Wedding Planning Blues on a Rainy Day!

Perhaps part of my mood is due to the rainy, dreary weather that we've had for several days. I think it's more to the fact that a girl (of any age) shouldn't have to plan her wedding without her mother.

I went to David's Bridal a few months ago and bought my dress. I went alone. If my mother couldn't be with me, I didn't want anyone with me. Today, the girls and I went back to David's for our dress fittings. I would have gone alone today also, but it would save me trip to have the girls get fitted on the same day. It may have helped me to have my girls with me. I think they kept me busy enough not to have a complete meltdown. I'm home now and all I want to do is crawl in bed and cry.

I'm not sure if I'll be able to handle the actual wedding day without my Mother. I am barely coping now. There are so many times that I want to pick up the phone and call her only to realize that I can't. I do still have her cell phone number in my phone. I've thought of dialing it many times, but I don't know what my reaction would be if the number was now answered by someone else.

Mom, I really miss you.

Avon

In all the hustle and bustle of wedding planning, dance competitions, SAT preps, Inline Hockey signups and everyday life I am now finding the time to post a short little blog.

I received a short letter from my SIL, Sandi yesterday. It's always nice to hear from family and to see how they are doing and what they are up to. Sandi is now selling Avon online and sent me a few business cards. In addition to handing the cards out to a few people, I thought I would advertise for her on my blog. In today's economy, everyone needs a little extra help. If you are an Avon shopper or if you are new to Avon and want to look at the products, take a look at Sandi's site. I just placed an order and got free shipping!!

Happy Saint Patty's Day everyone!!

What's for dinner??

I have found that I like to try new recipes. I run into problems when we find recipes that the kids really like (tough problem - huh?) and they want that recipe over and over. How am I supposed to continue to try new recipes if the kids only want the items they are familiar with and KNOW that they will like?

Here is a recipe that I found back in the early fall and have made it several times. Sarah especially loves this. It's really easy to put together on a busy night and tastes great too.

Baked Ravioli

1 lb ground beef OR ground turkey OR Italian sausage
1 bag frozen cheese ravioli
2 cups shredded mozzarella cheese
28 oz jar spaghetti sauce

-Pre-heat oven to 350
-In a skillet over medium-high heat, brown ground meat, breaking up as it cooks: drain: stir spaghetti sauce into meat.
-Spread a small amount of meat mixture in the bottom of a greased 9x13 baking pan.
-Layer 1/2 of the raviolis evenly in the bottom of the pan; sprinkle 1/2 of the remaining sauce over the raviolis; sprinkle 1/2 of the cheese over the sauce.
-Repeat layering once with remaining ingredients.
-Bake for 30 minutes.


This recipe is very easy to add veggies to if you would like. I always double the recipe and I often make to versions. I make a regular pan for the kids and then for the second pan I add red pepper flakes to my sauce to spice it up a bit and add some veggies as well. I usually just look into the fridge and add what ever I might have in the veggie drawer. I have added mushrooms, broccoli, squash, zucchini, onion, carrots, etc. It's really up to your tastes and imagination.

Wordless Wednesday

I know..these are words, but I feel the need to explain. I've seen other blogs where they do a wordless Wednesday blog weekly and I felt compelled to do the same. I will attempt to post a picture every week and do my best not to write too much about it.

October 31, 2004 - NC Zoo

TWD - Devil's Food White Out Cake

Thank you Stephanie of Confessions of a City Eater for choosing Devils Food White Out Cake on page 247-249.

I had read that others had problems getting their cake to rise, but I didn't find that to be a problem for me. Mine rose and the top cracked. I wish I had taken a picture of the mess of me trying to cut the cake in half. I had crumbs all over trying to cut both of the rounds in half and trying to cut off the rounded mounds.
The frosting proved to be a little difficult for me. The temperature when cooking it just wasn't getting hot enough, then all of the sudden it was too hot. I guess it turned out okay, because the kids have NOT complained.
I put the cake in the fridge after I was done. It does give the cake more of a brownie texture when eaten, and I love brownies!

My Dancing Girls!!

This weekend my girls had their first competition of the year. They did really well, I'm very proud of them.
In the above picture is Raeyven, Sarah and Mackenzie. They are in their Jazz costume about ready to go on stage. This costume is wonderful and is one of my favorites, but my camera didn't like it. It had a hard time trying to find something to focus on.
In this picture is Kacie, Meghan and Ella are decked out in their Hip Hop costume. This dance is lots of fun to watch.

As with every dance competition my day starts early. Sarah had to be at the theater dressed and ready by 7am. This means I had to be up at 4:45 to get myself ready and then get Sarah up around 5:30 and start on her hair and makeup. Then get Ella up and get her makeup started before we leave for the competition.

The 3rd dance of the competition was Sarah's solo. This year she dances to a song called Legs by Art of Noise. This is an Acro dance, but she is entered into the Character category since she is dressed like a spider. I wish I had a picture of her in this costume, but I didn't take one yesterday. I'm sure what you are picturing in your mind is NOT what she looked like!

Ella then had her three group dances yesterday morning. Her first of the day was Ease On Down. This is an Acro dance which is also entered into the Character division. They are all dressed like Dorothy. Her second was Here We Come which is Hip Hop. A picture of this costume is above. Her final dance was Material Girls for jazz. This is beautiful costume. I was just so rushed yesterday, that I missed out on taking photos. I'll try to get more pictures at the next competition.

Sarah had her group dances in the afternoon. Sarah has 5 group dances which made me even busier than I had been in the morning. The first was Practical Magic. This is an Acro dance in the Character division, they are witches. The second is Krazy Klownz and is another Acro dance. Third is Get Loose which is Hip Hop. I love this dance and the girls did an excellent job!! The forth dance was Boogie Woogie Bugle Boy for tap and the fifth and final dance was We're Strange for jazz.

Below is how the judges rated them. Of course I think they should have been ranked higher, but what mother wouldn't think their child did awesome!!

Sarah's Solo received a Gold and she came in 4th place in all the 9-11 year old solos.

All of Ella's groups received Gold. Her groups are in the 8 and under age category (average age of the groups). Here We Come (Hip Hop) came in 7th. Material Girls (Jazz) came in 6th and Ease on Down (Acro) took 3rd place out of all the 8 and under small groups.

Sarah's groups are in the 9-11 year old division and 4 of them received Gold and her Acro Group - Krazy Klownz got a Platinum!! Get Loose (Hip Hop) came in 10th, Boogie Woogie Bugle Boy (Tap) was 8th, Practical Magic (Acro) was 7th and Krazy Klownz (Acro) came in 5th out of all the 9-11 groups.

With them doing so well at the first competition of the year, I can't wait to see how they do at all the rest of the competitions!! Wish them luck!!

Time for a new post....

I guess since it has been a month, I'm overdue for a new blog post. I have been steadily working on wedding plans in addition to trying to keep up with daily life. I have also recently signed up for Facebook at the request of one of my friends. It is really time consuming (aka - addictive). It's been nice to be able to reconnect (online anyway) with many friends I hadn't heard from in many years. It can also be rather annoying to have some of these people "request" to be your friend. I wasn't friends with them in high school. I may have never even liked them....I don't know. I'm not sure of the proper etiquette on these online sites, but I am ignoring some of these requests. I guess since they made that an option, I'm going to use it!!!

I will posting another blog entry soon. I have recipes that I need to blog as well as wedding plans to post about. I PROMISE to do better about my blog updates (I hope).

TWD has been interupted due to the following announcement........

I'm Engaged!!!

This picture was actually taken prior to Josh proposing, but it's the best pic I have of us. I'm sooo excited, I can't even begin to tell you how happy I am.

Those of you who know me, know what I've been through these past 2 1/2 + years and I thank you for your thoughts, prayers, emails, calls and support more than you will ever know. I plan to have a wonderful future and NO funerals for many many years. I've been to enough in my lifetime, I need a break from them for about a decade or so.

Now...I can't wait to see how fast word travels!! We have announced the engagement to our families and local friends. I want to see who is the first to call me from out of state!! You have to call, email or IM me to find out the date of the wedding. Yes, I have the date already!!

TWD - I really did intend to make the French Pear Tart!! I certainly wanted to make the recipe that Dorie herself picked for this week. We went out of town this past weekend and announced our engagement to Josh's family, so I just didn't find the time. I have all the ingredients and hope to make the recipe this week sometime. Please come back and check out my blog later this week for my "late" TWD French Pear Tart post.