Sense & Sensibility

Well, the final book is now being played on "Masterpiece", with the 1st half being shown last night. What did you think?

I was a bit worried...so far, the only one I've liked is Persuasion. Of course, P&P and Emma were not new, and I like those....but I was disappointed with Mansfield Park and Northanger Abbey. So because of that I was a bit...well, a lot, worried that this new S&S wasn't going to match up to my all-time favorite version with Emma Thompson, Hugh Grant, Kate Winslet, etc....you know the one!

But, OH! I really did like it! Of course, only half of it has been seen, but in my opinion, this adaptation is very good! The actors are doing a great job, they really show the contrast of going from rich to very poor. The whole feeling of the cottage and where they had to move is bleak, and their lives seem to be forever altered. Willoughby isn't so good looking that it's going to be hard to not like him at the end (like the other one!), and Colonel Brandon does seem more marriageable than the Alan Rickman character...and even Edward seems to be a bit more...I don't know...sure of himself?!

I'm even more excited, because I noticed that Costco is going to be carrying a DVD collection of the new Persuasion and Sense & Sensibility together! Hooray!

Cuts & Curls

Fun Saturday...and what a handsome boy...
Wait....something is amiss...what is wrong with this child's left eye?

We were getting ready for Nicole and Jared's 1st soccer games of the Spring season. I had asked Nicole to get me something off the counter for Ellie.

Jared saw it first.

The race began....he was off to get there first. Of course, NO ONE is going to do something that Nicole was asked to do, so she was hot on his heels. So hot on his heels that when he got to the counter that the thing was sitting on, she didn't stop and bashed into him, sending his head and eye into the edge of a very unforgiving granite counter top...rounded edges even, but his upper eyelid opened up very nicely. (Feel free to click on the picture for a larger view of the inch long slice!)

And in a very fine mommy-moment, before I realized that he was cut open and bleeding, I got on his case about trying to beat Nicole to something I had asked her to do. Great, my kid got hurt trying to do something for me, and I acted bugged by it. (I have since asked for and hopefully obtained forgiveness!) Nicole got a talking to as well...about being a bit calmer even when she feels like her glory is being stolen.

So, instead of soccer, we bundled off to the after-hours pediatrician and got him all fixed up. No stitches....he got super-glued! Hopefully leaving less of a scar....at least a scar without the stitch marks surrounding it. He was very sad to miss soccer....he had new cleats to wear after all! Oh well, there's always next week!

Funny part...when it happened, Ron was out extending callings to some ward members. Well, I obviously needed him home, so I called him. He of course, didn't pick up so I called him back to back about 4 times. By this time, he tells the couple he is meeting with that I know where he is and what he is doing, so someone at home must be broken or bleeding for me to call him like that...truer words had never been spoken!

To close a little shot of the new thing I tried with Ellie's hair last night. Rag curls. I think I need some practice as half of them were out this morning when she got up (at 5:30 AM....WHT?!). She seemed to like them though. She called them her bows and didn't want me to take them out! I fixed the flat ones this morning with the hot twists. I should've taken an after picture of her, but she didn't look a lot different that the curly Easter shot in the post below!

Generations.....

My sister FINALLY updated her blog...and a picture of her son, Connor, freaked me out....reminded me of a picture of my dad, his Grandpa...so I decided to put them together for a bit of comparison. (I think there's a definite resemblance...but my brother Russ is the dead ringer for my dad!)
For a while, we've also thought my little boy resembles his Grandpa. We don't have too many pictures of my dad at a young age, but here is one along with one of Jared....what do you think? (My Dad is the older boy in the picture, the little one is his brother John) I think there are similarities, but maybe what we are seeing in Jared are looks and mannerisms that remind us of my Dad.

You must make this! It's heavenly!

I am a devoted reader of The Pioneer Woman, and have also tried a number of her recipes from her cooking blog as well...have yet to be disappointed! But this beauty...oh my! I've been craving it since I first saw it, and finally threw it together last night. My, oh my, it was delish! I did go a bit lighter on the cilantro than what she put in, since I don't like feeling overwhelmed by cilantro, and it turned out great! Ellie ate up two bowl of the noodles and veggies...the other kids weren't so sure of it, but they missed out!

So here's the link, and a little peek:

*photo taken by Ree the Pioneer Woman and borrowed by me! Hope she doesn't throw me in jail!

Easter fun...

I wish Nicole's eyes were open for this one....since it's the only one Ellie smiled in and doesn't look like she was being strangled in to keep her there!

How boring....just pictures of Sunday. I took pictures of the easter egg hunt at the park...but I wasn't impressed with the outcome, so I'm not sharing. :) The kids were just happy about the candy, and didn't care about posing anyway! Taking Sunday pictures are always fun. As parents, we have to get the cute shots of the new easter clothes, but the kids could care less, and are so hopped up on chocolate and sugar that I could hardly get a good shot, since the kids are a blur in real life! Jared would literally run a lap around the front yard between every picture attempt. Riley isn't present in the pictures. She was acting very 14 that morning, and wouldn't uncross her arms and only scowl for the pictures. In trying to get her to stop and give a smile, Jared and or Ellie would take off running, so I gave up! I'm going to take the kids in their outfits to the tulip festival in about three weeks and hopefully get some good shots, when I have Ron's help in corralling them! Riley too, whether she likes it or not! And a big shout-out thank you to Crazymama for the bow inspiration and tutorial!

Is it bad....

that my kids have watched this twice today?


No, I say! I was able to deep clean two bathrooms due to this movie!

They are outside playing now, and Jared came in and used the bathroom, and said, "MMM, it smells good in here!" Not that it smelled bad before, but it didn't have that fresh, clean, clorox disinfecting spray clean smell to it!

The pieces and parts of the movie I have seen so far look cute....maybe I'll sit down and watch it start to finish for myself tonight!

Happy St. Paddy's Day!

Your Leprechaun Name Is:

Twitchy O'Taters

What's Your Leprechaun Name?

Thanks to Crazymama for above link!

I messed up....somehow my swiss cheese brain thought that St. Patrick's Day was Tuesday....I realized yesterday that it wasn't! But, dang it! I hadn't gotten my ingredients for my meal...that needs to cook all day in the crockpot. So, on the menu for tonight are the very Irish taco salads. We'll have traditional Irish tomorrow with corn beef, cabbage, and Irish soda bread. I did buy green salsa to go on the taco salads, and I'll make the kids some green jello with pears! Oh, and mint brownies from the bakery. I was going to make them myself, but also forgot that I have Riley's "Student Plan" meeting this afternoon to pick her classes for next year. Good grief! I even have a calendar, but things are falling through the cracks....errr, swiss cheese holes in my brain!

Much to do this week.....I'm feeling a serious urge to clean and organize! Must be spring! That and I have a lot of unfinished projects that I'm gonna force myself to finish. You'll know if I do it, because I'll post results here!

Last, hooray for my Aunt Carol! She is breaking out of the hospital as we speak...she didn't get a quick same-day gall bladder removal...she had to stay so they could make sure they could thin her blood up again....she's still not where she should be, but getting closer....but the boredom is killing her, so they are letting her go.

This boy....

**Lest any of you think this is a recent picture, no, this was last summer! It's not warm enough for shorts and flip-flops yet, nor is anyone's grass that green!**

This boy has been adding an interesting dimension to our lives recently. We're hoping it's a phase, and not his true personality, because if it is, he may need to be committed!

He was playing at a friends across the street yesterday, and when I called him home, I reminded him to get his helmet. Well, when he finally did get home, I noticed some slamming noises out in the garage, and he came in incoherently yelling at me....something that is becoming more frequent in this phase...all I caught was something about his helmet and me bringing it home....huh?

Then later, the neighbor called, asking if Jared had found his helmet because they had looked all over for it with no luck. I felt bad because I had assumed he had, but checked the garage and...no helmet.

So after his bath, I asked him where he saw his helmet last, since the neighbors were still looking for it and we needed to find it. He looked down at his feet and mumbled something about the garbage.....wha? Apparently, he found his helmet, but I guess it bugged him enough that he had to find it, so when he got home he threw it and his old one away! He told me "he's tired of being safety(his word) so he doesn't want it anymore!"

So I called the neighbor and told them what my adorable son had done. We got a good laugh out of it...and then I told my adorable son that if he throws his helmet away again, that his bike, scooter, and skateboard will soon follow....he didn't like that idea too well.

Any ideas any of you have about curbing anger outbursts in a four year old, send them my way!

Randomness....

I haven't been posting much....because there's not much to post about! Just typical life going on here!

The teeth: Feeling much better now, thank you! I found some yummy soup at Costco, Roasted Red Pepper and tomato. I also made some tapioca pudding. It had been a long time since I had that. Those, along with cutting my food in teensy tinsey pieces, and I got through it. I'm still not comfortable, but anticipated I won't be for quite a few months now. The price for straight teeth! The worst is getting the brackets on at first. Sore teeth in combination with the inside of your lips getting ripped to shreds...thank goodness for the wax!

Nicole's blood test: perfectly normal, so we are scheduled at our local hospital for her tonsillectomy on the 22nd of April.

My friend just took her 4 year old to the ENT today...after me telling her about Nicole's big tonsils and her little guy's are even bigger. Different ENT, and he was telling her he really doesn't like taking out kids tonsils, think lots of them are unneeded, yada-yada-yada, then looks in his throat, turns to her, and says he wants to take them out Thursday...as in 2 days! His are so big that 90% of his airway is obstructed. Poor kid....they settled on next week though, so her hubby can help as he is off work. So I'll get to watch from the sidelines and see how their recovery goes in anticipation of ours.

My Aunt Carol is having surgery this week...gall bladder removal. Poor thing has been falling apart recently! She's had 2 major bouts with pulmonary emboli in the past 18 months, and shouldn't have survived either, but did, now her gall bladder needs to come out. A little scary for her as she has to come off her blood thinner for the surgery...but hopefully all will go well.

It was stunningly beautiful weather-wise yesterday. The kids were out playing and riding bikes without jackets even! It's amazing that we were all snow-covered just a month ago. So glad that Spring is springing! I'm even breaking out the BBQ for dinner tonight. It's been too long since I've had a nice burnt burger!

Fun & Frolic

So, because I had a big mouth to Nicole's ENT, and mentioned that she has nosebleeds, sometimes often, the Dr. ordered a CBC and clotting time test....just to make sure she doesn't have any clotting issues that would cause us to move her surgery to a children's hospital (where they have pediatric blood, in case she should need some.)

She began freaking out when I told her where we were going, and didn't stop until the needle was in her arm and she realized it wasn't as bad as she'd imagined, and it was sorta interesting watched the tubes fill with blood. She screamed her loudest when the phlebotomist uncapped the needle...I think she woke up some of the ICU patients out of their coma's...

That was fun....not.

I'm sure she'll be fine, and we'll hear nothing of the results from her doctor...no news is good news!

Yesterday afternoon, we also had an appointment at the school for an assembly honoring the kids who scored well on the IOWA skills test. Riley scored in the top 10% of the nation in reading and science! Way to go Riley!

(I would've had a picture of the event, but we were late and I ran out of the house leaving the camera behind...better than one of the kids!)

Fun planned for today: Burlington Coat Factory is having a suit sale, and my hubby desperately needs new suits. So we're off...the kids will be so excited, as they LLLLLOVVE to go shopping...not.

I'm HUNGRY!!!!

Just bear with me for a second....I'm so hungry....but my mouth/teeth hurt too much to eat anything substantial. You can only eat so many smoothies, bowls of pudding and soup....I'm so ready for something substantial....something that I can crunch and chew....crum, I'd be happy with a piece of toast, but even that is a pain, literally. Last night I was taking graham crackers in little pieces and sucking on them until soft....just because I wanted something like a cracker....it was sorta gross.

Why did post about the lettuce wraps? I can't bite into one, so I decide to torture myself?! I guess I can just do the rice version...

If any of you have a good idea for something soft, yet substantial and filling I could try, throw it at me. In comment form, you Smart Alecs!

Unless you really want to come over, make something, and throw it at me...I'll try to catch it and not complain about the mess! ;)

Try this...it's NUMMY!

This was taken from my mom's ward cookbook(the best cookbooks around), so the credit goes to Kathy Hill(one of my favorite people) for this recipe...I made rice to go with it as well, and the kids liked the chicken and stuff mixed in rice and noodles instead of in the lettuce...this is not a copy of PF Changs wraps, but is so yummy and fresh, who cares?! :)

Lettuce Wraps

Boneless chicken breasts (I got a Costco rotisserie chicken and just shredded one of the breasts)
Shredded carrots
cucumber, sliced in half lengthwise, remove seeds, then cut into half moon shapes
Saimin udon noodles or Somen noodles (oriental spaghetti product--not an egg noodle)
Hoisin sauce thinned with a little water for easier pouring
sesame seeds, I used toasted
Butter lettuce, cleaned and crisp (I used Iceberg)
chopped peanuts

Heat grill. Cook Saimin noodles per package instructions. Place chicken in large ziplock with olive oil to lightly coat. Place chicken on grill and sprinkle lightly with lemon pepper. Grill on med. til done. Slice chicken thinly, set aside. (Or cheat and shred your rotisserie chicken!) While chicken is cooking, slice veggies and prepare sauce. Layer a lettuce leaf, chicken, cucumber carrots, noodles, sauce peanuts and sesame seeds. These are eaten with your hands, kinda messy! But so nummy...

Wouldn't it be SO FUN...

to ride this wave down the Colorado?!



If you don't want to bother watching the video, scientists are "flooding" the Colorado River through the Grand Canyon for the next 60 hours. They will be studying the deposition of sand, to create bigger and better sand bars for plants and wildlife, also studying the aftereffects of the flooding on fish, hoping the almost extinct chub will get some needed help in trying to survive by creating better areas for breeding and incubation...did you know that since the building of Glen Canyon dam that FOUR species of fish became extinct?! I know...I'm sounding like an environmentalist tree-hugger with that...but I find it somewhat interesting....was this dam a good thing, or not?

It would be fun to run this river right about now....some rapids would become non-existent, while some would become out of this world....I'm betting they aren't allowing too many recreational river permits this week though...dumb bureaucrats! Or as my brother would say....the National Park Circus...

It will be interesting to see what they find out, and if scheduled flooding of the Grand Canyon will be found beneficial.

If any of you even get the chance to explore this canyon on a raft, DO IT! I spent an incredible week experiencing this and it was beyond words. I can't wait until my little kids are teens and we can go together.

ow. ow... OW!

Well....another thing check off of the orthodontia "to do" list. I got my bottom brackets on today. So now I need to head to the store to stock up on soft foods...pudding, jello, assorted soups, and, of course, ice cream....that's what you do when something is sore right? Put ICE (cream) on it?!

Ouch. No pictures though.....it isn't that interesting!

oh. my. hellie.

In the past two weeks, my sweet little princess Ellie-belle has become little miss hell-on-wheels. I used to be able to watch her toddle on down the hall and know that she was just going to her room, or Jared's room to play nicely and entertain herself. Now I chase her when she heads down the hall because I know she's just heading for trouble!

In the past week and a half, she has:

• emptied her diaper wipes all over the room.
• used everyones toothbrushes, including Nicole's strep throat infested one.
• pulled out a roll of dental floss.
• eaten toothpaste...numerous times.
• stolen the water spray bottle (for doing hair) and sprayed Nicole's bed, and all her toys...I think she was cleaning them.
  
• colored on the cabinets with red and pink colored pencils.
• tried on all my shoes and taken them to various places through the house.
• broken Ron's reading glasses by trying to see exactly how far the ear pieces will stretch.
• climbed on the dining room table...numerous times.
• gotten into the pantry a bazillion times, despite the "childproof" door knob thingy for various snacks.
  
• pulled the DVD's out of the player in our bedroom.
• painted herself with my makeup...I need to buy more concealer now.
• attempted to apply mascara on herself. See photo below.
  
• gotten into my perfume. Thankfully she couldn't figure out how to open it.
• gotten Ron's hair trimming scissors from the drawer and CUT HER OWN HAIR! Luckily it wasn't too short and it blends into her bangs.
• RAN away WITH above SCISSORS when I was trying to get them from her.

Obviously, she's been busy. And I'm tired....and thinking of getting her a cage. Isn't two fantastic?!

MARCH!

Wow. It's already March. I'm trying to figure out if it's coming in like a lion or lamb today. It's really warm right now (53 degrees?!) but a bit windy and there's a rainstorm that'll turn into snow by tonight coming in. So I guess that I'll call it a lion day...of course, we'll have to wait 30 more days to really see what happens! I was going to go wash the car....but I'm thinking, why bother, it's going to rain? It needs to be vacuumed so badly though, and I hate using my home vacuum to do it...cause I don't much care what I suck up into the carwash ones....rocks, loose change, plastic bags, cereal and chip crumbs...you name it! But I don't like to abuse my home vacuum in such a way.

Update on my week:

Jared is better.

I was right about Nicole with the strep diagnosis, so she's on abx and on the mend.

Spelling Bee happened. My mom came and I went for about 30 minutes to get it set up and running, then came home. I guess they had a couple little blips with letting kids restart spelling of words, and a misheard word, but it's over and we have a winner. For the second year in a row though, we had a parent come gripe to the judges about how it was run, and heard from another about the parents in the back saying we weren't doing the bee correctly...whatever! If they can do it so much better, they can be my guest! I think I'll start out next year with a disclaimer that if you come to the judges after to complain about how it was run, that you are automatically signing up to be in charge of it next time. That'll shut 'em up. Not to mention: it's a spelling bee, people! Lighten UP!

Ron flew to Arizona early this morning. poop. We all wanted to try and stow away with him, just so we could go soak in some real warmth and sun. He's not having any fun though....he'll be in a hotel listening to focus groups for about 10 hours, and then they'll be picking the results apart, then back on a plane home...he only saw the sun this morning as he went to the hotel.

Well, time to get some Saturday chores and errands done. Hooray! Loads of fun for all.