100 Things About Me

I'm going to confess something. I am addicted to reading other people's blogs. It is interesting to see how other people spend their time, live their lives, and how they do their blogs.

One interesting thing that I've seen that I'm going to try is a list of 100 things about me. I hope you learn a thing or two that you didn't already know, maybe I will too...

1. I am hopelessly optimistic.
2. I love old hymns.
3. I don't like olives.
4. My favorite season is fall.
5. My least favorite season is summer.
6. I love classic country music.
7. I went on my first cruise this year.
8. I enjoy making custom cakes for my friends and family.
9. My favorite color is blue.
10. My name is Hebrew and means "dark as night".
11. In the next three months I will celebrate the following: the birthdays of all 3 children, my birthday, and our anniversary.
12. I don't watch scary movies.
13. I love to watch baseball and football with my husband.
14. I like my room to be cold when I sleep.
15. I love going to antique shops.
16. I am afraid of heights.
17. My first car was a standard, Grey Ford Ranger.
18. I lived in the same house until I was 18.
19. I miss my mom and my sister.
20. I watch more TV than I should.
21. I am obsessed with meteorology.
22. I wanted to be a fighter pilot when I grew up.
23. I love going to the drive-in.
24. My favorite things to drink are root beer and Sonic Cherry Limeade.
25. I don't like to wear shoes or socks.
26. I've never lived in another state.
27. I can't wait to use my fireplace.
28. I love to swim.
29. I wish I grew up and lived in a small town.
30. Cheesecake is my favorite dessert.
31. I wish I read more.
32. Math and I don't get along.
33. My favorite hymn is How Great Thou Art.
34. I love to decorate my home for the seasons.
35. I love to watch Chick Flicks.
36. I don't like to listen to people complain.
37. I love the smell of watermelon.
38. My favorite crafts are scrapbooking and stamping.
39. I wish I got more done during the day.
40. I would have more kids if...
41. I'm thinking about refinishing some furniture.
42. I'm bad about starting things and not finishing them.
43. I have been through 2 hurricanes.
44. Collecting horse urine was once a part-time job for me.
45. I loved that job.
46. ZZ Top has a song called "Leila"
47. I remember the first time I had Pop Tarts.
48. I heart sweet tea.
49. It's hard for me to find shoes that fit right.
50. I'm halfway through this list.
51. I love candles.
52. I don't know how to roller skate.
53. I love campfires.
54. I can curl my tongue.
55. I am left-handed.
56. I only write left-handed.
57. I used to be painfully shy.
58. I love to make people laugh.
59. I wish my family would do more together.
60. I don't have a green thumb.
61. I'm always in the mood for pizza.
62. I loved being pregnant with my babies.
63. Watching the space shuttle launch is fascinating.
64. I love to play board games and card games.
65. I'm bad at telling jokes.
66. I've eaten snake before.
67. One of my favorite memories is watching Princess Dianna's wedding at my Aunt Brenda's house.
68. I was in elementary school at lunch when the Challenger exploded.
69. I don't wear glasses.
70. I am very big on tradition.
71. I tend to be very sentimental.
72. I love anything pumpkin.
73. I love looking at photographs.
74. I love visiting museums.
75. It takes me a long time to get to know people.
76. I've never met anyone with my name.
77. My nickname growing up was "Leila-Peila-Pooh" usually followed by "whatcha gonna do?".
78. I love to go on picnics.
79. I love sea food, especially shrimp.
80. I am sarcastic at times.
81. I took a helicopter ride with my mom once.
82. I've never broken a bone.
83. I love to take road trips.
84. I wish I were a better cook.
85. I'm having trouble thinking of 15 more things about me.
86. I would love to see a tornado in person.
87. I'm thinking about converting our playroom into a craft room.
88. "Brown Eyed Girl" by Van Morrison is the ring tone on my cell phone.
89. Tony and I went to an Eagle's concert for our first date.
90. I am not coordinated enough to play Guitar Hero.
91. I love getting letters in the mail.
92. Gerber daisies are my favorite flower.
93. I watched Titanic at the movie theater 3 times.
94. I love to open my windows when the weather is cool.
95. My husband brings out the best in me.
96. I learned patience from my sister.
97. I hope you are still awake.
98. I hope you still like me.
99. I hope you know Jesus.
100. I'm hopeful.

Cinnamon Rolls At Last!

Due to circumstances beyond my control, I was never really taught "how" to cook. My real cooking experience basically started at 15 and was limited to whatever my dad would purchase at the store and cook himself, or leave for me to cook for dinner. These dinners usually consisted of anything easy that I could bake in the oven and cook on the stove top. I never cooked or baked anything from scratch. It all came from a box or a can and was paired with things like baked chicken and pork chops. We didn't complain simply because we just didn't know any better.

My mother was a wonderful cook, but she was a working mother of 4 and just did not have the time to make the majority of her cooking from scratch. I know that had her life not ended when it did, she would have gladly taught me to be a better cook.

Through the years I learned there were so many things I could cook and there were actually recipes I could try. This made Tony so happy! No more Hamburger Helper! Here we are today and I would have to say that my cooking and baking (other than cakes) has been taken to another level thanks to a to a website called Pioneer Woman. (Thanks Tammy!!) I have almost taken the cooking section of her website as a challenge. Once I started making some of the recipes, and they actually turned out and my family really enjoyed the variety, I couldn't help but keep trying. The best thing about her recipes is the photos that go with them. It's like she is in your kitchen giving you a cooking lesson!

This brings us to today. I planned on making these before Hurricane Ike decided to take away my ability to bake in my oven. Now that things are back to normal, I couldn't wait to get started on these...

The cast of characters are flour, milk, oil, baking powder, baking soda, yeast (never cooked with yeast before today), sugar, cinnamon, butter, salt, coffee, maple flavoring, and powdered sugar. If you have most of these items, you can make them too! Don't worry if you don't have the maple flavoring and coffee, you can substitute the maple flavoring with vanilla and leave out the coffee.
Avery helped my measure the oil, sugar and milk.
We scalded this on the stove and let it cool for about an hour and a half.

While the first mixture was cooling, Avery measured 8 cups of flour.

After the mixture cooled, but was still warm, Cooper added two packets of yeast. We let the yeast set and absorb some of the moisture.

Now we added the 8 cups of flour and began to stir.
Cooper began to stir and stir.
The dough began to thicken as we stirred. "Avery, put some muscle into it girl!"

It's all combined now and ready to be left to rise. We waited another hour and a half. This is where we started on the cinnamon roll version of "are we there yet?". I can't tell you how many times the kids asked me this. Finally the time came. We mixed in an additional cup of flour, a heaping tsp. of baking soda, one scant tsp. of baking powder, and one heaping Tbsp. of salt.
After mixing, we rolled out half of the dough, added butter, sugar and cinnamon. Which I photographed by the way, but it didn't look very pretty, so I didn't post it. If I could post a scratch and sniff picture I would have, and you would have scratched a hole in your screen. That's how yummy and divine it smelled!
After we rolled up the dough and watched the butter, sugar and cinnamon ooze all over my kitchen counter like lava from a volcano, we cut them up and put them in the pans to bake away. Then we got started on the icing! The icing consisted of 2lbs. of powdered sugar, 1/2 cup melted butter, 2 tsp. maple flavoring, 1/4 cup brewed coffee, and 1/2 cup of milk. Brenna and Cooper stirred it all together and we poured it over the warm rolls as they came out of the oven.
Cooper asked for these for supper, then for a snack after supper and for breakfast the next day. What, no Cheerios with sugar and milk?
This recipe made eight pans for me. I know there are only 6 1/2 in the photo. We had samples out of the partially empty pan you see here and took one to our neighbors. We took another pan to our other neighbors next door and will take 4 more to our Sunday School class in the morning. I hope they like them as much as I enjoyed making them with my kids.

I urge you to go to Pioneer Woman and explore her website, if you haven't already. I'll be anxious to hear what you have to say! You will find a printable version of this recipe there and I dare you to try it!

Vintage Thingies Thursdays

http://anapronaday.blogspot.com/

I am adding to my "vintage thingies" all the time. This one was given to me by my grandmother. It's an old Corning Ware casserole dish an my favorite thing about it is the metal trivet that came with it. It's one of my favorite dishes.

I was going to take pictures of some really old Pyrex that I have, but I used them for dinner last night and have not washed them yet. Maybe next Thursday...

As for the question about a favorite cooking/baking memory...

One of my favorite memories of baking with my mom was licking the beaters after she would mix a cake. My brothers were usually MIA so I got to lick both of them most of the time. Sometimes I would share with my sister...sometimes not. We did not do tons of baking together, but I can remember the bowl she would use every time. It was a rather large Tupperware bowl. My mother always made our birthday cakes and since there were four kids and my dad, there were several opportunities to lick beaters.

I have chosen to carry on both traditions, the cake making and beater licking. The beater licking gets complicated around here with 3. Two of the kids get a beater each and one gets a spoon. We have to be fair!

Speaking of cake, now would be a good time to post some cake pics....

Bike Tricks

With all of the beautiful weather we have had around here, the kids can't wait to go outside. This weekend Cooper requested my presence outside which meant I had to stop cleaning :-( and go see what the fuss was about. This was it.

He just had to show me all of his bike tricks!

Now, I just asked him to take a break from playing with play dough to help me give these tricks some names. He was not much help in that department. Although he did name one of the tricks below.

This one reminds me of one trick I've seen skateboarders do, but I'm not cool enough to be able to name it.
This is the one he named. He called this one "It Hurts My Butt".
Brenna couldn't be left out. This trick was inspired by her friend at school that is from India. She likes to show Brenna how they dance there and to see Brenna do the dances is really cute.
If you have known Brenna for any length of time, you know how sensitive she can be. There are times when her sensitivity border on just plain pouting. The sensitive side came when we would laugh after she would say or do something funny. She would take it the wrong way and go cry under the dining room table. Now that she's older, she knows we are not laughing at her but at what she says and she just walks off saying stuff like "I know I'm funny". Little stinker.

This time I would have to consider it a pouting episode. We figured with all of the tricks going on that now would be a good time to take off her training wheels and let her give it a shot. She liked the idea at first and has always been a little more willing to try things before the others. This willingness lasted about 10 seconds. That's how long it took for her to realize that riding without training wheels was not as easy as thought it would be. Tony and I did our best to encourage her to keep trying, that's when she walked over and plopped herself onto the grass and pouted.

Tony told her that if she would get up and ride her bike back to her training wheels, he would put them back on. That seemed to do the trick. Back on the bike she went. We will continue to encourage her to practice and I'm sure she'll be without the training wheels in no time.

Hurricane Ike, The Final Days

Once we returned home on Sunday, our days were spent cleaning up the yard, watching the kids play and ride their bikes, cooking out, and visiting with all of our wonderful neighbors.

The weather could not have been better. What a blessing that was! I typically don't enjoy being outdoors all that much here. It's the humidity and the mosquitoes. For the 5 days we went without power, humidity and mosquitoes did not exist here, a true miracle!

Our power came back on Thursday morning about 12:30. Having been teased by 5 hours of power two days before, I tried not to get my hopes up too much. After the power remained on more than 8 hours, I was certain this time it was permanent. That night the power went off twice for about 10 minutes. It's been back on since.

There are still people in our area without power. It is interesting to see how people handle being without this luxury we tend to take advantage of. I found it difficult to complain. After all, my family was safe and sound, my home was safe and sound and my biggest problem was I couldn't use my vacuum and washing machine. I couldn't complain knowing people lost their homes, their livelihood, and loved ones. Being without power is an inconvenience, not a disaster in itself.

Tomorrow morning Galveston residents will be allowed back on the island to get a look at their homes, or what used to be their homes, for the very first time. It's hard to imagine the anticipation they must feel. Some not having any idea of what they will see when they get there.

I am seeing that my autosave is acting up again. It's time to close for today.

Hurricane Ike, Day 5

After Tony took the chain saw to Limb #1 and hours spent on dragging, hauling and carrying this stuff to the curb, there was only one thing left to do. Take care of Limb #2

If you look at the top of this photo, you can see where Limb #1 broke off and fell to the ground. Limb #2 was stubborn. You can see the broken end of the limb sticking straight up in the center of this photo. It liked hanging out at the top of the tree which was it's home for many many years. After studying the position of the limb, we were able to determine that the limb was not secure. It was wedged in a "Y" of the tree and looked as if it could drop if the wind blew hard enough. It had to come down. Tony and our neighbor put their thinking caps on and devised a plan. This plan consisted of a very large metal nut (like nuts and bolts), a heavy duty extension cord and some fluorescent orange string.

You might be a redneck if you use an extension cord and fluorescent orange string to yank a limb out of a tree.....I couldn't help myself.

It's pretty high up there!
Tony and our neighbor were able to tie the orange string onto the nut and throw it over the limb and tie on the extension cord. Then it got exciting. Rather that document this excitement with my camera, I chose to sit with our neighbor's wife and watch the guys in action. I watched in horror as the limb was freed and proceeded to fall, heavy side first, about two feet in front of our neighbor. Good thing he's quick on his feet. He ended up jumping back and out of the way. If a limb was coming your way, this was not the end you would want coming after your head! Everyone was okay and there were no injuries. just a few heart palpitations!

Hurrican Ike, Day 4

Day 4 was Clean Up The Backyard Day. The above pictures were some taken the day before the storm. It was all nice and clean...

As you can see, the deck was covered and you can't even see the grass in the back. If you are looking at green, it's leaves or pine needles, not grass.
Remember the limb that fell when Tony went out during the storm? You can see it laying by the slide in the back of this photo. What you see laying on the sidewalk is how the entire yard looked.
We still can't get over the fact that this thing fell the way it did. The heavy end of the limb ended up stuck down in the ground about 6 inches.

Hurricane Ike, Day 3

Our morning started with a wonderful breakfast prepared by Tony's mom. On what I thought was a wise move on my part, I brought some items from our fridge that would not have been good if I had left them. Now, I had no expectation of these things being used while we were there. My purpose was to pass them along to his mom for their use. We arrived just before dinner time on Saturday and one of the food items I brought along was a package of chicken legs. Before we could even discuss dinner, Tony's mom had begun the process of frying it and the next thing we knew, an amazing home-cooked dinner was ready for us to eat and it didn't stop there. The next morning we ate the bacon and sausage we had brought with us, along with eggs and toast. Both meals were almost like a "last" meal in a sense. Having those two hearty meals made the idea of living off of Pop Tarts and Peanut Butter Crackers an easier pill to swallow. Thanks Mama Jan!
"Do they know something we don't?" was the question we were asking ourselves as we turned East onto Highway 105. The line of cars went on for a few miles and I didn't seem natural to be going against the traffic. We were only able to get in a few hours of television updates before we loaded up our goodies from Sam's and headed home. We were still out of the loop in some respects. We knew getting gas and food were going to be a challenge. Bryan was the closest city to have food and power between there and our house. The weather in Bryan was cool and dry compared to the day before. Knowing a front was passing through this very night actually made me look forward to going home. We came to the conclusion that everyone waited until Sunday to leave.
It's hard to tell, but this is one of those metal billboard signs that blew over onto an apartment building. It was one thing to see wooden billboards snapped in half, but seeing this metal one blown over was rather impressive.
Power lines down on the ground right around the corner from your house is a sure sign power is not coming back on anytime soon. Once we pulled up in front of the house, all of the neighbors came out and began helping us with the job of cleaning up. The guys tackled the tree in the driveway and the ladies gathered up the limbs, pine cones and leaves. I think it took all of 2 hours and the front yard was done. After the cleaning was done, the cooking began. Just because you don't have power, doesn't mean you get a break from housework!! Dinner that night consisted of french fries and some other things I can't remember. I'll have to get back to you on this one...
Like I said in my last post. Our children were amazing the entire time! It's one thing when you know your children are capable of this kind of behavior, but don't always come through. It's another thing to witness it for days on end and wonder to yourself "who are these people and what have they done with my children?". Camp Fricks was located in the living room of our house. We moved out of the playroom and set up "camp" in the LR. We put the mattresses under the windows and opened the ones on the other side of the room. That allowed for a nice cross breeze that kept the room rather cool. We woke up the next morning wishing we had more blankets. Thank you God for supplying the free AC!!
The kids settled down every night from here on out by gathering on the mattresses and coloring. No fighting, no horse-play, no tattling, just coloring=one happy mom!

Hurricane Ike, Day 2...Continued...Again

I'm sorry about the break. I actually had this whole post done and ready to go and then the autosave decided to quit working on me. That's when I got mad and frustrated and took a break. Now that I'm no longer mad or frustrated (at least with my autosave) let's continue with the story, again...

This was the first picture I was able to get of the upside down tree top in our driveway. All I kept thinking was "what if this thing fell on our living room?" It still amazes me that out of everything that fell during the storm, nothing hit our house.
It was raining pretty good when I made the kids stand in front of the tree to get this photo. We got pretty soaked every time we would go in and out of the house. It was quite a feat to maneuver through all of the debris and not to mention, this monstrosity! I was so glad when we were able to cut it up and haul it to the curb.
We were able to see quite a bit of damage on our way to Bryan. This sign was one of many that did not make it through the storm.
Please excuse what I think is either my finger or elbow in this picture. Tony's car is not the best place to be taking pictures. Brenna, Cooper, Roxy and Avery made the best of their situation. Even though they were rather cozy in the back, there was not any bickering or complaining. This whole experience really brought out the best in our children.
I see the light! Being able to see this little glint of sunshine lifted my spirits quite a bit. It was like running in a race and seeing the finish line. It was a sign to me that this storm was on it's way out and that brighter days were ahead. I've been through days and days of rain before, and even weathered some pretty rough thunderstorms. But having gone through this storm was nothing like anything I've experienced before. I don't know if it's because we had been tracking it for several days, or the intensity of it once it arrived, but the feeling I had of relief knowing it was over, was overwhelming.

Hurrican Ike, Day 2...Continued

We did quite a bit on Saturday, so most of my pictures were taken then. Our cell phones were not working well at the house, so we went for a drive to survey the damage for the area and make a few phone calls to family and friends.
This tree fell across an intersection near our home. Even though the tree is across the street, at least it's not across someones home.
Sorry about the glare. This is Grogan's Mill, just past Sawmill, going east. You can tell by the path the tires have made that the entire street was covered in debris from the trees.
The owners of this company must have thought that iron fence was going to protect all of their potted plants and chairs from the wind. They are lucky one of those things didn't go through their glass.
This light pole, and many small trees, were down in the Petco/Pump-It-Up parking lot.
Trees and light poles were down and across the road at the entrance to the new Wal-Mart.

After our short trip out, we returned home to get ready for our over-night trip to Bryan for a good nights sleep.

Hurricane Ike, Day 2

Day 2 started with some looks around the house for damage. We knew we had a large limb fall in the back yard and that we had the top of a pine tree in the driveway. Here are some better pictures we were able to get with some daylight.

This is a view from the kitchen window. Half of the window is covered by the branch that fell and you can see our grass covered by limbs and leaves.

If you look to the right of the two large trees on the left, you can get a little better view of the upside down pine tree in the driveway. The main trunk of that tree top can be seen in between the two large trees on the left of the picture.

Here is a before and after view of the front yard.

Now, I know this picture does not fit in with the rest, but hurricanes not only knock out trees, they knock out teeth too. Avery and I were sitting on the couch after the worst part of the storm went through and out came her tooth. The tooth fairy was nice enough to pay her a visit in Bryan.