It's My Life

We Americans just celebrated the Fourth of July. Our Independence Day. I do not think my family is so much different from other families. We celebrate with food. With friends. And by blowing things up! WOW, we love fireworks. After spending the weekend at the Lake with Tracy, we opted for a smaller celebration. Meeghan and Jeremy invited us over to their home in Liberty, Missouri. I figure if you are going to celebrate the fourth of July and your independence, a town named Liberty is where you want to be. We of course had to stop by the firework tent before we got there. Unfortunately, they were out of smoke bombs and black snakes. The Boy got his M-60's and bottle rockets. The Short Chic got her sparklers. Daddy got his rocket launchers. I got a few fountains. Speaking of sparklers, we found this cute outfit in her closet moments before leaving to head to her BFF's, Miss Things house. I think her Nana bought it for her a while back. Good find! It was a super cute o...

I have told more lies in the past few weeks than I have ever told in my life. No, I have not all of a sudden developed a psychiatric disorder or even a midlife crisis. I helped my best friend's hubby, Darren,  pull off a killer surprise birthday party for my best friend/his wife, Tracy. She turned the big 4-0 this weekend. Normally, the fourth of July weekend is reserved for her immediate family at the lake. She invited my family down several months ago (being friends for twenty plus years kinda puts you really close to the family status). But, what she did not know is Darren had cleared the pressing need for a large party with my Tracy's daddy. So, a big plan was made. People were invited.  Darren even made arrangements for Tracy's middle school/high school/college best friend to fly in from Houston. My job was to pick her up from the airport and drive her to the party. My hubby fired up the smoker last weekend and smoked up about 20 pounds of meat. I will admit ...

I checked into Cancer-World this week. I hate checking in there! Even though I appear healthy and feel healthy, you just never know what is going on inside the body. There is so much stress about checking in. First of all, you are scared witless that something might me found. Then there is the stress of waiting....you do all of your test one day and wait for several days to find out the results. Monday morning, The Boy went with me to the hospital for my testing. I had to take three test; Lab work on 2 different CAT scans. The Lab work went smoothly, but three viles full of blood is  a lot!  I hate the paperwork. I use to be able to say NO to all the history questions. Besides weighing too much, I have always been healthy. Not any longer...Now I have to say YES. My first shock of the morning was when we hit the radiology department and they brought me out TWO glasses of liquid to drink. I am not sure what type of contrast they mixed with a very dilu...

 Our summer sports live came crashing to a halt last night. The Boy, who was finishing his double double-header, got hit by a pitch on his first at-bat of his second baseball game of the night.  Of course I notice after he is hit that he is not wearing his Evo-Shield, but then I realize the Evo-Shield would have protected his elbow and not his wrist, which is where he was hit. He normally bounces back from these things and steals a few bases as his way of saying, "Take that!"  But not last night. He had to be given a pinch runner. We iced it. It still hurt. He still could not move it. Unfortunately, we only had 9 players last night. And after a little in-between inning drama, The Boy, took the field for the second inning. He wore a hat, but had no glove on. He held an ice pack. He had to take the field or we would have to forfeit. The Boy was not going to let that happen. We waited out the game, which we won. Then we headed to the Emergency Room. One is a littl...

Have you ever done something you knew you shouldn't? I am doing it right now.  And I know I am going to pay for it later! But, I am still doing it. Why? Because it is so yummy!! I learned to make the best iced coffee today and I have to tell you I am in HEAVEN! Ree Drummond, aka The Pioneer Woman posted an article on her blog about how to make the perfect iced coffee. I love iced coffee, but I could never get it right. I would brew the coffee, pour it over ice, and it would melt the ice. I could never get it cold enough without watering it all down.  Ree's article shows a cold brew method of making the coffee, that works great for putting it over ice. I brewed some cold coffee this morning and I knew I should have stopped at one iced tea today, but then I had a second. But, now that my housework is done, I am ready for the week, and swimming with the family is over, I am sneaking in  a third one! You can find this tutorial at The Pioneer Woman,  Iced Coff...

We have not spent a weekend at home, in our house, in over a month. When we have not been out of town, we have played in baseball tournaments that have kept us away from our home from early until bedtime. So, this weekend, we invited my mother up and declared this weekend a home weekend. So, here is my Saturday in pictures. At 6:00 a.m. I got new tires put on my car. By 6:30 I was having breakfast with The Husband, My Father-in-Law, and my Mother.  After that I got stuck in the rain storm while shopping. My next stop was the City Market with my Mother, kids, and my junior high best friend. If you are ever in Kansas City on a Saturday, I highly recommend you stop by the City Market area. The sites, the smells, and the taste are unbelievably fresh! We picked up fresh onions, limes, jalapenos, cilantro, asparagus, beets, squash, peppers, cabbage, carrots, cherries, and even some fresh tea leaves. I can hardly wait until my next weekend at home, so I can go back! While we...

Yesterday was a crazy day for us. The Boy played in three sporting events in just a few hours. 3:00 p.m. Staley Freshman played basketball against Smithville. Staley won. In the last minute. I kid you not. We were losing by 7 with a minute left and ended up winning. It was a great game. This is The Boy, making a basket in his first game. The Boy then played a second game of basketball at 5:00 p.m.. This is The Boy, missing a shot in the second game. Staley Freshman played Park Hill South. Staley won this game as well. At 8:30 p.m. The Boy and The Hawks played a game of baseball. This is The Boy, warming up and switching gears. Notice he has glasses on. He needs them now to see the ball. This photo is The Boy's error in the game. NO, this is not warm up. The Boy and his friend, sitting out. The Hawks were down 7 to 1. We rallied back. Hawks had the last at bat.  I know I just posted about enjoying close games more than a blow out. Karma got me on that one. We did not win t...