So, we're moved into the new apartment. Hurrah! A little farther north now, so it only takes me ten to fifteen minutes to get to work, and Matt about fifteen to twenty. Mucho improv-a-mento (<- bad Spanglish) over the hour drive. Though there are days like yesterday when there's traffic and wrecks and it still takes me an hour to get home. The new place is really, really nice. It's on a keel with the first apartment Matt and I had, pre-Natalee, if not nicer than it. My uncle still loves me lots (and my cooking and baking) and hired some day laborers and a flunky or two to haul our stuff to the new place in his trailer, and then haul it up to the second floor and put it where I told them to (usually). We're starting to settle in, though the dining room has a layer of boxes in it rather than a table. I actually need to get those unpacked today for Thanksgiving tomorrow. It's seeming to become a tradition for some odd reason, that when we move into a new place, it's always within a week of Thanksgiving and we cook and invite people over for it. Despite the boxes and oddly disposed belongings and the incipient exhaustion.
There's an added hurdle this year because Natalee has been sick almost non-stop for a week now. She threw up last Thursday, she's had a fever all week, her nose is in a marathon and leaves its tracks all over her face and in her hair when she sleeps, and she's hacking and coughing now. My poor baby. They say it's a virus, but I'm taking her back to the doctor today (b/c the fever's lasted so long) and will ask if it could be allergies. She's just been sick SO much lately. I know it's to be expected, starting out at daycare, but Matt and I have already missed nearly ten days of work altogether. Plus there have been quite a few days that Mom has taken care of her. She's been sick a lot! We can't afford to keep this up, for several reasons, not even considering how wearing this is on her poor little body. If it's allergies, we need to find out and take care of it. Or figure out whatever the heck keeps making her sick and if there's anything we can do to prevent it. And the medicines we can give her for all the different symptoms are so hard on her, too. Argh. I wish I knew how to make her better. In some ways I miss the days when I could solve her problems by just putting her to my breast and feeding her.
We also have to finish cleaning up the old apartment before the first. Matt's been working his tail off trying to spackle and paint and clean over there when he gets off from work every day, but there's still a lot to do. He cares more about cleaning it all up than I do, seeing as how badly the complex has treated us over the past year, the problems that are inherent to the apartment, and the fact that after three years of living in the place, the likelihood of getting any of our deposit back is nil. Bleh, oh well. We'll be putting on our 'cleaning caps' and getting to work after Natalee and I get back from her doctor's visit.
There's still a lot to be thankful for. Like a nice, new apartment. I'll be spending tomorrow with my mother, her new husband, and my baby sis. I have a nephew we're waiting for to be born any day. A good, loving, funny family. And sharing my life with my best friend and the most wonderful little girl the world has known.
Oh!oh!oh! and turkey! And the leftovers are mine!!!! Bwahaha! *victory dance* I knew there was a good reason to be happy. Happy Thanksgiving!
Wednesday, November 26, 2008
Thursday, September 18, 2008
Smug
Smugness is finding the $5 and under section of http://www.bn.com/ when you have a $50 gift card for your birthday. With $6 tacked on to that, I ordered nine books with free shipping. All brand-spanking-new books, sans suspicious yellow stains, odd smells, and/or mouse poop. (I found out I'm allergic to mouse poop in college from mysterious used books.) They should get here by Tuesday of next week, if not before. How frickin' awesome is that? I'm fighting not to grin like an idiot or do a pointless booty dance in my computer chair. I feel like He-Man must've felt after winning a battle. There must have been a reason for that silly looking grin of his, right? Oh, yeah....
*grin*
*grin*
Wednesday, September 17, 2008
Post Ike
I can't believe I can say I've lived through a hurricane. I think, I was in a hurricane, what? And then I remember Saturday around 4 a.m., hearing the wind blowing outside our apartment, hearing things being picked up and hurled outside our windows. And then I know, yes, I've lived through a hurricane. I knew those winds were around 100 mph and not just 80 to 85 mph. And I didn't dare look out the window to see the devastation the winds were causing because I was afraid of that being the moment something came crashing through the glass. We moved to a pallet in the hallway around 2 a.m. when the winds started picking up and Natalee woke up scared. We pulled the mattress off of her bed and stuck it in the end of the hallway; she slept after that as if nothing was out of the ordinary. The power flickered on and off for a few hours before it finally went out around 4 o'clock.
When it was bright enough to see outside, the parking lot was filling with water. Leaves, twigs, and branches were (and still are) everywhere. The ground seemed preternaturally green with the leaves. Leaves and twigs were jammed between boards on the buildings and glued to cars and windows. The gutter on the neighboring building was ripped off and leaned against our neighbors' porch at a low slant. Nothing crashed through our windows, thank God, but an ornamental tree maybe a foot and a half away from our front window lost the top half of its main trunk. Its secondary trunk is still attached, but the winds were so crazy and violent that the little trunk was twisted around and around before it finally shredded and fell over. With its top trunk sticking up into the air broken and the other trunk and branches leaning down to touch the ground, it looks like the tree is flipping us off.
It rained hard for 12 to 13 hours straight. We got about 18 inches of rain in less than a day. The water in the parking lot was starting to spill over the curbs and was reaching over wheels when a group of residents pulled open a storm drain in the middle of the lot. I thought it was the worst kind of stupid at the time because all the debris would start washing down into the drain and possibly block it up worse, but I was wrong and the open drain kept the lot from flooding the whole complex. We've always had a problem with Natalee's closet leaking when it rains hard. This time the water reached almost to the door of her room, covering 3/4 of her floor. Where the exterior rebuilding crew hammered holes through our wall and cracked portions of it, water leaked through onto our bedroom floor under our bed.
Being without power got old fast. I grew up in a family that went without power for a few days at a time when we couldn't afford our electric bill, but I don't remember it ever being this hard dealing with the food situation. Or dealing with the amount of things to be done with little ability to do any of them. And we usually had a phone line growing up even if we didn't have power, or vice versa. It was rarely both. But we have digital phone service now, so when the cable/internet goes down, so does our phone. And the cell phones all over were (and I think still are) in digital roam. So we lacked a way to contact our family to tell them we were okay (without incurring huge charges) or to check on family or friends who weathered the storm. Matt has a tv/radio/lantern combo that we watched TV on for updates on the storm and the power. We have windup radios to listen to the news and music on, one of which we loaned to a neighbor who had no way to hear the news about boiling and conserving water and other updates. We napped a lot in the humidity and rain. I finished Kara's baby shower invitations with embellishments. Natalee decorated an envelope, too. We took a walk but had to turn back almost immediately because of downed powerlines and debris blocking the way. We tried to leave in the car around dinnertime to see if there was anything open, to survey the damage, etc. We got about 50 feet before we had to turn back - huge knocked down trees blocking our way, and power lines dangling from posts and trailing across the street like jungle vines or ribbons. I got terribly antsy, being trapped inside the apartment with all the windows closed because of the rain and no air circulating, and so many things to be done and no way to do them. We finally made a stirfry on the butane-powered single burner stove I bought Thursday. It seemed sinfully luxurious to eat a hot meal. We finished it off with melting ice cream from the freezer. We caved and called family to check in briefly. And just as we were settling in with our melted ice cream, watching the news in black and white on a three inch screen, the power came back on.
We have been so truly blessed throughout this. We are all safe and well, as is my family. My grandfather is still without power, but has a generator. My mother's house didn't lose power during the storm, but yesterday when they fixed the lines so all of their neighbors got their power back, they lost it. They have a generator, too, though. Gas lines are awful, but more and more stations are getting their power back, so more will be opening. Please understand, when we got our power back after 18 hours without, there were still 16,000 people without it, and closer to 2 million in Houston without. Only after last night did our town get most of its power back. We were able to buy groceries Sunday. We felt guilty, able to buy food that has to be cooked, when so many people are struggling to find food that doesn't have to be heated, or can be heated on a little charcoal grill. There were no frozen or cold items at the store. None. No milk, no eggs, no meat, nothing. But the line to check out was still 30 minutes long. A small portion of our town never lost power, so for my birthday on Sunday we were able to get Arby's sandwiches through the drive-thru after waiting half an hour. (That's all they were serving - Arby's roast beef sandwiches in three sizes, fries, and soft drinks. Chili's was packed with a line out the door and down the sidewalk in the late afternoon.)
Matt (and I to a smaller degree) spent the past few days pulling up carpets, drying up the wet padding and the concrete below, airing rooms out to get rid of the mildew stink, shifting furniture around to accomodate the carpet clean up. Matt still doesn't have work today. And Willis ISD, where I work now, is closed through the end of the week. I'm hoping nothing terrible has happened to the school where I work, or to any of the kids or employees. I know Willis residents are still without power or phones. Hopefully they have running water and sewage. So many people are without even that. It's seemed like a vacation, all being home together, and sleeping in, that I occasionally forget the reason. I feel like a terrible person for that, watching the news and seeing what so many people are dealing with and going without, but there's not much I can do to change that. We don't have money to share - I'm not getting paid for the work we're missing. We've offered our home to friends and family and coworkers with no result. There's not much else we can do. So I'm enjoying this time with my family and thanking God with a very sincere heart that we have so very much and that we made it through the storm without harm.
I've been teasing Matt that getting our power back was God's birthday present to me. Because He loves me. Don't know about Matt. :-p
When it was bright enough to see outside, the parking lot was filling with water. Leaves, twigs, and branches were (and still are) everywhere. The ground seemed preternaturally green with the leaves. Leaves and twigs were jammed between boards on the buildings and glued to cars and windows. The gutter on the neighboring building was ripped off and leaned against our neighbors' porch at a low slant. Nothing crashed through our windows, thank God, but an ornamental tree maybe a foot and a half away from our front window lost the top half of its main trunk. Its secondary trunk is still attached, but the winds were so crazy and violent that the little trunk was twisted around and around before it finally shredded and fell over. With its top trunk sticking up into the air broken and the other trunk and branches leaning down to touch the ground, it looks like the tree is flipping us off.
It rained hard for 12 to 13 hours straight. We got about 18 inches of rain in less than a day. The water in the parking lot was starting to spill over the curbs and was reaching over wheels when a group of residents pulled open a storm drain in the middle of the lot. I thought it was the worst kind of stupid at the time because all the debris would start washing down into the drain and possibly block it up worse, but I was wrong and the open drain kept the lot from flooding the whole complex. We've always had a problem with Natalee's closet leaking when it rains hard. This time the water reached almost to the door of her room, covering 3/4 of her floor. Where the exterior rebuilding crew hammered holes through our wall and cracked portions of it, water leaked through onto our bedroom floor under our bed.
Being without power got old fast. I grew up in a family that went without power for a few days at a time when we couldn't afford our electric bill, but I don't remember it ever being this hard dealing with the food situation. Or dealing with the amount of things to be done with little ability to do any of them. And we usually had a phone line growing up even if we didn't have power, or vice versa. It was rarely both. But we have digital phone service now, so when the cable/internet goes down, so does our phone. And the cell phones all over were (and I think still are) in digital roam. So we lacked a way to contact our family to tell them we were okay (without incurring huge charges) or to check on family or friends who weathered the storm. Matt has a tv/radio/lantern combo that we watched TV on for updates on the storm and the power. We have windup radios to listen to the news and music on, one of which we loaned to a neighbor who had no way to hear the news about boiling and conserving water and other updates. We napped a lot in the humidity and rain. I finished Kara's baby shower invitations with embellishments. Natalee decorated an envelope, too. We took a walk but had to turn back almost immediately because of downed powerlines and debris blocking the way. We tried to leave in the car around dinnertime to see if there was anything open, to survey the damage, etc. We got about 50 feet before we had to turn back - huge knocked down trees blocking our way, and power lines dangling from posts and trailing across the street like jungle vines or ribbons. I got terribly antsy, being trapped inside the apartment with all the windows closed because of the rain and no air circulating, and so many things to be done and no way to do them. We finally made a stirfry on the butane-powered single burner stove I bought Thursday. It seemed sinfully luxurious to eat a hot meal. We finished it off with melting ice cream from the freezer. We caved and called family to check in briefly. And just as we were settling in with our melted ice cream, watching the news in black and white on a three inch screen, the power came back on.
We have been so truly blessed throughout this. We are all safe and well, as is my family. My grandfather is still without power, but has a generator. My mother's house didn't lose power during the storm, but yesterday when they fixed the lines so all of their neighbors got their power back, they lost it. They have a generator, too, though. Gas lines are awful, but more and more stations are getting their power back, so more will be opening. Please understand, when we got our power back after 18 hours without, there were still 16,000 people without it, and closer to 2 million in Houston without. Only after last night did our town get most of its power back. We were able to buy groceries Sunday. We felt guilty, able to buy food that has to be cooked, when so many people are struggling to find food that doesn't have to be heated, or can be heated on a little charcoal grill. There were no frozen or cold items at the store. None. No milk, no eggs, no meat, nothing. But the line to check out was still 30 minutes long. A small portion of our town never lost power, so for my birthday on Sunday we were able to get Arby's sandwiches through the drive-thru after waiting half an hour. (That's all they were serving - Arby's roast beef sandwiches in three sizes, fries, and soft drinks. Chili's was packed with a line out the door and down the sidewalk in the late afternoon.)
Matt (and I to a smaller degree) spent the past few days pulling up carpets, drying up the wet padding and the concrete below, airing rooms out to get rid of the mildew stink, shifting furniture around to accomodate the carpet clean up. Matt still doesn't have work today. And Willis ISD, where I work now, is closed through the end of the week. I'm hoping nothing terrible has happened to the school where I work, or to any of the kids or employees. I know Willis residents are still without power or phones. Hopefully they have running water and sewage. So many people are without even that. It's seemed like a vacation, all being home together, and sleeping in, that I occasionally forget the reason. I feel like a terrible person for that, watching the news and seeing what so many people are dealing with and going without, but there's not much I can do to change that. We don't have money to share - I'm not getting paid for the work we're missing. We've offered our home to friends and family and coworkers with no result. There's not much else we can do. So I'm enjoying this time with my family and thanking God with a very sincere heart that we have so very much and that we made it through the storm without harm.
I've been teasing Matt that getting our power back was God's birthday present to me. Because He loves me. Don't know about Matt. :-p
Friday, September 12, 2008
Ike
Friggin', stupid hurricane crap...
(moment of silence for bleeped out rant)
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Hopefully I'll have more to tell you after the storm. Hopefully I'll have power after the storm. Cross your fingers and say some prayers for us, please.
hmmurrrphretickingschmurfinmuckerstinkingoinwidoutpoweronmybirthdayikeblurginflurpin...........
(moment of silence for bleeped out rant)
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Hopefully I'll have more to tell you after the storm. Hopefully I'll have power after the storm. Cross your fingers and say some prayers for us, please.
hmmurrrphretickingschmurfinmuckerstinkingoinwidoutpoweronmybirthdayikeblurginflurpin...........
Tuesday, August 12, 2008
Baby Shower
My sister Kara is having a little boy in December. And I told her I'm throwing the baby shower. Fun thing, I haven't been to a baby shower in around fifteen years. And I was a kid in the background then. (My baby shower(s) didn't happen, not for lack of trying on friends' and family's part - some of them.) So I'm trying to remember what all you do at baby showers, what's cool, what's not. Where the heck to hold the shower if we can't use Kara's ward's Relief Society room. (Boy, Relief Society looks weird when you write it out. I always pronounced it Reeleeephssuh-sigh-eee-tee as a kid. It wasn't two words; it was one nonsensical word smush. It wasn't meant to make sense. So I now that I write it down and look at it as an adult, I think to myself, "Huh? A society for relief? When did that happen?") I don't have oodles of money to spend on some posh banquet room or even enough to pay for everyones drinks and food at a decent restaurant. If I had to hold it at some kind of restaurant, with the cha-ching going in my wallet, we'd be having it in the McDonald's playground, and everyone would be ordering off the dollar menu. "What? They don't have cheese on the double burger here on the dollar menu? Can you add cheese for more?......No." No fun all around, if you include shrieking kids running amok around you.
Soooo....what to do? Any advice? Anything you loved or hated at a baby shower you attended? And yes, you'll be invited, Steph. I run the show this time, so I get to invite who I want. I'm going to make this cake hopefully:
http://www.bettycrocker.com/recipes/recipe.aspx?recipeID=45539&Source=SearchResultPage
Our friends who are supposed to teach me the fine arts of cake decorating are finally coming over this Friday. And there's even a video to show you how to make the cake. (Kara's theme for little Tristan Nicholas is ducks.) So, I figure if I really want to go cheap, I can buy one or two cake mix boxes to make the cake, make my own frosting sans trans fats. And make the rest of the refreshments or beg a few off on a few other people. I know I want to make a brownie pie. And I'm thinking I'm going to buy a couple cute little ducky ice cube trays, set up a cute punch bowl with little rubber duckies on top, and just serve water or blue Kool-Aid with duckie ice cubes, possibly flavored ones. That way, my budget can go for decorating the room so it won't be quite so blah. (Church rooms always seem so blah at a party, to me at least.) And for the prizes and Kara's gifts. And stamps and invitations. And party favors. Gack. The cheaper I can do stuff, the better. If I have to, I'll send round the hat for donations from family members if the costs build up too much. Or just tell someone to do something. *coughjennifercough*
I found a pretty cool website that's helped me plan so far.
http://www.babyshower101.com/index.html
It has a lot of great games. I've already gone through and picked out some for review by my shower sidekick. I just know, if I don't go through and plan out and do a bunch of this now, things are going to happen in between, and then I'll have an avalance of things to do the week before the party. Which will be mid October.
And Natalee's getting her pink princess glove off on Friday. She got a buckle fracture in her right wrist three weeks ago from falling off the bed. So she's had a pink waterproof cast on since mid July. We call it her princess glove. She hasn't minded it so much - she's gotten lots of attention from it. Kids at the playground come up just to ask about her owie. And adults always seem to have stickers or cookies or candy tucked away somewhere for her and kitty cat since this happened. There's a long story about why she broke her wrist, and I could rant and rave for a while about the evil apartment complex and the new manager. But I won't, and Natalee's been doing okay with the cast.
I have an interview tomorrow. Hopefully it'll go well, and it'll be something I want. And maybe I'll get some more invitations for interviews in the next week or two. We'll see. Wish me luck.
Monday, July 21, 2008
There and Back Again
Our trip to Branson was wonderful. It made us start dreaming about other trips we'll try to take Natalee on, when she's older. The drive was horribly long - 10 hours, but Dad let us borrow his big F-150 extended cab pickup truck and his portable DVD player. So we had a lot more space for both cargo and us, and when Natalee got too restless we could pop Finding Nemo or Elmo's World episodes in for her.
Branson itself seemed like a huge tourist trap with horrific traffic, with one lane of traffic each way. But we had fun walking around old town Branson and visiting the candy store and leather shops, etc. We went with all our friends to Dolly Parton's Dixie Stampede. That was an experience. It's sort of dinner theatre, where you sit around a big arena, watching a rodeo-type show while eating without utensils. There were about a thousand people there for the show, and they divided one half of the arena as the North/Union side, and the other half the South/Confederacy. And so half of the performers (horse riders, trick riders, cattle herders, actors, singers, etc.) were competing for the North's side and the other half for the South. Natalee got a little gray flag she got to wave for the South and try to trip the waiters with. And then while we were eating our meal, one of the waiters came up and asked if Matt and I would like to be in the show, they needed a couple. So Matt and I went down to wait outside the arena with three other couples and were prepped. The performer who prepped us told us we'd be riding horses. We'd go out, line up by a barrel, two couples per side, and when they were told to, the guys would run down to the end of the arena to get a horse. These were special horses that they had just shipped in from
We also took Natalee to see her first movie, WALL-E. She loved it, and is still talking about robots and "Wa-wee" and "E-ba." But mostly we spent time visiting with all our friends there for the wedding. We hardly ever get to spend much time with them anymore, since we live so far apart now, so we really appreciated the opportunity to visit. The wedding went well. The day stayed nice, and the setting out in a field among the mountains was absolutely beautiful. It was really special. But it did rain. A lot. It leaked through our bathroom ceiling for two nights, the first night so badly that we worried about it spreading across the floor to the bedroom carpet. Thankfully, it didn't keep us from doing anything on our trip, and the resort refunded a portion of the rent to our friend. We're talking about going back again someday, but I think we'll spend more time enjoying the parks and the lake than going through Branson next time.
We've been trying to get back into the swing of things since then. I bought a copy of Potty Train Your Child in Just One Day by Teri Crane. In some ways, the book is great. It forces you to spend the entire day giving your kid the attention they need to make the scary transition to pottying in the potty chair. And it provides you with lots of ideas. But, on the other hand, it's very improbable, nigh to impossible to manage this feat in one day. What they don't mention is how much time you have to spend (weeks, months) preparing your child to get to the point where they can do the whole procedure on their own. And they still probably won't manage to be potty trained in one day. And the second problem with this book is.....to do all the things they tell you to do, you have to have a lot of money to throw the silly party with all their little party favors and treats and books and movies and decorations and potty doll. Plus free time to buy all the things, make all the items and decorations (such as diapers for the dolly, which takes a lot longer than you'd think), and decorate your home, on top of having an entire day free to devote all your attention to your child and their party. I cannot imagine accomplishing this if I had another kid, especially one under the age of six.
But.....Natalee is pottying in her potty chair. She hasn't had an accident in nearly four days. She still wears a diaper during naptime and bedtime, which is when she poops now since she's not comfortable doing it in her potty chair yet. And she's terrified of sitting on the big potty chair, even with a seat adjuster. But Matt and I are very impressed by how much she's progressed in little over a week. She gets to watch an episode of Little Einsteins every time she pees in the potty chair. So we've watched a lot of LE lately, and we're very happy to do so.
We have some friends who are really awesome cake makers and decorators. I mean, Tommy and Kristen make better looking cakes than you'll find at the bakery of your grocery store. So I'm trying to persuade them to come to dinner this weekend and teach me how to frost and decorate cakes. Cuz I stink at it. Horribly. Matt's better at it than I am, honestly. So, I'm going to make my very excellent breaded pork tenderloin with homemade rolls, mashed potatoes, grilled corn, and salad. And hopefully Tommy and Kristen will teach me how to decorate a chocolate cherry cola cake. I've been dying for an excuse to make this thing, it sounds and looks so good. I'm foregoing the frosting decorations for T&K's teachings, but oh, man...I have all the stuff to make this cake now. Don't know how I'm going to last the whole week without making it and eating it. I'll let you know how it comes out, and maybe have some pictures of a prettily decorated cake....
Cross your fingers for me.
Chocolate-Cherry Cola Cake
Try a classic southern cake updated with cake mix and cherry cola.
|  | |||
| 1 | jar (10 oz) maraschino cherries, drained, 1/4 cup liquid reserved |
| 1 | box Betty Crocker® SuperMoist® devil's food cake mix |
| 1 | cup cherry cola carbonated beverage |
| 1/2 | cup vegetable oil |
| 3 | eggs |
| 1 | container (12 oz) Betty Crocker® Whipped vanilla frosting |
| 1 | cup marshmallow creme |
| 24 maraschino cherries with stems, well drained, if desired |
| 1. | Heat oven to 350°F (325°F for dark or nonstick pan). Spray bottom only of 13x9-inch pan with baking spray with flour. Chop cherries; set aside. |
| 2. | In large bowl, beat cake mix, cola beverage, oil, eggs and 1/4 cup reserved cherry liquid with electric mixer on low speed 30 seconds. Beat on medium speed beat 2 minutes. Stir in chopped cherries. Pour into pan. |
| 3. | Bake 35 to 43 minutes or until toothpick inserted in center comes out clean. Cool completely, about 1 hour. |
| 4. | In small bowl, mix frosting and marshmallow creme until smooth. Frost cake. Top each piece with 2 cherries. |
From www.bettycrocker.com.
Tuesday, June 10, 2008
Hmmm...layout changes
I glanced over my blog page today and noticed that the layout was different. It was still the layout I had picked out, but the elements on it were arranged and spaced differently. I had a moment where I worried about my account being hacked. But nothing else seems different, so I'm assuming blogger central changed something to that specific layout that affected mine. I couldn't get it fixed back, and heck, I couldn't remember exactly how it was before. So I just changed the layout.
Busy, busy days are here again. I'm baking today for Kara's wedding, making peanut butter surprise cookies that I'll freeze till the wedding. I'll try to include a link to the recipe at the end. The surprise is the chocolate peanut butter candy melted on top. This time it's a Reese's peanut butter cup, but I liked it better with a peanut butter-filled Hershey's Kiss. Sadly, those were a limited time only thing, so Reese's it is. But the Reese's lose little bits of chocolate on the wrapping, and for some reason, seeing the peanut butter peeking through where the chocolate should be makes me think of plumber's butt and bum cracks on candy pieces. I have maybe two dozen loaves of banana bread frozen in the freezer. God must approve of what I'm doing - I'm assuming He's the reason why I managed to fit all that bread in our tiny freezer and still have okay room for the normal freezer stuff...like an ice maker and frozen meals and garlic bread. I think I'll be able to fit all the cookies in there too. I'm amazed and a little awed. I'll be making cheesecake cookie bites at my grandmother's the day before the wedding. And those I'll definitely try to link the recipe for, because they seem pretty complicated, but they're freakishly easy. And the mess is on the face of the eater, not my kitchen. Hehehe.
I shouldn't be making light of things right now. Or maybe I'm due. Things just seem to be overly complicated right now. Matt's dad had surgery this morning to have one of his hips replaced; he'll have the other replaced in two months time, hopefully. As far as we know right now, he came through the surgery well. We're very grateful that he's finally getting this done. He's been in pain for most of a decade now with his hips - the padding between his bones had worn away and his bones were grinding and scraping each other when he walked. If he had gone much longer without surgery, his femur bone would have broken very badly. Thankfully, that didn't happen. Dad didn't want us to be there for the surgery, but he did ask that we be there when he gets out of the hospital. He's supposed to be in for four or five days. Since we'll be up there for the wedding Thursday night anyways, things work out. Hopefully he'll recuperate well.
But he's just one of the men in my life who are not doing well. My grandfather is possibly dying, my mother's father. He's been an alcoholic for so long that his liver is failing. Failing so bad he's been vomiting blood and can barely reach out of bed for a glass of water. He was in a really awful wreck several years back that he's never been the same from, and with his current condition, they don't think surgery is an option. Maybe that's changed though. Mom has been over there for days at a time, taking care of him, taking him for doctor's visits, changing his sheets and fixing him meals. She's not talking to me much right now, won't tell me really how he's doing. I think she's really afraid and doesn't want to say anything. Mom has been so up and down for the past ten years and more that having her dad's moral support for the past few has given her an anchor. And now she might be losing it. I wish I could help more. We live an hour and a half to two hours apart. And frankly, I don't really know my grandfather that well. I know about him, but I don't know him. Every memory I have of him is with a beer in his hand. We lived five hours away growing up, and an alcoholic grandfather who owns a honkytonk bar and a Mormon granddaughter with her nose usually in a book don't mix too well. But I know he's been the anchor to Mom's family for a long time now, and I wish I could do more to help.
And my dad, who's still reeling a bit from Kara's impending wedding and...situation, is grieving right now. Two of his co-workers, close friends, his hunting and fishing buddies, were murdered earlier this week, by a man with a rap sheet who felt like he was owed more in a deal over a tractor. It's hard to know how Dad's dealing with these sort of things. He's a lot like Matt in that. And Matt and I both know what it's like to lose a friend to the caprice of another human being. Bottom line, I know there's not much I can do for him, but tell him that I'm thinking about him and will do whatever I can for him. If the funeral is held Friday, I'll be going with him for moral support, since Brenda can't get out of leaving town on a business trip tomorrow. I'm glad I can at least do that for him, but it seems small comfort when it's only if the funeral is Friday, when I'll be there already. But not much else to be done.
On the bright side, my grandfather, my father's father, is recovering well from his surgery. I got to see him a few weeks ago. I'm not sure how much my family is talking about it, so I'll stay mum about what it was. I was worried about his mental health (not in serious), since he's not allowed to mow the lawn or do any of his home renovation projects, the things he normally does and enjoys. But it sounded like he's been busy visiting friends and family and enjoying letting Uncle Mark do the yard work. That still brings a grin to my face.
I'm starting to think this is why I've been so eager to bake and give Kara so much for her wedding. Because it's something I can do. There are so many situations regarding our family nowadays for which we can't do anything. I hate that. I hate feeling like I have to sit on my hands to prevent myself from hitting something. I hate feeling so powerless to help my family when I know they need the help. I've been ranting about it a lot. I hope Matt doesn't feel like the target of it. But I'm glad I can do this for Kara right now.
Natalee hasn't peed or pooped in the potty chair since that last post. But she has peed on our bed two or three times, all the way down to the padding covering the feather bed. There has been so much down floating around the apartment lately that my allergies have been going nuts. I think I sneezed at least a dozen times, one right after the other without a pause in between, a few days ago. We have the air purifiers, and the bed's been put back together. But the down gets put right back into the air every time I clean the lint from the dryer. Eurgh...And then it all starts over again whenever she pees on the bed. Needless to say, Natalee's been wearing her diapers a lot the past two weeks.
Matt seems to be doing okay. He's worried about his dad, of course, and working hard every day. But he hasn't had to go in on Saturdays recently. And I think most of the furor about all the people laid off at his work has died down. And I've been cooking bigger meals during the week. He seems to be enjoying having pork tenderloin and homemade biscuits and homemade rolls and tequila lime chicken with sauteed peppers and onions, homemade lasagnas and pasta bakes and focaccia bread...stuff like that. Not boxed macaroni and cheese and frozen chicken nuggets anymore. He's been playing the Conan the Barbarian mmorpg. And we've been playing a little Lego Indiana Jones. I think if the job situation would be resolved, he would be very happy. But he's still applying to jobs up in the Metroplex. And I'm earning a little bit more money, babysitting Samantha, so things are going okay for us right now.
We've still got the wedding to look forward to this weekend. Lots to stress over, but a lot of stuff to be excited about. Wish us and the bride and groom luck!
Peanut Butter Surprise Cookies
Ingredients:
You can find this recipe at: http://www.pbs.org/everydayfood/baking/recipes/peanut_butter_surprise_cookies.html
Cheesecake Cookie Cups
Ingredients:
(That's Nestle's recipe web site. They have some good things there, but, like Kraft kitchens, it all involves their products. And their website has problems some days.)
Busy, busy days are here again. I'm baking today for Kara's wedding, making peanut butter surprise cookies that I'll freeze till the wedding. I'll try to include a link to the recipe at the end. The surprise is the chocolate peanut butter candy melted on top. This time it's a Reese's peanut butter cup, but I liked it better with a peanut butter-filled Hershey's Kiss. Sadly, those were a limited time only thing, so Reese's it is. But the Reese's lose little bits of chocolate on the wrapping, and for some reason, seeing the peanut butter peeking through where the chocolate should be makes me think of plumber's butt and bum cracks on candy pieces. I have maybe two dozen loaves of banana bread frozen in the freezer. God must approve of what I'm doing - I'm assuming He's the reason why I managed to fit all that bread in our tiny freezer and still have okay room for the normal freezer stuff...like an ice maker and frozen meals and garlic bread. I think I'll be able to fit all the cookies in there too. I'm amazed and a little awed. I'll be making cheesecake cookie bites at my grandmother's the day before the wedding. And those I'll definitely try to link the recipe for, because they seem pretty complicated, but they're freakishly easy. And the mess is on the face of the eater, not my kitchen. Hehehe.
I shouldn't be making light of things right now. Or maybe I'm due. Things just seem to be overly complicated right now. Matt's dad had surgery this morning to have one of his hips replaced; he'll have the other replaced in two months time, hopefully. As far as we know right now, he came through the surgery well. We're very grateful that he's finally getting this done. He's been in pain for most of a decade now with his hips - the padding between his bones had worn away and his bones were grinding and scraping each other when he walked. If he had gone much longer without surgery, his femur bone would have broken very badly. Thankfully, that didn't happen. Dad didn't want us to be there for the surgery, but he did ask that we be there when he gets out of the hospital. He's supposed to be in for four or five days. Since we'll be up there for the wedding Thursday night anyways, things work out. Hopefully he'll recuperate well.
But he's just one of the men in my life who are not doing well. My grandfather is possibly dying, my mother's father. He's been an alcoholic for so long that his liver is failing. Failing so bad he's been vomiting blood and can barely reach out of bed for a glass of water. He was in a really awful wreck several years back that he's never been the same from, and with his current condition, they don't think surgery is an option. Maybe that's changed though. Mom has been over there for days at a time, taking care of him, taking him for doctor's visits, changing his sheets and fixing him meals. She's not talking to me much right now, won't tell me really how he's doing. I think she's really afraid and doesn't want to say anything. Mom has been so up and down for the past ten years and more that having her dad's moral support for the past few has given her an anchor. And now she might be losing it. I wish I could help more. We live an hour and a half to two hours apart. And frankly, I don't really know my grandfather that well. I know about him, but I don't know him. Every memory I have of him is with a beer in his hand. We lived five hours away growing up, and an alcoholic grandfather who owns a honkytonk bar and a Mormon granddaughter with her nose usually in a book don't mix too well. But I know he's been the anchor to Mom's family for a long time now, and I wish I could do more to help.
And my dad, who's still reeling a bit from Kara's impending wedding and...situation, is grieving right now. Two of his co-workers, close friends, his hunting and fishing buddies, were murdered earlier this week, by a man with a rap sheet who felt like he was owed more in a deal over a tractor. It's hard to know how Dad's dealing with these sort of things. He's a lot like Matt in that. And Matt and I both know what it's like to lose a friend to the caprice of another human being. Bottom line, I know there's not much I can do for him, but tell him that I'm thinking about him and will do whatever I can for him. If the funeral is held Friday, I'll be going with him for moral support, since Brenda can't get out of leaving town on a business trip tomorrow. I'm glad I can at least do that for him, but it seems small comfort when it's only if the funeral is Friday, when I'll be there already. But not much else to be done.
On the bright side, my grandfather, my father's father, is recovering well from his surgery. I got to see him a few weeks ago. I'm not sure how much my family is talking about it, so I'll stay mum about what it was. I was worried about his mental health (not in serious), since he's not allowed to mow the lawn or do any of his home renovation projects, the things he normally does and enjoys. But it sounded like he's been busy visiting friends and family and enjoying letting Uncle Mark do the yard work. That still brings a grin to my face.
I'm starting to think this is why I've been so eager to bake and give Kara so much for her wedding. Because it's something I can do. There are so many situations regarding our family nowadays for which we can't do anything. I hate that. I hate feeling like I have to sit on my hands to prevent myself from hitting something. I hate feeling so powerless to help my family when I know they need the help. I've been ranting about it a lot. I hope Matt doesn't feel like the target of it. But I'm glad I can do this for Kara right now.
Natalee hasn't peed or pooped in the potty chair since that last post. But she has peed on our bed two or three times, all the way down to the padding covering the feather bed. There has been so much down floating around the apartment lately that my allergies have been going nuts. I think I sneezed at least a dozen times, one right after the other without a pause in between, a few days ago. We have the air purifiers, and the bed's been put back together. But the down gets put right back into the air every time I clean the lint from the dryer. Eurgh...And then it all starts over again whenever she pees on the bed. Needless to say, Natalee's been wearing her diapers a lot the past two weeks.
Matt seems to be doing okay. He's worried about his dad, of course, and working hard every day. But he hasn't had to go in on Saturdays recently. And I think most of the furor about all the people laid off at his work has died down. And I've been cooking bigger meals during the week. He seems to be enjoying having pork tenderloin and homemade biscuits and homemade rolls and tequila lime chicken with sauteed peppers and onions, homemade lasagnas and pasta bakes and focaccia bread...stuff like that. Not boxed macaroni and cheese and frozen chicken nuggets anymore. He's been playing the Conan the Barbarian mmorpg. And we've been playing a little Lego Indiana Jones. I think if the job situation would be resolved, he would be very happy. But he's still applying to jobs up in the Metroplex. And I'm earning a little bit more money, babysitting Samantha, so things are going okay for us right now.
We've still got the wedding to look forward to this weekend. Lots to stress over, but a lot of stuff to be excited about. Wish us and the bride and groom luck!
Peanut Butter Surprise Cookies
Ingredients:
- 1/2 C creamy peanut butter
- 4 tbsp unsalted butter, room temperature
- 1 C packed light brown sugar
- 2 large eggs
- 1 tsp vanilla extract
- 1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
- 1 tsp baking powder
- 1/4 tsp salt
- 1/3 C sugar for rolling
- 36 mini peanut butter cups, chilled and unwrapped
- Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Cream together the peanut butter and butter until smooth. Add brown sugar until combined. Add eggs and vanilla until incorporated. (Note - they come out better if you add the eggs one at a time, letting each egg be mixed mostly in before adding the next.)
- In another bowl, whisk together the flour, baking powder, and salt. Gradually add flour mixture to first bowl in three installments. Don't overmix.
- Roll dough into tablespoon size balls. Rolls balls in the sugar until covered. Place on cookie sheets with about 2 inches between each - they puff out.
- Bake for 5 minutes or until the cookies have started to puff up a little bit, but are not done baking. Pull the sheets out of the oven and add a candy to the top of each, pressing down slightly on the candy so it won't fall off the cookie. Make sure you have all the candy unwrapped ahead of time, or the cookies will be done before you're done unwrapping, or the cookies might fall while waiting for the candy outside of the oven.
- Let cookies cool on the pan before transferring to wire rack to cool completely. Be careful not to touch the candy - the Reese's I used stay warm and smushy for long after the cookies are out of the oven.
You can find this recipe at: http://www.pbs.org/everydayfood/baking/recipes/peanut_butter_surprise_cookies.html
Cheesecake Cookie Cups
Ingredients:
- 1 pkg refrigerated pull apart chocolate chip cookie bar dough (like the Nestle Toll House cookies that are shaped like a rectangle in the package, but knockoff stuff works as well)
- 2 8 oz. pkgs cream cheese, room temperature (I used store brand, fat free stuff.)
- 1 14 oz. can sweetened condensed milk (Make sure you check the date on those buggers!)
- 2 lg eggs
- 2 tsps vanilla extract
- 1 21 oz. can cherry pie filling (You might want more than this, because half of the can is just gel and not cherries, which is what you want.)
- Preheat the oven to 325 degrees F. (Yes, I know, the package might say a different temperature, but you don't want the same temp and time for this because you don't want the cookies completely done, or they'll be slightly overdone when you bake the cheesecake part.) Paper-line 24 muffin cups. (Believe me, you DO need the paper liner cups for this.) Place one piece of cookie dough in each lined cup.
- Bake for 10 to 12 minutes or until cookie dough has spread to edge of cup. (They puff up during this, but then they'll sink in when you pull them out. You want that, so you'll have room for the cheesecake and cherries.)
- Beat cream cheese, sweetened condensed milk, eggs, and vanilla extract together until smooth. Pour about 3 Tbsp. worth of cream cheese mixture over each cookie in cup. Try to make sure the cookie part is covered.
- Bake for another 15 to 18 minutes or until set. Cool completely in pan on wire rack. Top each with level Tbsp. of pie filling. (This is when you start thinking maybe you should have bought another can of cherry pie filling instead of using lots of cherry-flavored glop.) Refrigerate for one hour before devouring.
(That's Nestle's recipe web site. They have some good things there, but, like Kraft kitchens, it all involves their products. And their website has problems some days.)
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