You’re home! You’re home! You’re home!

{That’s his travel case}
Can you believe it?! It’s here! It’s home with me!

G-man said he had a present for me once he arrived and pulled out my bestest, favoritest pillow of all time.

I may have jumped up and down clapping my hands, squealing, giving my pillow the biggest hug ever. And he may have looked at me odd and laughed.

What’s even better about him bringing my pillow is, he doesn’t read my blog. He never knew I wrote about how much I missed my pillow the other day. He just brought it because he knows I love it and it helps my neck. I. love. that. man!

He cracked up when I told him I wrote about it last week.

Have I said I love that man? Because I do! He’s so thoughtful and quick to consider me. I have slept better the past few days than I have since being back. aaaaaahhhh

My pillow, I love you and promise to never leave you again. Cross my heart!

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I’m thankful for 10

I can’t believe all that I’m thankful for. I’m even keeping my spirits up after finishing this entire post and having it delete on me without saving. So here’s to round two!

I’m going to start off from the beginning and end in the bang that was my weekend!

You ready? I know I am!

I’m thankful for friend’s wanting to buy my groceries. I know I say I’m humbled a lot on here, but have someone buy your groceries. It. will. humble. you…and how can I deny that person when they say, ‘will you bless me by letting me buy you groceries?’ I can’t! In turn, she’s blessed me.

I’m thankful for twitter. I’m not that sold on twitter just yet, however it did allow me to tweet Jennifer Grey, you know, ‘nobody puts baby in the corner’ Jennifer Grey, and ask her who her Podiatrist is. –did you know she had a neuroma too? What’s great is she tweeted 20 minutes later with his info!

I’m thankful for being able to schedule an appt. with him. I see him next month in L.A. I pray he has a different idea, answer, solution, ANYTHING other than, ‘There’s nothing more I can do. You’re going to have to live with this.’

I’m thankful for being able to schedule my appt. at the exact time as my dear friend’s college graduation. Her husband will be gone on business and his Aunt has to watch the baby so NO ONE will be there. I’m thankful I get to share this moment with her.

Now for the crème de la crème….

I’m thankful for G-man, the love of my life, surprising me late Friday night by coming to visit!! He’s here! He’s here!! I thought he was joking when he texted at 10:30pm asking me when I was going to bed. When I said in an hour, he told me I should stay up till 1. Then told me he was in his rental car from the airport driving the 2 1/2 hour drive to see me. I’m so stinkin’ ecstatic!!

I’m thankful I get 1 whole week with him, to myself. No work to interrupt us. Just him and me. **happy sigh**

So if I’m a little MIA with visiting you guys, this is why. You understand, right??

I hope you all had a glorious weekend and have a fantabulous (it’s a word) Monday!

Psalm 66:2
Sing the glory of His name; make His praise glorious. Pin It Now!

My momma’s tostadas

Lately I’ve had zero desire to cook. I say lately, it’s really been ever since I got home from Hawaii which was 40 days exactly. (I know this only because of my beloved pillow post from a few days ago).

But it’s true I haven’t really had but 2 real meals since I’ve been back and 2 only because it was leftovers the next night. So, imagine ramen noodles, steamed veggies, nachos, quesadillas and anything else that required less than 10 minutes to do repeated for 40 days.

It is almost physically painful to get myself in the kitchen to make me dinner. So I forced myself to make tostadas the other night because 1. they are so darn good. 2. they are the poor man’s meal…seriously who doesn’t have everything already!? 3. it is the most quick and simple meal you can make.

I didn’t even gripe about it. and that’s saying something these days.

Here’s what you need.


Because I want less of a clean up, I microwave my refried beans. I popped them in the microwave and had them sitting there ready to heat them up as my tortillas were doing their thang below.


Once the oil is poppin’ hot, place your tortilla in it. (can we please note my very long arm hairs? They’re freakishly long and may, in the future, require a hair net)


Flatten and flip these bad boys until they’re brown and crispy…I like them crispy..easier on the ol’ jaw.


Why did I make 5 you ask when it’s just me? 1. I put way too much oil in the skillet and didn’t want it to go to waste and 2. They’re great the next day with salt. Tortilla chips anyone?


I’m a ketchup person, always have been. As you may have seen on my tacos post. Since I was a wee one I’ve always had to put ketchup in a swirl pattern. It just makes it that much more good, ya know?


Then  my madness continues with my layers. It has to be, cheese, tomatoes, salt, more ketchup…


then lettuce, tapatio, more cheese, more salt, (I treated myself with avocado) and dollops of sour cream. TA-DA!!

I may have had a 3rd….my belly thanked me. My waistline didn’t.


To make these bad boys you’ll need:
Tomatoes
Grated Cheese (I always grate way more than I need, wrap remaining in a paper towel, ziploc and store in fridge. Instant grated cheese…and it stays fresh in the towel)
1 can refried beans
Corn tortillas
Vegetable oil
Shredded lettuce
Avocado (if you have and want)
Sour cream
Your desired hot sauce, I prefer Tapatio

Pour a fair amount of oil in your cast iron skillet (or regular) and heat at med-high heat. While the oil is heating, prep all ingredients. Once the oil is popping hot (drop a couple droplets of water in and if it pops it’s ready) place 1 tortilla in. Moving and flipping until desired crispness. Remove and place on a paper toweled plate. Repeat with remaining tortillas. Meanwhile, heat beans in microwave. 1 minute, stir, 1 minute stir, check to see if it’s hot enough.

Prepare your tostada the way you like and gobble it up.

SO tell me…how do YOU eat your tostada?
HAPPY EASTER EVERYONE!
Thank you Jesus for dying for my sins! Pin It Now!

Meeeoooooow

I saw some beautiful lions and tigers and….cheetahs and cougars and…did you think I was going to say bears?? You did didn’t you? Silly, bears don’t say meow.

But I DID see me some biiiiiig kitties yesterday at the Sierra Cat Haven and had such a great time….however I would like to educate you readers on 1 very important thing you all must do before going there.

When checking your weather app make sure you check the weather where you’re going and not your city’s weather where it says it’ll be a beautiful 75 degrees which makes you wear shorts and a t-shirt. You will freeze because mountains + higher altitude = overcast and cold!

Are we clear on this? OK, good.

Here’s what made this trip extra awesome. The owner of the Cat Haven did our tour. What does that mean, you ask? All the cats love him and know his voice so ALL the cats came up to the fence line where the cats don’t care about the other guides. SCORE for us!

This little guy is 8 months old and has already been on tv shows.


This guy has been in movies, commercials and tv shows. If you’ve seen a cheetah on tv 9 times out of 10 it’s him.


He was playful and weird looking. No idea what he’s called.


Pretty sure these 2 are siblings. He was talking about them but I was so distracted from him saying there’s no such thing as a black panther just 5 minutes earlier that it threw me for a loop. No black panthers? It just happens to be the 1 animal I always thought were the coolest….My life is meaningless now…


Not sure if I like the stare down.


This was the COOLEST thing ever! We were 1 foot away from this guy. He definitely gave us a show.



There was a little kid to my right…


What big teeth you have.



Afterward we went to my friend’s parents mountain home. GORGEOUS!


Sitting on the deck, soaking in the sun that decided to shine, talking and watching the kids ride the pony…Could it get any better? nah..

I hope all you sweet readers have a wonderfully fabulous Easter, celebrating the risen, Jesus Christ! Pin It Now!

I miss you so much

Dear Pillow,

It’s been exactly 37 days since we were last together and my days haven’t been the same since. I’m using another pillow and you must know, he doesn’t compare to you. You know me so well, that you don’t even think when to support my neck or cup my cheek, you just do. And he… well…

I think of you every day and night. All the memories we’ve had together. The beautiful sleep we’ve shared. All our trips we’ve gone on. I would take you everywhere with me and you were eager to go. Remember driving across country with me? Yeah, I do too. Those were great times weren’t they?

I know I said I’d never leave you behind, but we talked about this and knew it was the right decision to leave you in Hawaii. I remember making sure you were all fresh and clean before I left and tucked you in nice and snug with all the other pillows so you’d feel a part of the new group…and I think they took to you quickly too. (I hope they’re treating you well.) Giving you a loving pat before I walked out of the room…it was all I could do to keep from crying.

I want you to know you mean so much to me and to show you how much I care, today I’m leaving your side of the bed empty…in honor of you. All the other pillows were eager to show tribute to you too by moving over.

I don’t sleep the same without you! I love and miss you oh so much and can’t wait until we’re reunited again.

Fully devoted to you,
Emily Pin It Now!

Have you ever

This has been a crazy good week and I know it’ll keep getting better! Tomorrow I’m going to look at some kitties…big kitties, endangered ones. So excited. You bet I’ll have my camera.

 

And in case you’re wondering, so far in life I don’t have any have you ever experiences with wild animals…that I can think of. Wait…something’s coming to me. I’ll have to tuck that one away for later.

 

Have you ever imagined while driving down a highway with a bunch of hills and mountains along side that you could pull over and just..run up to the top?

-Yes, for many many years I had this dream and always thought it would be so cool (and easy…eyes are deceiving) to pull over and run up to the top. Well I finally did it! And by the way, that’s not the top. It’s 1/2 way. Again with the deceiving eyes. It didn’t look that big from the bottom.

A view from the to…middle.

I was so proud of this moment. When I say, this was my dream to do…it seriously was my dream to do. As crazy as that sounds.

I ran from aaaaall the way down there. That’s the horrible car I drove for 8+ years that I’ve talked about how much I hated.

 

Have you ever had a man tell you in 5 years (from the day of the conversation) you’ll have gained at least 20lbs and by when you reach his age (in 20 years from the day) you’ll be FAT?!

-Yes, gotta love my old co-workers. He was serious too, believing and saying to my face that I’ll be getting fat in 5 and full on fat in 20. I’d like to announce that was 3 1/2 years ago and I’m the exact same weight I was then (as I smugly eat a Butterfinger).

 

Have you ever been so obsessed with your vacuum lines that you start in the back room and walk out of each room and sling the cord over your left shoulder while flicking it back as you walk, like a PRO?

Yes, so I may have watched a program with a professional housekeeper who said the cord over the shoulder, flicking it back as you walk is the way to do it and I may have been doing it ever since seeing it….7 years ago. And the starting in the back room walking out is totally my mom’s fault. If she hadn’t told me about a neurotic house cleaner she knew who had to have perfect lines so she started back working her way to the front of the house, I never would have thought it a brilliant idea and started doing it myself. Perfect lines, people! Perfect lines!

 

Have you ever been harassed so bad on the freeway by a guy that you called the cops, drove 15 miles PAST your exit and when the cops caught up to you and the guy, he wouldn’t pull over until the cop turned his sirens on?

-Yes, ok seriously, heart is pounding writing this. It was a crazy night. This guy thought I cut him off but I was never near his car (fact). So he gets so close to my bumper I didn’t even know he was there (it was getting dark). I slow down to 50 in 65 (this was before I knew he was a crazy) then sped up to 95 (again before I knew) and the whole time he was inches away. I waved at him to pass me (I wasn’t having fun anymore) and he came along side me screaming, waving his hand at me and threw his cigarette at my car.

 

Got in front of me, slammed on him brakes and drove 45. (did I mention this was on a very busy freeway in San Francisco??) At that point I call the cops. Give my info and while on the phone, he slows back down and gets behind me again. 20 minutes and 15 miles past my exit of him harassing me in each lane I go in. I’m told to put my hazards on so CHP can find me and the guy does the same to mock me.  CHP is waiting on the side for us to pass and catches up to us quick. Puts his lights on but the guy won’t pull over. It took the cop to turn on his sirens for him to pull over. (it’s night now).

 

I wait for a CHP to get to me waiting a mile away and I was freaked! I shook from adrenaline for 3 hours after. Turned out the guy was drunk which thankfully led to his arrest.

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I’m here to represent

I want to give a shout out to my cute little Swedish town, “K-town”.

 

I heart this place. Which isn’t quite love but close to it. I’d love it if it were transplanted out of the nasty smog capital of California, so ‘hearting’ it is as close as I’ll get. Oh and it has the most dangerous thing here that I’ll never understand why they feel it’s ok. See this intersection??? Do you see something wrong with this 4 way intersection??? (you may or may not see my arrows)

NO STOP SIGNS! At all! All 4 directions have the right of way. This is at many busy neighborhood intersections. I’ve almost been hit (by someone flying through) 4 times. Hate it! But K-town is also cute because they play oldies music over loud speakers downtown. So it’s hard to hate. It’s the cutest thing.

 

Any way, I’m going to let you fall in heart with it too. We had a car show in our downtown (which consists of 1 street) and since I live 1 block down I walked on over and snapped away. So sit back and enjoy…my home. *disclaimer* I like cars and love Camaro’s. With that.

3 kings

A church on every corner.

Our kettle water tower. Darling isn’t it?

The 1 and only donut shop. (very important in a small town)

I told you I love Camaro’s. I stopped a guy just to take my picture next to “my car.”

These guys came through with low riding bicycles. The red hat guy had hydraulics and is lower in the 2nd picture. That can’t be comfortable.

These boys were too funny walking around, coming up on people.

Hello Spring

So there you have it folks! Do you heart the place like me?

Did I represent properly?

 

Peace out K-town…and get some stop signs!

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