We Are Proud Owners of This.....

a family van! no really....for what might we use this sweet machine? if we don't have to live in it until we get into our house, i could use it to deliver livingstone baked delights to starving hay boys!! ian actually loves to play in it. he'll be sad when his uncle and dad cut it up and sell it as scrap aluminum. tyler is on his way to fulfill a dream he's had for a long time. he bought the truck for $1,000. he plans to sell the aluminum for about $1,500. he'll keep the diesel engine, and put it in a truck (which we don't have yet), and finally have a vehicle he can run on biodiesel!! although they are practically giving diesel trucks away these days (with the price of disel to high), we still can't afford one....and still put furniture in our house (should we really get one). anyway, i can't wait for tyler to have his OWN truck. around here, it's simple. all men have trucks. it's a right of passage. it will be a glorious day!

Tito here: I should mention, Erin, for your benefit, the fact that the truck is not currently running. We'll have to see about that once haying is finished and I can breathe again. For any of the fellows out there who are aspiring gearheads like myself (Jayson?), check out www.4btswaps.com to see what kind of motor I got and what sorts of vehicles guys are putting them into.

Waiting...and waiting..and waiting.....

thanks to the hard work of tyler....and some by steve billat, we now have two permits. one for the septic system, and one for the foundation. as far as the county is concerned, we can go ahead and build. unfortunately, we have hit yet another road block. the title company has to come and appraise/inspect the land before any work can be done, but guess what.......they haven't shown up. we've been waiting for two weeks. meanwhile, steve is chomping at the bit to at least dig the hole for our foundation. 'no go', says our lender. WE ARE SO FRUSTRATED!! seriously, if people's mothers aren't dying, they're on vacation. sometimes we wonder if we really will get a house, or if we'll be endlessly bogged down in paperwork, inspections and just plain waiting. to pass the time, i have been formulating, in my head, a list of all the things i will really appreciate in our new house......but i will not share them until we are actually in the house, and i can share the depth of my emotion. please say a prayer that the title company will find it in their hearts to come and do their job...asap!

My Love Affair with the Lemon

lately, besides the standard chocolate chip cookie, i only have eyes for lemon desserts. it appears that i am not alone in my passion for lemon. during a recent golf game, the poppy seed cake made the list of all time favorite livingstone desserts (behind chocomint nummy, of course). we love it so much, that we had it at our wedding instead of a wedding cake. ian begs for it, so i have to make it under the cover of night, and hide it until we're ready to eat it. now, before i share the recipe, i have to say that i cannot claim it as mine. it was given to me by my friend renee, who i'm sure was tinkering around in the kitchen, and invented it herself. also, the only lemon in the recipe is in the glaze. i've thought about using lemon jello instead of french vanilla, but it's so good as it is, why mess with perfection?

Renee's Poppy Seed Cake

1 yellow cake mix

4 eggs

1/2 C oil

1 tsp butter buds

1 C lite sour cream

3 oz pkg french vanilla instant pudding

1/2 C water

1/4 C poppy seeds

mix well for 5 minutes and pour into a greased and sugared bundt pan. bake @ 350 for 45 minutes.

lemon Sauce: 1 C powdered sugar, 2 tbsp lemon juice, and a dash of salt. mix and add a little water to thin out. drizzle over finished cake.

this cake is better the second day than the first!

after cameron was born, many people were kind enough to bring food. my aunt brought this lemon dessert, and i scoured the internet for the recipe. it doesn't seem like much when you make it, but it's VERY rich, and leaves my mouth watering, just thinking about it.

Layered Lemon Dessert

6 tbsp butter or margarine

1 C all purpose flour

1/2 C finely chopped pecans

FILLING:

1 (8 oz) pkg cream cheese, softened

1 1/2 C powdered sugar

1 1/2 C whipped topping

2 C sugar

1/3 C cornstarch

1/4 tsp salt

2 C water, divided

3 eggs

1/4 C vinegar

1/4 C lemon juice

1 tbsp butter or margarine

1 tsp lemon extract

1. cut butter into flour until crumbly. stir in pecans. press into bottom of ungreased 13 x 9 pan. bake at 350 for 15 minutes. cool. beat cream cheese and powdered sugar until fluffy. fold in whipped topping. spread over crust. chill.
2. in a saucepan, combine sugar, cornstarch and salt. add 1/4 C water and stir until smooth. add eggs and mix well. add vinegar, lemon juice and the remaining water; stir until smooth. bring to a boil over medium heat, stirring constantly; boil for 1 minute. remove from theheat; add butter and extract. cool. spread over cream cheese layer (i like to put the lemon under the cream cheese). chill 2 hours or overnight.

ENJOY!!

Our Law Enforcement

yesterday, I was walking from the shop to the mail box, holding cameron. a blue suv went screaming past, and slammed on it's brakes, spun around and came back toward me. i moved a little further off the road, thinking they were probably coming to finish me off. they rolled their window down, and flashed badges at me. "are you ok?", they asked. "UH...yeah", I said, looking around, wondering what was causing them so much alarm, "just going to get the mail." "oh, they said, we thought you might have been stranded or something." HELLO - don't you think if i was stranded, i might try to get help at either the business or house i was standing right in front of? i guess in a way it's nice to think maybe the law enforcement is protecting us, the helpless public....but seriously....

Summer Things We Love

if oprah can have a summer things we love show, we can too. however, not all the things we love are products....some are just things we love to do.....and some are things we love NOT doing. of course, this is not an all inclusive list....we could go on and on.....but we'll try to include our very favorites!

• the tube. we've tried to get fancy with different pool toys...forget it, nothing is as versatile as the plain old tube. ian kicks around the pool like he was born there.
  

• the hoggeroo! ian used to call it a hockabrrrrrr, which i actually prefferred. but, either way, it's a refreshing snack in the hot weather. we get ours from shwanns because it's hard to get a popsicle home from the store, an hour away, still intact. this one has real strawberries in it.....mmmm.


• bike rides


• lemonade (albertson's has the best concetrate, in our opinion, but country time powder will do in a pinch)


• aerosol spray sunblock. are we ruining the ozone layer? i don't know, but at least we're getting sunblock on our wiggly toddlers before they jump in the pool.


• summer thunder & lightening storms. we had one of these yesterday. so much rain fell that the pool came darn close to overflowing. you don't see that too often around here.
• playing in the creek. this is grandma and ian squishing their toes in the soft sand. i honestly don't know how ian does it. i couldn't more than walk across this creek, it was soooooooooo cold.........painfully cold. but, ian will take off all his clothes and play to his heart's content. also, playing in the mud can go along with this. i sent ian outside, and he played in a mud hole in the front yard for an hour....naked. he has a thing with being naked lately........which is another great thing about summer. i haven't partaken in summer nudity for a long time, but i'm sure it feels great!

• NOT having to dry our clothes inside the house on our makeshift laundry line. the wiring in this old house must not be grounded or something because it's burned out the heating elements in two dryers. oh well, air drying saves electricity. also, when we do have something dryed in the dryer, it feels like a luxury! anyway, we get to dry our stuff outside. everything dries so much faster in the sun. i know, i know, sounds like we live in the old west..we do.


• NOT having to chop wood and empty the ashes out of the fireplace!







• we can enjoy our little cameron and his smiles anytime, but he can't always enjoy wearing just onesies, and give us the opportunity to tickle those chunky little legs!


• summer produce. the apples on the tree are getting bigger! soon we'll have apple pies galore. but, my favorite by far has to be the home grown tomato. i can't wait to have my first tomato and cheese open faced sandwhich, with a little lemon pepper. it's the food of the gods....next to chocolate milk.
  
• shorts, t-shirts & flip flops. need i say more?

we could go on and on....but this is where we draw the line for today.

We've Got Water & Money

It's encouraging to finally see something happen on our home site. The well is spewing out water, and the heifers are inhabiting the back yard. They know a good spot when they see one! We can't wait to kick them out and move in ourselves. We found out yesterday that our loan was approved. We just have a few more signatures, and we can close on the loan and get going. We hope to be in the new house by the time snow flies. Before the final inspection, we have to have the driveway gravelled and the front and back porch in. Kind of a pain, but a good way to make sure that all gets done. I've been in some trailers (at the OX Ranch) with temporary stairs that are nigh unto falling over....and they've been that way for years.