Stars, Stripes and Salsa....

Sad to say...

2009-02-25T11:10:00.000-08:00

I am officially addicted to Facebook....I think it fits me better than the blogging...I will check in occasionally on this Im sure, but for the most part...If you want to find me..sign in to FB...and there I'll be :-)

So wrong!

2009-01-09T14:48:00.000-08:00

But Oh so funny...So if you've been to my house, you know that we have a bar in our garage...Mike built it one Saturday afternoon with our neighbor Nick...Our house is "the house" that every Friday all the neighbors come hang out at...It also was a tribute to Mikes dad when we had his memorial party a few years back, not because he was always at one, but because he ran one years ago....
Anyways, a neighbor was cleaning out his garage the other day and found a "shot" game...He though it fit perfect for the bar...So he brought it over, before I could even check it out, all three of my kids had it taken out on the kitchen table and my oldest daughter was making OJ shots with whip cream on top for her brother an sister...I had to laugh and take a few pictures! Not that I'm proud of them for knowing what the heck it was all about, but because the drinks that Hailey ended making up for the other two to "shoot" were hysterical! OJ with lime juice, Ruby red with soy sauce, so gross...but they did it and had a great time...Now if I can keep them from never having the alcohol in their shots, it would be a perfect world!

Happy New Year!!!!!!

2009-01-06T15:17:00.000-08:00

Goodbye 2008 and Hello 2009!!!!!! I sure the heck hope it gets better than it started!
We spent the 4 day weekend out in the desert as we have the last few years...It was quite an interesting trip though this time around...
As we tried to leave on Weds afternoon, Mike got a call that he had to head back to work for an emergency on the job site..He was just pulling in the driveway when it came...So back he left...
2 hours later he returned home, the kids and I anxious to get going as we were ready to go!!! About 30 miles till we are there, we blew a tire on the trailer! Mike and B jumped out, got it fixed and we were back on the road again! We got to camp and started setting up...Mikes cousin Brad who was driving in from Arizona to camp with us with his lovely wife Tara, called and said they just witnessed a head on collision and that they had swerved off the road because they were almost hit...They were fine, just shaken up...10 minutes later we get a text saying it was a fatal! Now we are freaking out! I call to make sure they are ok and if we can drive out and get them, as they are only about 5 miles from camp...they are fine but because they were almost hit by the driver, we now find out the drunk driver, they have to give a statement to CHP...They finally make it to camp about 2 hours later and tell us that the gal that hit the other car had died and the truck trailer that she hit are friends of Brad and Taras that were heading to Glamis! What are the chances of that...they too were ok, but all of their toys were destroyed!
Talk about feeling sick to your stomach after hearing all this, I just cant take it anymore so I head into my trailer, set up the beds and slip and fall of the top bunk bed and slide all the way down the trailer ladder! OUCH!!!! The entire back of my thigh is now black and blue! Thats it I say, Im going to bed...Happy Stinking New Year!
The next few days were enjoyable, spending time with friends and family and forgetting about every days ups and downs back at home....
We pack up and leave on Sunday and about 30 miles BACK out of camp we blow another trailer tire! OMG!!! Thank god Mikes brother had his spare for us to use! What a trip!
7 loads of laundry later, we are back to life....back to school and back to babysitting...I think Im going to enjoy it for a few days before I plan another trip!
Anyways, Happy New Year!!! :-)
Hope yours was better than mine!

How many of these???

2009-01-06T15:07:00.000-08:00

Im curious as to how many of these Christmas presents wound up under the tree? How many of you now have a lovely rockband set up in your living room???? The looks on the faces of the kids are quite classic I must admit though...

And how many of you were lucky enough to get a face mask, pink goggles and pink riding gloves for Christmas too???? You know Im rocking it!!! Thank lovie...They were actually the BOMB out in the desert this last weekend!! My lipstick actaully stayed nice and smooth! lol....

Sleighbells ring are you listening?

2008-12-22T16:06:00.000-08:00

As my Christmas card said...we're a beautiful site, we're happy tonight and walking in a winter wonderland!
Thought Id share a few of the great pictures my sister Sara took of my family for the holidays...
I just love them!

Wishing you and yours a very Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!

A new do!

2008-12-08T13:28:00.001-08:00

Just got the hair done...what do you think of the new "do"?
Picture of course captured by Sadie Olive yesterday when she was taking our family pictures! Looking forward to sharing those soon....

Go Panthers!

2008-12-05T08:02:00.000-08:00

Im so excited for my son Brandon...he had his first wrestling match last night and won! My camera takes horrible pictures inside the auditoriums, so I really dont have any good ones to share, but he is a shot of him yesterday morning before he left for school..So not happy that I am making him take a picture at 7am, but he looked so handsome..They have to dress in dress shirts and ties on days of matches!
Brandon and all his buddies did great last night, Corona High taking the win for all 3 teams!!!

My love

2008-12-01T14:21:00.000-08:00

I just love this picture that my sister in law Michelle took of Mike and I out in the desert this weekend...
Thought Id share!

Gobble Gobble Gobble

2008-12-01T13:34:00.000-08:00

A belated Happy Thanksgiving to you all! Hope you had a wonderful holiday weekend! We celebrated in the desert and had a fabulous time with friends, family and lots of yummy foods! Look we even had a center piece on our table out in the middle of the dirt campground!

Our kids blew me away this trip, normally I have to stay back at camp for the night rides or pretty much all the rides cause I dont have a "toy" to ride..but this trip a friend of ours lent us his Rhino to take out...Oh my goodness..what a hoot it was! I so need to win the lotto so I can get one of these! But anyways, my two teenagers are amazing riders and my peanut is pretty darn good herself! Check out these hills they were riding on and just how cute my camping peanut is...

Miss Hailey

Brandon

Kenzie

I am blessed...

2008-11-23T13:31:00.000-08:00

Just a note to say how overwhelmed I feel today with love for my family, friends and my life....I think with the fires last week it put things a bit more into perspective...But I am truly blessed with everything in my life...My kids are awesome, my husband is still the love of my life after 19 years together, my sisters are my best friends, my parents raised me to be the person who I am, my mother in law is amazing and I still have a beautiful little house to live in...Oh and I have the best neighbors and friends any girl could ask for!
xoxoxoxo
Happy Sunday!

A day of devastation...

2008-11-18T08:22:00.000-08:00

What do you grab when you have minutes to grab an entire lifetime of memories...we were faced with that question on Saturday morning...With the smell of smoke in the air, Mike and I decideed to take a little ride around the community we live in...much to our amazement the outskirts of the houses were on fire...in minutes the fire was roaring through the community with burning embers and catching trees on fire, leading to clay tile roofs and peoples homes...We werent gone 10 minutes when we received a call from our son saying the house on the corner of us (3 houses down) was on fire!
We FLEW back to our house, grabbed our babies, the dog, and the bird and secured them in the car...Our 9 year old banging on the windows crying and telling us to hurry and get out..We ran back in got a day of clothes, the loan documents for our home, the cell phone chargers and left immediatly when the fireman came up to me and said you need to leave NOW...
Mike came back after getting myself and the kids out to grab a few more things that we of course thought of after the fact, and thank god he did, the palm tree in our backyard had caught fire and the neighbor acorss the street, her slope in her yard was on fire..Mike got both of them out and then stayed to keep our eaves and trees wet..Now learning that the police were telling him to get out or he would be arrested!
The kids and I watched outside our neighborhood with all of our neighbors as our community burned...We have friends that have lost everything, we have friends that have lost just bedrooms, we lost nothing thank god other than some sleep...I feel so blessed and know that my guardian angel was watching over us...My thoughts and prayers go out to the people in my community who have lost so much, tonight we hold a meeting to find out what we can do....
Here are a few pictures of what we have been dealing with...

Pretty pretty roses...

2008-11-06T14:50:00.000-08:00

As the homes keep popping up in foreclosure its sad to see the yards just go to waste...So I thought being that the house right next door to us has just fallen victim, Id try and keep it looking somewhat nice..Im home all day long and seeing the houses with yucky yards and overgrown flower beds, makes me sad...I went over today and clipped a bunch of roses to maintain the bushes a little bit and tomorrow Im going to mow the yard when I do mine...yes, me..I love to mow it and make it look pretty!
At least I can pretend I have new neighbors that keep their yard looking nice, right?
Just thought Id share some of the pretty pretty roses...might as well fill some vases around my house right?

Sweets and Treats

2008-11-04T12:01:00.001-08:00

After two years of searching for the Green M & M Halloween costume..we finally found it on ebay! I couldnt believe it would be that hard to find! It was actually more trying to find it in my peanuts size! But we did and here she is....

So worth the 46 pages of Halloween costumes I searched through to find it...

Miss Hailey wasnt sure what she was going to be until the very last minute...She did her face like Kat Von D, a famous tattoo artist who has the show LA Ink...I think she did a pretty darn good job considering she only used eyeliner!

And then there was my lovely TEENAGE son Brandon and all his TEENAGE friends...they decided to dress up as "Gay Stippers" but also throwing the "NO ON PROP 8" in with it...Being real funny, they visited the houses that had the YES on 8 signs in their lawns first...TERDS! But they were the talk of the neighborhood! All in fun..all in fun....

Brandon is the one in the yellow...little did I know, once the "sport" shorts came off, they were all wearing cut off jean shorts! AHHHHHHHHHH!!!!

Hope you all had a great evening...Ours was a blast!

Oh and did I mention it was also Momos (my mother in law) birthday on Halloween? So a very happy birthday to her as well...she was there to join in all the fun!

New Friends

2008-11-03T09:02:00.000-08:00

This last weekend I was lucky enough to attend a Parisian Soiree put on by Heather Bullard...It was so much fun..I was asked to go with my sister and mother inlaw...We had such a great time making some really cute little crafts, doing a little bit of shopping, winning some beautiful door prizes, and most of all dipping whatever our little hearts desired in to a fountain of chocolate! But seriously, I think the most fun was learning about blogging and meeting some new friends!
Kacey and Jeanne you two were so much fun to sit with!
I cant wait to start visiting some of their blogs as well as their little shops they run online and getting to know them more!
Thanks Sara for asking me to go with you..It was fun to have a sneak peek into your little world of blogging...

Silly Girls

2008-10-17T14:13:00.000-07:00

Halloween is coming, can you feel it in the air? I dont know about you all , but my girls have a case of the sillies because of it! Hailey just got home from a week away with Momo and Aunt Shannon and she came home with a whole new look! Oh to be young again! Her little sister jumped right in on the fun too!

Sammie Soda!

2008-10-14T15:33:00.000-07:00

How cute is this little face! This is Samantha...she the little one I take care of during my days and evenings while her mommy and daddy work! Ive been blessed to have her as a little mini addition to our family! She is one of the most happiest babies Ive been around and everyone just loves having her here! Thanks to her Mommy and Daddy for allowing me to watch her!!!

WOW

2008-10-14T15:15:00.000-07:00

Is this not the prettiest teen you've ever seen? I so dread the dating years! Hailey and her BFF's had a little phot shoot with Aunt Sara too...Once again, we are in so much trouble, but so very blessed!!!!

UFC here we come!

2008-10-14T15:11:00.001-07:00

Ha Ha Ha!! Our oldest has joined the high school Wrestling team! Go Panthers! I cant wait to see him wrestle his litte bootie off! Hopefully this will get him to keep his grades up! What a struggle! Now I know what my poor parents went through when I was in school! Season starts in November! Im thinking this is going to be a pretty exciting month fo us!

Playing catch up!

2008-10-14T14:50:00.000-07:00

Its been a month or more since Ive updated my blog, so Im trying to post a few of the things that have been going on in life here at the Pannell home...

Makenzie my peanut received an award at school for her expertise in SCIENCE! Of all the subjects, she least likes this one and received an award in it! She and I both laughed when she got it! Later that day I had my parent teacher conference and got to chat with her teacher...she said she could have given her an award in every subject! She is doing so good in school! She received all "O"s with is the primary way of getting all "A"s!!!! Im so proud of her!! Here she is with two of her best friends that received awards that day too!

Top Model

2008-10-14T14:06:00.001-07:00

So trying to come up with a birthday party for a little girl is always such fun, trying to figure out one that no one has done makes it all the more challenging!

My little one turned 9 this last month and we had a "Who is Americas Next Top Model Party"! What fun it was, I asked all my sisters and my sister-in-law to come help me with the day...we invited 12 little girls over, did their nails, hair and makeup as we served them "sparkling cider" champagne...Once they were all glamed up, my sister Sara of Sadie Olive Photography took all of their head shots! My other sister Lindsey was in charge of getting them set up with different kinds of props and poses and she did an amazing job! The girls had such a good time! For their thank you cards, we did a group photo and then sent them all a print of their best shot! Sara posted them on her photography website for all the parents to see and set the photos to music! Here are the invitations...How cute are they! Check out Sara's website to view all the girls pictures....www.sadieolivephotography.com and click on the featured section!

Back and Running!!!

2008-10-14T14:00:00.000-07:00

D~Bombs Salsa is back and running! Its that time of year again, "BOUTIQUE TIME"..Im excited to say that Ive been asked to be in several boutiques this next month...November! I have 3 set so far and I cant wait! Who would have thought my little salsa venture would take me here! Once all dates, times and locations are set in stone I'll make sure to post about them!

My music man

2008-08-25T07:10:00.000-07:00

So Ive mentioned before my love for country music, well my birthday was last month and one of my gifts was 6th row tickets for my favorite country singer Gary Allan....This last weekend was the concert and even though we had to drive 3 hours to get there...it was so worth it!!!! He was amazing!!! And "Oh" to be so close was awesome! My mother in law bought me the tickets as well as joined my husband and I at the concert cause she loves him as much as I do! We had such a good time...Gary Allan sings "Watching Airplanes" and "Smoke Rings in the Dark" and his new one out right now is "Learning How to Bend"...

Here are a few pictures of our night...not the greatest quality but you can still get a pretty good idea of why Im so in love with him!!! Heeheehee...

Everyone says he looks like my hubby...if only Mike could sing, I would be in heaven!

Tattooing my love of the USA

2008-08-07T14:06:00.001-07:00

So for years I have wanted a tattoo that brought my love for the USA, my love for my children and my guardian angels all together...Well I finally got it done! A new friend of mine come to find out is a tattoo artist and she is amazing! I filled her in on my ideas and she scratched them out on paper and we rolled with it! My toes are my pride and joy...always making sure they are pretty in pink or lovely in red...What more of a perfect place to put the tattoo than the top of my foot!

I was told it was going to hurt like heck, and yes it did, but it is so worth it! I love it! Thank you so much Brandi!!!!

New Photographer Site

2008-08-06T13:59:00.000-07:00

Hello All...

My sister Sara has started another new career in photography...Please check out her site...I'm sure she is going to fill up fast with new business...Here are a few more of my favorites with my kids that she took!

www.sadieolivephotography.com

My babies

2008-07-30T11:44:00.001-07:00

Well as many of you know my sister Sara is very talented, She has been dabbling in a bit of photography over the last few months and decided to take my kids on a photo shoot...We spent about 4 hours changing props, changing clothes and changing expressions and took over 700 pictures! Here are a few of my favorites...These beat school pictures any old day!

Thanks Sara, what a blast it was! Now I have the memories of my cutie pies to cherish forever!

Where does it go???

2008-07-21T21:41:00.001-07:00

Its been forever since my last post, but Im back and promise to stay on top of it!

Its hard to believe that my first born, Brandon is 15 today...
It seems like just yesterday that the doctor told me he wasnt ever going to come by himself, so they were going to have to speed things along! 12 days late I was finally induced and after 16 hours of labor, my mom and my husband both just about passing out, he was born! 2:41 am on July 21st...2 days before my 20th birthday...

He weighed in at 8 pounds 13 ounces and was 19 inches long...Take that doctors who told me I would never be able to have a baby naturally over 7 pounds!

Brandon was the first grand baby on both sides of the family and let me tell you, he was the apple of everyones eyes...He was the sweetest baby ever and thank god even now as a teen ager he is wonderful. He has the best personality, is very outgoing and is a great big brother to his 2 sisters... Happy Birthday Brandon, we love you!

My Moose

2008-06-18T13:09:00.000-07:00

Shades of "white" is the theme for this weeks game...And my moose dog fits right in! Meet Drake, he is our blonde lab...the best dog we have ever had (and those of you that know us, we have gone through a ton of them!) My husband wanted him to be his bird hunting dog, hence the name Drake after the duck, but when we found out that he couldn't really be around the kids while we trained him, we changed our minds, we had all already fell in love with him!

Drake turned 3 in January, we have had him since he was 8 weeks old. He was the cute little "fat, lazy dog" sitting in the corner of the pin with all his brothers and sisters...We knew immediately he was the one...He loves to go camping with us and LOVES to hang out in the front yard where all the neighbors drive by and give him the "whats up" nod...We swear he does it back! He is amazing with the kids and everyone adores him! My sister Sara had to have one when she saw how cute he was, and that's where Hannah came in to play...We are taking them camping this weekend and I know he will be in hog heaven!
Here he is after playing in the sprinklers with the kids and then rolling in the dirt!

Take my picture too mom!

Hope your staying cool, its 98 here in the Inland Empire!

"Green" Ingredients

2008-06-12T19:26:00.000-07:00

Well the weekend is just about here and ours is packed full of celebrations!!! We have 4 parties to attend and Im bringing salsa to all of them! Our girls are going to a slumber party on Friday night for their new friend "Madie" she is turning 10 and is the sweetest little girl ever! We camp with her family and have been blessed to have made such good friends! Then from the slumber party we head to my nieces kindergarten graduation party at the park! It just seems like yesterday when she was born! From there we come back to the neighborhood to another graduation party for our neighbor Brandon Lin! He is graduating from high school tonight, Brandon was accepted to Chapman University and will be playing on their basketball team! Go Brandon! Later that evening, Hailey will leave that party and head over to another party in the neighborhood for her friend Alyssa! Good Grief! Sunday being Fathers Day I will probably make my hubbie and kids some breakfast and then we are going to my sister Saras house for a noon time BBQ with our dad...WOW, what a weekend we have in store for us! But it will be fun and Im looking forward to seeing everyone at each party!

Id also like to say a very Happy Graduation to my other niece Taylor who graduated from elementary school today! Good Job Taylor! Jr. High is so much more fun! You will love it!

So while making salsa today I was looking at my ingredients...well some of them anyways...and low and behold..they are all green! Mike and I also purchased a lime tree for our yard several months back and the limes are getting so big!!! Im so excited! Here are my "Green shots" for today!

There are like 5 bunches about this big!!!!
Have a wonderful evening!!!!

My Peanut...

2008-06-11T12:34:00.000-07:00

This weeks color is green, and I dont have much of it around here at the house other than my baby girls green eyes...This is Makenzie Kay...otherwise known as "Kiki" she gave herself that nickname when she was barely old enough to talk...She also goes by Kenzie, Kikowitz or Peanut.

She is a spitting image of me when I was her age but has her Daddys green eyes..Both my other two kids have my blue eyes. Kenzie is a mommys girl, she always has been, she was the one that made me a stay at home mom...She is 8 years old and in the 2nd grade...She is at the top of her class with her grades and just recently was voted as their class president! I love you Kenzie Kay...

Arent they cute

2008-06-06T18:30:00.000-07:00

I had to post some new pics of my babies...

These were taken yesterday as we were driving out to the concert..the one of my hubbie goes with our "final day of RED"

Have a great weekend!

Friday Families...

2008-06-06T17:08:00.000-07:00

Today we stopped by my sister in laws house in Temecula and I couldn't help but notice all the red she too has around her house...Here are a few shots of the main things I picked up on...Shannon has great taste and her house is always done up so cute, my mother in law lives with Shannon and her family and between the two of them I always come home feeling like my house is so blah compared to theirs! Shannon also has a great green thumb like my sister Sara, they can grow perfect roses! I'm so jealous! I also owe Shannon a huge "Thanks" for keeping our kids last night while we went to the concert! We had an amazing time and it made it even better knowing the kids were in good hands and were having just as much fun! Thanks Shannon and AJ, and of course my niece Tator Tot (Taylor) The kids had so much they decided they were going to stay for the weekend! So, a huge thanks and a big "Im sorry" hahahahaha..Love ya...

Her pretty red roses in the front of the house...

This one has yellow, orange and red in it...So pretty
.
This is one of the cute hummingbird feeders she has around her yard..I love how it looks like a wine bottle!

Thanks again Shannon for keeping the kids last night!

Seeing red on day three...

2008-06-04T14:13:00.000-07:00

When I look around my house, almost everything has red in it...Here are just a few shots of a few of my favorite things...

I got this sign at a store in Old Towne Temecula that was going out of business several years back...The store was called "The Olde Tin Box" At one time I collected bird houses and the colors just went perfect with my house, I asked the gal how much it was and she just kind of looked at me and said, "Umm its just our store front sign, its not really for sale" I was really bummed because I knew it would look perfect in my house over my denim couches...I begged her as well as my father in law, Jim did too...and she decided to sell it to me for $20.00 and a promise to send her pictures of it over my couch :) Poor Jim, aka "Papa" had to help carry it the rest of our shopping day!

This is our old antique bed, it is a hand me down that was given to us by Mikes parents...It was given to Mikes mom, Janice by his dad Jim for their 25th wedding anniversary..They upgraded to a bigger bed over the years and Mike and I inherited this one...I love it, and the red bedding makes our little lodge type room complete!

Not sure if I will post tomorrow as I'm going to my absolute favorite country singer of all times concert out at Pechanga! Gary Allan is the bomb! I'm so excited!!!! I'll be sure to post pictures when I get back home though!
Have a wonderful day! Check back in soon!!!

Happy Birthday Lindsey!

2008-06-04T10:02:00.001-07:00

Just wanted to wish my sister Lindsey a very Happy Birthday! Lindsey is away with her work training in Dallas Texas for her birthday...I hope she knows how much we all love her...She is the big 27 years young today! Lindsey is a great mom and a new wife...She excels at all she does and is truly a great friend as well as a sister...I love you...

Happy Birthday!!!!

Knock Knock...

2008-06-03T08:57:00.002-07:00

Come on in...

My "I saw red" today is my front door! A few years back we decided to paint the outside of our house a deep mocha color, but I had to have a red door...Red doors just always seem so warm and inviting..Kind of like me, I'm always inviting people to join in the fun, sometimes it gets me in trouble cause not everyone likes to be a social butterfly!

Whats so funny about our front door is that it is always open, but if you were to ask any of our friends or family if they have ever entered through it they would probably say no...We love to be outside in the garage "watching traffic" as the men in my life call it...So most people just enter the house through the garage door :)

I also love this old vintage American Flag that Sara and I found at the Orange Circle, it hangs on the wall that faces the front door, so its what you see when you enter my home...I wish I had the video of Sara and I hanging this HUGE flag...What a hoot we were!

Well I'm off to attack the laundry today, I'm loving this blogging world so far and I cant wait to post more! Have a wonderful day and thanks for the visit, I love the company!

I saw red...SALSA

2008-06-02T15:01:00.001-07:00

Well of course my first "I saw red" has to be my salsa

Join in the fun...stop by Sara Ducketts site to see what its

all about...http://sadieolive.typepad.com/.

MMMMMM...Now doesnt that look yummy!

Hi Friend~

2008-06-02T10:40:00.000-07:00

My mom always tells the story of how when I was little, everyone was my friend..I would walk up to just about anyone and say "Hi Friend"...I think I'm still pretty much like that these days, but Ive changed my wording up a little bit :) I love meeting new people and from what Ive heard through my sister this is definitely a great way to do it...

So where do I begin?

My name is Denise and I'm in my early 30's, I am the mother to three amazing kids...Brandon is my oldest and he is 14 a month shy of 15, Hailey Bug is next in line at 13, and my baby girl Makenzie Kay is 8. I am married to my high school sweet heart Michael, we started dating when I was 15 years old and have remained together almost 19 years now..As a matter of fact the 9th will be our "19" years of being together anniversary! He is the love of my life and my best friend. This September we will be married 14 years. I couldn't imagine my life without him.

I am the oldest of all my sisters...after that is Sara, Ginger, another sister Lindsey and the youngest of the bunch is Morgan...In between there we lost a baby brother when he was only 2 months old...he was a preemie and just didn't have the fully developed lungs to make it...His name was Hobie....My sisters, well except for Ging have all recently married and I have been blessed with 3 great brother in laws, Josh, Nate & Mike..Its so nice to have some men in our family! Growing up with all girls could be crazy at times!My husband has a brother and sister so Ive been blessed another sister Shannon and a great brother in law, Jimmy as well... Both of them are married as well so I have a bro in law, AJ and a sister in law Michelle too. Mikes mom Janice aka Momo is probably one of my best friends, I am truly blessed with a terrific family and I love them all so much.

I am a stay at home mom and have been for about 8 years now, with the exception of a year and a month where I went to go work with 2 of my sisters at the mortgage company, a whirlwind of a job, but I loved it...Too bad that didn't last when the whole sub prime industry went under, so did our company. But Ive enjoyed being back home with my babies...Ive dabbled in a few at home type of businesses, selling Cookie Lee jewelry for awhile, then started making these cute little can coolie cups for girls, called Floozie Koozies...but my newest venture is my salsa..Its a recipe that has been in Mikes family for years, but somehow the two of us took it over and then I just ran with it! I was making jars of it for holidays and giving it away when people started just raving about it and asking for refills and telling me to sell it! So my mother in law and I thought of a name (D-bomb, that's what Mike calls me) we had some labels made and Sara made me up some business cards, and in the last 3 months Ive probably sold over 200 jars! Its pretty exciting! I'm trying to figure a way to send it via the mail and still keep it fresh...any ideas would be greatly appreciated! I jar it in mason jars and its made fresh with all fresh ingredients so it needs to stay cold, but I think freezing it will ruin the taste..I'm going to do some experimenting this week!

Well I sure hope I havent bored you all to death, but those are pretty much the hi lights of my life, my family my friends and my salsa!

Now I'm going to go around the house and look for something RED so I can play in Saras game...(Dont think its going to be too hard, being my house is all Americana!!!

Have a wonderful day!!!

My First Post!

2008-06-02T07:20:00.000-07:00

I have finally joined the blogger world thanks to my extremely talented sister, Sara, yes Sara of Sadie Olive...I loved the idea of her new game she has going, so I asked her if she would "whip" me up a blog, and low and behold, she did it in an afternoon! Sara, myself and our baby sister Morgan, had a fun time trying to think of a blog name...Sara is the one that came up with it...
I'm truly an All American girl and I make and sell salsa so hence the name "Stars, Stripes and Salsa!
Thanks Sara! I cant wait to join in all your fun via blogger world and meet some of your new friends as well as make some new ones of my own!
I guess my next post will be to introduce myself as well as my family and give you all a sneak peek into my world....Looking forward to it!
Hugs!