Finally, cooler weather!

We woke up this morning to crisp, cool weather. Cool enough to merit the "big coats" as the kids would say. (True, we here don't really know what big coats are but let us dream.)

All I could think of was a cozy fire, a quiet house and a cup of hot chocolate.

The problem with that is I don't mean cocoa, I mean hot chocolate like I used to get as a kid. Growing up with an Argentinian godmother and a Spanish co-godmother I got spoiled.

When I say hot chocolate, what I mean is Chocolate a la Taza.

Chocolate a la Taza is the thickest, creamiest, richest hot chocolate in the world! You melt chocolate a la taza in simmering milk. The solid dark chocolate bar transforms hot milk into a rich and thick chocolate brew!

All you do is add about 2 or 3 squares of a Valor bar per cup of milk, which is simmering on the stove, stir occasionally until it thickens (due to the small amount of rice flour in the bar .) How thick you want your hot chocolate is up to you -- you determine its thickness by the number of chocolate squares you add to the milk; and how long you let it simmer on the stove -- usually for about two minutes or so.  You can add cinnamon or chile powder, even peppermint if you like.

 My problem now is finding the Valor chocolate bars. I had to call my mother to get the name of them, I didn't remember and now I have to check and see if the international isle at the grocery store has them or if I need to go to a specialty store like The Chocolate Bar downtown.

Sounds like a good excursion for me today. Why not, the laundry is all done and if I am grocery shopping or looking for chocolate, well....I can't possibly do all those dishes in the sink now can I?

Muahahaha... *ahem*

And in the end I still end up curled up in front of the fire with a cup of hot chocolate and my fuzzy socks. Woot!

 

 

I was online, dreaming of plans for a home library in my future, someday house that I build from the ground up. (I do this often, it's half decorated in my mind.) 

When I came across this advertisement for fake books for home libraries.

I just stared, mouth agape.  I mean I couldn't believe it. It's listed as home decor!

Now, I am not so small minded that I don't appreciate the value of enhancing life in unnatural ways. I too aspire one day getting that boob job and body lift that will make me look like a 20 year old again.....and when my oldest daughter came to me and said she wanted to change her eye color with contacts I admit it made me twitch but I tried not to close my mind to the idea that she needed to express herself. And yes, I lighten my hair but my GODS what has this world come to?  Fake books? *shudders*

You have to understand, I LOVE books. I love the feel of them, the smell of them, the turning of the pages. I love reading them, collecting them, I even love cleaning them (though I don't do it as often as I should...) but to hang fake husks of books on walls and in bookshelves...w-whats the purpose?

That to me is my worst nightmare. Padding down the stairs (cause all my dream homes have stairs doncha know...) to skim my fingers along the spines of all the glorious choices in a home library, seeking something to curl up with in front of the fire only to find *GASP* they are all fake husks of books, no stories no adventures just...the empty disappointment of finding nothing to read! It's enough to make me tear up. Who would do such a thing?

 Some might think that this blank canvas of a book shelf would be my worst nightmare but no, this is my dream! To have these kinds of shelves to fill with all my favorite books and all those books I long to own and have at my fingertips.

I would LOVE to have these in my home and someday I will. A room FULL of books to read at my leisure. A fireplace and a big over stuffed chair  to curl up in. A huge table to open up many books at one time so my children can reference anything they like. That....would be so wonderful! One day it will be mine and NO fake books allowed!

Mmmonkey bread!

I was shopping around online for something simple to make for a rainy day after school snack for the kids and found Monkey bread!

Now my kitchen smells like cinnamon rolls and I am anticipating great and glorious whoops and hollers when the kids come in from the rain.

Wouldn't you whoop and holler for gooey cinnamon sugary goodness?

Dizzy Blonde

Walking was an adventure this morning. Rolled out of bed with a flare up of vertigo. Must be the damp weather but man did the floor spin and the room went all wonky.

Made driving the kids to school very interesting. It's kind of like taking too much cough or cold medicine. Not something that will stop you completely but it sure forces you to work on focus for each step. After it calmed down a little it was more like wearing reading glasses to try to walk. Where you aren't quite sure where the floor is when you step. It slowly eases up and I've only walked into one wall after dropping them off.

It's an inner ear thing and I'm told by the doctors it will never fully go away. When I first discovered I had it, it was much worse. Laying in bed with one foot on the floor to try to stop the world from spinning for two days was not my idea of fun. I will pay closer attention and make sure I'm not coming down with some kind of inner ear infection, that always plays havoc with it.

Sure does make life interesting sometimes though, like a carnival ride without having to pay for the ticket!

Back to it!

I finally did lay down and go to sleep last night at nearly 4:30 am. Got some rest and started again on the cleaning at about 9:45.

The last of the laundry is finished, working on the kitchen and living room now. Just some dusting in the living room and a once over with the swiffer. Tidy up the couch cushions and spray everything down with febreeze.

I really don't want to do dishes. I HATE doing dishes. And I really have no room to complain. I have a dishwasher. It's not like it is difficult. It's just my least favorite thing to do. I would rather scrub toilets than do dishes. I think it's because it is a never ending process. You clean out the sinks and get the dishes done and turn around from closing the cupboard door and there are dishes in the sink. They just appear, multiply out of thin air. You can be in the room alone and turn your back and boom...there are more dirty dishes.

BUT I want to make dinner tonight and I cannot cook in a kitchen without cleaning it first. OCD thing I guess. So I am off to go hack away at it till it is finished and then I can do what I want to do which is cook dinner.

Hawk rarely asks for specific meals but this time he wanted pork chops and green beans with new potatoes. So that's what I am doing. I'm even going to break out the bread maker and make some bread to go with it. Sweet tea and dinner will be done. Though I don't know what to do for dessert, he still cannot have chocolate so, well I will think of something. Maybe a fruit tart and some ice cream.

I wanted to go to the bank today but Columbus day snuck up on me. It can wait till tomorrow I suppose. Oh well, enough break time...back to the grind!

This is me...not sleeping. I really hate it when I cannot sleep. Not that I've even tried. Not really. It's almost a dread of going to lie down. I don't know why.

I've surfed the web, read email, read junk mail, looked through pictures, read blogs. Its almost 3am and I am still unwilling to just go lay down.

I'm tired, don't get me wrong. I've worked hard today, cleaning and sorting and doing laundry. Maybe that's whats wrong, I'm too tired? Can you be too tired to sleep? Sounds like its crazy.

I did find an old picture of me, way back when I was 21.


Yeah that really is, or was me. A friend's brother took this for me. The deal was he could use any of the four rolls of film he took for his portfolio and I got a portrait for my parents for Christmas. This wasn't the shot I chose for the portrait. I picked the one where I was leaning forward from the tree I had been leaning on, laughing. They never did get the portrait to hang up but I gave them the picture. They liked it.

I kept this one for myself, though I never could quite grasp that it was me. I like it though. Its that one picture everyone has that they like of themselves...yep this one is it. The only one. Seems like forever ago. It was taken the same year I met Hawk, just at the beginning of the year. We met after that summer.

I thought I was fat then. Hell, I thought I was fat when I weighed 118 lbs in high school too. I didn't know what fat was. lol Life sure is an education.

I am going to try to get a new picture taken. I don't like posed studio pictures but I have some friends who are photographers and maybe I can get them to just take some casual shots for me. Then I will post the before and after pics for the weight loss. A few people have asked me to do that and I guess hitting 40 this year has broken down my vanity wall cause, well I don't care lol.

If I can take a web cam pic of myself at 3am with no makeup on I can certainly survive a before and after post. *grins*

I was always so conscious and critical of myself that I hated pics taken of me. I have none of the fun candid shots all my friends have of good times etc...only the ones others have given me. Lately I've indulged in a few. I got a picture in December of me with three of my oldest and dearest friends. Like family they are. I think I will start posting them, regardless of the inner twitches.

See what insomnia does to you? lolol

It's cleaning day. Hawk has been out of town for almost two weeks and comes home tomorrow so I am trying to surprise him by having the WHOLE house clean. Oddly enough since the older kids moved out and I've stream lined the living room and gone through a lot of the things that lived here that didn't actually belong to me and boxed them up, the house stays fairly put together. Once we took the carpet out of the living room life got easier. Even the kids keep things pretty ok in their room and it is just a matter of making them go pick up. They are all finally old enough to understand and for the most part obey when sent to pick up so its the floors and bathrooms, and the dreaded kitchen that are hardest. With the new bed our bedroom isn't bad at all. I have about four loads of laundry, including bedding and its all done. The smalls picked up their rooms and all I really need to do is go in and clean out from under the beds and reorganize their dresser drawers. The kitchen is the big task. I am splitting it into two days. Today I will do all the dishes and clean the counters and floors. Tomorrow I tackle the fridge and cabinet faces. For now I have done the bathrooms and still need to do the floors in there, vacuum the hall and bedrooms. I have the chicken thawing out for panko chicken tenders for dinner with mashed potatoes and okra. This afternoon I am going to round up the kids and head for the grocery store. I found an HEB close enough to justify the drive from the house so we will go over there and stock up for the week. Niky made lunch for he and the girls and I can keep working on the bathrooms By tonight it should be relatively done. I just need to do the floors really in the living room and bedrooms and the baths. That's the big task for today. Sadly I do not resemble the pic above, I look more like this when all is said and done.



Still, strangely enough I am having a pretty good day. Check with me when its all over and see if I am still chipper. lol