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Friday, March 30, 2007

It's Friday!

Yesterday was my mother-in-law's birthday. Happy Birthday!! She certainly got a beautiful day for her birthday. It was in the 60's here yesterday and so sunny. I loved it! Ian had tumbling yesterday and I found out that they're going to keep going with it. Yeah!!! Ian loves going and I can tell that his muscles have been getting stronger. Things that he couldn't do at the beginning are starting to get easier for him.
Tonight Ian is spending the night at his grandparents and Colin and I are going to MOPS and POPS at church. It's going to be games and dessert. I'm sure it will be a lot of fun.
Tomorrow morning we sign Ian up for 6 weeks of swimming lessons. They're at noon on Sundays so we'll have to leave church a little early. We tried to find out about lessons in our town, but found out that everyone goes to the Y in a neighboring town, which is much more expensive than these lessons and we're already up there, so it should work out well.
Well the dog is telling me it's time to feed her, so I think I will. Have a great day!

Tuesday, March 27, 2007

The Last Two Days

The busier I get, the less I blog. Sunday was a very busy day. We went to church. The pastor spoke about Peter and his pride and how we all struggle with that. I know that's right. After church we had lunch with Colin's parents at their duplex and then we went over to see where they are building their new house and how it was progressing. I think they're going to paint the outside this week. Pretty soon they'll be working on finishing the inside. It was dry walled last week.
It was such a pretty day that after we got back home, Colin mowed the lawn and Ian helped with the play mower. I of course did what I do best, photograph the whole thing! Colin had just gotten the mower started when I turned to go inside. He looked at me and said 'You're going to get the camera, aren't you?' I smiled and told him that yes I was. I had to photograph the first time he mowed our very own lawn! I got a few cute pictures, I'll try to post at least one.
Yesterday was a very long day. It was a full day of work 8:30-5:00 and the boys were arguing off and on all day. At quiet time, Ian popped out of the room he was supposed to be in even though we had discussed at length that he should not pop out and that his consequence would be that quiet time would change to nap time, so it did. He was very unhappy about that but ended up taking a nap and thanking me for it later. His cousin fell asleep on the floor of his room, so he took a nap, too. Hopefully, tomorrow they will cooperate better.

Saturday, March 24, 2007

Grand Birthday Plans

Ian's 6th birthday is a week away so I decided to ask him what he wants for his birthday. I have most of his gifts already, but we're thinking about a swing set for the backyard. Ian's first answer was, of course, Hot Wheels. So I suggested that maybe there might be something for outside that he might like. He thought about it for a minute and asked me to follow him down the hall. He led me to the game closet at the end of the hall and stopped. "This is where we can put a door to the backyard and we can build a porch out there" he announced. Not exactly the idea I had in mind, but not surprising since he had been watching HGTV part of the morning! I did finally gently nudge him in the direction of maybe wanting a swing set, it's a bit more economical than his plan!

Friday, March 23, 2007

Sharing Recipes

My friend Missy send me a recipe exchange email today. I diligently followed the directions of the email and sent it to 20 friends. It was a stretch to find that many people on my email list that I thought might like to participate and wouldn't get mad at me for sending it to them. I did send a yummy recipe to the #1 person on my list. I'll share it here, too. It is from Jimmy Dean Sausage, but I changed it a little after the first time that I made it. If you want the original recipe I know it's at the Jimmy Dean website. So here it is:
Jimmy Dean Golden Sausage Egg Rolls
1 pkg. Regular Flavor Jimmy Dean Pork Sausage
1 bag (16 oz.) Cole slaw mix
2 tablespoons fresh ginger, finely chopped
2 tablespoons fresh garlic, finely chopped
½ tablespoon black pepper
½ teaspoon salt
1 pkg. (18-20 wrappers) egg roll wrappers
vegetable oil for frying
dipping sauce: spicy mustard, sweet and sour sauce or soy sauce
In large skillet, cook sausage over medium high heat, stirring frequently until thoroughly cooked and no longer pink. Remove from heat; add cabbage, ginger, garlic, pepper and salt; mix well. Transfer mixture to colander to drain; cool 15 minutes before using. Assemble egg rolls according to directions on wrapper package, using 1/4 cup of mixture for each roll. To cook: in a wok, Dutch oven or fryer, add oil to a depth of 3 inches; heat to 375 F. Fry 3 or 4 at a time for about 3 minutes or until golden brown; drain on paper towels. Serve with your favorite dipping sauce.

Makes 18-20 egg rolls
I have to add a little story about these egg rolls. They are my favorite egg rolls bar none. I've made them a few times. Once for a get together. They went over very well. I've made them and only partially fried them and frozen them. That works pretty well. I've also made them at a friend's house when we were making a Chinese dinner. There were maybe 4 egg rolls left at the end of the dinner, they were what everyone was filling up on. Here's my little story. Colin, my husband doesn't like any ethnic food very much. I on the other hand adore it. Mexican, Chinese, Thai, etc. I think it's yummy. Anyway, I made the egg rolls the first time and offered one to Colin. Nope he didn't want one. He doesn't like egg rolls. I made them a couple of more times. Keep in mind that this means at least a year has gone by, I don't make them all the time. Finally, one day I made chicken lo mein and egg rolls for dinner. Colin came home and pretty much turned up his nose to dinner. 'I'm not in the mood for Chinese.' Well, that's all there is' I told him. I suggested that he at least try an egg roll. 'They're really good' I said. He gave me a skeptical look, but he tried it. He loved it! He ate two or three and the next day he stole the leftovers I had planned for my lunch and made them his lunch. It took almost two years of making those egg rolls before my husband finally tried them and discovered that they were wonderful. In his defense he explained;'You never told me they had sausage in them.' I hope you enjoy this recipe much sooner than my husband did...enjoy!

Wednesday, March 21, 2007

Another Evening Surprise and the Santa Debate Rages On

I believe yesterday I posted that I didn't want any more evening surprises. Well I got one. In the middle of a very happy conversation with my dad, the phone went out, which means all our digital cable went out. Of course it was also almost the exact moment that Colin got home from work, so he got to call the cable company and sit on hold for at least 30 min. Not a nice surprise.
I can't believe I'm typing this, but today I had to stop a lively discussion about the existence of Santa Claus again. Could someone please inform these kids that it's March? Can't they worry about the Easter Bunny for a change. I believe the subject came up at lunch when Ian's cousin asked if Ian had gotten his pirate ship at Christmas from Santa. Ian of course answered no he had not, it was from mom and dad. Then he just had to add; 'besides, you know Santa is really your mom and dad.' Then ensued a heated debate in which the cousin argued that Santa was a "spirit" and that was why no one ever saw him and besides mom and dad are way too loud to sneak around the house. To which Ian answered 'just see what happens on Christmas if you fall asleep and your mom and dad do too, you won't have any presents under the tree.' Of course the whole time Ian is shooting his retorts about the truth of Santa he turns and looks at me and says 'right,mom?' Now I don't want to be the one who totally shatters the cousin's delusional belief (one that he's clinging to as tightly as he can), so I try to avoid commenting as much as possible. At one point I couldn't even keep a straight face, I burst out laughing. Finally I had to forbid anymore debate, I couldn't take any more!

Tuesday, March 20, 2007

Evening Surprises

Well, the last two evenings have produced some surprises that we'd rather had not appeared. Sunday night Ian started complaining about a tummy ache around 7 pm. We ended up cuddling him for several hours and giving him sips of ginger ale. That seemed to help. He was fine the next morning.
Last night we got home around 6:30 and Ian announced that his light bulb had burned out in his bedroom. If only it had been that simple. Colin changed the light bulbs and flipped the switch..nothing happened. So then we thought the light itself might have gone out so we swapped out the light with another room's light (part of a future project anyway), but once again it did no good. So Colin switched the switches...still nothing. Poor guy, he climbed in the attic (he still hadn't had dinner) to make sure no silly little mouse had gotten chew happy with any wires. Nope, they were completely buried in insulation. So back to the wiring in the switch. Colin moved it around and got it to work. Hooray! Now we're already started on our weekend lighting project. We're going to move the ceiling fan from the dining room into the home school room and put a new light fixture in the dining room.
I hope there are no surprises tonight. I don't think I could take it.

Sunday, March 18, 2007

The Week Gone By

Another week has gone by and I didn't blog once. I guess it was just a busy week. We had a few beautiful warm days last week. The flowers are blooming and the grass is green and it looks like spring everywhere. I love it.
This weekend I went to our church's women's conference. The speaker talked about holding fast to Christ and forgiveness. She went through the story of Joseph in Genesis. It was funny hearing it analyzed...it hadn't been that long since I read the whole story to Ian, so I was very familiar with the story...even more than usual. It was a great conference.
I've been fighting my allergies...spring time...I love all the blooms and grass, but they make me sneeze.
I did add some new pictures. Colin had to help me. The new camera has so many pixels that I have to shrink every picture before I try to load it on Blogger.
Hopefully, this next week will run a little smoother and I'll feel more rested.

Sunday, March 11, 2007

Time Change and the Power of Phonics

I am tired today. I have been robbed of one hour of sleep. I'm sure it was my best hour of sleep. Probably had the best dream time and the most rest. I can never get it back. Where do I go for a refund??? I want my hour back. Perhaps a couple of naps this week will make up the difference. Somehow, I doubt it.
Yesterday we went to the Awana games and our team won first place for their circle. Ian was an alternate, but he got to play in a couple of games and he had a great time. On the way back we stopped at a hardware store to look for a gadget for Colin's mom, but they didn't have them in stock. Colin was in the store for a bit while Ian and I waited in the van, but Ian decided he needed to go potty, so we went in the store. Colin was looking for a part for our garage door so one of the guys that works there was helping us. Ian decided to put his phonics skills to use and read the man's name tag. He started out..ull and stopped. The next letter stumped him. I helped out. The Y sounds like an i. So he started again. Ull...i...n...n. Lynn, your name is Lynn. He did it! On the way home in the van today I spelled the word sub and Ian sounded that out, too. Pretty cool!

Thursday, March 8, 2007

Where did the week go?

I can't believe it's Thursday. It feels like yesterday was Monday. It's been a busy week. Monday, Ian's cousin had to go to the dentist, twice. He had an abscessed tooth over the weekend. He had it pulled yesterday...not a happy camper. Monday at work I made Black Bean soup for their dinner. Not something that I thought would appeal to me, until I made it. It smelled fabulous, so I tasted it and it was fabulous. I had Ian taste it and he agreed, so I copied the recipe. I'll try to post it later today.
Tuesday I decided to apply a little of the organization that I heard about at MOPS on Friday and I wrote a list of tasks. Number one was clean my kitchen. Between schoolwork, making box cars for Awana, the kitchen took most of the rest of my time Tuesday. My counters are clean. All my dishes are caught up and it feels great. Today I tackle the living room. It's not too bad, but it's getting the complete spring cleaning.
Yesterday Ian had Drive-in movie night at Awana. He invited a guest and they had a blast. They all watched the new Veggie Tales movie..Little Moe (it's about Moses). Ian loved his red "sports car". I'll try to get a picture of it and post it. I forgot to take my camera yesterday, so I didn't get one at the "drive-in".
Well, it's time to get Ian started on his math. He already had gym time. Have a great day!

Monday, March 5, 2007

Monday Morning

Monday morning has arrived and although I didn't blog over the weekend there isn't a lot of information to share. Friday was MOPS. The talk was on being organized. I can do that. If someone will do it for me!!! Help! We have too much clutter.
Ian had a great time in his Moppets class and wasn't ready to leave when I came to pick him up.
Saturday was Awana games practice again. The games are next Saturday. I'll let you know how they go. Saturday I purchased the spray paint for Ian's "car". Awana is having drive-in movie night....did I tell you this yet? Anyway, I'm decorating 2 boxes to look like cars (Ian invited a guest). We're going for the red sports car look. It's a very boxy sports car...hahaha.
Sunday I actually started working on the cars and hopefully, I will finish them tomorrow. I have to pick up some more red paint today..I didn't have enough for 2 boxes. I'll try to post some pictures of the cars when they are done.

Thursday, March 1, 2007

Playing Catch-up

Once again I find myself falling behind in blogging. Let's see if I can get caught up.Tuesday I talked with the lady from the Northwest Airedale Rescue and got some sound advice on what to do for Lucy. We are now feeding her some raw fruits and veggies along with her doggie food, giving her Benedryl if she gets too itchy and still need to get some beef bones for her to chew on..one a day. The lady thought it sounded like the vet was trying to "stick it to us". We'll see how Lucy does on this new diet.
Tuesday night we went to a Pampered Chef party at my friend's house and ended up getting home pretty late. Ian was pretty cranky yesterday. He had a good time at Awana, though. Next week is their "drive-in" movie night. The kids or parents make "cars" out of boxes and the kids get to watch a movie and have popcorn in the gym.
Today we did extra school work to get caught up again and Ian had tumbling. Colin overslept this morning so he had the van so Ian and I had to walk to tumbling. It was cold, but at least it wasn't raining. I walked down with Ian and Lucy and once Ian was settled, I walked back to the house with Lucy, gave her some water and headed back over to the school where Ian was happily tumbling. I guess there had been a few tears from Ian while I was gone (he's used to me staying the whole time) but he was doing great when I came back.
Now I need to go make dinner. We're having fajitas and then I need to prep the food I'm taking to MOPS tomorrow. Hopefully, I won't fall this far behind in my blogging again.