I guess her name is "Gray"

S, miss artsy....had to make a collar for the cat in case she got outside. Well, the cat HATES it. G will get it off and S will see it laying on the floor and pick it back up and put it on the cat. G tolerates it tho she will walk around with it and fall asleep with it.

Ms. Kitty

Yes, we still have the mystery cat. My FIL, keeps asking when we are going to name her. S replies, "We don't know her name, we call her Kitty". Prior to Kitty showing up at the door step we had other plans for the kids and an animal but for now we have Kitty and apparently it happened this way for a reason.

Thankfully, she is a good cat. I was afraid she would tear up my new couches but we haven't had a problem. We did see a worm, YUCK!! so we got her some medicine and haven't seen any since....now to get her fixed!! After E (a friend of mine...an animal lover that has a zoo, not literally lol) saw her...she thinks she is at least a yr or so old. S has her all scrunched up in this pic so she looks bigger I think...maybe she has just gained weight since we have taken her in and a pic adds 10 lbs right?

I have been saving money on food for her, a lovely $4 coupon in the Sunday paper on IAMS cat food..ended up paying $3 for the bag!! At least she is saving me some money.

For you cat owners what kind of litter to you use?? I picked up Fresh Step but it doesn't clump like the package says it does. We haven't had the smelling issue it just doesn't clump!

Elf on the Shelf

Elf on a Shelf

OMG, I just love this and I am sooo excited that I stumbled upon this yesterday on, Our Ohana. If u have little kids that "Believe" this is a MUST!!!! U really can use an elf of your own or if u are crafty make your own. I want the book to tell the story for kids, but it would be fun to make my own elf for the kids to pass down after all it's a "tradition". This would make a fun gift for someone having a baby.

From "Elf on the Shelf" the Tradition,

This charming tradition began for our family when my children were very small. Plagued by their desire to know how Santa really knew who had been naughty or nice, I searched through the Christmas decorations for a plausible explanation. Nestled among them was the answer; a small elf doll from my own childhood. With that discovery, the idea for the elf tradition was born.

At our home the elf would arrive around the holidays, usually at Thanksgiving. His sole responsibility was to watch my children's behavior and report it to "Santa" each night. The next morning after the children awoke, they discovered the elf had returned from the "North Pole" (with some parental assistance) and was hiding in a different place. My children would race each other out of bed to try and be the first to spy him in his new position.

Over the years the tradition was perfected and rules were even introduced. For example, to better preserve his mystique the children were not allowed to touch him; however, they were allowed to talk to him. For obvious reasons, he was not allowed to reply. Eventually, my children even gave him a name - officially adopting him into the family.

Unwittingly, the tradition provided an added benefit: it helped the children to better control themselves. All it took was a gentle reminder that the "elf was watching" for errant behavior to be modified.

I never dreamed this simple tradition would lead to so many Christmas memories for our entire family. It is my earnest desire that The Elf on the Shelf: A Christmas Tradition will bring as much joy to your family as it has to mine.

Make it your own,

Where do u live??

Rewind to Yesterday morning, 5am.

J gets up and gets ready for work. I usually sleep in til 6 then start getting the kids up and going. So J is walking out the door and jumps in the truck to leave for PT. Well, the truck wouldn't start...so I get up to see if he needs help....he tried to jump it off and it was a no go!! So that means he has to take my car. Of course it would be the only day that I "had" to be somewhere bright and early in the am. So I come inside and start my normal morning. I get the kids up and feed them breakfast and then I hear this meowing noise that sounds like its coming from the garage. I thought maybe a cat got in the garage from when J was trying to get his truck started. I open the garage door, no cat..still hear meowing. Go open the front door and guess what I see a, kitten...mostly grey with a little white on it's chest and paws. No collar of course, I felt sorry for the thing because it was so cold outside. Immediately the kids start saying can we let him in. Time is passing and remember I have no car so that means S has to catch the bus. So she gets ready and we head down to the bus stop and the cat follows. S is saying funny things like, can I take her to school in my book bag? Do u think she will get on the bus with me? S gets on the bus and the cat follows me back home. I go about my morning, cancel my appointment then J comes home with a new battery for his truck. He puts it in and it works, woohoo!! The cat is still around walking in and out of the garage and H wants to love all over her.

Fast forward....5pm and the cat is still outside laying in my flower bed.

Hubby comes home and guess what....lets the cat in!!! The kids reply, so we can keep her!?!? J told them that we would take care of here until we can find where her home is and if no one came looking then we would talk about it. So the cat is in the house and is so friendly and its fur is short we inspect her and notice that her whiskers have been cut. We think she's about 6 months old and looks like she had been well taken care of. She has to belong to someone its just figuring out who. They must have kids that like to play with scissors.


Oh Kitty, I bet that kid who cut your whiskers misses u? Where is your momma? Where do u live?

I am sure this story will be continued, hopefully someone from our community watch group will know who the owner is!

Minestrone Soup Recipe

It's cold outside baby and it is a sure way to get warmed up!! Make it for your family, my kids even love it.

What u need:

* 2 tablespoons olive oil
* 4 carrots, chopped
* 4 stalks celery, chopped
* 1 small zucchini, sliced
* 1 sweet onion, chopped
* 3 cloves garlic, chopped
* 2 dark green romaine lettuce leaves, diced<~~~~I like to use spinach instead
* 1 (6 ounce) can tomato paste
* 1 (15 ounce) can kidney beans, drained and rinsed
* 1 (14 ounce) can vegetable broth
* 4 cups water
* 3 tablespoons chopped fresh basil
* 2 tablespoons chopped fresh oregano
* 2 cups uncooked pasta (macaroni, angel hair, small shells)

What u need to do:

1. Heat olive oil in a large pot over medium heat.
Stir in carrots, celery, onion and garlic into pot.
Mix in tomato paste, beans, broth and water.
Season with basil, oregano and salt.
Cook and stir 30 minutes, or until vegetables are tender.

2. Mix pasta & zucchini into pot.
Continue cooking 10 minutes, or until tender.
Stir occasionally.

3. Salt and pepper to taste.

I serve mine up with a side of bread with butter of course. Here is a yummy olive oil dip that we use to when we are not dipping in the soup.

Bread Dipping Oil

Extra Virgin Olive Oil

Italian seasonings
Black Pepper
Parmesan Cheese

I don't use exact measurements just wing it really and taste until I like the flavorings!

Bathroom Makeover

We did a makeover in S's bathroom. We plan to replace that mirror and add a simple crown molding to the top to complete it. It had stripped wallpaper as u will see in the photos we took before we moved in. We the paint went up I thought it was too bright but once the room was put back together it all blended pretty well, I think. What do u think?? Now on too the kitchen and master bathroom guess what more wallpaper to remove JOY JOY anyone wanna HELP!!

Happy!

Well, we had a great Thankgiving. We drove down to my parents house to spend a couple of days down in SC. My brother and his family drove up it was great being able to spend time with them. I think the kids (S & her cousin) said Nana a billion times & of course my mom loved every minute.

Monday we closed on the house and our movers came on Tuesday to deliver our household goods. The garage is loaded with boxes to unpack. We had a couple of things missing. J's dresser, which is a highboy has a broken leg on it. I have NO CLUE why they would ship it with the legs still attached. So its laying on its side until that gets fixed. Thankfully its all minor stuff. I have already dug out my sewing machine!! J is "away" so I haven't gotten far with unpacking, the kids...well H wants to be attached to my hip so that doesn't give much time for unpacking. It will get done eventually. The house is a mess which drive me nuts!

I am really happy to be in this house. It is weird tho. I don't hear other neighbors coming and going like we did in apartments. The kids can run since we don't have neighbors below us. I am glad that we bought and didn't choose to live on post. We have lots of room to grow into this house.

I brewed my first pitcher of sweet tea. Walmart had my FAVORITE chocolate covered cherries, Cella's. One of my favorite tv shows came on tonight (Greys Anatomy) and I got to DVR it to watch it when it the kids were asleep. What more could a girl ask for, ice cream haha just kidding!!

My washer and dryer are being delivered tomorrow. I can't wait to start a load of laudry, is that sad?? Usually I don't look forward to laundry but its like getting a new toy or car. I can't wait to try it out.

Walk thru

Well, we did our walk thru yesterday. The carpet is down and the paint is on the wall. I wish I would have picked a darker color on the wall. The vinyl roll was laying in the garage and it was to be laid today.

It doesn't look like we will be in before Thanksgiving so hopefully J can get a pass so we can go out of town.

Yada, yada, yada...

the house saga continues...

Yesterday, I found a house that I wanted to show J since it was a possibility for us to get. So we went last night for J to check it out. We put in an offer on it this morning. This house was the same price as the first house but it was further away from post. We had up to 24 hours before we would know if they accepted our offer. Well our realtor contacted me this afternoon and guess what?? The seller of the original house wanted to offer the house at the appraisal price. We had to make a decision before they accepted our offer on the 2nd house so we could withdrawal our contract.

Sooooo, since we are getting a pretty good deal on the original house we decided to go ahead and take it. I hope this was the right move!! Hopefully this is the end of my drama otherwise, I might become gray headed overnight!

Tomorrow we are going to do a walk-thru to see that the repairs were done. This place is gonna look pretty inside with fresh paint, carpet and the new flooring in the kitchen. It will be wonderful to be able to get in before Thanksgiving since our paperwork was at the closing stage with USAA. I guess we will see what happens!

Hunting again

So the seller of the orginal house doesn't want to drop his price. We reviewed the appraisal and our realtor believes it should have appraised a little higher. Things happen for a reason. I was upset with that house but I feel better about it now. A couple of new houses just went on the market that look like better options for us.

J is back at work so I went ahead and started house hunting with the kids and our realtor. We hit a handful of houses today. This time I remembered the camera, so I can let J take a look then we can go check them out together once we narrow them down.

Thanks for all the comments!!

The Verdict!!

IT'S OURS!!

I am excited we close in 16 days, hopefully it won't change. Hopefully the contractors will get busy and if the paperwork gets done on time I will might be unpacking while cooking my turkey haha!

House hunting

We have been house hunting for the past two days with our realtor. I never realized how stressful it can be. The kids have been great while we check out all these houses. We have seen between 25-30 houses and we have 3 that are possibilities. Here is the house that is our #1 choice as of this moment, haha. We forgot the camera on the first day so I didn't get pic of the other 2 yet.