January 16, 2009

Well, January 16, 2009 has come and gone. I woke up a year older with a huge zit on my chin and school was cancelled. This has to be some kind of cruel joke, maybe I'm dreaming. I'm 35 now, do I really need more blemishes? I think not. Luckily the kids were good and we managed to schedule a playdate/MOPS meeting that kept the children busy for close to 4 hours. After the playdate we met Brent at the builder's office. We're trying to decide if we want to build again. I know we have got to be the craziest people alive. We have moved so much in the past 5 years you'd think moving again would be the furthest thing from our minds. But it's not. It's right there in the front of my mind every single day. Anyway, we spent 2 hours with the builders talking cabinets and flooring and spindles! I could feel the adrenaline rush as we walked into his office. We were surrounded by window samples, brick samples, doors and roof samples...I was very excited. All we have to do now is make an appointment to meet with the cabinet people and we'll know how much this house will set us back. Then we make the tough decision...to build or not to build. Lots to look forward to in the coming year.

I had planned on making the family sit through another round of hibachi at Nakashima's but decided at the last minute a steakhouse might be the better choice. Everyone was starving and I was afraid noodles, rice and shrimp just wasn't going to cut it. It turned out to be a good choice because my steak was rockin'! The kids told the waitress it was my birthday and she surprised me with a gigantic scoop of ice cream with whipped cream and hot fudge. The great birthday cake dibacle had not escaped our grasp this year (meaning the red velvet cake was not done yet) so the ice cream was the perfect ending. And I got to finish celebrating my birthday the next day once the cake was finished. I must say, this was the best cake to date! I've had green red velvet cake, I've had terribly dry red velvet cake and this year I had PERFECT red velvet cake. Thank you honey!

So, I'm 35 now. I guess it's time to start acting like an adult. But I don't WANNA!!

Happy 2009

Wow, it's 2009. Time flies. I can clearly remember ringing in the year 2000 waiting for the Y2K explosion...that never came. My husband, at the time, and I had his family over to play cards and celebrate the new year together. We went downtown Davenport, IA to watch the huge fireworks display at midnight. It was very cool. It's a night I'll never forget. Thank goodness none of what everyone thought would happen actually happened. Now that we've reached 2009 that New Year's Eve of 1999 seems like it happened to me in an alternate life. My life is so far from where it was in 1999 I sometimes forget what life was like back then. And just like every year since then and before, I made the traditional New Year's resolutions. I'm sure the resolution consisted of two things, quit smoking and lose weight. 9 years later I'm still trying to lose weight but have fortunately kicked the smoking habit, for good. Once again I made some resolutions as 2009 began. #1 slow down. Life is wizzing by and I'm missing it because I'm too busy. I can only eliminate so many things on my schedule so #2 is to be more organized. I feel like I might have more time if my life was more organized. I have around 538 more resolutions, give or take, but I won't bore you with the details. Here's to a new year. Hopefully this year some of the money I lost in the stock market will come back and maybe some of the junk in my trunk will find it's way to another trunk.

So, to start the new year off right I have a recipe to share. I really love to cook. I do. I think I like it almost more than I like to scrapbook. I'm just better at the cut and paste. Anyway, this recipe is taken from Rachael Ray but I made a few changes. It's a great lunch or quick supper recipe. This was the first time I made it but I'm sure I'll make it again.

Taco Pockets
2T. EVOO
1 1/2lbs. ground sirloin
1 jalapeno pepper, seeded and chopped
2 cloves of garlic, finely chopped or grated
1t. chili powder
1t. ground cumin
a few dashes of hot sauce
2 scallions, white and green, chopped
salt and pepper
4 round tortillas
taco sauce
shredded cheddar
shredded lettuce
tomato
Place a large skillet over med-high heat. Coat the pan with EVOO.

In a large mixing bowl, combine the ground sirloin, jalapeno pepper, garlic, chili powder, ground cumin, onions, salt and pepper and hot sauce. Form the meat mixture into four patties. Cook the patties on the hot skillet until golden brown and cooked through, about 5 mins. on each side.

While the burger patties are cooking, turn a gas burner to high and blister the flour tortillas by passing them over the flame quickly. If you don't have a gas stove, place a dry skillet over high heat and lay the tortillas, one at a time, into the hot skillet, blistering them on both sides.

As the patties finish cooking, transfer them to the tortillas and top each with some taco sauce, shredded cheese, lettuce and tomatoes.




Fold the tortilla around the burger, enclosing it in a pocket. Cut each pocket open on a diagonal and serve. This makes the pocket. It's ingenius! Nothing drips and it turns a regular hamburger into something totally different!



I added a bit too much of the "dressing" and mine was a bit hard to eat. I also eliminated almost every ingredient because I was in a hurry and wanted to use what I had on hand. (This is another one of those 987 new year's resolutions I have going on.) What I had on hand was the sirloin and the Pampered Chef Chipotle Rub that just came in the mail!!! It was rockin' for sure! Even this guy liked it!!!!

I don't know what you think, but this face says, "I love it when you take my picture! Take more! More I say!!" Isn't that what you think this face says? No? Yeah, maybe not.

I need more time

24 hours is just not enough. I cannot possibly get done all I have to get done with only 24 hours. Life has gotten so hectic over the last couple of months. I feel like we have something going on every night of the week! My house is a wreck, my Christmas cards didn't make it in the mail, presents need to be wrapped, groceries need to be bought, dishes need to be done...it never ends. I started working on my New Year's Resolutions the other day. At the top of the list is to slow down and get more organized. In a perfect world I would never forget to do something I needed to do, I'd be on time to everything and I'd have enough time to get it all done. Ugh! I wish I could write more, but I don't have time!

I love me some Facebook

Do you Facebook? I don't even know if that's the correct terminology. I've never been too hip with the sayings...I'm guessing it's not hip to use the word hip anymore. Anyway, a few months ago I got an email saying one of my MOPS mom friends wanted to add me as a friend on Facebook. I have a Facebook account? I believe those were my exact words. After several failed attempts, I finally located my password buried deep in the part of my brain where I like to store stuff I'll probably never use again. And the rest, as they say, is history! I am a total addict. I check it several times a day every day. If you don't have an account run, don't walk...or type really, super fastly, whatever, over to Facebook.com and open an account. Then add me. I love having friends!

Lately I have been adding friends from grade school...we're talking waaayyy back when we all had to wear those tacky plaid dresses to Catholic school. It's been a lot of fun catching up with old friends and even some people that I wasn't so chummy with in school. Most of the girls I'm finding are married with kids and living a million miles away from our hometown. As I'm taking trips down memory lane I'm wondering if they have changed. Some of the girls were snotty or nerdy or very friendly or very, very smart. I'm wondering if they are the same way now? Then I got to thinking...am I the same way now? I don't know how I would define who I was then but I am fairly certain I am different today. I've had children, been married, dealt with death and moving and the good times that are high school and college. How could we not all be different? And how cool that we have this awesome medium to reconnect?!

I have to admit, I am enjoying seeing people who are now not as skinny as they once were, people who aren't as pretty as they once were and people who are much nicer than they used to be. When I was in grade school and just learning to use the computer we didn't know anything about the internet or Facebook. I am amazed at how far technology has come. I can't wait to see how far it is when my children are my age.

Grandma Erwin

Growing up my Maternal Grandmother and I were pretty good friends. Some of my earliest memories include my Grandma Erwin. As Christmas approaches I can't help but think of her. Every year she would take my brother and I out Christmas shopping. She allowed us to pick out whatever we wanted, within reason, and that was pretty much our Christmas presents. She took it all home, wrapped it, and put it under the tree. Some years we would go so early in the year I'd forget what I had chosen, which made Christmas morning even more fun. I clearly remember going to Benetton and begging her to buy me a shirt. All the kids had one! She was reluctant because they were a bit pricey but she agreed to buy a peach colored shirt with Benetton in different colors. After one wash it shrunk up so much my doll almost couldn't wear it. She marched right back to the store and got her money back. I had to go with and was never more embarrassed!

I spent many nights sleeping over at my Grandma Erwin's house. She lived, with my Grandpa, in a small house in Iowa. It was the house my mother grew up in and the house I would eventually call my own. Even today I will smell something that reminds me so clearly of that house. It had a particular smell that I just loved, and still do. We would open Christmas presents at home, my mom, dad, brother and I, and then we would go to Grandma Erwin's for breakfast. I can vividly remember the first Christmas morning when we realized she was sick. Christmas breakfast was cancelled and Grandma went to the hospital. She had shingles and then we later found out she had a brain tumor. Now that I'm an adult I long for those Christmas breakfast mornings. Life was so simple and predictable. My Grandpa always had Juicy Juice out of a can ready in the fridge. If I close my eyes I can see us all there sitting in the kitchen at the table. I can see the tan and pink stripes on the carpet, the green lamp hanging from the ceiling and the bell that hung in the doorway. I can see my mom and dad and my Grandpa in his blue, plaid flannel. Hmmm, I don't see my brother, wonder where he is. Oh I'm sure he's there, I just block it out of my memory! Only kidding.

My Grandma Erwin died August 27, 1996. Her brain tumors finally got the best of her and she ended up in a nursing home. I never visited her as much as I wanted to. It was difficult for me to see her. She was clearly not the Grandma I had known all my life. Close to the end she didn't even know who I was. She would occasionally call me by my mother's name, which made the visits almost unbearable. So I stopped going to see my Grandma. It was a decision I now regret more than any other bad decision I've made in my life. She was at the nursing home only 18 months, but it probably seemed like a lifetime to her and to my Grandpa. I did go see her the day she died. She was thin and weak and not the person I remembered as my Grandma. While it was very hard to see her that way, I'm glad I was there shortly before her death.

She was the best friend I have ever had. She played Uno with me for hours without complaint. She would call me up out of the blue and say, "Lets go shopping!" As I got older we would go to Weight Watchers together and then promptly out to lunch at the Chinese place we both loved so much. She let me drive her Escort while I was learning to drive and never flinched! She was part of a Birthday Club that met once a month at a restaurant for lunch to celebrate the birthdays of the group for that month. Even after my Grandma's death I remained close with many of the woman in that club. When the gambling boats came into town she would always be sure to share her winnings with my brother and I. And when she lost big she'd always say, "Don't worry kids, it's just your inheritance!"

While cleaning out my Grandparent's house after the death of my Grandpa, I found this little box filled with post cards sent to my Grandma's father back in 1912 and 1913. There were a few that were sent as a Christmas card but most of them were birthday post cards. I thought it would be fitting to add those post cards to this post. They remind me of simpler times. They were simply addressed to Earl Allicks Letts, IA. No specific address. It amazes me that they arrived to the correct destination. I can't imagine addressing a letter today with the name and the town and then having it arrive to the correct house. We have certainly grown and evolved.

This Christmas I would like to spend some time remembering my Grandma Erwin. I hope to show pictures of her to my children and tell them stories about sleepovers and Chinese food. It makes me sad to know that my kids don't have the opportunity I had to spend time with their Grandmothers. I think we'll play a game of Uno with the kids in remembrance of my Grandma Erwin.

The Mall

Bryce had parent, teacher conferences Friday which meant no school for Bryce or Hannah. My husband had to work so I had to find something to keep us busy. I don't know why, but when my husband is gone time seems to tick by at an exceedingly slow speed. So we decided to have lunch at the mall. Our mall has a great softish play area surrounded by the food court. I decided to allow the kids to eat and then I had lunch while they played.

While I was eating and watching the kids play I was remembering how often we came to the mall when we first moved to Wisconsin. Hannah was not walking yet and Bryce was only 3. I had diapers to change and strollers to park. As time went by, Hannah learned to crawl up the steps and go down the slide. The first year or so I would need to be near her so she didn't get trampled by the bigger kids. As time went by, I was able to sip a coffee while sitting on the sidelines. Soon enough, having lunch at the mall was something only Hannah and I did because Bryce was in school.

Our time spent playing at the mall has certainly evolved into something quite different today. I sat outside of the play area and ate my lunch with no worries of my small child escaping through the entrance. I didn't have to remind Hannah to go down the slide and up the stairs, not the other way around! I was able to look down from my children, take a bite, jot down a note or two and not fear my daughter had pulled someone's hair or my son had run around knocking other kids down. My kids are growing up.

The saddest part is, my kids are growing up! Soon enough we'll walk through the doors of the mall for lunch and neither kid will ask if they can play. Soon enough the soft play area will be part of our past. As each day passes I'm reminded more and more how my life is preparing for a shift in seasons. The days of play dates and mall play areas are almost gone. I'm sad to some degree. However, I'm mostly excited to see what the next season of mothering has in store for me and my family.

Thanks for the good times mall play area. Our time with you might be gone but will never be forgotten.

For Uncle Jimmy

Flag football season has come to an end. Bryce was a total all-star! They designed a play specifically for him. He played center AND receiver. They would fake a hand off and Bryce would be way out in the field all alone, and the QB would throw it. It didn't work very often, but it was cool when it did!

This kid can run! He has the best eye for where the ball is. At the last game he captured almost all of the flags. When the opposing team was blowing past three and four kids at a time Bryce would be the one to pull the flag. Amazing!

Ok, so sometimes he got a little bit rough. He likes to tackle. I've had a House Rules sign up in our house for almost 3 years now. The #1 Rule is Keep your hand to yourself. Do you want to take a guess at how many times a day I say "Keep your hands to yourself, Bryce!"? Lets just say I say it more than once. He was kind of the Brett Favre of flag football. He broke a lot of records and one of them was getting the most penalties for tackling.

I'm already looking forward to what next year brings. One of the parents was hanging kinda close to us at the last game. He finally said, "So, what school does Bryce go to?" The kids go to different schools, and I could tell this dad was a little upset. He went on to say, "Not all kids have an eye for football, but you know when a kid's got it, ya know? Bryce has got it." I just smiled, but inside I was thinking..."I know!"