Dinner and a Movie

Tonight I tried a couple of new recipes here at the puddle! I had to get Zack to help me, because one of the recipes required the use of the grill, and as stated previously, the grill is my nemesis! One day I shall overcome my fear of it, but today was not that day!

Tonight Zack and I had braided pork tenderloins with mango sauce, cheese and parsnip mashed potatoes, and salad. I was not sure what to expect of this meal for a several reasons. 1. I have never tasted a parsnip before and had no idea what it would do to the flavor of the potatoes (they are actually kinda sweet and look like a white carrot.) 2. I wasn't sure that the meat would hold together in it's braided form, or if it would taste good after being marinated in a mango nectar based marinade (it was really quite flavorful and once being on the grill for a little while, the braids held shape really well) 3. It required the use of a grill (the meat actually ended up being really moist and flavorful!) All in all, I think that dinner was a success...at least Zack seemed to like it. It was something a little different than our norm here!

Here is a little better picture of the meat. You can kinda tell that it is braided here.

After dinner, Zack and I went to an outdoor movie that was being shown here in town. We met up with Jody and Skye to watch "New in Town" (which, I have already told you that I am a fan of...thankfully, Skye and Jody shared my opinion) Zack and I spread out our blanket and pillows and Jody and Skye set up there chairs. There were free cokes/water and popcorn or candy, which was an added bonus!

Zack and I's little blanket

Zack and I at the outdoor movie

Skye asked Jody a set of questions out of her question book...
they were all very deep. Like would you rather cut your own hair, go to a chain salon, or an upscale salon...
you know, things along those lines.

Initially, the bugs were not too bad, but they seemed to get worse as the night progressed, thankfully, both Jody and I had brought bug spray...which turned out the be a life saver (Mosquitoes heart me!)

Jody spraying Skye with some bug spray, while Skye threatens the bugs with her upraised lawn chair.

It was fun getting to watch the movie on a big screen out under the stars...and after the movie, Skye, Jody and I had a mini hoedown while the credits rolled. Then, Zack and I threw caution to the wind and jumped into the back of Skye's truck and bummed a ride back to our car.

Zack and I fearing for our lives in the back of big blue!
(haha...it looks like I have a tooth ache...shudder...
I suppose that makes sense..the thought of the dentist would illicit the same terror from me! )

It turned out to be a really fun night! Hopefully they will show more outdoor movies over the summer!

Saying goodbye to Jody and Skye

Laundry Day Woes

Monday is usually laundry day here at the puddle, and this week was no different. However, our washing machine has decided to quit working...apparently there is some sensor that tells the machine if the lid is or is not closed...and it has stopped working. I used to be able to just give a good hard shove to the lid and it would start working again, but over time this too has stopped doing the trick...I tried even sitting on it and bouncing up and down to try to get it to start...didn't work. So, I had to figure out some other way to get things working. Here is what I came up with!



Yep, I shoved a hanger down in there and jiggled it around until the wash cycle started again! Worked like a charm! haha! I just hope that it holds out for a little longer...guess that Zack and I will have to start budgeting in washing machine repair/purchase into our budget!

On top of having to fight with my washing machine to get the laundry done, I had another little adventure. I put our laundry into the dryer and went off to work on something else...I kept hearing this loud banging noise coming from the dryer ...at first I thought that it was just a metal clasp or button on some pants...until I realized that there were NO pants/jeans in that load of laundry...that thought got me motivated to go check things out...at first, I saw nothing amiss...but, then the light caught it just right, and I found this!


...yes people, A BOX CUTTER was in my dryer...and it was open! I have NO idea how it got there! It must have gone through the wash as well...I have not yet brought myself to fold this load of laundry to determine if our clothing now has slits and slashes in places where there used to be none...so, if you see Zack and I sporting holey clothes, you'll know why!

Dinner with the Deaton's

Zack and I have been wanting to have the Deaton's over for a long time now and our schedule just hasn't worked out to where we could. So, we were really excited that we got to have them over for dinner tonight! We always love hanging out with them! They are a lot of fun!

I made a couple new recipe's tonight, and thankfully, they both got a big thumbs up from the Deaton crew! Yay!! We had Spaghetti for dinner and I tried a new recipe for spaghetti sauce (slow cooker spaghetti sauce) and I made some cheesy garlic bread. Jody brought another one of her award winning salads (YUM!), and then, for dessert, I made a blueberry ice cream torte.

Thank goodness the sauce ended up tasting good, because we have a TON of it left over!

The ice cream torte was really good and very cool and refreshing!

We had lots of great conversation and we ended the evening with shooting air soft guns in the backyard... The boys were naturals! :) all in all, I would say that it was a great night! :)

Sneak Peek!

I know that it seems like I haven't been sewing or doing anything crafty in a LONG time....my problem is that the things that I have made are gifts or things for friends that read this blog...So, I cannot post them...until after they are given as gifts, or sent to their rightful owners.

My friend Beth recently asked me to make a diaper bag for her. I finished it recently and I think that it turned out REALLY cute...I thought that I would give you a sneak peek of one of the fabrics that she chose for it.

How cute and girly is that Fabric?!

Hopefully Beth will like the Diaper bag as much as I do! Cannot wait to post it so I can see what Y'all think of it too!

A beautiful day for a hike

My friend Skye and I had agreed earlier this week to go hiking so that Skye could work on a painting on Friday morning...of course, that was before we knew that it was supposed to be a rainy, dreary day. So, this morning, despite the threat of rain, Skye showed up on my doorstep ready to go, but minus painting supplies. So, I grabbed my backpack, which I had packed "just in case" and we headed to the hiking trails. The rain held off for our hike, but it was a dreary day and the trails were MUDDY! We hiked to a little white church in the middle of nowhere. Apparently the church still holds services, but it is very out of the way.

On our way to the church, Skye and I came across this:


We thought that it was pretty funny and so I thought that it warranted a picture.


A little while later, we made it to the church and found this sign:


So I just had to get Skye to pose for some incriminating photos...which was of course not hard to do.


We wandered around the church grounds and looked in the cemetery (Skye, for some reason LOVES cemeteries, and many of her stories start...one time when I was in a cemetery in Atlanta...don't ask me...it's Skye there really is no telling what is going on in that mind! There is never a dull moment with Skye around).

We slugged through the mud back to our car and then decided to go try out the new Peach milkshake at Chick-fil-a...however, we soon discovered that the Chick-fil-a parking lot was overflowing. So, we opted for Five Guys and Fries instead. We enjoyed our burgers and fries...and some good conversation.


Apparently, Skye, within the last week, decided that she was spending too much on rent and that it would be cheaper to rent a room in someones house. So, she did what any normal person would do. She marched herself over to the apartment complex office and signed the paper work to end her lease...only, she had no where lined up to live.

So, finding herself with no where to live in just over a week, she realized, she would have no where to put her current furniture. So, well, the next logical step would just be to sell all of it! So, she decided that she wanted to have a garage sale this weekend...only, then she remembered that she did not have a truck to transport her belongings to somewhere that she could sell them...hmmm...strike two

On top of soon being homeless, Skye has also decided to try her hardest to become penniless. She is planning a roadtrip out west this summer and was looking into renting a car. She let a friend borrow her computer to check her email while the page was still open to the car rental site...and surprise, the next thing that she knew, she had rented a car...meaning that she now had $1.30 in her checking account. LOL! Skye was telling me all of this laughing...The beginning of our day, she did find 30 cents in her car which got her up to $1.60...and then she found $12 which allowed us to go to lunch. The good news is that there are several people going with her on her roadtrip which will reimberse her for part of the car rental fee...bringing her checking account back into the positives...and who knows, maybe if she can get that garage sale together and sell all of her worldly posessions, then she will be practically rich...of course, she would still be homeless...just not peniless! Haha! She is such a mess! You just never know what the next scheme will be with her! She makes life interesting and she has a flare for living on the edge! :) You gotta love Skye!

Dinner and Dessert

Tonight, I tried another new recipe. We had Pork chops with Blackberry Sauce, corn on the cob, fruit salad and tossed salad. The pork turned out to have a lot of flavor and it was pretty easy to prepare. Zack really liked it.

After dinner, we drove to Sonic where they were giving away free root beer floats tonight from 8 to midnight. They weren't as good as homemade root beer floats, but they were still pretty good! :) ...and free!

Family Night: Baseball

Caren and Forrest were having family night tonight, and so, some of our small group decided to tag along. The theme for this family night was baseball night. We ended up planning things in a hurry and so, we didn't have a bunch of fun "baseball" related activities, but it was still a lot of fun.

Kevin, Jaclyn, Caren, Forrest, Christy, Hector, all the kiddos and Zack and I met for dinner. We started the evening out with a cookout in a park. We grilled hot dogs and Brots, and we had chips, slaw, fruit salad, brownies and cupcakes. Kevin did most of the grilling for us...which he did an excellent job with by the way!

Kevin Manning the Grill

Eating in the park

Little "C" and all of his older women! :)

K, S, and A had a ton of fun playing on the playground and throwing a football to each other.

Climbing up to the slide

Coming down the slide

Hanging out at the bottom
Playing ball
but, still a little time for some lovin' for mommy

After dinner, we packed up and decided to carpool to the game. We took a little small group "field trip" to a minor league game. The guys were really pumped about the game, because Tom Glavine was supposed to be pitching at the game tonight. We got stuck in a TON of traffic and it took us forever to get from the park to the game (much to the chagrin of the boys!), but we eventually made it! We met a few other members of our small group at the game. Cliff and Pam and Matt and Amanda were not able to make it to dinner, but met us all at the game.


Glavine pitched for about 6 innings and didn't give up any runs! They ended up winning the game 3 to 0. It was a lot of fun to watch..and spend time hanging out with our friends.

Tom Glavine