Bad Mami

I'm such a bad mom, see what I feed the boys when Fonzy isn't home.....appetizing huh? If I was a single mom, we would hardly ever have a home cooked meal. I would hate to cook a full meal and the boys not eat it. This was so much easier and the boys were excited to get. That is until they tasted it.

Elijah had a kid cuisine....pizza, apple sauce (red stuff) and fruit snacks. He had eaten the fruit snacks already and wanted goldfish. He ate the applesauce and goldfish, not the pizza. Great dinner huh?

Ezekiel got a Hungry man dinner, since he claimed he was a man. His first few bites he claimed it was good, then after a few more, not so good. He ate the corn and brownie.

Mine was Stouffer's french bread pizza. I've had these before for lunch and liked it. I didn't even eat a whole half of one....not so good anymore.

I guess if I was a single mom, I would have to still cook....or we could eat Ramen noodles, we like Ramen noodles.

Rainbow Connection

On the way to Ezekiel's football practice there was a beautiful rainbow in the sky and I pictured Kermit the frog singing Rainbow Connection in the Muppet Movie. I loved that song, and of course I had to look it up on youtube.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

No animals

Cody

So I mentioned that I am a Big Sister, with the Big Brother Big Sister program. I'm mentoring a 12 year old girl. I've been trying to decide what we could do together. As you all know, I am Mami to four boys, so I don't get to do too many girlie things, so I figured being a volunteer with this program, I could have a young girl to do things with and maybe make a difference in her life as well. Our first outing we went out to dinner to get to know one another. My Lil' Sis is very talkative. I like that about her. She likes crafts, notebooks and purple pens! I love purple pens! That was just a few things she mentioned. I have a scrapbook kit that I've had for about 2yrs and have yet to start. I figured this could be something for us to do together. I want to make this fun for her. I want her to experience new things, as do I.

Well, yesterday I decided to take my Lil' Sis horseback riding. She said she had never been, and had only seen a horse once, but didn't get too close because she said it was too big. My sister-in law has a horse, Cody, who is not really big and is gentle. I thought it would be fun. Well, we get to the barn and Lil' Sis is looking kind of scared. I tried to reassure her that it was ok, the horse was not going to harm her, and if she didn't want to ride him that was ok. She DID NOT want to ride, she didn't even want to be close to the horse. Once Vicky got the horse and walked him to us, my Lil Sis had tears in her eyes. I felt so bad. I held her hand, and told her it was ok, the horse would not hurt her. Lil' Sis hid behind me, terrified. Vicky and I finally got her to pet Cody a few times, but she was not thrilled at all. So much for experiencing new things. I have found out that she does not like animals, no dogs, no cats, no horses, not even fish, I asked her. So no more animal outings. She does however like golf. I'm myself am not too fond of golf, but hey, I wanted to do new things, so there you have it.

On our drive to ride Cody, we saw buffalo. Yeah, someone in NC decided they wanted some buffalo. To eat maybe??? Who knows. I stopped to take some pictures and of course my Lil' Sis stayed way back. The fence around the buffalo was no comfort to her.

I told her at least she could go to school on Friday and tell her friends she saw buffalo.

My first blog award

Oh my gosh....I just received my very first blog award from Isolated Existence! Thanks so much Mami! I'm honored!


When I started this blog, it was just for friends and family to keep up with us. I never really thought anyone else would read it. I'm always shocked when I see the number of people who have stopped by. This award brightened my day! Doesn't take much, huh?

Public Restroom

I hate using the boys bathroom. If someone is in my bathroom, I will do the pee pee dance before I go in there. No matter how many times we clean it, the next day it smells like a public restroom. For some reason they can't seem to pee straight.

The boys got out of school early today and Ezekiel went to use the bathroom. As soon as he goes in there he exclaims...."it smells like pee in here!"

Uh, you think?????

I refuse to clean it! That is their restroom, their pee, they can clean it! So I sprayed the bathrooom down with bleach and Lysol and told them to get to it! They are lucky I did not pull a Mommie Dearest.

Football Life

Not only do we spend Friday nights watching football games, we spend Saturday morning playing football. This is Ezekiel's second year playing mighty mites football with the Redskins. They did not win one single game last year. This is their second game this season....no win yet. I've noticed some of the other teams have little cheerleaders. We don't have any.....maybe we need some cheerleaders to get our boys going.

Go Redskins!

Friday Night Lights

When your husband is born and raised in football loving Texas, you learn to love football. And when you have 2 boys with that football loving man, they can't help but to love football also. So where do you spend your Friday nights during football season with your football loving men? At high school football games of course! Where else would you be????

Making a difference

I've decided I want to do more with my life. I'm a wife, a mom, a sister, an aunt, a daughter, friend, and I've added mentor to my list. I've become a volunteer with Big Brothers Big Sisters. God has blessed me with a great life. I have 4 healthy boys, and a husband who loves me despite my faults. I have family and friends who love me and are there to support me. Not everyone has this. I've been thinking a lot lately about what I can do to make a difference. It's not all about me and my world. If you watch the news or read the paper you will see that our kids are in crisis. I know I am only one person, but I feel I can make a difference to a young girl who is struggling to make it in this crazy world we live in.

Today is my first outing with my "Lil Sis" I'm excited and nervous at the same time, but I'm looking forward to this journey.

Red beans and rice didn't miss her!

Since school has started back and fall on it's way, I've been searching for recipes to use my crockpot more. I can't say it enough, there is nothing better than coming home from a hard days work and smelling something delicious when you walk through the door. It's like having a chef...or maybe not. I found this recipe for Louisiana red beans and rice and couldn't wait to taste it. I've had some really good red beans and rice, and I was hoping this would taste just as good.

soaking the beans over night

in the am...browning the sausage

sauteing the onion, peppers and garlic

you can't have Louisiana recipes without the original Creole seasoning
(ignore the chipped nail polish)





mixing it all up

set on low, and out the door to work

Verdict: I really didn't like this recipe. I've made my own red beans and it tasted a lot better. I think I will stick with mine, but if you want to try this recipe out, here it is.

====================================

Authentic, No Shortcuts, Louisiana Red Beans and Rice

Prep Time: 20 MinutesCook Time: 8 Hours
Ready In: 8 Hours 20 MinutesYields: 8 servings

"This is my take on a Louisiana classic. No shortcuts! Put everything into the slow cooker in the morning and you will have your meal ready in the late afternoon or evening, whenever you are ready. This recipe will feed a lot of people."

INGREDIENTS:
1 pound dried red beans,
soaked overnight
10 cups water
1 pound andouille sausage,
sliced into rounds
1 large sweet onion, chopped
1 green bell pepper, chopped
1 jalapeno pepper, seeded and
chopped (optional)
8 cloves garlic, chopped
1 teaspoon ground black
pepper
1 teaspoon Creole seasoning,
or to taste
6 fresh basil leaves, chopped
1 ham hock
4 cups cooked rice

DIRECTIONS:
1.
Place the beans and water into a slow cooker. Heat a skillet over medium-high heat. Brown the sausage in the skillet; remove from the skillet with a slotted spoon and transfer to the slow cooker. Reserve drippings. Add onion, green pepper, jalapeno pepper and garlic to the drippings; cook and stir until tender, about 5 minutes. Transfer everything from the skillet to the slow cooker.
2.
Season the mixture with pepper and Creole seasoning. Add the fresh basil leaves and ham hock. Cover and cook on low for about 8 hours, or until beans are tender. If the bean mixture seems too watery, take the lid off the slow cooker and set heat to High to cook until they reach a creamy texture.
ALL RIGHTS RESERVED © 2008 Allrecipes.com

Walking to school

We live right around the corner from the boys school, but they do not walk to school. I normally drop them off on my way to work. Well, today we had to walk to school due to a flat tire. Growing up, I always walked to school, but I cannot see letting the boys walk alone. I've seen too many news stories of kids being snatched up while walking to school. I think back to when I use to walk to school. I was given a specific route that I had to take...no shortcuts. I would complain about taking the long way to school, but now being a mom, I understand why.

I thought the walk to school would be a Kodak moment. This was the only shot I got, and I never want to walk them to school again! I realized that walking to school is no fun if there are no sidewalks! We have a sidewalk outside of our apartment, but once you turn the corner, there is no sidewalk, so we have to walk in the road or the wet grass that is likely to have dog doodoo. I am always paranoid the boys will step in it and track it in the house. So the whole walk I'm telling them to watch where they are stepping. And for some reason, the boys decide to walk as slow as molasses, knowing I had to get back home. (I was working from home) So I tell the boys to walk faster. What do they do??? They take off running as a bus was coming down the road. Now the boys were not running into the road, but I guess the driver thought they may, so he slammed on the brakes. I'm pretty sure the bus driver was cussing us out. This was not the walk to school I pictured in my head, not at all.

If you're sick, stay home!

So the guy sitting in the cube next to mine has been coughing, clearing his throat and sniffling snot since he came in this morning. I'm thinking maybe it's allergies, no big deal, right? Well, he gets a phone call and since we are in cubes, I can hear his side of the conversation. I guess the person asked him to come up to his floor to help with something. The "coughing, snot sniffling joe (not his real name) tells his caller...."No, I'm sick, I don't want to go up there and spread my germs."

WHAT???

You're sick and don't want to spread your germs on the 5th floor, but it's ok to sit here.....NEXT TO ME.......and spread your icky germs! That way, I can get sick and miss work, and lord knows I can't afford to miss work. I then go home and spread it to my kids, who in turn will miss school and miss out on their education, and I will miss more work, and more pay because I have to stay home with sick kids. Which could lead to us eating dog food or something, because we don't have enough money for food. Then hubby, who is a teacher will get it and spread it to the kids in his class, so there are more kids missing out on their education. And us missing more pay since hubby won't be able to work, and we may just very well be out on the street with no place to live.

OK.......I may be exaggerating alittle, but still. It's the principle.....stay home if you are sick! Don't come to work and spread your nasty germs!

And what really irks me, is this guy hardly ever comes into the office. He mainly works from home, but he decides to come in on the one day he is sick!

REALLY??? YOU'RE KIDDING ME, RIGHT!

I think my throat is starting to hurt.........

Morning portrait

I look real chipper this morning huh? This is my "I haven't had my coffee yet" look.

Monday morning blues

I did not want to get up this morning. Monday mornings are hard for me...heck, any morning is hard for me. I am so not a morning person. I would love to be a morning person, but I just can't seem to make it happen. And then to make my morning even worse, I have to iron! I iron clothes every morning for all of us. I really should do it at night, and sometimes I'm good and get it done at night, but most often than not, I am up in the morning doing this dreaded task! Aren't I the picture of happiness this morning. This was about 5:45am this morning. UGH....too doggone early!

There is one good thing about getting up early......a beautiful sunrise.

sunrise this morning in the parking lot at my job

Lazy Sunday

I woke up late this morning and we didn't make it to church. I really need to do better than that.

While lounging around in bed, I started to read Sundays at Tiffany's by James Patterson that I had picked up at the library. I had read Suzanne's Diary for Nicholas by James Patterson, and really enjoyed it, had a twist at the end....kinda sad, so figured I would see what this one was like. It's kinda like the movie Drop Dead Fred, about a little girl with an imaginary friend, and how the imaginary friend comes back once the girl is grown. I ended up reading the whole book in a couple hours. Yeah, I was really lazy. I thought the book was really cute.....I liked the ending.
I don't know what was up with me yesterday. I was feeling kinda BLAH all day.....really didn't want to do anything. I eventually got up and started to help Fonzy clean up for the coming work/school week, and cook dinner.

On a side note to mom's with boys. If your boys happen to fold laundry, make sure you take out all your thong underwear. Fonzy taught the boys how to fold clothes, while folding the laundry yesterday, Elijah pulls out a pair of my thong underwear and holds them up laughing hysterically, as only a 6yr old boy can do.

"Mommy, what are these things?????"

Note to self...make sure all my underwear are out of the basket when the boys fold clothes.

Weekend festivities

Our city had an international festival and grand opening of a our new convention center this weekend. We decided to head downtown to enjoy the festivities. There were shows, food from all over the world, booths with jewelry and crafts from different parts of the world. People from all walks of life and nationalities were there. I guess that's why they called it an International festival.

African kids choir/dancers performing.

Ezekiel, TJ, Elijah


Japanese artists at work


Ezekiel in police car

Elijah in police car

TJ in the backseat of the police car - hopefully his first and last time ever being in the backseat of a police car.

Walking with Dinosaurs live - we plan on taking the boys to see this show in October. I signed up for a give away of free tickets. Hopefully I win, these tickets are not cheap.

Ezekiel won a t-shirt at the booth


Sir Walter Raleigh at the new convention center

Towards the end of the day, there was a parade, and the best part of a parade is candy throwing!

kids scrambling to get candy

Ezekiel and Elijah yelling out to the parade participants to throw candy their way

candy! candy!

TJ enjoying his candy

Pink lady and dog

I love the color pink, but this is a bit much - the doggy doesn't look too happy

supposedly the best hotdogs in town, but really, a hotdog is a hotdog, right?

Carolina Hurricanes mascot

TJ enjoying the day


Elvis even showed up

Fonzy and boys walking to the car after a long day

sunset on our drive home