Sucks to have nothing to say..
imagine that, me, nothing to say. School was draining today. This is about the time of year, the kindergarten bound students are ready to be "big kids" and go to kindy, and we teachers are dreaming of summer :). It is also time for the most growth, and then things will start to taper off again.
Went on sister breakfast "event" this past weekend. We had lots of food, fun, alcohol, and shopping. It is always nice to get together and have fun. It is always nice to get away. I just wish everyone got to experience a guilt free weekend like most of us do.
I talked to uncle froot loop today. He and his wife have agreed to take on the riles and danno if anything would happen to us. This is such a hard task and hard decisions you never want to talk about, let alone act upon, until you have too. We will be visiting our attorney soon to put things in motion.
I don't want my kids separated if something should happen. As we all know, Chris is not danny's biological father. I have to will danny to him! lol.. I need to take care of these things in case something should happen, and since danny's biological egg splitting chromosonal (is that even a word) assistant is incarcerated for the next 26 years (his TENTATIVE release date is 2019..danny will be 22), I have to have a plan.
We will be celebrating the kiddos birthday next month. They both want Star Wars cakes. go figure. At least it will be easier on the decorations. Still haven't figured out if we are renting the comm center in T, or M.
I will get the pics from our weekend posted soon.
hugs
wendy

Love me some playdough...
I make my own playdough for school. One simple reason, it's cheap. Other reasons, it makes a big batch, I can put GLITTER in it, and it is super, super soft and lasts longer than store bought.
I got this recipe from a blog called Make and Takes last summer. LOVE IT (said in my best wheezy voice from dragon tales).

Play Dough Recipe (this can be halved for smaller ball)
2 c. Flour
½ c. Salt
2 c. Water
2 T. Vegetable Oil
¼ c. Cream of Tartar (found in spice section)
Pour all ingredients into a large saucepan. Food coloring can be added here if desired, 5-7 drops. Turn to med-high heat and stir constantly until the mix becomes very warm and starts to form together, about 3-5 minutes. Do not over heat, it will burn. Continue stirring until the mix forms into a playdough ball. Remove from heat and pour ball onto a wax paper sheet. Let cool for a few minutes and then knead until soft, 2-3 minutes. Food coloring can also be added during the kneading process as well, especially if you want to split the dough and use 2 or more colors. I suggest wearing baggies over your hands if doing this. Store your play dough in a ziplock bag and in an air tight container in the refrigerator for up to 3 months, or until little white spots develop.

I DO NOT REFRIGERATE my playdough. It hasn't gone bad yet. Lasts for about 1 1/2 months with kids playing with it everyday at center time.
Enjoy

Chicken Pot Pie..
recipe I got from brandy.. is AWESOME! I put the chicken in the crockpot early this a.m. and then I doubled the recipe, used store bought pie crusts (gasp!) and used mixed veggies and an extra bag of corn insted of just peas and carrots. I could have used a bit more salt, pepper, garlic, but i didn't want to overpower it. Next time I make it, i will add more. AND i will also add some potatoes (cindy suggested the southern style hashbrowns). Good idea.
try it, you'll like it.
whimp

Hug them tighter, squeeze them longer, and love them just a little more each day.

This week is CHD Awareness Week. Congenital Heart Defects affect 1 in every 100 babies, that's 40,000 a year in the United States alone. Congenital heart defects are the leading cause of all infant deaths in the United States. Each year over 1,000,000 babies are born worldwide with a congenital heart defect. 100,000 of them will not live to see their first birthday and thousands more die before they reach adulthood. In the United States, twice as many children die from congenital heart defects each year than from all forms of childhood cancer combined, yet funding for pediatric cancer research is five times higher than funding for CHD. Congenital heart defects are common and deadly, yet CHD research is grossly under-funded relative to the prevalence of the disease.Only one penny of every dollar donated to the American Heart Association goes towards congenital heart defect research.Of every dollar the government spends on medical funding only a fraction of a penny is directed toward congenital heart defect research.(Source: Children's Heart Foundation)Our babies depend on awareness, which will raise funding, which through research, will save so many lives! If you tell just one person about CHD that is one more person that is aware of it, and that just might save one life.Today Curtis and Stacy are holding a "heart" party for Hadleigh. Hadleigh is my great-niece who was born with a CHD called Hypoplasty Left Heart Syndrome, which means part of her heart is missing. It can be repaired with a series of surgeries, I believe 3, she has had the first stage,and it waiting on the second stage. She is such a good baby. I call her the Mighty One. We are going to the heart party tonight. I have wanted to make something for Haddie for a long time. I didn't quite know how, or what I wanted to do. Well, with my trusty Cricut and SCAL program, I made her a word book of her name (well, HADDIE because I didn't have paper long enough to cut HADLEIGH). Here it is,

sorry for the weird colors. (The book is sky blue, brown, pink,and lime green). I hope everyone has a wonderful Valentine's Day. Happy Heart Day Haddie! We love you mighty one.

Love,

whimp and family

My Best Friends..

We have amazing fun together, we laugh, we vent, we rant, we call some men pigs, we call some girl in paris a floozy, we scrapbook. We love. I wish I could put into words what their friendship means to me. We have amazing fun together. Fickel is a nurse/care coordinator and Mindy (mindora) is a middle school math teacher (she deserves snaps just for THAT) (she is also the one I call with all my crazy questions, like how many cups of water are in 2.5 quarts...10 by the way). I just wanted to give them both a shout out and say "Thanks. Thanks for being this weirdo's friend." Also, to give mindy some well deserved hugs this week as she lost a very much loved pet this last weekend. Reagan will be missed.

hugs

whimp

Questions and Answers..
After a holiday Danno usually receives a letter from a penitentiary on the eastern side of our state. The letter is usually in the form of a card, hand drawn and colored. A lot of time is spent making these cards (well..what else can he do?) and are sent to his grandmother in a neighboring town. She then calls me, I pick up the card, and bring it home to danny. He opens the card, looks it over, and reads the letter inside. He puts the card back into the envelope and puts the envelope in the "treasure" cupboard in our dining room. He has a collection of 4 now (that he has kept). Two Christmas, a Halloween, and a birthday. He usually has questions when these cards come. Why does he call me son? Why does he sign it your dad? Why am I so important now? Where was he when I was little? Why? Why wasn't I important to him? How come I am now? I always respond the same. "I don't know danny. I don't have the answers you are needing. He is the only one who can answer those questions for you. You will have to ask him." To which danny replies, "How can I ask him when he won't add me to his visitor's list?" Good question. I have asked several times for Troy to add danny to his visitors list. Danny needs to ask these questions and hear the answers. On the plus side of that, I feel this would be the best education I could give my son to help him make better choices than the man he calls his biological father. Look at life on the inside, and tell me if this is how you want to live your life. The road block? Troy won't add him. I don't know the reasons behind them, nor will I probably ever, but my son is hurting and questioning and i don't have the answers he needs.
For the past 11 years, I have *tried* not talking negatively about his father in front of him. It was something I just didn't do. I didn't want him to feel torn between feeling he had to choose to love someone. It has been and remains to be very hard. I have forgiven this man for the things he did to me, the lies, the drugs, the cheating, the hitting. I have forgiven him for telling me he would kidnap my son and I wouldn't see him again. I have forgiven him for being callous. But what I can't forgive him for, nor do I think I could ever try,is the treatment of a life who was innocent in our stupidness. I won't forgive him for allowing MY son to feel he is not worthy, or his life isn't important. For that, I can never forgive him. What a wonderful life he has missed. What is more important in life, than creating a life and then watching the person you created unfold?
Fortunately, for Danny he has had Chris as a father since he was four years old. He has a father in his life. If you ask him about "his father" he will describe Chris. He doesn't call troy dad. He calls him Troy. He calls Chris, Chris. I still ache for danny, because my son is hurting and I don't have the answers he needs.
thanks for listening.
whimp

Saw this on another blog, so...

Tag, you're it!

Go to your photos folder in your computer.
Go to the 6th folder of photos.
Go to the sixth picture in that folder.
Put the picture on your blog and description of it.

This is the cancer ribbon quilt my sister in law brandy made for my mom on her bday. The ribbons represent the type of cancer my mom has had. Blue for colon/rectal, teal for cervical, purple for hope, and grey/black for...i don't know! I will have to ask brandy. The back has jewel colors and this sucker weighs a ton, but the love that went into it is priceless. Good Job aunt brammy.

whimp

How very sad..
to live in a world where there is so much hate. I was visiting the local adult beverage drinking establishment tonight (it can be loosely referred to this, this one time). Sitting there drinking my pepsi, (seriously, it was a pepsi) and a man introduces himself to a friend of my father in laws. Riles calls him herkamer. Anyway, this man introduces himself as Pastor..... I was thinking to myself, um..what kind of pastor drinks hard liquor, freely? Anyway, i noticed a symbol on his jacket about the same time he said, "We are the National Supremacist Movement outside of town." I don't understand their beliefs, just as they don't understand mine. I guess I was just kind of shocked to hear it here, in this small town.
It makes me long for the time when I was a kid. This town was my ballpark. I was everywhere, knew everyone, and if I didn't know them...well they knew my parents, or older siblings:) I was gone all day long. To the pool, the school to play, the library, or to friends' houses. My mom just called my name to come home.
I wish my kids had that.
whimp

Looking for a good...
bread pudding recipe. I want it to taste like the bread pudding we eat when we go to the Casino. Deanne and I love their bread pudding. I have tried several from allrecipes, but no luck. I am also looking for the cream sauce to go on it.
Any help would be appreciated.
whimp

ps. thanks to kathy,gramma pat, and gramma c for donating cookie sheets. I cut out the characters for the story, How I Became a Pirate, and The Gingerbread Man. I am working on cutting out the numbers and things for the others. Takes a while it does.