Trusting people is just not my forte

And that is NOT because I don't trust them, it's because (even with all my anal worry-wart issues about trusting people) I like to think the best of people, so I DO trust them. And I tend to believe that if I'm kind and thoughtful to others that it will be turned around and I will get the same. And every time, (ok, not EVERY time, I'm just P.O.ed right now) most of the time it comes back and bites me in the behind.

Take this past week for instance- You all know we just moved right? Well before we moved we were renting a house that we had lived in for about 2-1/2 years. So lets go back shall we-

When we found the perfect house to rent it wasn't that the house was perfect, because it was a MESS, but because it was big, and had a great yard, double car garage, wonderful neighborhood, within walking distance to school and it was in our price range. We moved in and lots of agreements, verbal of course, were made with our "friendly Landlords" We cleaned it from top to bottom- the laundry room in the basement was packed full of trash that we removed and hauled away. Just to give you a few of the major nasty things we had to deal with, there was broken glass all over in the back yard and porch area, there was broken glass in the living room, there was urine on the kitchen baseboards, there was 1" thick nasty who knows what all over the master bath counter and sink, mold on the walls, shower, and ceiling of same bathroom. Ok those are the worst things. All of the carpets and walls were nasty, it took about a week to get it liveable inside. And no matter what I cleaned with there was an old house/mixed with pet smell. We were paid for the cleaning time. We were told someone would come and figure out what to do with the glass in the yard problem. Also that the mold problem would be taken care of and someone would be by to paint inside and probably out. We had cleaned the carpets ourselves, took forever, used all kinds of stain removers- very gross, and there were still some really bad stains. So the Landlords offered to have it professionally cleaned- I told them it was ok, not to worry about it because;
A: We had already moved in B: They had already used up most of the previous tenants deposit on repairs and were still planning on having the lawn taken care of, house painted inside and out and a few other things and I didn't want them to spend any more money than they had too.
C: because I was trying to be nice.

Fast forward 2-1/2 years later- It took about a year to get the yard taken care, laid down sod and had underground sprinkers put in- so that the kids could run around in it, the sprinklers worked for a few months, then quite- some kind of plumbing problem, and they never got them fixed. Around that same time they had someone come take care of the bathroom mold. Meanwhile one of the garage doors didn't work- hadn't for a year and neither one of them locked and the stove only had 1 working burner since from about the time we moved in. There had never been any painting done inside or out, we offered when we moved in but they wanted it professionally done. The week after we were all moved out of it, 2 of my, Wonderful, Wonderful Sisters came to help me and we scrubbed that place top to bottom, even the back porch and garage were sparkly. I tried to get ahold of my landlords so someone could do a walk thorough with me before I drove out of the state to our new home. I called and called and left several messages, they had said to call that day or the next when I was done. No one ever got a hold of me and I needed to get driving, I had all the kids and didn't want to be driving all night long. So I finally had to leave.

1 month later after phone calls and emails unanswered, I get a call from them, they said
everything looked great, BUT...... There was an oder that they didn't like and wanted to have the carpets professionally cleaned- so I thought ok, surely I won't be charged the full amount for this It wasn't done before we moved in. So I said ok, two weeks later still hadn't heard back from them about getting our 2,200$ deposit returned. Yesterday I get a call about 6:45 AM, guess who....... they did a walk through with their new tenants and there are markings on several of the walls. And they need to be repainted!!!!!! NO...gasp.... really??????? So here's the clincher- We get to pay for it, and also for the whole carpet cleaning because they offered to do it and I turned them down. Isn't that special. So I got off the phone stomped around, yelled, cried- yes, I cry when I'm mad. I called them back and said if there are markings there because of us I will drive back and paint them- Landlord hesitates- then says ok if thats what I want to do. I say I will call them back.
Now folks- our lease is up there today we have been paying rent on an empty house for a month because our lease wasn't up yet and Hubby needed to be in a new state to start a new job before it was, we let them know 1-1/2 months in advance before we left, but they couldn't get any one in it. 1 week before our lease is up they "found" someone. They weren't going to allow pets and finally decided to. So I still have time to drive there and paint. BUT it would cost me probably 250$ in gas, I would have spend about 11 hours in the car with ALL 4 kids. Buy paint & brushes, paint while watching ALL 4 kids. Hubby said No, it's just not worth it, let it go. So I called back and told her to figure out what that was going to be and then please have a deposit check(whatever was left) ready for my sister to pick up for me that afternoon. They said ok. I got off the phone and cried. And am still mad.

I live my life tryin to be kind, honest, thoughtful to others and it ALWAYS rips me to the core time after time to realize that not everyone is that way. I am a gulliable fool. I don't even know what to say, this is not the first time, and I'm sure it won't be the last time. While I was yelling and crying to Hubby about this whole thing he just smiled very sweetly at me and gave me a hug. I told you so was written sympathetically all over his face, he has been telling me not to count on them giving us ANY of our deposit back all along. And I insisted they would because the place was completely clean when I left what could they possibly not like???
After 11 years of marriage he knows me all to well, and had suspected this was coming. He tells me I'm very sweet and trusting and he loves me. Ok, that helped but I am still mad. I made all kinds of promises to him and myself that I will NEVER let this happen again, I will be more people savy. But He and I know it probably will happen again, because I can't seem to help it.
Sigh, I figured writting it all in here would help purge a bit of my anger and dissapointment. And it has helped.
Thank Goodness for Blogging

Muffin oh Muffin where fore art thou my muffin.

I have a whole list of muffin recipes I am trying out, they are from this book-
Pillsbury- Best Muffins & Quick Breads

I have been checking out some fun cookbooks from the library lately, & this book was one I really enjoyed.
Basic Muffins Ingred;
2c. flour
1/2c.sugar
3t. baking powder
1/2t. salt
3/4c. milk
1/3c. oil
1 egg, beaten

Oven 400 for 20-25 min. This is a great recipe, you can add in all kids of great things. I added chocolate chips to mine.

Raspberry-Lemon Muffins Ingred;
1/2c. vanilla yogurt
3T. oil
1T. lemon juice
2 egg whites
1-1/2c. flour
3/4c. sugar
2t. baking powder
1t. grated lemon peel
1/4t. salt
1c. frozen raspberries- not in syrup

Topping;
1/4c. sugar
2T. flour
1T. butter

oven 400
Combine yogurt, oil, juice, & egg whites- blend well. Combine flour, sugar, b. powder, peel & salt. Stir in berries. Stir both together just until moistened. Put in greased muffin tin, combine topping ingred. and sprinkle on. Bake for 16-20 min.

Delicate Pear Muffins
Ingred;
1-3/4c. flour
1/3c. sugar
3t. baking powder
1/4t.salt
1/4t.nutmeg
2c. peeled, cubed pears
1/2c. milk
3T. oil
1 egg

Topping;
3T.sugar
1t. grated lemon peel

Oven 400
Combine flour, sugar, b. powder, salt and nutmeg, add pears toss to coat. Mix together wet ingred. Add to dry and spoon into muffin tin. Combine topping ingred. and sprinkle on top. Bake 15-20 min.

Cheesy Corn Muffins
Ingred;
1-1/2c. flour
1/2c. corn meal
1/4c. sugar
3t. b.powder
1/4t. salt
1c. milk
1/4c. oil
1egg, beaten
1c. corn
1c. shredded cheddar cheese

Oven 400
Bake for 20-25 min.

Cheddar & Canadian Bacon Muffins
Ingred;
1c. flour
2t. chives
1t. b.powder
1/4t. garlic powder
1/3c. milk
1/4c. sour cream
2T. oil
1 egg
1/2c. shredded cheddar
1/4c. finely chopped canadian bacon

Oven 400- Bake for 17-20 min.

Sour Cream Drop Biscuits
Ingred;
2c. flour
1T. sugar
3t. b.powder
1/2t. salt
1/4c. shortening
2/3c. milk
2/3c. sour cream

Oven 450- bake for 10-12 min.

Perfect Popovers
Ingred;
3 eggs, room temp
1-1/4c. milk
1-1/4c. flour
1/4t. salt

Oven 450- Grease 10 popover cups. Beat eggs till foamy add milk, blend well. Add flour and salt blend well, pour into cups. Bake for 15 min. NO PEAKING. Reduce temp to 350 bake for another 25-35 min. Pierce the top of each to release steam.

Buttermilk Chocolate Bread
Ingred;
1c. sugar
1/2c. softened butter
2 eggs
1c. butter milk/1T. lemon juice+ enough milk to make 1 cup.
1-3/4c. flour
1/2c. cocoa powder
1/2t. b.powder
1/2t. b.soda
1/2t. salt

Oven 350- bake for 55-65 min in greased bread pan.

Spoon Bread
Ingred;
2c. water
1c. white cornmeal
1t. seasoned salt
1c. buttermilk
2T. melted butter
2t. b.powder
3 eggs, separated

oven 375-
Bring water to a boil, add cornmeal & salt cook stirring for 5 min on med heat. Remove from heat, stir in buttermilk. Cool 5 min. Beat in butter, b.powder and egg yolks. In a small bowl beat egg whites until stiff Fold into the cornmeal mixture. Pour into greased 2 qt casserole dish. Bake for 40-50 min.

Blueberry-Poppy Seed Brunch Cake
Ingred;
Cake-
2/3c. sugar
1/2c. softened butter
2t. grated lemon peel
1 egg
1-1/2c. flour
2T. poppy seeds
1/2t. b.soda
1/4t. salt
1/2c. sour cream
Filling;
2c. blueberries
1/3c. sugar
2t. flour
1/4t. nutmeg
Glaze;
1/3c. p.sugar
1-2t. milk

Oven 350- Grease and flour the bottom of a 10 in spring form pan. Combine sugar, butter- beat until fluffy- add peel and egg beat for 2 min. add dry ingred and sour cream. Spread batter over bottom and 1 in. up the side. Combine filing ingred. and spread in the center. Bake for 45-55 min. Cool 10 min. then remove the side. Drizzle glaze over warm cake.

Lemon Poppy Seed Muffin Tops Ingred;
3/4c. flour
1/4c. sugar
2t. b.powder
1t. poppy seeds
1/4t. salt
1/4t. cinnamon
2t. grated lemon peel
3T. shortening
1/3c. milk
1t. lemon juice
Topping;
2t. sugar
dash cinnamon

Oven 400- Mix flour, sugar, b.powder, poppy seed, salt, cinnamon, and lemon peel. Cut in shortening. Add in milk and juice, stir just until moist. Drop by T. full onto an ungreased cookie sheet. Combine topping ingred. and sprinkle over top. Bake for 8-13 min. Immediately remove from baking sheet.

I don't have pictures of all of these yet, I will be adding more soon. Also if anyone can tell me how you put a category index on your blog I am trying to figure it out, I am a computer klutz :)
Leaving you with a quote from one of my favorite Authors-

"You don't get tired of muffins, but you don't find inspiration in them."
George Bernard Shaw

Sorry George, I think I am going to have to disagree- I am feeling pretty inspired right now =)

Fleecy Fringed Fun- Krafting with Miss K

I'm sure everyone has seen or made one of these-

This is one Miss K made herself, I cut the fringes and she tied them. It is a really great way for your kiddo to "make" their own blanket. These also would be a great gift for your child to make for a friend or relative. All you need is some fleece material and scissors.
For a 2 layer blanket I use 1-1/2 yards each of 2 coordinating fleece, or for a single layer blanket just 1-1/2 yards of fleece.
It only took Miss K and I about 30 minutes from start to finish to make her new blanket. I didn't take pictures while she was making it (mom was being lazy :) But here are a few really great sites with instructions for making them.

Double Layer Fleece Blanket Instruction 1

Double Layer Fleece Blanket Instruction 2

Single Layer Fleece Blanket Instructions

3 Left

I have 3 boxes left to unpack/sort/put away. 3 lonely little boxes, I am trying to ignore them, I have unpacked and found places for everything else. Our new house is definitely smaller than our old one. We have one less bedroom, and all of the rooms are smaller in size, the garage is a whole car smaller. And my kitchen, oh sadness, I left a great, big, beautiful kitchen for one that is like a shoebox (a toddlers shoe box).

Sigh, the things you will do for your kids to have a yard.

Before we moved I got rid of quite a bit of furniture and made LOTS of Goodwill drops. Since we have been here I made 3 more trips to Goodwill to drop off things, I don't know where all of this came from! Anyway, it has been quite challenging to fit everything in here. And I am procrastinating doing anything with these last 3 boxes.

Two of them I know just need to be sorted and stored, where exactly I will store them is a very very good question.

On a much happier note I am planning on picking some apples and pears this evening, there are a few beautiful red apples out there calling my name.......Can you hear them????? Oh........ never mind it's just the kids.

I am still picking apples later, hopefully by then I will have these last 3 boxes taken care of........ hopefully :)

A Cry for HELP

Help! Help!
My Hubby's 30th birthday is coming up in about 2 weeks. We have a "tradition" every year I ask what kind of cake he would like, he thinks for a few minutes than ALWAYS comes up with something crazy, never simple. He says he likes to challenge me, hahaha thank you dear. Now a couple years ago he wanted a 3 layer chocolate cherry cake filled and iced. I spent a week just looking for cherry flavoring, no luck. I ended up using maraschino cherry syrup, it was a mess! About 5 years ago he wanted a 4 layer, 2 white, 2 chocolate filled with strawberry mousse and frosted with chocolate icing. See how weird he is???? I think this is his way of getting back at me for something.
Anyhow, this year he has asked for something relatively simple, he's been really stressed and busy lately so I think that's why. He asked for a chocolate cake with chocolate cherry mousse. Shouldn't be too hard right??? So I thought I would get on here and ask my baking blog buddies, you all, for some help. Any recipes for chocolate/cherry cake, mousse, frosting would be greatly apprieciated. Also if you have any decorating ideas for it, that would be great too!
Do you all have your thinking caps on????????

Easy Peasy

The other day I stumbled across a recipe for potato soup that called for mashed potatoes & cream of chicken soup??? Odd right?
Now this was about an hour before dinner time and I had no idea what I was going to make. Also I had about 2 cups of mashed potatoes left over in my fridge from making Donna's Pierogies, which BTW were really, really good- Thank You Donna!
So I thought why not give it a try. It turned out pretty good. Now the original recipe was from The Ultimate Soup Book from Readers Digest. But me being me I am unable to follow a recipe exactly, I am a tinkerer. So this is quite a bit altered from the original. And there would be a picture but I was feeling really lazy and figured I would take one and add it in here next time I make this. And there definitely will be a next time.

Super Fast Bacon & Potato Soup
Ingred;
1/2c. cooked crumbled bacon pieces
1/4c. minced green onion
2 cloves minced garlic
2-3 cups mashed potatoes
1 small can cream of chicken soup
1 can of corn
3c. milk
1c.shredded cheddar cheese
salt & pepper

Heat bacon, onion and garlic in a large pot. Add in the potatoes, soup, corn, milk and cheese. Whisk together and cook until hot and bubbly.

That my friends is it, within minutes you have hot, delicious potato soup. I was impressed I tell you.

I need a little Chocolate

I have been craving chocolate, it's that time of month when chocolate is a must. And since it's probably not appropriate to do this

Or this

OR THIS

I decided to make something with chocolate in it, this is one of my chocolate quick fixes. For emergencies only!

Chocolate Mousse & Peanut Butter Pie

Ingred.

15 oreos

2T. melted butter

1 pkg peanut butter chips

4 oz softened cream cheese

1/3c. powdered sugar

1/2c. milk

1 pkg unflavored gelatin

3T. cold water

3T. boiling water

1/2c. sugar

1/2c. dark cocoa powder

1c. cold whipping cream

1t. creme de cocoa

Run the oreos through a food processor until finely ground, mix with the melted butter and press into a pie plate. Beat the cream cheese, melt the pb chips (save a few aside to garnish with)in microwave. Add powdered sugar and milk to cream cheese- mix well. Stir in the melted chips. Spread over the crust in the bottom of the pie plate.

Sprinkle gelatin over cold water, stir then add in the boiling water, set aside. In a mixing bowl, stir together the sugar and cocoa powder. Stir in the cream and creme de cocoa. Beat until peaks form, add in the gelatin and beat until there are stiff peaks. Spread over the PB layer.

Sprinkle with the remaining chips and refridgerate, for about 3 hours. Slice and serve, (or just grab a fork and dig in)

I guess this will do, unless anyone has a tub full of chocolate handy???? = )

Almond Citrus Biscotti Rolls

Awhile back I saw on another blog where they had baked cookies in round coin wrappers. They were so cute and round, I have been dying to try it. So I bought a pkg of these

And whipped up a batch of Biscotti dough to stuff in them

And ended up with these

Almond Citrus Biscotti
Ingred;
1/2 softened butter
1-1/2c. sugar
3 eggs
1t. lime juice
1t. almond extract
3-1/2c. flour
2t. baking powder
pinch of salt
chocolate for dipping
toasted, chopped almonds

Oven 350
Cream together the butter and sugar, beat in the eggs one by one. Beat in the extract and lime juice. Combine the flour, baking powder and salt slowly add in. Mix until dough starts coming together. Press into coin wrappers, and place them all on a cookie sheet. Bake for about 20 minutes. Remove them from the oven, trim off any ends, take wrappers off the cookies. Place them bake in the oven for 10 min. more, turn oven off and leave cookies for about 15 min.
Cool, dip in melted chocolate and almonds.

*As cute as these are they were a LOT of work, so I'm thinking they might be for special occasions only. Also the Biscotti recipe needs a little adjusting, next time I will be adding 1/4c. lime juice instead of 1 t. and an extra 1/4c. flour. They just need a little more citrus flavoring, I suppose a little lime zest would be good too.

Paper Cups with Miss K

Today Miss K and I learned how to make paper cups, so we thought we would share our new found knowledge with you all.
First you need a square piece of paper, our piece was 10"x10"

Then you fold it in half

Fold one of the corners straight across

Then the other corner straight across

Fold down both top flaps

Here is her finished one

And here are the rest of the ones she made

These would make great little snack cups or party favor holders, the possibilities are endless-

My very first PW

I really enjoy, and when I say enjoy I mean LOVE, Pioneer Woman's recipes. Her pictures always have me drooling, her food pictures that is. I have several of them saved but today, for the first time, I actually made one!! When I saw the picture in her side bar I was intrigued, hmmmm apple dumpling, never made them- actually never even had them. Then I clicked on the picture, read the recipe, and the drooling begin.

So a week later, today, I gathered the ingred. (I had to hide the last 2 green apples in my cupboard from the kids) and whipped them together. All my girls helped, this recipe is great for little helpers the only thing they couldn't do was put it in the oven. (Warning if kids are helping make these have extra Apples on hand, little snitchers.) There are only 7 ingred. and 4 of those are in your regular old baking stash-
Sugar
Cinnamon
Butter
Vanilla
Green Apples
Cresent Roll Dough
Mountain Dew

You can get the recipe and directions here- PW Apple Dumplings.
Putting them together took just minutes, but then they do take about 40 min. to bake. It was hard to wait for them, oh but they were totally worth it just look at this yummy goodness-

Here, need a closer look????

Put one on a plate and add a scoop of French Vanilla Ice Cream

Yummy, these are incredible and very easy to prepare. But don't just take my word for it, go make some!

Rhubarb Rhubarb Rhubarb!

I am finally getting around to posting my Gramma's Rhubarb cake recipe, I have been in a bit of a bloggy bog lately. Anyhow here it it-

Grandma's Rhubarb Cake

Ingred;
2c. diced rhubarb
1/2c. sugar
1/2c. shortening
1-1/2c. sugar
2 eggs, lightly beaten
2c. flour
1t. soda
1t. cinnamon
dash of salt
1c. buttermilk
1t. vanilla

Oven 350
Mix together the rhubarb and half c. sugar and set aside. Cream together the shortening and remaining sugar, add in the eggs and mix well. Sift together the remaining dry ingred, and stir together the last 2 ingred. Alternately add in the wet and dry ingred. to your batter. When well mixed, stir in the rhubarb. Pour into greased 9x13 pan. Bake for about 40 min. Serve with whip cream or ice cream .
Unless you are having it for breakfast ;)

(Hubby just informed me that whip cream and ice cream, are imperative for rhubarb cake AT ALL TIMES! Sadly he is not a Fan of Rhubarb)

Now while I was surfing the web, checking for more rhubarb recipes to use with my bumper crop I found this site here Rhubarb Recipes.
It has ALL kinds of Rhubarb recipes, very fun.

It's July 15th! Do you know what that means?

It's time to draw for my 100th post give-away!

Sadly this happened to the chocolate bar in the move

I thought maybe it would be fine, but it had individual little bars all filled with huckleberry syrup that leaked out and all over, and since I no longer live in MT I don't have a way to get another right now, sorry :(

So here is my little Grizzly Hat holding helper, Miss K, all ready for action

Miss M goes for the draw

and the Winner is.........

Silly Miss M, it's upside down, lol.
The Winner is

WILLOUGHBY!
I have your goodies all ready to go, so if you could get me your email I will be able to get your address then send them off in the mail.
Thanks to everyone who entered :) :)

Mom, Look what we did........

Sometimes you hear those words and it leads to some interesting kid krazziness, this time it was just cute. I was getting things ready to make dinner when they all came running in-

K- Mom, look what we did!
Miss B- Yeah! Can you take our picture and put it on your blog ?!?!
Miss K- Yeah, Yeah! You can call it Krazy Taters!
Miss M- giggle giggle, mumble mumble , which is all she could get out because she has something in her mouth.
So here ya have it the-

Krazy Taters

Ughhhhh

Today I am tired and sore :( I pulled a muscle in one of my calves ( the same leg that has a bruised heel :(

So I am gimping around trying to get my laundry done. Plus I need to go rig a tie out for the dog, he has escaped from our wonderfully great fence (it resembles the flower I beds I was talking about earlier ) TWICE this past weekend. We fix a spot and he finds a new escape route, and once he's out, he's gone. There are so many great places for him to hide too, little stinker.

Oh yeah, I fed the kids rhubarb cake for breakfast. WHAT! ( I can hear my Mum yelling at me) It's got eggs, and milk and rhubarb in it, that makes it somewhat nutritional right??


And I was just informed that Miss M pulled a towel rack down on her foot

Happy Monday

Lots to Do

I have most of the house stuff unpacked, still having to find places to stuff everything, the new place is definitely smaller :) I wanted to just focus on the getting the house straightened around but keep being pulled out into the yard (mostly by the kids or the dog wanting to play) but also because there are so many neat plants and trees in it!
Here are a few pictures of our new front and back yards, things are pretty scraggly and need a lot of work.

This is going to be my garden next year

There is a Pear Tree with LOTS of cute little pears

An Apple Tree, not really sure what kind they seem to be about medium sized, I suppose I will find out when they are ripe.

Also RHUBARB! I was totally excited to see these, there are so many of them and they are really a mess. You can't see it very well but there is a steep hill right there that slopes down into some kind of spiny bushes, some of the plants are on the side and hard to reach. I have made a rhubarb pie AND a rhubarb cake, I also have 4 bags of diced rhubarb in my freezer for later, yum.

There is a Crab Apple Tree (Jelly, Yum :) in the front yard

Also 3 beautiful rose bushes, they are really needing some love. (If any one has tips on taking care of roses or rhubarb I would love to hear them)

I am really enjoying having so many fun plants to take care off, there are also some nice flower beds that need cleaned out and replanted. They are mostly weeds, dead grass and branches right now. So there ya have it, my new yard/s :) :) :)

Back in business

Finally we have internet! I have been going through some serious withdrawal without it, first thing I did was check my email- which was a little backed up, then my Blog :) I have missed my little Blog :)

I was wondering what to blog about when I saw that Willoughby left me an award : )
So that's what it will be. Thank you very much Willoughby! It's a very pretty one too!

So here it is-


And here are the rules-

1. Thank the person who nominated you for this award
2. Copy the logo and place it on your blog
3. Link to the person who nominated you for this award
4. Name 7 things about yourself that people might find interesting
5. Nominate 7 Kreativ Bloggers
6. Post links to the 7 blogs you nominate
7. Leave a comment on each of the blogs letting them know they have been nominated

Thank you again Willoughby it was very sweet of you, speaking of sweet, you really need to checkout her Friday posts. Her last one was for a gorgeous 4th of July drink that looks amazing!

So... #1- check
#2- check
#3- check
#4- hmmm this might take a minute, lets see....

1- I dislike green pea's, unless they are fresh & raw.

2-I have only ever broken 2 bones, well technically 3, my big toe and 2 ribs, hmm they might have been only cracked though. When I was about 14 my horse started a new habit of rolling over, while I was riding her. Let's just say the first time it happened I wasn't prepared.

3-I had a poem published when I was 15, very exciting.

4-I like to write, someday I am going to actually finish something & become a famous author ;)

5-I love garage, rummage & yard sales. Second hand stores & antique shops.

6-I can't stand rodents of any kind. Snakes, lizards, spiders- I can handle, but mice give me the Heebie Jeebies. It wasn't something that bothered me much until I lived with my sister in Nebraska- next to a corn field. Her house was a new double wide, and spotlessly clean, but the mice took over. If you sat still for more than 5 minutes you would see them running all over. I think there was a couple days when she caught more than 15 of them in glue traps. gag gag gag.

7- I have been babysitting for longer than I can remember, first my younger siblings, then nieces & nephews. I nannied for awhile and now I have my own. While they drive me crazy at times, I prefer conversing with children much more than with adults. They have no pretense, they say what they think, no hiding things. You always know where you are at with them.

So there ya go, I don't know how interesting it was but there are 7 of them :)

Now I was MIA when all the award passing was going on so if you have been given it already I'm appoligizing in advance. I would like to pass this to-

1-Monica at Lick the Bowl Clean
2-Lynn at Lynn's Kitchen Life
3-Purple Hoodie Chick
4-The McCrazys
5-Kristen at Whatcha Eatin'

Ok now I am going to cheat a little because I know most of you already have this but I really enjoy all your blogs- so my #6 & #7 goes to all the rest of my blog friends who have already received it-

Marvelously Mundane
Muddy Runner
My Tasty Treasures
5th Sister
Willoughby
Who has the Thyme?
Yesterday's Tomorrow

I hope everyone's 4th was wonderful, we spent it with Family so of course it was wonderful! We have been getting our yard cleaned up, our new home has been a college kid house for years so the yard is quite a mess. We are enjoying it though.
Happy Wednesday!