One Musical Mom's Life

Delicious Sour Cream Berry Scones

2009-09-05T15:32:00.004-07:00

I've never been a big fan of scones, since most tend to be dry & really crumbly. It wasn't until we were at a friend's house, and her mom made some homemade blueberry scones that were to die for, that I decided to give them a second chance. After stuffing myself with 3 of them, I begged her to tell me her secret. She said, "Sour cream".

So today when I was looking for something yummy to make, I decided to search the web for a sour cream berry scone recipe. The following is what I found, and if it's any indication of how good they are, my family could have easily eaten the whole batch in one sitting.

Delicious Sour Cream Berry Scones
recipe from Recipezaar--Kittencal's Jumbo Bakery Shop Blueberry Sour Cream Scones
Serves 12

Ingredients:

1 cup sour cream
1 large egg, slightly beaten
1/2 teaspoon vanilla
1/2 teaspoon almond extract (or use 1 teaspoon vanilla)--this is what I did as I don't care for almond
1 teaspoon baking soda
4 cups all-purpose flour (measured 4 cups exactly)
1 cup sugar (can use a few tablespoons more)
2 1/2 teaspoons baking powder (or use 2 semi-heaping teaspoons)
1/4 teaspoon cream of tartar
1 teaspoon salt
1/2-1 teaspoon cinnamon (optional)--I used 1/2 teaspoon & it was great!
1 cup very cold butter (cut into small cubes)
1 cup fresh blueberries--can also use frozen berries, and a mixture of berries
vanilla glaze (optional)

Directions:

Set oven to 350 degrees F.
Line a baking sheet with parchment paper or lightly grease.
In a small bowl blend the sour cream with the egg, vanilla and baking soda; set aside while making the rest of the recipe.
In a large bowl mix together the flour with sugar, baking powder, cream of tartar, salt and cinnamon (if using).
Using a pastry blender cut in cold butter cubes.
Add in the sour cream mixture; mix JUST until moistened.
Gently mix in the fresh blueberries.
Roll or pat the dough into about a 1 to 1-1/2-inch thick round.
Cut dough into 12 even wedges.
Place the wedges onto the prepared baking sheet about 2-inches apart.
Bake for about 12-15 minutes or until the the bottoms are browned.
Drizzle the top of each warm scone with glaze if desired or when the scones are cooled dust lightly with confectioners sugar.

I dare you to be able to eat just one :-) Happy Labor Day weekend, everyone!

Classic Berry Crisp

2009-08-25T22:10:00.002-07:00

The other day we were looking for something to do, so we decided to go pick raspberries at our local U-pick garden. Unfortunately, their fall raspberry crop was just getting started, so the pickings were pretty slim. However, their blackberries were in full force. As a general rule, I have a hard time paying for blackberries, since they're practically the state's weed. But we were there, really wanting berries, and they were thorn-less, so that in itself, was worth it. We ended up picking around 8 lbs of big, juicy berries in little less than 2 1/2 hours--not bad.

We brought them home, and decided to make homemade blackberry jam. We used the little 8 oz jelly jars, and made 9 beautiful garnet colored jars of yummy jam. Then we noticed there were still berries left over, but not enough to make another batch. So, without further ado, one Berry Crisp, coming up! And here's the recipe, so you can make your own delicious crisp. Enjoy!

Classic Berry Crisp

Prep time: 10 minutes
Cook time: 45 minutes
Serves 6

Ingredients:
4 cups of berries, washed--we used blackberries, but you could use any combination of
1 tablespoon lemon juice
1/3 cup granulated sugar
1/3 cup flour
1/3 cup packed brown sugar
1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
3/4 cup quick cooking rolled oats
4 tablespoons soft butter

Directions:
Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Place berries in a greased, deep baking dish. Sprinkle them with lemon juice and granulated sugar. In a separate bowl, combine flour, brown sugar, cinnamon & oats. Cut in butter until mixture is evenly blended and crumbly. Spread mixture on berries, and bake for 40-45 minutes. Serve warm with your favorite ice cream or whipped cream.

Homemade Strawberries & Cream frappuccino

2009-06-17T12:28:00.002-07:00

In my quest to avoid caffeine, which by the way, is not going very well :-(, I decided to investigate some of the other things Starbucks has to offer, as I didn't want to give up the whole "going to coffee" thing. I noticed they also made frappuccinos, and one of them even had no coffee---the strawberries & cream frappuccino. Okay, this is just heaven in a glass! Unfortunately, it's also major calories--not a great trade-off.

So I decided to go home, and try to make a homemade version that's a little less bad for you...Besides it's fruit, right? This is what I came up with:

Homemade Strawberries & Cream Frappuccino
Serves 2

Ingredients:

2 containers of strawberries, washed & hulled
1/2 cup of milk--I used 1%
3 large ice cubes
1 cup whipped cream---I made my own from 1 pint of heavy whipping cream, a couple teaspoons of sugar and a couple teaspoons of vanilla, whipped with a hand mixer until firm---you will have some left over. For a quicker option, you could also use Ready Whip or Cool Whip.

Method:

Place all ingredients into a blender, and blend until smooth. I prefer the cream mixed in with the rest of the ingredients, but you could add it to the top after blending if you'd like. You might also want to add a little bit of sugar or Splenda, if you like your drinks a little sweeter. Enjoy!

Yummy Chicken Burritos with Black Beans & Chicken Nachos

2009-06-10T13:30:00.006-07:00

It's been awhile since I've posted any recipes, but I just finished eating these amazing nachos, using the leftover filling from the chicken burritos I made up last night, and thought I'd share the recipe with you.

Yummy Chicken Burritos with Black Beans
Serves 4

Ingredients:

Burrito filling:
1 15 oz can black beans, drained and rinsed
1 cup shredded cooked chicken
1/2 cup shredded cheddar cheese
1/2 tsp cumin--I added more since we love cumin
1/2 tsp pepper
1/2 tsp kosher salt---I added a couple dashes of garlic salt instead since we love garlic

8 flour tortillas---we used the mini ones, so it actually made up 10 burritos
Nonstick cooking spray
Tortilla chips
**you can also add any of your other favorite nacho fixins', like olives or onions, to this recipe...it's very forgiving :-)

Method:

Preheat oven to 375 degrees F. Spray a large cookie sheet generously with cooking spray. Coat it well enough to see a thin layer of oil. In a medium mixing bowl, combine black beans, chicken, cheese and spices. Heat tortillas in microwave for 20 seconds so they don't break when you fold them. Divide mixture evenly among tortillas. Roll tortillas around filling and hold together with toothpicks.

Place on prepared cookie sheet. Spray tops of burritos generously with cooking spray. Bake 6 minutes. Turn burritos over and bake another 6-8 minutes until golden. Remove toothpicks and serve.

To make into nachos:

Place tortilla chips on microwavable plate and cover with burrito filling mix. Put in microwave on High for 30 seconds, or until cheese is melted. Enjoy!

May Day 2009

2009-05-12T11:00:00.000-07:00

Last year we started a new tradition in our family: the celebration of May Day--see previous post here. So when May 1st came around this year, Kyra and I once again went to Michael's to get our craftiness on. And like last year, we delivered baskets to the neighbors on either side of us, as well as both Grandmas. One funny thing: Kyra really got into the "ringing the doorbell, and running and hiding thing" this year. And now every time we go visit our neighbors, she says we should ring the bell, and run and hide...

Here are some pictures from that day:

Flowers for Grandma A.

Flowers for Grandma H.

Supermarket Saver

2009-05-12T10:00:00.002-07:00

We've all been there, or have been witness to this: The harried parent in the grocery store, just trying to survive the trip. The children, if not currently screaming, are pulling items off the shelves or taking "samples" from the bulk bins, trying to climb out of the cart, or finding new and improved ways of tormenting their brother or sister.

After several trips like this, I decided to search the web for a creative solution to save my sanity. I was so excited when I found the following at Parents magazine's site: Supermarket Bingo cards that you can print out right from your computer. Brilliant! You can find the link to the article and Adobe PDF here. You may need to create a free online account with them before you can actually download the cards. Sorry about that, but they also have lots of good info, as well as special offers from time to time.

Good luck, and here's hoping your future visits to the grocery store will be much more pleasant for everyone!

Hopping for fruit

2009-04-30T22:32:00.001-07:00

We consider ourselves quite lucky, because our dear daughter loves fruit. So when I found this adorable Fruity Frog recipe on Family Fun.com, I was very excited: not only is it super-cute but she'll actually eat it :-)

Fruity Frog


	Green apple (such as a Granny Smith)
	Cream cheese
	Chocolate chips
	Green grapes

1. Cut the apple into quarters and remove the core. Cut a thin wedge from one quarter for a mouth. For the eyes, shape cream cheese into two half-inch balls, and set them in place. Insert a chocolate chip, point-side in, into each cream cheese ball. 2. Use the grapes, cut in half, for the legs and feet. Slice four halves to create toes. Arrange the pieces as shown and serve on a paper lily pad--I just used a green napkin.

Here's our girl & her frog:

Yummy Smoothie Fruit Salad

2009-04-25T18:15:00.000-07:00

The year was 1995. The first Zuka Juice smoothie bar opened up in Provo, Utah, the brain child of several BYU students who realized they could make great drinks using real fruit, and make some serious money. The Smoothie movement was born and Zuka Juice was everywhere. Then in 2000, Zuka was sold to Jamba Juice, an inferior chain, in my opinion, and the commercially produced smoothie treat lost its appeal for me. However, my love for the home-blended version was still very much alive, and remains to this day. And I've passed on this love to our daughter, who would eat them 24-7 if she could.

So the other day I was looking for a good side dish to go along with our delicious BBQ pork loin, and realized I had the makings of a great fruit salad, using smoothie ingredients as the base. And it was super easy!!! Best of all, I thought I'd pass it on to you, so here it is:

Yummy Smoothie Fruit Salad

Ingredients:

4 cups of your choice of fruit, peeled, chopped and/or sliced--can also use frozen fruit
1/2 cup of plain yogurt
orange juice

Prepare fruit and place in a large bowl. Place the yogurt in a measuring cup that holds at least 2 cups. Then add enough of the orange juice to the yogurt to bring the mixture to the 1 cup mark, and stir to combine. Add this mixture to the fruit in the large bowl, and toss gently.

Enjoy!

On being 3...

2009-04-16T20:23:00.000-07:00

"I'm NOT sleepy! I don't WANT to go to bed!", said the hysterical, shrieking little girl. This after being sent to her room, not once, but twice during dinner, for repeatedly getting out of her seat, throwing food and being generally naughty.

On days like today, when no sleep happens during rest/nap time, it's a pretty good bet that around 6pm, all you-know-what breaks loose. Unfortunately this also happens to be dinner time, so you can imagine all the fun that that generates. The good news is, when she finally settles down enough to catch her breath, she's usually out in a matter of minutes. It seems sleep IS what she needed after all. And tomorrow is a new day.

Be sure to get out and enjoy the sunshine this weekend!
K~

Mind your Ps and Q (tips)

2009-04-02T19:49:00.001-07:00

Recently while on a cross-country car trip to Wisconsin, for a family member's funeral, we found that if we stayed in motels that also had swimming pools, we could preserve what little of our sanity that we had left, by taking nightly swims. There was a downside to all that swimming, however. Besides our skin retaining that oh-so-lovely smell of chlorine, my poor ears had built up quite the reservoir of water. Finally on the second to last day I couldn't stand it anymore, and decided to take some action.

I grabbed a Q-tip and swabbed the inside of my ear. When I was done, I took it out, and noticed the cotton tip was no longer on the end!!! I looked around on the floor, in my hair, down the back of my shirt, but it was nowhere to be seen. I asked David to look in my ear, on the off chance that it had lodged there, although it didn't feel like it was in there. He looked, and didn't see anything, so I just assumed it had gone flying under a chair or something.

Fast forward to yesterday. My ear kept feeling really funny, not really painful, but just like there was something in there, like wax or something. David felt obliged to suggest it might be a bug like in the Wrath of Khan, which I promptly put a stop to that talk! I even tried putting some rubbing alcohol in my ear, as that used to work when we'd get swimmer's ear from swimming all summer, but with no success. I finally decided to call the doctor and make an appointment.

When I saw the doctor, I sheepishly told her I'd been cleaning out my ears with a Q-tip, after swimming, and that the tip had broken off, but it couldn't possibly be in my ear! She took one look, and said, "THERE IT IS!" So she got to play with her long, skinny tweezers, and pulled it right out.

Needless to say, I felt like the kid with a button up its nose, but at least she was able to get it out fairly easily. And I guess that will teach me not to use cheap Q-tips from now on!

Left out...

2009-03-16T21:02:00.000-07:00

Recently I decided to eliminate all forms of caffeine, including decaf coffee, most teas & even chocolate (GASP!) from my daily life, as it was doing some really lousy things to my system. Now if you've ever tried to "quit" something you really enjoy, you know how hard it is, to stay with it. It's only been a week and a couple days, and already I'm finding myself craving a delicious mocha, or even just plain hot chocolate...

But what I'm finding to be the hardest part is the whole culture that seems to surround caffeine consumption. Take for instance: getting together with a friend. How many times have you been asked to "go get some water"? No, it's "Let's get coffee sometime, or get a Coke." And admit it, don't you feel part of the in-crowd, as you balance your triple-shot, no-foam, Venti cappuccino in one hand, and your laptop in the other???

I guess all I can say is, in the long run, I should feel better,health-wise, and my bank account will probably thank me. In the meantime, I will just have to be satisfied with enjoying the wonderful aroma of the coffee shops, while trying to find a decent herbal tea that doesn't taste like feet. Wish me luck!

Birds of a Feather

2009-03-10T12:58:00.001-07:00

As a parent, it's always a challenge to find something fun to do with little ones that doesn't require taking out a second mortgage on your house. So, when I find something that fits the bill, I need to make a better effort of sharing it with my other mommy friends.

That said, the other day we were looking for something fun to do, around town, on a day David had off from work. After checking out Oregon Live's events page, we found this great little field trip/ adventure near the Delta Park/Jantzen Beach area called the Macaw Landing Wildlife Refuge and Environmental Learning Center.

Along with its big name, the curator, Jack has an even bigger heart for these beautiful birds. In addition to the more than 90 macaws that call this place home, you will also get to meet all the goats, chickens, a donkey named Speckles and a great rescued horse named Atticus. When it comes to visiting the macaws themselves, Jack hands you a pair of earplugs, and if you're brave enough, you can walk right into their huge "flight", which is a fancy name for really big bird area--kinda of like a large shop. Now if you're not a big fan of bird flybys, or birds over your head, or you avoid the Lorikeet display at the Oregon Zoo like the plague (yes, Laura, I'm talking about you!), this is probably not the place for you. However, most people, after they get over the initial shock/noise, will really like this little gem of a place.

One thing to note: In order to give the birds (and the curator), a little semblance of normalcy, this is not a drop-in place. They do however, give tours seven days a week at 12 and 2pm, by calling 503-286-0882 to make a reservation. They also ask for a $5 minimum donation, per person, but I would bet once you visit, you'll find that's money well spent.

I'll leave you with some pictures from our visit---notice the macaw on the wall in the second picture---I happened to turn my back on him for just a second, and he decided my jacket was something to snack on...at least it wasn't my hair!

Scarlet, the first macaw
at the Reserve

Kyra is not sure about that bird!

Happy Tuesday friends!
K~

I finally did it!

2009-02-24T15:22:00.003-08:00

I finally got the missing pictures in our Birthdays & Christmas 2008 post, so go check them out here...

A Very Different Valentine's Day

2009-02-14T19:32:00.000-08:00

Valentine's Day. For some people, the mere mention of this holiday makes them break out in hives. Others look forward to it all year long. Of course these are most likely the florists, chocolatiers, and card companies who can literally make it or break it based on this annual winter event.

I know for me, growing up, I tended to be a lot more enthusiastic about Valentine's Day when there was that special someone. Although I'll admit, having a special someone around that time didn't always guarantee a happy occasion. In fact, I can remember one especially memorable Valentine's Day that was during our church youth group's winter weekend camp. Everything started out great. I had a boyfriend who was also going on the trip, there was lots of snow promised, and it was looking like it was going to be a fabulous weekend! Then said boyfriend decided, on Valentine's Day, to break up with me! Nice, huh? Oh well, his loss.

Then in college, my best friend Kippy and I decided we were going to boycott Valentine's Day, as it was a silly holiday---too much pressure for those who had someone, and too painful for those who didn't. So we started a new tradition of wearing all black, instead of the normal red, pink, etc., in protest. Scary thing was, it kinda caught on, once we explained what we were doing, and why.

I also remember working downtown in a big office building, after graduating from college, and seeing the wave after wave of balloon bouquets, flowers and boxes of chocolates being delivered all over, and just wishing that for once, there would be one for me. It also didn't seem to matter if Valentine's Day fell on a weekend. It just meant that Friday would be delivery day instead, but the amount of loot was just the same.

This year, like the last several years, I'm a stay-at-home mom, with a young daughter who is not yet in school. So Valentine's Day looks very different than in years past. We made homemade valentines with construction paper, markers & stickers, baked heart-shaped sugar cookies from scratch with Daddy, and David & I went out to dinner last night to avoid the "day-of" restaurant rush. Funny thing was, we chose what we thought was mostly a non-kid-friendly restaurant, Benihana's, as we hadn't gone there in a long time, and had a babysitter :-) We knew it wasn't going to be a quiet, intimate experience since we were a party of two, and you're always going to be seated with 6 total strangers, surrounding a large grill, and its loud exhaust hood. But we were surprised at how many young kids were there, even babies!

Now it's Valentine's Day proper, and we've just finished dinner at home, all three of us--poached salmon, steamed rice and applesauce. And in a little while, we'll have a little ice cream & a couple of our cookies for dessert. Sounds like a great way to celebrate to me :-) AND, I'm wearing red!

Happy Valentine's Day friends!
k~

The Great Scallop Debate

2009-02-11T18:29:00.003-08:00

As I'm typing this, our 3yr old daughter is slouched down in her seat, at the table, all by herself, engaged in what we have now named, "The Great Scallop Debate". Both David & I like scallops, and also try and introduce new things to Kyra now and then, so she will have a more varied palate then just mac & cheese and peanut butter & honey--things she'd live on if she could.

So the other day David went grocery shopping and picked up these big beautiful scallops from the seafood department, and tonight I found a recipe for them. It turns out it was not one of our favorite scallop recipes, as the marinara sauce really overpowered the delicateness of the scallops. However, both my husband & I ate our fair share, and paired with green beans & pasta, it made a good dinner, at least from the adults' point of view.

Kyra, on the other hand, has refused to even try the scallops, and is saying, "I don't like them, I don't like scallops." And we're saying, "How do you know if you like them or not? You haven't even tried them. All you need to take is just one bite."

So now the scallops are cold, she sits alone at the table, and has been told there will be no getting up from the table until she takes one bite...She doesn't even need to eat the whole scallop, just one stinking bite!

I know when I was growing up, we always had to have what my parents called a "No thank-you" portion. Basically we had to at least try it. I also remember my sister trying to feed our cat her lima beans because she did not want to finish them. And I know all the parent guidebooks say don't make a big deal about food, because you will have kids with food issues when they grow up. And I know they also say pick your battles.

So here is a little snip-it of her pleading her case, and our responses:

Kyra: I don't want to eat all my dinner....Mommy, Mommy, Mommy, Mommy, Mommy, I don't want to eat all my dinner. I don't want to eat all my dinner, Mama.

Me: Just one bite of scallop, and you can be done.

David: Don't you want to read Curious George? Just eat one bite.

Kyra: MOMMY, are you listening to me? I didn't eat it. Daddy, Daddy, Daddy...

David: You don't have to finish it all, just one scallop.

Kyra: Mommy, Mommy, Mommy I don't want to eat all my scallops. Is there ONION in here? I don't like onions! May I please be excused?

Me: No, Kyra. Get back in your seat, and eat your one bite of scallop, and then you can be excused. Just one bite.

Kyra (getting down from the table): I'm done eating. I DO not like scallops! I'm not done eating, you can't eat ice cream if I'm not done.

Me: Get back in your seat, and eat your scallop bite. 1...2....

David: Ok, Kyra. I'll eat this half, and you eat the other half---just a little piece. If you eat this I'll get you that popsicle you wanted.

Okay! We now have progress. The scallop piece is in her mouth. Of course, the hysterical crying and moaning has also started--her modus operandi when she has something in her mouth she doesn't care for.

So, we sorta caved. We promised dessert if she would eat it, which is also a big no-no according to all the experts, but she ate the scallop!

Does anyone out there have a good tip or two for getting kids to eat things they're not really enthusiastic about? Would love to hear from you.

Take care friends!
K~

P.S. Now she just said she loves scallops---Don't you just love 3 yr olds?!?!?

Birthdays & Christmas 2008

2009-01-21T14:52:00.001-08:00

I know, it's the middle of January, but I just realized I'd never written about this year's Christmas & Birthday marathon, so here we go.

In my family the birthday/Christmas whirlwind that is December and January, begins on December 12 which is David's Dad's birthday. Next is my birthday on the 23rd of December, then of course Christmas Eve & Christmas Day, then Kyra's birthday on the 29th of December, then New Year's Eve & Day, then David's birthday on January 3rd, and then finally David's brother's birthday on January 4th. Let me tell you, that's a whole lot of celebrating! We have a joke in our family that we have 5 weeks of birthday cake :-)

However, this year's celebrating was a little different due to a certain snowstorm and a prophetic statement made a full year ago--more on that later. It started with my birthday. David & I were going to go downtown to the Melting Pot for a nice quiet dinner, just the two of us. But with the icy streets, we decided to forgo that plan, and made fondue at home instead! We also got to use our fondue set that we got for a wedding gift, so that was fun. Kyra wasn't too thrilled with the whole idea, as she said the cheese was "too sour & too hot", but she liked the bread :-)

Next up was Christmas. Typically we've spent Christmas Eve at my parents' and Christmas Day at David's folks---we got lucky in that our two families had celebrated like that forever, and both sets of parents live in town. And this arrangement worked fine for the many years we were just us, no kids. But as any parent knows, dragging little children around from place to place, missing naps & regular bedtimes does not make for a very happy time. So after last year, David looked at me the day after Christmas and said, "Ok. You have 365 days to get ready for Christmas AT OUR HOUSE next year."

One thing you need to know about me. When God was handing out the spiritual gift of hospitality, I must have been absent that day. In fact, I read somewhere regarding spiritual gifts that you'll know if something is your spiritual gift if the pleasure of doing it, outweighs the work it takes to do it. For me, having people over is very difficult. So when David said that, I said, "Well, that will never happen. I have 365 days to change his mind."

Well God must have been doing some big work in me over this past year, because we did have Christmas Day dinner at our house. We still had Christmas Eve dinner at my parents' house, because my mom insisted, which was fine, and really nice.

All in all, Christmas day dinner went well. However, I still struggled, because although I did ask people to bring something, I still ended up putting together a pretty elaborate sit-down meal using my good china & wine goblets, of beef tenderloin, risotto & sauteed green beans, none of which could be done up ahead of time. This meant I was stuck in the kitchen, while everyone else got to visit. Yes, this is partly my fault. I could have ordered take out Chinese, or pizza, but some part of me wanted to make it nice for everyone--pride maybe?? Anyway, it was a nice gift for my husband, and I think everyone enjoyed themselves.

Then came Kyra's 3rd birthday. Awhile back she had asked me if I was making a Pooh Bear cake for her birthday this year (see last year's birthday post here). I said, "No, we'll do something else this year. What would you like? How about Veggie Tales?" This little girl lives and breathes these vegetables. So she says, "Bob & Larry?! And Junior, and Laura, and Archibald, and Madame Blueberry!?! That's a LOT of cake". And then she just cracks me up, because she goes on to say, "We're going to have to invite a LOT of people!"

So after searching online for a Bob & Larry cake pan, which I found out they don't make anymore, I found a site where people had posted their own Veggie Tales cakes. Using that as a guide, we did a pretty good job of making our own---It turned out so cute! And this time, like in past years, we ordered pizza for everyone, nice and simple :-)

Someone does not care for the
Birthday song...

Kyra & her good friend M

Finally David & his brother typically don't make a big deal about celebrating their birthdays, as they're only one day apart, so no big parties were planned. This year, David wanted to go fishing for his birthday, and I said I would go with him. Now remember, it was still extremely cold, and most of the local rivers were flooding, but I was willing to go anyway, to spend time with him. We even had a babysitter lined up for Kyra. At the last minute, he decided he didn't want to go fishing, and we ended up touring the wintery Columbia Gorge with Kyra---much more fun, in my opinion :-)

So there you have it--our birthday/Christmas Celebration for 2008 and part of 2009. Enjoy this beautiful sunshine!
K~

A Helpful tool

2009-01-17T11:00:00.003-08:00

Ever have one of those days where you think, "If I get through this day with everyone still alive, it'll be a miracle!"??

I'm guessing if you're a parent of small children, this can be a daily mantra for you. Whether it's realizing your child has just discovered Sharpie markers make great eyeliner pencils, or your Dry Clean Only bedspread was the recipient of a stubborn child who refuses to use the big-girl potty, we've all been there. That moment where you become a raving lunatic, eyes bulging, face turning bright red, and noises coming out of your mouth that you thought only wild animals could make.

Luckily I've found a great book that has helped me tremendously in navigating this journey with our wonderful little spunky and spirited girl. It's written by two moms, Michelle Nicholasen & Barbara O'Neal, who have been there & done that, and have survived! Everything from throwing food to potty training, it's in there.

What I really appreciate about this book though is that it's written in such a way that if you need a quick reference, the table of contents is designed to jump quickly to a particular topic/conflict, instead of having to wade through a bunch of pages to find what you need.

And yes, like most self-help books, some of the language or phrases they suggest you use while in the middle of a situation sound a little Psychology 101, like you couldn't ever see yourself saying that. However, I find because I have to slow down to "talk like that" because it's not natural, it gives me that extra few seconds to reign my temper in, and catch my breath, if you will.

I would highly recommend this book to anyone who is currently in the middle of the toddler/preschool years, and would even go so far as to give it as a baby shower gift, because those days are coming sooner than you think :-)

Have a great weekend, friends and be sure to get out and enjoy this beautiful sunshine! And, Hang in there! :-)
K~

A Day of Firsts

2008-12-19T16:13:00.002-08:00

The other day I was getting ready to send some pictures to be developed, and realized I'd never posted many of them--GASP!!! So in the next couple days I'll try to get caught up :-)

These were from this past Veteran's Day, when David had the day off, and we decided to go to the beach. Usually we go to Manzanita or Cannon Beach, and avoid the more touristy places like Seaside. But I'd heard from some friends that the Aquarium at Seaside was a good place to take little kids, as they could feed the sea lions, as well as see lots of things, and it was indoors---the weather didn't look very promising so this was a good thing.

On the way, we stopped at a park which used to have the tallest Sitka Spruce tree in the world, because we wanted to see what it looked like after last year's storm--we had heard it'd been split in two by a lightning strike. If it's any indication, they no longer advertise it as the tallest Sitka Spruce, but as a Heritage tree. This was the first of our Firsts that day, because Kyra had never seen trees that tall before, or walked underneath a tree (see below).

We continued on to Seaside, with it raining most of the way. However, when we got there, the sun was shining, which was a very nice surprise.

Then we headed to the aquarium, where Kyra wanted nothing to do with feeding the sea lions, so I got the smelly task--yuck! But she loved looking at all the fish, the octopus was really cool, and she got to touch the sea anemones and other animals in the touch tank, which was a big hit.

Afterwards, we walked on the beach a little bit, and then we decided to go ride the Carousel, as this was also something Kyra had never done (#2 of the Firsts). I've always liked carousels as I remember riding them with my grandma when I was Kyra's age. My great uncle George (my grandma's brother) either worked with, or was the owner of Rainier Shows, a traveling carnival--I'm not sure which. Anyway, at the time, Rainier Shows were set up at the Woodland Park Zoo in Seattle Washington, and I remember Uncle George letting us ride the carousel. Good times.

At first Kyra was a little reluctant to get on the carousel, but by the end of the ride, I could hardly get her off her horse. David tried to take a couple pictures, and as you can see below, Kyra is hanging on for dear life :-)

After the carousel ride, we were starting to get hungry. We had packed a picnic lunch, so we decided to drive down to Ecola State Park and eat there. This was another First, as I had never been there before. The weather was beautiful, but really windy. While we ate, a herd of elk came and grazed right by the parking lot, which was really cool, and Kyra got to hold her first--yep, #4--woolly bear caterpillar. There were tons of them everywhere, so of course, we had to stop and pick up each one of them.

This one's my favorite...
She's so excited about the caterpillars!

After that, we headed into Cannon Beach, stopped at the yummy bakery for some sweet treats and coffee, and then headed for home. It was a great day, and one we'll remember for a long time!

Cute Christmas Craft Project--Homemade Advent Calendar

2008-12-17T14:40:00.001-08:00

On my previous post, I mentioned that I have a Craft Disorder, so the fact that I was able to pull this next thing together, which was from the Queen of All Crafts, Martha--yes, that Martha, still amazes me. And I realize we're already 17 days into December, so you might want to wait until next year to try it. Or if you have more than one child, you could have them catch up by taking turns opening up multiple days. Anyway, I apologize for posting this so late, but if any of you are just dying for something to cure your Cabin Fever, you could try it.

Like my friend Allison has been posting, it's often hard to help children get the concept of waiting until Christmas Day for all the presents. So this year since Kyra is old enough to understand presents, but doesn't quite get the waiting, I thought it might be nice to have an Advent Calendar. That way, we can count down the days until Christmas, as well as practice counting numbers, and if we're very lucky, even get a little sweet or treat as well.

So around November 29th or so--nothing like planning ahead, right???--I started looking in the stores for an Advent Calendar, but never found just the right one. Either they were way too old for our 2 yr old, or really, really expensive.

I decided to search online for "homemade advent calendars" because you can find anything on the internet, and lo and behold, hundreds of sites popped up. Some were so beyond me though, I thought, "Yikes, that would take me the whole month just to complete"--remember NOT crafty!

But then I stumbled onto a mom-friendly site that had lots of different calendar options, one of which was a link to an old Martha Stewart article, which used baby socks, ribbon, mini-clothespins, and stickers to make the most adorable advent calendar. Finally, something I could do! And best of all, the only things I had to go out and buy were the mini-clothespins (found them at Michael's), and the ribbon. And amazingly enough, I still had 24 baby socks of Kyra's that she'd outgrown, and that hadn't found their way to the consignment shop!!!

This was a great family project, because David hung the ribbon for us, using a few small nails every so often along the length, and Kyra helped me put the number stickers on each sock--good counting practice! Then we attached each sock to the ribbon, using the little clothes pins.

Now what would an advent calendar be, without a treat for each day??? When we were growing up, ours always had chocolate behind every door. This was my intent as well, so I went to Costco and bought their bag of truffles, because I knew everyone liked them. Then during Kyra's nap, I filled each sock with a truffle, and we were set.

December 1st came, and Kyra opened Sock #1. She squealed with delight as she found the chocolate inside. Then the practical Mommy side of me woke up, and said, "Do I really want to give this child 24 days of chocolate?" So the following day we needed to go to Fred Meyer anyway for some groceries, and there I bought some small candy canes, little hair barrettes and a couple of cute bracelets to mix things up a little bit.

Day 2 came, and Kyra was again so excited to open up that day's sock. However, this time it was a set of hair barrettes. You should have seen her little face...."Where's the chocolate?!?!", as the tears were rolling down her face. So I explained that not every day will have chocolate; some days there will be other really fun stuff. I don't think she bought it.

Anyway, here we are at Day 17, and the Advent Calendar fun is still going strong--today was a Chocolate day, so we were especially excited :-) I've posted a couple pictures below so you can see our little calendar. And the best thing is you can use it year after year.

Check out the frown...
No more pictures, Mom, just let me eat the chocolate!

Enjoy the snow, and stay dry & warm!
k~

Double-Sided No Sew Tied Fleece Blanket

2008-12-11T15:16:00.003-08:00

I will be the first to admit I have a Craft Disorder. Now don't get me wrong, I've tried on many occasions to "catch the bug" by hanging out with my good buddies who live for scrapbooking, or make their own cards or jewelry, or anything else that would make Martha Stewart proud. Even my own mother has tried to help me get over my craft shortcomings, as she makes beautiful homemade cards & sews like you wouldn't believe.

So last year when I was wracking my brain trying to come up with thoughtful Christmas gifts for people--I was ahead of the curve for the Advent Conspiracy :-), I remembered we had received one of those No Sew Tied Fleece blankets as a shower gift for Kyra from David's cousin, and I thought, "Now that's something even someone like me can do!"

So I went online, and after much searching, I found a pattern published by a fabric store in Illinois called Vogue Fabrics. Needless to say, I was very excited, but still a little nervous. I decided to call one of my very good friends, Diane, who sews beautiful quilts, and begged her to go with me to the fabric store. She was a great help, and soon I was on my way, with fleece in hand, and ready to conquer my fear/disorder.

After it was all said and done, my SEVEN blankets turned out rather well, and everyone loved them! I've also just recently made another one, a baby blanket, for an upcoming silent auction, which is really cute--it's yellow, blue & green, with little frogs & ducks.

So if you're looking for a great homemade gift for this Christmas, I'd highly recommend making one (or two or five) of these wonderful blankets. And once you get the hang of it, you can complete the whole thing (minus the pre-washing/drying of the fabric time), in just a couple short hours.

Double Sided No Sew Fleece Tied Blanket

Materials Needed:

2 pieces of fleece (see below)
sharp scissors
large safety pins

Choose two 1 1/2 - 2 1/2 yard pieces of fleece---For an adult sized blanket, use 2 1/2 yards for each piece of fleece. If you're making a baby's blanket, use 1 1/2 yards for each piece of fleece. Also try to find anti-pill fleece as the blanket tends to hold up better. I also tend to use one patterned piece, and one coordinating solid color, so as to cut down on any pattern clashes. Of course, you can use any fleece color/pattern combination you wish--it's your choice!

Prewash & dry the material before starting---This ensures your material is clean, and you'll have your final blanket size to work with, without worrying about shrinking.

Cut selvage from edges of fleece---For those of you who aren't familiar with sewing terms, the selvage is the rough part along the left and right-hand edges where the pattern or weave may be different, often making it unusable. Sometimes the selvage will also have the pattern name, or dye color examples, or may be all white, which will get in the way of your solid color or fleece pattern.

Place the two pieces of fleece back to back, with the Right sides out---This took me awhile to figure out what the "right" side of the fleece was. The right side of your fleece fabric can be the one you like best. But if you want to use the true right side of the fabric, it is the one that the selvage naturally rolls towards when lightly stretched.

Trim up any excess on all sides so both pieces of fleece are the same width & length---This will be important when you go to tie the strips, as it's easier to tie them if they are both the same length.

Pin the two pieces of fleece together---I use large safety pins, because they are easier to use than stick pins. Also by pinning the fleece together, this helps to keep the two pieces in place when you are cutting the strips. I also like to place my patterned fleece on the bottom, and my solid piece on the top, so when I'm cutting, I don't get distracted by the pattern---this is just my preference.

Cut a square out of each corner of the fabric---If you're making an adult sized blanket, cut a 5" square. For a baby blanket, cut a 4" square. This will make things easier when tying the strips.

Cut strips into the sides that are 2" wide by 5" deep, like you're making fringe---Don't worry if they're not exactly 2" wide, or 5" deep. The key is to make them long enough to tie. There's nothing worse than trying to tie a strip that's too short.

Tie one of the strips from the top fabric to the coordinating strip of the bottom fabric---If you search online, you will find many opinions as to the best kind of knot or tie. I've found a double knot works best. Also if you tie every other fringe, then flip the blanket over to tie the remaining strips, it tends to look cleaner.

There you have it. As I mentioned before, these make great gifts for Christmas, or baby showers, or just for yourself, during these long cold winter nights. And if you're lucky enough to catch a sale on fleece, they can be made for around $20! Enjoy friends~k

Easy Chocolate Peanut Butter Truffles

2008-12-11T13:36:00.005-08:00

I'm back! I'm sorry it's been so long since I've last blogged, but I blame it on the fact we recently got a new photo software program, and I'm still trying to figure out how it works...And since I'm still not 100% comfortable with it, I'll follow through with my promise to my friend, Heather K, and post my super easy, absolutely delicious truffle recipe :-) Also I have to give credit to Kraft's Food & Family magazine for these yummy treats, as they were the ones who originally published it. So without further ado, here it is:

Easy Chocolate Peanut Butter Truffles
Prep: 20 min. Total: 1 hour, 20 min. (including refrigerating)

Ingredients:

1 package (8 squares) semi-sweet baking chocolate
1/2 cup peanut butter
1 container (8 oz) Cool Whip whipped topping, thawed

Truffle topping options--You can make all the truffles the same with just one topping, or mix & match for variety:
1/4 cup powdered sugar
1/4 cup finely chopped nuts
1/4 cup toasted coconut
1/4 cup grated white baking chocolate
1/4 cup finely crushed Nabisco cookies

Preparation:
Microwave chocolate in large microwavable bowl on HIGH 2 minutes or until chocolate is almost melted, stirring after 1 minute. Stir until chocolate is completely melted. Stir in peanut butter until well blended. Cool to room temperature. Gently stir in whipped topping. Refrigerate 1 hour. Scoop peanut butter mixture with melon baller or teaspoon, then shape into 1-inch balls--be prepared to get your hands messy! Roll in preferred topping. Store in refrigerator.

Makes 3 dozen These make great hostess gifts or holiday desserts. Enjoy!

Halloween 2008

2008-11-01T15:47:00.001-07:00

Halloween this year was interesting, because Kyra's at that age where she kind of understands what's going on, but in many ways is still just a little, bitty girl.

For instance, she loved the whole idea of dressing up, and couldn't wait to put on her fairy princess costume, complete with crown, wings (thanks Katie!), tutu and wand. However, when it came time to actually go door-to-door, it was a little overwhelming for her. She loved ringing the doorbell, but then when someone she didn't know answered the door, she didn't quite know what to do--we only went around to our neighbors' houses, but it wasn't like ringing the doorbell at Grandma & Grandpa's.

The very cool thing was, even as late as that morning, the skies had continued to pour rain, and the evening forecast didn't look much better--Showers, instead of just plain rain. But about 3 o'clock, the clouds went away and the sun actually came out! And miracle of miracles, it stayed dry & was even fairly warm! How often does that happen here?

All in all, she had a great time, looked absolutely adorable, and we have more candy than should be legal---it turned out we didn't have anybody come to our door because we were out with her during the prime candy hunting time, so the 2 very large bags of Costco candy we had bought to hand out, is unfortunately still here! Boo!

Here are some pictures from our pumpkin carving party and the cutest fairy princess you'll ever see:

Blessings friends!
k~

True Love

2008-10-17T14:36:00.005-07:00

Want to know what true love is? Just ask a two-year-old. This was the conversation that Kyra & I had in the car this morning:

Mommy: Kyra, I love you. Do you know how much Mommy loves you?

Kyra: You love me a whole bunch because you share your cherry Chapstick with me.

Priceless! Happy Friday friends! K~

Need Recipes?

2008-10-14T15:01:00.003-07:00

My dear friend Katie posted on her blog today that she is in search of some variety in their dinner menu, and believe me, I've been in that same position on many occasions!!!

It's 5 o'clock, and although the kids would love macaroni & cheese with hot dogs for the 3rd time this week, your stomach, not to mention your diet, just can't handle it. You're desperately looking for something quick & healthy, that also tastes half-way decent, but doesn't cost an arm and a leg to make.

As Jenni commented on Katie's blog, one of the things I've come to rely heavily on is the sharing of recipes, either from friends or other online sources. Simply Recipes is one of my absolute favorite food blogs, and I find a majority of our meals come from recipes posted there.

It so happens I'd also been in the habit of posting my favorite recipes here, once a week, labeled as Culinary Delights, but then lost my link list one time when I was changing my background, and never got back into it.

So today, I decided to resurrect my recipes list, and change its section title to something a little more simple: "Favorite Recipes". Enjoy, and Katie, I hope this helps :-)

Happy Eating friends! K~

The Great Pumpkin Caper 2008

2008-10-12T23:27:00.014-07:00

Yesterday was a perfect day for a pumpkin hunt--blue skies, warm sun, and best of all, family to share it with. We went back to the Plumper Pumpkin Patch, (see here for a peek at last year's adventure--I can't believe how much Kyra has changed!) and had an absolute blast!

Here are some pictures from our day.

I think we should get this one, Grandpa!

All smiles at lunch

Daddy & Kyra
removing muddy shoes on the porch

Have a great week friends!
k~

"In Sickness & In Health"

2008-10-05T20:38:00.006-07:00

If you've ever attended a wedding, you've more than likely heard the phrase above, nestled in amongst the rest of the vows, "In good times & bad....till death us do part." And if you're like most married couples, you probably even said these very words, or something very similar.

The reality is, when you're caught up in the middle of the emotion & joy of that wonderful day, sickness, and all that it entails, is really the farthest thing from your mind. And it's not until you're sitting there holding your loved one's head, as they heave their cookies yet again, or worse, sit by their bedside as they struggle to breathe, that you grasp the true meaning of this phrase.

I was in a coffee shop the other day, and overheard a woman talking to another woman, and the first said, "I'm really struggling with my husband who has Alzheimer's. Some days I feel like I could just run away, far, far, away." I don't doubt in the least that she has stopped loving her husband. It's just that sicknesses, illnesses and injuries change people.

And I'm not just talking about the Christopher Reeve type of critical and in his case, ultimately fatal injury, although that is definitely the extreme of all and life-changing. Even when someone has something as minor as a common cold or flu, or pink eye, it changes you. Suddenly you are vulnerable. Weak. Unable to carry out your day-to-day activities. You may even have to rely on someone else to take up your slack, either at work or home. This, in turn, can put a huge amount of added pressure on that person, who may themselves be struggling just to get by.

So I guess my question is this: how do you continue to honor & and uphold the marriage vows that you took before God, your family & your friends, when the person you are married to, is no longer the same person, due to an long-term injury or illness, and you may not even really like them any more? I know a vow is a vow, but what about the caregiver's personal health, physical and/or mental? Is it ever okay for them to say, "I'm done. I can't do this anymore."?

By the way, David & I are fine :-) This is just something that got me thinking after I heard the comment in the coffee shop...What are your thoughts?

Heather's Hope: Racing for the Cure 2008

2008-09-22T15:37:00.004-07:00

As I write this, I'm still a little sore & tired from yesterday, but it was SOOO worth it! Kyra & I had the privilege of joining my dear sister, my mom, several of my mom's friends, and a whole bunch of my sister's friends & coworkers in the Portland Susan G. Koman Race for the Cure, the largest of its kind on the West Coast, and third largest in the world.

Our team, Heather's Hope, was named for my sister, who as most of you know, was recently diagnosed with extremely aggressive & invasive breast cancer. Her daughter actually came up with the name, and it couldn't be more perfect. In addition, my sister is a great lover of shoes of all kinds, but especially high-heeled ones, so when someone found a Hope shoe statue for her (see below), it was a given that shoes, in some form, would be part of the team as well. By the way, the hats (pictured at the beginning of this post), were put together by Righteous Clothing in Clackamas, and I highly recommend them if you ever need custom logo apparel!

When we first signed up for the race, I decided Kyra & I would do the 1 mile walk, as I knew she wouldn't make the 5k (3 1/2 miles), and I didn't want to throw her in a stroller. Then we found out the rest of the team, including my sister, had signed up for the longer walk. This caused some problems as I knew we couldn't do the whole 5k, without bailing out half-way through. But to be with the rest of the team would be really cool--some 60 people strong at this point.

In the end, Kyra & I, & David, too, it turned out, did the 1 mile walk, under skies that threatened to rain at any moment--thus the matching yellow raincoats :-) After we were done with our race, we thought we might try to meet up with the rest of the team, as their race didn't start for another 30 minutes.

Have you ever been at an event with 45,000 other people, and tried to find someone, or even a bunch of someones? We thought, "We'll just call (my sister's) cell phone", as she promised to have it on. No such luck.

Their race began, and still no sign of them. It turns out the race folks had split the crowd to go up two different parallel streets in order to avoid a huge backlog at the beginning of the race. We walked up one street, mainly in search of some coffee, but also in hopes of seeing them. We found out later they were near the beginning of the crowd, AND they were on the other street. Oh well.

We stopped for some coffee at Starbucks, and then sat on the curb to watch the parade go on, and on, and on, still thinking we might see them. Then we continued to follow the race down Broadway, and let me tell you, to see the whole length of Broadway, as far as the eye could see,just a sea of colors, and people, was pretty overwhelming.

By this time, we'd pretty much given up trying to catch them during the race, so we decided to head back towards the finish line down at the waterfront, thinking we'd at least be able to walk across that with the team.

We made it back to near the finish line--some 7 or 8 blocks, and actually caught up with them before they crossed, which was totally a God thing!!! I got to cross the finish line with my sister in sight, and holding both my mom's and daughter's hands. Then after that, we walked around a little bit at the waterfront, seeing all the sights, and then headed back to the car, and to Beaverton for some yummy Chinese food at House of Good Fortune in Murrayhill.

So our 1-mile walk ended up being a little more than that, but Kyra was a real trooper, and hardly complained at all--I think I griped more than she did! She also got to be a princess up on Daddy's shoulders for most of the walking, other than the race, so that helped :-)

I'll leave you with some snapshots from the day...

Starting the 1-mile walk

The Starbucks stop

Kyra & I with our hero,
my sister Heather,
at the finish line

Some of the Heather's Hope
team members

My mom, Kyra & Kristin

Kyra & her Auntie Hedy

Please continue to pray for my family as Heather starts her first round of chemotherapy this Wednesday.

Blessings friends,
k~

Manzanita & Mom 2008

2008-09-22T13:20:00.008-07:00

I just realized when I was pulling some other pictures from our cameras today, that I had never posted about my Mom's Annual Birthday celebration at the beach, and since it's an annual pilgrimage, we need to document it properly :-). By the way, click here for last year's trip--I can't believe how much Kyra has changed!!!

Every year my Mom likes to go to the beach for her birthday, as it's one of her favorite places in the whole world to be. This year the plan was to spend a whole week at some friends' house in Cannon Beach, the week of her birthday.

Unfortunately, that didn't happen as we were thrown the huge curve ball with my sister's cancer diagnosis around the same time. But Mom still needed to feel the sand between her toes, so we decided on a day trip instead. It was also supposed to be really hot in town, so a trip to the cooler coast was especially desired.

Mom, Dad, Kyra & I drove out to my favorite Oregon beach, Manzanita--where we also spent Mom's birthday last year, and had a fabulous time. The morning was a little cool, and we began to think we would never see the sun. It was also really windy, so sweatshirts were our friends.

After eating a nice picnic lunch that Mom had packed, the sun finally came out, and it was down right balmy :-) Kyra had a blast playing in the sand, Mommy rested on the blanket, and Grandma & Grandpa relaxed and read. Then about 4 o'clock, I realized I couldn't take any more sun, and thought it might be nice to start packing up, and thinking about where we wanted to go for dinner.

We ended up driving up the coast to Cannon Beach, where we ate at Moe's, right on the beach. Then after a nice stroll on the sand, we headed home. All in all, it was a very nice day...not what we had expected for this year's birthday celebration, but nevertheless, nice.

Here are some pictures from that day:

Grandma & Kyra
playing in the sand

Grandpa taking pictures

Sweet Kyra

Grandma & Kyra
(with Grandpa looking on)

Happy times,
k~

Expectations, great or otherwise

2008-09-18T15:07:00.008-07:00

When you're 18 years old, and you think about your future, your 20 year high school reunion seems SO far away. I mean, come on, you'll be 38!!! That's practically middle-aged :-)

Well, this past weekend, what seemed so far away then, became the "here and now"--My 20 year high school reunion for good old Sunset High School, was to happen in a 2 night event. The first night, Friday, was an Alumni-only get together at a sports bar in the Pearl district. The second, Saturday night, was a semi-formal affair at the Governor Hotel downtown, and you were welcome to bring your spouse, partner, etc.

I'll be honest, I had no desire to attend the Alumni only event....Mostly because I didn't want to go by myself--I know, I should grow a spine!, but I also didn't want to spend the extra money on something I wasn't that thrilled about going to anyway.

Instead, David & I went to the Saturday night event, and he arranged for us to spend the night at the Hotel Vintage Plaza as a bonus!--Kyra, in the meantime, had a sleepover at Grandpa & Grandma H's which she loved!

We checked into our hotel room around 4:30, and had a couple of hours just to relax. Here's a picture of our room, which was on the top floor, and had one wall which was entirely windows--pretty cool!

After grabbing a light snack to hold us over until dinner, we changed into our nice clothes, and walked the 4 blocks or so, to the Governor Hotel.

She cleans up pretty well...

When we got to the Governor, we were a bit early, so we hung out in their lobby for a little bit. Finally it was time to go upstairs to the reunion. By this time, I was more than a little nervous--Would anyone even remember me? Am I under-dressed? I hate these shoes...

While standing in line for our name badges, I hear this, "Kristin?" I turned around, and standing there is my best friend from my sophomore year, Christy Baker Hurlman. I literally have not seen or talked to her in 20 years, even though we both live in Portland. And then she says, "You know, I came tonight just to see you." I said, "Oh, you're sweet." And she says, "No really. I went to the thing last night, and I almost didn't come tonight, but I knew it would be the only time I'd get to see you as you hadn't come (last night), so here I am!" Wow, that's pretty cool!

So we found a table with Christy & her husband, as well as another couple, Susie Doty Romani & her husband, and had a great time catching up and reminiscing. Then it was time to eat, and the food was really good--A lot better than at the 10 year, even though it was held at the same place, and this time I don't think they ran out of food.

After dinner, we sat and talked some more, although by this time it was really hard to hear each other because the "background" 80s soundtrack had been cranked way up. In addition, some of my illustrious classmates had visited the open bar a few too many times, so the overall noise level had risen significantly.

Looking back, I would have to say that I was a little disappointed with the reunion. Although I was thrilled to reconnect with Christy again, I was surprised at how "clique-ish" everyone still seemed to be, and as a result, how intimidated that made me feel. I just thought since we're all now adults, we could get past those inevitable and sometimes very painful/hurtful "labels". It shouldn't matter if you were the biggest geek, or the most popular person in school. We've all lived 20 years of life since then, and are definitely not the same people we were in high school.

So David & I were talking afterwards, and I was telling him how I wished the evening had been a little different, and he said this: "If you weren't friends with someone in high school, it's not likely they're going to strike up a conversation with you to 'catch up'." While this is true, I guess I thought it'd be more like at a party or get together, where you don't really know someone, but you exchange pleasantries or funny quips or stories, because that's what adults in social situations do.

That's why I titled this, expectations, great or otherwise. Because I had hoped people could move past all that was high school, and get to know people for who they are, now. Because there are some really great people out there, and it would be too bad to let a 20 year misconception get in the way. Maybe we all need another 20 years...

Blessings friends!
k

P.S. We got some great news today! My sister's cancer has NOT spread to anywhere else in her body, per the whole body scan she had recently! This is a huge praise! Also, this Sunday (the 21st) Kyra & I will be walking the Susan G Komen Race for the Cure, as a part of Heather's team, Heather's Hope, so that should be fun!

Precious Prayer

2008-09-08T16:24:00.003-07:00

When you have your first child, you're so overwhelmed with pure joy, you think your heart is going to burst out of your chest. And you think, "Nothing can beat this!"

Well this week our dear daughter succeeded in catapulting me right past Joy to, "I can't speak, I'm so overwhelmed."

I'm one of those people who unfortunately gets pretty bad headaches on a fairly regular basis---the joys of being a girl. And although I have prescription medication for them, it makes me so loopy, I try to avoid taking it, unless I absolutely have to. Usually I just take 2 Tylenol & a caffeine appetizer, and I'm good.

The other night, though, I had waited too long to take any pain medication, so my headache was really bad. I mean, like really bad, I think I'm having a stroke, bad! So I crawled into bed, turned all the lights off, put a cool washcloth on my forehead, and tried not to throw up--sometimes I get a double whammy as the headache makes me sick to my stomach as well.

David had already read to Kyra, and normally after that, I tuck her into bed, pray with her, and then sing to her. From my bed, I apologized profusely to her, and said I couldn't, because I was feeling so lousy. Then I said to her, "You know what would make Mommy feel better? If you would pray for her."

Now up until this point, every other time we've asked her if she wants to pray, whether at dinner or otherwise, she's said, "You pray." This time, she must have sensed a Holy Spirit poke, because all of a sudden I hear this little voice, saying, "Jesus help Mommy as she doesn't feel good." And then she went on to pray for a bunch of other things, most of which I couldn't hear from where I was.

Needless to say, I was completely choked up, and I kid you not, my headache went away immediately!!! Now it could have been that the additional 2 Advil I took finally were kicking in, but I choose to believe God honored the prayers of our sweet daughter.

And the best thing was, the next day I got to tell her, "You know it was so cool when you prayed for Mommy last night. Jesus loves it when we pray for other people, and ask for His help." Her response? "Yeah!"

Thanking God for this sweet moment,
k~

It's all about me...

2008-08-26T22:47:00.004-07:00

Picture this: You're going through something, that at the time seems monumental, because it's happening to you.

And then you encounter someone who is going through something that is a million times worse. How fast your perspective changes, and maybe you start to feel a tad bit guilty???

For the past 2 1/2 weeks, I've had a nasty double case of conjunctivitis, otherwise known as pink eye, along with a nice side order of sore throat, nausea & low-grade fever. We think I picked it up during our trip to the ER with Kyra (see here), as the woman sitting next to us in the waiting room had very red eyes.

Anyway, after 2 visits to my eye doctor for antibiotic drops, and one hurried trip at 4:30pm on a Friday afternoon to my primary doctor for a throat swab (to rule out strep throat), I'm now finally starting to feel a little better. My eyes still tend to water a lot, are now not quite so bloodshot and swollen, and they're only slightly crusted shut in the morning--sorry for the graphic mind-picture.

However, as I'm bemoaning the fact that my vision & in turn, my social life have been so rudely interrupted, I'm reminded that my dear sister goes into the hospital tomorrow afternoon for the first of her very long list of life-altering interruptions--the node involvement detection & dreaded mastectomy. Suddenly my pink eyes & scratchy throat seem very small.

So yes, I've been inconvenienced with this little health detour. But they are nothing to what she is facing tomorrow, and really, has been facing since she found that lump a little over a month & a half ago.

Please continue praying for my sister, my family & that something miraculous will come out of this very scary situation. Also on a side note, my father-in-law, Richard, is having a minor surgical procedure tomorrow as well--bicep ligament repair, so you can keep David's side of the family in your prayers too.

Blessings friends,
K~

One Heat Wave gone...another is now here

2008-08-14T12:52:00.003-07:00

Kyra is fever-free! Yesterday evening she had gone 24 hours with no fever, so there was great rejoicing in the land :-)

Now, however, we're facing a new kind of heat---the outside temperature kind :-( Anyone who knows me, knows I'm definitely a shade-loving plant. I mean, there's a reason I don't live in Phoenix or Death Valley...

I also don't have AC at my house. Luckily, our bedrooms are all downstairs, but it still can get mighty hot in here during the day, especially if we have a string of hot days---I think the furnace thermostat says 82 already, and it's not even the hottest part of the day---UGH!

By the way, why is it that 82 inside, feels a lot hotter than the same temp outside? I could never figure that out.

Anyway, pray for us that we can keep cool, that the electricity that supplies our life-saving box fans doesn't fail, and above all, continue to keep my sister in your prayers.

Stay cool friends!
K~

We're now officially parents!

2008-08-11T13:29:00.005-07:00

It started Saturday afternoon after lunch. I was getting Kyra ready for her nap and I said to David, "Wow, she feels really warm to me". She hadn't been acting sick, but David had come home from work the day before, feeling just rotten and running a slight fever. So I took her temperature, and it was 100.2. Although this isn't a very high fever, it still meant we pulled out the Tylenol, and started pushing the liquids.

Saturday progressed and she still spiked a fever without the medicine. So I kept the Tylenol & the fluids coming, and gave her a bath that night, hoping it would cool her down a little--plus she really likes her baths. Unfortunately the deluge of fluids meant she was up every couple of hours after going to bed, saying, "I'm wet". At least we knew that system was working...

Sunday morning came, and she was still really warm. By this time, she wanted nothing to do with just plain water, so we got creative and made applesauce popsicles, which turned out to be super easy--just take an empty ice tray, fill each spot with applesauce, put a popsicle stick in each one (you can use toothpicks through plastic wrap if your child is old enough to handle toothpicks), and then freeze. Instant yumminess!

By Sunday night, without medicine, her fever jumped to 103.2. That was it, I was calling the on-call doc. Her recommendation was to take her to the ER, since she wasn't really acting sick, but the fever was fairly high, which sounded to her like a Urinary Tract Infection (UTI).

We got in the car, and drove her to Providence St. Vincent's ER, crossing our fingers that they weren't slammed. When we arrived, they looked fairly busy, but apparently they don't mess around when it comes to kids. Within 20 minutes of our arrival, we were back in a room, and talking to a nurse.

Their plan was to get a sample so they could check for the UTI, and they asked if we could get her to go potty. Unfortunately, we're in the middle of potty training, and we've yet to master "going by request", especially on a big potty without our potty seat. So, the only other alternative was to catheterize her--NOT FUN for anyone!

She did very well, although she burst into tears as soon as they started, as did her mommy. There's just something about when your kids are scared, or in pain, that tears you open like nothing else.

Afterwards, we waited for what seemed like forever, although it was a pretty short time in ER waiting time, until the doctor came with the results. He said there was no preliminary evidence of a UTI, and she probably had the nasty flu virus that's been going around. Keep pushing the fluids and the Tylenol, and she should be better in a couple days. We then took her home, and all fell into our beds, exhausted.

This morning she woke up after sleeping through the night, and she was as cool as a cucumber--Yeah! Now I know mornings tend to be the cool time, and afternoons/evenings are when fevers can rise, but I was happy that she was cooler. We spent the morning watching Finding Nemo, and drinking more fluids. Then I leaned over to her, and felt her back--uh oh, it's only 10 am, and she's warm! Temp--102.2. Ok, more Tylenol.

Now we've eaten lunch, had some Jello---thanks to Grandma's run to the store for Children's Motrin, popsicles, and jello, and she's down for her nap. Did you know that you can alternate Motrin & Tylenol, since they are handled by two different organs, the kidneys & the liver? We learned that last night. In fact, the nurse said to start with the Motrin, as it gives more bang for your buck (i.e. lasts longer), and then if the fever still spikes, while on the Motrin, you can give the Tylenol, without having to wait. Cool, huh?

So now we just need to let time do its thing, while laying low. And pray that I don't get it!

Happy Monday friends!
k~

Praying for a Miracle & Walking for a Cure

2008-08-01T21:38:00.004-07:00

Every year it seems we are bombarded by more & more offers to support this organization, or donate to that cause. And I have to admit, sometimes I just get numb to them all, even those of which are for things I do care about.

But then it seems we are thrown a curve ball, seemingly out of nowhere, and suddenly your whole outlook changes.

This week my dear sister, Heather, was diagnosed with breast cancer. And although the statistics, at one time, were 1 in 8 women will be diagnosed, it doesn't really hit home until someone you love, is given that life-changing diagnosis.

So it is with this news, that my family is asking for your support. My daughter, Kyra and I will be walking the 1-mile course in the Susan G. Komen Race for the Cure, on Sunday, September 21, 2008, in honor of my sister, and Kyra's aunt. If you'd like to help sponsor us, click on the link below to go to the donation page.

We also understand in these times of tight pocketbooks, and rising costs that it might be too much of a stretch for some of you to support us financially.

So for you, you have a much bigger task :-) PRAY, PRAY, PRAY! Heather sees the surgeon this coming Monday to discuss the plan of action, and we are just praying for clarity, and calmness.

If you have any questions, please don't hesitate to contact me, and again, above all, we are coveting your prayers.

God Bless, k~

It's been 13 years...

2008-07-15T13:55:00.002-07:00

13 years ago today at this very time (1:30 PM), I was nervously adjusting my veil for the last time, guests were being serenaded by a wonderful brass quintet, I was making sure I didn't have to go to the bathroom--there's a very funny story to go along with that which I will NOT tell here, and I was trying not to pass out from my 40 lb dress in the 95 degree heat.

Yes, 13 years ago today, July 15th 1995, David & I got married. The weather was very similar to today, sunny & hot, and the church's A/C was just not keeping up. That aside, we had a beautiful wedding held at the church I grew up in, and a great reception in their gym that we converted into a big garden, complete with fountain and gazebo!

Whenever I look at the pictures from that day, or watch the video, I see many things: excitement, nervousness, joy, laughter, a little weariness--our photographer took forever taking the pictures. But they also bring a little sadness, because in these past 13 years, several loved ones have passed away--my very special Grandma Cable, David's great aunt Dorothy, and some relationships & friendships that have not survived the passing of time.

On a good note, though, we've been blessed beyond what we could have ever expected: The birth of our beautiful daughter, Kyra; David has a good solid job; we live in a great house in a wonderful neighborhood, and best of all, we're still together :-)

David, thanks for being an awesome husband, daddy to Kyra, and most of all, my best friend! Here's to many, many more! k~

People say the funniest things and a Fence update

2008-07-07T22:15:00.001-07:00

Overheard while riding the Max train:

"We sat there waiting in our car for a half hour, and we said to each other, 'This gas station has the worst service ever!' Then we remembered we were in Washington. Did we ever feel silly!"

Overheard while walking past a Fireworks stand:

Customer: "Oh cool! Little yellow ducks."
Vendor: "No, they don't explode."
Customer: "Too bad, I'm a Beavers' fan. I would have bought a whole case of them."
Vendor: "You're the 3rd person who's asked me that in the last 10 minutes."

As for the fence, he's still working on it, although our portion is done. We've yet to hear anything from our neighbors...Maybe they're waiting until the whole project is complete and the bill is presented? Will let you know.

Also will be posting some pictures from our recent day trip to the beach, our 4th of July, as well as some other random pictures soon. Stay tuned and stay cool!
k~

Keeping Cool

2008-06-28T12:35:00.006-07:00

Swimsuit: $7.99 at Costco
Sprinkler: $1.25 at 2nd Edition Resale shop
Pool: FREE from next-door neighbor
Cool Fun with our daughter: Priceless
(make sure to click on the picture to see the absolute joy on her face!)

Loving the warm weather (At last!)
k~

Won't you be my neighbor? Now where's the fence?

2008-06-26T14:20:00.009-07:00

Living in the 'burbs means the chance that you will have neighbors is very high. But if you're lucky enough to live in an older neighborhood, most of the time there is at least a little breathing room between you and your fellow inhabitants. And a good fence.

Last winter during a particularly bad windstorm, a panel of the fence that runs between us and the house behind us, succumbed to its rotten feet, and had it not been for a conveniently-placed tree, would have landed flat on its back. Instead, it stayed propped up against said tree until as recently as this last Monday. This is when HE showed up.

Now about a month or so ago, I noticed the neighbor behind us, in her yard talking to a gentleman, and pointing at the fence. So, I thought I'd walk out and see if they were discussing the fixing of the fence. It seemed only right to at least gather some info, as it was our fence too. I should also mention, we've lived in our current house for six years this August, and up until this moment, we've never met the neighbors who live behind us. I know, we should be more pro-active and get to know our neighbors, but they're busy, we're busy, etc., etc., etc.

Anyway, so the neighbor lady and I introduce ourselves, and she says this is a contractor who's in the process of getting her an estimate for the fence. At this point, they haven't decided whether they're going to fix just the broken panel, or replace the whole fence. I say, "Well, as it's our fence too, when you decide, please let us know, and we can at least contribute for our part of the fence." So we left it at that.

Fast forward to this Monday. I look out the back window, and I see the same man, who has now begun work on the fence. The broken panel has been removed, as well as another part of our shared fence. He's there all day, working away, but by evening, the new panels have not gone back up. And by the way, we were home all day, and no communication from our neighbors about what's going on.

The next morning, I'm inside doing some housework, and happen to look outside. This man is now in our yard. He sees me, and motions for me to come outside. I do, and he says, "Did they tell you I was going to be in your yard?" I said, "No, but I figured you would have to be, as you're working on the fence, and it's obviously not done yet." He said, "Well, when I'm done you'll have a very nice looking fence, because in addition to replacing the panels, I'm also pressure- and oil-treating the old panels so they'll look like new." And then he went on to say that most people don't take care of their fences and should, because treating them is only $2000, whereas a new fence can be $5000. I mumbled something, and then retreated to the house, cringing and seeing the dollar signs multiplying, because I knew he was both treating and repairing the fence.

Today, day 4, and we've still heard nothing from our neighbors, and this man continues to work. Now I realize he's already done some of the work, but I'm really nervous because I haven't seen any quote, and have no idea what our portion may be.

So I'm asking you readers for some advice on what we should do. My mom says, "Don't go borrowing trouble and worry. Just wait and see what happens. I mean, you never even saw a quote, so you could always say, 'We didn't agree to that amount.'

However, I don't want to start WW3 with these neighbors--we still have to live here, after all. And he did do the work, so I want to do the right thing there.

The reality is, we don't have a couple thousand dollars just lying around that we haven't known what to do with. And yes, we could have gone out and gotten our own estimates, but I think if it had been up to us, we probably would have tried to fix it ourselves---Laura VG, Clint does owe David some reciprocal fence/post-hole digging time :-)

Suggestions? Help please!

Back from the Desert (literally!)

2008-06-09T20:30:00.003-07:00

Lest you think I'd fallen off the planet as it's been over a month since my last post, rest assured: We're fine :-) It's just that up until this last week, we've had the same old, same old, with nothing really exciting to report.

But now I can write about our recent family getaway to Sunriver! We decided this year to not take a big trip for several reasons: Kyra's 2 1/2, $$$, we went to Hawaii last year, Kyra's 2 1/2, $$$$, do I need to go on? Instead we chose to vacation locally, within driving distance --although this was before gasoline hit over $4 a gallon--EEK!

After looking on Craigslist, we found a nice 2 bed/2 bath house for rent in Sunriver for only $99 a night--a real bargain :-) I admit, I was a little worried, as we'd never rented a house in Sunriver before, but thought if it was absolutely horrible, we could always stay with my sister who lives in Redmond.

Also being early June, we weren't sure exactly what to expect weather-wise, but we crossed our fingers and hoped for warm sun--the house came with pool passes after all :-)

On our drive over, we took Santiam Pass, and encountered SNOW at the top of the pass, which was funny at the time, but was actually a preview of the weather to come :-( As one TV weather forecaster said while we were there, "We're having unseasonably cold weather this time of year. Tonight's low will be below freezing." Below freezing!?!? But being that we are Oregonians, you learn early on that you can't let the weather dictate your mood or what you do. You just adjust your wardrobe accordingly. And that's what we did, including a little unplanned stop at the REI in Bend, as David had forgotten a warm coat...

All in all, I'd have to say this was one of the most fun family vacations we've taken, and now I'll leave you with some pictures of our trip:

Day 1:
See-sawing with Daddy at
Fort Rock Park

Day 2:
The Old Mill District in Bend
to buy a coat

Day 3:
Feeding the fish
Fall River Fish Hatchery

Day 3:
Hanging out with Daddy
Deschutes River

Day 3:
Look Mommy, a pine cone!
Can I keep it?

Day 3:
Down by the Deschutes River
with Mommy

Day 3:
Yes, that's snow on the ground in June

Day 3:
Cascade Lakes Hwy.
Guess we're turning around...

Day 4:
Cousin Tatum's Birthday party

Day 4:
Snuggling with Grandma A
after a long day

Day 5:
Enjoying the Sun (finally!)
Lava Cast Forest

Day 5:
Benham Falls Bridge

Day 5:
The Princess

So there you have it. I promise to not go so long between posts next time, even if I have to write about ho hum things :-)

Happy Monday friends~
k~

May Day & Marigolds

2008-05-06T15:39:00.005-07:00

This year I decided Kyra & I would start a new tradition in our family and make May Day Baskets. May Day also happened to fall on a Thursday, which is typically Play Date Day for our MOMs group, so we asked one of the other moms in our MOMs group & her daughters (ages 4 & 18 months) to join us.

As neither of us wanted the expense or mess of using real flowers, we decided to go to Michaels and buy silk flowers instead. We also found these really cute little galvanized watering cans, so I'll admit we changed up the "basket" idea a little bit :-)

Anyone who has tried to do a craft with young ones knows they do a little and you do all of the rest. But that was okay, because the cutting of wire-stemmed flowers was a challenge even for me--I have the war wound to prove it where my scissors slipped and cut off half my fingernail--OUCH!

Anyway, with the baskets put together, we gathered up all the girls, and the fun began. At our first stop, my neighbor saw us through their kitchen window so we weren't able to do the delivery properly--ring the doorbell, and run. But he was very grateful, none the less.

The other neighbor's house was more successful, in that we were able to ring the doorbell, grab the girls' hands, and shout, "RUN!" as we dashed around the corner. The looks on the girls' faces were priceless. And the neighbor was beyond excited. She said we made her day :-)

Then our friends went home and Kyra & I delivered our last two baskets, one to each Grandma. Below are those precious moments:

Flowers for Grandma H

Flowers for Grandma A

We also discovered this really brought out Kyra's love of real flowers, plus all the flowers are blooming now as it's Spring. So last weekend we went out to this great nursery, Farmington Gardens and brought home some marigolds for her to plant. Below are some snapshots of she and Daddy planting these.

I do it, Daddy!

Look, Mommy! A worm!

Dirt: the new conditioner

All in all, we're very happy for the sun to be "back on", as Kyra says, and we're looking forward to the warmer, drier days ahead.

Happy Tuesday friends,
k~

Something I never thought someone would say to me

2008-04-23T18:43:00.006-07:00

When I retired from my "career/9-5" life, I had the luxury of trading my business wardrobe of skirts & dresses or nice pants, for my mommy wardrobe--jeans or casual pants nearly every day.

Apparently once again my dear 2 yr old daughter has a fashion opinion about this, which she shared with me yesterday: "Mommy, you're a man." I couldn't put a skirt on fast enough...Sigh.

Next stop: Project Runway

2008-04-19T21:43:00.003-07:00

The other day I'm getting ready for my exercise class, and am in the process of picking out a shirt, when my little Fashion Guru takes one look at my pants, and says, "Mommy, not that shirt. It doesn't match." Oy vey!

All it took was one broken latch...

2008-04-12T21:06:00.014-07:00

and she was in the street.

Now before you start to worry that our dear little Kyra is the "she" in the story, take heart. I'm talking about another young lady, and the story thankfully has a happy ending.

We were driving down the main neighborhood street earlier, when we noticed a young lady sitting right in the middle of the road. I asked David to pull over, and we got out to see if we could help.

As I got closer to where she was, I quickly realized several things: 1) We were right in front of a group home with disabled residents. 2) She was alone and 3) she was in danger of being hit. Although the traffic on that particular street is not extremely busy, people have been known to come flying around that corner, and she was hard to see, sitting down low on the ground.

Not knowing exactly what to do, but knowing I needed to get her out of the street, I started praying, and then slowly started to approach her. When I got close enough, I called out to her, "Honey, you need to get out of the street. It's not safe for you to sit in the middle of the road." I then continued walking toward her, all the time talking quietly and hoping that she would even let me help her.

I helped her to stand, and we got out of the street, at least temporarily. Then things got really difficult. Her verbal skills were practically non-existent, but her sheer determination to get back into the street, not to mention extremely strong arms, was almost more than I could handle.

Still praying like crazy, I was able to keep her out of the street for the most part, until David & Kyra were able to bring out one of the caregivers from the group home. They immediately recognized her, and thanked us profusely for helping her. I said I was just glad we were there at the right place at the right time, and could help. It seems she'd been in the fenced back yard, and then had made her way out to the front with the help of a broken latch on the gate.

I'm so glad we were able to help, and that she didn't seem to be any worse for the wear. I don't know that I can say the same for her caregiver, who looked more than just a little green around the gills.

But the story doesn't end there. When we got home, I sat down to read a little bit of this great book called "90 minutes in Heaven", by Don Piper. It's a true story about a man who was in a horrific car accident, actually died, and then, in his words, "God sent him back."

I'm reading along, and I come to the following section where Don is having a conversation with the man who he believes prayed him back to life, his friend Dick Onerecker:

Don says, "Again, Dick, I want to thank you for saving my life. I obviously can't thank you enough for your faithfulness in obeying God that rainy day."

"It was what anybody would have done," he said..."I just knew I had to pray for you. I could only think that you were hurt, and I wanted to make you feel better. I didn't do anything unusual."

"But you did. When the officer told you I was already dead----"

"Listen to me, Don. If you saw a little kid run out in the street, you'd dash out there and try to save that child's life. Human nature is like that. We try to preserve life, and I will do that any time I get the opportunity. So would you....Yet here we are sitting in this place (they were in a restaurant), surrounded by people, many of whom are probably lost and going to hell, and we won't say a word about how they can have eternal life. Something is wrong with us."

"You're absolutely right," I said. "We're willing to save someone in a visible crisis, but a lot of folks are in spiritual crisis and we don't say a word about how they can get out of it."

Talk about being convicted. Here I had just lived this very scenario, and yet how many others did I pass today that were in eternal crisis, and I didn't say a word?

Going forward, my hope is to be like Don & his friend Dick who, as a result of their experiences, vowed with boldness, to be on the lookout for opportunities to talk about Jesus and His saving love.

Blessings friends!
k~

Show me the way to go home

2008-04-02T16:03:00.006-07:00

I ran across this video on one of the local news' website and though I know we're a few years away from this for our young Kyra, it was definitely an eye-opener for me. And it's never too soon to start practicing and teaching...

By the way, just click on the word "video" above, and it should take you to the new page. For some reason, this particular blog design won't let me designate a different color for links within the post, so I apologize if it's hard to tell where they are. Technology, you gotta love it!

Oh the precious things kids say...

2008-04-01T13:40:00.006-07:00

Our girl Kyra just loves to help out around the house with any and all chores within reason--obviously the dishwasher is off-limits, but just about everything else is fair game:-)

One of her favorites right now is helping with the laundry. She also loves to "name the item" when transferring it from the washer to the dryer, i.e. Mommy's socks, Kyra's shirt, etc. However, being 2, she still doesn't get all of her words 100% right, so some things are, shall we say, uniquely named. Take for instance, underwear. In our house it's referred to as "wonder wear"--don't know where she got this, it just is. Pretty cute, right?

Well, one day right before Easter, I decided to pop into Macy's to try & find a dress. I had Kyra with me, which I was a little hesitant about since I didn't know how she'd do with all the sitting around in her stroller, but I really wanted a new dress for Easter.

After finding several possibilities, we headed to the dressing rooms. As I'm readying myself to try on the first dress, my dear sweet daughter pipes up, nice & loud so those in the next county could hear her, "Mommy, that's your wonder wear!"

Fearing she would repeat it, if she didn't get a response the first time (something she typically does--"Mom, Mom, Mom, Mom, Mom, Mom"--you know the drill), I meekly responded, "Yes, honey. This IS Mommy's underwear."

If I could have stayed in that dressing room all morning, I would have. But the reality was we needed to get home for lunch & a nap. So after deciding on a really cute polka dotted dress, I slunk out of the dressing room, kinda hiding behind the dress, and we headed home.

Needless to say, this is not the first time I've been faced with an awkward Kyra comment (see this previous post), and I'm sure it won't be the last. But as I've always said, life's too short to get all worked up about the small stuff. And a little laughter goes a long, long way.

Here's to loving innocent comments & the ones that bless us with them,
k~

Our Easter Weekend

2008-03-23T18:34:00.011-07:00

I'm sitting here in a nice sugar coma from all the candy I've stuffed myself with, but I thought I'd give a little recap of our Easter Weekend.

It started yesterday morning with our neighborhood association holding an Easter Egg Hunt & Coloring contest for all the kids. At least for the little ones, it was more of a "we'll toss a bunch of candy out on the grass, and they can pick it up" than an actual egg hunt, but it was still fun. They divided the different events up by age group so you didn't have the 6 yr olds slide-tackling the 2 yr olds, which was nice. We neglected to previously hold an at-home "Egg Hunting Boot Camp" complete with time trials with Kyra, as I thought this might be going a little overboard, but David mentioned to me that he'd been teaching her WWF moves, in his spare time, to get her ready. Thanks Honey!

When they said go, Kyra watched all the other kids, 3 yrs old and younger, duck under the tape, and looked over at me, as if to say, "Now what do I do?" So Super Mommy to the rescue. Flinging kids aside, left and right...No just kidding. We ran over to where there was an explosion of candy on the grass, and then started loading up her bucket. Then when all the candy had been found that hadn't been stomped into the ground, they called time, and announced the winners of the coloring contest. Our sweet girl took 3rd place in her age group!!! She received a purple ribbon (which, bonus! purple is her favorite color), and some Play-dough. Needless to say the whole event was a little overwhelming for her, but I think she enjoyed it. I've posted some pictures below of our morning.

Kyra's in the middle of the pack with the red coat

Just one piece Mom!

Then later on that afternoon we tackled the age-old tradition of dyeing Easter eggs. Kyra was a natural, and had a ball giving the eggs a colored bath :-)

We ended our day with several rousing games of CandyLand, which was a first for Kyra, as she'd never played a board game before. However, she did relatively well, and seemed to have a good time. Then it was time for brushing teeth, bath, reading a book with Daddy, and bed. Unfortunately, due to all of the day's hype and SUGAR, sleep was not quick in coming, and there were many, many crying fits, not all of them Kyra's, I might add.

Kyra was up bright and early this morning, as usual (she's her Daddy's girl!!) even though she got to sleep quite late, and there were yet more new things to experience--her Easter Basket that Mommy went overboard with, and a real Easter Egg hunt--this time inside, as it was pouring rain. She loved every minute of that, as evidenced below.

The saddest part about our weekend was that we didn't make it to church to celebrate the real reason for Easter--Christ's death on a cross & triumphant resurrection on the 3rd day. That's because in between, and probably because of all of our running around the past couple days, Kyra picked up a cold, with an extremely runny nose, so no church for us. But we did have my Mom & Dad, and our friend Lena over for Easter lunch/dinner, and ate yummy roasted lamb, potatoes, fruit salad, rolls & cupcakes for dessert.

All in all, it was a great weekend spent with family & friends & of course, you can't go wrong with chocolate & Jelly Belly jelly beans :-)

Happy Easter friends! He is Risen! He is Risen Indeed!
k~

Chocolate Lovers' Brownies

2008-03-19T13:43:00.006-07:00

As a self-proclaimed Chocolate lover, I'm always on the lookout for all things chocolate. So when Kyra asked to make cookies the other day, I decided brownies would be a better choice--less work, and the pan was clean :-)

I need to preface something however. I'm very picky when it comes to brownies. Most homemade, from scratch, brownies I've met, or made in my life, are more cake-y than I prefer, and I had pretty much come to the conclusion that I just couldn't beat the ones made from the Hershey's mix. It seems the difference was the Hershey's syrup packet that came with it.

But then, Costco stopped selling that particular mix (GASP!), so I decided to try homemade brownies, completely from scratch, one more time. With a little trepidation, I went to a new cookbook I got recently called Oregon Sampler: Resorts & Recipes, and whipped up a batch of their "Favorite Brownies", with my own little twist--the all-important Hershey's syrup :-) Oh my gosh!!! I thought I'd died and gone to heaven. My husband, who can take or leave chocolate, thought they were just OK, but I could have easily eaten the whole pan in one sitting.

So, if you are looking for the ultimate in chocolate treats, look no further--those on a diet, steer clear!

Favorite Brownies
Makes 1 dozen

Ingredients:

4 oz unsweetened chocolate
1/2 cup butter
2 cups sugar
4 eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla
1 tablespoon Hershey's chocolate syrup
1 cup flour
1/2 cup walnuts (optional--I left these out as I'm allergic to them)
powdered sugar (optional)

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Melt chocolate and butter in large saucepan over low heat. Add sugar and eggs, one at a time. Stir well. Add vanilla & Hershey's syrup. Add flour and nuts (if using), and stir until well combined. Pour into a greased 9-inch square baking pan. Bake for 25 minutes; center will not be completely set. Cool before cutting. Dust with powdered sugar, if desired.

Enjoy, and Happy Wednesday friends!
k~

A great Rainy Day Project for Kids

2008-03-03T13:36:00.001-08:00

Yes, it's another one of our famous Liquid Sunshine Days in the beautiful Pacific NW!! That means today we needed to find something fun to do Inside, and At Home, as I'm still getting over the latest batch of creeping crud that has lived in our house for the last month!

So, what to do? While thumbing through one of our favorite cookbooks called "Alpha Bakery Children's Cookbook", I found a recipe for making Finger Paint that looked fairly simple, and we had all the ingredients. Whoo hoo! A few minutes later, and lots of stirring, and we had 6 beautiful pots of finger paint :-)

Before we could begin painting, however, I realized even though this was washable, non-staining paint, I didn't really want it everywhere. So I put an old beach towel on the kitchen floor, threw an old T-shirt of David's on Kyra, and we went at it.

We had so much fun, and the best thing was, because we had made the paints ourselves, I knew if some happened to get in her mouth, it wasn't going to hurt her :-)

So if you're looking for something fun to do with your kids, and you don't mind a little mess, try calling up your inner artist--you never know what you might create!

Finger Paint
Makes a lot!

Ingredients

1/3 cup of cornstarch
3 tablespoons of sugar
2 cups of cold water
Food coloring

Muffin tin
toothpicks

Mix cornstarch, sugar and water in 1-quart saucepan.
Cook and stir over medium heat about 5 minutes or until thickened; remove from heat.
Divide the mixture by pouring into muffin tin depressions--Be careful as mixture is really hot!
Tint mixture in each depression with a different food color by adding a couple drops and stirring with a toothpick. Stir several times until it's the color you desire and the paint is cool.
Time to paint!
When finished, you can store the paints in airtight containers, although it works best if you use them the same day as you make it.

I've also included a short video of our painting fun. Be sure to turn the sound up on your computer so you can hear Kyra's comments too. I also apologize for the graininess (sp?) of the video--I took it with our little digital camera, and it isn't the best...

Happy Monday friends!
k~

Being 2

2008-02-20T20:07:00.003-08:00

Oh, the wonderful 2s! A typical conversation at our house:

Little K: "Do you want Teddy Bear & Dolly?"
Mommy: "Sure! I'll give them some lovin'."
Little K: "Don't touch my Teddy Bear & Dolly!!!" all the while she's crying hysterically & throwing herself down upon whatever horizontal surface is available.

Or this:

Mommy: "Would you like me to rub your back?"--after putting her in her crib for nap time.
Little K: "No."
Mommy: "Okay. Have a good rest."---Mommy starts to leave the room.
Little K: "RUB MY BACK! RUB MY BACK!"--and again with the hysterical waterworks.

Prior to Mommyhood, I remember hearing the poem below, and laughing, thinking, "Oh, that's so cute." Now it's my life on a daily basis :-)

Enjoy~

The Toddlers' Creed

If I like it, it's mine.
If it's in my hand, it's mine.
If I can take it from you, it's mine.
If I had it a little while ago, it's mine.
If It's mine it must never appear to be yours in ANY way.
If I'm doing or building some thing, ALL the pieces are mine.
If It looks just like mine, it's mine.
If It is broken, It's yours!!!
If it is on, I must turn it off.
If it is off, I must turn it on.
If it is folded, I must unfold it.
If it is a liquid, it must be shaken, then spilled.
If it a solid, it must be crumbled, chewed or smeared.
If it is high, it must be reached.
If it is shelved, it must be unshelved.
If it is pointed, it must be run with at top speed.
If it has leaves, they must be picked.
If it is plugged, it must be unplugged.
If it is not trash, it must be thrown away.
If it is in the trash, it must be removed, inspected, and thrown on the floor.
If it is closed, it must be opened.
If it does not open, it must be screamed at.
If it has drawers, they must be rifled.
If it is a pencil, it must write on the refrigerator, monitor, or table.
If it is full, it will be more interesting emptied.
If it is empty, it will be more interesting full.
If it is a pile of dirt, it must be laid upon.
If it is stroller, it must under no circumstances be ridden in without protest. It must be pushed by me instead.
If it has a flat surface, it must be banged upon.
If Mommy's hands are full, I must be carried.
If Mommy is in a hurry and wants to carry me, I must walk alone.
If it is paper, it must be torn.
If it has buttons, they must be pressed.
If the volume is low, it must go high.
If it is toilet paper, it must be unrolled on the floor.
If it is a drawer, it must be pulled upon.
If it is a toothbrush, it must be inserted into my mouth.
If it has a faucet, it must be turned on at full force.
If it is a phone, I must talk to it.
If it is a bug, it must be swallowed.
If it doesn't stay on my spoon, it must be dropped on the floor.
If it is not food, it must be tasted.
If it is food, it must not be tasted.
If it is dry, it must be made wet with drool, milk, or toilet water.
If it is a carseat, it must be protested with an arched back.
If it is Mommy (or Daddy), it must be hugged.
I am toddler!

Happy Wednesday, friends!
k~

Taking Recalls a little too far, me thinks

2008-02-06T17:21:00.000-08:00

It seems like every week the news is reporting that another item or items are being recalled because they are dangerous, etc. Now don't get me wrong. I think it's great that they care about protecting the public, especially if it's tainted meat or lead-drenched toys. But the one that came out recently I think is going a little overboard (see below):

Dreyer's Grand Ice Cream voluntarily recalled 90 cartons of its Dreyer's Slow Churned Light Caramel Delight ice cream and Slow Churned Light Butter Pecan ice cream because they may contain pecans not identified on the label.

The potentially affected 1.75-quart cartons were distributed to grocery stores in Oregon and three other Western states.

The affected cartons have the code "Best If Purchased By 09/11/08 049-32" printed on their bottoms.

Consumers who have purchased the ice cream with the code should call Dreyer's for a full refund.

I'm sorry, but if someone intentionally buys BUTTER PECAN ice cream, regardless if Pecans are listed in the ingredients list, the company should not be held responsible or feel like they have to issue a recall. Maybe with the other flavor, Caramel Delight, because it's not obvious if it contains nuts from the title. But the name of the ice cream is Butter Pecan. It would make more sense to issue a recall if it DIDN'T have pecans, false advertising and all.

It's sad when our society has gotten so "sue-happy" that companies feel they need to put out a recall for something like this.

Happy Wednesday friends!
k~

The Saga of Sleep & the Big Girl Bed

2008-01-29T23:00:00.000-08:00

There comes a time in everyone's life when they must graduate from their crib to a Big Girl/Boy Bed. For some that comes earlier than others: My mom-in-law tells me my husband was one of these as he discovered he could launch himself out of his crib at the tender age of 1 1/2 years old. YIKES!

Anyway, once Kyra turned 2, we decided it was time for her to try a big girl bed. Although we had yet to find her with a leg draped over the side of the crib, or worse, heard the scary THUMP! and well, you know the rest..., she was quickly outgrowing her crib space, and seemed ready to make the move.

We shopped around the local furniture stores, and online to find just the perfect bed, and the day after Christmas went to Wickes to buy one very similar to the one shown in the picture. We were told they had them in stock, and we could pick one up, at their warehouse, in as little as 2 days. We were thrilled!

We arranged to go pick it up that Saturday, the 29th of December (which also happened to be Kyra's birthday). David borrowed my folks' truck, and made the drive downtown, only to be told, "We don't have any bed for you today. Your order is scheduled to arrive on January 12th." When he came home with no bed, I immediately got on the phone to their customer service department to express my dissatisfaction with the so-called mix-up. They apologized, and explained the delivery date we were quoted was actually an estimated date, not a guaranteed date. What?!?!? We were told it was in stock, and could be picked up in 2 days. Now we were going to have to wait an additional 2 weeks? Okay.

The 9th of January rolled around, and we received a phone call from Wickes, saying they were sorry, but the bed would not be there that Saturday the 12th. We thanked them for the call, and then asked when WOULD we see it? You'll never guess what they said. February 19th! A full 7 1/2 weeks later for a bed that was supposedly in stock. Needless to say, we were not thrilled, but what can you do? Demand your money back, and then have to go somewhere else, and possibly wait just as long or longer?

In the meantime, we knew we were running out of crib containment time, so we decided to move David's old twin bed from his growing up years, from our upstairs office area to her room. We also chose to leave her crib up in her room, as advised by our good friends, Katie & Luke, so if we needed a fall-back plan, it would still be available--very wise words!!!

The first week went great! She loved her big girl bed, and at night, she stayed there, all night long. Afternoon naps were another issue, as being able to see (and get up and play with) her toys proved to be just too much for her--Back to the baby bed.

Now to the past couple nights. I don't know if it's because she's currently getting her 2-yr molars, or she's going through a little separation anxiety, or it's the snow and Daddy being home more (Hee hee!!!), or a little bit of all those things, but WOW! Bedtime has really been a challenge! The only thing that's changed, as far as we know, in her nighttime routine, is her place to sleep. We've also told her if she's scared or feeling icky or has a messy diaper, she can call out to us, or come get us. Other than that, she needs to stay in her bed. No getting up to play toys, no coming out to the family room to see what we're doing, etc.

I guess we've been pretty lucky so far, as she's always gone to sleep with little or no problems. But now we're at a loss as to how to proceed. We don't want to keep putting her in her baby bed, as that feels like negative progress. And spanking her for something like this is not an option. Tonight it was 9:30 before she fell asleep, in her baby bed, after multiple times of walking her back into her room to her big girl bed, tucking her in yet again, and David even sitting in there with her for awhile.

So now we come to you, oh seasoned parents, in hopes of receiving some much-needed words of wisdom regarding a little girl and a big bed. By the way, my mom shared this comic strip with me today as a little encouragement--The storyline starts on Jan 22nd, so be sure to go back and get the whole thing :-)

Wishing for more snow,
k~

Chicken Peanut Curry

2008-01-21T19:50:00.000-08:00

I realize that I haven't posted any recipes for awhile, so for that I'm sorry. And I know it's not Thursday, but this recipe was so good, that I didn't want to wait to share it :-) And, yes Katie, we DID have this for dinner tonight, and the house still smells amazing!

Chicken Peanut Curry
from Simply Recipes
Serves 6-8

Ingredients:

3 lbs boneless, skinless chicken pieces (or you can use bone-in for added flavor), cut into 1 1/2 inch wide chunks or strips
1/2 cup flour
4 Tbsp curry powder
2 teaspoons Kosher salt
1/2 teaspoon freshly ground pepper
1/2 cup olive oil
2 Tbsp fresh ginger, minced (or 1/2 Tbsp dried ground ginger)
2 Tbsp garlic, minced
2 serrano chili peppers, seeded, de-veined, minced (can add or reduce amount based on heat preference)
4 cups chicken broth, divided
1/2 cup peanut butter
1 teaspoon ground coriander seeds
8 green onions, chopped, greens included (can substitute 1 tsp granulated onion)
1/3 cup each finely chopped mint and cilantro (optional)
2 limes cut into wedges (optional)
Cooked rice

Rinse chicken & pat dry. In a Ziploc bag, combine the flour, curry powder, salt and pepper. Shake well. Add the chicken pieces and shake to coat well.

Heat oil in a large saucepan on medium high heat. Add chicken pieces. Cook 5-10 minutes (depending on size of chicken pieces), tossing occasionally to cook chicken evenly. Combine the ginger, garlic, chili pepper & 1/2 cup of chicken broth and stir to mix. Add to saucepan, and cook for 3 minutes, scraping the pan with a spatula and stirring to combine everything well.

Add the peanut butter, stirring quickly to incorporate it with the chicken. Add the remaining 3 1/2 cups of broth slowly, stirring continuously to maintain an even texture. Let simmer for 10 minutes. Right before serving, add the coriander & green onions (or granulated onion). Salt to taste.

Serve with rice. Top each serving with cilantro & mint and a little lime juice (if using). ENJOY!

A little funny note to go with this: I was in the process of making this dish tonight, and all of a sudden David calls me to come back to Kyra's room, where they'd been playing, and he sounds pretty upset. So I drop my spoon by the stove, and go rushing back there, thinking she had fallen or something. I come into her room, and he says, "You're in big trouble!" I said, "What for?" He says, "Come over here, and put your face down by the heat register." I said, "What?" He says, "Do you smell that?" I said, "Yes, it smells the same in the kitchen." He smiles and says, "You're just mean to taunt us with making it smell so good." But lucky for me, dinner was soon on the table, and all was forgiven :-)

Mourning the Packers' loss,
k~

Friends. Family. Business partners???

2008-01-11T15:30:00.000-08:00

I'm curious about something. Am I the only one that gets just a little nervous using the professional services of a family member, friend or even an acquaintance?

Say for example, you're wanting to landscape your yard. Your brother-in-law is a landscape architect by trade. Do you automatically go with him over someone else because you know him and/or trust his work? And to go one step further, do you pay him the same rate as someone else? Or do you use someone else in order to avoid the "oh, if something goes wrong, holidays could be very awkward going forward"?

Another scenario: You have a friend who is an amazing musician. You have heard them play or sing on many occasions, and they always do a phenomenal job. Now you're looking for someone to do the music at your wedding. Assuming their type & style of music fits what you're looking for, do you ask them to be a part of your special day? And here's the real kicker: Do you pay them?

And finally, if you DON'T ask someone (to take on a job, etc.), are you risking their feelings being hurt or the relationship being damaged, because you know that's what they do for a living, and you chose to use someone else?

By the way, the situations above should be considered as hypothetical/for discussion only, and certainly do not refer to any particular person or relationship :-) Just wanted to know what you think...

Happy Friday, friends, and Go Packers!
k~

Hair Apparent

2008-01-07T15:30:00.000-08:00

One of the joys of being a parent is being responsible, at least for now, for the care of someone else's hair--My friend Stephanie has also recently blogged about this same topic. Check it out here :-)

Our daughter, Kyra, was born with a full head of hair, and thankfully kept most of it. And unlike some children who don't visit the hairstylist until they're getting ready for kindergarten, she had her bangs trimmed at just 16 months old by our dear hairstylist/friend, Carol. She (Carol) did admit afterwards, though, that she wasn't very comfortable cutting children's hair because little ones don't always sit still, and scissors are scissors.

So when it was time to cut the bangs again, I decided to take Kyra to someone else and preserve Carol's friendship :-) There is a Great Clips not far from us in the Bethany shopping mall, so I decided to try them out. If you've ever been to a Great Clips type of salon, you know that unless you want to wait for a particular stylist, you just get whoever is free. Unfortunately for us, our particular stylist was smack-dab in the middle of having a royal "Alexander" day ("no good, very bad, I'm going to Australia" day). Not only did she act like we were completely wasting her time, but she did a really poor job at trimming Kyra's bangs. Needless to say, we were not going to go back there any time soon.

Fast forward to last week. Kyra's bangs once again needed trimming--she was even complaining that her hair was in her eyes. While Christmas shopping at Streets of Tanasbourne, we'd noticed a new exclusive hair salon just for kids called Pigtails & Crewcuts. Just peeking in the windows was exciting! All the stations had cool chairs like fire engines & cars for the kids to sit in while getting their hair cut, and you could see they went out of their way to make the experience fun. But I thought, "I bet a haircut costs an arm & a leg!" I went home & looked them up on the web--What's this? Only $5 for a bang cut? That's exactly what Great Clips charges, and you know this place will cater to kids :-)

However, when we walked in on a Thursday morning, we were told there were 4 clients ahead of us, at 15 minutes each. For all you non-math types, that's an HOUR wait!!! When I told the receptionist thanks but no thanks, she had the audacity to look at me like I was crazy. What would have been crazy would be to wait there for an hour, with a 2 yr old, even with all their cool stuff.

By this time, I was pretty frustrated, as we had endured the pouring down rain, and still no haircut. As a last resort, I decided to try the Great Clips over by the Walker/158th Fred Meyer. I told myself if there was any kind of wait, we'd just go home, and try again another day.

We walked in, and were immediately cheerfully greeted by one of their stylists. When I asked the wait time, I was told, "Less than 5 minutes." Yee Haw! And let me tell you, our stylist, Angela, was just that, an angel with shears. She gave Kyra her squirt bottle to play with, actually laughed when Kyra accidentally sprayed her full in the face with water, and she gave her an absolutely adorable cut. And all for $5!

Maybe we'll try Pigtails & Crewcuts again sometime, simply to say we did it. But with a $3 off coupon for our next visit to Great Clips, and knowing what we know about them, it's really hard to pass that up.

Happy Monday, friends!
k~

Look who's 2...

2008-01-02T13:58:00.000-08:00

What is it about this time of year that makes you just want to burrow down in your nice warm bed and hibernate until spring? I truly think bears have the right idea :-)

Speaking of bears, there is one in particular that always seems to brighten up my day and bring a smile to my face: His name is Winnie the Pooh. And ever since Kyra was really little, she's loved Winnie the Pooh & all his friends in the Hundred Acre Woods. So when it came time to pick a birthday theme for this year's "turning 2" party, it was pretty much a no-brainer.

Although I don't claim to be a master baker in any sense of the word, I felt I could pull off a Winnie the Pooh cake, since Michaels had a nice cake pan in the shape of Winnie the Pooh and "it can't be that hard, right?" Imagine my horror when I looked closer at the directions for decorating said cake--from the baking & decorating Instructions for the Winnie the Pooh Cake pan:

4. Pipe-in eyes and outline and pipe-in nose with tip 3 in Black (smooth with finger dipped in cornstarch).
5. Cover Pooh's body, arms, legs and head with tip 16 stars in Pooh Gold.

You get the idea.

For anyone who witnessed last year's homegrown Ladybug cake, you know I'll never have a future in professional cake decorating. So when I saw all these instructions--a full page in this tiny little writing, I thought, "I'm kidding myself if I think I can do this!" And it was back to the web to find a cake that wouldn't cost me a small fortune--At this point I was only out the cost of the cake pan & the Pooh Icing Set.

Now enter the eternal optimist, my dear husband. He takes a look at the instructions, says, "We can do this", and the rest, as they say, is history.

Below are some pictures from the day she turned 2, as well as the momentous Winnie the Pooh cake, which turned out pretty darn cute, if I say so myself :-)

The birthday girl--
setting a new fashion trend
(make sure to click on the picture to get the full effect)

So blessed!
(and a little overwhelmed)

The Cake

I also realized I haven't posted about our Christmas, but that can be saved for another time.

Many Blessings to you & your family in the New year!
k~

They say it's your birthday...

2007-12-23T21:53:00.000-08:00

Cake #2 in our "4 weeks of Birthday cake" celebration appeared today as it is my birthday, the big 3-8! In our immediate family, we are "lucky" to have, count them 5!!! birthdays between Dec 12th & Jan 4th, which means a constant parade of cake to accompany the mountains of other Christmas goodies & sweets that are an ever-present part of this season. Needless to say, the scale & I are not on good terms right now :-)

For the most part, I've have a great birthday, except for the Green Bay Packers' less-than-stellar performance against the Chicago Bears :-( Oh well, it's not like the game really mattered that much. It's just that, it's the Bears (see my previous post) and a loss to them really, really hurts. Okay, I'm over it.

People have asked me over the years, "How do you like your birthday so close to Christmas?" Well, for one thing, I didn't have much choice in the matter :-) I guess I could celebrate it in the summer, on my 1/2 birthday, but even then, school was out for the summer, so as far as my Mom bringing cupcakes to school, that didn't happen. Sometimes it worked to my advantage like on my 16th birthday, when my parents combined my birthday & Christmas present and bought me a car :-) And also my parents always made sure to wrap my presents in birthday wrap, so as to further separate the day.

Speaking of my Mom, she likes to tell the story of when I was about 3, and we were visiting our extended family at Christmastime. We celebrated my birthday on the 23rd as usual. The following day, Christmas Eve, we went to my one Grandma's house and did Christmas with her. Then Christmas Day we went to the other Grandma's house, and did yet another Christmas, with more presents. The next day, the 26th dawns, and little me says, "Where are my presents for today?", like this was a really cool new trend. It's so hard being little, and reality hits!

Kyra is getting a small taste of this, as we celebrated Christmas yesterday (Sat 22nd) with my sister & niece who were in town for the weekend. Then today was my birthday. Tomorrow we'll do Christmas Eve with my parents. Then the next day we're off to David's folks' for another Christmas. And then Saturday the 29th is Kyra's birthday, with even more presents in store...Yikes! Can you say overload? So far she seems to be doing pretty well, but every once in awhile, our friend the Grump pa pum pum shows up for a little visit...Then we know it's time for a little snooze, something we all can benefit from :-)

And speaking of snoozing, I'd better head that way myself. Happy Holidays to all & Many Blessings to you & your family in the New Year!
k~

Grump pa pum pum

2007-12-19T14:54:00.000-08:00

A very wise woman once told me all kids go through behavior cycles--3 weeks of being angels, 3 weeks of you-know-whats :-) In other words, if your child is testing your patience, just give them a little time, and they should work it out...

I don't know if it's our current stormy, gray weather--I think Seasonal Affective Disorder (SAD) can affect kids too, or if it's getting ready to turn 2, or the hustle/bustle of this crazy season--probably all of the above. But at our house, a certain someone under 4 ft tall is really trying her hardest to make the Naughty side of Santa's list.

I'm sure you seasoned Moms out there are nodding your heads, and saying, "Welcome to parenting a 2-yr-old, dear. And if you think these days are fun, wait until she's 3!"

I know it also doesn't help that there are a 100 more things now around the house that are "No touch. Just look with your eyes."

And how could we forget my personal favorite stressor: How to make everyone happy by spending the maximum amount of time together, with the least amount of drama/chaos getting to & from there", all in the span of a couple weeks. It also doesn't help that this Mama must have been taking a nap when the Gift of Hospitality was being handed out, so the idea of "having everyone over to our house"--my dear husband's solution--just further complicates things.

So how do we Enjoy this Christmas season, not just Survive it? And no, consuming lots and lots of Christmas Cheer (think rum or Bailey's), is not the answer I was looking for :-)

Any suggestions?
k~

Color my World

2007-12-14T15:30:00.000-08:00

What do you get when you add Christmas Lights + the Zoo + a train ride and then add a whole lot of childhood delight?? A fabulous fun-filled visit to the Oregon Zoo Christmas Lights display!

It seems that Kyra just can't get enough of Christmas Lights this year, so when last night's forecast called for no rain, we said, "Let's go see the Zoo lights!" Grandma & Grandpa A & Grandma H & our friend, Lena, also decided to go with us, so after wisely bundling up with layer upon layer to keep the cold at bay, we were off :-)

If you've never seen the Zoo Lights, I'd highly recommend it, even if your age is over 2 :-) And an added bonus: if you're Zoo members at the Plus level or higher, entrance to the Zoo lights is free! You do still have to pay for the train ride, but they do give you a small discount--$0.25 off, each. Some people might choose to skip the train, saying the metal seats are way too cold (I say bring a blanket!), or it's not worth it because it's not a very long ride. However, Kyra happens to love train rides, AND you get to see all the lights without all the walking--Bonus when you have a little one, or people that can't walk that far.

All in all, we had a great time, and I think this might become a new Christmas tradition for us. Below I've included some pictures we took to capture the night.

The girl & her Grandmas

Mommy & Kyra

The Zoo Lights gang

Daddy, Mommy & Kyra

Happy Friday friends!
k~

Christmas Joy

2007-12-11T14:14:00.000-08:00

This little gem was posted on my friend Kippy's blog, and I just had to have it for myself! Enjoy~k

Yummy Pretzel Salad

2007-12-07T13:47:00.001-08:00

I apologize as this week's Culinary Delight post is a day late...However, I think you'll really enjoy this recipe, and there's actually a fun little story that goes along with it.

One of the things that the staff at Sunset Pres does every month, is have a Staff Luncheon. Most of these are Potlucks, and each person is asked to bring something--I'm sure the whole potluck concept is one that is familiar to many of you :-)

And so it also shouldn't surprise you that there's typically a gap between the number of "bringers" & the number of "eaters"--I'm not judging, I'm simply stating an observation I've made over the years. And to go one step further, the women are more likely to bring something than the men--again, only my observation/opinion.

This particular Staff Luncheon potluck happened to be one of the first, if not THE first for our new Worship & Creative Arts Minister, Jay McKenney. To this day I don't know if he wanted to make sure he made a good impression, or if Allison takes really good care of him--it was probably a little of both :-) Anyway, he shows up with this amazing salad in hand, and when someone made a comment about a GUY bringing something besides chips or rolls, he just smiled with that now-famous Mac grin.

So without further adieu, here's the Infamous (which is MORE than famous!--a little Three Amigos humor) McKenney Pretzel Salad. Thanks for sharing the recipe, Jay~

Ingredients:
1 cup coarsely crushed pretzels
3 Tablespoons sugar
1/2 cup melted butter or margarine
8 oz cream cheese
1 cup sugar
8 oz whipped topping
6 oz package strawberry or raspberry jello
2 cups boiling water
1/4 cup cold water
12-16 oz frozen strawberries (or raspberries)

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Combine pretzels, 3 tablespoons sugar & butter, and press mixture into ungreased 9x13 pan. Bake for 10 minutes and set aside to cool.

Combine cream cheese, 1 cup sugar & whipped topping & mix until smooth. Spread over cooled pretzel mixture being sure to seal edges.

Dissolve jello in the boiling water & add the 1/4 cup cold water & strawberries (or raspberries). Refrigerate until thick. Pour over cream cheese mixture and chill until set.

There you have it--So it's not a very healthy salad, but come on, it makes a great dessert, and who doesn't like dessert? :-)

Happy Friday everyone!
k~

Christmas is Coming! Bring on the tree...

2007-12-01T14:32:00.000-08:00

Today we continued our annual tradition of Christmas Tree Hunting, and it was made even that much more fun with the first snow of the season! Like in previous years, we made our way out to the Reichen Tree farm, where, as an added bonus, we ran into several past & present Sunset Pres friends, also in search of the perfect tree :-)

Grandpa & Grandma Anderson came along as well, and we both found beautiful Noble firs to grace our homes. Below are some pictures from our day:

Kyra & Daddy on the front step.
Let's go!

Catching snowflakes with my tongue

Daddy & Kyra searching for a tree

Mommy & Me in our nice warm hats!

All right. Tree: Check. Now only 24 Shopping Days left until Christmas!--Yes, I said 24. My dear husband swears if you wait until the 24th, it makes your choices just that much easier :-)
k~

I'm such a sheep! Baa

2007-11-28T13:40:00.000-08:00

http://www.elfyourself.com/?id=9628470347

This is pretty funny though!

Just a note, the site elfyourself.com is getting a ton of traffic right now, so it may take a little time to load, and if you want to make your own elves, I'd suggest doing it late at night...Otherwise, give yourself lots of wait time.

Enjoy,
k~

Kitchen "Camping"

2007-11-27T10:56:00.000-08:00

Growing up, my family spent many a summer camping out at our 40-acre property. But this wasn't your "Go to a nice civilized campground, with showers & a play area for the kids, both just up the path" camping. This was "Becoming One with Nature" camping. Accommodations: A-frame cabin--basically a wooden tent. Electricity? No. Indoor plumbing? Can you say, Outhouse, baby! So when it was time to clean up the dishes after meals, my sister and I were often pulled from whatever we would have preferred to do, and recruited for dish drying duty.

Sunday, this all came rushing back, as our faithful dishwasher decided to up & die! Now I don't know about you, but I'll be the first to say I've been extremely spoiled by having a dishwasher. Yes, I can wash dishes by hand, but you can guarantee if I'm buying something, I make sure to check the label first to see if it's dishwasher safe, before I'll buy it.

So, when the dishwasher refused to drain, even after cleaning out the filters, and running it empty several times, my dear husband said, "We're going to have to call someone".

This is where things get interesting. We inherited this dishwasher when we bought my Grandma's house, so we didn't really have a choice in its selection. Some would say we're extremely lucky, since Grandma put in a very high-end dishwasher when she replaced her old one--a Swedish model called Asko. You can't beat it for noise level, and it does a really good job in cleaning the dishes.

However, try finding someone in the area that services Foreign Dishwashers! The first guys I called said, "We only do domestics. Call Standard TV & Appliance. They do foreign". I called Standard, and they said, "Oh, we only do Bosch. Call these guys." So I did, and they said, "Well, the earliest I can have someone out in your area is next Tuesday." NEXT TUESDAY???? She did say she'd put me on the "sooner than later" list, but I don't have much hope...

So last night, David & I tackled, by hand, the mountains of dishes that had piled up--now there's some bonding time :-) And until Tuesday, we'll either use paper & plastic or go out to eat! Just kidding--they're making some really hand-friendly dish detergent these days, aren't they?

The other thing we have to consider is the threshold dollar amount for repair--Is it worth it to repair an older dishwasher, especially one that we've heard can be really expensive to fix? Or do you watch the sales, and purchase a new one? Merry Christmas honey! Here's a new dishwasher...

So much fun!
k~

Pasta with Artichoke Garlic Cream Sauce

2007-11-15T19:56:00.000-08:00

Today's Culinary Delight is another dish, like last week's scallops, that is not the healthiest, but is so yummy! I promise, the next installment will be something really nutritious, like SALAD! Enjoy!

And for those of you who are curious, Katie ;-), it also just happens to be what we had for dinner tonight...

Pasta with Artichoke Garlic Cream Sauce
The original recipe at Nola Cuisine.com calls for the sauce served over Oysters, but as we don't have any in the house, and I do not like them, Sam-I-am, we used pasta instead :-)
Serves 4

Ingredients:
2 Tbsp butter
2 green onions, thinly sliced
3 cloves Garlic, minced
4 Tbsp white wine
2 cups Artichoke Hearts, drained, rinsed and chopped
1 Pint heavy cream
3 Tbsp grated Parmesan cheese
1 dash Worcestershire sauce
3 dashes Hot sauce--can be adjusted to suit your tastes
2 tsp fresh lemon juice
Kosher salt and Cayenne pepper to taste
Cooked pasta--any kind is fine

Sweat the onions and garlic in the butter for 2-3 minutes. Add the white wine and reduce until mostly evaporated. Add the chopped artichoke hearts and cook for 2-3 minutes. Add the cream and reduce until slightly thickened; add the Parmesan cheese. Add the Worcestershire, hot sauce and lemon juice. Season to taste with salt & cayenne, and serve over pasta.

So there you go. By the way, next Thursday, as you know, is Thanksgiving, so I will try to deliver that week's recipe on Wednesday instead--cross your fingers :0)

Happy eating everyone!
k~

Thanks for the Memories or Please pass the Clutter?

2007-11-10T15:58:00.000-08:00

As the weather starts to turn, I've found myself on a Decluttering Mission around my house. It's amazing how almost therapeutic it feels to see large stacks of "stuff" make their way to other homes (the trash, Goodwill, friends/family, etc.). And wow! I didn't realize this bedroom was so spacious!!!

So, the latest items to fall under my scope are my old journals from junior high/high school/college. Which got me to thinking: Is there any value to keeping these?

The FlyLady, who is both helpful and very inspirational, says, "All these things (old report cards, magazines you are saving just for one article, etc.) are doing, is creating more chaos and clutter. "

Without coming out and actually saying it, I think she's saying the chance that you will become famous, and people will be climbing over themselves just to get a hold of your old love notes, or swim trophies, is not real likely. So why let them take up your valuable space?

Well I tend to agree with this, for the most part, I'm finding myself having a very hard time tossing the journals. And what's really weird is that I've never considered myself to be "a journaler". So let me preface these particular journals by saying this: These were the ones my English teacher made me do. You know the ones: Fill 8 spiral notebook pages by the time she/he was to collect them, and you would get an "A" for that assignment. This meant some pages were: "3 sentences to go. Now 2 sentences to go" and the biggest handwriting you could get away with.

But in amongst these entries, are the soul-searching, gut-wrenching teenage angst of growing up: "He walked by my locker today, and SMILED!" or "I can't believe he likes that silly (insert 80s girl name here). Why can't he like me?" Or, "We had the best time over Christmas break. My whole family got together..." Or, "My grandma died today. I've never seen my Dad that upset." This is my take on life from 1983-1992.

How can I just toss this in the recycle bin? Granted these journals as a collected lot don't take up a lot of space, but for sheer "usefulness", they don't rank very high, and thus, FlyLady would say, "Out it goes!"

What do you guys think? Keep or toss?
k~

Seared Scallops & Rice

2007-11-08T13:53:00.000-08:00

Once again, it's Culinary Delight Thursday, and today's selection is so incredibly easy & absolutely delicious, you'll want to eat it every night :-)

Unfortunately, the cost of fresh seafood these days may warrant this being a "Special Occasion only" dish, or if you're like my dear friend, Katie, you'll have to pass all together, due to a seafood allergy! But with that in mind, here you go:

Seared Scallops
from www.foodnetwork.com
Serves 4 (or 2 very hungry people!)

Ingredients:

1 to 1 1/4 pounds sea scallops (approximately 16)
2 teaspoons unsalted butter
2 teaspoons olive oil
Salt
Freshly ground black pepper
1 clove garlic, minced
Splash of white wine
Splash of lemon juice
cooked rice

Rinse scallops with cold water and thoroughly pat dry. Note: if the market has not removed the small side muscle, be sure to do so before proceeding, as this part of the scallop is very tough.

Add the butter and oil to a 12 to 14 inch cast-iron pan on high heat. Salt and pepper the scallops. Once the butter/oil begins to smoke, gently add the scallops, making sure they aren't touching each other.

Sear the scallops for 1 1/2 minutes on each side. The scallops should have a 1/4-inch golden crust on each side while still being translucent in the center. Make sure not to overcook, as they can get rubbery very quickly.

Remove scallops from the pan. Add garlic, wine & lemon juice to pan, and bring to a boil, stirring frequently. When about half of the liquid is evaporated, remove from heat. Drizzle sauce over scallops and serve immediately over cooked rice.

Enjoy, friends~
K~

A Bug's Halloween

2007-11-01T11:08:00.000-07:00

I know it's Thursday, and I promise the Culinary Delights post will come later in the day. But right now I wanted to share our Halloween 2007 with you.

Kyra is still at the age where Mommy gets to pick out her costume (probably the last year, I'm afraid), so when I saw this adorable Ladybug outfit at Target, I just had to get it. I was a little concerned about her leaving the antennae and wings on, but she did really well--Candy is a GREAT distraction :-)

And something that's quite rare in the Pacific NW, we had a beautiful evening for trick or treating! No rain, and not even cold--in fact we ended up carrying her coat because she didn't need it. Growing up, I can't tell you how many costume choices were dictated by, "How will this look UNDER a raincoat?"

Without further adieu, here are the pictures of the Cutest Ladybug ever--I'm not biased or anything :-)

Thank you, Grandma! Do I have to share?

Trying to avoid a sugar coma :-)
k~

Go Pack Go!!!

2007-10-30T14:55:00.000-07:00

In one of my earlier posts I mentioned my family bleeds Green & Gold. But not Oregon Ducks' Green & Gold my friends, but Green Bay Packers' Green & Gold!!!

You see, my dear husband was born in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, so in his mind, there simply is no other football team. Period.

So if you follow the NFL at all, it's not hard to see why there is great rejoicing right now at our house. Our beloved Packers are 6-1, after beating a determined Denver Broncos team last night, IN overtime & IN Denver :-)

A little background: BD (before David), I was a faithful Seattle Seahawks fan, as we had lived in Seattle for a couple years, when I was growing up. Every Sunday afternoon you'd find me sitting in front of the TV, watching the game, and cheering for the Seahawks. Often this would cause my poor cat great distress, as she'd sit on my lap, and then nearly go through the roof when I'd jump up to celebrate a touchdown.

Then I met David, and the things you'll do for love...I traded in my blue & green for green & gold. In fact several years ago, when the Packers were playing the Seahawks in Seattle, we drove up to the game, and guess which team I rooted for--Yep, the Packers--I think if I hadn't, I would have probably walked home!!!

Anyway, now this obsession/sickness has been passed on to our darling daughter. Sigh. We can't even drive by a football field without her shouting, "Go Packers!" And every football game is the Packers. And every football team is the Packers.

With that in mind, I've posted some pictures below of Kyra in Daddy's Brett Favre jersey, carrying on the Packer Fan legacy...

Touchdown, Packers!

Off to spread the love...

Hoping I haven't jinxed them,
k~

It has begun

2007-10-29T12:56:00.000-07:00

The other day we were at a restaurant, and Kyra was in need of a diaper change. I'm always a little leery of changing her in public places, because you never know if they're going to have a nice baby changing station, or if you'll be making a trip out to the car's back seat.

This particular restaurant did have a changing station in their restroom, although it was right by the sink, and not in a stall--not very convenient if someone else needs to wash their hands...

Anyway, I was in the process of changing Kyra, and an elderly woman entered the bathroom, and went into one of the stalls. She did her business, and when she was finished, my precious daughter yells out, "Lady done going potty!"

Needless to say, I was mortified. Not knowing exactly what to say, but knowing I needed to acknowledge Kyra's identification of this process, as we're in the beginning stages of potty training, I said sheepishly, "Yes, honey" or "You're right", or something like that.

Then I hear this snicker from the stall, and know that at least this person has a sense of humor. Thank goodness! I also knew I couldn't get Kyra cleaned up, finished, and out of there, before this lady emerged from the stall, so I knew I'd have to face her.

The moment of truth came: She walked out, smiled and then said, "Don't you hate these (motion-sensor) towel machines that make you wave your arms at them? I always feel so silly."

Kristin wipes her brow in relief.

I know that those days are coming...When your child's innocent comments make you feel like you're in a Southwest Airlines' "Wanna get away?" ad. I only hope that when they do, I'll be surrounded by folks as gracious and understanding as this woman was.

Happy Monday, friends, & Go Packers!
k~

Chicken Risotto

2007-10-25T13:19:00.000-07:00

For this week's culinary delight segment, I decided to post one of my favorite recipes, and one that doesn't last very long around our dinner table: Chicken Risotto.

Now before you go and say, "Oh, risotto's good, but it takes so much babysitting, with the adding of the liquid, etc!", I promise this recipe has all the goodness of a yummy risotto, without all the extra time & effort.

Chicken Risotto
From the Internet--site unknown

Ingredients:

6 tablespoons butter or margarine, divided
1 lb boneless, skinless chicken breasts, cut into strips
1 1/2 cups Arborio rice
1 clove garlic, minced
1/4 lb mushrooms, sliced
3 green onions, thinly sliced
3 cups chicken broth (2 14 oz cans)
1 teaspoon basil
1 cup cheddar cheese, shredded

In large skillet (we use our cast-iron which works really well), melt 2 tablespoons butter.

Add chicken and cook over medium heat, stirring constantly, until browned, about 5 minutes.

Remove chicken from skillet.

Add remaining butter, rice and garlic and cook, stirring constantly until rice is lightly browned, about 5 minutes.

Add mushrooms and onions. Continue cooking, stirring occasionally until mushrooms are tender, about 2 minutes.

Stir in chicken broth and basil. Bring to a boil; cover and simmer 15 minutes.

Gently stir in chicken. Continue simmering until chicken is heated through and rice is tender, about 5 minutes.

Top with cheese and serve immediately.

Be sure to get out and enjoy the beautiful sunshine on this great Fall Day, friends!
k~

My twin...

2007-10-23T15:45:00.000-07:00

They say everyone has a twin out there. I'm not talking about those people who were born as one half of a set of twins. The twins I'm referring to are often complete strangers, who happen to look a lot like us.

For instance, I've been told in the past that I looked like Pam Dawber, of Mork & Mindy fame.

I don't know that I see the resemblance, but that's ok.

Recently, however, we were sitting at the dinner table, and Kyra had just noticed her new plastic kids' plate had a picture on it. All of a sudden she puts her fork down, points to one of the characters on the plate, and says, "Mommy!" I said, "What is it, sweetheart?" She says, "No. That's Mommy!"

Here's what was on her plate:

Does anyone else see what's wrong with this picture, other than the fact that there are no girls in it??? And as I'm not accustomed to wearing a plaid shirt or a cowboy hat, for that matter, why she would think I looked like Woody, is beyond me.

I guess all I can do is take solace in the fact it could be worse...She could have pointed to her Bob the Tomato plate & said, "Mommy"...

Feeling like I somehow grew a pull-string,
k~

Simple Pot Roast

2007-10-18T14:18:00.000-07:00

Happy Thursday, and with it being a blustery day and all, I thought I'd post a good "down-home, warm-your-tummy" dish for this week's Culinary Delight.

Now I have to confess something: My Crock-pot has a high place of honor in my kitchen, second only to my coffee/espresso maker :-) I mean, if I can throw dinner together, and then not have to worry about it for 8-10 hours, whoo hoo! more time to play with Kyra or take a nap!

So for a recipe to NOT involve the crock-pot, and still be one of my favorites, it has to be really good!!!

When David found the following recipe in Cook's Illustrated magazine, he said, "We should try that some time. It looks really good." To which I replied, "Oh honey. We already have plenty of pot roast recipes, and besides, it doesn't use the crock-pot!", and I filed it away with the rest of our cookbooks.

Then the other day, I knew we were going to be home all afternoon, because it was Sunday, and the Green Bay Packers game was actually on TV! It was also a day like today, weather-wise, so I pulled out the non-crock-pot pot roast recipe and decided to try it.

As it was roasting in the oven, and I was having to turn it every 1/2 hour, for 3 1/2 to 4 hours, I kept saying to myself, "I hope this is just awful, so I'll never have to make it again! What a pain! Nothing like my nice easy crockpot!"

Well, my hating it was not to be. In fact, it was down-right delicious! Grrrr! So, if you have several hours to dedicate to this "simple" pot roast", it's definitely worth the effort.

Simple Pot Roast
Serves 6 to 8

Ingredients:
1 boneless chuck roast (about 3 1/2 pounds)
salt and ground black pepper
2 tablespoons vegetable oil
1 medium onion, chopped medium
1 small carrot, chopped medium--more can be added if you prefer
1 small celery rib, chopped medium
2 medium garlic cloves, minced
2 teaspoons sugar
1 cup canned chicken broth
1 cup canned beef broth--can use 2 cups of chicken or beef if you don't have one or the other
1 sprig fresh thyme--can use 1 tablespoon dried thyme
1-1 1/2 cups water
1/4 cup dry red wine

Adjust oven rack to middle position and heat oven to 300 degrees. Thoroughly pat roast dry with paper towels; sprinkle generously with salt and pepper.

Heat oil in large heavy-bottomed Dutch oven over medium-high heat until shimmering but not smoking. Brown roast thoroughly on all sides, reducing heat if fat begins to smoke, 8 to 10 minutes. Transfer roast to large plate; set aside.

Reduce heat to medium; add onion, carrot and celery to pot and cook, stirring occasionally, until beginning to brown, 6 to 8 minutes. Add garlic and sugar; cook until fragrant, about 30 seconds. Add broth & thyme, scraping bottom of pan with wooden spoon to loosen browned bits.

Return roast and any accumulated juices to pot; add enough water to come halfway up sides of roast. Bring liquid to simmer over medium heat. Then wrap pot lid in foil (I know this sounds strange, but just go with it--it seals the gap between the lid & the pot to keep in the steam), and cover the pan tightly with the lid. Transfer pot to oven.

Cook, turning roast every 30 minutes, until fully tender and meat fork or sharp knife easily slips in and out of meat, 3 1/2 to 4 hours.

Transfer roast to carving board; tent with foil to keep warm. Allow liquid in pot to settle about 5 minutes, then use wide spoon to skim fat off surface. Boil over high heat until reduced to about 1 1/2 cups, about 8 minutes. Add red wine and reduce again to 1 1/2 cups, about 2 minutes. Season to taste with salt and pepper.

Using carving knife, cut meat into 1/2-inch-thick slices, or pull apart into large pieces; transfer meat to warmed serving plate and pour about 1/2 cup sauce over meat. Serve, passing remaining sauce & veggies separately.

There you have it. It's not meatloaf--remember today is National Meatloaf Appreciation Day, but it is in the meat family, and in my opinion, this is much, much better!!! :-)

Enjoy!
k~

Visiting the Great Pumpkin

2007-10-13T16:22:00.000-07:00

It's not often we get a beautiful, warm, sunny, blue-sky day in the fall. But when we do, we try to savor every last minute. And as it's also October, that means our annual visit to the Pumpkin Patch!!!

We decided to make a change from previous years, and try Lake View Farms, out in North Plains. Our MOMs group had a play date there this last Thursday, which we weren't able to attend, so as a family, we thought we'd try it out.

Unfortunately it was a very short trip, as we didn't feel like paying $3 a person just to get into the pumpkin patch. I know that $3 pays for the train & boat ride, and $1 of that went towards the purchase of your pumpkin, but after all that, you still had to pay for the pumpkin itself. Maybe we've been spoiled, but somehow it seems wrong to have to pay to get into the patch.

So we left rather grumpy, and thought a little lunch might turn things around. After a stop at the Rock Creek Tavern, we spotted a sign for another pumpkin patch just a mile or so up the road, called the Plumper Pumpkin Farm.

You know that feeling you get when everything just seems to come together? That's how it was when we got out of the car, and started walking towards the patch. And notice I said, walking towards the patch. Yes, you could literally park & be within a few steps from the patch itself. And the best thing was, they have no admission fee to the farm :-) I felt like we had left Pumpkin Disney & landed right at a family friend's farm, it was that great!

Now don't get me wrong. They too had the petting zoo area, and a corn maze, and pony rides, and a giant slide, but it didn't feel like they were pushing all these things on you. If you wanted to do them, you could, for a small fee. But you didn't HAVE to! They also had big bales of hay set up all around so you could take pictures, or have the kids climb on them, and a bunch of nice picnic tables to sit down at if you wanted a little snack time.

We finally chose a big round 19lb pumpkin, and 3 little ones that Kyra picked out herself--Our grand total: $6.25--$0.25 lb for the large pumpkin and $0.50 a piece for the little ones.

We also took lots of pictures, which I've posted some of them below--the first one is from last year's trip...I can't believe how much Kyra has changed in just a year!!!

Kyra & Daddy
Pumpkin Patch 2006

Kyra & Daddy
Pumpkin Patch 2007

Mommy & Me at the Pumpkin Patch

Pumpkins make great seats!

Do you have a license for that, young lady?

Hay there!!!

All in all, we had a great time and we'll definitely be going back there next year.

Happy Saturday friends!
k~

Marshmallow "Rios" Bars & Honey Peanut Squares

2007-10-11T21:04:00.000-07:00

As promised, here are not 1 but 2!! yummy desserts that you can probably whip up from what you have in your pantry---especially if you have little ones! By the way, you might know them better as Cheerios, but in our household, for some reason??? we started calling them "Rios", and the name stuck.

Marshmallow "Rios" Bars
originally from www.Cheerios.com

Prep time: 15 minutes
Start to finish: 1 hour
Makes 24 bars

Ingredients:

3 tablespoons butter or margarine
1 bag (10 1/2 oz) miniature marshmallows (6 cups)
5 cups Cheerios cereal

Grease 13x9-inch pan. Melt butter in a large saucepan over low heat. Add marshmallows; stir constantly until mixture is melted and smooth. Remove from heat, and stir in cereal until evenly coated. Using buttered back of spoon or hands, press mixture firmly in pan; cool. For bars, cut into 6 rows by 4 rows. Store loosely covered.

Honey Peanut Squares--my husband prefers these!!
originally from Cheerios.com

Prep time: 15 minutes
Start to finish: 1 hr 15 minutes
Makes 36 squares

Ingredients:

1/2 cup sugar
1/2 cup honey or light corn syrup
1/2 cup peanut butter
3 cups Cheerios cereal
1/2 cup salted peanuts

Grease 9-inch square pan. In large saucepan, heat sugar and honey just to boiling over medium heat, stirring occasionally. Remove from heat. Stir in peanut butter until smooth. Stir in cereal and peanuts until evenly coated. Press evenly into pan, using buttered back of spoon. Cool 1 hour. Cut into 6 rows by 6 rows and store loosely covered.

A confession: Neither of these treats last very long in our house, but luckily they don't take very long to make either :-)

Enjoy!
k~

Letter of the Law

2007-10-09T16:20:00.000-07:00

I was heading to a meeting yesterday, and in order to get there in a fairly quick amount of time, I decided to take the highway. What I didn't count on were the ramp signals, already on, at 1:15 in the afternoon!!

So, like a good little girl, I waited and waited and waited, in the lane for single occupant vehicles, which was quite long for that time of day. And let me tell you, you have a lot of time to observe the things around you when you're moving 0 miles per hour.

One of things I noticed was the traffic stacking up behind us. As one car was allowed to go, 3 more were added to the queue, until there was literally a solid line of cars stretching the entire length of the ramp, all the way back to the intersection.

I also like to watch the High Occupancy Vehicle (HOV) Lane to see if people are truly obeying the "more than one person in the car" rule. Actually, I don't know why I do this, because it inevitably just makes me mad, because there's always someone who feels like the rule doesn't apply to them...

And just as I'm thinking this, a big yellow school bus goes by in the HOV lane. Now normally buses are allowed to use that lane because they carry a large amount of people, thus meeting the criteria. However, this particular bus was completely empty, except for the driver.

Here then was the rub: Buses are allowed to use the HOV lane--it's even posted on a sign above the lane. But is it right for them to use that lane if they are not carrying any passengers? In other words, they are the same as any other single occupancy vehicle because only one person is on board. Should they be allowed to use the HOV lane, regardless if they have passengers, just because the sign says they can? Or should they use the regular lanes when not carrying anyone else?

I know, I know. With all the problems there are in the world, some of you are probably saying, "Get a life. This is SO not a big deal, and not worth wasting any brain power on". But it was something that made me go hmm, and I was just wondering what other people thought...

Also, be very excited :-) This Thursday I promise to post a very yummy & easy dessert--so easy you'll wonder why you've never tried it before!

k~

Magic Meatloaf Part Deux

2007-10-04T19:05:00.000-07:00

Dinner is over. The meatloaf has been sampled. The vote: 1 for, 2 against.

David thought it was great!!!, and promptly served up a thick slice between two pieces of bread, slices of cheddar cheese and a huge dollop of yellow mustard.

Kyra & I, on the other hand, thought it left a lot to be desired. I tried mine with more ketchup, as it seemed a little dry. Not a big improvement. Kyra took a couple bites, and that was it for her.
We finished up with an old favorite, Mac & Cheese.

So, if you like meatloaf, you'll like this recipe. If not, I apologize and promise I'll post something really yummy next week, like another dessert :-)

k~

National Meatloaf Appreciation Day is coming--October 18th

2007-10-04T12:21:00.000-07:00

Today is Thursday, and thus, another recipe day! However, I was doing a Google search on "National Blog day" (thanks Jay!), and I found a site announcing that this coming October 18th is National Meatloaf Day.

Now what's really funny about this is, I never make meatloaf. I'm just not a big fan ("Meatloaf, Smeatloaf, Double-Beetloaf, I hate meatloaf!" says Randy, from the classic movie, A Christmas Story) as most meatloaf is either dry like shoe leather, or drowning in ketchup. But David likes it, and as I had some ground turkey to use, I decided to pull out the old crockpot and make meatloaf!!

So, not only do I get to post today's recipe, but I can contribute my meatloaf experience to the Meatloaf Appreciation Roundup, and take care of dinner tonight :-)

Crockpot Magic Meatloaf
from the Rival Crockpot Recipe book
Serves 8

Ingredients:

2 pounds ground beef (or ground turkey)
2 eggs
2/3 cup quick cooking oats
1 package dry onion soup mix (recipe to follow)
1/2 cup ketchup

Reserve 2 tablespoons ketchup. Combine ground beef, eggs, oats, soup mix and remaining ketchup. Shape into a loaf. Put in Crockpot. Top with remaining ketchup. Cover; cook on Low 8 to 10 hours (High: 4 to 6).

Dry Onion Soup Mix
from Ellen's kitchen

7 oz beef bouillon granules
1/4 cup instant unsweetened tea powder (I used the contents of 2 cold-brew iced tea bags)
adds color and tang without more salt
1/2 teaspoon pepper
1 1/2 cups dry minced onion
1/4 cup onion powder
1/4 cup parsley flakes
1/8 cup onion salt (if you don't have onion salt, just use a pinch of regular salt)
2 tablespoons yeast
1 teaspoon ground celery seed
1 tablespoon sugar

Combine in order listed, mix very well but don't use blender. Keep the mixture in an airtight container. Makes 2 cups (equivalent of 8 envelopes). 1/4 cup mix equals 1 envelope commercial soup mix.

Making onion soup? 1/4 cup mix to 4 cups boiling water. Stir well until powder is dissolved.
Onion dip? Add 4-5 tablespoons to 1 pint of sour cream or plain yogurt.

Let me tell you--it smells absolutely fabulous at my house!!

Looking forward to Meatloaf sandwiches,
k

Good Intentions or Foot in Mouth Disease???

2007-10-02T11:03:00.000-07:00

We've all been there. You're at a party, or a gathering where there are multiple conversations taking place at once. You can't help but overhear some of the other people, either by close proximity or the overall noise level.

All of a sudden, you hear something from another conversation that makes your jaw drop towards your knees. You stop, sometimes even asking the person you're talking to, to be quiet for a minute. You can't believe what you just heard. Did that person really just say that?

The following are real-life jaw-droppers heard recently:

"I would never let MY child get that dirty in public. What an embarrassment!"--conversation between two women, overheard at a public park where some kids had discovered that dirt & a water feature could make some really nice mud.
"My children don't like you"--overheard at a restaurant, said by one half of a "couple" who obviously were on a first, and most likely, last date.
"If you were a better mother, you wouldn't let your children run wild in the store"--comment by an observer to a haggard mother of three very active little ones.

Do these people truly think they're being helpful, or is there a huge disconnect between their brain and their mouths?

And I guess the real question is: As observers (not actively involved in the conversation), do we have any responsibility, or do we mind our own business (and blog about it later!)?

To go one step further, what if you are involved in the conversation? What is an appropriate response? Do you mumble something, and walk away? Or do you use it as a teaching moment?

Would love to hear your thoughts,
k~

Thai Beef & Basil + Chinese Fried Rice Deluxe

2007-09-27T15:48:00.000-07:00

That's right, folks! It's a 2 for 1 recipe day! And the cool thing is, if you do it right, the Chinese Fried Rice will practically make itself the next day from the Thai beef leftovers--assuming there are any leftovers :-)

Thai Beef with Basil
The All New Good Housekeeping Cookbook
Serves 4

Ingredients:

3 tablespoons Asian fish sauce--if you've never used this before, just a warning--it's quite potent!
1 tablespoon soy sauce
1 tablespoon brown sugar
1 beef top round steak (1 pound)--you can also use top sirloin
1 tablespoon plus 1 teaspoon vegetable oil
1 jumbo sweet onion (1 pound), cut into 1/4-inch-thick slices
1 head bok choy (2 pounds)
3 long red chiles or serrano chiles, seeded and thinly sliced (amt. can be adjusted for heat pref.)
3 garlic cloves, cut into long thin slices--you can also use 1 teaspoon garlic powder
2 teaspoons minced, peeled fresh ginger--you can also use 1 teaspoon of dried ground ginger
1 cup loosely packed basil leaves--you can also use 1-2 tablespoons of dried crushed basil
2 cups cooked rice

In medium bowl, combine fish sauce, soy sauce and brown sugar. Cut steak lengthwise in half, then cut into 1/8-inch-thick slices across the grain. Add beef to fish-sauce mixture, tossing to coat well; cover and refrigerate beef 30 minutes to marinate--if you're using top sirloin, you can cut the marinate time down to 15 minutes.

In large skillet, heat 1 tablespoon oil over high heat until very hot. Add beef mixture and cook, stirring frequently (stir-frying), just until beef is no longer pink, about 1 minute. Transfer beef to bowl.

Trim and core bok choy. Separate leaves from stems, then cut each stem lengthwise in half. Cut stems and leaves crosswise into 2-inch pieces; wash and drain.

Add remaining 1 teaspoon oil to skillet. Add onion and bok choy stalks and cook, stirring frequently (stir-frying), until tender-crisp, about 4 minutes. Add bok choy leaves and stir-fry until wilted, about 2 minutes longer. Stir in chiles, garlic and ginger; cook 30 seconds.

Return beef to skillet and add basil; heat through. Serve over rice.

Chinese Fried Rice Deluxe
Epicurious.com
Serves 4

This is a very flexible recipe, so feel free to add or omit ingredients based on personal preference or allergy (that's for you & your shellfish allergy Katie!!). Also the secret of making fried rice lies in the use of cold, cooked rice. Freshly cooked rice will only produce a sticky mess.

Ingredients:

6 tablespoons cooking oil
2 eggs
1 teaspoon salt
2 green onions, chopped
1/2 cup fresh shrimp, shell/devein--can use frozen shrimp, but thaw first (10 min. in bowl under cold running water)
4 cups cold, cooked rice
1/2 cup cooked peas--I would leave these out, since I don't like them, but Kyra does...
1/4 cup canned diced bamboo shoots
any combination of the following:
1/4 cup diced boiled ham
1/2 cup diced cooked chicken
1/2 cup diced roast pork, or leftover Thai Beef with basil :-)
2 tablespoons soy sauce
2 tablespoons chicken broth (or 1/2 teaspoon bouillon powder)
1 teaspoon sesame oil

Heat 2 tablespoons cooking oil. Beat eggs with 1/2 teaspoon salt and scramble in oil until firm, breaking into small pieces. Remove and reserve. Heat remaining oil. Add green onion and shrimp and remaining salt. Cook until shrimp shows pink. Break up lumps of cold, cooked rice and add to shrimp. Stir until rice is heated (you may need to add a little more oil), and the grains of rice are separated. Make a hole in the center of rice. Add all the rest of the ingredients except for soy sauce, chicken broth and sesame oil. Stir until thoroughly heated and mixed. Add soy sauce, chicken broth or bouillon powder and sesame oil, and mix evenly through. Salt and pepper to taste. Garnish with additional chopped green onions if desired.

There you have it! I hope you enjoy your "international" cuisine :-)
k~

Attack Ducks with Fangs

2007-09-26T16:33:00.000-07:00

Have you ever done something, and then afterwards realize you shouldn't have? This was our fate today.

Kyra & I met our friends, Amanda & Klaire for a play date, and because we were meeting at a Starbucks within walking distance of a pond, we decided to walk around the pond after grabbing our coffee. I also thought I was being the most wonderful mommy ever, because I remembered to bring bread to feed the ducks!!!

We're walking, the sun is shining, and the conversation is good. We noticed lots of evidence of ducks, but not the ducks themselves, which seemed kind of odd. So we continued walking, and then decided to stop for a minute to see if we could find the ducks. At that moment we looked across the pond, and swimming towards us are between 5-7 ducks. Hurray!

I get Kyra out of her stroller, take the bread out of the bag, and I kid you not, I am ATTACKED by these ducks. They are literally rushing me. So I throw a big piece of bread behind them, back into the water, hoping it will distract them. Only 1 or 2 of them fall for that old trick. The rest look at me, as if to say, "How dumb do you think we are? We know you have a whole bag of bread left!", and start advancing on me.

Meanwhile, Kyra is just standing there petrified, and Amanda is saying, "What's wrong with those ducks? I've never seen ducks act like that before!" Then I mistakenly gave Kyra a piece of bread to throw at the ducks. Apparently she was too slow, because one brazen hussy of a duck literally came up and grabbed it out of her hand!! I'm just glad she (Kyra) didn't get hurt, because I probably would have drop-kicked that duck across the pond and then gotten a huge fine from the PETA people.

Anyway, we quickly ran out of bread, so I put Kyra back in the stroller, and we kept walking. It wasn't until we were almost to the far side of the pond that I noticed this little sign posted by the water. Its general message was something like this, "I know it's fun to feed the ducks. However it really messes their systems up, so please don't."

In my defense, we were having a very enjoyable conversation, and I guess my focus wasn't on all the pond signage, all around the pond. Oops! I guess that also explains why those ducks were so aggressive, as I would bet most good people obey the signs...

So, Kyra, I publicly apologize for leading you astray--Next time I promise Mommy will read the signs...

k~

A Night at the Airport

2007-09-25T22:28:00.000-07:00

Katie and I were chatting the other day, and she asked me if my folks had gotten home okay from their Cruisin' Europe trip, as she'd expected me to have blogged about it.

Am I that predictable??

*sigh*

Truth be told, I had filed their "picking up from the airport" doings away for a future post, and had written about some other things.

So now, after they've been home for over a week, without further adieu, "the airport post" :-)

Their flight was to come in from Seattle at 10:10pm, so it made the most sense for me to go to the airport to pick them up---I'm the night owl in our family.

I made really good time getting to the airport, as there was no traffic at that time of night. I had brought a book, and expected to sit in the cell phone waiting area & read until they called. However, I was a bit tired, and decided to park the car, go in & get some coffee, and then read inside--it made sense to pay the extra $ to park the car, if it helped me to stay awake driving home.

Coffee People was still open, so I got a small coffee, and found my way to the waiting area by the security gates. I was stunned to see so many people at the airport, that late at night, and on a Monday! The waiting area was packed, and the crowd standing near the incoming passenger lane was 3 & 4 people deep. I wasn't too worried, however, as I was able to find a seat, and knew I had at least an hour before they were to arrive.

If you've ever spent any amount of time at the airport, you know it's a great place to observe people. Between the alarming number of young ones, who insisted on launching themselves on & off of the chair next to me--"why aren't they in bed?" I asked myself..., and the constant parade of interesting people, my book just couldn't compete.

Tell me, what would possess a person to fly in 4-inch heels??? Are you attending a stiletto convention in the sky? I would just love to see you have to run for your flight in those, without breaking your ankle...

And then there was this disheveled guy who looked like he was carrying everything he owned, just wandering around the terminal. Once he stopped a passing TSA agent, and it was just like in the movies when you see a guy on the street slyly approach someone, and say, under his breath, "You wanna buy a watch?"--I don't think he was selling watches, but it was too strange!!

The highlight of my evening though, other than when my parents arrived, was watching this one little girl (about 5 yrs old) greet her mom who had just come home. When she saw her appear in the crowd of people making their way to the baggage claim, she tore her hand out of her dad's grip, ran as fast as she could, jumped into her Mom's outstretched arms, shouting, "Mommy, Mommy, Mommy!" Her mom then smothered her with tons of hugs & kisses, and held her tight.

Absolutely priceless. I literally teared up, right there in the middle of the airport! And although I didn't yell, "Mommy, Mommy" when my parents showed up, I secretly wanted to.

Oh to be young again, and not worried about what people will think about you...
k~

P.S. They had a great time on their trip, but were absolutely exhausted, and all they wanted to do was sleep, sleep, sleep.

Where are your manners?

2007-09-22T15:18:00.000-07:00

It might look like I'm piggybacking on Janet's post about holding the door open, but I've actually had this one in the back of my mind for a while now :-)

It seems like these days the use of simple manners, or even common courtesy is more a rarity, than the norm. Folks are in such a terrible "hurry", that they often "forget" how to be polite. And don't even expect to be let in, when we're all stopped in traffic, even if you have the "right-of-way". That is bound to inconvenience someone else, so forget about it!

So what has happened to our society? When did we become so "me, me, me"? Even the small act of saying, "You're welcome" when someone says, "Thank you", has seemed to disappear from our vocabulary.

To prove this point, a local radio station recently did an experiment to see what kind of response they would get when they said, "Thank you". They called 10 local businesses, asked where they were located, and then pointedly and cheerfully said, "Thank you." Only 4 of the 10 responded by saying, "You're welcome". The most popular response was, "Uh huh", with "No problem" and "thanks" close behind. The worst were a couple of the businesses that simply hung up without even saying goodbye! Now that's customer service.

Here's a challenge: In your conversations in the next few weeks, listen to what you say, and the others around you, when someone says, "Thanks". I think you'll be amazed at how absent "You're welcome" is...

All for bringing "You're welcome" back,
k~

Sweets for the Sweet :-)

2007-09-20T13:45:00.000-07:00

Fall is definitely here, and that means pumpkin season is right around the corner!!!

Although I'm not normally a big fan of eating anything pumpkin, I have to admit, these Pumpkin Cheesecake Bars are to die for.

The recipe actually came from a local real estate agent, who included it with her monthly newsletter, so I don't know its original source...

Pumpkin Cheesecake Bars

Ingredients:

1 cup flour
1/3 cup packed brown sugar
5 tablespoons soft butter/margarine
1/2 cup finely chopped walnuts (I leave these out as I'm allergic to them)
8 oz cream cheese
3/4 cup sugar
1 teaspoon allspice
1 1/2 teaspoons cinnamon
1 teaspoon vanilla
1/2 cup Libby's pumpkin (solid pack)
2 Eggs, lightly beaten

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.

Combine flour & brown sugar in medium bowl. Cut in butter/margarine to make crumb mixture (reserve 3/4 cup for topping). Press remaining mixture into bottom of 8 x 8 pan. Pat down & bake for 15 minutes. Cool. Combine remaining ingredients in large bowl. Beat until fairly smooth and pour over baked crust. Sprinkle with reserved crumb topping. Bake 30-35 minutes. Cool & refrigerate overnight. Cut & serve.

Just a note: I brought these to our family Thanksgiving one year, and they were the first dessert gone, even faster than the pies!

Enjoy!
k~

Come read with me

2007-09-18T15:47:00.000-07:00

Every Tuesday morning, one or more of our local library branches has Storytime for the younger set, and this has quickly become one of Kyra's favorite past times.

Last week the newest library in the Washington County group held their first story time to begin at 10:30am. They also weren't sure how well-attended it would be, so they opened it to all ages, from birth to pre-school.

Well it was so popular, that by 10:15, you could hardly find an empty spot on the story rug. Moms & kids were packed in like sardines. In fact, I overheard a mom afterwards on her cell phone saying, "Ack! I made the mistake of dropping by the library this morning, and they were holding storytime. There must be like 500 kids here!" Obviously a slight exaggeration, but there were a lot of bodies in a pretty small space.

We happened to get there a little early, so were able to snag a spot on the rug, near the far book shelves. Although this was good because we could see & hear everything, the nearness of all those books, just begging to be pulled off the shelf, was a little too tempting for Kyra.

As you can see in the picture below from their website, Kyra ultimately caved to the draw of the books. Every other child is at least facing in the direction of the story teller, while our daughter has her back completely turned away from her (she's the one on the far right, with the dark hair, by the book shelves--sorry about the smallness of the picture. I couldn't make it any bigger without losing the resolution).

So, maybe she's a little young yet, for organized story time, but it gets us a chance to get out, meet other moms with kids around her age, and she does love books. And regardless of how much she actually "learns", her great-grandmother, who was a librarian, would be so pleased!

I will leave you with words by a famous doctor, from one of Kyra's favorite books:
Left foot, left foot, right foot, right. Feet in the day, and feet in the night.
k~

Here comes the sun...

2007-09-17T18:20:00.000-07:00

Although we still have a couple days left of official summer, the weather is feeling & looking more like fall every day. And with fall in the Pacific NW, you never know what kind of weather you're gonna get, even on the same day: rain, sun, rain/sun mixed, all clouds, etc.

The other day was a perfect example of this. We woke up to clouds & overcast skies, but then partway through the day, the sun came out. Then the clouds took over again, and no more sun.

So Kyra & I are playing in her room, and the sun goes behind a cloud. She looks outside, looks at me, and says in a very demanding voice, "Sun back on, Mommy!", as if I had the magic ability to turn the sun off & on. I said, "Oh, honey. You'll have to talk to Jesus about that. He's the one that controls the sun, not Mommy." That seemed to satisfy her, and soon enough, the sun came back out, and she gleefully shouted, "Oh look!!!! Sun back on!"

Loving the simple things in life,
K~

Bon Appetit! Culinary Delight Take 2

2007-09-13T19:46:00.000-07:00

By popular demand, here's an easy main dish that I think will make your tummies very happy :-)

It's another delicious recipe from Epicurious with our own special tweaks.

Easy Chicken Cacciatore
Serves 4

Ingredients:

4 bone-in chicken breasts, skin removed

Marinara Sauce (you could use bottled spaghetti sauce, but the recipe below for sauce is so easy, and homemade tastes so much better!)

3 tablespoons olive oil
1 large onion, chopped
6 garlic cloves, sliced
1 pound fresh mushrooms, sliced
1/2 teaspoon dried crushed red pepper
1 28-ounce can tomatoes, chopped, juices reserved
1 15-ounce can tomato sauce
1/2 teaspoon sugar
1 1/2 teaspoons dried basil, crumbled
3/4 teaspoon dried oregano, crumbled

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.

To make marinara sauce: Heat oil in heavy large skillet over medium heat. Add onion; saute until tender, about 10 minutes. Add garlic; saute 1 minute. Add mushrooms and crushed red pepper; saute until mushrooms just begin to soften, about 5 minutes. Add tomatoes and reserved juices. Cover and simmer 15 minutes. Add tomato sauce, sugar, basil and oregano. Cover and cook 15 minutes. Uncover and simmer until slightly thickened, about 5 minutes. Season with salt and pepper.

Place chicken in 13x9 inch baking pan. Pour marinara sauce over chicken. Cover with foil, and bake for 1 1/2 hours.

We like to serve this over spaghetti, though any kind of pasta would work. Pair it with a nice green salad, and enjoy!

K~

So many to choose from...

2007-09-13T09:20:00.000-07:00

It's Thursday, and once again, it's time for the weekly culinary delight posting. However, I'd like to get some feedback from my readers before I continue.

Remembering back to last week's post: How was the format? Was it easy to follow? Would you like a rating system, i.e. so easy, that anyone that can make toast, can make it, or you need to be a chef to take this on?

And finally, what "category" would you like to see today, i.e. Main dish, dessert, salad/side dish, appetizer, etc.?

I wait for your requests :-)
K~

If Trees could talk...

2007-09-12T11:59:00.000-07:00

Our next door neighbors are the proud caretakers of an immense old oak tree that although stately and magnificent, unfortunately provides us with minimal shade & lots of debris in the fall :-(

Today, that tree, along with its neighbor, an equally impressive oak tree, are both getting much-needed haircuts to trim up all their excess limbs & dead branches. In fact, as I'm sitting here writing, chainsaws are revving, limbs are falling and every once in awhile, a big crash, which leaves me cringing...

Our morning began when a gentleman in a bright orange T-shirt & hardhat, appeared in our backyard, and starting rigging up ropes & harnesses. I opened the sliding door, and was told, "Please stay in the house today. We'll do everything we can to protect your house & yard, but it's safest if you stay indoors."

OK then. I'm not sure our poor old fence can handle many direct blows, but maybe it's time to replace it anyway...

What I find really interesting is how long that tree has been around, to be as tall as it is (we've estimated it's over 6o feet tall!), and as expansive. A recent publication of our neighborhood newspaper, the Oak Hills Oracle, quoted one oak tree owner as saying their tree was over 250 years old!!!

250 years. That would mean it was planted in 1757!!! To put that year in perspective, I'll give you a little history: In 1757 Alexander Hamilton of the Hamilton-Burr duel, was 2 years old. The French & Indian War had been raging for 3 years. The Boston Tea Party wouldn't happen for another 16 years, with the Declaration of Independence 3 years past that! And the land this tree sits on would not even become a state until 102 years later, in 1859.

Wow! That's some life story. And assuming we continue to take care of it, with regular groomings, etc., and make sure it doesn't get diseased, and we don't have an act of God, like an earthquake or lightning strike, it should easily stand for another 250 years~~in fact, the oldest oak tree on record is over 1400 years old!!! Now that's old.

Feeling rather young and hoping our homeowners insurance is paid up :-)
K~

Slime shooters anyone?

2007-09-08T17:10:00.000-07:00

Some of you may already know this, but it was a not-so-nice revelation for us, and I thought I'd share, to save you from the same fate.

Like most kids, Kyra loves bath time, and often is accompanied by so many toys, she can hardly move around in the tub. One of the toys she really likes is actually a set of rubber animals, that when you fill them with water, they squirt a stream of water about a foot or so. They also come in their own mesh storage bag so you can drip dry & "drain" them. This is a great concept, and like I said before, Kyra loves them.

However, last night we found out that they're not so good in the draining department. Even when you think you've squeezed every last drop out of them, before putting them away, they still seem to be able to maintain a little left inside. And as water does, when it gets to puddle up with its friends, a little light & warmth, a new friend emerges: mildew, or in this case, a nasty brownish-green slime.

And then unsuspecting parent takes slime-filled rubber toy, fills it with water, and proceeds to squirt brown/green slime all over her child. As we're not guest celebrities on Nickelodeon, the slime-shooters had to go, straight into the nearest garbage can. Of course, we had to wait until Kyra wasn't looking. Otherwise, all you-know-what would have broken loose, as we had some nerve throwing away her precious toys!

There you have it. And now that I think about it, I suspect this phenomenon doesn't limit itself to just bath toys. So unless you're wanting to add this element to your water fights, I'd check your water pistols & guns before you start. Otherwise, you may find yourself pretty unpopular, pretty quick.

Happy Saturday, friends~
K~

This week's Culinary Delight

2007-09-06T15:00:00.000-07:00

I've decided to start a new post series, since I'm always looking for new recipes to try, and I'm sure I'm not alone :-)

Every Thursday (nothing special about Thursdays, it's just the day--today--when I came up with the idea:-) I'll share one of my favorite recipes with you, my faithful readers. It may be a main dish, it may be a dessert, who knows???

Most of these recipes I've found on the Internet, so I'll try to credit the original source if I can. Although I've heard if you change or add just one ingredient, or add a different way to cook it, then it's no longer "protected"--Karen, correct me on the copyright issues, if I'm wrong...

So, without further adieu, here's today's culinary delight:

Beef & Bean Burritos
originally from Epicurious.com

Ingredients:

1 pound lean ground beef
1 onion, chopped
6 large garlic cloves, minced
3 tablespoons ground cumin
1 tsp dried cilantro
red pepper flakes to taste
2 15-ounce cans black or pinto beans, rinsed, drained
1 14 1/2 ounce can beef or chicken broth
1 4-ounce can diced green chilies
4 green onions, sliced

Warm flour tortillas--the size of tortillas will determine how many burritos you'll have. We prefer the smaller ones, because you can eat more of them :-)
Grated cheese (your choice--we like Monterey Jack or Cheddar)
sour cream

Pre-heat oven to 350 degrees. Heat heavy large skillet over medium-high heat. Add beef and cook until brown, breaking up beef with fork, about 6 minutes. Add chopped onion and garlic and cook until onion is transparent, stirring frequently, about 5 minutes. Stir in cumin, cilantro & red pepper flakes and cook 1 minute. Add beans, broth & chilies and cook until beans are creamy and thickened, crushing beans with back of spoon, about 15 minutes. Mix in green onions.

Take warm flour tortilla & lay flat on plate. Put meat & bean filling in middle, cover with cheese, and fold up tortilla, burrito-style. Assemble the rest of the tortillas, and place in 13x9 inch baking pan, which has been lightly coated with cooking spray to prevent sticking. Sprinkle burritos with more cheese, and a few dollops of sour cream. Cover pan with aluminum foil, and bake for 30 minutes~~cheese should be bubbly.

This is a very forgiving and flexible recipe. We've also used leftover chicken or pulled pork for the meat part, which cuts down on prep time. The best part is you don't even need to heat it as it will get warm enough in the oven. Just make up the rest of the filling and add the meat when assembling.

I hope you enjoy these--they are definitely one of our favorite dishes, and so easy to make!

Happy Thursday, friends!
K~

P.S. If you have a recipe you want to share, please feel free to email me at hamann@aracnet.com or just post it in the comments.