Want to Know Wednesday 4.20

 3 Fun Friends are asking some serious questions to get us through the Wednesday Hump:

The theme of the Q&A this week is Friendship:

{1} Do you make friends easily?

Yeah- I do -  going to 13 different schools by the time I had graduated, you get pretty accustomed at putting yourself out there and making new friends. I like to have lots of friends - in different circles of my life.

{2} What 3 qualities are a must in a friend?

A Good Sense of Humor- cause who doesn't like to laugh and have a good time?

Straight Talk - It is so important to me to have friends that can speak their mind.  Please don't skirt an issue or lie just because you think it may hurt my feelings - true friends can speak honestly to one another and will still be friends!

Trustworthy - that is so hard to find in this digital age we live in - so many people like to talk and have so many ways to do it now.  However, if I am confiding in you (which I do, I'm pretty open), I expect that you will respect our friendship and not discuss my business with any one else.

{3} What makes you a good friend?

I truly care about you, your family, your life....I want to know more about you and how I can help you.  I will be there for you! :))

{4} Have you ever met a bloggy friend in real life?

Yes I have - In December of 2009, I had the pleasure of meeting Shawn from Seriously.  We were at The World and she drove over to meet me.  It was so fun to meet in person - I think we were both a little nervous - but with a little help with our friend (Mr. Patron) and a mutual desire to run into some VIP college football quarterbacks, we had so much fun!

Also, this past summer, I met Tanya from Miller Racing Family.  She and her sweet kids met us for lunch as we were driving through their great state of Missouri.  The cool thing? It was as if we had been meeting for lunch for years - we just picked up the conversation where our blogs left off.

{5} Who is your best friend? Tell us about them.

Best Friend is so cryptic for me.  I have so many amazing friends in my life, from so many different circles who have all touched me in one way or another.

When I was working, I had such a great network of amazing friends.  Many whom helped me succeed in my career and we are still close to this day.  So many great memories of these friends.....

Though we live far apart, I am close to family as well.  I didn't grow up with sisters, so I don't know what that is like.  But when I joined Matt's family, his sisters became close friends of mine - we still always have a great time when we are together. So many great laughs with these friends....

I make friends in all the social circles I can.....PTA, Bunco, Boot Camp,  or the occasional wine book club.  So many great bottles of wine/book discussions with these friends....

Friends can be made in all sorts of situations...like training for and running a 10K together.  Nothing says "love" like when you are huffing and puffing through mile 5 together.  So many miles with these friends....

I do have a friend that will always be in life no matter where I may live.  Christie came into my life right when God knew I needed a good Christian mom & friend to learn from.  Our families were inseparable for years, and though we live 3 hours apart, not a day goes by that I don't think of her.   And there is never any hesitation in our conversations, never any doubt in our friendship.  Love this friend....

But truly, I married my best friend.  A best friend to me is someone I want to spend forever with - and that we will!  He makes me laugh, he and I have excellent "straight talk" (sometimes too straight), and I completely trust him with my heart.  Love this best friend....

I really do have lots of friends - friends who I can borrow an egg from, friends who I can be honest with, friends I can go to needing advice, & friends who would help me with my kids in a heartbeat.  

I am so very blessed as God has richly filled my life with friends.

I hope he has with yours too.

Cake Popped Off

I don't know why I do this to myself.  

I used to think I was a crafty kind of girl ~ and I don't mean a weasel ~ I mean,  I thought I could make stuff. 

But then I go and try to make something cutesy for the house...cause I've been inspired by all the amazin stuff Viv & Jen Jen & Shawn & ok....everyone....can make.  

And once again, I fail...miserably.  I don't know why I even think I can do it.  I mean, look at my latest mess.....

Anyone else been inspired by this woman???

Bakerella....ah how I love your cake pops!!! I think they are precious and adorable and I always promised myself I would try to make them......

And then I received the Cake Pops book from a dear friend.  I spent weeks reading the "how tos" and built up courage to make them myself.

So I finally did it.  $50 in supplies and 3 stores later, here we go!!

Bake the cake, cool it, then tear it apart.

got it. easy.

3/4 a can of frosting.

don't forget to clip the Box Tops for your favorite school!

mix it together - not very yummy looking.

 and then roll them into balls - but make sure you have atleast 48- panic a little while you are doing it that you might not have 48, so pinch a few balls down to size - there you go - 

messy hands and 48 cake balls

 now one of the pains for me was finding styrofoam that could hold 48 cake pops.

I had to go to 3 stores to get enough that was thick enough to hold them

And even 3 rows was too much for one block - argh!

 So after chilling (not freezing) the cake balls, the actually dipping was easy.

But why do they look all misshapen?  Bakerellas are all perfectly round.....

I took 30 minutes to make each tiny bow for the heads of these girls....

4 1/2 hours later and here is my finished product.

hmmm.

not so pretty.

especially when they should have looked like this:

What went wrong?

1. It took too long - It was exhausting!!

2. my edible markers would not write on the frosting well.

3. It took too long- I had laundry to fold that day!!

4. I managed to "overload" one side of the styrofoam block too much and the whole thing tipped over when they had just been dipped.

4. It took too long - I have a baby!!!

5. The noses were all pointy, not perfect dots like "she" can make.

6.  It took too stinkin' long.

So, how did I fix the 47 other cake balls to make them ready for the shower the next day?

I melted down some white wafers, added blue tint, turn the pops upside down and drizzled away!!

At this point, I am pretty sure the crafting Gods are against me.  I'm done - don't come waving your adorable homemade Easter eggs at me any more (you know who I'm talking to!!).

I will buy it from now on.

What's My Purpose?

Years ago, when blogs first started popping up, I thought, "What's the purpose?"  Why would anyone want to put all their thoughts & feelings out there for the whole world to read.

I stayed away.

But then I found myself emailing photos to family with updates on what the kiddos were doing.

weekly.

it was a lot.

So, I thought what a great way to share what's going on in the lives of the Darlings in Texas with family.  Ah ha - there's my purpose!

and the first edition of The Texas Darlings was born.

I posted strictly family stuff for almost 2 years.  I was working full time and not blogging very often.  It was only read by my family (or so I hoped it got read :)) ).  Looking back on it now, I am so thankful that I did it - I have so many great family moments that I captured that I might have missed or forgotten otherwise.  Ah - what a great purpose!

When I got laid off in early 2009, before the baby was born, I found myself with a lot of free time on my hands and got sucked into the blogging community.  I started joining into weekly memes and had a lot of fun reading about other moms' adventures.  I found great ideas and inspiration out there.  I joined a blogging Bible study.  I took an online photography class.  And I had so much fun getting to know people online.

I found my focus shifting a bit - I'd post about my family still, but I found other things to post about too - my favorite things, favorite pictures.......but my purpose remained focused on my family.

Blogging became a way to disconnect from the real world, chronicle my adventures in raising a baby after 8 years of not having one, and record all those memories that I was soon to be forgetting.

I made friends ~ how can you not when you are reading what is going on in each others lives & minds.  When you blog, you tend to know what is going on with someone in California & Florida better than your next door neighbor.  And the relationships were healthy.  I have received notes of encouragement and random gifts in the mail from my blogging friends.  We are friends on The Facebook and The Twitter and Hey Tell and we text each other.  And we have never met in person.

But.  Don't tell anyone this. I didn't discuss my blogging community of friends with many of my IRL friends.  I didn't think anyone who is not involved in blogging would understand it or could relate to it. Especially my family - I thought they would make fun of me.  (I know, I'm a crappy friend....don't be mad)

And then I lost my blog.

Oh how upset I was - I swear I developed 3 ulcers over that 3 day period. The thought of losing all those years of journaling my families' life.  The thought of starting over. The thought of losing touch of my friends.  It was very upsetting.

And I got it back.

And my purpose is renewed.

I am creating a work of art.  Yeah, it's not a masterpiece for the general public.  And I am probably the only person who can appreciate it.  But I know that I will be so very happy that I am chronicling not only what is going on in Sissy, Brody, Bubba, Matt, and my life.....but I am blogging about what is relevant in 2011.  And when I read it 20 years from now, I am going to appreciate that I blogged about what a fun birthday Sis had.  How lucky we were to go to Disney World at Christmas.  How blessed we are to live in Texas and are a strong & happy family.

And I don't care what anyone thinks about what I write about.  Because I am not blogging for them anymore.  I'm blogging for me.

And my wonderful friends who I have made?  Matt put it nicely the other night - he said that we have made personal connections with each other.  Who cares if we live down the block or 15 hours away from each other?  God puts people in each others lives for a reason.  And I know that he brought my blogging friends into my life for a purpose.  And I can not be ashamed or want to hide that.

So My Purpose?

I don't have one - I want to blog about any & everything.  Have fun.  Meet people. And ensure that I publish this so that if it does disappear one day, I have an incredible record of the wonderful experience blogging has brought me.

Thank you all for being a part of my purpose.

Growing Up with All My Children......

I heard a nasty rumor yesterday.  And I didn't believe it.  Until I saw it on the front page of the USA Today as I checked out of the HEB this morning.

ABC canceled All My Children.

what??

seriously??

I have such mixed feelings over this.

Let me explain.

I grew up watching All My Children - no, I really did - my mom (and her mom and her sister) all watched it from the very beginning - so I remember seeing it on tv in the background, overhearing conversations about it with my mom & grandma, and so inevitably, I started watching it along with her as a teenager.

By the time I was 18, I was hooked.  As I  headed to college and did not own a VCR, I had to schedule my classes around All My Children.  Yeah - I really did.  Somehow Organic Chemistry didn't get picked over AMC - go figure.

When I finally could own a tv & vcr, I taped it - sometime taping all 5 days in a row so I could fast forward through it all to get to the parts I really liked to watch.  And when the dvr came along?  I could zip right through my soap in less than 15 mins if I wanted to.

I even went so far as to meet the famous Susan Lucci at a perfume signing at....

don't laugh...


a Walmart!

(y'all, she was the most gracious, sweetest person.....)

I never really questioned why I liked it.  I didn't care about the bogus story lines - I mean who can't live through a bombing, tornado, kidnapping, airplane crash, and bear mauling? All in one year???

Hasn't everyone had their fiancee ride off a cliff on a motorcycle only to appear 2 years later perfectly fine?

Or find out that you have had a long lost twin sister that your alcoholic mother "gave" to another family?

Or had a baby in a cabin in the woods during a flood?  And was switched with another baby that was born that same night in that same cabin?  Confused much??  Nah- it all makes sense when you watch it....

And that I did - throughout all my working years, I always made time for my show.  Even if I only had an hour to catch a whole week's worth, I'd get it in.

Matt would laugh at me, call me ridiculous, but then ask, "so are Erica & Jack back together?"  Uh huh. Ridiculous.

I can't say it was the story lines or amazing acting that drew me in....I think it was more the tradition of watching it....discussing it with my family as it the characters on AMC were our family.....

Ironically, now that I am home with the kids, I have stopped watching it.  It got too complicated, I got too busy, I got too bored...who knows?  I just stopped.

Yet hearing that it has been canceled makes me a little sad....as if part of my childhood traditions is going away with it.

The Great & the Least,

The Rich & the Poor,

The Weak & the Strong,

In Sickness & in Health,

In Joy & in Sorrow,

In Tragedy & Triumph

You are ALL MY CHILDREN......

How to Make it An Awesome Birthday....especially when it's on a Tuesday!!

I think birthdays should be the BEST day of the year...and that is why I go completely ALL OUT on my kids birthdays - from the moment they wake up to right before they go to sleep....it is the best day of the year for them!!

This year Sis turned 10 on a Tuesday....blah!!!  I know, right??  

To top it off, it was a TAKS testing day (not her grade- thank goodness!) and we had a closed campus for school - no special lunch for Sis!! :((

So I was bound & determined to make it great.

 We started off with streamers hanging from her door when she woke up - I usually do a room full of balloons, but decided to shake it up this year (or this momma forgot to buy the balloons to fill the room with....)

 And we have a special note on her bathroom mirror......

 And we had to make sure she comes downstairs to a table full of presents and her favorite breakfast served on the "You Are Special" red plate!

 She even got to open a present or two before heading to school -luck had it that she picked her "big" present from Mom & Dad that she asked for (or so she thought....)

 And I was feeling nice and allowed her open another one - this one from her brother - exactly what she asked for too - a password journal!

Since school was closed to visitors, I sent her to school with a note in her lunch and a bag full of individual ice creams (Blue Bell, of course) for her class.

When she got home, I surprised her with a Birthday Scavenger hunt!!  10 clues that took her less than 10 mins to complete (here I thought i would be an elaborate hunt!!).  And all the clues led her to her BIG BIRTHDAY SURPRISE......

A Hamster named Stella!!!!

Isn't she cute Matt?????

Even the baby can't get enough of her......

 We always have a homemade cake - I just think putting the time into making it homemade makes it that much more special......

 And I let her spend the afternoon doing what she wanted to do...no homework on her birthday!!!

 My Sassy 10-year-old!!

 After her favorite birthday dinner (chicken cordon blue and homemade mac & cheese), we invited her sweet friend over to sing Happy Birthday and have some cake!!

Happy Birthday Sis!!

Was it a good one?

yup, I think it was!

It's the April Vlog Y'all!!

It's that time again! April Vlog - Join up with Shawn & Mamarazzi as we get to "see everyone" in conversations around bloggyland. Click on the button below and visit some really fun gals in a unique way!!







I was totally prepared this time too!! I "filmed" this a week & a half ago!  Our first assignment is a dialect vlog - we were asked to say a bunch of words and answer questions to hear how we answer them.  Here goes....

Secondly, we were asked to show everyone our favorite room in the house.

As usual ladies, I love me some vlog - I can talk...can you tell??  Come back soon to see how the Cake Pops turned out.  Let me just tell you...Bakerella, I am not!

These Are My Confessions.....

Whew! It's been a busy week here - and the school Spring Carnival is tonight - so I am quickly going to post this and head on up to school to schlep ice into the Cafeteria, get all messy making Cotton Candy, and count money all night.  Sounds glamorous right?  And I can't wait!!


So, joining up with Friday Confessionals hosted by Mamarazzi & Glamazon.  Go check out some of the great confessionals over at their blogs - Seriously, Friday has come to be one of the most entertaining bloggy days ~ Go check out what my friend MiMi did to her neighbors this week.....I promise you, you will LOL.

I Confess...
That I may or may not have been a little emotional with my sweet girl turning 10 this week.  Ok, I was - hard to imagine it has been ONLY 10 years since I was blessed with her.  So, yeah, I was a little emotional - how can you not be with posts like this and this and this. I think I'm over the tears...sniff sniff...maybe not.

I Confess...
That I put A LOT of effort into making my kiddo's birthdays special and my hubby thinks I'm crazy for it.  So what if I write "Happy 10th Birthday Sissy" all over her bathroom mirror in lipstick, hang crepe paper on her door, hang a big pink banner from the staircase, have a pile of presents waiting for her on the kitchen table, and serve her huge cinnamon rolls (her favorite) on the Red "You Are Special" Plate?  It is HER DAY!!  She was a great sport b/c in Texas, it was TAKS testing day, which meant NO campus visitors...so no lunch or school celebration on her birthday...I made up for it with a special scavenger hunt when she got home...more about that next week....

I Confess...
That I may have brought a rodent in our house.  Her name is Stella and Miss Sis said it was the "best Birthday present EVER!!!"  Take that Dad!  He was totally against getting her a hamster...and still is.  But little Stella has won our hearts...... We'll see how we feel about her in a month.

I Confess...
That i had about 16 projects going at once this week and Dad was out of town at the Master's and we managed to get them all done with little to no major meltdowns.  I mean who plans a birthday, 3 movies for Darling Memories, a book report (which we made a 4th movie for), making a stuffed animal out of paper, AND a Spring Carnival all in the same week?  Bubba may have had a little meltdown at Hobby Lobby yesterday that may have resulted in some minor "mental counting" by me...but we all survived.

Now we just have to get through today and 2 soccer games and a sleepover with 5 girls tomorrow...can Sunday get here soon enough??

With that, I leave you with my little rocker..... and yes - that's a High School Musical microphone.  He's partial to "Fabulous"

Have an awesome weekend y'all!