system failure

I'm thinkin' I need to rethink my system.

Ever since we bought Tyler a new work wardrobe

that fits properly

(and he looks so stinkin' hot I've seriously considered going to college

so I can get a job at Data-tronics, too.

But I nixed that idea

because

first of all, 

the chance of me doing well enough in college to get hired on at DTC is pretty slim,

and secondly,

If I did manage to get a degree

and get the job,

I'd lose it right away for failure to achieve.

'Cause the only reason I want the job in the first place

is to look at that all day.)

Where was I?

Ah, yes, Tyler's clothes.

ahem.

What I meant to say was - every evening since Tyler started dressing all awesome for work,

when he tells me he's heading to bed,

I head in

 to iron his next day's shirt.

More than once,

after I've ironed the collar and collar stand,

the yoke,

backs and fronts of both sleeves,

one front,

and one back,

I'll find,

when I get to the final panel  - the other front,

a spot.

Now, I very much appreciate that he re-wears his shirts so as to not add unnecessarily to my workload,

but 

last night, I fired him from checking his own shirts

for another-time wearability.

(He's not messy. I'm much more of a slob than he is. It's just that, 

sometimes, 

there's a little something on his shirt that renders it unwearable

in my opinion,

and it's always on the last section I iron.

Never on the collar, or the sleeve...)

I'm not real sure about my new system, though,

'cause I was busy when he came in for me to check his shirt

and I told him,

"Just put it in the dirty laundry."

And just like that, I made more work for myself.

jack & lola

Jack and Lola are good friends now,

as I suspected they'd be.

They like to wrestle,

which makes the kids ('specially Lex')

a little nervous.

I have no idea why...

farewell

We visited Central Christian Church 15 years and about a week ago.

I don't recall anything specific, only that we planned to go back.

So even though it wasn't our first visit, my first memory of Central

is Grandma Susie.

Brandon was born not long after that visit, and he was a bit of a fussy baby
(poor, poor sweet miserable thang!)

so it was a few months before I returned.

When I finally attempted church, we sat in the back, knowing I'd have to take him out,

most likely multiple times.

Grandma Susie, dressed in a black skirt, red (I think, won't swear to it though) blouse

and a very colorful stained-glass looking drapey jacket,

came and stood behind me

for a good portion of the sermon.

(pretty sure she was also wearing black pantyhose. and sandals ;-) But I won't swear to that, either.)

Brandon loved looking at that jacket.

And the whole family has loved 'Grandma' Susie

ever since.

Farewell, precious lady.

I'll miss your smile, and hearing your sweet voice telling me what a fine family I have.

smilin' sad

Ever notice how some of the things that make you cry

are the very things that make you smile?

Things like:

Bernie coming to visit.

(most days it just makes me smile ~ the days he wants to linger, and put his head in my lap make me cry too, though)

A happy memory of my girl.

A picture on facebook.

A random text.

Rubbing lotion on tired old feet.

Remembering Liberace, my sweet beautiful rooster (damn neighbor's dog!)

An 'I love you' at just the right time.

The news that Grandma Susie is with Jesus now.

~
or maybe it's just me...

just in case you were wondering

My friend Amy told me I'm useful.

So,

in the interest of being useful and all,

I, very thoughtfully, made a Pinterest board

of gift ideas,

just in case,

you know,

you wanted to buy me a gift,

but you weren't entirely sure what it was that you wanted to buy me.

I stole this picture. on accident. Pinned the photo, not the blog
where I saw the photo. which is a shame ~ I'd probably like the blog...

If you don't see anything that grabs ya,, not to worry,

I'll keep adding to it.

Because, as you know,

I'm so kind.

and useful.

;-)

just one watermelon

Josiah decided in early June that he wanted to plant some seeds.

Tyler, being the great pop that he is, took 'Siah to the hardware store

to buy seeds.

They came home with Big Max pumpkin and Crimson Sweet watermelon seeds and some dirt.

And some Miracle Grow, which I was not to be told about,

but of course, I'm not as dumb as I look,

and knew about it anyways.

He was just trying to up the kid's chances of success.

About 2 days after they planted the seeds, Tyler took the kids camping,

so it was up to me to keep the seeds alive.

I faithfully watered them and sent multiple texts with horrible pictures of the seeds sprouting.

The pumpkin started out with a bang

and the flowers were huge.

He got 3 tiny pumpkins,

then they died at the blossom end just like our yellow squash does,

and no more pumpkins ever turned up.

The watermelon started considerably slower,

but for the past several weeks has taken over a good bit of the front yard.

We've lost count of all the baby watermelons.

And there are still hundreds of flowers out there.

As the watermelons have grown though,

something has happened to 'em.

Some of then just split clean open, but mostly, the chickens have eaten them.

Poor kid.

It was looking like all of his work tending his plants was going to amount to nothing.

But there was one watermelon, quietly growing quite large,

quite unnoticed.

After we discovered it, I'd cover it back up with the vines after checking on it

in an attempt to keep it safe from the chickens,

and more than once Josiah has stood out there by it,

shooing them away and yelling at them to leave his watermelons alone!

We googled 'how to tell when a watermelon is ready to be picked'

then kept an eye on the spoon leaf and the tendrils.

But then we couldn't find the nearby tendrils....

I didn't want him to pick it too early, but if we waited too long, it'd be yuck, too.

Plus, the chickens might get it.

We finally decided it was time.

He could barely lift it ~ that watermelon weighed 25 lbs!

I wish I could say it was the sweetest, yummiest watermelon ever grown.

But it wasn't.

We should have left it longer...

It had a pleasant flavor, if not as sweet as it should have been, though,

and it was edible.

For that, I'm grateful.

perfectly pleasant Sunday afternoon in paradise

I thought about taking a nap in the hammock yesterday,

but decided instead to sit in the shade of the pear tree behind the house and stitch on T's quilt.

Even though I was tired (what else is new?) it was a good decision.

I spent a perfectly lovely (and quiet!) 2 hours out there

with some of my favorite things in the world 

(minus the people - but then, there wouldn't have been quiet...).

I probably would have accomplished more quilting if I'd stayed inside though,

'cause I kept stopping to enjoy my surroundings.

Sometimes, looking around, I almost got teary at the thought of living here.

I love this place. These critters.

(of course, I've gotten teary at lots of stuff lately, so maybe I'm just hormonal...)

Jack hasn't yet completely captured my heart, but he's working on it. 

chickens are so funny!

Lola & Jack liked watching the chickens, too

All that time I spent loving on baby chicks, and this girl is the only one who will let me hold her now.
I think maybe she's a little touched in the head. She don't seem real bright. But I love her anyways.

And this girl. She is the best dog ever.

This is Strawberry.
When I feed them,
she jumps up to steal from the container.
Every. single. time.

I have the awesome ability to look past the yuck - like the alien spacecraft LEM exterior, filthy windows,

and crap on the table - and see the things that make me smile, like my flowers, cool lamp, the postcard 

from a sweet internet friend, my rocks, one of my prints from an artist friend, and my red lunch box.

With the exception of the first and last picture, all pictures were taken from my chair.

So you can see how this was such a perfectly pleasant afternoon

in paradise.

(It's too bad I can't do it justice with the camera...)

showtime

Saturday, Josiah and the girls made instruments,

which they later played in their show.

(I can not even guess the number of such shows I have attended in my life ;-)

Jeremiah and I bought front row tickets for only one cent a piece!

(Dad and Brandon were gone, so they missed out)

The show consisted of a song sung by the entire group,

and then multiple solos.

There was a short intermission,

during which we had lunch,

and then the show resumed with more solos,

after which

the instruments were disassembled

and made into roads.

for the guys

well, 

and the girls, too.

I made this for dinner the other night and we emptied the pan (and could have eaten more).

Jeremiah kept saying, "You have got to give this recipe to Tony! He will love this!"

TJ will love it, too, but he's more likely to eat it here than make it himself.

(He's a great cook, he just has a very limited pantry. Although, for this, he may end up deciding to expand it...)

It's based on the recipe in Trim Healthy Mama for Cheeseburger Pie.

Here's what I did

Brown about 2 lbs ground beef, season as usual, and drain off grease.

Pour beef into 9x13 pan 

While beef is cooking, finely dice about 1/2 onion, 

then stir it into the beef in the 9x13

(If none of your gang thinks they don't like onions, go ahead and leave them sprinkled on top of the beef, instead of hiding them.)

Add a handful or two of shredded Monterey Jack (I'm sure you could use any cheese. I had MJ...)

and give it a stir.

(which, I guess means you didn't have to worry about stirring in those onions.  Drat. 20 seconds - wasted. Sorry.)

Sprinkle on some onion powder (liberally. then sprinkle some more.)

bacon bits

and some diced tomato.

In a 2 c measuring cup (so you don't unnecessarily dirty additional measuring cups) put

1/4 c. greek yogurt (can use mayo or s.cream if this isn't a staple in your house)

1/4 c. mayonnaise

1/2 c. heavy cream

2 eggs

several shakes of all purpose seasoning 

a tsp or so dried dill weed

salt & pepper

Stir well and pour over beef and stuff.

Top with another handful or two grated cheese

(I used cheddar this time, even though I had to grate it myself, 'cause I think it looks nicer)

Bake at 350 for about 30 minutes.

Serve with ketchup, mustard, chopped pickles, diced jalapenos (Tyler's and my condiment of choice) or any other burger-type condiment

 and watch it disappear while listening to exclamations of delight.

ahhhh....

I could live in her pictures.
Seriously.

Every time I see Alicia has a new post,

I save it for when I have time.

Time to savor, not just quickly read.

And for a brief moment, my shoulders relax and my breathing slows a little.
Sometimes,
I even sigh.
ahhhh

noted

I won beat the pants off of Tyler 3 games in a row.

(quite possibly more, but I can't remember...)

In backgammon, of course.

We were going to play one more this morning,

because winning four in a row

sounds better than three in a row.

But then I worried that I might lose

(I mean, the odds aren't exactly in my favor...)

and then it'd be kinda pointless to go on record as having won three...

So I figured I'd best leave well enough alone

and savor my victory.

that and that, with crappy pictures

So. 

I finished my shirt.

And wore it to the game.

It was incredibly hot!

The game.

Not the shirt.

Long story short ~ TJ came down to stay with kids. Jeremiah, who was going to go with us,

decided he'd rather stay with T, so Josiah went with us.

(it was a tough decision; he wanted to stay w T, too, but the Razorback game won in the end)

We came back home after the game and slept in our own beds. 

And tended to our critters.

Then Sunday, all of us went to Mitch and Jennifer's for the day.

(but not to church with them)

Things have been busy.

so very busy.

Like, I should be doing something else right now.....

But I figured I would be in trouble soon if I didn't just stop and post.

It's been over a week.

The only reason I haven't gotten in trouble already for my negligence

is

Tyler has been busy, too.

I think he just  hasn't noticed.....

The kids do / say clever things all the time,

(such as: Lily wanted to attach the flag

to her pirate ship, but was having difficulty. 

Then she just cut down one of the flaps, giving her something to tie it to. 

(with pink ribbon, of course)

See? Clever.)

but before I get a chance to record them, I forget.

Oh.

And we got a puppy.

Meet Jack

aka ~ pocket puppy

It takes a special kind of stupid

to get a puppy when you are finally able to sleep through the night (most nights) for the first time in years.

Or, 

maybe it takes a special kind of puppy....

He really is a sweetie.