It's our Anniversary!!

Tomorrow will be our 3yr wedding anniversary! Wow....how time flies! Last weekend we decided to celebrate our anniversary. Unfortunately we got rained out everytime we wanted to do something outdoors. Saturday we took the horses out and enjoyed a nice long ride after it rained all day. Sunday afternoon/evening we got rained out of visiting Old Town in Orlando, we ended up dining at the famous NYPD Pizza Restaurant. I took a few shots of us just enjoying some time together and watching the rain fall.

Afterward we headed for the ice cream parlor and enjoyed a sweet treat!!

The weekend wasn't a total bust due to the rain, we were still together and enjoyed each others company. We reflected on the past few years together and just how happy we are.

God has blessed me with a wonderful, amazing, sweet, loving, handsome, kind, smart husband. Each day spent with him is a wonderful day and I thank God for those days and the many days to come.

Happy Anniversary Mark!!! I love you so much!!!!!

Pumpkin What?

As promised here are some delicious "pumpkin eats" Enjoy!

Pumpkin Cookies

This pumpkin cookie recipe includes directions for making your own pumpkin purée.

INGREDIENTS:
1/2 cup butter, room temperature
1/2 cup granulated sugar
1/2 cup light brown sugar, firmly packed
1/4 cup molasses
1 egg
1 cup pumpkin purée, canned or homemade*
2 cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 1/2 teaspoons cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon nutmeg
1/2 cup milk
sifted confectioners' sugar, for dusting

PREPARATION:
In a large mixing bowl, cream butter and sugar until light and fluffy. Beat in molasses and egg. Stir in the pumpkin purée. In another bowl, sift together the flour, baking soda, cinnamon, and nutmeg.
Stir flour mixture into the creamed mixture along with the milk. Blend thoroughly but do not over beat.
Drop cookie dough by rounded teaspoonfuls onto greased baking sheets. Bake at 375° for about 12 minutes, until set. Cool for a minute; remove to racks and continue to cool. Dust pumpkin cookies with sifted confectioners' sugar.

To make pumpkin purée, cut pumpkin in half, crosswise. Remove seeds and membranes. Place on a greased baking sheet, cut side down, and bake at 325° for 1 hour, or until tender. Cool for 10 minutes. Remove pulp and place in blender or processor. Purée or process until smooth. Place in a cheesecloth-lined mesh strainer or sieve and let drain into a bowl for about an hour. When dripping has stopped, put purée into a container, cover, and refrigerate if not using right away.Makes about 3 dozen pumpkin cookies.

Pumpkin Muffins

Fill muffin cups 3/4 full or nearly full for high tops.

INGREDIENTS:
2 cups flour
2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1 scant teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon ground ginger
1/2 teaspoon ground nutmeg
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 can (15 to 16 ounces) pumpkin puree
1/3 cup melted butter
1/2 cup evaporated milk or half-and-half
1/2 cup brown sugar, packed
1/4 cup granulated sugar
2 large eggs, beaten
1 teaspoon vanilla
1/2 to 3/4 cup chopped pecans or raisins
cinnamon-sugar, optional

PREPARATION:
Directions for Pumpkin Muffins In a large bowl combine flour, baking powder, baking soda, cinnamon, and salt. Stir to blend In separate bowl, combine pumpkin, melted butter, milk or half-and-half, the beaten eggs, sugars, and vanilla; mix until blended.

Stir pumpkin mixture into the dry ingredients until moistened. Fold in pecans or raisins. Do not overmix. Line 12-cup muffin tin with paper liners or grease well and dust with flour. I use a baking spray. Fill the about 3/4-full with the pumpkin muffins batter, sprinkle with cinnamon-sugar if desired, and bake at 375° for 20 to 25 minutes.Serve warm or at room temperature. Makes 12 to 16 pumpkin muffins.

Pumpkin Waffles

2 cups flour
2 tablespoons baking powder
1 tablespoon cinnamon
1 tablespoon sugar
1/2 teaspoon nutmeg
1/4 teaspoon salt
4 eggs, separated
1 1/2 cups milk
1 cup pumpkin
3/4 cup margarine
1 tablespoon vanilla

Preparation:
1. Combine dry ingredients and set aside.
2. Beat egg yolks slightly. Add milk, pumpkin margarine & vanilla. Add flour mixture.
3. Beat egg whites to a stiff peak and fold into pumpkin mixture.
4. Cook in waffle iron and serve hot with buttermilk syrup.

Autumn Is Here Start Decorating & Cooking!

Welcome to our home.....

Autumn is here!! It's my favorite time of the year. I love the smell of "harvest time", watching the leaves turn beautiful colors (not necessarily in Florida), baking yummy foods in the kitchen like pumpkin pie, apple pie, heart warming chili, various delicious soups and many more.

I started decorating our house last weekend. I pulled out our fall decor and began decorating...one of my favorite things to do!
In the weeks to come, I will begin posting delicious fall eats for all my food fans out there!

Let the holiday count down begin..............

I hope your Autumn Season is Fabulous!

Six years later......Let us not forget

Tomorrow will mark the 6th Anniversary of the September 11th attacks. Can you remember that day back in 2001? What were you doing when you heard the news? I remember I was watching a video that morning before I had to leave for work. My Aunt who lives in New York called us and asked if we had heard the news. We quickly put the news on and saw everything going on. I can remember my heart sinking. I was in shock and scared for everyone involved. I began to pray that God would save them. It was getting late so I left for work, at that time I working in retail. I remember the store being so empty and quite, we all left early that day. Nobody had a radio so every now and then we’d walk to the back and watch the news quickly. I tried to call my Aunt and a few friends that live in New York, but the telephone lines were shut down and we couldn’t get in touch with them. And for many weeks after the horrid attack it was hard to get a free line into New York. As I stood in the store, I began to think. I could have been there! I remembered that 1 ½ months ago, I was in New York. I applied for a job at Goldman Sachs, we had a close friend that worked for that company at the World Trade Center location and I was very close to getting the job, but a few things fell through and I wasn’t hired. I actually flew out of New York exactly a month before the attacks. We later found out that the Goldman Sachs office was blown out, luckily those in the office came through alright. In the days to come, American heard story after story of who survived, heroes, reasons why they left home late, lost friends and family, bravery and much more.

How much has America changed since then? Are we really safer? I can tell you from day to day living in America, watching the news, flying or just transportation in general there is a major change in security. Can we do better? How safe are we? Is America turning to God? Was this a wake up call….and did it wake up America? I remember visiting the World Trade Center in 1998, one of my trips to New York. I remember standing at the top of the building on the view deck. When you out the window you can see the whole city and beyond. It’s quite breathtaking.

Here’s a little knowledge of the future of the World Trade Center

World Trade Center Tower 1, or Freedom Tower, is the centerpiece building of the new World Trade Center complex currently planned for Lower Manhattan. The tower will be located in the northwest corner of the 16-acre (65,000 m²) World Trade Center site, bound by Vesey Street, West Street, Washington Street and Fulton Street.[1] Construction on below-grade utility relocations, footings, and foundations for Freedom Tower began on April 27, 2006.[2] By December 19, 2006, the first steel columns were installed in the building's foundation. Three other high rises are planned for the site along Greenwich Street, plus a residential tower that will surround the World Trade Center Memorial that is currently also under construction, and a museum.
Following the destruction of the World Trade Center towers in the September 11, 2001 attacks, there was much debate regarding the future of the World Trade Center site. Proposals began almost immediately, and by 2002, the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey, who own the right to develop the site, organized a competition through the newly created Lower Manhattan Development Corporation to determine how to use the land. Public rejection of the first round of designs, the "Preliminary Design Concepts," led to a second, more open competition in December 2002, the "Innovative Design Study," in which a design by Daniel Libeskind was selected. This design went through many revisions, largely because of disagreements with developer Larry Silverstein, who held the lease to the World Trade Center site on September 11, 2001.
A final design for the tower was formally unveiled on June 28, 2006. To satisfy security issues raised by the New York City Police Department a 187-foot (57 m) concrete base was added in April of that year. The final design included plans to clad the base in glass prisms to address criticism that the base looked like a "concrete bunker." Contrasting with Libeskind's plan, the final design tapers the corners of the base outward as they rise. Its designers stated that the tower will be a "monolithic glass structure reflecting the sky and topped by a sculpted antenna." In terms of a completion date, Larry Silverstein stated "By 2012 we should have a completely rebuilt World Trade Center more magnificent, more spectacular than it ever was."[3] On April 26, 2006, the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey approved a conceptual framework that enabled foundation construction to begin while a formal agreement is drafted on the following day, the 75th anniversary of the opening of the Empire State Building. Construction began with a formal ceremony that took place when the construction team arrived.[4] It is projected that steel for the building will be visible above ground in 2008, with a topping out in 2010. The building is projected to be ready for occupancy in the first quarter of 2011.[5]
-Wikipedia

Developments:

January. 2006

October. 2006

March 2007

August 2007

Special Delivery

Well Shanaynay finally got a new bed! It's actually larger than we thought.

Check out www.dog.com for some really cool dog items!

As you can see she really likes it.....and of course little Miss Bubble had to check it out.

Everybody just chilling out....

I had to let Bubble know....that she has her own bed and Shanaynay has her own bed.

Mr. Tuffy even got something new......a new crate. Now he and Bubble can be "neighbors"

Oh yes.....and Bubble got a new Pink! Sherbert collar. Her previous collar was giving her a rash under her neck. I think she likes her new one. She got all excited when I put it on her.


Bubble is getting irritated because I'm taking pictures and not playing with her...ha ha ha
Well Shanaynay started laying in Bubble's bed because we switched where we had them to make room.....so we ended up moving her new bed where her original one was.....I think she likes it better.

Here she is this morning eating her treat.

Yep.....I just love my "kids"....LOL I had the items shipped to me at work yesterday and everyone wanted to take a nap on Shanaynay's new bed. I wish I had my camera so I could have taken a few shots of some employees giving the bed a try..... ha ha ha.

Something Delicious Part 3

Chicken & Yellow Rice with Black Beans


Ingredients:

1 box of Zatarains Yellow Rice
4 boneless/ skinless chicken breast
1 onion
3 cloves of garlic
Tony Chachere Seasoning
Garlic Salt
Pepper
"Durkee" Cajun Seasoning (Optional)
Oregano
1 can of Black Beans (I like the organic ones)
2 tablespoons of olive oil

Let’s get Cook’n

1. Begin by seasoning chicken with- 2 pressed cloves of garlic, half onion (chopped), 2 dashes of garlic salt, 3 dashes of Tony Chachere Seasoning, 1 dash of pepper, 2 dashes of Cajun Seasoning, and 2 dashes of oregano. Cut chicken into small strips (almost shred like). Set aside to marinade.

2. Start to cook the black beans on your stove top. Add 1 pressed garlic, half onion (chopped), 4 dashes of Tony Chachere Seasoning, 1 dash of garlic salt, 2 dashes of pepper, 2 dashes of Cajun Seasoning, and 1 dash of oregano. Cook on medium heat for about 15 minutes, add water if necessary. Cook on low for the remaining cooking time, this will allow the seasons to blend. Cook as long as you prefer. While your beans are cooking you can start on your chicken.

3. Heat skillet and add olive oil. When oil is hot enough, add chicken and cook until well done and no pink.

4. Set cooked chicken aside and begin cooking the rice use the directions provided for you on the box.

5. When the rice is almost done, add rice to the skillet containing the cooked chicken. Mix well and cook on low/med for about 10 min. Then cook on low for about 15min. or until rice is completely cooked.

6. Enjoy!!!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY BUBBLE

"Wake Up Bubble!! Its your Birthday!!!!!"

Bubble was awaken on her birthday with a special "Birthday Song" from me.

Mark calls me crazy, but they love when I get all funny sounding with them.

Bubble ran around the house and somehow knew it was her special day.

Bubble celebrated her 2nd Birthday Saturday Aug. 11.

I made Bubble, Shanaynay & Tuffy little doggie handkirchiefs to wear in honor of Bubble's Birthday.

*

Breakfast Time!

They got a little tired after running around the house and playing.

Happy Birthday Bubble.....Bubble is opening her birthday present!!! Hmmmm what on earth is it?

"A new bed!!!!! Yeah!!!

Just what I needed".....-Bubble

Bubble is checking it out.............."Hmmmm it'll do"

Bubble's a bit tired.....we took all 3 of them to Petsmart today in search of a birthday bed for Bubble. It was quite an eventful trip. Filled with meeting all sorts of people, sniffing out the store, Bubble peeing on my foot, searching for the perfect bed.....oh wait...did I say Bubble peeing on my foot. Yes that is right. We were standing in an aisle when all of a sudden I feel this warm liquid on my foot. I jumped backed and was like WHOA?! Bubble smelled another dog's scent and decided to make her scent present. Luckily Petsmart has wipeys and I was able to clean my foot and flip flops and also clean her mess. Ha Ha... what a day. I ended up finding her a bed at good ole' Target. While Mark and the dogs waited for me in the car, I ran in and found what I knew she'd like......

And as you can see....................She likes it a lot!

Maybe Bubble will get a special treat tonight.....hmmmm something with Peanut Butter? Her favorite. Ha ha.

My baby is 2....I can't believe it!!! Oh My has she grown.

Happy Birthday Bubble!