Remember me telling you that I was one of the three chosen judges to judge a Twist n’ Crunch Recipe Contest? Well the contest is over and the winner has been chosen.

Peter Halferty from Texas for his Pow Wow Bordertown Breakfast Squares with a Twist!

You can check out the winner and the winning recipe on the finalist page.

As moms we typically get too caught up in the everyday to enjoy many aspects of our children’s lives and I am no exception. Sometimes I get too caught up in replying to emails, washing dishes, folding cloths, tidying the house, that I often overlook areas where I could be spending more time with my children. So today I decided to get out and have a whole fun filled day with the kidlets with no worries of housework at all.

First, we went to the library. I have yet to go to the library in the new town that I’ve moved to because I’ve been so busy lately. We got our library cards and started scoping out the books. I found a couple of books I’ve been wanting to read and got the boys some new books to read at bedtime. Chickens to the Rescue is the book that we read tonight, approximately five times if you have to know.

After our library adventure and the constant nagging from the pnut to ride in the elevator “one more time” we headed to the park. The bean was a little hesitant at first to play in the grass, he’s not much of a grass fan, but once he warmed up to the idea and saw his brother having so much fun jumping off of stuff he decided to join in. As you can imagine it wasn’t fun trying to get them to go home, lots of protesting coming from the pnut but we had to go home eventually.

When we got home and after I had made supper, we decided to watch our new movie the Blue Elephant as a family. It was so great to spend a relaxing day with no deadlines and I actually managed to squeeze in some housework at the end of the day with out feeling like I was rushing to get it all done.

So my advice is to slow down and take it all in every once and a while. Life is not so serious all of the time and if you aren’t careful it can pass you by in an instant.

You all remember my first smoothie video with all of the fruit, well here is another recipe for you that only has three ingredients in it.

Also, I have started using my youtube account again and would really appreciate it if you would go and subscribe to my videos over there as well. The youtube account is going to be a vital part of this website in about a month or so you will definitely want to stay up to date over there.

A couple of weeks after moving into our new home, we noticed that one of our cats went missing. Our cats are outside cats but typically stay close to the house no matter how far they might wander. You can call their names when you go outside and typically they would come meowing all the way. One day we only heard one set of meows and sadly was missing our boy cat. We looked and looked for several days but he never showed up. I was convinced that he either got lost exploring our new home, killed, or that someone had stolen him.

As it would turn out, someone in fact did steal our cat. A few moments ago, I was outside walking our dog for his last pee-run of the night and low and behold who comes meowing out of the bushes but our boy cat, Yang!!! It was a bittersweet reunion between me and the cat and then the dog and the cat. Yang and our dog, KoJo, are best buds always playing and fighting with each other when they are both outside. You could tell that Kojo really missed his pal as he was loving all up on our long lost friend. I say that someone stole our cat because lets just say he came VERY well fed. I’m talking stomach bigger than his head fed. I like the fact that the person who stole our cat was so nice to him to feed him until he became as big as a house but that is OUR cat! Case and point, hands off granny he is mine!!!!

Now my husband and I are having the debate of whether or not we should turn him into an indoor cat since we know for a fact that someone stole him. I like the idea just so long as he stays in the “man cave” also known as the basement. He would fit right in being a male and all but my husband is worried that he might mess up his “mojo”. So what do you do? Does he remain an outside cat for someone to snatch up again, or attempt to turn him into an inside outside cat so long as he resides in the “man cave”? He couldn’t possible come up stairs because of several reasons, first of all he is a long hair cat which means lots and lots of shedding. The second and main reason is because not only I but also one of my stepsons are allergic to cats which makes it near impossible for us to enjoy them more than a couple of pats on the head.

What would you do? I’m tempted to go buy him an “official” collar and tie a note around his neck that says “Hands off, B****es, he’s mine!” but would be too afraid that whoever finds the note might keep him locked inside for good.

What is your opinion??

Since moving into our new home, I am finding it extremely hard to sit down and focus in front of the computer. I remember a time when all I wanted to do was be on my computer but now with the excitement of a new house I am finding it hard to want to sit down in my office and work. I mean there is so much more to enjoy like a fabulous deck, my new sofa’s, or just cooking in the kitchen. I could think of a million other things to do like read a good book or even just make funny photo collages with my new ipod touch applications.

I’m pretty sure this is just a phase. There is something new in my life and I would like to enjoy it but what once was new will soon be old and ordinary so life will eventually return to normal. It always does. So for now I enjoy the excitement of a new town, new house, new life.

I’ve uploaded a few photos of the house, if you would like to go to my flickr page and check them out. I will be adding a few more tonight once I have the chance to watermark them. Also there is a new look to the website, tell me what you think…please be honest? Constructive criticism welcome!!!

I love doing graphic (re)designs. I offer a variety of services from twitter and myspace designs, to simple button packages or blog header creations. If you are need of some fast, reliable graphic design please don’t hesitate to visit my graphic design page. Once you choose the package that is right for you, all you have to do is e-mail me your ideas and I should have your work completed as soon as possible.

Yesterday, my brand-new RED sofa’s arrived at our new home and I could not be more excited about having them in our home finally. These are the first sofa’s I have had that weren’t handed down from someone or bought at a yard sale. Brand, spankin’ new. Now is it too much to ask that I try to keep them looking as new as possible? It seems as if life is trying to play a trick on me yet again and testing my limits repeatedly. With four kids I don’t expect to have nice things but I would like to have at least one thing that is nice. One thing is all I ask that hasn’t been destroyed by children (or the husband).

Let me tell you the horrors I have endured in the past 24 hours of ownership on my brand new sofa. I had children with their food laced fingerprints left on my brand new sofa and then to top it off I literally had to scrub ink out of the sofa because husband sat on it with a pen in his pocket. Let me tell you, I nearly died. Thank goodness I got to the stains before they were able to settle in. I know the sofa won’t look brand new for long but can I for just a week have a nice looking, stain-free sofa? Granted I am a little anal about the sofa at the moment because this is my first big item that has been purchased for me that wasn’t previously owned by someone but still is it too much to ask to have something nice for once that hasn’t been destroyed by kids or my husband or am I doomed to live in a house full of testosterone and stains?

It is only Wednesday and this is only one episode of what the children tried to destroy this week. I won’t tell you about the giant rip in my brand new table cloth that my toddler so graciously added while eating supper the other night. I think they are out to get me!

On a kind note, I would like to give my parents a great big THANK YOU for getting these couches for us. Mom, you did a great job at finding a really great deal or should I say steal of a deal and Dad you just rock!

Many people will argue with you and say that hardwood floors are the way to go. But, I beg to differ. Carpeting is so much better, at least in my opinion at least. Sure hardwoods are easier to clean especially if you have small children but the maintenance and care that has to go into hardwoods is too much for this momma to deal with on a daily basis. Carpet feels so much better on the feet too! No cold, bare floors to walk on daily barefoot. I like not hearing everyone walking around the house and I like the little maintenance that carpet requires.

I recently moved from a house that had all hardwood flooring to a house that has nothing but carpet and can not tell you the praises I am singing right now. I just love carpeting so much better than hardwood floors. I’m sorry but that is the way it is for me.

So how about you? Do you like carpeting or hardwoods?

If it isn’t one thing it is another. It seems as if we are having a lot of bad luck when it comes to weather as of late. First it was the Tornado on Mother’s Day and now we get struck by lightning! It started last night with a rather nasty thunderstorm. My husband was watching out our back door when all of a sudden we heard…”ZZZZzzzzzAAAAAPPPPP KA-POW!” Lightning struck a utility pole directly behind our house. As if they loud noise and flashing light didn’t scared the bejeezes out of us, the lightning ran through our electrical wires demagnetizing the television, blowing up our internet router, burning up my laptop battery, and killing my parent’s stove. Our practically brand-new HD television now has nice green lines on either side of the picture. The internet is just pointless, even after hubby spent all day Tuesday getting it to work properly. It is plug & play for the internet problem until we can buy a new router. My graphical designs are on hold AGAIN due to my windows laptops battery fry-age. My mother called shortly after the explosion and said that her router and stove were both fried.

Ahhh, mother nature, we love you but you can be a real pain sometimes!!!

To make matters a little bit more creepy, something very weird happened last night. A good couple of hours after the storm when all signs of rain were gone, I went to my parent’s house to see if I could borrow an old router of theirs to see if we could get it to work at our house. After trotting back home, I found a little toad on the road so I decided to take him home to show hubby. With toad in toe, I handed the router off to my husband so he could hopefully work his magic and went to my deck to put the toad in his new home. Everything was fine and normal on the deck. A few minutes later, I remembered that I bought some fish earlier that day for the pond outside and that I needed to let them out of their baggy. I did that and still the deck looked normal. An hour or so later I go to the deck to get my dog’s leash so that I could walk him one last time before heading off to bed. But this time something was off…

Can you tell what is missing from this picture?

My umbrella!!! My umbrella was missing. Where did it go??? I looked around to see where it could have possibly gone. At first I thought that someone had stolen my umbrella and then thought why the heck would they steal an umbrella?

There it is!!! Somehow in the non-windy situation it had gotten picked up and moved to the back door? Creepy? Yes, I think so. I don’t understand how an umbrella can be picked up out of the center of the table and then moved to the back door without knocking something over or making a lot of noise. I went and picked up the umbrella this morning and let me say that that thing is heavy. It may not look very heavy but for me it was a pain to try and get it back into the table. It took me at least ten minutes to get it back into the center of the table. Why would an umbrella just up and move when the storm had been over for several hours. What could have caused this? I think my umbrella is possessed!

Even after battling the weather for yet another time, I am thankful that we did not get more damage then we did. I am thankful most of all that my mac lappy, ipod touch, and my graphics computer are not damaged except for a blown battery. Really if you think about it could have been so much worse since all of my favorite items were plugged into the wall when the lightning struck, like it could have fried the computers and not just their batteries. I guess since the tornado took out most of the trees that lightning has nothing else to strike but utility poles or houses now.

What do you think about the creepy umbrella? You can tell in the first photo that nothing else was knocked over, moved, or damaged. Really, you wouldn’t know anything was missing unless you expected the umbrella. Is my umbrella possessed?

In need of one maybe two magical cleaning fairies willing to go behind children room after room picking and cleaning up ginormous messes that are left behind. Must be willing to work immediately. Long hours are required and sleep is optional.

Please contact Domestic Diva to apply.

Dear guy at the bookstore,

I know you saw me standing there at the coffee bar for at least ten minutes but instead of you know getting up and coming to see what I was going to order. Instead you sat there perched on the counter reading a book. Yes, I realize it is a bookstore but your job is to SELL books not just sit there reading them. So next time you see someone walk up to the coffee shop mouth drooling over what delicious drink they will be ordering consider budging just a tad so that customer can get out of your hair and you can get back to your “job” which is apparently just sitting around on company time reading free books.

Sincerely,
The Coffee Drinking Diva