Wordless Wednesday - on Friday...

Princess played this game with me. 

Notice anything different?

Last Birthday Freebies (I think)

I'm guessing I can get the rest of my birthday freebies in this post without it being crazy long.

Ok, let's get going!

Sephora gave me this cute little set although they had others I could choose from.

So did Ulta, but I liked the look of this pink bottle of mist.

BloomChic gave me $10 and I got this shirt. I think is was $13, so I did pay a little bit.

Kohl's also gave me $10, but I put it toward buying a warm coat for Sport.

With the $10 from JC Penney, I got 2 cute shirts. Both were Lilo & Stitch.

I missed my free pastry from Panera, but I made up for it with a cherry turnover from Arby's. Sorry, no pics.

Last year, I missed my free Jamba, but not this year! Orange Dream Machine is the best!

Texas Roadhouse game a free sidekick of ribs AND ice cream AND a ride on the saddle. It doesn't get any better than that.

Red Robin gave me a shake, but if anyone got a pic, it wasn’t me. I did get this one from our meal.

Almost done...

Chevron gave me 50 points toward gas and Subway gave me a free cookie.

Krispy Kreme gave me 3 glazed donuts

Last, but certainly not least, Club Tacanos, gave me a free meal, so Scout and I went down to the Gateway. She used my gift card and that got us down to about $20 including tip.  Not bad for all the delicious meat you can eat.

Ok, that's it...for now, but I still have 3 more to redeem...

Happy Birthday, Queso and Burrito

It's been a couple of weeks since Queso turned 5, but we had a great time at his party and I didn't want you to miss it.

I spent most of the party holding Bright Eyes. What do you think of her new blog name?

Today is Burrito's 19th birthday! Can you believe it? Where has the time gone? He had a great party, I am told, but I am hanging out at home with a lousy migraine.

Here are some pics with his girl that he sent to me this morning. Pretty sure they are from Valentines Day.

Happiest of birthdays, Burrito!!

Valentine's Day 2026

I have to admit, I had been dreading my first valentines day without my sweetie.

Then Scout and I went to Mo Bettahs for a buy one get one lunch with Curly and his girl.

At 3:00, Scout took me to see Lala Land at the theater. It was a throwback, but there was still popcorn.

Afterwards, we ran an errand and then  headed for the house. Curly was outside and all dressed up in a suit and tie. "Was today the Sweethearts Dance?" I wondered.

Then I went inside.

The kids were there and all dressed up. Sport brought me flowers.

And Curly was an amazing cook. We had chicken parmesan, salmon salad, heart-shaped pasta, green beans, and sparkling cider.

They even got out the china and gold silverware!

For some dumb reason, I rarely remember to take pics. These are from a video Curly's girlfriend took while he was cooking.

Then they made this amazing carrot cake from scratch. Baby Doll helped with the frosting.

It turned out to be a very sweet Valentines Day after all.

And to make it even more beautiful, Scout brought me more flowers!

Thanks, everyone. I love you all.

Even More Birthday Freebies

My kids did some amazing Valentines day things for me today, but I didn't get the pics from them, so you get birthday stuff.

Curly had his physical for his mission on Friday. It included 2 shots, a tb test and finger pokes. Our outstanding tradition of ice cream after a shot, took us to Sonic for my free small shake. They messed up and he got a medium strawberry shake. Happy birthday to me!

Chipotle gave me free guacamole with purchase.

Einstein's Bagel treated me to a free egg sandwich Curly and Scout enjoyed.

Bath and Body Works offered me a small body care item.

And on our Boise trip, we stopped at Chilis for dinner and they gave me a free chocolate lava cake including ice cream.

That's enough for today. I'm getting hungry...

Ok, just one more. Aerie gave me $10 in free merch, so I got myself a cute t-shirt.

On the same trip to the mall, Torrid's $10 bought 3 things, but since the other 2 are gifts I am giving my girls, I am only going to show you one.

Yeah. It was an amazing clearance sale.

Sorry, that was 2 more...

Guest Blog: Curly's Signing Day by the Dog Walker

This was a super cool moment in Curly's life. On Thursday, Curly signed with Southern Virginia University so that after his mission, if he chooses to play football, he has a place to go. 

Mom wanted to come to it, but she wasn't feeling well, so I got to take her place in supporting Curly. Baby Doll wanted to come, so I checked her out of school for an hour. At the program, Curly set up a booth in the school auditorium. Besides me and Baby Doll, some of Curly's friends and classmates came to watch him.

Curly was the last one to sign. Baby Doll recorded the speech given by Curly's coach. 

Congratulations! Mom's really proud of you, and I'm sure Dad is too.

Traveling Together - Coming Home

After the volleyball games were over  the girls decided to go swimming. 

I ordered pizza and we just hung out for while.

We got up about 8:30, ate breakfast, gathered our bags and got on the road.

Baby Doll was feeling pretty crappy, so other than a few potty stops and hamburgers at A&W, we made good time.

Scout does an amazing job behind the wheel and she did all of the driving. I am so lucky to have her.

And so glad to be home.

Guest Blog: Super Bowl Party 2026 by the Dog Walker

So Mom asked me to write for her since what I'm about to tell you happened while she, Scout, and Baby Doll were still in Idaho for the weekend. This is the second time I've been the host for the family Super Bowl party. I invited some people on Slack, and we had a pretty good group. The people that came were Sport and his college roommate, Curly and his girlfriend, as well as Taco, Skittles, Queso, and Carnitas.

A few days before Mom and the girls went to Idaho, Baby Doll was hoping that I would make these homemade oatmeal creme pies like I did before. She thought they tasted better than the Little Debbie's brand. And since the Super Bowl was coming up, I decided to make them the shapes of footballs. I also served tuna casserole, corn, and some appetizers, like chips and salsa, and popcorn.

As for watching the game, Sport and Curly had been rooting for the Seattle Sea Hawks, probably just as a revenge on the New England Patriots for beating the Denver Broncos. It was quite a weird game, considering that in the first half, there weren't any touchdowns, but there were some field goals.

The half-time show was different as well. The songs were mostly in Spanish, so most of us couldn't understand the words. 

After the half-time show, Curly and his girlfriend tried to pull off the stunt that the backup dancers did in the show. It was crazy!

Anyway, after the half-time show, we watched the second half, and by the fourth quarter, there finally came some touchdowns. Mostly from the Sea Hawks, which Sport and Curly totally rooted for. Before the first touchdown of the Super Bowl, Sport and Curly tried to wager. They both thought that the Super Bowl would end up with no touchdowns! That's probably not a smart thing to do, but they still had a good time watching the Sea Hawks win.

The party was quite a blast. I heard that Baby Doll was worried that she thought we might end up eating all the oatmeal creme pies before she had a chance, but apparently, these homemade cookies were extremely big, and not one of us could eat more than one. So I'm pretty sure Baby Doll will have her chance by the time they get back from Idaho.

It was quite a party.