rainy day

Happy Saturday Y'all!!!

Source: weheartit.com via D on Pinterest

I just love that saying!


Our prayers were answered and it rained today, clearing out our entire to do list!  No baseball, no cub scouts.  Just us.  I went crazy at redbox & picked up some sweet stuff.  Closing the blinds and turning the ac down, putting on sweats and lounging about.  

But first...

xo♥xo♥

lydia

my world changed this day...

My Aunt Sharmon taught me so much as I was growing up.  
She was more like my very cool older sister.  I remember when I was young, like real young, hanging out in the back room of our house on Effie Street with her and her friends.  They would all be playing quarters, listening to Salt-n-Pepa.  I thought she was the coolest!  She hated her name.  She tried telling everyone her name was Shannon.  People would call the house asking for Shannon and my Pawpaw would go off about it, on her and them.  

She was the first to let me try smoking and drinking.  It had to be someone right?  In some way, it made me know I could always trust her.  I talked to her about everything.  To this day, convos I would not feel comfortable having with anyone but her.  She was always there for me.  Brutally honest when I needed it and a sympathetic ear, when I couldn't handle it.  She was the first one in my family who knew about when my husband and I eloped.  She was the first I told about being pregnant with my son. She was so incredibly excited for us.  For a while she had been wanting to have another baby.  Her plan was to vicariously live through me on this one.  A month before I was suppose to deliver I decided Alabama was no longer where I wanted to be.  So back to Virginia we went.  It broke her heart.  It was part of the plan that she was even going to be in the delivery room.  I think that our decision to move back to Virginia was one of the hardest things I ever had to tell her.  

J was just short of three months old when I got the call from my Mammaw that day.  All I heard was her crying.  I had no idea what was going on.  I was crying before I knew what was even wrong cause I had never heard her in pain like that.  She kept saying it but I couldn't understand her.  She shouted, she is dead.  That time, I heard her. 


My husband held me.  I held my newborn son.
I thought of her children, my cousins.  My cousins who called me sissy growing up.  This moment defined that I was not their sister.  I had not just lost my mom.  They did.  


She was on her way home.  She worked as a teacher in her church's preschool program.  My Aunt Sharmon had been killed in a car accident.  The non-licensed, prescription drug abusing, driver of an F-150 came around a curve to fast, into her lane, hit her Honda accord and flipped on top of it.  She was killed instantly.  


Our family forever changed. 
Our family was in pieces and nobody had the strength to pick us up.  She was always that person for us.  My mom moved to Mississippi to help care for my Aunts family.  My mother and stepfather had been together since I was eight.  An understatement would be to say it was a rough marriage.  This is when they gave up.   


My cousins were given different opportunities by family members to live with them.  What seemed like the easy path at the time, led to rough times.  The oldest is now 24.  She never finished school.  She has four children.  Her life is a constant struggle.  My other cousin, who is 16 now, just found out his 14 year old girlfriend is pregnant.  He has been expelled from numerous schools.  He is hoping to get into a military school.  I pray he does.  I cannot help but think how their lives would be different, had she been here.  I cannot help but think how their lives would be different, if she had a plan in place for the unimaginable.  


This day marks eight years.  


I can still hear her laugh.  I can see her smile.  I can see us riding in the night with the music loud, singing off key, from Picayune to Slidell, just to get a chocolate daiquiri.  I hold on to her words of advice.  Gems like "having a tan, makes you look skinnier" and much more.  I wish she were here for me to talk to, to hold my babies, to hold her babies, to hold her babies, babies.  


I miss her more than I know how to put into words.  




xo♥xo♥
lydia















  

Wordful Wednesday, my first eva!!

Hey Y'all.

Going to start trying to kick it in high gear and getting some blog routines going.

First Up...  Wordful Wednesday


I discovered Wordful Wednesdays from Seven Clown Circus.


Here is my day in the form of a picture,    

and a few words to follow, of course.

Today is gorgeous out.  Our Marley dog is the only one able to enjoy it, laying on the deck, getting her some tan.  J and I should be working on a science lesson involving those planets you see there but, we aren't.  J is being an awesome big brother and feeding baby B some sweet tatoes.  Baby B is teething and is being super needy/super lovable, my view changes a bazillion times a day.  What you do not see pictured is the open dishwasher to the left, waiting to be put away.  The sink full waiting to be loaded.  The buffalo chicken breasts sauteing in the pan.  And through great editing, how badly my floor needs to be mopped today.

Hoping to get,

all my chores done, lessons taught and baby smiling to go on a walk today

with these sweet people plus a few more.  

xo♥xo♥

lydia

ps. i see those page counts, so make me smile and subscribe and follow me while your here.

the story of Us. Part 1.

This is the story on how we, came to be.  
This is how our forever began...


My hubby is a few years older than me.  He is a Virginia country boy through and through.  A deer mount hanging, camo hat wearing, good food cookin, country boy.  
I went to school with his younger sister and brother, so we had randomly met a few times around PG.  We were so caught up in our own lives that neither of us were even on the others radar.  It would be years before we saw each other again.  


He had a daughter and all that came with her.  He experienced and attempted to deal with the unimaginable, unexpected loss of his 18 year old brother, and his family forever changing.  Going through the worse loss and the best love.


During those years I put myself through a lot of rough lessons. 

I partied crazily.  I quit school frustrated that Virginia had wanted me to take classes I had already.  Problems you face when you go to four high schools.  I was working two jobs.  Making rediculous money for a 17 year old.  I moved out before my 18th birthday to an apartment next to VCU.  I didn't go to college but I partied like I did.  I had two DUI's before I was even legal to drink.  People always say the cliche "I don't regret anything I did cause it got me to where I am today."  Not me.  I have regret.  I did so much during this time period of my life that I am not proud of.  Drugs, alcohol and promiscuity, solve nothing.  I was forced to wise up when an ex began stalking me.  I had to quit jobs.  I decided to move back home with my parents.  I knew it was time to change some things up.  I started cutting relationships that were no good for me, out of my life.  That is as much detail as I choose to give for now. 


It is now, July 2002.  
I was hanging out with a good friend of mine one day, we will call her Fo ;)   
We were at my parents house getting ready to go out and she got a call from a friend of ours, (his sister), about a little get together.  My future guy was there celebrating his non-wedding.  Ya see, he was actually suppose to be getting married that 4th of July weekend but, lucky for me, he called it off.  We flirted ridiculously.  Ya know flirting is one of those things you are either good at or your not.  Its a skill.  It should be listed on resumes.  People who can't, but try, really make things awkward, don't you think?  Anyway, I am babbling.  I took off to go check out a party and ended up staying there most of the night.  Late that night on my way home I decided I would stop back by there.  We ended up sitting outside all night.  Listening to music and talking.  Mostly me.  I did get that neither of us were looking for anything serious.  I just had this crazy relationship and well he was just about married that weekend.  
I think that is how it is though.  Love finds a way when you least expect it.

to be continued...




xo♥xo
lydia


   



    

It used to be blue?!?!?

Did you know that originally the color associated with this holiday was blue?  
Yeah, me neither.  I love when we learn together :)  

Green took over when people started to rock the shamrock.

  And the pinching thing, well, there is a legend that wearing green makes you invisible to leprechauns that will pinch you if they can see you.

So maybe kick it old school and throw on some blue today too.  As long as you wear the green.  You do not want to get pinched by some perv-ee leprechaun.

Source: sheckys.com via KC You There on Pinterest

Get out the food coloring and join me in a green beer today. 

 ♣ Happy St. Patrick's day ♣

Booboo got ouchies :(

Hey y'all!  How has it been going for you?

Pretty decent around these parts.  

Last week lil Miss B had her 4 month shots :(  When I say that it was horrific, I am putting it mildly.  Let me walk you through her appointment...
((insert melodious music and the scene gets hazy))


It was a crisp spring day in the village of Chester.  B and I headed into her pediatric office all smiles.  Things were okay for a while.  She got undressed down to her diapee and I laid her on the scale.  The nurse referred to B as a he.  WHAT?!?  Lil Miss B, cut her a look to the nurse.  I corrected her saying SHE, to which the nurse says "I should have known that pretty Morgan was a girl." Say what?!?  Do you have the wrong file or what?  Correct file, nurse was just in la la land.  So anyway, back to the scale.  B is weighing a very healthy 16 pounds and is now almost 25 inches long!  All smiles still.  The last time B was here was for her two month shots.  So now, I take her off the scale, then the horror begins...


My sweet baby let out a cry I have never heard before.  The highest pitch, blood curdling cry.  Non-stop.  We are now in the room, still crying.  The nurse leaves.  Still crying.  I am clueless on what to do.  I was completely stumped cause she is seriously an amazing baby this is so abnormal.  Tried her bottle, tried soothing sounds, humming, rocking.  Still crying.  The doctor comes in.  He lets me know we will give her about 5 minutes and see if she calms down.  I decide its time to bring her outside and calm her down.  B was flippin out!

She and I go outside.  Immediately calms down.  Awesome.  Lets go back inside.  Hahah wrong momma!!  We do not get past the foyer before she goes to crying again.  Back outside.  Calm.  She is still doing the 'can't catch my breathe cry'.  All is pretty okay though.  We have now been outside about 15 minutes.  Time to go back in.  Immediately begins to cry again.  Just have to get this over with at this point.  She is completely inconsolable.  The doctor comes in and suggests we have her appointment outdoors.  What a great idea, Dr. KC YOU ROCK!  So Dr. KC, B and I head outside for her appointment.  She actually begins to smile again.  Then he tells me we have to go back inside for her shots.  I was expecting that and definitely did not want to ruin the outdoors for her.  As soon as we walk in, she begins to cry again.  I am noticing how blonde her hair is by the shade of red she is turning.  She finally cries herself to sleep in my arms as we wait for the nurse to come in.  I wish she would of came in while she was still crying, not after she calmed down.  This nurse is full of disappointment.  B wakes up for her shots.  She did not cry.  Just stared at me.  Her eyes welled up with tears and bottom lip got all pout-ee.  My heart broke.  They poked her with that needle and her eyes began to pour.  She fussed a tiny bit but it was incomparable to before.  We left her appointment.  We stopped to visit a friend, much needed Momma time and B had her some time with her guy, JP.  She slept for about 14 hours straight that night.  Its exhausting being a baby!


The more I thought about it, I realized she had a full blown anxiety attack.  As soon as she knew that those shots were coming, she got to flipping out.  J has an appt next month and I am going to have to get a sitter cause I cannot do that to her again.  I do not know what I am going to do next time she has to get shots.  This was an adventure, I do not want to have again.




♥ LIL MISS B, 4 MONTHS OLD ♥

xo♥xo♥
lydia

These times are hard

Just wanted to share...

No matter what you are going through... nobody is alone.

xo♥xo♥

lydia

Red Door

One of our goals for this year is to buy our own home.  

We are constantly on real estate sites staying updated on properties on such.  We are still in the process of getting our ducks in a row but, they are lining up rather well.  

Well, we discovered an awesome property the other day.  Its an old cape cod built in the 1950's.  Four bedrooms, nearly 2000 sq. ft., florida room, sitting on 5 acres with stables.

I am in love.  

It is a definite fixer-upper.  That is what we are wanting though.  Take something with some good bones and make it OURS.  It is currently listed as a short sale but is going into foreclosure any day and hoping by the time it does those duckies have gotten themselves lined up like soldiers.  I have already started the remodel in my head.  The outside will look something like this...

The garage is detached on the one we want but cedar siding is a must!

So is the red door.  Ever since the old days of watching One Tree Hill, I have wanted to be "the girl behind the red door".  If you know who I am talking bout, you rock.  


I hope this one works out but if it doesn't there will be another one.


I JUST KNOW I AM SO READY!!




xo♥xo♥
lydia

from my pjs

So, I am super dee duper stoked!

I recently found this awesome site which brings independent contractors who want to work from home and employers together.  I got my first contract last week, but it's small, like, $5 for one hour a week small.

So tonight...
I just had a phone interview with this nice Aussie who hired me on the spot, cause I rock!

I just received a new contract for 20 hours per week.  I am pretty darn excited about it.  It feels good that I can help to contribute something to my family financially without being away from them.  Don't get me wrong, I'm not banking here, but I can pay a few bills each month from what I'll be bringing in.
The job itself: it will have a few challenges that I am totally up for learning about like the tech & advertising type stuff. The rest of it will actually be really easy.  I will have quite a bit of interaction with them too.  If I said it once I will say it again,
I am super dee duper stoked.






xo♥xo♥
lydia

Laissez le rouleau boules de base!!

I only took one semester of French back in the day.  
It was my fave class we sat on beanbags and everything :)
For the most part the thing I have ever remembered is: Bonjour, je m'appelle Lydia.
In case you didn't take a semester, let me translate.  I am trying to let you know it is time to
Let the baseballs roll!! 
Yet another season of baseball is set to begin.

Oh my kiddo!!  He is growing up so fast on us, its quite unbelievable.

Today he has his first baseball practice of the season.

J has been playing for a few years now.  Tball, then two years of machine pitch.
  

This year is coach pitch.  Usually he plays a sport every season whether it be ball, football, soccer.  Life has been so crazy with us moving and me having baby B.  He hasn't played anything since his season ended last summer, and let me tell ya, we are so ready!! 


The only thing he has been involved in is Cub Scouts.  

ain't he just the cutest!
He earned a bead the other night at the awards ceremony toward his Wolf badge.  He also earned a gold and silver arrow for his electives, he rocks!


Have a beautiful day my people ♥ 


xo♥xo♥
lydia
   

Involuntary Yummy Sound ((pork carnitas))

Hey Y'all!

Let me start by saying that I am not a "recipe follower" by any means.

Do not get me wrong.  I have tons of cookbooks and recipes but what I like to do is take what someone else creates and make it my own.  I think I am very familiar with spices and herbs to know how they work together and what I can substitute, omit and play around with, what I don't know, I ask the hubby and vice versa.  Food is always good 'round here.

Onto my Pork Carnitas.  

Ever since the hubby saw pork carnitas being made on tv  (either Diners, Drive Ins and Dives or Man vs. Food) he has been wanting me to make them.  Let me tell you, there are lots of ways to make pork carnitas apparently.  I looked up a few things online but nothing sounded like what we saw.

I compiled a basic ingredient list from different recipes and let's just say, I created magic.

For the Pork

 You will need:

A Pork Shoulder

I am estimating that I used about 4 pounds of pork.  I am a Sams Club shopper and for two of them it was about 17 pounds.  I cut large chunks of meat off the bone of one of the shoulders.  You are going to want them to be very similar in size so that they all cook evenly.  

2 Cups of Lard

I know what your thinking, your about to slow cook a fatty meat in animal fat?!?!  Did I mention its only 200 calories?  
Okay glad I didn't cause that would be a lie.  You are going to want enough lard to cover your chunks of meat.  


Cumin and Kosher Salt
Handful of Garlic Cloves and the Rind of one Orange
I did a few generous shakes of salt and probably about two tablespoons of cumin into the lard.
I smashed and chopped the garlic, nothing to precise. The rind, I broke into about 4 pieces so it was easy to remove later.  Reserve orange.


Your going to melt your lard on medium heat and throw the garlic and rind in.  Carefully put your chunks in and let them slow cook in the lard for close to 2 hours.  Be sure not to overcook.

it will look a lil something like this.


and when it is all done...

it will look a lil something like this.

Now that your pork is done, let it rest while you make the sauce.

For Your Sauce:

should look a lil something like this.

Remember that orange, squeeze as much juice as you can from it.  

I hand squeezed about half a cup.

Strain the lard out of the pot you used to cook the pork but do not clean it.

Toss out the orange rinds and add the fried garlic cloves back to pot and add...

fresh orange juice

two cans of coconut milk. (16 oz each) 

and one can of mexican table cream. (8 oz)

about four tablespoons of cumin

one tablespoon garlic

salt and pepper

and let her simmer for a bit while chop your meat.  

And now to the fixins:

I am a huge avocado fan.  I like guacamole but a simple fresh scored avocado is just wonderful to me.  I also like to do homemade pico de gallo.  So simple too!  Dice up some Roma tomatoes, Vidalia onions, Jalepeno peppers, Serrano peppers, FRESH cilantro and a squeeze a bit of lime juice over it and there you have it!

Put it all together in a flour tortilla and take a bite!

((INSERT INVOLUNTARY YUMMY SOUND HERE))

Be sure to follow me while you are here, much more awesomeness to come!

xo♥xo♥

lydia

"Not I." Said the Looloo.

my fave Seuss saying.

Happy 105th Birthday Dr. Suess.

Do you know how Dr. Seuss came to be?


Well let me school ya...
He was born Theodor Seuss Geisel.  Ya know what else?  He was never even a doctor at all.
Turns outs when Theodor was in college he liked to party hard.  Frat Boy and everything at Dartmouth.  Theodor and his buddies liked the gin, I wonder if they played pong?  Anyway, after he got busted for having a drinking party, if he wanted to continue to write for the school paper he would have to do so under a pseudonym, and so there birthed Seuss.  
Who knew he was such a partier.  Well "Not I."  Said the Looloo.  
They left that out when they were feeding us Green Eggs and Ham back in Kindergarten.  

He added the doctor after he graduated school and planned to earn his Doctor of Philosophy but met his wife and never finished his degree.  This wife of his, she committed suicide due to his cheating, and she had cancer.  What?  Seuss you cheated on your cancer ridden wife!  Uhhmm, is it just me or is anyone else thinking Theodor was kind of a dirtbag.   
Goodness golly, just when you think you know somebody?!?!?
You learn anything about Seuss today?




Oh and did you hear who else is celebrating a birthday today...

Mr. Jon Bon Jovi.  This beefcake is 50 today!!  I would seriously kill for his waistline.  How about all that hair.  I wonder if he shaves his chest now cause if not I bet it is just out of control.


I remember one of my birthdays when I was little, it was before I was 8, just not sure which one.  I was given my first two cassette tapes and one was the Aerosmith, Pump album, and the other, was this guy and the epic Slippery When Wet album.  Yes, I said epic.  Goodtimes.




xo♥xo♥
lydia

The month of Luck

ITS MARCH Y'ALL!!

This year is flying by.

Today is suppose to be an absolutely gorgeous day in Virginia.  

Our plan:  TO ENJOY THE HECK OUT OF IT!

j at lake chesdin

Today's Subject:

How lucky am I?

Today my precious baby B is four months old.  Talk about time flying by.  Then on the other hand it is hard to imagine life before she came along.  I am so lucky cause she is such a great baby.  B has been sleeping through the night since she was about two months old.  She is always smiling and happy.  This girl has completed our little family ♥

Tonight, my little cub scout will be receiving some awards.  He has only been in scouts since December and he has accomplished so much.  He made the honor roll for Calvert Academy homeschoolers, he is beyond amazing!

My husband couldn't be more perfect.  Everything he does is for our family.  Every move he makes is completely selfless.  He loves me.  For me.  All my flaws and insecurities.

He is my greatest blessing, without him, this wonderful life of mine, wouldn't be.

xo♥xo♥

lydia