Brady's visit to the hospital

Jason, Eva and Brady all came to the hospital. Every time I see Brady I cant believe how much he has changed. He is just so cute!! I wanted to share some pictures of him.

Debbie

My Friend Debbie works at the hospital so I made her take a picture with me in the elevator

My dad

I have had a very stressful few days. My dad went into the hospital on Wed. He suffered a stroke. Right now he has some paralysis on the right side. His leg and arm. They have run many tests and all we know is that he will need rehabilitation. We don't know much more than that. They would like him to retire. My dad is in good spirits in spite of all that has gone on. Wanting to go home from the hospital but he will remain over the weekend till they decide what to do.
I want to thank my friends Laura and Stephanie for being there for me.

Jamaica

Photobucket Album

Superbowl party menu

Well its time for my annual superbowl party. I throw a small...very small party every year for the superbowl. I am now at the point where I am thinking of what to make for it. I want easy stuff. I always make so much stuff that I have tons of food left. Anyone have any idea's?

Bedroom updates

I finally got the guest bedroom painted. It took 7 trips and 7 different paint samples to find the color I wanted. I painted the whole bedroom in one day. That is putting the primer on it then putting one coat of paint on it. Waited a week then put the second coat on. The color started out as Divine white but they tweaked it for me. I wanted something with a bit of color, but light and breezy as it is a small room and the furniture is black.

We put the beadboard on yesterday. Mind you we haven't painted the beadboard as of yet. It will be painted white. We had the great idea of using the beadboard from the upstairs bedroom that we are gutting to fix up. So why not save some money and use it for the guest bedroom. Just paint it. So the picture below is of the beadboard that Cory and his dad put on yesterday. Next we will caulk the edges, set the nails and put on the chair rail with some corner pieces then put the baseboards on then paint it.

Girls night

Last night we left the husbands at home and it was officially girls night out. Went out with Laura and Stephanie. Laura's mom came to have appetizers with us but then had to go home. We started at the elephant bar, which is in the mall to have a appetizer of sushi. They have great food there. The sushi was so good we stayed and ate. Plus we were talking so much and were not ready to leave. Then we looked around the mall. I got some really good bargains. We all had a lot of fun and we look forward to doing it again real soon.

popcorn machine

Well I finally fulfilled a long standing dream of mine. I bought a movie theater commercial popcorn machine. Anyone that knows me, knows how much I love popcorn. It is up there in my top 10 favorite food list. I get my love of popcorn from my dad. I started eating popcorn with my him when I was very young. I also remember having popcorn and grape juice on Sundays with my grandma and grandpa Hermann when we visited. So I found this on E-Bay. Surprisingly cheap. I purchased the popcorn kits and I made my first batch this week. It was great. It made quite a lot for one batch. I brought the rest to work for everyone to munch on and they all loved it too. It tastes just like the popcorn you get at the movie theater. We are planning a movie night next Saturday. I cant wait.

Things I am grateful for.

I was inspired by my Aunt Kris's post on her blog about blessings. Sometimes people only think about the negative things or what goes wrong and so on. I would like to take a moment to put down some of the many things I am grateful for.

My health
My husband
My kids
Having a job
A home
My family
My in-laws
My friends
Grateful for all the trips and places I have been able to go to and see if it wasn't for my in-laws.
I am grateful every morning and find joy in all the little things.
I am very grateful I have a wonderful life and people that love me.

Happy Birthday Lana

I wanted to say happy birthday to my mother-in-law Lana. Yesterday was her birthday. I hope you had a great day!

Girls trip

Well the girls trip this year is going to be going on a cruise. Going on Royal Caribbean to Cozumel and Key West. Leaving 6/17 as we are going down a day early. Every year we take a girls trip. Lana, Linda, Melissa, Chris, me and this year Michele is going. Very excited about it. Will be a lot of fun. Every year we take a girls trip and have went to some very wonderful places. So the reservations have been made. Now the hard part is finding and trying on a new swimsuit. yuck

Paint choices

Well I need to ask about a color choice for the bedroom. We got the beaded board yesterday at Lowe's. Also the chair rail. Well I cant figure out what color I want to make the room. I am going to paint the beadboard white. The bed is black I have a picture of it on my blog click here to check it out. I don't know how to have you press on a word and it takes you to that part in my blog. I will have to get with Julie or my Aunt Kris on that. The rest of the furniture will be black also. I have hardwood floors. I am looking for suggestions. Please help. I have a million paint samples on my wall now. They all look pretty. I am not set on a certain color at all. But I don't want yellow or red. Thanks everyone.

Sweet and Sour Pork

We came across a recipe for sweet and sour pork a month ago on Food Network and we tried it out. Boy did it turn out great! It is simple and fast to make. We made a pan of rice to go with it. Wanted to share it with everyone in case they wanted to try it out. We made it again tonight and it was just as good as the last time.

1 tablespoon sesame oil
salt and pepper
4 boneless pork chops
1 cup apricot preserves
2 tablespoons reduced sodium soy sauce
1 teaspoon ginger
1/4 cup chopped scallions

Heat sesame oil in a large skillet over median high heat. Season pork chops all over with salt and pepper and add them to hot pan. Cook chops 2 minutes per side, until golden brown. Add apricot preserves, soy sauce and ginger and bring to a simmer. Partially cover and simmer 5 minutes, until pork is cooked through. Remove from heat and stir in scallions.
I usually make a pan of rice and eat it with that.

Very good! Only takes around 9 minutes to cook. Hope you like this.

Bedroom decision

Well today we did all our errands. Was very pleased. But did not go see a movie yet. Will try for next week. We did make another big decision on the guest bedroom. Decided to put beadboard on the bottom half of it. Then paint the top half. Going with white beadboard. Cant wait. Going to pick it up tomorrow after breakfast with Cory's parents. I cant wait to get going on this project.

Errands

Going to Ikea real quick to exchange something. I got a picture frame and it was broken. Got it the Christmas weekend. Went there with Cory's mom, Lana and her sister Linda, Cory's Aunt Beth, his cousin Melissa and his sister Chris and his niece Jordon. Very fun day. Cory's mom got me a Bookshelf for the guest room among other nice stuff for my Christmas present. So we are running there today to exchange something then off to Kohl's to spend my Kohl's cash I got. Today is the last day to use it. We may see a movie. I would like to see the Will Smith movie 7 pounds. But we may end up seeing Marley and me. Anyone see 7 pounds? Is it good? I guess I don't know what it is about. I am not too interested in watching the Brad Pitt movie. His movies tend to be long...... Have to go to Lowe's to look at chair railing. Very excited about getting the room done.

Paint it is....

After overwhelming response I decided I was going to go with paint. My Aunt Diane made a point that I will sell the house eventually so my taste in wallpaper may differ than the prospective buyers. But I will wallpaper in our new house. I love wallpaper! Thank you for all your advice.