Goodness gracious, the rain is just pouring down here in Texas, not just where I am, but pretty much all over the State, and we've even had some tornadoes down in San Antonio, floods in Austin and Dallas.....just a total mess.


Here is what my house looks like, it doesn't even feel like it's early in the day, it may as well be close to sunset.

I don't mind though, it makes everything so cozy and warm.


I don't know, but I really like this photo, the glowing of the candle, the silhouette of the skeleton, the orange Halloween lights in the background, just love it.


These guys look pretty neat too. I swear you just throw in some cute lights and it creates the perfect atmosphere.


As I said, the rain has been coming down hard since last night, just non stop and at times quite torrential, actually that's how it is this very second.

I had started typing up this post earlier this morning and the power went out, and came back right away  I started back again and then it went out and was out for a good 2 hours, I didn't even know what to do with myself, isn't that sad?

I turned off my laptop because it needs charging and I couldn't charge it, I was on my phone but that was needing charge too and likewise, I couldn't charge it, and I couldn't watch TV to pass the time either, so I found myself walking around the house aimlessly, not quite sure what to do.  Amazing how dependent we get on technology and internet.



Thankfully the power is back up and the kids and I are watching Monster Quest on TV, it's such a fun show, interesting too.


I'm going to enjoy the show, enjoy the rain and take it easy today. 

Do wish you all a wonderful Friday and a relaxing weekend.

So I have some photos to show you, just a few decorations I put up.  I didn't put up anything big outside like we did previous years, not just because the kids are bigger now and not much into that, but we're also out in the country, and really, aside from the field mice and the owls, who is going to see it???

I did want to make it a little more Halloweeny in here but keep it simple and quick to remove since we're literally on top of the day.

Hung this little sign on our front door, not that anyone will see it, but we will and that counts too right?



Have had these 3 for such a long time, they usually go up in my kitchen but I have zero space in this new one, so I hung them up in the family room.


Family room window, strung some orange lights around the big window, added some black fabric and sat this skeleton on the bench.

He's not too thrilled to be there and has taken quite a few tumbles already, currently he is laying on the ground face up and I'm too tired to go mess with him again, so I'll leave it for tomorrow.



Here's the window in the living room, also strung lights, added the same kind of black meshy fabric and then added those two skeletons facing the window, and a black mouse.  *shiver*



This ghostie has survived a lot, he has been with us since Arizona and has been in dust storms, then through snow and rain storms in Idaho and now here he is, still going, looking a little ratty but I can't bear to part with him.

I didn't know how to hang him up because somewhere along the line, he lost his string, so I kind of propped him on my lamp.  Ha!!!



These were literally thrown into the corner of my entry way, for lack of an idea on where to place them.  Oh well, there he lays.....



And that is is, not much but enough to give the house a cute little holiday feeling.

Nick does not want to dress up this year, I'm not even sure if he wants to trick or treat at all.  Jasmine on the other hand picked out a costume and still wants to trick or treat hahaha

I'm not sure if she will be in the mood for it as things have kind of come up since yesterday.   She has been dating a very sweet boy for the past year and almost a half, but things are a little rough right now and they've decided to take a small break.  She is heartbroken of course, and oh my word, I am not prepared for this stuff at all.

Friends, I've been through it, obviously, we all know how it feels at 16, everything you go through is felt so much more deeper and stronger.  As a woman I understand what she's feeling, and it's not even a real break up, it's a little break, but still......as a mom though, Lord help me.

It's so hard not to get involved and you want to find out how they're feeling and want to know what's going exactly, and for them to talk to you and tell you, but she's not ready, and I'm stepping back and allowing her to just deal with it on her own, knowing full well that dad and I are here if she needs us.

It's not a fun thing to go through or to watch your child go through.  I have a very good relationship with her boyfriend, he calls me mom and comes to me for advice on a lot of things or if he needs to vent about something and needs a shoulder.  I've come to think of him as a son and love him as one, which makes all of this so much harder.

Ultimately my daughter is my priority, but I do care about him through this too, so I'm trying to be there for both, giving them space, listening when they want to talk without judging or telling them what to do or not to do.

This is one of the parts of being a parent that is so hard.  I kind of want to run to my own parents and be like "what do I do?  you take over I don't want to do this".  Seriously!!!

I'm sorry friends, this is turning into a pretty long post, very reminiscent of my old blog posts where I would babble about everything and anything, but the truth is that I think of you all as close friends and I know that many of you have gone through this with your own kids, or are going through it now and sometimes it helps to just let it out.

I kind of feel like I haven't caught a break the past few months, it really is one thing after another and it's getting to the point where I'm starting to laugh through this because it's that ridiculous.  Good grief, life needs to back off our family for a bit.

Anyway, yeah, so they're taking a break, they both love each other very much but it's a long distance relationship and it's rough and they're young and all of that and a bag of chips, and here we are.

One thing I want to make very clear though, I do NOT agree with people saying that just because someone is young they don't know what they're doing, their relationship shouldn't be taken seriously, or their feelings are not valid.  Just DON'T!!!!  I don't care how young someone is, to them their feelings are real, the love they feel is real, the heartache is real and the hurt is very much real.

All this to say that......I'M NOT READY TO DO THIS!!!  Can't we just go back to those days where she was 6 and crying over a lost shoe???

One thing I've learned though, is to never take a single moment as parents for granted.  Those times we complained about them being toddlers and needing us for everything and how we couldn't wait until they did things on their own????  Blink of an eye and they're teenagers.

Now I could sit and complain about this all, and as much as I don't want to deal with it and don't feel ready for any of this, I am gladly going to embrace it and ride it out, because I know I'm going to blink and they'll be in college and then getting married and having kids and I'll miss all of it, including these rough teenage years.



Alright, after that, I need a cookie, and I have a huge batch of these delicious chunky Andes Mint Chocolate Chip cookies in my kitchen.  Yeah, I'm putting away 1 or 2 before bed, which is right about now.

I'm tired, life has been draining lately, both hubby and I were saying this morning how we feel like we just can't catch up on sleep.  We wake up every morning just as tired as the night before.  It sucks!!!

Ok, cookies, then bed.  Goodnight all, oh and if you have any expert advice on how to make it through these teenage years, broken hearts, feeling like the world is ending etc etc.....feel free to leave them below, I would very much appreciate them :)

Oh goodness, life really has been  crazy lately, I had full intentions of making this long sappy post of how life is unfair and blah blah blah, but when I opened up blogger I thought "you know what?  maybe your attitude is what is making your life so hard, maybe you need to listen to what God is telling you and just pull your big girl panties up and get on with it."

So I changed my mind, and I'm not going to do a woe is me post, because to be honest with you, I'm over it and I'm tired of it.  Everyone (including me), says that life is what you make of it, you think negatively and negativity is what will come, you think positively and that is what you will reap.

I've been so caught up in my shortcomings and bad situations the past few months that I have allowed myself to change, and become someone I'm not and don't want to be.  DONE, dusted, enough, let's get on with life shall we?

So as the kids have grown up, I've realize that a lot of things have changed and especially when it comes to certain celebrations, Halloween for example.

It's just around the corner, literally a few days away and I have not a single decoration in or outside the house.  No pumpkins have been carved, no costumes had been planned, nothing and all because I just assumed that the kids are too old and don't want to do any of it.  Then yesterday, the kids and I were talking and they both expressed the wanting of still celebrating Halloween and dressing up and getting candy and carving pumpkins.

If they want it, hey, I'm not going to say no, I will gladly go along with it, as it is it may just be the last time we do it, Jasmine is already 16 and Nicholas is 12.

We went to Walmart after Curt got home from work, and Jasmine picked out a cute costume.  Nick on the other hand, does not want to dress up, he just wanted a pumpkin to carve.  My baby boy is growing up.

As we were picking the pumpkins, Jasmine told me she was feeling kind of sick and light headed, and next thing I know, she's fainted.  Let me tell you, there is nothing like watching your child drop to the ground, my heart jumped out of my chest, I'm so glad my husband was with us.  She came out of it pretty quick.

This has now happened twice and both times have been because she doesn't eat.  It's been a struggle with this child to eat properly, for a long time, years actually.  If I don't force her to eat or remind her, she will go a whole day without really eating or drinking anything.

Now when I was a teenager I had a similar occurrence, I used to start feeling light headed and sick to my stomach and would either pass out or come close to it.  I went to the doctor and he said it's common in teenagers and that my blood pressure/blood sugars were dropping fast and that I needed to always have something either sweet or salty with me so that when I began feeling like that I would quickly eat.

I think I have to start doing the same with Jasmine.  She is tiny for her age, I mean, really tiny, she's not even 100 pounds and she doesn't eat much at all, so I'm pretty sure, actually my mother's instinct knows, she is not getting enough food, she is probably dehydrated and I'm pretty certain she is lacking in vitamins.

I'm going to have to start monitoring her food intake very closely and making sure she is eating something for breakfast, lunch and dinner.  After that incident yesterday, I asked her what she had eaten all day and the answer was "5 little pizza rolls", and this was 5:30pm.  Really?????

My word!!!


Miss Lola had also had a seizure the night before.  She for some reason was down to having a seizure every 3 weeks, on the dot, and then we decided to do a little test with her and stop giving her the seizure medication because the side effects and the fact that it messes with their liver, was worrying us.  The vet had told us, both in Idaho and here in Texas, that if they have one only seizure every month or 3 weeks, that a lot of pet owners opt to not medicate them.

We decided to try and she has done really well off the meds, matter of fact this seizure was exactly a month and a half from her last one.


That little face, she kills me with cuteness :)

Miss Bella is doing ok, she really has aged a lot the past few months and I feel awful.  She is not in pain, but her back legs are really giving out, it doesn't stop her though she still tries to run around and do everything she's always done.  Our goal is to keep her comfortable and give her as much love and attention as we can for whatever time she has left with us.


She is the sweetest pug ever.

We have been blessed with the most wonderful of pets, truly.

I wanted to show you two little goodies that I've been indulging in, naughtily indulging in and I really shouldn't but, come on.....


The Dipped Peanut Brittle is from Braum's and the Kahlua Chocolates is actually from Ross.  Both divine, both so bad, but so good.  You know we all deserve a little naughty indulgence from time to time though.

Right, so moving on to my latest crochet.  I still have the scarf going, though to be honest I haven't done much on it.

This next project is something that I was really in the mood for and I loved the first one I made, I found it to be so much fun and such a simple, easy and quick pattern.



Yep, it's another Corner to Corner blanket.  If you want to try your hand at one, and trust me, they are highly addictive, check out the pattern here.  Scroll down on the page and there is also a video that shows you exactly how to do it, it can be a little confusing at first, but once you see the video you will understand and then it becomes one of those mindless projects that you can just work on at any time of the day without having to pay much attention to counting stitches etc.

Alright friends, I need to get off of here, it's almost 8am and I'm kind of hungry so I'm thinking it's time to refill my coffee cup and toast myself two slices of that Pumpkin Spice Swirl Bread.

Have a wonderful Wednesday!!!

Good morning friends, I have to apologize for this post going up so late, but I have not had a chance to get it up any earlier.

My morning has been super busy and I've been on the go since 5:30am, my apologies.  Anyway, let's get this ball rolling shall we???



The Weather:::
After a week of rain and cool temperatures, we are back to sunny skies.  The temps are staying low though which makes me super happy, matter of fact I've already started wearing my long sleeved pj's to bed.  Oh yeah, welcome Fall weather :)

Right now I am:
Sitting down in the living room with Jasmine.  She is playing a game online with her boyfriend, and I'm finally getting to type up this post.

Thinking:
About all that I need to do, I have a bit on my list.  Here's what is on my mind, in no particular order:

• Thanksgiving Menu, who is coming over, who is not, how many of us will it be
• Need to call to make my appointment for next month
• I really want to catch up on some shows
• Want to find a book to download for my Kindle, watched a show about it yesterday and am hoping I can find it.
• Gotta make sure the kids school is caught up

On my reading pile:::
Still working through the first Nora Roberts book I downloaded
Have a cookbook that came in for review so been looking through that one

On my tv:::
Lockup Raw
The Voice Portugal
Whatever else is on the DVR

On the menu for this week:::

Monday - Beef and Wine Stew, Salad
Tuesday - Shepherd's Pie, Mixed Veggies
Wednesday - Pork Parmigiana, Spaghetti, Broccoli
Thursday -  Orange Chicken, Rice
Friday - BBQ Ribs, Fries, Baked Beans
Saturday -  Fried Chicken, Homemade Mac & Cheese, Green Beans
Sunday - Steaks with Pepper Sauce, Rice, Salad

On my to do list:::
Homemaking
Laundry
School

What I am sewing, crocheting, knitting or creating:::
Painting some bedroom furniture.  Our bed is black but the side tables are white and the tv cabinet is wood.  It's a mismatched bunch of craziness that is driving me insane, so I've been painting everything black to match the bed.


Looking around the house:::
It's bright....I know, weird thing to say but after the past week of rain showers and dark cloudy skies, it's like a veil was lifted and the whole house looks super bright.  I have to tidy around the living rooms today, it's always like this after the weekend, I feel like a tornado came through.

From the camera:::
My Lola, can't say no to that adorable little face



On my prayer list:::
My grandmother, for continued recovery
My daughter's boyfriend's grandmother who is also recovering from a stay in the hospital

Bible verse, Devotional:::

Hi everyone, come on in and sit with me a little.  I have some yummy coffee and tea for you and lots of pics and menu ideas.

I finally made it to the grocery store this morning, and honestly I was hoping to rather stay in bed all day because the weather is quite dreadful, but in a good Fall way.

Cloudy, grey, cold and perfect for staying indoors.

Anyway, I am glad I went because we desperately needed food, and it's also much cheaper to shop between military paydays.

As always, I bought food for 2 weeks and managed to stay under budget, coming in right under $250 at $247.43.  Not bad at all and I bought a few items that were not on the list, some extra things and what I call luxury items.


I'm frying some fish up this coming week and wanted some fish fillets.  These Tilapia were on sale for $2.59 each.


Cubed steak to make some Korean Beef Bowls.  Look at the price?


Chicken Tenderloins, I always get these because they're pretty inexpensive at the commissary, I can't get any cheaper elsewhere.  Picked up two packages for Orange Chicken.


Chicken Tenders just $2.50 and the kids like those for lunch.  Two boxes of Totino's Pizza Rolls for lunches too.  Some baking margarine and two blocks of cheese, both were less than $2.


Some mixed veggies, Broccoli cuts and Green peas.


Potatoes O' Brien which I will be using tomorrow to make Breakfast Burritos for the freezer, and two packages of Cheese Tortellini for a meal.


Pie Crust for a Beef Pie.


Sausage Biscuits, Pizza, Milk, Creamer, Cheese Slices, Plain Yogurt, Butter for me, Pepperoni for Pizza, Salami Sub Package was on sale for $3.00, Maple sausage for the breakfast burritos and ground beef.

4 pounds of ground beef, they were on sale for around $3.00 each.

Sausage Biscuits for hubby, he likes to grab these in the morning on the way to work. Two Digiorno Pizzas on sale for $4.25 each so I got a Supreme and a Three Meat.  These will be for weekend lunches.

Sunny D Orange Juice, and two dozen eggs, they were on sale today for $1.74 each.  Wonderful seeing eggs so cheap again after the last few months.

From the left, Onions, Potatoes, Romaine Lettuce, Bananas, Baby carrots and Roma tomatoes.

Kids have been asking to try the Krave Cereals and since I had to get them some today I decided to try them, they were $2.50 and the Raisin Bran for hubby was $2.00.  Some Melba Toast for me for quick lunches, Pocky for Jasmine, Snack Pack pudding, Fish n' Chips Seafood Batter, Ritz Crackers.

McCafe coffee French Vanilla it was only $4.39.  Elbow Macaroni for Mac & Cheese and Rice.

Ramen Noodles for quick lunches.

Bisquick Mix and then I picked up these 3 Cookie Mixes that were on sale for 98c each.

Shrimp Chips for hubby, me and Nick, Jasmine does not like seafood of any kind so I got her the Pocky above.  Tortilla Chips for the Nachos I'm making this week.

Haven't bought Pringles in forever but they were having a sale and they came out to 74c each, not bad at all.

Applesauce for Jasmine, she loves it.  Tetley Black Tea bags and Powdered Sugar.

Salad croutons, two packs of peppered country gravy for biscuits and gravy for tomorrow's breakfast, and one pack of ranch mix for some chicken I'm making.

Kids asked me to get some ravioli for lunches.  I don't usually get it, I mean it's been about a year since the last time.  Baked beans to go with ribs on the menu, diced green chilies for my breakfast burritos, green beans, beef gravy, pizza sauce and sweet corn.

Garlic salt, vegetable oil, olive oil, vinegar and Olive Garden Italian Dressing.  I don't usually get the dressing, I either make my salads with a simple Portuguese dressing of vinegar, olive oil and salt and pepper, or we use ranch, so this was a bit of a splurge for us.

Pimiento stuffed olives, Apple Butter because you can't go into fall without it.  I usually make my own but being a bit lazy right now, I will make my own once this jar is empty though.  Peanut butter, orange marmalade and a small jar of Nescafe instant coffee for a quick coffee when I don't want to get the whole coffee machine going.

Toothpaste, Jasmine's Secret Deodorant, Sure deodorant for me, Nivea cream for me, Revlon Hair color for me to cover these dratted grey hairs and some razors for hubby.

Napkins, paper plates and trash bags, I do like the Green Apple scented ones.  I usually get the cheap bags, whatever I can find on sale, but decided to spend the $5.00 on these today.

Laundry Stain remover, Fabric Booster, AA and AAA batteries because the hubby and kids are constantly needing them for their computer mouse or game controllers.

Toilet Paper, I know not the most expensive, but it's fine for us and really what it's used for is good enough.  Beef flavored treats for the girls.

So there you have it, all of that was $247.00 dollars.

Let me show you the menu for the next two weeks so you can see where these ingredients are going.

Sunday 25th - Macho Nachos

Monday 26th - Beef Wine Stew, Salad

Tuesday 27th - Shepherd's Pie, Mixed Veggies

Wednesday 28th - Pork Parmigiana, Spaghetti, Broccoli

Thursday 29th - Orange Chicken, Rice

Friday 30th - BBQ Ribs, Fries, Baked Beans

Saturday 31st - Fried Chicken, Mac & Cheese, Green Beans

Sunday 1st - Steaks with Pepper Sauce, Rice, Salad

Monday 2nd - Fish and Chips, Veggies

Tuesday 3rd - Thai Peanut Beef, Rice

Wednesday 4th - One Pot Garlic Ranch Chicken, Spaghetti

Thursday 5th - Salisbury Steak, Mashed potatoes

Friday 6th - Cheese Ravioli, Garlic Bread

Saturday 7th - Homemade Pepperoni Pizza

Alright ladies, I do hope you enjoyed the haul and the menu, I need to get off here and go watch the new Doctor Who.  Have a wonderful Saturday :)