Super Bowl 2010

The Saints Did It!   Wasn't it GREAT???  I'm going to try to get around to visiting everyone, and I really appreciate your sweet comments! Keep 'em coming!

I didn't get to watch most of the game - I was in the kitchen alot, and trying to get around and visit with all the young people.  We had a house full! Our college age kids class at church, well they range from 18 to early 20's, single, and they've been slowly growing this class. Most of the kids that grew up at our church have gone off to college which  leaves a handful of "homies" and we're gradually picking up a few from UT-Tyler and Tyler Jr. College.  We had the class teacher/sponsor and his wife, another adult couple helping out with food and me and Tony AND about 20 young people.  Our church had an early evening service at 3:30 and everybody came over to our house after the devo.

I had ordered 4 family size pizzas from Papa Murphy's, which is the ONLY place to get pizza nowadays. THank goodness for a double oven! We went to Wingstop and picked up buckets of hot wings, we had smoked sausage in the chafing dish (which we don't get to use much so this was a great opportunity).  I had made a huge bowl of homemade salsa, tons of chips and layered Mexican dip, veggies and crackers and M&M's and "trash" all scattered around. AND we had 4 desserts.  My favorite was the Sopapilla Cheesecake that my son's girlfriend Lindsey made.  I personally taste-tested it 3-4 times to make sure it was edible for the kids to eat.  The cutest dessert prize goes to Tara!  She brought 2 homemade little single layer cakes that were decorated for each team!  One was white with a blue horseshoe and the other was gold with the black fleur de lis!  They were so cute & I appreciated her thoughtfulness and the time she put into those cakes!

The kids got a huge kick out of our "redneck cooler".  Tony put all the soft drinks and water bottles in the washing machine and iced 'em all down good.  The laundry room is right next to the kitchen, so it was fun to see the kids all digging in the washing machine getting their drinks!  Very easy, and easy to empty! No hassle whatsoever! And the washing machine is clean and you don't have to worry about cleaning out your cooler!

Sooooo, we all surfed the food island and bar and washing machine all evening and stuffed our faces and sprawled out on the couches, chairs and floor and hooted and hollered for our teams - it was a mixed crowd on teams.  Lots of yelling and shuffling and scuffling but can you believe it? NOTHING WAS SPILLED ON CARPET OR FURNITURE!  Wow - they did good!  I had even put a Mexican blanket on the coffee table so they could eat there & I wouldn't have to worry about it!  A couple of the guys played soccer out in the front yard until dark - they weren't real interested in the game.  I think everyone had a good time.

Sad part is --- don't be mad -  I left my stupid camera in my car which we had left at the church building. We had planned on going back to get it before the game and we ran out of time.  I'm so sad that I don't have any pictures to show you!!!  (I slyly thought that I'd put this part at the end of my post so you would have to read it all to the end to find the pictures.  If I put it at the beginning, you might not read the post! Sorry!)  So I'm going to post a picture for you that has absolutely NOTHING to do with this SuperBowl post!

I hope ya'll have a great day.  Looks like we're in for more bad weather.  I set out my potatoes Saturday and some cabbage and broccoli. May be too soon. I hope they make it - we're supposed to have freezing weather again this week.  Hey, Lowe's has the broccoli and cabbage plants setting outside already. Help me people - do you think they'll make it?

Happy SuperBowl!

Hey girlfriends!  Been purty busy the last few days - will be out of pocket for a few more - we've got LOTS to catch up on at the farm AND we're hosting a SuperBowl party for some of the young people from church at OUR house!  It should be fun but there's ALOT to do!  I'm sure they'll be HUNGRY!!!  Have a good weekend!

NATIVE TEXAN AND PROUD OF IT!!!

Somebody sent me this email the other day, and so I can't take credit for it. But if you don't mind reading a long post, you might find out some interesting things about our great state of Texas and why we're so proud!  I know you're all proud of your own states, too, but here goes: 

This is for all those native Texans out there - and you know who you are!!!

Have you ever looked at a map of the world? Look at Texas with me just for a second. That picture, with the Panhandle and the Gulf Coast , and the Red River and the Rio Grande is as much a part of you as anything ever will be. As soon as anyone anywhere in the world looks at it they know what it is. It's Texas . Pick any kid off the street in Japan and draw him a picture of Texas in the dirt and he'll know what it is. What happens if I show you a picture of any other state? You might get it maybe after a second or two, but who else would? And even if you do, does it ever stir any feelings in you?

In every man, woman and child on this planet, there is a person who wishes just once he could be a real live Texan and get up on a horse or ride off in a pickup. There is a little bit of Texas in everyone.

Texas is the Alamo . Texas is 183 men standing in a church, facing thousands of Mexican nationals, fighting for freedom, who had the chance to walk out and save themselves, but stayed instead to fight and die for the cause of freedom. John Wayne paid to do the movie himself . That is the Spirit of Texas .

We send our kids to schools named William B. Travis and James Bowie and Davy Crockett, and do you know why? Because those men saw a line in the sand and they decided to cross it and be heroes.

Texas is Sam Houston capturing Antonio Lopez de Santa Ana at San Jacinto .
Texas is huge forests of Piney Woods like the Davy Crockett and Sam Houston National Forests .
Texas is breathtaking mountains in the Big Bend .
Texas is the unparalleled beauty of bluebonnet fields in the Texas Hill Country.
Texas is floating the rivers of the Hill Country on a hot summer day.
Texas is the beautiful, warm beaches of the Gulf Coast of South Texas .
Texas is beaches you can drive on and have many memorable bon-fires with close friends.
Texas is that warm feeling you get when someone asks where you're from.
Texas is the shiny skyscrapers in Houston and Dallas.
Texas is world record bass from places like Lake Fork .
Texas is Mexican foods like nowhere else, not even Mexico .
Texas is chicken fried steak and world famous Bar-B-Q.

Texas is the Fort Worth Stockyards, Bass Hall, the Ballpark in Arlington and the Astrodome. (guess now, the Reliant Stadium too)..

Texas is larger-than-life legends, like Michael DeBakey, Ann Richards, Denton Cooley, Willie Nelson, Buddy Holly, Gene Autry, Audie Murphy, Tommy Lee Jones, Waylon Jennings, Farrah Fawcett, Janis Joplin, Sandra Bullock, Kris Kristofferson, Tom Landry, Eva Longoria, Darrell Royal, ZZ Top, Eric Dickerson, Earl Campbell, Nolan Ryan, Sam Rayburn, Howard Hughes, George H.. W. Bush, Lyndon B. Johnson, and let's not forget GEORGE STRAIT- PANTERA, the Big Bopper, Tex Ritter, George Jones, Clay Walker, Mark Chestnut, to name ONLY a few.

Texas is great companies like Dell Computer, Texas Instruments, EDS and Compaq, Whataburger, Southwest Airlines, Bell Helicopter and LOCKHEED MARTIN AEROSPACE, Home of the F-16 Jet Fighter and the JSF Fighter, Valero.

Texas is NASA.
Texas is huge herds of cattle, beautiful horses and miles of crops.
Texas is home to the world famous King Ranch.
Texas is home to the most amazing sunsets of gold over an empty field.
Texas is hundreds of deer running around neighborhoods and fields.
Texas is skies blackened with doves and fields full of deer.

Texas is a place where towns and cities shut down to watch the local high school football game on Friday nights and for the Cowboys on Monday Night Football, and for the night In Old San Antonio River Parade in San Antonio.

To drive across Texas , is to drive 1/3 the way across the United States .
Texas is ocean beaches, deserts, lakes and rivers, mountains and prairies, and modern cities.
If it isn't already in Texas , you probably don't need it.
No one does anything bigger or better than it's done in Texas .

By federal law, Texas is the only state in the U.S. that can fly its flag at the same height as the U.S. Flag. Think about that for a second. You fly the Stars and Stripes at 20 feet in Maryland , California , or Maine , and your state flag, whatever it is, goes at 17 feet. You fly the Stars and Stripes in front of Klein Oak High or anyplace else at 20 feet, the Lone Star flies at the same height - 20 feet. Do you know why? Because it is the only state that was a Republic before it became a state.

source - http://www.wheelmeon.org/capitol.jpg

Also, being a Texan is as high as being an American down here. Our capitol is the only one in the country that is taller than the capitol building in Washington , D.C. And we can divide our state into five states at any time if we wanted to!  We can become a republic again at any time the voters of Texas choose, and we included these things as part of the deal when we came on.

That's the best part, right there.

Texas even has its own power grid!! And don't even lie to yourself... Did I mention Live music capitol of the world?

If you are a REAL TEXAN, you won't even need to be told to pass this on.

God Bless Texas !

Did The Gopher See His Shadow This Morning?

My gophers certainly did not see their shadows this morning. They are DEAD.  Every last one of them that steps tooth in my yard.  I promised them that this would happen, but they just don't listen.  Dear Vee, I'm sorry that I cannot make the same disclaimer #4 as you -

**Disclaimer: No gopher or groundhog was maimed or killed in the making of this here particular post.

Actually, I think I can - if it's about the actual post, there were NO gophers killed in the MAKING OF THIS POST.  Oh good, I'm off the hook with Vee..... She loves the GOPHER COUNT on my sidebar!

If you're interested in reading more about these groundhogs' distant relatives and my on-going battle to rid this earth of these ugly little varmints, you can go HERE to read the post GOPHER BROKE !!!

So, I don't really don't think any of my gophers saw their shadows this morning.  Now, I guess some of their relatives that live out in the pastures could.  But if they even so much as cast a small little shadow or they stick one little toe (or tooth) into the parameters of my yard at the farm, they are dead meat.  Are you listening gophers??????  Smiling at me trying to look cute  with your old yellow choppers won't get you anywhere.  It's a lost cause!  My mission in life is to put you guys into permanent hibernation!

Sand Flat Farm Artist Studio

Okay my peeps - my husband has been trying to get me to do this for quite some time, so I'm gonna take a stab at it.

A few years ago, I was in an online art gallery, and I still have giclee prints from several of my original oil paintings.  I have been trying to get some good quality photos of them so I could put the giclees in an Etsy shop.  I'm attempting to do this so bear with  me. It's taken me 2 hrs tonight to get one photo on there.  I'm technologically challenged. I needed my daughter or son here to help me, but they were unavailable so I winged it. (or wunged it - whatever)

I will be adding more giclees to my shop as time allows as well as trying to do some new original smaller items.   I do all my painting in oils and occasionally acrylics.  Sometimes I'll throw in a watercolor with some pen and ink.   Giclee is simply a fancy French word for reproductions or quality prints on canvas.  They look like originals in other words.  The online gallery closed down and I've been thinking of what else I could do with them, so Tony volunteered me for Etsy.  So here we go.

You can see a few of my paintings down on the bottom right of my sidebar.  Now that I've advertised that I'm doing this, I'll have to follow through with it.  Here's my link - Sand Flat Farm Artist Studio.  You all can hold me accountable. I simply HAVE to get back painting.  I NEED to do it, even if it's only for ME.  So, take a look, enjoy, no strings attached!

EDITED TO ADD:  Giclee is pronounced "Zhe-clay".  Also, I will be posting new photos on the etsy shop of my works. The one on there right now is a "make-do". Probably shouldn't have used it until I've got the good ones...