its all because i washed it...

really. i should know better.

i thought, heck, the getaway vehicle could really use a wash, so i sucked it up and paid the $8.50 for a super duper wash when i got gas this afternoon.

and now its all nice and shiny. sitting in the garage. warm and toasty.

WHILE ITS SNOWING LIKE CRAZY OUTSIDE.

really. i should know better.

go figure. the second i take it out, its going to be even more dirty than before i washed it. just my typical luck. it looks pretty though. if nothing else.

went to heritage park yesterday for brunch and a wander of their 12 days of christmas displays, went with the whole darn fan-damily. so that included, my parents, grandma, sis, brother-in-law, their 3 munchkins, and us. and it was darn cold out. left the house early here to drop off dh's car to get the oil changed at the dealership first. and it was a BALMY minus freaking 25!!! my bones just don't do well in that.

so we bee-lined for the admission booth, scooted through the gates, ran down the hill to stand under the heater they have there, then ran the rest of the way down to the main street. ducked into what is the ice cream store in the summer to warm up before making our way the rest of the way to the hotel for our brunch. it was wonderful - homestyle, hearty, and filled us up for the rest of the afternoon. fresh bakery items, hash browns, eggs, bacon, sausage and french toast, pancakes and waffles. yum.

afterwards, it had warmed up sufficiently to wander around for a bit. took a look at the crafts and goodies they had on sale for christmas, the little ones threw snow around, went through a maze, and generally had a nice little walk. no, no pics, didn't feel like lugging the camera around in the cold, not to mention, i'm sure it would have just fogged up anyways.

from there, we went in search of tile to complete the downstairs bathroom. our plumber will be in next saturday to hook everything up. the kids are happy (as am i) and we won't have to go upstairs to piddle when we're watching tv! what a bonus!! LOL

friends and neighbours over last night for a pre-christmas visit. it was great - lots of laughter, the guys even got into a hockey game for a bit, wonderful munchie finger foods, and it was an easy clean up this morning.

and now its just late enough that i better get my buns in bed - off to the city again tomorrow. maybe even some success with getting christmas presents together!!

blizzardy blah!

oh the weather outside is frightful....

most definitely! had a quick roadtrip to vulcan, a small center about an hour south to do a sales call for one of the reps this morning. at this moment in time i am VERY glad i headed out at a decent time this morning, and that i'm back home now. it is snowing quite a bit, and on the way home it was white-out conditions in a number of places.

the downside at this moment is that i do have to go back in to the city for my final dental appointment to get the crown finished on one of my molars. i'm not much looking forward to the drive in a couple hours. we'll see what its like at that point.

i took my camera with me this morning on my way out, if only to stop at some point and take a few pics of the amazing hoarfrost that is hanging around on everything right now. but with the blowing snow, and the frigid temps, it just didn't happen. i think the worst thing about our weather right now is the lack of sunshine. if you can count on one thing, it is the crazy amount of sun we get, even in winter. but we've had cloud for pretty much the last week, and that sure gets alot of people down. i was hoping that there would be some blue sky this morning to get some great pictures. but it wasn't to be. oh well!

work has been super slow still. i'm going out about 2 days a week, but even at that, its only for a half day or so at a time. it sounds all good to get paid for not going anywhere, but at the same time, there's not alot of extra to go towards christmas shopping then either. and that kind of sucks too. who knows. none of us girls are getting much of anything by way of work right now, so at least i can say its not just me.

hope you're having a sun-shiny day! and if you are, could you please send some this way too??

it's all about being 12

tomorrow that is. my big guy is turning 12 - and he's quite excited about it all. he's one amazing kid and i am proud to call him my son. and because i wouldn't be a mom without embarrassing him to death - this is a goodie of him a few weeks ago when we were hanging out at my sister's house.
poor child. good thing he doesn't read my blog. or so i hope LOL

but seriously, this is a pic that shows off who he really is...
he's just a big teddy bear - gentle, sensitive, and loving. he's already got great practice with the little ones, and that is one amazing feat to get a young guy to tote around a baby (even a cousin!) for any length of time! good on ya man :) and happy birthday!

so another goodie from our visit with my sister - the b-man reading to the twin monkeys. he thought it was just great to have an audience all to himself. he read them stories while they both listened intently to him!
the cool thing was that b-man was reading them some of his favorites from when he was their age. they are by laura numeroff - and there are a few of them. i can't say which is the best of the bunch, but they are sure great for little ones at the pre-reading age. they can easily memorize the books, and then that eventually leads to them learning to read those words! very cool remembering those things about my own kids.

and a couple of housekeeping notes - the big guy has been working with the theatre group again in another production here. its a pantomime - basically a comedy that involves audience participation. the whole crew was out to see it over the weekend, including nana, poppa, mimi, auntie lisa, and auntie jenny who came up from cranbrook especially to see him.

also a big shout out to my buddy sam in georgia - have missed you guy! so happy to have heard from you today!

hope you're all staying warm - its mighty chilly here!

i just about piddled in my pants

listening to this one.... bear with me - i was laughing my behind off!! and even if you don't like ellen, believe me, its good!

Dave Matthews Band - Say Goodbye

and again...

so instead of laying there tonight... again... i'm up. might as well throw a bit onto the blog. what the heck.

windier than all get out today. and our recycle bin has blown away. funny thing b said to me as we were discussing it - "i can't believe it would blow away when there was so much stuff in it" HA!
the guy was by today to pick it up! good giggle either way. but our bin is still gone. maybe a quick drive down the street tomorrow is in order - i saw a garbage can that belongs to the neighbour behind us was in the walkway a few houses down. so maybe its around. the lid was under our next-door neighbour's truck. hopefully its not far.

went into the city this afternoon for a bit. dh had an interview late this afternoon, so we went and wandered the mall for a while. surprising how many people had the day off - this was the first time ever that dh got the day off for rememberance day. it was hot and crowded and my patience wore thin fairly quick - not something normal for me. we did find a new winter coat for j though. we've been looking for a while, and found one he's happy with. and on sale!

we had a quick stirfry dinner tonight of broccoli and beef, using the seasoning mix packet from the spice aisle of the grocery store. we were quite pleased with the results. it was yummy and quick!

j is in another play again with the theatre here. he was missed on the audition calls, and when they finally did call him, it was to be a second for a part, as well as a technical stage hand again as well. so he does have days that he is performing for sure, and is having a grand time as well. he really enjoys his time working with the theatre group.

well, i'm going to go and try to get back to sleep. hopefully its not too long a night again...

sleeplessness

i think that when you're pregnant, your body programs itself to require less sleep than usual. you're up every couple hours to pee, and whether you're actually fully awake, or more the stumbling type, you get accustomed to waking every couple hours whether you need to or not. then as a new mom, you struggle through the wee hours of the night, again, either fully awake or just barely stumbling through, to fetch that little one to you, feed and relax again into sleep.

and eventually, your little ones outgrow the need for you in the night. even my guys will very rarely wake me up if they are ill.

but then there are nights like last night. where i tried every "trick" in my book. counting, breathing, relaxing, to no avail. i know that i must have slept at some point. the last time i looked at the clock it was just before 7am this morning. but my brain did not revel in sleep. it was very much active and awake. and as such, today i was a sloth.

i spent the morning on the couch in the basement, watching a terrible movie with my youngest son, who eventually realized that i had dozed off and teletoon had a far more interesting movie on than was on tbs, changed the channel. the two of us peeled ourselves away from the tv around 11am, and i got myself into the shower.

then we had a baking lesson. my little b wanted to make butter tarts. i was half wondering to myself where he had even seen them to be wanting to make them (i'm thinking on our trip to costco yesterday... perhaps?) so i indulged him. i've had the tart shells in the freezer since last fall when i made a few batches for some reason or other. so that's what we did. he was so proud of himself, measuring and making sure we were following the instructions. and they turned out wonderful. even kikanue indulged in a couple that she pulled off the tray while we were downstairs after lunch. go figure. a doggie with a sweet tooth!

so this afternoon was more of the same for me. the tv on, but me dozing most of the programs away. dh and the big man had gone to the city this morning to fetch the shower stall and last 2 remaining doors for the basement. so the loaded them into the house, and then headed out to the garage for some male bonding time playing darts for the rest of the afternoon. little b went to play with a friend for a while, and then he also joined the guys outside. the good thing was dinner was easy tonight - costco pizza and a salad, followed by the butter tarts for dessert. a great saturday night dinner if you ask me!

so now, dh is snoring (he also didn't sleep well last night) and i'm awake. perhaps a little too awake for not sleeping last night. but i do need to get there. i'm thinking a little snog of something will help put me out for the night.

if there ever was a reason to be up in the middle of the night, a little one to cuddle would be the best reason ever. watching the alarm clock count the minutes just doesn't do it for me.

people are weird

like this morning - parked my car on the street in downtown calgary, no sooner had i put it in park, and some chickie smokes the front driver's side on the bumper. there was a casual "sorry - here's my info" like it was an everyday occurence for her. who knows! maybe it is! (i should have looked closer at her bumper - maybe there's more to see!) thank goodness it was only a scuff, dh buffed it tonight, and its all good now. phew. not even so much as a mark on the bumper.

and the odd interview i went to this morning. started out the other day with her calling me and grilling me. ok... i get that, not alot of time to chit-chat in a busy environment. and today, she wanted me to interview for a photo-copy sales position. um, no. not my thing. should have maybe asked a couple more questions on the phone the other day, but given how that went...

then went to work, and had to shake my head. two of us were working on a large display, and when we got there, i asked that our "contact" lady be paged to come down and meet us. more than an hour later, i asked one of the clerks if they could page her again, as we were part way through and i wanted to know where exactly she wanted the display, and she finally came down and told us that she wanted things done differently from what we had started. um hello? we've been here an hour! if she had come down when first paged, it wouldn't have even been an issue. whatever.

and that was quite enough of odd people for the day.

so looking to tomorrow - the boys are off school, so we're going in to hang out with the nieces and nephew in the morning for a bit, then i'll probably drop the boys off for a visit with their great-grandma and i'll go and get a bit of work done that was dropped in my lap tonight. then i'm sure we'll head to the mall, or costco, or something for a bit, then home for the evening.

a dear friend of mine called last night, haven't talked to her in ages. the last time we connected, she was in the midst of going to turkey for a month with her now fiancee and her mom, and then returning only to be moving shortly thereafter. that was the beginning of june. so found out last night that she did finally move a week or so ago, and is closer than she was - she had been in prince george, bc for the last 6 years. the kids are quite happy to hear that she is now in cranbrook, and we hope to connect soon for a visit, hopefully at christmas time at the latest.

funny how things can change, but also how fast time can go by.

it was a quiet week for work for me, but a good opportunity to work with a friend of mine that is also working for the same company. the nice thing is with her being around the corner, she'll drive in with me, so that makes it quite nice for the commute. we got some nice big displays set up this week, and the stores are happy with that.

food wise the last week, things have been somewhat usual. tonight was brats and fries and salad night - along with watching grey's, big shots and survivor.

but something we had the other night was definitely decadent, but downright delicious. so here it is:

shrimp and parsley... (oh yes, its good!)

4 lbs shrimp, unpeeled (check out the zipperback shrimp from extra foods/superstore in the green bag, 2 lbs per bag. got these ones last week, $18 for 4 lbs - so $4.50 a pound.)

1 cup butter
6-8 cloves garlic, sliced
2-4 bunches of parsley, depending on size - you need a good amount of parsley!! 2 bunches if their big, 4 if they're not
1-2 loaves of french bread, unsliced

ok, since this is one of those throw it in the pan recipe, its more method than anything...

turn oven to 250, place unsliced bread in, no foil, no pan, nothing. you just want to warm and freshen up the bread. put the biggest frypan you have on the stovetop, turn to med-high heat. add butter. in the meantime, slice your garlic, and as the butter has started to melt, put in the garlic. rough chop up the parsley, throw it in the pan. swirl around in the butter (it should be all melted now, but not sizzling). pour your shrimp over top, don't worry if they're not thawed out. it works just the same. cover, and let simmer for a couple minutes. stir. cover. repeat until all the shrimp are pink and cooked. remove from heat.

take the bread out of the oven, slice thick.

on your table you want to have spread out that day's newspaper a couple layers thick. set out a soup plate (the ones with the rim) and a fork for everyone, and napkin(s). put the pan of shrimp in the middle, and dig in. you'll have alot of liquid in the pan (this is NOT all butter the parsley absorbed that! - it's basically a shrimp stock) throw the shrimp peels on the newspaper, dunk your bread in the sauce and eat it with the parsley (yummy and good for you!), drink some good wine and just enjoy. we will also have a salad with this too, just greens and a light dressing is a good combo to compliment your dinner.

serves 4-5 hungry people!

missed it all...

taking any pics that is - we were just too busy having fun last night to take any pictures. but heck, we had a grand time anyways. dh dressed up as a crash test dummy, i was my usual witch, ds#1 was a roman god, and ds#2 was a crusader. all in all it was a great time :)

we had over 100 kids come for a treat last night - and it was quite funny with the older ones when i asked them if they wanted playdoh or a glow-bracelet. and interestingly enough, more of them wanted the playdoh! you're never too old is my thinking. costco had these mini playdoh's - 80 of the for $12 or something. so that made it reasonable, and my thinking is that the kids always get more candy than they possibly need, so something different is quite welcome!

dinner last night was a quick one - the kids were anxious to get going, dh was anxious to go hang outside on the porch, and for me, after a busy day, it was nice to just get something simple and hearty in our bellies. so we had a quick panini sandwich (plain cheese for b and i, pastrami and roast beast and cheese for dh and j) and a bowl of mushroom soup. gotta love it!

its been busy with work this week, and i'm quite glad that tomorrow is friday. looking forward to a not too busy weekend.

had an interesting job interview this afternoon with a placement agency. interesting in that the fellow i met with was someone that is on the same sort of wavelength as i am - that its not always the schooling that will make a person better for a job than another. we'll see where that goes!

so that's about it for an update tonight - i'm quite ready for bed, and need to be out the door early tomorrow morning.

it must be in the hoisin...

LOL

well, tonight was another "test" dinner - we (oh, yes, it was I tonight - nobody else interested in cooking till it was all done... but i digress) had a ginger noodle soup out of that same cookbook/mag from last night. and that one had more hoisin sauce in it. we've almost killed 2 bottles in 2 nights. go figure.

before the recipe though, a few tidbits from my day.

i'm covering someone's route again this week, and man, he has some busy days. he has sales calls that need to be done before 10 am. now, that doesn't seem like a big deal, but today there were 2 to be done. and i need about an hour per store. so counting backwards from my time deadline, that means i needed to be in the city, at my first stop by 8am. and leaving from home about an hour before that if it wasn't rush hour. so that means leaving at 7am. and since i'm such a great morning person (NOT) that meant i was out the door at 7:30am. oh yes, 1/2 an hour later than i should have been, without counting the traffic. but you know, even with the accident that was just at the city limits for my access point this morning, i was still done and not feeling too rushed for either stop by 9:45. i figured i was doing well. the rest of my day went smoothly (until tonight - computer issues, but what else is new) so am hoping that tomorrow won't be too much of pain to get the computer working again.

i ran into a former co-worker today while i was out. she works at one of the safeway stores in the city that i was in today. she doesn't look too much different, and she still has the same sense of humor that i remember from 10+ years ago. so that was kind of neat :) she made my day - told me i look "fabulous". (mind you, when i knew her, i was still so fat from being preggo with ds#1)

what else.... met up with ds#2's teacher today. all the teacher's have been doing "pre-report card meetings" - a little less formal that a P/T interview, but really, how formal are those? went through some of b's strengths and weaknesses, and nothing was a surprise to me. the cool thing is that she is very gung-ho on working with the kids on their positives, and working with them to make the weaknesses not so bad either. i know b quite likes her, so that is a huge obstacle surmounted in itself.

ok, enough, i'm ready for bed... recipe time...

Ginger Noodle Soup

1lb ground lean pork
1 onion, chopped
3 cloves garlic, minced
1/3 cup hoisin sauce
2 tbsp chopped fresh ginger
2 tbsp soy sauce
4 cups chicken stock
1 carrot,, shredded
1/2 cup sliced fresh mushrooms
5 oz rice vermicelli
1 green onion, thinly sliced
1/2 cup bean sprouts
4 sprigs cilantro

In saucepan, brown pork over med-high heat, stirring to break up meat. Drain off fat. Add onion, garlic, hoisin, ginger and soy sauce; cook for 2 minutes.
Add chicken stock and bring to boil. Add carrot and mushrooms; reduce heat and simmer 10 minutes.
Stir in vermicelli; simmer until noodles are tender, about 5 minutes. Ladle into soup bowls. Garnish with sliced green onion, bean sprouts and cilantro.

Makes 4 servings; 463 cal, 29g protein, 16g fat, 48g carbs, 3g fibre

From Canadian Living Make it Tonight mag, Fall 2002

only a couple things i fiddled with: grated the ginger and garlic with my microplane, so there weren't "bits" in the soup - my youngest doesn't like bits of ginger. added in the leftover beef stock from last nights dinner with the chicken stock - so it was more like 6 cups stock. it was all gone, so it must have been good. we also threw a splash of seasoned rice vinegar on it at the table- it could probably use a squish of a lime even, to cut the salty taste. (remember - sweet, salty, bitter, sour for asian food) that totally perked it up to our taste.

a little addiction

well, it was a good weekend overall - had a bit of a lazy day on saturday, got a nap in, did some scrapping, it was all good. sunday, got the "stuff" done for the week ahead, laundry, groceries, homework, yada yada...

so what about the addiction? well, i tell ya, we've become addicted to a sandwich. panini sandwiches. what that grill does to a couple slice of bread and some cheese is just heavenly. today when i got home from work, that's what i had. cheddar and roast beef and a bit of grainy mustard grilled to perfection. ds1 did the same thing when he got home from school. yum.

and that's also what ended up being for dinner last night - grilled panini rubens. montreal smoked meat was a steal of a deal at just 99cents for 100g at the grocery store yesterday, so dh and i decided they would make a great dinner. yum. i could eat a panini everyday LOL (my hips would sure pay for it though!)

so after an un-busy week last week, it was back to work early today. the person i'm covering for has a busy schedule, but on top of that, he sees a number of his stores early in the day - they need to be seen before 10am. that makes for early mornings for me this week. the good thing is that it also makes for a bit earlier time home as well, so i can't complain too loudly.

so on the menu tonight - we made hoisin beef noodles for dinner. on sunday, i tidied up my kitchen cart with all my cookbooks, cooking mags and various bits and pieces on it, and found a magazine from 5 years ago. told the kids to pick a couple things out of it for dinner this week. and we found the noodle dish for tonight.

Hoisin Beef Noodles
1 tbsp vegetable oil (i didn't use this!)
1 lb lean ground beef
3 cloves garlic
3 cups sliced mushrooms
2 carrots, thinly sliced
1 sweet red or green pepper, sliced
1 cup beef stock
1/3 cup hoisin sauce
3 tbsp soy sauce
1 pkg precooked chinese noodles (450g - the steamed noodles that are in the produce section)
1 tbsp cornstarch
2 cups bean sprouts
2 green onions, chopped

In wok or large skillet, heat oil over high heat; brown beef and garlic, breaking up meat with spoon, about 5 minutes. Spoon off any fat. Add mushrooms and carrots; cook over med-high heat until mushrooms are tender and liquid is evaporated, about 7 minutes.
Add red pepper, stock, hoisin; bring to boil.
Meanwhile, gently loosen noodles under warm water; drain and add to pan. Whisk cornstarch with 1 tbsp water; stir into pan and cook, stirring, until thickened, about 1 minute. Serve topped with bean sprouts and green onions.

Makes 4 servings; 544 cal, 32g protein, 23g total fat, 53g carbs, 5g fibre From Canadian Living Make It Tonight mag - Fall 2002

and, as always, my couple changes. i doubled this - and probably didn't need to. as i couldn't find the streamed noodles out here in booney-ville, i used another dry chinese noodle, which is probably why there was just so much. we needed to add a bit of hoisin and sriracha sauce at the table to make it to our taste, but ds2 liked it without adding anything. i also just mixed the cornstarch into the stock mixture as it was just easier.
overall - yummy :) there was enough for dh to have seconds, ds1 to have thirds, lunch for all 3 tomorrow, and took a 6-cup container to one of the neighbours for her hubby for his lunch tomorrow.

quickie

no, not that kind...

just a quickie note for the day.

have one cutie patootie kid with a new pair of glasses.

my eyes are healing well.

got to spend some time with my parents, grandma, sis and the nieces and nephew today, along with my kids.

it was a good day. especially dinner out.

yum.

tv thursday

well, things went well today - had a good morning at home. productive - spent some time on the phone, got a start on our summer holiday journal, and then went off to the city to get my parents. on the way got a phone call for another interview. so did a phone screen with a nice gentleman i've spoken with before on my way in. good way to spend my otherwise unproductive time in the car!

my parents were quite happy to be home, and i had a good visit with them before i came back to town. my grandmother was (i think) in her own way happy to see them home again. she's basically been on her own for the last few weeks, only because she refused to spend a couple days with us, or with my sister. so other than a few meals and outings, she's managed quite well. she did mention to me the other night that it had been a bit of a holiday for her as well.

when i got back home, and had dinner organized, got another phone call from the fellow actually doing the interviewing in the city for the call i had earlier in the afternoon. so i'm meeting with him tomorrow. we'll see what comes out of that. (disappointing news today - found out the job i "got" has been post-poned for the time being - january at the earliest. seeing as how it has taken 6 months now to get to this point, i'm just not going to hold my breath anymore.)

and then it was on to tv thursday.

thursday nights are big in our house. dh and i have missed only 1 episode ever of survivor. and grey's anatomy has been on my list since it premiered as well. add to that (this fall) big shots - and we have a full night on thursdays. i don't think i've ever watched as much television as i do this year. but none of the shows i watch are ones that i want to give up!

so what exactly is the line up? (oh yes, now we're off on a tangent...)
monday - nothing. unless we remember to watch the "new" ramsay's kitchen nightmares. i liked the british ones better. *sigh*
tuesday - pushing daisies. brilliant new show. love it. a little kooky, but fun, cute and what the heck, that guy is cute.
wednesday - private practice. gotta follow addison. although i'm really not liking this as much as grey's. or as much as i expected. its just a little too off the wall for what i expected it to be, and maybe that's the point with it set in cali. dirty sexy money. i love this one. love the characters, almost reminds me of dynasty - what with the rich and spoiled. but its all good. dh likes it too.
thursday - as already mentioned: grey's anatomy, survivor, big shots. grey's and survivor are self explanatory. big shots? well that one is just good. i think dh likes it just for the fact that he's starting to relate to these guys and their verge-of-middle-age-crisis thing. and the golf. its all about the golf. LOL
friday - men in trees. we were watching that one faithfully last year, and then sometime in the spring they started with reruns and we just haven't made a point of watching it since it started up again this fall. liked that one too.
saturday - no tv on this day!
sunday - desperate housewives. need i say more? wisteria lane, where you can just escape!

i think that about covers it.

so what was for dinner tonight? it was what has become our thursday night staple - homemade bratwursts, steak cut fries and a salad. its a no brainer - and everyone's happy.

including me. :P

the day off that i really took as a day off...

finally!

really and truly i took the day off. i didn't go anywhere. i stayed home. i scrapbooked. i had tea with a girlfriend and hugged her little one. i talked on the phone. but i didn't go anywhere and didn't do too much of anything. i even laid down and rested for a 1/2 hour. it was good. and needed.

so what to make for dinner on a day off? an easy recipe i found on bhg.com in their pasta section. easy, yummy, and best of all, i had everything to make it with at home. comments etc, to follow.

Bow Ties With Sausage & Sweet Peppers

serves: 4

Start to Finish: 25 min.

Ingredients

• 8 ounces dried large bow-tie pasta
• 12 ounces uncooked spicy Italian sausage links
• 2 medium red sweet peppers, cut into 3/4-inch pieces
• 1/2 cup vegetable broth or beef broth
• 1/4 teaspoon coarsely ground black pepper
• 1/4 cup snipped fresh Italian flat-leaf parsley

Directions

1. Cook pasta according to package directions; drain. Return pasta to saucepan.

2. Meanwhile, cut the sausage into 1-inch pieces. In a large skillet cook sausage and sweet peppers over medium-high heat until sausage is brown. Drain well.

3. Stir the broth and black pepper into skillet. Bring to boiling; reduce heat. Simmer, uncovered, for 5 minutes. Remove from heat. Pour over pasta; add parsley. Toss gently to coat. Transfer to a warm serving dish. Makes 4 servings.

Nutrition Facts

Nutrition facts per serving:

• Servings Per Recipe 4
• Calories 397
• Total Fat (g) 18
• Saturated Fat (g) 6
• Cholesterol (mg) 94
• Sodium (mg) 713
• Carbohydrate (g) 38
• Fiber (g) 3
• Protein (g) 24

*Percent Daily Values are base on a 2,000 calorie diet

ok, so very obviously, this has been cut and pasted for ease of posting.

what i changed - i added in a sliced onion for a bit of bulk. i used spaghetti noodles instead of bowties (only because i wasn't going to the store for noodles) and i used a can of diced tomatoes instead of the broth. i also had removed the casings completely from the sausage and just used the insides like ground beef.

what the men said - dh thought it was awesome, ds #1 had seconds, and ds #2 said it was too spicy (but he had also had a huge lunch, and then had a sandwich and snack after school before curling. so he probably just wasn't hungry). me? i thought it was definitely good. something easy i'll make again.

tonight's recipe

alright, well if it will get me blogging a bit more regularly - i'll post some of the recipes that i've tried over the last little while, starting with tonight's dinner.

now, fair warning, i am NOT a super health conscious cook. i make what i like, when i want, and don't pay too much attention to what is all in it. if i had to choose a "diet" i would go more low-carb, but not necessarily low-fat. i'll note any changes i made in the instructions, but other than that, whatever you do is totally up to you. i'll also let you know what the verdict was from the men on the recipe that i post.

first up:

Meaty Moussaka - Everyday with Rachel Ray mag, Sept 2007
4 servings, prep 30 minutes, bake 45 minutes

4 tbsp butter
1 small onion, chopped
1 1/2 pounds ground beef
2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
1 teaspoon ground nutmeg
salt and pepper
1 -8oz can tomato sauce
2 large eggs
2 tbsp flour
1 cup whole milk
4 oz cream cheese
1/2 cup ricotta cheese

Method:
Preheat oven to 350. In large skillet, heat 2 tbsp butter over med-high heat. Add the onion and cook until softened, 3-5 minutes. Add beef and cook until no longer pink, about 5 minutes. Stir in cinnamon and nutmeg and season with salt and pepper. Add the tomato sauce and cook until most of the liquid has evaporated, 3-5 minutes. Pour into an 8-inch square baking dish and set aside.
In a medium bowl, lightly beat the eggs and set aside. In a small saucepan, melt the remaining 2 tablespoons butter over med-high heat. Whisk in the flour and cook, whisking often, until the mixture is smooth, about 30 seconds. Slowly whisk in the milk until thickened. Lower the heat to med and stir in the cream cheese and ricotta; season with salt and pepper. Whisk on-quarter of the cheese sauce into the reserved eggs until smooth. Whisk the egg mixture into the cheese sauce in the saucepan.
Pour the sauce over the meat in the baking dish and spread evenly. Bake until the top is lightly browned and firm to the touch, 40 - 45 minutes. Let cool for 10 minutes; cut into squares to serve.

Make ahead tips from Rachel- Chill: Cover with plastic wrap and refrigerate for up to 3 days. To reheat, cover with foil and bake at 350 for 45 minutes, uncover and bake for 10 minutes more. Freeze: Cover with plastic wrap and freeze for up to 4 months. To reheat, discard plastic, cover with foil and bake at 350 for 1 1/2 hours, uncover and bake 15 minutes more.

*Ok, so this is what I basically did, with the following exceptions:

Because i don't always follow directions well, and because i figured, heck, i have a whole tub of ricotta, and an 8 oz pkg of cream cheeese, lets just double the whole thing. So i did. There is now an extra meal in the freezer ready to pop in the oven on one of our crazy nights. Instead of a square pan i used 2 rectangular ones. So thinner layers. Whatever. It needs a good amount of salt to season (i don't generally add salt to anything, so that is a good indicator) i'm thinking 2-3 tsp of salt for 3 pounds of the meat mixture. When i made the cheese sauce, apparently i forgot all about the eggs. Goes to show you what happens when i'm trying to get dinner made in the midst of the mayhem of my children emptying the dishwasher and falling all over themselves to talk to me at the same time. Oh yes, and 2% milk instead of homo. But all in all, this was super. We had it with a green salad with Italian Parmesan and Herb dressing (Safeway brand, if you haven't had it, you gotta - its great!) No, there isn't any pasta. Or rice. But if you added a nice ziti or penne to this between the meat and the sauce layers you'd get Pastitsio. Another great dish. But we didn't miss the carbs at all. I also threw in a bit of Epicure spice Hummus mix. It needed a little something and that was just enough to make it great!

Rating? 2 thumbs up all the way around the table. So one full recipe in a rectangular 9x13" pan netted us: 3 helpings for dh, 2 helpings for ds#1, 1 helping for both ds#2 and myself, and a leftover corner for dh to take tomorrow. It doubled beautifully, and as I said earlier, I now have 2 dinners in the time of one! Gotta love that if nothing else!

who knew?

i am utterly amazed.

I

CAN

SEE.


for anyone that has eyesight that doesn't require correction, it is something that i think is very much taken for granted. and really, i took it for granted as well, that as inconvenient as it was, i could easily slip on my glasses, or pop in my contacts, and simple as that, see.

but after 27 years of having some sort of corrective apparatus in front of my face or in my eyes, i can see without having to try, mess around, or fumble in the dark. i open my eyes and there it all is in front of me.

and it is wonderful.

i won't say it was easy, because i had a really rough day after surgery on friday. i sent dh to get the car from the lrt station as 1/2 hour after the procedure, i started to hurt. and i couldn't keep my eyes open. so he went to get it, and fetched me from the office shortly after. even on the way home i didn't open my eyes even once. the drops burned, and i would have cried if i could.

but less than 24 hours later, at my post-op exam, i was seeing better than i probably ever have in my life. 20/20 from my left eye, and 20/25 from the right. a staggering improvement from being unable to see 2 inches in front of me other than blobs of color.

today was the first time i have driven since the operation. its going to take some getting used to - i had a bit of a hard time parking once i got home. reading is still a bit of a challenge, but i know that it can take quite a while for everything to sort itself out anyways. and heck, its only been 4 days, compared to a lifetime!

after being out today, i am somewhat glad of my boss' decision that i take this week off work. she wants to make sure that i'm well recovered before returning to work. this morning i was disappointed, but by mid-afternoon and being out with the kids, my eyes were begging for a little time off. so i'll take advantage of having some down time this week.


in other news, took the kids today for their annual eye exams. as expected, ds 1 still has the gift of perfect eyesight. ds 2, well, not so much. his prescription has changed, but with that comes a new set of eyeglasses for him this year. we found some fun and funky ones that we're both happy with, they should be ready in a day or two to pick up.

my parents will be arriving home again on thursday after the globe-trotting they've been doing for the last few weeks. they've been in croatia, bosnia, england and somewhere else that i have no recollection of what my mom had said. they had called a couple weeks ago to let us know they were having a grand time, and were enjoying their travels immensely. so i'll be fetching them from the airport on thursday, and pick up their molly dog from the kennel on the way.

here's a challenge for you - something that we've done over the last week or so. maybe its something you're interested in, maybe not, but what the heck - if it appeals, try it! ds#1 and i went through a bunch of my magazines that i hoard - make that "save for reference" - and as my favorites the last while have been real simple and rachel ray's everyday, they have some awesome sounding recipes in them. so we chose a handful and have been experimenting with them - and having some great results. we had a southwestern bean dish (like baked beans) in the crockpot, another that was a spicy bean and cheese burrito, a ginger/garlic shrimp with couscous, italian sausage and kale soup, and tomorrow i'm going to make moussaka. i've been liking having a few meatless meals, and i think with bulking up on the fiber and protein, we'll see a bit of a difference in the pant size again as well. (i'm slowly losing again after that blip from quitting smoking).

some good things? dh discovered he likes couscous (yay! i've always liked it but he can be a bit funny about some things!) we all enjoy the meatless meals more than i would have thought. dh (again) is a big meat and potatoes kind of guy. so this is a big step. ds 2, he'd rather not have meat if he didn't have to (although he does have a hankering for a steak now and then! LOL)

a couple of other recipes that are still on the list to make, are a sesame and hummus noodle dish, and fish recipe that has peppers and green onions in parchment paper. (there wasn't any fish i wanted to use the day i was shopping). so there's a bit of a dare for you.

and i'm going to challenge myself to get some stuff scrapbooked this week instead of just being a bum all week and not doing anything.

(and one last quickie - i heard back from another lady about "the job" and hopefully will have something in place in the next week or so. gah!! this waiting is killing me!!)

20/20

tomorrow i'm going to get my eyes done.

excited.

scared.

a little grossed out (these are my eyes, and i will be awake!!)

but mainly looking forward to the freedom from my dependence on contact lenses and glasses that i have had a love/hate relationship with for the last 27 years of my life. scary looking at it in those kind of terms. dh is taking the day off of work to take me.


will report back later in the weekend about how things "look" from my new perspective!

if i really tried

i could probably tell you all kinds of things.

like i finally got a call back about that job interview. and i got it. just no definite start date yet. *yippee* (just a little happy dance to throw in there)

like my dh thinks i work too much and don't bill enough of my time.

like we went to great falls, montana, for thanksgiving weekend, stayed in a super-duper-great hotel with an awesome room (that didn't smell like ass), was huge and comfy.

like my parents are away until the end of the month, they left last tuesday.

like my birthday is friday. and i'll be 35. *eek*

like my dh is sending me on friday to get an assessment done for me to find out about laser surgery for my eyes.

like the kennel i put the dogs in this past weekend will never get any more business from me. ever. (have you ever been bitten in the ass by a deranged poodle? need i say more??)

like my dad telling me i need to get a passport before he returns from holidays so i can go with him to palm springs the beginning of next month to fetch another car. (don't ask - apparently he's now the car-buy-and-sell-kind-of-guy never thought of my dad as a car salesman)

i think that's what i could tell you. there's probably more.

ok, so i know i just SUCK!

it's been since before holidays that i've posted. so i know that i officially suck.

i'll just give you a quick recap, and call it good.

- holiday was great. the room not so much - would have to give it negative reviews. it sucked. smelled like ass. and totally uncomfortable

- had that interview *FINALLY* that i was waiting for. 2 1/2 weeks ago. still haven't heard anything back.

- had a yearly review with my boss, got a good raise, a nice lunch, and a pat on the back.

- have trained 2 new people since coming home from holidays.

- have done 2 weeks of sales coverage, with another 3 back to back starting a week from monday.

- got the kids back to school with zero road bumps. b is actually loving school this year - maybe its going to finally be "the" year for him. he's never really liked it yet! (and i think he's connected very well with this year's teacher - definitely key for him!)

- my big kid is in junior high. wow. scary that he's growing up.

- been out golfing twice - once with the kids, once with dh, one of his co-workers and our usual golfing partner-the neighbour.

- quit smoking just after returning from holidays. that is a huge one. and probably the biggest reason i haven't been on the computer much. had to change habits as well.

- gained 5 pounds. see above.

- went to race city to watch cascar and stock car racing.

- started reading the new harry potter book.

- read books 1 - 10 of the stephanie plum series.

- we're toying with the idea of moving sooner rather than later. possibilities are (and yes, some sound a little bit crazy) houston, texas; belize; bahamas; ohio (and i already said NO to that one)

so there you have it. a month in fast forward!

and we're off!!

heading out tomorrow morning to nanaimo for just over a week. will return next sunday hopefully refreshed and rejuvinated from the vacation - needed for us all! hoping to maybe catch up with jennifer from scraptivity - hopefully we can co-ordinate!

the kids head back to school only a couple days after we get back. they're both looking forward to it - ok, who am i kidding? ds 1 is - he's the big geek. ds 2 - not so much. he'd rather be buried in his computer games and archie comics.

and me? looking forward to the routine of school days again. and maybe i'll find a little bit of productivity scrapbooking again. didn't get anything done over the summer. but i did take pictures!

have a good week - updates and pics when we get back!