what would you have in your valentine's playlist???

we are having a valentine's party at work & we need suggestions for a "valentine's playlist".  this is pretty easy for me since i'm a HUGE r&b fan, i love me some patti labelle!  isn't she the greatest?!?  i hope to be as beautiful & rambunctious as she is at 70!!!

so i'm wondering who would you suggest for our playlist?  this is who i suggested:

prince (who doesn't love a short man in a purple velvet suit with high heels?)  ;)

adele

boys 2 men

bryan adams (can you say prom night?) =)

al green

poison (nothing says love like a hair band & bret michaels!)

366 days of photos week 4

on to another week of photos.  here is what week 4 had in store for us...

day 22: sunday 1/22/12

ready for a birthday party, the wind was horrific that day!!!

omg!!  look at that booty!  don't you just want to squeeze those legs & cheeks?!?

hopp kidnapped the birthday boy's grandma.  they had the best time taking her out there on the rink.  grandma can skate too!  she was at least in her 60s & was skating like she was a teen!  :o)

q in action.  it was hard getting a shot of her once those skates went on!  this was their first time to skate & they had a blast!

this is what happens when it gets windy around here!  ugh we are all having allergy stuff because of this wind now!  :(

day 23: monday 1/23/12

this was right before i went to bed monday evening.  if i don't leave my glasses on my cubby by chair i forget where they are in the morning & it's not a good thing!  one day hopp got a surprise because she found my glasses one morning.  :o)  this is the big 1lb lily yarn cone i bought at hobb lobb the other day for the dishcloths.  she wants all of them in white so she can bleach them.  i was thinking of making apple cozies with left over white & dip dyeing them.  maybe in ombres or something.  :o)

day 24: tuesday 1/24

a hair post!!!  actually sunday was a hair post but the wind is so bad you can't tell what we did.  q got a bended pony & hopp has a mini pony, both with bows of course.  :o)  i think hopp is getting the hang of looking at the camera & smiling is sometimes optional. 

here's some of our fish.  we have bright pink tetras & some blue ones that are now light pink.  they are called strawberry tetras & blueberry tetras.  they are so pretty in color.  our sucker fish is an albino chocolate plecostomus.  he is so cool looking & his eyes are about the same brown/pink color he is.  if you look in the right top corner you will see our rainbow fish.  he's not technically rainbow anything but in the light he shimmers different colors sometimes.  we have several other fish not pictured.  oh & yes that is neon gravel at the bottom.  my mil bought the girls new gravel when we changed out the last gravel.  :o)

day 25: wednesday 1/25/12

i see this everyday when i pick up hopp from daycare & i always look for it.  i like it for some reason.  i'm sure it was purely accidental when it happened but it's a forever piece of nature, well until they get a new driveway some day.  :o)

day 26: thursday 1/26/12


look at her face!  hopp is so funny!  she always raises her eyebrows at us & then looks up & out at us.  i just barely caught it but i'm hoping to get the full effect real soon.  she is eating some pineapple sherbet with some big red in it.  they tore it up!  we ate at the MIL's house for her bday, we brought her bbq from square's, my fave bbq place in town.  it's so good!!!!  they have this awesome baked potato that they load it up with cheese, butter & add brisket or sausage or ham on it & then you put their bbq sauce on it & it's the best thing ever!!!  if you haven't had a baked potato with bbq sauce & bbq meat you haven't lived yet!!!  you gotta try it!




  day 27: friday 1/27/12

we had a chili cook-off at work on friday.  this is what my friend maria brought to the cook-off.  she is so crafty!  that right there is a rice krispie treat colored & shaped into a chili pepper!!!  isn't that the cutest?!?!?

q & hopp were playing games friday night.  right before they were going to play princess memory, they were playing candyland & q was teaching her how to play it was so sweet & cute!  my girls are growing up!!!

day 28: saturday 1/28/12

the girls love playing the buddy bucks machine at heb!  we never really do anything with the points.  we keep them in the little booklets but we never redeem the points.  we have won several instant winner stickers & got the prizes for those though. 

i did my nails on saturday & i started with opi's cuckoo for this color (emerald green), i didn't care for it so i decided to add a coat of opi's alter ego (opalized super light pink) 

cuckoo for this color (mine was NOT this sparkly!)

alter ego

 so what do you get when you add the alter ego to cuckoo for this color???

a beautiful blue!  it's more of a smokey blue in real life but i love the color!  who knew that emerald green with an opaly-pink overlay would result in blue?!?  {{the blue nails are my actual hand, the green & opal are from google images :o)}}

this is what they look like in the sunlight, if you can tell, the tips are more green with the light behind them.  i love the different effects it gave me.  i do have to say that opi polish is definitely worth the money!  i'm on day 3 & NONE of it is chipped or wearing off!  i have natural nails & polish doesn't stay on my nails for more than a day!  this stuff is amazing!!!  i do have to say that i WILL NOT pay full price for it.  i will always by this stuff on clearance.  i just can't justify paying over $4 (opi is more than $8) a bottle for nail polish!!! 

well, that's all for last week, come back next monday for what's going on with us this week.  :o)
i hope to post some stuff on wednesday & friday so come back & check it out. 

wip wednesday

HAPPY HUMP DAY!!!!

i finally have the time to post a wip!  i met a really nice lady at the craft show & she asked me to make her some dishcloths.  i'm on my second one of 4.  this is in the same stitch as the miss callie blanket i did awhile back, it's called the block stitch.  i'm about ½ the way done.

well, that's all for me today.  head over to tami's amis to see all the other stuff being worked on.  :)

366 days of photos week 3

instead of 366 photos, i'm now calling it 366 days of photos because sometimes a day may need more photos!  :)

so here is week 3 for 2012:

day 15: sunday 1/15/12

after church with nana all dressed up

after taking off church clothes, it was time for some outside play time.  i saw her playing with this giant limb from one of our trees, i asked her if she was playing a cello & showed her a pic of what a cello looked like & she said that was what she was doing.  :)  maybe she will be a concert cello player one day.

day 16: monday 1/16/12

play date at the park.  i didn't get to chat with the moms like i had hoped because my sister came down but i love this pic of my nephew.  he is giving amanda hell & i love it.  she is finally paying for her raising with him.  he is so funny!  yep, that's q in the dirt...  where else would she be?  she loves her dirt!  :)

day 17: tuesday 1/17/12

i need to get a better pic but this is what one of my neighbors did for a different take on how to display your house number.  it's really cute when they have them filled with flowers that are bloomed.

day 18: wednesday 1/18/12

got stuck behind a train at lunch.  thought i would take this for my pic for the day. 



a finished baby blanket i did for my husband's aunt, someone at her work is having a bambina so she asked me to make her one.  it's a shell stitch blanket, the usual one i make.



day 19: thursday 1/19/12

my work stamper.  i got this from when i worked at the phone book & i kept it when i moved over to my current job.  this has been a lifesaver on so many occasions when i want to cover my ass.  :)  the example of the stamper is on top of it & it was stamped AUG 10 2005!  i've had this sucker for quite some time.  :o)

day 20: friday 1/20/12

this is my dinero for dawson change jar.  a dear friend of mine has a little boy that turned 2 last august & they found out a couple of months ago that he has high functioning autism.  they are doing the local autism 5k in april & i started up a jar for them.  i think we are going to do a garage sale soon too.  those are always great fundraisers!

day 21: saturday 1/21/12

the morning after q's sleep over we did a couple things with the girls (the pics of the party are to come soon).  all the girls got "tats" on their arms, they loved it & thought they were so grown.  :)  clockwise: q, jess, isabella, katelyn & hopp.  q is holding up a tiny pascal from tangled that was on her cake.

this was a pinterest find, another craft for the morning after, pascal party blowers.  they are the blowers with the design taken off & i cut up foam head shapes & stapled (didn't want to wait for glue to dry) fronts & backs together.  then glued on eyes & "sharpied" on a mouth.  you can find the tutorial here & so many other tangled birthday ideas.  :)

hopp chillin' in my lap with party favors, jess is in the background watching a movie with us all snuggled up with her blanket.

i later went out with some friends from work for roger's (pictured) birthday.  look at this fabulous drink!!!  it's called the fishbowl, as you can see, it's bigger than his head!!!  maria & her sister were sharing it & i couldn't believe it only cost $10!!!  it was pretty tasty, they put a little in my empty rum & coke glass so i could taste it.  not for sure what all is in it, this is what i could remember, blue curacao or whatever it's called, sprite, banana liquor, that's all i remember but it was sweet & fruity.  i think it probably had some pineapple juice in it too.  they should put gummy fish in there. 
just in case you were wondering, it was a plastic bowl, i'm sure for drunk-ass safety reasons.  :)

well, that's it for the week in photos.  i actually did pretty good this week since i had a photo for every single day.  :o)

DELISH DIP!!!! (with detailed instructions)

i wanted to share this new recipe, i can't take credit for it but i can take credit for posting it right?!?  anywho, i looked all over the web for this & couldn't find this exact recipe.  it's called Popper Dip.  there is one recipe out there with most of the same ingredients but this is the only gf/low carb versions out there.  PLUS you don't have to bake it!!! 
so here goes the recipe, i can guarantee you won't be disappointed!!!!

popper dip: see below for better pic

you will need
1 8oz pkg of cream cheese
1 8oz container of sour cream
1 cp of cheese (i used mexican cheese with the 4 different types of cheeses but feel free to use your favorite cheese)
1 pkg of the dry hidden valley ranch dip (you know, the seasoning packets)
½ pkg of real bacon bits (feel free to make your own bacon, this is just the easiest version, i used the hickory smoked oscar mayer brand)
1-2 seeded jalapenos (i only needed 2 because mine were HUGE)

1. chop your peños.  i prefer the minced (the smaller the better for me) version.  i used both pickled & fresh peños, i prefer the pickled due to i'm not a real jalapeño fan.  i don't care for the fresh taste of peños plus they give a more crunch to your dip if fresh if you like that kind of thing.  you can actually leave them out if you want but they won't have that jalapeño popper flavor.  when you mince it, it gives it a hint of spice & a small amount of the flavor.  :o)

2. soften the cream cheese in the micro, my micro has a setting for that but if yours doesn't, just stick it in for about 20 seconds or so.  then you need to whip it with a hand mixer. then when whipped, add your hvr dip seasoning & the container of sour cream.  it was just easier this way mixing it with my hand mixer.  my hand mixer is a total BEAST!!!  on the first setting is your usual high setting for normal mixers but not on mine!  it's super high on the first setting & only gets faster. 

3. after you have blended the seasoning, cream cheese & sour cream smoothly together you will just add everything else; peños, cheese, bacon bits.  mix till everything is combined.  we ate this right away the first time & it was a bit on the ranchy side.  we left it in the fridge overnight & it was absolutely to-die-for the next day!  the second time i used the fresh peños i didn't need to wait overnight.  the fresh ones were so potent in flavor it really toned down the seasoning.

so in a nutshell, mix your soft cheeses with your seasoning until completely smooth then, add your peños, bacon & shredded cheese & mix until all is combined.  it's that easy, just thought i would really break it down ahead of time.  :o)


see those fresh peños?  this was the second batch.

we serve them with ruffles or the wavy chips because they are thick, the thin chips would probably break too easy.  the hubby ate this with carrots & he said it was so good.  so if you really want to do the whole low carb thing, eat with celery or other low carb veggies.  :o) 

we are having a chili cook off at work next week & i'm bringing this.  imagine how good it would be in your chili!!!! 

366 photos week 2

Day 8: Sunday 1/8/12

here's a picture q made at school.  this made us laugh because flowers is the most country-phonetically spelled word!  how did she get television but not flowers.  i love art work like this and of course it's her watering the "flars" because she has curly hair.  :o) 

Day 9: Monday 1/9/12

Q's birthday cupcakes for school.  the kids didn't know why they had Qs on them.  :)  i didn't know if i had enough icing for all the cupcakes so i had a genius moment & just put letter Qs on each one.  chocolate was gf & the vanilla were regular.

here she is holding one that was leftover. 

Day 10: Tuesday 1/10/12

she was being so good at the dr office that morning.  they have a small section for kids, we were at the gastro for a follow-up for her tummy issues.  all has been going great since we cut out wheat.  :)

Day 11: Wednesday 1/11/12

at nana's & diddy's for our wednesday night dinners at their house.  she is working with q on her homework.

hopp cheezin' for a photo.  finally, i think she got the concept of smiling at the camera  :o)

Day 12: Thursday 1/12/12

my boss did a local dancing with the stars for a local children's home fundraiser.  these were her goody sacks for the people that supported her with some money for the event.  i put all her pics on the sacks & tied bows on them, all 63 of them!!! 

Day 13: Friday 1/13/12  OOPS!  FORGOT TO TAKE A PIC!!!  :o(



Day 14: Saturday 1/14/12


how cute is this?!?!?!?!? this is hopp & her friend k.  her mom & i were walking the mall early sat & they played on the playground while we did our thing.  they decided to hold hands on the way to chick-fil-a for a drink & i got this. 



fo today!!!

so i found this apple jacket pattern from a fellow blogger (sarah makes some of the most beautiful stuff & i'm really jealous that she can knit & crochet!) that is so absolutely super easy & so super cute!  so here are some that i have made.

i call them apple cozies.  aren't they adorable?!?

i actually had a friend request 5 of them from me so i have 2 more to make.  she is going to give them to the ladies in her group that are trying to eat better.  :o)  they are on the small size so i may venture out & try to make some big enough for the big red delicious kind.

don't forget to head over to tami's amis & check out all the great finished handmade items.  :o)  have a great weekend, i know i'm going to.  i get monday off for Dr Martin Luther King day!  thank you Dr King for all you did!  i know i may not have the family i do now if it wasn't for you!  well, i probably would but you know what i mean.  :o)

totally forgot to mention... birthday shout out!!!

my sweet, funny, sensitive, girly little q turned 6 today!!!! 

happy birthday curly q!  love you more than you will ever know!!!! 


here's a few of my fave pics of her through the years...

1st birthday 07

easter 07

feb 07

aug 10

halloween 07



me & my buddy jun 07



always a princess 08

these are just the ones i found in one file, lots more to go through but not enough time.  :o)