Good morning!

Good morning all....please tell me I slept for days and Christmas Break for the kids is over? Good grief, they are driving me crazy....

Looks like the temps will be almost spring like before it gets really cold again Sunday/Monday. Least we get a day or two! Started my diet on Tuesday...thought I might as well get a jump on the new year. So far my only cheat was a couple of curly fries last night. Tired of being fat Pam....I have a goal weight, by May 31st, which is graduation day. Let's see if I can make it happen. I will post progress on our blog ever so often.

Typically I love all our Christmas decorations being up until New Years, but with a 5 month old puppy....I have a different out look this year. If Tank brings me one more Christmas ball from the tree, I am going to scream! I keep a fly swatted out, have yet to get him with it, but he's beginning to understand that it is not cool to bring me balls! He has this....I just can't help myself look every time.

Danny talked to Susan last night...she has all her benefits worked out and can make it financially, so he said she sounded a little better. The holiday has been tough on her. Not a day passes that I do not think of Donny.

Off to dress for work. Have a good day!

Pam

Fun Facts...

A few fun facts.....about 1943

Bread was 9 cents a loaf
Milk was 62 cents a gallon
Stamps were 3 cents each
Average home price was $3600.00
Average annual wage $2000.00
Gallon of gas 15 cents
Average monthly rent $40.00
Bottle of Coca Cola 5 cents
Average new car price $900.00
Pentagon was built and considered the worlds largest office building
Great Depression ended
Popular Films: From Whom the Bell Tolls, Heaven Can Wait, and Lassie Comes Home
President of the United States was Franklin D Roosevelt
Those born in 1943 are Robert de Niro, John Denver, Mick Jagger, Chevy Chase, Billie Jean King, and Janis Joplin......

I have this vision of my Granny, big pregnant, on December 26, 1943....and on December 27th having a baby girl she would name Mary Helen...

Happy Birthday Mom.....it may not be until tomorrow, but I wanted to get all my facts straight tonight. Love you!

Pam

A first and a last....

A first.....not one of our vehicles has left the house today. That has to be a first, since the kids started driving. We have just enjoyed being home today. Cooked breakfast and then opened gifts.....Colby got his iPhone and Chelsey got her new comforter set. I then cleaned for 3 hours, while everyone else slept, and then I cooked. Ashley, Tazz and the boys came over at 3pm and we ate and watched tv. Good times.

The last...this is the last Santa of sorts...the gifts have been under the tree for well over a week, but it was the last time that the kids will go back to high school after Christmas Break. Lordy time flys.

Enjoyed time at Mary's yesterday...was sad to walk in and not be able to hug Donny. He was really missed.....after that we headed to Emory. Enjoyed it Mom and Dad. Always great to get together....love you and hope you've had great day! Also great to see Carla, Paul and Morgan...hope your enjoying your Ninja!

Now, as I sit in my recliner, under my heated throw, watching Green Bay and Chicago play, I begin to look forward to a new year...one more week of 2011 and then it's bring on 2012.

Hope everyone has had a Merry Christmas. We sure did at the Fenter Funny Farm...

XOXO,
Pam

Merry Christmas!!!

Well....I am the only one awake so far. Not cooking breakfast until everyone wakes up and then it may be lunch instead. I hope everyone has a great day...and MERRY CHRISTMAS!
Love to all,
PK

Christmas Eve...

As I sit here in my pj's with wet hair, I can't help but wonder what next Christmas will be like. Will the kids be home for Christmas break from college? Will it ever be the same? The answer is no...at this moment, we still have a little control. And they have been home to snoop thru their presents, and make lists, and leave a messy kitchen, and leave tooth paste on their sink, and fight me via text over curfew, and give me a big hug when I get in from work., then ask what's for dinner! Seems like such a short time ago that they were rolling around on the floor playing with boxes...ignoring the toys. Also seems like only yesterday that we just had Ashley for Christmas and I hid toys in every corner of the house, so that we could still believe in Santa just one more year. Last night as I danced and bowled with the boys until midnight, I saw a glimmer of days past with Ashley...gosh we had a lot of fun! Can still see her ripping into those packages with a smile, on all our faces.

Today we will be in Greenville first, then off to Emory. Then back home to have the last "Santa" in the morning. Let's hope he makes it!

Love to all and Merry Christmas Eve!
PK

A nice Dinner

Went to Bob's Chop House in Grapevine last night, with all the managers and spouses from the office. It was delicious! It takes a little work to participate...as in leaving the office at 3pm, flying to the mall for a sweater and leggings, and a green shirt in case I do not like the sweater. Race home, shower, get ready, end up in the sweater....Danny in slacks and a red shirt (we matched, LOL) and then we leave for Grapevine....at 5:15. We make great time until we exit Bass Pro...just a little traffic. Okay a LOT of traffic....we make it at 6:30 on the dot! Nice dinner and laughs. Home at 10:30pm...unwind until almost midnight and now I am back up, showered and about to get ready to head to Lewisville. The Tollway Authority should send me Christmas cards...in appreciation for all I spend on tolls!

Hoping to get out of the office a little early today, to pick up 3 more gifts...and then I can say DONE!

Happy Friday everyone....and Merry almost Christmas! Let's hope it is not a white Christmas, because Danny will have to work...

Pam

Banana Pudding AGAIN!

Danny has been with TxDot for over a year....when he first started, they had a luncheon. He asked me to make banana pudding, so I made a triple recipe. The only thing he brought home was the spoon. This started requests from his co-workers, every time they have a spread, that I make banana pudding. So, tonight he and I are mixing the pudding and chopping bananas, for what seems like the 10th time in a little over a year.... The famous TxDot Recipe by PK (taken from an Eagle Brand Milk can at least 15 or 16 years ago) is as follows:

6-7 ripe bananas
Box of vanilla wafers
Couple of tablespoons of lemon juice
4 serving box of vanilla pudding
1 can of eagle brand milk
1 1/2 cups of COLD water
Small tub of cool whip

Slice bananas thinly (um...peal them first) and put lemon juice all over them, coating completely. This keeps the bananas from turning brown. Do not add anymore lemon juice....it will make them tart!

Take a hammer, rolling pin, mallet or what ever you have and crush the wafers in the bag they come in

Mix eagle brand milk and water in a bowl. Once mixed well, add pudding and stir together with a whisk. Place this mixture in the frig for 10 or so minutes, until it thickens

Once thickened, stir in cool whip, with a whisk, until mixed well

Take a large bowl and start layering....pudding on the bottom, crushed wafers, bananas. Pudding, crushed wafers, bananas. You want to end with pudding on top, sprinkle a few wafer crumbs around the edge of the bowl and add a couple of banana slices in the middle. Cover and refrigerate. Not sure how long it will keep in the frig, because it never lasts more than two days at our house.