Giselle getting hog tied

Cowboy breakfast 2011

Cowboy breakfast

It was still dark when we left the house but dawn was happening as we arrived at the Cowboy Breakfast.

Tomorrow's event

Cowboy Breakfast
to kick off the opening of the Star Of Texas Rodeo and Fair.

Paul and Puppies

It's a video!!

Today's Day Trip

Max Starcke Park in Seguin to meet up with a sister and some puppies.

The Bridge

The bridge of Natural Bridge Caverns.

Today's field trip

Natural Bridge Caverns

Flag corp at the park

The local high school girls were showing our girls how to do it all.

Feeding the catfish outside!

More from our field trip to the fish hatchery

Now THAT'S fishing!

A tank full of foot-long rainbow trout!

Field trip to the local fish hatchery

Homeschool Field Trip Co-Op trip to the A E Woods Fish Hatchery on Feb 15, 2011

My 45th Birthday present

30" James Avery charm necklace with 7 charms to start with! Thanks Joe, I love it!!!

More zoo

One of the very large ostriches at the Exotic Zoo and Resort.

More animals from the birthday party at the zoo

This buffalo was HUGE!!!

Birthday party at the zoo

Some Scottish Cattle

Snow love note

The cute picture that Giselle drew in the snow on the front of my car.

Snow 2011

Waylon enjoying the 20 degrees and snow.

It's a good Winter day when it only gets down to 60 overnight!

Starbucks, farmers market, Sams, post office, gas, home again. Maybe fence repair later.

Plants vs Zombies Music Video

Is there ANYBODY NOT playing this game?

Lazy day fishing at Blanco State Park

No fish but lots of fun!

Fishing at Blanco State Park

Caught a lot of bobbers but not any fish.

Tuesday's activity!

Headed to Blanco State Park for some Rainbow Trout fishing!!

How to Fish for Stocked Trout - Associated Content from Yahoo! - associatedcontent.com

Birthday cake

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Paul's birthday morning donughts

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Pretty end to a great day

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First day of PE for the new year

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Back from Florida

I just realized that I haven't checked the condition of our shells that I brought back in our carry-on luggage!  As soon as I got home I stuck the bags out on the back porch so they wouldn't stink up the house but I haven't looked in them yet.  I guess I'll do that tomorrow morning after I walk the dog.

Walking in a winter wonderland

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Message: Giselle's art project from 11-30-10 View Entire Message

Awesome version of Heat Miser

Paul's been asking to have this played at least 4 times a day. We even bought the Christmas CD that has this on it.

Posting mobil pics to the blog again, thanks Suzanne!

Message: They finished redoing our neighborhood playground on Friday evening and we were the second people to use it!

I really wish that my phone's pictures would post here!

Today's Google inquiry

Recipes for Sourdough Biscuits
sour dough biscuits - Google Search

The sourdough starter that we were given last week at art class is ready to be used. I prefer to not make the Amish Friendship Bread recipe that came with the starter - I'm not a big fan of eating baked sweets. I tasted the sour dough yesterday and was smacked in the face with the memory of my mom's sourdough biscuits that we ate with her apple-persimmon jelly or honey butter. Oh those were so good. So as soon as I find a good recipe I'll be baking us up a batch on this chilly fall day.

And the recipe that I picked is from Sarah's Musings   Sourdough Biscuits

it's that time of year again - Snow Miser - Heat Miser

Google question of the day

can i refrigerate amish friendship bread dough - Google Search

and the best answer came from here


Sourdough Bread: How To Begin (easy sourdough for the beginner or novice)


Yes, the starter can be refrigerated.  When it's kept in the fridge it doesn't need to be fed as often and if you aren't trying to multiply it then you don't need to feed it so much either.

Why are there no coffee vendors here at the ICE hockey game? It seems like a no-brainer to me.

KLOVE inspirational verse for the day

Give thanks to the Lord and proclaim his greatness. Let the whole world know what he has done.

~ Psalm 105:1, NLT | View in context |

Adam Sandler's Thanksgiving Song

Saturday Night Live - Update: Sandler Thanksgiving Song - Video - NBC.com

Question and Project of the Day

The question of the day for Google
Prickly pear fruit recipes


The chosen answer of the day but modified to suit my pantry

prickly pear lemonade punch.pdf

And this page is great for more detailed information on Tuna which is the name for the fruit of the prickly pear cactus.
tuna-wrangling-aka-processing-prickly pear cactus fruit

My jury is still out, no verdict at this time

Airport Scanners: Are They Putting You in Danger? - FoxNews.com

complete-list-airports-whole-body-imaging-advanced-imaging-technology-scanner

This day in history

In honor of what happened on this day 53 years ago
Sputnik 2 - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
feel inspired to see the movie My Life As a Dog.

Question of the Day

Where exactly are the withers on a horse?

Withers - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Frozen avocados DO have a shelf-life and it's less than 6 years!

The start of a great novel!

Today's blog/item description from Woot.com is AMAZING! It's straight out of one of the novels I'm prone to reading these days and I LOVE it!!
Element 40” 1080p LCD HDTV

Go Home!

So this afternoon/evening, some child left the side gate open and at some point Waylon noticed and took himself for a run (we had already done a 4 miler this morning).  Not knowing that this was going on, the kids were watching TV in the living room and I was redecorating in the master bedroom.  They hear someone at the front door knocking/scratching and ask who it is.  There was no response so they opened it as I was walking over and in rushes Waylon, with a big grin on his face as happy as can be and jumping all over us.  Silly good boy used the front door instead of the side gate that was still wide open.  He was all excited instead of exhausted so I'm guessing that he didn't go on too long of a run.

I tried, I really did!

I tried to post 3 pictures today from my phone while we were on our monthly field trip but they didn't post, OF COURSE!

books

OK, I'm feeling good about books again.  That whole City of Bones, City of Ashes, City of Glass trilogy by Cassandra Clare really sucked the life out of me - by the 3rd book I was reading every 50 pages so that I could find out what was going on without having to slog through the other stuff.  My last skim was 50 pages before the end so I didn't spoil the whole book for myself.  Then I went back and read every page to have picked up all the details of the story.  That was tiring!  I finished them up on the 26th.

The next books that I read from the 26th through the 29th were the first 2 in the Sookie Stackhouse Novels by Charlaine Harris, Dead Until Dark and Living Dead in Dallas.  I loved the books and put the next 5 books of the series on hold at the library for me but only 2 of them have come in so far; I'll pick those 2 up tomorrow while the kids are at art class.  You may be familiar with this already as they are the books that the HBO series True Blood is based on.

Then I next read the first book in an awesome series that's at least 8 books long, of which the library system only carries the first and the last 2 books.  The Weather Warden series by Rachel Caine (she of The Morganville Vampires series) starts off with the fantastic book Ill Wind. I went to Half-Price Books to get the other books in the series but couldn't find any of them except for one of the most recent ones.  I did end up buying most of the books in the Broken Heart Oklahoma series by Michele Bardsley.  Next time, maybe on Wednesday while the kids are at PE I'll hit up the local Goodwill store; maybe I'll have better luck finding the books I want there and for cheaper.

I also picked up at the library a disappointing book by Patricia Briggs called Iron Kissed.  It's book 3 of the Mercy Thompson series but I gave up on it about halfway through the 287 pages.

But in my last library run I also picked up 2 winning books by Barbara Bretton.  Casting Spells and Laced With Magic; these books combine 2 of my favorite things - knitting and paranormal romance.  I finished Casting Spells about 30 min ago and once I finish this post I'll be starting on Laced With Magic (book 3 comes out next month).

I better hide my plant

Research is showing that a protein in Pokeweed has VERY strong anti-viral properties - as in it can kill the AIDS virus.  I better hide my plant before some giant pharmaceutical company patents the entire Pokeweed plant and starts going after people growing rogue plants in their yards.  You may laugh but it's happened before.
You know what isn't poisoned by eating Pokeweed?  Woolly Bear caterpillars, which are the larvae of the Giant Leopard Moth!! 

I've got a shot of one of those moths under our front light but I can't find it right now, oh well.

books

I just finished City of Bones by Cassandra Clare, book 1 of The Mortal Instruments.  I'm not feeling very happy about the book right now; the plot twist that happened after the plot twist that I saw coming from a mile away is NOT settling well with me.  I'm anticipating another plot twist back in the direction that I want in the next book in the series which I'll start reading momentarily.

books

I'm liking City of Bones so far.  I'm at page 174 and I LOVED the mention of 2 of Holly Black's characters that just happened.  Clary and Jace (City of Bones main characters) are going through NY City and see a group of homeless kids that includes Val and Luis (Valiant main characters).  I just LOVE when two different worlds overlap each other like that!!
Back to reading on this rainy day!

books

OK, I just finished Strange Brew, a collection of paranormal short stories written by various authors.  Some of the stories were really good, some were OK, and some I skimmed through because they were just eh.  I was surprised that I didn't enjoy the Harry Dresden short story more.  I liked the TV show pretty well, so did Joe, but this story at least didn't grab me like I thought it would.  Oh well.
Now I'm starting on the Mortal Instruments series by Cassandra Clare, it looks to be good.

Oh, I started reading a funny book to Paul while he was in the MRI machine this evening.  I picked it out at the library today while they were at Art Class.  It's The Extraordinary Adventures of Ordinary Boy by William Boniface.  He liked it a lot and I think that Giselle may enjoy reading it on her own too.

Oh well, back to the books!

books

Oh, I finished Holly Black's Ironside; A Modern Faery's Tale several days ago.  I just hadn't gotten around to posting it although I did update my personal reading lists.  LOVED it!  I kind of hope there's a sequel of sorts because I've enjoyed the series so far.  I do hope that there aren't any more Kaye and Roiben because I want them to have a 'happily ever after'.  But Ms Black did write a short story related to them that was published in the Poison Eaters collection that I've already read.  Since I finished Ironside I've been reading a collection that I'm not done with yet due to a reading glitch called "my 6-yr old damaged his LCL playing soccer and I've been tending to him a lot".
Time to call the Orthopedist again and find out why they haven't called me back yet.

books

About an hour ago I finished Holly Black's Valiant, book 2 in her Modern Faerie Tales series.  Good book, not great.  I don't regret reading it, especially since it took me less than a day to read the 314 pages. I guess I'll start on the 3rd book in the series, Ironside, tonight.  My eyes are feeling fuzzy but I think that's from all the mold in the air from all the rain last week.  More rain supposedly this weekend.  I hope it stays away until after Saturday's soccer games.

first things first

Yesterday we left the house at 9:30 am and didn't get back home again until 8!
First we drove 13 miles to a La Leche League Meeting at 10, then we high-tailed it back South to pick up lunch from Sonic and get the kids to PE by 12:50.  Then I popped to the library (practically next door to the PE park) and did some returns and checked out 2 books on hold and 2 more from off the shelf.  i had forgotten my errand list at home so I called Joe (who happened to be at home) and copied it down on some paper I had in the car.  Then I drove to Walmart to pick up a rubber tray to keep under the dog's indoor water bowl, then I went to Barnes & Nobles to get some school books for Giselle and renew my Educator's Discount card.  After dropping the books off in the car I went next door to Michael's to get aprons for the group I'm in who'll be serving Wednesday night dinner in 2 weeks.  I also got the paint to decorate them with and some more glowy sitcks. 
They're $1 for a container of 15 bracelets so I have to restock with 5 containers every time I go in there.  You can never have too many glowy sitcks, I always say.  And good thing too since of the 3 containers of glowy sticks that I brought on our camp out, almost one entire container was all duds!  Good thing I brought 3 instead of just 2 like I was going to do at first.
After leaving Machael's I had to drive across town another 10 miles to the Boy Scouts Store to get Paul's uniform that he needed for tonight even though he was going to be at soccer practice not at scouts.  I realized today while ironing on the required patches that one the patches they gave me was wrong.  Joe has gallantly offered to go and change it out for me.  Then I scooted back South and went to Thomlinson's Pet Food store to get, what else, dog food.  One of the 2 brands that we use was on super sale so I had to buy extra (they aren't going to carry it any more so I had to buy the last of their stock for 25% off regular price).  With the time creeping up on 3:30 I got to Sam's Club and bought 4 cases of 1-liter bottles of Ozarka for Joe, then headed back to the park to meet up with the other moms and kids after PE ended at 4.  We hung out at the park until 5:30 when it was time to leave for dinner at church followed by kids' choir and general hanging out until 8 pm.
Waylon was very glad to see us when we got home!

books

I finished Rachel Cain's Kiss Of Death about 15 min ago.  I'm really glad that I only have to wait 1 month until book 9 comes out.  I'm probably going to have to buy it since I'll be so far back in line on the hold list at the library.
Right now I'm number 6 in line to get the recently released Clockwork Angel by Cassandra Clare from the library but a friend of mine owns it, she told me at church Wednesday night, and said she'd loan it to me.  Although I think I'll wait to read it until after I read the sequel books.  See, it's like the Star Wars movies from when I was a teen - there were the first 3 Star Wars movies.  Then George Lucas made the 3 prequel movies and then the movies that WERE 1, 2, & 3 became movies 4, 5, & 6.  Well the new book, Clockwork Angel is part one of a trilogy that precedes the events in the first books City of Bones, City of Ashes, City of Glass, and City of Fallen Angels. 
So I'm not sure which of the 4 books I currently have checked out of the library I'll read next; I'm thinking it'll be the two Holly Black books, maybe.

books

I just finished Rachel Caine's Fade Out, book 7 of The Morganville Vampires.  Intense would be the correct word for this one, less WOW than the last 2 have been.  I'm about to see what book 8 has in store for me - I bought it last night and got it autographed too.  I think that there's only going to be another 3 or 4 books written in the series and they aren't out yet so after book 8 it's on to my next library books.

books

I finished Carpe Corpus by Rachel Caine 30 min ago.  Once again, all I can say is WOW, WOW, WOW, WOW, WOW!!!!!  And just 3 hours ago I actually met the woman who wrote the book and got her to autograph my reading list.  I'd stick around and post more but I've already spent the last half hour updating my reading list and this blog.  Now I've got to get to reading book 7 in the series; I bought book 8 earlier tonight at the Smart Chicks Kick It book tour stop here in Austin.
We've got a field trip in the morning to a local US Post Office; that should be fun!

replay

I just watched this again for the first time since we got Waylon 4 months ago. This is EXACTLY how Waylon acts and sounds, especially Joey who keeps standing on the arms of the chairs (although Waylon doesn't do that since he's not allowed on the furniture).



We love our squeaky dog!

books

OK, just a quick post to state that I just finished Lord of Misrule by Rachel Caine, book 5 in The Morganville Vampires series.  WOW, WOW, WOW!  That's what I'm saying about this book in the series, just WOW!  Gotta leave and get on to book 6.  I'll be sure to buy book 8 at the book signing TOMORROW NIGHT and I'm sure that I'll be eagerly waiting to get book 9 when it's published at the end of this October.
See ya!

books

I finished Feast of Fools by Rachel Caine this morning and have already moved on to book 5 of the series.  This series is great, I don't want to stop reading it!  But real life calls and we've got shopping for cleats and groceries to do this afternoon so it won't be until tonight that I'll finish book 5 and start on book 6.

books

OK, I probably actually finished the book just before midnight but I had to edit my reading lists first before making this post.  I just finished reading Midnight Alley by Rachel Caine, book 3 in The Morganville Vampires series.  Book 3 was just as good as the first 2, maybe even a little better.  I love all the subplots that run through each book and how they thread each book together.  The final 2 twists at the absolute very end blew me away!  The only thing I missed in this one was that there was no recap of the book and teaser of the next book in the form of Eve's journal entries like at the end of the previous 2 books.  Oh well, just a minor thing.  Now I'm off to read book 4, Feast of Fools.  I doubt I'll finish it tonight but maybe before church in the morning...

pause

Just finished a 30 min break for dinner prep and eating.  I had only gotten to page 60 before the dinner break but I had to take an earlier break in there to refill the pool for the dog to soak in.  He's exhausted himself by running around the backyard non-stop while I was out there reading all afternoon.

books

I just finished The Dead Girls' Dance by Rachel Caine, book 2 in The Morganville Vampires series.  At about 250 pages each, I'm taking 5 hours to finish each - my standard reading rate is 50 pages per hour.  So if I start now, even with a break for dinner, I should finish book 3 tonight and get a good start on book 4 before I go to bed.  Depending on how much caffeine I drink this evening, I just might finish book 4 too!  I think it's looking good for getting all 7 read before Monday night.  I'll still be short two books but that's ok, maybe I'll buy those there at the signing.
Wish me luck!
Wow, in my rush to start on the next book I almost forgot to mention the one I just finished.  Well, I guess that my enthusiasm for reading the next book is actually a really good review - The Dead Girls' Dance was so good that I'm eagerly rushing to read the next in the series, Midnight Alley.  I 'm not doing full reviews of any of these books, if you want that kind of information you're welcome to read all the reviews at the Amazon.com link I post for each book.
Now, I'm off to refill my quart cup of ice water and then head back out to the back porch where I'll be reading until the kids make me feed them dinner.  Hey, I DID wash all the dishes this morning before I started reading for the day.  And I took Giselle to soccer practice, and I returned some shin guards to Target, and I got my eggs and veggies and bacon and sausage at the farmers market, and I picked Giselle up from soccer practice (I surprised her with a lemon/pina colada Jim Jim's).  So I haven't been sitting around all day just reading.

books

We're about to head out to the park for the rest of the day but I just finished book 1 of The Morganville Vampires series by Rachel Caine, Glass Houses.  WOW!  I am SO glad that I've got the next 6 books already checked out of the library because this is a good one!  It doesn't hurt that it takes place in Texas  :)  I love that the school the main character goes to is Texas Prairie University, aka TPewwww!    I'm looking forward to after dinner tonight when I can get to reading book 2, The Dead Girls' Dance.

books

I finished Holly Black's White Cat earlier this evening.  Wow! What a really good book!  Twists and turns in the plot abounded, and a great twisted ending that made me want to scream because the 2nd book in this new series won't be released until APRIL of next year!!
Now on to the Morganville series.  I've got the first 7 in the series and they look to be quick reads so I should be able to finish them all before The Smart Chicks Kick It! book tour comes through Austin on Monday night.  I feel that it's only proper to have read as many books possible by all of the authors who will be there on Monday night.  In this case Kelley Armstrong, Melissa Marr, Alyson Noel, Holly Black, Rachel Caine & Cassandra Clare will all be in attendance.  I've read books by them all except Rachel Caine since my holds on her books haven't come in yet at the library.  Rather than get any of my books signed, I'm going to get my reading list signed by them all.

books

I finished The Poison Eaters by Holly Black yesterday afternoon.  It's a collection of 10 of her short stories that have previously published in other places and 2 new ones written just for this book.  Most of them were really good compared to what some other writers put out but I think that Ms Black is more in her element in full-length stories. 
I'm now reading the first book in her newest series, The Curse Workers.  I'm having a hard time wrapping my brain around the story but I think that's because I've read about too many alternate realities over these past several months and I'm getting some of them mixed up.  It's either that or this sinus headache that I've had for the last 3 days.

books

I gave up on reading The Returners by Gemma Malley this evening.  After 100 pages I found myself skimming forward to try to find interesting parts and kept not finding any.  I think I'm going to start another book by Holly Black after the kids go to bed.  She's another of the authors who'll be at the Smart Chicks Kick It! book tour stop in Austin next week.
We're back to reading the Percy Jackson series before bed as a group.

books

I finished Michelle Rowan's Lady & the Vamp yesterday in the very early am.  That's book 3 in the Immortality Bites series.  What a fun series, I like these ones that make me laugh.  So many of these books are full of angst and no humor at all, Michelle Rowan blends a little angst in with a good load of humor.  And I finished Melissa Marr's Radiant Shadows at about 1:30 this morning; book 4 in the Wicked Lovely series.  I liked that this continued the story on from another point of view just like the previous books in this series.  I look forward to the next book in the series being released next year.  Melissa Marr is one of the authors who'll be at the Smart Chicks Kick It! book tour when it comes through town next Monday.  Joe's going to watch the kids so I can go!  I'm not sure what book in my pile I'm going to read next but today's a holiday so I may or may not get a lot of reading done.

books

I finished Marked by P.C. & Kristin Cast in the wee hours of this morning.  Wow, this is one that I wish I already had the sequels checked out of the library!!  Not a cliff-hanger by any means, the book finished very well, but I want to know MORE!  Instead, next I'm going to read the 7 Morganville books that I checked of the library on Wednesday.  I wonder if I'll get any reading done while on the camp-out this weekend?

books

Just finished Ghostgirl: Lovesick by Tonya Hurley.  I assumed that this was book 3 of a trilogy but she ended the book "the end?" so who knows what'll be published by her next year.  I'm not sure what I'm going to read next, I've got a lot to choose from so I mught just watch TV instead.

spooky!

On this day (September 2) in 1666 – A large fire began on London's Pudding Lane and burned the city for three days, destroying St Paul's Cathedral and the homes of 70,000 of the city's 80,000 inhabitants.

The spooky thing is that for school yesterday (September 1) we read in our history book, Story Of The World Volume 3, about the plague hitting London AND the Great Fire of London!  The city and surrounding area had approximately 500,000 residents prior to the plague and only 300,000 after the plague.  Then just a few months later, the fire took out 80% of the city's buildings!  Not a good time to be a Londoner!!

books

Oh, I finished Ghostgirl: Homecoming by Tonya Hurley last night and now it's on to book 3 in the series.  Book 3 is also chock full of chapter titles that are actually song titles from 'back in my day'!  On the side, when it's quiet and I can concentrate, I'm rereading How To Talk So Kids Can Learn by Faber and Mazlish.  UT uses this as an instructional text in their teaching program and it's been about 2 years since I last read it.