I'd Like A Bald Labrador And Other Random Facts For Thursday Thunks

Welcome to the April 27th version of Thursday Thunks!
Where we make you think a little bit before you blog!
The TT questions are brought to you by Bud, the color of KC's hair and the number 33.

We pick a subject, and your job is to interpret it anyway you want.
Write about it on your blog... simple as that.

You'll find my answers in red!

1. Robins have red breasts. Why are their eggs blue?
Red breeds Blue?  I'm so confused by this phenomenon!

2. The doorbell buzzes at the same moment the phone rings. Who was on the phone?
That's what caller ID is for...  but if it's during the day, I'm sure it was hubby.  He calls about 15 times a day!

3. It seems that there are several very popular memes each day of the week. Which meme did you first become a regular of?
I'm not regular at anything! :-)  If I feel like blogging and need something to write about I find a meme.  (Sad, but true.)

4. It is about time that Berleen and Kimber meet in person. Should we start a collection to fly one of them to the other, or just hope Thom's bus and get from Hawaii to Kimber in Arizona and take her to Berleen in Minnesota?
Better go the bus route, the economy is too bad to get any donations.

5. Tell us about your pets. Do you have one that you wish would run away?

I don't want them to leave, they are both great...  but if all the hair fell off the Lab, I wouldn't cry.  (He sheds like you wouldn't believe!)

6. What was the last thing colored red that you wore?
Panties.  Don't get excited, they were ugly cotton with a hole in the side -- but too comfy to throw out! (again - very sad!)

7. I have a train that runs by where I live several times a day. I actually find it peaceful. What's the longest journey that you have taken by train?
Around the zoo.

8. If Kimber threw a five dollar bill off a building that was five stories high, and Berleen threw a twenty off a build that was six stories high, who do you think would find the money?
Some wino off the street that would use it to support his habit.

9. If reincarnation really happens, whose life would you like to know that you have already led?
A princesses.  At the very least someone who didn't have to work for a living.

10. What are your three favorite possessions?
My camera, my great grandma's buffet, and the tennis bracelet from my hubby. (also a necklace my mom gave to me.)

11. A lot of people still believe that Elvis is alive. Have you ever worn blue suede shoes?

Nope. I have a hard enough time finding any shoes for my big, wide, ugly feet, much less something cute.  ...I have worn  safety glasses though.

12. Do you have siblings? If yes, are you anything alike?
2 sisters and a brother.  Yes and no.  We have traits that are alike.  My youngest can sing and can be snippy (like me!) and looks more like me than the other two, but she is more creative than me.  She taught herself guitar and Photoshop and is amazing at both!
My brother is tall and we don't know where that came from. He's also very intellegent (like me. OK... much more so. lol!) and is more sarcastic. (although I find him hilarious!)  
My other sis is probably more concerned about other people's feelings than all the rest of us.  (Another term for being nicer!) And is more patient than I could ever be. (esp. with kids, elderly, etc.) but she likes more input into her decisions than I do. (Which works for us since I'm the problem solver -- comes with being the oldest, I think.)

13. Has anyone ever asked you to strip naked and cluck like a chicken?
Not that I remember -- and I think I'd remember that! :-)

It's Post-It Note Tuesday - The One About Weight Loss & Little Dog

It's still Tuesday for a few more minutes... so here's my contribution to Supah's Post-It Note Tuesday.

Speaking of weight loss:

If you're not sure what I'm referring to, take a look at her HERE. Unbelievable! She makes those girls in the hydroxycut reviews look fat. Makes me almost glad I don't have a girl to explain to why this is wrong on so many levels.

My New Cookbook & A Cheesy Mexican Chicken Recipe (Chicken Laredo)

I've become addicted to The Cake Mix Doctor's books! Two weeks ago I ordered The Cupcake Doctor and last week it was The Dinner Doctor. And, I'm in love with both of them! Especially The Dinner Doctor! I carry it around and read all the recipes that interest me. Then I make a list of what I need for the one's that I want to try. (I'm going to need adipex diet pills if I don't stop all this cooking!)

The first recipe that I whipped up last week - and I do mean whipped up, all the recipes are designed to be fast but still fresh-tasting - was Chicken Laredo. Prep time is listed as 15 minutes, I'm not sure it even took me that long.

I made it, and then I had to leave for church, when I got home I asked hubby, "Did you find/eat dinner?" His reply? "I don't know what that was, but it was incredible -- definitely on the make again list!"

Woo Hoo! Easy and a hit! That's what I like! It will also make a great dip to serve as an appetizer or with other Mexican dishes. But, on this night I just served it alone with tortilla chips.

I'm going to cheat and give you the recipe, but I warn you, once you've tried this one, you'll want the book so you can try them all!




Chicken Laredo

Ingredients

3 cups shredded chicken (I used a pre-cooked deli chicken -- a suggestion from The Doctor!)
2 Tbs. oil
1 cup chopped onion
1 cup chopped bell pepper
1 can (15 oz) chili with beans
1 can (15.5 oz) pinto beans, drained
1/4 cup (this is where we differ - I used a whole can) tomatoes with green chiles
8 oz Mexican-flavor Velveeta (or any white meltable cheese with jalepenos

Directions

Spread chicken in bottom of a 13 x 9 pan.
In a small skillet saute the onion and bell peppers in the oil. Once soft, after 3 - 4 minutes, scatter the mixture evenly over the chicken.
Top with a layer of the chili, then a layer of the pinto beans, then the tomatoes and then top with slices of the Velveeta.
Bake the casserole 28 to 32 minutes in a pre-heated 375 degree oven or until the casserole is bubbly around the edges.

Last night I made the Lemon-Parmesan steamed Broccoli, but substituted asparagus for the broccoli and my husband LOVED it! And, tonight I'll be trying out the Easy Beef Stroganoff with Parsley Noodles... I'll let you know how it turns out!

Tell The Truth Or Eat Tuna Pie

One of my favorite meme's, All About MEme, has changed ownership. (Hope Supah sold it for a fortune!) You can read all about how it came about by visiting it's new home at Mommy Brain.

The theme this week is:
WORST DINNER EXPERIENCE
or
YOUR BEST DINNER EXPERIENCE
or maybe even WHAT you would make us for dinner if we came to your house?

Mommy Brain even suggested we could write a purely fictional story... but my head is hurting and I don't feel very creative today. So, I'll tell you my Worst Dinner Experience. At least the worst meal I ever prepared.

My hubby loves to tell this story when anyone talks about honesty in a marriage.

We were newlyweds, just a few months in, and I was really enjoying cooking. Trying new recipes and making all sorts of goodies. Hubby's mom is a very good cook. She's also the type that has dinner every night at 6PM sharp. Now, I've never gotten the hang of that, I think it was 8:30 or 9 before we ate last night, (Who wants dinner when you could be outdoors in 70 degree weather?) but I can make a mean casserole or pot roast.

So, one day I found this recipe for Tuna Pie. Now there are two words that probably shouldn't be together... Tuna and Pie. And, rightfully so, but I had the ingredients and so I made it. I don't remember what was in it exactly other than it had a crust and tuna and some sort of shrimp condensed soup.

Well, hubby came home, we ate it and he said it was good.

So, a few weeks go by and I make it again. We sit down to dinner and I make his plate of tuna pie while I proceed to make me a plate of left-over spaghetti or something of the like that I had left over. And, he looks at me and says, "why are you eating that and not this?" To which I honestly reply, "I didn't like that." After looking at me like a deer in the headlights he says, "Well, neither did I, but I didn't want to hurt your feelings. Actually, this is the worst stuff I've ever tasted!"

We both laughed, I threw out the tuna pie, and hubby learned a valuable lesson... lying to your wife gets you in much trouble!!

The House That Built Me - Music Monday

It's Music Monday and I've went with The House That Built Me by Miranda Lambert.

Where to start about this song? I was driving to the store one day and it came on the radio. I arrived at my destination while the song was still playing, and though I'd never heard it before I had to sit there and listen to the entire thing. I had to fight back the tears it touched me so, and I downloaded it as soon as I got home.

Since then I've listened to it probably a hundred times and I still find myself getting choked up when I hear it, esp. when she says, 'under that live oak my favorite dog is buried.' I'm not even sure we buried our dog, but it made me think of the dogs I have now. One of them is 10 1/2 and I'm not sure how much longer he'll be with us.

Then there's the line, 'Up those stairs in that little back bedroom, is where I did my homework and learned to play guitar.' I never played guitar, but I remember my bedroom as clear as if it were a few days ago, not 23 years.

I thought I was something else because I had a 13" black & white television in my room AND an Atari system! Yes, I was the envy of all the clumsy, looking for treatment for acne, awkward nerds who knew me... or so I thought! lol!

I remember playing Barbies for hours, doing homework till one in the morning, and playing Journey songs, I had recorded from the radio, over and over again.

What special memories do you have about your childhood home?

Come join Music Monday and share your songs with us. Rules are simple. Leave ONLY the actual post link here and grab the code below and place it at your blog entry. You can grab this code at LadyJava's Lounge Please note these links are STRICTLY for Music Monday participants only. All others will be deleted without prejudice.


PS: Because of spamming purposes, the linky will be closed on Thursday of each week at midnight, Malaysian Time. Thank you!

The Word I Wish To No Longer Say

It's all about MEme monday again. Shesh, I can't believe it's another Monday, where did the week go? Anyway, this week's theme is 'What is YOUR WORD?'
a WORD or CATCH PHRASE that you made up or stole borrowed or adapted or whatever. A WORD or CATCH PHRASE that you say all the time, use in an unusual way, makes you laugh or feel clever. A WORD or CATCH PHRASE that you've redefined or that has come to mean something different because of your kids or your job.

Well, I can only think of one word that I have used that I thought I made up. It made hubby laugh hysterically and he said, "what exactly does that mean?" The word is, 'Jerkwad'.

Well, I made the mistake of Googling it, and though I thought it was just a funny, harmless word to be used when someone cuts you off in traffic or has more than 20 items in the small orders lane at the grocery, the actual meaning is quite disgusting and has caused me to seriously rethink using it. Though I will admit that I have, out of habit, found myself saying it a couple times since... Must work on that!

I also have a favorite quote, but I wrote a post about it back in February. Just as a reminder, or if you haven't been reading about my life every day and anxiously awaiting the next installment, the quote is,

If wishes were horses then beggars would ride.

How it's used:
DS: I wish you'd buy me a new Samsung HDTV.
Me: If wishes were horses then beggars would ride.

Meg Ryan Would Have To Play Me In The Movie Of Me

I'm a few hours late... it's gonna be five question Saturday for me. (Doesn't have as nice a ring to it, does it?) But then, I'm late to just about everything. Sad, I know, but true. Fortunately for me, all my best friends are just like me. So, we don't get irrated with each others tardiness.

But back to the matter at hand, you'll get to delve a little deeper into my psyche by seeing how I answer such exciting things such as if I went to summer camp and what my favorite song is right now. And, you'll probably find I'm just not too exciting or deep.

Feel free to join in the fun!


1. Who would you want to play you in a movie of your life?
I love Julia Roberts. I know, that is sooo 90's of me. But actually Meg Ryan resembles me more, and is closer in personality. Although I was once told that I acted like Kathie Lee Gifford - not a complement!

2. Did you ever go to summer camp?
Nope. I was too busy looking through my microscope and applying acne gel! lol! Actually, I wasn't the type that even loved sleep-overs. I'd rather friends come to my house. Could have something to do with the trauma I experienced being left at daycare when I was three?

3. What sends you running and screaming in the other direction?
Nauseous people. It actually has a name, emetophobia, and it's quite common. I'm not nearly as bad as I used to be. I used to have nightmares that involved people getting sick. Nowadays it doesn't even cross my mind unless someone says their stomach hurts and even then I don't panic like I used to. I just casually walk away and wash my hands. :-)

4. What is something you do that drives your spouse nuts?
He doesn't get irritated as easily as I do. I could write a list of things he does that irritate me, (keeps pushing forward over and over on the DVR when it can't be forwarded, shakes the ice in his drink, flosses his teeth in front of me, etc., etc.) but the only thing that I can think of, off the top of my head, is my yelling. I come from a loud family and he doesn't understand it.

5. What is currently your favorite song?
I wanted to say American Honey by Lady Antebellum. But then I remembered, The House That Built Me by Miranda Lambert and Highway 20 Ride by the Zac Brown Band. And, for dancing, or working out, it's got to be Imma Be by the Black Eyed Peas.

Book Review: Hand Of Fate by Lis Wiehl

Let me start my review of Lis Wiehl's newest mystery, Hand of Fate, by saying that I don't read many books nowadays.  I used to read a lot, but now I tend to write blog posts, read other blogs or play Farmville.  I did read a book last summer, called The Year Of Fog and it took me three months to finish it.  It was like torture getting through it, but I was determined to know how it ended.

The good news about Hand Of Fate is that it's not been torture to read!  Quite to the contrary, it's been great fun!

Jim Fate is a radio talk show host that is very opinionated and doesn't mind sharing it with his listeners. (Possibly based on the author's sidekick from radio, Bill O'Reilly.)  Needless to say, he's made a few enemies.  So, when poisonous gas is released in his office, and panic ensues in the city of Portland, it's up to three crime-fighting women to figure out who did it.

I found this to be a very quick and easy read.  It's suspenseful and I instead of forcing myself to read it, I looked forward to having a few minutes to get back to it.

It was easy to imagine the panic that Lis describes when sarin gas is suspected as the killing agent.  I even found myself wondering what I would do if something like that happened in our city.

I also found the characters to be very likable.  And, with totally different lives, you're bound to identify with one or more of them. There's the career oriented crime reporter, Cassidy Shaw, the single mom and FBI special agent Nicole Hedges and the married and newly pregnant federal prosecutor Allison Pierce. 

Hand of Fate is the 2nd installment in the Triple Threat series, but you don't need to have read the first one in order to know what's going on in this one.  I hadn't read it, but I'm going to now, since I've enjoyed Hand of Fate so much.

If I was giving stars, I'd give Hand of Fate a 4 out of 5! 

You can read the first 35 pages of Hand of Fate HERE.
Then find out who done it by purchasing a copy of Hand of Fate at ThomasNelson.com or Amazon.com
.
Thank you to Thomas Nelson Publishers who, as part of their BookSneeze.com book review bloggers program, sent me this book to read and review. I was not required to write a positive review. The opinions I have expressed are my own.

My Favorite iPod/iPhone Apps

I mentioned a while back that hubby got an iPhone and I took over his iPod Touch. I still can't believe that I'm so thrilled with iPhones/iPods - I swore I'd not give in to the whole iPod fascination. But,alas I did. And, there are so many great applications for them. I'm having a blast finding more every day. Just in case your new to the iPod app world, or just wondering what new apps to add, I thought that I'd post just a couple of our favorites.

My favoritest is the Pandora app. If you like music, this app is awesome! And, free! You can enter a favorite artist's name or a favorite song and it will play you songs in that same genre. In addition you can give songs a thumbs up or a thumbs down and it will take your likes into consideration. And, there are very, very few commercials.

Grocery IQ is another app that I use consistently. It did cost me $1.99 I think, but was worth it to me. I'm a list maker and this app gives me the ability to enter my grocery list. I can enter an item by typing it in, or I can enter the barcode - which is something that just amazes me! My friend said if you have the iPhone you can even take a picture of the barcode and it can recognize the product from that. So, in a sense your iPhone becomes a barcode scanner. The app also allows you to enter multiple stores and it sorts your items by isle. Additionally you can look for coupons with the app and have them sent to your email to be printed at home. I have many less note papers flying around now that I have this app.

My hubby has gotten the most use out of the weather app, but I think his second favorite app has to be Around Me. We used this the first time when we went to the Covington/Cincinnati area in February. As we sat in our hotel room late at night, OK, it was only 8:55 p.m., and all our family that we had traveled with was already in bed, we wanted something to do. Hubby hit the Around Me button and viola', we found that there were something like 11 bars nearby. No - we didn't go bar hopping. Instead we just walked over to the nearest liquor store and purchased a bottle of wine. However, the next day DH walked around and ventured in some of them and found one to watch some sort of sporting event on while I shopped. Then we used it to find a Subway for lunch. Since then we've used it on most of our out-of-town trips. It's great for finding gas stations, grocery stores, hospitals, basically whatever you need. It's like having a concierge in your pocket.

So what are your favorite apps? I'd love a workout app and maybe some sort of recipe app but haven't had time to research what to get next. Any suggestions?

Why I Love Spring - Thursday 13

I don't like the cold and I hate dreary gray days, they just make me want to hibernate. My whole outlook on life changes with the approach of spring. Here are 13 reasons this season makes me giddy!

You can link up to us by posting a list of 13 whatevers and entering your post URL at Thursday 13.

1. I don't have to wear a coat!!!!
2. My hycinths (and other flowers) bloom and smell so wonderful.
3. It stays daylight longer!
4. Everything gets green.
5. I love to feel the sun on my face.
6. I can open up the windows and air out the house and get some nice clean oxygen into my bloodstream. (My oximeter thanks me!)
7. I get to work in my garden again! (although the weeds have taken over!! 
8. I can walk and ride my bike outside again!
9. We get to go camping again!
10. Cooking on the grill!
11. Flip Flops
12. Outdoor events.  Everything from the Kentucky Derby to Graduation Parties to NASCAR races.
13. Great photo opportunities.  Outdoor photos are so much better than indoor ones!