PLEASE VOTE...IT'S FOR THE CHILDREN

Microsoft has partnered with Children’s Miracle Network to provide three Children’s Miracle Network pediatric hospitals an Ultimate Gameroom experience – and we need YOUR HELP.

We need your votes! Our daughter, Bree, is a neo natal intensive care nurse in Mississippi. There is a contest and we're trying to win the Gameroom give-away presented by XBOX 360 so that her hospital, Blair E. Batson Hospital for Children, will have a fun gameroom. Just think how wonderful that will be for the children.

Please click here to go to the website and register. You can vote 10 times a day until October 16th. (I vote 10 times one right after another...it doesn't take long.) Make sure you vote for the Blair E. Batson Hospital for Children at the University of Mississippi.

Pretty please do this every day until October 16th!

Thanks friends! I know Bree will appreciate it too!


Hugs and kisses,
Kat

(Mississippi's only Children's Hospital is a seven-floor, 250-bed facility where more than 150,000 children come from all of the state's 82 counties for treatment. Children's Hospital houses the state's only Level I pediatric trauma center, intensive care unit, Level III newborn intensive care unit, children's cancer clinic, rehabilitation center, child psychiatry unit, dental clinic, child development center and surgical facility-a state-of-the-art unit with seven operating rooms.)

REPEAT AFTER ME....

Thoughts about buying the wrong stuff at the grocery store:

"If I don't buy it, I won't have it in the house, therefore I won't eat it."

~Kat Davenport

The same thing applies at restaurants:

"If I don't order it, it won't be placed in front of me, therefore I won't eat it."

~Kat Davenport

Now...if only I will listen to myself!

Hugs and kisses,
Kat

I KNEW I WAS THE QUEEN OF SOMETHING

Hugs and kisses,
Kat

EASY AND YUMMY TOO

Awwww...I wanted some "Comfort" food - Chicken Pot Pie

I wanted something easy tonight since we wanted to have dinner early so we could be in front of the TV for Dancing With The Stars and this was easy...and yummy too.


I found the below recipe on one of the blogs I read recently and thought I'd give it a try. Of course, as usual, I did it my way. Instead of frozen veggies, I used fresh. I added boiled new potatoes (cut up and peeled off the skin after boiling) and carrots. Next time I plan to also add some corn and onion but I was in a hurry tonight after our bike ride. I was pleasantly surprised with the flavor the soups gave. George and I both gave it a thumbs up. Oh, one more thing...next time I'll definitely use regular pie crusts instead of the bisquick.

Hmmmm...sounds like I changed everything, huh? LOL

Chicken Pot Pie

3 cups cut-up boiled chicken breast (about 4)
1 cup chicken broth (broth from chicken breast)
1 can of celery soup
1 can cream chicken soup
1 16 oz. frozen mixed vegetables
1 onion (chopped)
1 stick butter (melted) and another 1/2 cup chicken broth
Mix all the above and pour into a greased casserole dish.
Mix 1 1/4 cups Bisquick, 1 stick butter melted, and 1 cup milk. Pour mixture over above chicken mixture. Bake 350 for 1 hour or until golden brown.

Hugs and kisses,
Kat

MONDAYS KILL ME

It's Monday already?! Time to start another week...but...I need one more day of the weekend. How about you?

We GO GO GO all.the.time! I crave one day to just be lazy, but it's just not gonna happen. sigh!

The bad news - I'm tired. The good news - our life is busy and full and blessed. Thank you Lord!

Hugs,
Kat

DOUBT vs FAITH

Doubt sees the obstacles.

Faith sees the way.

Doubt sees the darkest nights.

Faith sees the day.

Doubt dreads to take a step.

Faith soars on high.

Doubt questions, "who believes?"

Faith answers, "i".


Hugs and kisses,
Kat

HOW ' BOUT YOU?

I hate shopping for jeans! Hate it!

This cartoon is perfect for me because if I find a pair that I think looks okay (and that "if" is said with a sigh), I feel like I can't move...or breathe, therefore, I'm not much of a jeans girl.

Hugs and kisses,
Kat

GRAB A TISSUE....

but...not all tears are bad.

I'll admit, I've had some "bad" teary moments lately because I have quite a few friends, both in my "real" life and in "blogland" who are dealing with all kinds of cancer. As a survivor, I KNOW how hard each and every day is.

I'm working daily on my team for the local breast cancer walk that will be held in October, so cancer has really been on my mind lately.

Some of my tears though have been good ones...ones shed for good news.... and stories of growing faith...and hope.

And the song on this video always brings me to sweet tears because it reminds me of how George and my friends and family, especially my Mom and Aunt, stood beside me through it all. Their motto was unspoken, but loud and clear "I'm right here with you. I'm not going anywhere."

I have this song on a CD, but the only video I could find is this one and it's actually an advertisement for a CD, but it's still absolutely AWESOME. I think you'll agree. Country star T.G. Sheppard and his wife, Kelly Lang (a breast cancer survivor), are actually good friends of some of our friends and I hope to meet them soon. What a gorgeous song with T. G. singing with Crystal Gayle! I love the piano in this too.

Enjoy!........ And if there are tears...that's okay. Mine are tears of gratitude for all those who love me and were so supportive (and still are).

Pay close attention to what T.G. has to say towards the end (around 3:42)...so true!



It's almost October...Breast Cancer Awareness Month! Don't forget your mammograms and please support breast cancer awareness in your local area. (If you would like to support my walk, click on the link on my sidebar.)


Hugs and kisses,
Kat

THANKS!

Thanks everyone for making my birthday extra special! I do so appreciate all the comments (both here and on facebook), the e-mails, calls, cards and gifts! I love and appreciate you all!

Tonight we celebrated at Fire, a wonderful small restaurant tucked away in Grayton Beach. The food is always always always delish. Tonight I had Lump Crab Stuffed Jumbo Shrimp with Grilled Grit Cakes and Smoked Corn Relish served with Green Tomato Jam. Oh my goodness...so yummy!

"The more you praise and celebrate your life, the more there is in life to celebrate."
~Oprah Winfrey

Hugs and kisses,
Kat

LET'S CELEBRATE....IT'S MY BIRTHDAY

It's my birthday...

big deal!

Right?

I DO love to make a big deal out of everyone else's birthday, but for me it's always been just another day. I honestly have always had to ask George my age 'cause I just can't keep up with it. The old saying "age is just a number" is what I've always thought.

But...being a cancer survivor has made me realize just how lucky I am (we all are) to celebrate another year. Another day. Another hour. Another minute. Another second.

So....Let the celebrations begin!

We started celebrating early. Last night we went out to dinner with our friends Kay & Larry and Dick & Linda. Good food, good wine, good friends. Perfect!

I'm not sure what all we'll do today, but I will be celebrating!


"Inside every older person is a younger person wondering what the hell happened."

Hehehe... soooo true!

~~~~~~




FYI...several of you asked about the S.L.U.T. napkins in my recent post about our Girls Getaway last week....the napkins can be found online at HomeWetBar.com. Just enter "napkins" in the website's search box.




Hugs,
Kat

WARNING...DANGER AHEAD

If you don't have much willpower...stop!


I'm serious....STOP RIGHT HERE!


S-e-r-i-o-u-s-l-y!



Okay, you can't say I didn't warn ya! Have you ever tried these? If not, let me tell you that there are ABSOLUTELY WONDERFUL! And...only 150 calories!

It's worth all the bike riding to come home to one of these incredible treats!

Speaking of bike riding...we've both become fanatics...as if you haven't noticed. LOL Just this week I've ridden 50 miles...I did 20 miles on Monday, 16 yesterday and 14 today. George and I still plan to do a biking tour as soon as we can (it's not gonna happen until after the wedding next May), but we're having fun and consider ourselves in training.

And we're both loving it and seeing benefits. George's knee was so bad that the doctor was talking to him about a knee replacement, but the bike riding has built up his knee muscles and now his knee is fine. I've had 3 people lately say that they've noticed I've lost some weight, so I'm excited about that. We both think our bikes are one of our best investments.



Hugs and kisses,
Kat

YOU ASKED, SO HERE IT IS....

Okay, several of you commented on my last post and asked for the recipe for the onion dip, so I'll share the original one that was given to me.

But...let me say up front that I have found through trial and error that it's actually best if I don't measure. So here's...

Baked Onion Dip....My Way

I cup up about 4 or 5 large sweet onions (preferably Vidalias if I can find them). I add shredded parmesan cheese (I buy the kind in the packages) and then just enough mayonnaise (It must be Hellmans, if you ask me) to make it all stick together. Too much mayo just makes it greasy. Once it's all blended, I pour it into an ungreased shallow oven proof dish and bake at 350 degrees until the onions are tender and the top is a nice golden brown. The smell will drive you crazy until it's ready...a wonderful heavenly smell! Try not to open the oven too often.

Serve with hot crusty bread (my favorite) or crackers. And a glass of wine, of course! It's actually good as a side dish to a meal also.

Enjoy! It's always a hit.

~~~

Original Recipe

2 cups chopped Vidalia onions (or any sweet onion)
2 cups grated Parmesan (my favorite) or Swiss Cheese
2 cups Hellman's mayo (I use less)

Mix together and put in shallow baking dish and bake in 350 oven until bubbly and light brown...approximately 35 minutes.


Hugs and kisses,
Kat

I'VE BEEN BUSY...HOW 'BOUT YOU?

Gosh, it seems like f-o-r-e-v-e-r since I've been on the computer!

I got home from the family Girls Getaway on Saturday night and have been running around like crazy since then so this is my first chance to blog.

We had an absolute BALL!
Sherry found these cute cocktail napkins and they were perfect for our getaway...we were definitely "Southern Ladies Up to Something"!

Since Sherry and I both have birthdays in September, my sister Kim brought us this sinful chocolate (r-e-a-l-l-y chocolaty) cake to enjoy with our red wine. Sherry and I both LOVE chocolate and red wine...separately or together!

As you can see I had my hands full trying to get the girls to cooperate when I wanted to take photos!

We were all excited that Bree was able to come this time. Here she is with my niece, Angie.

The Survivors! My niece Angie (my brother's daughter), my sister Karen and me. All three of us are breast cancer survivors! Thank you God!

We managed to play games sometimes...usually the talking and laughing and people coming and going kept us from seriously playing all the time.

We had soooooooooo much food although I didn't manage to take a photo of the spread but when I opened the oven to pull out the Vidalia Onion Dip and crusty bread, I just had to take a photo. So yummy!

Another cocktail napkin someone brought. LOL

...and judging by my eyes in this photo, the napkin was perfect! That's me with the blurry eyes with my sisters Karen and Kim. (We missed you Theresa!)

On the first night Bree and I arrived, we went to a local Italian restaurant that Bree has gone to her entire life. We all love the lasagna. The waitress (black shirt on the left) has worked there and waited on us since before Bree was born. We call her Run Around Sue...'cause her name is Sue and she runs around that restaurant like crazy.

The Girls Getaway was a blast. We need to do it more often. We planned this one on the spur of the moment so not everyone could come, but we'll definitely plan in advance next time.

Now...I wonder what all of YOU have been doing? I hope to do some blog reading soon. Probably not much tonight though. Dancing With The Stars new season begins tonight. Can't wait!

Hugs and kisses,
Kat

GOSH IT WAS FUN!

What a fun day!

It started out VERY rainy. Well, not when I first woke up so I hopped on my bike right at 7am and headed out feeling oh so good. I was quite proud of myself for getting up and getting some exercise before my big day of shopping. So much for great plans! It started to rain when I was about 3.5 miles from home...hard rain. By the time I got home I looked like a drowned rat. I couldn't even come in the house. George brought me a towel and I undressed in the garage and wrapped up and hurried into a warm shower.

It looked like it was going to be a rainy yucky day, but by the time Rhoda (Southern Hospitality) and I met for coffee at Panera Bread, the rain stopped and the sun came out and it was beautiful. So glad!

We really had fun shopping even though we both mainly just looked.

I loved this cute sign. How adorable is she?! Just look at those cute chubby cheeks...don't you just want to pinch them? I think this should be on a billboard for the Emeral Coast.

Rhoda and I always have a good time.

We had lunch at The Back Porch and was seated right by the window and the view was awesome. The food is always good. We both had the "bronzed" grouper sandwich with fries and coleslaw. So yummy! (Bronzing is between grilled and blackened.)

It's always hard to get a good photo by the window, but I had to try.

I was surprised the water looked as good as it did since we've had so much rain lately. Bad weather usually churns things up for a few days. As you can see, the waves were pretty strong today.

~~~~~~

I didn't take many photos while we were shopping, but Rhoda did, so you'll have to visit her blog when she gets back next week. Here's just a few I took:

I couldn't talk Rhoda into this funky chicken chair, but doesn't she look cute sitting in it? LOL

This artist uses old license plates. I LOVED this dog piece. Loved it! Wish I had a spot for it, but I don't.

Thanks for a good time Rhoda! I really appreciate your taking time out of your vacation to spend a day with me. I hope you and Peter have a wonderful time this week.

~~~~~~

Okay, I better get busy and go pack. I'm leaving in the morning to go to my Mom's until Saturday. We're having a Girls Get Away for all the girls in the family...so you know what that means, right? Yep, lots of food, drinks, games, and giggles. Bree is coming too this time, so we're all excited about that.

Ta ta for now...I'll be back on Saturday.

Hugs and kisses,
Kat