of milk- GRODY.

Recently I found out about a company {whom I swear I'm not endorsing but THIS LADY is!} called Shelf Reliance that helps you with this particular issue.  Now to be honest I have known about some other companies that are similar but again looking at a catalog or a website really just kind of overwhelms you.  I was able to attend a SR party and get to taste some of the products and see how easy it is to start/grow/maintain your emergency stash and I really think it's awesome!  Let me tell you- these aren't your mom's food storage staples!

My kids are really picky eaters and so am I so we have to pay attention to what we're getting or it's just going to go to waste. I chose a few products that I know we will use.  And the best thing is they have a pretty long shelf life so even when they've been opened to be used they're still cheaper than buying at the grocery store and chances are I'll use it all before it goes bad unlike when I buy the fresh stuff and end up throwing it out on trash days.  AND I'll start having extra on hand to help grow my own emergency stash so heaven forbid if anything ever did happen, we'd be prepared!

I'll make sure to tell you all what I think when I get it but I tried several things last night and this is what I liked:
~Freeze dried chicken... pretty much tasted the same to me!
~Freeze dried pineapple... it was so real it even burned my mouth the way pineapple does!
~Freeze dried cheese... say what?! CHEESE?! Yep and it looked, smelled, and TASTED the same when we put it on our pizzas.
~Brownie mix... just add water.  That simple and yes it was delicious! If there's a disaster believe me I want to have brownies on hand.  Hello, don't you stress eat?
~Last but definitely not least, my personal favorite, freeze dried sweet corn.  It was delicious.  I ate it plain {not reconstituted} and I loved it so much I ordered a whole #10 can. I really think that I'd eat it just like that as a snack.  In fact I really wanted more but I didn't want to take a whole bunch of April's supply, I'll just wait until I get my own.

Have you tried Shelf Reliance or any of the other emergency supply companies?  What do you think?


By the way, today I'm linking up with TidyMom... she is so awesome, ya'll should check out her blog!

What I'm loving Wednesday

This is my first time linking up for this but I've got a lot of love to go around and figured I'd share with you all...

Today I'm loving my friends.  Especially the kind of friends who are so good to you that when you dislike someone they make it a point to dislike them too.  There's not too many people out there like that {and it may be childish to ask that but I don't care} so I'm glad I have a few of them!

~Today I'm loving the fact that tomorrow instead of going to the hospital and mingling with the sick I'll be hanging out at our annual volunteer banquet.  I'm excited because this is the first year I've been able to go!  I know it's kind of silly but I really like banquets and get togethers like this.  What can I say?

~Today I'm thankful for my TV and DVR.  I know some people will be like wha?!? but I want to be honest.  I like TV. A lot.  Probably an unhealthy kind of like. I have quite a few shows I watch and once the kids are nestled in their beds I'm in mine for the next several hours checking out the day's bounty. Maybe a new episode of one of these shows...

Any Real Housewives will do...



Love the orig but with Curtis Stone on Masters I'm going to be watching that for sure!




Please don't judge *blush*


So what are you loving today?

The best day of the week!

Ok, well I'm not sure Tuesday is really the best day of the week but since it's Target Tuesday that makes it a great day!

We had to run to Target yesterday for some water bottles {we're using these instead of the Medela bags for the milk for the baby} and some shorts since it's getting hotter everyday.  And of course we did our requisite lap around the store and there are lots of cute things I was lusting over!

I've seen these the last few times we've been in there and I really like how they're decorative but still kind of simple.  I also like how they don't have a lip around the edge of the plate.

I bought a rice maker {boring but practical} for my cousin's wedding this weekend and happened to see this baby while I was over that way.  I have a Swiffer mop but it's Swiffer Max and I can never find the SM refills so I have to use two of the regular ones and it seems like a hassle to me.  My vacuum bit the dust not too long ago and a friend gave me her old old old Kirby.  It works but it's really heavy and a hassle to use. This looks to me like the perfect combination of the two!

And I am on the fence about these babies.  I resisted flat sandals- especially those with the "gladiator" look- for a long time.  But these come in several colors and I think I might want to try these out.  What do you think?

 What's in your cart this week?