I'm back

I've been gone this weekend up in Seattle. My uncle's baby was being blessed and it was an occasion not to miss. I had a great time with my family. I think my face and diaphragm need a rest from all of the smiling and laughing though.

We went to the zoo, got sopping wet and froze, but I did see some really cool stuff there. We only saw about 25% of the zoo before we packed it in. I'll show the pictures tomorrow.

I got to hold my new baby cousin lots and lots. It just reaffirmed the fact that I want my own really badly and I am going to have one...soon I hope. :)

I don't have a bunch of pictures to show. One reason being, my camera eats batteries like tic-tacs and when you're having so much fun, you forget to take pictures of it all.

I am so glad that I got to have a mini vacation. I needed it so badly. I feel a whole lot better than I did last week. So, hopefully that means I'll be better about posting and commenting on my blog buddies posts.

I do have one question though. I saw this last week and I am really stunned. Maybe it went unnoticed to you, but I was in awe.

WHY?

Ho Hum

Is anyone else finding it hard to care for Idol this year? For me, there is only one person that I am mildly interested in. The guy that looks like Robert Downy Jr.'s love child. Danny something.

See! I can't even be bothered to remember last names. When I see the contestants on stage, it's like, "Oh look it's tattooed arm girl that can't sing really well, but because she's really pretty and charming they like her." or "The dorky Indian kid, who sings well, but chooses really bad songs for the most part." Then there is the short frog faced girl that thinks she is the most awesome thing ever. I know it's good to be confident, but acting like you've got the gig in the bag will land you where you don't wanna ever be. In the Blake Lewis and Michael Johns category that's where! Cashing in their expiring 'hey I was on Idol, let me in your club' tokens all over L.A.
This season isn't the worst at least. That was season three. Where we got this gem. Oh ya, she's doing really great. What was the last thing she had on the radio? Ya, I know she did Broadway, but I think that bone's been chewed up and gone.

Not that the runner up would have been any better. Geesh.

I'm sure that this season is going to be similar. With similar endings for the hopefuls on it. It will not produce anything or anyone great. So, this leaves me with feelings of 'what else is on tonight?'.

Am I alone on this?

Friday! Come and get your love.

The Box's'O'Awesome are ready to ship on Monday! I need to get the winners addresses. Please email me at jhdecoursey@gmail.com. I hope you guys will be happy with them.

Now for something really cool. I think the girl that does these, is so talented!!!








































This is her bento art. All edible and all hand crafted for her boyfriend's lunch. Who is "her" you might ask? She is Anna the Red. She has her own blog that has many more bentos and they come with instructions so you can make your own.

Have a great weekend!

On a more serious note...well, kinda.

So, here are the things we did yesterday. I haven't done a picture post in a while and I do have some good pictures from yesterday.

A recap first. The girls came home from school very ready to start our festivities. Abbey made the soda bread all by her self. We use a honest to goodness traditional recipe for it. It only contains 4 ingredients. Flour, milk, baking soda, and salt. It turned out a bit denser than usual, but it was her first try and she will improve. She also made the shortbread.

For dinner we had Irish stew {beef stew} it would have been more traditional if we used lamb. We had green beans, green soda bread, and green kool-aid {traditional Brinkerhoff flavor}. We talked to the girls about why we celebrate St. Patrick's Day even though we aren't even a smidgen Irish. The reason being, this country was literally built and run by Irish immigrants {among other ethnicities}. They were the working force that kept this county moving and growing, not an easy job. Most always a thankless job. So we remember and celebrate them on that day. That's how we observe St. Patrick's Day.

After dinner we watched Darby O'Gill and the Little People. ; } Then we had strawberry shortcake with whipped GREEN. {thanks Mike}

Here are some of the pictures. I didn't get any from dinner, the batteries died and I couldn't find the big pack we just bought.











































Hope you enjoyed. I wish I had a better variety to pick from.

In case you were curious, that is a cat with a haircut. He usually has long fluffy fur, but he had so many snarls we had to shave him. You also get a little glimpse of their food time trick. They beg for their food.

Have a nice day! :)

Top of the Marnin to Ya!

It's Saint Patrick's Day! {doing a little jig} I have absolutely NO Irish blood in my veins, but that doesn't ever stop me from celebrating this holiday! The girls are all dressed in green down to their socks and hair accessories. I am going to be wearing my green sweater. Jeff better find something green, he'll regret it if he doesn't...{pinch pinch}

Tonight we'll have a "traditional" Irish dinner of Irish stew and soda bread. I know that the jello will be green as will the lemon-lime koolaid. We are going to have strawberry shortcake for dessert. I'm not quite sure what part of that will be made green though. There is only two options, the shortcake or the whipped cream. One or both will be the emerald tone.

Basically the only point of reference that I had to go on for knowledge of the Irish culture would be this guy.

Or this movie.

Americanized parodies were all I had. That's OK. I love them. I'm sure today will be filled with sayings like "Don't steal me pot'o'gold!" or "Blarney" or "Don't be makin me wack you with me Shelaleigh stick!". Ya, pretty much the my's will become me's. There will be bad accents thrown around all day today. I will love every minute of it of course.

I leave you with a little clip of one of my favorite childhood movies. I know I'll be singing this ALL day too! Sorry about the quality, but it's short. :)

And the winner is.......................................................

I would like to thank everyone that entered. I am really amazed at how popular this giveaway was. I am definitely going to do the box of awesome again. The thing I didn't count on, was how hard it was going to be to pick a winner. I really wish I could give something to everyone, I really do!

Last night, Jeff compiled all the names onto a spreadsheet and tallied up all of your votes. {Limit being up to five of course} He then assigned random numbers to each person, the more you entered the more numbers you were assigned. Then we used a random number generator to pick the winner. So without further delay, the winner of the BOX'O'AWESOME is....

LKP!!!!

WAIT DON'T GO YET!
Because it was so hard for me to pick just ONE winner I have two runner ups that get a mini BOX'O'AWESOME.

Melanee
and
leannwoo!!!!

Just for the tenacity and hilarious contributions, I am going to award the commenter that commented the most. The funny thing is there was a tie. With 14 entries each.

Mike
and
Lisa!!!
You will receive something yummy from the kitchen of Heidi.

If you didn't win this time, I hope you had fun playing. I hope you will come back and be my blog friend. I am going to do another contest next month too. It might be the box of awesome, or something else. This giveaway has been really fun for me and it's taken my mind off of stupid everyday crap that I'm tired of dealing with. : ) So just a big thank you.

On a side note, I have no idea why blogger is making the lettering so big. If someone could tell me why, that would be great.

2 days left to enter.

Jeff is taking his test today. If he passes {I know he will} he will be certified and almost ready to sell. Yay! :)

I was a little worried about looking for a picture of the number two. I thought the chances of something poo related would be represented. I was surprised that nothing did.

I'm having a good and relaxing weekend. Hope you are too.

3 days left. A bit of something.

Parent teacher conferences were really good yesterday! I had nothing to fear. Lindsay has shown a marked improvement and her testing scores jumped an amazing amount. I feel better.
Abbey is doing very well and has practically an A average. I think with a little more work we can definitely achieve an solid A average by the end of the year. Next year is middle school for her, hopefully the hard work now will make the transition easier for her.

Favorite thing right now, tulips! I just can't lay off. It started from Jeff getting them for me for Valentines day. They just brighten my mood so much! I need to get some more though, my lovely orange ones have expired. Maybe I could put some in the Box of Awesome.

Good thing to eat? I made a traditional Hawaiian fruit salad and I LOVE IT!!! I think I will post the recipe next week. It's delicious and not too high in points, yet tastes like it is. Oh, by the way, I have lost almost 25 pounds with counting points. Yay! I feel really proud. It makes me think I can meet my goal. Just keep swimming, just keep swimming. {I'm channeling Dory}

Jeff is taking his final test on Saturday. He will then be licenced to sell most all insurances and annuities. Hopefully, he can start making some money with this. If anyone out there need help with their retirement planning, let us know. Jeff's your man.

Finally, I would like to know, see the Watchmen or not? I am leaning towards not. I think I'll just send Jeff to go and see it. Has anyone seen it? Can you give me a recommendation to either see it, or stay home?

Alrighty, have a good weekend everyone. Mine will be filled with the beginnings of Spring cleaning and reading all of the applicable garden books I can get my hands on.

TTFN {ta ta for now}

The contest is one more down. Sunday is the last day! Thanks. : )

4 days left to enter. Until then, a little bit of what I am going to do today.

So, today I am heading into battle. Well, I guess that's a bit over dramatic. It's Abbey and Lindsay's parent-teacher conference today. Yay. : / It shouldn't be that bad. I know that Abbey has been doing really well this year. She's been getting all of her work done at school. I don't think she's had any homework for about 5 months. Abbey is always very well behaved, so I know there is nothing to fear there. OK, Abbey's will be a breeze. {hopefully}

Lindsay, she has had a harder time paying attention and staying on task this year. This will make for a less than ideal conference. There will be finger pointing, excuses, explanations, plan of action, and stress. If Lindsay wasn't so smart, the expectations might not be so high. Well, maybe that's not true. I think most parents want their children to succeed, even if they aren't the brightest little star. I don't mean that to sound bad, does it sound bad? Sorry. I just don't get it though. We went from last years teacher praising Lindsay and not being able to say enough positive things about her, to this year where the teacher finds it hard to find something good. I think she likes Lindsay, so I don't know what the problem is.

Well, after I get those out of the way today, I am going to come home and relax. The dial will be turned to show tunes, that's riiiight {Ethel Merman singing voice} I am going to have a bowl of homemade arroz con leche, and I'm going to play Sims 2 till my hearts content. How can I afford this indulgent, lazy, and unproductive afternoon you might say? I am going to work like sixty to get every thing done this morning. Dinner will come from a crock pot and the kids will be left to entertain themselves.

Oh, and then I am going watch some of my favorite shows this evening. I just have to get through this afternoon, and then the rest of my day is going to be sweeeet! Until then, here's a little Calvin and Hobbes. Enjoy. If you have a hard time reading it, just click on it.

If you're looking for the contest, it's the post below. You have till Sunday!

First Giveaway! Come on, who doesn't like nifty gifties?

I have been toying with the idea of doing some kind of giveaway for a while. The question was "What to do and what hoops should you have to jump through to get it?" {wringing hands menacingly} OH THE POWER! Ehh ehhm, sorry 'bout that.

OK, so here's the prize, with a little explanation first. Have you ever been to a website called Woot? Well, I was introduced to this little gem by my uncle Mike. Anyway, they sometimes sell what is affectionately referred to as a "bag of crap". It is a random bag filled with just about anything imaginable. It could be filled with toys from the dollar store or a plasma TV. Alrighty, so you get the gist of the bag of crap. I would like to reveal...

THE BOX OF AWESOME
{ta daa}

So, this could contain anything. It's gonna be good stuff. {hopefully you'll think so too} It could have something I've made, candy, toys, crafty stuff, books, it might even be tailored for the person who wins. I can tell you with all certainty that it won't be a plasma TV though...sorry. I hope you like it anyway and decide to enter. The rules are as follows...

1. Please announce this giveaway on your blog.

2. Leave me a comment. Each comment is another entry, Limit 5 per person please.

3. Tell me something you would like to find in your very own box of awesome.

4. When you receive your box of awesome, let me know how you like it and feel free to show it
off on your own blog.

Well, there ya go. Maybe this will entice some of you lurkers to come out of hiding. I just love meeting iiinteresting people you know. : )

So, come and get some nifty gifties!

The winner will be announced on Monday. So that would make Sunday the cut-off. :)

Due to the flagrant misuse of the rule #2 by my family, and you know who you are, it has been changed. I am going to cut you off at 5 entries a piece.

I think someone has a case of the Monday's

I don't know what to write about really. I have a few random things though. : )

Jeff will be gone for the week doing some kind of certification training thing. He's going to try his hand at financial planning. Something to do with people's retirements and how to make them more money. So, I am left home alone this week. I am kind of looking forward to it, yet I know I will feel lonely.

I am reading up on gardening. Yup, I am going to try to grow some of our own veg this year. I am really excited about it. I am going to be using the square foot gardening technique. It looks the most promising with my beginners level skill and terrible clay soil. I've got all the seeds, I just need the magic dirt and some wood to build some boxes. I am immersing myself in gardening books for dummies. I almost have myself convinced that it's going to be awesome {sing-song voice}. I am sure the garden progress will be a continuing feature in the months to come.

I believe the time is right to do a giveaway too. I'm not quite sure on the details yet. I'll spend the rest of the day mulling it over. I have dishes and laundry to do, so I will have plenty of "mull" time. Did I use the quotation marks right? I never can quite tell....oh well. : )

I want to tell everyone that cares or wants to know, I am blessed. It's all the little things that happen. We may not have the big one we've been asking for, but we are still doing fine.

Well this post seems kind of random today. That's usually how my mind works. I like it. Keeps things interesting. I will come back tommorow with a better post and a neat giveaway.

{hopefully}

B.T.W Don't you just hate it when people say

stuff like "case of the Monday's" or "Don't smile too much" or

my in-laws code for 'you look like crap this morning', which would
be "Good morning sunshine" followed by a laugh, yah that doesn't
ever get old. I chock it up to social retardedness and usually
forgive people of their ignorance...usually. ; )

Happy Birthday Dr. Seuss! Let's go have juice with a goose and a moose.

I LOVE Dr. Seuss so much! He was my very favorite author as a child. I would sit and look at his books over and over again. The drawings were whimsical, the writing was unique, and he had the most creative characters in his books.

I will still pull out One Fish, Two Fish, Red Fish, Blue Fish and get lost in it's humor and wit. It's my favorite Seussian work. The Clark they found in the dark park illustration makes me laugh out loud EVERY time I see it. The little guy in the front of the book is something I've wanted to paint on a nursery or playroom wall. I've put him at the bottom of the post.

I remember reading those books repeatedly to my little brother and sister. Shawn loved Horten Hears a Who, but his very favorite was Horten Hatches an Egg. {Oh that naughty Mazy bird!}

Christmas is not the same if I don't get to see and read, The Grinch Who Stole Christmas. It has such a beautiful message in it. {Can't stand the live action one}

In 8th grade english, a class Jeff and I had together, we had to memorise and recite a poem from memory. I chose the ABC book. I made it all the way to Z. Miss. Money was quite impressed. I think my "peom" was the only the second hardest though. Brent Gessel did The Legend of Sam McGee, that one was impressive.

I have a Dr. Seuss quote hanging on my dinning room wall too. "Don't cry because it's over, smile because it happened!" I love that. So much of what he says has such an understated wisdom to it. I also love "A persons a person, no matter how small." In fact, I think I will just put a few more quotes down for you. They are all gems and you can find more if you google them.


“Today you are You, that is truer than true. There is no one alive who is Youer than You.”

“You know you're in love when you can't fall asleep because reality is finally better than your dreams.”

“Be who you are and say what you feel because those who mind don't matter and those who matter don't mind.”

“Sometimes the questions are complicated and the answers are simple.”

“I like nonsense, it wakes up the brain cells. Fantasy is a necessary ingredient in living, It's a way of looking at life through the wrong end of a telescope. Which is what I do, And that enables you to laugh at life's realities.”

“You have brains in your head. You have feet in your shoes. You can steer yourself in any direction you choose. You're on your own.
And you know what you know. You are the guy who'll decide where to go.”

“Unless someone like you cares a whole awful lot, nothing is going to get better. It's not.”



I'm not quite sure what I am going to do to celebrate this wonderful whimsical man's birthday today. Heaven knows there are tons of ideas online. We will most likely have some pizza, read some of his books, and watch the Grinch or Horton....

From there to here,
from here to there,
funny things
are everywhere.
{I miss you Dr. Seuss}