A Pajama Mama

My beautiful Grandmother went home to be with Jesus. I couldn't have handpicked a Grandmother who loved me as much as she loved me.

We love Casa frozen Italian meatballs that we buy in a big bag from Sam's. They are made in southeast Georgia and are so so so good! I decided to try a different  meatball recipe instead of the same old spaghetti and meatballs. We enjoyed this sooo much that I decided to share. In a large frying pan, sauté 1/2 cup chopped onion and 1/2 cup chopped green bell pepper in olive oil. Whisk together 1 cup ketchup,  2 T apple cider vinegar, 3/4 cup cola, 1 t seasoning salt, 1/2 t ground black pepper, 1 T Worcestershire sauce in a bowl, then mix with sautéed onion/pepper in pan. Add about 25 frozen meatballs, cover and simmer for about 1/2 hour. Serve over rice and enjoy!! (This would also be great in the crockpot!)

Say "Hi!" to the newest member of our family.... 13 week old Lucy Belle. She's a one and a half pound  bundle of Yorkie-Poo love who came to live with us a week ago. I've never in my entire life had a tiny dog OR an inside dog. So, there's been quite a learning curve for me to figure all this out. This is the best picture I could find of her bc she just won't pose for the camera!!! She'd rather bark at the camera and attack the camera and bite the camera and then take off zooming around after the kitties. Her first few days were rough. She had a pretty severe hypoglycemic episode her first night and we spent the night helping her recover from that scary episode. We're all in love with this little ball of fluff!!!!

Wow! Is it that time already? Our summer ran away from me without my permission.  (More on our rocky start to summer break in another post.)  We are into our third week of home learning already!  Here's a shot of the room where the action happens! And here's where I found these two one day... Learning together.

Anywhere with you is my favorite place to be.... This week we celebrated 19 years of marriage. We just thought we knew what love was and what being in love meant 19 years ago at the altar. We loved each other as much as we knew how...back then. 19 years together has brought about a love between us that is hard to describe, deep as an ocean, wide as the sky. We are one. About a month after we got married, I got upset everyday at my Hero because we'd get home from work...and he'd go fishing. In my mind, I couldn't understand why he wanted to go fishing more than he wanted to be with me. I cried about it. Yes, I cried. I thought I was enough for him...why did he need fish to help him unwind and de-stress?? Fish are slimy and they stink! And let's not discuss crickets and worms.  Oh the joys of being a newlywed, trying to figure out how to navigate a marriage relationship.  19 years later, my sweet card he gave me says it all... "Anywhere with you is my favorite pl...

My 14 year old daughter wrote a blog post on her thoughts about love, purity, and dating. What's so precious about Rayray is that these aren't just words on a page or her attempt to say what she thinks her parents want to hear. The overflow of her heart inspired these words. She lives this. To the young man who may one day seek to win her heart: You will receive a priceless treasure and if you do not realize that, then you aren't "the one." =================================================== What Purity is to Me July 12 Before I begin, I’m going to go ahead and let you all know that this is my opinion. Feel free to disagree and post a comment about what you don’t agree with. But I’m not getting into any kind of debate, so I won’t be responding to any comments. Again, this is my point of view and what I believe it means to be pure. Purity is more than just wearing a purity ring and saying “I am going to keep my body from evil.” It is more than waiting ...

All I did was blink. And we went from  here.... to here.... in one 7 year fell swoop.  Seven pounds to seven years in the blink of an eye. Happy Birthday, sweet princess!