Friday Fragments

I'm participating in Mrs. 4444's "Friday Fragments!" I love Friday Fragments because here I can post about a bunch of random different things that happened during my week!

I have soo much to randomly talk about, and it all starts out with the "supermoon!" I think the supermoon is to blame for my crazy week! lol

Here is a photo that I took from my backyard. I finally figured out the correct setting for my camera and was able to capture the magnificent moon! I don't know if you were able to see it, but it was mesmerizing!

 Over the last week or so we have had the most beautiful weather! It was like Spring had come early, which is unusual in South Western Pennsylvania! It was nice to be able to get out after a long winter! Alex loves blowing bubbles, and this was the first time this year that he was able to do so! Our weather was beautiful one day and then our area got a huge tornado! It destroyed my high school and did a lot of damage! Some people lost their entire houses! I'm so glad that nobody was hurt! 

The tornado happened on Wednesday. And I was just in the area that the tornado hit, but I had to go pick up Ben from school. I missed it by 2 hours! Thank goodness, because I don't know what I would have done if I would have seen it! It's rare for us to get tornadoes. So we're not used to seeing them! But I have realized one thing....I need to carry my camera with me at all times! You never know when you may need to use it!

 The warm weather has brought lots of birds! They have gotten so bad to the point that you can hear them chirping very loudly in the trees from inside the house with all the doors and windows shut! And we're not talking cute little birds...we're talking the big black scary ones! lol I wanted to get a photo of them all flying away, so my husband went out and started banging on things, but they wouldn't budge! I told you...big scary birds who are not afraid! It reminds me of that Alfred Hitchcock movie "The Birds!" Have you seen it? There were hundreds more in the trees, but this was just a sampling!

I had a hockey game this week and as much as I have complained in the past about hockey...I'm actually starting to enjoy it! It figures we only have about four games left! At our last game we only had five people show up for our team, which means that we had to play an entire game of hockey without being able to sit down and take a break! That's sixty minutes of hockey! The only break we had was the one minute in between periods! We were exhausted...but I SCORED A GOAL! I told you that weird supermoon is causing all kinds of things to happen! ;)

And lastly is about my dog Allie. Allie loves her toy bunnies! She has several of them and loves sleeping with them at night. Since she cannot jump onto our bed, we have doggie steps for her to help her. Alex recently broke the steps so she had no way of getting onto our bed. So at night she likes to sleep on the shower mat in the bathroom next to our bedroom waiting for us to go to bed. Normally she'll lay there with her bunny and wait for me to lift her onto the bed. Well the other night we were getting ready for bed and this is what my husbnd found on the mat in the bathroom!

It looks like Allie will not be getting anything from the Easter bunny this year! lol

As much as I keep nagging my husband about fixing the dog steps, I'm glad he didn't cause this is what we would have found in our bed! lol Poor baby bunny!

See I told you it's been a crazy week! Hope next week is boring!

A Photo Shoot With Alex!

This past week we had such beautiful weather, and I couldn't wait to get back outside to take photos!

While Ben was in school one day, Alex and I took off to a local bike trail to take some photos. They have a couple abandoned trains there, so I thought it would make a cute prop! Alex's favorite color is red, so that was our theme!

 I love this old abandoned bridge in the background! It sure is beautiful here in South Western Pennsylvania! As much as I complain about the weather and wish I lived elsewhere...I need to look at the beauty that is around me!

 I had this vintage tricycle in the garage, and thought it would be fun to add to our red themed photo shoot.

 Here he is taking a break at a fountain. I should have taken a photo of the fountain that was near the ground. There were three fountains each at different heights. It would have been more convenient for him to use the one that was closer to the ground, but I'm guessing that it's for dogs? Not sure, and I didn't want to take any chances! ;)

 And of course we had to take some silly photos! He sure does like making silly faces!

 I know every mom thinks that their kid is just the cutest...but I swear it can't get any cuter than this! But don't let this cute face fool you, he is one stubborn little boy!

"A" is for ALEX!

 And as my friend pointed out...it's also for  "Air-borne!" :)

 I love black and white photos with a touch of color!

 As I mentioned, we went with a "red" theme, but I'm thinking that this may be a little too much red!

 I just LOVE this shot! His little shoes are sooo adorable and so are the skull shoe laces! Little girls are fun because you can accessorize with bows and things like that. But with boys, it's very limited, so I guess skulls are the cool thing for boys!

So we've been enjoying this beautiful weather. Rumor has it that it is going to snow towards the end of the week! I sure hope not! I'm getting too spoiled by this early Spring weather!

Reflections

We got a little snow yesterday, and it's one of those cold crappy days outside. I have a lot of house work to do, and to be honest I've been putting it off! After I took Ben to school today, I took my last online art class, and then I decided to get on facebook. I get onto facebook throughout my day, but today I noticed something just simply beautiful!

I keep my laptop in my kitchen on my breakfast bar, and behind me is a huge arch window which I absolutely love! You can see by the reflection on my computer screen, just why I love this big arch window!

Of course each day the window reflects onto my computer screen, but today I noticed, and was just mesmerized by it's beauty! The sky is such a wonderful shade of blue and the tree branches are lined with snow!

Here is another reflection (an up close one) from my computer screen!

And one more!

So I grabbed my camera, turned around, and took a photo of the arch window and the amazing view!

Isn't it just beautiful outside? And just think, my husband wants to take these trees down this summer! What will I look at then?!

I see a sketchbook page in my future! :)

Now off to do the dreaded housework!

Hockey and Comfort Food

This is just a random post about what I have been up to lately. Ben is still continuing in the Little Penguins hockey program and he is loving it! He is turning into such a great little player, and he amazed me the other day with how fast he can skate backwards! And I am totally enjoying helping to teach the kids! It is amazing to see how fast they are progressing!

Here I am on the left (in pink of course) watching them do a drill! Ben is in the front of the line.

 I normally wear full equipment, even when it's just teaching the kids, because I don't want to get hurt. Well at this particular practice I decided not to wear any because I had a hockey game later that night (last night). I didn't plan on skating around too much. Well earlier that day I bought new skates, because my other pair were about 17-years-old and falling apart. I figured they would be just like my old skates...well they were not! lol I stepped out on the ice and nearly wiped out! This happened several times, but within the hour and a half I got use to them! Thank goodness because later that night (last night) I had a game with "the big boys!"

 I do need to get a photo of me in my hockey equipment from my men's league. I thought I wanted to quit, because it was sooo hard core, but I decided to give it another try last night and it went really well actually! I think my body is finally getting conditioned! It wasn't worse than childbirth last night, and I'm sort of looking forward to my next game!

Remember when I posted about my first game ever in the men's league? I said that no one talked to me and I just didn't have a good time. Well last night we had a new player on our team and he was so nice! He actually talked to me the whole time that we were on the bench and I don't feel so out of place now! We even shared water! ;)

The other players were even actually joking with me about my age! They found out that I was 33-years-old and I had a couple players come up to me after the game and ask me if it was the truth! lol Apparently to them I look like I'm in my twenties! Now you can understand why I keep going back going back! Plus the weight loss helps too! ;)

Oh and speaking of hockey...I am a little irritated about one thing! Now that I am playing hockey again and now they finally have pink laces, and pink hockey tape, and pink sticks...it's wonderful for a girl. And it's my thing that keeps me different from the men...or at least that's what I thought! Last night one guy had a pink stick with pink hockey tape and pink laces in his skates! Come on! I don't even have a pink stick! I was a little jealous! But seriously this is the latest trend with men playing hockey!

Ok onto another note: cooking! The past week or so I haven't cooked much at all! You know how it is when you get out of a routine and then it becomes hard to get back into that routine? Well that was me!

Yesterday I did make some yummy chicken enchiladas with a homemade enchilada sauce! They turned out great! And today I needed some comfort food! I get soo exhausted from running around after the boys, going to Ben's hockey practice, and me playing in my league! For example I was out on the ice with Ben last night for an hour and a half and then later had a game of my own! I didn't get home from my hockey game until about 11:00 last night and then stayed up a few hours after that only to get up early this morning for a doctor's appointment. I was exhausted today that I ended up taking a two hour nap this afternoon! So when I woke up I wanted comfort food and something that I love is tuna melts!

As a matter of fact, when I was pregnant with both boys I craved tuna salad sandwiches. But as you know eating tuna isn't safe during pregnancy, so I rarely ate it. When both of the boys were born in the hospital I ordered a tuna salad sandwich for breakfast, lunch, and dinner! I just couldn't get enough of them!

Then we vacationed in Ohio and we went to this fancy restaurant for lunch and I ordered a tuna salad sandwich and it tasted just like the ones I ate at the hospital...just delicious! So I asked them what was in it, and when they told me I was shocked at how simple it was! The secret is mayo and not Miracle Whip! Previously I was using Miracle Whip and I couldn't understand why I couldn't replicate the taste. Well know I knew!

Here is how I make it. I take a couple cans of tuna; drain and flake it. Add some chopped onion and chopped celery. The amount just depends on your taste. And then you add some mayo. Not a lot because you don't want it too wet, but just enough where it's not too dry. Mix it together and chill! It's that simple!

So tonight I made up my favorite tuna salad and made tuna melts with it! I also made a side of the best buttered noodles! You can find that recipe HERE.

This was the second time I made these noodles and they are just delicious! The key to making these is to cook them in a large skillet, not a tall pot. This is because you cook them in very little liquid, so you want to make sure that the noodles are spread out so they cook evenly.

 

Here is a photo of the yummy tuna melts and yummy buttered noodles! As you can see from the photo, I am definitely NOT a food photographer! lol But trust me they were yummy!

What kind of food comforts you?