Man had weapon qualification today, but he was issued a malfunctioning weapon which had a lot more kickback than what he's used to. He managed to fire ten shots before he was shaking badly enough from pain that his sergeant made him sit out the rest of the day. Too bad that surgery didn't work, eh?
What this means: If he can't shoot a weapon, he's out of the military.
Why this is bad: This is a rotten time to be without insurance especially since it's his dominant arm and jobs are hard to come by lately, we have an asthmatic child, and four kids get sick and hurt. Oh, and a paycheck is nice, too.
Please keep us in your prayers as the next few weeks unfold.
He has an appointment to talk to his commander on Monday. He's going to ask for another chance to qualify but this time using a good weapon. He showed me the bruises on his shoulder from the one he used today. We've already given our 30 day notice on our house and our household goods have been scheduled for pick up.
He had a blessing tonight from our home teacher. It was a very powerful blessing that left him with buoyed spirits.
We aren't out of options yet. I've gotten student aid approved for me for this fall and the aid information has been sent to a couple of colleges. Now I need to see if they'll let us move after all before I apply at the school. If worse comes to worst, I have a good brain and can get a job.
Stress level on a scale of 1-10: 8.5
Faith that we'll get through this 1-10: 10
The hardest part is watching him hurt.
.
Friday, February 27, 2009
New toys don't have to break the bank
Thanks to Friend M who gave me this idea many moons ago. She said someone she knew used a #10 can and cut a hole in the plastic lid, then let a child put clothes pins in the hole. Here's my take on it.
At the end she was climbing me for a hug.
At the end she was climbing me for a hug.
Thursday, February 26, 2009
Newsflash - I'm a dork!
I've been biking and occasionally doing the 30 Day Shred when I don't mind the idea of getting my trash kicked. I'm stronger, my endurance has picked up a bit, and I'm starting to feel better all around. So, I sometimes run places instead of walking. It feels good to be able to run for longer than 30 seconds before feeling like I'm going to collapse a lung.
Yesterday I parked the van at school and ran across the front lawn to go get my kid. The teacher sent Tag over quickly as I looked like I was in a hurry.
I said "no, just trying to be more fit."
She said "you're running across the school lawn to be more fit?"
Me: "Um, yeah."
She smiled.
How could I explain that after a lifetime of bronchitis, asthma, poor physical condition, pregnancy, and postpartum depression I can finally RUN? Granted, I'm not going to be doing any marathons for a while but the freedom of asking my body to do something related to strength and endurance and not having it puke out on me immediately is liberating beyond words.
Yeah, I'm a dork who runs across the lawn to "be more fit". Not that there's anything wrong with that.
Maybe I should just get a treadmill.
Yesterday I parked the van at school and ran across the front lawn to go get my kid. The teacher sent Tag over quickly as I looked like I was in a hurry.
I said "no, just trying to be more fit."
She said "you're running across the school lawn to be more fit?"
Me: "Um, yeah."
She smiled.
How could I explain that after a lifetime of bronchitis, asthma, poor physical condition, pregnancy, and postpartum depression I can finally RUN? Granted, I'm not going to be doing any marathons for a while but the freedom of asking my body to do something related to strength and endurance and not having it puke out on me immediately is liberating beyond words.
Yeah, I'm a dork who runs across the lawn to "be more fit". Not that there's anything wrong with that.
Maybe I should just get a treadmill.
Wednesday, February 25, 2009
Pancakes, revisited
Pancakes are awesome. They're decently inexpensive (have yet to do a price breakdown, but it's at least as cheap as sale-cereal once you factor in the syrup) they taste great and my family has yet to get tired of them.
But I have a problem. I've used The Best Recipe's recipe for pancakes ever since I got the book for Christmas and nothing can compare to them. Nothing. It's a fairly picky recipe where I have to be careful about which of my measuring cups I use (they each, despite saying they have the same capacity, vary by as much as a tablespoon) and be very precise in how I measure the clabbered milk.
I despise finicky recipes. There is nothing worse than a recipe that can give you glorious results but only 20% of the time based on a slight tweak in chemistry. The best recipes are fairly forgiving and still delicious. Even homemade bread isn't as picky as these pancakes. When I make them for real (buttermilk and everything) the baking soda can still be tasted which is another thing I despise.
In my mind, this level of pickiness makes them far from ideal and therefore imminently replaceable. I've been trying different recipes for pancakes for the last few days in an effort to 1) find a nice, forgiving one that my husband can accept as our forever pancakes and 2) gently acclimate my family to anything besides TBR recipe.
In Man's defense, he's fine with whatever. But I know that in his heart he'll remember the few times I've gotten the pancakes perfect and that will color his perception of whatever stack of flapjacks rests before him. My solution: get over what I think he's thinking and make my life easier.
In an effort to be more food storage friendly I've started tinkering with this recipe and converting it one using powdered milk and powdered buttermilk. We havn't gotten into powdered eggs yet since my resource for them is more expensive than fresh anyway and the very idea of powdered eggs makes my skin crawl.
Tweaking a pancake recipe is definitely easy around here but the most annoying thing is when they fold as they get turned so the texture can't be properly evaluated. Oh, well. Even the flap-jack-flip-flops taste good enough that my spawn descend upon them as locusts.
Powdered buttermilk means I need to adjust salt levels and baking soda levels, or even think seriously about eliminating the bicarb altogether since it has baking powder as well and just 1/4 tsp of baking soda makes the batter erupts like Mt St Helens after a lousy date.
Even if I don't get the perfect pancake, I can always add chocolate chips.
Or PB m&m's.
Is there anything chocolate or pb can't do?
Also, does anyone have a good pancake recipe that uses powdered milk and tiny bits of baking soda?
But I have a problem. I've used The Best Recipe's recipe for pancakes ever since I got the book for Christmas and nothing can compare to them. Nothing. It's a fairly picky recipe where I have to be careful about which of my measuring cups I use (they each, despite saying they have the same capacity, vary by as much as a tablespoon) and be very precise in how I measure the clabbered milk.
I despise finicky recipes. There is nothing worse than a recipe that can give you glorious results but only 20% of the time based on a slight tweak in chemistry. The best recipes are fairly forgiving and still delicious. Even homemade bread isn't as picky as these pancakes. When I make them for real (buttermilk and everything) the baking soda can still be tasted which is another thing I despise.
In my mind, this level of pickiness makes them far from ideal and therefore imminently replaceable. I've been trying different recipes for pancakes for the last few days in an effort to 1) find a nice, forgiving one that my husband can accept as our forever pancakes and 2) gently acclimate my family to anything besides TBR recipe.
In Man's defense, he's fine with whatever. But I know that in his heart he'll remember the few times I've gotten the pancakes perfect and that will color his perception of whatever stack of flapjacks rests before him. My solution: get over what I think he's thinking and make my life easier.
In an effort to be more food storage friendly I've started tinkering with this recipe and converting it one using powdered milk and powdered buttermilk. We havn't gotten into powdered eggs yet since my resource for them is more expensive than fresh anyway and the very idea of powdered eggs makes my skin crawl.
Tweaking a pancake recipe is definitely easy around here but the most annoying thing is when they fold as they get turned so the texture can't be properly evaluated. Oh, well. Even the flap-jack-flip-flops taste good enough that my spawn descend upon them as locusts.
Powdered buttermilk means I need to adjust salt levels and baking soda levels, or even think seriously about eliminating the bicarb altogether since it has baking powder as well and just 1/4 tsp of baking soda makes the batter erupts like Mt St Helens after a lousy date.
Even if I don't get the perfect pancake, I can always add chocolate chips.
Or PB m&m's.
Is there anything chocolate or pb can't do?
Also, does anyone have a good pancake recipe that uses powdered milk and tiny bits of baking soda?
Tuesday, February 24, 2009
Prodding for hope
The Army exists in an interesting sort of time warp. Or maybe time warp is too simple an idea... how about a folly fractal. Everything that happens on a lower level also happens on a higher level, and everything that goes wrong in a small way also goes wrong in a much larger way.
They have the most antiquated ideas concerning how to treat a traditional single soldier and yet they engage the most advanced science to grow ears in a petri dish for those who lost them in combat. They build state of the art recon gadgets but can't get body armor right. They can invade a country but can't figure out when to leave.
On a smaller level, hazing is still a large part of the training process no matter how small a group of people you have or whether the team leader is a lower rank than the people s/he is in charge of, but every sympathy is extended and they bend over backward with help from chaplains or even money if a close family member dies. They spend a lot of money building new houses to attract new recruits but the houses are so shoddily built that, on a windy day, you can fly a kite in your living room. They can tell you when to report to a place, but they can't tell you when movers might show up until just a couple of weeks before it happens.
I've found that there is a dance of acquiring details from people no matter how high up a chain they might be. No one wants to commit to anything.
Calling the housing office of the place we're moving to:
Me: Thanks for putting me on the waiting list!
Office Lady: There's one little detail we need to talk about. Do you want to go onto the 5 bedroom waiting list or the 4 bedroom waiting list?
Me: What are the advantages of either list, besides the obvious extra bedroom?
OL: Oh, the 5 bedroom wait list moves a little more slowly.
Me: Slowly? How slowly?
OL: They're redoing houses and making new ones, and we give them to people on the list as they are available.
Me: So.... right. Are you saying you get one about every 3-4 months?
Timeout: Sometimes when I give people a ballpark window to choose from, I go with what I imagine to be a worst-case scenario. I thought that 3-4 was a really long time, so I prepared myself for the worst so that I could feel some relief when she would laugh and say "oh, no, about every other month or so."
OL: No, every 6 months, and you'd be 4th on the list.
Me: Oh, dear. What's the wait time like for the 4 bedroom house?
OL: Oh, shorter than the 5 bedroom for sure.
Me: [exasperated that she won't stinking tell me HOW LONG without doing the hope dance] So... 2 months? 3 months?
OL: No, less than that.
Me: How long might that be?
OL: The average is 45 days.
-sigh-
We've had the same headache concerning getting movers to our house ("Oh, it might be around these dates"), when some training will happen ("if everything goes the way it's supposed to, it may happen around these two weeks"), and etc.
These are uncertain times, indeed.
They have the most antiquated ideas concerning how to treat a traditional single soldier and yet they engage the most advanced science to grow ears in a petri dish for those who lost them in combat. They build state of the art recon gadgets but can't get body armor right. They can invade a country but can't figure out when to leave.
On a smaller level, hazing is still a large part of the training process no matter how small a group of people you have or whether the team leader is a lower rank than the people s/he is in charge of, but every sympathy is extended and they bend over backward with help from chaplains or even money if a close family member dies. They spend a lot of money building new houses to attract new recruits but the houses are so shoddily built that, on a windy day, you can fly a kite in your living room. They can tell you when to report to a place, but they can't tell you when movers might show up until just a couple of weeks before it happens.
I've found that there is a dance of acquiring details from people no matter how high up a chain they might be. No one wants to commit to anything.
Calling the housing office of the place we're moving to:
Me: Thanks for putting me on the waiting list!
Office Lady: There's one little detail we need to talk about. Do you want to go onto the 5 bedroom waiting list or the 4 bedroom waiting list?
Me: What are the advantages of either list, besides the obvious extra bedroom?
OL: Oh, the 5 bedroom wait list moves a little more slowly.
Me: Slowly? How slowly?
OL: They're redoing houses and making new ones, and we give them to people on the list as they are available.
Me: So.... right. Are you saying you get one about every 3-4 months?
Timeout: Sometimes when I give people a ballpark window to choose from, I go with what I imagine to be a worst-case scenario. I thought that 3-4 was a really long time, so I prepared myself for the worst so that I could feel some relief when she would laugh and say "oh, no, about every other month or so."
OL: No, every 6 months, and you'd be 4th on the list.
Me: Oh, dear. What's the wait time like for the 4 bedroom house?
OL: Oh, shorter than the 5 bedroom for sure.
Me: [exasperated that she won't stinking tell me HOW LONG without doing the hope dance] So... 2 months? 3 months?
OL: No, less than that.
Me: How long might that be?
OL: The average is 45 days.
-sigh-
We've had the same headache concerning getting movers to our house ("Oh, it might be around these dates"), when some training will happen ("if everything goes the way it's supposed to, it may happen around these two weeks"), and etc.
These are uncertain times, indeed.
Sunday, February 22, 2009
pancakes
We've been having a bit of fun putting extras into our pancakes lately. Last week we tried mini chocolate chips, and this week it was mini m&m's. This is what the batter looked like most of the way through the process:
These are a few of our "rainbow" pancakes.
The final result wasn't as rainbow as the kids would have liked:
A pic of a girl in her long johns and sandals.
And a happy little girl:
It's hard to get a good pic of Freida's "real" face. I think this is a good representation.
edited to add the funny part: (how can someone forget the funny part???)
Man and I were talking about the results of the m&m pancakes.
Man: Maybe we should try normal sized m&m's next time. These mini m&m's are a tease more than anything.
Me: That's an interesting idea. And maybe add them to each pancake so we don't get gray goop by the end.
Man: Yeah... actually, what would you think of something like peanut butter m&m's?
Me: ....you're going to get in trouble for suggesting them.
Man: [confused] Why?
Me: Don't you know that anyone who comes up with a tasty, fattening food item that a woman would love to eat gets in trouble? It's just a fact of life.
Man: Well, too bad. I think it'd be worth a try. Just have some self control.
Me: [dreaming of PB m&m pancakes] Maybe with that PB ice cream topping over the top instead of syrup...
Man: Wow, that's starting to sound gross actually.
And he's right. Too rich. The mini m&m pancakes were quite tasty despite dying our insides.
And don't miss my new pancake mix poll over to the right!
Zit poll results: 7 of you said that it's worse to do a bad coverup of a nasty zit vs. the 3 who said to just let the zip exist au natural. Sorry, I'm sticking with my makeup dabs even if it's only half effective... it's a mental thing.
These are a few of our "rainbow" pancakes.
The final result wasn't as rainbow as the kids would have liked:
A pic of a girl in her long johns and sandals.
And a happy little girl:
It's hard to get a good pic of Freida's "real" face. I think this is a good representation.edited to add the funny part: (how can someone forget the funny part???)
Man and I were talking about the results of the m&m pancakes.
Man: Maybe we should try normal sized m&m's next time. These mini m&m's are a tease more than anything.
Me: That's an interesting idea. And maybe add them to each pancake so we don't get gray goop by the end.
Man: Yeah... actually, what would you think of something like peanut butter m&m's?
Me: ....you're going to get in trouble for suggesting them.
Man: [confused] Why?
Me: Don't you know that anyone who comes up with a tasty, fattening food item that a woman would love to eat gets in trouble? It's just a fact of life.
Man: Well, too bad. I think it'd be worth a try. Just have some self control.
Me: [dreaming of PB m&m pancakes] Maybe with that PB ice cream topping over the top instead of syrup...
Man: Wow, that's starting to sound gross actually.
And he's right. Too rich. The mini m&m pancakes were quite tasty despite dying our insides.
And don't miss my new pancake mix poll over to the right!
Zit poll results: 7 of you said that it's worse to do a bad coverup of a nasty zit vs. the 3 who said to just let the zip exist au natural. Sorry, I'm sticking with my makeup dabs even if it's only half effective... it's a mental thing.
The OCD Food Stasher
My mental process when it comes to food storage:
Oooo, the prophet says to get food storage. Look at how much money we could save by using it! Fantastic!
Ooooo, this involves menu planning. Let's plan it out by month so we can arrange for the family to have their FDA recommended amounts of tuna (not too often, but at least twice a month). Then we have to plan on having the right kind of TVP for each planned meal item. We can't have menu items repeat more than once every other month, store enough fruits and vegetables for each person, plan desserts, oh and if we need this during Christmas we have to plan that menu as well.
Wait, wait, this is getting silly. I'll just write down what we really eat for a month and that'll give me a great spring board for what I want to store.
I can't believe we eat hotdogs this often. Where are the vegetables?? Gosh, we havn't eaten tuna in at least 6 months. Do some quick math... -faint- I can't believe we'd need THAT MUCH SUGAR to have a year's supply of food storage.
What am I thinking? If I store what we'd really eat everyone will know how much white flour, canned fruit, and white sugar we eat. And where will I find freeze-dried hotdogs?? Maybe I could just gets mondo cans of Beanie-Weenie.
I have to seriously overhaul our diet before I start storing things. And I hate canned vegetables. What would I do with 50 pounds of frozen corn if the power goes out? What if I want to have hamburgers in my food storage? What does a TVP hamburger taste like?
This is looking harder than I thought at first. There are ladies all over the internet who use this stuff all the time, for each meal of each day. They have shelves like these ones, use crazy recipes like these ones to use all that dried milk no one ever touches, and have tons of recipes that actually taste good and use up the food storage.
One problem: I already have hobbies. Like blogging, reading, lousy crafting, and raising kids. I hope they come up with a cookbook that helps this whole "modern food storage" craze make sense.
In the mean time... is Beenie-Weenie still being made??
Oooo, the prophet says to get food storage. Look at how much money we could save by using it! Fantastic!
Ooooo, this involves menu planning. Let's plan it out by month so we can arrange for the family to have their FDA recommended amounts of tuna (not too often, but at least twice a month). Then we have to plan on having the right kind of TVP for each planned meal item. We can't have menu items repeat more than once every other month, store enough fruits and vegetables for each person, plan desserts, oh and if we need this during Christmas we have to plan that menu as well.
Wait, wait, this is getting silly. I'll just write down what we really eat for a month and that'll give me a great spring board for what I want to store.
I can't believe we eat hotdogs this often. Where are the vegetables?? Gosh, we havn't eaten tuna in at least 6 months. Do some quick math... -faint- I can't believe we'd need THAT MUCH SUGAR to have a year's supply of food storage.
What am I thinking? If I store what we'd really eat everyone will know how much white flour, canned fruit, and white sugar we eat. And where will I find freeze-dried hotdogs?? Maybe I could just gets mondo cans of Beanie-Weenie.
I have to seriously overhaul our diet before I start storing things. And I hate canned vegetables. What would I do with 50 pounds of frozen corn if the power goes out? What if I want to have hamburgers in my food storage? What does a TVP hamburger taste like?
This is looking harder than I thought at first. There are ladies all over the internet who use this stuff all the time, for each meal of each day. They have shelves like these ones, use crazy recipes like these ones to use all that dried milk no one ever touches, and have tons of recipes that actually taste good and use up the food storage.
One problem: I already have hobbies. Like blogging, reading, lousy crafting, and raising kids. I hope they come up with a cookbook that helps this whole "modern food storage" craze make sense.
In the mean time... is Beenie-Weenie still being made??
Thursday, February 19, 2009
Freida
I love my baby. Yes, she's 14 months old and baby. She's cute, makes fun faces, and nuzzles my neck when she's sad.
Two weeks ago, she couldn't reach the top of the table. Now, keep in mind that I never learned to use any fancy diagram making software so you'll have to deal with paint images:
Now she has discovered what a difference growing about 2 inches in 4 four hours can make. This is what we're dealing with now:
The kids are accustomed to Pebbles being the only person who could reach the table. Pebbles' safe zones now includes the top of the fridge, dark closets, and the more treacherous parts of the roof.
Now we know just where Freida's range is b/c she has managed to dump at least 4 bowls of oatmeal on her head in the last week. I usually find this out when she comes to tell me hi and my pants get a facial.
Also, here's the beginning of a blanket. Flowers and butterflies forthcoming.
Also, this pic is for Uncle Jim. Yes, we still have, use, and love these sweatshirts.
Two weeks ago, she couldn't reach the top of the table. Now, keep in mind that I never learned to use any fancy diagram making software so you'll have to deal with paint images:
Now she has discovered what a difference growing about 2 inches in 4 four hours can make. This is what we're dealing with now:
Now we know just where Freida's range is b/c she has managed to dump at least 4 bowls of oatmeal on her head in the last week. I usually find this out when she comes to tell me hi and my pants get a facial.
Also, here's the beginning of a blanket. Flowers and butterflies forthcoming.
Also, this pic is for Uncle Jim. Yes, we still have, use, and love these sweatshirts.
Wednesday, February 18, 2009
Tuesday, February 17, 2009
President's Day
Parm chicken:
I don't have the original recipe anymore but it was so simple. Here's how I'd make it next time:
4 chicken breasts, either sliced thin or pounded flat
2 cups fine saltine crumbs (let your kids make these for you)
1 T basil
1 tsp garlic powder
1/2 tsp ground black pepper
2 eggs, beaten thoroughly so you don't have any egg white intact
dash salt
Fav. spaghetti sauce
1/4 cup parm cheese
4-6 ounces mozzarella cheese, sliced
Angel hair pasta
Heat oven to 375°. Make sure your chicken is thawed and thin. You can either use a mallet to do this or slice it. Mix the crumbs with basil, garlic powder, and pepper. In separate bowl, mix egg and dash salt. Heat oven-proof skillet on medium to medium-high heat and coat cooking surface with non-stick spray. Dip chicken in egg, then in cracker crumbs on both sides. Add to skillet. Brown crumbs and flip. Brown crumbs on the other side. Don't be shy about this -- you want a good, medium brown. Add spaghetti sauce to the skillet but don't cover the chicken completely. Top each slice with a sprinkle of parm and mozzarella. Bake uncovered for 15-20 mins. Test chicken with an instant read thermometer. Serve with cooked angel hair pasta.
The thing on Friday turned out ok. I thawed the chicken to find that all of it was thin sliced. So, not only did she triple the recipe on paper, I think she tripled the chicken from the tripling of the recipe. So, what started out as a recipe for 4 thin slices of chicken ended up being 36 pieces of chicken per batch. The pasta got made right away and tossed with the sauce, and divided among the two roasting pans. My two largest skillets were working full time for about an hour and a half. As a result of the shoddy proportioning I ran out of bread crumbs before I was 1/4 of the way through the chicken. The bags that were used to portion out the ingredients all broke so the cheese was everywhere, the oil leaked all over everything, and the bread crumbs got oil in them. I sent Man to church with the first pan once it came out of the oven but he called from church to let me know that there was twice as much food as necessary there. So, the bishop's wife is having us freeze the second huge batch of parm chicken and keep it on hand for any need that might come up in the ward. Hah! She said that one half would be about a family sized meal, right? I don't know if she realized that there were about 18 servings of meat per half, but I cut it down the middle and put freezer paper into the cut, wrapped the whole thing in foil, and I'm hoping that I can just give this to her one of these Sundays before we move and I just won't have to deal with it. One of those halves should feed a large family for 2-3 days.
On the other hand, now I know how to make an impossibly large batch of chicken parm as long as I don't have tiny people wrapping themselves around my legs while massive amounts of bacteria attempt a coup in my tonsils. I just don't have time for that sort of political drama on a Friday afternoon.
The activity itself was creative and fun. There was a cake walk, V-day bingo using picture riddles, and it was nice to chat with grownups for a change.
We spent Saturday cleaning the house and running errands. I stayed home from church on Sunday with the baby and finally got the sleep my body craved. Man also let me nap Monday. I can finally get along without pain killer and huge mugs of tea.
Not sure how to end this, so how about a positive note....
Pebbles is very close to being fully potty trained. The last step is the night diaper. I'm not sure what it's going to take to make that leap but I'm hopeful that we'll soon have just one little person in diapers.
I don't have the original recipe anymore but it was so simple. Here's how I'd make it next time:
4 chicken breasts, either sliced thin or pounded flat
2 cups fine saltine crumbs (let your kids make these for you)
1 T basil
1 tsp garlic powder
1/2 tsp ground black pepper
2 eggs, beaten thoroughly so you don't have any egg white intact
dash salt
Fav. spaghetti sauce
1/4 cup parm cheese
4-6 ounces mozzarella cheese, sliced
Angel hair pasta
Heat oven to 375°. Make sure your chicken is thawed and thin. You can either use a mallet to do this or slice it. Mix the crumbs with basil, garlic powder, and pepper. In separate bowl, mix egg and dash salt. Heat oven-proof skillet on medium to medium-high heat and coat cooking surface with non-stick spray. Dip chicken in egg, then in cracker crumbs on both sides. Add to skillet. Brown crumbs and flip. Brown crumbs on the other side. Don't be shy about this -- you want a good, medium brown. Add spaghetti sauce to the skillet but don't cover the chicken completely. Top each slice with a sprinkle of parm and mozzarella. Bake uncovered for 15-20 mins. Test chicken with an instant read thermometer. Serve with cooked angel hair pasta.
The thing on Friday turned out ok. I thawed the chicken to find that all of it was thin sliced. So, not only did she triple the recipe on paper, I think she tripled the chicken from the tripling of the recipe. So, what started out as a recipe for 4 thin slices of chicken ended up being 36 pieces of chicken per batch. The pasta got made right away and tossed with the sauce, and divided among the two roasting pans. My two largest skillets were working full time for about an hour and a half. As a result of the shoddy proportioning I ran out of bread crumbs before I was 1/4 of the way through the chicken. The bags that were used to portion out the ingredients all broke so the cheese was everywhere, the oil leaked all over everything, and the bread crumbs got oil in them. I sent Man to church with the first pan once it came out of the oven but he called from church to let me know that there was twice as much food as necessary there. So, the bishop's wife is having us freeze the second huge batch of parm chicken and keep it on hand for any need that might come up in the ward. Hah! She said that one half would be about a family sized meal, right? I don't know if she realized that there were about 18 servings of meat per half, but I cut it down the middle and put freezer paper into the cut, wrapped the whole thing in foil, and I'm hoping that I can just give this to her one of these Sundays before we move and I just won't have to deal with it. One of those halves should feed a large family for 2-3 days.
On the other hand, now I know how to make an impossibly large batch of chicken parm as long as I don't have tiny people wrapping themselves around my legs while massive amounts of bacteria attempt a coup in my tonsils. I just don't have time for that sort of political drama on a Friday afternoon.
The activity itself was creative and fun. There was a cake walk, V-day bingo using picture riddles, and it was nice to chat with grownups for a change.
We spent Saturday cleaning the house and running errands. I stayed home from church on Sunday with the baby and finally got the sleep my body craved. Man also let me nap Monday. I can finally get along without pain killer and huge mugs of tea.
Not sure how to end this, so how about a positive note....
Pebbles is very close to being fully potty trained. The last step is the night diaper. I'm not sure what it's going to take to make that leap but I'm hopeful that we'll soon have just one little person in diapers.
Thursday, February 12, 2009
Misunderstanding
How does this happen?
Our ward is tiny. I think we have fewer than 150 active people coming each week. A hand out was passed around a couple of weeks ago asking who would like to make some chicken parmesan to bring to a potluck for a ward Valentine's activity. The handout came to the Primary last (which is where Man and I work) and there were still two slots left when I, the last person in the whole church, received the sign up. I asked the lady specifically and clearly, "is this something that will fit into a 9x13" pan?"
"Oh, yes!" she cried. "Definitely."
"Cool," I said. "I'd be happy to fill those last two slots since my oven can hold two 9x13" pans."
Fast forward to this past Sunday. This particular ward potluck doesn't have much luck to it since we were given the ingredients and the recipe we were to follow. (can I follow it?? Mmmmmmmmmmm.... not likely.) And then she tells us that she has had to TRIPLE each batch and hands us all these turkey roaster-sized disposable roasting pans filled with two gallon-sized ziploc bags of chicken, a whole huge can of spaghetti sauce, and at least a pound of spaghetti noodles among the other little ingredients. Me? I get two. TWO!! Precisely what I signed up for but TIMES THREE after fulfilling my end of the assessment phase by asking the quantity question.
How the heck am I supposed to cook two of these things when I have only one oven rack?
I'm feeling a little betrayed. I'll think of something though.
Even if I have to tweak the recipe, like, A LOT.
On top of that I have tonsillitis so I guess I'll be making it in a burka so keep the infection from spreading. [/pity party]
Our ward is tiny. I think we have fewer than 150 active people coming each week. A hand out was passed around a couple of weeks ago asking who would like to make some chicken parmesan to bring to a potluck for a ward Valentine's activity. The handout came to the Primary last (which is where Man and I work) and there were still two slots left when I, the last person in the whole church, received the sign up. I asked the lady specifically and clearly, "is this something that will fit into a 9x13" pan?"
"Oh, yes!" she cried. "Definitely."
"Cool," I said. "I'd be happy to fill those last two slots since my oven can hold two 9x13" pans."
Fast forward to this past Sunday. This particular ward potluck doesn't have much luck to it since we were given the ingredients and the recipe we were to follow. (can I follow it?? Mmmmmmmmmmm.... not likely.) And then she tells us that she has had to TRIPLE each batch and hands us all these turkey roaster-sized disposable roasting pans filled with two gallon-sized ziploc bags of chicken, a whole huge can of spaghetti sauce, and at least a pound of spaghetti noodles among the other little ingredients. Me? I get two. TWO!! Precisely what I signed up for but TIMES THREE after fulfilling my end of the assessment phase by asking the quantity question.
How the heck am I supposed to cook two of these things when I have only one oven rack?
I'm feeling a little betrayed. I'll think of something though.
Even if I have to tweak the recipe, like, A LOT.
On top of that I have tonsillitis so I guess I'll be making it in a burka so keep the infection from spreading. [/pity party]
Wednesday, February 11, 2009
Dust storms
I've decided that dust storms are cool. As long as you can stay inside for them.
Inasmuch as I was impressed by the Monterey fog, the dust storms here are awfully intimidating to watch but beautiful in their own "Dust Bowl" sort of way. This particular storm blew down part of our fence and had some shingles on the neighbor's house hanging by a nail.
Funny how things like that will make a person paranoid. I made sure that the AC was off just in case the dust would clog the air system. Would it? I don't know. I did that for the same reason I remove floating beans when I set them to soak.
Tuesday, February 10, 2009
new clothes
A pic of Freida in clothes my mom sent. Thanks, Oma! It's a very cute outfit. We'll try to take pics of the other one later. Yes, that's a cookie in her hand and cookie crumbs she's smearing on the couch. Thank heaven for micro fiber.
Pebbles just had to be in the photo shoot...
...so she could make faces at the camera again.
And yes, she loves wearing that red dress. How could you tell?
Pebbles just had to be in the photo shoot...
...so she could make faces at the camera again.
And yes, she loves wearing that red dress. How could you tell?
Sunday, February 08, 2009
Freida, enjoying the time outside.
Pebbles trying to put a good dent in the pinata.
Spoils!
No glasses, slipping blindfold.
We let them take turns pulling the rope.
And my mother in law requested a pic of all four kids together but Freida wasn't having any of that. Man stepped in but doesn't want his pic on the 'net.
Happy Birthday, Pebbles! She's 3!
Pebbles trying to put a good dent in the pinata.
Spoils!
No glasses, slipping blindfold.
We let them take turns pulling the rope.
And my mother in law requested a pic of all four kids together but Freida wasn't having any of that. Man stepped in but doesn't want his pic on the 'net.
Happy Birthday, Pebbles! She's 3!
Friday, February 06, 2009
Thursday, February 05, 2009
Pics
It has been a while since I've posted pics of the kids. Tag and Pebbles were into it but Princess is doing this thing where she avoids having her pic taken if at all possible. I think she likes the attention of someone trying to get her pic because as soon as I shrug and say "ok, that's fine" she says "wait! Take one now!" Freida doesn't like it to too much due to the mini-nova-esque flash.
Frieda, just up from a nap. Her eyes are big and bright and curly-lashed.
My boy loves any and all attention and isn't afraid to show it.
Silly kid, pausing in face making and peekaboo to let me catch one decent pic.
The face making. I love how you can not only see her tonsils, but her teeth are casting amazing shadows.
They just had 100 Day at school. We sent Tag with 100 pieces of Cap'N'Crunch.
I tried to get a pic of her without her pacifier. I love the look on Pebbles' face.
Aw, feeling a little better...
Because she was about to get the plug back. Once again, this was taken right after a nap.
Princess had come to tattle on someone (something I've observed her teacher encouraging) and couldn't be troubled with smiling with such pressing matters to attend to as Tag playing with the hose.
Tag, showing off the watch he got at Sonic.
Frieda, just up from a nap. Her eyes are big and bright and curly-lashed.
My boy loves any and all attention and isn't afraid to show it.
Silly kid, pausing in face making and peekaboo to let me catch one decent pic.
The face making. I love how you can not only see her tonsils, but her teeth are casting amazing shadows.
They just had 100 Day at school. We sent Tag with 100 pieces of Cap'N'Crunch.
I tried to get a pic of her without her pacifier. I love the look on Pebbles' face.
Aw, feeling a little better...
Because she was about to get the plug back. Once again, this was taken right after a nap.
Princess had come to tattle on someone (something I've observed her teacher encouraging) and couldn't be troubled with smiling with such pressing matters to attend to as Tag playing with the hose.
Tag, showing off the watch he got at Sonic.
Wednesday, February 04, 2009
-sigh-
In the swirling symphony of awesomeness that is my life, I still can't think of what to blog today.
How about Man's shoulder? He had a follow up with his surgeon yesterday. Turns out that he's getting frozen shoulder and the pain, which initially appeared to be diminishing, is still bad enough that living without pain meds isn't an option. Now what? We try chiropractic, and the fort we're moving to has some sort of pain treatment center he's going to try to get into. In the mean time we make sure to have full bottles of Tylenol Arthritis, Naprosyn, vet-grade Motrin, and Vicodin. We're even considering acupuncture. I think he should take yoga to help stretch himself out. He's a very tense person and I'm sure that the Army physical therapists aren't helping a whole lot. They tried deep tissue massage using some sort of scraping method that left enormous swaths of skin on the back, shoulder, and pec area deep purples and greens. It was shocking to see.
After getting dishes and laundry done yesterday, I took the little girls out to the mall so my house would stay clean for a while. Pebbles loved the fountains there and I got to scope out the bedding in the department stores. We also stopped at Bed, Bath and Beyond to see what they had to offer. The parking lot was bare enough that I wondered if it was open. After going inside and seeing price tags, I no longer wondered about the lack of people. Penny's was less expensive and had the same quality of linens.
After a day of window shopping Man and I sat down to discuss what we'd do with our tax return.
Man: Let's make a new list.
Me: We've done that about 3 times a year for the last few years. Why don't we just add to the old one?
Man: Oh, ok.
Me: Here it is. "TV". What size did you want again?
Man: Oh, we should get that after we move. [he got the Man Eye-Twinkle.]
Me: So, 38", 42"....
Man: Let's see what we have after we move. [Twinkle, Twinkle]
Me: [trying to figure out how I can express how silly it seems to me to have a bigger tv than we already possess. Isn't 36" big enough?]
Man: We could use the one we have as a computer monitor.
Me: Wh-What? [if I had the wherewithal to do a spit take, I woulda] A computer monitor?? A 36" computer monitor?? [I couldn't even conceive of such a thing]
Man: You don't think that's a good idea?
Me: [dumbfounded] There are starving, naked, plague-ridden people in every country in the world [take that, 60's mom], our kids need larger shoes and clothes about every 4 months, we have particle board chests of drawers, Frieda will need a bed in another year, we're not sure how long the van will last especially after another cross country move, the girls have utility shelves in their room instead of real furniture, and you want to use a 36" tv as a computer monitor?
Man: [looking a little hurt] That's why this is called a wish list.
And he's right. It doesn't hurt to dream.
But I'm still flabbergasted.
Man: Go ahead and put all that stuff you mentioned on the wish list and then we'll prioritize it. It's ok if the tv is dangling at the bottom.
Honestly, the only thing that kept us from getting a bigger tv earlier is that I got this entertainment center that can't hold a tv any larger than the one we have. Go, me. We'll have to wait on furniture purchases until we move. It's silly to buy things that suit this place only to take it somewhere else.
I think me and my trembling knees will have to hit garage sales for the kids' stuff. The wish list is long.
How about Man's shoulder? He had a follow up with his surgeon yesterday. Turns out that he's getting frozen shoulder and the pain, which initially appeared to be diminishing, is still bad enough that living without pain meds isn't an option. Now what? We try chiropractic, and the fort we're moving to has some sort of pain treatment center he's going to try to get into. In the mean time we make sure to have full bottles of Tylenol Arthritis, Naprosyn, vet-grade Motrin, and Vicodin. We're even considering acupuncture. I think he should take yoga to help stretch himself out. He's a very tense person and I'm sure that the Army physical therapists aren't helping a whole lot. They tried deep tissue massage using some sort of scraping method that left enormous swaths of skin on the back, shoulder, and pec area deep purples and greens. It was shocking to see.
After getting dishes and laundry done yesterday, I took the little girls out to the mall so my house would stay clean for a while. Pebbles loved the fountains there and I got to scope out the bedding in the department stores. We also stopped at Bed, Bath and Beyond to see what they had to offer. The parking lot was bare enough that I wondered if it was open. After going inside and seeing price tags, I no longer wondered about the lack of people. Penny's was less expensive and had the same quality of linens.
After a day of window shopping Man and I sat down to discuss what we'd do with our tax return.
Man: Let's make a new list.
Me: We've done that about 3 times a year for the last few years. Why don't we just add to the old one?
Man: Oh, ok.
Me: Here it is. "TV". What size did you want again?
Man: Oh, we should get that after we move. [he got the Man Eye-Twinkle.]
Me: So, 38", 42"....
Man: Let's see what we have after we move. [Twinkle, Twinkle]
Me: [trying to figure out how I can express how silly it seems to me to have a bigger tv than we already possess. Isn't 36" big enough?]
Man: We could use the one we have as a computer monitor.
Me: Wh-What? [if I had the wherewithal to do a spit take, I woulda] A computer monitor?? A 36" computer monitor?? [I couldn't even conceive of such a thing]
Man: You don't think that's a good idea?
Me: [dumbfounded] There are starving, naked, plague-ridden people in every country in the world [take that, 60's mom], our kids need larger shoes and clothes about every 4 months, we have particle board chests of drawers, Frieda will need a bed in another year, we're not sure how long the van will last especially after another cross country move, the girls have utility shelves in their room instead of real furniture, and you want to use a 36" tv as a computer monitor?
Man: [looking a little hurt] That's why this is called a wish list.
And he's right. It doesn't hurt to dream.
But I'm still flabbergasted.
Man: Go ahead and put all that stuff you mentioned on the wish list and then we'll prioritize it. It's ok if the tv is dangling at the bottom.
Honestly, the only thing that kept us from getting a bigger tv earlier is that I got this entertainment center that can't hold a tv any larger than the one we have. Go, me. We'll have to wait on furniture purchases until we move. It's silly to buy things that suit this place only to take it somewhere else.
I think me and my trembling knees will have to hit garage sales for the kids' stuff. The wish list is long.
Monday, February 02, 2009
Monday, Monday
Every other day, every other day,
Every other day of the week is fine, yeah
But whenever Monday comes, but whenever Monday comes
You can find me cryin' all of the time
Every other day of the week is fine, yeah
But whenever Monday comes, but whenever Monday comes
You can find me cryin' all of the time
Ah, the weekend. Everyone wants to crash, do nothing, just chill, veg. Including me.
Mondays. Ah, Mondays.
Mondays. Ah, Mondays.
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