Thrifty Finds~Pyrex

Woo Hoo! I scored some Pyrex! I walked right into the Salvation Army and these two items we waiting for me. I love the yellow loaf pan and the other one I am not quite sure if its a small gravy boat or creamer. These were purchased before the hurricane.

I drove by the Salvation Army the other night and they were closed due to Hurricane Ike. The store was empty and the the fixtures were all pushed against the windows. I was relieved to see a sign on the door stating a Grand Reopening soon.

What have you found lately???

Menu Planning

Nothing exciting happening here this week, just busy at school entering grades for progress reports and getting ready for Open House on Thursday. So it makes for late evenings and quick meals.

Here is our plan:
Monday~Out for Mexican food! yum!
Tuesday~Hamburger Helper Three Cheese. DH can make this!
Wednesday~Tuna Tetrazzini
Thursday~Out due to Open House
Friday~Spaghetti I finally put together this sign. I picked it up over the summer in Wimberley at the Market Days. My neighbor gave me the galvanized bucket and rocks came from Super W store. I think it looks great by our back door. Now I want to find a scarecrow to stick in there for Fall.

Have a great week!

Round Rock

This summer I learned so much about baseball. My son played in a summer league and we had such a great time. I even learned how to keep score in the official score book for the coach. I also learned about there are minor leagues that some players go to before moving up to the majors. I know where have I been. I like to cheer on a team but never have learned much about the sport. While Texas has two minor leagues that I found out about. So we packed up the car and went to see the Round Rock Express, which is the minor team for the Houston Astros. We had so much fun that weekend and plan to do more next summer.

While spending time in the Austin area we went to the Austin Zoo. This was a unique experience. It is much smaller than the Houston Zoo but you are so close to the animals it was exciting. Our son feeding a goat.
And no trip to the zoo is complete without a ride on the train.

Round Rock Express stadium
They even have a pool you can rent out to watch the game.
The field

Enjoying the game. It was Longhorn night and everyone was decked out in Longhorn gear, even the players had Longhorn jerseys.

Our Hurricane Photos

Here are the photos from Hurricane Ike. We didn't have any damage to our home or fence. We had very little tree limbs that fell from the trees. We did end up with shingles in the yard but not from our roof.

The wind blew so hard that leaves and dirt stuck to the door.
It stuck to the walls
Our backyard
The back patio was a raging river of leaves. Our front yard.
The pile of limbs growing for the garbage pick up.Our son pitching in and raking the leaves and limbs from the street. We lost everything in our refrigerator but I have a nice clean one now.

When we lost our electricity we packed up and headed out to my sisters house. To keep the children happy and entertained we put the tent up in the backyard for them to play and sleep in. Well, my darling husband thought it would be so funny to go out there and scare the kids that the boys decided not sleep in it at night.
The girls.

The boys.

September Pay It Forward Book Exchange Winner

Congratulations to Robin Titan. She has won both books for this months giveaway.

Please check back next month for more books to win.

Happy Fall Y'all and Menu Planning

WooHoo! We have power! I am so excited. The neighbor texted husband this morning to report that the power had been turned on. We had been staying at my sisters house with her lovely family but I was ready to get home. I loaded up the dog and dropped her off before heading in to work. I can't believe it took an hour and a half to make it in to work. The freeway was a parking lot this morning. Quickly checked the house before leaving and got to work only 20 minutes late.

Our plan for the week:

Monday~grabbing something quick since we are moving back home tonight from my sisters and we have an empty refrigerator.

Tuesday~Out with friends

Wednesday~Salad buffet

Thursday~Tacos

Friday~Out with friends

I don't have a lot planned since I have nothing in my refrigerator and need to restock.

Still No Electricity

We are still without power and I miss my home. We have been staying with my sister and her family. We are getting very good at the Wii. My son has made friends with the neighbor kids out here. We ventured out yesterday to Target and the grocery store. No problems at either place but the traffic lights are still not working properly so its slow go moving around the city.

School is reported to open on Monday. My school has power but my sons does not yet. Today we should get an update about that. I am ready to get back to our normal routine.

My husbands office, which is near the Galleria area, had lots of damage. So he and others in his office have been cleaning and salvaging what they can.

I have been reading and catching up on the blogs I like to visit and have gotten many ideas for decorating and craft projects and lots of yummy recipes that I can't wait to try.

The electricity company has been reporting on the news station that my zip code should have power by the end of the day on Monday. I have my fingers crossed.

Hope you all have a great day!

We made it through the Hurricane!

We had no damage to our house. Praise God! The wind was howling and rattling the windows like crazy last night. It was pretty intense for awhile. We have plenty of small to medium branches thrown all over our yard. We spend the afternoon raking up piles of leaves and limbs. We have a huge pile of medium branches from our oak and pine trees, about the size of a small car. Some of our neighbors were not quite so lucky. Lots of damage from the old trees. One thing I didn't have on my supplies list was large trash bags so those piles will have to sit until the stores open up and the piles dry up some. Another thing I didn't pick up was batteries and the radio didn't have any working batteries in it, so I was pulling batteries from my sons toys and games this morning so we could hear the news and weather. You can bet we will be well stocked with batteries this next week.



We lost our electricity around 4:00 in the morning and it still hasn't been turned back on. So we packed up our bags and refrigerator and we are staying out at my sisters. She is very fortunate to have power out here near Cypress.



Good news and bad news. Our school was closed on Friday so we could prepare for the hurricane and now they are going to be closed for Monday and Tuesday due to damage and electrical problems in the school buildings. My son is going to be so happy when I tell him but I am not since we will probably have to make these days up and that means more than likely they will start to take from our holidays.



Oh, and for those that want to know what you can get us for Christmas, we would like a generator, please!

Preparing for Hurricane IKE

We are out preparing for Hurricane IKE today. We have secured things around the house and stocked up on supplies. Now we just have to wait til it hits. The news coverage shows how hard its slamming into the coast. I think we will experience some wind and local street flooding. I hope we do not lose electricity!

Please keep us in your prayers!

I'll be back once the storm passes.

Enjoy your weekend.

Our Anniversary Celebration Just a Bit Late

I have been debating whether or not to post these pictures because I'm in them. I finally decided to go ahead. So you can put a face with a name.

For our anniversary which was in July, my in-laws took us out to a very nice restaurant. The food was incredible cuisine and then we walked around the grounds afterwards. This place is known for its gardens for bridal pictures and weddings.

Me and my family

Our son

The beautiful gardens

The restaurant which is hard to see in the dark!

The graceful swans that glided over the water.

Aquarium

This summer while my nieces were here for a visit we all spent an evening enjoy the downtown Aquarium. Here are some pictures of the fun times we had.

All the cousins out front of the restaurant for a group picture.Dinner in the aquarium is fun. They have a huge tank filled with all kinds of fish swimming around while you eat. My mom and sister trying to keep youngest entertained.My son and third cousin acting out in the aquarium. They had so much fun hamming it up all through the exhibits. They look very worried about whats ahead!This picture cracks me up. I don't know if its the starfish stuck on the glass or the curly hair and smile!Oldest cousin and DH enjoying the touch tank exhibit. You can touch little stingrays as they swim by. At sunset we rode the giant Ferris wheel to get a great view of downtown. I rode with the two boys and they made our car sway and I was so scared. They got a kick out of terrifying their mom and aunt.

Thanks for looking!

Menu Planning Monday

I am not going to plan a menu this week because it will just be my son and I for dinner this week since DH is working. We will probably pick something up after football practice or something simple at home. Nothing very exciting.Here are pictures from the first day of school. My son was not thrilled that I was going to snap pictures of him.Yes, my baby entered Fourth Grade with a fractured finger. The Thursday before at football conditioning camp he got his ring finger caught between two helmets and snap. He didn't complain a lot after wards but his finger swelled up and turn blue. All the dads and coaches at the camp didn't think it was broken so we didn't do anything right away. Over the weekend he caught his finger in the refrigerator door and I thought he was going to die! So we took him to the emergency room and they X-rayed and found out that it was fractured. Two weeks of wearing a splint is no fun!

We had our follow up visit with the bone specialist and he is now splint free and was given the OK to be active again. He is alittle apprehensive in getting back onto the football field because he doesn't want to hurt it again. So please pray for no more fractured or broken bones for the rest of football season.

Have a great week!

Retail Therapy~Some Clearance and a Splurge

Some days you just need to treat yourself to something colorful!I was walking around Super W, waiting for my pictures to be printed and I hit the clearance racks and found these lovely tops and pants. I normally don't shop there but I couldn't pass up a good deal, especially when they were almost free! I know that these items are summer wear but down here in TX I can practically wear them all year, but I won't. I like to celebrate the seasons with clothes even though the seasons are hard to notice here.

Now these were a splurge. I love to to peruse the aisles of a shoe store, looking at all the new styles and designs. I love to try on shoes. When I saw these I just had to have them. They look like a high end designer but cost under $75. Some may say that wasn't a splurge but I really didn't need a new pair of sandals especially with the end of summer approaching. But I love them! Now I need to go get a pedicure! Have you found any clearance items for yourself lately??

Friday Fun

1. If I was to walk into your life, there's a chance I might not notice because I'm too busy running from one activity to another?

2. Catch a bright star and place it in your heart.

3. And you can send me flowers anytime.

4. Sometimes it hurts but I'm dealing with a memory that never forgets.

5. I'm the innocent bystander / Somehow I got stuck in the middle of the drama.

6. What's keeping us apart isn't selfishness, it's our schedules.

7. And as for the weekend, tonight I’m looking forward to relaxing at home, tomorrow my plans include a teacher training at school and Sunday, I want to enjoy the day with my family!

Have a great weekend!

September Pay It Forward Book Exchange

I have two books up for grabs this month. They are books I won at a book store that hosted a teacher workshop and I never read them. So, I'm passing them on you. These are YA books, if you enjoy those type of books or have a young reader at home then these would be great for you! Please indicate which one you would like to be in the drawing for or both. From School Library JournalGrade 8 Up–As Adèle Geras did in Troy (Harcourt, 2001) and Caroline B. Cooney did in Goddess of Yesterday (Delacorte, 2002), Tomlinson tells the story of the Trojan War from the perspective of a young woman caught up in its prolonged fury. Like the women in her family before her, Myrina knows her destiny lies in serving for seven years as a Moon Rider, a warrior priestess better known as an Amazon. The Moon Riders, worshippers of Earth Mother Maa, perform ritual dances for the nomadic tribes of Asia Minor, but they are also highly trained fighters and are more than ready to strategize and go to battle to protect their homelands when the Achaeans invade the shores of Ilium. Myrina plays a pivotal role in some of the war's key events and encounters most of its major players, from the prophetess Cassandra to crafty Odysseus to rampageous Achilles. The fierce and heroic Myrina and her fellow Moon Riders add a strong dose of girl power to the well-known mythology that will likely inspire and delight readers, especially fans of Tamora Pierce's work. Tomlinson also carefully creates surprising facets for her legendary characters–even Paris and Helen aren't entirely the arrogant, thoughtless couple they are often portrayed to be. While not quite up to the standards set by Geras and Cooney, this is an exciting, richly detailed novel with a fresh twist.

From School Library JournalGrade 2-4–Holbrook the lizard is a misunderstood artist. His happiness depends on his ability to hold a fine paintbrush in hand, to marvel over the vast array of paints, and to let his imagination soar. But the folks in the desert town of Rattler's Bend think his paintings are just squiggles, and that it's time to get a real job. Then an opportunity arises that will really measure his worth as an artist. Leaving the comfort of home, he embarks into the unknown where he enters a painting competition in Golden City. The place is full of renowned animals, and the best of the best have come to view the work of the most talented artists. When he arrives, Holbrook is struck by the strangeness of city culture and the creatures inhabiting this unknown world. When he shows his painting Starry Sky, he encounters a host of unsavory creatures and must rely on newfound friendships and smarts just to stay alive. This delightful marriage of takeoffs of famous personalities (Margot Frogtayne, Enrico Escargot) and storytelling techniques yields an amusing cast of rich characters. This is a fun adventure that will capture the imagination of beginning chapter-book readers.

Here are the rules to enter. Yes, there are some rules!

If you win this book you must host a giveaway on your blog. If you don't have a blog then you will give the book to a local shelter, library, etc.

You do not need a blog to participate. If you don't have one just please leave your e-mail so that in the event you should win I can get a hold of you.

You need to leave a comment stating which book you would like or both to this post by Monday, September 22 by midnight. I will randomly draw a name on Tuesday, September 23 and post the winner here. Also, I will contact the winner by e-mail or blog.

Please click over to Overwhelmed with Joy to see the many other book exchanges happening this month.

Thanks for playing and Good Luck!

August Book Exchange Winner

Congratulations to Jubilee! You have won The Starter Wife.

I hope to have September Book Exchange posted later this week.