All About Me in 30 Days - Day 23: A Youtube Video

Day 23 of ALL ABOUT ME IN 30 DAYS! Wow! It has gone by quickly!

A youtube.com video

I thought this was cute!

All About Me in 30 Days - Day 22: A Website

The most current website that I have been visiting lately is babycenter.com

Yes, not only do I have a 2 year old, but I am expecting as well! Today is my first doctors appointment and I have wanted to keep things quiet until I went. Well, I am a little early with this blog, but I think I will be okay.

babycenter.com is great for information and support when it comes to being a parent. Yes Dads, you can join too. I get weekly emails about how the baby is growing and about what I should expect to happen to my body. I also get weekly emails about my toddler and advice emails about potty training and moving to a toddler bed and so on. It is a wonderful website!

All About Me in 30 Days - Day 21: A Recipe

A recipe... Hmmmm..... I have really been craving CHEESE, So I will do my Supped Up Mac N Cheese recipe. I got the idea from my mother and then added more.


A box of shell noodles
A jar of queso ( small, medium, or large depending on how cheesy you want it)
(Mild, Medium or Hot depending on how spicy you want it)
Bacon Bits
Can of Mushrooms
Rotisserie Chicken
Bag of Shredded Cheese (Cheddar, Fiesta Mix, whatever you want)

Boil Noodles and drain.
Shred the chicken off of the bones of the rotisserie chicken
Add noodles back to pot and add queso, bacon bits, mushrooms, chicken and shredded cheese( cheese to taste).
Once it is all mixed, put in a 9x13 casserole dish and put in the oven at 400 until it is lightly browned or more melted. Usually 10-20 minutes.
Then serve. It is a lot of cheese, so if you want it less cheesy, just put less cheese.

All About Me in 30 Days - Day 20: A Hobby of Mine

It is hard for me to separate talent and hobby. So I kind of feel that the line between can be blurred. So this will be an add on of the last post.
One of my talents is singing. I love to sing. I was in choir for many years and loved to do Karaoke.

All About Me in 30 Days - Day 19: A Talent Of Mine

One of my MANY talents is gardening. I just recently found that I have a green thumb and I love playing in the dirt.


This is one of the flower pots I did for my grandmother.


These are a couple of my flower pots this past spring.

Another one of my talents is crafts. I love making home made birthday cards and masks and wreaths and cross stitch and.......


I made this mask for Halloween/Samhain this year.

All About Me in 30 Days - Day 18: My Wedding/Future Wedding/Past Wedding

My husband and I have not actually had a Wedding Ceremony. We are legally married. I got pregnant before we were engaged. After Bubba was born, we decided for legal purposes we should at least be legally married. We still plan on having a ceremony. It will probably be in a couple years.

Colors will be Green and Royal Purple. I want a lot of green leaves and such and then have Dark Royal Purple flowers. We want it outside. Will probably be around the time we were legally married.

Bubba will be the Ring Bearer.

That is all I have so far.

All About Me in 30 Days - Day SEVENTEEN: An Art Piece (drawing, sculpture, painting, etc)

I have always loved H.R. Giger's artwork! He has amazing detail!
Giger has done some wonderful work other then his sketches. He won an Academy Award for Best Achievement for Visual Effects for his design work on the film ALIEN. He has done other work on many other movies.



This is just one of the many artworks created by H R Giger that I enjoy.

All About Me in 30 Days - Day SIXTEEN: A Song That Makes Me Cry (Or Nearly)

There are a couple songs that make me cry, and for different reasons.

First one is I'll Be Home For Christmas by Bing Crosby or Anyone else that sings it!
This has always been a tough one in my family. My Grandpa Fred was in the military and was in the Korean War and Vietnam War. So that song hits home for my Grandma, Uncle, Aunt and Mom. And then when he passed in 2005, it kinda took on a different meaning to us. Great song. We just don't listen to it!

Second is Its So Hard To Say Good Bye To Yesterday by Boys II Men.
Third is If I Close My Eyes Forever by Ozzy Osbourn and Lita Ford.
I kind of lump these two together because both were played at my step-brothers memorial service in 1993. My step-brother was murdered in the Chuck E. Cheese murders in Aurora, CO. It was a very hard time for my family.
Again, great songs, but I can barely listen to them.

One song that makes me almost cry out of happiness is Fireflies by Owl City. It is such a great song! Happy song!

All About Me in 30 Days - Day FIFTEEN: My Dream House

My dream house would be set in the middle of at least one acre of land. I would LOVE to have at least 50 acres, but oh well. It would be big enough for my growing family and to have lots of company over for the holidays and birthdays and Iron Chefs.
Each kid would have their own room. There would be a guest room. Dan would have his "Music Room". I would have my "Sewing/Craft Room". We would have a library! A play room for the kids. A formal dining room. And an over sized 3 car garage.
A HUGE yard! A garden! An orchard! A workshop for Dan to make things. A shed for my gardening! A HUGE covered porch! And a HUGE covered patio in the back. A fire pit to sit around year around!
Here is the closest floor plans I have been able to find to what I want.

All About Me In 30 Days - Day Fourteen: A Non-Fictional Book

About a year ago, I started reading this book that I had bought YEARS ago. It was about gardening. And until a couple years ago, I did not have any way of having a garden. But I held onto the book anyways.




Garden Witchery: Magick from the Ground Up by Ellen Dugan is a wonderful book. I have blogged about the book before! I love Ellen Dugan's work. I actually have almost all of her books now. I bought them for my birthday and have just started to read them.


This is a pagan book. But I do believe that a non pagan would enjoy this book as well. It is a wonderful book about how to create Magick from your Garden, great gardening advise, and gardening lore. And it also has great craft ideas too. Ellen Dugan writes like she is sitting in the room with you talking. Like she is one of your friends.


I give her TWO thumbs up only because I do not have more thumbs!

All About Me In 30 Days - Day THIRTEEN: A Fictional Book

One of my oldest friends got me started on a series of books that I can not put down.

The Anita Blake Vampire Hunter Novels by Laurell K. Hamilton.

These books are exciting, have vampires, werewolves, wererats, zombies, voo doo, Wicca, Christianity, You name it, these books have it!

Anita Blake is a Necromancer and the Vampire Executioner for St Louis.

These books tell the story of her life as she deals with the living, dead and undead. Her friends, family and enemies! There is love, violence, sex, sadness.....

It took me until I finished the 4th book to realize that this series is kinda like those trashy romance novels, but with vampires and stuff.

All About Me In 30 Days - Day TWELVE: Something I am OCD About

I am OCD about A LOT of things!

But the biggest is dirty dishes left in the sink or randomly around the house! I HATE IT!

It smalls and gets gross and... Its just yucky!

All About Me In 30 Days - Day ELEVEN: A Recent Photo Of Me

This photo was taken in September when my In-Laws were in town from Florida. That would be me and my hubby!

All About Me in 30 Days - Day TEN: A Picture of Me Taken Over 10 Years Ago

This picture was taken of me on my 18th Birthday in 1999. I was so skinny! But that was before kids!

Loving Pets Bella Bowl Review

I have a beautiful black cat named Sheba. She is VERY independent. She likes to eat when SHE wants to, eat as much as SHE wants to, drink when SHE wants to. We have one of those bowls that you can put LOTS of food in and we make sure it stays full. And we have a bowl that we put fresh water in every morning.

I have the biggest problem keeping the water bowl clean! After a while, bacteria builds up and it is so gross!

Loving Pets has these wonderful bowls, Bella Bowls, for your dog or cat that are Veterinarian- recommended stainless steel interior that resists bacteria. The bowls have a removable rubber base that helps prevent spills and noise. Its dishwasher safe, which is a huge thing for me! The Bella Bowl is really light weight as well!



They also come in some really cool colors! I picked the Merlot colored one. But there are colors ranging from Paparazzi Pink to Copper Metallic to Espresso. They also come in several sizes. I have the small one. It works purrrr-fect for my little kitty kat.



They also have other bowls and accesseries. They also have great treats for your K9 family members!

Right now, Loving Pets only has products focused towards dogs, but a new cat line will be available in 2011.



Thank you to Loving Pets for the great Bella Bowl and great new products for my Loving Cat!

All About Me in 30 Days - Day NINE: A Photo I Took

I love taking photos! I have an absolutely adorable child, so it makes it even more fun!

I took this picture last weekend while staying in a cabin with my family in San Isabel National Forest. We walked all around the lake and found all kinds of fun things and watched the fish!



This one is of the pansies we were growing this past spring/summer. My son picked them out for his flower pot. The greens and purples are beautiful

.

All About Me in 30 Days - Day EIGHT: A PICTURE THAT MAKES YOU SAD OR ANGRY

I had to think about this just a little bit. There is so much as a society and race that makes me sad and angry.

Littering! The picture itself does not make me sad or angry, its the message. It was not until I became a parent that I really opened my eyes and took a look at what I was leaving behind for my children to grow up in. And later on, my grandchildren.



I started to look for pictures about intolerance towards religious freedom. I found some that were horrible! Just as I was about to download it to put up onto today's blog, I realized that I did not want to give anymore power to the people that created these images. Why support the negativity? I found a better picture. A positive one!

All About Me in 30 Days - Day SEVEN: A Picture That Makes You Happy

Welcome to Day SEVEN of ALL ABOUT ME IN 30 DAYS!

A PICTURE THAT MAKES ME HAPPY? I picked two.
One that is personal, that I took. And one that I found online and made me smile.

I took this photo on Veteran's Day 2009. This is my Grandpa's grave site in Fort Logan Cemetery.

The kid and I sat and read GREEN EGGS AND HAM to my Grandpa. It was my favorite book as a child and he read it to me all the time. I used the editing tools in photobucket.com.



I love nature. And I found this picture on google images. It is so beautiful. It reminds me what the Earth truly looks like if we slow down.



What is A PICTURE THAT MAKES YOU HAPPY?

All About Me in 30 Days - Day SIX: 20 of My FAVORITE THINGS

If the topic gets you singing and thinking of THE SOUND OF MUSIC, then you are not alone! I did the exact same thing.
Lets get to it!

1.) My son and husband are my most favorite things! Beyond this point, everything else is mostly ranked the same, but not this! My Bubba and My Rock Star!



2.) I love nature! I love to hike...

3.) I love to camp...

4.) I love to play in the garden and grow things.



5.) Fall... the changing of the leaves, the cooler nights.

6.) Books, books and more books

7.) Movies, in the theater or curled up on the couch.

8.) Listening to music.

9.) Watching my son learn and grow. It still shocks me that I am a mother!

10.) Watching my husband play bass. He is a sponsored bass player. Currently not in a band, but he is damn good. He seems at peace with the world when he plays.



I know he does not look at peace with the world in this picture, but its one of my favorites.


11.) Creating new things. If it is food or a craft.

12.) I love to go dancing. Ladies Nights are the best!

13.) Helping others. I help my grandmother around the house all the time. I am her gardener.

14.) Sleeping! OH SLEEPING!!! I miss it so! Having a kid takes sleep away.

15.) Sitting on my patio on a beautiful summer night, with a glass of wine and my hubby or some great friends. Listening to the crickets!

16.) Playing Santa. For the past 15 years, I have helped my grandmother put out the Christmas gifts on Christmas Eve.

17.) Sitting on 16th Street Mall or walking around Manitou Springs with my best friend and a starbucks every December for our Mommy's Day Out.



18.) Shooting pool. I once worked at a Pool Hall and I LOVED it!

19.) Camp fires! I wish I could have a fire pit on my patio.

20.) When one of my nieces or nephews call me Aunt Gretchen. It makes me feel loved and important.

All About Me in 30 Days - Day FIVE: FAVORITE QUOTE

You have different types of quotes. You have silly ones, funny ones, serious ones, ones that you need a translator for, and all in between. Quotes from movies, music, president, friend, grandparent or even yourself.

My FAVORITE QUOTE is both a silly one and an important one. The way it is worded is the silly part and the message is the important part.

Have you ever seen the movie OUT COLD?



It is a great and funny movie! It is one of those that you know all the words too. If it is your first time watching or your 139 th time, you still laugh until your sides hurt and fall on the floor crying!

"No regrets. Thats my motto. That, and everybody whang chung tonight."



I totally agree! NO REGRETS! And the whole Wang Chung Tonight is just funny as hell!

All About Me in 30 Days - Day FOUR: FAVORITE BOOK

Books..... Books.... Books.....

I am addicted to books. Not necessarily reading them, but buying them. Eventually I will read all of them, but I do not see that day being in the near future.

I day dream about having one of those libraries in my house that you see in old movies, like My Fair Lady, with a second and third floor, ladders, desks and chairs! Oh my! That would be my dream.

I walk into a library and I get excited. I am so not aloud to go into The Tattered Cover or Barnes and Nobel all by myself. I get into BIG trouble!

So far, WICKED: TheLife and Times of TheWicked Witch of the West: a novel written by
Gregory Maguire is my favorite book! Which is not surprising, after all, my favorite movie is Wizard of Oz.



Gregory Maguire writes wonderful spins of old stories, like CINDERELLA and SNOW WHITE. And that is exactly what he does with WICKED.

The story is told from the Wicked Witch of The West's side. How she grew up, how she met Glinda, and all about the Munchkins and Dorothy.

The book has become such a hit that they turned it into a Broadway Musical as well.


Here are some wonderful quotes from the book:

“She didn’t know what she thought. Was Elphaba devil’s spawn? Was she half-elf? Was she punishment for her father’s failure as a preacher or for her mother’s sloppy morals and bad memory? Or was she merely a physical ailment, a blight like a misshapen apple or a five legged calf? Nanny knew her worldview was foggy and chaotic, pestered by demons, faith, and folk science.” (31)

“The first wave of discussion about Elphaba concerned her wardrobe and her evident poverty, as if her classmates were above noticing her sickly and sickening color” (74)

“”The creatures of makeshift lives, the hobbled together, the disenfranchised and the abused: the Lion, the Scarecrow, the maimed Tin Woodman. Up from the shadows for an instant, up into the light; then back. The Goddess of Gifts the last, reaching in among flames and water, cradling her, crooning something, but the words remain unclear.” (403)

All About Me in 30 Days - Day THREE: Favorite TV Show

Day 3 of ALL ABOUT ME IN 30 DAYS!
( I will be away from my computer for 3 days, so I am doing an extra day today and two extra tomorrow.)

What is your FAVORITE TV SHOW?

I love TV! If I do not watch myself, I will get nothing done around the house and just watch TV. I love Drama, Comedy, Romance, Horror... I enjoy almost anything but most Reality TV. That just annoys me to no end.

Sons Of Anarchy is an amazing show! Premiers Tuesday Nights on FX.




This show is not for everyone. And that is okay.

It is dramatic, very real, and very intense. Not for young children. There is violence, some nudity and adult language.

The show is about a motorcycle club based out of Charming, California (Fictional Town). The main character is Jax. And the story is mainly based on how he is conflicted with life and the club.




There are so many wonderful actors playing amazing rolls! Some well known names such as
Ron Perlman and Katey Sagal.




Some not so well know names such as Charlie Hunnam, who plays Jax.



And then there are those actors who have been in EVERYTHING, but you never quite remember their names, Kim Coates and Tommy Flanagan, just to name a couple.
Henry Rollins had a role in Season 2.



I highly recommend this show to anyone who likes motorcycles, real and intense shows and has an open mind!

What is your FAVORITE TV SHOW?

All About Me in 30 Days - Day TWO: Favorite Movie

Welcome back to the second day of ALL ABOUT ME IN 30 DAYS! Have you joined in yet?
Today is FAVORITE MOVIE!

Again.... I have to pick just one????? I love movies almost as much as I love music.
I learned my lesson with the FAVORITE SONG and decided to go with a safe bet with my FAVORITE MOVIE. It has been one of my favorites ever since I was knee high to a grasshopper!

Just think.... There's no place like home..... There's no place like home!

Yes, The Wizard of Oz!




I love the singing.

I love the munchkins.




I love the Wicked Witch!




Ruby Slippers !!!




A horse of different color.




Flying monkeys anyone?



And Yes, I have tried adding Pink Floyd's Dark Side Of The Moon album with the movie. Also called The Dark Side of the Rainbow. It is really cool! It actually works!

What is your FAVORITE MOVIE?

All About Me In 30 Days - Day ONE: Favorite Song

Ugh! For anyone that knows me, this is a VERY difficult question to answer! I listen to EVERYTHING! I have favorite songs in different genera, for different eras! I LOVE Metal and Rock. I love country, 80s, disco, classical, and everything in between!

I decided on a song that has become one of my favorite songs as of the past couple years. Nikki Sixx from the band, Motley Crue, did a great album with two other great musicians. The album is the soundtrack to his book The Heroin Diaries.
This song is such a wonderful song about life, ups and downs, learning and everything in between!! Enjoy! Sixx A.M. Life is Beautiful

All About Me in 30 Days

So best friend, Suzanne, over at Crunchy Green Lovin' Mom started doing this great meme that she found through one of her blogs that she follows, Simply Stacie who found it through Nolie’s Place. It is called ALL ABOUT ME IN 30 DAYS!
This is a fun way to not only get to know each other, but to get to know yourself! Come on and lets do it together!

Here’s the post line-up:

· Day 1 – your favorite song

· Day 2 – your favorite movie

· Day 3 – your favorite television program

· Day 4 – your favorite book

· Day 5 – your favorite quote

· Day 6 – 20 of my favorite things

· Day 7 – a photo that makes you happy

· Day 8 – a photo that makes you angry/sad

· Day 9 – a photo you took

· Day 10 – a photo taken over 10 years ago of you

· Day 11 – a photo of you recently

· Day 12 – something you are OCD about

· Day 13 – a fictional book

· Day 14 – a non-fictional book

· Day 15 – your dream house

· Day 16 – a song that makes you cry (or nearly)

· Day 17 – an art piece (drawing, sculpture, painting, etc)

· Day 18 – your wedding/future wedding/past wedding

· Day 19 – a talent of yours

· Day 20 – a hobby of yours

· Day 21 – a recipe

· Day 22 – a website

· Day 23 – a youtube video

· Day 24 – where I live

· Day 25 – your day, in great detail

· Day 26 – your week, in great detail

· Day 27 – my worst habit

· Day 28 – what’s in my handbag/purse

· Day 29 – hopes,dreams, plans for the next 365 days

· Day 30 – a dream for the future beyond the next year

A New Beginning

I am sorry blog and my 3 followers that I have been gone for so long. I have been working on my new beginning.

A new place to live, an apartment, with a fairly nice sized patio. My flowers enjoyed if very much until the weather started to turn.

Coming Soon.....

Pictures of my new patio and new home for my little garden.

A Change in Life

I have been neglecting my blog for several weeks. I am sorry blog. And to my 3 followers. Life has taken a turn, for the best hopefully!

Due to personal reasons, I will not be remodeling my back yard. I will be working on a whole different one. We are moving. We do not know when, but in the next several months. If we get this one house we have looked at, I will be VERY busy when it comes to gardening and overall out door maintenance. But there is another house that has a wonderful yard and I would just have to keep it up. Once I know something, I will let ya know. But.....I have a wonderful front yard and back yard project that I am currently working on with my Mom.

My grandmother has a big yard and several years ago she spent $15,000 to have it re done. Being that my grandmother is over 80 years in age, she has not been able to keep up with it. Us kids and grandkids try to do our best to help. Now that my mom is only working one job, we have permission from Grandma to work on her yard.

Every Mother's Day, we buy my grandmother flowers for her garden and we plant them and do the spring time clean up of the yard and put out her garden gnomes and such. This year we will be doing that, but we have other things in mind as well. Planters, rocks, grass... And she also wants us to help keep up on things. So, until I have a new yard to work on, and even after, I will have my grandmother's gardens to work on.

One of my Grandmother's favorite garden statues. They sit near her Bleeding Hearts.

Part Two of Before Pictures

In Part One of Before Pictures, I showed my front yard. Not much that I needed to do with it. If I was actually in charge of my whole front yard, I actually would have done SO MUCH!

This is Part Two of Before Pictures. These are pictures of my back yard. There is A LOT that needs to be done with the back.

This is a picture of the main part of the back yard taken from the gate on the west side.


And now lets flip it! This is a picture of the other side of the yard!



The bike is already gone and the grill will be leaving us soon.... hopefully! Gotta get the money to buy a new one before the hubby will let me get rid of the old one. Anyone need a grill that needs some work???




The toys will eventually be put towards the back. That will be Grady's play area.




I plan on putting flag stone in the rest of the yard. Starting at the patio and moving back. Then I will put container gardens all over the place. We will also add a table and chairs and a fire pit! To be completely honest, the only reason we are really cleaning up the back is so we can have a fire pit. Shhhh.... Don't tell!



Dan's grass that grew too late!




My lil' Sheba Kitty! She loves the outside. We hope to be able to plant some catnip for her to have fun with!

It is spring in Colorado, which means there is snow. Lots of heavy, wet snow! Once the snow melts and things dry out just a little bit, I will be back there shoveling rocks and pullin weeds.

HAPPY OSTARA!

HAPPY OSTARA! Or also known as the first day of Spring!

Oh how I have been waiting for Spring! Warmer weather! Rain! Everything starts to get green before the summer heat comes and makes it all brown.

This is the first year that my son has been old enough to do sabbat/holiday fun. In our house, we celebrate the pagan sabbats and the traditional holidays. But Easter is not about Jesus in our house. It is about the Easter Bunny bringing chocolate! Just like at Christmas time, it is when Santa brings the good little girls and boys gifts. Not about Jesus! The Sabbats are our spiritual time to celebrate and the holidays are our materialistic time to celebrate. I was raised Catholic and my husband was raised Protestant... I think. So we still celebrate those holidays our own way.

This year, we dyed Ostara/ Easter Eggs! We let Grady just dive in!




It was so much fun! He still has dye on his hands!





And I hung plastic eggs from my roof. I got this great idea from reading a wonderful book I have called Sabbats: A Witch's Approach to Living the Old Ways written by Edain McCoy.

I bought a bag of 12 colored plastic Easter eggs at Wal Mart.

They already had holes in the top, so I did not have to make my own. The book suggests that you use a drill bit no bigger then on-sixteenth inch. And to keep the drill at a low speed so you do not melt the plastic.

Take embroidery floss or string and lace it through. I had mine different lengths. You can have yours at any length you would like.

Then hang them from a tree or bush in your yard. I hung mine from the roof because I do not have a tree and the eggs did not look all that great on the bush.




I am going to keep the Eggs up until after Easter. They are so easy to make and they look really great outside as a decoration!

What are different things that you do with your family for the Sabbat or Holiday?