Truth Filled Tuesday

Shall we tell some truths..... :)

1) I tried to be the Krazy Coupon lady today and said a few bad words while shopping. Bad choice of days. Reason #1) I took my son (2 years old and during nap time, I'm stupid) Reason #2) All the other Crackhead Crazy Coupon moms did their shopping on Monday's and Tuesday's so everything was sold out Reason #3) I got the moron of a cashier.

2) I have ate Taco Bell many times in the past week. My waistline is slowly resembling the effects.

3) I swept some of the kitchen dirt into the vent the other day because I couldn't find the dustpan and I was too lazy to go look for it. Heck it took a lot of energy to get off my rear and sweep. :)

4) I used to cheat on Literature tests in High School by writing notes on my birkenstalks and then slipping my foot out, reading, and answering the question.

5) I had fake birkenstalks.

6) I am watching Oprah's farewell show and balling my eyes out.

7) I played Barbies until almost 7th grade. Loved them!!

Miscellany Monday (everyone else is doing it) ☺

Well it's been quite sometime since I have posted on my personal blog. I have seen a few of my friends post the miscellany monday posts and I have decided I will join in on the fun.

So here we go....

#1) I'm tired. I don't know why I have always been such a turd when it comes to going to bed early. If I am tired at 8 or 9 or even 11.. I fight it until at least midnight. I have been that way since a teen. I think it is all catching up too me though. (I'm looking older and crankier) My goal starting tomorrow is bed by 11. Then the day after that bed by 10. I need to do some sleep training on myself. I see the same patterns with D too. He is a night owl like me and hates mornings. He's been fighting his bedtimes a lot lately and not going to sleep until after 9:30. Wish us luck.

#2) We get to go on our first camping trip of the year this weekend. I am BEYOND excited! I am so ready to be away from technology, away from town, staring at the stars, roasting marshmellows, going on bikerides, watching Dillon play in the dirt with his cousins, play cards, laugh, eat yummy camp food, read a book, breathe in fresh mountain air..... I am ready!

#3) Friends come and go. Sad but true. Do you ever get the feeling that you're not "wanted" anymore. I wish I could explain my life and thoughts a bit better to some friends so they could possibly understand more what I am dealing with....  oh well.

#4) Speaking of friends... I haven't ever been keen on the idea of calling a friend my best friend. Usually because like I said above friends come and go, I've been hurt so many times by "friends" that I have just built this little wall and I don't let people get inside my little wall. (Yes I hear violins playing☺) When I care about someone or consider someone a friend I try and go above and beyond making that person happy. I usually stretch myself and sometimes my bank account too thin. The past few months I have been trying not to be so crazy with this. Except for last week. (and the couple weeks before) You see, I have a friend... and I am going to call her my best friend. She is someone I have been friends with since we were kids. Her name is Maria. We may not always see eye to eye, and we may have had our moments of bickering (locking me out of the dorms at cheer camp), but in my heart I know that we will be friends FOREVER. We are so comfortable with each other, she's there when i need her, she offers good advice, she's just awesome. Her bridal shower was this last weekend and I wanted to make it a special day for her. With the help of some mutual good friends (Lacey and Dana) we were able to make that happen. It blessed my heart to see her enjoy such a nice afternoon. I will forever stretch myself thin to make her have a happy day, Every ounce of my energy these past few weeks was worth it for her. She's my BFF.  (That was such a long and sappy post)

#5) I don't know how many of these I should do. But I'm going to keep on going because it's only 11:55pm and I can't go to bed for another 5 minutes. haha!!

#6) I think it's sad how many people are laughing about the rapture not happening on Saturday. Though I agree that it's quite stupid for someone to make such an assumption. The bible says we will not know the day nor the hour. So many people on television and the computer were making horrible comments about Jesus and him coming back. I found it sad.

#7) Photography- I'm feeling frustrated with my brain and my camera lately. I have these beautiful visions in my head and then when it's game time, I blank. I have some ideas on how I can fix this so I am hoping to teach myself some new techniques in the next couple weeks. I need to up my game a bit. That's the thing that sucks about this industry. You can't take a breather because there is always some newbie chomping at your heels....

#8) I want someone to take me on a shopping spree. My wardrobe needs it. Pinterest isn't helping my want list either.

#9) Birthday's were so much more fun when I was a kid. I would have started months ago some type of countdown along with my birthday wishlist, I would have had many family members asking what I wanted and getting excited that my birthday party is coming up..... My birthday is next week and nobody has asked what I want, I am entering my last year in my 20's, I think I have discovered some new wrinkles around my eyes, my boobs dropped another inch, and when I pinch the extra skin on the top of my hand it doesn't drop as fast as it used to.  boohooo (yes I hear violins playing again ☺)

#10) Dillon is such an amazing little man. (Warning: I'm going to continue with one of those mom moments that usually other people roll their eyes at) He is so smart. I can't believe some of the stuff this kid says. He knows if I am sad and he will walk up to me and say "you okay mommy, you need hug? I love you more mommy" he knows how to keep my smiling by his goofy faces, singing Jesus Loves me, or dancing to his Crazy for Dinosaur song in the car. He loves driving his Gator around the property and I am completely convinced we will have him driving a car by the end of the summer. haha!!! He is a huge helper around the house and a huge disaster around the house. :) He loves feeding our 13 chickens and he likes to tell me about them. My most favorite thing he does now and has been doing for the past few weeks is... he plays with my hair. :) If you know me I love having my hair played with. Anytime the nieces come over I practically beg for them to play hair styles with my hair. Well Dillon can not fall asleep without me laying next to him so he can run his fingers through my hair. If I pick him up he instantly sticks his hand in my hair. If my hair is up, he asks me to take it down. I find it so adorable and I love it.

Oh shoot. It's 12:09. I need to get to sleep. Sorry if my Miscellany Monday post was too long. :) Hope you enjoyed some of it.

~Lacie

Wordless Wednesday... not so wordless.

Today was an emotional, exhausting, fun, wonderful day.

This morning I went to a funeral. My 4th or 5th funeral in the last couple years. To me that's a lot as I had not ever been to a funeral until 2006. I don't like them. No matter how awesome the message is, no matter how beautiful the service is. I DON'T LIKE THEM. I believe in heaven and am pretty certain that of all the funerals I have attended, each person was saved. I am glad that I can rest with that. However the sellfish wordly self wants them here. Here with their loved ones. Here with me. I say all the time that I wish we could all get to a certain age and just stay there. Like I said above I believe in heaven and I look forward to being reunited with these people. I can't wait to see wives reconnected with their husbands. Anyways, back to the funeral this morning. It was for a close family friend, Kenny Ahrens. He has been my dad's friend for A LONG time. Since I was just a little girl. He served in vietnam so his service today was held at the Eagle Point National Cemetary. This is my 3rd military service I have attended. If you have never been to a military service before... they are beautiful but VERY emotional. Kenny was a biker dude. So this morning at 9:30AM a HUGE group of motorcycles led by a local motorcycle group called Old Schools Last Ride Home, Motorcycle Hearse Service, a group of men and women who gather for the funerals of vets and make an honorary motorcycle ride, hold flags at the service etc. met at a local spot and made an honorary ride for Kenny. There were about 100+ people standing on the lawn of the cemetary when all of a sudden you heard harley's and other motorcycles coming down the road. We all started to walk over to the edge where you can see down to the road. The first motorcycle was pulling a trailer with a (faux) casket covered with a flag. Groups of motorcycles continued to roll in. It was so cool. I am an emotional person, but to see this many people show up to Kenny's service, to see his favorite things (Harley's, vintage cars, friends) pour into this parking lot was beyond what I was ready for. The eyes swelled with tears and I cried. The motorcycles parked and all 150+ gathered on the lawn outside the little funeral house. I wasn't inside so I wasn't able to hear what was said or done but since I had been to a couple military services before I kind of knew what was happening. The funeral started with a song played loudly letting everyone know it was starting, then 3 men in uniform fired off shots, then a man in uniform played Taps on the trumpet (this song along with The Star Spangled Banner and Amazing Grace can make me cry at the drop of a hat), then there was a long period of silence..... then Jimmy (Kenny's son) crying. I knew then, the part that was the most heart wrenching, the men in uniform so carefully and so perfectly unfold the American Flag, Hold it up, then perfectly refold it into a triangle. Then (this part kills me each time) one of the men walk the flaf over to the deceased's next of kin. (At Grandpa Caps funeral the flag was handed to my mother in law, At Grandpa Ray's funeral it was handed to his wife, And at Kenny's it was handed to his son) I have to close my eyes when this part happens. It's almost as if that folded flag says. "They're dead" 

At each military service I go to... I cannot stop thinking of all the soldiers whose families have sat thru this service, for all the moms who have been handed that American Flag. Osama is dead. The day after a friend of mine who is in Afganistan lost a friend who was KIA. That mom will be handed a flag soon. Sad. Please pray for our military. Just because Osama Bin Laden is dead, does not mean this war is over. Men and Women are still in danger. More so now than last week. I pray that less and less of those American Flags folded so perfectly into triangles are given to families.

okay... now to more happier times today.

The Oscar Meyer Weiner Hot Dog Car was here today. Dillon and I made a special trip to the Albertson Shopping Center to take our picture in front of it! I took D out of the car and he yells "WOW! That's a big hot dog! Mom!? Do you see that big hot dog on a truck!" It was cute and he loved it and I loved seeing him so happy. It's exactly what I needed after a sad morning. We then made our way over to our friends house and there was a big jumphouse for the little kids to play in. The sun was shining, it was warm, sunscreen was needed, laughter was had. The day ended with a cute photo shoot! All in all today was a good day. The funeral, though sad, was again a reminder that life is short. As cliche' as it sounds and as much as people say it, it's true. We're all getting older, and as I get older I feel like life gets faster. This morning was a reminder to cherish the lifes that I am surrounded by.

Late Night Pilgrim

Don't ask my about the title of this post. Basically it's 1AM (1:01 to be exact) I feel like I haven't posted in quite sometime and I had writer's block for the title. I grabbed the first thing I found on my desk. (It was a CD Booklet and one of the song titles was Late Night Pilgrim. And there ya have it.

So I find myself throughout the day coming across and thinking up incredibly fun and interesting posts. And then I re-enter The Real World and when I go to type I get nothing! It's slightly irritating. I am just glad I didn't promise my followers a schedule posting throughout the week. So I suppose I can't say I'm a failure... right? Just to forewarn, this post may be lenthy as I try to remember the things I was going to write about.

It has been an exhausting and emotional 3 weeks. My brother-in-law's father passed away 2 weeks ago. He was a wonderful man. He seriously had the most joyful smile ever!! Check it out below.. (this picture was taken at the sock hop I planned for my MIL 60th!) :)

No matter how ill a person gets and how you know that their time on earth may be limited... nothing prepares you for death. I had never experienced death until 7 years ago. Ron's grandpa died. I had met the man only 2 weeks prior. I love him instantly. When I walked into the living room to meet him. He said "Are you my new grandaughter-in-law?" and gave me a hug. I was sad that he had died, but I didn't have the emptiness. I did however feel true sadness and helplessness for the family I was becomming a part of. After Grandpa Ralphs passing it was years before the next horrible phone call. It was around 5 or 6 in the morning and my cellphone rang. Now I don't know about you, but if my phone rings after 10pm and before 7am... I get a sick feeling in my stomach that something bad has happend. So that morning I see the caller ID is my dad. I pick up the phone and say hello. There was a pause... and then my dad says "My dad died". It was not expected, I was half asleep. We weren't super close with him, but it still hurt. It felt so wierd. Since then and just this past year, we've received 3 more of those calls. Each one gets harder for me. Though I believe in heaven and I believe that the family member's that passed are there. Death is a reminder to me that life is short. That we're all getting older. I can go on with some more personal depressing thoughts but I will stop. So I guess I wrote all of that just to say that I want things to change. I want to spend more time with the ones I love and cherish the most. I want to spend as much time loving my family learning more about each person and connecting with them on a level that I haven't yet. I encourage you to do the same. 

Another thing I was going to blog about: RUDE and COLD people. They really piss me off. I will be going through my facebook friends and removing those that I feel are fake friends, on my list because they just want to .... well I really don't know why. But their gonners. I would also like to start kicking people who are rude. What happened to good ol' fashion customer service. It seems as though every grocery store I go to the checkers don't say Hi anymore. I walk to the little counter, he/she starts grabbing my items and quickly scan them while throwing them in a bag. They don't look at me, I stare at the screen. (watching the small amount of groceries create a list that I know will soon deplete  my checking accounty- another post, another day) Somedays I'll just act like a crazy happy person. That's always entertaining. I went to a friends son birthday party a week or so ago. "someone" who is on my friends list was there and did not greet me until I said hello and as she sat in the same room (only 4 of us in there) did not make any effort to strike up a conversation and was as cold as ice. Here's the deal. I feel that I am a kind and friendly person. I feel that I have always been able to strike a conversation with most people. But within the past year. I'm over kissing ass. (pardon the french) I hate the feeling of trying to talk to someone, as cold as ice, and feeling like you have to "get on their good side". I'm done. Over it. I don't need to waste my time or energy. I know.... I'm soooo mean.   Thank you for letting me rant. I'm all done now. On that topic.

Let's change the mood: Let's do funny. Only some people will understand this section.

So today I had to assist in the collection of a sample that needed to be taken to the hospital to be tested. (Another fun part of the journey of infertility) The "sample" needs to be at the lab within 30 minutes of collection. I live 25-30 minutes from the hospital. I left my house in a mad rush and drove 65 (in a 45) honked at one person, hand flipped another, and wished I had a huge flashing sign on the top of my car explaining me crazy antics. I made it to the hospital with only 5 minutes to spare. I walk in and of course was attacked by the pink ladies. (No, not the ones from Grease, that would have been fun!!) The ladies started giving me directions to the lab. I explained I need to get there NOW. I think I walked away from her as she was still talking. I stopped at Patient Registration (that's what the pink lady told me to do) The lady told me she would be with me in just a few moments. I explained to her that I did not have a few minutes. She looked puzzled. I grabbed the brown paper bag that was tucked under my arm, under my sweatshirt and explained what the sample was. It was at that moment that I realized I said it really loud and there was a whole waiting area full of people. I booked it down to the lap drop off window. At this point I was now kind of embarrased. Anyways, the sample made it in time and the results were good. :)

Food: Tonight I made two dishes of homemade (from scratch) Macaroni and Cheese. It is SO good. I will be posting the recipe next week with some pics.

Festivities: Tomorrow I will have 40+ people at my house for my annual Easter Egg Hunt and Potluck. I am looking forward to it and praying for good weather. I am making homemade Jalapeno Poppers (recipe to follow), Macaroni & Cheese, Lasagna (okay, I bought it frozen at Costco. I didn't feel like making a lasagna tonight so I cheated.) I will definately be on a "healthy lifestyle change" (fancy name for diet) tomorrow.

Excitment: I am planning my best friend Maria's bridal shower and I am really excited!!

It's 1:45 now and I think this post is pretty pointless. If you read the whole thing I think you're pretty freaking amazing. :) Sometimes a blog post is a cool way of getting things off your chest. (I wish I could get a lot more off my chest, but that would require surgery and a LOT of money) :)

Anyways, Have a blessed Easter Weekend. It's not about the candy, a bunny, and eggs. (though that's fun) It's about Jesus, he died and rose again. 

Also, Sunday marks the start of National Infertiltiy Week. Stay tuned please!!

Goodnight!   

hmmmm.. what shall I blog about.

Do you ever find yourself walking aimlessly around your house trying to think up something to blog about. That was me. For some reason I felt that I had people waiting on me. ha! Are you? I need to write down things as I think about them during the week, driving around town. I always have good thoughts and ideas and then I sit myself down in front of the computer and..... nothing..nada...zilch.



(I am posting this too because once again I want to show you my good faith effort to blog again. Fail) (But we're getting a bit longer than just a title. So we're headed in the right direction.... right?)

Monday.... Bleh.

(I am posting this because I want you to know that I did make an effort to blog on Monday. The title is as far as it got!)

Think It Up Thursday

So I totally made the title up. Kind of dumb but I'm going to roll with it.

Well today was about the same as most days here.

Braless and unshowered until midafternoon.

Phone call from husband asking... What's for dinner.

Me mentally thinking 'whatever you're cooking'.

But actually saying, I don't know babe, do Enchilada's sound good?

He says yes, phone call ends.

I go to the kitchen to look to see if I even have the stuff to make Enchiladas.

I don't.

So.... I got creative. I pretended to be on Top Chef and I was in a challenge. I had certain ingredients to work with and I had to make an entree' all on my own.... FROM SCRATCH!

Here is my version tonight of an enchilada casserole thingy.

What I used to make my enchilada sauce.

1 Can of Cream of Mushroom Soup

1 Can of Tomato Sauce

Add in Chili Powder (I don't measure so I have no clue how much I put in) I would guess a couple teaspoons

Add in Cayenne Pepper, this stuff can get spicy so be careful.

Add Cumin, couple teaspoons

Add Coriander, couple teaspoons

Sweet Paprika, couple teaspoons.

Bring to a boil... taste... add more of spices and salt until you are satisfied.

I added some canned tomatoes.

(I must say my house smelled so incredible. I am a spice hoarder. I love them! I add spice to everything. (haha!) but really. Get creative from your spice cabinet!!)

Then I cooked a box of Zataran's Spanish Rice

Cooked up my meat. I used Ground Elk. But any meat will work, chicken, ground beef, shredded beef. etc.

I also added Black Beans to bring some nutrition to this fatty dish. Plus I ♥ black beans!

After your sauce has been brought to a boil, your rice is cooked, and your meat is done grab your tortillas.

I used a low carb high fiber tortilla because that was all that was in my fridge. And I only had 2 of them. Lucky me I had just bought a bag of corn tortillas so I made one of my 'chiladas with corn tortillas.

Don't forget to Grate some cheese!!! I would have preferred PepperJack Cheese but Cheddar was what we had. It works!

Put a scoop of each (sauce, rice and meat) into the tortilla. Add a couple pinches of cheese. Roll and place in a greased oven safe dish.

NOW... once you have your 'chiladas rolled and in your dish you will more than likely have some leftovers of rice, meat and sauce. Pour it over the top. Take the rest of the grated cheese..... Oh but before you do anything with it. Take a pinch roll it into a ball like below....

And eat it. :) (I am a cheese lover and cannot have any cheese near me without eating some)

After you eat your cheeseball sprinkle the rest on top of your dish.

Cover with foil and bake until cheese is melted and warm all the way thru.

I left mine in for 30 minutes then removed the foil until the cheese was perfect!

Serve with a scoop of sourcream!

ENJOY!

This isn't anything fancy. And frankly with enough cheese you can make almost anything taste good!

Things I would have loved to add if I had them in the pantry...

green chilies