March 31st 2010

Happy last day of March!!

Woot Woot.

so today was what? I've lost track.

Oh yeah... Today was "She's Funny That Way" Day... and my three year old who usually has me in stitches wasn't really cracking me up today. I can't think of a single thing that's been funny that she's said today unless you count when we stopped at a rest stop just outside of Oklahoma City on our way to Texas and we went in to use the bathroom. She loudly announced that she'd thrown up in her mouth a little and swallowed it. nice.

*** HEAD'S UP!!! ***

Tomorrow is April Fool's Day!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I want to know... what's the best prank that you've ever pulled on someone... or the best prank that's ever been pulled on you??

Tomorrow is the visitation for my grandma's funeral on Friday. I don't imagine there'll be much joking around going on... but tomorrow I'll tell you the best April Fool's joke I've ever fallen for. But first I want to hear yours!

Leave a comment!!

March 30th 2010

Is it only Tuesday?

Well... Happy Doctor's Day to you all! Or... if you'd rather... Happy Grass Is Always Browner On The Other Side Of The Fence Day. Or... Happy Pencil Day!

I've been hectic busy getting everything ready and packing to make the trip to Texas for my grandma's funeral. So... the blog has been lacking, and for that I apologize.

Yesterday was national Mom and Pop Business Owner's Day. I asked for you guys to let me know your favorite mom and pop business... and a few of you left me comments on my facebook.

from Amanda:

"Adam and I chose our favorite mom and pop buisness. Adam's best man in our wedding and his life mentor owns 2 drum and guitar shops that have that "family vibe". One in topeka and one in lawrence. What I love most about him is his "about" page on his website. He doesn't waste time to let others know whats most important in life. "Supersonic Music is steeped in honesty, honor and integrity."

[click on this link for Super Sonic Music]

from my Mom:

"Without a doubt......Carl's Ice Cream"

[click on this link for Carl's Ice Cream]

my Aunt Cassino said:

"Country Creek Peddlers"

but she didn't give me a website. Cassino... is that your shop?? (my aunt is a serious quilter and has a quilt shop)

and Andi said:

"An amazing little store in Cottageville, WV called Fernwood Hollow Candle Co. I'm not sure if they've survived the economic downturn, but they were my absolute favorite place to buy candles and primitives!"

they have a website... www.fernwoodcandlecompany.com, but it doesn't work.

We went yesterday and bought Jason a nice black suit shirt to wear to my grandma's funeral at a mom and pop store in Sedalia, MO. Weller's Men's Wear. We did our part to celebrate!

I'm not sure how we will celebrate today yet... but I'll post about it tomorrow.

*** HEAD'S UP!!! ***

Tomorrow is national "She's Funny That Way" Day. Have fun with that one! It's also the last day of March... and you know what that means! Thursday is April Fool's Day. I hope you're all thinking of your best April Fool.

March 28th 2010

Well, yesterday was Quirky Country Music Song Titles Day, but noone left any comments here on the blog. Boooooo. Hissssss.

A few people left comments on my facebook though.

Here were a couple:

"Does Your Chewing Gum Lose Its Flavor on the Bedpost Overnight"

"I have tears in my ears from lyin on my pillow cryin over you."

"Let the bird of paradise fly up your nose." (Little Jimmy Dickens)

Then there's always these:

"If I Had a Nose Full of Nickels, I’d Sneeze Them All Atchoo!" (Lou Carter)

"Flushed from the Bathroom of Your Heart" (Johnny Cash)

"White Trash Wedding" (The Dixie Chicks)

"Get Your Tongue Out of My Mouth ‘Cause I’m Kissin’ You Goodbye" (John Denver)

and

"It’s Hard to Kiss the Lips At Night That Chew Your Ass Out All Day Long" (The Notorious Cherry Bombs)


Today was Palm Sunday and Weed Appreciation Day.

I was afraid that Weed Appreciation might refer to marijuana... but I found this link explaining it [click here]... however, April 20th is national Pot Smoker's Day. Oh Boy.

I didn't appreciate any weeds today.

but I DID see my first beefsteak tomato start to sprout! =)



*** HEAD'S UP!!! ***

Tomorrow is national Mom and Pop Business Owner's Day

I want to know what your favorite mom and pop business is. So leave a comment and let me know!

March 26th 2010

Bittersweet

Today has been a whirlwind of emotions.

March 26th is "Make Up Your Own Holiday Day"

I had said that if Jason's scans came back clear today (which they did!!!!!!!), then today our holiday would be about that... Jason Day!!

But...

this morning while we were sitting in the doctor's office waiting to see the doctor, I got a call from my dad that my grandma (mom's mom) had passed away.

I don't want to take away from the great news we got today at the doc's...

but for the blog today, I want to celebrate my grandma.

79 years young, she has lived for the last few years in an assisted living facility, where she referred to everyone else there as "those old people." SHE was never old. One of the classiest women I knew... just last week she found a yellow bag that she just had to have and then needed shoes to match.

The last time I got to spend any time with her was a few years ago for Audrey's 1st birthday. Grandma ordered a cake from the grocery store there where she lived in Hurst, TX and the icing was SOOOO pink, that Audrey pooped pink for three days. It was such a fun visit... and the only pictures I have of my kids with their great grandma.





and the last picture I have taken of me with my grandma



This picture was taken in grandma's backyard in Texas before she sold her house:



Mom told me today that the last thing they talked about last night was Jason. I wish I could have called her today to tell her that his scans came back clear.

Grandma,
Jason beat the cancer!! I wish I could have called you today to tell you the good news. I know you would have been so relieved to hear it. But somehow... I think you still know.
I'm glad you're not sick anymore, and I hope you are having a great time up there with grandpa! But I will miss you every day. Tell grandpa I said hi.
I Love You!
Becky

*** HEAD'S UP!!! ***

Tomorrow is Education and Sharing Day, Quirky Country Music Song Titles Day, and Viagra Day (hey... to each their own)

If you celebrate Viagra Day... please don't tell me about it! =)

But... I would love for everyone to leave a comment with the Quirkiest Country Music Song Title you can think of.

March 24th 2010

Happy Kick Butts Day!

I got this cute email today from Mindi... two picture were attached.

This one:


and This one:


with a note that said: "If I am disciplined enough...the weights will kick my butt today, but for now the cleaning is kicking my butt. :)"

She also sent me this link [click here]

apparantly "Kick Butts Day" is meant to encourage people to stop smoking. Get it? Butts? Clever!

But I don't smoke... so I'm going to have to kick something else's butt

and today... I choose cancer!!!

(I actually googled "kick cancer's butt" in google images, and found this:


So today I choose to kick cancer's butt... because tomorrow is Letting Go of Stuff Day.

Want to guess what we're letting go of?

Cancer!!!

Because Friday is "Make Up Your Own Holiday Day" and if (when) we hear from the doctor on friday at Jason's appointment that the scans all come back clear from tomorrow... then Friday will be the best made up holiday EVER!!

What are YOU letting go of tomorrow?? Leave us a comment and let us know... I'll put it on the blog.

Puppy Day!

Puppy Day was SOOOO much fun!

I loved all of the pics I received to put on the blog!


Molly's "puppy" Sam (Sam is almost 4 years old and is actually suspected of being a goat since he will eat literally anything... a whole bag of cough drops, a whole package of ramen noodles, his BED...)



My Aunt Tanya's puppy, Sadie. HOW CUTE! I love the Santa suit.



Tricia's Boston Terrier puppy, Fenway. SO CUTE!!!



Heather's puppy, Jack. And if that puppy isn't cute enough (he is!)... Check out those handsome boys!!!



This is my parent's most recent dog, Blitzen when he was a puppy. I say most recent because they don't have him anymore. He ran away. =(



And this is a picture of Levi's first puppy. We had him in north carolina. His name was Duke. He was a worthless boxer... but I love this picture so I'm posting it. Ha!

But...

my most favorite part of Puppy Day is that my hubby woke me up telling me that he'd seen an ad for FREE Lab/Beagle mix puppies here in our small town. So we called and went out and saw them and we are getting one on Friday!! I picked out the chocolate female in the middle. I've always LOVED labs (it's basically all we had when I was growing up) and I LOOOOOVE Chocolate labs but my parents always got black ones.



She still doesn't have a name yet. We are taking suggestions. Audrey thinks we should name it Audrey. Ha!

*** HEAD'S UP!!! ***

Tomorrow is Kick Butt's Day and national Chocolate Covered Raisins Day

how will YOU celebrate?

March 22nd 2010

Happy International Goof Off Day!



Today we went to the city (Springfield) to run some errands and eat lunch at our favorite restaurant to goof off...

Lambert's!

For those of you who don't live in Missouri... or who have never been to a Lambert's...

This restuarant literally hurls rolls at you. Well, nicely I mean. A guy goes around the restaurant with a cart of hot rolls, you stick your hand up in the air if you want one, and he'll toss is to you. So much fun! There's always a big basket of butters and a jar of honey on the table for the hot rolls. But that's not even the best part! Lambert's is all you can eat. So... literally... you can order a burger (which comes with a side), eat the whole thing... and then order another one... or another one! The servings are so huge though, that I always have trouble eating just half of one burger... and Jason's meal came out in a skillet!!!

This was my three year olds plate. The KIDS chicken and dumplings...



and the cups are as big as a thermos! (see Jason's skillet there on the left?)



PLUS... people walk around with "pass arounds" which is just more all you can eat food that automatically comes with your meal. Fried Okra, Fried Potatoes, Black Eyed Peas, Macaroni and Tomatoes, and sorghum molasses. YUM!! I'm telling you... the first chance you have to eat at a Lambert's... Run! Don't walk! But expect a long wait if you go on a weekend night. People show up there by the bus full and a hour wait (or longer) is typical!

so we stuffed outselves silly and goofed off too





*** HEAD'S UP!!!***

Tomorrow is Puppy Day...

and guess what!!...

Jason is letting me get a puppy!! Seriously I have the best husband ever! And he's so great to go along with celebrating every day with us... and take it seriously. =)

*CHEESE*

So anyway... I know you guys love your puppies! And I want to show them off!!! Let's celebrate them tomorrow. Update a picture of your puppy to the flickr group [click here]... or email it to me at citymousecountryhouse@yahoo.com, and I'll put them on the blog tomorrow to celebrate puppy day.

March 21st 2010

Well... I skipped blogging yesterday. I had a good reason though. Our power went out because of the blizzard we had yesterday. Yes... you read that right. The day before, the kids got sunburns because the weather was so nice, and the very next day we got 8 inches of snow in a blizzard. Bizzare Missouri weather!

But... I DID celebrate yesterday. It was national Quilting Day!!!

So... I quilted all day. I mean... what else was there to do? We were snowed in!

Here is the progress I have made on my quilt so far:







Those pictures were all taken with my phone so they are dull and don't show the full color, but the colors are pretty vibrant. Lime green



I'm making it in honor of Lymphoma awareness... and I'm hand stitching the whole thing!

Today was national common courtesy day. I hope you were all extra nice to people today.

Tomorrow is international goof off day, and "As Young As You Feel Day"

so take pictures of yourself goofing off, email them to me of post them to the flickr group I've set up... and I'll get you up on the blog!

March 19th 2010

Happy national Chocolate Caramel Day!!

How did you celebrate? (don't feel bad if you don't like chocolate paired with caramel... March 24th is national chocolate covered raisin's day)

We made chocolate caramel pretzel "truffles." I saw this idea in a magazine somewhere. I don't remember. Real Simple? Food network? Rachael Ray? Ugh. I'd love to give credit where credit is due... but I honestly can't remember where I saw it. But these are the easiest yummiest crowd pleasin' little bites!

And here with me to show you all how to make them is my 14 year old (step) daughter, Logan!

Say hi Logan.



ingredients you'll need:



I know! It's that easy! Three ingredients. Well, maybe four, but we'll talk about that later.

So first you want to unwrap your caramels (is that too obvious?)...



(We may or may not be painting over the wallpaper in the kitchen. Excuse the mess.)

Then... enlist the help of a five year old to help unwrap the rest of the caramels while you start to roll the already unwrapped caramels flat. This is no job for a wimp... the rolling out caramels.



See those red cheeks and nose? That is his first sunburn of the year!! It was gorgeous here today!

So now you have your caramels unwrapped and rolled out... and we're going to wrap them around pretzel bites and make little round balls.



You can get a cute three year old to help with this step if you want to.





After you've got all of your pretzels wrapped in caramels, you're going to melt your chocolate. If you are planning on making a ton of these like for a party... or to package up as Christmas gifts... then I've found it's easier to melt your chocolate in a crock pot, but if you are just gonna do a handful like we did tonight, then just melt some chocolate in a bowl, cause next we're gonna dunk the pretzel caramel bites in chocolate, completely covering them.



It helps if you have purple finger nails



After you have them all dunked, set them on wax paper and wait for them to harden. This is the hardest part for me. Harder than rolling those booger caramels out.



Ok... now remember that optional fourth ingredient we talked about? If you have some nuts taking up space in your pantry... get them out, crush them out, and roll the chocolate covered caramel covered pretzels in the crushed nuts.

Oh.

My.

Goodness.

To die for!

I LOVE these.

You know what else I love?

The freckles on Jason's upper lip. (click on the picture... it will enlarge and you can check out the freckles. adorable!)



*swoon*

Ok... got sidetracked there for a sec.

Oh hey! Remember a couple of nights ago when Jason rescued that kitty and I said if it could live through the night and stay around, we'd keep it??

Well guess what...

It's made itself very comfortable out here on the farm!!



Back off, cat! He's mine!

Yeah... I'm talking to you



You know exactly what you're doing, kitty!!



*sigh*



I'm a goner

*** HEAD'S UP!!! ***

Tomorrow is Corn Dog Day, Maple Syrup Day, national Quilting Day, Proposal Day, and Great American Meat Out Day

Hopefully you can celebrate one of those with us. If you do... email me pics! I'd love to feature YOU on our blog!

March 18th 2010

Hi!

Do you have Absolutely Incredible Kids??

I hope you celebrated them today!

Today was Absolutely Incredible Kids Day, Awkward Moments Day, and Forgive Mom and Dad Day.

I had my orthodontic appointment this morning and we stayed in Sedalia most of the day getting other "stuff" knocked off of our list. new deep freeze? Check! now we will have room to put the meat when we get our butchered hog. Sooo exciting. (we don't get out much, can you tell??) Anyway... all that to say, Jason dropped me off at my appointment and took the kids with him so Audrey wasn't around to say anything awkward while I had a mouth full of instruments. Why couldn't Awkward Moments Day been yesterday... when Audrey LOUDLY asked me why we were singing about blood in the middle of church last night right as we got done with There Is Power In The Blood. Or the night before when she announced to her brother in the car (while we were driving with my in-laws to supper)... "Levi, I just let a toot quietly."

Since we were "in town" all day, Levi didn't have school. That's celebration enough, right? We took them to chinese buffet for lunch and when we went to The Wal Marts, I let them each buy a $1 chocolate bunny. We even went through the self check aisle so that they could each scan their own goods, feed the money into the machine, and get their own receipts and their own bag. They thought they were so big!





Then at the Dollar Tree (woo doggy we do it up big when we go to town, don't we??) Jason let them each pick out a plastic bat and set of wiffle balls to play with when we got home in this awesome weather. But... along with this awesome weather comes not so awesome things... like the ten+ ticks that I picked off of Levi when they were done playing outside. I guess that's what he gets for crawling under the front porch to retrieve a wiffle ball, huh? Gross.

As for forgiving my mom and dad...

well, I've got pretty great parents. I don't think there's anything I need to forgive them for. maybe my fair freckled skin? Ok, mom, I forgive you for my fair freckled skin. If I think of anything else I'll save it for March 25th... that's "Letting Go of Stuff Day."

=)

*** HEAD'S UP!!! ***

Tomorrow is national Chocolate Caramel Day.

YUMMY!!

As always... let us know if you celebrate and I'll put it on the blog.