I'm Nacho Mama

Have you ever had one of those weekends where you were so stinkin' busy that you actually dreaded it? Who dreads a weekend?

Saturday, we had a day of soccer. All day. Two games, soccer pictures and concession stand duty all wrapped up into one day. I felt like the evil soccer team mom with all of the email reminders and threats that I had to lay down about the team's MORAL and CIVIC obligation to participate in mandatory concession stand duty.

Let me just say, asking a parent to give up an hour of their precious weekend to serve up lumpy cheeze whiz over bulk-rate tortilla chips is just good old fashioned fun. I mean, who doesn't love to impose that kind of torture on someone? I know I do.

But, I have to say, our parents came through and it was only minimally painful. In the past, Randy and I have been stuck working the concession stand BY OURSELVES for the better part of four hours because no parent bothered to help out. We had 7 out of 10 families participate and that is a team mom's dream come true.

So, if you are reading this and you have yet to embark on the the wonders of concession stand duty, please keep in mind that the coaches and/or team mom hold the brunt of the work if you choose not to participate. Really, when it comes down to it... consider it a privilege to participate in your child's extra-curricular team sport, sign up for your concession stand post and get it over with. Your team mom will love you for it.

Mom, I apologize in advance

So, yes, I didn't make it back yesterday, but if you've stuck around for any length of time, you probably weren't surprised. I did however, manage to buy some Easter basket goodies yesterday, so it was not a total loss.

I mentioned that I have a lot to say, so here goes!

Monday, as soon as I arrived home from the gym, I tackled this.




Well, not this actually because this is the back yard. This picture was taken 2 hours ago, so those weeds are still intact. Whew! No, I tackled the front yard, which was really no better than this... only on a larger scale. I know you are asking... how did you let your yard get this bad?

Well, for three reasons... One, our Home Owner's Association is a joke, thus, we were never forced to tend to the weeds. Second, we've just been so darn busy around here, that yard maintenance wasn't high on our list of priorities. (Yes, it SHOULD be higher, I agree.) And third, Randy claims he put weed killer+ fertilizer out on the lawn last week to kill the weeds. I really only think it empowered them, wouldn't you agree?

So, Monday, I spent nearly 3 hours (and 1000 calories later) bagging up 2.5 large industrial strength garbage bags full of weeds. I even broke the hoe and had to resort to the shovel to get those bad boys up. Talk about back breaking work.

I titled this blog entry "Mom, I apologize in advance" because Mom, if you are reading this, I realize you are now full of shame on my yard's behalf. I just didn't inherit your green thumb. The good news is, that my Mom thinks my blog entries are too long and tends to not read my blog that much anyway.

I was standing in a checkout line today and the woman behind me was standing too close. This is one of my pet peeves. One of my "favorite" standing-in-line-too-close-to-me stories happened back at Christmas. The woman behind me was so close, she was very nearly standing shoulder to shoulder to me. In fact, I almost let her in front of me so I could regain my personal space. I didn't however... it was the principle of the matter! So, what did I do? I began using a lot of my personal space. Looking around, digging in my purse, picking up the girls, talking loudly... you know... making a spectacle of myself. Didn't work, by the way... she remained steadfast in her attempt to be joined at my hip.

I'm in my jewelry making phase again. I want to make a funky multi-colored necklace using these kind of beads. If anyone wants to go in with me in the purchase of buying strands of these beads at Michael's let me know. I just don't want to spend gobs of money on three or four strands of beads to only end up using 1/2 of them. (Gosh, I just re-read this section and my train of thought was mixed up when I was typing it out... sorry for the randomness of my thoughts/typing!)

Meanwhile, this is what I made a week ago. I took some of my older creations and re-worked them into these necklaces. I had the crosses from over a year ago and never did anything with them. I like how these turned out.
I'm not going to pretend this recipe is nothing more than a glorified salad, but I wanted to share this yummy dish that my family loves. We call this dish "Fajita Bowls". The beauty of this dish is that it is very low fat - depending on your toppings, of course! And, it's also very kid friendly. I usually make this on soccer practice nights, since we are getting in late. I usually do all of the prep work beforehand and when we get home, I just pop the meat, beans and rice in the microwave to warm it up and we're good to go.

Fajita Bowls

1 can of Charro Beans (drained/rinsed)
2 cups cooked rice
2 cooked Fajita styled chicken breasts or 1 beef fajita flank (cut into bit sized pcs.)

Salad Fixin's: Lettuce, Tomato, Onion, Black Olives
Additional Toppings: Salsa, Cheese, Guacamole, Pico de Gallo

Oh, and if you have never tried Julio's salsa, then you are missing out. It's found in the cold food dip and cream cheese section in HEB. Julio's also makes a seasoned chip that is super yummy, but has a ton of MSG in them, so I stay away from them.

I just have so much to say

I have so much to say, but my brain is not wanting to communicate with my fingers this morning.

So, I'm sending out the preemptive approach to facilitate the real blog post I intend to write later today... or this week. Really, it all depends on my mood.

Oh, did y'all know Easter is less than 2 weeks away? In fact, more like 12 days? Yeah, it kind of snuck up on me too. I need to get moving on some Easter baskets pronto.

Okay, so that's all for now. I gotta get ready to haul the kids to school.

Break? There was a break?

The girls and I arrived safely home yesterday afternoon from Spring Break 2010. (That's going to be my new 'tag-line' this year... everything is going to end with 2010. Because it sounds cool.)

We had a great week visiting our friends and family. 700 miles later, I can honestly say it was worth sleeping on a sofa, hanging out til midnight, eating junk food with friends and listening to the endless "where are we now?" questions.

Here are a few highlights!

The girls and I arrived in Sugar Land on Monday and visited with my friends Cyndi and Leigh Ann. Leigh Ann recently moved back to Texas, after realizing that Texas is the best place to live in the entire world. Unfortunately, they took the long way around to get back! They moved from Georgetown to New York to Kansas and now Houston. Thank goodness they are back because I missed them a ton! She's a native of Massachusetts, thus the big whale on her shirt and her preppy RL Polo sweater, but she'll get back to her trashy Texas roots before long.

And not to be outdone, I enjoyed visiting with my soul sister, Cyndi. Cyndi is the type of friend that you pick up right where you left off, like you haven't missed a beat. Anyone who knows both of us would know that we can hardly get a word in edgewise with each other because we are both talking 90 to nothing. Love her.

The kids had a great time too! Seven total kids between the three of us and they all played beautifully together! That gave us plenty of time to sip coffee uninterrupted!

Wednesday, the girls and I headed home to Orange. The girls promptly grabbed their Sponge Bob Squarepants fishing reel and went outside to fish with Pop. As you can see, they had both caught nice sized fish. On Thursday, while my mom and I hit the mall, the girls visited Randy's folks' house and had a great time there. We stayed at my folks' house until Friday morning.
Friday morning, we headed back out towards Houston to have lunch with my college friend (and Matron of Honor) Angie. Angie and I don't get to see each other enough, but I was glad to get to spend at least an hour or two visiting with her. And, we were able to kiss and squeeze her beautiful baby girl Addison while we were there. I think Angie held Addison for about 5 minutes while I held her as much as I could. I would not share!
We all snuggled up to Randy last night once we arrived home. He missed us a lot and we missed him too!

Now, the girls are reacquainting themselves with their toys, while I do mounds and mounds of laundry now that the joys of Spring Break are over. Come Monday, we'll be back to the grind!

Thanks to everyone who hosted the Wagner girls over the week! We love y'all!

Tired!

Blogging from my iPod...

Just checkin in! I am so tired and will be glad to head home tomorrow! I am looking forward to sleeping in my own bed! Anyone else miss their bed when they travel? I am on my second night of sleeping on the couch at my folks and if it weren't for my benedryl induced sleep, I'm not sure that the couch and I would get along.

Anyway, we've had a great spring break week and I can't wait to post pictures of all of our fun!

On the Road Again

Have I ever shared with you my deep and abiding love for Willie Nelson? Not lately? I'm sorry, truly I am. And, no, I'm not trying to be funny. I {heart} Willie. I grew up listening to Willie Nelson and in fact, I blogged about it here back in 2006 (ancient history, I know.)

But, I do... love me some of that Willie. And his immortal words of "On the Road Again" could not be more truer than they are today.

Today the girls and I will embark on our annual Spring Break homage to the Golden Triangle, with a couple of stops along the way to visit my friends Cyndi, Leigh Ann and Angie who all live in Houston. I haven't seen these girls in ages and I'm completely beside myself with giddiness at seeing all of them. I'm also anxious to see my folks, since I haven't seen them since Christmastime.

So, we had a nice weekend as a family. Started off at the soccer fields. Elisan had the most beautiful goal in the history of soccer and if I had had my video camera I would have posted it on the web for all of the world to see. But, no. I neglected to bring my camera and so you'll just have to take my word for it.

The remainder of Saturday, was spent being stressed out about trying to prepare for our week long trip, which included preparing Randy for us being gone a week - like finishing ALL of the laundry, bagging his lunch food for the entire week, cleaning and answering a thousand questions about when we were going to pack the suitcases.

Sunday was more of the same, except we were all working on one less hour of sleep. I tried to talk Randy into going to the second service at church, but he wasn't having it. But, on the bright side, we had the whole row to ourselves in church. Apparently some wives have more pull with their husbands when they attempt to talk them into sleeping late. Go figure.

This week, I'm a bit nervous about missing my three favorite shows. 24, Lost and Biggest Loser. I'm hoping our DVR doesn't decide to do anything funky while I'm gone because I just don't think I can watch the episodes online. There's just something about watching Biggest Loser in widescreen HD. When you can see the sweat pouring out of each individual pore of the contestants... well, you just can't beat that kind of television!

And finally, I leave you with this monumental occurrence. We love Kashi Go Lean Crunch Almond & Flax cereal. It's so yummy and as the name says... crunchy! Randy eats it as a dry snack and I eat it with milk (in a bowl... like normal people.) Anyway, well, the truth of the matter is that this cereal gives you a serious case of the winds. There's really no way of getting around that fact. In fact, I DO NOT eat this cereal in the morning so as not to embarrass myself at the gym, while lifting weights, etc... you get the gist. So, last night, Randy was particularly "windy" and was begging for something to relieve his condition. PEOPLE... THIS NEVER HAPPENS! Randy's "windy-ness" is legendary and he
prides himself on it. So, when he asked for some Gas-X, I couldn't get to the medicine cabinet fast enough. It was a banner day at the Wagner household. Just thought I'd share.

Apparently other people have had the Kashi Go Lean Crunch "side effect" too. This one is particularly funny... be sure to read the comments too! I'm posting this link just in case you need some additional reading material today.

Y'all have a great day and I'll check while I'm on the road!

At this rate, the tooth fairy will be broke!

Another Tooth!

You're Weird Mom!

A quick 30 second video of Elisan trying out her 80's lingo!

Half way through and it goes into the trash

I love to buy books at Goodwill. It's one of my favorite finds. I never walk into a Goodwill without checking out the book section.

I recently bought "Vanishing Acts" by Jodi Picoult. I've only listened to her books on CD (because they tend to be a bit long for my reading pleasure) and I've enjoyed her writing. She weaves a strong tale, with great character development and virtually draws you into the character's world.

I began "Vanishing Acts" and it started off as an intriguing story about a women who discovered that she was "kidnapped" by her father during one of his custody visitations 28 years prior. The book had the makings of a very compelling story.

That is, until a new character was introduced about half-way into the book. That character, the mother actually, practiced black magic!

My first thought was WHY? Why bring this "element" into this story that really obviously is not necessary... at least, it wasn't necessary in my opinion. I guess I'll never know, because I threw the book away. (Gasp!) Yep. Threw it away, because I am certainly not going to haul it back to Goodwill for another unsuspecting soul to pick it up and be deceived by the subtleties of black magic.

So, I'm curious... since I personally know most of you that read my blog... what would you do? Keep reading or put it down?

And while I'm on the topic... what are your overall feelings about magic (in general) in movies (both for mature audiences and for children?)

Advice from a Fashion Saavy Mom

My friend Kris always looks fabulous.

Mom + Style = Kris

So, yesterday, after my whining and complaining about my pants not fitting, I emailed Kris asking her to give me some fashion advice.

She answered my cry for help and posted in detail how to look trendy and look your age...

So, head on over to Casa de Martinez and check out Kris's style recommendations! Thanks Kris!

Mama's got a big 'ol butt!

Oh Yeah!

That's right people. My gluteus maximus has gotten bigger. And, to be fair, so have my quadriceps. The culprit? Weight lifting... more specifically squats and deadlifts. And because of this...my pants and shorts don't fit right anymore. Oh, they fit in the waist, just not in the rear and thighs.

And this people, is causing me to go into a clothing tailspin (no pun intended... really.) I think I'm going to resort to gym shorts and tee's and tanks this summer. Elastic waistbands and breezy material. I'll be in a perpetual state of fitness wear because it's comfortable and I can sit down without fear of splitting the back seam of my britches.

So until Summer, when you see me wearing pants that are too tight in the bum, remember I've worked hard to achieve it.

Baby's got back.

Let the games begin!

It's "Springtime" around here and that means, our life is about to get hectic... but in a good way!

I posted a few weeks ago that I was worried about the snow and our budding tree out in front of our house. But, as you can see... our tree survived "Blizzard 2010" and it bursting forth with flowery buds! I love this time of year!

Last week marked one of the busiest weeks we've ever had. Elisan finished up volleyball, in the midst of the first full week of soccer. Elisan loved volleyball and we are definitely going to sign her up for the Summer season. While we would have liked to have been able to continue volleyball in the Spring, our sanity cannot take two sports at one time. We're setting a precedence now, hoping it will catch on. Ha! Not likely, I'm afraid. Randy hopes to head coach the volleyball team over the summer since he can't function as an assistant coach (or as a side-line dad for that matter.) It's not in his blood. He needs to be all or nothing, which places me in the "team mom" role. (insert sarcasm here) Yay.

Speaking of soccer, the girls had their first games on Saturday. One thing is for sure, soccer IS Elisan's sport. That girl is phenomenal on the field. Even Randy is impressed. Being short doesn't interfere with soccer abilities that is for sure! *smile* And Kyla... well, she's just fast. Give her a couple more years of skill building and she'll be a force to reckon with too! Oh and you know how I mentioned Randy not being able to sit on the side lines? YEP, you guessed it, he is coaching Kyla's team. And me? I'm team mom! (insert sarcasm here) Yay.

Don't get me wrong, I love helping out and being apart of their team, but rallying the parents is not the "fun" part. Randy gets to do the fun stuff, while I get to be the bad guy assigning parents to the dreaded concession stand duty.
So, it wasn't enough having two early morning soccer games on Saturday. No, I had to try my hand at canning pickles as well. Because you can never have too much to do... that's my motto. I used this recipe and here's hoping they turn out good. I only canned one quart jar of whole cucumbers and a pint jar of cucumber spears. Here's hoping they'll be yummy. Oh and here's a tip... when searching for a recipe for canning cucumbers, don't search under "pickles"... search under "cucumbers"... that's an FYI from a blond girl.
Speaking of blond... I asked my mom if she would highlight my hair while I'm in town for Spring Break and she said "NO WAY, NO HOW." Sigh...

And finally, I leave you with this totally unsolicited note from my sweet baby Elisan. I walked in from the gym one morning and this is what I saw. We've been leaving love notes for each other ever since!
Y'all have a good one!

Stuff Heard 'Round the House

I haven't had a "Stuff heard 'round the house" installment in a while, so I thought I'd share this gem with you...

Kyla (age 6) said, "Andrew at school said I can't wear my Keds to school anymore because they make me run too fast!"

Mom replied, "What? Well, what did you say back to him?"

Kyla, "I told him that ALL of my shoes make me run fast!"

Mom, holding hand up to give Kyla a high-five!

New Computer

I'm back. With a new computer to boot!

Well, it's "new" to me. We bought a used computer at Discount Electronics. So far, it's awesome. However, the awesomeness ends as I sit here installing all of the software that was on my other computer. We're looking at days worth of work here people. (Well, not really, more like a couple of hours, which translates into days because I don't have gobs of time to just sit here and fiddle around on the computer... ya know?)

So, anyway...

I also haven't forgotten about you, my fellow blog friends... I have been reading, but not commenting. I feel like a bad friend. You know, in a cyber kind of way.

So, that's all for now. I have some software that needs my attention.

What did we do in the 90's?

Okay, so Monday, I was hanging out at the house doing a bit of cleaning and the power glitched off because of the passing thunderstorm. No biggie, right?

Wrong.

Remember when I said I was having computer problems a while back? Well, when the power glitched... apparently, so did my computer. So much for fixing the original problem. So, we're in the process... oh, who am I kidding... Randy is in the process of trying to repair it, while I'm on the hunt for parts.

This would be the equivalent to Randy going, to say... HEB and attempting to purchase roasted red bell peppers in a jar. Yep. Nearly an impossible task without help.

So, that's what I'll be doing today. Yay me!

While I'm waiting for my computer to be fixed, I thought I'd hop on Randy's computer and update my blog. Funny thing, is that Randy's computer used to be my computer. Man, this thing is slooooow! Like it took me a whole minute to log onto the internet. Which leads me to my title... WHAT did we do in the nineties before we had high speed anything, much less internet and cool compters, ipods and mobile devices? Oh, yes... we used the telephone. We spoke to people that we knew IRL. Not in cyber life. Ah. How far we've come... Sigh.

I don't begrudge technology. In fact, I embrace it. But, I also like simple. And when your computer dies on you, you get back to simple real fast. It's kind of nice actually.

So, I'm going to visit my hometown over Spring Break and on occassion when I make that trip, I schedule a hair appointment to get my hair highlighted. Gasp! Yes, I lighten my hair! As if you didn't already know. Well, here's the deal. My hair girl decided to switch things up on me and no longer offers the same type of highlighting as she has for umpteen years. She used to pull my hair through the cap and add the solution, heat it up, pull off the cap and BAM... highlights galore.

Well, she doesn't do that anymore. She now uses foil for highlighting. Not knowing this, I allowed her to foil my hair last time and simply put... I was not happy with the outcome. In addition to that, it took TWO HOURS to just put the foil in my hair, not to mention the additional 1 hour to heat, rinse, etc. Blah.

So, I'm torn. I really want highlights, but I want it the old fashion redneck way of pulling it through the cap. Anyone know anyone who does this? Anyone?

I'm tempted to go to the beauty supply store and buy the cap myself and work a little magic here, but something tells me it may not be the best idea I've ever had. Sigh.