It's My Life

They say a way to a man's heart is through his stomach. The same maybe true for us girls too. We gals like to eat. We love tasty food. And we love a man who knows his way around the kitchen. One of the most wonderful things my man brought to our relationship...Chilaquiles   (pronunciation: chill-a-keel-es). As I am thinking back, I will tell you all the day after we brought the Short Chic home from the hospital my husband made this for me for breakfast. There maybe many other "fancy" ways to make chilaquiles. But our way is simple and easy. And oh so yummy! For us, making this dish always starts with leftover chips and salsa from a Mexican restaurant. Why, because we think they have the best tortilla chips! They just work better for this dish than store purchased chips. Step 1: Gather your supplies You will need tortilla chips (again, I recommend restaurant chips), salsa, oil, onion, and cheese. Step 2: Chop Onions. I love onions. My husband

You have all probably heard of Eskimo Kisses. You rub noses with your loved ones. Or how about Butterfly Kisses? You flutter your eyelashes on your loved ones. Well...my Short Chic loves to give Kitty Kisses! At first thought it is kinda gross. I mean licking me on the face!  Now it is just one of those odd things she does that I hope I remember her doing forever!

This is my husband's birthday weekend. It was important to me that we celebrate his birthday this year. You see, last year his birthday got overlooked in my diagnosis. I believe I started chemotherapy on his birthday last year.  I wanted to do something just for him as a small way of saying, "Thank you for standing by me and I love you!" Rather quickly, we whipped up a Backyard Double Feature in his honor. I had every intent to delegate the grillin to someone else, but The Husband was so insistent on smoking hamburgers. I am kinda glad he did (insist, that is) because those smoked hamburgers were absolutely yummy! My husband is a simple man and would not like a lot of fuss. So I made up two desserts I have been wanting to try. Glorious Treats  posted a recipe for S'mores Rice Krispie Treats that looked so yummy! I put them on my list of must try things.  The verdict: they did NOT disappoint! This is basically a rice krispie treat recipe but you add

Sometimes I wonder what I get myself into. Two weeks ago my mother-in-law was rushed to the emergency room with chest pains. Turns out it was a gallbladder attack and they removed it. She spend several days in the hospital. When she came home she told me about an event she was planning for her church. She and my father-in-law are chairmen for an older singles group that meets once every few months. This month they had decided to make Chicken Spaghetti. I am a big fan of  The Pioneer Woman  who first taught me about Chicken Spaghetti. I have made it a few times and everyone loves it. I had passed the recipe along to my MIL and when she told me about her church event, I volunteered to help her. Then she tells me it is for 60 people! I have never cooked for that many people at once. It was a little intimidating. But, I made a plan. Broke it down and knocked out three double batches in less than 2 hours! So, for my dear friends who have never had this before...behold The Pionee

Today was the day The Boy thought would surely never come. Or at least it seemed so far away when school broke in June for the summer. But the clock pauses for no one and today at six a.m. alarms were ringing in my house. Today, while The Boy showered and primped (oh yes, boys primp too!) I prepared him some breakfast. We did our final mother/son talk about drugs, alcohol, mean kids, good attitudes, and making his momma proud. After that, I forced him to take the traditional first day of school photo. Then he walked out the door, heading to a new bus stop. Then I choked back so many tears! Today, my son entered his Freshman year of high school. Gone is the handsome, little boy who I walked into kindergarten. Gone is the middle schooler. As with most everything else, when I am sad/stressed/happy/mad/tired I threw myself into making something. Today....MARSHMALLOW POPS. Both The Boy and The Short Chic love marshmallows.  I think they are one of their favorite foods. Smear tha

I do not like gold. I am more of a silver gal. Sorry fans of gold! When we moved into our home three years ago, the mirror in my master bathroom was gold.  I knew immediately that I wanted to change it. It was just a matter of when I would change it. I purchased some new paint weeks ago. I left it sitting on the bathroom sink for a month...or so. Finally, I asked my husband to drag that old gold mirror outside under our big oak tree. I scrubbed it clean. I hate to admit out loud that it has collected lots of dust and toothpaste! Next, I taped it up with blue painters tape. Maybe a smarter person than myself would have removed the mirror but I was about ease. Then I spray painted it. Mediterranean Blue. Three coats. I love it! It is like walking into spring every time I turn the bathroom light on. The husband on the other hand, still is not sure if he likes it or not. Definitely an improvement over the old gold mirror. I can live with this one for a while longer!

My Short Chic loves the book, Pinkalicious.  Last Wednesday she went to the doctor for her three year checkup and she literally asked the doctor, "can she really get Pinkititis?" The doctor must not have gotten the bribe money  copay in the mail, so she responded that she had no worries the Short Chic would ever catch Pinkititus. Since then, my Short Chic wants to make pink cupcakes! More, more, more! Having some down time today and needing some cupcakes for my bosses birthday celebration in the office tomorrow, we proceed to make the most Pinkarific cupcakes! Our recipe is easy (it has to be when your helper is three)! Start off with a white box mix. Add the ingredients the box calls for but instead of adding the water, add that amount of frozen pink lemonade concentrate that has been thawed. (My box called for 1 1/4 cups of water and I used 1 1/4 cups of thawed pink lemonade concentrate.) And then mix it up. The batter had a hint of pink to it from the le

I spent this past weekend around two sickly children. Unfortunately they were mine and I could not escape. In my attempt to doctor up my kids with over the counter medications, I notice that the majority of my medicine cabinet is full of.....expired medications. I read somewhere that out dated medications are BAD. They lose their effectiveness. Can become poisonous. Even fatal.  What Mommy would knowingly give their children ineffective bad medicine? Not me!  I may swear in front of my children. Let them eat way too many sweets. Stay up late. But knowingly give them ineffective bad medicine. No way!  Once I found the first outdated medicine bottle, I immediately scour the medicine cabinet for any others. Holy smacks! I hardly had anything in the cabinet that was not expired. They all go in the trash. Then today, I decide I should look up the research on out-dated medications. I find the Internet is mixed. Some sites will tell me what I thought to be true. Medications that are e

I just got off the phone with a friend of mine. She was recently diagnosed. There are so many things I want to say, yet I have no words.

I have been a little busy these past few days. Attempting to update one of the bedrooms in our rental house. You see, someone way back when put decorative mirrors up on the wall. You know the kind, square mirrors speckled with gold. They scream 1972!!  They are glued to the wall, so removing them has felt like a daunting task.  A needed task, as a few years ago when we sided the house one of the panes of glass broke. I set about updating this look this week. I found a great buy of used shutters on Craigslist! I got 12 of them for $30.00! So much cheaper than Home Depot!! Removing the old glass mirrors proved to be just as difficult as I thought it would be. I literally had to chisel away pieces of mirror with a hammer and screw driver piece by piece. It seems like it took me hours but in reality it only took a few. Of course I do a super woman welcome to my friend LeAnn, who came over to smash glass with me one afternoon.   With LeAnn's help, I believe I put a total of two ho

I just got home from enrolling my eldest in .....HIGH SCHOOL! No way, no how! It seems like only a few years ago he and I went shopping for his first ever school supplies. I remember taking off work for two days to get him use to his new routine called Kindergarten. How on earth did he become a freshman in HIGH SCHOOL? Wasn't it just a  few short years ago he transitioned from elementary school to Middle School? We had to transition to a new start time. Elementary starts school at 9:00 but Middle School starts at 8:00. But, now he has gone and finished Middle School. No way, no how! In a few short days, he will enter the doors of the building below and begin his high school journey! No way, no how! The line at registration was the longest line I have seen, outside of an amusement park. We waited in line to turn in our health forms. Then we waited in a massive line to turn in our registration forms. I also learned how expensive high school can be. Class dues, student

My family just returned from a great weekend with my BFF and her hubby's lake home.  This is not our first trip there, we spent Memorial Day and Fourth of July there. But this is the first time we have visited when there were only five of us. It was such a nice relaxing weekend. Their Roses of Sharon bushes where loaded with butterflies this weekend. Swarms of them! The weather was perfect. Warm. Not hot. The company was amazing and we shared in some yummy food! We went down to celebrate my 1 year anniversary. One year ago today, a very wise and caring doctor had to tell me I had cancer-Hodgkins Lymphoma to be exact. One year ago today, I clicked on Blogger and started blogging about my diagnosis. This past year has been filled with many down moments. Surgeries. Chemotherapy. Radiation. Injections, Doctors. Hair Loss.  But it has also been filled with some of the best up moments. Friends. Phone Calls. Letters. Family. Support. Prayers.   Even with all the trials I was experienc