Tuesday, April 27, 2010

Family is...


Family is a the people you laugh with and who laugh at you...

Family is new life..




Family is loving those you just met and your life feeling more complete because of them..
But most of all..my family is amazing and I feel so blessed to have spent time with those I have meant before and to meet some for the first time. With all the saddness and heartache we have had in the past 7 months plus, that empty crater was filled a little this weekend. My family is not complete with mom not being there, her memory was all over, everywhere and constantly on my mind. I missed her so much and every picture felt incomplete without her there..but it Arkansas was also missing Uncle Cles. He was a staple of Arkansas and a pillar of our family and he loved so much that it radiated off of him. He was missed by all and my mom was missed so much by us and all those who barely knew her. It was so nice to see kin from 0-90 and to see everyone who was so happy to be there. The looks in the eyes of my grandparents, my great aunts and uncles and all who listened intently to their stories or watched their faces as they listened to good live country and gospel music sang by their nephews. It was amazing and healing and a little piece of me was mended by all the hugs from my country cousins and extended family. Arkansas has become my second home.

Tuesday, April 20, 2010

Tear Jerker Tuesday

(Consider yourself warned..Found this pic,glad we took it. This is my hand and my brother's hand holding my moms hand when she died. I'm very glad I took this becuase I always want to remember her hands.)



Finality 1/26/10 Jennifer Madrigal
The finality of loss
is what humbles me
it paralyzes me
The constant surrender
of hope
the knowledge of an empty seat
The pain of a broken heart.
I feel you everywhere
you sneak into my mind
you steal my dreams.
It takes my breath away
the finality of loss
is what humbles me...

Sunday, April 18, 2010

Cooking with the Pioneer Woman Adventure #2



Lets be clear, the only reason I don't put the whole recipe on here is becuase Ree Drummond wrote the cookbook and they are her recipes and I don't want to steal them. That wouldn't be nice and definatley NOT COOL. So here is yet another recipe that I made for Easter morning brerakfast. This is kinda of an odd one and at first I thought I wouldn't like it...but I was WRONG>> YUMMMMMMMMMM! It was so good and look wonderful with all of its rich colors and bold tastes. Even with all the onions,peppers, etc..the boys all ate it up. I was shocked when I did not hear even one peep or whine about the onions. My dad, who was vi sting must have told me how yummy these were about 10 times..

This delicious breakfast recipe was called "Migas" and they were wonderful 5 out of 5 stars. The pics show the pictures from the cookbook (that is idiot proof BTW) and a picture from me,the idiot, LOL. As you can see, Easter morning served a happy crowd.

Friday, April 9, 2010

Cooking Adventure #1

As I had said earlier I recently purchased a wonderful cookbook...



I love this cook book soooo much that I am going to try different recipes and then let you all know..okay all 4 people out there..how good they are..

Jalapeno Poppers from THE PIONEER WOMAN COOKS pg. 14

Awesome..awesome! I made these as an appetizer for Easter lunch with my husband’s family. YUMMO! Since you take the seeds out they were not spicy at all and the extra flavoring of the bacon coated with BBQ sauce made them even better. They were definatley a crowd pleaser. Make them and remember to follow Pioneer Woman’s advice and make 3x what you really need!

Someday I hope she sees these and invited me to her ranch to cook with her...sigh..we could have a real Arkie-Okie bond..Enjoy and let me know how yummy they are after you buy her cookbook!

Easter Photos







Easter Pictures!!!!

Easter egg hunt in the culdasac..followed by Easter Egg hunt at Juan's uncle's house!
Fun,sugary times by all

Wednesday, April 7, 2010

Wordless Wednesday


I found this picture from a few years ago! Note the tape and the happy boy wearing it...LOL..I seriously wish this is a look they would consider more!


Sorry..and this is nicholas.trying to make the Mr. Potato head glasses fit him. He really did not understand why they wouldn't fit.So cute!

Tuesday, April 6, 2010

The Rosebush and Me...

In front of our house we have the two ugliest rosebushes on the face of this earth...I hate them! I've always hated them but alas...My husband loves them. Everytime you walk by they snag you, cut you and genrally make you stomp your feet and cuss...loudly! Finally, I was given permission to hack them down. This was no easy task. I hacked and chopped, used bolt cutters, a little gasoline, etc. to get these bad boys down..Finally..I had them chopped back to nubs so that all I had to do was rip them out..so imagine my frustration when I come outside and see this.....

Are you serious??? This thing and all my hard work, blood, sweat, and tears did was this??? AHHHHHH!!!! Stay tuned..I will get this thing down..now where did I put that can of gasoline??

Monday, April 5, 2010

from Maxine..a little truth for all...

Let me get this straight......Democrats passed a health care plan written by a committee

whose chairman says he doesn't understand it,

passed by a Congress that hasn't read it but exempts themselves from it, signed by a president that also is exempt from it

and hasn't read it

and who smokes,

with funding administered by a treasury chief

who didn't pay his taxes,

all to be overseen by a surgeon general who is obese,

and financed by a country that's broke.

What the hell could possibly go wrong?

Sunday, April 4, 2010

Adventure #1: Cooking my Way through THE PIONEER WOMAN COOKS

Okay so for Easter I decided I would make the yummiest recipe EVER! The Pioner Woman has the best recipe for Tomatoe, Artichoke Spagetti! It is out of this world and tastes even better the next day...you know when all the juices have been absorbed into the spagetti..YUMMO! Any way..this recipe isn't from the cookbook, it's actually on her website under pastas in the cooking section. Next week I will bring you the adventure of cooking through her cookbook. I'm thinking I'll do one recipe a week and rate it! If you want to check out the Artichoke, Tomato spagetti go to her website at


Warning: You will become addicted! Every recipe I have ever tried is AWESOME!She's my secret weapon with food!

Next Adventure: Why Women love characters like Edward Cullen, Mr. Darcy, etc... Stay tuned it's been rambing around in my head for a while!