I love the 4th of July. It’s my 3rd favorite holiday, right behind Halloween and Christmas. The funny thing is Jason and I rarely do much for it. Another thing is we just never know what the weather will be like. Some years it’s cold, others blazing hot. This year the weather was darn near perfect. It was in the mid to upper 80’s and had been for a few days. That gave the pool time to warm up, and what better way to celebrate than with a BBQ and a pool party?

Instead of writing all about it, I figured I’d show you snippets of our day. Hope you enjoy the pictures.

Can’t wait to do it again next year!

I was chatting with a group of friends this morning, and we were talking about various hazards for each of our locations. Being in SoCal, we’re under constant threat of “The Big One.” Yes, earthquakes. Many people I talk with say they don’t think they could handle living someplace where the earth shakes beneath their feet. I just say that in my area, we haven’t had a really good shaker since January 1994. We’ve have a few small to moderate shakers since then, but I could probably count on 1 hand the number of memorable earthquakes we’ve had since then.

I say I don’t want to live where there’s a good chance your house will get picked up and moved to another location every year. Or just blown apart by wind and pounding rain. I mean there are people that call tornado alley home. Craziness! They call it that because there’s GOING to be tornados. Where as here, there might be an earthquake, you might feel it too. Then again you might not.

Anyhow, I’ve digressed. I was telling these friends that during the last decent earthquake we had, while my kids were diving under tables and getting in doorways, I stood up from my desk chair and prepared myself to catch any falling shot glasses.

Shot glasses are the only honest to goodness collection I have. So I snapped a picture and though it might be interesting to show you the collection. I’ve numbered each glass and will take you on a tour of where I’ve been.

Here’s what it looks like in all its glory.

And now for the detail:

Top Row

1. Blank square glass from the many buttery nipples I had at my bachelorette party
2. crazy shotglass with recipes from a gf given to me at my bachelorette party
3. Ensenada Mexico
4. Ensenada Mexico
5. Batman (Six Flags Magic Mountain)
6. Wonder Woman (Six Flags Magic Mountain)
7. Superman (Six Flags Magic Mountain) I had a season pass there years ago.
8. US Marine Crorps. This glass is awesome and if you want a slose up, just leave a comment. No I was never in the Marine Corp and technically displaying this glass violates my rules for displaying them. However, my sis-in-law is a former Marine, and my daddy was a Marine. Semper Fi!
9. The Ice House in Pasadena, CA. Got this one when we were celebrating a birthday.
10. Hard Rock Cafe, LA.
11. Dave and Busters 1
12. Dave and Busters 2 – My birthday shot
13. Dave and Busters 3
14. Florida. This one is a little iffy, it borders on violating my rules. I’ve been to Florida, but it was before I started collecting the glasses. A family member went and he brought me a Florida glass. I figured I’ve been there, it’s totally acceptable to go up on the shelf.
15. Seligman, AZ
16. Laughlin, AZ
17. The Grand Canyon,, AZ
18. Tortilla Jo’s, my favorite place to have cocktails with friends.
19. Boston, MA (Jason’s glass. He’s lucky I gave him space on my shelf)
20. Planet Hollywood, San Francisco (Also Jason’s.)

• Bonus 1 The Wicked Queen from Snow White figurine
• Bonus 2 Malificent from Sleeping Beauty figurine.

Bottom Row

21  Plain glass from When I stayed with friends in Vegas rather than a hotel
22   Gameworks, Vegas
23  Monte Carlo Hotel, LV
24  Luxor Hotel, LV
25  The Orleans, LV
26  Rio Hotel, LV
27  Star Trek Experience, LV Hilton, LV
28  Mandalay Bay, LV
29  Tropicana Hotel, LV
30  Vive Cuervo glass from Gameworks, LV
31  Imperial Palace Hotel, LV We stayed here 1 night, but I won a $1000+ Jackpot at this hotel on our first night in Vegas for this trip. It was CRAZY awesome.
32  Mammoth, CA
33  Mammoth, CA
34  Disney’s California Adventure
35  Disneyland 50th Anniversary glass
36  Disneyland,CA
37  Knotts Berry Farm, CA
38  Hollywood, CA Walk Of Fame glass
39  San Diego, CA
40  San Francisco 1
41  San Francisco 2
42  San Francisco 3
43  Ontario, CA (Got this one at the podcast expo a few years ago. I had such a great time and wanted a memento to remember it all)
44  Lake Arrowhead, CA (Went there for the 4th of July a few years back) Ack 44 is actually the bear on the side of the glass so my numbering is messed up a bit.
45/46   Two little Feigling bottles from Oktoberfest a few years back. It’s this goofy fizzy fig shot and it’s not good!

So there you have it. If there are any that you’d like to see in detail, Let me know and I’ll go ahead and smap a picture of it.

I’ll explain the rules. My rule is if I haven’t been there, it doesn’t go on the shelf. I’ve received shot glasses from people, and rather than display those, I put those to work.  None of my shotglasses are used for actual, you know, shots. They’re purely decorative.

What about you? What items do you collect? Do you have any rules that go along with the collection?

Lately, I’ve been thinking about all of the things I wish were different, better. I very rarely take a moment and reflect on the good things. It’s much easier to focus on what you don’t have, thus overlooking the good things you actually do have.

I’m going to just go ahead and take a few moments here in this space to do just that.

• I have a wonderful, talented, smart, attractive, loving husband. I’m so lucky to have found someone as terrific as Jason, especially when I wasn’t sure I’d ever find someone as special as he is.
• I have three amazing children. While they’re crazy far from perfect (believe me, I know just how NOT close to perfect they are) they each have qualities I admire deeply.
• My eldest daughter is outgoing, fun loving, and has a desire to live life to the fullest daily. That lust for life is often what gets her in trouble these days, though I’m sure it will serve her well as she’s enters into adulthood. She’s an extrovert; something I’ve never been able to call myself.
• My middle child, my son, is smart as hell. School comes easy to him. He struggles a little with language arts now and then, but on the whole, he sails through school with ease. School was a constant struggle for me.
• My littlest daughter is independent and brave. She’s got guts I still don’t possess. This was revealed to us once we started taking her to Disneyland regularly. There are very few rides she won’t at least try out. She may not like it and will refuse to something a second time, but she’s gotten on rides I wouldn’t get on until my teen years. I’m constantly amazed by her bravery.
• After 2 bouts of unemployment within the last year,  my husband is employed. So many people are still looking after being out of work for so long. It may not be a perfect job, but he seems to enjoy it.
• My family is healthy
• We have a roof over our head, even if it’s one we don’t own.
• We have 2 cars, one of which  we own outright.
• Even though my first marriage didn’t work out, I gained a a family I will belong to for life. They love me as if I were their own flesh and blood. And even better than that? They love my husband the same way. My littlest is as much a family member as if she were born with their blood running through her veins. It doesn’t matter to them that I’m the ex. We’re family.
• I’m a pretty good cook. This is a skill I pretty much taught myself. It isn’t because my mom didn’t try, she did. I just wasn’t interested in learning when she tried to teach me.
• My husband has taken on the role of sole provider so I can be here at all times to see the kids into adulthood. We struggle with money because of this decision, yet somehow, we manage to pay what needs to be paid. Although I think my oldest would disagree at this point in her life, I feel that *my* kids are better off than if *I* went to work. (I’d like to state that this decision isn’t right for everyone and that a working mom’s kids are worse off than mine because they have a working mother. I just feel this is the best decision for OUR family)
• I have the ability to make pretty jewelry that some people are even willing to pay for. I hope someday to help provide for an income in our family through my jewelry sales.
• I have good friends that I love and love me in return.

I’m sure I could go on and on, but I think this is a good start. I hope you take a few moments to reflect on the good things you DO have, instead of dwelling on the things you wish you had.

Hey everyone. A few days ago I mentioned that I was working on a new website. Well I’m really excited to tell you I’ve officially launched the site and I hope you’ll take a look.

You can find it over at http://www.jentuckercreatives.com/

I have a blog post up at http://www.jentuckercreatives.com/blog/ and I share with you 3 ways to enter to win the earrings you see at the top of this post.

Please help me out and head on over, see what’s there, and then tell your friends and family about it. I can’t do this without you!

I little while ago I left one of those tweets that people find annoying. You know the ones right? The “here’s what I’m making for dinner tonight” tweet.

A few minutes later I got this back:

So this one’s for you Jacob and anyone else that loves to eat!

Rotini with Alfredo Sauce, Diced Italian Sausage and Broccoli!

1 lb Rotini pasta

1 container of Fresh and Easy Alfredo sauce

4 Mild (or spicy or whatver you like) Fresh and Easy Italian Sausages

1 package frozen broccoli

Grated Parmesan or Romano cheese (or whatever hard Italian cheese you like the best)

Cook pasta according to package. While you’re doing that, grill up your 4 sausages. When the sausages are cooked, dice em. Set aside, In a small saucepan, warm up your alfredo sauce. When pasta is almost done, toss in your frozen broccoli and heat through. Once that’s done, drain pasta and broccoli, pour into a large serving dish, top with your warm diced sausage and pour your alfredo sauce over the top. Sprinkle on some grated Parmesan or Romano and serve with a big hunk of bread.

I know I sound like a commercial for Fresh and Easy, but believe me when I say the have the BEST allfredo sauce. You won’t find it in a jar, but in the refrigerated section. And their Italian sausages are the best ones I’ve ever eaten. I love this store so very much. They have quality products at amazing prices. If you’ve never shopped there,  you really should.

And there ya go. That’s what we’re having for dinner tonight. How about you?