Happy Father's Day

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Wishing all the fathers, step-fathers, grandfathers, foster fathers, and single mothers acting as mother and father a very happy Father's Day.  Hope you are surrounded by family, happiness, and lots of love.

Although I had a difficult relationship with my father, he was a wonderful grandfather to my boys and they miss him terribly. For all you did for my boys, thank you and wish you were still here, Dad.

The last photo of my boys with my dad 

As for my husband, Bill, he is not only the most wonderful husband in the world, he is the best father and step-father ever. When we got married in 1997, my boys were 9 and 6 and Bill has always been there for them, whether it is for a school function, help with repairing a bicycle, or just to talk... he especially has a way of making our lives special by always having a way to make us laugh. For that and so much more, I want to say thank you and I love you with my whole heart.

Bill and Nikolaus at his Army Basic Training Graduation

Bill and Alex at Universal Studios.

The first summer Alex was taller than both of us.

May you all have a fabulous Father's Day and a wonderful weekend, surrounded by those you love.


P.S. The babies would like to say that they love daddy so much and thank him for all he has done for them.

Our Babies: (L-R)  Nano, Mia, Mandie, Wiggles, and Mumbo

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Memorial Day - Remember Those Who Have Paid the Ultimate Sacrifice

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As the mother of a soldier who returned from a tour of duty in Afghanistan, I am so grateful that he suffered no injuries and has had no lingering mental effects. He did however, lose one member of his unit while he was in country, so I dedicate this post and this weekend to SSG Edwin Rivera and all the other members of the Military who have paid the ultimate sacrifice in the service to our country.

 

God bless them for volunteering to protect the United States of America buy doing whatever was asked of them... and blessings and sympathy to their families for all they have sacrificed.

 

To them I dedicate the following songs.....

 

 

As you have your picnics and family fun at the beach or wherever, please remember those who serve our country now, in the past, and those who lost their lives doing so.

God bless our Military and God bless the USA.

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God Made a Dog

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I got an email from a friend that moved me so much, I just had to share it with all of you. Hope you enjoy this.....

 

 

Enjoy your day!

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Is it Male or Female????

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Photo Credit

You might not have known this, but a lot of non-living objects are actually either male or female.  Here are some examples: 

 

 

	FREEZER BAGS: They are male, because they hold everything in, but you can see right through them.
	PHOTOCOPIERS: These are female, because once turned off; it takes a while to warm them up again. They are an effective reproductive device if the right buttons are pushed, but can also wreak havoc if you push the wrong buttons.
	TIRES: Tires are male, because they go bald easily and are often over inflated.
	HOT AIR BALLOONS: Also a male object, because to get them to go anywhere, you have to light a fire under their butt.
	SPONGES: These are female, because they are soft, squeezable and retain water.
	WEB PAGES: Female, because they're constantly being looked at and frequently getting hit on.
	TRAINS: Definitely male, because they always use the same old lines for picking up people.
	EGG TIMERS: Egg timers are female because, over time, all the weight shifts to the bottom.
	HAMMERS: Male, because in the last 5000 years, they've hardly changed at all, and are occasionally    handy to have around.
	THE REMOTE CONTROL: Female. Ha! You probably thought it would be male, but consider this: It gives a man pleasure, he'd be lost without it, and while he doesn't always know which buttons to push, he just keeps trying.

Flower Power Concerts at WDW EPCOT Flower and Garden Fest

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Epcot® International Flower & Garden Festival

 

 

One of Bill and my favorite events at Disney World is the Flower and Garden Festival at EPCOT that happens every spring.  Besides all the amazing flower sculptures, that I will post in the future, there are concerts every weekend featuring bands from the 60's that Bill and I just adore.

 

We have already been to two of the concerts and had so much fun. It is amazing that these old rockers can still sing, dance, and put on such fantastic shows - we have a ball at all of them.

 

The first show we went to was Chubby Checker, on St. Patrick's day, and boy can he still twist.....

 

 

 

I love how he had audience members come up and do the twist with him.

 

 

The next concert we went to was on March 23rd and we saw The Guess Who, they also were fabulous! The whole audience was singing along and really having a blast. It was amazing the wide range of ages that were there, everyone from little kids to people in their 70's and 80's.....

 

Only one original member is left in the group, but they still sound AWESOME!

 

 

This gentlemen is part of the maintenance crew at EPCOT and he started dancing his little heart out while we were waiting in line during the first show for the second show... he was ADORABLE.

 

 

I can't wait for the rest of the shows during the festival. This weekend we are going to see Paul Revere and the Raiders. We have seen them twice already, and they put on a magnificent show, so I am really looking forward to this one.

 

If you are in the Orlando area this spring, between April 10 - May 19, 2013, make sure you head on over to EPCOT to Flower and Garden Festival, you will not be disappointed.

 

 

 

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How to Install Husband 1.0

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I received this from a friend of mine... I so wish I knew who to contribute this to, as it is hysterical.


Subject: INSTALLING A HUSBAND


Dear Tech Support,

Last year I upgraded from Boyfriend 5.0 to Husband 1.0 and noticed a distinct slow down in overall system performance, particularly in the flower and jewelry applications, which operated flawlessly under Boyfriend 5.0.

In addition, Husband 1.0 uninstalled many other valuable programs, such as
Romance 9.5 and Personal Attention 6.5, and then installed undesirable programs such as

NBA 5.0,
NFL 3.0 and
Golf Clubs 4.1.

Conversation 8.0 no longer runs, and Housecleaning 2.6 simply crashes the system.

Please note that I have tried running Nagging 5.3 to fix these problems, but to no avail.

What can I do?

Signed,

Desperate.

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DEAR DESPERATE,

First, keep in mind,
Boyfriend 5.0 is an Entertainment Package, while
Husband 1.0 is an operating system.

Please enter command: ithoughtyoulovedme.html, try to download Tears 6.2, and do not forget to install the Guilt 3.0update.
If those applications work as designed, Husband 1.0 should then automatically run the applications Jewelry 2.0 and Flowers 3.5.

However, remember, overuse of the above application can cause Husband 1.0 to default to Grumpy Silence 2.5, Happy Hour 7.0, or Beer 6.1.

Please note that Beer 6.1 is a very bad program that will download the FartingandSnoringLoudlyBeta.

Whatever you do, DO NOT under any circumstances install Mother-In-Law 1.0 (it runs a virus in the background that will eventually seize control of all your system resources.)

In addition, please do not attempt to reinstall the Boyfriend 5.0-program. This is an unsupported application and will crash Husband 1.0.

In summary, Husband 1.0 is a great program, but it does have limited memory and cannot learn new applications quickly.. You might consider buying additional software to improve memory and performance. We recommend:
Cooking 3.0 and
Hot Lingerie 7.7.

Good Luck ,
Tech Support

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Happy 5th Birthday Nano

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Nano as a baby.

 

 

My favorite photo of Nano

 

 

Nano celebrating today with an ice cream.

 

 

Happy Birthday to our little baby...

Mommy & Daddy love you very much!!

 

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Chocolate Chip Bread Pudding Recipe

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Earlier today I posted a photo on FB of this bread pudding I made especially for Bill (yes, I like it, too). It is chocolate chip bread pudding, that tastes absolutely delicious.

I got a couple of requests for the recipe, so I decided to post it here for all of you.....


1  French loaf - 2 days old
1 1/2 sticks unsalted butter - melted

Custard:
3  cups buttermilk (or half-and-half)
4  large eggs
1/2  cup granulated sugar
1  tsp. vanilla extract (or Buttery Sweet Dough Flavor*)
1/2  tsp. Espresso Powder*
1  cup chocolate chips (semi-sweet or dark chocolate)

1.  Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Slice bread into 3/4" slices, brush melted butter on both sides of bread (I use a jelly roll pan)

2. To make custard, beat together buttermilk, eggs, sugar, flavoring, and espresso powder at medium speed until well blended.

3. Pour some custard into an UNgreased 2-quart baking dish (enough to cover bottom about 1/2 inch). Sprinkle some chips over custard. Arrange bread slices in dish all around bottom, overlapping as necessary. Pour remaining custard over bread; sprinkle the rest of the chocolate chips over mixture. Push down bread carefully so that all of it is soaked in custard.

4. Bake bread pudding until golden on top, 50 - 60 minutes. Transfer dish to a wire rack to cool. Dust with confectioners sugar, if desired.
*These items may be purchase from King Arthur Flour Company


I have also made this with blueberries instead of chocolate chips when in season. Just leave out espresso powder; use vanilla and not Buttery Sweet Dough Flavor.

If you decide to make this, please let me know and post a photo on my FB page or leave a link in the comments here.

Hope you enjoy it.... HUGGLES!

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Wishing all of you a very happy St. Patrick's day!

Hope you have fun with those you love and who love you... and remember, be safe!

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Our 16th Wedding Anniversary

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Like you're surprised I had Mickey Mouse Invitations.

 

Sixteen years ago today, I married my best friend, the love of my life, the most wonderful man in the world, and each and every day since then I have grown to love him more and more. 

 

 

My beautiful boys gave me away. (L: Nik; R: Alex)

 

 

Bill has been there for me and the boys since the first day we met, to love and care for us and to always make us laugh. Even our wedding was filled with love and laughter.

 

I'm sure you can't see it, but my boxer shorts match Bill's tie.

They are both St. Patrick's Day Mickey Mouse.

 

 

I am the luckiest woman in the world to have Bill in my life. We have had some tough times during our marriage, but through it all we have stuck together and grown closer. Since he is retired and I am disabled, we spend almost all of our time together. When he is upstairs on his computer and I am downstairs on my laptop, we send each other IM love notes - he is so sweet!

 

Bill, I love you more today than I did the day I met you in 1995 and more than the day we married in 1997. Every day I love you more and more... I look forward to spending the rest of my life with you.

 

 

 

HAPPY 16th ANNIVERSARY!!!!!

 

Photo Credit

 

 

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