I saw this idea for tt over at Tina’s blog and since I’ve had a case of the blah’s or blue’s this week… I thought focusing on these positives would be a good exercise of the mind for me!

Thirteen Things that make me happy inside…(It’s always been the little things that mean the most)

1.  A good day for Izzy, or good report from school…

2.  Testimonies of God’s healing power.

3.  fudgie wudgie. (sad but true)

4.  anything clean. hands, car, house, all things clean…

5.  singing at church… or along with the radio in the car

6.  coke with sonic ice. (duh)

7.  seeing a lower number on the scale…

8.  Jeans that are long enough.

9.  helping people.

10.  presents.  I don’t know which is more fun… giving them or getting them!  I got a fun one from my secret sis for valentine’s day!

11.  bloggy comments…

12.  time with friends.

13.  Watching my kids make good decisions and knowing they are such good kids!!!

One of my best blogging buddies, Oh Amanda, has started a new “meme” called Top Ten Tuesday! I am playing along for these top ten reasons…

1. I have nothing else interesting to blog about this morning.
2. I heart Oh Amanda.  Not only does she share the name of my amanda, she even loves purple!
3. She’s even offering a giveaway incentive for participants.
4. I’m procrastinating things I should be doing.
5. Ten things on tuesday makes so much more sense than thirteen on thursday.
6. I like lists.
7. Did I already mention I have nothing interesting to blog about?
8. I’m hopeful that next Tuesday my list will be either more creative, or more helpful.
9. Mr. linky is a friend to all.
10. So you’ll visit and play along too!

Pretty uneventful weekend around the house… I watched a few good movies on the Hallmark channel yesterday. I finished cleaning and organizing Emelia’s room and then felt so good about it I helped Bailey declutter his room too. Emelia and I took bags of outgrown clothes to the red box.

I went to Jill (my hair girl) Thursday for highlights and a trim…

Not much different, but a little lighter than before.  Can you see the bags under my eyes? ugh.  I was awake almost all night Friday night.  Matt left the tv in our bedroom on msnbc and they had a three hour special about teenage trafficking or something.  It was crazy and kept me awake.  I had the remote so technically I could have turned it off…

The next few weeks are going to be busy getting ready for the big party for mom and dad.  I’m excited about it!  I think they are planning to renew their vows which will be sweet.  Thankfully I have Mike & Terri.   I have been invited to two pampered chef parties this week, and don’t think I’ll make either one… but will order something.  I heart pampered chef stuff…  What’s your favorite pc gadget or item????  

In the kitchen this week…

I have a couple of pork roasts in the freezer and hope to try this recipe maybe tomorrow.

4 pounds boneless pork shoulder
1 onion, sliced in rings
2 cups ketchup (a 24oz bottle seems to be exactly 2 cups. weird.)
1/2 cup warm water
1/4 cup apple cider vinegar
1/4 cup brown sugar
1 teaspoon  Worcestershire sauce
1 teaspoon Tabasco sauce
1/2 teaspoon kosher salt

The Directions.

Use a 6 quart crockpot. Trim meat, and place into your crockpot. Add sliced onion. Squeeze in 2 cups of ketchup, and then pour 1/2 cup warm water into the ketchup bottle and shake. Pour the ketchup-y water into your crock. Add vinegar, brown sugar, Worcestershire, Tabasco and salt.
Cover and cook on low for 8-10 hours, or until meat shreds easily with a fork.
Serve over rice, or make sandwiches on rolls or sliced bread.

I am also planning to make breakfast one night this week… complete with gravy biscuits sausage and eggs.

I still haven’t tried Lauren’s yummy chicken enchiladas.  They are still on my to do list. 

Bailey put part of izzy’s latest bike ride on video with music. 

I was in line at sonic for the all important bag of ice…

When Emelia and I saw this…

Can you see the dog on top of the truck?  This dog was just hanging out of the truck… he got a little excited when the carhop brought the food to his owners.  My phone camera didn’t take a good pic, but I thought it was pretty funny.

It is Friday again and here are a few … or five… highlights from my week:

1. shopping with mother.

even though I had the hurt-ie shoes on it was a fun afternoon.  she found a perfect pashmina scarf to go with her pretty pinkish dress for the big party next month… and some pretty shoes… and appropriate undergarments.  i found a pretty bright pink sheer ruffled neck shirt and cute 3/4 sleeve hot pink jacket … and cool circle silver necklace. It’s good to find a best buy!

2. reorganizing emelia’s room pt. 1.

first i have to say… ugh.  but it is a good thing and pt. 2 will hopefully happen this afternoon.  she is home today after calling to come home from school yesterday with a tummy ache.  she was very tired and mostly slept yesterday with no real symptoms.  today she is tired but feeling better.  the little girl who sits across from her in school has strep throat.  she says her throat does not hurt.  we’ll see.

3.  reba.

and tivo.  we finally got a dvr in our bedroom.  i am totally loving it and have all kinds of shows like reba recorded.  it is awesome.  reba cracks me up. 

4.  getting my hair done.

and not a moment too soon!  i had an appointment on the sixth that didn’t happen so i finally got to go yesterday.  i got more blonde highlights and all trimmed up.  no major changes. 

5.  watching izzy pedal.

i have lots of new video of izzy pedaling the bike at school thanks to melanie.  i left my camera at school to capture the bike ride.  i arrived about half way through.  i am going to post it soon.  she was just pedaling along.  so cute.  when she stalled out in front of her old class the little kids cheered “go izzy go!”  i can’t say enough how much me and izzy heart those people at school.  they are wonderful… michelle (izzy’s para) is like a mom at school… she loves izzy and takes such good care of her, melanie (vt and izzy’s teacher) is so good at pushing izzy and finding fun new things to do.  she is like an in house cheerleader… she encourages all the kids.  camilla (pt) has been working with iz for years and doesn’t give up on her.  she keeps pushing her.  (ps camilla i listened to that song last night you mentioned and you are right.  the words are amazing)… and margaret (st) who pushes for izzy to communicate and always looks for new and innovative ways to make that happen.  what a team.  there is also the ots… heather and karen who i don’t see much, but they are also very special and sweet!

now i’m going to go finish emelia’s room.  wish me luck.  ugh. 

Go visit Susanne for more faves…

Whew. It’s been a long day (or two or three )…

Sunday we woke up late. Well, I woke up late. My first thought was to stay home and let matt teach the girls with his boys. Then I got a call telling me I would have the younger class too… so I quickly got it together and went. I was glad that I did. A busy afternoon, a meeting before evening church and a baby shower before bed. I got a text from mom telling me they had a surprise for me. I said what? she texted back “f w”… huh? then “fu wu” … what? finally it came to me! fudgie wudgie! I heart fudgie wudgie. Yum. It was my valentine. I have the best parents. Mom made the cutest valentines for each of the kids with pics of her with them. So cute.

Monday the kids were home for president’s day. Another crazy hectic day! The bright spot was the fudge.

Today I went with mom to the mall after taking Iz to school. We were looking for clothes/accessories for the big golden anniversary. I wore the WRONG shoes. Seriously! They were pretty comfortable Sunday, but they are casual heels I wore because my jeans are extra extra tall length and I hate them to drag on the floor. ick. So, about half way through the mall my feet felt like they were on fire. Walking on the balls of my feet and each step was a major pain! We did Macy’s, Dillards, tons of little stores and ended at JCPenney to leave. I actually got some slip on houseshoe type shoes (kinda mules) and wore them out. My feet still hurt. Even after a foot massage courtesy of Emelia, the foot massage extraordiare. I un-heart those bad mean shoes.

Another drama today was helping amanda mail off some apps for scholarships that had to be postmarked today and she was waiting for letters of recommendation. It all worked out and she got it mailed. It is starting to sink in that she is actually going to college next year. She is considering changing her major to pre-med. We need to find some custom rubber stamps!

Izzy had a pretty good day at school. They were having her do yes and no with signs on her hand socks… and they asked her if she wanted to get on the bike and she told them no more than once so they felt like they had to go with her choice. I suggested they don’t ask her Thursday … She was sleepy today and is already in bed asleep.

I finally watched Fireproof. I cried three times. 1st when he put the flowers where the computer had been with the note that said, “i love you more.” ah. So sweet. Next when he apologized at her bedside. and last at the end. Such sweetness. I usually don’t get drawn into sappy stuff like that. I’m like a machine. Just kidding, but this was a great movie. Matt thinks is was more of a “chick flick” than facing the giants. I don’t. I actually liked it better.

I know it’s been a great mystery without my menu posted. It’s probably been driving you crazy right? Last night I made enchiladas, guac, broc, salad, and corn… It was yummy. So good in fact we had a repeat tonight with leftovers! Which means I’m going to have to cook tomorrow. I’m thinking grilled chicken salad.

Okay, I’ll go back to being underwhelmed with AI. And then to bed.

Yesterday was Valentine party day at school… Izzy had her kindergarten party. Her teacher Melanie is so sweet, she brought cheesecake for Izzy! I took cinnamon rolls (made by mom) for Izzy’s teachers. Izzy also came home with a huge stuffed doggie animal from Melanie. It was almost as big as she is :) ! Emelia’s little friend (who happens to be a boy) brought her a little animal with candy attached and she came home proudly carrying it and saw izzy with her huge animal and just laughed and laughed.  Now off to write a post about Bamboo shades…

Amanda just answered the door and recieved a delivery of two dozen beautiful roses from Lorenzo.  How sweet!

I just love Valentine’s day! Don’t you?

I got a call from Izzy’s teacher, Melanie, right before arriving at school today.  She told me my presence was requested in the hall to watch Izzy ride the bike!  By the time I got there she was pooped, but she still pedaled!  The video is of her bike ride, towards the end she starts pedaling by herself again.

Welcome to Oklahoma… ice storms last week, tornados yesterday.  Wonder what I’ll do today? Sunbathe?  Seriously, I’m watching the news this morning and seeing all the damage done to houses.  I really hope that Izzy’s therapist Camilla’s home wasn’t affected.  When we left school yesterday the word was the storm was very near her home and today they are showing homes in Edmond… The tornados stayed just west of us for the evening, thank goodness.  Matt drove through a terrible hail storm and saw cars spinning and hitting the center median.  He was a little nervous from that when he came home last night.

What’s up with the peanut butter?  I make Bailey a pb&j for his lunch most days (unless they have pizza at school).  I have felt okay with it because I have been using a jar of peanut butter that I know hasn’t made anyone sick.  I had to buy a new jar this week and spent time on the world wide web searching for evidence that this was safe for him!  I feel about 99% sure that it is safe based on what I read it is the paste or peanut butter sold in large quantities to schools, and facilities or to make products like cookies or crackers.  What’s next?  Shopping for food is becoming a game of russian roulette.  Let’s see … it was green onions, spinach, then salad in general, there was skippy peanut butter for a while, tomatoes… now peanut butter again.  Come on!  I just wish they would produce food in a safe and clean way so that these recalls weren’t necessary.  It grosses me out to think about the reasons why the food is recalled. bleck.

FLO went great last night.  Unfortunately I did not win the $100 gift card to the Melting Pot.  (sadness) … Or the pedicure… or anything!  But it was a good night and there was a good turnout in spite of the weather.  At one point the thunder was very loud.  I texted home and asked for a weather update to be told that the satellite was out from the weather.  So I decided not to worry about it…. and it was fine .

Ramdom thought:  I wish I had a donut. Or two.

Valentine’s Day is Saturday! I heart Valentine’s Day!  I think it’s my favorite holiday. 

Random thought 2: I’m out of gum.

Have a great Wednesday.

Yesterday my sweet neice Toni took me, mom and Candace (& Gabbie) out to lunch at Olive Garden!  I ordered my all time favorite fettucini alfredo after being pushed by Toni & Candace to seize the day …  I am happy to report I only ate a few bites and saved the rest (which became emelia’s after school snack).  It was yummy. I heart the salad at olive garden. 

Little Gabbie is hilarious and so cute.  She makes the funniest faces I thought we were going to fall out of the booth laughing at her.  She (like me!) is the baby sister to two older brothers. 

We all had such a nice time together. 

On another note… I weighed today and am down five pounds this week! yay!  That is even with lunches at Panera, Cheesecake Factory, Iguana Grill &  Olive Garden!