Christmas Hustle and Bustle

Wait, it can't be December 19! Is anyone else struggling to get it all done in time. I have been off work all week on vacation and I have worked harder than if I had been at work. I have wrapped gifts and shopped with my mother. I look forward to the time I can rest a little. The weather has put a real damper on everything. I am already looking forward to Spring. I am tired of this gray mist. It is such a downer.

On the bright side, I did have a great time with my mother. We have had lunch together almost everyday and we got lots of great bargins yesterday. Coupons are a great help. Sometimes places will even honor expired coupons. It never hurts to ask. Dick's gave her $25.00 dollars off yesterday from a coupon that expired in November. Also, there were 2 very nice girls at Aerie that were very helpful. They helped me to get a great deal on my gift for Kolbi. Also, did you know that if you order something at the store, they will give you free shipping to your home. I thought that was really great. Also, I became a member of the A-List. I highly recommend this. It gives great discounts. One Thursday a month you can receive 20% off. This is a help.

I have got to run. There is more wrapping of gifts to be done. May you and yours have a very Merry Christmas!

Soiree Pictures

Here they are. Ready for the dance. Zach and Morgan.Kelsey and Fridge (Justin).

All together now.

Looking good!

See my Pretty Girl!

Here is my beautiful niece, Kolbi, giving her Uncle Steve a quick peck on the cheek before she leaves for her Christmas dance. Believe me, there is not a boy there good enough for my Kolbi. She is much too mature for a middle school boy. She will be excited to get to high school so she can meet some boys closer to her height and her maturity level. Go Kolbi!

Here is Kolbi with her grandmother. Gotta love Gran!

Here is the pretty girl. Too Cool Kolbi!

More pics tomorrow when Kelsey, her sister, and Zach go to there dance at the Opera House. Stay tuned for more pics.

Happy Thanksgiving!

Happy Thanksgiving everyone. I have to say that the things I am most thankful for are my family, my friends, my health, my job and my home. All are things that are very important to me. I have certainly enjoyed today. My husband and I share a delicious breakfast and then he helped me to prepare the food that I planned to take to my mother's. I got to spend time with him and my son before we went to Mom's. At Mom's I was able to visit with both my brothers and their families. We have grown to a total of 14 now. Soon to be 15 when Tater Tot joins the mix.

Tomorrow will be spent looking for the greatest deals to be had. I will get up sometime around 4 a.m. to be at Wal-Mart by 5 a.m. to gather the sale items on my list. The main problem is that most of the stuff is things that I want for myself. The have a great stick vac that is great for picking up kitty litter. I have one but I want another one. Also they have great deals on flash drives and SD cards for my camera.

Then it will be off to West Virginia where Michelle and I will continue to shop for great deals and my mother will get to participate in her favorite past time - gambling! She loves the slots. She is much luckier than I am. I just feel like I am making a deposit but she actually wins sometimes.

I must say that I am very fortunate to have such a great family. We are all very close and enjoy being with each other. I know that all families are not that way, so I thank the Lord each and every day for the gift that he is given me. I am truly blessed!

The Girls Got Class!

Congrats to Kelsey. She has signed her letter of intent with Tusculum College. She has received a very good scholarship, part academics and part softball. Very cool. In August 2009 she will be leaving us to go to Greenville, TN to become a Freshman in college. She has worked very hard to get to this point in her life and I am so proud of her. Congrats to you, Kelsey!

HAPPY HALLOWEEN!

I know it has been a long time since I have wrote but football is almost over and hopefully I will get back on track. I wish I had some cool Halloween pics to add but since my little guy is now 16, Halloween isn't what it use to be. Plus, I have to work concession stand tonight instead of handing out candy. Anyway, HAPPY HALLOWEEN!!!

The Rewards of Motherhood!

I am the mother of a 16 year old. Most days, my job as a mother, are thankless. You work hard but sometimes you feel your hard work is for nothing. The rewards are sometimes few and far between. When you have small children, you often get hugs and kisses and I love you's, but once they start to get older and you are no longer the center of their universe, your job as mother seems to have less meaning. I am very lucky. I have a great son, but sometimes I think I will never get him raised to be responsible. He forgets everything and sees nothing wrong with drink cans and clothes littering his room. I try to help him but it seems like such an endless job. Just yesterday, we went to the football field for the big Friday night game, only to have to turn around and go back home to pick up his jersey. I realize as he gets older, I have to let go and let him learn from his mistakes. I get frustrated when he forgets to do things or looses things. I want his grades to be better. He just wants me to quit hounding him. He doesn't want the hear the speech I give every time he goes out. Be good and behave yourself. Sometimes, I even feel like he doesn't love me, although I know that is not true. Then there are the days you really seem to get you big paycheck. Sometime I am so proud of him that a paycheck could never be big enough to cover the rewards I feel. Like watching him hit his first homerun, when he brings home really good grades, or when you see him run with the football in a Varsity game. But today I really got a great reward as a mother. He was out with some of his friends, shopping at Wal-Mart and saw this elder lady trying to load her purchase in her car and he stopped to ask if she needed help. I was so proud of him. Here he was with his buddies but he still had time to stop and help this stranger. I feel like I have finally been rewarded for my hard work. Now, if I can just teach him responsibility!

We Interrupt this Life to bring you Football Season!

Wow! Can you believe those Cards? That's the Clark County Cardinal!!! They are 4-0 for the first time in a very long time and I am proud to say my son plays for them as well as my husband is a coach. We have the #1 Running Back in the state. Way to go Ryan Williams! You make GRC proud.

My New Kitchen

Here it is. What everyone has been waiting for. Pictures of my kitchen. I have waited a while to post these pictures. I am not sure why it has taken so long but I am sure time is involved. I seem to be short on that alot lately.

Anyway, here it is. I hope everyone likes it as much as I do. It is perfect. I love it!!! Everything is so clean and neat and organized. Love it, love it. Alot has gone in to the creating of this kitchen. Maybe some blood, alot of sweat and even some tears went to the completion of my wonderful kitchen. I want to thank everyone that worked on it. I want to say, "Thank You!" to Steve, Zach, Scott, Rick, and Leo. Your help was greatly appreciated. It is awesome!

Recipe of the Day!

I have a great friend who recently fell down some steps and broke her leg and tore legaments in her foot. Some of the football parents went together and made meals and delivered to her for a few days until she could get back on her feet. I made my chicken casserole and took to her. Today, I received a beautiful Thank You note from her. She was also requesting my recipe. She said that she and her mom liked it so much they would like to have the recipe. So, I thought I would share with all. I hope you like it as much and me and my family do.

Chicken Casserole

Ingredients:

4 skinless boneless chicken breasts (You can use canned chicken but we perfer the real thing)
1 box chicken broth
2 cans of cream of chicken & herb soup (You can use just cream of chicken but I like this alot better)
1 large blue bag of Peppridge Farm stuffing mix (I use a little over half of this bag but I like a lot of the stuffing part but if you perfer less, buy the small bag)
1 stick of butter or margarine (I'm like Paula Deen, I perfer butter)

I cook my chicken in the crockpot while I am at work about 7 hours on low. When I get home (Preheat oven to 350 degrees), I remove the chicken from the crockpot and place it in a 9x13 baking dish. Shread into small pieces. I then salt and pepper it. Pour both cans of cream of chicken & herb in a bowl and add 1 cup of chicken broth. Stir together and pour over shredded chicken. Be sure all the chicken is covered in the soup mixture. Then melt butter. Pour the Peppridge Farm stuffing mix in a bowl and pour the melted butter on top and stir. Pour chicken broth over stuffing mix until all is moist. I usually use the rest of the box but you decide how moist you want it. Place baking dish is preheated over for 20-30 minutes. Casserole is done when soup is bubbling and it is getting brown on top.

Eat and enjoy. My family likes this with mashed potatos and green beans. I usually open some cranberry sauce to go with it. Yum!!!

Love the Crockpot!

My family likes ham but I don't always have time to wait while a ham cooks. My husband really wanted ham last week and he said I should try cooking it in the crockpot. We cook alot of stuff in there, so why should ham be any different. Here is what we did.

Be careful to choose a ham that will fit. We didn't. So Steve just cut part of it off and dropped it down the side. Next, I packed brown sugar on top. I was going to add a Coke to it but we didn't have any. I only had Sunkist so I used that. I set the crockpot to low for 7 hours. When I got home it smelled delicious. I fixed some greenbeens and mac&cheese to go with it as well as some garlic bread. It was quick and easy and we had a great meal. The next night I used the leftover ham to drop in my bean soup with cornbread and fried potatoes. A $7.00 ham went a long way.

I hope you try it and love it as much as my family did.

Goodbye, Old Friend - - - Hello, New Friend!

Yesterday I had to say goodbye to an old friend. I have done many things with my old friend. We have gone on vacations together, attended many ballgames together, we have even worked together. My friend has been there for me through the good times and the bad. My friend has brought much happiness to mine and my family's life. I was so sad to see my old friend go.

The good news is that a new friend came into my life as I said goodbye to my old friend. My new friend is younger and full of life. My new friend is so much fun. I know there is no way that my new friend can take the place of my old friend but I do look forward to going to ballgames and on vacation with my new friend. I think my new friend is going to fit in well. I plan to take my new friend to work with me tomorrow and introduce my new friend to all of my friends at work.

My old friend is a 99 Ford Expedition (Eddie Bauer series) and my new friend is a 05 Ford Freestyle Limited.

Nieces

I have been blessed with wonderful nieces.

When I was pregnant with Zach and for a year after the pregnancy, I had several health problems. I won't bore you with all of them today but when we discussed having more children, my husband was afraid I would have these problems again and possibly worse the second time around. I argued with him about it for a while, mainly because I still wanted to have a little girl. But he looked at me and said, "We are a happy and healthy family, why mess with that?" What could I say? He was right. God had blessed us with a happy and healthy family and I was grateful, however, I still long for a girl sometimes.

But again, God blessed me with nieces. Over the last 3 days, I have had the pleasure of spending time with three of them. Lainie, 4; Kolbi, 12; and Kelsey, soon to be 18.

I was with Lainie on Tuesday night. Lainie's mother is pregnant with another niece or nephew of mine. I personally think it will be a boy, but what do I know. Anyway, Lainie wants to know when I am going to have a baby brother/sister for Zach. What do you tell a 4 year old? I had my tube tied and I can't have more babies, just didn't seem appropriate. But we had lots of fun. She wanted to wear my lipstick, so I applied it for her. Then she told her Dad that she didn't do it, that Aunt Vickie was the one that did. She looked really cute with purple lips.

Yesterday, I had the wonderful experience of shopping with 2 teenagers and a senior citizen. What a day. We were suppose to be shopping for back-to-school clothes and Kelsey's birthday. Kelsey is very difficult to shop for - especially when it comes to clothes. She is a big tomboy and doesn't care about the latest and coolest styles. She is happy with jeans/shorts and t-shirts. However, we were not even lucky enough to find that yesterday. But, we had a good day and I enjoyed the time I was able to spend with her.

Later in the evening, Kolbi called and asked if I needed help with my kitchen. (We have been remodeling our kitchen - as I will discuss in another post later) I was delighted that she was willing to help, because I was really tired from shopping all day and was fighting a headache. She came over and while I was cooking supper, she organized all my can goods and my spices and put them in the cabinets. I might finally cook a complete meal in my new kitchen. While we were working, we had some girl talk, which I really enjoyed since I only have a 16 year old boy.

All in all, I must say I have enjoyed the time I have spent with each of them. They are all very different but very special to me. I am blessed that my brother's share their children with me. Also, Zach is lucky. He never feels like an only child because he had the benefit of cousins. Sometimes, they all act like brothers and sisters.

Wireless Internet

I just got a new laptop before I went away for training. I also called the telephone company and they were going to send a router so I could set up my wireless internet. The problem was the router didn't show up until after I had left for training. So, today while they are busy working on my kitchen, I am downstairs in the office trying to find something contructive to do instead of telling them to hurry up on my kitchen. I am working on the laundry and I have sorted the bills but then I remember my router. I have been worried I would not be able to set it up on my own, but I decided I had to give it a try. Guess what?! It is up and running beautifully. I did it. All by myself....and a little help from Ben with AT&T Support. But I did all the actual work. Now I can sit on my bed and blog!

Home at Last!

I finally made it home about 10:30 p.m. last night. It was wonderful to see Steve and Zach. I just didn't want to let go of them. I think Zach has grown another inch and has gotten some sun on his face. He is so handsome and Steve has grown a goattee while I was gone. I will just say that is interesting, but I was happy to see him no matter what. They picked Marcia and I up at the airport. I will have to say I was soooo happy not to have to pack that luggage any more. They took us to Steak and Shake for dinner since we hadn't had time to get anything at the airport. It tasted so good. I love Kentucky and I am very happy that I live here. Who am I kidding, I am just happy to be where my family is.

I Made It!!!

I made it. I am soon to be on my way home. Right now I am sitting in class listening to one of my classmate tell a story about how he was at dinner and witnessed a pick pocket steal someones wallet last night and how he chased him down to try and get it back. I was thinking he was a real hero and then he explained that the boys were 8 and 10 years old. It was still a good thing to do. The lady got her wallet back but it was unclear if they actually caught the boys. It is a good thing I wasn't the one to catch them. First of all if I had been running after them, I probably would have been huffing and puffing so hard I couldn't have even give them a good scolding, but if I had been able, I would have probably have given them a beating.

Any way, we are also passing around a box of chocolate just waiting for the time to pass. We can't leave until 11:30 a.m. My flight isn't until 5:20. We tried to get on the 2:20 flight but it was booked. They informed us that the 11:20 flight still had seats available. So here I am, thinking to myself, WHY CAN'T WE MAKE THE 11:20 FLIGHT. It isn't like I am learning something that is really going to make a big difference in my job and it would probably save the federal government a few dollars in the process. But who am I to tell the Federal Government anything. So I will sit here and listen to these stories and munch on my chocolate. Hopefully, I will make it home sometime today. So close but yet so far away!

3 Kentucky Girls in DC

Becoming a decision writer just further proves I have a severe mental impairment. I lack concentration and I have difficulty with pace and persistence. Today's class was grueling. I cannot concentrate when the instructor and at least 5 classmates are talking. I read one sentence 5 times. Today was the worst day yet. Only 4 more days to go. I hope I make it.

It was so hot (98) on Saturday. We went to Chinatown. There wasn't much of China there, however, we did see a movie there. If you get a chance, see Mama Mia. It is an excellent movie. People were clapping and cheering during the movie it was so good. This movie made you want to jump up, dance and sing. Very uplifting movie. Well worth the $8.50 matinee price I paid to see it.

Then we went to the Vietnam Memorial. I am not a big history person and was not prepared to be impressed my what I saw. However, when we got there, a volunteer was telling what each part of the memorial stood for and how he had fought in that war. He told us how he watched men die. Men that were his friends and how he asked himself each day why he had been spared. This memorial truly came to life with his testimony. Then I was truly impressed by the awesomeness of the memorial. I was happy to get to shake his hand and thank him for his service.

Here we are: 3 Kentucky girls in DC at the World War II Memorial. This too was an awesome work of art. The fountains at this display were great. However, I would have love to take a swim right about then. We were so hot and tired by then and we still had to find the metro station. Finally, we got there and got back to our stop near our hotel. Fortunately, our favorite restaurant (Chevy's) is right as you get off. We all went in and got something to drink. We were so thirsty. Margaritas for Marcia and I and Sprite with pineapple juice for Shawna. We had a light meal and then went back to the hotel for a much needed shower and then fell into bed exhausted.

Sunday, we got up to do it again. We went to the Natural History Museum. I wasn't prepared to like that either. I tell you I am not much into old dead stuff but the HOPE DIAMOND was beautiful. Well worth the trip. Then Shawna took it easy on us old girls and let us go back to the hotel for a brief afternoon nap before we went to old town (Alexandria, VA).

Shawna had never been to Old Town so I was happy she was getting to see something new. I was happy to see Shawna come to visit (I think she saved me from packing up and going home early) but I knew she had seen much of what we went to on Saturday before. So I was really glad she enjoyed Old Town. It is such a pretty little town. The water front is beautiful with all the sailboat and everything. Lots of restaurants and shops. Wish we had got there early enough to go into some of the shops, but unfortunately they were closed. Shawna wanted to go to the Christmas shop and get an ornament for her Christmas tree. We had dinner at the Chart House. A real fancy smancy place. Shawna and I even tried caviar. Neither one of us liked it. It tastes like sardines. Now I know you are going to ask how do I know what sardines taste like. Well, that is probably another story entirely but Granny Iva loved sardines in mustard sauce and she was good at talking her granddaughter into trying new things. Not a favorite but Granny tried.

Things I Miss from Home (cont.)

I can't believe I forgot this one. But I just had to add it.

My Soap Opera! (All My Children)

I thought they would have SoapNet and I would be okay. In three weeks alot of things could happen on a soap opera. I need to know if Erica is still in jail. Is Ritchie still alive? What has Annie done lately? Please help me here. I need an update.

Things I Miss From Home

Things I Miss From Home:

1. Steve and Zach


2. The rest of my family


3. Callie and Max


4. My hand held showerhead (I just don't feel clean without it)


5. My bed


6. My car


7. Homecooking (I am tired of eating out)


8. My friends (sorry, this should have been higher on the list)


9. My garden (I hope there are ripe tomatos when I get home)


10. My things (You just can't pack it all)

Things I Like About DC:

1. Maid Service (I don't even have to yell at them to take out the trash)


2. Chevy's Happy Hour (Love those Margaritas!)
3. Breakfast Buffet
4. Street Vendors
5. My Expense Account
   

DC Night Tour

This was taken on the south side of the White House. I was shooed away by police. I wasn't suppose to be taking pictures here. However, I was quick enough to get this one.

Me at the FDR Memorial

Lincoln Memorial

I am getting a little better about moving the pictures on this laptop but I still have a ways to go. Hopefully, they will get better as I go. Shawna and Lisa are a big help to me. They are great with the computer.

We had a great time on this tour, however, we didn't get back until 11:00 p.m. We were very tired, hot and thirsty when we arrived back at our hotel. Marcia's foot was really hurting and very swollen. We had a tough time staying awake the next day in class, but it was worth it too see all these amazing sights. It is difficult to explain the sheer magnificants of some of these monuments. So much marble!

Shawna comes tomorrow. No telling what we will get into then. I think she wants to go to China town. That will be an experience and I hope in a good way but since I don't like chinese food, maybe not so much. But I will be sure and let you know in my next post. Stay tuned!

Where in the World are Marcia and Vickie?

Can you guess where we are?

Arlington Cemetery

Marcia and I rode the metro by ourselves for the first time tonight. We went to Arlington Cemetery. It was a truly moving experience. I was awesome to watch. I hope you enjoy the pictures above. On the way back we stopped and picked up some T-shirts from the street vendors and then we ate at Chevys again. More margaritas!!!

I am very excited. This weekend should be much better. My sister-in-law, Shawna, is coming to visit and she is bringing little Tater Tot too. However, Lainie and Scott can't come. I hope Scott is staying home to work on my kitchen. I am afraid of what I might find when I get back.

Tomorrow night, Marcia and I are going on a night tour of DC. It should be interesting. More pictures then.

Homesick

Today is Sunday. I usually spend Sunday's with Steve reading the paper and drinking coffee in the morning. This is something we both enjoy. Also, today is the day that I have dinner with my whole family. You know, my mother, my brothers and their families. I enjoy sharing my week with them and hearing about them and what they did all week. Mom always has a feast for everyone to fill up on. I really miss this today. I know, I should be making the most of this $200 a night hotel and expense account but it is really true. Money can't buy happiness. I miss Steve and Zach terribly. It is not so bad during the week when I am in class but the weekends are hell!

Alexandria VA - Old Towne

I have made it a whole week here in Arlington. I have rode the metro, shuttles and now a trolley. Marcia, Chad, Rainbow, and I (yes, her name is really Rainbow) went to Old Towne tonight. We took the metro to Alexandria and then rode a trolley to the waterfront where we had dinner at Busby's Pizza. It was fabulous. We really enjoyed the pizza and the conversation. Chad and Rainbow are attorneys that are in our Decision Writer class. Rainbow is from Wilmore KY but is working in the Dayton OH ODAR office. She usually acts as our tour guide. She has been to DC before and she understands how the metro works. She is great with directions, unlike me. She has been very helpful to Marcia, Chad and I. Chad is originally from Arkansas but is now working in the St. Louis ODAR as a new decision writer. Chad and Rainbow are both in there early 30's but have been great about letting Marcia and I hang out with them. Marcia and I think they should get together. They are both young and single.

We had originally set out to go to Alexandria VA to watch the fireworks as it is there independence day. However, the fireworks were suppose to begin at 9:30 and we didn't finish dinner until 9:40. By then, the fireworks were over. We were all a little disappointed but we had a good time any way. I was disappointed that I didn't get any pictures of the waterfront but I think Marcia and I can make our way back there without help from Rainbow. It is a straight shot on the Metro to there. Also, Christy has told us the Charter House is a good place to eat and it is directly on the water front. Alexandria was beautiful. Just like and old town. There were musician playing on the sidewalk and all sorts of other festivities going on. I can't wait to go back. Hopefully I will have pictures to share then.

2 Kentucky Girls go to Washington Nationals Game

Marcia and I went to the Washington National Game tonight. It was fun. We had a great time. However, to get there we had to take the metro. Very interesting. I will never again complain about Lexington traffic. Give me my own air conditioned car any day over the metro. Marcia or I either one had ever been on the metro. We were packed in like sardines, but we finally made it there and back without any problems. We had help from some of our fellow classmates. They are alot more travel than us girls from KY.

We did get to see Austin Kearns play. I have some pretty good pictures considering we sat in the second to last row from the top. The Nationals were loosing when we left but I understand they tied up in the last inning and had to go into extra innings, but ended up loosing 5-2. We had fun and had a new adventure. I think we are going to the Mall tomorrow night. I think we can handle that. We are very experienced shoppers.

Marcia and Vickie's Big Adventure

Well, it's an adventure, but it didn't start off the way we had hoped. My mother and Zach took us to the Lexington Airport where we thought we would take off for Cincinnati at 11:40 on Monday. It turned out there was bad weather in South Dakota, delaying our flight to Cincy. Sounds strange I know but we didn't fly out until 12:30. So when we got to Cincy, we had missed our connecting flight. We were then put on the 3:20 flight to DC, giving us a layover in Cincy. But we decided to make the most of it and went to Outback for lunch. We had a great lunch of cheesefries and that delicious brown bread they serve. We felt much better after we had loaded up on Carbs. We finally made it to DC about 5:30. Ronald Regan airport is not air conditioned and it is very humid here and it was terribly crowded. We finally collected our luggage and believe me if I had had to pack that luggage around too long before we got to the airport, I think I would have found I could do without a few pair of those shoes I packed. (9 pair) We arrived at our hotel after a very frightening ride on the hotel shuttle. I hope Zach never drives that bad. We had to just throw our bags in our room and take off for the "Meet and Greet" session. I am glad we got our fill of carbs at lunch because they served salad for our meal. Thankfully, they had wine to go with it. We were late so we just picked a table and sat down. The ladies we were sitting with were very nice but when they found out we were Decision Writers they kind of gave us the cold shoulder. We did not realize the "Meet and Greet" was for Legal Assistant training too. They went on to explain that in there office the attorneys were blocking the hiring of paralegals as decision writers, so therefore they thought we were attorneys, but we quickly explained that things were not like that in our office and that we got along well with our attorneys and that we had just recently been legal assistants ourselves.

All in all, we are doing well. Marcia's ankle is still swelling some and my ears are still hurting from the plane ride but we are safe and have nice clean hotel rooms. We plan to make the most of our time in DC. I will have more adventures later.

What a Great Day!

This morning when I got up it was raining. I was really bummed. Today is that day for the Mitchell/Lile/Cohorn family reunion. I really enjoy this reunion. I love seeing my 2 aunts (my dad's sisters). They are wonderful, strong women who are great cooks and love to tell stories of days gone by. I enjoy hearing about their families and telling them about mine. I love seeing my cousins and their families. Each year the reunion is a little different. We have some that have left us for one reason or another (death, divorce, prior engagements, etc) and each year we have new faces (new babies, boyfriend/girlfriend, or just plain friends). All are welcome. It is a great day full of fun, food, swimming and sharing of stories. It is one of my favorite times of the year. I believe I like it better than Christmas and I say this because I am an outdoor person and all this takes place beside my aunt's beautiful pool. I love her home and her lovely yard. This year the new face was "Austin". Truett and Tonya's new addition. He is certainly a little water dog. I had the pleasure of playing with him in the pool. He is so sweet. His brother, Alex, has really grown up this year. He was like talking to a little man. Even though the day started with a little rain, it sure turned into a blue sky day!

I took a Honey Bun cake to the reunion and I had several requests for the recipe, so here it is.

Honey Bun Cake

1 yellow cake mix with pudding 1 eight ounce carton sour cream

4 eggs 1/2 cup firmly packed brown sugar

2/3 cup vegetable oil 1 tsp. ground cinnamon

1/3 cup water 2/3 cup chopped pecans

Combine first 5 ingredients in a mixing bowl. Beat at medium speed with an electric mixer until smooth. Set aside.

Combine brown sugar, cinnamon, and pecans and set aside.

Grease and flour a 13 x 9 x 2 inch cake pan. Pour half of the batter into pan. Sprinkle half of the sugar mixture over the batter. Repeat the layers. Gently swirl batter with a knife. Bake at 350 degrees for 30-35 minutes. Remove from overn. Drizzle glaze over cake and cool.

Glaze

1 cup sifted powered sugar (I don't sift, so what if there are a few lumps)

2 tbsp milk

1/2 tsp vanilla

Beat at medium speed with an electric mixer until smooth. (I just use a spoon and beat real fast) Drizzle over cake.

Eat and Enjoy! Especially good with coffee.

Happy 4th of July!

Busy day. First, I did laundry to try to get ready for this trip. I am going to Arlington VA for Decision Writer training on Monday. I will be gone for 3 weeks. I have not packed the first piece yet. But laundry is close to done. Then Steve and I went to look for boarder for the kitchen. He thought it would be a good idea to remodel my kitchen while I'm gone. My biggest fear is that I will get back and my kitchen will be a disaster. I hope I am wrong. Couldn't find any boarder today but I plan to go to Perspectives tomorrow to look for some before going to Frankfort to my Family Reunion. The we went to Jazzman's for lunch. BIG MISTAKE. They said it would be a 10 minute wait. It turned into 20. We finally go a table and then we waited an hour for our food. Steve ordered a club sandwich and I got a pork barbecue sandwich. I don't think it takes an hour to make either. However, the manager came and apologized and gave us our meal for free. I told us he hopes we come back when they get faster at preparing the food. The food was good but not good enough to wait that long. Came home and did more laundry and then went back out to grocery. My chauffeur, Zach, took me. When I got back home, I made strawberry daiquiris and cheese dip. Mmm, good. Then I fixed tacos for dinner. I still haven't packed anything. Madison called and ask us to come to her grandmother's house where they were lighting fire works and then we went to watch the fireworks at Lykins. We had a good time but now it is 11:30 and I still haven't packed anything. Maybe tomorrow.

Check out my Slide Show! Pictures from Vacation!

We just got back from a short vacation to Cherokee NC/Pigeon Forge TN. The trip was much too short but all we could fit in before I leave for my trip to Arlington VA. I leave Monday for Decision Writer training which is a requirement for my new job as paralegal analyst. You will see pictures of Me, Steve and Zach. Mom went too but there are no pictures of her because she was the big time gambler this weekend. I am very sorry to report she did not hit the jackpot. Maybe next time, Mom! Zach and I walked along a creek that ran through Cherokee. It was very pretty. Then you will see the Jet Boat that we rode on. It was very exciting. It went really fast and the driver would spin the boat around and splash water into the boat. I have not had that much fun in a boat since my Dad got ride of our boat. It really brought back wonderful memories of times gone by. You will also see pictures from a petting zoo that we went too. We got to feed the bears and Zach liked the monkeys. Hope you enjoy the pics.