Friday Recipe - Spicy Chicken with Sweet Potato and Mango

This is a low calorie recipe and it is absolutely fabulous! I made this for dinner and at first Mr. Man wasn't sure about it (he still isn't 100% on board with the mango, but he will eat a bite or two of it), but he always goes for a 2nd plateful! I took left overs to a friend and she just raved and raved about it. I serve it warm at home, but she didn't know she was supposed to warm it up so she ate it cold. I tried it cold, I have to say it was pretty tasty cold too!

Spicy Chicken with Sweet Potato and Mango
INGREDIENTS:
2 cups cubed peeled sweet potatoes (I did 2 yams actually and I think I got a little more than 2 c of cubed yams)
2 Tbls olive oil
1 pound skinless, boneless chicken breast halves - cubed
1 clove garlic, minced
2-3 Tbls low sodium soy sauce
3/4 cup water
3 Tbls honey
3 Tbls hot sauce, or to taste
1 ripe mango, peeled and cubed
1/4 tsp crushed red pepper flakes
1 tsp cornstarch
1 Tbls warm water

Place the sweet potatoes into a saucepan and fill with enough water to cover. Simmer over medium-high heat until tender, about 15 minutes. Drain and set aside.

Meanwhile, heat oil in a skillet over medium-high heat. Stir in chicken, and cook until no longer pink in the center, about 5 minutes; remove chicken to a plate and set aside. Stir garlic into the skillet, and cook for a few minutes, until fragrant. Pour in the soy sauce, 3/4 cup of water, honey, and hot sauce. Bring to a simmer, then stir in the sweet potato, chicken, mango, and red pepper flakes. Cook and stir until hot. Dissolve the cornstarch in 1 tablespoon of water, and stir into the simmering mixture; stir until thickened. 


This can served alone, OR over steamed white or brown rice, OR quinoa or other pasta you prefer.

WOW

I've been gone a long time! Life has been busy, work has been busy and frankly I sit down to write and have nothing to write about!

This time of year seems like something is happening every day - we have graduations, birthdays, end of school year concerts and events. It is just non-stop!

Last weekend (Mother's Day to be exact) the family all did a 5k! The funds raised go to help homeless shelters! The boys ran with Mr. Man and Lady Bug and I walked it. We had so much fun. It is put on by the local baseball team so you start at the stadium and walk through downtown and end up back at the stadium! It is so much fun!

Since it was Mother's Day after the 5k we went to see a movie, then home to grill steaks for an early dinner/late lunch. Then I took a short nap and then we went to church. After church we had ice cream at Dairy Queen! Perfect Mother's Day!! I had a such a great day and was showered with cards and a new camera! (Lefty told his dad he wanted to buy me popcorn at the movie because he knows how much I like movie popcorn - isn't that sweet?)

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This coming Saturday the boys are running in a race and on Sunday Mr. Man is running a half marathon! Lady Bug and I will not be participating at all in either of these races but will be on the sidelines of both cheering everyone on!

Cat Pool

So Mr. Man took the kids out of town, just for an overnight trip, over the spring break to visit the town he grew up in. The kids had such a good time!

When they got home each kid was telling me the highlights of their trip and they all really had a great time. One thing I found funny though was Lady Bug telling me how the hotel they stayed in had a pool but she couldn't go in the big pool because it was too deep for her. So she says "I just stayed in the cat pool." I could NOT figure out what she meant by the cat pool.... Mr. Man clarified ... she was in the kiddy pool - which Lady Bug had translated to KITTY pool and then that became the Cat Pool! Too funny!

I've probably mentioned this before

As a mom that works full time outside of the house, sometimes chatting with my friends and family ( or reading their blogs) who stay home with their kids all day I feel guilty. I feel like my kids are missing out somehow. I feel like "other" kids have it so much better and my kids don't get their mom as much as other kids, I am not home schooling the kids and not home all day baking fresh bread for lunch and crafting all day.

When my boss cut my hours, at first I went in to a panic. How will we be able to afford a loss in my income? we are barely squeaking by each month as it is. On and on those types of thoughts went through my head. I have to admit though that the loss of hours has been so wonderful for our family, that now as my boss talks about adding back in some hours I get nervous. I don't want more hours (more money would be nice, of course!). I am enjoying the next best thing to being a stay-at-home-mommy - every single day of the week I drop my kids off at school and then three days each week I am off work in time to pick them up from school. On the days I pick them up from school, we go home and have homemade snacks, work on homework together, play games, and cook dinner together (sometimes). I love it. I get to work - which I really do enjoy AND get to be home with my kids when school is done.

Do I sometimes wish I could afford to stay home every day - sure do, but I will take what I can get for now!

A little bit of this and that

We have had such nice weather over the last month or so, this week has brought some high winds but the temperature is still very nice. I have been walking a lot and getting some good exercise! Woo hoo! Love spring weather!
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Had been using an online program to store all my recipes but wasn't as happy with it as I wanted (it was free so you know what they say "you get what you pay for"!) so I decided to create a recipe folder on my home computer and store it on a flash drive. I finally got all my recipes put in only to have my neighbor give me a stack of cooking magazines - I will, no doubt, find more exciting recipes to try out!
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The kids have been invited to so many birthday parties lately I feel like we are constantly shopping for and wrapping up presents and driving all over to the different parties! I'm getting worn out!
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Spirit has been practicing a specific song on his guitar to play for the talent show, he is getting pretty good at it, but I am getting pretty sick of hearing that song over and over and over and over.....
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So when I volunteered to be the secretary for the PTO at school for next year, who knew they actually meant I needed to start now?!! It's ok, I have been having fun with it!
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Not related to the PTO secretary position, I volunteered to prepare a flyer for the school to advertise for a supply kit they are selling. No one told me until the day it was due, that it was MY responsibility to find someone to translate it to Spanish. So I asked the principal for some suggestions and every one was "too busy" to help me. So then the school secretary suggested Google Translator. I did that and then got nervous it wasn't accurate. When I took the Spanish and put it in the Google Translator and told it to give me the English on it... ya, it did NOT translate accurately! So I ended bribing the Spanish speaking school secretary to look at it. Only cost me a Starbucks - not bad. I am SO glad she looked at it because there were several things she changed! Well worth a Starbucks to me! Funny thing is, the person responsible for copying it emailed me asking how I got Martha to translate that for me so quickly because she "never does anything that fast for me!"
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Freaking out about what to do with the kids for summer daycare. I can't afford full time daycare for three kids and although the kids say the summer is short when you are the parent paying for daycare it is a LONG time!! 11 weeks of daycare is a lot and is extremely costly! I am hoping and praying for a mom I can swap care with OR a nice inexpensive college student to help me out!
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Well, that's all for now folks! Have a good day! :-)

Really?

I may be callous but the show Bachelor or Bachelorette really disgusts me. I watched that show, I admit, the first few seasons. Then I started really looking at - analyzing it I guess you could say. I listen to the Bachelor or Bachelorette, whatever the case may be, carry on about these 12 (or more) girls/guys that "I am really falling in love with".... isn't true love with ONE person? How can you be "in love" with all those different ones at the same time? I realize there are varying shades of love, like I love my brother, but not in the same way I love my husband. But it appears that these people are describing the love you have for a spouse. That just doesn't seem right.

Then I get equally as annoyed by the ones who aren't chosen - "I had so many feelings for him/her and I just don't know why I wasn't picked?" This is a competition. Is this REALLY how you want to meet your spouse? You competed amongst a bunch of other girls/guys and just happened to be the last one standing after 6 weeks. SIX WEEKS people!!! Six weeks is not nearly long enough to really get to know someone. I knew of my now husband probably 6 weeks before he ever asked me out on an official date! I am sure there are exceptions to this rule, but those exceptions probably don't involve a large group of other potential mates you are fighting against!

Then there is the one who gets chosen, how many of them have gone on to say how hard it was to watch the taped shows and see how their bachelor/bachelorette treated the other potentials on the show and how hurt they were to watch them passionately kiss someone else. I am not sure what they expect?

I guess I am disgusted that the men and women go on this show and degrade themselves down to a level that is so wrong. I don't know any of them individually but surely they are better than that. Out of the last 13 or 14 seasons only 3 couples remain together - this should tell you something.

I feel bad that these people have such little self esteem that they would attempt a show  like this.

I am sure I will offend people with this post, but I was so bothered when I got online and saw all the talk about it I had to post this.

Young Eagles Flight Lessons

On Saturday the boys got to go to a small local airport for a flight lesson. They had the best time E.V.E.R. This was hosted by EAA (Experimental Aircraft Association - the experimental part does not make a mom feel at ease!) The group is called Young Eagles and they are encouraging young kids to get involved in aviation.

The flights were for one child at a time, there were probably 8-10 pilots and their little Cessnas there. They would take one kid up for a 30 minute flight and they let the kids ask questions and once up in the air the kids were actually allowed to take the controls and steer (or whatever it is called when you are flying!) After the flight the pilot signed a certificate of completion and also signed the child's Flight Log Book!



Lefty was a tad bit nervous when he found out that Spirit would not be with him. As we walked towards the plane, the pilot actually invited Mr. Man to sit in the back seat for the flight (not all planes had a back seat). So Mr. Man took a camera up and was able to get some aerial shots from up there.  At one point Lefty was climbing, climbing, climbing and the pilot said "So, do you know what it means to stall?" and Lefty said he didn't and the pilot says "Well, you are about to find out unless you bring us down a bit!"

Another story I heard was that they were heading straight for the mountains and the pilot calmly says "Do you see those big things in front of us? Well you might want to do something about that because they are much bigger than we are!"

I heard from Mr. Man that Lefty was not the smoothest pilot and was jerking them around quite a bit. The pilot looked back at Mr. Man and said "Are you ok back there?" and he said yes and the pilot said "good! Because if I was sitting back there I would be hurling!" We had a laugh about that after the flight!

All the pilots were amazing to work with and you could tell they were so excited to share their love of planes with all these eager kids that showed up bright and early on a chilly Saturday morning!




Lefty and Mr. Man getting buckled in the plane before take off



Mr. Man excited as could be to be taking a flight - he was more excited at this point than I think Lefty was!





Lefty and Mr. Man heading to the runway for take off



Lefty getting ready to fly!

Arial view from Lefty's plane



Lefty taking the controls!

Lefty and his pilot, Jerry after the flight



Another arial view

Spirit and his pilot went flying over some major landmarks in the area and really had a great time! Spirit was able to steer and turn the plane from side to side. He is anxious for when he can go again! Spirit didn't have a camera with him, nor did he have a parent with him and that is just the way he wanted it! He had a blast!

Now here are some pictures from Spirit's flight:

In the cockpit


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Mr. Man shaking Spirit's pilot's hand after the flight.



The pilot, Bob, signing Spirit's Flight Log Book

This was certainly a day we will never forget!

We did it...

We did it... we agreed to another year commitment to the PTCO (Parent Teacher Community Organization) at the kids' school!

Mr. Man has served has co-president for the last 2 years and will continue in that capacity next school year. I have not had a title in the years past, just been involved at meetings and organizing events, etc., but next school year I will be secretary for the PTCO! I am actually quite excited about this!!

Our current principal has been a thorn in the PTCO's side for quite some time. She is friendly and all that, but every idea someone would have - if it was not something she wanted to do or was something that had never been tried then she would squash the idea immediately. It has actually been frustrating and parents didn't want to get involved anymore. There were several PTCO meetings that we would have a vote of parents regarding certain events (like how much to charge at the door or should we do a can drive, etc.) and parents would vote and yet the principal would do it the way she wanted to anyway REGARDLESS of how the parents voted. This really irritated me and other parents and lots of parents just stopped coming to vote.

BUT our principal is going to a different school next year, the district moved her. I had been praying that something would change for next year (lots of reasons, not just problems with PTCO) and my prayers were answered! We do not yet know who the new principal will be but I am confident it will be a good change for the school.

I am confident the PTCO will be able to accomplish so much more next school year! It is exciting!

About my "other" full time job

I have a full time job at home as a mommy and a wife, but I do have this OTHER full time job outside our home as a paralegal. I work for one attorney, but there are two subtenants in this office that are also attorneys. I answer phones for the attorney I work for plus the two subtenants and greet all clients for all attorneys. In addition to that I do paralegal work for the one attorney.

I work 29 hours per week at the office and the remainder of my days at home being the mommy/wife. I am blessed to be able to drop my kids off at school every morning (no need for them to go to before school daycare) and 3 days a week I leave the office in time to pick them up from school (no need for after school daycare, except for the 2 days a week).

During my 29 hours at the office I prepare correspondence, research law, prepare pleadings and motions for delivery to court, arrange for and sometimes meet with clients regarding their case, organize and maintain case files, water plants, pick up the conference room after client meetings, and a myriad of other tasks. Some days, as I am sitting at my desk working away the 3 attorneys in the office will all close their doors to take a nap - sometimes I have to wonder if I work in a law office or a daycare. Cracks me up though because my office job has a "nap hour" and home job does too or used to anyway- sadly, not so much anymore since my kids are all in school and claim to be much too old for naps, but momma isn't too old for naps!

I enjoy working outside the home most days. It gives me a little adult interaction while the kids are at school and then I get to go home and be with the kids in the afternoons and evenings. Currently I feel like I get the best of both worlds and am blessed to be able to do so!

Why is it so hard?

When you bring home that newborn baby does anyone ever realize how mush harder it will be when they start school? I mean really?

We had parent teacher conferences this week and Lady Bug's was first.... nothing of real concern other than her chatting too much (but even that is improving).

Next we had Lefty's... nothing of real concern here either. He is doing really well and was very serious the first part of the school year but the teacher says she has recently started seeing him "let loose" a little and not be so serious.

Then it was off to Spirit's conference... well, not sure where to start. We have noticed over the last few months that his confidence is going in the toilet which is reflective of his grades now. His grades have taken a serious dip since September and aren't showing any signs of improving at this point. How can a kid who is in the 4th grade but reads at a 9th grade level have self-confidence issues? How can a kid who is in an advanced math class have self confidence issues? Is it because he is too hard on himself? possibly. I just don't know where to go. The teachers tell me that he isn't giving it effort, if he doesn't "get it" immediately then he just shuts down. I complained to the teachers, being careful not to give Spirit any excuses, that he is only in 4th grade and having him leave the classroom throughout the day for different classes doesn't appear to be working. What they do is group each of the 4th graders, regardless of your homeroom class, into a group based on the skill level. So Spirit is in the group of 4th graders that are in advanced math, and also an advanced reading group, then of course he leaves homeroom for science, music, p.e., and art as well. BUT, the catchy thing here is that he will leave homeroom for the advanced math but return to his homeroom for the last 15 minutes and is expected to the homeroom math as well. Same goes for Reading/Literacy. Which means, he gets an assignment from the group AND homeroom. Not so much for literacy assignments, but I notice with the math that he misses the instruction time on it and has to figure it out on his own (which most times he can, others he struggles). The teachers recognize this an issue, not just for Spirit but other kids as well. BUT, is that the reason his self confidence and the lack of motivation in school and the dips in grades? He got a D in science. He loves science! I am at a loss and want to cry for him. On the way out of the school he looked at his dad with tears in his eyes and said "I will do better from now on. I promise."

Parenting is so hard! I wouldn't trade it for the world, but man oh man is it painfully hard at times!

Here we go...

Have one little boy at home sick today. He has been fighting this for a couple of days and it hasn't really produced into anything major, but he asked if he could stay home today so Mr. Man took the day off to stay with him. My boss has had a terrible crud, we have some friends that both kids had strep, a client of mine cancelled an appointment last week due to crud.... I hope this stays with one person and that we don't all get it!

I had a productive weekend, laundry, cleaning, grocery shopping, made homemade cinnamon rolls, made yummy enchiladas, visited with friends, visited with my mom and one of my sister's... it was good weekend!

Tomorrow is Mr. Man's birthday but he has a busy evening so the kids are going to give him his presents in the morning (over cinnamon rolls).

This week is a busy one...both at home and at the office, but it should all be ok as long as the rest of us stay healthy!

Friday Recipe - Apple Crisp Pancake with Apple Cinnamon Syrup

I got this recipe from a Bed & Breakfast in Mt. Jackson, Virginia. I have a dream of one day owning my own B&B so I love cooking recipes from B&B's and making my family pretend we are in a B&B! This one was a big hit, Lady Bug preferred it without the syrup (but this girl doesn't like maple syrup on anything either, and she also doesn't like powdered sugar so I am not sure you can trust her on this one!)

Apple Crisp Pancake
PANCAKE INGREDIENTS:
1 egg, beaten
3/4 c milk
3/4 c chunky applesauce (when I make it I don't use chunky because I use our homemade applesauce which is not chunky and it tastes really good enough though it isn't chunky)
1 tsp vanilla
2 c pancake mix

TOPPING INGREDIENTS:
1/2 c quick cooking oats
1/4 tsp cinnamon
1/4 c brown sugar
1/2 c pancake mix
3 Tbls butter

Spray a jelly roll pan with cooking spray. In a large bowl, combine the egg, milk, applesauce, vanilla and pancake mix. The mixture will be a little thick, not too thick but certainly not thin. Spread the mixture in the prepared pan.

In a medium bowl, combine the oats, brown sugar, pancake mix. Cut in butter for crumble topping. Sprinkle topping over the pancake batter. Bake at 375 for 14-16 minutes. Cut into squares and serve with Apple Cinnamon Syrup.

Apple Cinnamon Syrup
INGREDIENTS:
1 c sugar
2 Tbls cornstarch
2 tsp ground cinnamon
2 c apple cider or natural apple juice
2 Tbls lemon juice
1/4 c butter

In a saucepan combine sugar, cornstarch, cinnamon, cider and lemon juice. Bring the mixture to a boil and let boil 1 minute. Remove the pan from the heat and add in the butter. Stir until melted. (makes about 3 1/4 cups of syrup)

This makes a large pan and therefore is more than even my family could eat in one sitting. This pancake warms up well. I would like to try to freeze it too and see how it does, just haven't gotten that far with it yet.

A love story

11 years and 16 days ago I married my best friend. Have you ever heard that saying "Love will find you when you least expect it"? Well, this certainly applies to my husband and I. 13 years ago I was working at a law firm, I had been on many, many disastrous dates (some blind dates, some with men I had met before), I had been on some good dates (nothing earth shattering however) and I had finally come to a point where I had decided NOT to date for awhile. I was taking time for me - to discover who I really was and what I wanted to do with myself.

Long story short, I ended up going to a BBQ with a co-worker at her church. I was to pick her up at her house and we would ride together. I got to her house and she was having a guy friend of hers work on her deck. He was taking his time, and somewhat annoying me by causing me to be late to the BBQ. As I sat and watched him work on her deck, I was amazed at his abilities. He really knew what he was doing and did awesome work.

So, anyway. As we get ready to leave she is telling me that this is the preacher's son. So I asked if he would be going to the BBQ and he said no, that he had other things going on. I was somewhat surprised that the preacher's son wouldn't be attending the preacher's BBQ, but it wasn't really my business.

About 20 minutes later, my friend and I pull up to the BBQ and we see the preacher's son's truck parked there. I have to admit my heart skipped a beat and I had butterflies in my stomach knowing he was at this BBQ. As we walked around here he came again and started talking to me. We had good conversation (although, being the grudge-holder I am I was still a tad irritated that he made me late to this BBQ....) although we didn't talk long or talk much I really felt a connection to him.

About a week or two later the preacher's wife of this church invited me and my co-worker over for dinner. We went and as we are sitting down to eat, why who in the world shows up? Yes, the preacher's son (now known as Mr. Man). Looking back, I know that my now mother-in-law was setting us up. Mr. Man has also admitted to me that he told his mom at the BBQ he knew he would one day marry me. WOW!

After that dinner at his mom's house, he started calling on me. At first, it was just to chat. Then pretty soon we were going to dinner together and taking walks, etc. So here I was, at a point in my life where I didn't want a man, I didn't want to date, and basically I just didn't want the headache at all when this man is dropped into my life and we really connect as if we had known each other forever.

I should also mention here that our paths had crossed over the years, although we never knew it until way later into our dating years. He lived in Oregon when I lived in Oregon - in fact, I drove past his house every day to and from work but never saw him. That would have been about 5 years before I actually met him when we were both living in Colorado. We probably shopped at the same grocery store, got gas at the same station and never knew our future mate was there too! He also had a friend that lived just a few blocks from one of my apartments and we both hung out at the same pizza place near my apartment (obviously, we don't know if we were ever there on the same days though!) There was also a walking/running path on the other side of town from where we met that we discovered we both frequented before meeting each other so chances are that we were on that path at one time or another at the same time! God works in mysterious ways!

I have decided today is as good as any to take a 30 day challenge to encourage my husband. Day 1 is not say anything negative to or about my husband and instead make sure he knows I love him.

Happy Valentine's Day

I had big plans for the morning - to get up early and make heart shaped pancakes for breakfast. I woke up to a lovely pounding headache! So I laid in bed for a little bit longer than I should have. Finally got up and took some pills. Laid back down for a few minutes in hopes the pills would kick in quickly (sadly it did not!) I got up and got myself ready for work and then headed downstairs to set up the breakfast table.

Each kid got a card from me and Mr. Man. Plus, my mom had sent them each a little activity book and stickers so I had all that on the table waiting for them! They were so cute when they each got up - one by one - going into the kitchen and finding their surprises. No heart-shaped pancakes, but they didn't seem to mind!

I also packed a chocolate covered heart-shaped marshmallow in their lunch as a surprise!

The kids are, of course, having parties at school today. Spirit's class decided to do a morning party and asked the families to contribute a breakfast item so we sent in bagels. Lefty's class is having a party right before the end of school and the teacher purchased everything and asked each kid to contribute $1. Lady Bug's class is having a party after lunch with the cookies and cupcakes, etc. We sent in cookies for that (you know those really yummy thick sugar cookies with frosting! mmm mmm mmm)

For dinner we are doing all red foods (well not ALL red...) We are having parmesan chicken with a side of pasta and marinara sauce, a salad topped with tomatoes, Cran-Raspberry juice to drink and a pink frosted cookie!

Lost Tooth!

Lady Bug lost her very first tooth last night! It has been wiggly since a week or so before her birthday, yesterday at lunch she told me she bit into an apple and it got more wiggly. As I looked at it I noticed it was barely holding on by a thread and I told her it would probably fall out last night. She went to play with her brothers and pretty soon she came running to me yelling "HEY! MY TOOTH FELL OUT! MY TOOTH FELL OUT!"

{She woke up this morning to some money under her pillow and no tooth. She told her brothers that she didn't used to believe in the Tooth Fairy but now she does since she got money. Of course her brothers set her straight that there is no tooth fairy.... Brothers are good for that sort of thing! :-) }

Friday Recipe - Fried Cube Steak and Smashed Potatoes

This recipe is not mine, but I highly recommend this one! These recipes come from Pioneer Woman (LOVE her!) They are so yummy (everything Pioneer Woman cooks is amazingly yummy!)


Click HERE to go directly to the website and I highly recommend you make this soon along with THESE

Snowy days

We have been having several snow storms lately along with below freezing temps. This past Saturday we had a pretty heavy storm that dumped enough snow for the kids and Mr. Man to build a snowman. I think he turned out pretty cute! Our neighbors got in on the action and they ended up having a contest with each other. It was a lot of fun! We had another neighbor come out and judge - she wouldn't declare one winner, she said they were both SO cute!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY LADY BUG

My sweet littlest of littles in my house turns 6 today! She is so excited! When she came down the stairs this morning she said "Good moooooorrrrnnnninngg Momma!" with the biggest grin on her face!

Her brothers were so sweet and immediately wished her a happy birthday (without having to be told to do so!) Mr. Man took the day off from work and pulled her out of school to spend the day with her. They are going to a play at the children's theater and are also gonna come have lunch with me! He usually takes her shopping and lets her pick out a present for herself too!

The boys haven't picked out a gift for her yet, but they have some ideas so I will take them to get something later.

This coming Saturday one of her friends is going to come over and we are going to go ice skating and have a little tea party at our house. This should be fun for her too (she doesn't know about it yet!) I couldn't do it for her this past weekend because Mr. Man was working and I need someone to keep the boys out of our hair so we can have some girly fun without hearing how silly we are!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY SWEET GIRL!

Hold tight to precious moments

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So after my leave of absence I have been dealing with many things and wondering what to post about here and what not to post. So this post may be one of rambling and going in circles....hang on for the ride - here we go!!!

Last week Mr. Man's uncle passed away in Indiana. It wasn't completely a shock, but not completely expected either. Let me back up and give some background info...

His uncle had not been to our part of the country in a very long time (if ever) and so last summer made a trip out here. He wasn't able to stay with us, but stayed with my sister in law. I think the trip was really good for Uncle B. He saw mountains, elk, went to baseball games, played with kids and spent time with family -- I truly think he enjoyed himself.

The evening we spent with him he smiled or laughed nearly the whole time. It was so good to see him. Mr. Man and I hadn't seen him in about 11 years when we had gone to Indiana to visit and hung out with Uncle B. Uncle B showed us cars and fixed us food and had a good time with us! We wished we had been able to spend more time with him while he was here visiting, but that didn't work out. We so very thankful for the time we did get to be with him.

After he returned home last summer he had some medical issues, which lead to surgery in early January, which went well at first and then he spiraled down and ended up in ICU. His health got worse in ICU and last week we got a call that the doctors were giving him 24 hours to live. That evening he passed away.

We got word that the funeral would be Saturday (January 29) and Mr. Man and I went back and forth on what to do. We all go, just he and I go, just him... back and forth we went. His work schedule was crazy (still is) and since he is a funeral director it is hard for him to "just take off work" like some other jobs might allow. So driving to Indiana was out of the question due to time. Flying in to Indiana would work BUT too pricey for all of us to go. Flying could work for just Mr. Man and I to go BUT then we had to find childcare for the kids, which wasn't terribly hard except that the person wouldn't be able to get them until about 6:00 pm Friday evening which meant we would have to fly out after that. So it seemed complicated from that angle. Mr. Man really wrangled with it back and forth.

The 29th is also our wedding anniversary and I think that was hard on him to know what to do. I told him I would be fine if he wanted to just fly out for the funeral, and the kids and I could stay back. He said that that didn't feel right, to leave me on our anniversary. I said that things happen and I would be ok. He just kept saying he didn't think he should do it. He finally decided, fairly last minute, not to go to the funeral. I hope he didn't regret that decision. All of his sisters were able to be there and there were cousins he hadn't seen in a long time that were there, he ended up feeling left out of the "family reunion". But I think he appreciates the time he was able to spend with his uncle while he was here last summer that much more. 

We all need to remember to be thankful for any and all time that we are able to spend with friends and family because we never know when it will be the last time we will get to see them.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ 

Back in the saddle again

Soooo since I hadn't been posting here and to be honest with you I was having quite the time trying to figure out what to write about anymore, I made the blog "private" figuring no one would notice.

Boy was I wrong about that! I started getting flooded with complaints and people asking me to reconsider that decision.... including hounding from my husband to keep this blog going. I honestly figured I had been so boring for so long that I had lost all my readers anyway.

Sure made me feel loved to know I was wrong about that!

So, here I am back at it and will see what kinds of things I might be able to talk about that won't be too boring!

Back in the saddle again!

Just a little bit of this and a dash of that

From about November to the early March our house tends to be busy busy! Of course you have Thanksgiving planning and entertaining, then comes all the hustle and bustle and festivities associated with Christmas, then 2 weeks later brings Spirit's birthday and then another 2 weeks and Mr. Man and I have our wedding anniversary, then another 2 weeks brings Lady Bug's birthday. We get a slight breather, 3 weeks after Lady Bug's birthday is Mr. Man's birthday. After that we can finally take it easy until the end of April.

I say all that to say, I have been so busy that I haven't even had time to post on here. I have all these ideas and by the time I get a moment to relax, I can't remember what those ideas were... *sigh*

Hopefully I can get some posts up soon!

Friday Recipe - Breaded Pork Tenderloin Sandwiches

My in-laws grew up in Indiana and then moved to a farm town in Nebraska when my husband was growing up, so they make some mid-west meals that I never had when I was growing up in the heart of the city. This is one of them, and it is SO yummy. My kids often ask for it, but the problem is when I make them they do not come out as good as when Mr. Man cooks them. So he usually gets elected to cook these for us when we get a craving for them!

Breaded Pork Tenderloin Sandwiches
INGREDIENTS:
6-8 pork cutlets (try to get thinner ones, but if you get thicker ones you will need to place a cutlet between waxed paper and flatten it out until it is thin enough for the sandwich)
3 eggs, beaten
4 Tbls of milk
1/4 tsp garlic powder
1/4 tsp onion powder
1/4 tsp seasoning salt
salt and pepper to taste
2 cups crushed saltine cracker crumbs
1/2 cup vegetable oil
hamburger or kaiser buns
OPTIONAL TOPPINGS: mayonnaise, ketchup, mustard, dill pickle slices, lettuce, onion and tomato

Beat together eggs and milk, garlic powder, onion powder, seasoned salt, salt and pepper in a shallow bowl.

Place cracker crumbs in a separate shallow bowl.

In a large skillet, heat oil over medium high heat. While oil is heating, dip cutlets in egg mixture, then coat with the cracker crumb mixture. Place the coated cutlets into the hot oil and fry until golden brown on both sides. Lay on a paper towel to absorb the grease.

Grill or toast inside of buns. Put one cutlet on a bun; add your choice of lettuce, tomato, onion, mayonnaise, ketchup, mustard and pickle. My family prefers just a cutlet and some dill pickles on the bun. I, personally, add on the mayo, but you can top it however you like!

Birthday celebrations

Spirit turns 10 today! He is quite excited about the double digits - Me? not-so-much. I am quite saddened by this day. My baby is growing up too quickly. I have enjoyed watching him blossom into the handsome young man that he is. He is so smart. He is so sweet. He is so loving. He is so good to his brother and sister and definitely good to his mom and dad. He loves his video games, but as soon as we need him to help us (with things like shoveling snow, raking leaves, taking out the trash, etc.) he jumps up to help without complaining. I love this about him. In fact, there are so many times that he will be out shoveling or raking without me even having to ask. All I have to say after dinner is "Would someone help me clear the table?" and he is almost always the first pitching in.

He will be skiing with his dad today (yes, we took him out of school!) and then this weekend we will be having a special dinner out with several friends and family.

A few years ago Mr. Man and I talked and had decided not to do a big birthday celebration each year, but instead choose milestones (5, 10, 13, 16, 18) to have big parties and the other birthdays will be kept simple. All the kids have been begging to take an airplane trip somewhere so Mr. Man decided this is Spirit's year. In June, in honor of his 10th birthday, Spirit and Mr. Man are taking a trip by airplane somewhere and will just be gone a long weekend. This should be great fun for them!

Snowy day

It snowed most of the weekend and it was so beautiful ...


UNTIL.....


5:30 this morning when the phone rang. Both Mr. Man and I flew out of bed being awakened from our deep sleep in horror and when Mr. Man answered the phone it was a recorded message that the schools were on a one hour delay.

great. thanks.

Needless to say, I've been awake since 5:30 AM.

*sigh*

What is My One Word for 2011?

RESTRAINED

For those of you that know me well you will understand why I chose this word. For those of you who don't know me as well, trust me I NEED this word! :-)

My One Word

HAPPY NEW YEAR EVERYONE! Can you believe it? 2011! Wow. I felt like last year flew by so quickly and I am curious what 2011 has in store for me and my family!

Now, My One Word - I am SO late to this "game"... as usual. Apparently this has been going on since 2007. I just heard of it last year and didn't participate, but decided this year I am going to try it out. Ever heard of it? My One Word - a new kind of New Years Resolution?

Here is a little excerpt from the website:

Every New Year we hope this will finally be the year that things will change. We make promises about the new person we're going to become, pledging to get a grip on our finances, get in shape, become a better parent, spouse, even a nicer human being! But there’s one problem: our resolutions seldom work. The busy pace of life gets the better of us, and suddenly, the year is over with little to no personal growth having occurred in our lives.

“My One Word” is an experiment designed to move you beyond the past and look ahead. The challenge is simple: lose the long list of changes you want to make this year and instead pick ONE WORD. This process provides clarity by taking all of your big plans for life change and narrowing them down into a single thing. One word focuses on your character and creates a vision for your future.

I sat down today, following this guideline found on the One Word website that walks you through some simple steps on how to pick your one word for the year. I read through some testimonials and was impressed. I made my list and came up with my one word. I will focus on this word and make changes throughout the year. The website offers some guidance to help you stay focused on your word.

Maybe I will keep you updated on here as to how I am doing with my One Word!