UPDATES

Just a few little updates on our "Everyday Life."

1. Trombone - Lindsay-ann over at The Cross-Stitch House has inquired about the progress of trombone playing Travis. So far so good. There has not been much practice at home yet. He leaves it at school during the week and just brings it home on weekends. He did play a couple of things for me this past weekend and I do see some potential there - it was actually better than I expected. I am anxious for the first band concert.

2. Names - I have given you my son's real name & I want to share the rest of the family with you - I'm just too distractable lately to try to keep up with 2 sets of names. Flicka's real name is Sarah. I will give you the story of her name at a later date. Hunter's real name is Lynn. And some of you already know, but my name is Tonda. Yes, it is unusual, I have heard of other Tonda's but have only met one. As my birthday is just a week away, I will share the story of my name at that point.

3. Scouts - we are in the middle of fall fundraisers for both Boy Scouts & Girl Scouts. Boy Scouts sale popcorn and the Girl Scouts sale candy, nuts & magazines in the fall (cookies begin in January). Sarah had a GS camp this weekend, she left on Friday with 2 other girls. One of the other moms took them, and I went yesterday to pick them up. Meetings every other week for Girl Scouts & the Boy Scouts meet every week, and then throw some weekend activities in for both. Busy, busy, busy... 'nuff said.

4. Friends - I have recently been fortunate enough to reconnect with a friend from my school years - she moved away after 9th grade, but we kept in touch off & on over the years. We have reconnected after losing track of each other for the past 7 years. This weekend we not only had girls night out, we had a good ol' fashion bunkin' party (or pj party). We had so much fun, it was great. We stayed up til 1:30 am talking, watching movies & just having a great time! I recommend this to everyone - it was therapeutic!

I guess that's about it for now. Just been crazy busy lately, but managing to keep my head above water & throw a little time for me in every once in a while. HOPE EVERYONE HAS A GREAT WEEK! HAPPY MONDAY!

So, what's been keeping you busy & when's the last time you had a bunkin party with a friend?

ANOTHER GIVE AWAY

Go here to find another great give away! Bunny Chic Boutique is giving away a great halloween bag & a carnival bloom wallet. Go check it out & enter! FUN!

Don't forget to check out my post before this one - you might find a surprise for you!

CHICKADEE TAGGED ME!

Chickadee tagged me, so here goes my turn. Check out how she did her random things; I'm going to do it a little different because since I am still a fairly new blogger I'm not sure I know anyone well enough yet to give hints, and also because I think that some of you may have already been tagged.

The "rules" of the game are as follows:
1. Post the rules on your blog.
2. Write 6 random things about yourself.
3. Tag 6 people at the end of your post.
4. If you're tagged, DO IT and pass on the tag.

Here goes - 6 random things about me:

1. I hate gum. I do not like the sound of it when someone is chewing it in any close proximity to me (I have been known to ask them to please spit it out); I do not like the sound it makes when I chew it, and I do not like the way it feels when I chew it (I never chew it anymore, but used to at one time in my life). I can not stand to see someone pulling it in & out of their mouth, or when someone puts it on the side of their plate to pop back in their mouth later. I do not like to see bubbles being blown. I'm not a germ crazy person, but I think gum is just a disgusting, noisy, germ magnet!

2. I love summer! I love heat, I do not like to be cold.

3. I love being an Arkansan. I have never really wanted to move away to another state, I am perfectly happy living in Arkansas forever!

4. I L.O.V.E. country music(especially George Strait)! But, I also love Bon Jovi & Jimmy Buffet. So, I guess, my tastes run a little everywhere.

5. I am convinced that some day I will be the next Mrs. Jon Bon Jovi. (LOL - everyone needs a crazy fantasy!)

6. Some day I would love to write a book. This has been a dream of mine since I was a child.

Now it's your turn. I am tagging Leigh Ann, April, Heidi, Aubs, a boy a girl & a pug, & love you a google. Please play with us, it is fun learning new things about each other!

GIVE-AWAY FUN

Cinnamon*Sticks Boutique is having a fun give-away right now. Hop on over & check out the great bangle & enter the give-away, just maybe one of us will win! Good Luck!

GROCERY STORE MANIA

Call me crazy.... but I love to grocery shop. Ok, what, you may ask leads me to proclaim this bold statement. Well, a brand new Kroger, the only one of it's kind, the biggest in all of the southeast region, just opened in our town! And I LOVE it. I know many of you are shaking your head convinced that I have totally lost it. But, no, I really haven't. I will now explain further.

I really do love to grocery shop. Many times a trip to the grocery has been my only alone time. Yes, I love my family, but we all need (deserve) a little alone time on occasion, and you know w/kids we don't always get that even in the bathroom. So, I love to grocery shop; I can wander the aisles lost in my own thoughts, with no interruptions.

Now, to my favorite grocery store. For many years now, I have been loyal to our local Kroger. There was also a Harvest Foods here, but the prices were higher, and the workers just didn't seem friendly to me, so Kroger was my choice. I not only love the deals and prices, but the manager at Kroger is the nicest, sweetest man you will meet. He seems to always be there, he makes sure to speak to everyone he sees, he does so many things to help our community (I know some he has to, but some he does not.) He is so helpful to all of our Girl & Boy Scouts, donating things for cookouts & sleepovers, letting us stand inside to sale cookies when it is raining or cold (this is definitely not a store policy).

A few months ago, a new Wal-Mart super center opened just a few miles up the road. Kroger lost some business for a while (not mine), but you could see the customers slowly drifting back, Wal-Mart has better prices on a few things, but not everything. And then, just a month or so after that, Wal-Mart opened up one of their Wal-Mart Neighborhood Markets in the old Harvest Foods store. Again, business fell off for a little while, but again, they came back to Kroger.

Well yesterday, my friends, the new Kroger opened and it is heaven! It is huge, I think it is bigger than the Wal-Mart super center! Travis' Boy Scout Troop did a flag ceremony at the grand opening last night. I was tired and opted to stay home with Flicka thinking they would just do the ribbon cutting, and the doors would open today - not so, after the ribbon cutting they let everyone in! I was so disappointed I did not go; oh how I wanted to go in, I have been waiting on this opening for months now.

Tonight, I went, actually the whole family went. It is FABULOUS! There is so much room, it is just crazy. I can't imagine anything you would need that you could not find in this store. They have all the normal sections - bakery, deli, floral, meat, etc... But they also have some not so normal areas - sushi, fresh market (includes organic), cheese shop (over 100 types of cheeses), a collegiate section (it is mostly all RAZORBACKS!!!).

Those of you who know where I live and live in this area you need to go to that Kroger, you will not regret it! I am looking so forward to going back alone & getting lost in the aisles and my thoughts!

I know it is crazy to blog about a grocery store, but I love to grocery shop. And if the store is wonderful, it can make your shopping experience so much better; not just for those crazies like me who love to grocery shop, but also for those who do not like to grocery shop (I think this store would convert you.) I will try to get some pictures of it this weekend to share.

So, call me crazy, but I love to grocery shop! Do you?

RECIPE TIME

On my previous post, I mentioned that Chicken & Dumplings are one of my favorite comfort foods. I promised to share the recipe at some point and since there was some interest, I will share it now.

I think I should preface my recipe post by saying that I am by no means a chef. I love to cook, I love to cook things my family likes, and I love to cook for anyone who will eat what I cook. I love to "tweak" recipes to fit our tastes - you know make adjustments here & there to make them more compatible with our pallets. I also love to try to create my own recipes. But again, I am not a chef - I do not always know the "proper" terminology, or make things fancy. I do have some low fat recipes that are good, but I also have plenty that are in no way low fat - so if low fat is your style, I may disappoint on occasion as many of my recipes have real butter, and other very bad for you things in them. Also, please remember I am Arkansas born & raised, so my recipes are just good ol' southern home cookin - most are simple, passed down through generations, etc... I think I will try to throw in a recipe post weekly ( I think I will have to see how it goes.) If you have requests, let me know I will share if I have what you request.

So, my Chicken & Dumpling recipe will be the first I share. Naomi, here, asked what dumplings are - they are defined at Wikipedia.com as: "piece[s] of dough, sometimes filled, that [are] cooked in liquid such as water or soup" or "sweetened dough wrapped around fruit, such as an apple, baked and served as a dessert." - for my recipe, it would be the pieces of dough cooked in liquid (no filling).

Here is the recipe:

1 chicken

3 cups flour (all purpose)

1 tsp. salt

1- 2 sticks butter or margarine (divided use)

1 1/2 - 2 cups milk (divided use)

Season chicken with salt & pepper and boil with enough water to cover. Add water if needed while cooking. When chicken is done remove from broth to cool. Save broth. Debone chicken when cool and set aside.

Mix flour & salt. Cut 1/2 stick butter or margarine into flour mixture (should be a cornmeal type consistency). Add enough milk to make a stiff dough (not sticky). Turn dough onto floured surface and knead (don't over knead, this will make it tough). Roll thin (1/4 inch or less) and cut into narrow strips (about 1'' by 1'' or smaller, needs to be bite size).

Bring broth to a rolling boil and drop strips in one at a time (I know this sounds crazy, but they stick together if you drop them together). Cook until tender (approximately 10 minutes). Add cooked chicken, 1/4 stick butter (I usually use a whole stick), 1 cup milk, and salt & pepper to taste. Simmer for 15 - 20 minutes. Sauce should thicken as it simmers. If not thick enough, thicken with milk & flour (or cornstarch). If too thick, thin with milk or water. (we like our sauce thick).

Several fellow bloggers commented that the use canned biscuits, I have tried this & it is good, definitely easier (and I love easy), but we like the thinner dumplings over the thicker ones (the thicker ones tend to be too gooey for our taste). There are many chicken & dumpling recipes out there w/many variations, this one just happens to be my family's favorite!

Hope you enjoy them if you use the recipe! Happy Eating!

I have a recipe request of all of you - if anyone has a good potato soup recipe, I will love you forever if you share it with me (LOL)! Any recipe requests from me???

END OF THE WEEK & WEEKEND WRAP-UP

Last week totally got away from me. After Tuesday, it just seemed like there was no time left in the day by the time I got home each afternoon. Hopefully this week will be a little calmer & I will have a little more time to blog. Here is a rundown of what we did over the weekend.

1. Phone problems: I came home Friday to discover we had no phone service (landline). We don't use our home phone often, most everyone calls us on our cell phones now, and that is what we use most too. But, I do still get some calls on the home phone, so I decided I needed to report the problem. After going through several steps on an automated system, it finally said my problem was logged in the system and it would be restored by Sept. 22, and then the automated system cut me off. I couldn' t believe it would take almost 2 weeks, so I decided to call back and try to talk to a human. After going through several minutes of automation again, I finally pushed enough buttons to get to a live human being. She mistook my concern of it taking 2 weeks to restore service as that I needed it immediately. I explained that we didn't need someone to come tonight, but my concern was that I would continue to rack up charges on a line we could not use. She then understood and explained that after 24 hours of no service (if it is their fault & it is in this case) credits automatically start going back on our bill. It was relatively pleasant phone call, and I was satisfied w/her answers. So, we can live w/no home serivice for a while.

2. Internet: I have also had intermittent problems with my internet service this weekend. Since my internet & phone service are through the same provider, I can only assume it is related to the problems above. Now, I don't think we can live without internet for 2 weeks. So, if the internet problems continue, I will be making another call to AT&T to whine & complain & throw a fit if necessary to get my internet back in full force. (but I will be patient & wait to see what happens w/it 1st) I guess if you don't see a blog from in a few days & no comments on your blogs, you can assume my internet is down again.

3. Birthday parties: We attended a birthday party on Saturday at my Hunter's aunt's house. Her 1st grandbabies, Hunter's cousins twin sons turned 1. (I forgot my camera, so I do not have pictures.) They are of course cute little boys. It was fun, but I am so glad my kids are bigger & we don't have the little kid birthday parties to attend as often. I'll try to get some pictures of them to share soon.

4. Hurricane Ike: Of course my prayers are with all of those in Texas who were affected by Ike. Ike affected our weather here in Arkansas again. We received tornadoes in several parts of the state, and high winds were again a result of remnants coming across AR. The rain didn't last as long for us this time (this was a blessing, as many places still have not recovered from the rains from Gustav). We lost power during the night and it came back on here around 10 am - a short lived outage for us. My sister lives in a town further west, and she lost power after Gustav & was out for several days; the school my nephews attend was out for 2 days that time due to no power. Her power is out again and she is receiving reports that it might be up to 3 days before it is restored; the boys will be out of school tomorrow for sure, and not sure about Tuesday yet. It seems crazy to think that 2 hurricanes could affect Arkansas, but it happened.

5. Chicken & Dumplings: Travis has been asking for chicken & dumplings for a while so last trip to the grocery store, I made sure to buy everything I would need to prepare them. Tonight for dinner that is what we had. My family loves chicken & dumplings, but only if they are homemade. I tried to take a short cut once & bought frozen dumplings, they knew immediately something was different & asked that I never make them that way again. So now I only make home made chicken & dumplings. I must say they are my favorite too. Chicken & dumplings are the ultimate comfort food for me - if I am sick, that is what I want; if I am sad, that is what I want. I had tried several recipes over the years, but was never happy with the taste. I wanted them to taste like my grandma's did. I finally combined & tweaked a few recipes and have come up with the ultimate recipe that tastes almost identical to how I remember my grandma's tasting. I am planning to do a recipe post soon, and will include this recipe as well as several other of our favorites.

That is about it for our weekend. I hope everyone had a great weekend, and dodged any damage from Ike. Share with me: what is your favorite comfort food? what did you do fun/exciting this weekend?

I hope everyone has a great week!

Girl Scouts

Tonight was the beginning of one the activities that keeps me the busiest. I have been co-leader of my daughter's Girl Scout troop for 7 years. Tonight was our first meeting of the year. We have a troop of 10 - 12 girls (not sure yet how many are returning & how many new ones we will have this year). All of the girls are now between the ages of 13 - 15.

I do enjoy spending time with the girls (especially my daughter), but this is an activity that takes up way more time than I ever thought it would. But since, Flicka loves it so much it is very worthwhile to me. Most of the girls in the troop have been together for at least 5 years and some of them for all of the 7 years I have been involved in the troop. Needless to say, I have formed a bond with many of them.

Since the girls are older now, we do more with them, it is fun. Also, since they are older, we are beginning to let them lead the troop and the other co-leader (who has become one of my best friends over the years) and I are just there as advisers now. It has been fun to watch them grow from little Brownie Girl Scouts up to the beautiful, smart, creative, talented, etc... Cadette Girl Scouts they are today.

Last summer (07) we took the biggest trip we have ever gone on with them. We used all of the cookie money raised, and money from several other fund raisers we held to go to Savannah, Georgia. Savannah was the home of the founder of Girl Scouts - Juliette Gordon Low. The trip consisted of 9 girls and 5 adults all packed into 3 vehicles going "road tripping." We stopped in Huntsville, AL and went to the Space Center, Atlanta, Georgia, for a day at Six Flags and a day at the most awesome Georgia Aquarium (everyone needs to go here)! Then we headed on to our final destinations. We actually stayed in Hilton Head, South Carolina by the beach - BEAUTIFUL!!! While in Hilton Head, we kayaked in the bay looking at the ocean wildlife - we didn't get to see any dolphins that day, but we saw other beautiful things. Then we went to Savannah, we did a trolley tour of the city ending at the Juliette Low home. It was such a treat to see her home, and meant so much to all of us to be their as Girl Scouts. For lunch, we ate at The Lady & Sons restaurant (this Paula Deen's restaurant - she is on food network), it was great; one of Paula's sons was there that day & we got pictures made with him and lots of autographs (he has a show w/his brother on the food network too). That night we did a ghost tour of Savannah - it is reported as the most haunted city in the US. The tour ended at the "pirate house" where we had wonderful buffet dinner w/Capt. Jack Sparrow. It was lots of fun! The rest of the trip was spent at Hilton Head on the beach - soaking up the sun. We were gone for 10 days, and it was AWESOME! Many people thought we were crazy for taking that many girls on a trip that long, but they were all wonderful! I would do it again, and hope we have the opportunity to do something that awesome with them again. (Savannah and Hilton Head are some of the most beautiful places, I highly recommend them as a vacation spots to anyone)

I hope I still have a few readers after such a long rambling post and hope you are not bored terribly. I just wanted to share with you a little about one of the things I love - my Girl Scout Troop! I am sure as we trek along through meetings and trips this year, I will have many stories and pictures to share!

Here is a picture of the girls from last fall - they hosted a "girls night out at the spa" for our sister brownie troop.

Even though they keep me busy, I love Girl Scouts! I was a Girl Scout when I was a child, and they say "Once a Girl Scout, always a Girl Scout!"

What keeps you busy (besides school & housework, of course)?

WEEKEND RAMBLINGS

It was a rather quiet weekend for us. I just thought I would share a few random things with you today.

TROMBONE:

Long story short, after much research and many conversations, we went with the rental option on the trombone. Here is a picture of Travis w/the instrument. He did not want to pose for me, so it is a silly pose. (if you are lost as to why he has a trombone, see my 2 previous posts for further information)

LONG LOST FRIEND:

I got to go to lunch with an old friend on Saturday. We haven't seen each other in 7 years. She is a friend that went to school with me through many elementary & jr. high years. She had to move away right before 10th grade and we didn't get to graduate together. We have kept in touch off & on over the years, seeing each other several times in college and even after we were both married. We unfortunately lost touch and as I said haven't seen each other in 7 yrs. We were able to reconnect through FACEBOOK. We now live only around 20 miles from each other. We had a great lunch, it was so much fun to visit, reminisce and catch up with each other again. I am vowing that we won't lose touch again. She is the kind of friend it just feels good to be with, and I am so happy to have her in my life again. Unfortunately, I forgot my camera and did not get pictures this time, but I will next time.

LAZY DAY:

For the most part Saturday was just a lazy day. While I was at lunch, hubby & Flicka stayed around the house just hanging out. Travis spent the night w/one of his buddies Friday night, and was gone most of the day Saturday. Hubby worked out in the yard, and Flicka just lazed inside mostly. Of course we were all home & inside in time to catch the Razorback game - we just listened on the radio.

LUMBERJACKS:

I did have a few lumberjacks around the house this weekend. Last week when we had all of the wind and rain hitting us from the remnants of Gustav, it got one of our trees. The top of a little pine tree in the back yard came down and hit the backside of the house, luckily it was small & didn't cause any damage. Even though it was a smaller tree, it was leaning toward the house and we decided the rest of it must go sooner than later (we weren't too sad, as we were not fans of this tree and have been thinking of getting rid of it). Fortunately, Hunter is rather handy and could take care of it himself instead of hiring someone to come in & cut it (Though had it been a bigger tree, I would have insisted we get professionals to take care of it). He recruited Travis & one of the neighbors to help out. He looped a rope around the tree & the boys were supposed to pull on it to help it fall in the right direction - they thought this was cool. All went according to plan - the tree fell the right direction, no one was hurt and no property damage.

That's about it for our weekend. Hope all of you had a good weekend too.

THE INSTRUMNENT

OK, OK, I know you have all been patiently waiting to find out what happened next. I had to take a little break yesterday so that I could do an on-line Continuing Ed course for my license requirements, but I am back; and here goes.

(By the way, if you are just tuning in, you may want to read my last post before you continue reading. This post will make more sense to you, if you read the previous post first.)

And the instrument chosen was......

No, no, no. You really didn't think I would just spill the beans that quickly did you? I have to tell you how the rest of the story played out.

So, by now it is day 4 of the school year. Travis came home excited and brought me papers to look at before I could even ask (usually, I have to ask at least twice before papers are remembered.) He gives me a memo style note w/a bold heading that reads "Getting an Instrument", it is from Mr. M., the Band Director.

The note explains that "your child has chosen to be in the band and now you are wondering about obtaining an instrument." It further explains that to assist us in instrument selection, they have tested our child on every beginning band instrument and we will find the recommendations below. It also had some other explanations as to why or why not they may be good at certain instruments - coordination skills, lip & teeth structure, etc...

Now, before I go further, I feel I should give a little more background on how he even got band on his schedule. Each year in 5th grade, the 6th grade band teacher comes to the elementary school and talks to the kids about band, and instruments, etc... The 5th graders are given some type of evaluation at that time that supposedly lets us know if they might be a candidate for band. Travis, was listed as good candidate, and that was all it took for him to want to be in the band. After all, this was the best way for him and his friends to get a head start on the band they want to form together (obviously not the same kind of band though.) So, anyway before the end of 5th grade when we had to fill out schedules for 6th grade he wanted to band to be on it, and we agreed because we do want to support him and give him a chance to try it out.

Now back to choosing an instrument. I just assumed the instrument of choice would be drums. Drums is all he had talked about for so long, so it seemed the logical answer. Everyone had been telling him that "everyone" wants to play drums in the band and it might be hard to get to do that. At first, this logic did not sway him, and we encouraged him to go for what he wanted (thinking we would just get ear plugs.)

So, to the evaluation. The note breaks down the evaluations into 4 categories - highly recommended (1), recommended (2), okay (3), and not recommended (4). The instruments listed are: flute, clarinet, alto sax, trumpet, trombone, bell, and kit (drums). Travis' evaluation looked like this:

Flute = 3; Clarinet = 1; Alto Sax = 1; Trumpet = 1; Trombone = 1; Bell = 2; kit (drums) = 4

I was shocked. I asked why he thought he had a 4 on the drums. He explained it was because he didn't try for it. He said everyone wanted to do drums and he thought it was best if he just let that go for now & try something else. (I was thinking - O.KAY.) And as you can see we had 4 highly recommended instruments.

So, what do you think he chose?

Nope, not the Sax.

TROMBONE.

The TROMBONE was his choice! It's not that I have anything against trombones, but really? I like to think I'm a relatively intelligent person, but I just couldn't even picture what a trombone looked like - I had to have him explain it to me (and even then I googled to see a picture.) I asked why the trombone. His answer, "Because it's cool."

So, the trombone, it is!

Next installment - the actual obtaining of the trombone.

Stay tuned (if you're not bored yet)... I promise the next installment is good too.

THE BAND

And so it began. . .

Scene: End of 2nd day of school.

Who: Travis, the new middle schooler, in 6th grade, (basically, still "wide-eyed" and soaking in everything, even if he doesn't understand it all yet).

What: Band/instrument

The rest of the story: So, it's the end of the 2nd day of school. I ask the kids if they have any news to share, papers to show, need more supplies etc.... Travis announces we need to buy him an instrument for band. I ask what instrument, he replies that he doesn't know yet, the teacher hasn't done the evaluations yet. I try to explain that we would rather not buy one right away, but should wait to make sure it is something he will like and continue to pursue over the next few years.

Travis: "But, I promise I will."

Me: "Ok, we'll talk about it when we know what instrument you need." (ie...no way, no how, not now - there must be a way w/out buying a new instrument!)

The discussion ends peacefully. Several hours pass and the topic of school and their classes come up again. Here is the next exchange:

Travis: "You, know mom, Mr. M..... says if we play an instrument and they find out when we go to college, they will give you money to help pay for it. So you will be getting your money back."

Me: hysterical laughter (It was just the way he said "and they find out" that was sooo funny, if you're not laughing it may be one of those you had to be there moments)

Lynn: reading a book and oblivious to it all

Travis: "Why are you laughing."

Me: "Just because you can play doesn't mean you get a scholarship. I'm not laughing at you, just at your interpretation of what your teacher said."

Lynn: looks up to see what is so funny so I explain... "that's called a scholarship, Travis, and you have to practice and get good at an instrument to earn one." (he is the logical one, right?)

Travis: "But, I do want to be in the band, and I will stay in it and practice to get good."

Me: "Ok...I know you want to, and we will talk about it when we know an instrument." (still chuckling to myself about the getting money for college automatically when "they find out" you can play something and I will be getting my money back for the instrument at that time.)

Lynn: already back to his book and his own world

So, it was left at that. We will definitely consider renting or buying an instrument when we find out what he wants to play and the Band teacher thinks he is ready. And hopefully he will understand if we don't go buy the instrument as soon as one is assigned to him. But, I will also hope for that scholarship - we will need it!

Stay tuned.... Part 2 and the instrument reveal will come soon!