HAPPY BIRTHDAY!

Today is Kaiser's 2nd Birthday! He is such a sweet and loving dog. Kaiser is also a great hunter. He has caught a dove, 2 rabbits, a frog, and about a thousand snakes in our backyard. The 1st picture is of Kaiser is when he was about 6 weeks old and the 2nd picture of Kaiser was taken today. Happy Birthday Kaiser!!

Creepy

Last week I had the "honor" of being called in for jury duty. I arrived at the courthouse Monday morning at 8:15 a.m. and was sent to one of the courtrooms (along with about 50 other jurors) to wait for a courtroom assignment. While waiting over an hour and a half for our assignment, a very creepy looking guy walked into the courtroom (think Edward Scissorhands). He walked to the bailiff's area in the back corner. He looked around the bailiff's area as if he was in search of something. A lady behind me commented that he must work there. I thought to myself there was no way, but didn't say anything. Fast forward to Monday evening. I was at home listening to the evening news while doing paperwork. The top story on the news was about a defendant in a trial who had run away from the courthouse Monday morning during a smoke break. I look up at the TV and it's a picture of the creepy looking guy! A warrant had been put out for his arrest for running away from his trial. I still wonder what he was looking for in the bailiff's area. Was he looking to see if there was some sort of weapon? Pretty scary!

Frustrated!

I'm in need of advice from you fellow bloggers.

I am looking for suggestions on how to remove a rust stain (left from the bottom of a can of shave gel) on the side of our bathtub. I have tried scrubbing bubbles, magic eraser, elbow grease, etc. and I can't get the darn stain off!

Any suggestions??

Thanks!!!

School's Out For The Summer!!

It has been far too long since I last posted, so I thought I'd do a "catch up" post with some pictures.

Let's see, where do I begin?


I guess with the snow we had here the day before Easter. Here's a picture that was taken when it began snowing.

This picture was taken after it had been snowing for about 4 hours!

Easter Sunday we went to our neighbor's church as they dedicated their daughter Anna. She is such a precious baby! (that's her big brother Ethan in the adorable suit!)

Easter night we had our annual Easter egg hunt. Andrew & Kaiser decided that an Easter basket was "too girlie", so they decided to use a shotgun shell bag instead. Very creative!

We had "graduation" at the beginning of May for the Dave Ramsey class we taught. It was so neat to hear testimonies from different class members. What a blessing!!

We headed up to Flowermound on Memorial Day to attend my cousin's high school graduation. 671 graduates in 1 hour and 45 minutes. Pretty impressive!

Congratulations Brett!!

And...School's Out For The Summer! I'm so excited to have a little break. No exciting trips planned. I'm going to work full time doing speech therapy with the company I do contract with during the school year. Andrew & I are also going to teach another round of Dave Ramsey's Financial Peace University. Hope everyones summer is off to a great start!

Prayer Request

I'd like to ask for prayer for my dad. He is currently a manager for a pharmaceutical company. He recently found out that he (his 13 reps, and several hundered other employees) will be losing their jobs sometime this month (due to 2 companies merging). He has worked in the pharmaceutical industry for almost 30 years and is only a few years away from retiring.

Please pray for peace for my mom and dad during this stressful time and that the Lord will provide my dad with a job.

Thanks!

Not good!

I'm sure most of you have already heard about this, but wanted to share in case you haven't....

Menu Foods is recalling 60 million cans and pouches of certain "cuts and gravy" style dog and cat food products. At least 10 pet deaths have been linked to the recall, and the affected food may have contributed to kidney failure in many other cats and dogs. For a full list of recalled items you can visit their website http://www.menufoods.com/recall/.

Girl Time!

This past weekend I had the honor of attending the Women Of Faith National Conference in San Antonio with my sweet friend Mary. She was able to get us free tickets (which were supposed to be $150 each) to the conference. It was incredible! The conference was held at the AlamoDome (which is HUGE!) 15,000 women attended the conference. We were able to hear some incredible speakers and musicians at the conference. A few of the speakers were Robin McGraw (Dr. Phil's wife), Sherri Shepherd (actress), and Luci Swindoll (Chuck Swindoll's sister). Sandi Patty, Nicole C. Mullen, & Kathy Troccoli all provided fabulous music. There was also a Christian stand up comedian named Chonda Pierce.

The fun didn't stop there. We also received passes to go "backstage" to a meet & greet. We got to meet and visit with Sandi Patty. She has been one of my favorite artists since I was in elementary school, so it was quite an honor to meet her. She gave us a signed copy of her new CD which is coming out in April.

If you haven't attended a Women of Faith Conference before, I would highly recommend it.

Thanks again Mary!!

What's the deal?

I'm a bit confused recently with the USPostal Service. You see, every Saturday morning since June I have mailed off paperwork to my company in Dallas. I have always sent my paperwork First Class and have never had a problem. The company I work for has to receive my paperwork by Tuesday so they can bill for the therapy I did. My papework has always been received by Tuesday, sometimes even by Monday. Well, my paperwork hasn't arrived by Tuesday the last three weeks. It hasn't even arrived Wednesday or Thursday. It's arrived on Friday! Why oh why? Needless to say I was a bit confused and frustrated. So, yesterday morning I went up to our local post office to see if they could help me out. Unfortunately the ladies behind the counter had no answers for me. The interesting thing was that they both said they are receiving their paychecks 5-10 days later than usual and this has just started occurring over the last few weeks (and the paychecks are still mailed the same date they always are). So, I now have to pay $4.05 to mail off my paperwork (which used to cost me $.87). That's $165.36 more each year I have to pay!

Anyone else having issues like this?

Mmmmm, soup!

I have had several requests to post my recipe for chicken enchilada soup. So, here it is!

CHICKEN ENCHILADA SOUP


1 tablespoon vegetable oil
1 lb. of chicken breast fillets (approx. 3 fillets)
1/2 cup diced onion
1 clove garlic, pressed
4 cups chicken broth
1 cup masa harina (flour found in baking section of stores)
3 cups water
1 cup enchilada sauce
16 ounces Velveeta
1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon chili powder
1/2 teaspoon cumin


Add 1 tablespoon of oil to a large pot over medium heat. Add chicken breasts to pot and brown for 4-5 minutes per side. Set chicken aside.
Add onions and garlic to pot and sauté over medium heat for about 2 minutes, or until onions begin to become translucent. Add chicken broth.
Combine masa harina with 2 cups of water in a medium bowl and whisk until blended. Add masa mixture to pot with onions, garlic and broth.
Add remaining water, enchilada sauce, cheese and spices to pot and bring mixture to a boil.
Shred the chicken into small, bite-size pieces and add it to the pot. Reduce heat and simmer soup for 30-40 minutes or until thick.
Serve soup in cups or bowls, and garnish with shredded cheddar cheese, crumbled corn tortilla chips, and pico de gallo.

ENJOY:)

Baby Anna

Congratulations to our precious friends Mark & Nikki on the birth of their daughter and to Ethan on becoming a big brother!!

Anna Fay
Born January 20, 2007
At 5:52 a.m.
6 Pounds 11 Ounces
20 Inches




Sweet Baby Anna




Proud Big Brother!

Yeah Sunshine!

It was so nice to see the sunshine today:) As you can tell I wasn't the only one excited about the sunshine.

Baby It's Cold Outside!

No school today. Yahoo! Well, maybe not. I'm already dreading having to make up the missed day the Monday after Easter. Boo!

Slippery sidewalk


Don't think Andrew's going anywhere quickly today


Kaiser keeping warm under his blankie

Christmas

Things have been super busy since Christmas, so I haven't had a chance to share. Sorry about that!
We had a wonderful Christmas. Thought I'd share a few pictures...


Christmas Eve morning my sister sang at a local church. She is so incredibly talented!







We made a mistake with Kaiser. Christmas Eve we taught him how to unwrap on of his presents. Well, apparently he had a great time because he decided to start unwrapping other gifts under the tree. He never bothered the gifts (except to hide behind them) until then. Oh well, that's what we get for teaching him to unwrap a present. Hopefully he'll forget how before next Christmas! (somehow I doubt it).







Here's Kaiser with one of his gifts. An embroidered LLBean bag from his grandparents. Fancy huh?





HAPPY NEW YEAR!!

Oh Christmas Tree

Our Christmas tree is now up! My parents always had a tradition of waiting until after December 12th (my birthday) to put up our Christmas tree. They wanted to make sure that Christmas didn't overshadow my birthday. My sweet husband has carried on this tradition. Thanks mom, dad, & Andrew!





The ornaments on our tree are very sentimental to me. I thought I'd share a few of them.

I made this bell in 1983 when I was in Speech Therapy at Baylor. Who would have known that I would end up becoming a Speech Pathologist! The graduate student who was my Speech Therapist is now my boss. Small world!




My parents bought this ornament for me this year I got my first dog (1993). She was a miniature dachshund named Lady. Lady was the most loving dog. Sure do miss her!




My great grandmother (Muh) gave me this ornament her last Christmas with us (1999). She was the most caring woman. Miss you Muh!



My parents gave Andrew & I this ornament for our first "Married Christmas" (2001). What a special year for us!



This ornament was given to us by my parents. They gave it to us for the first Christmas in our new home (2004).



Kaiser's grandparents gave him this ornament for his first birthday back in August. They bought it for him on our cruise to Alaska this past summer.




We have a couple new additions to our tree this year.

Did anyone notice our tree topper? Yes, it's an airplane. My husband (the avid airplane collector/builder) decided that this would be the absolute perfect tree topper.




We have a new tree skirt! Andrew's mom made this beautiful tree skirt for us. It has moose walking through the forest. Most of you know, but my husband is the "Great Moose", so moose is a big deal to us.





That's just a few of the special touches on our Christmas tree. Would love to hear about each of yours!

Turkey Day

Happy Thanksgiving! May you enjoy a day of great food, relaxation, family, and friends.

Shoeboxes

It's that time of year again. Ah yes, the time of year when my dining room is filled with shoeboxes. No, I'm not building my shoe collection. I'm packing shoeboxes for Operation Christmas Child. This is something I look forward to all year long. I start buying fun stuff to fill the shoeboxes with right after Christmas and then throughout the year when I find great deals. The pictures that are sent back showing the faces of children when they receive their shoeboxes are absolutely priceless. It really makes me grateful for all that the Lord has blessed me with!

Happy Birthday!!

Happy Birthday to my wonderful husband!!!

Love you honey!!!

I have a 1 year old!

Happy Birthday To You

Happy Birthday To You

Happy Birthday Dear Kaiser

Happy Birthday To You!!

Not again!!!

Yesterday I was on my way home from work for a quick lunch break when my car starting making a horrible sound. Low and behold I had another flat tire!!!! This is my4th (or is it 5th?) within the past 10 months and my 2nd within a week and a half. I pulled over into the Genie and got out to inspect the tire. It had a hole in it and the air was coming out really fast. The tire was almost completely flat. I called Andrew to try and figure out what to do. He told me he'd come put on my spare, but I really hated for him to have to leave work and come help me out (especially when I was only 5 minutes away from home.) So I'm sitting in my car asking God for help (I was nowhere near a gas station). I look over to the left and see that Genie had a FREE air machine! So I aired up my tire (which immediately begin losing air) and drove home. I pulled into my driveway and the tire was once again almost completely flat. I called the tire company I had ordered my new tires from last week and they told me they had just come in! I told them what had happened, so they sent one of their service trucks out and they fixed my tire so I could make it downtown to their shop. They were so great to me. They immediately began working on my car when I got there and had it finished within an hour. When I went to pay they wouldn't charge me for the service truck coming to my house. Thank you God for protecting me today and for blessing me with the help of such wonderful people!

The Joys of owning a home!

Things have been busy around here lately. I've been doing contract work with a therapy company, Andrew's been working hard at Baylor, and we've been doing some home projects.
One of the home projects we've been working on is redoing the walls in our master bathroom. While taking the lovely floral wallpaper off the walls (I hate taking wallpaper off walls!), we found water damage on our wall from our shower. We knew that our shower had leaked and caused damage to the floor in the master bathroom and living room, but we had no idea it had caused damage to the wall. So, we have to put our project on hold until someone from the insurance company comes out. I'm so glad we have another bathroom! (ours is SO ugly right now!)