No news...

Tonight was American Idol night. We ate homemade pizza while we watched. Of course Adam rocked, literally, tonight was rock night. It's going to be sad after the finale, whatever will Allen and I do with our Tuesday and Wednesday nights! Ummm....so yeah...that's really all we did besides dishes and put out the trash. OH WAIT, not true...Allen had to mow again and he is SUNBURNED!

Oh yeah, and we didn't go to Wal-Mart. We bought the dog food and the toilet paper at Hy-Vee. We aren't going to be able to avoid the devil place much longer, but we did put it off at least one more day! We actually ended up breaking even as far as cost goes. The dog food was a little bit more than Wal-Mart's price, but the toilet paper was on sale.

That's all for now!

Blog of Randomness/Complaining/Are you sure you want to read this?

Sorry for our lapse in blogs. You didn't miss much, though. Allen had to work. I did alot of dishes. We didn't get to the store to pick up anything for the garden. We are going to be doing it this Saturday. Friday is pay day , so we can pick up a few of the tools we need. We are also going to buy some paint for me to paint the things for the living room. I hope that paint isn't too expensive because I would REALLY like to get the living room in complete order.

We really , really love our neighborhood. It is SO nice to have neighbors that we feel comfortable enough to stop and talk to on our walks with Penny. It's a very friendly neighborhood.

So, we just found out we missed Caleb and Charlotte's spring concert that was tonight. Neither one of them said anything about it to remind us. :( I'm sure they did a really good job, but it's pretty upsetting to miss it. We didn't get to go to the Christmas concert either.

It's not a full moon, but Penny has been running around crazy like it is.

It's not a full moon, but people are complaining and being jerks like it is.

Allen's favorite flavor of sunflower seeds are the BBQ kind.

Tomorrow is Cinco De Mayo, and there is a carry in at work. I made a non-alcoholic Margarita punch. I'm excited. Hope it's a hit. It's wierd but there's a lot of office place politics involved in a carry-in, so you have to put thought into what you bring.

Cinco De Mayo is a stupid excuse to for people to drink in the middle of the week. It's a Mexican holiday. All year people complain about the Mexicans, except for one night of the year, when everyone pretends to be one so they can steal their holiday! PSHH! I'm pretty sure that in Mexico City the Fourth of July is NOT an excuse to drink, well maybe...who knows. BLEH.

Thursday night we ate the most awesome meatloaf I've ever had. Spicy Buffalo Sauce Meatloaf. If you want the recipe email me, because I don't have a link to it, this one actually came out of a cook book. It was amazing.

Because I changed my mailing address for my Better Homes and Gardens Magazine at the beginning of April, I'm not getting my May issue, AND I even got a letter in the mail from them saying Congratulations on your move , but you're not getting this month's issue. PSHH!

We need a new broom.

Penny needs more dog food.

AND we need toilet paper. So that means tomorrow we have to take the dreaded trip to Wal-Mart. YUCK! I know this going to make me sound old, but I seriously do not like to go to Wal-Mart any more. I used to love it, any more it's just a hastle. There's always 9 million people there, and 8.5 million of them are rude and inconsiderate. SIGH!

Well, that's enough randomness/complaining for today. Hope everyone else had a great weekend. Love you all!

Penny doesn't believe in the tooth fairy

Today was a pretty good day other than we both had to work. Penny got knocked out and her teeth pulled. Everything went just fine and she is running around acting like it didn't even happen. She had a weird thing under her skin where she got fixed last month. We thought it might be stitches that didnt dissolve like they should have. We had them take a look at it too and they said everything looks good. They are internal stitches and will dissolve in time. So hopefully that will be the last time we have to go to the vet for awhile.

Today I mowed the lawn for the first time this season. Man that was a mistake. I should have done it alot sooner. The grass was tall, thick, and still a little wet. It was very slow going with our little push mower. Atleast its done now. Its suppost to rain now for a couple of days and it was now or never on the mowing.

Amber made teriyaki chicken burgers tonight. She made them to be sort of like the Hawaiian burger they used to have at Hardees. They were so good. Amber said they were just OK because of the texture. She used canned chicken and not whole breasts. Josh came over for dinner which was a surprise. It was good to see him.

It's only Tuesday...

And we are definately ready for the weekend. Well, I am. Allen actually has to work, so the weekend isn't really the weekend for him, which is sad; but I have to say I can't wait. Work is getting really REALLY hard with all of the job loss...but not going to spend this blog talking about depressing things.

Hopefully all this rain is going to bring us many mushrooms! Keep your fingers crossed.

Going to plant some vegetables this weekend! YEAH! :)

Not much else to say, oh, tomorrow's Penny's big visit to the V-E-T to get her teeth pulled. SHHHH! Don't tell her!

This NASTY picture is from Allen to all of you!

Allen insisted that I post this picture. This is his mouth at the moment. He has bit his lip sooo hard sooo many times that he now has a GIANT knot on the inside of his lip that is about the size of a dime, possible a little bigger. He just keeps biting that same spot over and over, and any one who knows Allen knows how he eats, so this is really no suprise; but still I can't help but feel sorry for him. If anyone has any home remedies to get rid of the knot, besides the obvious eat more carefully, take smalle bites, etc. Allen could use some!

Today was definately the kind of rainy Monday that made me just want to go back home and crawl into bed with a good book.

Yesterday, we had the very best tuna melts either one of us has ever had! Seriously, this recipe is good enough to have at least once a week for sure! We only changed the recipe a little , we used wheat bread instead of french bread, and added sliced tomatoes. The best thing was, it made a delicious hot sandwhich for dinner and then we ate it again today for lunch as cold tuna sandwiches and it was still just as good! You gotta try it!

RECIPE: http://allrecipes.com/Recipe/Mr-Heads-Spicy-Tuna-Melt/Detail.aspx

Saturday night adventures at the Downings

Well yesterday ended up being quite the busy day. We decided against going to Missouri Friday night because Charlotte was scheduled to work until 9pm, and mom needed us to bring over somethings for her corsage. Allen had to work yesterday, but I spent the entire day at Mom and Dad's. First I helped Caleb and Charlotte clean house. I helped so that Charlotte could stop cleaning and start primping. Last night was her senior prom. I helped curl her hair. Which, I don't know if any one out there can honestly know just how much hair that girl really has until you have to curl all of it. She has enough hair on her head to make a full wig for someone else and still have a thick, full head of hair. She looked absolutely beautiful, and her boyfriend Keith is a cutie too. They make a very nice looking couple and he seemed like a very nice gentleman. I'm happy for her. His parents actually came over with him (in a separate vehicle) to pick Charlotte up so that they could take pictures. They actually went to the school to take pictures, so I'm very excited to see those. (I will post up a pic from the house, after I get permission from Charlotte and after I get my camera back. I accidentally left it on Mom and Dad's kitchen table.)

Josh was home this weekend, and Grandma Hazel came over. After Allen and Dad got off work, believe it or not, the whole family (except for Charlotte, or course) went mushroom hunting together. Mom, Dad, Caleb, Josh, Grandma, Allen, Penny and I set off into the woods with high hopes of coming back w/ pounds of mushrooms. After we all finally made it back to the house, the findings were as follows:

Amber: Nothing

Allen: Nada

Josh: Zip

Dad: Zero

Grandma Hazel: Zilch

Caleb: dead animal bone

Penny: a feather

And MOM was the big winner, and her find: ONE STINKING MUSHROOM!

That's right, seven people went mushroom hunting for an hour and half, and came back with ONE mushroom between us all. Never fear though, we know they are out because earlier in the day, Caleb, Charlotte, and I took the dogs, Penny and Mia on a walk and I actually found one mushroom from the driveway, it was about two inches tall just sitting right next to a tree, Caleb also found one small mushroom while on our walk.

So, grand total of mushrooms found : ACTUALLY ACTIVELY MUSHROOM HUNTING-1

WHILE WALKING THE DOGS-2

Something is wrong with this equation! :) Well, we are not giving up. We are supposed to get some rain this week so we will probably be returning next week.

After mushroom hunting we ate a fantastic meal of pork sandwhiches that were made with pork cooked on the grill and the most amazing pork bbq sauce EVER! Dad bought it from his work, where they sell bbq grills. It was called Hot Apricot BBQ sauce. I LOVED IT!

Then Josh had to take some movies back to Blockbuster's in Hannibal so we went him. Caleb, Allen, myself, Penny, and Josh, on an innocent family trip to take back some movies and rent a few more were pulled over by a state trooper! Josh didn't get a ticket. The officer said he pulled us over because we were fluctuating between 71 and 72 miles per hour, but the truth of the matter is we were four people riding in a hot little red car at 9 o'clock on a Saturday night; and he wanted to see what we were up to. I bet he was pretty disappointed when he got to the car and found a tiny dachshund riding in the front seat, and a 13 year old boy in the back seat. I bet he was even more disappointed when Josh told him that we were all related and were on our way to get some movies to watch at home on a Saturday night. PSHHH! 71 or 72 miles per hour...granted that is over the speed limit, but a policeman will VERY RARELY pull someone over for those speeds. In fact Josh said the cop was getting ready to speed past us in the left lane until he got close enough to see there were four people in the car, then he slowed down to get behind us and flipped his lights on. Oh well, it made for an interesting memorable ride to Hannibal.

When we got home we watched "The Day the Earth Stood Still" , the new one. I thought it was a fantastic movie, loved it. Allen said it is quite a bit different from the first one, so even if you have seen the original , I definately recommend this as a rental.

What a great night! Now we just can't wait to see the rest of the pictures from Charlotte's prom.

Magic of Spring

Today was gorgeous again! I love this kind of weather. Not too hot, not too cool, and everything is bursting with color! Minus the allergies, this is definately my favorite time of year. After winter, when everything comes to life again, it's truly an awesome event. Probably next weekend we will have to mow the lawn, maybe even sooner! UGH! Not complaining though because at least we have a yard. We couldn't make it living in a bigger city, too much concrete for us!

Allen made an appointment for Penny to get her teeth pulled next Wednesday. It's not as expensive as we thought it would be , and getting it done could save her life, so it's definately worth it.

I made beef enchilada caserole tonight. Mmmm...pretty good stuff.

Love you all!