Inspiration and sadness

I worked at Habitat for Humanity this weekend with some people from my office. All of us work on computers all day long. We got on the roof and used nail guns to attach plywood to trusses and once we finished that, we put down tar paper. Others completely cut out and put up insulation on the house. Our team leader, Peter, was awesome. He took a bunch of computer nerds and made us build a house.  Within five minutes, he had taught me how to use a nail gun and how to load it. In a few hours, all the roof plywood was nailed down, the entire roof covered in tar paper and the entire house insulated. Some of the guys installed the windows. I'm going to go on a limb and stereotype....People who volunteer seem to be very happy in life. BTW, my trigger finger is sore and so is my back.


I was happy to climb around on the roof and actually got my 'roof legs'. As long as I keep away from knives and fire, I'm safe. I'm aware of my limitations.


So this week, a friend from elementary school in Arlington, Tx, Don Sloan died in a motorcycle accident. He had contacted me a few months ago because we both currently were living in Frisco and his daughter goes to same school as my daughter. Anyway, was so shocked to hear this. Rest in Peace Don and God Bless your Family!

Gotta love Texas weather today

What a beautiful day. I'm digging a huge hole in my backyard that will some day be my garden. I haven't had enough yard in a long time to have a garden. I'm very excited about it. I mean I'd rather have a pool back there, but the garden will save me about $40K in start-up costs. I"ll have to settle for a kiddie pool this year.

So Donald Trump says gas could get as high as $6-7 a gallon this summer. I told my kids. My daughter said if gas gets that expensive, she's not driving to school anymore. I told her she could take the bus. That went over well.

So Ryan has been working at Rudy's barbecue for a couple of months now. The half price food for the family is sweet. They need to hire more people, so they asked if Hayley would want to work there. I asked him if he told his boss that she's a prima dona? Anyway, its much closer to the house and her school, so she's thinking about it. She's peeved because she has been at TJMaxx for almost 1.5 years and was employee of the quarter last year and no raise. She still makes $7.25 an hour is one of their more responsible employees. You think they could throw her a bone and give her .10 an hour or something. I think it's great that she's held a job that long and she started immediately after turning 16.

I decided to try a new recipe. A broccoli/cauliflower layered salad. I added some spinach just because it had been in the frig a while. The salad is pretty good. Even with all the goodies mixed in, I don't really like the cauliflower.

Ingredients: broccoli, cauliflower, hard boiled eggs, cheese, bacon pieces, and then topped with a reduced fat mayo/vinegar dressing. Next time, I'll ditch the cauliflower and just make a broccoli salad. 

So since my son apparently has a tapeworm, I've decided to try a cheaper cut of meat tonight. I bought a London Broil. It's been marinating all day long. I'm going to throw it on the grill and see what happens. I've also seen some slow cooker recipes for it, but today is too nice not to grill out. If it's any good, I'll post the marinade recipe.

Happy Valentine's Day!!!!

My son made cinnamon rolls for breakfast this morning and I gave the kids Valentine candy.  I forgot to get treats for Zena and Billie Jean. Oops.




So my 2012 goals: Play more golf, read more books, go to church more often, plant a garden, paint my kitchen, have more margarita patio days, get out of the house, and take a real vacation this year. Last year was the year of the house remodel. This year is the year to enjoy myself.


So I decided to throw out my nasty Vietnamese noodle soup. I figure if I'm going to eat carbs, it is not going to be bland noodles. I'll save my carb intake for something like....oh I don't know....cinnamon rolls or Mexican food.

Old Dog Lady is Back!!!!

So what happens when you get a cold day in Texas? You watch chick flicks.




I bought some dark-chocolate covered strawberries and may wash them down with some champagne.


So the other thing I like to do on a cold Texas day is cook. So I made a special trip to the store to get Asian hot sauce, fresh ginger (a little piece cost me $4. Wth?) and snowpeas. I decided to make this really awesome looking Vietnamese chicken noodle soup. I chopped up raw chicken and I hate doing that. I also cut up a ton of veggies. So after this shopping and chopping, the soup was really bland. Oh and it made a ton of soup, so now I have a huge pot of yucky leftovers.


Maybe tomorrow I'll make myself a medium rare filet mignon on the grill before I devour my strawberries and champagne. Happy early Valentine's Day to everyone!!!