Try-It-Tuesday

Okay I have been a total slacker about this recipe thing and I really do like it!

I am hoping that with this one that I can make up for 2, 3 or maybe 4 missed weeks in a row - Sorry Elena. Check out her website for other great Try-It-Tuesday recipes, just check the comment section for more wonderful contributions.

So here we go.......

Homemade Pizza

1 cup warm water

1 TBL Yeast

1/3 cup oil

1 TBL sugar

Combine these together and let the yeast work.

Then add:

3 cups flour

Work with your hands till a nice ball has been formed. Place dough back in bowl and cover till double in size. Roll out onto pizza sheet and cover with selected toppings.

Bake at 325 degreed for 10-15 minutes. Will make 2 pizzas.

NEXT

Homemade Oreo's

Cookies

1 box Devils Food Cake Mix

2/3 cup shortening (never use oil, must be shortening)

2 eggs

Mix together till well incorporated and then let chill for about an hour.

Roll into Quarter sized balls and place on greased cookie sheet.

DO NOT PRESS THEM DOWN.

Bake at 375 degrees for 6-8 minutes or till tops are barely cracked.

You want them to be soft cookies so do not over bake them.

Let cool completely while making the filling.



Filling

1/2 cup butter

4 cups powdered sugar

1 egg yolk

1 1/2 tsp vanilla

2 tsp milk

Beat together till creamy and stiff, spread between cookies and keep any that are left chilled.

Happy Cooking!!

Where I am

I got this idea from Buried with Children and loved it.

This is where I am today......

My laundry room and pile waiting for some attention.

My kitchen sink.

Yes I am totally neurotic cause they go in the dishwasher as soon as they are dirty.

The center of our home is the kitchen. This is where everything happens and today it will be cookies, folding laundry and later dinner and homework.

What are my kids doing right now. They are getting ready to head out the door for school. Sweet-boy all ready to go learn.

Drama Queen off to have, what I hope is, a better week. My all time favorite shoes. 2-season ago Sketchers that I ordered online and should have gotten 3 more each. I wear them all the time.

See I love these shoes and they do not make them anymore. Curse you Sketchers...!

My fridge - ready for a trip to the store.

Morning Routine. I check on my roses every morning to see if they are happy. It makes me smile to see them growing so well. My dream is to go here again. Our first 3 years of marriage were spent making wonderful memories at places that I can only dream of now. But we will go back again some day......

Holy Hannah!!!!

Did I feel the layover love today - yes!!!I hope that everyone found their luggage okay and the bathrooms were not too disgusting. I tried to make sure that each of you got a souvenir thanks and if I missed anyone I will get to you soon after I come up for air.You guys are amazing and Debbie, I cannot thank you for doing this to me today. Not only do I feel totally unworthy of such an honor, I never imagined that so many people would agree with me. Honestly I feel alone in my opinions but they are mine and we are happy together.Thank you everyone for visiting on this stop. If you found something else that made you smile I would love to hear about it. I really enjoyed getting to meet some of our International travelers. I hope that your continuing connection takes you to amazing places.Now make sure that your tray tables are fastened and your chairs are in the upright position cause we are off...........

Bash the Husband

Okay, I am going to vent so if you do not want to read about husband bashing click off - now.

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Did that get your attention I hope so.

I am so tired of going to ladies functions and after all the uplifting of the night having it dashed to the floor at the dessert table by someone trashing their husband. I am tired of standing in line at a store to hear the witchy woman in front of me on her cellphone telling the unknown caller what a dirtbag she is married to. I am frankly tired of reading on other peoples blogs the blatant disrespect for their spouse - the person that they chose to marry.

I do not have the perfect spouse! I am sure that there is not one man out there that does everything right, but in moments of tenderness The Man is the best ever out there for me. He has endured awful pregnancies where I blamed him for my condition, he has dragged me out of state away from my family kicking and screaming, he has provided many beautiful homes to live in and then proceeded to make them more beautiful because I did not like the carpet, paint, flooring, etc... Each and every day he gets up and goes to a job that he does not love but he does it because he loves me and wants me to be happy and well taken care of. Does he still do things that make me want to lash out with some clipping comment -you bet!

When I was a young bride I heard a great lesson that I gratefully committed to memory about our relationship with our spouse. We as the wife are very powerful in either helping or hurting our husbands. They respond to life by how we are treating them. If they are well loved and taken care of and feel that we desire them above everything else they will gladly go out and slay the dragon for us each and every day. But, if we tear them down, belittle all that they do, criticize, categorize and compare, how devoted are they going to be to us?

I have chosen to make sure that my complaints with my husband are between he and I. I do not chose to air my complaints in public, especially at social functions where my spouse is in attendance. I will never forget being in a circle of women each taking moments to comment on their husband and seeing over this one woman's shoulder, her husband; his face as he heard what she had to say about him when she though he was out of ear shot. The pain he felt was apparent on his face and we all felt shamed to have been party to this public flogging of what I thought was a good man. I realized that then and there I never, ever wanted to be the person to put that look onto my husbands face.

I love my husband, he puts up with so much from me. I worry him, I delight him, and I hope that at the end of the day he also knows without a doubt that I love him. We have spent 13 years together and it seems so not long enough for me to completely know him. I support him, I desire success for him and I hope that he is proud of what we have done together as a couple and as a family.

So in the end of all this I am reminding myself that what I choose to let come out of my mouth about those that I love affects my happiness too. I need to choose those words wisely no matter where I am........

Women's Celebration Walk-a-thon

As if I haven't been to Idaho enough. This weekend was the Women's Celebration walk-a-thon and thus another reason to head north. We had to go get registered and took the kids to the expo part of the celebration.

Boise City Police Department had a great display that included letting the kids sit on their cool motorcycle and pretend-ride with the lights flashing.

Sweet-bot wanted to really go out for a ride.
My Drama Queen giving it a go......
Then it was outside to play in the fountain. Of course my water boy got soaked through, but it was a great day for it, not too hot and a sprinkling of fall leaves.
See, he just cannot stay away from the water.

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Here we are before the walk.
It had rained all night and we were hopeful that it would stop for the walk. Ha ha hee. It rained and rained and rained. I think they got a total of 0.36" of water that day.

So we walked very quickly with the swarms of other women not deterred by a pesky rain storm and did our 5K walk. It was great fun and something I hope we do again next year.

i

I Am....secretly insecure. I know that I come off as really sure of myself but it is very hard for me to strike up a conversation with a complete stranger.

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I WANT...financial security - finally. I do not want to worry about how we are going to do this and how we are going to pay for that. I want to use money to do good for others, when I hear of a need I can fill it with something other than service.

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I HAVE...a full heart. I know that I am loved and that there are many that depend on me, that rely on me and that like me.

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I WISH...that my hair was not freaky, but it is also humbling and helps me not take myself too seriously.

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I COULD...be purging the basement of all those toys and things that end up in that endless abyss but I am blogging and I am happy.

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I HATE....politics. It brings out the ugly in people and as Caro said it is the lesser of two evils on who to vote for.

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I FEAR...so many things. That I will not raise my kids to be good people, that I will not do all that I can to make the world a better place, that I will let someone down.

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I HEAR...that according to Redbook: 820 of 1,000 women recently surveyed said that uncomfortable underwear can ruin a good day.

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I SEARCH....for clarity.

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I DON'T THINK....I will ever get it but the journey is half the fun.

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I REGRET...that I did not finish my Nursing Degree when I had a full-ride scholarship, but I was young and dumb and now I get to pay for that regret.

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I LOVE....watching my children sleep. I get to love them and hug them and see that they are safe tucked in bed.

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I ACHE FOR...my man. I see how hard he works and how he puts on a brave face while taking such good care of us, never wanting to worry me with his stress.

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I ALWAYS CRY..when I watch our wedding video, it was the best moment in my life.

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I AM NOT...a fan of body piercings, tongue especially - it makes me start to gag.

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I DANCE....when ever I can, in the kitchen, on the trampoline, in the pool mostly to the embarrassment of my kids.

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I SING...as loud as I can. I am trying to teach myself to sing the Alto part. In church it is funny to see the man leaning away from me as I try and I mean try to hit those notes.

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I NEVER...swear out loud.

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I RARELY..turn down dessert.

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I CRY WHEN...I know not what to do to make life not so hard for my kids.

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I WATCH...chick flicks as I fold the laundry. I am sentimental.

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I AM NOT ALWAYS..happy to wake up in the morning.

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I HATE THAT....I am not the first to jump on a service project or want to bring in a meal.

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I AM CONFUSED ABOUT....sprinkling systems and why ours does not work.

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I NEED...a long vacation with the man and I mean a long one (hint hint mom and dad).

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I SHOULD...be cleaning the basement.

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However I am going to go get another "Burner aka Diet Pepsi" and read my book till the kids come home from school and not worry so much about what "i" should be doing.

Thank you Caroline for letting me borrow the idea.

Brain Drain

Okay all those of you that have not been in a classroom for a while.

It is riddle test time.

So go grab your pencil, a blank sheet of paper, and your favorite beverage. No need to write your name on the top, we are not turning these in and remember no cheating......

Are we ready?

Okay,

begin!

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1. A murderer is condemned to death. He has to choose between three rooms. The first is full of raging fires, the second is full of assassins with loaded guns, and the third is full of lions that haven't eaten in 3 years. Which room is safest for him?
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2. A woman shoots her husband. Then she holds him under water for over 5 minutes. Finally, she hangs him. But 5 minutes later they both go out together and enjoy a wonderful dinner together. How can this be?
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3. What is black when you buy it, red when you use it, and gray when you throw it away ?

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4. Can you name three consecutive days without using the words Wednesday, Friday, or Sunday?
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5. This is an unusual paragraph. I'm curious as to just how quickly you can find out what is so unusual about it. It looks so ordinary and plain that you would think nothing was wrong with it. In fact, nothing is wrong with it! It is highly unusual though. Study it and think about it, but you still may not find anything odd. But if you work at it a bit, you might find out. Try to do so without any coaching!
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THE ANSWERS:

1. The third room. Lions that haven't eaten in three years are dead.That one was easy, right?
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2. The woman was a photographer. She shot a picture of her husband, developed it, and hung it up to dry (shot; held under water; and hung).
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3. Charcoal, as it is used in barbecuing.
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4. Sure you can name three consecutive days, yesterday, today, and tomorrow!
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5. The letter e, which is the most common letter used in the English language, does not appear even once in the paragraph.

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So how did you do?

Try-It-Tuesday

I have been a slacker the last few weeks but I am dedicated to redeeming myself with this one.

Check out the originator of this great recipe exchange here for more great recipes in the comment section.

So without further ado here is my Try-It-Tuesday recipe.

Parmesan Chicken

The fixings:

Defrost enough chicken for your family.

I used chicken tenders about 2 per person for my family of four. Salt and pepper chicken.

In a pan add enough milk for dipping the chicken. In another pan mix equal part of Parmesan cheese and Italian Bread crumbs.

Then just assembly line dip the chicken.

In an electric fryer melt 1/2 cube butter.

Add the chicken and cook till nicely browned on both sides.

Serve with your favorite side dishes and watch the chicken fly off the plate. This is a family favorite and one that I take to neighbors that even the pickiest eater will enjoy.

My Secret Terror!

Look at her, she is not scary, she is not even a she, but I have a secret - I despise her!!!

Why you might ask?

Let me tell you my story.

It all begins with the first day of school. What antics are my children going to pull this year? What stories are they going to pass off as truth that I will have to come in and clear up? What questions and frustration am I going to hear on the other end from their teacher? I physically cringe each time the phone rings when the kids are at school, I know that I should not have this fear, but I do. What is their problem? Why did I get so blessed to have such creative and imaginative children? The questions are endless. And yet why am I so worried, they are kids for crying out loud and they do things like that, right?

Oh no, not my kids.

Lets have an example of what I am talking about:

1) Drama Queen was in 2nd grade and as was the usual routine on Monday mornings fun events from the weekend were told during sharing time. We had been on our last camping trip over the weekend and it was really cold at night, early fall was settling in. It was a fun family trip. Fast forward to Monday and it was my day to volunteer at the school and when I came in the teacher grabbed me and we headed out into the hall where she hug-clung to me. She was babbling something about how could I be here with all that I was dealing with, how sorry she was for my loss - WHAT???!?!?!? When she finally took one look at my puzzled face she told me what my dear sweet daughter had told the class during sharing time. Drama Queen told the kids that our family had gone camping on the weekend and her "older" brother had caught pneumonia and died. This whole story was accompanied with tears and was, as her teacher stated, very believable. I just shook my head - I knew it! When we brought sweet-boy home she wanted to take him back to Utah where he came from - we lived in Idaho at the time. I knew that she secretly harbored desires for his demise but this, come on! So every year I tell her teachers that she is the oldest of 2 and she might want her brother dead but he is not going anywhere!!

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2) Sweet-boy had the most neurotic Kindergarten teacher that I have ever seen. Because he is a BOY he did not fit into the complacent mold that she wanted and almost everyday she called to tell me something that my son did not do. He did not line up to come in for recess. He did not finish his work. He asked to get a drink far to many times during class time. It went on and on till I was sick to death of hearing how much she did not care for my son. I also had to deal with the sad little face of a boy that knew that his teacher did not love him. Kids feel that - who did she think she was fooling!!!!

So why do I bring this up?

Let me tell you - Today 7:30 am the phone rings. Now who would be calling this early on a Friday morning and when I see the number I can hardly wait to answer this one. It is Drama Queens' teacher to talk about all the work that she has NOT turned in for the year. We are 3 weeks into the school year and she has not turned anything in!!! Every bloody year this is what we go through until the teacher/Drama Queen/us find something that works. But frankly I am tired of it, do the work - what is her job? Go to school and learn. It is so annoying and each year I am hopeful that she will finally have gotten it and be accountable for her work and I think that there is some accountability to what she is choosing to do, but come on.



The man told me to relax that it will work out and that it could be worse, we could have bigger problems like boys and drugs. I am grateful it is not that but it does not matter what anyone says, it IS a direct reflection of what people think of you as a parent.



"Oh, there goes so & so she is so wonderful on the PTA board but her kids, tsk, tsk. Did you hear that Drama Queen did this?"



" No, that is so awful. She is such a wonderful voulnteer! Too bad she has BAD kids!"

Okay, Okay I know that I am venting but I get so tired of doing this scene over and over again and then I feel bad for my kids teachers that have to figure it all out again. But I do thank them for their concern and compassion. I think that this is why I volunteer as much as I can within my kids classes. I want to know what they are doing, so we have things we can discuss in detail about their day. I also want to see how good they are doing and also to help those that are struggling more than mine are. I guess in the end it helps me see that this problem that seems so LARGE is really one that we can deal with and we do know how to handle. In the end it will all be alright and like I tell my kids - If you have to repeat (insert grade here) grade again we will still love you.

Boondock's

I am going to do a little advertising for my parent company. I work at one of their smaller Hospital's and I love it. I have the best job because I am a ghost. I come in on the weekend, I do not have to talk to anyone, I do not answer the phone, all I do is my job and keep things flowing so the M-F crowd does not have a big stack of work waiting for them. As a hospital we met some goal (see I do not know what we did but I get the reward) and they paid for our immediate family to spend the day here:

This is an Idaho Company and we loved it up there and we love it down here.
The kids are waiting and waiting and waiting to go on the small Go-karts. I did not have the heart to take a picture of "Sweet-boy" being told he was too small to go. He was so crushed! Side Story: What you cannot see in the picture is that they are holding hands. At moments I see such a tender and caring side to my kids. They really look out for each other and I wonder what they will be like in say 5 years. Well I did not have to wonder long. As we were waiting in line there was a darling teen sister waiting with her younger brother in the bigger kart line. When it was their turn he got bumped for height restriction and looked so upset. His sister took his by the arm and talked to the attendant about getting him on the other ride where his height was not an issue. So he was placed in the front of our line and she gave him a big hug, told him it was going to be alright and that she would be listening for him to cheer her on while she raced her friends. Then she got nose to nose with him and smiled till he did too. It was so sweet and so tender and every time that I saw them I thought how that could be my kids in a few short years. I hope so......
My future Indy 500 girl getting ready to go race.
Look how carefully she is driving. I thought that she would burn rubber but she was so careful and cautious and it made me not so scared that she will be out on the pavement in 6 short years.
"The Man" took "Sweet-boy" here to help with his sadness. It took about 1 minute for him to be smiling and having a ball again.
The kids coming down the big slide. If there had not been a height restriction I would have been with them. It was a fun place to play.
"Drama Queen" and I decided to go on the double-seater Go-Karts, she wanted to drive but not this time. She needs to grow another 15 inches for that one.
"The Man" found us and took this picture like 5 times. We had to slow way down so he could take it on his phone. After the first lap I knew that we were not going to win. Believe me there was some real racing going on that we were not a part of.
One last picture and then mom had to head out to work. Everyone had such a good day and it was my favorite price - Free Fun!!!

I am truly an original

Do you ever wonder if there is another "you" running around out there?

How many times have you gone somewhere and had someone come up to you and act like you were long lost buddies?

It happens to me alot and no matter where I go I am convinced that my "twin" is out there causing all sorts of mayhem. I am the good twin and she is the evil one that does all that scandalous stuff.

So just to prove that there is more than one of me out there, I checked and the results are in,..............................................

there really is only one me out there.

HowManyOfMe.com

There is 1 person with my name in the U.S.A. How many have your name?

Now I just need to go find myself and tell me the good news.

Whew, that was a worry!!

Random Rambling

Do you really think that this is too full for the garbage man to dump? I mean come on, it still rolls and is not like some that we have had that were half full of broken concrete and the truck had to really work to pull that bin up and over. But this, this is nothing compared to the many and I mean many that we have filled in 13 years of remodels. But for some reason today the trash man was grumpy. Maybe he did not have a nice long weekend like the rest of us. Maybe he was behind and really wanted to get home for some random show. But today we got a love note from the trash man.
It appears that it was too high to be dumped so there it sits for next week. That is alright, I know that the men in the house will really enjoy sawing that big pile down and re-filling the can. I can hardly wait for the next love note from the garbage man.

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It is time to fess-up.

There was no real "Family Emergency" that required us to leave town Labor Day Weekend, rather it was a necessary and I mean necessary trip to Boise that was needed. We spent the weekend visiting our dear friends and playing. It was so great to see them again and hang out like old times. We enjoyed sometime at their neat neighborhood pool.

Yes, I have decided that I am secure enough in my body image that I can post a picture of me in my bathing suit on a blog.
BFF, we should have been sister's but are better because we really do like each other, we don't have blood to mess things up. That is the best.
(Notice the crazy hair, on me not her, that is another story for another day but it is posted below for your random reading)

Beauty School Mess up

I have not had time to take myself for a proper cut and color. When I find a good stylist they move to Vegas, the next one has a baby and quits. So I have been in hair limbo for the last 3 months. Needless to say that the grey was taking over and I have brown hair with grey highlights. Something that is not attractive. So out of desperation and the desire to not have to try yet another favorite of someone else I thought that I would check out the local beauty school. My rationale was that there had to be someone there that knew what they were doing - YEAH RIGHT!

I started at 10am and by 2:30 pm I am still not done. I was tired, I needed something to eat and I had had enough of these "Students" to last me a very long time. I raced out to my car thinking that it might not be as bad as it looked in the fake light, but it was! I had Platinum hair and black back hair. I was a skunk. The kids got home from school and Drama Queen in her oh-so-not-shy-about-telling-you-what-she-thinks voice says, "Mom, what did you do to your hair - you look like Cruella DeVil!" (I have been corrected, it was the man that started the Cruella thing - like that makes it any better.)

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I called them in a not so nice voice and said that this must be fixed. Problem: I was leaving town, the soonest I could go back in to get my hair fixed (ha ha) was Thursday. That meant that I had to look like a freak for an entire week.

Finally the day arrives, this is the before I got it fixed hair picture, it looks like straw and felt like it too. See the straw and the black back. (It is so hard to take pictures of yourself).

I go in and immediately find the instructor whom I had dealt with on the phone. She gives me to a very nice girl and I am hopeful. We talk and talk about what I want to look like. I even point at fellow students that have the "Natural" looking blonde high-lights that I was looking for. Thinking that we are all set, we begin. Color is placed on my hair, foils are layered and layered and I am starting to get excited that my freakish days will be over. Timer dings, instructor says to rinse, toweled dry, blower begins and the new color is revealed.........

Ta daaaaaa, the new me....?

Can anyone see a difference?

Me either, but there is.

I am now Strawberry blonde not Platinum.

So to thank all those wonderful students at the local beauty school for having so much fun making me look freaky and for helping me decide that I will be Cruella DeVil for Halloween, the following song is for you.