Food: Oil and Vinegar Salad Dressing

this evening i finally made a salad dressing i've been wanting to make for a couple of weeks now. it's an oil and vinegar salad dressing with poppy seeds. this recipe was given to me by mary ann cole. mary ann made this salad for our last woman's club meeting and she was kind enough to give us the recipe. enjoy! it's delicious!!

1 head red leaf lettuce
1 head green leaf lettuce
1 cup sliced strawberries
1 cup mandarin orange slices

Dressing:
1 teas. dry mustard
1 teas. salt
1 T. Poppy seeds
3/4 cup sugar
1/2 cup apple cider vinegar
1 cup oil
Mix together; put dressing on greens just before serving

i just bought a bag of lettuce and made up the dressing. you can make this easy or fancy w/ the fruit and it's great any way! beware though...it's addictive!

ICarly and Outdoorsy Gals

i have to admit there are times i enjoy sitting in front of the tv and watching icarly along with paige. it's easy to get drawn into such fun stuff....so drawn in that paige and her friends do their own fun video "shows". we are being entertained tonight by paige and her friend. we pulled out the old VHS video recorder that might require a prop on one side to keep a person balanced due to the size of the thing. :0) VERY fun stuff tonight. we have laughed....and laughed some more!

also, today, we decided to be outdoorsy gals...so i have a few shots to share. we headed over to mammoth cave and walked around a bit. it was fun taking random shots and finding fun, unique and interesting things to shoot. mammoth cave recently had a controlled burn so i was able to get a few "moody" shots too.

i hope everyone is having a great weekend!



moody shots:


(straight out of the camera. no post processing.)





(straight out of the camera too.)





(VERY minimal processing)





fun shots!



(VERY minimal processing)





(VERY minimal processing)

Paige's Pic

WHAT A B-E-A-U-T-I-F-U-L DAY! love it! we actually got a few things done on the spring cleaning list. we raked up all our magnolia leaves (we experience fall all year long at our home). we cleaned up the patio and did a little rearranging. also, a few windows were cleaned too! we are ready for outdoor living!

also, today we headed to the farm to visit. here is a picture paige took of her grandmother's horse, two socks. paige and i worked together to post process it. :0)

Finally Found The Perfect!............and my favorite pet photographer :0)

blog readers..........i have found it! i now know without a doubt the must have small lap dog for us....or ummmm ME (but i'm sure paige and kent will agree)!!!!!

and i'm just now having that moment...that moment when i know without a doubt.

i was visiting my favorite pet photographer's blog, leesia teh, and fell in love with cooper, a shaded english cream dachshund. click here to see COOPER

it would be getting the total package in my opinion. we love the absolute cuteness of the dachshunds and i love the golden retriever mixes i've been seeing (edited to say (because i was too excited to think straight! :0)): which i think cooper looks like). doesn't he just look SO sweet and soft and cuddly! PERFECT!!

Paige

the common look from paige when asked to take pictures.... :0)




paige and isabelle








OH...and happy st. patrick's day!

Sneak Peek From Today.....

....and in color.

Taylor + Melissa + Mason = Fun!!!

i got the green light today to post these. i was going to wait a little bit but what better time than the present, right?

this was a top secret session and everyone involved did a great job keeping it a secret!

taylor, melissa and mason, you all are awesome! this was a lot of fun and i really thought they turned out great!




















the excitement just couldn't be contained after having such a fun session! :0)

Feeling Random

tonight, i'm feeling very random!

my to do list....with spring literally right around the corner (yippee!!!) i feel the need to make a to-do list. a few thing on my list:

make appointment to get isabelle spayed
clean my car inside and out
do yard work. our flower beds really need attention!
get some updated pictures of paige
house cleaning (of course!!).....and thankfully i've been in a cleaning mood lately. :0)
and many more things to be added.

also, i feel so sorry for the trees and shrubs that have bloomed. they were looking so pretty. this snow can't be good for them. :0( i can't believe we are getting this much snow right now! hopefully, this will be the end of it. i'm sooo ready for spring...bye bye winter! also, i'm sitting here listening to the cars trying to drive in this stuff....it's sorta scary. i'm just waiting for someone to land in our front yard! yikes!

i hope everyone stays warm!





(photo thanks to taylor alder!)

Makes Me Smile

i am so thankful to have a hubby and baby girl that really takes care of me when i'm feeling bad. this past week has been a challenge for me with cold like, allergy like, sinus yuckiness like symptoms. i'm such a horrible sick person (which really who is a good sick person?) but they took care of me and made sure i had everything i needed. tonight, i'm finally feeling MUCH better....i think it's the warm weather outside that really brought me out of it!! :0) almost 80 degrees this weekend! can you believe it?! i'm so ready for spring...............

and since i've experienced one too many computer crashes lately i don't have any of my warm weather pictures to share unless i go dig through discs....which i'm just not really up to....so instead i'll share a picture from last year that really makes me smile. :0)

i hope everyone has a happy weekend! get out and enjoy the warm weather! :0)

Rats? Really?

ok, so, today we head over to pet avenue, a new pet store in town. the girls were hoping to find new puppies to hold, play with, and beg for. instead, we find RATS! you heard me folks......rats, of all thing, are actually cute (except for that long nasty tail) - they are very interactive with people - love to be held - soft - interesting. hmmm....never ever would have thought that!

i have to admit they became the focus of our attention. now, i didn't hold one...but i did pet one. does anyone have any pet rat stories??

we have no intentions of getting one even though i know paige has the idea going through her head. :0) nope....no way! we have enough pets to care for as it is. :0)


(images thanks to google)