Tried a new recipe!

Rachael Ray's Official Website

If you like chicken wings...and cornbread...you'll like this recipe!! We had it for dinner last night and it was really good. Definitely something I'll make again.

Have to say, there is nothing worse than having a mosquito bite on your toe! (Guess I will put some Windex on it)

A big surprise in North Carolina

Sometimes all it takes is a day or two away from your regular routine to make you realize that you have a whole lot of wonderful things in your life.

Sometimes, despite a bad economy and less money coming in your paycheck, you need to spend a little bit to spread some happiness.

Sometimes a surprise is all it takes to make someone else's day brighter.

All of this is true in my life today after my surprise visit to North Carolina this weekend.

My cousin Brittany is having a baby, due in October. When I got the invitation to her baby shower, despite it being in NC I immediately started planning to go. My mom was already spending the week with her parents in NC, I had tried to get time off to go with her but due to some work scheduling problems I wasn't able to get the week off. I was disappointed, but didn't give up hope. A few weeks ago I decided I was going to make the trip happen, even if it was only for two days. I bought a plane ticket to fly from Columbus to Greensboro and called my aunt and uncle to tell them I would be coming to the shower after all, but that I wanted to make it a surprise for Brittany.

The day before I left, I got my suitcase out to get ready to go,

walked out of the room for a minute and came back in to see this.

No Izzie, you can't go on the plane :-)

After a slightly chaotic night flying from Columbus to Washington D.C. en route to Greensboro...I arrived safe and sound in NC. (weather delays almost made me miss my connection)

Saturday we made our way over to my aunt and uncle's house to help them get ready for the shower. When Brittany arrived, I hid in the kitchen. As soon as she saw me she squealed and gave me a huge hug. Then the tears started...and of course the water works were flowing from both of us. (which is so surprising since hardly anyone in my family is a crier...NOT!)

After we all calmed down...we managed to get some good photos :-)

Brittany and her step mom, Jackie. (who hosted the shower)


















My mom with my cousin Kelsey (Brittany's sister)

Me with my beautiful cousins!

My mom with her mom!

Me, my mom, her brother and sister-in-law.

We laughed, we cried and had a great time at the shower.

To add to what had already been a fantastic weekend, driving on the way home Mom and I stopped in South Charleston,WV to see my best friend Kyra and her husband Bruce! We were able to stop for a little bit and have dinner with them...which really made my day!

On the way home we went to my parents house in Zanesville, so I got to see my dad and my brother..always a great thing!

And of course...I couldn't go to North Carolina without stopping at Hardee's for a hot ham-n-cheese sandwich. Seriously my favorite sandwich in the whole wide world! (and one you can't get in Columbus)

I am incredibly grateful to have such a wonderful family. Never mind the fact that we are all so spread out and sometimes it's a long time between visits, we always manage to have a great time. Despite a whirlwhind trip that lasted just over 36 hours, my heart is full of great family memories...and it was

Worth. Every. Penny.

Cards for soldiers

I recently found out about a group called Operation Write Home. It's a group where card makers will send in cards that get shipped to deployed soldiers, who can then in turn send them to their spouse/significant other/kids. All of the cards need to be homemade, and there are certain restrictions for what can go on them. For instance, glitter is apparently dangerous for our military members overseas. I, for one, did not know that, but I'm glad they pointed it out because I happen to normally use a lot of glitter.

You can send in as many cards as you like. I started going through my "stash" to see if I could challenge myself to make cards without buying anything new.

Apparently I succeeded because I just mailed 25 cards to them today! :-)

Hopefully they will like what I sent, and I can continue doing this in the future.

Excitement popped after cheaper popcorn fails to deliver

It's no secret I love popcorn. I love to make it in a pan on the stove, and when I make it, I make a ton! My favorite brand is Orville Redenbacher and I like to buy it in the 45 oz. jars.

It can get somewhat expensive since we go through so much of it. So, being the bargain person that I am, I decided to buy a different brand because I needed popcorn and the Redenbacher was almost $6 (it wasn't on sale)

BIG MISTAKE! It hardly popped, and the kernels were really dense, so it sounded like we were eating potato chips because it was so crunchy. I was really disappointed. Won't do that again!

All I wanted was a smoothie

I went to the store and decided to try a new flavor of the Yoplait frozen smoothies. You know the ones...where it has the frozen fruit and all you add is milk. The new flavor was chocolate and banana. Funny thing is, when I was checking out, the cashier scanned the bag, and then stopped. The computer asked for my birthday...you know...just like when you get carded buying alcohol. Thing is...THERE'S NO ALCOHOL IN THESE! :-)

She waved it off and then I took it home. Little did I know that wouldn't be the only problem I had with this new smoothie.

I went to make one last week. I put the stuff in the blender just like I was supposed to, turned it on and POW! I got hit with milk, all over my new shirt. Why? Because a piece of glass broke out from the blender. Now, it was an old blender so there's no crying over spilt milk here...but I was pissed I had to throw out the smoothie mix! :-)