We have a Graduate!!!

Kings of Leon Concert

KINGS Of LEON


Dana and I went to Detroit September 22 and saw Kings of Leon (our favorite Band) at the Palace. We had a GREAT time with some friends of ours. We were 8 rows left of the stage so we had a great view of the concert! We never really got to do this sort of thing when we were younger and had little kids...I must say we are definitely enjoying it!


" Closer"

"Use Somebody"

Traverse City Trip - Condo

Condo in TC (Lake Michigan in the background)

Slept 14 people

Twilight Trailer- Great MOVIE!!! EVEN BETTER BOOKS

Dylan's 13th Birthday!!!!

My little guy is getting to look like a little Man!

Happy to see MONEY!!!!

Aunt Megan with her Handsome Nephews!!!

Dylan and Zach...cousins!

Christmas......A different perspective!

Zumba....My new addiction!!

This is a new exercise class that I have been doing and I am HOOKED!! I have NEVER had so much fun exercising in my life! You burn 500-700 calories in an hour and have a blast doing it! I sometimes go twice a day when I have the time. Try it you'll love it! CLICK HERE TO FIND A CLASS!

Eric and Tiff's Annual Halloween Party!!!

Zack, Madison and Abby Our (Nephew and Nieces)

Zack and Dylan

Madison and Abby

Whitney's Homecoming 08'

Whitney and Alex

Beautiful day in the park

My little girl....grown up!

Our Reality...

I was just thinking how nice it will be when I have more to share than just the latest on our construction. I would love to tell you that Dana and I just returned from a long romantic week in Mexico or how we had a wild weekend in Vegas but the reality is that we had a grueling weekend siding our house! We had my family over for what we are calling a siding party! Which means I lured the guys and gals over to our house promising food and beer in exchange for hammers and hard work. We did manage to get the entire front sided we still have shutters and painting to do but it's done! What a relief. Now we have both dormers and about 1/2 of the back of the house to do. My poor Dad who just retired is probably wishing he was still working. We have kept him busy! We sure couldn't have done it without family!

Now we're Cookin'

Wow...it's been awhile! I couldn't believe when I saw it was September 11 when I last posted! Well I have a pretty good excuse we have been so BUSY!!!!! It as been a juggling act lately with work, school functions, kids, remodeling and party planning! In fact looking back September is a complete blurr. We are now 100% done with our kitchen as of yesterday! We have moved on to siding our house. We are stripping the old shakes off...wrapping the house....and putting up new siding and windows. Our goal is to have the house 90% done by next weekend... we'll see how it goes. After that is done we have a contractor coming back and replacing our living room ceiling and some drywall (damaged from the flood as well) and have the new carpet installed. We are hoping to be done with everything by Thanksgiving. It was funny...yesterday morning our neighbor from across the street came over and said to Dana "geez you guys could have built a whole new house with all the remodeling you have done over the last 8 years!" It is so true! This will be our last 'fixer-upper'.

Remembering....we will never forget!

We're Almost Done!

Well, after almost 3 months of home construction we can finally see the light at the end of the tunnel! Here is a picture diary of where we've been and where we are now!

Ahhhhhh.....Peace finally!

The kids are back to School....no more "I'm bored" or "What are we going to do today?" or my favorite " Can I have 10 dollars for....". All I hear is .....SILENCE!!!!! I can even hear Baxter snoring all the way in the other room! Don't get me wrong I love my kids and actually by the end of the school year I am excited for the extra time with them. This past summer was not so fun for anyone in the Jones household... all the stress of the kitchen being under construction kind of zapped the fun right out of it. So today as I dropped Dylan off at school, it felt like a new beginning...a fresh start for everyone!

Quote of the Day

"Love is everything it's cracked up to be. That's why people are so cynical about it...It really is worth fighting for, risking everything for. And the trouble is, if you don't risk everything, you risk even more."

We're Out of Here!

We are getting packed for a much needed break from our home construction this weekend! We are heading up north to the cottage to spend the weekend with my parents and sister. It's going to be a nice break from the non-stop sound of drills, saws and nail guns! Also this weekend, we are going to be a part of my Aunt and Uncles 50th Wedding anniversary party! So it will be great to see all of our family together again! Have a great Weekend!

Home Construction Update

Our house is getting there slowly but surely. It seems when everything gets going, there is always something right around the corner waiting there to slow us down. The latest being our hardwood floors! When we ordered our flooring we were assured it would be here today or tomorrow...allowing us time to get it installed before our kitchen cabinets are delivered on Friday. I recieved a phone call today saying that the flooring will not be delivered until Friday at the earliest!! So we are going to have to rethink our schedule to accommodate the latest turn of events. We have a drywall finisher starting Tuesday and he should be done by Wednesday or Thursday with the drywall ...and then we are ready to paint. Whitney and I were out all day looking for colors and we think we have them picked out! We are doing away with our Sage green walls and doing something completely different so we are excited to see what it will look like. The floors and cabinets will be installed sometime next week and after the cabinets are in the Corian countertops get measured templated .... 2 weeks later they are installed. I have to remind myself that we do have lots to be thankful for ...we have had a lot of people here to help out, send over meals, and many other generous acts. We are hoping the kitchen will be completely finished by the second week in September! It will be so great to finally post the finished product!

Momma Mia! Movie Review

So last weekend my mom, sister, and I went for a girls afternoon out to the movies! After looking through the reviews we chose Momma Mia. I hadn't heard much about it so I was cautiously optimistic. I have to tell you, it was ABBA-solutely fabulous! It had all the key elements of a great movie...hot guys...love story...great music...and hilarious! The movie is based off the broadway play and is set to Abba music! By the end we could hardly contain ourselves as they sang Dancing Queen. My mom said it was the best movie she had seen in a decade! That is saying alot since she is not a lover of movies in general! In fact the very next day she took my Dad and he loved it as well. I had to do some fancy talking but I got Dana to go with me tonight and he said he gave it a 9 out of 10. It is a feel good movie!

(As a tribute my blog music player has some Abba hits!)

Tuesday Tell All

Cascades Park, Jackson, MI

Tell me about your favorite places close to home.

Favorite Place To:

~Grab lunch~Qdobe, Taco Bell or Jimmy Johns.

~Go for Date Night~ Daryl's Downtown or Mongolian Barbeque

~Pick up some creative goodies~Joann's Superstore, and Micheals

~Get wet~Michigan Adventure or Cedar Point

~Buy a treat~Uncle Johns Cider Mill for a warm Donut and the BEST Apple Cider you've ever tasted!

~Shop for fun~Macy's, Target, Gap

~Get some fresh air~Walk through Cascade park at sunrise

~Splurge~ Department store Makeup...I am all about the makeup counter!

~Drive for a weekend away~My parents cottage on a lake in Northern Michigan

Peel a banana from the bottom and you won't have to pick the little 'stringy things' off of it. That's how the primates do it. Take your bananas apart when you get home from the store. If you leave them connected at the stem, they ripen faster.

Store your opened chunks of cheese in aluminum foil. It will stay fresh much longer and not mold!

Peppers with 3 bumps on the bottom are sweeter and better for eating. Peppers with 4 bumps on the bottom are firmer and better for cooking.

Add a teaspoon of water when frying ground beef. It will help pull the grease away from the meat while cooking.

To really make scrambled eggs or omelets rich add a couple of spoonfuls of sour cream, cream cheese, or heavy cream in and then beat them up.

For a cool brownie treat, make brownies as directed. Melt Andes mints in double broiler and pour over warm brownies. Let set for a wonderful minty frosting.

Add garlic immediately to a recipe if you want a light taste of garlic and at the end of the recipe if your want a stronger taste of garlic.

Leftover snickers bars from Halloween make a delicious dessert. Simply chop them up with the food chopper. Peel, core and slice a few apples. Place them in a baking dish and sprinkle the chopped candy bars over the apples. Bake at 350 for 15 minutes!!! Serve alone or with vanilla ice cream. Yummm!

Reheat Pizza Heat up leftover pizza in a nonstick skillet on top of the stove, set heat to med-l ow and heat till warm. This keeps the crust crispy. No soggy micro pizza. I saw this on the cooking channel and it really works.

Easy Deviled Eggs Put cooked egg yolks in a zip lock bag. Seal, mash till they are all broken up. Add remainder of ingredients, reseal, keep mashing it up mixing thoroughly, cut the tip of the baggy, squeeze mixture into egg. Just throw bag away when done easy clean up.

Expanding Frosting When you buy a container of cake frosting from the store, whip it with your mixer for a few minutes. You can double it in size. You get to frost more cake/cup cakes with the same amount. You also eat less sugar and calories per serving.

Reheating refrigerated bread To warm biscuits, pancakes, or muffins that were refrigerated, place them in a microwave with a cup of water. The increased moisture will keep the food moist and help it reheat faster.

Newspaper weeds away: Start putting in your plants, work the nutrients in your soil. Wet newspapers, put layers around the plants overlapping as you go cover with mulch and forget about weeds. Weeds will get through some gardening plastic they will not get through wet newspapers.

Broken Glass Use a wet cotton ball or Q-tip to pick up the small shards of glass you can't see easily.

No More Mosquitoes Place a dryer sheet in your pocket. It will keep the mosquitoes away.

Squirrel Away!To keep squirrels from eating your plants, sprinkle your plants with cayenne pepper. The cayenne pepper doesn't hurt the plant and the squirrels won't come near it.

Flexible vacuum: To get something out of a heat register or under the fridge add an empty paper towel roll or empty gift wrap roll to your vacuum. It can be bent or flattened to get in nar- row openings.

Reducing Static Cling: Pin a small safety pin to the seam of your slip and you will not have a clingy skirt or dress. Same thing works with slacks that cling when wearing pan ty hose. Place pin in seam of slacks and ... ta da! ... static is gone.

Measuring Cups: Before you pour sticky substances into a measuring cup, fill with hot water. Dump o ut the hot water, but don't dry cup. Next, add your ingredient, such as peanut butter, and watch how easily it comes right out.

Foggy Windshield? Hate foggy windshields? Buy a chalkboard eraser and keep it in the glove box of your car . When the windows fog, rub with the eraser! Works better than a cloth!

Reopening envelope: If you seal an envelope and then realize you forgot to include something inside, just place your sealed envelope in the freezer for an hour or two. Viola! It unseals easily.

ConditionerUse: your hair conditioner to shave your legs. It's cheaper than shaving cream and leaves your legs really smooth. It's also a great way to use up the conditioner you bought but didn't like when you tried it in your hair.

Goodbye Fruit Flies! To get rid of pesky fruit flies, take a small glass, fill it 1/2' with Apple Cider Vinegar and 2 drops of dish washing liquid; mix well. You will find those flies drawn to the cup and gone forever!

Get Rid of Ants: Put small piles of cornmeal where you see ants. They eat it, take it 'home,' can't digest it so it kills them. It may take a week or so, especially if it rains, but it works and you don't have the worry about pets or small children being harmed!