she's gone

Yes after all these years of not knowing what to do with it, she is gone.


The trailer from the backyard picture is gone. If you ever need to get rid of anything for free just put it on kijiji and you will be surprised at how many responses you get. Crazy the amount of emails I received in such a short time. One guy offered $200. if I held it for him, I did hold it for 24hrs and he came and got it last night. GONE.. It almost seemed to easy after all this time.





So a crazy thing happen to me yesterday, I yawned and stretched at the same time and I wrecked my neck and my whole right side of my neck and shoulder went into a spasm..


Ya, that's right I yawned... Tough work!! Anyway have been taken some muscle relaxers and went and had a chiropractor apt. and heating pad.. I leave for Phoenix next week. I can't have this for the time I am gone. I can't even turn my neck..


So with that said, I was a bit clumsy yesterday. I dropped a lot of stuff and made a few messes.. I think the girls were happy to see me go yesterday. The biggest mess was me hitting the nail polish shelf with my forearm and knocking down all the polish and breaking 5 bottles.
what a mess... thanks to everyone for cleaning up after me yesterday.!

A Picture Wendel sent me to edit. I love this shot. this is before editing the sign out of the window

have a great day..

Summer Fun.... or is it?

Well yesterday was the official 1st day in our pool. The water was still a bit cold but Destiny was is there playing and having fun.. Her brother... in and out... then played ball off the ladder. Now in review my pictures I have come to realize that we look a little bit like hill billies, red necks, the Clampits, or how ever you want to say it... Our back corner of our acrage is in some real need of our attention along with about 3 other acres of over grow grass and dandylions. Yes for all you "town people" my dandylions are out of control...

Now just let me show you what I am talking about.

This old trailer has been in my yard for well over 9 years. We had hired men stay in it when we first bought our property in 1997 and again for a bit in the summer or 98 then we had a husband and wife stay in if for a summer now it sits... run down and falling a part and look like a eye sore. I called 8 different companies trying to get someone to take it.. No one new what to do with it... One guy offered but wanted a lot of money to demolish it.. I said "but it is free" he said "no it is not, it is expensive" So then I decided to put it on http://kijiji.ca/ for free if you come get it. I have had about 12 emails in 1 1/2 hours. It is looking promising.. Now that leaves the burlap deer on the side of the shed and all the garbage in the shed.. I need help... I am hoping to hire a couple of kids this summer.. Hopefully they like to work. The grass alone will keep them whipper snipping for a while.

Now some pictures that I think look a little better..

I hid the surroundings a little better.

Now as I mentioned, Hayze didn't like the temp. of the water that much so he played from the ladder.

I had to include this pictures so you could see that we do really feed him.

....must go.. just got another 5 emails about the "free" trailer.. I have taken some pictures of the inside.. that has been scaring them away. I think I have got a "biter" he wants to give money!!!

Saw this last night

What Happens in Vegas.

Very cute, (and hot) romantic comedy.

I had a great evening, Stacey invited me out for a bar b q supper which was fabulous. Tanya invited me out to the movie. It was great night.

Frustrations

Good Sunday Afternoon


I have spent since yesterday at 10am alone at home without my kids and Jim. They are gone to a couple of rodeos. I went to woman's group last night and other than that I have sat on this computer doing changes and trying to fix changes.

As yo can see by my layout that I have now got a 3 column layout.. That I am very excited about. The problem now is that I can't upload a picture of title into my header row. Frustrating. I have made some changes so that it looks good but not with out hours of playing. I love the look of my new blog.

Please check out a couple of links on the right side. Bangles and women's group.

On the left side I have added some blogs that I visit. This list will automatically update the most recent updated blogs in my list. How cool is that?

Woman's group was a blast. Please look at the link.

twink.

Dracula's Transylvanian Ghoul-ash

Ingredients
Salt
1 pound extra-large egg noodles
4 tablespoons butter, divided
3-4 tablespoons fresh dill, chopped
3-4 tablespoons chives (20 blades), chopped
2 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil (EVOO), plus some for drizzling
1 pound sirloin steak – place in the freezer for about 10 minutes, remove and slice against the grain as thin as you can manage (slices should be the size of egg noodles)
Freshly ground black pepper
1/2 cup flour, for dusting steak (eyeball it)
1/2 small onion, peeled
4-5 cloves garlic, peeled
2 teaspoons smoked paprika
1 jar chopped pimentos (4 ounces), thoroughly drained
2 cups beef stock
1/2 cup sour cream

Preparation
Place a large pot of salted water over high heat and bring to a boil. Once boiling, add the egg noodles and cook to al dente, with a bite to them. Drain the noodles and add back to hot pot and toss with butter and half of the dill and chives; stir to combine.
When the water for the noodles is close to coming up to a boil, place a large skillet over medium-high heat with 2 tablespoons of butter and 2 tablespoons of EVOO, about two turns of the pan. While the skillet is heating up, season the steak slices with some salt and freshly ground black pepper, then sprinkle with the flour and toss the meat around to distribute. Add the coated sliced steak to the skillet and spread out in an even layer.Brown the meat for 2-3 minutes alone, then grate the onion and garlic over the meat and sprinkle with the smoked paprika. Give the skillet a stir and continue to cook for about 2-3 minutes. Add the drained pimentos and beef stock and stir to combine. Bring up to a bubble and simmer until lightly thickened, about 1 minute. Stir in sour cream and give the meat a taste to see if it needs any more salt and pepper.

Divide the buttered herbed noodles among four plates and top with Ghoul-ash and remaining dill and chives for garnish. .

Our review:

Well, it was O.k.

We all enjoyed it however, I think that it could have benefited from some wine prior to the beef broth for some adult tastes. (I could have just drank some I guess) the flavor was milder than you would think you would get from 4-5 gloves of garlic.

Hayze during the meal thought it was really good, and Destiny loved it..

They both loved the name..

I was attracted to the name of it to.. Isn't dracula a vampire?

I think we would give it a 7/10.

I did however get a really good tip that I haven't done before and that was cutting the meet almost frooze. I cut mine while they were defrosting. it worked really well.

Nice and thin pieces. This will be great in a lot of recipes. Great tip.

What's going on?

Well the rain has really put a damper on what we have been up to lately. Today is a bright beautiful day here in Strathmore and I hope it will continue for a little while.. At least another hour..

The county ditch mower came by today and mowed the karaganda's ( that is the spelling from spell check) out of my ditch. that was very good news for us. That is a big job and when they do it for us is saves a lot of labour. He walked right in to our yard and asked if I wanted it done... oh ya..!!! doesn't it look good.?

Our yard is starting dry up. It will take a few days for our river in our backyard to dry up and for us to get this out.Jim did get some mowing done last night while I was at work.. If feels good to have some of it done. Some other pictures I took while I was outside.

tiger lillies from Destiny's party last year, Sun shining, funky tree in our lane way

We got a new meter installed today, Lillie playing in the water.

I am going to try a new recipe out of this book tonight

Just bought it at Wal-Mart for 25% off.. Then I noticed that Chapters has it on sale for 34% off.. I guess by the time I paid shipping it would be the same.. Anyway the recipes all look very YUM-O. Not a big fan of hers personally but I think that her cooking is good.. I will share our meal with you if it turns out.

Rain

That's all I got today.

Doing with what I got.

You know, I realized today that we really probably have to much... Food that is.. I have been thinking for a week that I have to go grocery shopping to fill up the fridge and pantry. I think that Jim and I are used to having a fridge bursting at the seems and a pantry that you really can't find anything in. So.. with all of this said I must add that I am not a person that goes to the grocery store that often. Not a weekly shopper or stop at the store on the way home from work to pick up milk.. I let a list accumulate on my fridge for a couple of weeks and then go get it all. I like to take my time and walk up and down every isle and look at stuff.. bye myself !which very seldom happens) .. Now if I am not going to fill up my pantry but going for the bare essentials, I stick to the outside isles and shop for the fresh stuff... ( I do this most of the time unless I need cleaning supplies and lunch stacks ) this keeps me on task and my kids can handle the length of time it takes..... Anyway back to the fact that we have enough for a week......
So Friday, I invited Greg and Twylla over for Twylla's birthday supper.. Jim had already commented on needing groceries. I made a beautiful supper of roast beef, gravy, potatoes, peas and carrots, salad, asparagus and I did get Jim to pic up a Dairy Queen cake.

So I felt pretty proud of myself for putting together a nice supper " and not having any food" So as the weekend progresses I still haven't made it to the grocery store yet. (again, not my favorite place) I mowed lawn a bit and worked around the house a bit. Made lunch of Mushroom soup and tuna sandwiches and watermelon... and for supper pork chops with shaken and bake, salad, potatoes, carrots and peas and all the sides... sour cream, bacon bits, etc... A very nice Sunday supper. I even made dessert.

Before I share my dessert with you... I wanted to let you know that I was very inspired today by this web site. The Pioneer Woman. She talks about being more organized in the country because we don't have luxury of going to the store in 2 minutes. I believe over time that I have just become more aware of this and have done it in some ways already. Apparently, after pulling my two major meals with all the food groups included I can manage for a couple of days without a C0-op down the road... Any way I think you should check out the "pioneer woman" site. She is quite funny and shares some good ideas....

Now on to my dessert, to prove a point ( to myself mostly) I scrounged the freezer in search for something special for Sunday supper.. this is what I came up with..

Some frozen blueberries thawed. I kept the juice to make a sauce.
On the stove I used the juice of the berries, added some lemon juice, sugar and water with corn starch and boiled it. Then I put the blueberries back in the sauce and cooled.. The color was light like this until I added the berries back in then the color was nice and rich again. (corn starch lightened it)

then I baked these little flaky delights ( Tender Flake with the centers that come out)

and I came up with these for dessert..
Destiny said... the best dessert ever... All without having any groceries in the house. I think I even out did myself and was more creative than I would normally be because I had to think about it.

It was a eye opening experience and I think I will take inventory of the "on hand" more regularly before filling my cart with what I think I need.

have a good night

A night out!

After a long wet boring day at home we decide to go to a movie as a family.

Who knew that the city would be a crazy, crazy place to go. I thought everyone would be curled up at home with a book or a movie out of the wind, cold and rain......but oh no, everyone had the same idea as I did and wanted to be in a movie theatre with all of the other bored people. We actually had to leave one theater after standing in a long line because all the movies we wanted to see were sold out. The parking lot was crazy....lined up out on the roads. We finally made our way to Chinook and found a parking spot and bought a ticket for a movie and then had 1 1/2 hours to go eat and walk around.

We seen the 10pm showing of this.

It was really good. Some skelaton parts as in the past movies but.. quite a bit of comic releif. Our whole family enjoyed it. I would recommend it.

Strathmore Ball June 5, 2008

Do what I want if I want

Well last weekend, I decided "I would do it if I wanted" was the attitude that I was going to adopt for two days. Obviously I loved it and it turned out I got a lot done with out a "to do" list lurking over my head.

Last weekend we had the luxury of not have anything planned. Jim worked Saturday and I kids and I just worked around the house...
Some of the things I worked on.
Jim and I were given this book shelf from a friend.
it came out of the Rockyford school and they figure it is about a 100 years old. Well looking at this picture, it looks really cool, right? crackling paint, original handles...
Well, then someone decided to paint it......



Teal.....











They didn't get quite finished and then left it.

So, I have taken the knobs off and soaked them in paint thinner and they have been restore to original.I have decided to paint the whole thing white and then I will antique it with some brown.
I think when completed it will look nice.. Jim has suggested using it for a trophy shelf .. so we will see.













the whole family worked on this Saturday afternoon. Setting up the the pool turned out to be a bit of a pain.. (Just because of me really)
It took most of the evening on Saturday night to get enough water in it.. I of course didn't want to leave the water running over night so I undid the hose for the night. In the morning the pool was 6" away from being empty.. It had all syphoned out overnight... I guess I wasn't thinking.. Anyway by Sunday afternoon Destiny and Katie were swimming in the freezing water.
and as you can see the new cover I bought is a 18' rather than a 16'.. oh well.. keeps the leaves out.



The last big project.
who can keep up?.. If it would stop raining... I guess I could. I couldn't even beat the rain the other night. I cut for about 10 mins when I got home... but the rain followed me from town and I was drenched. Oh well, as you can see, not a cloud in the sky today. I can start cutting as soon as the grass isn't sopping wet..









My point being to all of this.. I think I did better without a list than with.. Between all of that.. I got my grocery shopping done, helped Tanya with her rock garden, went shopping for tile for under the pool. etc.... and had a fire out back with my kids.. oh ya. and Destiny had a Katie sleep over..
Just a nice relaxing weekend... tehe..
twink.

Some kind words

Well, Stacey you did it.. I am proud of you ... you not only looked at my blog but you made a comment. Thanks for taking the time. I hope you don't mind me sharing your comment with everyone.
Most of you know that Stacey is my business partner , but not only that she is my nearest and dearest friend that continues to pull me through some pretty tough spots in my journey. I am sure you can only imagine how hard it is to watch a friend go through the loss of a sister and friend. I feel sometimes that it harder to be the person watching .. really not knowing what to do or say.. Stacey, thanks for being so strong and sharing your comments .. I am hear with you through it all as we always have been for each other..

Stacey and her sister Tanya
Having such great friends and family in my life has been helping me get through the loss of my friend and my sister. Right now I actually have tears rolling down my face. Life seems to be unfair and hard to understand. I keep trying to look at all of the good things that have come out of this and it does help me a lot. My sister had said a quote in the Drumheller Mail and it sticks in my mind. She said 'a hug cannot cure cancer, but it can heal you in a way no drug can." Even though our kids can drive us crazy, please give them a hug just because we can. Stacey Wilson

busy, but good

good morning, As we are going into the weekend.. it is a welcomed treat to not have to go anywhere. I think that I will do some yard work and just hangout.

Life lately has been very busy.. As much as I hate to use that word ( I prefer active)because I think that you are only as busy as you want to be.. and we do have to learn to say no.

With all of that said, there are brief moments in your life were unforseen things happen or doing the "right thing" play a part.

I think this morning I am feeling mentally busy and body drained. I think I need to find "self" again. As we read every magazine and listen to the radio they all encourage courses & products to enhance this process. What I think I need.. more time to reflect and just "be"

I was listening to Martha Stewart Radio the other day and the whole talk show was about just simply slowing down. Not sure what that looks like with a family, business, yard, sports.......etc. but I think I am sure going to put a plan in place to make that closer to reality.

I think I am going to start by making praying a priority. Not something that comes easy for me and I think that quiet reflective time could do us all a little bit of good.

I going to leave everyone with that thought and please comment on what helps you slow down..

I am sure we could all use this advice.

blessing, Twink.

Do you blog about it.?

Good evening everyone.. If you are reading this you are probably the 1400 visitor to the blog or close to it. I couldn't believe the number when I scrolled down tonight. I was excited and sad at the same time. So... I have a lot of people that "click in" but not that many comments.. now either you don't know how to comment, you don't want to comment or my posts are not interesting enough to encourage a discussion. What ever the case may be, I am glad that I have this "little space" to write some stuff down and an opportunity to share some pictures with you.

If you don't know how to comment, click on the bottom were the word "comment" is, type what you would like to share with us and then you can simply click on anonymous and send.. We would truly love to hear from you. If you would like to share a thought or a idea on this blog.. email me and I will add it too.. please send pictures. twink@myipplus.net
_____________________________


Saying Good-Bye.. I lost a friend this past week to cancer. Do I blog about it or not? This is the question on my mind tonight. My business partner Stacey's sister dyed of a brain tumor and I am pissed and sad. The fight against cancer is a tough won and she fought hard..


I often wonder if sharing in this format is appropriate or if maybe I should just leave it alone.. I think tonight just sharing that I along with hundreds of people are mourning the loss of Tanya is enough. My prayers are with her family and her three boys for their terrible loss.. as well as her siblings and parents who I know are grieving and will be grieving in the months to come, I will think of you often and keep you in my prayer.

Relay for Life 2006 Strathmore

Myself and Tanya

you will be sadly missed

High River Little Britches

The Stevens Caravan left Sunday afternoon for the High River little britches rodeo that took place on Monday. I pulled the holiday trailer and Jim with his new trailer and three horses took off in the wind to camp for the night prior to the parade and rodeo.

The kids participated in the parade with the Future cowgirl and cowboy Rodeo Asc. that they are in all winter. They won first price for there two wagons and participants on horse back. They all looked so nice in there red sponsored wrangler shirts.

Destiny rode her pony Razzle Dazzle in the goat untieing and then borrowed a horse for the barrels. Hayze of course rode Hot Rod "hotty for short". Hotty worked really well for Hayze. We just got to get Hayze to keep his elbows in and down... and he will be on his way.

All and all it was a fun weekend with friends and the kids had a blast. Long day for mom and dad.. but ... fun for the kids with there friends and horses and that is what it is all about for our family.