EQUAL OPPORTUNITY MOTHER ...DARIN'S TURN

Here is my 6 foot, size 14 shoe wearing, 14 year old son.
Pretty handsome eh?




















This is him before I stopped talking to him.



















Don't do it! Daddy the accomplice is there!



































giving him tips and everything...here's where i stopped talking to him..you see this is not ending well!












NOOOOOOOOOOOOOO! The last of the baby fur is gone. (mustache) sad :(










And here is where i am pouting and not saying 2 words to him!

Amber likes taking pictures at different angles if you have not noticed..lol

I think he was done with the pictures by now.

chillaxing after dissappointing his mother. He's done is job.

IF YOU HAVE A DIGITAL CAMERA, YOU SHALL USE IT

Amber got her camera and it's been nothing but flash here and flash there...if it's not the dogs it's pictures of her...I am going to share a few of the pics that i actually liked that she took. Pretty creative using a mirror in some of these.

A girlfriend spent the night and she used her friends lip ring in this pic...I say ewwwwwww and i hope that she washed it before putting it in her mouth.

Also the girlfriend got her to crimp her hair and put make- up on so she looks a little girlie ...

I have to admit she is pretty..isn't she?

this is much to old for her!

Watch out boys...i am an owner of a rifle!

Just as soon as she dumps her camera again I have pictures of my son shaving his mustache for the first time. It was a sad day and i am not talking to him! Yes, i know he has been shaving his beard for some time now...but his stache was the last of his baby fur...lol It's killing him that i won't talk to him. I even got kisses from him, but i still won't talk! Oh well, more milestones that i am going thru!

Amber got her progress report...umm errrrr let's just say i am not happy! She has 5 weeks to get them grades up or I am not even putting another dime on her trip! I would never had dared to come home with a D or an F...kids!!

MY FIRST AWARD

I'm so excited! In 4 years of blogging I have never been nominated for an award..I'm actually touched. Thanks T from It Matters To Me. Now of course their are rules and such.

The rules for this award are:
1. Put the logo on your blog
2. Add a link to the person who awarded you
3. Nominate 10 other blogs for this award
4. Add links to those blogs
5. Leave a message for your nominees on their blogs
6. Give a reason why you consider their blogs cool.

1. Mal, He was my very first blog reader and I find him a very interesting.

2. Mom come on...i need a reason other than she is my mother?!

3. MrsDof I love reading her because she can really tell a story. She is also very crafty and loves to show what she makes.

4. Karmyn, I think she is hilarious!

5. Cheryl, I love her strength! She may think that she is not strong, but I think she is someone I could look up to.

6. Savanna, She is Freaken Hilarious! I just wish I had an ounce of her energy. It comes out even in her writing.

7. Liz, very friendly, funny, girl next door type of read. I like that.

8. Stacie, Omg Funny! Even the simple stories could have you laughing in tears.

9. Musings of a Middle class mid west mom, she just seems like we could hang out and chat about our kids.

10. FoxyMoron, I have only just started to read her, but she is one intelligent lady and really want to get to know her.

Well there...that was not as hard as I thought it was going to be.
I'm not going to all of your blogs and commenting..most of you read my blog and

If any of my blog friends that I listed do not want to participate, I understand.

It just made me feel good that someone thought I deserved an award :)

Betty Crocker has nothing on ME...LOL

Starting at about 10 a.m until 10 p.m. my oven has been on and cooking away. I have all the cookies that i am going to cook for now done. Amber took a shot of me preping cookies.

Amber was my chef's assistant. We got so much done together. She was really enjoying mixing all the batters and getting her hands into everything. Thank's Amber!
It was one great way to spend some quality time with each other. I was impressed how much she knew about measuring and stuff that she learned from school.

Between the both of us we got the following baked today.

1. An orange and cranberry cake (this is just from a box mix that i purchased)

2. A banana bread (also a box mix that i purchased)

3. brownies

4. chocolate cookies

5. thin mint cookies

6. pumpkin cookies

7. butterscotch oatmeal cookies

8. Krinkles cookies

9. banana bars

Here are some pics of what we got done...also some of you don't know that I belong to a recipe blog and have posted some of the recipes to these cookies on there.

Always a favorite for everyone here, neighbors, co-workers and anyone else that takes a bite.

MMMMMMMMM Pumpkin cookies

w/0 frosting

triple batch was made because everyone wants their own.

with frosting

Thin Mint cookies

Inside each of these cookies is an "ande's mint"

single batch

Krinkles..these are just the whip of Krinkle cookies ever!

double batch was made

Sadly these did not turn out like I was hoping.

this recipe i got from the nestle butterscotch morsels bag...it was the new cookie of the year.

I'm not diggin them like I wanted to

I think if i make these again I am going to follow the chocolate chip recipe and put in the butterscotch chips instead. Hubby says he doesn't mind them.
Only made a single batch.

double batch of chocolate chip cookies!

who cares what these look like...lol they will be gone in a few days if hubby and son has anything to do with it.

I made 2 frosted banana bars. One for our home and one to divide up.

yummy goodness of bars :)

I made 5 trays to hand out

1. for mom

2. 2 for special neighbors

3. one for frank's work

4. and this tray is going to my work.

That face has the look of "I love you mom"

Yep that is my heart kitchen in the background...I told you I loved hearts..LOL

Now don't get to thinking that I do this all the time. For some reason in December I get the bug to bake.

IN OTHER NEWS

Darin got his report card for second semester and he is doing shall we say "AWESOME"

3 A's

1 B

2 C +

GPA of 3.222

Honor Roll student! Wooohooo...

Can't wait to see what Amber is getting...I am praying that she is doing just as well!

OUR THANKSGIVING

The Wednesday before Thanksgiving was my only day off for the next 11 days, so I had to put up my Christmas decorations. I find myself putting up decorations more simplier every year. Could be because the kids are grown, could be because I am old and can't take the cold anymore.lol Usually my yard is full of stuff. I still think my little house looks cute :)









picture window


left side is a snowman and it says let it snow and the middle is a candy cane and right side is santa saying ho, ho, ho.

left window is a snow flake, and the right is a snowman.

My Christmas tree...we used to have a 7 1/2 foot tree..but like i said...things got a little simplier thru the years. I just got this 4 1/2 foot tree last year. It's so simple and i don't have to make special room for it!

Darin feasting at Grandma's

On the left is my cousin Steve and on the right is my Uncle Ed...he is 95! He don't look a day over 65..and to this day would go up on his roof if he had to! He is one busy guy for a retiree

My Aunt Sally is 88 years old, she is truly a god send! She is very charitable! Humane Societies, poor people, She even supports family in Poland by sending care packages all the time. She is truly a Saint and has a special spot in Heaven!

I know you all were waiting for a photo of moi! ..now moving on.

The troop is here...yeh...like i can get a descent photo of all of us...Darin sticking out the tongue and Amber had her sights on the TV. great!

I got Amber to dress up a bit...I love this outfit...it's so her!

I had to laugh after seeing this pic...J-Lo would be so jealous of her bootie :)

My Mommy :) She Loves us so! Great Dinner MOM!

My card holder waiting to be filled...Ain't he cute!

The top of my entertainment center...This is not everything that I would put up there...but yet again...simple is starting to be my middle name :)

Amber recieved one of her Christmas presents early...she wanted a digital camera and she is snapping photo's left and right for her "my space" page..lol She has taken like upteen pics of herself.

Thanks at Thanksgiving

Over at Stacie's Madness she has a beautiful story about her memories of her grandparent's and Thanksgiving. I don't have any wonderful memories like that.

I do LOVE going to my mother's every Thanksgiving and enjoy stuffing my face. I am grateful for what she does to put together such a delicous meal. I do my fair share by coming over on Wednesday and help with alot of the prep so it makes the day a little easier for her. I do appreciate that she has us all over, since I am usually the only person that has to work on a freakin holiday. LOVE IT, NOT!

Anyhoo.....since no major story is coming to mind about Thanksgiving I thought I would list some things that I am Thankful for.

1. My husband, he is a wonderful man. He is good to me and he is good to his children.

2. My children, God Bless them...Darin is so funny, and kind. Amber is beautiful and I love her spirit.

3. My house, as of November 22 we have lived here for 10 years!

4. My job, it's not the most glamorous of jobs..but thank God i am working!

5. I'm thankful for still being alive. (the heart attack 5 years ago might have made things different today)

6. I'm thankful that Frank recovered from his stroke so that he is able to work.

7. I'm thankful to be going back to church.

8. I thank my lucky stars that my children are doing pretty good in school.

9. Friends, I have very few...I like it like that ...but those i have are very special to me.

10. Thankful for my mother.....there was too many times where i thought i was going to lose her and I cannot bare the thought of that.

11. Thankful for my father, my kids adore him...and I love him!

12. Thankful for my blog friends....there have been many of times you guys have cheered me up when i was down.

I just now thought of a happy memory of Thanksgiving and that is taking the children downtown to see the parade in person. They would get so excited to see the clowns and catch mardi graw beads and candy. Yelling at the balloon handlers to spin the huge balloons. Dancing to the bands, and waving hello to Santa! When they were younger it was worth sitting in the freezing cold.

As you can see I am thankful for quite a bit. I hope that you all have a wonderul holiday...Eat lots of turkey and sleep!

THANKS

I have to Thank my friend Mal for the wonderful CD I received in the mail all the way from Australia. It is his first CD with this great up and coming rock and roll band called "THE NIGHT BEFORE. I am hoping for the best in everything that he will do. Please feel free to check out their website and see for yourselves.

Not much has been going on around here worth blogging about. Amber has caught the horrible cold that we all have already had.

Darin took a lawnmower that was given to us to his school to fix because it would not start, he cleaned the carburetor and some kind of "O" ring had to be replaced and he says it is working fine now. He loves the class "small engine repair" out of all his classes this is the one that he talks the most about.

Frank and Darin took off on Friday night to make their way up north to go hunting. It was a horrible weekend to go, but it was opening weekend! They camped out in the van on Friday night and bright and early Saturday they headed deep into the woods set up the blind and waited in the rain, more rain, and even more rain....I don't think it ever stopped raining on Saturday. So they fed themselves dinner and camped out in the van overnight again. Sunday they went back out to their blind and it snowed, more snow, and even more snow, lol....BUTTTT They did see a doe and Darin even fired off a shot at it! But just missed it! After all the hunting my neighbor (that went with them) put up a milk jug in a tree and told him to shot it, he did and missed. He asked my son which eye were you looking thru on your sight...he told him and my neighbor told him "your shooting with the wrong eye try your other", sure enough he nailed that jug in one shot! I feel sorry for the next deer that crosses my son's path. "poor bambi"
It was a horrible weekend, but my son said that he enjoyed himself. AWWW a little father & son bonding...(enough to make you puke, right?)

Amber had a little drama at church this week. We haven't been to church in about 12 weeks because of my schedule with work, so when we did go last Sunday one of the boys came to Amber and asked her why she helped "Lisa" steal a nail file from CVS. WTF! Yes, Amber was with her friend "lisa" but had nothing to do with it....she was with another girlfriend on the opposite side of the store when Lisa got cold busted doing it. Found out Lisa told the church that Amber helped her, and Amber stuck drugs in her drink one day and also that Amber is an alcholic. This is what your "so called best friend" tells the church when your absent! Yeh, so I went to work right away with fixing that whole situation. I was all over Lisa's butt about lying and told her to apoligize to the church and us and fix it. It was already fixed but really wanted Lisa to face what she had done.

So she calls some of the people from church and tells them the truth about Amber and then conjures up a story that I said that she was no longer aloud to go to church. WTF!!!! `I know this because one of the boys said to my daughter "your mom should not be telling people not to come to church, this is god's house not her's" HOLY CRAP! (literally) So in any event...I got the whole mess fixed (I think) I just told the boy, "ok she called you to tell you that she lied about Amber, so what made you believe that I would say such a thing?" Anyhoo...Amber is really not hanging out with Lisa anymore. They are civil because we are neighbors, but they are no longer close.

That's pretty much it for now...