Day 243, 2010

On Sunday, Ashlea and Richie tried a new photographer for their engagement pictures. They had previously had some taken but were just not happy with them. Here's just a few "teasers" the photographer has thrown out there for them this week, they have not yet seen the full photoshoot results. Which is your favorite:

#1

#2

#3

#4

I have a definite favorite, but won't taint your opinion... tell me yours, then I'll let you know which one I like...so far

Day 242, 2010

One thing Doug and I have always enjoyed doing together is cooking, but with the teenagers the last few years it was hard to do much elaborate cooking as everyone was always eating at different times and/or I never knew if I was going to have 3 people for dinner or 6 or 7...... so last night we decided to cook something fun... Crab Stuffed Prawn with Creole Meunier Sauce... it was yuuuuummmmy...a bit spicy.. (note to self...cut back on the hot sauce)... but still good.
This recipe takes a lot of Potchsky (is that how you spell that?!?! LOL). Everything comes together really quickly, so we chopped, diced and shredded everything ahead of time....

A little Parmesean reggiono.... Check


A bit of shallots, celery, onion, EVOO, garlic, butter, carrots, crab, lemon juice, worchestershire, hot saue, Emeril's essense, bread crumbs, red pepper, salt/pepper, ....etc... you get the idea


Cook, mix, stir, stuff the prawn... and bake


And voila...Badabing....badaboom. I really need to learn how to not get my shadow in the photo! :)

Day 241, 2010

Ashlea, Richie, Doug and I went to our favorite watering hole this afternoon...Hacienda. You've heard me mention it before.. we love it because you can sit outside in this bar area and enjoy the weather. This was the first time Ashlea has been old enough to go with us...she turned 21 on August 8th.

It was really hot out out... I ended up pulling my hair into a ponytail... I'm not really bald. LOL

Day 240, 2010

Well, no kids at home... spent the day cleaning.... no picture taking today, so I browsed my computer photos and came up with this. This is a picture of my brothers and I... I love the matching shirts.. we're so "Brady Bunch"... lol

and here we are about 3 years ago....

Day 239, 2010

Any worries I had about my son and IU....well... I can't say this made them go away.. but I know he's going to have fun!! This was taken in his dorm room by one of his friends, I asked him to send it to me. Yes, Alex is the one in the striped shirt. :)

Day 238, 2010

Out driving around and snapped this photo. I thought it turned out kinda neat.

Day 237, 2010

My double D's..... Doug and Daisy... (Shame on you!!! )

Day 236, 2010

I've alway heard that Golden Retrievers love water... well let me tell you.. it's True! LOL.. We can't keep Daisy out of the fish pond, and because of that last night I tried to drain it out and put some fresh water in it.. (note... fish water and wet dog do not make a good smell)..... and tonight when I put the hose in the pond to top it off, she couldn't help but try and attack the hose and the water. It's sooo funny to watch her anytime there is water near.

Day 235, 2010

Forgot I took these pictures until I uploaded the ones from yesterday. This was Alex's fairwell dinner the other night. He wanted to go to Olive Garden, which surprised me because he's never been there. Usually my kids choose a steak house of some sort when they get to pick. Anyway... we had a nice time and great food and I'm using these for my POTD. :)

From all the painting, moving my craftroom and moving Alex I am terribly sore today. I can't even lift my cat...lol. Anyone know where a vat of BenGay is that I can jump in??? UGH.... I'm old.

Day 234, 2010

Alex is moved.... it's almost a 4 hour drive one way, so it was a long day, but it went well. We had a nice day and I made it through without tears until I said goodbye...and then I jumped in the car and was ok. He is absolutely so excited that it was hard to be sad. Their room is very big for a dorm room. It's basically two rooms joined together. Cheers to Alex.

Alex and I in his dorm room.

This is the other half of the room and Alex's best friend Myles, his girlfriend, mom and brother.

And Alex's side. That's his dad (my ex) and step mom (Kevin and Pat).

Day 233, 2010

Well here it is.. loaded and ready. Tomorrow morning 7am we take Alex to IU. His dad has the rest of his things in his truck and my back seat is full... I thought a boy would be easy.. who knew they needed this much stuff, too?!??! When Alex's dad came up to load up his truck he asked Alex to spend the night with him so he could spend some time with him..(which I totally get).. I was not expecting it. It is so weird tonight.. he's gone.. he's really gone....

Day 232, 2010

Up early today and today is the day I actually moved all of this stuff into the room. Excuse the tools there by the door... that's for tomorrow. Doug is going to move all my Bygel rods tomorrow.. the punches on the back of the door are just the ones that won't fit on my rods.... so excited to have this room for crafting. It's bright and happy.... tomorrow it's packing day for Alex, Sunday we take him to I.U.... then I'll sit down and enjoy this room.

Day 231, 2010

Got up early today and painted the trim and touched up the ceiling from yesterday. The window air conditioner will be gone tomorrow. We put window A/C in both of the kids rooms because their rooms are upstairs and for whatever reason the central air just isn't enough upstairs, so this is just supplemental... too hard for me to carry downstairs... Alex will move it before he leaves. The empty wall to the left of the photo is where my Bygel rods will be.

Day 230, 2010

ap


Here it is... painted. This is Ashlea's old room.. remember the orange? Well this is my new craft room. Ashlea, Alex and I painted it today... it's a bit brighter than intended, but I like it... it's a very happy space. We painted the yellow today.

Day 229, 2010

My first day of vacation....wooohooo... I'm excited for a break from work. Can't tell you yet what I'm up to, but here's a clue

My 1 week recap for July 25-31, 2010

Finished JULY!!!!! WOOOhooo....

My 1 week recap for July 17-24, 2010

This one is "out there"....but another week closer to being caught up.

My 2-page recap July 11-17, 2010

Another week caught up.... half way through JULY!..>Woooohoooo!

My 2-page recap July 1-10, 2010

Still Catching up on layouts. At least I'm in July. This one has ten days in it because I go from Sunday to Saturday and month to month.. I didn't want to do a two page layout for July 1-3, then 4-10... so I combined them into one 2-page layout.

Day 227, 2010

While out driving, we spotted this deer (doe actually)...then he/she crawled under the fence. Double click on the photo... see her down there by the fence? There are tons of deer around here, so it's not a huge thing to see one... but still fun.

Day 226, 2010

Spent three and a half hours at the beautician's getting my hair fixed from my color catastrophe last week... (me and my bright ideas..oy!).... it's a little darker now, but at least it looks "normal". If any of you ever hear me say.. I'm going to color my own hair again.... STOP ME! Thought I'd save a few bucks...ended up... 3 boxes of color = $21, 1 jar of deep conditioner $15.....hair dresser appointment to have it all fixed back the way it should be... $120..... Had I just went in and had my roots touched up like I should have it would've cost me $50.... WOW... I really saved myself some money, eh?!???

Day 225, 2010

Went looking for a photo today.... was trying to get a shot of this barn built in 1885 and the horses... double click on the photo...look at the horse laying on his back.... (Yes, I forgot to take my telephoto lens).

Another shot of the horses.... double click for a closer look... it's pretty

Day 224, 2010

This is the dogs' swimming pool. Here's Kate taking a little dip with her frisbee. (I Know... lol)

Day 223, 2010

Our local scrapbook store is selling these awesome 12 x 12 paper racks. They used to be in a much larger store and moved to a smaller one, I'm assuming they just don't have the room for all of these racks. They probably have 40 more of these at least. I decided to get a couple today for my new scraproom which will be in Ashlea's old room as soon as I get it painted and carpet cleaned. I haven't got my handy son to bring them in and take them upstairs for me yet... that's on his to do list for today..... along with heading to the beach... any bets on if they make it upstairs? :)

Day 222, 2010

My formal living room has become Alex's staging area for things he's gotten to take to college.. Microwave, hamper, bedding, light, etc....etc.....

Day 221, 2010

Daisy has found the perfect hiding spot to freak Katie out from.... the bottom of my coffee table on the patio.