It's Been A While...

Not that things aren't going on or that I don't have anything to say (I always do, lol!)...just not much inclination or time to blog as of late. We went to the barn today to take pictures of Leighton's steer with his sponsors but we got stood up, lol! I'm sure it was because of the short notice they were given not that they didn't want to be there. In any event, I grabbed a quick shot of Little Man and Studlee (as he is now known). They are both growing like weeds!



And both looking mighty fine if I do say so myself!

Ciao!

hmmmm....

does this count as a manicure...or pedicure??? The hoof trimmer made the rounds at our barn. Looks a little scary but it's not all that bad. At least for us...that's quite a contraption on the back of that trailer!



Peaches isn't all that sure about it...





Kinda reminds me of a ride at Astroworld, lol!



Okay, I'm going to go with, ummmmm....pedicure...



That's one powerful fingernail grinder thingey...



Leighton tried to offer his support...



Doesn't look too much like it is working!



Look at the fingernail dust flying!



Almost done...



Time for a bath and blow dry...



And look how purdy you are now Peaches!



Just loverly!



On to the next adventure!

Jacque D Goes to Prom!

This was kind of a last minute thing but she was so excited to get to go to prom because so many of her friends are seniors this year. Thanks to Jac's bestie, Emerie, for doing makeup and nails and to Ms. Britney for the hair! So pretty girlie! Mommy loves u cuz you are as pretty on the inside as you are on the outside!!!

Jacque and Emerie have been friends since preschool and I went to school with her mom! Emerie is an amazing artist so it is not surprising that she is good with the makeup!















I'm glad you had a good time baby girl!

By Observation

As my children grow older I realize the things I have taught them through observation. Our oldest daughter, Cameron, works in a restaurant and recently she learned that a co-worker's father had passed away. Cameron wanted to make food to take over for the family. This is something she has seen us do many times and lately it seems it is a tradition that is falling "out of style." I'm not sure if this is just a southern thing, but I do know that it only takes one experience of losing a close family member in the heart of a close knit southern community to understand what I am talking about. In any event, Cameron spoke with her boss and told him that she was going to cook for the family and he told her that she was welcome to raid the restaurant's pantry for any of the ingredients that she needed. She had decided to make her grandmother's Chicken Tetrazini, and let me tell you, it is delicious! On Sunday, she called the restaurant manager to let him know that she would be on her way and that the owner had told her she could pick up some stuff from the kitchen. He told her that was fine and asked what she was making. "Chicken Tetrazini," she said. The manager began laughing and Cameron asked, "What's so funny about Chicken Tetrazini?" Well, it seems that Maury Povitch had a guest on his show who had a specific complaint about chicken tetrazini. Just click on the link below and watch the clip! I promise you won't be disappointed...pretty funny stuff!

Chicken Tetrazini

I must admit there are occasions where I get caught up in Maury. I usually watch Family Feud when eating lunch, or it is sometimes just on here during the noon hour. Not that I really sit down and watch it. But...Maury airs right after Family Feud and so I sometimes find myself wrapped up in whether or not Antwain is the father of Shenequa's baby, if you KWIM? Or if Jamal cheated on Chantelle. Funny, one day David came home and wanted to know, "Why are you watching THAT?" I hardly noticed...hey, I'm the mom of four and you can ask anyone who knows me...I do know how to tune a lot of things out. But, still, from time to time, like I said...I get caught up!

In any event, I'm glad that the tradition of cooking for folks who are dealing with the loss of a loved one will continue with my children. And just in case you are in need of a good recipe for Chicken Tetrazini, I'm sharing mine with you. Just don't go seducing anyone's man with it, ya hear!

CHICKEN TETRAZINI (Grandma style)

1 whole chicken (we use boneless, skinless chicken breasts...about 4)
2-3 celery stalks

Boil chicken with celery, salt and whole peppercorns until chicken is tender. Cool and cut chicken in bite size pieces.

Save broth.

Melt 1 stick margarine in 2 quart saucepan. Saute 1 whole chopped onion, 1 small bell pepper. Stir in 3/4 cup flour and then 1 quart milk. Cook until sauce thickens. Add 1/2 lb. grated cheddar cheese, 1/2 lb. grated American cheese, 1/4 lb. grated Mozarella cheese, fresh parsley, 1 small can button mushrooms, 1 small jar pimentos, and 1 small can sliced black olives. Season to taste with salt and pepper.

Cook 1 1/2 lbs. spaghetti noodles in chicken broth and drain. Pour sauce over chicken and noodles and mix well. Feeds an army (well 12-14 people AT least!)

Enjoy!

Leighton's First Steer Show!

This weekend was so, so busy with us cooking for the FFA BBQ Scholarship fundraiser, a senior session in Livingston and a steer show in Crosby. It was fun to finally watch Leighton in the show ring with his steer...and he and the steer did a pretty good job!

This is Leighton getting ready to go into the ring. Check out the country boys in the background. I love this picture!



More waiting...



My friend Christy giving Leighton a pop quiz on his steer's weight, feed, etc. Sometimes the judge will ask these questions in the arena and it's best if you know the answers, lol!



We can do this, kid!



See, I told you the judge sometimes asks questions...he wanted to know the weight. 877 pounds! WOW!



Leighton was second in his class...so, pretty good first outing!





Setting up...



Waiting to go into the arena for the grand champion drive...



Grand champion drive...Now it's time to see what we can do to improve and change things up a bit! All in all it was a great experience and I'm looking forward to the next outing!



Until next time...

Gallery Wrap Contest by MCP & Color, Inc.

A big thank you to MCP Actions and Color, Inc. Lab for this opportunity!

I am entering this photo in the MCP Actions/Color Inc. Win a Gallery Wrap Canvas Photo Contest at http://mcpactions.com/blog. I certify that I took this photo and give both parties permission to use this photograph on their blogs/sites.



Wish me and Baby Gavin luck! :-)

Finally...

My website debut...

Darla DiStefano Photography

It's about time...I'll be the first to say it! There are still a few holes to fill in and lots more pics I could have posted but just wanted to get it LIVE! Hope you like it!

In case you were wondering...

how the Astros won tonight? Well, they had a little help from us! I mean, seriously, how could it happen...Roy O wasn't pitching, two runners left on base in the ninth, the Tejada throwing error...I could go on. You don't really think they did it without a little help from us, do you?



That's right, live from our very own living room, we worked our magic. Here, the Astros were moments away from having their second home game slip through their fingers, when my quick thinking son (the genius that he is!) rallied us together and urged us to put on our "rally caps." "Mom, put on your rally cap!" he said.



"I don't have a cap," said I! "Just put something, anything!" he cried! Luckily I had my handy, dandy "rally" phone and quickly placed it on my head. We were all doing our balancing act while we waited with bated breath as Jeff Keppinger knocked in the winning run! Thank goodness for extremely high heels, gold plastic cups and telephones laying around our house! It may just turn out that "these" Astros are worth watching afterall!



And, so, now you might be wondering, "hmmmm, did she photoshop her face." Well, hell, yeah, I did! It's my face isn't it? I can photoshop it if I want to! :-P Hey, I look good in black and white, lol!

Sure do miss you Brad, Craig, & Jeff! Boo Hoo...but did you see the amazing play by Berkman at first? Wow!

Go Astros!

I sure do miss this...

No, not David's hair, silly...



I miss watching my Bubba play football!



Yes, Virginia, there really are Bubbas in Texas! ;-)

I'm setting the world on fire...

one text message at a time!

So, I got a new phone the other day. This one:



And with my new phone, I got a new plan. A plan that allows me to text. Unlimited text! Wow! I've never had that. My kids have, but not me. So, anyway, I have discovered, texting is fun. I love texting my kids. You know the typical parent/child text messages like: where r u? when r u coming home? where r u? i luv u! come bring me a pillow! did you brush ur teeth? where r u? Well, you get the picture. My kids love texting me too! They send me messages like: what's 4 dinner? where r u? i forgot my lunch money. i luv u. what's 4 dinner? come get me. what's 4 dinner? K, so, now you really get the picture.

I've made a few mistakes along the way as I'm learning to become an expert at texting. One of my first mistakes was when I thought I had Little Man's phone number memorized and I typed it in and then wrote him this text: where r u? Shortly thereafter I received a call from a young lady saying, "uh, yes, I just missed a text from this number. Who is this?" "Oh," I said, "I am so sorry, I was trying to text my son and I guess I put in the wrong number." To which she replied, "uh-huh." as she abruptly hung up the phone. I guess I got someone in trouble! Oops!

Second mistake was made today when I sent a text to my daughter. I mistakenly typed in one wrong number as I sent her this text: I took ur car 2 get a haircut. I think daddy has my keys. Be home soon. She was asleep and not wanting to wake her I thought I would be clever by sending her a text. That way if she woke up, she would know where her car was. It wasn't long that I realized my mistake and wondered if I should send some sort of "correction text". While I was forwarding the original text to my daughter a new text came in. Yep, it was from the number I sent the original text to. The text read: Who is this? I wrote back: I'm sorry, wrong number. Soon, another text arrived: But who is this? Yikes! I didn't answer. Then another text: Who is this? Gives you head! What the hell? What is that supposed to mean??? A friend of my son's was with me and quickly looked up the area code to which I had sent the mistaken message and told me it was in Iowa. Crazy corn farmers, I thought! Back the heck off of me...I'm new at this! The next text arrived and now they were shouting at me: WHO IS THIS... Persistent little corn farmer! Leave me alone crazy person, I think to myself. Sitting at my computer later, a call comes in. Don't you know it was from none other than the crazy corn farmer in I O W A! Dang! This person was not going to go away. Well, I showed them...I just didn't answer. HA! Later I was telling August about it and he said, "oh, you have some girl thinking that their boyfriend or husband is cheating on them?" Good gosh! Who thinks like that??? Well, I guess it is a lot more people than I would ever imagine. Who has that kind of time on their hands? I haven't heard anything more since the phone call and I'm hoping someone doesn't crawl through my window tonight with a scythe in their hand wanting to know who I am! But, like I said, I'm setting the world on fire with my new texting capability, lol!

Until next time...

Leighton Lands a Steer!

Yep! Leighton was selected to receive the steer for the GP FFA chapter! I am really proud of him. The interview went very well...he did a great job. Now the work begins!


We have had the steer since February 11th and still don't have a name for him. He is from Kinsel Ranch in Beaumont and they called him Peaches but August and Leigh think that sounds too girly. He does have a pretty peach tone but we are still trying to figure out what to call him. Any ideas?



He is actually pretty good on a halter...much easier than Allie was!



This project is definitely going to be an adventure!









We went to the San Antonio rodeo with Leighton's pig February 17th. He didn't place but we had a pretty good time. It's always good to spend time with our kiddos...can't go wrong there. Even if that time is spent in a barn, lol!

Until next time...

How Lucky Am I?

We had a time consuming dish on the menu tonight. Well, actually I should say "I" had a time consuming dish on the menu tonight. I don't really do too much cooking around here. David does most of it. So, yeah, that in itself makes me a lucky girl! One of my favorite meals is our beef enchiladas. I got the recipe from my YaYa Y in Goliad, who got it from her mother in law. Everything is made from scratch (except the corn tortillas) so it takes a while to make. David didn't really want to undertake enchiladas tonight so I told him I would do it. What was I thinking! I decided to see if August wanted to learn how to make enchiladas. To my delight he did! We spent the next hour and a half in the kitchen with me showing him how. All of our kids are good cooks. How could they not be with a Dad who is such a wonderful cook. Plus we've been baking and cooking together for years and years! It was fun and I passed on a recipe to him. He also made the Spanish rice. We are still trying to figure this one out. Who would think something that seems so easy would be so hard for us. We have tried many different ways. This was the closest we have come to REAL Spanish rice but still not totally there yet. So, yeah, how lucky am I to have my 18 year old son in the kitchen with me on a Friday night!

The finished pan of enchiladas! Yum!!!! Definitely fattening!!!



I think we did a good job! Look how pretty!



On another note...meet Buster, our pig who is headed to the San Antonio Livestock Show in a week or so. He is such a sweetie, even if he does like to eat dirt!



Until next time!