Foodie Monday: Banana Fritters

Let's see if I can keep some themes going!

I've been very into cooking new things lately. I was extremely bored with all of my "normal" meals, and since my hubby is actually a better cook than I am, I needed to step it up. I'm also trying to cook a little healthier, since most of what I eat is not considered normal adult food.

Breakfast for dinner is always one of my favorites, but pancakes just don't make the healthy food list! So tonight, we tried something new: banana fritters! I got this recipe off one of my favorite blogs, just changed it up a little. You can view the recipe here. Instead of ice cream, I served it with a little (lite!) syrup, scrambled eggs, and low fat turkey sausage!

These banana fritters were very low cal, and they were super tasty! We love all things banana around here, and this was no exception! They were so good!

New Blog Title

Since I'm not really doing as much Mary Kay, and my life is going in all different directions, I really can't say this is a "rambling of a Mary Kay Diva" blog! So, this will now be the diva diaries - my life in an all around way! Stay tuned for more!

And then there were three...

Ever since I can remember, there have been 4. 4 generations. 4 women. There was Nanny, the queen bee, the "elder." My great-grandma Nanny was full of spunk, energy, always adorned in leopard print, and the queen of crazy. There was Mema, my grandmother, who had only a portion of the energy and crazy that my Nanny had, but always ready for fun and some baking. There's my Mom, the quietest of them all, much more subdued - like the crazy skipped a step, but one of my very best friends. Then there's me. The baby in the 4 generation tree. Even though I'm quickly approaching 30 *shudder*, I'm still the youngest. The crazy train definitely came back with me!
The 4 of us were a wild set to begin with! Our close group would go to lunch together, sometimes the three of us traveling to see Nanny in Waco, or when Nanny lived here, we'd visit various places around the Metroplex. Hilarity always ensued, as Nanny would say a word I'm not sure sailors even knew, Mema would be shocked, and Mom and I would die laughing. Or maybe we just had girl talk over some chocolate, talked about upcoming weddings (that would have been mine several years ago), or just chatted about what was going on in our lives.
And the pictures, there were always the pictures! We took them at every event! Any holiday, birthday, lunch, or whatever we were all together for, a picture documented it. How lucky was I to have that much family!In early April this year, we lost my Nanny. She was a couple weeks short of 95, and although she lived a long good life, it doesn't always make a loss easier. As we gathered that warm April day to honor the life of my Nanny (all dressed in leopard, I might add), I had the sad realization that there would no longer be the 4. We wouldn't meet for lunch and talk about Nanny's latest leopard bra purchase, or talk about the silly things our husbands did, or just be there to love on each other. There were three.

Today, two months later, we had our first outing as "the three." Mema, Mom, and I met for lunch (and yes, pictures were taken) and shopping. We talked a lot about my Nanny today. It was as if the table was missing a person. We talked about things at the stores that she would have liked, talked about antiques that looked like would have been in her house, mostely just reminisced with each other. Is it different? Yes. We miss our Nanny, but I'm so thankful to still have two wonderful women that I can be with as part of my family.

Who says water parks are for kids?

Today my friend Shasta from college came to visit! We had a great night last night with a fun dinner and some shopping, and today we decided to go to NRH2O. We used to go to water parks when we traveled, and loved roller coasters, so we figured, why not? It was a blast! From the wave pool to the slides, and my favorite, the water coaster, we had a great day!

I have to give some props to NRH2O. First of all, it's only about 15 minutes from my house, so it gets extra points just for that. Second, two words: Free. Parking. Third, tickets are only about $20. The park is fairly small, meaning you don't spend your entire day walking around the park. Even though it's small, it's action packed! There's a huge kid area, tons of slides, a beach, a wave pool, a lazy river, and the water coaster. Let's get back to that!

The water coaster is the best of both worlds! You get in an inner tube, there are tons of drops, you shoot up and come flying back down, there are tunnels and waterfalls - it was a blast!

So if you are looking for something fun to do this summer, I definitely recommend NRH2O!

Sing me a song, you're the piano man!

Or piano woman, if you will!

As you know, this year I've been subbing for extra income. This job has not been without its interesting stories. I've been asked out on a date, told that a girl still had her dead dog, and most recently broken up a fight between two jr high kids! As fun as that is, it's booooring. I'm not doing any actual teaching most days, it's just glorified babysitting with a name badge.

About a month ago, after much prayer and research, I decided I was going to open my own lesson studio in our home! I was nervous - I knew I could do these things, but would others trust me enough to teach them?

Apparently the answer was yes! Registration has been open for 3 weeks, and as of yesterday, I have 10 students signed up! I have openings for 20 - I needed 10 to be able to not sub next year, but my hubby told me if I fill all 20 slots, I can hire a housekeeper as well, since we'll have people in and out of the house all the time.

And in case there was any question, yes, I can be bribed with housework!

Chirp, chirp. Chirp, chirp.

No, those aren't the birds on my newly redesigned blog you're hearing. It's crickets.

What?

Yes, crickets. I'm really not that good at keeping up with this thing. K says I need to be recording all of the times I fall or do something stupid in here, and while I'm sure yall would enjoy that, it just doesn't paint me in the best light.

Anyway, I've been thinking a lot lately. It's like my brain just won't shut off and I'm trying to process all of these thoughts that are coming into my head. Jobs. Babies. Death. Church. Jews. (Yes, Jews.) There are so many things that I can barely take a minute to collect my own thoughts and go through the day, much less bring all of those thoughts into one coherent thought and make that thought into a blog post. However, writing things out seems to somehow provide clarity, so once again, I will take up my blog writing and you can think along with me!

Or go running in the other direction and remove my blog from your favorites. It's whatever.

Slug Nissan!

If you have ever had the experience of buying a used car, you know it is just that: an experience. 2 weeks ago we set out to find me a new (to me) ride. I was fairly set on a Nissan Sentra, and had a few in mind to go look at. So, on President's Day, my parents and Kyle and I piled in my parents car and we were off!

We started the day at Texas Nissan of Grapevine. Close to home, nice people, so we settled in to talk to Dwight, the car man. He brought a few things up for us to look at, but also brought his manager in to talk with us. Now, I can't make this stuff up people. His name? Johnny Utah. I'm pretty sure with a name like that you either go into porn or used car sales.

Since we didn't find anything in our budget there, we decided to head out to Trophy Nissan in Mesquite. This was the worst place I have ever been in my life. They conveniently had just sold the car I wanted to look at, and the guy that I talked to was "no longer with them." Hmmm. I couldn't wait to wash the sleeze off from that place, and as we left, the sales guy in front of me let the door slam in my face instead of holding it.

Next, it was off to Randall Noe in Terrell. That's where i purchased my last new car and had a great experience. This one, not so much. This was the true used car experience. Sleeze, trying to get me away from the rest of the family, "what can i do to earn your business," and all that crap. Blech.

At this point, we'd pretty much given up, but since we knew we were passing Bankston Nissan of Dallas on the way home, we decided to stop, just because. I really had no hope at this point, but that's when things changed. They had a Nissan Versa that was in our price range. This is not a car I considered before, but once I got in one, and started looking at it, I knew I loved it. We drove it around, felt like the dude was totally honest with us, and within an hour we were signing papers and getting ready to purchase a car! Several hours later we were done with paperwork and on our way home with our new Versa! It's a 2008 with only 25,000 miles, still under the factory warranty. And it's bright red. The perfect car for me!

And the title of this post? Well, similar to the "slug bug" game, we started punching each other every time we saw a Nissan. It was especially fun going into the dealership surrounded by Nissans!