Cookbooks and storage

We have a sickness in our family--
I inherited it from my mom.
And i think my oldest is coming down with it as well.
We LOVE cookbooks.
We LOVE to read cookbooks
and can often be found browsing through them for "FUN"?
Maybe it is because we know we will like the ending in the story?

In my mom's case she can claim them for work--
she owned a cooking school for years
has taught cooking out of her home
and even taught Home EC and Culinary Arts
in Junior High and High School.
Now in my case....
I love to read them
look at the pictures--
and salivate over the recipes,
but when it comes to actually cooking--
something gets lost in the translation.
My dear hubby who does most of the cooking
just manages to pull it out of his head.
He doesn't need NO STINKIN' book--
infact he resents it when i suggest it.

The problem with loving cookbooks is storage.
I had a bookcase in my kitchen--but that became too small.
I got an island that had book storage on on side

and again too small.
I have gone through the books and gotten rid of those
that i knew i hadn't used much
it did help for awhile....
I gave those books to my mom to take to her school
for reference---
in going through her books this summer,
I found that not all of them made it to her school.

She has needed some cookbook storage for awhile now.
We wanted to do something so that all the books were together.
We decided that while the bookcases
on either side of her kitchen were working-
they weren't very pretty.




















We decided that we would get cabinets that matched her cabinets
So off to Lowes i went to get them ordered.
I already knew what we wanted/needed
which is NOT how they normally work--
they could hardly believe it.
We had them delivered to the store
to save $175.00 delivery fee
When they came in--




I knew they would all fit in my van













the guy who was helping my load had his doubts.
It was hardly even a challenge.

Now if only installing them had gone so easy.
It was supposed to be a piece of cake, But....
I ran into a bit of a snag with two of the cabinets being made differently than the others.
I love when you know there is a solution
and you are challenged to find it.
With the help on a friend
we figured it out.
OH HAPPY DAY!
I think they turned out pretty good


I thought she would have plenty of room for all her cookbooks
plus some dishes and other stuff underneath.
Well she did have room for all the cookbooks--
that's it--nothing else.
I have recommended a purge for her as well--
so the other night she started--
a few hours later she emerged with SIX.
I guess SIX is a start...

bu--Z-Z-Z-zZ-y

I am so tired!
It has been some busy days and nights
trying to finish up my moms house.
She has been gone for the summer--
and we had many project to accomplish...

We had plenty of time to get them done...
and yet?.......

So here it is
the last minute
CRUNCH TIME
and we are working our fingers to the bone...
burning the candle at both ends.

My dear sweet friend Liz
came and helped me clean the mess that had been made--
she worked like a slave...
she even did the windows.
(they have never looked so good)
It was so much fun working together

So here are some pictures of what has been occupying my time

We finally worked on getting up the blinds on the front window
(While a large picture window is nice for seeing out--
it also means that people can see in)

It was not as easy as it seems--
since we had to drill into block wall
We had found these blinds
(which had been a returned special order)
for way cheap---
which meant that we had some altering/adjusting to do
since the valance was missing
and this was what i came up with--

not bad in one day?!

adult scootering

While at church today
there were many who inquired about the injuries that covered my sons face
and how he got them.
It really isn't that exiting of a story--
Just the old
fell down
went boom...

Anyway, someone made the comment
that just the other day they saw and adult
on one of those scooters.
How Ridiculous--was his impression of the situation
an ADULT--scootering?
I couldn't understand his indignation at that--
big deal--right?

I now get it---
Grown woman--mothers with children
(isn't that what makes you a mother--children?)
Especially when it is late at night
and you have your purse on your arm--
because it keeps slipping from your shoulder
and your slip on shoes keep slipping off
(because they were not made to scooter)
should not be on a scooter.
I can only imagine how truly
RIDICULOUS
i looked--
(don't ask)
Never mind the fact how ridiculous i felt!
Needless to say
i was glad this little adventure was done
under the cover of darkness
and it will not be repeated anytime soon.

Do i get bonus points for not getting injured?

Ode to Whitney & Fall Break

Just so my friend Whitney doesn't feel like she is alone--
I figured i would post pictures of my lovely little man.


At first glance it looks like he got into chocolate frosting--

but NO--

Those are the scrapes that are healing.

Not even a tear or complaint from him...
when he crashed with his brother on the scooter.

They have been riding like this for many years--
(this picture is from my archive)
They are rather proficient at this mode of transportation
it seems like it would be safe enough....
safer than the two of them on a bike---
so i thought....

I was informed that he had fallen off--
actually they hit a rock and tumbled--
My other son informed me
"Mom, he is one tough dude--he didn't even cry"

So the real question is
"Will i receive a call from the school when he goes back?"
inquiring about his various fall break injuries?

Maybe there is a reason they call it
"fall break"
According to the nurses and doctor at urgent care
(which we had the lovely opportunity to visit
upon our return from Mexico--)
that they have been kept rather busy with "breaks".
Ours was not a break--
at least not a bone--
it was broken blood vessels-
still painful
but it only required a wrist brace--

one that was made in Mexico--


I guess we could have just stayed there
and saved them having to ship it--
AHHH the things that will continue to remind of us
of our "fall break"

Good hair day

It is not everyday that my oldest son lets me take pictures of him.
In fact most of the time that I have my camera out he acts as if I am the paparazzi and puts his hand up and defiantly says “NO”. If I try to push the issue I get the deep voice saying “Mom, I said NO", as if that is the end all statement and I should not try to push the issue. You can imagine my surprise when I complemented him on his hair one morning and asked if I could take a picture and he responded with “OK”.
Are you kidding me?
I normally like my boys with a bit of a more clean cut look—I am not into the longer “shaggy do’s”—but there comes a point where you pick your battles, and knowing that wrestling season was coming up meant a haircut was in the near future. On this particular day I actually liked his longer hair look—he was having a good hair day and actually let me document the fact with a picture.

notice the peach fuzz on the chin--kinda adds to that whole Shaggy look

I think he allowed the photo in hopes of when he wants to grow it out again that I will remember this—after all, now I do have documented proof that such a thing is possible.

little man and the phone store

Not too long ago my phone was –
hmmm shall I say, "misplaced"?
I thought that little man had been the culprit behind the missing phone.
He has a love,
I mean LOVE,
for phones and anything that is expensive and electronic.
We have tried putting the phones up high
And somehow he still manages to get them.
So when my phone came up missing,
I quickly jumped to the conclusion that he was to blame.
I looked in the place that I remembered having it last—
(which was the hubby’s car)
And did not find it.
Even my husband looked in his car—to no avail.
We figured it was dead and lost in the house somewhere.
For a week I was phoneless—
My life stopped that week.
How did we ever live without cell phones I ask you?
All my #’s were again lost—
If you think this blog entry sounds familiar it sorta is related to this one...
(this is getting to be a regular occurance in my life these days...)
During this time I was working at my mom’s
And she had gotten rid of her land line—
So I truly was disconnected from the world.
I guess my husband got tired of not being able to get a hold of me
And started phone shopping.
We were going to have to change carriers anyway
since my wireless carrier had been bought out.—
He figured it would be as good a time as any
To get a family plan.
He asked me what kind of phone I wanted
And my response was
“One that won’t get lost,
and that is bigger than a pack of gum”
I really don't care about the way it looks so much
(or so i thought)
And all the bells and whistles—
I just want a phone that is little man proof.
The new phones arrived on a Monday night
And when I opened the box—
I was not impressed.
It was a pale blue color—
I wanted/needed something that would stand out-
That wouldn’t get lost or blend in with life.
So off to the Verizon store,
in search of the right phone for me
Since it was family night we had the kids with us—
Figured we would make it a family outing.
As soon as we had walked in the door--
Little man was in electronic heaven.
A trip to Disneyland couldn’t have made him happier.
He went around trying out every phone they had—
He would pick it up—HELLO…HELLO he would say into each and then he was off to the next one in line to repeat the same process. Needless to say he was on cell phone overload-
And then add to it computers and touch screens—
What to play with next was his only question.

As I browsed around the store
My husband did the negotiating on price
I looked,
And pondered
Trying to find the perfect—
Virtually indestructible—
“Can’t get lost phone”.
This is what I came up with—

While safety orange was not my first choice in color
(I would have preferred red)
I figured it was a safe bet for standing out.
It reminded me of a communicator from Star Trek
“Beam me up Scotty”
When you opened it up

It has this cool surfer dude

Then I read the features—
RUGGED
important for those times it will get dropped
(Actually since I originally wrote this it has taken a leap off of the top of the football bleachers...and is still alive to talk about it)

SHOCK RESISTANT
(that way when I say shocking things it won’t die on me)

And most important of all
WATER RESISTANT
(say it isn’t so!!!)
It might as well said
“Little Man can’t hurt me”
I was in LOVE.
We walked out of the store that night
With the new phone in hand—
I was now able to communicate with the world—
And guess what the hubby found the next day---
YEP—you guessed it.
my boring black—
size of a pack of gum—
dead cell phone.
The real sad thing is that for a week
we had both been blaming little man for the loss—
Where was it you might ask?
In the car that we had both looked in.
I think secretly it wanted to be replaced.....

the sign in book

For my nephews wedding
I was asked to make the sign in book.
For those that know me well--
know that i love to scrapbook--
well actually i love to collect scrapbook supplies
because lets be honest--
who has the time?
Often i find that the only time i get to scrapbook
is when i am at work ---
then i can manage to squeeze it in.
Often you can find me scrap booking on my bus--
or in the stands of a game i am attending--
Never an idol moment in my life.

Now i am not a fast scrapbooker--
In fact I am very,VERY slow.
I am very methodical in my approach--
it takes me forever to make a decision--
and then i vacillate about the correctness in my choices--
it is enough to drive me crazy--
So with this being said--
I was even more stressed
since this project was for someone else--
someone i love--
someone i would and will see often--
so i wanted it to be perfect-
or at least good--
maybe even amazing....
Can I just say--
THANK GOODNESS FOR THE LAST MINUTE!
I was adding glaze pen to the monogram letter
as we were driving
(don't worry i was the passenger)
I think it turned out pretty good--
My sis-in-law was happy.

So by now i am sure you want to see a picture
of this work of art,
this all time consuming feat of love.....
And i will say, so would I--

See that thing in front of the pictures?
That is the book--
with all the many other pictures i took
I managed to forget my work of love and patience
and this is the only picture i took of it--

I think i will have to work on getting some close-ups later
-

my nephew and u-tube

I am so excited that i have learned to add
U-tube videos to my blog....
a whole new world has been opened to me--
imagine my surprise when i found my nephew in it....

My sweet oldest nephew is getting married
I can hardly believe it.
Except for the first six months of his life-
I have seen him through his years.
This kid even threw up on my feet
when he was a baby.
We have a history together--
Memories have been made--
He is one crazy kid
and this video only proves it.
After seeing the video I wasn't really that surprised--
Yep--that's him
the crazy nut----
I wonder if getting married will tame that spirit---
NAHHHHH---
I kinda doubt it.!
And really would i want him to change?

Cancer awareness month

It is October 1st--
This is breast cancer awareness month.
Really it should just be called
CANCER AWARENESS MONTH
I think we have all know someone
who has been affected by the big C.

Years ago
I had the pleasure of a wonderful visiting teacher
that eventually lost her fight with breast cancer.
Even in the darkness of her fight
she still managed to laugh
and lived life till the end--
I miss her

Right now many of my friends
are dealing with cancer
in one form or the other
with their parents--
I also have several friends
who have lost a parent to this disease.
I have friends who have lost children--
It is a disease that
knows no boundaries--
it does not discriminate by age
or gender.
It does not choose you
based on your income--
or social standing.
Just the word alone
can shake you to your core--
it makes ME think--
reflect.....
on those things
that are really important in life.
Here is hoping
a cure is in the future!

life at warp speed

Where did this month go?
I can hardly believe that it is the end of September?
We are 1/4 done with the school year.
another 9 weeks and we will be on christmas break--
In one month we will be at my daughters
final highschool state meet.
I have drafts that i have yet to finish in my
September file--
My mom will be home this coming month
which mean i need to get busy,
finish projects and clean

These next few months are going to be busy
FUN FILLED
crazy times.
We have our annual Mexico trip
City,Regional and State swim meets
Homecomings,Birthdays
ELECTIONS
then wrestling starts
thanksgiving
christmans and our anniversary
and then the NEW YEAR!

Time just keeps moving at warp speed--


I was thinking about how disjointedly time seemed to flow,
passing in a blur at times,
with single images standing out more clearly than others.
And then, at other times,
every second was significant,
etched in my mind.
Stephenie Meyer, Twilight, 2005