Moments in Thyme

september 16

2009-09-16T07:59:00.000-07:00

The cast is off, and H's arm is healing very well. Every day she is able to straighten it a bit more. The specialist is very happy with the results so far.

The kids are back in school and I am home organizing ( still!) the results of two months away. It's a little easier now that they are not home all day, but there is so much to accomplish. I am glad that I took the month of September off to get my projects done.

October 1st I am going to post 31 days of Soup. The dh and the kids want me to have soup on hand at all times LOL... okay... that's a bit of a challenge I guess. Nothing from a can Mom! I agree with that totally!

2009-08-23T15:44:00.000-07:00

The people in the ED were really nice and pretty attentive. Everything seems to take a long time when you are dealing with your child being hurt though. The orthos decided to reduce the fracture in the ED so they prepped H and us too, telling us about Ketamine, the med they were giving her. The dr explained that it was widely used in the hospital on children because its short acting etc. He cautioned that she would go under very quickly and it would be freaky because her eyes would be open but she would definitely be asleep. He then asked if I would stay while she went under as studies had shown that kids who went in calm came out of it calm too..

They injected the med into her iv all at once. One second she was sobbing and I was telling her that i loved her, and then she was gone. Eyes wide open, but obviously there was no Hannah in there. Very upsetting. The dr's assured me that she was fine. I left the room with Kenny, and the nurses directed us to the general waiting area. I was pretty upset at this point. Not two minutes later we hear the respiratory team being called to room 24. Hannah's room. They had to resuscitate her. no pun intended but it took my breath away to hear that. Kenny and I were so overwhelmed. The nurses took us to a private waiting area and one of the interns came in to explain what happened.The dr's decided to continue with the reduction once Hannah was stabilized.... about fifteen minutes into the anesthesia at this point. They lifted her arm and she sat up in the bed and started screaming. They gave her valium and sedated her and continued on. The reduction was not a complete success so they casted her arm again and called us in. The one dr appeared to be pretty shook up, he said he had never seen such an adverse reaction in a child. The nurse said Hannah is to NEVER have Ketamine EVER again. The ortho decided that she needed pins in her arm, so up to the OR we went. Kenny and I met with the surgical team and they were very reassuring to us, no nothing like what happened downstairs would happen in the OR. They were right. The dr did a great job on Hannah's arm, declared it perfect and she went to recovery. Kenny and I were literally dead on our feet, he passed out in the waiting area. Hannah and Kenny slept right through recovery. LOL. We were given a room in the pediatric wing and finally slept for a few hours undisturbed. Saturday around 11am we were ready to leave. A few days on her medications and some grumpiness over the whole no swim thing and she is pretty much back to normal. Today is Sunday and we are sitting in a hotel room in Burlington waiting for the morning to come so that she can get her hard cast on. Waterproof and pink.

2009-08-18T07:56:00.000-07:00

Hannah’s Story ( from her mama’s perspective)

I was sitting in on staff meeting in Lodge 6 when the waterfront director, Liz came in and said the nurse needed me. I asked her who was in there and she said Hannah. I thought ok she had a stomach ache earlier that’s probably it. The nurse’s station is right next to lodge six, a firewall the only thing in between. When I opened the fire door I heard Hannah. She was screaming, no no no, stop stop stop. I walked into the nurses room to see the nurse cradling Hannah’s left arm, telling her to calm down, juggling her arm while holding a glove of ice to her elbow. Hannah wouldn’t calm down, she was very out of control. I asked the nurse repeatedly to stop moving Hannah’s arm but the nurse, who is elderly, did not hear me. Finally I took Hannah’s arm out of her grasp and said STOP in a really loud voice. I looked at Hannah’s arm and didn’t see a compound fracture in her forearm but something wasn’t right so I went and got more ice from the kitchen, called Ken and asked him to meet me at Glens Falls Hospital, grabbed a cloth to use as a sling and went back and got Hannah. Again, the nurse was juggling Hannah’s arm, trying to get her to calm down. I have a voice mail from the nurse saying she didn’t believe that Hannah’s arm was broken, that she was just wanting her mother.
( just as a side note here, the elderly nurse, in my opinion, should never be allowed on campus as nurse of the week again. Her impaired hearing and forgetfulness is a true liability to the camp, and I did note this at the last board meeting.)
We got Hannah into the van and I drove to Glens Falls Hospital. The x rays showed a severe fracture of the upper arm just above the growth plate. The PA splinted and wrapped her arm and said we needed to see the orthopedic in the morning.
We went to North Country Sports Medicine where the PA there told us that there was no pediatric ortho available anywhere near us, including Albany. He said the arm could be casted and we could “hope.” No. Okay so they called Fletcher Allen Health Care in Burlington Vermont. I was assured that the Pediatric Ortho was in contact with the hospital and they were waiting our arrival.
Ken picked us up at home, Morgan went to my mother’s and Joshua was still at camp. He was picked up later by Cate. We drove to Burlington and it seemed to take forever. When we arrived we were ushered into triage and then into room 24.

my last week of work

2009-08-11T14:54:00.000-07:00

This is my last week of work. There is no money to make payroll. The executive director is leaving, the program director is leaving, I am leaving. I do not like the new guy coming in, he has no power and yet he thinks he does. He thought he could schmooze everyone. He cannot. This is a Christian Camp.... not some high tech resort for the wealthy. Once Jesus is shoved aside for other money making plans, the gig is up. They had to cancel the last week of camp. My marriage is suffering from a distinct lack of face to face contact and while we are not fighting, we are both miserable being apart. Absence does indeed make the heart grow fonder. I suspect K wants his laundry washed on a more consistent basis and would like to eat something other than hotdogs and beer!

It's been a long summer. I know I am grumbling. I know that others have it much worse than me. I know that right now my checking account has a nice healthy balance in it but was it worth it? God called me to this place, now he is telling me to go home. Of that I am sure.

2009-08-05T05:11:00.001-07:00

Pizza Crust

100 servings

1/3 cup + 1 Tbsp Active dry yeast*
2 qt + 1/2 cup Water, warm ( 110 F)
6 1/4 qt All purpose or bread flour
2/3 cup Vegetable oil
2 1/2 tsp Salt
1/4 cup + 2 tsp Sugar
1 cup Cornmeal

Place flour in large mixer bowl. Make well in the center.
Pour in dissolved yeast, oil, salt and sugar. Gradually work into the
flour using dough hook on low speed. Knead for 15 minutes at medium speed.
Divide and shape dough into 5 balls, 2 lb 4 oz each. Let rest for 20 minutes.
Lightly oil 5 sheet pans ( 18 ''x 26''x1''). Sprinkle each pan with 1 oz ( 3 Tbsp) cornmeal.
Place 1 dough ball in center of each pan. Flatten dough by rolling or spreading
dough 1/8 '' thick to rim of pans. Keep edges thicker than center.
For topping, baking and portioning directions, see Pizza With Cheese Topping Recipe.
Dissolve dry yeast in warm water. Let stand for 4- 5 minutes.
For best results, have all ingredients and utensils at room temperature.

my dad's birthday party

2009-07-26T19:49:00.001-07:00

My Dad, Helena, and Lorraine
Me and my Dad - holy smokes I look awful

My brother with my daughters

My stepmother

Joshua

and Stewarts Root Beer

Hannah

Morgan

Glen and Jane

2009-07-26T19:46:00.000-07:00

work has been hammering the crap out of me. I love the actual work but it is so all consuming that I am not sure where I end and work begins. I have finally managed to snag two decent people to work with me and we do accomplish much when we are together. This week will be spent preparing food for the future retreats and conferences etc. I am not sure when my job will exactly end but my commitment here is only to the children. So much financial trouble and politics interfering with everything even walking into this job with my eyes wide open didn't help. Ah well whatever the season for me to be here...

I am waiting for the program director to show up and its almost eleven pm... where is she?

2009-06-20T07:47:00.000-07:00

This is the view from my kitchen at camp.

Schroon Lake.

The mosquito population comes out faithfully

at Five O'Clock Sharp.

These are the men in my life.

J is on the left

Mr. K is in the middle. He is wearing flip flops because he got chemical burns

on his feet. He is doing much better now

Young K is on the right. He is 6' 2" tall, 19 yo, and wants to get married.

But don't worry mom I don't want to get married right away.

This is M at her birthday party. She looks like she was having a great time.

And she was.

2009-06-05T03:52:00.000-07:00

Good Morning

Last day here for a week or so.

Learned a lot. Mostly that I don't want to have to do this alone! So much prep work, otherwise its a menu of all premade yucky stuff and that's not good either.

The campers and their chaperones enjoyed all the food I made. The staff enjoyed it too. That's praise indeed.

I am glad I will have some time to actually sit down and plan out menus and print them out, put them in a binder and have them ready so that I don't really need to think about it. I have to create an ordering sheet and a requisition form for the cleaning supplies etc. The housekeeper thought I should just "remember" everything... yeah right.

So aside from the very long hours on my feet and having no help, the job is great.

and I get to go home today. That's the best news of the day.

2009-06-05T03:39:00.001-07:00

the menus, because I need to put them somewhere until I can print them out....

Tuesday
Lunch: chicken nuggets, mandarin oranges, Italian ice ( missing something here... forgot)

Dinner: Hamburgers, salad bar, potato chips. chipwiches. snack:

Wednesday
Breakfast Pancakes, bacon, yougurt, cold cereal

Lunch: hot dogs, french fries, tater tots, tossed salad, italian ice

Dinner salad bar, french bread pizza, strawberry shortcake, puppy chow as snack

Thursday
Breakfast Eggs, Bacon, bagels, english muffins, fruit, yogurt, cold cereal

Lunch Taco Bar, regular salad bar, platter of cut fruit, no dessert

Dinner Roast loin of pork, mixed veggies ( snap peas, corn, zucchini, yellow squash and carrots) mashed potatoes, gravy, cranberry sauce, apple crisp with ice cream.

Friday
Breakfast cereal, bagels, english muffins, fruit, juice

Lunch deli sandwiches, potato chips, fruit, juice. Italian ice

2009-06-02T19:01:00.000-07:00

Still making silly faces... I miss them so much.

Work is going well I think. We have more food anyway. I shopped and then SYSCO arrived with a delivery. We now have a LOT of bread. Still have a LOT of chicken. That will need to be dealt with.

Still working on menu planning. It isn't easy when you are the only one in the kitchen and the meals have to be prepared for campers that are already here. They go home on Friday after lunch and I am going home to see my family. I can't wait. Then after a day or two I will tackle the menu planning again and see what I can come up with. Flying by the seat of my pants isn't really my thing, but neither is having spaghetti and sauce every night ( well actually I wouldn't mind that but I think everyone else might.)

I have to come up with a few more lunches and dinners and then I am all set for a while.

Not much else is happening in my life. I am working ten to twelve hours a day and then collapsing into bed. Its an interesting life.

Have I mentioned that I miss them?

Especially Him.

Maybe he will surprise me with a visit.

Maybe they will all come to visit me.

that would be nice.

really nice.

goodnight.

I miss them

2009-06-01T16:15:00.001-07:00

I miss my family.

I have been up here at work since 10:30am and I miss them. I want to drive back down to the house and give them all big hugs and kisses and put them to bed and then drive back up here to go to bed myself. Only I have to go to GF city tomorrow morning for staples I can't get from SYSCO.. and I don't know if I have the energy to go.

Work is interesting. I am in charge of everything and yet the shop is not set up! I have to figure out the meals from what I have and after inventorying everything and throwing out what was expired, dented or rusted, it ain't much.

For lunch we had grilled cheese. For dinner I took chicken patties and topped them with marinara and shredded parmesan cheese, baked them, added some steamed broccoli and cavatappi along with garlic bread and leftover salad and called it a day. Everyone ate like they were starved!

Tomorrow campers are coming in. so the count goes up to 38 lunches and dinners.

2009-05-27T16:31:00.000-07:00

Miss H acting a little goofy, I think it was museum overload.

The dome of the Capitol building

Our very first vacation with Morgan and Hannah. Okay we have gone on the occasional camping trip or the visit to relatives, but this is an honest to goodness vacation that we are taking.
When I was still in school I thought it would be a great idea to have a family vacation to celebrate my graduation. At first I thought Disney would be a great destination, but the prices were astronomical and out of our budget.
Cate and Kenny didn’t come with us on this trip because they are working hard and earning money to fund their own dreams, which is perfectly fine.
I said to Ken let’s go to Washington DC… and he readily agreed. I asked my parents if they would like to go and at first all four were willing to go, but my stepmother’s RA is really flaring and she cannot walk far at all, so they opted out of the trip.
On Sunday, May 24th, we left our home at 3am. We took a wrong turn in NJ and wound up near Denville, where we stopped to have breakfast. Then Pop Pop turned North instead of South, so we had to wait for him to catch up. We finally made it to Washington around 12:30pm, only two hours off schedule. We were very happy to be able to check into our hotel rooms, a bit on the small side but that’s okay. Not queen beds like we thought, doubles, but we are only using the room to sleep in so its all good.
The National Zoo is three blocks from the hotel. We walked uphill, the seven of us. At the front of the entrance to the Zoo, right there across the street was a 7-Eleven! We have not had anything from there in years and years, so we went in and got slushies for the kids and iced tea for us. My mom wanted to see the Pandas so that’s where we went first… and of course! It started to rain… just a little. Being intrepid tourists we braved the drops and were rewarded with seeing all three pandas, one sleeping, one stretched out looking at everyone and the third eating bamboo. Mom made a quick trip in and out of the elephant house, declaring that she forgot how much an elephant smells LOL. Pop Pop took many breaks, lets face it after traveling for so many hours I have no idea what is keeping ME awake, not to mention my parents.
The National Zoo is pretty cool except that it’s pretty much one way in and one way out… no looping. The animals were cool to see and Morgan and Hannah had not seen many of them in real life. We did skip the reptiles and the mule exhibits.
Walking back to the hotel, we ventured a little further down and found McDonalds. We were all so tired it was great to just go in, order and get our food. After eating we walked back up the hill to the hotel, and I think Nana and Pop Pop are done for the night. No rest for the weary though as Ken and I took the kids to the outdoor pool. I am sitting here on the terrace enjoying the warm breeze. The pool is heated and the kids are having a great time… I suspect Ken is merely tolerating it but he looks exhausted.
I was rather surprised that the Marriot Wardman Park charges for every little thing. I understood about the parking, its secure, but not cheap. The wifi is not free, its 12.95 per day and I am not really ready to pay that, so I will sit here and journal and take pics and upload about our trip when I get home.
Tomorrow the plan is to go to the Vietnam Veterans Memorial first thing, and then on to the Mall, stopping at the WWII memorial and then touring the Smithsonian for the day. We are thinking about taking the Metrorail in and leaving the van and truck at the hotel. We would have to carry an extra oxygen tank for mom but that is completely doable.
I think the kids are going to sleep really well tonight. I am so happy to be on vacation. I love seeing the kids smiles and hearing their laughter.
Oh my gosh… showers. As in two extremely tired little girls who complained about getting out of the pool, racing across the hotel lobby dripping wet with swimmies and little mermaid ring tubes. Getting their showers done was a chore and a half and Hannah got soap in her eyes… I cleaned her up and put her into bed immediately and she was asleep within three minutes. Morgan followed five minutes later.

MONDAY

They had the nerve to complain when I woke them up this morning!
LOL
Today was a busy day. We stopped at CVS to get Morgan some motrin for a little headache she was developing. Oh and we got donuts and milk for breakfast and then it was on to the memorial loop. First row parking all morning long, it doesn’t get any better than that. We toured the WWII memorial, The Korean, The Vietnam, the Nurses memorial, we saw a robin attack a squirrel, we walked the steps of the Lincoln, that is such an impressive place. I love that he said A house divided against itself cannot stand. Profound stuff. Pop Pop was a little emotional at the memorials and then while I was thinking about that I started tearing up too. Very somber places.
On to the Smithsonian Castle. There was a fountain outside and I dragged Morgan into it to cool her down a bit. The gardens were beautiful. We watched the orientation on the Smithsonian starring Ben Stiller… and that was cute. We saw the pile of treasure stuff from the Night At The Museum movie… that was cool. On to the Air and Space Museum… where we realized that Josh lost my phone! Thankfully he found it and has a receipt from the Smithsonian to prove it LOL. We spent a lot of time at the Air and Space today, had lunch at McDonalds and then Pop Pop went to get the car. We met up with Carl Hautmann and that was so nice to see him. We talked for quite a while, walked over to the Museum of American History and lost my parents and the kids! There was a big parade going on and they were in the car on the wrong side of Constitution avenue… we had to wait til it was over to get to where they were parked. In the meantime we were in the American History museum for a bit and saw the Ruby Slippers and Julia Childs kitchen, the big statue of Washington. I want to go back and see the exhibit on Lincoln and get a cd of Washington pictures.
We came back to the hotel with pizza and root beer. The kids want to go to the pool but it is raining pretty badly outside. It’s 8pm, they are going to have showers and go to bed very soon.

Tuesday Morning:

We all got up and got dressed and decided to find someplace nice to eat breakfast rather than having donuts and milk for breakfast… so we got in the van and Pop Pop started driving into Washington and it was literally a zoo! We got out of there quick, in a manner of speaking. We went to Arlington, wound up seeing the Iwo Jima Memorial and the back end of Arlington Cemetary before we found breakfast. The morning slipped away from us as we tried to find parking near the Museum of American History. At one point we were out by Ronald Reagan Airport, and Ken thinks he saw Air Force One. Coincidentally Obama was heading to California today so who knows. So much time passed that we decided to go directly to the Capitol for our tour. We found a spot two blocks away and took a nice leisurely tour of the Capitol thanks to Nana’s oxygen tank ( we were fast passed to the front of the line!) They show a really nice video of Congress and I didn’t know that E Pluribus Unum means Out of Many, One. I love that. Our tour guide was named Dave and he was very informative. It was a nice tour. We took some pictures of it all. When the tour was done we walked through the Congress exhibit. decided to go to the National Archives. Luck was with us as we found parking right out front and the line was short! Once we got inside there was a guide who again fast passed us to the front of the line and we were able to view all three documents pretty quickly. I was surprised at how faded the Declaration of Independence is… it is very faint. The Constitution is in much better shape, as is the Bill of Rights. Once we finished up that part, we went to a small exhibit downstairs and that was interesting, and then on to the gift shop where I purchased the three documents for Joshua and a cd of photographs of Washington for me.
Ken had promised Morgan a sweatshirt, it was ninety degrees on the day he promised her that and thought he was nuts. We finally found a shirt vendor and bought the three kids sweatshirts today. Morgan’s is purple, Hannah’s is hot pink, and Joshua’s is black and says FBI.
Back to the hotel, where Nana and Pop Pop dropped us off and we headed upstairs to unwind for a few minutes before heading to the train station for a trip downtown. Poor Morgan got upset and cried almost the whole way there. The stations are clean, don’t smell like urine and the trains have carpet in them and are FAST. We went to Union Station and had dinner at a Japanese fast food place, chicken teriyaki. Then we went upstairs and looked around. We were hoping to go to the post office pavilion but it was a little far away. So, we took the railway home again. Once it got dark we all hopped into Pop Pop's van and went back to the city to see all the memorials lit up in the night sky... amazing stuff and you should go witness it.

WEDNESDAY

Goodbye Washington, hello Lancaster, PA. It took us a while to get here and we immediately started sight seeing. I think nana had a great time touring the Amish farm and house but we were so disappointed to see how much Lancaster has been built up. Progress is sad. We did see a number of Amish and Mennonite people and a bunch of awesome quilts too! We had lunch at CiCi's pizza and are waiting to see what everyone wants for dinner. It's almost eight o'clock!

Tomorrow we are going to stop in Philadelphia to see the Liberty Bell and then its home!

more pics

2009-05-27T16:25:00.001-07:00

A House Divided Against Itself Cannot Stand

Helping out a sister in need

The Vietnam Memorial Wall.
Memorial Day

The Vietnam statue

Miss H sleeping on a park bench.

pics from washington

2009-05-27T16:20:00.001-07:00

My Great Uncle who died and was buried in Italy.

Miss M and young J at the WWII memorial. Lincoln Memorial in the background

The WWII Memorial on Memorial Day. Bob Dole was the Speaker.

Sunday night heading back to the room after a warm swim in the pool.

graduation

2009-05-22T03:36:00.000-07:00

Last night was a wonderful night and I am so glad to have been able to be a part of it. I got to the Civic Center early and already there were graduates all over the place. I signed in and was given a card with my name on it, a number ( 171 ) and a few more words on it... MAGNA CUM LAUDE.... was I shocked! The Lord gave me a surprise right there! LOL.

I met up with the two other ladies that were graduating from Culinary and we got in line. and Chatted, for an hour. before the ceremony started. We didn't have the normal pomp and circumstance, oh no not for us... we had a Scottish Pipe Band! How awesome. There was not one moment last night that I was nervous! I was just so EXCITED! When we filed into the civic center with ALL THOSE PEOPLE, I just looked to the left and saw my family and they were waving like mad! My stepmother and my father were in the top rows, my mom and stepdad, my sister and my brother were near the bottom, Ken and the girls, and young Kenny's girlfriend were in the first row, and Joshua and Ken's mom were to the right of them. It was difficult to find everyone, but I finally connected with KEN and the look on his face was so dear to me.

The graduation took about two hours. When we stood up and filed out of our row to receive our diplomas, it was a truly awesome moment! The professor read my name and then called out my honors designation ( no one knew I was getting a designation... so even more special) Bless that man, he read the wrong one, but thats ok I told my family when it was all over that it was Magna Cum Laude, not Cum Laude.

I walked up on the stage and the President of the college said Jan, you are a familiar face, Congratulations I am SO PROUD OF YOU. Thank you President Heacock. Got my picture taken and walked off the stage. Ken said he was crying at that moment, he is so proud of me.

It was crazy congested after the recession of graduates, with the professors all clapping and congratulating. I met some of my professors and they were all so happy for me. What a moment.

I went upstairs and found my family. Oh... the dollar store had wooden roses, very delicate. I had Hannah give my mom four yellow ones ( yellow are her favorites) and I gave four red ones to my stepmother ( she is allergic to real roses). I started to walk over to Kenny and Hannah hands me a dozen red roses ( found out later they were from my mother in law.) My Dad stepped right in my path to give me a big hug and a kiss, and then Ken handed me a bouquet of yellow and white daisies, beautiful, with a card saying how proud of me he is, then Ken gave me a huge hug and a kiss and everyone was talking at once. I don't know where my mom and sister and brother and my stepdad were at that moment. There were over 300 graduates and their guests and it was loud! I handed off the roses to Stephanie and said you have to take these because my stepmother is allergic to them ( I figured she had never met my stepmother and therefore it would be unlikely she would hug her LOL) My dad and I went outside to where my stepmother was sitting on a bench and she congratulated me. My parents have been so supportive of me.

We went back inside for more pictures, chatted with Chef for a little bit, introduced him to the rest of my family, went outside and got pics with my family and then went to Friendly's for dinner at 10pm. My poor little girls, they came home it was midnight and they fell right to sleep. It was a great night, and I am so thankful to the Lord for everything He has blessed me with.

2009-05-13T18:53:00.001-07:00

I finished my last final exam yesterday and now am done with school. I graduate next Thursday and I am honor society too. Friday is my graduation party and I am very excited. I can't wait.

Today was a busy day. Mr. K had today off ( his last mid week day off) and we went out to breakfast, to walmart and bought a new weedwhacker and some pillowcases, to the college to drop off a book, to the uniform store to order new chef coats, to another uniform store to order other chef coats, out to lunch LOL, stopped at the library to drop off books, the auto parts store to get a battery for the tractor and then home again. Weedwhacked the yard and in front of the stone wall and got tired and hot pretty quick. Mr. K cleared the garden and then went to the firehouse for practice. I made dinner for the kids and then ran a fireman uniform up to the firehouse. Those fireman have fresh mouths. LOL... it's okay if you understand that they do before you walk in the door.

Now its late, the kids are asleep and I am contemplating the new job I am taking on June 1st. It's going to be a bear to start from scratch, inventorying everything, ordering everything, getting the numbers straight, figuring out the future of everything.. alot.

Aunt Jan know that I am praying praying praying for you.

2009-05-09T20:23:00.000-07:00

Onion Soup Day
Today was another busy day. I called Sass and asked her to join me as I wanted to go to Borders. I saw something there the other day and I didn’t have time to get it. We headed south and I remembered to stop at the restaurant supply for two rectangular chafing dishes. We strolled through Borders and I found the book again so I bought it. We headed north and went to college because they were having a fun campus day ( and then we found out that the senate cancelled it last night. We were supposed to have bad weather. It was a gloriously warm day today, sun is shining and we had maybe three drops of rain. Literally.
I dropped Sass off so she could go to work and I headed north to a market that carries bulk food and really good prices on meat. I was a little disappointed that they didn’t have what I was looking for, but I did find a nice pork loin, bacon, and a few other things.
I came home and put everything away. Then I made onion soup. The hardest part is letting the onions cook long enough to caramelize enough. So that is done now and we are having some nice steaks for dinner.

Career
I am about to graduate. I received a call offering me a position up north. This position is definitely something I am interested in. I will be in charge of my own kitchen, with all the responsibilities that entails. I have a meeting scheduled on Tuesday to formalize the job offer and will be able to talk more about it after that meeting.

Mother’s Day
Every year it is the same thing. What to get the mom’s in my life to celebrate… and again this year I am hoping to have everyone over for dinner. I am going to barbecue a pork loin, make a cous cous salad, and saute some green and yellow squash.

2009-05-06T07:43:00.000-07:00

Love this.

2009-05-06T07:40:00.001-07:00

Graduation time is not so far away now! I have a few classes and a few exams and then it is on to the big world for me! I am looking forward to May 21st when I will be surrounded by my friends and family as I am the first woman to graduate from college in my family!
Important stuff!!!

I also have received a wonderful job offer, as chef of a camp up north from here. It is a year round position, full time during camp season and part time the rest of the year ( banquets, retreats, work weekends, inservices, conferences etc).

I am heading up that way to discuss the details.

2009-04-21T10:22:00.000-07:00

This update is especially for Aunt Jan. I hope you are home and well very soon.

Here's what's happening around here.

The kids were away for the Easter week and I really missed them. I had all these ideas about what I wanted to do while they were gone, and very little of that list got done! It was so quiet in the house it was disconcerting. Those littles really breathe life into this house.

School is going well. I have to study hard for the last two bio exams. I ordered my Phi Theta Kappa regalia ( it's honor society) comes with a stole and a tassel. I can't believe I am this close to finishing school. I have learned so much.

Tomorrow night is the awards reception and I am thrilled to be a part of it. Probably more thrilled than a 41 year old woman should be but that is okay. This is totally my moment!!!

Getting the details hammered out for my graduation party. Mailed out the first round of invitations today, the rest will go tomorrow. Had to buy more, didn't want to leave anyone out.
Luau theme, got all the paper goods, the menu is ham and salads and yummy cocktails. looking forward to this party.

Booked the Washington DC trip and got an awesome deal on the hotel, regularly 270 a night, got it for 66 plus tax and parking came to 100 a night. ( guess there is no free parking in Washington.) Hotel is ten stories, has wifi and a pool, prerequisites of my family! Going to spend Sunday through Wednesday there and then go to Lancaster for a day or so and come home Friday. I have been printing out pages for the girls to work on while we are gone. Going to give them a binder to put all their paper souveniers in.

Mr. K's birthday is coming up quick. Cinco de Mayo menu for that day. Gee I guess I should invite some friends over for that.

My niece will be three in two days.!!! Wow. time flies. Better get out that present and get it wrapped.

2009-04-10T14:32:00.000-07:00

time is zooming by again. Here it is Good Friday and I definitely feel out of the loop. School is going at warp speed and I am barreling towards graduation. Just a few weeks more of classes and then I am not going to know what to do with my days. These last two years have really gone by quickly.

Happy Easter everyone.

March 19th

2009-03-19T03:03:00.000-07:00

My goodness it's been a while since I blogged. I have been very busy with school and home and that's not a shocker.

This week is Spring Break for me and Mr. K took three days off so we could traipse around looking at all kinds of things. I found several pieces of equipment I would like to purchase for my future company. I need to find a trailer next.

We went and looked at a building for sale. I was thinking that for what I want to do I would rather have my own space that I owned and an old church or school would be perfect because of the open space. Turns out there is a local church that disbanded a few years ago that is for sale, it is small and not in the best of neighborhoods, but I felt like I had to go see it anyway. I left with the feeling that if the Lord wants me there, He will make it happen.

2009-02-26T14:30:00.000-08:00

Thursday afternoon and I am beat. Yawning my head off.
It's been a long week already. My niece had a febrile seizure that scared all of us but she is doing fine now. Miss H threw up on the bus yesterday, making her the bus driver's favorite child. Mr. K had to pick her up from school and take her with him to a second job he is working on his days off. Miss M woke up with a "headache" this morning so she stayed home too. Sass showed up late and I didn't say anything to her although I was pretty steamed about her being late. On the other hand, she did willingly come over to babysit so that I didn't have to miss my gym classes today.

Tomorrow I have a dental appointment, a bio lab, and then pack a small bag and go away for the night with Mr. K. Sass is going to watch the kids. I am looking forward to tomorrow evening being the reward for finally getting to the dentist.

2009-02-22T07:14:00.000-08:00

Another Sunday here. That means I have a Biology quiz tomorrow on the cell. A lot of memorization and then a test on Tuesday.

It's snowing pretty hard here. I have a bunch of indoor projects to complete as soon as Mr. K gets home from the fire department, he had a mandatory drill today.

March 7th is a pretty popular date this year. I have a baby shower, a fire department banquet, was supposed to work a dinner, and this morning my mother in law asked me to go with her to Mass to a bridal shower for Allen and Anna. Can't do that, I wouldn't get back in time, nor do I want to miss the baby shower. I also have another baby shower on March 8th! My days are filling up quickly.

Whoa Nellie!

2009-02-21T05:25:00.000-08:00

The new electric bill arrived and it was a shocker! It was doubled! DOUBLED. Wait, I thought, did I pay last month's bill. Yes I did and it shows that right on the statement.

Ok could it be true what Mr K said about the outside freezer having to work harder in the winter because of ... blah blah blah, condensers and motors, widgets and skyhooks.... oh look at that sunshine filtering through the branches covered in ice..... ok no it can't be that, but to be sure I went ahead and inventoried the chest freezer and found some chickens from 2007 and chucked them. When I got to the end of this project I didn't have enough food left in the chest freezer to really keep it plugged in so I crammed everything into the refrigerator freezer and we are having some interesting meals over the next few days.
Oh wait.
I digressed.
Let me get back to this. Okay so I mention to the kids that every night I go through the house and turn off all the lights they have left on and we need to be more careful about this even though we are using those cfc's etc.

I wandered around the house and thought and thought and you could smell the wood in my brain burning... oh no wait that was the woodstove. And then, like a Clap of THUNDER, the answer came to me.

Joshua willingly went out and confirmed my best estimated guess. Lily, our horse, has a hot wire that keeps her in her paddock. In the summer months we keep the grass cut way down to prevent the wire from grounding. This is her first winter with us in the backyard. No one, and I mean NO ONE thought about the snow. Yep. The snow was high enough to ground the wire since probably sometime around January 1st.

A costly lesson learned.

2009-02-14T18:23:00.000-08:00

Valentine's Day has arrived and our day was pretty good. Mr. K had to work this morning and I spent the morning doing lazy things.
He came home and we decided to have lunch and get rolling. Instead we had lunch and watched two movies in a row, basically wasting the entire day away.

Mr. K made a delicious dinner of shrimp scampi and garlic bread, and served an equally delicious riesling with it. Candlelight and three shining childrens faces absorbing it all.

Chocolate covered strawberries for dessert and it was just right.

Oh and chocolate. Not a heart full, but my heart is full because he remembered what my favorite is and that's what I got as well as a loving card reminding me of his love.

This was our 24th Valentine's Day, and I think its one of the most memorable.

Chocolate Dipped Strawberries

2009-02-12T11:12:00.000-08:00

Around here when Valentine's Day hits, many people want to buy chocolate dipped strawberries. The local places charge a FORTUNE for them.

I went to aldi and they had strawberries for 1.89/lb. I bought two packages. I also bought a 5.5 oz bar of dark chocolate for 1.29. I had a bag of chocolate chips I bought at Aldi during Christmastime that I think was 1.09.

Take your chocolate bar and break it up into smaller pieces. Use a double boiler ( don't have one? use a small pot for the bottom and a larger one for the top, or use a large one for the bottom and a metal bowl for the top, don't let the water touch the top pot or bowl though.)
and melt your chocolate bar, oh and add your chips too.... ok if you are hopeless in the kitchen you COULD melt the chocolate in the microwave, 30 seconds and give a stir, 30 seconds and give a stir, continue until completely melted. Do NOT overcook.

Take your fresh strawberries and inspect them. Do not use any that are not perfect. No blemishes, no mold, no funny shapes. Ok now take your strawberry by the stem and dip into your melted chocolate. Let the excess chocolate stream off and place your strawberry on a piece of waxed paper. I have one of those flexible cutting boards from the dollar store so I used that. Ok now take another strawberry and repeat the process.

When you are done, stand up and be proud of yourself.

You just saved a bunch of money on your valentine.

cost analysis
Store Bought Chocolate Dipped Strawberries 6 for 29.99

Home made Chocolate Dipped Strawberries 6 for 1.02 ( I made 36 for $6.16)

and I KNOW mine are fresher and taste better. I also never EVER worry about how much I spend on my valentine because I know he appreciates something I make over something I bought.

2009-02-10T07:15:00.001-08:00

What an excellent movie this was. I would consider purchasing it to keep forever.

There is a study journal that goes along with it called The Love Dare. Walmart has it for 10.43

2009-02-03T16:43:00.001-08:00

Whether you love it or not, being frugal is what is going to get you through the rest of the winter my friends. I don't know why Spring is always thought of with Hope, but it is and I am looking forward to it!

I am sick of the woodstove. I came home today and it had let itself go out. It was COLD in the house. My time was short and my temper was even shorter. I love warmth. I don't mind the snow as long as I am inside where it is nice and warm.

Just in thyme for Superbowl Sunday

2009-02-01T06:49:00.000-08:00

Of course you can make these anytime, but hey, we are making these today.

hmm, what to call them?

Asian Inspired Mexican based goodness?

Nah.

Guac Bites. That sounds good.

Here's what you do.

Get a package of wonton wrappers. If you cannot find these, you can certainly use eggroll wrappers, just cut them in half. If you can't find these, then you COULD use those frozen puff pastry minis.

Take a muffin tin and fill it up with wrappers, one per muffin. Bake until just golden. Remove from oven and let cool a bit.

In the meantime, take an avocado or two ( I prefer the hass) cut in half, remove the pit, and mash ( remove them from the skin first, ok). Now you could make your own guacamole recipe and add it here, but honestly, if you just add a little lemon juice to keep the color green, you will be fine. Take some sour cream and some salsa and assemble the bites this way:

Take a wonton cup, add a base of avocado, layer with a little salsa, a dollop of sour cream, and then you can top it off with minced black olives, or shredded cheddar cheese or whatever else you might like.

These are slightly addictive.

debt consolidation

2009-01-31T08:59:00.000-08:00

Debt consolidation. How did we arrive at this particular moment?

The economy. Yeah its terrible, people are losing their jobs, many of them are in debt but were on track in paying it off. Now the tables are turned and wow... how many of us are in the same boat? hard to tell.

I was notified that one card was raising its interest rate to 26.9% Yep.

It took a hard look at our financial situation to make a plan that will work. I am not going to spend my nights worrying over this whole thing anymore. The plan will succeed. It must.

Its going to require everyone in my house being on board. That means a lengthy family discussion that is probably way overdue.

I will let you know how it goes.

2009-01-28T10:52:00.000-08:00

It's snowing like mad out. The kids had the day off from school but I did not. Here's what's been happening around here:

Sunday I took Mr K to the dr, he was limping in pain. He gets dermatitis on his feet every winter and it got completely out of hand this time, and he developed staph infections on BOTH feet. Antibiotics and Prednisone and now four days later they are dry, cracked, healing, still look kind of nasty but he is doing better and every hour is further away from being admitted to the hospital.

Okay so this means that he was home Monday, Tuesday and Today. He goes back tomorrow. Good thing he was home today with the kids because I had classes.

I went to Biology and got to do some math, and then found out that the second half of the biology time is only once a week, so I had a hour to kill. I went to the biology lab and started my homework there. Then I had drama/improv teaching to kids class, and that was fun. It has so far been a class of here let's play a game and then you will be able to teach it to a kid.

I have a culinary class at 4 but I am not sure if it will still be happening There is a lot of snow out there.

I am reading more and more at the frugal hacks forum. It's good to have information in one place.

The dr. bill for Miss H's surgery came in, the insurance already paid their portion of it and we are left with a $225. bill. Not bad. The blood test cost more than that. So now I have a $500 total so far. The hospital portion of the bill is all that is left. Can't wait for that.

2009-01-22T14:06:00.001-08:00

Miss H has been cleared by her dr and its back to normal activities Folks. we are thrilled with her recovery and she is my little hero.

Sass turns 20 tomorrow! YAY... and she wants pulled pork and baked ziti for dinner.

We cooked and served at a reception today at college. It was fun and we got to bring home the leftovers.

nothing else is new at the moment.

FRUGAL HACKS NEWS

2009-01-18T13:56:00.000-08:00

Frugal Hacks has a new forum! And, if you join and post 25 times you could win $100.00!!!

Check it out here:
http://frugalhacks.com/2009/01/13/the-frugal-forum-is-here-125-in-cash-prizes/

And here is the forum page:
http://frugalhacks.com/forum

Its new, its fun, and we can all share!

2009-01-17T16:24:00.000-08:00

Sitting here Freezing and going broke like the rest of the country.

This is a line from a messaging session with an old friend from yesterday. It has made me think, not only about the blessings in our lives, but in planning for our immediate future.
The temps here have been astoundingly low. We heat solely with wood, so this requires a bit of work. Someone ( usually the dh) has to get up in the middle of the night to stoke the fire and add more wood. Someone needs to keep the wood in the house too! When the temp drops below zero we run into issues concerning our water supply but so far so good. We did have a minor issue yesterday but it was quickly repaired.
Going broke. I went to the grocery store yesterday to get a few things, I did not have a list with me, but I did see that our pantry is beginning to look bare. I bought some of the things I thought we needed, and I was rather surprised at the total of the bill. When we moved here our food bill dropped by 2/3. TWO THIRDS… so when I was surprised by our bill yesterday, it made me think about the people where we used to live and how much are THEY paying for food now?
Last night Wife Swap was on and there she was, The Coupon Queen. The show tried to make her look like some kind of lunatic, when in fact I am sure there were a lot of people out there taking notes. She bought $80 worth of groceries for $10.01 Sit up and take notice people. We cannot afford to keep spending the way we are spending.
I got out of going to CVS for a while, I had so much stuff and really needed to use some of it up before starting over. CVS offered me $10 in extra bucks the other day to complete a survey. It looks like I will be collecting coupons again in the very near future.
I don’t use coupons a whole lot, the two stores that I frequent ( Aldi and Price Rite) don’t accept coupons. They don’t need to, their prices are very low. I do shop at Hannaford on the days when we use the Redbox machine to get a dvd for the night. At Hannaford I find marked down food that we use right away. At any given store you may find a real bargain, make sure that you have a little money set aside for moments like these. Its not a waste of time to be careful with what you have been given.

2009-01-14T12:45:00.000-08:00

The property tax bill is in the forefront of my mind these days. Everyone is in the same boat, I know. I keep telling myself that as I avoid calls from creditors seeking our last pennies. I have scraped together some funds to get current with the bills again and it was not easy. I don't think I have any new strategies about saving money that you haven't heard a million times over.

I haven't been driving my vehicle. I have been taking stock of the pantry, of the kids clothes, of linens within the house. I told the teenager last night that he could allow his jeans to be worn more than once before they are washed again. ( Actually I said you don't dig ditches or shovel horse poo so unless you are wiping boogers on your pants and no I don't want to know if you are, then you *could* wear a different pair of jeans every other day and maybe get two or three days worth out of a pair.) He said WOW I didn't know I could do that!!!

I have been watching the food budget very carefully. we are eating mostly out of the freezer at this point, which is good. What was not so good was finding some things that were destroyed by freezer burn. A good reminder to take my time when packaging things for the freezer.

Sass' birthday is in 9 days. She will be 20. She has been wanting a set of blue dishes for years. This birthday she is getting them. She requested pulled pork for dinner on her birthday and I can totally supply that from the freezer. I have enough for her to have friends over.

2009-01-08T11:09:00.000-08:00

A Clean Home = A Relaxed Mama
We have a lot of people in our home. Sometimes I think that someone must come in after hours and make a bigger mess than is already there. Sometimes it gets overwhelming. I get tired of saying clean up clean up clean up.
This morning was the morning. We had a visitor coming over and there was so much STUFF all over the place. I took the men folk of my home, of which there are 3, and I FORCED them to help. I did… I am a mean mom. I even made Princess M help. And you know what? Stuff got put away. Stuff got organized. Stuff got thrown OUT.
It was and is amazing. The main part of the house is clean. I am relaxed. Mr. K is relaxed. It is good.
I went so far as to clean out the hall closet! I even threw a few things out of there. I got rid of tablecloths that were hopelessly stained by our crew. It was liberating, it was fun… okay I won’t go that far.
Next room is my own. I cleaned it before Christmas so it shouldn’t be too bad. Right?

2009-01-08T11:06:00.000-08:00

My gosh she was so excited to be going to the hospital to get her tonsils out and I felt like such a heel for not telling her how badly it was going to hurt afterwards. We took several pictures of her prior to the surgery, sitting on a bench, pressing the elevator button, in the pre op room. When they took her to the operating room I literally lost my breath. They were taking my baby away.
I know that tonsillectomy is a routine procedure and yet that little voice was in my head making me worry.
Mr K dragged me down to the cafeteria and we had breakfast, and it was the right idea because we knew we had to sit in recovery for quite a while after H got out of surgery.
We went back up to the waiting room and it wasn’t really all too long before the dr came around and said it went really well and she was going to be fine and we were going to be amazed at the dramatic difference in H even in the recovery room. I suspect he got an earful of her sleeping breathing pattern before the tonsils and the adenoids came out.
They took us into the recovery room and there she was, sitting up in the bed with the unhappiest look I have ever seen. She saw me and burst into tears and I wanted to just crawl right into the bed with her, but the nurse suggested that H get into my lap instead, so we curled up together on a recliner and I almost fell asleep!
H ate ice pops right away and was not too happy when they gave her Tylenol with codeine but within the hour she was happily snoozing on Daddy in the recliner. The dr was right… she had no snoring and her breathing pattern was so regular! Amazing!!! I got to run through all the discharge notes with the nurse and then we let them sleep for a while and all too soon it was time to go home!
H wanted to ride in the wheelchair so off we went. She hopped out of the wheelchair to press the elevator button ( definitely gave the nurse a start!) and the quietly sat for the rest of the ride. Daddy pulled the truck up and we all buckled up and took off for home!
We got H settled on the couch and she was still in a lot of pain so I ran to the pharmacy to get prescriptions filled ( note to self: remember to get prescriptions filled at hospital so there is no issue over the amount prescribed.) it took a while and then I was home again too.
H drank sparingly throughout the day, she did enjoy the ice pops and the ice cream more. Finally she slept and we let her! She slept right through the night.
This morning she woke up and refused to drink or take her medicine so it took me a minute to think about it and then I promised her an online game session on PBSKIDS.ORG if she would take her medicine. She did and an hour later it was like she was a totally different child. She was drinking like a sailor LOL. Eating jello, ice pops, ice cream, wanting as much as I could give her. And she has been that way since. She is refusing the pain medication but is willing to take the antibiotic so I said ok. Her daddy is not a fast healer, but I am, so maybe she won’t need the pain meds anymore, but its here just in case.
Tomorrow we get to start on soft foods. If she wants them. Have to check the list and see what she will eat.

taxes part 2

2009-01-05T16:56:00.000-08:00

Oh My Gosh. The Tax bill came in the mail and I am not joking, its DOUBLE.

DOUBLE.

This is going to be an interesting month.

2009-01-05T12:55:00.000-08:00

Tomorrow is the big day. Miss H is getting her tonsils out and I am nervous. She is not. She is excited about eating slushies and ice pops and ice cream. I worry about nutrition and making sure that she doesn't lose weight while on this liquid diet. I worry about how sore she is going to be and that she is going to BLAME ME for the pain!

We have to be there at 6:45 am and barring any emergency she is slated for the first surgery of the day.

We may be home in time for lunch.

which she won't be able to eat.

property taxes month

2009-01-03T09:10:00.001-08:00

this month is when the property taxes are due and I am expecting to receive the bill in the mail today. Actually I am rather surprised that it hasn't arrived already. The bill is going to be significantly increased over last years bill so with that in mind it is time to start using up the food in the deep freeze.

Our deep freeze is located right outside our back door and it is filled to the top. I am not even sure what is in there anymore. Every time there was a sale, I would just throw whatever I bought in there. I seem to recall some asiago cheese, a whole lotta chicken... not sure what else.

Mr. K's paycheck has dwindled quite a bit, and we are thankful for God's blessings on our family and I am sure that if we are faithful to our plan, that God will provide the property tax money. He gives us what we need.

I have a few things to cook today:

A 20.6 pound turkey ( bought on sale yesterday, fresh. reduced by quite a bit. 57 cents a pound. ) what am I planning to make from this?

turkey dinner for five.
turkey sandwiches - I am pretty sure that I can get quite a few
turkey rice soup - we have leftover rice from chinese food, why waste it?
enchiladas? maybe

I also have two chickens for the rotisserie. Mr. K loves rotisserie chicken. I will use the carcasses to make chicken broth for Miss H after her surgery

I want to make a batch of spaghetti sauce, I have a whole mess of canned tomatoes and some odds and ends in the freezer to add to this and! I now have Aunt Jan's recipe so I am all set.

what else?

graduation trip

2009-01-01T15:51:00.000-08:00

every college graduate deserves a trip after working so hard toward their chosen degree. I am no exception.

the exception here is that we originally thought to head to Disney. I love Disney, with a big puffy HEART. I always have and I always will, however unless the mouse decides to gift me with an all inclusive trip for seven, it is severely out of our budget.

Another idea came along the road immediately and wow! I didn't realize that so many people in my family would be like OH can we go too?

Mrs. T goes to Washington.
Sounds catchy, hmm.

we are now planning a trip to our Nation's capital. I have emailed my representatives twice now for tickets to both the Capitol and the White House. Originally we thought to bring the camper, but we have extra people tagging along, so that is not going to work. Some of these same people are thinking they want the space to go do what they want, which is absolutely fine.

There are so many things to do in Washington that are FREE... my favorite of all words.

The kids are interested in doing the following:

1. The National Zoo - everyone loves them a panda.

2. The Smithsonian Castle.

3. Air and Space Museum

4. Bureau of Engraving and Printing

5. The Monuments and Memorials and a picture at the Mall.

6.The National Archives

7. The White House and the Capitol - the last time I was hanging on the fence at the White House we as a girl scout troop were encouraged to seek out AMY CARTER... sigh.

I understand that the FBI building is closed.

I am praying for good weather, a good hotel with a pool, interested and not too overly wild children, and a good trip.

After a few days at our Nation's capital we are thinking about Hershey Park for a day.

hmm

2009 Jan 1

2009-01-01T07:17:00.000-08:00

January 1st is usually a time for resolution... as in I resolve to make some changes in my life and then when my life gets too busy or messed up or I just don't feel like it, I am going to lose my resolve.

I didn't make any resolutions for this year. Yes there are always going to be major and minor life changes here that will need to be addressed, but I am not going to say that TODAY is the day I am placing all my focus on one particular thing or another.

Why?
Because it is self defeating.

and I woke up to minus 15 with the wind chill. It's too cold out there. I bet my van won't start. Even if it did, where would I go? I have no desire to leave the house.

Mr. K bought me a set of dishes for Christmas. I think I may have mentioned that. While everyone was home yesterday I cleaned out the cabinets of all the extra dishes, glasses, and miscellaneous non matching coffee cups. Ok except for the one mug that my mother in law gave me for my birthday, it has a picture of Hannah on it and she has chocolate ice cream on her face, and I just love that little face...

I also moved all my cookie jars to one central location. The chef pig one is centered above my stove, young K says its rolling its eyes, I say its just disgusted that he is near the stove LOL.

Today's list of things to do:
1. Clean the wrought iron candleholders and find a new home for them. They used to hang in the kitchen.
2. Make baked ziti for Miss M who requested it ( shocked me it did)
3. The pantry finally has a door on it to keep the cats out so I am going in there to reorganize things a bit and maybe pull out all the fabric and see if the girls want to make something.
4. Bag up all the clothes the girls don't wear anymore ( this one is easy as they are all in one pile on a chair in their room)
5. Start a permanent list of things we need, things that need to be repaired or replaced, new projects, old projects.

Pain day 2

2008-12-29T13:10:00.000-08:00

pain from my herniated disc has kept me from doing anything for the last two days. No ymca. No nothing. I am finally feeling better this afternoon, thanks to advil and little movement. I did have to go to Target this afternoon because life doesn't stop for mom just because her back aches. I managed to remember to get a heating pad, actually its a hot/cold pack that doesn't use electric and it feels WONDERFUL.

Dinner tonight is some shadybrook farms turkey "chops". Sliced turkey breast is more like it, but whatever. I am going to serve it with some stuffing and sugar snap peas ( stringless ones). Everything was purchased on sale, the turkey was marked way down.

Contemplating the New Year and the steps we need to pare down our budget more. We are making plans for more extensive gardening, using much of the available space we have. Mr K wants to get chickens, which is fine by me. I love to watch them.

We will probably be selling our horse, she is costing us a ton in hay this winter and while it would be really cool to go to town in a wagon drawn by Lily, ala little house on the prairie, we don't have a wagon, she is not exactly harness trained ( no harness) and I just don't look that great wearing a bonnet.

Guess What?

2008-12-27T07:19:00.000-08:00

I haven't driven my van in eight days.
I ran out of cream cheese and could not be motivated to go to the store. No cheesecake was made here yesterday.

I am wiped out. I don't feel like entertaining. I want to enjoy a nice quiet dinner with a good glass of wine or eggnog or something along those lines and just relax. I would love it if someone elsee would come here and make dinner for me, nothing elaborate... wait. I haven't had breakfast yet.

again, its almost 10:30 and not one soul except me is stirring in this house. Mr. K had to work this morning so he was gone at some nightly hour. I vaguely remember talking to him. I think I had conversations with children last night who don't understand the concept that MOM SLEEPS. I will have to confirm that later.

I think I would like to go to the bookstore today.
maybe.

I really think I want to hibernate.

2008-12-26T07:38:00.000-08:00

It's the day after Christmas and the kids are slowly waking up. It's almost 11am! I think they all wore themselves out yesterday!

my friends keep asking me what my plans are for the weekend and I am like, plans? I have NO plans! LOL.

Actually I am going to make a cheesecake today and invite some friends over tomorrow night for cake and coffee. I am ready to relax. Originally we were going to have a cheesecake party here tomorrow night but with the weather being what it was, the handmade invitations never did get delivered and many of our friends are away this weekend anyway! Maybe we can do this in January when we will all be suffering from cabin fever!

I am going to make bean soup with the leftover ham bone. I am a little tired of pea soup, we had that all last week. Not much leftover from yesterday, surprisingly. I did find an entire tin of cookies no one claimed, so those are going to church on Sunday, I am sure to find someone there to eat them!

Miss H is not feeling well, she has a deep cough. We will need to work on that so she can have her surgery on the 6th. Only 11 days until that happens. I told everyone to come over on the 5th for dinner so Miss H can see everyone.

This Christmas part 2

2008-12-26T04:10:00.000-08:00

Christmas morning arrived and we had a hard time waking up Miss H. Her sleep patterns have gotten pretty bad with her tonsils and all. Finally, she awoke, but only after Daddy hinted that he may go open all her presents and play with them LOL.

We waited for Nana, Pop Pop and Sass to arrive and then the girls played Santa, handing out presents to everyone. I am glad that I am able to plan ahead and buy all year long for the kids, it was fun to watch them open their gifts. Mr. K received a new cd player for his truck, a new pair of jeans, old spice body wash, a few funky things from the kids etc. His stocking was full of candy.

The girls seemed most impressed with their Our Generation Dolls. These dolls are the same size as American Girl Dolls yet they cost a LOT less. I have some patterns to make clothing and now that I am on break I will attempt to work on this.

It seemed to take forever to clean up all the detritus that was left over, and everyone helped. We had a breakfast of pancakes and sausage and then I started lunch preparations. I went out to the pantry to get the platters and casserole dishes and found that a cat or three had been in there and pushed them off the table and they were all broken. sigh. I dragged Mr. K in there and he promised me a better door on the pantry this weekend.

My sister and her family arrived, then my nephew and his family arrived. Suddenly we had a full house LOL. We were surprised when Mr. K's mother arrived, we thought for sure she wouldn't show up. She stayed for an hour and a half and Mr. K only relaxed when she left. We all enjoyed a nice lunch of more food than any of us could possibly eat and then everyone went HOME!!!! Mr. K got to spend a few moments chatting on the phone with his brother ( his brother and wife are celebrating their son's first Christmas! Wish we could have been there too.)

My brother and his wife arrived at my mom's house last night and we went over to see them. They gifted us with a gift card to Lowes, which is wonderful! It was really good to see them both, and sometime later this afternoon my two nephews will be passing through on their way to skiing so we can say hello to them too!

This Christmas

2008-12-25T19:17:00.000-08:00

Christmas Eve was a good day. Mr. K had the day off and I had a list of errands to run which was a bit unusual for me. I am generally the wrapped and ready by December 1st kind of girl, but school got in the way this year and all, so there I was, running errands on Christmas Eve.

I have been wanting to get my nails done for a few weeks now. I am not really allowed to have fingernails at school, because a variety of cooties can get under them and wreck someone's lunch. I resisted the impulse for as long as I could and then had them done yesterday. A perfect french manicure. Ahh, they are so beautiful and I feel so lady like.

Last night in the middle of the freezing rain storm we were having we had to go rescue Sass and her brother young K. They had slid off the road in Sass' car. Mr. K asked me to turn the lug lock on the 4 wd. Yeah right, with these nails? No way. Sass and young K were fine, angels were certainly watching over them because if they had slid about 12 inches more they would have gone over the edge of a deep ditch and surely been hurt. Thanks be to God that was not the case.

My brother commented on my lovely nails this evening and then reminded me that I cannot play guitar with them... and I sadly looked at my nails and mumbled I know. And then I brightened because I do not currently play the guitar at all and lessons do not begin until January 26 or 27 so I can enjoy them for a full month before having to remove them.

Oh let me get back to Christmas Eve. We arrived at Nana and Pop Pop's house ( my parents) early and Pop Pop was surprised. We enjoyed a nice glass of fruity white wine and some crudite while waiting for my sister and her family to arrive. Pop Pop made an excellent strip steak ( the entire cut not just steaks) that was out of this world delicious. It was so good that I didn't even eat all of my mashed potatoes ( and I am a mashed potato addict). For dessert we had a cheesecake made by Mr. K, who kept saying it was not his recipe, for his is locked up within the caverns of his mother's house and it would take an act of God to get him over there any time soon. The cheesecake was good.

Home on the slippery sliding road to read The Night Before Christmas. The girls had sent their letters to the North Pole and I made sure to send a letter back to them. I misspelled Morgan's name, which I totally blame on my exhaustion level and these darn fingernails that allow me to do very little. We played Santa for a while and then went to bed.

Next up Christmas Day.

What Do You Want For Christmas

2008-12-23T08:55:00.001-08:00

I have been thinking alot about Christmas past lately.

There is no place like New York City for Christmas and New Year's. I am biased because that is where I spent my growing up years. These are the memories I have...

When I was a teenager and my brothers were off living in the real world, I would arrive at Dad's house and there would be the tree in the living room, set up with those big C 7 or 9 twinkle lights, if you listened closely you could hear them "tink". We would decorate the tree and then go out to dinner at the local restaurant that my dad visited several times a week. Sometimes there would be snow, more often not. Walking to the restaurant you could hear the elevated trains arriving at the station, the conductor calling out the station name. Lots of people crowded the sidewalks, even on Christmas Night. Everyone had lights in their windows, lots of tinsel garland too. After dinner we would go back and open presents, sometimes we opened them at my mom's house before we left. Come to think of it, I can't remember many gifts that I received, although that one cowboy barbie doll that year that my brothers will never let me forget... any who... that whole week I spent with my dad was always so magical. He would take me around to the local places to see all the decorations. At the Oval there was a giant fountain in the summer, but in the winter it would become Santa's village. I wonder if they still do that? there were always those houses that went overboard with their lights and decorations and of course we would go over near Fort Schuyler to see them all. A trip to see Aunt Millie and Uncle Charlie always netted some incredible food LOL. We went downtown too, stood under the tree at Rockefeller Center many times ( I KNOW they don't let you do that anymore!) watched the skaters, saw the train display at Macys on 34th, walked 5th avenue and saw all the displays there. A quick trip into St. Patrick's even though we aren't at all Catholic.
We did go to our local Church, St. Pauls, and there was something about that place that always called to me. It's a stone church and the dampness inside always smelled like God to me. I have never forgotten that. Always always at peace there. My aunt worked there doing something that I can't remember, maybe secretary or something.

2008-12-21T14:49:00.000-08:00

Snow Snow and more snow... will it ever end?

Today was the perfect day for making cookies, and so we did. Sugar cookies hand decorated by Miss H, and she used a generous hand with the sprinkles LOL. Even Daddy helped us out, getting upset with the dough until Mommy told him to use more flour on the board.

We made sugar cookies, snickerdoodles, toffee squares, oreo truffles, and dinner. Meatballs two ways because no one could decide if they wanted tomato sauce or brown gravy so I made both.

The girls filled out their letters to Santa and they are being sent up the chimney tonight...
We have always believed that letters sent to Santa through the woodstove become ash that flies straight to the North Pole faster and reassembles itself into the proper letter there. Usually Santa sends a letter back to the girls that is a little burnt around the edges.

This year Miss H asked for a trampoline and

A BABY SISTER.

I said GOOD LUCK.

LOL
Gotta love them... really.

Miss M was a bit more conservative. She asked for Bratz dolls, and accesories.

Young J said he would be happy with whatever he got. I had to buy him boots today. Size 13W.
OMG.

eight days later

2008-12-19T15:31:00.000-08:00

It's been a while since I posted here.

Finals week is OVER. I got my student evaluation sheet back for my internship and the nicest thing I can say is that I am glad I will never work with that particular chef again. And he needs to get spell check and an english reference book for typos and correct wording.

The Wednesday cooking final went well, once I found my mind. It went completely blank when I saw two portions of salmon on my plate. I HATE SALMON... the way it smells when it is cooking makes me want to gag.

glad that is done.

Christmas Preparations are in full swing here. I have a bunch of recipes to get going tomorrow. I made cupcakes today for the 15 year old to take to school. Tomorrow morning we are working at the soup kitchen in the next town over. The girls have rehearsal tomorrow also. I have to wrap their Sunday School teacher gifts.

Snow today. Snow Sunday. Snow Wednesday.

Anyone want some?

2008-12-12T13:38:00.000-08:00

Snow day!
I made a large batch of hot cocoa mix and let the girls out to play in the snow. Miss H came in looking like a snowman herself! She is happily wrapped up in polar fleece on the sofa watching a tv program. Miss M was over at the neighbors but finally dragged herself home.

I have not stepped foot outside today. A lot of snow, some ice. Brrr, Instead I made a loaf of Guiness Stout bread, a chocolate cake, toasted walnuts and added them to a tossed salad, cooked some chicken and added that too. I toasted some pine nuts for a project later on.

Mr. K went into work late today and is now working overtime and has to work tomorrow I guess. This means that I am in a bit of a pickle concerning tomorrow. I hope Sass can help me out.

2008-12-11T03:05:00.000-08:00

Mr. K was chatting about some anomaly concerning rabbits and cats and Morgan came around the corner and with the innocence of youth said that flower ( our female cat who is just now old enough to be fixed) could have ( instead of kittens) easter eggs.

Moments like these make me double over, tears coursing down my face, the sheer hilarity of it all just envelopes me in mirth.

Sass has a young man in her life. Mr. K and I both like him. ALOT. and we have not been shy in saying so.

Snow is coming today but not fast enough to cancel classes, which means that I will be driving home in nasty weather and then hosting a party later on in nasty weather and I need to make a list of the things I have to bring with me for decoration etc.

I am not going to worry.

2008-12-10T15:55:00.000-08:00

The last luncheon at school was today and I am oh so glad it is over. I am ready for a break.

Took my mixology practical and did fine, fine, fine. I now can rattle off the ingredients to many popular cocktails and their alcohol strengths and what the correct garnish is for each. Monday is the certification exam, and then on Wednesday is the written local exam. After that is the Iron Chef final exam along with a dinner date at a nice place in Saratoga for my classmates.

I need new dress shoes.

So does Miss H for that matter. Payless is BOGO half so I think we are heading over that way tomorrow.

2008-12-09T03:28:00.000-08:00

Mr K and I had an impromptu date night... yes folks we went grocery shopping on a Monday! LOL.
My gosh, the prices of every darn thing are going up. we carefully made our way up and down the aisles, and no errant pepperoni or cheese found its way into our cart. No soda, no high fructose corn syrup...

I did get four bags of baby spinach and we are having that for dinner tonight. With what I have no idea lol but that's okay.

I have a full day of school today.
off to get dressed.

2008-12-08T13:49:00.000-08:00

Mr. K morphs into Clark Griswold at Christmas time. It is funny to watch some of the things he attempts at this time of the year.

I am happy to announce that the tree is lit and decorated. The outside of the house is boasting lights and looks cozy.

We had been toying with the idea of a party during this rushed holiday season and finally settled on a Cheesecake Frolic on December 27th. Invitations have been printed and sent to 24 friends... mmm cheesecake and relaxing conversation.

Finals start for me on Wednesday. It will all be over with next Wednesday after the mystery basket final in culinary ( think Iron Chef).

I am off to make hot cocoa mix.

2008-12-06T15:41:00.000-08:00

Santa party at college today. Santa did a really nice job, the crafts the kids made were really cute and the presents they received were thought out ones. They enjoyed a wonderful lunch, chicken tenders, mac and cheese, tater tots, cookies and fruit. No one went away hungry.

Came home to put the tree up and found a huge problem with it that is not repairable. Went searching for a new tree only to find that most were out of our price range, so for the first time in forever we have a live cut tree. It is warming up in the house and is settling in. I love the smell of a fresh tree, and thankfully we do not have carpet, so I only have to sweep the needles. After Christmas I will find a tree on sale and purchase it then. I was surprised, pleasantly so, to find bags of ornaments I bought after Christmas last year, very country and pretty and will look great on the tree. I think we are decorating it tomorrow.

I also found a tote full of Christmas themed gifts to give to some of my friends that I got on sale last year too. It's been a blessing kind of day, which is good because it didn't start out that way.

tonsils

2008-12-05T03:59:00.000-08:00

We saw the specialist yesterday who readily agreed that Miss H's tonsils must come out. It is going to relieve a lot of issues for her and blah blah blah.

my baby has to have surgery. yes I know that this is routine and lots of people have it done, I had mine out when I was 23. I distinctly recall it. My brothers had theirs out, and just last night he said I should get her a tricky busy school bus ( and if you google that you will guess how old my brother is LOL).

still. she is five years old, the only one of my children that inherited my faulty tonsils. She is so little. And yet she is excited to tell everyone that she is going to the hospital, that she gets to eat ice cream, drink whatever she wants. Ten days home with mom. Right after New Years, so she will have an extended vacation from school. She is very very happy.

A friend at school gave me a book on making ice cream on Wednesday. We found out yesterday about the tonsils. We are going to pick some flavors miss H loves and I am going to spend the week between Christmas and New Years making specialized ice cream for my daughter.
and soup.

2008-12-05T03:53:00.000-08:00

Christmas is coming the goose is getting fat please put a penny in the old mans hat...

I have to keep looking at the calendar and remembering that it is only December 5th. Time feels like it is zipping ahead and I am so far behind. The kids want to put up the Christmas Tree... okay, when? The lights need to go up outside ( yes they do need to.) Cookies need to be baked, the deep freeze needs to be organized, presents need to be wrapped and does anyone know what happened to our advent wreath? I think I need to get another one today. I need to return two sweaters to the store in South City, and I am dragging my mama along with me so she can do some shopping.

BIG ANNOUNCEMENT HERE:
My mama's cancer testing came back and she is CANCER FREE!

It's almost exactly one year since she was diagnosed, her surgery was a few days after Christmas, her treatment after that went really well and she is one happy mama!

I guess in light of this announcement, everything else can wait a day or two.

Advent

2008-12-02T10:23:00.001-08:00

Young J was an acolyte this past Sunday. In his anticipation of getting done with the job he proceeded to light every single candle on the altar. This would not be a bad thing but it is only the first Sunday in Advent and we do not light all of them the very first time around. He was corrected by a friend of ours.

Happy Advent everyone.

it wasn't a total disaster

2008-11-29T16:39:00.000-08:00

but it was close.

Lunch was an interesting affair today. Like I said earlier, Mr. K could not be there. Miss M had a birthday party which I was able to drop her off early to, young K got upset by something his Aunt said and refused to go to lunch, so it was just young j, miss H and me that went. Everything was going along great and then miss H said I don't feel good and proceeded to lose her lunch ( in the bathroom lucky girl) and my sister had to comment on it. Kids do this, she needs to get a grip. I didn't get much of a chance to visit with my brother or sister in law because my sister's husband wouldn't shut up. LOL. Isn't family terrific? Especially around the holidays!

My dad. They went to a function at the lodge last night and it was a chinese auction of sorts. He put in tickets for a foosball table, a pool table, and a television. I was warned in advance. Of course my dad won the pool table... AND the foosball table and WHEN CAN WE COME GET THEM?????? I just laughed and laughed and when I saw my brother today I said I am giving one to you....

Full sized game tables.

My gosh. I said Dad I hope you bought lottery tickets....

2008-11-29T05:12:00.000-08:00

Saturday Morning. Time to get moving. My brother, my sister in law, and my nephew Z are on their way. They will be here in two hours and then after some visiting time we are on our way to lunch in City South. Mr. K has to work today, I am praying he gets out in time to go with us. Every year it is the same thing, he always works the Saturday after Thanksgiving.

I made turkey stock out of the leftover turkey yesterday. I also made a terrific onion soup, two quarts went into the refrigerator.

My pantry needs to be organized again.

Greedy Uno's

2008-11-28T06:31:00.000-08:00

When I went to walmart this morning there was no parking spots to be had, and a few of us headed across the street to Uno's parking lot. Uno's is not EVER open at 5am. There were many cars in the parking area already.

When I came out of Walmart, I hiked across the parking lot with my two bags full of Hannah Montana items and came upon a man standing in the parking lot at Uno's. Behind him was sign that said PARKING $5.00. He looked at me and said Ma'am we are charging $5. for parking

I looked him right in the eye and said well then I am glad I am leaving. Have a nice day.

I do not think that Uno's had the holiday spirit at 5:40 am today.

I also think they would have been more justified to charge for parking if they were open, but they were just being greedy. Maybe I would have cared a bit more if it were a donation of money to a soup kitchen or something, but there was no mention of that.

we ate at Uno's once. Not an experience I want to repeat.

oh yes I did

2008-11-28T06:27:00.000-08:00

I did get up at 4am. I got dressed and packed my little change purse with the bare essentials, grabbed a hoodie and the car keys and off I went to maneuver my shopping cart through the wilds of Black Friday. I had my list in hand and I am very happy to announce that I did find everything that I wanted to get, I spent very little money, I even got gifts for my parents to give the kids ( I will be reimbursed later LOL)

I totally forgot about the sale at Joann's so we went there and I found the sweetest polar fleece to make a ... oh wait you read this blog so I can't tell you what I am making but it is really sweet.

I also picked up a bunch of autumn themed items for 90% off!

Sass and I were done by 8am, and she came back home with me and made french toast while I stashed everything at North Pole Central ( our camper). Later on I will wrap and tag and be done for the season!! YAY!

sipping eggnog and reflecting

2008-11-27T17:43:00.000-08:00

Miss M just came to me and asked me what a nog was???? hmm, I may need to look that up, I believe I heard some nonsense coming from Mr. K about how it was eggs and parts of nogs and now Miss M is looking suspiciously at her eggnog and is not quite sure she wants to consume it, even though it tastes so good!

Another Thanksgiving is drawing to a close and while we are pleasantly suffering from our tryptophan fogginess, it wouldn't be right to not reflect on a few things:

I was glad to see my nephew and his family today at our home. They only stayed a little while but Master Caleb is growing so fast ( He is the baby I am holding in my facebook pic) he is 1.5 years old... and is my grandnephew. Yes I am a grandaunt ( I am a great aunt all the time, ask any of my family, I rock ROFL). Yesterday I became an aunt on my husband's side of the family for the very first time and I thought it might feel a bit different ( I have no idea why I would think this way...) but I don't. It's exactly the same every time, that jolt of pure happiness that another member of the family has arrived and will grow up under all of our watchful loving eyes. Miraculous and it never fails to bring a smile to my face. My dh ( Mr. K ) sat with me while we toured Cael's picture book online... what a beautiful nephew we have.

Thanksgiving was a breeze this year, thanks to planning and everyone participating. I had very little to do other than deep cleaning the house and that took many hours yesterday and more than one person to complete but it is done, the house looks great, smells great and is clean clean clean.

Tomorrow morning I am waking up early to get to all the sales. I have a running list and I am sticking to it, I don't need much but I do need to get it all on sale. Once tomorrow morning is complete I am going to get every single thing wrapped and labeled and stored away.

Saturday we are having lunch with my brother and his family and then Sunday we are spending the day with the littles at the funnest place in our area.

and I hear snow is on it's way.

We Have a Nephew!

2008-11-26T06:02:00.000-08:00

Happy Birth Day to our beautiful Cael River!!!!! He's here, he's healthy and he's awesome!

Congrats to Mom and Dad....

Uncle K is beside himself!!!!!

It's raining it's pouring

2008-11-25T13:52:00.000-08:00

and I am so glad it's not snow!
Miserable day out there... Dance class tonight, dinner, then its A Charlie Brown Thanksgiving! 8pm, ABC. Can't wait. Popcorn and toast.
Some things never fail to delight me.

The truck should be ready tomorrow morning. I have tomorrow off, so do the kids. I am going to press the cloth napkins while they create the napkin rings for Thursday. Then we are going to make sure that they all still fit in their good clothes. I need to remember to call my nephew and his girlfriend to see if they are coming over on Thursday at some point. I want to get a picture of all the kids together for my mom for Christmas. It wouldn't hurt to get our portrait done too. I am so far behind this year, I usually have all my Christmas Cards completed and addressed by today! Geez, I am slipping!

White Trash

2008-11-25T13:45:00.000-08:00

No, not a commentary on someone in particular, its a recipe. Alton Brown makes it, half the US population makes it apparently.

And now, I have become a statistic.

White Trash
3 cups corn chex
3 cups wheat chex
3 cups rice chex
2 cups peanuts
16 oz. m and m's
2 cups mini pretzels
2 bags of white chocolate chips

Mix everything together except the chips. Melt those carefully in the microwave, 30 seconds at a time, and when melted, drizzle over the entire mixture. Spread out on wax paper or parchment and let harden. Break up and put in bags and for Goodness Sake! Give some away or you will eat the entire batch and that can't be good for you.....

Variations on this theme: use mixed nuts, change the cereal to include cheerios, froot loops, whatever you want, I don't think there could be a bad cereal for this ( well maybe oatmeal LOL)

I have several bags hidden in the pantry for Thursday.

Kitchen Aid Update

2008-11-25T13:24:00.001-08:00

my beloved kitchen aid is sitting on my kitchen counter, its fixed and its happy and its back to work!
just in time for pie, pie, pie.

no baby Cael news yet.

Cael

2008-11-25T09:55:00.000-08:00

Our first nephew on Mr. K's side is on his way into the world

My littles are very excited about their new cousin

More news later.

2008-11-25T06:02:00.000-08:00

Wishing you and your families a very Blessed Thanksgiving Day!

Our Thanksgiving preparations are just about complete.
It was so simple this year, mostly due to everyone bringing something!
Pumpkin pies are the last thing to bake and then we are set.

the worst is over

2008-11-25T06:00:00.000-08:00

The Psychology exam is over.
I think I did well
Therefore I did?
Results next week

2008-11-24T04:31:00.000-08:00

Jenn over at http://frugalupstate.blogspot.com/ Thats Frugal Upstate, if you didn't know... is hosting a great giveaway of tableware for your Holiday.. Head on over and sign up and maybe you will be the lucky winner!

Bananas

2008-11-23T07:26:00.000-08:00

Aldi had free bananas on Friday. I grabbed eight bags. Today we are making banana bread. Oh the house is going to smell so good. I went to the market up north yesterday and bought a beautiful pork loin of about 8 pounds, going to cut that in half and half will go into the freezer and the other half is going to be tonight's dinner. Mr. K and Sass are due back late this afternoon from their hunting trip.

Oh I have to find the link... http://nestingplacenc.blogspot.com/2008/11/most-wonderful-chirstmas-garland-and.html I love this... I love that she says her garland is obnoxious LOL...

I am very much a "don't pass over one holiday to get to the next one" girl, but time is short for me these days so I went ahead and created a garland for over the island. I used a few strands of green garland and the rest is gold ribbon, gold and green flowers and pine cones, gold bells, gold glittered ornament balls. I think it came out beautiful and is only missing a strand of white lights with green wires, alas I only had white lights with a white wire... will not do at all. A quick trip today to wally world will fix that, along with getting two window insulation kits and a weatherstripping kit for the front door. It's a whole 19 degrees out today.

anyway I will post a pic when I take one.

2008-11-20T10:29:00.000-08:00

I have been carefully working on my new edition.

It's a long process. I decided to not include any recipe that I have not personally used in the last five years. I think that is reasonable. Not one of my children has come to me and said oh can you make me that dish from five years ago? I will presume that I am safe. If not, there is always the internet.

The kids and I are working on a special Christmas edition whereby we hope to make each recipe in the collection and share it with friends.

Here is a recipe they want me to share with you... does anyone NOT have this?

Little Cheddar Meatloaves

1 egg
3/4 cup milk
1 cup (4 ounces) shredded cheddar cheese
1/2 cup quick-cooking oats
1/2 cup chopped onion
1 teaspoon salt
1 pound lean ground beef
2/3 cup ketchup
1/2 cup packed brown sugar
1 1/2 teaspoon prepared mustard
Preparation:In a bowl, beat the egg and milk. Stir in cheese, oats, onion, and salt. Add beef and mix well. Shape into eight loaves; place in a greased 13x9 baking dish. Combine ketchup, brown sugar, and mustard; spoon over loaves.Bake, uncovered, at 350 degrees for 45 minutes or until meat is no longer pink and a meat thermometer reads 160 degrees. Yields: 8 servings

The real deal

2008-11-20T10:23:00.000-08:00

I have had a KA just like this one for a long time.

I think I have it pinned down to 14 years. That's a long time to be the workhorse in my kitchen. Almost a year ago, Sass was making cookies * yes, I am sorry to be placing the blame here, but where there's smoke there is a problem with the machine.* anyway, there are a few things you are not supposed to do with a KA, like try to mix the chocolate chips with it. Yes I can hear you now, Oh I do that all the time... but the rules are pretty simple. Don't do it. Sass does not listen to mundane things like directions.... and so the KA broke. I cried. Mr. K came to my rescue and said he would fix it. He found the problem quickly and then....

several months have passed.

I finally dragged my KA and myself over to the fix it shop and asked the kind man behind the counter to take care of my pride and joy and please call me when I can come get it. He agreed and now I wait....

soon it will all be over and I won't have to use one of those stupid handheld mixers that sprays goo on my glasses.

2008-11-18T02:43:00.000-08:00

I had an exam at school yesterday that turned into a joke. The teacher didn't even collect it. I have another exam today and I know that it will be collected, and yet my textbook is in the house, and my notebook is out in the car and I have no desire to go get it at 5:30 this morning...

Baby, it's cold outside.

Mr. K filled up the woodstove and started the dishwasher before he left for work. I can understand the woodstove, but the dishwasher? Very unlike him.

Early registration for Spring classes starts today at 8am. I will be sitting in psych class waiting to get to the computer lab and register. One final semester and I am done with this part. My application for the ACF is filled out and ready to go. Just waiting on four classmates to complete theirs.

Mr. K is going hunting with his cousin this weekend. I am going to a parent teacher conference, a float building session that my church is involved in, a cancer fundraiser, and I may be able to enjoy a little time on Sunday.

personal cookbook

2008-11-16T17:45:00.000-08:00

I have had a personal cookbook for a number of years. If you were to look at it, the cover had a birdhouse illustration on it and inside every single page was in a page protector. I spent a lot of time creating this book to my own standards.

and then it got lost.
for months, it has been gone. I searched everywhere. All those recipes, just gone. Now I know I could go out on the net and find new ones, but these recipes were tried and true and they were mine. It was depressing.

I found it today. The binding is destroyed, the cover is messed up enough to offend me. The contents are perfectly fine and I am delighted to have my cookbook back, especially now that the Holiday Season is rapidly approaching.

So this is what I am going to do. I am going to recreate the book and make copies. I am going to make a copy for each of my children and give it to them at Christmas time. If I have the time I may prepare each recipe and take a photo of it and put it in the book too. Hmmm

Sunday stuff

2008-11-16T17:42:00.000-08:00

Today we moved some furniture around for the upcoming holidays and then took off up north to Ti and the sights to be seen from the north. We shopped a bit and I finally found a coat for me, yay. We bought some Christmas lights for the front of the house and I am determined to get them installed this week before the snow flies. We saw some houses with their Christmas trees already up! That's just ridiculous. I am not turning on any lights until after Thanksgiving.

2008-11-16T04:49:00.000-08:00

A Saturday Morning Post
Everyone in the house is sound asleep except for me. It’s November 15th, where has the time gone? Why does it seem like the end of the year races towards us so quickly?
Met up with Sass at the mall and she did a little shopping while I watched. Mr K met up with us later on, he had an early day. I already told you about the JCPenney deal.
We took the kids to pizza hut to use their reading certificates last night and then went to the YMCA for Family Fun night. We even played a little basketball together. It was a fun evening.
Today I am taking an inventory of the gifts I have already purchased or have on hand for things like teacher gifts, secret santas, etc. and then I am making a list of what still needs to be bought. I am scouring the internet for black Friday ads, found some at www.black-friday.net and it appears reliable.

I need to study for the serv safe alcohol exam on Monday and the Business Management exam on Tuesday. I have math homework that needs to be completed, and I need to work on a nutrition project as well.
It’s extremely foggy out this morning, I wish the weather would make up its mind. Miss H is congested and coughing.

2008-11-16T04:48:00.000-08:00

When I was at JCPenney Friday scoring all those lovely clothes for my youngest son, I did remember to back to customer service and request boxes. They have nice boxes this year, very red. And FREE.

A little tape and a bow or two and I am all set. I requested the biggest boxes they had and managed to get six pairs of jeans in one box and eight shirts in the other. The seventh pair of jeans went straight to the boy to make sure they fit, and Oh sorry they only had one pair satisfied the boy.
Sneaky mom.

2008-11-16T04:47:00.000-08:00

I found two cases of pumpkin in the hall closet.
Oh yeah… I forgot about those. No matter, tis the season for pumpkin bread, pumpkin muffins, Pumpkin rolls.
I will share a recipe for pumpkin rolls with you soon. The one I have serves 50 and it doesn’t scale down well.
Miss M LOVES LOVES LOVES pumpkin pie. Even the crust. LOL. I will have to make one or two of those this weekend too.

Dontcha just love...

2008-11-14T14:13:00.000-08:00

JCPenney is having a sale.

I went looking for a winter coat, because mine got destroyed. I found a bathrobe instead. And then I walked into the men's section and there they were....

seven pairs of pants and eight shirts for my son who absolutely without a doubt needed them for the winter.

and they were marked 2.97 each. Most of the original prices were 55 dollars each.

Thank You Lord.

and when I got to the register and it had all been rung up.... they took $10 off.

Called the body shop and the truck will be ready on the 21st it looks like.

squash bisque

2008-11-09T11:30:00.000-08:00

we have a new favorite soup in our house. Squash bisque, although its not really a bisque. But it sounds better than squash pureed soup.

take a butternut squash and chop it up. Add to it a few diced celery stalks, a few carrots, and an onion or two. Saute them together with some butter (that is totally up to you, depending on how thick you want the soup to be) ( and I generally add more vegetables to thicken rather than more flour) add some flour, mix it up and pour in your chicken stock. Simmer and then when the veggies are all nice and soft puree the whole shooting match in a blender ( take your time with this, small batches, don't get burned). season to taste.

Lately when I make soup for every two containers I fill, one goes in the freezer. I am out of onion soup at the moment, but now have some lovely squash bisque.

early morning call

2008-11-08T17:51:00.000-08:00

Friday morning 6am: my cell phone is on vibrate and yet I hear it buzzing in the kitchen. I go answer it and hear my beloved on the other end of the line telling me he got the day off. Oh wonderful... and then he tells me that he wrecked his truck.

WHAT?

Yes he is okay. A young doe jumped a fence and crashed into the side of his truck, taking out the marker light in the front, crushing the fender and the door, wiping out the mirror and the driver's window before trying to fracture Mr. K's skull. His instincts were right on target, he held the steering wheel straight, stomped on the brakes and ducked just in time. This all happened about two miles from our home.

I jumped into the van and raced down the road. He was covered in window glass, and I helped him get most of it off. I even pulled a piece out of his ear canal. What a mess. The state trooper that he called was very nice and helpful.

The truck is at the body shop, a rental was arranged, a Dodge Avenger, nice car. Mr. K was in shock most of the day, thinking about what could have happened, what did happen, and how to reconcile it all. He was pretty much back to normal this morning.

2008-11-05T18:52:00.000-08:00

I don't think that I posted my midterm grades. Hmm.
Classes are difficult this time around and I am not holding a 4.0 but that is okay, I am doing well in my classes, just not A's. One of the classes I found out I didn't have to take for my degree and there is currently no certification involved, so I may withdraw from the class entirely. It would allow me an extra hour in the morning on Mondays, and two extra hours on Wednesday. Have to check on that a bit.

The election is over, and wow. I didn't know that his grandmother's name was incredibly similar to one in my dh's family tree but they are no relation, as far as Sass can tell. It might have been cool ( no let me rephrase that..) it would have been totally AWESOME to get an invitation to the inauguration... but that's not likely so back to our regularly scheduled programming...

recession. it stinks.

2008-10-28T09:42:00.000-07:00

Onion Soup. Pretty basic stuff. Take five pounds of onions, julienne them and put them into a large saucepan with a little butter and some olive oil. Sweat them down, allow them to caramelize completely. Add to beef broth ( 2 quarts or more) and simmer. You can add sherry to this to round out the flavor but we prefer it without. After simmering ( I put it in the crockpot for a few hours) it's ready to go and OH SO GOOD. A little cheese ( we have tried gouda, edam, cheddar, horseradish) on top and you are good to go. I don't bother with the bread, although you could top it with a round of bread and some cheese and then broil it, but the true flavor is in the soup itself so why corrupt it with additional fat?

Onions were on sale last week, I bought the beef broth because I had no time to make it, and I came out with three quarts of soup for around $3.25 for the whole thing. Pretty economical and made many meals!

2008-10-28T09:30:00.000-07:00

Potatoes. So many things to be done with them. Most of the potatoes I did buy are processed and in the freezer. I baked some and left them in their skins for reheating this winter, so fast and easy to do. I processed some as hash browns and those froze nicely too. Au gratin potatoes, scalloped potatoes, mashed potatoes, cubed and baked potatoes with olive oil and herbs. All done. Still have about 20 pounds to go.

Did you ever get sick of cooking one particular item? The ground beef nearly did me in, but I persisted and now have meatballs, meatloaf, cooked crumbles ( for tacos and whatever), hamburger patties, etc all safely tucked away in the deep freezer ( food locker? chest freezer? Call it what you like, it sits out in the enclosed part of the porch where the pantry used to be, keeping everything safe and cold.)

2008-10-21T10:36:00.000-07:00

This week is a busy one again.

Our local grocery is celebrating 125 years by hosting a nice sale.

Potatoes are 5 pounds for 1.25
Onions are 5 pounds for 1.25
Kraft cheese is 8oz for 1.25
Ground beef is 1.25 per pound.

What's a girl to do?

learn how to make hash browns for the freezer, make a huge batch of onion soup, freeze a bunch of meatballs, meatloaves, and cooked hamburger meat for quickish meals on the go. I shredded a bunch of cheese too for the freezer and for quesadillas ( miss H's favorite).

2008-10-16T10:23:00.000-07:00

Bought a new mixer for the cake making the other day. It works better than the old one but not as well as my kitchen aid. I really need to get that fixed.

The demonstration went well. And I am glad it is over.

Today I have a midterm exam in Nutrition. I did okay with the review part so I am think I am ready for the test. Hoping I do well.

Going to make Buffalo chicken soup this weekend. When I get the recipe set, I will share it.

of applesauce and soup

2008-10-12T12:37:00.001-07:00

not my picture.
I made applesauce yesterday
I also made:
pumpkin cheesecake tarts
a gigundo pot of chili

today I made:
a batch of corn chowder
and
a batch of cream of tomato soup

I am in the mood to cook

I have a cake decorating demo to give on Tuesday.
I can't find the other beater to my mixer.
I looked everywhere.

2008-10-08T07:06:00.001-07:00

Chinese checkers, regular checkers, parcheesi, and a deck of cards.

Today is our first luncheon at school. Serving a reduced amount of reservations today to make sure the dining room staff has their act together - a test run of sorts.

2008-10-07T10:55:00.001-07:00

and the really cool thing is that I learned how to upload pics from the web to make my blog more interesting.

Board Games

2008-10-07T10:46:00.000-07:00

Every year around this time I start thinking about board games. I think about how much I love the idea of playing board games. Then I think about how when I buy those games that I love so much, that within a few weeks they are missing pieces.

Yesterday I scored a bunch of free board games at the recycle center.

My DH remembers playing this game as a kid. He is looking forward to teaching our kids how to play.

We are also the proud owners of SCRABBLE, UNO DOMINOES, Chutes and Ladders, and a weaving loom. Oh and BINGO.... a really old game with cardboard cards and plastic round numbers.... amazingly old and in great shape.

and the best part?

DH came in from his meeting last night and said hey let's play scrabble...

Just another Thursday post

2008-10-02T10:29:00.000-07:00

Yesterday we went to the Vermont Butter and Cheese Factory. The most interesting part about this was that I developed car sickness for the first time in YEARS... and vomited goat cheese is nasty thank you very much.

I have a class in just about a half hour. I have to go to the library for a book. I just bought tickets to the semi formal dance.

The kids are fine. Mr K is great, he had the day off yesterday so he went on our field trip with us.
I have a bunch of pictures to get uploaded and zero time at the moment.

Ginger Rogers

2008-09-25T09:34:00.000-07:00

has nothing on my eight year old. She jumped right into the jazz class with both feet! She shimmied and shook and kicked up her heels and had a great time. Its a half hour class once a week, so we signed her up for hip hop class too so she has a full hour of dance each week. She is so happy.

Exams here at school today. Psych went okay I don't think I will get lower than an 80, and the math exam was just odd but I think I did okay also.

Nutrition exam this afternoon on the TUBE.... the one that runs from your throat to your.... well you get the idea. Peristalsis.... oh boy.

Dream a little dream

2008-09-23T09:58:00.000-07:00

Lots of things happening around here.

Miss M was sick yesterday, stomach ache type thing that passed quickly. We went to her open house at School last night and met her teacher. We also ran into her best friends mom ( and she is such a nice person... I have just had NO TIME to do anything but school and work for so long and time just passes us by so quick....) anyway, found out that her daughter is taking dance lessons and we are signing Miss M up today and she is beyond thrilled with this development!

I love it when a little thing like that can make my kids so happy.

Miss H? we think she may be a little young for dance at the moment, and we don't want to put her in with Miss M at this time. They do not have to share everything, you know?

J just celebrated his birthday on Saturday. He turned 15. We had an ice cream cake for him last night, just the five of us. Life has been very very busy again. Sent a cake over to my sister's house because she has the same birthday as J. Felt bad we couldn't all get together, but that is the way it is sometimes.

We went apple picking on Sunday and it cost a lot of money. Great apples though.

2008-09-19T07:50:00.001-07:00

a really quick post here.

I started our Christmas planning. Yes, I know it's September 19th. My youngest son turns 15 TOMORROW. Time is just apassin by folks.

anyway, we are planning on hosting our first ever Christmas party this year and that takes some planning and so does all the other family events that normally occur.

did I tell you that I already have our Christmas cards? and the stamps for them?
I like to be organized.

I wrapped two gifts last night... before i ran out of tape. tape that someone used to plaster her door with coloring pages.

Balloon Festival this weekend. Apple Picking, family time. Life is good.

2008-09-16T09:57:00.000-07:00

waiting for class to begin.

hungry.

going in search of food on campus.

have a journal to update over recent things but wifi is not working at school. bummer