It's a Gouda Thing

This my gourmet supper I whipped up last night.

Note the fancy glass full of Diet Pepsi. We are fancy around here people!

Yummy and easy chicken noodle soup with bowtie pasta for added fanciness.

Haha!!

Grilled Cheese, gourmet style.......



Gouda cheese (shredded) with cumin and sauteed onions on Rye bread.
Very interesting and different but all in all a.....
pretty tasty dish!!

Secrets

The secret ,( according to Uncle Joe and Aunt Jo) to making soup so good you say Mmmmm all through the meal is:

Swanson Vegetable Broth

We have used it in most of the soups we have made lately and what a yumm addition!! It is even good when you are sick plain with crackers.

There you have it folks.......free secrets. Can you beat that?

Great Expectations

Last night was a huge surprise and exciting time for us in the Joe house.

It was Finals for the swim team in Claremore. This was CarlyJo's age group competing, age 11-15. There were quite a few more swimmers competing and the competition was great!

CarlyJo had to be begged to participate. She dug her heels in and would not relent.......until we made a deal with her.

Short story: she had been grounded for several weeks and in order to get some days knocked off for "good behaviour" she agreed to compete in two events.

Coach Christa chose Backstroke and Breast stroke. CarlyJo has a beautiful and graceful stroke, but she just needed to put her "all" into it and s.w.i.m.! We just wanted her to complete the event....competing with herself and work to overcome her performance anxieties. Get this.........

She won.

Both events.

Road Trip Dos

Another roadtrip was enjoyed by the Joes yesterday. I was nice and gave Joe a weeks notice this time and it sure did make a difference! haha. He slept like a log and got some good rest while I took the children to school and got ready. I let him sleep until he woke up...which took a while even with me blaring harmonica music from the internet radio. :o) I on the other hand was awake at dawn's crack, excited about our trip. :oD

We chose a new destination: Fayetteville AR. It is only about 80 miles away and a great day trip destination. We mapped out our plans and got on the road about noon. We planned to go to Dickson Street and explore the local restaurants and shops. If you don't know, Fayetteville is the home of the University of Arkansas, so you can imagine the great things they have to keep students busy. (staying in trouble or out....you be the judge)

Our first stop was lunch since we were pretty hungry. We snacked on Clif Bars on the way down there but they don't fill you up for too long. We stopped at Bangkok for lunch. Take a look below at the beautiful food we ordered.

Our appetizers.

Spring Rolls.

very tasty and look at the beautiful presentation

Next course:

Tofu soup.

Perfect.

Not too hot but hot enough to be very comforting on a wintery day.

Joe's entree (i can't remember the Thai name)

Tofu Curry with pineapple.

Very yummy! He said it was his favorite of all the Thai we have had.

My entree: Pad Thai with shrimp

I usually stick with things I know since we usually share our meals. Joe usually goes for a walk on the wild side and gets "new" dishes. :o)

This was very yummy and full of shrimp. I really liked it and ate every bite!

Next you will see our next stop: Dickson Street Bookstore. This store took our breath away. It was like the bookstores we have seen on movies. Books from floor to ceiling, wall to wall, stacked in corners and going on for what seemed like miles! It was a sight to behold and very overwhelming to book lovers. We did manage to find something for each of us and one Christmas gift for G-mom. (Shhhh don't tell!)

We also found the NorthWest Arkansas Mall and it was very nice. Full of nice stores and food vendors. We found a few Christmas gifts there as well and generally had a nice time looking around. Found some decorating ideas for when we repaint the living room and had a nice walk from one end to the other.

Headed back to the Dickson Street restaurants and ate a gyro at Kosmos Greek Restaurant. If you have never tried a gyros, you really missing out. They are very good and such a change from the same ole hamburger! The dipping sauce was very dill-y and cool on the hot lamb. Mmmmm We love gyros!

We headed home with our tummies full and our heads full of ideas for our next trip back. There were many more things we wanted to see, but just ran out of time. The trip home was very pleasant and really flew by since we were chatting about all we saw.

Daytrips are very fun and I look forward to the next one.........

******************

Note to self: recharge camera before road trips!

Just Keep Swimming

Today we took CassiJo to the finals for her swim season. The meet was in Claremore, about a one hour drive away. We only made one wrong turn (a record for us....er I mean me.)

CassiJo swam in 3 events and placed in two. We were so proud of our little swimmer....even when she was doing a Rockette dance while waiting for her turn to swim. UJ asked if that little number was the "PeePee Dance." (Mom's know exactly what I am talking about) No. It was not. It was just a little number for the entertainment of the parents in the stands. :o)

Way to go CassiJo!

One down and one to go. CarlyJo's age group competes Thursday. I'll keep you posted.

Baby Brudda

While we were at our family Christmas gathering this weekend I asked our little cousin, Nicholas if he wanted CarlyJo to come and live with him and be his big sister.

He agreed.

Wholeheartedly.

He really liked CarlyJo who played a lot with him and his baby brudda, Zachary the whole time we were visiting.

He liked the idea so much that when he did something (semi) naughty he was afraid she would not want to come and be his big sister. He sat in her lap and held her hands and said, "I want to talk to you about being my big sister."

We thought this kid was a hoot!

He was not happy when we had to leave. He was talking it over (tearfully I might add) with his mother when we left. His mother, Candace assured me that he would be fine as soon as his grandparents came to pick him up. Apparently a big sister is NO competition for grandparents!

Reversing

CarlyJo on Crazy Day during Homecoming week at school. I love her eyelashes!! She got them at Sephora when she and Megan went shopping.

A Gaggle of Giggly Girls

CarlyJo's 14th Boobay Party

Top L to R: Cassidy, Kyndra, Sarah, Ashley, Taylor

Middle: Lillian, Megan and Kaitlyn

Bottom: Carly holding Domo, and Bailey

Cheezin for Christmas

Ho Ho Ho

from the Joes!

Here we are in Heavener OK for an early Christmas celebration with Joe's side of the family.

We had a nice drive down there, Joe pestering me the whole way.......

....and he is so funny he cracks himself up!

A rare sight: Carly smiling in a picture....voluntarily. :o)

She loves taking B&W's. I can see why. They change the look of the photo so wonderfully!

I had to work really hard to get this photo. I have two daughters that take after their father and LOVE LOVE LOVE to ham it up for the camera. I have heard people say they have stacks of pictures of Joe making silly faces. :o)

I only wish our daughters were as innocent as they looked in this photograph. Soon as the flash went off they started arguing again. haha!!

Happy Sunday Blog Friends!

Stockin' Stuffers or Santa's Old Elves

Saturday The Joes went to Miss Debbie's house to stuff some stockings for 100 Oklahoma soldiers serving in Iraq. Miss Debbie (shown above right, CJ on left) is a classmate of Uncle Joe's and was very sweet to volunteer to be the coordinator of their community project. The MHS Class of '78 in conjuction with the FTG Class of 2013 (Thanks to Carly's efforts with her teachers and classmates) collected enough to fill each stocking.



Just a sample of some of the items our community donated......



AJ, Box Taper Upper




Cambryn and Cassi, two of our box stuffers

(Carly is taking the picture)
Thanks for helping girls!

Santa needs worker elves of all ages and Class of '78 isn't too old! Thanks to all of you for pitching in to show some hometown soldiers some hometown caring!

Leslie and Joanie preparing to stuff some bags with goodies.

There were Idea Thinkers, News Coordinators, Stocking Makers, Stuff Collectors, Box Tapers, Box Stuffers (Thanks CarlyJo, CassiJo and Cambryn!)and Organizers, all very important jobs and we are grateful for each and every one of them. On behalf of the military personnel that will benefit from a small box from home:

THANK YOU!

The Stretching Post

I am really bored and stretching here for a blog post.

I am one of those people who has a pretty big purse full of useful things such as:

1 lip balm mint flavored...very tasty
1 lip gloss Rimmel Snog
1 bendy foldy brush
1 cell phone
2 Rx bottles
1 lotion B&B Tuberose bottle but full of Johnson's Vanilla Oatmeal
2 calendars
1 pair 3-D glasses
5 3-D cards
12 Holiday Giveaway tickets (i sure hope one is a winner!)
1 small notebook mostly full
12 notecards blank
2 written cards half addressed
1 gel pen
1 digital camera
1 ipod
1 Rib Crib mint
1 coupon for lightbulbs
3 bills
1 hot pink Cross pen
3 sticks of gum
1 address book
1 extra large emery board
2 bottles of fingernail polish
make up bag: tylenol, ibuprofen, naproxen, vitamins, zantac, tweezers, mascara and safety pins, emergency girl supplies
wallet weirdness: UJ's old college ID circa 1978, UJ's old drivers lic circa 1986. sweet note Cassi wrote me (Mom, you are the nicest mom I ever had. Love Cassidy) several expired American Eagle gift cards that I have been forbidden to throw away and sworn to keep, movie ticket stubs, 82 receipts (jk)
keys on my stretchy keyring to: my car, Joe's truck, home, work, and Gmom's
2 keyless entry remotes.


I would post a picture but that would mean laying it all out and I just don't want to do that right now. I have things to do before tomorrow like watch a movie, paint my nails, read a magazine and take a long hot bubbly bath.

Happy Thanksgiving!

Tell It Like It Is CassiJo!

Yesterday I decided to try my hand at baking a pie. No, that is NOT a picture of my pie....I forgot to photograph my progress and finished product last night.

Sweet potatoes are on sale dirt cheap at the local Walmart so Uncle Joe, being a sweet potato lover, bought 10 pounds for us commenting that they will keep in the cool garage. (send me your sweet potato recipes!)

Google discovered a cornocopia of recipes: some with nuts and some without. When I asked Joe if he wanted nuts in his he shouted from the other room, "NO! No nuts! Just sweet potatoes! Don't go jackin' around with it! Just sweet potatoes!" Ummmmm. OK. No nuts. I get it. :o) He is a sweet potato purist I guess. I have heard of these people, but never dreamed I was married to one. ha!

I boiled the taters, peeled them, smashed them stirred some yummy spices in and put them in the oven to bake. It was a nice and simple recipe. Just the kind I like!

We had some warm sweet tater pie with ice-cream and whipped cream while we watched OU stomp Texas Tech late last night. :o)

While Cassi ate hers at the kitchen bar she said, "Mom this looks like pumpkin pie."

"Yes it does, but it is sweet potato pie." I replied.

Her dad chimed in, "How can it be pumkin pie when there is no pumpkin in it?"

Without missing a beat she said, "Well you can call it sweet potato pie if you want to, but around here WE call it PUMPKIN pie."

Joe and I looked at each other and cracked up.....where does this kid come up with this stuff? She is funny!

Best Laid Plans

I totally got Joe today. I have never "gotten" Joe. Ever.

I planned earlier this week to surprise him by taking today off. I didn't tell a soul in my house. I arranged to have Nana pick up the girls so we would not have to rush home. I had several ideas to choose from and I told my co-workers to tell him I ran an errand if he called me at the office before 9am, the appointed surpise hour.

I got up, showered and left as usual so I wouldn't give any secrets away. It was a long hour before I could come home and surprise him. I got a cup of coffee, read the paper and went to the Dollar Store to pick up some stuff and waited.

I was in the house when he walked in from taking CassiJo to school. He had a sick look on his face. He HAD called and was told I had "stepped away from her desk". When he saw my car at home he panicked and thought something was wrong.

"SURPRISE!!" I squealed. "I took the day off!!"

He was totally speechless.

It took him about 20 minutes to calm down.

He doesn't do surprises well. (Next time I think I'll give him a heads up.)

I totally caught him off guard and surprised him.........now we are off for a surpise day trip. :0) Who knows where we will end up!

Aunt Jo, The Surpriser
Over and outta heeeeeere!!

Do You Like My New "Do"?!

My funny new blog header was created (and installed) by lesliereid didn't she do a great and goofy job?!

I have never been Simpson-like, so this will be fun! I am just glad she didn't create me with tall blue hair. :o)

Thanks Leslie!! You are a peach! (and I like peaches)

Aren't All Women Puzzles?

Create your own Rubik's Cube

I could never solve a Rubik's Cube......so if you can't beat 'em, join em!!

List of Important Information

Foods I Didn't Try Until I Was an Adult

I am sure you have been waiting for this .......ha!

1. Jelly beans (Jelly Bellies)

2. Asparagus

3. Turnips ( I only like my MIL's....cooked with a bit of sugar)

4. Cornbread....JIFFY CORNBREAD

5. Bread and Butter Pickles

6. Maltomeal

7. Tortellini

8. Ravioli

9. Alfredo sauce

10. Hawaiian Pizza

11. Guacamole

12. Heinz 57

13. Coffee

14. Cappaccino

15. Cottage Cheese

16. Pepper Jelly

17. Crab Legs

18. Pesto

19. Hot Tamales (the candy)

20. Beets

21. Chinese Food

22. Thai Food

(My mom was a picky eater.......can you tell?? Picky eater=Picky cook!!)

Uncle Fro

I forgot to post a picture of Uncle Fro....er I mean Uncle Joe's Falloween Get-up.

*snicker* :o)

Sundies and What Not

Hi Folks! It's me, AJ.......

Look at these funny mannequins we found at Sam & Ella's

Uncle Joe you have some 'splainin to do. Why did I come home from work and find a lipstick kiss on your face? ;o)

My friend's hands are filled with music. Her fingers dance on the keys and fill my ears with joy.

Sundies??

We had a sundie...no wait, a sundae on Sunday on our way home from camping.

Strange Things in the Ditch

I am sure there is a logical and reasonable explanation for this.......

God, please let the person who lost their wheelchair in our ditch find it soon. Amen

I Guess It's Over

The Fat Lady sang.

I don't like her.

I had hope!!

I was at least glad to see that McCain won our state.

Onward and upward!!! (or at least onward......)

Procrastination Obliteration

Ladder Golf is fun!!

Wanna learn how to make it and play??

Go here

We first played with some friends from UJ's Class of 78 at a picnic and had such a ball we went right out and made us a set to take camping with us. We won't discuss who won this match. (I was tired and the sun was in my eyes OK??!!) :o)

I found a wooden duck stick on a picnic at Wildwood in September......

CassiJo and Hoghead aka Octagon Man aka Terry
These two love each other and love to torment one another.......

pretty flower arrangement by CassiJo and AlliJo

AlliJo and CassiJo have an impromptu picnic at our house on a beautiful Saturday.......