Spring flowers!

A couple weeks ago we went shopping for some pretty flowers to put out by our front door. Here is what we came up with...

As you can clearly see from this photo...I was out clipping dead flowers.

I puffy heart my camera.

Week 1 - Really just 2 days long

So I'm a little bit behind on blogging. Thursday, May 21 ground was broken for our house! We went out on Saturday to take some pictures and snoop around. So far they've got the hole dug and the basement walls framed and ready to be poured. It's so exciting to finally see the 'house' sitting there, knowing where on the lot it will be and where in relation to the neighbors. The foundation looks small. I have this hang up about our house being small but every time I go to the model of our house I'm pleasantly surprised at how big it is. It is just over 2100 sq ft.
Here's a couple pictures from last week.

Here I'm standing in the driveway facing the house. The garage is the pile of dirt...kitchen is directly behind that, with the formal dining/living room next to it.Here I'm standing on a large pile of dirt in our back/side yard. That's the morning room sticking off the back of the house.

Here we are standing in the driveway in front of the garage.

We will be heading out there again probably tomorrow to take more pictures. From what our project manager has told us, they've got the foundation all poured and have started back-filling with dirt. This week we can expect to see framing going up and possibly the basement/garage floors poured.

Other Mother's Day food

So I already shared the dessert from Mother's day but here is the rest of the meal. While my stepdad was in Sweden on business I made King Ranch Casserole and gave some for mom so she didn't have to cook just for herself every night. She loved it so I decided to make it again. I don't have the recipe at the moment (I got it from the Country edition of People Magazine) and I haven't taken pictures. I will though.
I also made Mom's (Aunt Nancy's) Texas Cavier.

3 - Avocados

1 sm pkg - Grape Tomatoes

2 med - Green Peppers

1 med - Onion

2 cans - Sliced Black Olives

1 – Can Black Beans

1 – Can Black Eye-Peas

¼ cup Italian Dressing (I used Newman's Own lite Italian)

Dice peppers and onion; cut grape tomatoes in 1/4; drain the beans and rinse them; drain black olives. Combine in large bowl with lid. Add Italian dressing. Cover and toss to mix. Serve with your favorite Tortilla Chips (not 'Hint of Lime'. That's what Chase got and they're more than a little Hint of lime.) Keep refrigerated.

It doesn't look like much but it tastes fantastic!

Ricotta Cake

So my mom has been talking about wanting to try and make a ricotta cake. I figured that since she was coming over for lunch/dinner on Mother's Day I'd give it a try. It turned out great! Here's the recipe that I used from Cooks.com

AUNT ANTOINETTA'S RICOTTA CAKE

2 lbs. ricotta cheese 3/4 c. sugar 3 eggs, lightly beaten 1 (18 1/2 oz.) pkg. yellow or lemon cake mix with pudding Mix together the ricotta cheese, sugar and eggs. Set aside. Prepare the cake mix according to the package directions. Pour into a greased and floured 9 x 13 inch pan. Carefully spoon the ricotta mixture over the batter. Bake at 350 degrees for 60 to 65 minutes or until golden. When the cake is done, sprinkle with powdered sugar. Keep refrigerated.

I researched a few different recipes and combined a few things that I found in each. I opted to go with just 2 eggs in the cake mix, not the 3 that it called for. It seemed to keep the cake part a little denser. I also added 1 1/2 tsp of vanilla extract to the cheese mixture.
I was thankful to have found some reviews from other women that have made a similar cake. Otherwise I would have been in for a shock when I cut the cake and realized that the cheese part had fallen to the bottom while the cake part was on top, even though I'd layered them the other way.The cake turned out wonderful and was very moist. My mom isn't a huge cake person but was intrigued by this since it has ricotta and she (along with DH and my stepdad) LOVED it. I will definitely make it again. Next time I'll probably get some fresh strawberries and slice them on top just before serving.

Muddy Monday

So last night the big group of horses stayed out over night in the big field. Which is super great news for me because that is about 9 less stalls that I have to clean. So anyways, I had to take 2 bales of hay out to them for breakfast. I have to spread the hay out pretty far because there is a pony (Belle) and a gelding (Starrbuk) who are really low in the pecking order and won't get any if I don't spread it out. There is also a very muddy creek like thing that stretches across the pasture. I usually am able to get over it without a problem...sometimes losing the toe of my boot in mud but that's it.
Well this past weekend we got quite a bit of rain and it was really muddy. I picked a spot where I thought it looked like there was some solid ground and went across with 4 flakes of hay. No problem. I then had to come back across it and went for a different spot. This time I got stuck, in a sprinters starting stance. I couldn't get my boots out of the mud for the life of me. The mud completely covered my boots and was about half way up my calves. I was stuck this way for a good 5 minutes fighting with the mud with nothing to grab onto. The horses found this very interesting, they left their breakfast and came over to see what I was doing. My boots were complete filled up with mud and water...great way to start off work Monday morning shortly after 7am.
So I finish bringing out the horses (that were inside overnight) and told my boss that I needed to go home and change since I was soaked from the knees down and my boots were squishing when I walked.
It took me about an hour to drive home, find my super old pair of boots and get back out to work. Once there it was everything as usual until I got ready to leave. The last thing that my boss had asked me to do was go get Starrbuk and bring him inside because he has a lesson this afternoon. No problem, I got done super early.
I head back out into the field, this time with my clean jeans and clean boots. I went to the edge of the field where the muddy area is narrower and looked a little drier. I figured that if I move really fast then there's no way I'll sink again, right? Wrong. This time though because I had such momentum I actually lost my right boot and continued through the mud in my socks. Fantastic. Once I'd crossed I turned around to find my boot and it took me a second because it was filling up with muddy water. I fished it out, put it on, caught Starrbuk then had to cross it again...this time with a horse following me. My right foot got stuck again. This time was a little scary though because he was following right behind me. I managed to get it out without a problem.
So basically it's been a long day and it's only 1:20. I hosed off both pairs of my boots real good before I left work and now they're sitting in front of my house drying in the sun. It'll probably be a few days before I can wear either of them again.
I did learn a couple things today though.
1 - You're wearing zip up paddock boots, ZIP them UP!

2 - Just because the ground looks like it might be firm, doesn't mean that it is.

_Boots drying in the sun_

_My 2 pairs of jeans that got mud baths today_

Sometimes I think my life should be a movie...just so that other people could witness the insane things that happen to me.
Welp, I think it's time to go shower and apply a Volcanic mud mask to my face since I don't think I've dealt with enough mud yet today.