Coconut Cream Pie

Today I am participating in a very yummy carnival at Bake at 350.

This month's theme is pie, and I made my mom's coconut cream pie. After you get the recipe here and see how delicious it is ('cause I made one yesterday and took a picture!), go to Bake at 350 and check out all the other great pie recipes there this month.

Coconut Cream Pie

2/3 C sugar
1/3 C flour
2 C Evaporated milk
3 Egg yolks (you will need the whites for the meringue)
2 TBSP butter

Cook all of these ingredients until it makes a thick custard. Remove from heat and add 1 tsp. vanilla and 1/2 bag of coconut. Pour mixture into baked pie crust.

Beat 3 egg whites in mixer, gradually adding 6 TBSP sugar, until stiff peaks form.

Add meringue to top of pie and sprinkle coconut on meringue. Place in oven under broiler to brown the coconut and meringue. Keep an eye on it because it will brown really quickly.

Enjoy!

An update of sorts

Now that we're home from vacation and getting settled in, things are getting back to normal around here.

My husband jumped right back into a very busy work week on Monday, but I am thankful he had a job to go back to.

My daughter started volleyball camp this week, and though she is getting some good practice in, it's not quite like the one she's attended the past two summers.

I have been doing a few loads of laundry a day, just trying to catch up! I've been very tempted to make everyone wear the same outfit until I am...

Yesterday I started purchasing curriculum for this coming school year for my boys. I guess I've gotten about half of what I need, but my friend who used to own a home school bookstore in town put all of her stuff on sale 40-50% off. Needless to say, I was very happy with my purchases!!

(And I didn't realize that she was putting all of her regular books on sale, too, so of course I had to buy a few of those for myself.)

I bought my 15 year-old a book on HTML with his curriculum, because he is somewhat of a computer guru. I thought that would be a fun elective for him this school year, and he's probably already a third of the way through the book. I guess I'll be buying more computer books soon...

I have a friend in nursing school who needed to "evaluate" a child with special needs and asked if she could do so with my son who has Autism. She came over this morning to ask lots of questions-- to me and to him-- and it was really neat to see how many age-appropriate things he is doing.

Of course he has some delays, but God has brought him so far from where he was when he was diagnosed. I am very thankful for that!!

We did have a wonderful time on our vacation, and I am so blessed to have a family who welcomes us in and doesn't complain about the mess we all make in their homes. :) I miss my family so much, and I look forward to a time when I can go by and visit and my drive home is just a few minutes instead of a few hours.

Oh, I also made a new friend/future-cousin-in-law (hint, hint), and her blog is to the side over there. Her name is Dominique and she is a doll! Go check her out.

I guess that's about all of my excitement for this week. Time to get back to work...

Miss Lizzy

A few days before we left for vacation, a tiny little kitten showed up on our doorstep. I am not a big cat lover, but this kitten captured our hearts pretty quickly.

She was so cute and loved all of the attention she was getting, of course. We fed her, named her, and decided to keep her has an outside cat.

The day before we left, my husband followed his usual routine before going to work in the morning and took the dog outside while he watered the flowers. When he walked out the front door, this kitten cried and ran out to him. (She had been sleeping behind our flower pots--and sometimes in them.) As usual, he picked her up. But when he did, a hawk that was on a limb on a big tree in our front yard screeched and flew away.

If my husband had not told me that, I would have left that kitten home and hoped it was still here when we got back, but I just could not imagine the thought of that little kitty being lunch for that big, mean bird.

So, we brought her in the house and bathed her with yellow Joy dishwashing liquid (because I learned from a lady at Wal-Mart that that kills the fleas. And it does!), and we took her with us on vacation.

I laid a towel out on the console in our suburban, and she slept most of the four hour trip to my parents' house. Trying to eat lunch in the car was a little tricky, but it all worked out. (I gave her a little cat food and a little of my chicken. She ate both very quickly.)

Once we arrived at my my parents' house, most of my family was either there or on their way. My 22 month-old niece saw the kitten and got very excited. I didn't know that her parents had been looking for a cat for a while, and I realized then that this kitten belonged to her.

They named her Miss Lizzy, and she fits right into their family. Miss Lizzy has already been to the vet and quickly adapted to her litter box. The vet said that he thought she was about nine weeks old, which surprised me because she was so little.

My husband and I spent Thursday night at my brother's house, and it was fun watching my niece with her new friend. No matter if the kitten was jumping on her or not, my niece walks around saying, "No kitty." It's pretty funny. She's learning how to carry her by her tummy instead of her neck, and the kitten has become a good "babysitter". I think her mom is liking the new distraction. =)

I am very happy that this sweet kitten has found a very sweet home.

Almost time to come home...

...but not quite yet.

I haven't blogged in a while because we have been staying at my parents' house this week. Between all the swimming, golfing, shopping, laughing, card-playing, and domino games there has been very little time for blogging.

Tonight my husband and I will be staying with my brother and his family to make room for new guests here. And because they invited us over. I can't ever get enough lovin' on my nieces, so I am excited about going to their house.

This trip has been a little different than other vacations because we brought an extra kid with us: my daughter's boyfriend. I am pleased to say that he has been a wonderful addition to our time here, and my family absolutely loves him.

Honestly, I didn't expect anything less.

Yesterday we spent all day at Schlitterbahn. I mean all day. Like from opening to closing. Needless to say we had a ball. I am always a little apprehensive about my youngest son riding rides where he is on his own, but thankfully he has a daddy that helps him do things that I am scared to let him do.

That boy rode every single water slide yesterday, some of them twice, and he loved it!! I was very proud of him. (And of myself for surviving his rides as well.)

Tomorrow we will head in the direction of home, but we are making a pit-stop to visit some longtime friends for the afternoon. It will be very enjoyable, I am sure.

Hope your week has been wonderful and your weekend is even better!

My first college campus visit.

Of course, I was there for my daughter, but it was fun to experience it with her. And her boyfriend.

We went to The University of Texas in Austin on Thursday, and when we left my girl was even more excited about UT.

We listened to someone share information on admissions, financial aid, housing, etc. Then we took a walking tour of the campus. Why I waited until now to do this, I'm not sure.

July + Texas = VERY HOT!!

Anyhoo, we had a lot of fun and I'm glad we went. (Even though I seriously thought it would be the three of us and a tour guide, not 100+ potential students and their moms, but whatever.)

Tomorrow I am meeting a friend halfway between here and the desert to pick up a friend of my 15 year-old's. They haven't seen each other in two years, and though he lives in Colorado he's visiting family in West Texas. I am very happy that we get to have him over for a few days.

Then we start packing for vacation at my parent's house. They just put in a brand new pool (which you should aready know because I'm sure you read my last post), so it's like our own little free resort. :)

Have a happy Sunday!

My very sweet mother...

...wrote a very sweet post about my youngest son. Please go read it here.

Looking for work

Over the years, I wonder how many times I have gone to Google or Yahoo or whatever search engine was popular at the time and typed in "work from home".

I did it again yesterday.

I am very thankful for my husband's job, and we are blessed in that all of our needs are taken care of without me having to work.

But like most people, our needs are met and we are paying our bills with very little extra at the end of the month.

I would like to have a part-time job for those extra things. (Paying off debt quicker, getting stuff for the house, etc.)

I have had jobs at different times while my kids were in school, but my priority was always my children. If I couldn't do it while they were in school, then I didn't need to do it.

One big kicker to me applying for a job these days is that I don't have a degree. I started college but didn't last very long because I wanted to be home with my babies rather than at school.

(Yes, while other kids my age were going to college, I was married and having children. The good thing is that I will be 40 when they are all three graduated!)

And though I think there are jobs that I can do from home, trying to convince someone who doesn't know me and sees my (lack of) qualifications is not easy.

Does this make me want to run back to college and get a degree? Not really. I have a lot of ideas about what I want to do when my kids are all finished with school, and none of them require a degree.

Training maybe, but no diploma.

The main thing that I want to be when I grow up is available.

I don't want a full-time, 8-5 job where I have to ask off in order to see my grandchildren's plays at school. I want to be available to pick them up and spend the day with them and/or my nieces and nephews whenever I feel like it.

I want to have coffee (without rushing) in the mornings with my husband or parents. I want to meet friends for lunch or help my kids out whenever they call without worrying about missing work.

I want to be available. For my family and for my friends.

(Though that has nothing to do with today, sorry.)

What I think I would like to do now is some type of editing job online. Yesterday I inquired about a content rewriting position that I thought I would be able to do, but I haven't heard back from anyone yet.

I am pretty computer-savvy, and I can type pretty fast. I love to read, and though I am not looking for a writing job, something in the writing/editing field is what I think I would ultimately enjoy.

I will only work from home, and so many people are doing that these days that it seems like that kind of job shouldn't be too hard to find.

We'll see about that.

So if you hear of a position that you think I might be interested in, I would greatly appreciate it if you sent it my way.

Thanks!

I'm loving my summer!

I haven't blogged much lately because we honestly haven't done anything besides swim this past week.

And you can only talk about swimming for so long.

But I will tell you that I have a nice tan! =)

Other than that, I have been thoroughly enjoying my time with my daughter. This could be our last summer together before her life totally changes--and by that I mean, the real world sets in and she has to get a job in between college semesters.

She's working on the weekends right now at my SIL and BIL's restaurant, but not during the week.

Can I tell you, I kinda like it?

We've been staying up late watching movies, and we've gone swimming at her boyfriend's house several times. Next week we're taking a campus visit to UT, and we'll check out another college at the end of the month.

There are so many things that need to happen between now and next spring. I have to just completely hand it over to the Lord, because I get overwhelmed just thinking about it!

I did find out this week that my friend Amanda is coming to Dallas to perform in the Radio City Christmas Spectacular in December. I am SO excited about that. I've never seen this show, and of course I can't wait to see her!

I'm also looking forward to dinner with a couple of friends from high school in a couple of weeks.

Facebook is an amazing thing!

I hope you have an amazing weekend. Remember why we are celebrating while you're enjoying your barbecue!