InstaFriday

 According to Tori at Home Away From Home:

"So I've decided to do something new on Fridays; INSTAFriday. I'm gonna use Friday to share some of the pics from my Instagram from that week for all those who don't follow me and actually care. *WINK*"

Tori is still really busy, so there's no link up again this week. That won't stop me from a post, though!

This is Ally, my 16 year old Schnauzer. We thought it was time to say goodbye to her in January, but after getting some "pee-pee pills" to prevent her dribbling, and getting groomed, she's like a different dog! I love how she looks "puppyish" in this picture.

This was the 2nd picture I took of YS cooking dinner for us on Monday. Why is it that the boys think it's really cute to give me the "you're #1" sign (you know what I mean, right??? They use their middle finger!) when I'm taking a picture?

Tuesday night, my mountain school had "Family Fun Night". They do this once/month to get the community involved. This was one of the visitors:

Wednesday, "IT" came. I am beyond excited to finally get a "Big Girl Camera"!!! And, I have all next week to see if I can figure out how to use it!

Those were my personal IG pictures for the week. If you don't follow me, I'm @tnslp!

Last Random on My Own!

1.  That's right.  Linda at 2nd Cup of Coffee, host of the Random Dozen will be back with a whole new set of questions for us to answer next week!   WOO-HOO! 

2.  My students are all accounted for.  I was a little sad that a couple of them had moved to other states, and I didn't get to tell them goodbye.   I always hope that I had an impact on their lives, and that they won't forget about me years from now.

3.  Yesterday was the first time I got to use the "I'm not a football mom...I don't have to go to a football related event if I don't want to" card.  Well, guess what?  I didn't wanna, and I didn't.  It was the first time an inter-team scrimmage was held.  I had no desire to sit out in the hot bleachers to see someone elses' kids playing on the field.  I've done my time and now I'm done.  The band is in charge of the concession stand, and my services weren't needed (prayer of thanks inserted here).  YS had to go because the band was playing, and die-hard high school football fan husband just wanted to go.  (insert nice quiet time alone in the cool house here)  

4.  Thursday is a day off.  Yes, after just 3 days of school, we get a day off due to elections.  The county schools are used as voting places, so there's no school.  Yee-Haw!  I'm planning on going to Daily Mass, grocery store, meeting friends for lunch at a new Mexican place in town (insert one margarita in here), and relaxing.  Should be a good day.

5.  MS started a new job since lifeguarding is pretty much over: he's a waiter in a restaurant.  I think it's good for him to work in the food industry:  he'll have an appreciation to how hard servers work and how crappy customers can treat them.  Good life lesson.  The owners of the restaurant are tough:  they expect a lot out of their employees.

6.  Every now and then Sister Ann Marie at Franciscan Life posts a video from youtube with positive thoughts.  The one I watched yesterday had a couple of lines from a song by Joyce Marie that really struck me.  And, since we've just started a new school year, these are words to live by:

"Your gift of free will allows you to choose.
You are the master of your attitude."
from the song Uplifted and Inspired

Thank you, Sister Ann Marie!

7.  This is a total random number of random things that I'm doing today, so just go with it!
I have to share this commercial with y'all.  I saw it for the first time a few nights ago.  It's the funniest commercial I've seen in a while!

Random & 100th Post

Wow!  I can't believe it's already my 100th post!  Apparently, when you hit 100, you are suppose to do a list of 100 things about yourself.  You can find mine here if you really want to read it.
When I started my blog in February, I wasn't too sure about writing one.  I thought my life was pretty boring; I knew it wasn't nearly as exciting as someone else's I  started reading when her hubs posted her link.  One thing that I've learned in just the few months I've been blogging is that my life isn't as boring as I thought.  I'm enjoying writing and sharing parts of my life.

Okay, remember Linda's on vacation from the Random Dozen.  I'm being totally random with just a half-dozen things that have happened over the past week.

1.  Husband & I thought this past Sunday was Father's Day.  He found something he wanted:

And, it was on sale + he had a 20% off coupon.  (Auburnchick....you're rubbing off on us!)  Apparently this will help him with working on his motorcycles.  (yes,  that is plural)  So, I went to a part of the big city that I'm not familiar  with (but it was  incredibly easy to find) and picked it up.  For Father's Day.  Which we thought was on the 6th.  But it's not.  It's on the 20th, in case you're wondering.

2.  I know you can't believe I'm going on and on and on  you're not tired of hearing about my plants, so look at this:

Can you see the new growth on the plant?  I haven't killed anything yet!  In fact, they're actually growing!  My sister, the master gardener, came by on Sunday, and I showed off my plants.  She knows me so well;  she was very excited for me!

3.  Check out the amaryllis blooming in our front yard (completely husband's doing):

 And, the plant on my front porch:

4.  Walking around the yard, I found this nest in the crook of the gutter:

But then I found this one, too:

I wish I had seen the gutter nest earlier;  I would have liked to have kept an eye on the babies.

5.  Husband bought this for us over the weekend:

Not only is YS a blog hog, but  husband is becoming quite the blog hog as well.  He's been asking every day if I'd blogged about the table & chairs, and why I haven't  yet.  He threatened to take them back.  Hey, if blogging gets me stuff, I'll blog all day long!

6.  Another tough decision this week on the tv:  Kate Plus 8 or The Next Food Network Star.  Let me say:  Kate grates on my nerves.  The way she talks and over-enunciates everything, the way she used to talk  to Jon, and the way she talks to the kids at times.  The kids are just too dad-gum cute.  The little ones, anyway.  The twins are cute, but one of them badly needs an attitude adjustment.  But,  I'm sure that's one of the  drawbacks of having your life video-taped:  you have to be especially careful with how you discipline your child, or else you'll have Dept. of Children's Services on your butt.  The Next Food Network Star:  I didn't care for the winner of last year's show.  I knew I would never watch her show, and I haven't.  I have been watching since the first season, and I think it's  one of the best "reality" shows out there.  That Bobby Flay is just too cute.  So, The Next Food Network Star won out on Sunday.  I felt really sorry for Aarti & Das,  who didn't have time to cook their chicken all the way through, but I wondered if someone would tell the judges before they bit into it.  I also felt bad for Alexis:  his Beignets weren't cooked all the way through, and he received some harsh criticism from Wolfgang Puck.  I mean, if a world-class chef says that his wife would divorce him if he served that to her, that's gotta be bad.  So long, Alexis!

Last FFF for May

It's the last  FFF for May!  Thanks to Susanne for hosting!  It's a great way to do a weekly wrap-up of  favorite things that happened during the week.

1.  The sun coming through the stain-glass windows at the start of daily mass:

2.  Flowers:  this is the first year I've gone "all hog" with trying to make my back porch "inviting"!

I decided on a blooming ground cover with 2 different kinds of perennials mixed in for that space between the house and sidewalk.  I don't do annuals.

The porch is looking good; all I need now is a table and some chairs!  I told husband the other day that I'd like to have a swing under some of the shade (see picture in #4...it's just to the right of it), and he implied that I should go get it myself, and I think he meant with my own money!  However, after seeing a couple of suspicious looking holes over there (snake holes, maybe?), I'm going to rethink that!

3.  Hummingbird bushes and a son to dig the holes for you!(Thank you, YS!)

4.  Hummingbird feeder:  Out and ready to go!  Now all I need is some hummingbirds!

5.  Not cooking dinner last night.  Youngest son made Creamy Chicken Enchiladas again.  They were excellent!  He had me do the prep for him, and, I must say, he's getting kinda bossy with it!  He's also getting to be somewhat of a blog hog, too.  He asked I was going to blog about him fixing dinner!  15 year olds...watcha gonna do with 'em?

To link up with your favorite five for the week, visit Susanne at Living to Tell the Story.

Friday's Fave Fives

Thanks for all of the birthday wishes for Middle Son!  I think he had a good day.  He had soccer practice, then he and his girlfriend went to a concert.  We usually don't let him go out on a school night, but, it was his 18th birthday and it was Drew & Ellie, we made an exception.  He had seen this band on a Young Life Weekend and really liked them.  He was so excited that they were going to be in "the big town"! He was jazzed when he came home last night.  He said his girlfriend went in thinking she wasn't going to like it (she thought they were country singers), but she really liked them!   He actually was there when this video was made:





Now for the real reason for the post:
This is the first time I'm participating in this Meme...looks like a good one!

1.  I'm going to start off with Easter Sunday Mass at our old parish in SC.  This church started as a mission church to the African American community, so the singing is outstanding!  I've been singing the "Glory" all week.  You can feel the love in that church!

2.  A day off!  Actually, I had 2 days off this week, but Thursday was spent with YS' high school band at a a band festival, so I'm not sure if that really counts!  And, it was an absolute gorgeous day.

3.  The Blind Side.  We finally got around to watching it.  What an exceptional movie!  Sandra Bullock was very believable as the mom, but, in my opinion, Quinton Aaron was amazing.  He had me feeling sorry for him and tearing up from the beginning of the movie.

4.  YS' high school band participated in a concert band festival, and they received straight 2's (including a 2+)!  If you know anything about band, you may be thinking, "why is she excited about a 2?"  If you do know anything about band festivals/contests, you know that a '1' is the highest mark you can get.  Well, our little band went to the same festival last year, and got all 3's.  They are really improving.  I was able to watch them perform, and, the whole time I sat there thinking how much they've improved the 5 years YS has been involved in band.  When we moved here, there were only about 19 people in the band.  6 years later, there are around 50.  The band director was straight out of college our first year here, so he's young and enthusiastic.  I'm sure I'll be writing more about the band in the future!

5.  This actually happened last Thursday, but  my  favorite coworker in the whole world made sure the staff ordered in last Thursday since 1) I was there (or so she gave that as the reason...I totally believed her!) and 2) we didn't have school on Friday due to it being Good Friday.  It was nice not having to make sure I had a lunch ready to go that morning!

And, on the same day, my other favorite coworker in the whole world (especially when she brings goodies to school on Tues. or Thurs.!) brought this Orange Cake to school.   She also brought the chocolate chip pie last month. The Orange Cake was so moist and delicious, and she said that it took her no time at all to mix up and get into the oven!  I borrowed her picture:

and her recipe:

Preheat oven to 325

1 pkg. yellow cake mix
1 pkg. lemon pudding mix
3/4 C. orange juice
1/2 C. vegetable oil
4 eggs
1 t. lemon extract

1/3 C. orange juice
2/3 C. sugar
1/4 C. butter

Mix cake mix, pudding mix, 3/4 c. OJ, oil, eggs, and lemon extract. Pour into a greased bundt pan. Bake for 50-60 mins. (I baked mine 50 mins.)  Let cool.

In a saucepan, cook 1/3 c. OJ, sugar, and butter for 2 minutes. Drizzle over cake. (I punched holes first using a toothpick)

 Okay, everybody, click on the link below and join in the fun!

                       http://susannesspace.blogspot.com/2008/09/hello-and-welcome-to-fridays-fave-five.html