So Stinkin' Proud

This is my handsome son Faris....who worked so hard to become a Firefighter. Months of training, testing, doing ride-alongs, live burns, pushing himself physically and mentally all leading up to this day of glory.

Here are the two best kids in the whole wide world !

My son went from "cadet" to being an official Firefighter on Friday, August 9, 2013. This is his custom badge that will go on his helmet.

Ceremony of being sworn in by the City of Shawnee City Administrator.

Proud Papa pinning on his Firefighter Badge.

The family beaming with pride!

New Chapter

Hard to believe that my little peanut is 10 days away from graduating from college!  Don't mean to brag or anything.....BUT she got offer a job before she has even been handed her diploma.  Am I proud? Ridiculously!  Does she deserve it? YOU BETCHA!  Years of sacrifice, hard work, who knows how many packages of Top Ramen, all nighters studying for test....it has all paid off!  Stand tuned for more....this proud Mama is going to have many more pictures to post, and can't tell you how excited I am with the pending celebrations to take place.  I LOVE YOU NADIA WITH ALL MY HEART XOXOXOXOX MAMA :)

Our Anniversary

Dan the Man and I celebrated our 12 year anniversary on October 21st and had a wonderful 3 day weekend.

We went to the movies and per my request saw..... I love animated films!

Then we to our favorite local winery www.nighthawkwines.com Nighthawk winery and enjoyed the last of the one of the most beautiful days having a picnic and sharing a bottle of vino!

We brought a picnic blanket, cheese and crackers

We read books, took a nap and just talked

and just enjoyed the last of the warm air before the cold weather

We dined at one of our favorite restaurants www.drugstorerestaurant.com Justus Pharmacy in Smithville, MO and had an outstanding dinner



and had these decadent desserts to finish off our dining experience! 

 

Couldn't have had a more wonderful time with my Prince Charming!

Happy Birthday Cindy!!!

She that amazing lady in the center of my kids? Her name is Cindy and she is what I call a TRUE BLUE FRIEND. We've known each other since freshman year in high school, and she has been a part of my life, my entire families life with her whole heart. Cindy would pick me up for school in her mustang ( I didn't get my first car until I was 18), we were in gymnastics together (you can stop giggling now!) and have many fond memories together. We spent the night at each other's homes, told each other our secrets, & shared our dreams. We've been on camping trips, shopping sprees, and have celebrated many important events...weddings, babies, baptisms, birthdays...the list goes on and on. Even though I was a rebel and moved to Kansas from California, when we talk, it's like no time has past. She is the godmother to my children and has a heart of gold. She has been there for me through all the ups and downs. She is an amazing cook, contractor, water skier, snorkeler. She is beauty and grace, loves unconditionally, & thoughtful beyond belief.

Right now she is up in Washington at her second home hopefully celebrating a magical, wonderful birthday.

If you are reading this Cindy, I just want you to know how much I love you and miss you...I hope this birthday year ahead brings you all the happiness you deserve in your life and that all your wishes come true!

XOXOXOX Nancy

Mr. Higgins

There is a new member of the family here at Acorn Cottage....MR. HIGGINS!!!!! (This is his majestic pose, after he had his Make Over!

Here is a picture of our diamond in the rough. You can tell that Dan the Man didn't like him at all right from to get go.

Before we adopted him we brought Trixie over to meet him and go for several walks. Her face says it all "You are kidding me Mom right? He seriously isn't coming home with us, IS HE????"

Mr. Higgins (formerly Rufus) was on the loose and picked up by animal control. He wasn't groomed, had straw stuck in his coat, hadn't been neutered. Worse off when the animal control officer found out who he belonged to, the didn't want to pay the fees involved and told the officer "just keep him"....well along comes Nancy into the picture. Heartbroken and tearing up just hearing the story, ready to adopt sight unseen, the wheels of motion moved forward. Okay, okay, I had my foot on the pedal going about 100MPH. After He got all checked out at the vet, shots up to date, surgery, grooming, we finally got to bring him home last Thursday and it's been love ever since.

We got for walks nightly, and he plays chase with Trixie in the back yard. Her legs are about two feet long, and his are about 2 inches long, so it's very entertaining to watch.

There is lots of love, doggie treats, and we are so very happy to have him in our lives! He is quit the character, and very intelligent, and likes to be held like a baby and have his black shag carpet of a tummy rubbed. Life is good!

Tales of Love

As an incurable romantic Valentine's Day is one of my FAVORITE holidays. Ever since I was little I have always been sentimental. My Mom, the greatest example of a loving human being here on the face of the earth, always showed by example her unconditional love to all of her children. As I grew older, and became a young wife and mother, I discovered just how much I could love others and felt so blessed to have my husband and kids (who are young adults now) in my life. There were changes that would occur, that were unexpected. When Dan-the-Man came into my life a whole new chapter (more like book) of the meaning of romance came into my life......
I was divorced with two young children to care for, and didn't exactly have the faith that love would come my way again. Dates gone bad, fix up by friends that went south left me wondering if love would ever come my way again.

One day while on the Internet I found a link for pen pals. This wasn't a romance site, just a place to exchange e.mails, have some conversation. I met a nice lady from France who was a school teacher, a hilarious guy named Bob (whom I'm still pen pals with today 11 years later) from Michigan, a farmer's wife from Tennessee with three children.....and then Dan-the-Man. Dan and I started exchanging e.mails, stories about our lives, families, work, interest.....and things started getting more and more interesting. After several months of e.mailing each other, we braved the waters and took a graduated step to phone calls. On one phone call Dan announced "I want to fly out to meet you in person". **GULP** Scared, excited, twitter patted, butterflies, all wrapped into one, I agreed.

The weekend was memorable beyond belief. Our first kiss took place at the top of a mountain after a tram ride up the Palm Springs Ariel Tramway on a beautiful September day and our romance began. I was living in California, Dan in Kansas, and when we had to say goodbye for his flight home, we knew we should never be apart. Both of us were already lovesick. That's when the romance became incredible....love letters, emails that made me (and close friends who were in the inside loop) swoon. Love quotes everyday that left me floating on air! After flights back and forth from Kansas to California and California to Kansas our hearts could not take the separation. I flew out to Kansas and Dan had the most magical weekend for us planned. A single rose for me when picking me up at the airport, a dozen long stemmed roses at his place with chilled champagne, dinner at a cozy Italian restaurant....then a walk down at the Country Club Plaza. He arranged for a carriage ride and while under the stars above, proposed to me and I have been madly in love with him ever since!

Of course you are getting the reader's digest version of this story, but I just want to say if you have a lonely heart on Valentine's Day, keep your chin up and eyes open because sometimes God had other plans for you. We may not always understand at the time why we face the challenges we do, but there is a reason....sometimes those reasons aren't clear at the time, but when the time is right, things fall into place and you will live your happily ever after life, like me!

XOXOXO, Nancy

The Wedding

We are back from sunny California and it was everything and more we could have wished for! Here is my nephew Aaron and his beautiful wife Ghea! My pictures are not in a sequence of events, so bear with me! The brides heritage is Indonesian and she had two wedding dresses, one for the ceremony and one for the reception one more beautiful than the next!

This is my other handsome nephew Bruce (Aaron's older brother) and his beautiful girlfriend Tanya. He caught the garter!! Uh Hum...cough....cough. Yes-sir-reeeeee. Hint, hint.....

One of the many beautiful details of this gorgeous wedding. They also had a special tray out side of these babies injected with liquor!

Being a foodie, just had to snap a photo of the salad. The whole menu was delicious and served with such style. The staff did an outstanding job in every way shape and form.

The bride's bouquet, just a vision of loveliness. All of the flowers were so beautiful!

Each of the tables had different arrangements of flowers...combinations of floating orchids, roses, lilies, just lovely!

The weeding cake was so beautiful. I don't know if you can see, but the 4th layer had tiny rhinestones in the design! Just beautiful! (and delicious too!)

This picture was next to the guest book, along with other photos of Aaron and Ghea! Such a beautiful foyer. They also had table favors with seat assignments to the right of this area that were so cute!

This was the setting for the bride and groom. Married outdoors in the late afternoon on a beautiful day. The one thing I forgot to bring in my purse....Kleenex and I needed it. The ceremony was just wonderful. So well spoken and touching!

This is a picture of the building were all the festivities took place. You can tell by the palm trees we are in California.

I have more pictures to share, but at least wanted to post these. One thing that wasn't caught on camera was Dan-the-Man out on the dance floor doing some moves that have made a lifetime impression on his nieces and nephews that they will never forget! (anyone remember the bar scene from the movie Dan in Real Life?....yeah...along those lines)

Such a wonderful time with family and friends. The newlyweds are enjoying a honeymoon in Maui...can't wait to here all about it!

California Here We Come!!!

Watching the morning news and learning that the morning temperatures will be 19 degrees as Dan-the-Man and I hop on a plan for sunny California makes me a little giddy inside. Ah yes, as my co-workers will be trudging into work I'll be OFF. Sauntering up to the airline check out counter, with a little pep in my step, generously tipping the bag handlers, and skipping down the isle of the plane, nestling into my seat, with an ear to ear grin. "Why yes, I WOULD love a bag of peanuts and a ginger ale". I made sure that when we change planes to get to our final destination, it wasn't in Denver or Chicago in January, but balmy Phoenix, Arizona. Did I ever tell you the story of my Chicago O'Hare flight? The one that was supposed to arrive at 1:00pm in the afternoon and my toes didn't touch the carpet of the airport terminal until 2:30am, the very carpet I got to "sleep" on overnight??? Yeah, that's a story for another time and place....

I have better things to look forward to....like my sister Janet picking us up from the airport and giving one of the best hugs ever! The happiness of seeing my family that I haven't seen in MONTHS....

Including this LOVE BUG. My MOMMY! Talk about the best hugs in the world, hers are the best. I know, because I've been getting them from her my whole life!

The reason for the visit, not that there HAS to be one....because this handsome devil, my nephew Aaron is GETTING MARRIED!!!! What is better than a visit, than a visit with a CELEBRATION!!!!! (pictured here with his favorite Aunt, Me....sorry Barbara, just stating the facts!)

Ah yes...Aaron(aka "Peaches" a despised nickname given by his older brother) is getting married. He's like a second son to me and we always have the best of times together. You never see him without a smile on his face, and now he has more reason than ever to be happy and he is going to be walking down the isle this weekend. We couldn't be happier for him! (pictures to follow upon our return)....now for that check list of mine......

Clothes packed.....um

Camera charged...check

Wedding gift purchased....oops, not yet....

New shoes to wear.....whoops

Clothes washed.....ut oh...

Suitcase recovered from basement....check

Melinda nagging me if I've packed yet....check :)

Wedding card....dang!

Okay, so I'm kind of a last minute kinda gal. I can say I'm always ready to walk out the door right on time, every time, it's my process!

Here's Dan checklist when we get to California (not necessarily in order of importance)

In and Out Burger

Fresh seafood Dinner

In and Out Burger

Walk Around Balboa Island, including a Balboa Bar

In and Out Burger

and finally.... In and Out Burger

Love Sick

This is a picture of me and my sweetie Dan the Man. He has been in Germany on a business trip for three looooooonnnnnnnnggggggggg weeks. He is coming home this Sunday at o'late thirty and I can not wait to see him! We have been married for 9 years this month and I have been madly in love with him ever since we met. There have been many love letters exchanged, letters that took my breath away. When we were dating I would often get a love quote of the day that would make me swoon and walk on clouds. I saved every one of them. The day we got engaged was so memorable. He had a brought me the most beautiful long stemmed red roses I had ever seen, and we had a glass of champagne that evening. We went out to dinner at a wonderful Italian restaurant and had a great meal, then went down to the Plaza in Kansas City. For those of you who haven't been to Kansas City, the Plaza is a wonderful shopping area with beautiful architecture. It's sister city is Seville, Spain, so there are beautiful tile mosaics, and fountains everywhere. The whole area is lit up with twinkle lights in November and it's just magical. Dan arranged for us to take a horse drawn carriage ride underneath the stars and proposed to me while on the ride. After the ride we ran into a bar and shouted out "WE'RE ENGAGED" as I flashed my beautiful diamond ring, and the bartender popped open a bottle of bubbly and everyone around congratulated us as we had a toast.

So, it is that man, that I anxiously await to come home. The last few days have been the worst...the anticipation of wanting him in my arms again, where he belongs!

So thank you my friends for allowing me a little trip down memory lane. I am most fortunate that I keep having wonderful memories made and a love to last a lifetime!

Family History

Has anyone caught the genealogy bug before? For some reason out of the blue, I have an overwhelming urge to find out more about my families history! Above is a picture of my Danish Grandparents and my two aunts are uncle. This was taken before my Mom was born and she is 84 years old now!

This is a picture of my handsome Danish Grandfather John Winther Jensen Egelund. I found the ships manifest for the Ellis Island web site from when he came over from Denmark. I've caught the genealogy bug pretty bad, been spending hours going over information, signed up on Ancestry.com, Family search.org, and another website that's free called My Heritage.com and have been passionate about working on this. I even started working on my husband family tree too and have been so lucky to trace back one side of the family to the 1500's!!!!!! I wanted to squeeze as much information out of my Mom in regards to memories, customs, celebrations and of course recipes and have grand plans to get something composed to give to my nieces and nephews for Christmas....that being said it will probably be Christmas 2010 or 2011, but the important thing is I'm working on it!

Anybody else have the bug? Curious minds need to know :)

Someone's 19 today!!!!!

It's my baby girl Nadia's Birthday today! Here she is in 1994 as Snow White for Halloween! So precious!
This is one of my all time favorite pictures of her! She was Sweet 16 here!

All grown up into a young woman. Getting her groove on, going to college, figure out life. Making new friends, working hard, such a bright future. She has a heart of gold. We are extra excited because she is coming home from college and we get to spend THE WHOLE WEEKEND together! Tonight we are going out for THAI for her birthday celebration, then back to the house to celebrate with cake and presents! Can't wait to see her! Love her so much it hurts! We have so much fun together and giggle until we have tears streaming down our faces. We love to shop, cook, eat, watch movies and hug! Can't wait to give her a big squeeze! Is it 5:00pm yet????

Visitors!!!!!

Just found out that my oldest (she'll love that term) sister is coming to town for Easter weekend! My sister loves her family and lavishes us all with lots of hugs! Her and her hubby are retired and have a truck and trailer and travel all over the USA. I get random postcards from wherever they are at so I know what the scoop is. She is the card Queen, master of backgammon and I defy ANYONE to beat her at Scrabble. She is the one who is responsible for giving me "perms" in the 80's! She has more stamina to shop than three teenagers on a slurpee high and is a mean cook out in the kitchen. Fellow coffee-aholic we both love a good french roast, although she has moved over to the other side and drinks hers black. We are DANISH and I will not drink coffee without cream...it just isn't right! When I get home from work, she will already be here, and I can't wait to see her and give her a big giant hug!

The Scoop!!!

Let me first start my story by backing up to yesterday afternoon.....I came home from work for lunch, pondering what we were going to serve for dinner. This would be my first time meeting my tattooed mechanics son new girlfriend. I already picked up on the vibe...this wasn't just anyone, so when I mentioned on a telephone conversation with him that Dan-the-Man wanted to grill out hamburgers, I immediately picked up on that this was not okay from the son.

Being the mischievous Mum that I am, I couldn't resist torturing him, and sent son a text message in the afternoon something like this...."Dan said we'll do tacos instead of hamburgers".

Fast forward to 5:35pm. I'm out in the kitchen feverishly working peeling and coring apples for apple crumb pie. I nervously keep glancing around the corner out the window to see if anyone has arrived. My son shows up first, as they agreed to meet at the house since she was just getting out of school. (BTW she's graduating in May with a MASTERS DEGREE in teaching).
He's watching Mum work at the speed of a hummingbird who just discovered a new pitcher of red sugar water has been hung. The son starts picking up on my vibe "Mum....your making me nervous...quit it!" I'm chopping Roma tomatoes and basil for the crostini appetizer I'm making, trying to beat all odds that I can get the last of the goat cheese out of the impossible packaging it's in. Dan-the-man announces "SHE'S HERE!!!!", and the son is at the front door in 1/32th of a nano second to greet her. Possibly less time than that....

Introductions occur, and I instantly like her. You know when you mentally start visualizing what someone is going to be like, even start imaging what they are going to look like...well EVERYTHING was so much more wonderful than that. Beautiful face, gorgeous smile, cute voice, and gushing with warmth. I felt warm and fuzzy all the way down to my toes. We easily fell into conversation like this was our 300th time seeing each other. A half hour must have passed with talking when I realize maybe I should include my son in part of the conversation.
That being said, you have to understand my son. He is Jim Carey reincarnated in a second body on earth, with a slightly different twist. He has a personality that's large enough to entertain a room of 40 people, and loves it best when everyone is laughing until tears are streaming down your face. I wanted my mascara to stay right wear it was, on my eyelashes...at least for the first part of the evening.

She was like a character out of a Walt Disney movie...one of the princesses. Lavish with compliments for our humble home, about how we brought up our son. I picked up on how much she loves her family, and that she has lots of pets (always a good sign to me), and what a positive outlook and sunny disposition she had. Okay I thought to myself, I will allow you the honor of birthing my grandchildren. My daughter (away at college calls) I politely excuse myself as I go into the other room and try whispering "You're going to LOVE her". We have a 2 second conversation filling her in as quickly as possible on the skinny, the low down....I was curtly but affectionately told "I'll be the judge if she's "In" or not."..we giggled and hung up.

Dan-the-man made a wonderful beef brisket with a mushroom gravy, red skinned potato mashers, broccoli, and even though she is probably a size 2 enjoyed the dinner and had seconds.

After dinner we relaxed and conversed more. A little while later I served my apple crumb pie ala mode. It was a relaxing enjoyable evening, and we wrapped things up agreeing that I would take her in the bug-de-doo to a winery out in the country that she hadn't been to, and me loaning her a copy of Emma with Gweneth Paltrow to watch.

Before they could walk out the door, I asked if I could take a picture. Little do they know what I'm up to right now, blabbing to my blog friends. You are all sworn to secrecy...do you hear that??!! Don't make me come over and give you a nuggy!

I went to bed and slept peacefully knowing that life is pretty darn good right now!

I have a secret....

Me and my favorite son! My mechanic tattooed son is coming over for dinner tonight with a new lady friend....Sybil. This is our first night meeting her, but I have a motherly intuition that she has already captured someones attention. Mr. Cool, Calm & Collected can't stop talking about her every time I see him. Now would I get pinched, and put into a headlock and get a giant nuggy on my head if he knew I was posting about this? Heck yeah! But what are the chances of the mechanic tattooed son reading ol' Mums blog? Tee he he he....We had to go over the "menu" and when I mentioned Dan-the-Man wanted to grill out some burgers (a normally warm welcomed dinner) someone was wincing and hinting that something more sophisticated needed to be served. Followed by flattery of what great cooks we are, and couldn't we do something else for tonight's dinner.....and oh by the way could you make your apple crumb pie Mum?

I guess you have to know a little history. Ms. Sybil is going to graduate from college in May and become a school teacher. She works two jobs, runs in marathons and likes to read! Did you hear that LIKES TO READ. Loves her family, and has her act together! I've seen one picture and she has curly blonde hair and blue eyes and looks like an angel.

It's so cute seeing him so twitterpatted, trying to act like he's NOT twitterpatted, when he is so VERY twitterpatted.

Oh yes, there will be reports tomorrow...have no fear. I may even torture her with pictures on the first visit if I can, because that's how I roll!

Blue Skies

Mom & Me
I'm taking a trip to see my Mama. She is turning 86 this Saturday and I haven't seen her in 1 1/2 years. When we moved to Kansas I thought I'd be able to fly and see her more often, and I'm so very thankful that I am finally able to see her. She is an angel on earth, the best Mom in the whole wide world. So very patient, so kind and gentle. Everyone that knows here loves her, but not more than her kids. She taught me how to cook, sew, crochet, knit, craft, but her biggest gifts where teaching me how to be giving and loving. Such an example of what a person should be, and how to treat others, she is my mentor and I love her dearly! I'll be back next week and will catch up with you all then!

Speechless

I can't tell you what a big teary- eyed sap I was when my friend Martha told me to come over to her blog and that she had a surprise for me. To my complete astonishment she passed on to me the Sisterhood Award. I've have been blogging for a couple of months, and had no idea that I would meet so many nice people. But Martha, especially has just been such a sweetheart. The fact that we both live in the same state makes it an added bonus, and the fact that we are in driving distance makes it even more exciting that we'll actually get to meet each other someday.
For those of you who are familiar with her blog, already know what a wealth of information she shares. Gourmet cook, Master Gardner, lover of Antiques, and just a joy to visit each day. Thank you so very much for passing these awards to me!

She also sent along this award which really touched me as well and it came with this message:

"These blogs are exceedingly charming. These kind of bloggers aim to find and to be friends. They are not interested in self-aggrandizement. Our hope is that when the ribbons of these prizes are cut, even more friendships are propagated."

I would like to send these awards along to Cathy

and to Valerie !!

Cathy has a wonderful cooking blog and has been very generous sharing multiple tidbits of information on blogging tips, help with photography and has helped me become a better blogger. Always up and positive with nothing but kindness and support at all times, she deserves special recognition!!!!

Valerie is just a breath of sunshine. When you visit her blog you can just feel her enthusiasm for her home and her family. She has two beautiful children and is such a goof Mommy to them. I would recommend going on over for a visit and sitting on her front porch for a spell!

Someone's 21!!!

My baby boy turns 21 today! Where did the time go? He's turned out to be such a fine young man. I'm ridiculously proud of him. He has a heart of gold. Makes me cry with his acts of kindness and makes me laugh all the time. Always happy, loves to joke around. NEVER has a problem saying "I love you Mom" in front of ANYONE.
Lover of music, lover of life...Always curious to learn. Crazy about animals, his friends, and loves his family like there is no tomorrow.

Happy Birthday Son!!!

M.I.A.

I might be M.I.A. for a few days because my baby girl came home from college to get some loving from her Mama! Forgive me. I will be back! Family first though!