New Page

I just finished up with a new scrapbook page.

It's my very first digital page!

I like it quite a bit!

A little giggle

This made me giggle. Thought that I would share it with you all.

Deep Breath of Air

* The hardwood kitchen floor and the stairs to the upstairs have been mopped with vinegar and water, and then polished to a high shine.

*The laundry is all caught up.

*The toilets are cleaned. (3 of 'em!)

*The bathrooms are cleaned.

*Bedrooms are dusted with mirrors cleaned. (3 out of 4... I refuse to touch Naomi's room.)

*I've wrapped over 100 Christmas Presents

*I Mod Podged the letters that my neighbor wants to put on the walls in her daughters rooms.

*I've also helped her decorate them up with buttons and ribbons.

*I've finished the scrapbook for my friend.

*I finished the planner that I was making for myself too!

*Did I mention all the vacuuming?

Tomorrow morning the kids arrive. I AM THRILLED. I'm REALLY tired tonight, and at 8:30 I'm feeling like I've been running a marathon all day.

I think that I'm going to go to bed in a few minutes.


Oh yeah. Happy Birthday to my sister Lisa and my brother Bill. They both turn the big 5-0 today. I hope that they have a wonderful year. They are both pretty darn cool!

Winter

Whenever I think about winter, I immediately pull up memories from my childhood. It's funny, because as an adult most of my memories center around the work that winter has. But the wistful memories that come up are the ones where you bundle up and run outside and play in the snow.

I grew up in North Dakota, and I remember my mom coming outside and helping me build a snow horse, and a couple cowboy snowmen. I remember the way the cold would make my cheeks feel tight. I remember wrapping up in a blanket and sitting in front of the cast iron fireplace in the basement getting warm.

I think that the earliest adult memories I have were when I was in college. I worked for a local high school as a debate judge and I would have to drive to their school and then ride the bus with the debaters to whatever school they were going to for the weekend tournaments.

Getting into my car in the morning was always a little tense. I drove a 1973 Toyota Celica. It's nickname was Wheezer, because when I turned it off, the engine would cough and wheeze a little before finally resting. Anyway, Wheezer had a lovely vinyl/leather trimmed seat, and being dressed for work, you'd sit in the car, and your leg muscles would immediately contract from the cold.

I would coax the car to life, and then turn on the blowers and start digging for my scraper. I remember once I couldn't find it, so I used the front of a cassette tape case. Remember, this was in the mid 80's, so I also had the option of using one of my large earrings as a scraper too.

I would scrape like crazy, then get back in, and my muscles would once again contract, jamming my knees up into the steering wheel. I remember rocking my car back and forth to get it out of whatever snowy predicament it was in, and then finally getting on the streets.

In the land before Anti-lock braking systems, this meant that there was an awful lot of brake pumpking. Anyway, the car would usually get warm about 3 blocks off campus, and then by the time I'd get to my destination, it would be hot enough inside to melt steel.

Ahh, the joys of winter!

A few photos of my morning

I wanted to do a quick little photo blog of about a half hour of my morning today. It really made me laugh to think about how much of my mornings are the exact same from day to day.

So, here you go!



This is Molly. Molly is an 8 year old English Square head Labrador Retriever. She's "curvy", not fat. Molly is my little yellow shadow. EVERYWHERE I go, Molly goes. She gets annoyed if I don't take her in the car with me.


Molly loves to get her photo taken.



This Mike. Mike is in the natural habitat of the wild Labrador. He really loves to sleep on the sofa. He's over there snoring loudly as I type this. Mike is 11, his father was a very busy dog. Mike is also an English Square Head Labrador. Mike is also Molly's uncle.




The requisite photo of the trees from the deck. Only I just stuck the camera out the sliding door and pointed it at the trees and took the photo. I wasn't going out in THAT stuff.


The slider is open here, that's the snow that collected on the deck since Friday, when I shoveled the entire deck off and found a tarp to put over the deck furniture. Next year we are buying fitted covers for those guys.




The snowy neighborhood. The tree in the foreground is one of those lighted 4 foot trees that ACMoore had on sale a few weeks ago for $29.00 for a set of them. Also, note that the snow bank around my neighbors mailbox is threatening to cover the mailbox.



Molly loves snow. She really does. Mike is more of a water dog, but Molly loves herself some snow.



It doesn't look like much when they stay on the sidewalk. It just covers their feet. They don't go winkie on the sidewalk though. What they are doing is looking for an easy way to get to the bathroom...



Ahh yes, we found a way in. Yes, the snow is up to our tummies.



It's fun to make mom nervous. We like to go behind the house when we know she's only got her nightshirt on under her coat.



This is me, at 7:30 in the morning. I haven't even showered.



Mike loves to sniff. So he stuffs his face into the snow so he can smell things. I'm trying to lure him into the house with a dog cookie.




Cookie?

A letter to my oldest child

To my dear child,

Now that you are a couple months from turning 20, I want you to know that I love you. I think that you still have so much growing up to do though. You need to learn that the amount of freedom you have isn't something that comes without strings. The more freedoms you have, the more responsibilities you have. They are not always equal to each other.

I know that you think that it's ok for you to go traipsing off to the Cayman's because your friend Ashley's parents purchased you a ticket. I know that you think that it is your decision. I just caution you about making these types of decisions. Your goals do not lend themselves well to messing up. You need to pay attention and focus hard.

I'm offended by your attitudes towards me and Dan. We love you, and we ask from you that you participate in the house. While you are living here we expect you to pay attention to your messes and to clean them up. You are old enough to take care of your own messes now. I don't think that leaving a sink full of water behind is is cleaning your bathroom. I don't think that a dirty bathroom floor is having cleaned your bathroom.

I should expect you to do what you say you are going to do around here. In reasonable time. I am not a freak where I expect you to have a pristine room and bathroom, I do expect for you to keep them tidy and to clean your bathroom every week.

I expect you to communicate with me, and in the future, when it comes to picking you up from work, if you don't reach me by 1opm I will not come pick you up. If we expect you home at a certain time, and you do not show up, we will lock the doors, and you better have a good reason why things didn't happen.

I will not be treated the way you treat me any longer. You will behave in a manner that is respectful towards this home and those who live here.

I love you, it's hard to grow up, believe me, I know this, but it's gotta happen. The world does NOT revolve around you and your charm. We see through it.

How to make Spaghetti Sauce

The usual cast of characters for making a nice, simple sauce for spaghetti:



This is a nice deep pot, it's often referred to as a "Chef's pot", you can use a large stew pot also, but I'm partial to using the handle on the pot. I have cooked my hands on the small handles on stew pots too many times.



Spices: Garlic Powder, and Basil. I know it says Italian Herb Mix on that bottle, but I'm a believer in simplicity, and adding flavor as you cook, so start with a nice simple base and go from there. That being said, if you are going to buy spices, check out Penzeys Spices. FANTASTIC spices. The McCormick Garlic Powder is O.K. We just bought it because we were waiting on getting another large order for Penzeys together.

I don't have a favorite brand for tomatoes here in town. If you can find Pastene Kitchen Ground tomatoes, use those, they seem to have a taste that I like...your mileage may vary. You just need a big can of crushed tomatoes, a medium can of diced tomatoes, and tomato paste.



Whoops, I forgot the star of the show. Garlic. I was lazy today and used a jar. I use a lot. I prefer to mince my garlic myself, but this will do in a pinch.



Pour your OliveOil into your large pan. Don't waste your Extra Virgin Olive Oil on cooking, the heat kind of ruins the extra flavor. Use your Extra Virgin Olive Oil for dressings or for dipping crusty bread in to go along with your meal.



Rougly two Tablespoons of oil will do the job. Make sure your burner is turned up to almost medium heat on your stove.



I use a LOT of garlic. We like garlic here. This is probably 1 1/2 Tablespoons of garlic. Stir it up in the oil, pay attention, you want it to get a little bit of color, but you don't want it to burn. If you burn it, wash out your pot and start over. Burned garlic is NASTY.



See that nice garlic cooking there? Yes, it's a little golden, I took it off the heat so that I could show you that you should put in about 1 1/2 teaspoons of Basil or Italian Seasoning. Rub it between your palms as you add it to your garlic. It helps release the aromatics.



Stir, stir, stir. I let it cook almost a minute after adding in the spices. You are working on getting layers of flavor here.



Now, use a skinny rubber scraper and help that tomato paste into your spices. This needs to cook a little bit, too.



Stir well to combine it with the flavors in your pan. I like to make sure it is stirred all over the bottom of the pan to pick up all the flavors from cooking up those spices.



Yes, add more Garlic. I use about a Tablespoon of Garlic Powder here. The tomato paste has started to change it's form, from a sticky, clumpy substance, and now it's a little softer. It spreads out in the bottom of the pan nicely.



Add your can of ground tomatoes. Stir it up really well. Add your can of diced tomatoes.



Stir them in too. Pay attention to the thickness of your sauce here. If you like it a little runnier, add some water. That can of diced tomatoes is a good measure of water. I like to add water as it cooks now and then. I was going to use this sauce for a lasagne, so I wanted it somewhat thick.



Taste the sauce, if you want, add some more Basil. Rub it between your hands again. If anything it will make you smell like you've been working very, very hard that day. No one needs to know how easy this really is!



Mmmm...it's now just started to boil. Time to turn it down.



Set the temperature just above low. Put a lid on your pot, and stir it every now and then until it's simmered for a while. I like to cook my sauce for a few hours. I let this simmer until after we had dinner, and the popped the mixture into the fridge. The next morning I put together my lasagne and refrigerated it until an hour before I baked it.

Once you do this, you'll never buy a jarred sauce again. It's so easy to make this up and freeze it or save it for all your spaghetti/pizza sauce needs.