I like purple

Those who know me, know that my favorite color is purple. I think this happened sometime around when Julia was a baby. I was pretty disgusted that most baby girl clothing was pink. Well, then they started coming out with some more cool stuff, in lavender and purple, so I started buying that up. I really didn't like pink much at all, although I did and still do like pink a heck of a lot better than orange or yellow. So, when Julia develops her first favorite color, it was orange. Now what is it? Pink. Yep, she likes to pick the colors I don't have an affinity for. Sarah, though, she's my buddy. Her absolute favorite color is blue. After that, she probably would pick sky blue or purple. Her least favorite color is absolutely, positively, without a doubt, pink. If you wish to annoy her, just buy her something in that color. She hates princesses, too, now. Oh, and for the record, James has a favorite color, sort of, BLACK. He said he wished that during school, he'd been able to respond more smartly to the teachers who complained that black wasn't really a color, but really, black absorbs all the colors so it is a representation of all colors, therefor he likes all the colors of the rainbow. But don't tell him I said so, because he likes black, that's his story and he's sticking to it.

Sarah, the proud Leopard of the Month!

Sarah received her Leopard of the Month award yesterday at the end of month assemblies at her school. I did take video of her receiving the award, but will have to post that on a different day. She was the ONLY kid who dressed up for the ceremony, which surprised me. I guess kids just don't do that any more...

I get hungry just reading the recipes...

I have a few sites I read on a regular basis. I've found a couple of new ones lately, and thought I might like to share. The first one is Pioneer Woman Confessions. She's super funny and it's just enjoying to read. But it doesn't stop there. She has other blogs. The Cooking blog is why I chose the subject I did. Oh man. She must use a nice camera. I can almost taste the food she's blogging about. It's not fair. I mean, I'm trying to lose weight here, and she is not showing any low fat/weight loss friendly recipes. If you go to her site, you can see her other blogs, home schooling, photography and garden as tabs at the top. I suppose I could link them, but I'm getting lazy. Oh, and she's been nominated for numerous Bloggie awards. So if you like her, go vote for her.

But there's a problem. See, there's this other site I like, Cake Wrecks, and she's competing against Cake Wrecks in the best writing in a blog category. Oh, decisions, decisions. I suppose I could vote for Pioneer Woman on all categories, except that one. Because each day, I get much joy out of reading Cake Wrecks. I laugh hard at all the awful cakes that people have the nerve to create. The author calls them Cake Wreckorators. I love it. Really, I do. I wonder what she would think about some of mine?


This one wasn't so great, but at least it tasted good.

Or this one:


Yeah, kind of scary. And let's not talk about the black icing. Eww.



Ok, So Thomas wasn't TOO bad, and this time I figured out that I could use chocolate icing and dye it black without having to use as much dye, so it tasted much better than white dyed black.



The above cake was the cake I made on my last class of the first course of cake decorating I took. To this day, I still cannot make a good rose. And it's not as if I didn't practice. But I did try.



I kind of like this one-- from the last class of my second course. Still can't make a decent rose, though. My other flowers turned out pretty decent, though.



I was pretty proud of Tigger, though. I wish I could say I freehanded him, but I'm not that good. I did use a pattern that I created using a coloring book page. I thought it turned out pretty good, though! Throughout the years, I've made lots more cakes, some better, some worse, but I guess it's the enjoyment that I get out of it that keeps me doing it. I'd love to take the courses again, though, to get better at certain techniques, and um, maybe figure out how to do that elusive Rose. I can dream, can't I?

I'm on a roll...

Just a short note to let everyone know that the past couple of days, I've been a posting fool, so make sure and scroll down and read the other posts. I think that not including this post, there are 4 more. Hope everyone enjoys!

25 Random Things About Me...

Here's how it works:

Rules: Once you've been tagged, you are supposed to write a note with 25 random things, facts, habits, or goals about you. At the end, choose 25 people to be tagged. You have to tag the person who tagged you. If I tagged you, it's because I want to know more about you. If you are reading this, then consider yourself tagged!


1. I was born in Victoria, Texas at Citizen's Hospital.

2. Most people know I have an older brother named David., but few know that I had a younger brother who died shortly after his birth when I was 14 months old. His name was Joseph Steven. That would have been my name had I been a boy.

3. I went to Catholic school from 4th-12th grade, but public school from K-3rd.

4. I was in the same 3rd grade class as my husband, but didn't see him again until I was 24.

5. I have lived in Victoria, TX, College Station, TX, Huntsville, TX, Houston, TX, Rosenberg, TX, Bloomington IL on a part-time basis, Thousand Oaks, CA and now Camarillo, CA.

6. I love to sing. I'm not exactly great at it, but good enough. I have a good ear for what is right and what is wrong, and I can read music. I was in the choir in high school for 3 years, in the church choir for 5 years in HS and College and last year joined the "Adult Choir" at my current church. It brings great joy into my life.

7. I love to read. I prefer fiction. My non-fiction reading would be mostly online. I am addicted to learning about new things and reading other people's blogs.

8. I know a lot about a wide variety of things. I always used to envy people who do one or two things exceptionally well, but then decided I should not limit myself. Maybe I should have majored in Liberal Arts in college. I am proud to have such a wide variety of knowledge, though.

9. I'm pretty good with technology. I have built a computer, installed windows, and even done things on Unix machines. I have also at times needed to correct settings on a cisco router or a firewall. This comes from being married to a high tech guy who has little time to fix the equipment at home.

10. I only got to know 3 of my grandparents. My paternal grandmother passed away 2 weeks before my parents were married and almost 3 years before I was born.

11. I wish I had more time to devote to volunteer work.

12. I used to hate text messaging. I hated receiving the messages and sending them. Then I got the LG env2. Now I don't hate it so much but am not addicted to it.

13. I love to take pictures but wish I either was better at it or had a better camera. I love to take candid shots. I really despise those canned/posed pictures that people force you to take all the time. "Okay, everyone, get on the couch/in front of the fireplace/outside on the lawn and we'll pose for a group picture!" So, instead, I snap a lot of pictures, hoping to get a few really good ones.

14. The first thing in my mouth each morning is usually a Diet whatever was cheapest at the store, typically coke or pepsi, always flavored either cherry or lime or vanilla. Sometimes it's a Diet Dr. Pepper.

15. My mom thought I was going to be a boy when she was pregnant with me, so she didn't pick out any girl names. She tells me that she figured since she already had a boy, she didn't think she'd have a girl. She had 2 sisters. I guess she figured that's how it worked.

16. My parents and brother are all left-handed. I'm right-handed, although I can do things with either hand, but I have more strength in the right. I think that somehow I was switched/encouraged to use the right hand by someone.

17. My favorite color is purple. At one time it was green, another it was pink, royal blue, red, and so on and so forth. I think purple has been it for about 4 years.

18. I love chocolate, especially dark chocolate. Who could ask for anything more?

19. I have a confession to make. I have at least 25 Jimmy Buffett cds. I especially love to listen to his music when the weather is bad. I don't know if I have a favorite song of his, but

20. According to my kids, I am the meanest mother in the world, but for some reason they still love me and miss me when I'm gone!

21. I love rain and storms.

22. I used to decorate cakes for fun. I've made all sorts, and even made a tiered cake once. I don't think that I'd make big money off of it, but they were nice enough.

23. I can sew. I've made clothes that turned out pretty cute. I like sewing for kids, but not so much adults, because their clothes are smaller and take less time and fabric.

24. I would be totally lost without my computer. It's my newspaper, my mailbox, my phone book, my address book, my photo album, my telephone...you get the picture.

25. I really look up to my parents and hope to be like them when I grow up.

New digs!

Well, I finally got around to learning how to customize my blog into something that is more my style. I did acquire the background and information as to how to put it in at The Cutest Blog on the Block, but the rest I pretty much did on my own. The header or banner or whatever you call it, I did use the background I got from Cutest Blog but modified it to create a banner using Paint Shop Pro. I also used the same software to create my signature. I'm having a lot of fun doing this, and don't be surprised to see more changes in the future!

The promised San Diego Zoo Post, at last!

I think that this post is going to be slim on post and heavy on pictures! We enjoyed visiting the SD Zoo, as usual, but I did not get a lot of pictures. I'll have to dig up some from previous trips another day. Above would be the 2 legged juvenile creatures of the Whiteley family. the cooperated for longer than 2 seconds to take that photograph!

Here's the view from the cable car ride. Or at least the view of another cable car!


Julia had fun in the petting zoo. She latched on to one of the goats and called it Gretchen and kept chasing after it. I think he/she got tired of it and went to the "rest" area of the petting zoo.


Everyone loves a good porcupine!


Oh, the life of a polar bear in a zoo, so well fed, it doesn't even need to hunt!


There's the 2 legged critters again, posing for another picture. :)



This is one of my 2 favorite exhibits in the zoo, the Panda exhibit. You have to keep quiet to visit the pandas and there is almost always a line. This was Bai Yun, I believe, and she's had a number of cubs while at the zoo. We got to see 2 others (which is a lot, usually you see just one or two) but they were laying down, so I won't bore you with their pictures.


Had to toss in a primate picture...


Here is the other of my favorite two exhibits in the zoo, the humingbird aviary! Some of the birds are bigger than expected, and yes, they do actually stop once in a while, so it's quite easy to get a picture.



Well, that's it from this trip to San Diego! I did want to share that the plant collection at the zoo is worth a lot more than the animal collection. It is indeed incredible. I think due to being tired, and having some battery issues, I didn't get as many pictures as I normally would have. Shortly after this trip, I became the proud owner of some new attachments, including a telephoto lens for my camera. That would have been nice on the trip.

If you haven't read the previous post about Sarah getting chosen as Leopard of the Month, please read. She's super proud!