You know you did a good job raising your kids when your daughter hears in your voice that you're upset and calls back 15 minutes later to chat.

That's just what my daughter did this morning. She encouraged me, listened to me and just let me vent.

When we finished talking I asked her how come she's not at work yet and she replied, "I called in and told my boss that I have a family matter to handle before work and that I'll come in later on this morning."

That's love.

Important Lesson About Owning a Cat:

When you don't clean out the kitty litter for 3 days, she finds other places to 'go'.



"What are you lookin' at, Diva? Lesson learned, stop looking at me like that!"

Learning to Love

For Valentine's Day I decided to make Capt one of his favorite dinners instead of having him spend money on eating out.

I planned, shopped and prepared all day.

Since being recently diagnosed with diabetes, high blood pressure and high cholestrol, Capt's diet has been strict, he misses his former high-sugar, high-fat meals, so I thought I'd make an exception and give him a treat.

His top favorite dinner is turkey, gravy, stuffing, mashed potatoes, cranberry sauce...all the trimmings.

But in the interest of his health, I made him his second favorite dinner:




I had him drop them into the pot of boiling water, I just couldn't do it.




I also made Filet Mignon, sauteed asparagus and this, as an after thought...



Potatoes Au Gratin from A BOX!!!!!

And do you know what his favorite part of dinner was? Do you know what he keeps talking about over and over and OVER AGAIN?

THE BETTY CROCKER BOX OF POTATOES AU GRATIN !!!!!!!


(Next year I think I'll just gonna make that for dinner.)

After dinner he took me to Dairy Queen for the new Choco Lover's Blizzard where sweet cherries are lovingly blended with chocolate chunks and creamy vanilla soft serve. Ahhhhhhhhh.



Lovingly blended indeed!

And all was well with the world.

I Almost Feel As Though I Went There Too

I've been faithfully following Sophie's and Shannon's overseas travels all week and have been deeply moved and enlightened to a world I never had room in my life to open up to.

I have a feeling that Christian blogging has taken a giant step towards God's plan.

Thank you sisters for listening to your hearts, for leaving your comfort zones and for doing something that I'd be scared to death to do. May you have a safe trip back to your loved ones.

Gag Reflex

My new kitten, Diva.

Cute, right?

I love her, but I don't love cleaning out her litterbox.

Happy Valentine's Day

Valentine's Day has always been one of my favorite days of the year. To me the day represents being in love and being loved, two things that have ruled the direction of the beginning stages of my adult life.

Today is special to me in other ways. I am engaged to be married to an extremely romantic and loveable man in July, I have deeper love for my children as they develop into adults, I am learning about the type of love my soon-to-be stepchildren need from me, and I am completely awed by the love shown to me by my future father-in-law (who stopped by last night and gave me a big box of Godiva chocolates).

As the years go by I have learned that love isn't just about me and how it affects me, it's about giving, listening, understanding, being unconditional, being compassionate and being willing to have your heart enlarged. And enlarged again...so that God can have room to fill it with good stuff.

I hope you all have a wonderful Valentine's Day today, filled with love and sweets.

Warning:

You shouldn't try to put on a sports bra while wearing one of those big hair clips.

I finally got free after 15 minutes, but I at one point I seriously considered calling 911.

Big Foot

Let's just say that the job didn't work out like I thought it would. After 3 1/2 weeks it's over. I feel so many emotions about it all but mainly relief. Glorious relief because working in that environment was one of the strangest experiences I've ever had.

I should have paid attention to the red flags.

Oh well, hard lesson learned.

I'm back in the job search, only this time I'm going to try temping....this way I can see if the job is a good fit or not.

Capt stopped by this morning on his way to another doctor's appointment. He's doing really well with the diabetes, high blood pressure and cholestrol. Everything seems to be normal. When one stops drinking a six-pack of Mountain Dew, eating 3 chocolate donuts and Taco Bell everyday one gets their body normal very quickly. (I kid but I'm really proud of him and what he's done to get healthier)

As we sat on the couch, I was so excited to tell him all about the documentary I watched in the middle of last night. (I can't sleep so well lately.)

The documentarty was on the History Channel.




Big Foot.

After watching it I truly believe they exist. In Canada. I never gave the idea any credance in the past but with the facts presented coupled with sleep deprevation and my emotions running rapid, I believe in them now. I do.

So I'm all excited and telling him about all of the witnesses they had, DNA samples and proof and such and he just sat there looking at me and nodding his head. When I was all done and could hardly breath after talking all that excitedly, he said, "Babe, I think you need to get a job". Then he kissed me and left.

But really, don't you think that Big Foot/Yeti/Sasquash is real?

I can't be the only one.

And yes, Capt is right, this staying at home thing is not for me.

But I've got to go, my soaps are about to start.

Hey where did I put my bon bons?