How To Catch A Leprechaun...According To Kyla

Put a big black pot filled with gold coins and other green & gold "bait" in the middle of a piece of paper covered with "lots of sticky stuff" and make sure that the rainbows lead the way. Soon enough, a Leprechaun will come along to take the goodies...but he won't be able to leave!





Hope you have a wonderful St. Patrick's Day! May the Luck Of The Irish be with you...and don't forget to wear your green.



I have to get dinner started. We're having Corned Beef, Cabbage, Potatoes, & Carrots as well as a yummy Reuben Loaf. Can hardly wait to eat!

I Have Called My Mother So Many Different Names During My Life.

She has been Mommy, Mom, Ma, Mother, and various other forms of the name. My dad calls her Kitty-Jo which really drives her crazy...and according to an old yearbook, a past admirer called her Kitten. She also has a grand niece that had a speech impediment when she was younger that caused her name to sound like "Aunt Titty".

Now she has a new name...and this one is going to stick with her forever. It's the name my 3 year old niece started calling her. From here on out, she will forever be known as "DamMa".

Bryleigh Has A Boyfriend...

His name is Little Link...









Aren't they the cutest?

Mr. O'Kara is doing alot better.

His most recent diagnosis was that nothing cardiac related was wrong. It appears that when he was sick with the flu a couple weeks ago and coughing all the time...he either pulled a muscle and / or strained some of the connective tissues in his chest and rib cage area. All of his EKGs, blood tests, Cat Scans, and such came back negative for any Cardiac trouble and he is in "perfect" health for his age. The only thing that he needs to work on is the same that most people are suppose to do...watch his diet, get more exercise, and reduce the amount of stress that he has.

So...now I get to spend more time trying to convince him to get into shape and stay healthy. Maybe our new Weight-Loss Challenge will do the trick. If he loses enough weight to get to his goal, then he gets a new flat screen TV. If I reach my weight goal, then I get that same amount of money to spend on new landscaping for the house.

Wish me luck...I am heading out for another 5 mile walk. I have some weight to lose...Beach Season is almost here!

Hope you all are having a great Sunday...and remembered to move your clocks ahead before you went to bed last night!

Right now, I am

making dinner and listening to Brad conduct business from our couch. Somethings never change with a work-a-holic for a husband, but atleast we are at home. He has a follow-up appointment with his regular doctor and according to the Cardiologist, he is in great Cardiac health. Now we just need to figure out why he is having these pains...

Thank you all again for everything. I love you all bunches and bunches...

Yeah! He Should Be Heading Home Soon!!!

The nurse just popped her head into our little curtained off space and said that the test results came back and everything looks good. She just needs to do the necessary paperwork and then he is free to go home!

Not sure what the next step is, but as of right now he has a previously scheduled appointment with our primary doctor. And I am also going to make an appointment for him to visit the Cardiologist...because we still do not know why he had the problem to begin with.

Thank you all for the wonderful comments, e-mails, phone calls, and most especially the prayers.

Morning Update On Mr. O'Kara

Well, we just saw the Nurse Practitioner for the Cardiology Group and she is scheduling a Cardiac Cat-Scan for my husband. The test is suppose to let them know if he has any blockages. If all goes well, then hopefully he will be out of here around 5 or 6 pm.

His EKG results came back showing that his heart is doing well and the blood tests are also indicating that he has not / is not having a heart attack. This is great news.

Not sure if he will still have to take a Cardiac Stress test at this time, but if that does happen, then he will be admitted and that procedure will take about 2-days.

As of right now, the official status is that he is being monitored for 24 hours and has not been admitted.

And just between all of us in Blogworld...he is none too happy that he is still being "kept" at the hospital!

Thank you all so much for the comments and prayers. They really mean alot...

Please Pray For My Husband

I am typing this from the Cardiac Observation Unit at our local hospital where my husband is being monitored for chest pains. He has been having some (as he says) "heavy" feelings in his chest for a couple days and was finally convinced to have it checked out today. We will know more in the morning after he is seen by a Cardiologist.

Until then could you say some prayers for him? He is the Keeper of My Heart and I don't know what I would do if something where to happen to him...

Only Happy Thoughts...

because I really need to see the sunshine all around me...

Baby Cora Is Now In The Loving Arms Of Jesus...

and her parents need our prayers more than ever. If you could spare the time, please say a prayer of comfort for them during this very dark and sorrowful time. It is so hard to believe that less than a month ago, their life was so very normal. They had a beautiful baby girl and now, she is gone. Taken too soon...

Please Remember Baby Cora And Her Parents In Your Prayers

While I was reading one of my favorite blogs, I came across this prayer request. After visiting their blog, I had to write about this beautiful baby.



Sweet Cora is not even a year old and she was recently diagnosed with Neroblastoma.



She just finished up her first round of Chemo.

Please add this little baby and her parents to your prayers...and leave them an encouraging comment if you have the time.

Getting Over My Rant...

Sorry to subject you all to that...worked out my frustration and anger by cooking and baking. (Maybe I should change my name to Betty O'Crocker?) Thought everything turned out pretty good if I do say so myself. Nothing fancy, just playing around with some of my Tastefully Simple goodies. This stuff is so incredibly easy to work with and really makes me feel so creative in the kitchen!

Let's see what did I make...

Savory Wheat Beer Bread



This was so easy. There were 3 ingredients...the Savory Wheat Beer Bread mix, a 12 oz. bottle of beer, and 3 tbsp. of melted butter. Just whipped the mix and the beer quickly together, poured it in a loaf pan, poured the melted butter on top, and plopped it in the oven for 55 minutes. The house smelled fantastic!

***

Cheery Cherry Crisp Mix



I made things a bit more complicated with this item. Tried out the Chocolate Cherry Crisp recipe that was also printed on the box. Just this mix, 1/2 cup chocolate chips, 1/2 cup quick-cooking oatmeal, 6 tbsp. butter that was melted, and 2 tbsp. water.

I just opened the cherry filling mix and spread it in a greased baking dish. Covered that with the chocolate chips and followed that with the oatmeal and the dry crisp topping mix. Then I combined the melted butter and the water and drizzled that over the top of the oatmeal mixture.

Popped that delicious looking concoction into the oven and ended up eating almost all of that by myself! Wicked goodness, I tell you!

***

Cheesy Nacho Beef Hash Brown Casserole

I really went a bit crazy with this one. Just needed some comfort food. So, I used some ground beef and crumbled that on the bottom of a baking dish. Covered that with some Onion Onion Seasoning Blend,



some Garlic Garlic Seasoning Blend,



and some Seasoned Salt.



Then I covered that with some diced fresh onion, a can of Nacho Cheese Soup, some shredded Colby jack cheese, and frozen hash brown potatoes. Put that into the oven and baked it for an hour.

Can I just say that Bry ate two helpings! That girl loves her meat and potatoes!

***

I also made another dessert

Sliced Almond Bundt Cake With English Toffee Mocha Cream

Another really easy goodie. Just mixed the Absolutely Almond Pound Cake Mix



with 1 1/2 sticks of butter that was melted, a cup of water, and 1/2 of sliced almonds. Poured that into a bundt pan and baked it for 55 minutes.

While that was cooling, I mixed some whipped cream with some English Toffee Mocha mix.



Put a nice "plop" of that on top of a slice of the warm cake...

Maybe this isn't such a good idea for me to sell this stuff. I am going to gain too much weigh! Maybe I need to find a personal trainer for a client, then I can trade product for service?

This Makes My Blood Boil And My Heart Weep...

From the day the story of Baby Grace broke the news in late 2007, I have been drawn to this case. The idea of someone doing such a hanis act of putting a child's body in a storage tub and tossing it in the water is just unfathomable to me. Where were her loved ones? Were they tirelessly searching for her? Wondering where she was? If she was safe...warm?



When I read later on that she had finally been identified, I wept for joy that she could finally be lain to rest...a beautiful cherubic angel.



How awful it was, the morning that I read that her mother was charged (along with her step-father) with her very violent beating death. Again I wondered how a mother could beat her baby to death...I drew my daughters close to me in a tearful hug.





Now her murderers are on trial. They blame each other for her death. Both of them are guilty! Both of them are responsible for extinguishing the life of this precious child of God.

Do you know why they did it? Why she was beaten for who knows how many hours until she was so weak and in pain that she couldn't stand or try to block the painful blows...because the 2 year old forgot to say "Please" and "Yes, sir".

These two worthless examples of human beings gave her a day long "disciplinary" session where they beat her until she was black and blue, her legs were too weak to support her! They held her head under water, pulled her from room to room by her hair or with a belt looped around her neck. She was threw to the ground so many times that she suffered multiple skull fractures...factures that ultimately caused her excruciating death. Her step-father even verified that he took the day off of work to make sure that she learned her lesson about being disrespectful to her parents!

As a mother, I cannot understand how her horrible example of a mother could sit back and watch her baby being murdered...especially when I read that at least one time during the prolonged violence, Riley reached out to hear saying "I Love You"...(I weep gut-wrenching sobs every time I picture this...a tiny precious baby terrified and in pain, just wanting her mother to comfort her and make it stop and that mother does nothing, but let in continue and even join in the beating!)

After she mercifully died, they put her in the tub while they purchased a storage container at Walmart. Her tiny body was placed inside and forgotten in a back storage shed until several months later when they drove to the water and tossing her away with the hope that their awful crime would never be discovered...

Thankfully they are on trial...this worthless piece of crap mother (who by the way is pregnant!) and this awful, brutal pig of a step-father. And I just have to wonder...how can this woman smile?



I just want to reach into the tv screen and strangle her with my bare hands...

Dear Lord please forgive me for my thoughts...but I cannot help the hatred that I feel for these two.

Why didn't they just let Riley go back to her father and grandmother who loved her and miss her terribly?

Sorry...I just have to get this off my chest...I cannot think of anything else...

Back From The Face Of The Earth...

and boy do my arms hurt from pulling myself back on! I know...bad joke...but what can I say, it's 1:00 am and guess who is still wide awake...

So sorry that is has been 20 days since my last post. Just had alot of things going on...the biggest one being my new venture...check out my sidebar...

Anyone want to buy any Tastefully Simple products, host a party (on-line if you are not lucky enough to live in Sunny, FL), or learn more about the business?



I'm having my "Kick Off" Party this weekend...so wish me luck!

Maybe if I get enough "Comment Love" for all of you, I can be convinced to put together my first Give Away and share some of the wonderful goodies that Tastefully Simple has to offer...

[And I have not forgotten about my promise to post photos from our Disney / Sea World trip or Christmas. To be perfectly honest, I have over 300 photos to review and determine which ones are Blog-worthy. Not sure about the rest of you, but just the thought of that makes my mind go numb... Would you all really hate me if I just did a Wordless Wednesday Post and just listed my favorites? You could leave comment requests with explanations?]

The Trophy Is Ours...

And the Gator Nation celebrates...



What a great way to end the College Football Season...

Thank you Tim Tebow



for being a man of your word.

It's going to be a long 7 months until the season starts again...

~~~

Keep Chris Rainey is your thoughts and prayers.



That was one nasty looking injury and he was obviously in a lot of pain.

Now one more time before I head off to bed...

"IT'S GREAT TO BE A FLORIDA GATOR!"

I Was Trying To Put Together...

my Disney / Christmas post...but my mind is on the game!!!





GO GATORS!

(Can you believe that I have to go to a Girl Scout Leaders Meeting tonight!!! Don't they realize that I am going to be missing Pre-Game?!?!? They have me until 8...and then I'm out of there...)

I Am So Very Sorry.

It has just been brought to my attention that some people are receiving a somewhat annoying message box that pops up whenever they access my blog. I too have received this pop-up, but thought that it was isolated to my computer only. As soon as I learned that it was also happening to others, I took the time to find out where the problem was originating from and performed the necessary steps to eliminate this distraction from happening again.

Again, please accept my apologies...and I will be posting a huge update e-mail with tons of photos from our Disney visit as well as our Christmas celebration.

My 13 Month Old Daughter Just Gave Me The Greatest New Years Eve Gift Ever!

She slept from 9:30 pm until 9:30 am! First time ever!!!

Yeah for me!!!

Still Celebrating

with my family and friends...but I will be back with some great photos and stories about our time at Disney.

Hope you all had a wonderful Christmas and are safe during tomorrow's New Year's Eve celebrations. We are planning a kid-friendly Fondue and Wii Party, so that should provide more opportunity for more photos and stories.

Many blessing for a wonderful 2009 from the Scarlet O'Kara Family.