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 is going to miss the snow... even though it did a number on our favorite trail. The heavy snow broke many branches off the trees on our trail. This guy doesn't care though... He'd rather walk on snow than anything else.

I heard that band "The Script" again. I like their song they are playing now. Have you heard them? Amy's breakfast frittata with homemade bread and avocado. Obviously, I liked it, alot. Amy's cactus garden front yard. I also liked it alot.

Amy lives in walking distance of downtown Tuscon. Considering that, I found her backyard simply amazing. Her front yard had a cactus garden, and in the back.... Here is her "salad bar". You can pick and eat anything in it. I thought it so beautifully edible. Here's Amy pulling hay for her horses. Yep, horses! She has two! In her backyard in walking distance of downtown Tuscon. She's such a cowgirl. One of her horses and her goose? or is that a duck? She has chickens too so she always has fresh eggs. And, when she doesn't find the eggs, sometimes she finds some rotten eggs. Behind her little ranch, you can literally exit her back gate and walk onto the Santa Cruz River Park which goes one way to the city of Tuscon, and the other into the hills. We walked a one-mile loop that day to exercise the dogs. She can also ride her horses on the trail. I thought it was awesome. However, the name is kind of misleading because here is a view of the beautiful Santa Cruz River...

Amy's Studio: Right now, she's specializing in cowboy art. See that tree? It's a support beam believe it or not. Amy replaced an "uglier" support beam with something that looks more organic. Her dog Heidi

We stayed with Amy in Tuscon, AZ. I was happy happy to see her. She had dinner waiting for us when we got there. Now, the thing about Amy's kitchen is that she has everything she wants in her kitchen. She does not like things on her counter....no kitchen toys like food processors or mixers. She does have a breadmaker. So everything you see below is painstakingly hand-cut and homemade. It was delicious. Homemade salsa and guacamole with homegrown cilantro The salsa was beautiful Homemade chicken soup garnished with cilantro. The chips were from Trader Joe's Our hostess Amy. Notice her beautiful loaf of bread. She made that too. How does she do it? with no fancy gadgets??? look how big that bowl of salsa was.

Just some winter shots before I put them away for spring. It was a cold blizzardy winter in Pittsburgh. I am glad Spring is around the corner, even though there were some fun winter days. Brutus in B&W McArdle Parkway, going downhill Wheeeee

I liked this book. I like that it revisits the characters and brings it to a conclusion. It was hard to put down at times. I'll give my rating on FB (Joy - this is for you.) I now have Sizzle (Julie Garwood) and The Help. Can't wait to dig into both. Also, I've been cooking some of the slow cooker and baked goods stuff from my fave blogs. Joel is surprising me with his willingness to eat out of the norm. (Cacciatore, jambalaya, burritos, carnitas in soft shell tacos). I also tried the baked stuff (apple dumplings w/ cool whip and the wheat dinner rolls). The dinner rolls were not too light and fluffy. It was a little dense so I'm not sure what I did wrong. Maybe over rolled it? Who knows. The boys and Joel are getting impressed with all that is coming out of the kitchen but the boys are not too excited about the mess they have to clean up. Can I tell you how much I love that they can do the kitchen clean up? You two really need to get some of your own. T...

Check this out. I love this one, http://thepioneerwoman.com/ I read this section from top to bottom: http://thepioneerwoman.com/blog/category/black_heelstractor_wheels/the_night_i_met_marlboro_man/

Trying not to smile while I take the picture. Logan is the "captain" of the month (although his badge says lieutenant -- his advisor confirmed he is the captain). He told me today that he had to make adjustments in who was manning the posts because some people were late getting to their post. He said some people may not have liked this -- I told him that it was possible they wouldn't but that it was his job to make sure it was manned at all times. I really think he likes -- no LOVES -- being in charge. (Wonder where he gets this from?) He takes it pretty seriously and he was all grins when he was made captain.

Here is a recipe from the "A Few Short Cuts" website. The recipes I have tried have been winners in the Smith household. Here the Cranberry White Chocolate Oatmeal Cookie recipe. It is yummy and I like that this is an oatmeal cookie with craisins. Try it out. Cranberry White Chocolate Oatmeal Cookies (The best cookies ever made…ever!) ½ lb. (2 sticks) margarine or butter, Softened 1 cup firmly packed brown sugar ½ cup granulated sugar 2 eggs 1 tsp. vanilla 1-½ cups flour 1 tsp. baking soda 1 tsp. cinnamon ½ tsp. ginger ½ tsp. salt 2 ½ cup Uncooked Oats 1 cup craisins 1 cup White Chocolate Chips Directions 1. Heat oven to 350 degrees 2. Beat together Margarine and sugars until creamy. 3. Add Eggs and Vanilla; Beat well. 4. Add combined flour, baking soda, cinnamon, ginger, and salt. 5. Stir in oats, and craisins; mix well. 6. Fold in Chocolate Chips. 7. Drop by rounded tablespoonful onto ungreased cookie sheet. 8. Bake 10-12 minutes or until golden brown. 9. C...

Here is one of the recipes I had forwarded to you previously that I have wanted to try out. It turned out great. The boys & Joel liked it and it now goes into the menu selections worksheet. It was great because when we would eat a roasted chicken, we always left the white meat part. I chopped them up and put away in the freezer for a time I would need them. I used the pressure cooker instead of putting in the oven. I cooked under pressure for about 4 min. but I think it could have stayed in there another minute or two without burning the bottom. It was so good and the best part was the smoked sausage. Yummy! http://find.myrecipes.com/recipes/recipefinder.dyn?action=displayRecipe&recipe_id=257859

Hey, check out these blogs. They are doing that thing Meagan did with the Freezer cooking to make your own convenience meals. I don't know if you are interested but with me and the boys and all our "activities" at the moment I have days where the last thing I want to do is cook. Having a mac n' cheese or lasagna in the freezer ready to thaw at a moment's notice sounds very appealing. I've already tried to double up at times when I cook some faves (spaghetti sauce, lasagna, etc.) but to actively plan to do it just sounds like a good concept. The bulk pkg meat or leftover meats would not go to waste if I did more of this. I also have been freezing some of the fruits & veggies I know I can freeze if they are a good price. (Bell peppers, blueberries, strawberries, bananas, etc. things I know will freeze well.) Check out their FB event for Freezer cooking. http://moneysavingmom.com/from-my-kitchen/baking-day http://www.goodcheapeats.com/2010/02/build-fr...

Can you believe this is only day three? Me either. It's taking forever to get through these pictures. There were three things we wanted to accomplish that day before we left for Tucson. We wanted to go to a an Indian reservation to buy cigarettes, go visit Anne Marie's murals at the bank, and go to Four Peaks Brewery for lunch. Check, check, check. I didn't take pictures of buying cigarettes because it wasn't that exciting. The only thing notable about it was that was where I lost one of my flip flops, it fell out of the car as I was getting out. I had brought a change of shoes and didn't notice until we got to the brewery after the bank visit. Richard then took us back to the bank to look for it, not there, not at the house on the driveway either, therefore, I deduced that it probably fell out at the obscure cigarette shop on the Indian reservation. I challenged Rieker to find the shop again (after we left Richard's on our way to Tucson) and we did! I found the...

Hey do you guys check out Meagan's website every day? She posted on the whole Swagbucks phenomenon and how to get the major points, etc. Check it out. I think it was last Tuesday. (That's not why I was posting this.) Lately she has had postings on getting free samples and I've been logging on to get. I must admit, it is fun to receive the coupons and stuff for the freebies. Check it out when you get a chance. Love you!

it looks like a scooter (it's small too)but it's actually a motorcycle

How about after we got back from Apache Trail, Richard took us to his favorite jazz club in Scottsdale?We had a jam-packed day. I was almost too tired to go, but didn't want to waste a single minute. The club was behind Stetson Plaza. Look at the sign above the door, it says "The Truth is Inside". That's NOT the name of the place.The bar had no sign to identify it other than that. I guess they're that cool. The jazz club name is "Kazimierz-World Wine Bar". It was so fancy, I felt like we should snap our fingers in lieu of clapping for the entertainment .http://kazbar.net/ The jazz host that night was Dennis Rowland, a very very good performer. Richard David said he had a smooth "baby-making" voice. We had a wonderful time; except a few uncomfortable moments when Rieker requested we move to another table because he couldn't "hear the band over that girl's life story" . He was referring to a birthday group celebrating at the ne...