Operation Tomato

About a week ago, I can home with a 25 lb box of beautiful Roma tomatoes from our food co-op/ministry.  We’d had a plethora, and I mean plethora, of tomatoes that week and I just couldn’t stand to see them go to waste.  Besides, my friend “P” had pointed out that she was going to take a box home and make marinara sauce for the freezer.  Being the competitive person that I am, I hastily decided I could/should do it to.   See that Band Wagon rollin’ by??  Watch me jump right on!

Yes, this good ol competitive nature of mine gets me into trouble all the time.  Let’s just say I’m a huge work in progress and leave it at that, shall we?

Anywho… I love P, I loved her idea and I loved the prospect of being a thrifty provider of sorts for my family.   But I don’t think I fully realized the magnitude of marinara sauce that 25 lbs of tomatoes was going to make until I started chopping.  See, added to the whole time issue (good marinara sauce has to simmer for hours folks… hours!), I don’t have a food processor.  My hand-me-down processor from my sweet mother-in-law broke about a year ago and I’m just too cheap to go spend $50+ on another one.  I have hands and a nice big knife after all. 

However, eeeoons  a couple hours later,  after only getting about a third of the tomatoes chopped, I realized I was in trouble.  Not quite like sinking-of-the-Titanic-kind-of-trouble but trouble none the less.  Thankfully, my dear friend A dropped her processor off at my house and saved my sanity the day.  Thanks again A!

I now have many, many, many ziplocs full of marinara sauce in my freezer and I feel prepared for the end of the World.  Or for an army of hungry Italians… which ever comes first.

All that to say, try my Marinara Sauce recipe!  It’s actually my Mom’s recipe for her Lasagna sauce with a few tweaks and additions.  Like onions.  Onions and my Mother are mortal enemies, like they are with a lot people, and so we grew up, for the most part, with onions always omitted from recipes.  I can attest that this recipe is still delish without the onions.  But if you have a not-so-secret love affair with onions like I do, throw those bad boys in and live it up!  

The recipe is listed on the left side of this page, under “Cooking”, or on my Cooking page (click on the “Cooking” header at the top of this page) or you can save yourself the hassle and just click right here. 

Let me know what you think. 

My mom’s Lasagna recipe to follow soon…

Advil Is My Friend

The braces are off my friends!!!

And all I can think about is how badly I want them back ON.

Pathetic isn’t it?!

Retainers aren’t all they are cracked up to be, let me tell you.  My ortho tweaked the bottom one because of a slightly wayward tooth that he wanted to fix.  So the bottom retainer is really tight.  It hurts so bad to pop it off and on that I seriously consider whether or not I need to eat at meal time.  I mean, how hungry am I really?!  And how important is it that I brush my teeth with the retainers off?

I’m kidding, I’m kidding!  I know I have to eat (otherwise I wouldn’t be able to take the Advil that’s pumping through my veins right now without getting sick) and I know I have to brush everything in my mouth separately… I just don’t want to.

At least with braces I could still talk. 

All of a sudden, I have a lisp, I can’t enunciate and no one can understand me.  I feel the need to explain to everyone I talk to, especially complete strangers, the reason “forth whyth I thpeakth the wayth I amth”.

To top it off… gulp! I’m so embarrassed to tell you…

I’ve even whistled a few times while speaking! We’re talking, a mid-sentence, totally loud WHISTLE resounding from my retainer.

Isn’t that horrifying?!  When it happens, I don’t know whether to laugh or cry.  Maybe I should just immediately stop and holler out over my shoulder, “Train’s a comin’! Get outta the way!!” and then calmly turn back around to the person I was talking to and continue my sentence.

Think that’ll distract from the random retainer-whistle or draw more attention?! lol.  Course, it’d sound more like this:

“Twainth a comin’!! Geth outtha wayth!!”

The absolute cherry on the top of all this is I get to wear these babies, 24/7 for a whole year!  Then I get to go to just at night time. 

Oh glory days.

A Conversation between a 4 year old and a 2 year old

I overheard a hilarious conversation earlier today.  K, a 4 year old friend and girl, and Lil Blue, my 2 year old son, were outside playing around on the bikes.  I heard a bunch of babbling going on so I tuned my supersonic mommy-hearing in to fine-tune the babble…

K,”Yeah!  And you know what?  When I was three I couldn’t use the pedals but now I’m big and I can”

LB, “Oh! Yeah! eyoi soi choo!  Cows POOOOP!” (face scrunched in gross-out expression)

K, “…and I also couldn’t get my shoes on, or brush my hair but now I’m BIG and I can do EVERYthing!” (staring at her cute shoes as she pedals around the back yard)

LB,”Oh! Yeah! babble crabble soo-soo AAAAAHHHHH! Horse POOOOOOOP!! (again, face scrunched in expression of extreme gross out)

K,”…yeah, I love to dress up.  I do it all the time” (twirling around, again staring at her cute shoes)

LB, starting to tune her out since he has no more animal poop statements…

K, “…and I’ve memorized all my multiplication tables and I’m learning to divide and figure square roots.  Last night, just for fun, I started reading War and Peace” (this time twirling a section of her hair with her fingers)

LB, completely tuned out now and sucking on the muzzle of a (plastic) squirt gun while holding the grip with both hands and pedaling around on his trike.

Okay, so K didn’t really say anything about her multiplication knowledge or reading skills.  I tend to exaggerate just a tad.  But that’s what she might as well as said since I felt like my 2 year old was the blunt caveman of the pair.  I almost expected him to blurt out something like, “Fire HOT.  Me HUNGRY.  You COOK!” 

Actually, that might be a little too much vocab for him.  We’ve got a few more animal pooping facts to work through before he’s ready to move on to more caveman vocabulary.  Hmmm, should we discuss sheep, pigs or birds at lunchtime today?

** as a side note, the whole pooping statements started last week when we were at Poppet’s riding lesson.  LB and I were talking and petting the horses when one moved to just the right angle to completely display his pooping excellence to us.  LB just stood there, two feet from the action, his eyes bugging out of his head and a very serious furrow to his brow.  The pooping comments have been never ending ever since.  And he’ll throw ‘em down at any given moment.  He likes to show off like that.  **

*** As an additional side note, there’s nothing quite so soothing to a frazzled, over-analyzing momma brain, than to see her young son walking around with the muzzle of a gun in his mouth.  Yeaaahhh… I’m going to have nightmarish mental flashes of that one for eternity **

Works For Me Wednesday 4/15/09

I just saw the most fabulous tips on TLC… brought to you courtesy of Swiffer. *wink*

Do you have rugs on your hardwood, tile, or linoleum floors?  I do.  Instead of buying those no-slip rubber pad thingies to put under the rug… you know, the pads that cost as much as the rug itself?  Yep, those are the ones.  Well, put that bad boy back up on the shelf and whip out some caulk instead.  Do some zig-zaggin’ lines along the underside of your rug, LET IT DRY, and then lay it back down on the floor. 

An instant, non-slipping rug!

I don’t know about you, but that makes me smile. 

AND thank Mr. Swiffer for sponsoring such a fantastic, CHEAP tip that I can actually use.

Now I’m off to locate our caulk.  It shouldn’t be too hard, we only have half a zillion tubes of it between our garage and shed.  Please tell me we’re not the only ones with a plethora of caulk.  No? Huh?  Maybe we are the only ones…

Anyway, GO!  Be off with you to locate your caulk too!  If you can’t find any, I’d be happy to mail you one of my half-empty spares.  And after that, go check out We Are THAT Family for more great tips and advice.

A New Favorite

Have you noticed my absence lately?  Well, it’s for a few different reasons.  Trying for better time management, trying to NOT ignore my children and NOT to escape so much into bloggyland… but also I’ve been struggling with Satan.  He was working OT last week on my emotions.

One of the emotional battles I’ve been dealing with is because a couple weeks ago I received news that a childhood family friend was diagnosed with stage 5 cancer.

He’s been given 3 months to live.

He’s 37.

He has two children, 7 and 5.

BUT!  He has an amazing relationship with his Lord.  He is happy to have the opportunity to live in the light of only months to live. He is looking forward to meeting Jesus face to face.

I had a weird thought as I was watching LOST this week… is it weird to be in his shoes and be watching a show like that, knowing that you will never know the answers to all these plots that are going on? I’m afraid I was quite peturbed by that thought. I think because it actually put a little of his diagnosis into perspective. I mean, I am far more grieved for his children, who will have to grow up with out him and for him to miss out on their lives, than I am by him missing tv – TRUST me. But I think that is kind of a “fuzzy” thought to me. I can try to imagine what it would be like but I really cannot grasp that concept. But somehow, in relation to LOST, it hits home. I hope that makes some sort of sense.

About the same time as I got word on my friend, a (different) friend and I had the opportunity to go to the Rock and Worship Concert in our area. FABULOUS! It was an effort headed up by MercyMe and Jeremy Camp to put on a great show for a low cost ($10 you guys! Seriously! That’s all it was to get in!) . I confess I went mostly to see them as a fan not really for the worship opportunity. But wow! Did God ever have different ideas for me. He used it to help begin the process of breaking me out of a serious funk. One of the bands was Tenth Avenue North who I had never heard before. I instantly loved them. They actually posted the words to their songs on the big screen so we could sing along… I felt invited to actually worshipwith them instead of just being a concert-goer.  And when the songs have such powerful, no-holds-barred words, well, you can’t help appreciate it.  Here’s a few of my favorites that I found on youtube. 

The third one you have to go to youtube to see.  Click here

I think I went a bit overboard in my youtube-ing but know that I did practice some restraint… there were at least three more that I wanted to share with you.   In fact, one I’ve saved to share with you on Easter. 

Thanks for hanging in there with me.  I promise I’ll have happier posts in the future

Pepsi vs. Coca Cola

             

It’s a rivalry that goes back ages… I think dinosaurs were still roaming the earth when people first started arguing about which brand was better than the other.  I never have been one to take sides on this matter, even though growing up, we were a Coca Cola household.  As a child, the sight of a Pepsi would conjure up an emotion similar to the emotion a semi-football fan would feel at the sight of the Oakland Raiders; they know they don’t like them but they just can’t explain why.

Oh, I could tell a slight taste difference, don’t get me wrong.  Pepsi is a bit sweeter than Coke but when you are someone who will take a Cherry Coke over ice cream, well, Pepsi’s sweetness isn’t a reason to banish it from the refrigerator.  Added to that, I’m a bargain shopper.  That means whichever has the better sale is the lucky winner I’m bringing home.

But my last batch of Pepsi’s (bought on a killer deal of course) has changed my normal fence-straddling attitude.  I discovered a Pepsi characteristic I’d never realized before.

Pepsi goes flat after being open for more than 30 minutes.

Maybe that’s not a big deal to some people.  I, on the other hand, as the busy mom and wife that I am, like to nurse my soda all day long.  Okay maybe not ALL day long but certainly as long as possible.   I can’t let myself chug soda after soda so I just open one at like 10am (my coffee wears off about then, lol), take a few sips now and then and finish it off as a treat during naptime.  Crazy, I know.  Why would I care so much? 

Because I’m a busy mom and wife.  And busy moms and wives like to have a little soma-soma to keep ‘em going.  (Something NON-ALCHOLIC I feel the need to clarify)  We find joy in the little things, be it a toddler that made it to the potty, a 7 year old who does her math without complaining or a quick swig of a Cherry Coke.  Just saying.

So, Pepsi.  I’m sorry I have to inform you of this but I will no longer be purchasing you.  You will no longer occasionally grace a spot on my refrigerator shelf.   Though you may tempt me with radical deals in the grocery stores, I will resist the urge to take you home because I will still end up feeling cheated when I come back to freshly opened one of you only to find you have already gone flat.   Maybe this isn’t fair.  Maybe that was a bad couple batches that I consumed and it isn’t normal for you.  But I’m afraid I can’t afford to chance it.  Sorry, but this is good-bye. 

* * Sorry Pepsi-lovers.  Unlike your favorite soda, YOU can still grace a spot on my living-room couch anytime you want.  * *

Humbled….again

Our friends Mark and Angie were hit with a major blow yesterday…

They found a new bleed in Mark’s brain that the doctors are calling, “catastrophic” and there is nothing more that can be done for him.  Yesterday was a day a constant crying out to the Lord to lift up Angie and Mark and their 6 year old son.  I started working on a post to update you all and ask for continued prayer for them as they go through these last few days of Mark’s life. 

Do I even need to state the fact that my heart is breaking for Angie?  As a wife and mother, how can it not?  They are young…. their son is young…. and their lives will never be the same. 

I’ve been thinking about what these next few weeks will be like for Angie.  I can’t really but I try.  And all I can do is pray for God to comfort her and bring her HIS peace.

Last night was the first night back at my Women’s Bible Study.  We’ve been studying Psalms and tonight, instead of speaking on the chapters we’ve studied this past week, they showed us a video. 

Yeah, that’s what I thought too at first.  B-o-r-i-n-g.  Snoozeville. What are they thinking?  It’s after 6:30pm and they’re turning the lights down?!  I wasn’t sure I could keep my eyes, exhausted from a full day of 4 kids and a ”potty-training” puppy, open in those kinds of circumstances.

But the video they showed was of Louie Giglio from his How Great Is Our God tour.  And it’s amazing.  But even more amazing than that, is the perfect timing that this video came to me.  That alone speaks volumes to gut-wrenched soul.  And I dumped my original post and am bringing you this instead.  Because it’s waaayyyyy better. 

It’s long.  At least, in blog post perspective.  YouTube has it in 5 portions.  But don’t break it up and watch snippets throughout your day.  If you have to wait and come back tonight, after kids are in bed and you can really focus on the message as a whole – do it.

Having it broken up is bit distracting and I’m sorry.  But just bear with me here… you’ll be blown away by this video(s). 

Angie and Mark are included in this promise of God’s.  Please lift them up in prayer with me…

Looking Fine by 2009, 7 weeks left!

So, I had a big goal for myself this past week.  I wanted to lose 4 pounds andget some exercise of some kind every day.  What I didn’t take into consideration was a very sick 2 year old.  I did exercise three days out of this week which was good.  But the last few days have been a total washout, unless someone can verify that the 104.5 degree heat emanating from a 2 year old who is sitting on your lap, pressed up against your body and making you feel like you’re sitting in an oven, CAN in fact, burn off your own calories, not just his.  I’m hoping this is true.  

Weighing myself this morning was a let down.  Held even.  I’m hoping that was because I built up a little muscle tone in my abs since I worked them pretty hard this week.  You know, like maybe a pound or two of chiseled ab muscle?  Yeah, highly unlikely I agree. 

So my goal remains the same this week.  Work out everyday and loose 4 pounds.  My fixation of 4 pounds?  I have an awesome opportunity to be a “2nd camera” at a wedding this coming Saturday.  Nervous much?  You betcha!  Especially since it is my photography teacher who is “1st camera”!  AND it’s my first time photographing a wedding.  I have a great pair of brand-new black slacks that I bought for $8 earlier this year during an Old Navy clearance.  Problem?  I bought them a tad too small since that was all they had and I planned on loosing a couple inches anyway.  Saturday, I need those slacks to fit.  I refuse to spend money on a bigger pair.  REFUSE!!  I’m already going to need to beg/borrow/buy/steal a white button-up shirt and black sweater to wear over it.  (I’m kidding on the stealing part) 

I have no choice but to work my booty off on a daily basis, not even glance at a coke, drown my nerves and woes away in a water bottle the size of a washing machine.

Because OBVIOUSLY, this guy’s outfit is just all wrong… black slacks would’ve improved his image as a professional 10-fold:

And if I’m going to have to get into positions like this guy, which I will if it’ll result in a fabulous picture… well, I’m gonna need to add Spanx to my list of “to find”:

On second thought, I need Spanx no matter how I move if I’m wearing those slacks!  Now to just find some on sale… a BIG sale.

Check out Jen at Daily Mish Mash to check up on other Looking Fine by 2009-ers.

I forgot!

In my last post that really was just supposed to highlight my new favorite shows… really!  The whole Roswell thing just happened… anyway, I completely forgot one of my new favs.  Well, actually, I liked it last season (it’s first one) and this season is just as good. 

Life, please forgive my forgetfulness. 

Damian Lewis is great in this role.  And his partner is a perfect character match to go with his.  Great writing, Witty, and a subplot is always a great thing.   Course, I’ve loved Damian Lewis ever since “Band of Brothers”.  If you haven’t seen him in that, you need to.  It is SUCH a good HBO movie. 

I can’t believe I just wrote that sentence.

Damien Lewis was one of many great actors in Band of Brothers.  Donnie Wahlberg, David Schwimmer, Colin Hanks… and I love the fact that they intertwined the REAL men whose characters are portrayed in the movie.  Goosebumps and tears everytime.  And I’ve watched it many times.

I seem to be having a hard time staying focused these days….

It’s hard for me to admit this

but The Happening was one of the worst movies I have ever seen.  EVER.  Hubby and I had been warned but nothing could have prepared us for how bad it really was.  The writing, the storyline, the ending, the acting… not one part of that movie got even a semi thumbs-up. 

Why is that so hard to admit?  For one, M. Night Shyamalan has made some of my favorite movies.  The Village, Sixth Sense, Signs… all favorites of mine.  In weird way I even liked Lady in the Water, even though I’m probably the only one who does. 

The other reason? Marky-Mark Mark Walhberg. 

He usually does such a good job but his attempt at being a soft guy just didn’t work.  At all. Not even for a second.  I thought he was going to save the movie for me but after his first, painfully awkward sentence, I knew it was not to be.  Apparently he only does well with Tough Guy roles, with a dash of Nice Guy thrown in for good measure.   

My advice for anyone contemplating wasting two hours of their life on this movie? DON’T.  Run.  Run far away.  I don’t care how bored you are or how low your expectations are.  RUN the opposite direction.  If you don’t, you’ll only walk away with any respect you had for anyone involved in this movie totally shaken. 

But don’t worry, Mark.  I haven’t given up on you.  Not by a long-shot.  And to prove it to you, I’m not only eagerly waiting for Max Payne, I’m going to as Hubby to, brace yourself now, take me to the theater to see it!  GASP…. I know, shocking isn’t it?!  I just know you aren’t going to let me down twice in a row.