New Friend in the Blog World

Everyone say hello to Carly. "Life According to Carly Q". Her blog is now listed in my roll.

She's another mommy trying her best in this crazy world of parentdom and recently started blogging. She so kindly found this blog o' mine and made some nice comments. :)

I think she is a great addition.

Some Housekeeping

I have added some folks to my "Look What I Found" list. Some are old friends that I've found again and some are new peeps who I've been lucky to meet through the Manic Monday writing.

So...please welcome to the blogroll:

It's a Blog Eat Blog World: Written by Mo, the fearless leader of Manic Monday, and so many other things!

DUWARD DISCUSSION: Written by Jaimie. I love reading her posts. They are so informing and thoughtful. I learns something new from her each time I go there.

From Bryn Mawr to You: Written by Jessica and Matt. Two of my friends from Arkansas who are now living in the beautiful state, Alaska.

I'll Give it a Try.....Something New For Me to Do

I am working on a story for you guys to read. Don't know how it's going to turn out.. It's kind of dorky where it stands now, but I got an idea and I'm rolling with it. I'll get it up sometime soon.

Thinking I'm going to join the Manic Monday writing thingy... If you read E-Dog's Everything Page then you know what I'm talking about. If you don't read then heres the linky-poo. Manic Monday

I need something to get me more creative again. I need to get the muses talking to me again. I've just gotten so lost in "Mommy-world" that I've got to do some things to get me out of it sometimes. I think maybe Manic Monday will help. Who knows..... a story and a challenge. What's the world coming to?

I've also been reading a lot of people's blogs with recipes. Diner Girl has quite the La Ti Dah site going with her French Laundry blog. Fine dining at it's best if you live in her neighborhood. I REALLY wish I lived next door to her. I also read blogs with recipes for things with no eggs and nuts. *Lyanna's allergies*...Gotten some good ideas from those as well... AND... I have been cooking up lots of good veggie dishes with the bountiful harvests from the garden this year.

SO...I thought what the hell. I'll start putting up some of my favorite recipes. Now they aren't going to be gourmet dishes. Most of them are going to be just good ole homecooking *more than likely southern dishes*. They aren't fancy but they are good and you can make them yourself at home without anything too out of the ordinary.

I'm going to start ya'll out with my recipe for homemade salsa. Almost all the fresh ingredients are out of my own garden. I'll even give ya a picture of the finished product. You must try this at home! And please.....go ahead and double the batch, you'll be glad you did.

Homemade Tomato Salsa

Ingredients:

6 Plum Tomatos, Seeded and Diced
1/2 Cup Diced Yellow Onion
* 1 Jalapeno, Seeded and Diced (Cover Your Hands!)*
2 Cloves of Garlic, Minced
2 Tablespoons Chopped Fresh Parsley
1 Tablespoon Minced Fresh Cilantro
1 Teaspoon Crushed Dried Oregano (I use fresh out of my garden)
2 Tablespoons Olive Oil
1 Tablespoon Red Wine Vinegar
1/2 Teaspoon Salt
1/8 Teaspoon Black Pepper

I use a food processor to dice the tomatos first.
Put the diced tomatos in a medium size bowl, large if you double the recipe.
Then I dice the onions.
Add them to the tomatos.
Finally I use it to chop the garlic, parsley, cilantro and oregano all at once.
Add this mixture to the tomatos and onion.
Mix in the oil, vinegar, salt and pepper.
You can eat it immediately but it tastes oh so much better if you refrigerate the salsa for at least an hour.

Serve it up with chips, veggies, tacos...etc.

*Hot peppers contain oils that can burn your eyes, lips, and skin. Cover one or both hands with plastic gloves or bags. Be sure to wash your hands thoroughly before touching your eyes or face!!!*

My peppers from the garden are so hot, that I have to hold my breath while cutting and seeding them or I end up in a coughing fit.


Anyhow...that's it. Yummy yummy yummy! I can't hardly keep any in the fridge we eat it so fast. If you try it, please let me know what you think.

Welcomes and Introductions

If you happen to ever look at my links on the sidebar over there ----->

You will see I have two new additions. One is "Just Another Mommy". This is my friend Sherry. I have known her since I was in high school. Maybe even jr. high. That is a long time for us....

Sherry is a very cool person and through the wonders of the internet we have been able to reconnect after many years. It's not really another mommy blog...her first post I believe is about an encounter with a snake and a lawnmower. Go check it out.

The second addition: "Still Learning About Myself" is one of my BESTEST friends in the whole wide world. She is my college roomie and partner in crime from those days.

She is a very funny, interesting, and eccentric in an extremely groovy way kind of person. You should definitely go and read her stuff. I bet it will be so much more interesting than mine....maybe. Ha!

Anyway..I will be posting something new and interesting soon. Summer is busy time for us...

I was reading some of the other blogs I have in my list and they got me to thinking...the one that really got to me was Bernie. I think there were about 3 different posts that I hadn't read before that were all dealing with the past and just life in general. How we meet people randomly, how different things affect us long term..etc.

I feel like I have had two lives. The one before I met Brad and the one since. I'm going to answer the meme that several of my blogger buddies have done and then I may elaborate more on the "two lives" thingy.

TEN Random Things You May Not Know About Me:
1. I was married before Brad for 6 years.
2. I can play the french horn.
3. I was almost an RN. I had one semester of school left but dropped out to go back to college and get my English degree
4. My two younger brothers are identical twins.
5. I am a fount of useless trivia type knowledge.
6. I have played English Handbells since I was 9 years old
7. I was a goth type girl in college..but that was before everyone called it goth..most people just called us the weirdo/freaky people. When my first husband met me I had pink hair....
8. I have a large collection of comic books...from the early 90's. Mostly Marvel titles. My ex ripped off a lot of my rare comics when we divided our stuff up
9. I can not do math...of any kind. Seriously..I have to double check addition, and I couldn't tell time on a regular clock until I was around 16.
10. According to my friends here in Ohio, I have an awesome southern accent.

NINE Places I've Visited:
1. Merida, Mexico
2. Tampa, Florida
3. New York City
4. Gettysburg, PA
5. Mobile, AL
6. Reno, NV
7. Cancun
8. Washington, D.C.
9. Hot Springs, AR

EIGHT Ways to Win My Heart:
1. Really listen to me
2. Be open and honest
3. Bring me Flowers, yes that does work.
4. Laugh with me
5. Take pride in yourself, but don't be cocky
6. Love children
7. Surprise me sometimes
8. Educate yourself, and love God

SEVEN Things I Want to Do Before I Die:
1. Go to Greece
2. Publish something that I have written
3. Be a Grandma
4. Learn to snow ski
5. Be a good teacher
6. Learn to drive a stick..I know I know...
7. Teach my girls to be strong, intelligent, loving, successful women.

SIX Things I'm Afraid Of:
1. Something bad happening to my girls
2. How I will react when the first really close family member dies. I have been very lucky that the only close person I have lost in my life is my dad's mom. Unfortunately she and I lived across the country from each other and our relationship wasn't as close as it could have been.
3. Failure of any kind
4. Anthing that flies and has a stinger
5. Closed in spaces
6. Suffocation

FIVE Things I Don't Like:
1. Overly Loud people who try to be the center of attention
2. Strawberry ice cream or cake...UGH!!
3. Cleaning chemicals on my hands..it freaks me out
4. Most Country Music
5. Folding Laundry

FOUR Ways to Turn Me Off:
1. Be an ass in front of my family
2. Ignore my feelings
3. Lie
4. Be too dependent

THREE Things I Do Every Day:
1. Make my bed
2. Read
3. Wash my hands

TWO Things that Make Me Happy:
1. Laughing with my girls
2. The smell of Fall

ONE Thing On My Mind Right Now:
1. My upcoming visit home in two weeks. I want to have a good visit with my family but am a little aprehensive because the past few times with the family have been stressful for me...stupid anxiety...

Some cool things have happened lately. After my husband contacted one of his friends he hadn't talked to in about 10 years, he sent them to our website. The guys wife read my blog and sent me a wonderful email.... so Libby THANKS! We are now trading our mom stories. It's cool cause we have so much in common.

The other cool thing is that I made up with a past friend. It was a difficult thing for me to do with her. I had gone to her during a extremely crappy time in my life for support and guidance and she had dumped me. She believed another's person's lies and sob stories over what was the truth and it made me look bad. Instead of being a shoulder for me I was left with no one.

Now I am usually pretty independant and can handle most things on my own but this, like I said, was an exceptionally crappy time. I had my best friend in high school do that to me as well. Dump me when I needed her support the most...so it happening a second time really cause me to have some serious trust issues. I still have them. It takes me a VERY VERY long time to trust anyone now. I have a hard time opening up and letting someone in to know how I really feel and if I need emotional support....

but me and this person made up the other day. I even cried. We have talked off and on since the incident... and we started talking about it that day. She apologized for not being there for me and listening to the other idiot instead of both sides. It meant a lot to me to know that she didn't think bad of me, and that she was sorry. Whoo hoo! good things do happen!!

Had a pretty good weekend too. Kenzie went and stayed with the grandparents Friday night. Yes they are back from their long vacation to Texas. I was so glad to see them and so were the girls. Kenzie had a great time over there..she was totally worn out today when she came home. Poor thing, we have started letting her eat "big people" food and she had bad poo poo tonight. She wouldn't eat lunch today so I think she had a tummy ache. Poor lil thing.. I hate it when she doesn't feel good.

Brad and I went out to eat at the BrewPub.. I had a Raspberry wheat beer and a big fat juicy hamburger:.......not on the diet.... oh yeah and greasy french fries. It was sooooooooooooo good! Then we came home and sat and vegged out in the hot tub. It was nice to be able to both get in at the same time. Usually one of us is watching the girls while the other is in the tub.

Today was lazy as well. We sat around doing nothing. Kenzie came home around noon thirty. We put her down for her nap and watched Walk the Line. Pretty good movie. Went to the grocery store, had dinner, and played with the girls. A very quiet, nice, weekend.