Meet Ray. . . . .he will MELT your Heart

maybe you've seen this little guy, named Ray, around the internet.

he is a cutie.

a real, sweet, cutie pie.

and he was recently adopted by a guy named Andrew.

bless you Andrew!

it's easy to hold out for our definition of "perfect" in this world.

whatever that is.

but you didn't. . . .and i bet you will get years of pure joy from your 

sweet little guy.

are you ready to meet Ray?

well, scroll down to see this

C

U

T

I

E

Ray. . . . .

you see, Ray is 9 weeks old and was born completely blind.

from everything i've read, especially because that is all he's known,

he will live a happy, frisky joyful life,

thanks to a kind soul who adopted him.

***note to Andrew, wherever you are.  Thank you.  And be glad you saw him first

because if I had, he would've been mine:)

Happy Friday everyone!

xoxo

Suzanne

P.S.  LOVE the jammies, Ray!

Yummy Apple Dew Dessert, Sharks Teeth, and Smiles. . . .

it seems everyone i know is on a diet.

oh, i know some say "it's a lifestyle, not a diet".

ya, okay.

if you have to cut out every. single. good-sweet-satisfying

 thing you ever loved to eat, that is a diet. . . . . . . . .if you ask me.

and that's okay too.

because i'm supposed to be losing weight myself.

and as we all know, it's one day at a time.

but does that mean every once in awhile, we don't come across a

super easy delicious recipe to try?

nope!

and this one is SO easy and YUMMY,

i have to share it with you!

it's one of those that takes only a few ingredients.

comes together real quick.

is so good, everyone will be lickin their plates and asking for the recipe.

the SECRET recipe.

with the SECRET ingredient!

(not so secret now I guess:)

here's what you do. . . . . .

Apple Dew Dessert

2 packages crescent rolls, separated

4 granny smith apples, peeled, cored and quartered

2 sticks butter

1 cup sugar

1 tsp cinnamon

12 0z. mountain dew (SECRET ingredient:)

~ ~ wrap apple quarters in sections of crescent rolls and place side by side in

a 9x13 pan.  Make sure apples pieces are totally covered with dough.

~ ~ bring butter, sugar and cinnamon to a boil and pour over apple roll ups.

pour the mountain dew over the apple roll up mixture.

bake at 350 for 45 min. till golden brown.

~ ~ serve warm with ice cream, whipped cream or both:)

*****even better with cinnamon ice cream. just soften a quart of vanilla ice cream,

stir in cinnamon to taste and refreeze.

DOUBLE YUM!!!

~ ~ apple dessert can be made ahead and reheated before serving.

well, enough about food, right?

SO, you know you live in Florida when you're walking. . . . .

in FLIP-FLOPS. . . . . . 

and you feel/hear something on the tile floor.

you reach down, thinking there is a staple or a nail in the sole of your flip flops,

you pull out the staple/nail thing and you see that it is neither.

as you bring it closer you realize,

there is a

SHARK"S TOOTH

 in the bottom of your shoe.

seriously...is that cool, or what???

i mean, how often does that happen?

a perfect shark's tooth!

my new lucky shark's tooth:)

yep, this is when you know you're not in kansas anymore:)

okay, now i just have a few more smile worthy things to share today.

like this. . . . . .

how can you not wake up with a smile to this big nose in your face?

gotta love my big boy Maui:)

so happy i had my phone by the bed to snap this pic!

and on the same subject, i love these guys!

they will curl up with me wherever and whenever.

my girls woke up to this picture...sweet, huh?

i made a facebook cover on smilebox the other day.

fun and very easy. . . .check it out and make one of your own someday. . . . .

well, that's it for now!

hope you smile today. . . .more than once if possible:)

xoxoxoxox

Suzanne

The Reason Why I Blog. . . . . . .

 if you have a blog,

this is a really good question to ask once in awhile.

i mean, there are definitely some who know 

why they blog.

usually, it means they're really good at something. . . . . .

cooking, crafting, writing, photography, parenting, couponing, organizing.

something!

and they are kind enough to share it with the rest of us.

thank you for that!

but for a few of us, we are just as clueless as to why we blog

as you are when you look at our blog.

take mine for instance.

it's all over the place!

sometimes in the same post...now that's crazy.

but that's me.

and i think it's really important,

if you like to blog,

to take a look at the why's of it every once in awhile.

so that's what i'm doing today.

and guess what conclusion i'm coming to.

my reasons are pretty much the same,

i just get off track every so often.

but basically, i blog for me.

yep, you read that right.

for me.

every now and then i start writing for others,

and that's when i go off track.

that's when i get stuck.

and that is when i think " this is stupid...i'm done with this silly 'ol blog".

but within a few weeks, i miss it.

then i'm back:)

lucky you!  

hahahaha. . . . .just kidding:)

well, maybe i don't just blog for me.

i also blog for you!

i just meant i blog about the things i would like to read if i were you.

hmmmmm. . . . .i have a feeling that didn't come out quite right,

 but my intentions are good:)

because i have not taken the time to master

any one particular thing 

(i can do a lot of things but am master of pretty much none:)

i  steer away from trying to teach others my

half-baked way of doing something.

unless i am totally confident i did it right the first time:)

which is why you rarely see tutorials on my blog.

a teacher i am not.

(i do find great photos though, don't ya think? :)

but what/who  i am, is this;

~ ~ a friend, mother, wife, daughter, sister

~ ~ whose faith is important to her

~ ~ who is extremely forgetful and downright flaky

~ ~ who still hasn't totally grown up. . . and never will

~ ~ who has somehow, so far, managed to raise 2 pretty incredible young ladies

~ ~ who loves to laugh and cry. . . .sometimes in the same conversation

~ ~ who is still a dreamer. . . .and who encourages that in others

~ ~ who would rather stay home with her family, 

watch reruns on tv and eat caramel corn way more than a fancy dinner out 

~ ~ who is very nice. . . .until you mess with her children. 

 or dogs. who are not pets but boys. my precious boys.

so don't mess with them;)

~ ~ who is grossly unorganized but tries to fix this every day.  not successful but i try.

~ ~ who was once told she was a "simpleton" by a somewhat confused patient. . . and didn't know it was a compliment, until now. i'll take simple every day of the week:)

~ ~ who has everything and nothing in this crazy world figured out.

~who has her own struggles and flaws

~ ~ who believes that if nothing else, sharing a smile with someone is a fabulous achievement.

 which brings me to this blog.

why i blog. . . . .

not because i do or say anything brilliant.

but because i try, most days, to be happy about something.

to smile about something.

at least once.

because that is important.

and if i can make someone else smile at my blog,

i did something fabulous.

so that's it.

that's why i blog.

i don't say the words "smile" or "be happy" casually.

i don't always feel like smiling, and i am not always happy.

and i know the same goes for you too.

but i do believe if we look around us, there has to be something worth smiling about.

so with that, i hope that today, you smile. . . .at someone or something.

and feel a teeny tiny bit of happiness.

and if not today, i hope tomorrow is a better day.

i may not be the best at blog comments,

but if you need a friendly shoulder to lean on,

i'm right here, willing and able:)

because besides blogging for me, i really do blog for you. (there, i said it:)

i just don't keep track of visits, comments or followers closely.

don't get me wrong, i LOVE them.

i simply hope that the person who needs something i have to give will

somehow stumble on my lowly blog.

and be happy:)

Suzanne

Nice People, Great Food and Country Music......this must be Nashville, TN!

hey y'all. . . . . . .

it's me, Suzanne.

you probably don't remember me, it's been so long since i

wrote anything on this blog.

but it's been kinda busy.

and to help matters, we all had that lovely little thing called

the FLU!

(not fun:)

for those who don't know, 

in the life of a ballet student (and her mom)

this time of year is "audition season".

they audition for a spot at summer programs and possibly 

a spot to perform/train all year long,

all in the hopes of someday becoming a professional ballerina.

if you're lucky, you live in a big city where auditions are held.

we are not, although we're close to Miami, so a few of Taylor's

auditions were held there.

however, Nashville was not coming near us this year,

and since they were interested last year and vice-versa , we took a little

trip up to Nashville last weekend.

(I had to leave my youngest chick home
 with a relapse of the flu.
BUMMER!)

first let me say, the audition for Nashville Ballet went well.

okay, on to the rest of the trip. . . . . .

it was so much fun!

it was fun to be with my 18 year old. . . . . . . 

and kinda bittersweet too.

i mean, we were there checking out a potential new home.  sniff, sniff:)

but it was a great trip.

here she is going to see Nashville Ballet perform on Saturday night. . . . . 

it helps that we LOVE country music.

they play it everywhere!

one of my pet peeves is to be in a public place (store etc. . . .)

and the music over the speakers is some grossly offensive pop or rap star

that we wouldn't listen to for anything,

but they force it on you.

so this was a nice change. a very nice change!

probably the one thing that i will ALWAYS remember about Nashville is

the people.

oh my goodness. . . . .i thought i could be friendly and talk to strangers,

but they have me beat!

they make you feel like their new best friend!

i don't mean one or two people, but every single person, from the car rental lady,

to the valet at the hotel, the receptionists, sales clerks, waitresses. . . .

everyone!

what a great impression to leave with someone.

then, besides the music and the nice people,

i was struck by the food.

like, down home finger licking good food!

we had the BEST hot fried chicken of our lives at Hattie B's.

the BEST biscuits at the Loveless Cafe.

YUMMY sweet potato pancakes at the Pancake Pantry.

i'll stop there before i really embarrass myself with how much we ate.

let's just say, when you are getting a rental car and the lady says

"you know you'll gain weight here, don't ya?" you should listen.:)

cause she knows what she's talking about!

we had to go to the Grand Ole Opry.

we almost didn't. . . .just tired, you know?

but we went anyway and i'm so happy we did!

we can now say we were on stage at the Opry,

 saw the dressing rooms. . . . . .

and learned a few things we never knew.

we even saw where Hee Haw was filmed. lol

yep, it was a good trip!

if you get the chance, you should go.

put on your best boots and scoot down to Nashville.

hopefully you like country music at least a little bit.

and if you haven't tried it in awhile, check it out.

there's a reason it's becoming so popular these days.

a really good reason:)

by the way, stop by Two Old Hippies in The Gulch. . . . .

my new favorite store:)

glad to be back on my blog. . . . . .

see you around!

xoxoxo

Suzanne