Dr. 90210 and . . . ME

Does anyone recognize Dr. Robert Rey?



Dr. 90210 has always been one of my favorite reality shows. I have always loved anything to do with medicine and surgery. I have it set to record on my DVR and I have seen all the episodes.

When I was reading the paper yesterday, I saw that he was going to be at the mall promoting his "shapewear". I just had to go out there and see if he looked the same in person as he does on his show (he did).

Since the line didn't look too bad, I thought I would get a picture for the blog. The short line took a long time because Dr. Rey was so personable to each and every person. When your turn came to meet him, he hugged you, talked a little bit and then posed for several pictures.

He also wrote a note on the picture, and as you can see, it wasn't just a signature.

He could not have been any nicer. He was talking about how the people in Texas were so beautiful, both inside and out. He was talking about inner beauty and faith and asked if it was okay for him to write down his favorite scripture, 2 Timothy 4:7.

As far as his "shapewear" goes, I am going back to get me some. It felt about 10 times stronger than Spanx. I was tempted to check the display out, but since there were about 100 people standing around, I decided I would go back later. The thought of digging for my size and having people wonder how I was going to squeeze in it made me a little uncomfortable!

Christmas Tour of Homes

Merry Christmas to you and welcome to my home. I love to have Christmas decorations around my house, but I have to admit, the entire time I am putting them out, I am thinking about having to put them away after Christmas. That always keeps me from putting all of my decorations out. If I had someone that would decorate for me, I would have them in every room.

As you enter the foyer, I have my Willow Tree nativity. One of my greatest joys is walking by and seeing where Landrie has moved the pieces. She likes the way she arranges it much better than my way. She usually has a wise man in place of Joseph.






This tree in my bedroom is very simple and plain, but I love it. I love reading at night with just the tree lit.



This year I made the countdown calendar. Landrie has had so much fun every day removing a number and replacing it with an ornament. It has also helped to remind me how many shopping days I have left.



I had to have the Pottery Barn pedestal and dome after seeing it at a friends house for Halloween, and have been looking for just the right thing that is under 11" to fit under the dome.



The mantle is getting crowded with the stockings. But . . . I have more. 3 years ago, I bought new stockings because I like all of them to match. At that time, I calculated how many we might need when all of the kids get married and have kids of their own. The big joke is (and it is true), I planned for each kid to have one spouse and 3 children. If they have more, they will have to borrow from a sibling. I have 13 boxed up and stored, just waiting to be monogrammed.



We put our tree in the living room so we can enjoy it all the time. I love to watch TV with just the Christmas lights on.


I put the tree up on November 18th since we were going to be out of town before Thanksgiving, so it is just about time for it to come down. I usually take everything down the day after Christmas, because the tree looks so empty without presents. Knowing I have lots to put away makes me want to go ahead and get it over with.

I hope all of you have a wonderful Christmas. If you haven't visited other homes on the tour, check them out at Boomama's. It is so much fun to see all of the decorations without leaving your computer.

Christmas at Our House

About 15 years ago, I started hearing about Fellowship Church. Some people in our Sunday school class were leaving to start Fellowship with 150 others in an office building in Las Colinas. A few years later, they moved to a new building in Grapevine. We heard that it was nothing but "entertainment", "shallow" and "Christianity lite". Certainly not a place we would be interested in.

About 10 years ago, the Christmas services at our church were pretty lame, and as a family, we decided we just could not go anymore. That year, we visited Fellowship for Christmas. It was really good, but with ALL that we had heard, we were not interested in going back. The next year we went to their Christmas service again, and it was great again. As we were leaving, Justin said, "If we went to that church, I would go every Sunday." Wow, we had to take him up on that because it was getting to be a struggle to get everyone to keep going to the boring church, even me. As the sermon would start each week, I would mentally check out and start my grocery list and decide where I would shop that afternoon.

There was a little problem. We were teaching the "Young Married" Sunday school class at our church. Several of them were bored with church and they only came to Sunday school. We felt committed to them. We would go teach and then swing by the house and pick up the kids and head to Fellowship. We decided up front, we were not going to get involved, just attend and leave. We were still skeptical.

Ed was starting a new series. After about 3 weeks, we were hooked. It was entertaining. Jesus was entertaining. It wasn't boring. Jesus wasn't boring. It was creative. Jesus was creative. For the first time in my life, I couldn't wait for the weekend to roll around so that we could go to church.

There have been a few weekends where we have gone on Saturday night and it was so good, we went back on Sunday. Because there will be about 40,000 people attending the Christmas services, they ask that we only attend one, but I must confess, I have been twice on more than one Christmas.

All that to say, I love my church. The things that are happening at Fellowship are phenominal and I am so proud to be a part of it. It is my home. You are invited to Christmas at our house. You will be glad you came.

Chicken Tortilla Soups On

I am participating in BooMama's Soup-Tacular, but it is not cold here yet. Today it is supposed to be 80 degrees. That is a little hot for soup, but come Monday we are supposed to have sleet and snow, so I will have to save the recipes for next week.

Here is my favorite Tortilla Soup. I created this recipe. I took a couple of different soup recipes and added them together and then put my spin on them. Everyone that tries this soup loves it. I hope you will too.

Laura's Tortilla Soup

2 1/2 lbs boneless chicken breasts, cut in bite sized pieces
4 c. water
2 t. salt
3 cans Del Monte Mexican Recipe Stewed Tomatoes
l large onion
2 cloves garlic
1 pkg. taco seasoning mix
1 pkg. ranch dressing mix
1 bunch cilantro
1/4 c. sugar
1/2 t. ground cloves

Cook chicken in water with salt until done. Do not drain. Blend remaining ingredients in blender until smooth. Add to chicken and broth. Simmer on low for an hour.

Ranch style beans and hominy can be added. To serve, spoon over bowl of tortilla chips and garnish with Monterrey jack cheese, green onions, sour cream and avocado.

Isn't She Adorable!

Landrie is sitting here so prim and proper smiling with Rudolph and Clarice. Well, you should have seen her last night. I took pictures, but she was too far away to see very well.

She had her first school Christmas program. She was on the second row, smack dab in the middle. Most of the program, she was standing up while all of the other kids were sitting down. I don't think she sang one word of any song, but she was definitely the most noticed child on the stage.

Why you ask? Is it because she is so darn cute, or could it be that she had her FINGER IN HER NOSE THE ENTIRE TIME? Not just for a few minutes, but the entire 30 minute program. I am guessing that she was nervous and that was her response. We were quite proud. Since her cousins Hayden and Avery were in the program too, we had lots of family members to share this proud moment with.

Landrie didn't miss a beat. When Jennifer went to pick her up after the program, she ran with excitement and said, "Hi Mommy, did I do good?" Of course she did. She was so cute up there even with her finger in her nose.

Christmas Tour of Homes

In the blogging world, probably the most popular blog around for blog readers is BooMama. I found her blog about 18 months ago when I started reading blogs. She is a great writer and so funny and she is one of the reasons I started my blog. If you read blogs, you know who BooMama is. She is a legend. We don't know each other personally, but we have emailed back and forth a few times. Our Mother-In-Laws are very similar in personality. Very sweet and oh so funny.

Last year she hosted a "Christmas Tour of Homes". 213 bloggers participated. They took pictures of their Christmas Decorations and posted their link. It was so fun to see all the decorations and the creative way they were displayed. I looked at all 213 of them. This year the tour will be on December 17th and I would not be surprised if there are over 1000 links because BooMama is so popular. I am getting my house ready for the tour.