Author: Lois Houston

I'm a sweet tea drinkin' southern gal who loves to cook, bake, crochet, and read. Check out my blog for posts about parenting, faith, books, crafts, planning, baking, cooking, and life in general.

I can Zoo, can You?

I'm a little under the weather, so rather than a big post, I'll be finishing up my story from last weekend’s little adventure to Chattanooga…

After a very restful and relaxing evening in our beautiful (free) hotel room (thanks, Mom, for the hotel points!) we woke early (I was up at 6AM, what is wrong with me?!?) and headed downstairs for breakfast. Being post-surgery girl that I am, there was not much on the carbohydrate and sugar-laden buffet for me to eat. But, I was prepared and had my trusty protein drink ready in the room just in case that happened. 

The girls and SuperMan dined on reconstituted eggs, blueberry muffins, biscuits, yogurt and grapes (yum, not.)

Then, we headed out to the Chattanooga Zoo to see the animals before it got too hot.

I am so glad we did.

The zoo is fairly small (tiny) and has about 20-25 exhibits. Most of the animals are of the smaller kind – no zebras, giraffes, or elephants here. But that is part of the charm of the zoo, to me. It’s full of all sorts of animals you would not normally see in a zoo of a larger size. 

There were capybaras

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and coatis

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spider monkeys

IMGP3052 This little guy wanted to eat my glasses through the glass.

and red pandas

IMGP3071 They look like stuffed animals, but they were real. Just real lazy, too.

But the most fun part was the fact that we got there so early in the morning. We got to see all of the animals having breakfast.

The jaguars were awesome to watch. They were a pair of male brothers, about 18 months old. The zookeeper had just hung boxes of food in their pen and we got to watch them DESTROY the boxes as they ate their breakfast.  They were right in front of the viewing area, just on the other side of the glass. If the glass hadn’t been there, we could’ve pet them while they ate (pet? petted? which is it?)

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The zookeeper also put some treats (cheese) in hiding places for the jaguar boys to find.  This was on top of about a 7 foot high pole. He just climbed it like nothing and ate the cheese right away.IMGP3055The other neat thing was, surprisingly, this crow (of all things) . He had a fixation with SuperMan and kept sticking his head out of the cage and looking at SuperMan like he wanted him to do SOMETHING.  Finally, SuperMan decided to try scratching his head (nothing like risking a big bite from a big beak).

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The stupid bird loved it.

The girls were afraid Daddy was going to be arrested by the zookeepers. (hee hee)

The first (and last) thing we saw at the zoo were the chimps.

They had just been fed and this female kept grabbing PILES of food and holding in in her hands (and feet) like she was hoarding it.  It was really funny to watch as she fussed at the boys whenever they went by.

IMGP3046 “Hey! This is MY food! Go find your own!”

And then there was Hank.  He’s their “special” chimp who gets an exhibit all to himself. He’s old (40’s) and reminded me a lot of my late step-grandfather (hee hee) with his grey, balding head and arthritic legs.

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He came right up to the window to see the girls and had a (mute) conversation with them through the glass. It’s a little eerie to see so much intellect in his eyes when he looks at you. Makes you wonder what he is thinking and what he thinks about all this zoo stuff.

We had a great morning at the zoo. If you are ever in Chattanooga, you should carve out a few hours of your day and visit. It’s worth it.

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Hanging out in Chattanooga

After our visit to the Aquarium, we had lunch at the Big River Grille (our usual lunch spot) and the walked over to the Children’s Museum to spend the afternoon.

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It’s usually SuperMan’s backside in these type pictures, not mine!

The girls love it there – you start out in a water play area that has a huge climby-thing.

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Then we visited the dinosaurs

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and dug for some fossils

IMGP3026Then, the girls practiced their medical skills

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and produced a play IMGP3029and created with clay IMGP3030IMGP3033

And then we all collapsed from exhaustion.

The end.

Not really.

We went out for dinner, the girls went swimming in the hotel pool and THEN we collapsed from exhaustion!

More on our Saturday fun soon.  

I’m Wondering on Wednesday: Twitterpated

I was sitting by the pool the other day, watching the girls swim and entertaining myself by reading Facebook and Twitter posts.  While I was reading the posts, I started to wonder…Wondering on Wednesday

I have a Twitter account (obviously)

I send “tweets” daily (most of the time).

I spend (probably too much) time reading tweets and following people.

But I have to admit one thing:

I don’t really get it all.

Being on Twitter, to me, is kinda like being a Mom. You talk,  you share things, you speak your innermost thoughts, but you never really know if anyone is actually listening or cares.

I see a lot of people putting tweets out there that are marketing-focused – read my blog post, check out this new product, etc. And then there are the tweets that are more train-of-thought type tweets. 

My question is this…

Does it really matter?

I’ve joined the 31 Days to Build a Better Blog challenge over on The Secret is in the Sauce blog.  I’m having fun learning ways to improve my blog and blog posts.  As a part of that process, everyone is following each other on Twitter. 

With all of these extra folks to follow (think 500+ people here) I’m finding it hard to sift through all the noise to find the nuggets of goodness in there.  I’m finding I would rather just ignore Twitter than try to figure it out.

I’m torn between wanting to follow the herd and using Twitter to share with folks and just dropping the whole thing altogether. I mean, I have the blog, I have Facebook, I have email and my phone. Do I really need Twitter, too?

So, help me out here:

  • What do you think?
  • How do you use Twitter? (or do you use it at all?)
  • Do you like it?
  • What are your secrets?

I’d love to hear your thoughts on this.

A Quick Getaway

I mentioned we had a great weekend – we made an impromptu trip to Chattanooga to visit one of our favorite sister cities.  We love hanging around in Chattanooga. There is so much to do and the fact that it is only 2 hours from home makes it a great place to go for a day or a quick weekend getaway.  This past weekend was no exception.

We headed up Friday morning – SuperMan and I were both off work for the day.  The girls planned our itinerary and we started out at the Tennessee Aquarium and then moved on to the Children’s Museum after lunch.  I think I took close to 200 pictures in two days (well, SuperMan did this time, I gave him the camera and I just played with the girls) so I will not post them all on today’s blog post. I’ll force you to see more later in the week. :-)  I think I’ve got enough that I could just about do an 8×8 album easily with the pictures.

SuperMan takes pictures from a totally different perspective than I do, so it was interesting to review what he took and to see his take out our trip.  Very different than some of the things I usually take pictures of, but I loved that he captured our mini vacation from his perspective – and I love some of the shots he took.

Here are the pictures from the aquarium:

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Hanging out in the Butterfly Garden

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Little Bit is as tall as an Emperor Penguin

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Watching the Penguins swim by to say “Hello”IMGP2984

Hanging out watching the fish hiding in the little cavey-like areaIMGP2991

We just love these guys. It is so amazing to think that they have no brains, no sentient thoughts, and yet they move about as if they know exactly where they are going and what they are doing.

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These were in the tunnel that goes under the big salt water tank.IMGP3004

This is one of those that SuperMan took that I just LOVE. I would’ve never tried that.

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They have a “stream” that runs between the two Aquarium buildings and all the kids “swim” and splash in the water. I couldn’t resist myself given that it was 96 degrees with 100% humidity.IMGP3015This is another one SuperMan did. I love it.         IMGP3013

And this one… Great!IMGP3005  

I’ll share the Children’s Museum and Zoo pictures later this week.

Recipes

Getting things Started

My House Seasoning (I use it on everything)

Miscellaneous – Salads, Dough, Salsas, etc.

(some are mine, some link to other sites)

Pork

Chicken

Beef

Casseroles

Soups & Stews

Sweet Nothings

Protein Shakes & Bariatric-Friendly Foods

Menu Plan Monday – 1 Aug

Happy Monday, everyone!

I hope you had a great weekend. I sure did. What was planned as a quick day-off-work trip for the girls and me to Chattanooga’s Tennessee Aquarium turned into an overnight getaway with the entire family.  We had so much fun, in spite of the heat, and really enjoyed being together as a family one more time before school starts.

I’ll share more on that trip (and pictures) later this week.  Right now, I want to share with you my Menu Plan for the week.  If you were here last week you’ll know I am starting to get my family back on track (after our lazy summer eating habits) and planning menus for a week’s worth of meals.

menu plan monday

After church yesterday we made a quick trip to Publix (love that place) and picked up the few items we needed for the menu this week.  I let the girls help me decide on some of the dinners (and SuperMan, too).  Monday night we’re having sleepovers (we have friends w/ two daughters the same age as ours – we’re swapping one kid for the night so each set of girls gets to hang out with their friend with no big/little sisters to harass them) so, that night we are doing frozen pizzas for the kids and the grownups will do leftover baked potato and salad.

Here’s what we’re having:

  • BBQ Pork – I cook a huge pork roast in the crock pot. Little Bit likes it plain. The rest of us eat it w/BBQ sauce. I will take the juices and add some water and make a big pot of “sticky rice” to go with it. Yummy.
  • Grilled Chicken & veggies – Publix had boneless, skinless thighs on sale. I got a pack and they are marinating right now in my secret marinade. (I’ll have to post that one day)  I’m planning to cook that broccoli recipe for this one and probably some more grilled corn. (love that stuff)
  • Stuffed Pork Chops w/ veggies
  • Low Country Boil

I probably need one more dinner, but I’m sure I’ll be at the store later this week. I’ve got to get school lunch goodies, so I will probably pick up whatever is on sale for Fri/Sat/Sun dinners then. I also have a couple things that I didn't cook last week (because of our little impromptu trip) that I can use as well.

What are your plans for the week? Link up with us over on orgjunkie.com.


This is my life

Hand on steering wheel by cheerytomato.Scene: Driving down the highway

Me, to Big Girl, “You know how you feel when your hormones are all crazy…”

“…and you just want to shut yourself in your room and stay away from everyone because everyone makes you want to scream?” says Big Girl.

“Yeah,” I said.

“And you wake up and you feel all happy and the day is going to be just perfect,” chimes in Little Bit from the back seat.

Big Girl and I exchange a knowing glance – that is NOT what we’re talking about.

“Well,” I say to Big Girl, “that is exactly how I feel right now.”

“Me, too, Mommy,” says Little Bit, totally missing the fact that I’m talking to Big Girl. “Isn’t that great!”

sigh.

The Best Broccoli You’ll Ever Eat?!?

I just stumbled across this recipe/blog this morning (sorry, I can’t find the blog I linked from to find this blog – I’m getting old and my attention span is less than 3 seconds long – and my short term memory is shorter than that!)

ANYWAY

I’m going to try this tonight (or tomorrow night) and I’ll let you know how it tastes.  IMG_1.JPG

Photo is from the Amateur Gourmet’s blog

I’m on a campaign to get my girls to eat more vegetables – and find ways to cook them so they taste good enough that they will WANT to eat them.

This recipe sounds like it might actually do the trick. It’s for roasted broccoli.

Yes, ROASTED.  But it sounds yummy – it’s got garlic (a necessity in my house) and lemon zest/juice on the broccoli.

It just might work.

I’ll keep you posted.

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It Happened on a Motorcycle

Remember the days when you were young, oh, so young, and wishing you were older?

The days when you pretended you were all grown up, even though you weren’t?

I remember one of those days very vividly.

We were in the mountains of north Georgia, visiting some old family friends. They had lived next door to us when I was just a toddler.  Their son was years older than me… I think he was a teenager when I was a toddler.

Anyway, this particular weekend he was visiting his parents – we were all staying at their lake house and going to the Georgia Mountain Fair (which is a pretty big deal up around these parts).  He was visiting at the same time we were… and I was in heaven.harley

Joe David was his name. I remember having the hugest crush on him from the moment I saw him.  Mind you, the last time I’d seen him, I was probably wearing training pants… so it was like meeting him for the first time.  And, at thirteen, he was an Adonis to me.  He had long, wavy sandy-brown hair, huge green eyes, plaid flannel shirt, tight jeans, black leather boots  and the sweetest smile. (sigh)  And, best of all, he rode a Harley.

I have always had a secret, rebellious side to me.  The “wild child” that I don’t let out to play very often. I keep her locked up tight in a box, hidden deeply in my soul.  She stays locked up so long I often forget that she is there.

But Joe David had her banging on the lid of the box to be let out to run free.

Now mind you, his part in all of this was innocent. Looking back, I’m sure he just thought, in his worldly, wise, 20-something way, that I was just a cute punk kid to be nice to for a few days.

Me? I was naming our children and contemplating a life as Mrs. Joe David.

One of the days we were there, and I don’t recall how it happened exactly, but I ended up being offered a ride on his Harley.

*gulp*

ALL ALONE with JOE DAVID on his HARLEY?

I just about died right then and there. I don’t remember HOW I got on the bike, or much of the details of the actual event… but what I do remember is the bliss I felt as we rode along those windy mountain roads. I can’t remember whether I loved the fact that I had my arms wrapped around this HUNK of a guy or the thrill of riding a motorcycle more. 

That was when it happened.  The wild child in me came out.  She was blissfully happy with the wind blowing in her face and the scenery flashing by.  Her heart was racing and adrenaline was pumping.

Ever since that day, I have had a love affair with speed.  I love driving fast – anything fast… the boat, the car, or even (if I ever get the nerve again) on a motorcycle.

The wild child is locked up safely in her box (for now). I don’t let her out to play much these days.  The Mommy is usually in control around here.

But I still love to remember that feeling – zooming along the highway on the back of a Harley with my (then) dream man…


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Mama's Losin' It