I impressed myself

Seriously, I did. And you should be too! This is quite a feat for me. It all began when I saw this recipe in the Kraft Food and Family magazine.



It's for a seriously yummy lemon cake. The recipe calls for a lemon cake mix, 2 boxes of lemon pudding and cool whip. When I went to the store, I could not find a lemon cake mix. Apparently they didn't have any in stock...? So, like a true chef, I improvised! I bought a white cake mix. Aren't you already impressed with my mad skills?

The cake was actually pretty easy to make. It's just two round cakes with lemon pudding filling and cool whip (fat-free) instead of icing. It actually turned out really tasty! I think if I'd had a lemon cake mix, it would have been better, but it was tasty nonetheless.

But nobody said tasty had to be pretty.



I guess I need to work on my icing skills. Yikes. Hubs really liked it though, so it passed the test. I love lemon. It reminds me of spring and summer. Do you have any favorite summer recipes?

Oh! And my beautiful blog friend Brandi gave me this sweet award! Hers was one of the first blogs I started following. I just love her awesome attitude! She's a doll! I have met some wonderful gals through blogging. I just wish I could meet some women half as nice as you in the "real world." Y'all are awesome. Thank you Brandi!

A fine day

Hubs' band played at the Texas Music Revolution at Southfork Ranch last weekend. We had a great time. His band was the only one that received an encore! I'm so proud of him. It was cool to see thousands of people in the crowd singing along with the songs and cheering the guys on. Everywhere I went, people were walking around wearing the band's t-shirts. It was awesome!



We also got to walk around the ranch and see the horses. I've been out to Southfork before, as my company Christmas party used to be held out there. It's a beautiful place.



Here's a little fun fact to bore your friends. Many people don't realize, the scene from the TV show Dallas that shows the ranch and the house from the air during the opening credits is actually NOT the real Southfork Ranch. It's actually Brinkman Ranch, which is about 30 minutes to the west of Southfork. I used to drive past Brinkman to and from work every day. They have a fake "skeleton" of a house that was built purely for the opening credits of the show. When you drive by, you can see that it's an open steel structure with a roof. This is because at the time, Brinkman Ranch was more rural and had less development around it, providing the huge expanse of land for the shot. The real Southfork Ranch has several buildings that are used for parties, weddings, etc. and has neighborhoods all around it. The actual property is very beautiful though.



And now you know! :)

Introducing Cinnamon

This week, we have a temporary foster dog. I received an email on Tuesday from an animal rescue acquaintance of mine. She is a coordinator for a dachshund rescue. There was a doxie in a local shelter who was going to be euthanized due to lack of room at the shelter (as is always the case). This acquaintance of mine didn't have room herself (she has several dogs of her own along with several fosters). But she had a lady with a rescue in Abilene who had room. The catch was that the lady in Abilene couldn't get her until Monday. So I was asked if I could pull the dog and foster her until Monday.

Introducing Cinnamon.



Isn't she cute?! This little gal is one of the sweetest we've had come through here. She's very calm and sweet. She gets along famously with my dogs (which isn't always easy...my dogs aren't very accepting of new ones). She appears to be housebroken and has perfect house manners. She walks very well on the leash and loves to cuddle. She loves men, women, children and other animals. She's really the perfect dog. Someone will be lucky to have her.



She was an owner surrender. Animal Control told me that her owners claimed she escaped, and decided they didn't want to deal with it anymore. 1) I can't imagine that she escapes, because she's our shadow, has to follow us everywhere. Many times people will lie and come up with stupid excuses when surrendering an animal. Who knows what the truth is here. 2) Even if she did escape...fix the problem! Did they leave the front door open? Is there a loose panel on the fence? Does the gate work? All things that can be easily remedied. People just can't be bothered.



It's going to be difficult to say goodbye to her on Monday. However, she's safe and will be going to a rescue, and that's why I'm able to do this. Just like with the transports I do...I can easily hand them over because I know they are in no danger of euthanasia. I thank these angels like Lynn and Virginia who help out our furry little gifts from God!



And just as a friendly reminder, please spay and neuter your pets! Don't breed or buy while shelter pets die! 3-4 million dogs and cats are euthanized every year!

Signs of spring

The temperature was 85 degrees today! So beautiful! Trees and flowers are beginning to sprout. Everything looks like it's waking up from a long winter.

Iris bulbs are starting to peak out. I just planted these 1-1/2 weeks ago! These bulbs were left over from the 100+ I planted in a flower bed outside the bay window. Unfortunately, those aren't sprouting yet.



My mums in a planter on the front porch from last fall never completely died, and now they are coming back in full force! Which is amazing, because they are annuals, not perennials.



The birdbath out front has been cleaned and filled, ready for new occupants.



Daffodils have been blooming for the last week. They don't last long here in our part of the state...maybe a week or two at the most.







I made another "flower bed sparkly" (glass totem) a few weeks ago.



Yesterday I made a glass bird bath. I had several small colored glass chunks that I put in the bowl since it's so deep. This way, the birds will have something to stand on. And, they really sparkle in the sun.





In the next week or two, I can start planting tomatoes.

Is spring making an appearance for you?

Saturday hodgepodge.

Last week was extremely busy. Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday we cleaned out the garage and took about 5 carloads of stuff to the Goodwill. Then Thursday, Friday, Saturday and Sunday were spent building a cedar fence. Yes, that's right, I helped! And I'm very proud of myself! We hired two guys to help us pull out the old posts on Thursday. The remaining days were spent building up the new fence. By doing it ourselves, we saved about $3000. And while it was tedious, it wasn't difficult. It's been raining all week, but when it stops, I'm going to post up some pics because I'm so proud that not only did we build it ourselves, but we didn't kill each other in the process!

And today, I was up early anticipating the work I was about to do. At 10am, I went to ticketmaster.com to try for tickets to the Kenny Chesney/Sugarland/Miranda Lambert/Lady Antebellum concert in May. My girlfriend was at home on her computer doing the same. We stayed on the phone and whoever found the best tickets would order them. We did this last year as well. Unfortunately, the problem is that it's a crap shoot. You never know if you should buy the tickets you get, or throw them back and hope for better. Her computer was giving her trouble, so I found seats that were pretty decent and we decided to go ahead and get them. Wouldn't you know, as soon as I paid for them, she found better seats. They were $50 more each, and I'd have been willing to pay for them since they were right off the stage. However, we'd have to try to sell the ones I bought back, and there's no telling if that would happen. This year, we didn't get floor seats (like we did last year), but we are in row 5 in the stands, so it's practically on the floor.



Last year the husbands went with us. Neither of them are fans, but after a few adult beverages, they had a good time. With each other! ha! They were carrying on and making all of the ladies around us laugh.



The opening acts last year were LeAnn Rimes and Brooks & Dunn. They were all really good. I think the fun part though is not just the music, but just hanging out with friends and whooping it up.



Year before last, it was just hubs and I, and we got caught in a major downpour at the concert. Which I thought was fun! But he was miserable since he didn't want to be there to begin with. Last year he didn't mind too much since he had another hubs to commiserate with.



This year, hubs has a gig scheduled that night, so it's just the girls. I got my neighbor to come along as well, so the menfolk will not have to be subjected to such a miserable time. ;)



I've seen Sugarland before and they were excellent. This year's line-up should be good as well!

Sawing logs

Yesterday was a big day for the chihuahua. We woke up early and went for a ride. She thought she was so special since her sisters didn't get to go with us. You could tell by the way she was sitting in the seat with her head held high. She's sort of selfish like that.

Then reality set in once we pulled in to the parking lot and got out of the car.

I opened up the door to the building, and she realized the true nature of our ride once the smell of antiseptic hit her in the face.

Unlike previous times, she did not try to run away. I picked her up and we signed in. She started shivering violently.

The assistant came out to get her while I signed all of the paperwork and releases.

On the list of grievances against the chihuahua were: a dental, a lump removal, anal gland draining and a pedicure.

We figured since she hates getting her nails clipped, it would be easy to do while she was under anesthetic. And the anal glands...that's just something I can't bring myself to do. It's worth the $10 or $20 to let the professionals handle it.

Around noon the vet's office called to say she was doing well and waking up nicely from the anesthesia. Around 4 pm I went to pick her up. On the drive home, she was still pretty doped up. She was falling asleep while sitting up. Then she'd fall over. This happened several times until she realized it would be easier to stop fighting it and lay down.

For the rest of the night, she slept. And snored. She's normally a snorer anyway, and rivals a grown man snoring.

I was able to catch it on video, though you have to turn it up to hear it. You can tell how doped up she is by the way her eyes don't fully close.



This morning she is almost back to her normal self. Though I can tell she is angry with me, because she refuses to give me kisses. I'm sure the next time we go for a ride, she'll be a little suspicious. :)