Photobucket Photobucket Photobucket Photobucket Photobucket

Friday, September 28, 2012

These Are A Few Of My Favourite...

... PUMPKIN THINGS!

ELC and I HEART PUMPKINS!  Did you know she and MSD (My Sweet Dad) actually grew their own pumpkins one year?


Aren't they adorable?

Even though it's still ninety-plus degrees here in Texas, I'm ready for all things FALL and PUMPKIN.  In particular:

1.  Pumpkin Cream Cheese Muffins (Oh.  My.  Gosh.) and Pumpkin Spice Lattes (decaf and nonfat, please) from Starbucks.  Be still my heart.


2.  My NEW Pumpkin Scentsy Warmer (next to the latte).

3.  Tiny, little white and orange pumpkins with curly-q stems.


4.  My new LEOPARD PRINT PUMPKIN doodad from Hobby Lobby.  In the words of my dear Rachel Zoe:  I die.  I mean, seriously.  Leopard print and pumpkin?  The best combo!


And I bet you can't guess who my MOST favourite Lil' Pumpkin is?


That's right!  This girl.  My Little Leighton.  She was TWO MONTHS OLD this week.  Wow.  I truly can't believe how quickly time is flying.

(You didn't actually think I could make it an entire post without sharing a picture of her, did you?)

Happy Fall, Y'all!

Have a wonderful, pumpkin-filled weekend!

Saturday, September 22, 2012

Two Yeehaws for Y'all!

Hope you were sitting down when you realized I had something to share in the form of Two Yeehaws! I know. I know. I've been very lazy about said Yeehaws. Seems like a certain Little Angel has kept my mind (and time) preoccupied. I didn't think most of you would be interested in the changing pads I like to have at my casa now. For Little Leighton's mini nursery set up in our guest room. Like TLC, I haven't had alot of time to browse the drugstore aisles or department stores for more exciting discoveries.

BUT...TLC and I both could NOT be more thrilled about these Yeehaws. In fact, this post should probably have been Two Yumhaws. I did, however, discover both these devine items on a trip to her Kroger's. I'm taking credit for them. Period. Pepperidge Farm Pumpkin Spice Swirl Bread and The Laughing Cow Cinnamon Cream Spread.


So here's the calorie count on two pieces of this SCRUMPTIOUS bread and spread:

Each piece of bread has 80 calories. After toasting four pieces for me and TLC one morning last week, I only had to use one cute little package of the Cinnamon Laughing Cow between ALL FOUR SLICES. Seriously. Each little pie wedge has 45 calories. I then put a teensy bit of sugar and cinnamon on top of the Laughing Cow spread. (We both require a bit more "sweet" than maybe some of y'all might?) I then halved a medium banana, putting a few thin slices on each of the four pieces of toast.

Estimated calorie-count per slice of completed and ready-to-eat pumpkin toast? 125. I actually think that's a smidge too many. We like to err up on our calorie estimations.

When I say this was a filling and beyond delicious breakfast (assuming you love all things pumpkin as we Leightons do), I'm not exagerrating. Word of honor.

Happy Saturday Night! Here's wishing each of you a Sweet Sunday!

ta-ta for now...

Sunday, September 16, 2012

Just Humour Me... Again!

What I did today:

1.  Changed Little Leighton's (very) dirty diaper in a Walgreens parking lot.
2.  Bre@stfed her in a Walmart parking lot.

Do you notice a theme?

After those two experiences, I think it's only fair that you humour me, once again, and let me inundate your computer screen with photos of my Sweet Angel.

Here we go!

I could look into those big, beautiful eyes every second of every day.

A few "outtakes" from our One Month Photo Shoot:

This isn't comfy, Mom.
Even in the name of fashion.

Seriously, Mom.

OVER IT.

Teddy Buddy Boo Bear being a most excellent "babysitter."
(Truth be told:  He's eyeing her paci.  He thinks it's a toy.)

Posing for the camera!

I hope everyone has a WONDERFUL week!

Wednesday, September 12, 2012

Varmits

I don’t believe anything should be killed for the sake of killing. Not even snakes. Or spiders or bugs. UNLESS any of those creatures feel like a threat to me or someone I love.  

Then there are Armadillos. I seriously do not get it. What their purpose is. Because since we moved to the country twelve years ago, we’ve had the yard around our home literally dug up and demolished too many times by terrorist Armadillos. You work hard to make your yard look nice—to get rid of weeds—to keep it watered during hideously hot Texas summers. Here come the Armadillos. Thrilled you’ve done it all for their enjoyment.

Back in July, My Sweet Hubby (MSH) was setting the trap for a rogue Armadillo tearing up our lawn and gardens. Said Hubby really hasn’t had, however, a lot of luck with the trap. There was the time he set it up near our front door. The night before I was having friends over for breakfast. He caught a skunk. I wasn’t amused. The smell lingered just long enough to greet all four of them as they arrived.

This time, MSH decided he’d try peanut butter as the lure. My (kind-of-expensive) Jiff Natural. Crunchy.

ELC: Where did you hear about peanut butter?
MSH: It’s just an idea I have that it'd be intrigued and go on in the trap to check it out.
ELC: Won’t it make the ants happier than the Armadillo? Won’t they get to my kind-of-expensive peanut butter before The Evil Armadillo?
MSH: No. Ants don’t come out at night.

Wwwhhhhaaaaatttttt?????????

I didn’t actually say this out loud. Thought it, though. I decided MSH must know something I didn’t. About ants. He does watch hours and hours of the National Geographic Channel. And TLC. It didn’t seem right to little ole’ not-as-smart-as-MSH me, but maybe it would work. I thought there might be new "ant" research I hadn't heard about.

(May I also interject another ELC/MSH story, at this point? About ten years ago, MSH came home from work one evening and excitedly asked me if I’d like to take an IQ test on-line. I could tell he was going to be pushy about it until I did. I knew what he was up to. I’d been married to him for 24 years. I was sure he’d done really well and wanted to show me he was mucho smarter than moi. Oh, what the heck, why not? It took about thirty minutes to complete. When I got my score, I called him into our bedroom, where our home computer was located, to share my success. He came struttin’ in—with a goofy grin on his face. He was so certain he'd beaten my score by MANY points. He looked at my results and suddenly got frustrated/confused. The grin disappeared. He asked me how I got that score. I said: “You saw me in here taking this test you coerced me into taking. How do you think I got it? Exactly what are you insinuating? That I cheated? What did you get?” Yep. We made the same score. He tried to make me take it again. Not sure where he ever got the idea I’d even consider doing that. As TLC calls him occasionally: Little Fruitcake.)

Back to The Armadillo Dilemma. The next morning—at 4:45 a.m. to be exact—he came into the bedroom and saw I was awake. He quietly and quite sheepishly said: “The ants came. You were right. That didn’t work at all.”

35 years after meeting me—34 years after marrying me—I might have convinced him I’m semi-smart/wise. Truly, and I'm sooo sincere: I trust this man with my life. I don't trust him, however, to set traps for armadillos (I've decided they deserve no more capitalizations). He's going to have to watch a few more educational shows, apparently. 

Sheesh.

Friday, September 7, 2012

We Brake for Biscuits and Donuts

September 7th. Can't be. How? Time is flying and I don’t like it one little bit. TLC and I are trying to keep up with posting. We truly are. Suddenly, five or seven or nine days have flown by and we haven’t even discussed ideas. Yes, we might have taken to making this website a Little Leighton Tribute. And when I saw “we,” I mean TLC. She’s the only one that can post pictures. LL is ADORABLE. I apologize if that’s braggy or rude. I’m not going to lie—LL posts? Not going to stop. Not anytime soon. However, we are attempting to get back to our LOL roots. I should be doing a Yeehaw. At this point in time, I’ve gone blank on Yeehaws. Therefore, I decided to look at the “Notes” that have been on my iPhone for several months. I came across this one:

My Sweet Hubby (MSH) and I drove to Crested Butte, Colorado, in June. We’ve been all over Colorado. It’s one of our most favourite ever destinations and vacation retreats. But we’d never been to Crested Butte. (We discovered why, by the way. It’s because you don’t just drive through CB on your way to somewhere else. You have to intentionally decide to go directly to Crested Butte. Fascinates us. Seriously.)

When we started planning this trip, we’d made the decision not to push ourselves and drive all the way in one day. It’d be about a sixteen-hour drive from our Texas country casa, so we agreed the best plan would be to stop in Raton, New Mexico, our first night. There’s a Holiday Inn Express we’ve frequented a couple of times and really enjoyed. We checked in around 7:00 o’clock p.m. and crashed at 8:00. Yes. Quite the Party Animals. That’s us.

The next morning, bright and early (6:00ish), we went down to the dining area for breakfast. The last time we’d been in this motel, there’d been a Mom/Daughter Team that were the cooks/hostesses. They were famous on Trip Advisor! We didn’t see them, but there were two young women that were equally as friendly and helpful. As we looked over the “buffet,” MSH went one direction and I went another.

Once we had our grub, we found a table away from the food area and sat down to eat/plan the day. We knew we should be in CB by mid-afternoon. At the latest. While we crammed down our food at our as-per-usual-too-fast-for-good-health pace, I couldn’t help but notice a couple maybe a little bit older than me—early 60s—picking a table right next to ours. As they sat down, I could see not only the woman and her husband, but also their plates. She was on the tall, slender side. Short/cute/current hair. Kind of spike-y. I love spiked hair! Her outfit was green khaki chic. Sort of a jogging suit, I guess. Yet it was very attractive and she looked like she really did hike. (I talk about hiking—seldom actually do it—except with TLC around Malls.) Her husband (okay, yes, I’m assuming he was her husband and probably shouldn’t—it’s my story—humour me) was about her height. Jeans. Tennis shoes. Very cleancut. Almost “cowboy” looking, although he didn’t have a hat on.

As they sat down, I looked at their plates. He had 2 hardboiled eggs (I always forget you can ask for a hardboiled egg!), 2 pieces of wheat toast, which he lightly buttered, and a glass of milk.

She had scrambled eggs (not a huge portion), a couple of pieces of bacon, one biscuit and a little gravy. Some orange juice. She had coffee. He didn’t.

She whispered something to him and then took his hand. She was obviously saying a blessing. I love that. MSH and I have often talked about the fact we only give thanks at home. Neither of us grew up eating out very often. When our families did? We didn’t say a blessing. Not in public! MSH and I admire those who take the time to thank our Dear Lord God Almighty for everything He has given us—especially food to eat.

Now for what was on our plates. You know this isn’t going to be good, right?

Moi: I had oatmeal. Very healthy. Yep. Perhaps it could have been had I not put a ton o’ brown sugar in it. Then I had what MSH calls ELC’S Breakfast Desserts. A couple of mini donuts. A cinnamon roll that was out-of-this-world sinful. A mini blueberry muffin. Coffee. My Diet Mountain Dew I’d brought from our ice chest in the room.

MSH: A plate full of powdered eggs. Or that’s what I call them. When they look runny and yucky and fake. He’s not picky. Ever. Ham. And bacon. (He does NOT do this at home. Have both ham AND bacon. What can I say, though? If I suggest he not have both? He suggests I not have desserts for breakfast. Sheesh.) Two biscuits loaded down with gravy. I do mean LOADED.

This, I thought, is what our life together had come to. Starting a vacation to Colorado—the land of hiking, biking, kayaking, rafting, fishing, etc.—with fattening food on the First-Morning-of-Our-Healthy-Vacation breakfast plates.

As we headed up to get our luggage, I picked up an apple. I prayed that healthy-looking lady saw me do it.

More on Crested Butte down the road…

Please have a Safe, Happy, Healthy and Wonderful Weekend, Friends Everywhere!!!

p.s.: HAVE A BISCUIT. Or TWO.

Sunday, September 2, 2012

Seriously? September?

And Sunday, the 2nd? Sheesh.

TLC and I would like to SUGGEST that, as you START this new month, you be:

Sociable; self-assured; SPIFFY; saint-like; SYMPATHETIC; skillful; SIGNIFICANT; spunky; SELECTIVE; sagacious (yep—look it up!); SILLY (why not?); SASSY; sophisticated; SCRUPULOUS; scholarly; SERENE; and self-confident.

PLEASE DON’T BE: scruffy; SHADY; a scaredy-cat; SCANDALOUS; sloppy; SAUCY; sinister; SLOSHED; sarcastic; SMELLY; showoffy; SELFISH; sedentary; SCORNFUL; salacious (another one to look up?); SHIFTY; a scamp; a SKEPTIC; sour; STERN; or scary (even though it is close to Halloween.).

Think about eating some seafood like SHRIMP, sardines (YUCK), or SALMON (TLC loves…ELC hates). Or how about going to a scrumptious SMORGASBORD of spinach, STEAK, spaghetti, SAUERKRAUT, and squash? You could have a sarsaparilla (did you realize that first “r” was there?), or SANGRIA. Watch your SALT. How about a SCOOP of sherbet or some SCONES or strawberry shortcake? We love to SNACK on spuds, SAMMICHES, salads, SOUFFLES, and salty SALSA.

VISIT: Santa Barbara (and those Piggy PJ Ladies!), Santa Fe (TLC’s fav), SALEM, or Sacramento. Or how about a SAFARI to South Africa? It would be surreal to SIGHTSEE in Switzerland (Sunny and Nelly? Been there.), Scotland (Sunny and Nelly? Going there.), SINGAPORE, or Seville (in SPAIN, of course.). SHUFFLE off to Buffalo (We know—Buffalo’s not an “S” place—SORRY.)

DON’T run with SCISSORS. Don’t be a SLUG. Go to a SYMPHONY! SHUT the Front Door! Visit with a SAGITTARIUS. Learn the SAMBA or the saxophone. Don’t schlepp (but you can SCHMOOZE) or SCOFF or secondguess or SCREAM or scribble.

SING! SMILE! Open Sesame! Be SENSATIONAL. Read the Song of Solomon. Wear SEQUINS that sparkle, SHIMMER, and shine! Visit with a Septuagenarian. Get a SODA at The Sonic. Have a SOFT HEART. Be SNAZZY. SEIZE the Day! Catch a Falling STAR (and put it in your pocket!). SAFETY First! Come on in and sit a SPELL!

We must SCOOTSHALOM!