Quartz, Parchment and Shears

One our new favorite shows to watch with the kids is "The Regular Show" on Cartoon Network. Now... let me preface this by saying... this is a show geared for OLDER kids... And by that I mean, they use the word "suck" a lot.

A LOT.

But, it's funny and for the most part, we haven't had to shield our kids away from any inappropriate content.

(Sidenote: I've had to shield my kids away from inappropriate language while watching the Biggest Loser lately. What's up with that?)

Anyway, I have to admit, I put up much resistance to the girls watching "The Regular Show" because I just didn't see any real redeeming "take away" messages from it.

(They weren't getting any redeeming "take away" messages from "The A-Team" either, but at least "The Regular Show" is only 7 minutes long vs. 50 minutes long... but I digress.)

That is, until I saw the episode entitled "First Day" and essentially, the two main characters (Mordecai and Rigby) are playing an endless game of "Rock, Paper and Scissors" when one of the fellow characters (Pops, who is a lollipop and is like reallllly old) referred to the game as "Quartz, Parchment and Shears".

I know, I know... not hilarious stuff... but it was funny and I still laugh about that episode.

So, set your DVR and after you put the kids to bed, take a peek at "The Regular Show". It's really kinda funny.

It's worth the trip!

I entered a blog giveaway two weeks ago and look what I won!(Compliments of Mandy at "Home with Mandy" and Dunkin' Donuts.)

I happened upon Mandy's blog "Home with Mandy" recently doing research on an inexpensive alternative to Le Creuset cast iron cookware. She blogged about H-E-B's new line of cookware called Cocinaware. And would you know it? It IS a beautiful and inexpensive alternative to the more expensive Le Creuset version. So, anyway, I quickly discovered that she's located right here in Austin and she is a foodie! Her website has a lot of unique recipes with a Southwestern flair.

So, pop on over to Mandy's blog and be sure to check out her printable recipe section!

V-day Recap

These three people make me the happiest wife/mother on the planet!

(And yes, that is a phone that Elisan is holding. We figured it was time she had a way to communicate with us in the event she is not with us or if there is an emergency. It's a pay-per-minute BOOST phone. My baby is growing up!)

Kyla had a sweet V-day party at school!
So thankful to be able to attend these special events!

Kyla's teacher, Mrs. Engelbrecht (or Mrs. E), is an amazing woman. She is a strong woman of God. She is also a recent breast cancer survivor, which makes her even more amazing! She is kind and loving and truly loves her students. I'm thankful for her.

We've been celebrating for a couple of days now.

Happy Valentine's Day!

Here are a few pictures of us in the midst of celebrating Vday. A good friend of Kyla and Elisan's brought them Valentine donuts to school yesterday so they could have them for breakfast today! As you can tell, they had to sneak a taste yesterday!

Randy sent me roses! Have I told you how blessed I am to be his wife?

And the girls worked diligently on their cards and treats to pass out to friends today. They each designed their own - Elisan a foldover goodie bag tag and Kyla a card. (Such creative little girls!)

Oh, and here's TJ getting his Vday lovin' from the girls.

Reality Check

How's this for a reality check?

I glanced at the "Last Day of School" ticker at the right hand side of my blog just now and today marks:

"3 months, 3 weeks and 3 days
until the Last Day of School"

Huh?  Already?

Oh, and it's 75+ degrees right now on this first day of February.

I kinda like the old "cold in winter" and "hot in summer" season thing.

Wonder why we don't get that here?

Blog Brain Dump

So, yeah...It's another blog brain dump. And as I've mentioned before, this is my very favorite kind of update.

Random.

It's my middle name.

Not really.

But, it has the first four letters of Randy's name. Does that count?

So, let's see...

I got a new pair of running shoes. My old Asics were beginning to create problems for me, so it was time to get a new pair. There is nothing I loathe more than spending a lot of money of running shoes. But, it's a necessary evil and in the grand scheme of workout paraphernalia, it's a relatively cost efficient purchase. And, I do keep them for about a year, so that helps ease my thrifty wallet.

This time, I went with Brooks Trance 10's. I know that means nothing to you, but they were the equivalent to the Asics, as far as style, fit, support, etc. And, I got them on sale... yay me.

I ended up buying a wide because I have bunions. And for whatever reason, they must be getting bigger? Is that possible? I mean, I've never really researched bunions, even though I have them and they seem to be getting in the way of my boot wearing this winter. In other words, I'm starting to notice them.

My SIL had bunion surgery two years ago and was on crutches for 3 months as part of the recovery process. Y'all, I can't do anything for three months, much less be on crutches.

So, WIDE shoes it is.

And, all is right again in my shoe world.

Elisan had three soccer games this weekend. Thank goodness, they only lost one of the three games. I just can't take losing games. And double thank goodness we (her parents) haven't ruined her sports experience for her (yet). I'm sure that day is coming. She just likes to play and have fun with her friends. We just like to see them win. Hence, the ruining it part of the process.

But, speaking of sports, the girls began a 6-week volleyball clinic at one of the local area volleyball clubs. Apparently, to have any decent shot at playing high school volleyball, one must begin their volleyball career as early as possible. This was all news to me. When I was in school, if could serve the ball with a modicum of accuracy, you were in. Not so today.

There were 50 girls in Elisan's age group - 5th and 6th grade. And not to cast stones at any one particular group of people... but, it had an odd feel to it. Like competition cheer or something like that. I've never seen so many side pony-tails in all my life... and I'm a fan of the side pony. But, in small doses.

To break it down, I felt as if I was throwing my girls to the "wild" without warning. Randy even noticed the vibe. And that's saying a lot. (It's a whole lot different from the soccer the girls have been playing since they were five years old. You don't see many side ponies in soccer, that's all I'm sayin'.) And YES, I know Texas is the apex of "competition-fill-in-the-blank-here" so it should have been no surprise that there would be a plethora of side ponies and stage moms.

I'm sure that unless we draw attention to the "vibe" they won't notice and before you know it, this too shall pass. Maybe volleyball will pass too. (Don't tell Randy I said that though... he's the volleyball player in the house.)

And that's all I'm gonna say 'bout that.

Teacher Appreciation Free Printables

This year, I was asked to create a cute design for Teacher Appreciation Week at our school.

I created water bottle labels, candy bar wrappers, fold-over goodie bag tags and circle tags. This was a fun project!  And I'm very pleased with how everything turned out!

So, I'm offering up this Teacher Appreciation Printable as a freebie download!

Click the image below to download the

Teacher Appreciation Printable Pack

The zipped file contains high resolution .pdf files.

Not for the squimish

Elisan played in a soccer tournament this weekend.


It was ugly.


Elisan's team got their butts handed to them in 3 of the 5 games they played.  They finished 5th place out of 9 teams.


If you ever thought you wanted your girl to play soccer... here's what you can look forward to. It can be brutal.


I will say, she did manage to get back up and keep playing. Her comment after the game was, "At least I didn't cry."


That's my girl.

Happy to report

Well, I'm happy to report that our little patient T.J. is 100% recovered from his surgery.

I will say... for the record... that if you have no real reason to get your dog neutered, then don't. I know, that's totally unpolitically correct, but y'all, my heart was breaking for my sweet little dog. He was not himself for 10 days. That's a long hard recovery!

The truth of the matter is, I had no desire to breed him with another malti-mutt.  And, he can't escape our yard to galavant around the neighborhood spreading his "seed". So, why did I do it?

Because someone told me that sterilization promotes better health for dogs.  But does it really? 

Look, I'm not out to begin a debate about pet neutering, etc., but I found research (on ye wise Internets) that contradicts the "better health" reason.  As, I'm sure I can find research that supports sterilization.

All I know is that my pup was miserable for a long time and has just now regained his spunk.

So, my thought of the day is "do your research" ahead of time before making such a big decision.  I wish I had of.

Checking in...

I posted on my blog 5 days in a row last week and this week... well, it's pitiful.  That's why I feel as if I need to at least check in and say hello.

What's been going on?  A lot of stuff around here.  Nothing of major importance, but busy, nonetheless.

Our weekend kicked off with a Saturday a.m. soccer game for Elisan and the rest of the day was spent indoors.  The air was trying to kill me that day.  That or the cedar pollen.  So, I stayed inside in the filtered air.  Which, by the way...if there was ever any question about our redneck status... let me present to you...

Exhibit "A"

Yes, that's right.  It's a box fan with an A/C filter taped to it.  We have two.  One upstairs and one downstairs.

Sure, you can laugh.  I laughed too. But, turns out it works.  And, it's cheaper than a fancy air purifier.  Aesthetically pleasing to the eye?  Notsomuch.

I thought about "pinning" it to Pinterest for grins, but didn't.  But go ahead... feel free to pin it for me.  Pin it to the board "Sheer Redneck Genius".

Getting back to my weekend... Sunday morning, Elisan had another soccer game, however, this game was at 6:55 a.m.  That would be A.M. as in morning.  As in Sunday morning.  Her coach is serious about soccer.  And by default, I guess we are too.

They won their game and finished this session of indoor soccer undefeated.  The second winter indoor session begins in another week.  Here's hoping to fewer 7 a.m. games.

(And yes, mom... we even made it to the first service of church that morning.)

I'm having a love/hate relationship with eBay these days.  It's usually my first stop for obscure hard to find items.  For example, the girls are really loving the animated program "Kim Possible" but because Disney no longer offers it in their lineup, I've had to resort to buying a couple of DVDs online.  No biggie... I've found exactly what I was looking for on eBay.

So, I decided to sell a pair of my boots on eBay last week and the bidding was HOT.  My boots had 250+ hits and 40 bids placed on them.

(Side note: I know, I know... why sell a pair of boots that are in high demand?  Well, the short of it is... they were just to heavy/clunky on my feet and I never wore them!)

Well, the winning bidder emailed me the day after the auction end saying, "My credit card was denied when I tried to pay for the boots.  Sooooo sorry."  Um, what?!

So, I had to be a bully and threaten to report her for an unpaid eBay transaction, yadda, yadda, yadda.  In the end, after several communications with her, she paid.  My hunch was that she just changed her mind.  I suspect she'll try to resell the boots on eBay and recoup her money.  Not my problem.

Moral of the story:  Don't bid on an item you cannot pay for and/or decide you don't want if you buy something from me.  Mama don't play that. 

In the meantime, I think I'll hang up my eBay selling for a while.  That whole ordeal left me tainted.

And finally, I'll soon be wrapping up all 120 episodes of "Lost" on Netflix.  Yes.  I watched every episode of "Lost" while it was on primetime.  Yes. I'm watching it again.  Yes.  I'm completely lost as I was the first time around... only this time, I know they are actually dead!

But, I can usually catch an episode while I'm making dinner and Randy is with the girls at soccer practice.  It's slow going, but it's nice "me time".  So, I wanted some Netflix suggestions of what to watch next.

"Grey's Anatomy"?  (Never watched it!)
"Friday Night Lights"? (ditto)
"Ally McBeal" (watched it when it was on primetime... loved it!)
"24" (watched it... loved it!)

Any suggestions?

Valentine's Day Freebie Printable

I love Valentine's Day!  It's one of my favorite days of the year! Each year, I try to offer up some kind of Valentine Freebie!  This year, I'm offering up a 2-fer printable (sort've).

Click on the image below to download the

Valentine's Day Freebie Printable

Foldover Goodie Bag Tag

The file is in a high resolution .pdf formatted 2x/page.

I've also updated last year's Valentine Freebie Printable set.  I've changed the year to read 2012.  This set was created under the strict supervision of my then 4th grader who wanted to stay away from cutesy cute stuff!

Click on the image below to download the updated

Valentine's Day Freebie Printable Set

This file set contains 3 high resolution .pdfs formatted to a full page of printables.

If you have any trouble with the download, send me a message here.

I'm glad it was me

Over the Christmas break, we watched a lot of recorded movies.  One of those movies was "Fried Green Tomatoes".

"Fried Green Tomatoes" has always been one of my favorite movies and I thought it would be fun to have Elisan watch it with me.  I love the story of two friends and how their lives unfolded from childhood to adulthood.  And you can't help but love the back story about Evelyn Couch and Ninny Threadgoode, another story of friends, clinging to each other in their time of need.

So, we begun watching the movie and the part where Buddy dies on the train track was a little hard, but Elisan seemed to handle it just fine.  (I mean, heck, her favorite movies of ALL TIME are the Star Wars movies - all 1-6... so I figured the death of Buddy would be okay, in terms of her accepting it as part of the story.)

Then we see the part where Idgie goes to rescue Ruth from her abusive husband.  Ruth appears at the door with a huge black eye.  As the events unfold, we then see Ruth being kicked by her husband while on the stairs and falling to the landing floor. Well, let me just say, that took Elisan by surprise.

I had to pause the movie and explain to her that yes, violence against women is a real thing and that most times it does occur within a marriage.  I went on to explain that Idgie coming to rescue Ruth was a brave thing to do, because so many women are afraid of their husbands and what will happen to them and their children, if they do leave.

Y'all... she was truly disturbed.  She had no idea that there are men out there that abuse their wives.  NO IDEA.  But it gave me the perfect opportunity to tell her that her own daddy was a wonderful husband and that he would never hurt me.  And that my daddy was a wonderful man and never hurt my mother.  And that Randy's dad was a wonderful man and he never hurt Randy's mom and so on...  It gave me the chance to explain to her the importance of choosing a husband that not only loves and cares for her, but is also Godly man.

I'm so glad it was me that had the opportunity to discuss this with her, just the two of us... because I would hate to know that my 10 year old girl saw violence against women portrayed on television without someone stepping in and saying... that's wrong and it doesn't have to be that way.

The sad truth is, some little girls are already witnesses to abuse in their homes.  I'm blessed beyond measure that our children do not have to live that life.  That I have a husband who loves and cares for me (and them) and would do anything in this world to protect us... NOT hurt us.

As the movie progressed, I had to have similar conversations about Big George and the KKK, but again, I was glad to have to privilege to share with Elisan the truth about such inhumane acts.  There is so much ugliness in the world and I'm fortunate that it took 10 years for my girl to witness it for the first time... and thank God it was only a television portrayal.

Okay... so the question is... should I have let her see the movie in the first place?  Probably not.  The movie obviously had situations in it that were not appropriate for a ten year old.   Live and learn...

And that's why passing along this little nugget for you. That if you happen to find yourself in a situation that causes your children to pause, take a moment and give them Godly counsel, because the world is so ready and willing to desensitize our children.

One sad girl

Surely by now, y'all know that I write this blog as a memoir of my life as a wife and mother.  And sometimes, I just need to memorialize events in our lives that I don't want to ever forget.  This is one of those moments.

Last night, while Randy was tucking Kyla into bed, she began telling him how some of the kids in her class (I'm  not naming names...) told her that Santa was not real.

This is not the first time the Santa discussion has come up, but I've always steered the subject away from the truth.

Don't get me wrong, it's not that I'm hoping she'll believe in Santa until she's 15 years old... I think I embraced the Santa secret even more because, let's face it... she's my youngest child.  I couldn't bear to tell her the truth and really, I enjoy the whole Santa ruse as much as any parent.

So, when it was my turn to give Kyla a kiss before bedtime, Randy ushered me into the room and told me to close the door. Kyla was lying in her bed with a dumbstruck look on her face, as was Randy.  He had spilled the beans about Santa Claus and was not prepared for Kyla's response.

Y'all, she was upset.  Like, big ol tears welling up in her eyes, face turned into the pillow... the WORKS!

I could barely contain my tears as I saw our carefully constructed Santa Claus lie come tumbling down upon the heart of our little girl.  I was sad that she was sad and felt betrayed by us.

I know there are families out there that don't perpetuate the Santa lie and are straightforward with their kids from the get go.  And that is simply because the true meaning of Christmas is NOT about Santa Claus flying to 8 billion children's homes in one single night to deliver toys while stuffing down a chimney.  No, the true meaning of Christmas is the birth of our Lord, Jesus Christ.  I understand and I don't judge anyone's decision in how they celebrate Christmas.

But, Randy and I decided we'd do the whole Santa thing for our kids from the very first Christmas and have enjoyed it immensely. But, truth be told, it was time she found out the truth about Santa (and the Easter Bunny and the Tooth Fairy...)

Would I change anything?  No.  I loved all 8 Christmas's I shared with Kyla believing that Santa Claus was for real.  Am I hurting?  Sure.  I hate to see my girl upset.

I will say, in the end, she felt a tremendous responsibility in keeping the secret safe from her little kid friends at school and church and is completely tickled that even though Santa is not real, she'll still get "Santa" presents under the Christmas tree this year AND an Easter basket for Easter AND money for lost teeth.

Garlic Salad Dressing

Garlic is by far one of my favorite flavors and because of it, I'm always on the lookout for garlic flavored salad dressings.  But, my searches have come up short and I've had to resort to making my own garlic salad dressing.

Which, by the way, is perfectly fine by me.  Because the beauty of this recipe is that I always have the ingredients on hand and making it is a cinch!

You don't have to get fussy with the ingredients.  Plain ol' mustard works just fine, as does Dijon mustard.  Same goes for the hot sauce.  I keep the chili garlic sauce on hand, so that is what I use.  You could easily use Tabasco or Louisiana Hot Sauce.


Here's my recipe for Garlic Salad Dressing.

Erica's House Garlic Salad Dressing

• 1/4 cup Olive Oil
• 1/4 cup Vegetable Oil
• 1/3 White Wine Vinegar
• 3-4 (or more) fresh peeled garlic cloves
• 1 tsp mustard
• 1 tsp hot sauce
• 1 tsp Worcestershire sauce
• 1 tsp sugar
• 1/2 tsp coarse (or sea) salt
• 1 tsp cracked pepper

Combine garlic, mustard, hot sauce, Worcestershire sauce, sugar, salt and pepper in a mini food processor.  Chop until garlic is minced.  Add vinegar and give it another spin.

If possible, while processing your mixture, slowly add your oils.  Mix until smooth.  (If not, just shake it up in a jar and call it a day.)

Pour into a mason jar, salad dressing bottle, etc.  I use the recycled white wine vinegar bottle for my dressing because it has a shaker spout which helps in portion control... and little girls who try to put salad dressing on their salads by themselves.

Serve with your favorite garden salad and NEVER buy store bought again!

Blog Brain Dump

Let me be the first to say... I'm kinda wishing we didn't get TJ neutered.

He is the worst patient ever.  He is pitiful.  Now, granted, I realize the poor little boy had surgery which required cutting into his abdominal wall, but OH MY WORD... either he is the worst patient ever, or I'm the most impatient person ever.

Whatever the case may be, he's a mess.  He's removed his cone of shame at least 2x in the last two days.  Goodness knows how.   And because the vet told us to give him wet dog food mixed with his dry food as a way to tempt him into eating... he has the big "D". Not to go into great detail, but waking up at 5am to a dog crate filled with "D" is not fun.  For either us.

I think it's safe to say, I'll be glad when this whole recovery process is OVER. Only 10 more days. Umm... yay?

Ahem.  Moving along...

This weekend, we trucked it down to the local nursery and bought fruit trees for our backyard.  Not sure what has gotten into Randy, but he believes that we need to have some fruit bearing trees.  So, this weekend, we bought 2 apple trees, a nectarine tree, a peach tree and two pomegranate bushes.  I think once those babies begin producing,  I'll open me up a fruit stand by the mailboxes.  Make a little extra spending money.  Heck, 1 pomegranate goes for $2.98/each at HEB. I could really make a go of this.

In other news, a few of y'all have asked if I'm still broken up with Facebook and the answer is yes. It's been over three months now.  I'd say I've begun a new chapter of my life without Facebook and it feels good without the noise and distraction of it all.  I kinda like NOT being in the know of all things mindless, trivial and political. I've even pared down my blog reading list and only view Pinterest when looking for a specific idea or recipe.  Yep... even Pinterest was vying for my attention.

In return, my mind and heart is clutter free and I'm no longer internalizing other people's thoughts, feelings and/or beliefs. I'm now able to devote my mind and heart to my priorities and it feels good.  I know it's not for everyone, but if you are feeling the weight of Facebook on your brain... I challenge you to give it up for a while.  I think you'll be surprise how much you don't miss it.

I'll be around more this week.  I have a recipe to share and a Valentine freebie printable!

Until then, enjoy these few pictures from our weekend.