A Little Bread, Flowers, Squirrel & Bird

Well, as you all know, life continues especially when errands abound! Yep! Errands do not take a day off or asks to wait when you don't have a car. Our day started out slow, but after a great breakfast of pancakes and milk, I baked us a loaf of white bread for some sandwiches! *thanking Michelle for finding recipe online*

Our friend Michelle made a loaf of this the first week she was here, but hers tasted different and came out smooth on top. I followed the recipe exactly, up to the point where it said, "stretch to a rectangle then roll to roughly the size of the pan." Mine came out rough, but I buttered the slit top and it's definitely a white loaf of bread!
The kiddos loved eating their plain cheese sandwiched against two warm, soft slices while we walked to Kroger's.
On our way there, we used the neighboring complex to walk through and since they have more mature oak and other trees, small climbing animals and birds are everywhere, but what caught my attention enough to take pictures, is this cute little squirrel who looked at us first before scampering off on this tree. It was rather humid so I think he's trying to "relax" and cool off. J-Pony said, "Mommy, he's probably dead or dying because he's flat." LOL
When we crossed over to the parking lot of the church on the other side, we couldn't help but notice all these bold yellow and orange lantanas. I love these, we have them in the Philippines and I love trying to grow them along with moss roses. *reminiscing*

So we reach Kroger and fulfill our errand. We bought some Dreyer's Dibs "Nestle Crunch" Flavor" ice cream, bigger but cheaper than the other tub we bought inside Blockbuster, a few weeks back.

On our way back to the church parking lot, I told the kiddos to stand in front of this tree for some pictures. (We always take pictures when we go out). I noticed some birds flying near it but hesitated so looking closer, this bird was relaxing on shaded branch! When I tried to have the kiddos stand in front of it, the bird twitched then flew away...

So they didn't get to have the bird on the background. Oh, well... Don't they look cute in their shades?

Further on, we took another route and noticed these great looking big trees and the little corner garden so I had them stand behind it. More lantanas!

At the other end is the sign for the other complex and it was flanked by two cool fountains. So I had J-Pony and I-Dude stand in front! Look at that garden!

Once inside our own townhome complex, J-Pony notice birds coming in and out of this small tree. So she looked and saw this nest! Albeit, it's empty, but what a great find!

For dinner, we knew we had everything we needed to make a great satisfying meal. We made Jasmine rice and I thawed the beef stew meat we had (1.33 lbs), sliced each piece smaller, halved it and the other half, I sauteed with onions, canola oil, garlic powder and pepper.
Added some frozen veggies, soysauce and water. Simmered on low for 10 minutes and "voila!"
... dinner is served! We made our own "Beef, Veggie & Rice" Bowls, for less than $3 for all four of us!

How you ask? Simple. We already had all of the ingredients, but remembering all the good deals we stumbled upon like B1G1F for the meat-$7 for two, veggies-$1, onion (1/2 lb-15 cents). The soy sauce and the rest we've had for at least two months. And I halved the portions, plus 4 of us ate, there you go!

Have a wonderful weekend, everyone!

Where's the Camera?!!!

Well, I went for a walk with the kids today and took some pictures but now I can't find it for the life of me! What happened to it?

Anyway, my in-laws' place looks over a golf course on a hillside so there's a trail that separates them from the green. In our walk, we saw overspilling into the fence... (all these pictures are borrowed online. Why? I can't find the camera that have the similar pictures in them! That's why...) :-)

some ripening pears on a tree...
Overspilling tiny ripe raspberries. We picked some, but they were too tiny to be juicy. Still good though.
Before that, we saw some green grapes spilled over the fence, several bunches, just waiting to be ripe enough to eat! Wow! We did turn right back since it was too hot and my new black flip-flops were burning my feet. *ouch, ouch!*
And in the afternoon, my ears were tantalized by the sounds of the playing magpies zooming in and out of the trees, flying in the air and resting on the fence! What a great day!

Psst... we have so much pictures to share, it'll take a while to get them into any comprehensible story format so I hope you'll still be there when I finally get a chance to plug them in.

Happy Saturday to all!

Friday IS the FUN Day!

Well today was a searing 103 deg F which kept us inside until 6:30 PM!

After we watered our neighbor's plants and "shocked" their pool, we immediately walked back home, but along the way, Mr. Man texted and so we used that as an opportunity to--- take pictures!

We loved seeing this manicured lawn and trees, so it's a perfect spot for a shot! ;-)
(I-Dude) "Mommy, this bottle is not cutting at all!" (Me) "It's because, it's a water bottle, silly!" (I-Dude)"Oh! I'm not a smart lumberjack..." LOL
(I-Dude) "Well, what about for a sword fight?" "Maybe... let's try it, J-Pony!"
Inside our complex, we saw several black birds disappear into this tree and when we came close, we saw this nest with one of the birds in it, but I was too slow in zooming in so... all I got was the nest up the tree! I can only imagine the eggs or baby chicks eagerly awaiting the day they can fly away themselves... *sigh*

Nature sure has a way of tugging at your heart...

Ok, 'nuff sappiness; I'm off to watch "Night at the Museum" with the kiddos with popcorn and soda! Make room on the couch! ;-)

Cattails & Cookies

Early this morning, Mr. Man and L-Infinity took off for Chicago so the two smallish kiddos and I just chilled all morning. We read, did chores and had a brief visit with our friend Cori Adams and her baby, A-Cutie. They came by for about an hour. Love her! We even played three rounds of UNO and after she left, I even raced I-Dude on Mario Kart but of course, I couldn't steer to save my life!

After lunch and more "chill time", I watered my own plants and checked on the "budding" herbs more. And when the heat died down a bit (NOT!), we walked to our neighbor's to water the plants. These are what we saw along the way...

A bird in flight on a beautiful blue sky...
A pretty in pink Crepe Myrtle tree...
Cattails marking the path of the creek...
Two cute kiddos trying to endure the heat...
And a bunny hiding under a rose bush!

Glad I brought my camera with me! LOL

We also visited my friend Heather and made a playdate for tomorrow. I let J-Pony bake another one of her cookie mixes from the "grands" but since it was getting late, I finished mixing, scooping and baking it for her. But boy did she choose wisely! These are good!

GREAT, the very first batch of delectable, moist choc chip cookies I ever baked in the oven and it wasn't even me who made it. (A bit of a slap in the face huh? LOL) Want one?
Hope you all stayed cool today!

Easy Essays?

It would seem that when you focus on something, that's when LIFE says, "Yeah, right!"

Wednesday night, I got started with my first final essay out of the 4 mini ones I had to do for my last two Public Admin classes. I actually finished one, but getting started on the others seem to be more complicated. I got maybe halfway with the second one... Did I mention I needed to do 4? By Saturday night? For points of 25, 25, 50 and 100? Yeah, I can feel my boots sh- shake a b-b-bit, j-just a bit... ;-)

In the morning, my brain stopped and asked for chocolate, lots of it! But then, my brain decided to take a rest and watch Food Network. Then Disney! After school, I had to watch a little girl. She's fun and got along great with my kids. Then nature seemed to call me. No, not the water closet kind of call! Nature! You know, trees, birds, flowers?

We walked around, picked up the mail, looked for beavers at their dam at one end of the creek. I found this bird that flew, walked and hopped! I think it was a Northern Mockingbird because it looked like this!


From Pbase.com
We even found some white bearded iris just growing wildly at the side of the wooded area near our apartment complex. Maybe some frustrated gardener thought that her rhizomes were bad and threw it out. You know, as they mentioned in Jurassic Park, "Life will find a way..." Those rhizomes found just the right combination of moisture and nutrients in that spot and boom! Up they grew! The blooms are simply beautiful... I took a picture with my phone, but it didn't turn out quite as clear as I wanted it to so here's a comparable photo I borrowed online.

From Sunset.com
We also realized that we've never been to and that it's time we used some of our hard earned dollars to help out Papa Murphy's so we had their Chicago Style Pizza and Cinnamon Wheel. It was so good that I got an extra big hug from Charlie. Love that! Maybe take out again tonight? ;-) Lovely combo... (Ok, getting hungry again) If you've been there, you know what I'm talking about. If not, maybe it's time...

Ok, back to the scent of highlighters as it glides onto the paper illuminating the information I need for my essays...