Happy 2nd Anniversary, My Love!

Two years ago today I married the man of my dreams. We had a wonderful weekend of celebration at Sylvan Dale Guest Ranch in Loveland, CO. About 150 of our friends and family came in on Thursday night to enjoy a couple days of food, fun, laughs, hiking, shopping, fishing and horseback riding before the big day. Hands down it was the best weekend of our lives!

The fall weather and color of the aspen trees was glorious. Here my dad is giving me away at the altar.

Reciting our vows that we wrote ourselves by combining different bits and pieces of others we found in books.

Hubby said the parts in blue; I said the parts in pink and we said the parts in black together:

I, [hubby's name], choose you, [my name], and I, [my name], choose you, [hubby's name] in the presence of our friends and families, to be my wife, to be my husband, from this time forward.

To love you and to be a comfort and safe haven in your life, to hold you close and listen deeply when you speak, to nourish you with my gentleness, to uphold you with my strength, to weigh the effects of the words I speak and the things I do, to never take you for granted, and to always give thanks for your presence in my life, loving you now and as you grow and develop into all that God intends. I will love you when we are together and when we are apart; when our lives are at peace and when they are in turmoil; when I am proud of you and when I am disappointed in you; in times of rest and in times of work. I will be at your side through all of life’s challenges and joys as we become one in spirit before God. I promise to give of myself to you in every way I can, and to care for you and protect you as I would my own self. I promise to be faithful to you in this life, and to be honest and true to our union until God, in his perfect wisdom and timing, calls one of us Home.

Lighting the unity candle. It was so windy that it never actually lit, but we sure loved laughing about it and joking that we hoped it didn't symbolize our marriage!

Leaving in a gorgeous horse drawn carriage. Our guests had the opportunity to go for rides while we were having our photos taken during cocktail hour.

One of my favorite photos from the day. The weather was absolutely perfect...just started to snow as we drove to where we were staying that night and the next day all the leaves started to fall from the trees. Thank you, Jesus!

We used this photo (below) in black and white for our thank you card. We had glossy postcards made and in the bottom left corner I put "Thanks from the Mr. & Mrs." I still see a lot of them framed as photos in friends and families houses.

A kiss during our first dance. The reception was in a covered pavilion and we strung white lights through all the rafters and then draped the posts with cream muslin. It was dreamy!

Thanks for indulging me in my wedding flashback. I dreamed about that day since I was a little girl and it turned out even better than I could have imagined.

Hubby, thank you for a great first two years of marriage! The highlights from this year include: our honeymoon trip to the Cook Islands in February, a trip to Italy in April, the birth of our second nephew, many road trips for work, and a lot of fun times working on renovating our house. Looking forward to what this next year holds for us!

Am I the last one...

...to get hooked on the Twilight series?

All the rage between my friends on Facebook a few months ago was how great the Twilight books were. I'm not normally one to read the latest "must read" (case in point I've never read any of the Harry Potter books nor do I think I ever will), but something about how many different people were saying these books were good caught my attention.

I picked up the first one a couple weeks ago and was wondering what all the hype was about until I got about half way through the first one. Then, I'm said to say, like the rest of the world, I was hooked.

I quickly finished Twilight and then moved on to New Moon. A couple days ago I finished Eclipse and now I'm anxiously waiting until there's a copy of Breaking Dawn available in the library to be checked out.

It's a very good series and a fast and entertaining read.

I still haven't decided if I want to see the movie, though. Any suggestions from those of you who read the book and saw the movie? Is it worth it?

And, if you were Bella, would you rather be with Jacob or Edward? Call me crazy, but I think I'd choose Jacob.

Gettysburg Photos

I mentioned here that hubby and I spent some time with my parents in Gettysburg over Labor Day weekend. We had such a great time! Here are some photos from the trip:

We met up with our friends Luke & Melissa for breakfast at Cracker Barrel. God provided a ride home for hubby from the house in a neat way. Luke & Melissa were going to come visit us for Labor Day if we didn't have any plans, but I told them we were going to be in Gettysburg. Mel just laughed because they had already decided if we weren't available to drive out to visit her aunt and uncle who lived near Gettysburg instead. So, hubby hopped a ride from the house with them and I still got to see them for a little bit at breakfast. How fun!

The rest of that day, my parents, hubby & I toured the brand new visitors center. They had a great video, cyclerama, and museum that was very informative. We also did some antique shopping where I found a beautiful silver tray for $12!

Before heading to the ghost tour (which was very lame, but gave us great things to laugh about) that night, we had dinner at Dobbins House. It's one of the oldest homes in Gettysburg and even has a spot where you can see where they hid slaves on the Underground Railroad.

The next morning was our horseback tour and we were all look forward to it a lot. It was so much fun and the weather was awesome. But we were all a little sore at the end!

Here is a Confederate soldier (renactor of course) that we came across right near where Pickett's Charge started. We actually saw him as we were doing a driving tour of the fields after the horse ride.

On the horseback tour, we came across this barn which had a hole shot through it with a canon. It's located beneath the two diamonds in the brick. See it?

L - R: My dad on Stormin' Norman, my mom on Robbie, Hubby on Red, and myself on Simon. I was so excited to get a Paint because I love Paints. He was such a sweet horse. The headphones are how we heard the tour guide who was stationed in the middle of the pack.

Group photo after a great ride.

Our last stop before heading out of town was at the National Cemetery. It was here that Abe Lincoln delivered the Gettysburg Address. This was one of the many canons situated throughout the cemetery.

On the driving tour, we came across so many monuments honoring the brave men who fought so valiantly for their beliefs. My favorite was probably this one that honored the men from the state of Maryland.
They were one of the few states that had men fighting on both sides of the battle and this monument depicts a Union soldier on the left and his Confederate brother on the right. Very moving.

The fields where this battle was fought are absolutely breathtaking. It's hard to imagine the numerous men who were lying wounded and dead on this particular field after Pickett's Charge.

If you've never been to Gettysburg (or any of the battlefields for that matter), I highly recommend you go. It's definitely an awesome experience!

Fall Decorating

Just like everybody else around blog world these days, I'm so ready for fall. It's absolutely my favorite time of year (besides Christmas or my birthday or vacation...) and I can't wait for it to roll around.

A couple nights ago I was finally bitten by the crafting bug again (that or I decided it was time to clean out some of the "junk" taking up space in my craft room) so I decided to do a mini makeover on the living room.

Now, I consider myself a member of the P.O.O.P.I.E. club (shout out to the Nester), but for some reason when I came across these at Michael's fall clearance last year they were just calling out my name.

I'm still not 100% satisfied with them - some times I look at them and really like them, other times they just scream, "Look at us! We're FAKE!". What do you think keep or give away on Craig's List?

(Tangent: What is up with my camera? I definitely think it's time to get a new one. The flash just loves to wash everything out when it's on and if it's off everything just looks grainy. Ugh!)

I also did a mini redo on the mantle. The gun is a must stay - past done through the fam' from the Civil War, but I did add the books, vases, jars filled with acorns and rearranged the dried hydrangeas in a new vase and added some faux leaves. I love the Shakespeare print that I picked up on the cheap a few years ago and leaned that up there too. Still not the best mantle scape, but much better than the mini bunny I still had sitting up there from Easter! Yeah. Guess I've been a little busy.


Now give it to me straight. The flowers on the side table...bad or good?

Happy Birthday Chelsea!

Happy Birthday, Chelsea! Can't believe you're already in the later part of your 20s. Would you please stop getting older because it means I'm getting older too. I don't think I'll ever stop seeing you in my mind as my "little" sister - even if you did get married and have two kids before my 2nd wedding anniversary!

Remember when we used to love having matching Easter bonnets and insisted on Mom buying them for us only to be too embarrassed to actually wear them to church? Or how about me teasing you about ladybugs and ghosts? Or all the times we'd make forts in our room or throw Care Bears out our window (oh wait I guess that was just me)? Then there was the time we acted like pirates...

Have to admit that your "pirate face" is definitely much more fear inducing than mine! Sure there a few times (perhaps I should say a lot of times) we'd fight, or I'd make you call me "drill Sargent" when I was left in charge, but through it all I think you turned out pretty darn cool.

Mom always said we'd grow up to be great friends someday, and while I admit at times I thought it'd never happen seeing how we're complete opposites, I'm glad to see that like normal, "Mom knew best." You are definitely one of my very best friends and I'm so glad I have a sister like you.

Thanks so much for the stellar example you set on being a godly wife - especially through the challenging and difficult times - and for giving me two very handsome nephews. Looking forward to many more years as sisters and friends.

Happy Birthday!

On the road again...

It seems like I say this every couple weeks! It will be so nice when we're not living between two houses in two completely different states.

Hubby and I are leaving on a jet plane again tonight to go work on the house some more. Hopefully this trip we'll finally get some framing done in the kitchen so we can continue to keep that project moving forward.

From there we're heading directly down to South Carolina, Charleston in fact, for a friend's wedding. While there we're going to try to hit Fort Sumter to get the South's take on the whole Civil War. After all, we did get the North's viewpoint not too long ago.

I have a few posts that will publish while I'm away, but for the most part you get silence from this part of blog land. What's new for me lately, though, right?

Cherry Cola Birthday

It was yet another birthday at work today. This one was for someone turning the big 4-0 and he most definitely did not want people to know about it. So, I was happy to oblige. My making sure EVERYONE knew how old he was going to be! Ha!

I use the guys at work as my guinea pigs and today was no exception. I was flipping through my Woman's Day magazine the other day and came across a delicious recipe for a coconut marble bundt cake. It sounded (and looked) downright heavenly. I had all the ingredients except the coconut and well, you just can't make a COCONUT marble bundt cake without coconut. Running to the store was definitely out of the question because that place is a zoo on Sunday afternoons and I was not about to get trampled in that stampede.

So, it was on to plan B.

After going on a hunt for supplies, I came up with a boxed chocolate cake mix and some canned frosting. B-O-R-I-N-G.

In an attempt to jazz things up, I pulled out my Southern Living cookbook (thanks again so much to Tom and Jen for that wonderful gift a couple years ago...I love that thing!) and found a recipe for a Root beer cake that used a boxed cake mix. Of course I didn't have root beer, but I did have a can of cherry coke. Where it came from I have no idea because there are absolutely no cherry coke drinkers in my house whatsoever.

The recipe still sounded a little too dull for me so I then looked to see if there was a can of cherry pie filling anywhere and I was in luck!

For the cake, I used one box chocolate cake mix, 1-1/4 cup cherry coke, 2 eggs and 1/4 cup oil. I blended all those together until moistened. Then I added 1/2 can cherry pie filling and stirred that together. Pour into a greased and floured bundt pan and bake for about 35-40 minutes at 350, or until a toothpick inserted comes out clean. Let cool and then remove from pan.

For the icing, I used the rest of the can of cherry coke (about 1/4 cup), the rest of the pie filling, 3 T cocoa, 1 tsp. almond extract and about 1 cup of powdered sugar (or until it's how sweet you desire). Place all ingredients in a small saucepan and heat over medium heat until cocoa and powdered sugar have dissolved. Cool and then pour over cake.

And the verdict from my guinea pigs?

Not too bad. Definitely didn't get the rave reviews or the desire for 2nd helpings from everyone that my cakes have received in the past, but they said it was good.

Personally, the cake had too much "fake cherry" flavor for my liking. The cake had barely any cherry flavor, but the glaze was a little too strong in the cherry flavor. Definitely not my favorite cake, and I probably won't be making it again. But, it was fun to experiment.

Still have not forgotten

I admit this year I've been so busy and sidetracked, I completely forgot that today was Sept. 11.

Eight years ago today there was mass terror inflicted not only on the people of NYC, but on our country as a whole. Last year I reflected on where I was on that day. Where were you?

I cried today just like I do every year when I remember those I know who lost loved ones that day and just recalling the events of that fateful day all those years ago.

The radio station I listen played this poem this morning and I thought it very fitting:

MEET ME IN THE STAIRWELL

You say you will never forget where you were when you heard the news on September 11, 2001. Neither will I.

I was on the 110th floor in a smoke filled room with a man who called his wife to say "Goodbye." I held his fingers steady as he dialed. I gave him the peace to say, "Honey, I am not going to make it, but it is OK ... I am ready to go."

I was with his wife when he called as she fed breakfast to their children. I held her up as she tried to understand his words and as she realized he wasn't coming home that night.

I was in the stairwell of the 23rd floor when a woman cried out to Me for help. "I have been knocking on the door of your heart for 50 years!" I said. "Of course I will show you the way home - only believe on Me now."

I was at the base of the building with the Priest ministering to the injured and devastated souls. I took him home to tend to his Flock in Heaven. He heard my voice and answered.

I was with the Firefighters, the Police Officers, the Emergency Workers. I was there, watching each brave step they took.

I was on all four of those planes, in every seat, with every prayer. I was with the crew as they were overtaken. I was in the very hearts of the believers there, comforting and assuring them that their faith has saved them.

I was in Texas, Kansas, London. I was standing next to you when you heard the terrible news. Did you sense Me?

I want you to know that I saw every face. I knew every name - though not all know Me. Some met Me for the first time on the 86th floor. Some sought Me with their last breath. Some couldn't hear Me calling to them through the smoke and flames; "Come to Me...this way...take My hand." Some chose, for the final time, to ignore Me. But, I was there.

I did not place you in the Tower that day. You may not know why, but I do. However, if you were there in that explosive moment in time, would you have reached for Me?

September 11, 2001 was not the end of the journey for you. But someday your journey will end. And I will be there for you as well.

Seek Me now while I may be found. Then, at any moment, you know you are "ready to go." I will be in the stairwell of your final moments.

~~~ God ~~~

Written by: Stacey Randall

Giddy Up!

I've been looking forward to this Labor Day weekend for a VERY long time.

I picked my mom and dad up at the airport last night and we're on our way to pick up hubby in Dillsburg, PA. He hoped a ride with our friends Luke & Melissa (our reno buddies) from the house to their relatives house there. Once we get him, we're off to GETTYSBURG!

I love Civil War history (don't ask me to recall a single date or name, though because I enjoy learning it, not remembering the specifics!) and can't wait to tour this battlefield again.

The first time I went was about 8 years ago with my parents. This time we're taking hubs for the first time (even though he's lived three hours away from it for his whole entire life) and we're touring the fields on HORSEBACK! How awesome is that?!

We're also going on a ghost walking tour tonight where they'll tell us stories from that time in history.

And to top it all off, the weather is supposed to be gorgeous.

Now, where are my boots and hat?

House Update: We now have a (sub)floor!

I've been meaning to post these for awhile, but just haven't made the time to sort through the hundreds of photos I have to try to give you an idea of the progression of the project. But, today is DIY Day at A Soft Place to Land, so I'm linkin' up!

We were out working on the house for three weeks in August and are glad to say we're finally at the point where we can start putting things back together instead of tearing them apart.

On the way out, we stopped at a Dairy Queen to enjoy yummy blizzards and to give hubby an opportunity to fix the trailer brakes that got severed on the road.

We were very pleased when we went out to the yard the first morning we were there and discovered 10' worth of gorgeous black raspberry bushes. I picked a few to put on top of pound cake and they were so yummy! I'm very glad I picked them when I did, though, because the next day our next door neighbor had a worker trimming trees in their backyard and she decided to hop on our side of the fence and trim the raspberry bushes back a foot from the fence and chopped them in half! We were so mad! Hopefully they'll recover from the shock and grow again next year.

My hubby is so handy. This was just one of the many roles he performed while there - removing part of the terrazzo stone hearth around the fireplace. He also played the role of pipe remover, mason, electrician, gardener and carpenter to name a few.

My main jobs right now consist of "clean up crew", "nail puller", "floor plan sketcher", or "cook". Guess we all have to play our role in order to get anything done, though.

Our dear friends Luke & Melissa came by for a couple days to help us out. Melissa and I were great supervisors! And, she LOVES to clean, organize, and paint so I'll definitely be having her over more often!

Luke was a HUGE help to hubby with removing the subfloor in the kitchen. We had to remove it all in order to level the joists so our new tile floor doesn't crack when we lay it down.

We also had to demo the future media room that is located directly above the kitchen. We did this now so that junk wouldn't be falling through the ceiling onto the finished kitchen. Here's what part of the room looked like when we were first looking at the house:

Part way through the demo. Still need to remove the bathroom. We have four others on this level so I think we can do without one in here! This area used to be the maid's quarters. There were three rooms, a bathroom and a hallway all in this one spot! If you look close you can kinda see where the walls would have been in the floor.

Here is where it stands for now. This past week hubby was back there working on fixing the joists that had huge chunks cut out of them for the bathroom plumbing and laying down new subfloor in that area.

This is the other half of the room before it was demolished. This picture gives you a better idea of where the three maid's bedrooms were (where the floor boards change color). Too bad those maids don't come with the house!

In the process of being demoed. This wall will hold the screen and electronic equipment, as well as the 2nd floor stop for the dumbwaiter.

All ready for insulation and drywall. Just have to finish moving the wires.

Here are some photos of the kitchen demo process to give you an idea of how far we've come. Sometimes it feels like it is taking forever, but when we look at these, we're reminded of how much work it actually entails. It's a lot more involved than the 30 minute HGTV shows lead you to believe! This is what the back door and eating area (to left of photo) looked like on move in day. See the straw in the walls?

This is what it looked like sometime late last summer/early fall.

Here is what it looked like at the beginning of this August. All the plaster is down, the trim and molding have been removed, the walls are gone, and the hardwood flooring has been removed.

Here is what it looked like for the vast majority of the time we were there last month. The joists were almost all leveled and almost ready for the new subfloor. The wall by the back door still needs to be removed to allow for new french doors.

In the process of taking the wall down.

What it looks like now! We have a (level) subfloor! Wahoo!! I never thought I'd be so excited over a floor, but this is great because now it means we can start putting it all back together. The only thing is we have to figure out one tiny problem of moving a double joist where the dumbwaiter is supposed to go before we can finish laying the last 1/4 of the subfloor. Guess our architect forgot to check for that sort of thing. Doesn't it look much more open?

Here are the photos of the other side of the kitchen. This is what it looked like when we were first looking at the house:

What it looked like last fall after we removed the plaster.

What it looked like before we pulled up the subfloor.

I don't have a picture of this angle at the lastest stage, but imagine all the stuff cleared out and the floor boards pulled up.

So, that's where we're at for now.

We head back out in another week or two and are hoping to get a start on framing the kitchen out so we can insulate it before we take a break over the winter.

Next summer is the projected date for getting the kitchen completely finished. I can't wait!

It happened again

Remember this post? Well, it happened again while I was away at the house last month, and it sure made my day!

My phone rang and it said it was my sister. When I answered it, I heard, "Hi, Aunt Bee!"

Thinking Chelsea had just put Braden on the phone, I started talking with him and we were having a good ol' conversation. He told me all about his books and the toys in his room. Then he took the phone over to "Baby Cayo" and had me talk with him.

It was all a lot of fun, but I began to wonder why I didn't hear Chelsea in the background at all. I asked Braden if he could put mommy on because I was starting to wonder if everything was okay. He proceeded to just talk to me some more.

Finally I heard my sister's voice in the background and she picks up the phone and hears me talking. She proceeds to tell me that she was in the kitchen and Braden was in his room calling me, unbeknownst to her.

I love getting unexpected calls from my nephew! Especially when he can tell who it is that he called based on the voice!

A Sweet Reward

To reward myself for finishing all my filing and for being good on my diet this week (even though my scale says I didn't drop a single pound), I rented a redbox movie and enjoyed it while eating a delicious hot fudge sundae from McDonald's.

Of course I capitalized on the opportunity to rent a chick flick seeing how hubby is still out of town.

If you haven't seen Confessions of a Shopaholic and are looking for a light hearted movie, I recommend it. Plus, the man in the movie is pretty cute, especially since he has a British accent :)

Brightens My Day

My mom sent me some photos from my nephew's 2nd birthday weekend. One of them was a photo of the cutest nephews in the whole world, and it makes me smile every time I see it.

It appears Caleb is a little scared or curious about something at Chuckie Cheese! Happy birthday, Braden! Can't believe how big you both are getting already!!

From A to Z

My hubby is away for two weeks for business and to work on the framing at our house. So, what am I doing for fun while he's away?

Filing.

Yipee!!!

Every single pile of paper we may have had stashed somewhere in either house has been pulled out, sorted, and I'm in the process of labeling and filing them away. So far it's been a two day process, but my goal is to be all done by tonight so I can move on to other more enjoyable things. Things like paying bills, washing clothes, cleaning the bathroom, grocery shopping, and entering all our receipts for the new house into an Excel spreadsheet. Fun, right?

Hopefully I can have all of that finished by this weekend so that next week I can relax and read two more books and get back to crafting!

2 Already?

It's hard to believe that my favorite little blond haired nephew is turning 2 already! It seems like just yesterday he was born. I was so excited when I got the news that my first nephew was born and I'll always remember the first time I met Braden - he was a little over a month old when he attended our wedding. I thought he looked so handsome in his little tuxedo!

I was so anxious to see him again that I arranged for my sister and Braden and me and hubby to fly in to Colorado to surprise my dad for his birthday in March 2008. Boy was he surprised! Braden was such a cute little bugger and brought all of us a bunch of laughs. Here he is with his favorite aunt!

I didn't get to attend his first birthday last August 23rd, but I definitely saw the photos and it looks like he enjoyed his cake immensely! For that birthday I made him giant papermached letters that spelled his name for him to hang in his room.

When he was one and a half he became a big brother. He is such a good big bro to baby Cayo (as he calls Caleb) and I'm sure the two will be best buds for life. Here they are at my cousin's wedding this past June. During this trip he and "Aunt Bea" had a lot of fun hanging out together!

This is the latest photo I have of my almost 2 year old nephew. Hard to believe how fast time flies (and he's not even my own kid)!! I like his wild and crazy spiky hairdo because I think it captures his zest for life.

Hope you have a fabulous birthday tomorrow, Braden! Thanks for all the laugh and joys you bring to Aunt Bea! You're the best nephew ever and I look forward to watching you learn and grow even more throughout the years. Enjoy the airplane and Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle - I hear you really enjoy playing "tuwtules" with daddy.

Wish I could be there to celebrate with you today at Chucky Cheese. I love you!

Pitas and hummus

Yesterday I talked about the raw food detox I'm on for a week to see if it will help my stomach issues at all.

I'm so ready for today to be done so I can go back to eating a wider variety of foods (oh milk how I miss you). Honestly, I'm not seeing any difference between how I feel eating "raw" and how I feel eating a normal well-balanced diet, so it just isn't worth the dreading of meal times for me.

To celebrate the return of a few carbs to my diet I'm going to celebrate this weekend my making homemade pitas and hummus. Yum!

I'm going to try this recipe I found for pitas (I don't read her blog but the recipe came up in a Google search) and Rachael Ray's hummus recipe.

Raw food anyone?

As most of you know, I've been having issues with my stomach for the past month or two.

I got sick the end of June with what I'm labeling a viral infection. It had me knocked out for 3 days with achy bones and joints, headaches and a slight fever. After three days of that, I had about a week and a half worth of a dry, hacking cough and congestion. A few days after that disappeared, my stomach became distended. It's weird. I wake up in the morning and it's flat like normal, and as soon as I visit the ladies' room (before I even eat anything) it's puffed out like I just ate two Thanksgiving dinners. It only gets larger as the day goes on regardless of how much I do or don't consume.

Now I know I've put on a couple (okay maybe 5) pounds over the past month or so, but a weight gain that slight is normally not accompanied by one not being able to button any of her pants (even the leftover size 8s from a couple years ago) due to a swollen stomach. Nor does a slight weight gain result in bad stomach cramps and occasional nausea and vomiting.

At this point some of you are probably thinking to yourself, "Maybe she's pregnant." Let's be clear on that, the resounding answer is "NO!"

After waiting a week from the appearance of the distended stomach to make sure it wasn't just related to typical PMS bloating, I decided a visit to my doctor was in order. She did a round of blood work to check for pregnancy and other things and everything was negative besides slightly elevated liver levels. She then decided to send me for an ultrasound on my liver, pancreas, gallbladder and kidneys just to make sure there was nothing abnormal there. The only thing that showed up was a small polyp on my gallbladder.

When I was in discussing these test results with her, she admitted that she really thought my pregnancy test was going to come back positive (which was not true!) and wanted to do a second round of blood work to check the liver levels again and to test for Lyme's (seeing how I live on a farm, that may have been the original thing that started everything off the end of June). She also wanted me to see my gynecologist to see if she noticed anything abnormal. She didn't notice anything out of the ordinary, but is performing a pelvic ultrasound just to make sure. I go for that this coming Monday and after we get those results and my second round blood work results, then my internist will decide whether she's going to send me for a CT scan or to a gastroenterologist.

So where does the raw food figure into this?

At this point, I'm desperate to try anything that will make it so I can actual button my pants again (Sidetrack here: Okay, so I put on 5 pounds, but I've put on the same 5 pounds before a year ago and did not have these issues of my clothes not fitting. I'm always 5 pounds within my goal weight which keeps me in the same size clothes. I am completely baffled why none of my regular size pants are fitting me and why my stomach is so huge because normally I carry my weight in my legs. Anybody have any thoughts?), and so that I don't have to wear blousy shirts so people don't think I'm pregnant, and so I can actual go the bathroom and eat a meal without getting an uncomfortably full stomach, occasional nausea and rarely vomiting.

I've looked into allergies of different kinds but I could eat the food one day and have no side effects and the very same food the next day could make me sick to my stomach. I've researched symptoms of different intestinal diseases. It sounds the closest to IBS, but we're still waiting for the results.

As far as my diet goes, I'm trying everything from eating Dannon Activia yogurt every day, reducing my carb intake and the last few days focusing on a raw food detox (where all I can eat is raw fruits and veggies…yuck for a person like me who only likes cooked veggies. After all, one can only eat so many salads in a given day!). My stomach doesn't hurt as much as normal, but stomach is still incredibly bloated and full feeling even after a simple glass of water.

So, this is what I've been dealing with lately. Don't suggest a raw food diet to any of you unless you're madly in love with eating pounds worth of raw veggies a day.

Buster Bar Dessert

This is yet another of my mom's recipes and one of my favorite summer time treats. A few years ago she made this for hubby for his 30th birthday because he loves ice cream cakes, and he's requested it each year since.

BUSTER BAR DESSERT

1 15 oz. pkg. oreos
4 T. butter, melted
1 c. margarine
3 c. powder sugar
3 sq. semisweet chocolate (3 oz.)
4 eggs
½ gallon vanilla ice cream
1-1/4 c. Spanish peanuts

Crumble cookies until fine, reserving 1/3 c. for top of dessert. Mix crumbs with butter and put in 9 x 13 pan. Set aside. Cook together margarine, sugar, chocolate, and eggs until boiling. Let cool. Spread softened vanilla ice cream over crumbs in pan. Sprinkle peanuts over ice cream. Freeze until ice cream is firm. Pour cooled sauce over peanuts. Sprinkle with reserved crumbs. Store in freezer.

Happy (Belated) Birthday, Hubby!

A couple weeks ago was hubby's 32nd birthday. We really didn't have time to do a proper celebration while we were busy working on the house, so we actually just celebrated it this past weekend with his parents, grandma and cousin and his wife.

Hubby actually received three gifts from me this year, or at least gifts that I'm declaring his birthday gifts for this year, next year, and the following year because of how much they cost! The first was new exercise equipment for the "new" house. One of those combo pull up bars/tricep dip bars/ab crunch things. The second was a brand spankin' new 10" sliding compound miter saw with laser. And the third another brand spankin' new saw - a 7" circular saw. Guess I'll just have to take the pictures of them next year and the following year to remind him he already received his gifts!

On his actual birthday, we used a gift certificate that our realtor gave us and went to a real yummy restaurant in downtown. The food was pretty good and it was even better when they actually gave us the difference that we didn't use on the gift certificate back in cash! Woohoo...a completely free meal...tip included!

This past weekend we had a birthday BBQ of ribs, coleslaw, corn on the cob, tomatoes, fresh baked zucchini bread (I had enough zucchini to make the equivalent of 8 loaves!), and baked beans. Well, we were supposed to have baked beans but I forgot to put them out until AFTER everyone had already ate. For dessert we had a repeat of last year: Buster Bar Dessert. It got pretty good reviews from everyone so I'll post the recipe soon.

Hubby originally requested a Baked Alaska but changed his mind. Guess I'll have to try my hand at one of those another time.

Happy birthday, my love! Hope you have a fabulous year!