Boring post about a great weekend

no pictures tonight....I'm too tired. And my computer is being a dork.

But, ahhh, a nice holiday weekend:
Thanksgiving at my mom's house is always a major treat. Her southern cornbread stuffing is amazing....most southern stuff is gross (okre, butterbeans, etc) but this is SO good. Someday, I'll post the recipe. She has way more side dishes than necessary, and everyone of them is awesome. I wish we could just spread it out over 4 days. Joyce's family was there as well as Anne, Kip, and Brady. Really fun group.

Emi got sick Friday, so most out-in-public plans were squashed. We still went to my mom's to do the traditional gingerbread boys. Parker made an old man, cub scout, mickey mouse, and piano player gingerbread boy, and Emi made Belle, Minnie Mouse, Li-Li, beach girl, Michael Phelps, and a blackbird dancer gingerbread girl. Cute, cute.

Saturday consisted of raking leaves, attending a nice funeral, putting Emi's birthday party bags together, making a gingerbread house (DON'T buy the Willy Wonka brand....horrible frosting...kept dripping....looks like a snowman ran face first into the house) and decorated the Santa tree. I will post about that later. It's a great tree, if I do say so myself.

Hope everyone had a super holiday. I didn't do one inkling of shopping. I hope to get to that soon. Happy December!

Tradition, tradition, (la la la la la la la) TRADITION!

O.K.....so the game kind of sucked, but the traditional spread of glutinous treats was super. Bill doesn't watch oodles of football (due to lack of time, not lack of desire), but the BYU/UTAH game and the Superbowl require the following:

• Onion dip
• Mozzerella sticks
• Peanut M&M's
• Chips and salsa
• Weinharts Vanilla Cream (It looks like beer....it's not)
• Cocktail weenies, marinated in grape jelly and mustard....sound gross, but it is SOOOO good...very white trashy

Another tradition embarked on today was the raking of leaves. The kids go crazy for it.

Check out Parker jumping into the leaves.....he looks like he is about to hit Quinn....he didn't.

And, oh yes....one more silly tradition done by the men and boys of our ward. The infamous Turkey Bowl. They basically run around talking schmack and then limp around in major pain the rest of the day. My dear Bill goofed up his back. He's the one in the 89 jersey.

Why.....

• Why do some people forget Thanksgiving and have their trees up?
• Why is my body giving out on me?
• Why do I want it to snow so badly before Thanksgiving?
• Why do I always stay up later than I should?
• Why can't I sleep in, even when given the opportunity?
• Why do people choose to be mean to others through snide little comments?
• Why do I look forward to Christmas, even though it's a boatload of work?
• Why are the Mormons being blamed so ferociously for Prop. 8?
• Why does "retail therapy" totally work for me?
• Why does tanning cream smell so yucky?
• Why did I have wheat thins for lunch instead of something more filling?
• Why do we have to practice piano today?
• Why do I HAVE to eat mozzerella sticks, Weinharts, and Bill's onion dip for the BYU/utah game? (oh....never mind....yum)

Happy Blog Birthday...please, no presents...unless your name is Bill

Happy 1 year Blog day to me! Like I say, I like to celebrate things.

Why I love Blogging:

1. I have been able to connect with old friends that I haven't seen in years. I love this! I (unlike many in my family) am a very social person and love to still be involved in peoples' lives, even if they are all the way across the country. And honestly, being a mom of a child with special needs is a VERY isolating feeling sometimes. So, if I can connect with y'all this way, it keeps me off my ledge. That's why blogging is not a waste of time.
2. I'm a horrible journal keeper because it isn't very fun....blogging IS fun!
3. It's a non-obligatory way of keeping people abreast of my going-ons. No one HAS to read it (except Bill), but they only do if they want. I like that!
4. I love reading my friends' blogs and see that their lives aren't perfect either.
5. I love comments.....it makes me happy to hear from you all and I try diligently to keep up with all of your blogs.

Now...I'm still not very good at it. I haven't figured out how to put a site meter, images, new backgrounds, and a lot of other things on my blog, but I'll do that one day. Right now...it's just a bare bones blog that enables me to brag or bash on my kids/husband, share big moments, share little moments, and basically just spout off random thoughts into the universe.....thanks for reading!

Food Storage Pancakes!

My sister -in-law, Jennifer, gave me this recipe that doesn't use a wheat grinder! Thanks for all your responses to my food storage plea.

For you folks that have wheat but no grinder, a wonderful way to start using it is by making blender pancakes. I promise they are wonderful! We eat them nearly every weekend at my house.

Blender Pancakes1.5 C. wheat kernals2 C. milk (may use Buttermilk)3 T. vegetable oil2 eggs1 T. sugar or honey1/2 t. salt1 T. Baking Powder (if using buttermilk, use 2 t. Baking Soda instead )

Put wheat and milk in a strong blender and blend for 4-5 minutes. Add the rest of the ingredients except for Baking Powder and blend 1-2 more minutes. Add baking powder and blend till just mixed.

Fry on a hot griddle. These won't be quite as light and fluffy as white flour pancakes but the taste great. Using buttermilk does make them seem a bit lighter I think.

This recipe makes enough for my family of 6 (including 2 teenagers) and sometimes we don't eat them all - but they store ok in an airtight bag for a day or so and my kids argue over who gets them the next morning. So if your family is smaller/younger you might want to cut it down a bit - (1 C. flour and 1 1/3 C. milk)

Food storage....bleehh!

Well, I finally crossed something off my summer to-do list. I got into my food storage and organized it up a bit. I had a lot of out-of-date stuff to discard. I loaded up on many staples (coke is a staple) at Costco and feel just a wee bit more sound if there was an emergency. However, food storage is very depressing to me. Is my life going to come to eating the 35 cans of beans I have stored? I am not a bean fan. Will my family really be forced to eat the wheat I grind with my unopened electric wheat grinder (if there is electricity to cook the bread, there will be electricity to grind the wheat!)? Will dried apple slices and beef jerky be my only form of treats? Will I be able to convince my children that they cannot be picky or they will die of starvation? Will I be sent to Hell because I will inevitably have to steal my neighbors food storage (Sheri...the food storage Queen!)?
Here are some questions I send out to the universe to help me finish this project. I could google these things, but I trust the collective mind of my "blogiverse" more:

• Is there any way of storing eggs or egg substitutes?
• Is the dry pack the best deal of dried milk?
• Will the leftover Halloween candy save for awhile?
• What are your best food storage secrets?

Thanks for the help...I really hate this. I would much rather be doing ANYTHING else.

Congrats to a few....

Parker and David (the pic is on Bill's phone, I'll post it soon) competed in the piano Duet Federation Festival yesterday. They worked SO hard on "Monster Play" and "Moonlight Stillness" and received Superiors. They worked together really well and I'm so proud of their accomplishment. It wasn't easy....thanks, Monika, for working their tails off.



And now a HUGE congrats to Julie and Dave with their beautiful, new, healthy triplets. Wow, a family of 9! So much more than what you bargained for, but they will enjoy your family so much. I can't wait to see them.



And.....congrats to my brother, Mark. He was put in as Bishop last week in his ward in New York. However, being your sister, I must let it be known the reasons you shouldn't be bishop:

1-Mark and I once stole a Taco Bell bell and replaced it with a roll of toilet paper.

2-He didn't get married until he was 28. A definite menace to society.

3-He once poured rootbeer on his applejacks just to bug me, though he admitted it was gross. He just wanted to make me mad.

4-He took my bed outside while I was at ballet. Hoodlum!

5-He threw a party when my parents were out of town. O.k....it wasn't too crazy. The prophet's grandson attended (that's pretty much the norm in Utah).

6-He re-nigged on a bet with his best friend that he would name his children "Scripto" and "Colgate".

7-He toyed with the emotions of Mr. Knight, his 9th grade geography teacher. Seriously, he messed with the poor man....so much that Mr. Knight had it out for me when I came into his class.

8-He once paraded down Broadway in a Kool-aid man costume.....all in the name of his job. PR?!? Oh yeah, he got kissed by famous mall-rat Tiffany and hung out with Cyndi Lauper while making the 80's Trivial Pursuit commercial. Not fit to be Bishop!!!!!



Oh, just kidding. I find it weird that I am at the age where I go on group dates with Bishops....it's bizarre. Good luck, Mark. You will be awesome! As will your family.

I was tagged and now you must suffer (or not read it!)

The 8 Things Tag...in no particular order

8 T.V. shows I love to watch:

1-Office

2-30 Rock

3-ER

4-Samantha Who?

5-House Hunters (it's the voyer in me...I love to see inside people's houses)

6-Jon & Kate +8

7-So You Think You Can Dance

8-Curious George and Charlie & Lola come in as a tie.



Favorite Restaurants:

1-Zupas

2-Cafe Rio

3-Sampan

4-Citris Grill

5-Noodles

6-The Do Do (my VERY favorite)

7-Bonsai

8-Bucca de Peppo





8 Things That Happened Today:

1-I started laundry (isn't this exciting?)

2-I shoveled heavy, wet snow

3-Parent Teacher Conference

4-Subbed for Jen and taught her 2 classes

5-Drove to school 3 times (morning, Kindergarten, PT conference)

6-Got both kids to finish homework within half an hour of getting home

7- Dealt with a VERY long tantrum from a middle child who shall remain nameless.

8- Found 3 pair of mittens in 1 minutes time.



8 Things That I Look Forward To:

1-8:30, when all kids are in bed

2- hearing about the birth of Julie's triplets (I heard it was really close!)

3- a new president (yes, I don't share my "conservative democratic" political views often because of the rudeness of many, many Utahns, but I am excited for the new year. I did vote for Huntsman and a few other choice republicans)

4-attending a play with my hubby on Saturday.

5-Thanksgiving week....I love that week.

6-Girl's night, whenever and wherever it will be.

7-a cure for autism/asperger's

8-seeing Quinn when he wakes up because he is so cute in his monkey sleeper suit.



8 People I Tag: seriously, like any of you! do it. Monika? Stacey? Kari? Amy? Jessica? Brooke? Mark? whoever!

Halloween Fun...Now it's done!

This is how I feel after Halloween is finally over.....I do love the holiday, but I'm done. I'm done doing the "Monster Mash", "Pumpkin-Patch-Polka", and "Thriller" in my dance classes. I'm done with spiders, gore, and ghosts and ooooohhhhh so much candy tempting me all the time.

Here's my cute, out-of-focus, children. They had just trick-or-treated at Bill's work, but were ready for more. Apparently, they ran the whole way.

Quinn (with a headless Grandpa S.) was nervous about trick-or-treating, but quickly found it to his liking.

Parker, hard at work on Halloween. Please ignore Bill's empty office. He just moved there and I haven't had time to add my womanly touch.

I was lucky enough to help with Emi's school party. Such a cute age.....except for the little boy who downed 2 entire bottles of my sprinkles.

Parker's baptism was today....I'm too tired to do that post tonight, but will get to it soon. Happy November....please don't play the Christmas music yet. I'm not ready to face it.