Tacos

Tacos are one of my favorite foods. If you told me I had to choose five things/meals I could only eat from now til the end of me, well I'd for sure pick tacos. My favorites ever come from Pappasito's!

I decided to make some the other day - and I didn't have a spice packet! I almost always use Old El Paso. PANIC!

Then I read one of my cooking blogs and they gave the taco spice recipe.

1/2 Tsp Salt
1/2 Tsp Pepper
1/2 Tsp Oregano
1 Tbsp Garlic Salt
1 Tbsp Chili Powder
1 Tbsp Cumin

Mix together with your meat and I added a few tablespoons of water at a time until I got the consistency the way I wanted it. Just like on the packet it says 2/3 cup of water. I think that's too much. So I just poured some water in a cup and drizzled some here and there until I got it right.

I think it was some of the best taco meat I ever had. I won't buy the packets anymore. Also I would maybe add a few dashes of hot sauce. We like our tacos spicy!

Kah

P.S. If I  had to choose five foods/meals from now til the end of my days that I could ONLY eat:

Tacos, Chicken N Dumplings, Spaghetti w/ Garlic bread, Hamburger w/ fries, Grilled Cheese like my grandma (and me) used to make

Baby

I got myself a Silhouette Machine - and it is SWEET. It's a vinyl cutter and in my opinion, way better than the Cricut machine - because with this you don't have to buy cartiridges. You can use your own Jpegs, use the FREE CD of shapes I got with purchase OR you can buy shapes for $.99 on the Silhouette website and you own them forever. It cuts vinyl, paper, lables, whatever you want.... so AWESOME! I used it tonight for the first time.

A co-worker and his wife had a baby two weeks ago - and her shower is this weekend. Her name is Addison, Addie for short and I just love love love giving "grab bag" type gifts. Usually I go with a basket but I noticed at the last shower I went to, almost everyone brought a basket. So I went with a nice pale pink pail - and I think she can use this forever. I used my cutter and personalized it. SO CUTE!

I stuffed it with little sherpa boots, designer looking pacifiers, University of Alabama stuff (her parents went there), socks, Bodreaux's Butt Paste, pink zebra fork and spoon, onsies, washclothes, headbands, etc ... I think it's so cute and I hope they like it!

I just love how the bucket turnd out! I think it's so cute and useful.

Kah

Sad

My sister just blew through town on her way to South Carolina ... she's going there for a little while - not sure how long ... it was good to see her and sad to see her go.

We had a nice time. She came in about 10 last night, we stayed up late talking. I took the day off so it was nice to just slum it this morning in the PJ's- we talked some more, then got cleaned up and went to the Tea Room I love for some lunch. It's such a great place .. and my sister loved it. I love it too - they have the best pasta salad and soup. Total girl place. Then we did a little window shopping and then came on back.

She just packed up and is heading to our parents house in FL for a little stop over.

My thoughts and prayers are with her - for a happy, relaxing time ... and the freedom to sort of get a clean slate going, get her mind clear and do what's best for her.

Sad to see her go, but excited that the possibilities seem endless. That is a BEAUTIFUL part of the country - different than any place in the world and if you're after some healing, I can not think of a better place to go. I think and hope she will find it there.

Godspeed!

Kah

Sillies

Busy Week

Sorry! Busy week ...didn't mean to abandon the blog again ... but such is life.

I am the floater or the ... person who fills in when people are on vacation or three or more days at work, and someone was out some this week. For some reason this made me VERY TIRED and I abandoned my blog, my books, my movies ... everything. I went to work, came home, slept and did it again ... such is life sometimes.

This week my sister is coming for a day or two on the way to South Carolina so I am looking forward to seeing her.

Kah

Gold Mine!

We decided on our first full day in CO to go visit a Gold Mine in Cripple Creek. It was started in 1891 by a lady named Mollie Kathleen and her grown son. It ran until sometime in the 1970's. We just sort of drove by and doubled up and came back. It seemed interesting and at $15 a person it was a good attraction and a good way to spend a few hours.

First of all, WOW, the stuck 5-7 people in this TINY little elevator thing - and it was still functional from all those years ago. They lower you down on a cable, no light ... and it's a rickety ride, straight down 1000 feet. I was SCARED! I am also apparently claustrophobic, but didn't know. We went down, one elevator on top of the other. I took about 30 seconds to get down and it seemed an eternity. Once down there, a miner with 8 years experience was our tour guide. Here is the inside of the mine.

Here are Conrad and I getting ready to go in. Oh it's also 50 degrees down there, I could FINALLY breathe when we got that far down - they offered jackets and most people wore them. Being from Texas, we opted to NOT wear the jackets. It felt SO good down there.

and Conrad just thought this sign was hilarious. It certainly is "him"!

Then at the end of the tour before we got back into the elevator (which by the way was just like an open cage) they gave us each a piece of gold ore. When we got back up on the ground I went into the gift shop and bought a Mollie Kathleen shot glass and put our ore pieces and tickets in there. PERFECT souvenir. This one meant something - so much better than a magment or a snowglobe or something.

Kah

http://www.goldminetours.com/tour1.html

35 Years

Today is my 35th birthday! It was really a great day - and I can't believe 35 years have gone by. They seemed fast and yet slow at the same time. 

All my friends and family made the day really special. I got such sweet thoughtful presents at work. I got lunch with Kelley and then dinner with Conrad and Tosha ... and phone calls, emails, text messages, FB messages (35 at last count!) and things from both sets of parents. 

It has been so nice to have so many people thinking of me today. Very nice!

Tomorrow I will go back to Colorado pictures and posts!

Kah

Cheyenne Mountain Resort

This was the view from our hotel room at the resort. I KNOW. There are million dollar homes on this mountain and apartment buildings - and everything in between. They all have the SAME VIEW. How cool is that? We were 6500 feet up - and that's what caused my elevation sickness.

We also had a view of Pike's Peak and at 14,700 feet there's no way I took that tour! People were coming back and telling us they were incredibly dizzy when they got off the train. No thanks !!! But it was pretty ....

The restarant there was called the Mountain View Dining Room - uh YEAH !!! and we ate breakfast there every morning .. a few lunches and some dinners. It was incredible. It also rained almost everyday for about an hour and that was a fun lightening show to see!

Kah

Back from Colorado

Hola!

We are back home in Houston. We've been in Colorado Springs for five days on the incentive trip that Conrad earned (i.e. remember back to Hawaii and Dominican). We had a great time.

It was really wild however. I stepped off the plane, went up the jetway and BAM it hit me- elevation sickness. I was immediately queasy and lightheaded. I had no idea what happened to me. Later on we found out we were 6500 feet up and when you live at sea level, that's really hard. On Thursday we went to Cripple Creek which was 10,000 feet up - I was just dizzy like I had been turning in circles. It took about three days to adjust although I never did really catch my breath and of COURSE the entire resort was full of stairs. It was BEAUTIFUL and the weather was UNREAL but I don't think I could live there. I'd never ever get my wits about me!

I have pics and stories of our good times. Those are to come, just know we are back home safe. I took tomorrow off so I could wash clothes and get back to normal. You always seem to need a day before and after vacation.

... and also I got to ride a train for the first time in my whole life. It was so much fun and one more thing off the Bucket List.

Kah

The Essence of Father's Day

This is a little late in coming, but what can I say I'm busy, I'm popular, I'm famous, whatever ... I went down to Florida for Father's Day/mom's birthday weekend. It seemed QUITE the thing to do and it ended up being loads o' fun. I went by myself and no other siblings were there - so the peace flowed like a river. Kidding!

We enjoyed all manner of food, frivolity and family time ... but during my trip I started to notice some things about myself. You may remember my Memorial Day post about the $25 Target pool I bought to turn my home into a resort. Since that time I've had many inquiries as to where that BRILLIANT idea might have come from. At first, I took 100% of the credit ... after all, if this brilliance had been inherited, surely it would have presented itself in other family members a bit sooner, yeah? So I went off merrily on my Father's Day trip never having imagined I would find the source of my creativity. However, a few days after my arrival it became glaringly obvious. The source of the brilliance, sickness - can be laid directly at the feet of this man:

My father

I had contacted his bride a few weeks before my much anticipated arrival and asked what sort of gift would be appropriate this year. She immediately had an answer - a hammock. Not one of those cheap, fabric hammocks and CERTAINLY not one that hangs betwix a frame. THE VERY THOUGHT! No this needed to be a rope style, tree hammock. Not only that- she even had a brand. Now let me stop here and inform you non-southerners, hereby known as the Texans of the group :) (come on, Texas is NOT southern, it's a place unto it's own) ... IF you dare to aspire to own a hammock and you hail from the great state of South Carolina where yes, MICHAEL HOPKINS, people DO own and most of the time wear shoes, you would only have hammock from Pawney's Island, SC. Google them, it's an old old company with the finest hammocks George Washington's can buy. So I placed my online order and shipped my hammock in.

The hammock arrived, before me, as planned ... and being the generous, caring daughter I am- I let him open it a few days before Father's Day. I did not, however know, that meant I would have to go out in sweltering temperatures and hold the ladder my poor daddy was perched on, whilst fighting off mosquitos and frantically looking around for snakes. But (sigh) I did ... we hung this hammock the old fashioned way- with tree hooks and when it went up, it was A-MAZING.

He tried it out and within minutes was consorting with my mother and this is where I found out about my disturbing inherited quality: as you can see the apple does not fall far from the tree.

Yes, that IS an electric fan hooked up and FULLY OPERATIONAL, outside, pointed at the hammock. You can't see in this rather peaceful picture, but the fan is plugged up to one of those endless, heavy, orange extension cords that leads to the guest house. The entire thing is rather brilliant and puts my pool idea to shame. The other thing is, really, it was a co-project. The parental units actually tag teamed this - they thought of it in conjunction - it was a team effort. They aren't even blood related (obviously) and you can see that brain power is SCARY and after 30 something years, it clearly rubs off on those around you. They have come up with the essence, if you will .. of Father's Day.

Kah