The Reason Ryan Shouldn't Wear Cargo Shorts

Coming soon............

My sister told me a while ago, "I am so sick of going to your blog and seeing that MASTER OF HIS DOMAIN post.............update your blog already!!!!"

I can't believe it has been soooo long since I've updated.

See you soon:-)

The Master of His Domain

Friday night was so much fun!

We went to see Jerry Seinfeld downtown at Jones Hall.

Yeah, that's right....I said DOWNTOWN.

As in..........one way streets, parking garages, and Metro routes.

As in..............fancy Downtown, my friend.

You have NO IDEA how fancy I feel when I get to go downtown and pretend like I belong there in the "THEATER DISTRICT".

I like saying "THEATER DISTRICT".

Except I like to say it like this:
"The-ah-TAH"

Yeah, that's right...........guess where I was Friday night?

"In the THE-Ah-TAH" DISTRICT with friends....

sitting in FANCY CHAIRS".

Red. Velvet. Fancy. Chairs.

Fancy Downtown Houston I'm In A Fancy Place Chairs.

Fancy Chairs That Rich Season-Ticket-Holders from River Oaks sit in on a regular basis.

Fancy Chairs that people sit in to see Operas and Plays and such.

Fancy Chairs that Andrea sat in on Friday night.
On Row F.
Not in the balcony.


Not in the Mezzanine.
Not in the NoseBleed Section.

But on ROW F/ORCHESTRA LEVEL.
(Goldilocks bought the tickets.....she bought in style!)

You know that scene in "Caddyshack" (the funniest movie EVER made)
where they let the caddies swim once a summer
from 1:00-1:15?



I keep thinking the "THEATER DISTRICT" powers that be
all got together one day and said,
"Okay, let's let these Sorry Suburb Losers in for this one night to sit in the Fancy Chairs."

"And then, after they leave, we'll hire a disinfecting crew to scour the place
and do away with their low-class suburban Oprah-watching cooties"

Moving on from Andrea's Little Inferiority Complex Issues:

We went with Paul and Laurie D..........


and Goldilocks and her crew!
From left to right: "The Goldilocks Crew"
Goldi's Step Brother "C", Trey, PappaBear, Da'Ole Bear

I guess Trey and "C" are having some sort of iPhone contest?

Or maybe they are texting their friends saying,
You are NOT gonna believe the fancy chairs in this place......
and they let US sit in them!

Check out the fancy colored shirts on this bunch!


"Suburban people"....pfffft.......so drab, huh?
But they still let us sit in the Fancy Chairs once every year.

Thank you Theater District!

I Hope I Age This Gracefully

HAPPY 61ST BIRTHDAY
STEVIE!
May 26, 1948

Gosh, I hope I look like this when I'm 61!
Treat yourself to one of my favorites:
"Beautiful Child"

St. Peter's Deli

If Heaven has a deli,
I'm quite sure this is the number one selling sandwich.

"St. Peter........I'll have one BLT, a Diet Coke, and a fluffy cloud please....

oh, and I would like a room on the Tudor/Windsor wing so I can chum around with Henry VIII and Princess Diana".

Until that day when I actually GET to Heaven,
(where I will meet said British royalty, every animal that I have ever loved, and Dian Fossey so I can ask her who really murdered her),
I will just have to continue to make these little gems of a sandwich myself.

STEP ONE:
THE BACON

I am oober picky about cooking my bacon.
I like it crunchy and flat.
To do this takes patience......lots of patience.

For me to make BLT's for the four of us requires at least a 45 minute commitment of standing in one spot in front of the skillet to fry 2 lbs. of bacon.

The lengths I won't go to for this family.
(But it is soooooooooooooo worth it:-)
"Cook it pretty low and flip it often"

STEP TWO:
THE TOAST

I toast mine and then stand it up on a plate like this to let it cool.
There is NOTHING yuckier than putting mayo on hot toast.

STEP THREE:
THE CONDIMENTS

Okay, THIS is where my mother will think I'm straying from my "roots",
but it just HAS to be REAL MAYO.

And it also has to be Hellmans.
(Maybe at St. Peter's Heaven Deli, it's called "Heaven"mans???)

Garrett likes his with mustard and while I do kinda consider that a BLT sin, it's a relatively minor one so I'll let it slide........

but I could NEVER let this slide:

EXHIBIT A:
BLT SIN CONDIMENT

People that put Miracle Whip on a BLT should be spanked,
put in time out,
and banned from BLT's in the afterlife.

I thought this was interesting:
On my newest jar of Hellman's it says:
"New Easy Open Cap".

I was unaware that opening a cap on a mayo jar had become so difficult?

STEP FOUR:
THE VEGGIES

ICEBERG Lettuce.
NOT that fancy lacey leafy stuff.
If someone is using that, make them go sit with the Miracle Whip people in the naughty corner.
Freshest Tomatoes you can find:
These tomatoes are fairly ripe store bought ones,
but if you can get your hands on some of THESE:

then consider yourself truly blessed by the BLT Culinary Fairy.

St. Peter's Heaven Deli ONLY uses fresh-off-the-vine tomatoes, I'm sure.

In the summer months, when I find myself blessed by the culinary fairy
(otherwise known in my house as Sally, my sweet tomato growin' neighbor)
and have some homegrown tomatoes, there are inappropriate ooohs and ahhhhs coming from the table once I take that first bite.......

Homegrown tomatoes can take the sounds of a BLT from
G-Rated to PG-13
in one bite flat.

STEP FIVE:
ASSEMBLY

Pay attention here!
There is an order that MUST be obeyed.
Bacon on one side...............
Lettuce on the other..........
Tomatoes in the middle.

Yes, the tomatoes MUST go in BETWEEN the bacon and the lettuce.
Otherwise...the bread can get soggy.



Here is one of my favorite "assemblers" assembling his masterpiece.

STEP SIX:
WELCOME TO NIRVANA
CAN I GET AN AMEN????
Go make one...........you know you want to.

Moving Too Fast

Happy 15th Birthday, Garrett.

"I play Stevie Ray.........yook at me....I play Stevie Ray"

In the all too near future......................

I'll need to buy you some shaving cream, huh?


We love you!

May Recognition

WARNING: This is one of those proud mommy posts!



Sports Banquet for Garrett on Monday night!

Awards Banquet for Ryan on Tuesday night!


So proud of my guys!

Make a Smilebox slideshow

Mother's Day Golf Tournament (wink wink)

Today was the first annual
"Peterson Family Mother's Day Invitational".



I WON 4TH PLACE overall.........

(and 1st place in the Women's Division)


I may not have had the most repeatable incredible score,
but at LEAST I looked good in my new
Oakley golf shoes .......
a surprise from my sweetie:-)

I am just so proud of my fellas...........

thanks for such an incredible day.............
breakfast in bed, day of golfing, Mexican food for dinner.....

I am so honored to be your mom!

Friday Night Pool Party

As I write this post, my ears are numb.


We just hosted a Jr. High pool party for our church youth group and we had 25 GREAT kids here!

They are SUCH an awesome bunch!

Why are my ears numb?

Let's see..........................

Take 25 adolescents................

On a Friday night............

Toward the end of the school year......................

Add about 20,000 gallons of chemically treated water..............

Some caffeine.......................

A little more caffeine......................................

Sprinkle in some sugary snacks...........

Mix thoroughly, stand back and listen.

It is such a happy sound.

I love watching kids make up "games" with random stuff:

Did you know you can take a bucket.............


Put it on a friend's head....................


And then SIT on that friend.............................



for a looooooong time,

(or at least until the adult supervising about has a heart attack)

and that friend can breathe under the water!



Who knew a bucket could be so much fun?


It's always interesting to see the "looks" kids give when a camera is pointed in their direction:

Here we have two gangstah symbols, one thumbs up and a "too cool for school" look!




We bought another basketball goal this year because the chlorine ate the other one.







Ummmmm.......Trey.......I'm not sure throwing kids into the pool is proper sponsor behavior.

So..........there's our wild Friday night!

My ears may be numb for a while....................


you might have to speak up a little bit so I can hear you!!!
(but it's soooo worth it!)

Housework Can Be Dangerous

Okay, so if you didn't read the last post (Surprise In the Dishwasher),
just know that the above picture is REAL.



This really is a snake and it really was in our friend's dishwasher after their house flooded last week.




It made me consider just how dangerous housekeeping can be if done properly.



Just today I went to do some laundry and BAM.....................




No laundry today........................




I must consider my safety ........I mean, who would pick everyone up from school if I was dead on the bathroom floor from a bite from this guy?





Then I thought about doing a little dusting since you could pretty much write a novel with your finger on any surface in our house............but BAM.............



EEEK!.....................safety first.





I "WANTED" to cook something fabulous for dinner

but......................................





..........looks like it's another Chick-a Vay kind of night.



And with all this spare time I had left........

since I couldn't do my normal "Wednesday housekeeping" schedule,


I EVEN considered going upstairs for the monthly viewing of "What In God's Name Have The Kids Been Doing Up Here".........



but, alas........................................



Blocked. No upstairs for me today.




Finally, I considered bathing Ruthie since she smells like rotting wet gym socks,

but even THAT plan was ruined.





So I guess I have no choice but to sit on the couch and clean a few Oprahs off the ol' DVR.

I think my friend's snake-in-the-dishwasher episode was God's way of saying, "Take it easy on the housekeeping.........things could get dangerous."

Surprise in the Dishwasher.....a "Guest" post.

Some of the "BIG TIME" bloggers out there often feature a guest blogger.

I guess that's what happens when you are so HUGE and IMPORTANT, you have to have someone guest post just so you can have a day or two to answer your gabillion emails.

I do not have that problem................however, I'm going to post a story that Trey's friend/client/golf buddy/tennis buddy/racquetball buddy sent me this morning.

It is hugely entertaining in a creepy kind of way! Enjoy!

Ladies and Gentlemen..........I give you my very first guest blog entry.....by Ken L.

By: Ken L.

Saturday afternoon, about 1pm.

The golf tournament is on and its time for me to have lunch, kick back on the couch and dine while watching Tiger stomp the field.

As usual, I asked Kim to make me a sandwich for lunch. She brought me the sandwich, but then I needed a nice, cool beverage to wash it down with.

"Kim", I hollered from my reclined dining position on the coach, eyes still affixed to the TV, "will you bring me a drink please, too".

She opened the dishwasher to grab a clean glass and I then heard.....

"AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!"


...Ok, the gears start turning and burning in my head. What would possibly cause her to shriek like that.....


Did she cut herself? No, not a bloody scream.


Did the dishwasher fall out of the holder? No, the scream had too much emphasis. This was important!


Did the dogs eat something gross? No, not enough disgust in the scream.


"Oh", I thought, "The dogs ate my chips off the counter" A usual issue here at our house.


But then I heard it....


"Kenny....THERE'S A SNAKE IN THE DISHWASHER!!!!!"



I jumped from the couch, heaved the dishwasher open, and TADAAAH....




There was a snake in the dishwasher!



Ok...stay calm. Hmmm...Do I kill it, do I catch it....Oh, I got it.......lets get the camera and take pictures!!!!!!


So I got a few good pics. But then he started to slither away....now what.


If he gets away, where does he go? Will he be back? Are there more? Is that thing poisonous? Hmmm....


...and all the while I ponder he is disappearing from sight....THINK FAST!!!!!



I grabbed some tongs from the kitchen, but they were really short. Too short for me, in fact. I wasn't getting bit, that’s for sure.
Here is what the experts say about a pit viper bite, which is what a moccasin is (Cottonmouth)...

The cardinal signs and symptoms of pit viper envenomation include: burning pain (the commonest, earliest sign), puncture wound (50% of the time accompanied by a bloody ooze), swelling, skin discoloration, nausea and vomiting, minty, metallic, rubbery taste in the mouth, sweating, chills, numbness and tingling of the mouth, face, scalp, and wound site, ecchymosis and production of blebs and blisters, erythema and edema progressing from the wound site, weakness, vertigo, haematemesis epistaxis, muscle fasiculations, paralysis, shock, convulsions, loss of sphincter control, melena haematuria, and renal shutdown. Envenomation may include some or all of these symptoms, depending on the severity of envenomation.


yeah, not for me.....



Then Kim says, "If he disappears and you can't show me a dead snake, I am outta here!!!!!"




Well, gotta do what you gotta do.


I grabbed the tools from the garage and started to dismantle the dishwasher in record time, all the while thinking the vibrations from the drill was pissing that thing off and it was gonna jump out any minute.

I couldn't properly dismantle the dishwasher, so I did what any male would do in this situation...

use brute force, a hammer, and a crowbar!!!!!

I got the dishwasher lid off, which is where the snake had gone. I could see him in there, just chillin'.




I took the lid of the dishwasher outside and threw it off into the street.

There it was...a juvenile water moccasin!!!!

He was PISSED!!!!! He was striking every time I got near him. He was small, but I have heard that regardless of the size, they pack a pretty good wallop of poison.



So, as any typical man would do, I chopped his head off with a shovel.....


We then had to head to Best Buy for a new dishwasher. The old one was just that, old. It still worked well, but I can guarantee you it wasn't going to be put back together and still function properly.


So, by the time all this is said and done, that'll be almost $900, with installation.

That works out to about $85/inch of moccasin.


The million dollar question.....

Are there more?


This was a pretty small snake...a juvenile. Where are his brothers and sisters?

Hopefully, we won't ever find out....


Ken

ENCHANTED

HAPPY EARLY MOTHER'S DAY TO ME!
HAPPY EARLY MOTHER'S DAY TO ME!
HAPPY EARLY MOTHER'S DAY TO ANDREA.............
HAPPY EARLY MOTHER'S DAY TO ME!
(Thank you dear family for the $uper awe$ome ticket.......college fund shmollage fund, right?)

Last night, I had the privilege of going to see My Stevie and some other people on stage with her Fleetwood Mac and it was truly magical..................not as magical as when Stevie tours by herself, but magical nonetheless:-)


I had a 12th row floor seat on Stevie's side of the stage and right off the bat made a new "Stevie Friend"! Her name is Sheila and she was sitting by herself just like me!

I think my fairy godmother fixed it so we could sit together and meet!

Meeting new "Stevie Friends" is sooo much fun.....last year I met a gentleman named Ryan at the Woodlands concert and we still email occasionally! Stevie friends have a special bond:-) ha!

Sheila is also a crazed fan well-informed fan just like me!

It's so awesome to sit next to someone who KNOWS their stuff, and let me tell you, Sheila knows:-)

She said her son had introduced her to Fleetwood Mac years ago and she had been hooked ever since. I hope to see Sheila at the next concert because I KNOW she will be there!

When I was standing in line earlier in the evening, I was chatting with this gal named Megan. Megan was what I like to call, "First Semester Stevie."

She was saying things like, "Stevie and Lindsey used to be a couple" and "I don't think Stevie has ever had any children." DDDDUUUUUHHHHHHH!

I liked Megan, and while I admired her interest in all things Stevie, she had such a long way to go, I kinda felt sorry for her.

Here are some of my high points/thoughts:


Gold Dust Woman: This song is a drug. It should be illegal in most states. Stevie turns into this high priestess and at the end of the song, she turns her back to the audience and spreads out the witchy gold shawl (reserved ONLY for this song in every concert). Watching this song alone is worth the ticket price.



The Gropey-Dopey LOVERS in front of me: I have no idea why these two paid for floor seats because all they saw were each other's eyeballs while swapping spit THE ENTIRE NIGHT. I felt it was almost disrespectful to FM to not give them their full attention, but that's just me. Why couples need to convince those around them that they are in love baffles me. I think I saw more of their tongues than I did of Stevie's........and Stevie had her mouth open all night SINGING.


Sara: GORGEOUS.....she changed it up just like on her Soundstage CD that recently came out. I love how at the end she included the lyrics that you couldn't really hear on the original track AND included a new lyric. All I ever wanted/was to know/that you were dreaming/Sara and then the new lyric of And the wind became/crazy.


Costume Changes: There is ONLY one good thing about seeing Stevie leave the stage while we are forced to endure get to enjoy a 20 minute one of these:


(A Lindsey Buckingham ego booster guitar solo. I mean, I KNOW he is INSANELY talented and is responsible for producing all the awesome touches that make FM songs so special, but I'm not there to see him, so forgive my attitude)

The solo in "Im So Afraid" went on.

and on.

and on.

for...............ever.


BUT, back to the only good reason to see her leave the stage..........A Costume CHANGE!

This red dress was my FAVORITE!
(Before the beginning of the concert, Sheila says to me, "I can't wait to see the red dress." At that moment I knew she was officially my new Stevie friend......she even knew the EXACT costume changes.........that's what real Stevie fans know:-)

I know what you are thinking..................

I bet you are saying to yourself EXACTLY what I was saying to myself................

"This dress is so reminiscent of her album cover "The Other Side of The Mirror"from 1989"

Well, guess what?





YOU ARE EXACTLY RIGHT! That's EXACTLY what I thought, too!



My personal Shout Out: This is Stevie hugging Lindsey telling him, "See! Andrea's in the audience! I'm so glad she came!"



Another costume change: You can't really see it, but this dress had sparklies all over the top and a flowy whispy skirt. Notice how she is looking my way? Coincidence? I think not. She knows where I am.


Looking for Stevie Outfits: One of my FAVORITE things to do at a FM/SN concert is to search for my next outfit idea. It's so neat to be walking through the crowd and look at someone dressed in their Stevie-Garb and smile at each other as if to say, "She's your fairy godmother, too?"

This chick had the dress specially made for her with the big flowy sleeves and she also had this fabulous head dress........................................

that had sparkly things in the feathers. WAY COOL.

Note to self: Have dress/headdress made for next concert



Mick Fleetwood's Introductions: I love the way Mick calls her Stephanie. It's cute.


Mick's CRAZY INSANE Drum Solo: He CRACKS me up. He should have been a front-man. He talked to the audience in this crazy "Mick Language." I think crowds RARELY get "into" drum solos, but with Mick............the crowd goes nuts.

I also loved "Second Hand News"----download it right now if you don't have it. It's fun.

Well, I could go on and on and on about every little note of every little song, but you get the picture!

It was an incredible night and I'm such a lucky girl to have received such a great Mother's Day gift from my guys!

STEVIE....here I come!

Well.........I'm officially RAW from trying on 5,000 different combinations of shawls with different colors under them and I've decided to go with boring BLACK!

I'm fixin' to about to walk out the door! I'm so excited!

I'll give a FULL report tomorrow because I KNOW you all are waiting with anticipation to hear how my date with myself went!

I'm going to try and not send daggar eyes toward Lindsey Buckingham when he goes into his 20 minute long guitar solos.........or what I like to call them......"wasted time that could be spent listening to Stevie sing."

Gotta go!

Birds of a feather flock together

As a general rule, birds scare the bejeezies out of me.

But not this one.




I'm so excited.........in less than 24 hours I will be at the Toyota Center right smack dab in front of my fairy godmother. I've been trying out shawls all night trying to decide on my outfit!

Funny Friday

This picture made me laugh.

WOW---there sure is a lot of "negative space" on my page with this picture.

This is me typing a bunch of words to take up the "dead space" that this picture has left.

Words, words, words, words, words...........Now is the time for all good men to come to the aid of their country. (That's what my mother used to type in the typewriter to wow me with her mad typing skillz)

Here I am typing more words just to make the post look prettier because I didn't really have anything to say, I just loved this picture and wanted a light hearted funny thing to post today.

Here are some more words, I am typing words, if there were someone watching me right now, they would think I was typing a real post and not just filling up space.

WHEW! Now THAT looks better!

Salado Stroganoff

I was reading a blog post this morning from Tried and True Cooking With Heidi, and she was talking about how some recipes are yummy, but not particularly "photogenic".

This, my friends, is one of those recipes.

It's one of our FAVORITE things to eat around here, but isn't exactly what you would call "culinary eye candy".

But I promise you.............it's YUM.

I'm calling it "Salado Stroganoff" because it's what my mom used to make at least once a week and I never saw her use a recipe.

When my sister and I go home to Salado, this us usually what we request mom make for us:-)

Here are the ingredients:
****This is for a double amount, the original recipe is half of everything I've listed***

2 pounds hamburger
10 slices of bacon, cooked and crumbled
1 yellow onion, chopped
1 Large Family sized can Cream of Mushroom
1 small can Cream of Mushroom
3/4 cup milk (ish.....maybe more)
2 TABLESPOONS Paprika
1 package Egg Noodles
Salt and Peppah

First, take out your Pampered Chef 12" Family Skillet. If you do not own one of these, get on Ebay at this very moment and get one. It's my favorite piece of cookware in the whole world.
I use it every. single. day.

"Fry you up" about 10 pieces of bacon. I'm extremely picky about frying bacon. My secret is "cookin it low and flippin it often".

If you just said to yourself:

"Hey...I'll just use that pre-cooked bacon, or the microwaveable kind instead of messing up my whole kitchen with greasy gunk and smelling up the whole house"

Go immediately to the bathroom and wash your mouth out with soap. You need a spanking.

Be a real woman, get your skillet out, and stop talking nonsense.

Can you just SMELL this? Ahhhhhhh.....hello my friend.
As in all dealings with pigs..........you can't RUSH a pig.
Whether you are clipping one or frying one.......you must be patient.
Now here's the part where it gets kinda icky and you are probably going to say, "YUCK...I'm not making this".
You must SAVE about this much bacon grease and leave it in the pan.
I would say there is maybe a cup?

I didn't put "1 cup bacon grease" in the recipe above because I didn't want you to throw up or call the American Heart Association and report me.
Add your chopped onion to the grease and let them hang out and get to know each other.

Until they look brown and yummy like this.
Then add the hamburger meat to all that greasy oniony goodness and cook the bejezies out of it.
While you are cooking the Vat O' Heart-Attack hamburger mixture, crumble the bacon.
You can try to do it with a knife, but you will just frustrate yourself and end up with bacon all over the counter, so just use your fingers from the get-go.
And don't forget to "accidentally drop" some of that bacon on the floor.
It's the perfect way to maintain the status of "Most Favorite Awesome Human" with the pups.
After you have the artery clogging hamburger mixture cooked, drain all the grease off.
(At this point, I put it in a "pot" because it makes it easier to stir later)
Add the crumbled bacon.............
the Cream of Mushroom soup............
the milk............
a good "handful" of salt..........
a good "handful" of peppah..........
and the 2 TABLESPOONS of Paprika.
(or, if you prefer, "Pap-A-Ree-kah")
Basically all the "pap-a-ree-kah" is going to do is to change it from a dog-food-looking shade of gray to a beautiful, more edible looking shade of orangeish red.
Are you still trusting me?
I promise you, just stick with me.
Your tummy will thank me later.


Boil the Egg Noodles (or "new-nules" as my sistah used to say) according to package directions.

And then Plate It Up!!!!!
Now, in order to do this the way my mom used to do, you MUST serve this with:
Green Beans
and
Deviled Eggs*
*(Not pictured because I forgot to buy eggs and was too lazy to go back to the grocery store for the 50th time this week.)

DEEP THOUGHTS

WOW! WHAT A STORM!

It rained really hard all night, which means one thing around here:

Three little dogs shivering in bed with us all trying to get as caninely close to their favorite human as caninely possible. It makes for great sleep, let me tell you.

Luckily we didn't have any issues other than yucky yuck leaves and such blown all over everything and a little bit of rain blown under the front and back doors.

When I woke up this morning, this was the only picture I could take and it was still kinda dark, but you can get the picture.

This is a picture of the flooding from a couple weeks ago, and just to put things into perspective, the water came up well PAST the trees this time.

There are some pretty fascinating pics that people have sent in to the news here.

Sadly, there were many homes in our neighborhood that had water in their homes:-(

The kids are HAPPY HAPPY that there was no school today!

When it rains, it POURS...and doesn't drain.

Last weekend was the PERFECT weekend because of THIS:



I love it when it rains like this. EL-OH-VEE-EEE.
(This is the view looking out my front door)

Why do I love the rain?

I'm not a big "outside" person.

I've never enjoyed being outdoors unless it involved one of these two things:


1. Playing golf with my boys.

OR

2. Watching my Stevie perform.............


outside...............


.........at an amphitheater. Although, I wouldn't be caught DEAD stalking her watching her from THIS far back.....I would be down front with all the other stalkers real fans in the orchestra pit.

(And if both #1 and #2 were going on at the same time, don't even ASK me which I would choose. My answer would make me look like the worst mother on the planet and cause me guilt beyond measure............but I'm pretty sure the guilt would go away after a few verses of Gold Dust Woman and one twirl)


When it rains, it means that everyone has to live in MY world and hunker down inside.

I just LOVE it..........the stormier the better.


Looking to the right at the cul-de-sac is Lake Echo. Our sweet little street always gives us a scare during big rain storms. It floods quickly, but luckily, it drains pretty quickly once the rain stops.


Looking to the left toward Goldilock's house. (she's waaaaay down there on the left but you can't see that far, but trust me.....she's down there probably re-arranging something in her house, blogging, or reading one of her 5,367 magazines that she gets every month........it's an Addiction with a capital A.)


Here's a before:


Here's the after:


Do you like it when it rains?



P.S. There's only ONE drawback to a good rainstorm..........see the post below.

A Message For My Dogs

My dear precious canine darlings,

Yes, it is raining outside.

Yes, the ground is icky and squishy.

Yes, your feet might get a little wet on your 15 second 15 foot walk out to go potty.

Yes, you might have to leave the comfort of your warm couch, bed, or human lap for a brief moment to go take care of Mother Nature.

But momma PROMISES you this:

Your feet will NOT melt off your body if you step on wet grass.

Your wittle toesey-woeseys will DRY.














I know we have spoiled you a bit.


Well, maybe spoiled you a whole bunch.............


Okay.........maybe a LOT.

BUT.....let me ask you THIS:















Do you REALLY want me to have to resort to HUMILIATING you by making you wear THIS:


Or putting THESE silly things on your feet?




Because you three are about to push me to my limit.

Don't think I won't do it..................

I'm not kidding...................I'm serious


No, really, I'm not kidding............I'll do it...........

Quit looking at me with those doe eyes.....















Seriously, stop it please................
QUIT LOOKING AT ME LIKE THAT!

Okay...........I guess I'll go get the paper towels.

Liar Liar, Pants On Fire

Dear Mr. President,
I'm really TRYING to like you. I really am.

I didn't actually vote for you, but I know we are all in this together for the next four please dear Lord don't let it be eight years so I'm willing to give you a chance and not whine about it...............well, maybe whine just a little.

To be honest, I don't really understand all this economy stuff.

I don't "speak" economy.

I don't "speak" stimulus package, or bail-out, or Dow Jones.

Let me tell you what I do speak.

I speak DOG. Specifically, RESCUE DOGS........and, well, I also speak Stevie Nicks and Henry VIII trivia, but we won't get into that right now.

Last Fall, you posed on the cover of American Dog with a puppy mill rescue dog named Baby.

You said you would "like" to adopt a dog. (Clever Clinton move, Mr. Obama......using the word "like"..........just in CASE you needed to make it look like you weren't a liar liar pants on fire in the future...........)

In November, Michelle told Entertainment Tonight that the family would be adopting a rescue dog.

Shelter/Rescue/Breed-Rescue Dogs all over the country were suddenly on the cusp of getting a much needed "shout out!"............and to think it was going to be our President that would be leading the way!

Our First Family leading by example to show America to ACT RESPONSIBLY (didn't you say that in your Inaugural address?) and adopt one of the millions of dogs sitting in shelters.

Instead, you accept a purebred pedigreed gift from "American Royalty"........Ted Kennedy?????????????

WHAT THE WHHHHHHAT?

Let me say that again.......because when I say it out loud, the magnitude of your little "fib" hits me like a brick.


YOU ACCEPT A PUREBRED PEDIGREED GIFT FROM TED KENNEDY.

Yeah, sure, I get the whole "this is the dog's second home" story that was so cleverly crafted by the Washington spin machine. How coincidental that RIGHT about the time you were ready to adopt, there just HAPPENED to be this puppy that "didn't work out" at it's former home.

PAH-LEEEEEEEZE!

Did you SERIOUSLY think I would buy that story?

As far as the "allergy" thing goes.......there are plenty of Breed-Specific Rescue groups that you could have used to cover this problem so don't even GO there with me.

The point is, that dog would have found a home regardless. What you did by accepting this "gift" (wink wink) from Prince Kennedy was to put a sweet hardworking shelter/rescue dog out of work. You ripped the job right out from under him.


You SAID you would give him the job, but then you FIRED him before you even HIRED him.

The way I see it, America put their faith in someone who wasn't a "Pedigreed Politician". You didn't come from a long line of political royalty. Frankly, you didn't have a whole lot of experience!!!!! You were a grass roots kinda nominee.

America gave YOU a chance even though you didn't have the Washington equivalent of "AKC Registration Papers".


Shame on you, Mr. President. You should have led by example.

With one brilliantly crafted photo-op to a shelter, you could have single handedly made rescue dogs "the new black".

And while I am glad that your girls now have an animal to love,



I hope "Bo" is hard to potty train and I hope he pees on your rug.

Top Chef---Breakfast Edition

R, BabyBear, and SW had a sleepover Friday night.

So when they woke up this morning, they said, "CAN WE BE IN CHARGE OF BREAKFAST?"

Ahhhhhhhhhh.....................music to my ears......kids in charge of their own breakfasts.

Maybe one day they will say,
"Can we pllleeeeeeeeeeezzzzze do some laundry?"
OR
"Can we plllllleeeeeeezzzze be in charge of scooping the cat box?"
OR
"Can we plllllllllllllllllllllleeeeeeeeeeezzeeee clean up the gigantic fort that we made upstairs using 900 blankets and all the couch cushions?"

But for now, I'm happy with the breakfast making........baby steps.

That's why I love these three so much-----they are all RAH RAH Football playing sweaty 6th Grade boys, but they ain't afraid of donning a nice girly apron on a Saturday morning for a little culinary development.


Their future wives are gonna LOVE LOVE LOVE them for knowing how to get around a kitchen.

The Saturday Morning Pancake EGGstravaganza started off pretty normal....."Okay, I'll mix the batter, you get the spatula...."


"Yeah, then we will put the chocolate chips on top of the batter.........."

Just your average, typical pancake breakfast.

normal, round, boringly spherical pancakes............right?

But then that little "Culinary Sparkle" started twinkling in all their eyes and they decided to get creative..............................

BabyBear payed homage to one of his favorite places to visit by making a Mickey pancake.

M-I-C...................K-E-Y..............M-O-U-S-E.

Then R said "I'VE GOT A GREAT IDEA!!!!


So he decided to pay homage to NIKE...........

with a chocolate sprinkled NIKE Swoosh.............
(because nothing says NIKE ATHLETICS like syrup and chocolate)

And finally, it was time for SW to whip out his culinary wizardry.........(and he even managed his masterpiece with a fractured hand from a fall during tennis last week!)

It was a two-part-pancake honoring this small secular college just north of the great state of TEXAS...............can't seem to remember the name of it................

Oh, yeah.......OU!
And when I started doing the typical Aggie thing of talking smack about other colleges.........


He reminded me of something by removing the apron with a t-shirt reveal......so I shut up.

Peace Out Mon...................................

Easter ROCKS! (Rock Opera)

Are you sitting down? You aren't going to BELIEVE I did this:

I actually missed watching an American Idol results show on Wednesday JUST to spend time with this bunch!

......and it was sooooooooooo worth it!
(Sorry Simon!)

THIS fabulous group of people* from our World FAMOUS CUMC Youth group went to see a "Rock Opera" at Klein UMC Wednesday night!

*(I TRIED to get everyone that went in the picture, but gathering teenagers for a photo op is like nailing Jello to a Tree, so I captured as many as I could before something shiny caught their eyes and they scattered.)

You might be asking just what in the world is a Rock Opera?

Basically, it was a musical based on the events of Holy Week (Palm Sunday, The Last Supper, Good Friday, Easter Sunday) but instead of using "churchy" songs to tell the story, it used songs that you could hear on the radio TODAY. Kinda like taking an old story and jazzing it up with new music.

(Anyone remember the Leonardo DiCaprio/Claire Danes move from the '90's where they took the story of "Romeo and Juliet" and stuck it in modern times?.....THAT's what it was like)

PAUSE: Random Andrea moment I must tell:
(All day long I kept singing "Rock Lobster" by the B52's like this....."Rock Ah--HAAAAAA-----Ahh---Pra, Rock Ah--HAAAAA-- Ahhhh-Pra".....if you don't know that song, be thankful because if you DO know it, I'll bet money that you are going to have it stuck in your head in three......two.......one.........)

UNPAUSE: Resume story here:
Back to our "Rock Opera".............

Here's just a sampling of some of the songs they used to portray the Easter story:

"Still Haven't Found What I'm Looking For" by U2 was sung by a character to illustrate her search for Christ. (you broke the bonds/loosened the chains/carried the cross/of my shame/of my shame/and you know I believe it)

"In The Name Of Love" by U2----parallels just what Easter is all about---God sending his Son to us "in the name of love". (one man come in the name of love/one man come and go........one man betrayed by a kiss)

And here is what I thought was the BEST one-----
"In The Air Tonight" by Phil Collins was sung by the character playing Jesus ("Jesse Christianson") on the night of the last supper when Jesus knows what is about to happen. It was so eerie how the lyrics and the spooky sound/vibe of that song fit perfectly with what was happening after the Last Supper. Seeing the character playing Jesus standing up there singing (I can feel it/coming in the air tonight/and I've been waiting for this moment/all my life/oh, lord) was very moving.

"Hero"by Nickelback was kinda the 'overall' song that was sung several times---"a hero can save us". Forgive me if I can't do more lyrics from that one....it's just that I have an unhealthy dislike for Nickelback and while it was a GREAT fit for the content of the play......I just can't separate the "I can't stand Nickelback-Andrea" from the "Get Over It and Enjoy the words of the song-Andrea".

Moving on................

"Bring Me To Life" by Evanescence. It was creepy how perfectly that song from today's music fit in with the Easter story. (google the lyrics and you will be amazed----here's just a sampling: wake me up inside/wake me up inside/call my name and save me from the dark/bid my blood to run/before I come undone/save me from the nothing I've become)

"Ain't No Sunshine When She's Gone" by Bill Withers (also just performed on American Idol a few weeks ago by that Kris guy with the cute little wife)
ain't no sunshine when he's gone/it's not warm when he's away
This is what the homeless people in the play (disciples) sang when they were told Jesse Christianson (Jesus) had died.

There were many other songs that just fit so perfectly! I wish I could have remembered them all! Maybe someone who reads this will remember one and put it in the comments....hint, Goldilocks and PappaBear, hint hint.

Bottom Line: It was just COOL!


I just love taking the youth group places.

They are all such a great group of kids. (I especially love that stinker in the yellow shirt......with the overly expensive hardware in his mouth:-)


......and THIS little stinker in the white hat......with more overly expensive hardware that you just can't see because his mouth is closed. HA


Our Youth Director and KK.


See our Sr. High sweetly tolerating and carefully avoiding the antics of the Jr. High behind them? (Good job, guys....just remember, you were once just as "energetic")

We had fun! Hope everyone has a great Easter!



P.S. Thank you Klein UMC for having us! Yall did a GRRRREAT job!

The Golden Boy

My only reason for this post is to show the crazy left wing lovin' media bias in this country.

Can you IMAGINE what the media would have done if George W. would have said this????:

This was NOT all over the news last night like it would have been had a Republican president made the EXACT same mistake.


I'm just sayin...........................

Chick Fil A "Can I Just Say?" (Chapter 2 of 2)

If you haven't read Chapter 1 of this saga, (listed in the blog post just below this one) just know this:
I do love Chick-Fil-A. (or as we lovingly refer to it in our house..."Chick-A-Vay") I think they are a great business and we frequent them often......maybe a little too often.

HOWEVER!................................

Going thru the drive-thru of Chick-Fil-A lately has become an exercise in Lightning Speed Multitasking.

Bottom line is that it STRESSES ME OUT.

This has been bugging me for quite some time so before I started to blog about it, I thought I would google some key words just to see if maybe I was the only crazy person on the planet that actually put thought into fast food drive thru procedures.

When I googled something along the lines of "Chick-Fil-A too fast drive thru" I came across this clever blog entry by 3girlsmom! She made me feel like I wasn't the only one that felt a little rushed during the whole drive thru ordeal! I read her post, patted myself on the back with validation, asked her if I could link her (she said yes!) and began my post to be read and enjoyed by my five or six multitude of readers!

"Here's the Thing": (As Kara Dioguardi would say)

Once you place that order at the microphone, you have unknowingly activated the "Psycho Speed Ordering System" inside that building. It must start the moment your order is complete and the sweet voice says, "Heather will be happy to help you at the window."

That phrase starts the whole machine in motion: "Heather will be happy to help you at the window".

Do NOT be fooled by the kind voice. IT'S A TRAP, PEOPLE!

What that sweet voice REALLY means is this:

"Heather will all be happy to help you at the window to see how fast our skillfully trained team of MANY can toss, launch, hurl, and throw your order into your car so rapidly you won't know what hit you. "

The drive-thru lane has become so consumed with how "many" people it can get through the line, how "many" people they can have working back there and at what speed they can complete the ordering process, it makes the whole event a blood pumping, heart-rate-accelerating-adventure similar to the scariest roller coaster ride at a Disney theme park.

You gotta have your "A-Game" READY once you make the decision to pull up in that line, people.

There's no mamby pamby messin' around with THIS drive thru line.

It AIN'T your grandma's drive thru..............it's a lesson in chaotic efficiency.

When I approach the drive thru "queue" (I love pretending I'm British) I feel like one of those boxers in the corner of the ring when they are jumping up and down saying, "I'm ready, okay, I'm goin' in".....

and they bang their gloves together and take their thumb and rub their nose...........are you getting the visual?

In preparation for placing my order, I have developed a military-like checklist in my head all the while I'm inching up to the holy uproar that awaits me.

I know that 87 arms are lurking behind that tiny window ready to chunk my order at me, get their "My Pleasure's" out, and move on to the next victim behind me in line.

Here's a little hint to have a more successful experience: You MUST have people in the car to lend a hand.........this is not something that can really be done alone.

You are going to need to assemble and train your OWN team in the car to tackle this adventure.....if you are by yourself, ABORT MISSION ABORT MISSION, and head over to McDonalds........trust me, it's not worth it. You can't handle an operation like this alone. You NEED extra hands.

Remember, it's not just you against ONE.....it's you against a drive-thru TEAM.

Four, Five, sometimes even SIX people all working like a well oiled machine at that window! They have sacks to dispense, drinks to maneuver, money to take..............

And they are on some sort of Crazy Speed Clock from Hell........

And They. Mean. Business.


Here's a taste of a typical drive thru scene:
Andrea, G, and R 25 feet from the window.
Andrea says, "ALL HANDS ON DECK, WAKE UP PEOPLE, WE ARE GETTING CLOSE!!!!!!!!!!!!"

22 feet from the window.

Debit card out?................check.

20 feet to the window

Are the cup holders empty and ready?.............check.
(God forBID you have to make them wait to move something around to clear out a cup holder.........this could cause pandemonium)

15 feet to the window......heart rate increasing.

Is the passenger in your car ready, willing, and able to take things to hold while you frantically juggle the next object from the assembly line of hands pawing at you, reaching for you, all screaming "my pleasure" "my pleasure" "my pleasure".
G WAKE UP! PUT THE IPOD AWAY! I NEED YOU! YOU CAN'T JUST SIT THERE! WE'RE ABOUT TO BE AT THE WINDOW! ...............okay, check.

10 feet from the window.....palms sweaty

Do you know what sauce you need and the correct quantity?
I SAID, "DO YOU KNOW WHAT SAUCE YOU NEED AND THE QUANTITY"?

5 feet from the window

WHAT DO YOU MEAN YOU WANT TO KNOW WHAT SAUCES THERE ARE? THERE IS NO TIME FOR THAT! LET'S GO! GO! GO!

2 feet from the window.........ummmmm....ummmmmmm......

"NEVERMIND...YOU'LL GET POLYNESIAN AND YOU'LL LIKE IT!"

Arrive at window.

(At this point, it's really just a blurry lively mess of hand to hand exchanges, flying red and white bags, friendly faces, countless "My Pleasure"'s! that really sound more like this: MY PLEASURE NOW GET MOVING!)

And.....................then, like a flash of lightning, a bad dream, or a spanking..... it's over.

Take a deep breath. "Is everyone okay?"

You pull forward, park, and in a bewildered traumatized trance look around to do a quick damage assessment.

You try to find your debit card or change that was tossed by "Team member #1-Currency Propeller" somewhere during the battle.

You clean up the spilled drinks that didn't quite make it to the cup holder before the next one was propelled into your vehicle by "Team member#2--Liquids Liason".

You pause to divvy up the waffle fries that have all abandoned their sweet red holders and are now nothing but a tangled jumbled heap of starchy goo in the bottom of the sack. All courtesy of "Team member#3--Sack Slinger".

You look in the back seat to see who is crying/pissed off/upset that you didn't have time to ask "Team member#4---Sauce Boss" for Honey Mustard and only managed to make it out with a couple Polynesians. "I had to get out, honey,....there just wasn't time.....THE SAUCE BOSS WAS LOOKING AT ME FUNNY............I HAD TO EVACUATE!"

(Thank goodness nobody wanted a shake, or that would have involved the services of yet another set of hands........"Team Member#5--IcyTreat Launcher")

You gather up your thoughts and head out of the parking lot glancing back in your rearview mirror at all the other soldiers left in the lane.

You say a little prayer for those left behind that they will have the organization, strength, and wisdom to make it out alive and unscathed.

All in the name of Chicken...............really awesome, great, yummy, honeyish, chicken.

Chick-Fil-A "In The Beginning" (Chapter 1 of 2)

Here's the deal: I'm upset with the way Chick-Fil-A does their drive-thru.

So I decided to rant blog about it but along the way, the rant story really became two stories in one.

So this is going to be a TWO POST STORY! (Aren't you excited.....and to think, I'm not even charging you for this stuff!)

I am feeling very "literary" today so I will refer to the two parts as Chapter One and Chapter Two. Really original, huh?

Chapter One will be called "In The Beginning" and serves kinda as the "background" of our family's relationship with Chick-Fil-A.

Chapter Two will be called "Can I Just Say?" which is how I start most of my rants off when I call my sister or Goldilocks.

So welcome to Chapter One. Enjoy.
(If you want to fast forward to the juicy part, feel free to skip this chapter go ahead to Chapter Two.)

When I moved to this area of Houston, I was big fat preggo with my first son. Just about the same time we moved here, the Chick-Fil-A Gods decided to construct a free standing unit very close to my new digs.

Now, I had never been a huge fan of Chick-Fil-A, mainly because of my crazy psycho food issues about cooked food once being dead raw food coupled with growing up with a mother who exhibited not so positive attitudes toward "old dead chickens". So, since I wasn't a big chicken eater, the new addition of this fast food chain wasn't that big of a deal to me...............OR SO I THOUGHT AT THE TIME.

While the mega bosses at the Chick-Fil-A Industry were "building a building", I was "building" their biggest client/fan/life long customer in my big fat preggo belly..........G.

Oh sure, as a new mommy I never DREAMED of EVER purchasing fast food for my baby boy!
I honestly thought that "kid's meals" were for lazy parents and trailer trash. MY child was NEVER going to eat anything out of a sack that came from a drive thru. Not MY kid.

I was going to provide the healthiest of choices for him, cook homemade baby food, breastfeed until he was two, limit all sugar intake, etc......you know, all the things that the books tell you that "good mommies" do.

But then I BECAME a mommy and all that book crap went out the window.
(the car window that is......on my way through a drive thru.....HA!)

G was not a big fan of food when he was little. That child could go for days without eating. Thankfully he would get on "kicks" where he would pick one food to obsess over and eat only that food for the entire day.

Okay, maybe two or three days.
Yeah, okay, maybe a week.
OKAY FINE, I'LL SAY IT.............. a month.

He once went 11 days eating only McDonalds french fries. Let's just say that in a mommy's desperate hours she can convince herself that potatoes and ketchup are healthy vegetables.

One night after unsuccessfully offering everything in my pantry to this kid and him just looking at me like, "You have GOT to be kidding me", I drove to the drive-thru window at Chick-Fil-A and purchased my very first "Kid's Meal".

I brought it home, cut the chicken up in little pieces and BAM.........
(Insert large choir singing "Hallelujah" here).........a love affair was born.

G had discovered his first "True Love"..................."Chick-A-Vay an' a Pepper".

(the "an' a pepper meant "and a Dr. Pepper") Yes, okay, calm down, I DID give my toddler Dr. Pepper. At least I gave it to him in a styrofoam cup with a straw and not in a bottle that reeked of second hand smoke with Looney Toon character decals on the side....so cut me some slack.

"Chick-A-Vay an' a pepper" and G became fast friends.........and 15 years later, the friendship is still going strong. Granted, the little 4 piece Kid's Meal has turned into the 12 pack Value Sized Combo..........but the basics are still there.

Nuggets, Waffle Fries and Polynesian. G's three basic food groups.

I've always pictured the groom's cake at G's wedding to be towering party tray of nuggets with Polynesian icing.

And G's first dance with his bride will be this:


So----moral of the story is, "We Love Chick-Fil-A", will always love Chick-Fil-A, and frequent Chick-fil-A probably a little too often.

I think that's why I take this new drive-thru problem to heart so much-----I feel like a member of my family is messing up and I have this need to let them know.

So.............on to Chapter Two.

Sunday El-Oh-Vee-Eee

I just feel in love. Deep, Deep, Meaningful love.
I. Love. This. Backspash.
What do you think?

BlahBlahBlogggg

***Just in case you can't read the small print***
It says, "Never Before Have So Many People With So Little To Say Said So Much To So Few."

Happy Anniversary, Andrea!

Today is a very special day for me. One year ago TODAY, I decided to take the plunge and change the way I viewed food. I woke up that morning armed with my trusty South Beach Diet book, having spent the last week "learning" about foods; what they do, how they work, purposes they serve.

I had also spent the last week doing what every red blooded American woman does right before embarking on a diet..............

go out and gorge myself on any and everything I could get my hands on knowing I was about to essentially "give up all things good and holy". I equated it to a combination of "going to prison" and Jesus' last big dinner party with his BFF's..........gotta have those "last suppers" before they lock you up and throw away the key)

In my mind I did that thing we all do, "Okay, Andrea......THIS TIME, I'm going to stick with it...today is DAY ONE".

This was probably my 50th "Day One of a Diet".

"Day One"'s are always the easiest, it's the Day Two's, etc. that are always the kinks in my grand plans.

I am a professional "Day One"-er.

(Day One of Andrea's New Laundry System, Day One of Andrea's Keep Her Car Clean System, Day One of Andrea's Clean Cat Box System, Day One of Andrea's Clean House System.............you get the picture.)

I'm GREAT at "making" the plan............the "execution"???.....not so much.

Two things were different about this "Day One".

This time I was about to turn 40 and had just seen a picture of myself at Easter that was one of those "Is that ME?" kind of pictures.

Doesn't everyone have one of those pictures?
(No, I would never post that picture...I would rather be dipped in honey and rolled in ants than have to show anyone that picture)

But the BIG thing.....the "Ah-HA" moment


(Get it.....an Ah-HA moment? God, I miss the 80's)

...........was that I had recently overheard Garrett and a friend of his talking upstairs about some kid "with the fat mom".

That phrase really got to me.

Really. Got. To. Me.

At that moment something clicked. I never wanted my boys to be labeled with that description.

I never wanted Garrett or Ryan to have their mother described as "the fat mom"........"funny mom", "crazy mom", "terribly unorganized mom", "her-roots-are-showing- mom", ...those were okay.........but not "the fat mom".

So I guess that basically boils down to how it all started:

A 40th birthday,

an Easter picture, and three little words mumbled upstairs by two teenagers.

I think everyone has to have their "Ahhh-HA" moment.

(Here it is AGAIN......that was THE best video, can I get an "Amen"?)

Those moments are what give you the ability, strength, and stamina to turn a "Day One" into a "Day Two", and then a "Day Three"....and even a "Day 365"! I know it doesn't stop here. Today I can celebrate, be happy, try on some old clothes and relish in the fact they are too big, but tomorrow morning will be "Day 366" and it deserves as much pomp and circumstance as "Day One" did..........because there's still work to be done!!!!!


Today I welcome yet another "DAY ONE"...................

it's "Day One of Andrea's Make Her Bed Every Day" System....wish me luck.

Dreaming Big

Over Spring Break, we decided to go out and play the course where the Shell Houston Open will be held in a few weeks. It was BEE--YOU---TEE--FULL!!!!! They had that course in such gorgeous shape..........I want to think it was all for US, but I think it had something to do with the fact that it is going to be on TV in a couple weeks. (But I'm sure our visit had "something" to do with it.....ha!)

Here are some pics of our wonderful family day!

Make a Smilebox slideshow

It will be kinda cool to watch it on TV and actually "know" the holes that they are playing! I don't think everyone shot what they had "hoped" to shoot, but it was great just to get out there and play.

As an overly proud mommy, I must admit, when I would look out and see my sweet boys surrounded by all these grand stands, I would get this little glimmer in my eye and think, "Someday....they will fill up these stands with everyone wanting to see R and G play!"

(And the oober famous R and G will win lots of $$$$ and buy their mother lots of very expensive things with all that green!)

Five Dog Weekend

My sister came down this weekend and brought my niece-dog, Lily, and my nephew-dog, Otis.



From left: Otis, Lily, PeeWee, Maggie, Ruthie:-)



Having five precious puppies in the house all weekend made me want more.



"May I have a bite, please?"


All our plates were squeaky clean by the time they made it to the dishwasher.