Tuesday, September 30, 2008

Life is moving fast...

It's been many moons since I have posted regularly so here are the highlights.....

Here are the highlights:
  • Spent two weeks working Sausalito. Sitting at my desk and watching the boats come in & out of the harbor all day was so distracting...sigh! I found that I only love hotels when I'm on vacation, otherwise they are just a drag.
  • Made a new friend at the home office, Mr. Meza is pretty darn cool! Also got to spend time with my friend Cathy that lives close by... that was great.
  • Learned a lot and it was a good two weeks to give me some space to decide if my career had me staying with my current company or moving on. There's a plan in place now, I feel good about that... yeah it's gonna be okay.
  • Oscar did an awesome job hosting the love and respect class in our home on Tuesday nights without me... I'm super proud of him for doing that!
  • Now that I'm home Oscar has scooted off for a conference in some far away state and is gone until Thursday......
  • Oscar had a birthday and the whole family came for dinner on Saturday night. Who would have every thought I could fit 17 people semi-comfortable in my living room!
  • Oh Yeah.... I moved the furniture around...shocking but true! It looks great as I swapped the living room / dining room!
  • Church this Sunday was nice but it was sad to see so few people in the chairs.... pray for Sanctuary we need a pastor and some wind back in our sails!
  • Winter is laughing... it only happens once in a while but I love it! her eyes twinkle when she smiles... I still think she will make the cutest christmas elf!
  • Becca is doing so awesome in school this semester...truly excited about how hard she is working at graduating.
  • I had so much fun cooking this weekend. I love it. New turkey recipe coming this week.

I think that's it... the high points anyway...

History Lesson......

For those that don't know about history ... Here is a condensed version:

Humans originally existed as members of small bands of nomadic hunters/gatherers. They lived on deer in the mountains during the summer and would go to the coast and live on fish and lobster in the winter.

The two most important events in all of history were the invention of beer and the invention of the wheel. The wheel was invented to get man to the beer. These were the foundation of modern civilization and together were the catalyst for the splitting of humanity into two distinct subgroups: 1. Liberals, and 2. Conservatives.

Once beer was discovered, it required grain and that was the beginning of agriculture. Neither the glass bottle nor aluminum can were invented yet, so while our early humans were sitting around waiting for them to be invented, they just stayed close to the brewery. That's how villages were formed.

Some men spent their days tracking and killing animals to B-B-Q at night while they were drinking beer. This was the beginning of what is known as the Conservative movement. Other men who were weaker and less skilled at hunting learned to live off the conservatives by showing up for the nightly B-B-Q's and doing the sewing, fetching, and hair dressing. This was the beginning of the Liberal movement.

Some of these liberal men eventually evolved into women. The rest became known as girlie-men. Some noteworthy liberal achievements include the domestication of cats, the invention of group therapy, group hugs, and the concept of Democratic voting to decide how to divide the meat and beer that conservatives provided. Over the years conservatives came to be symbolized by the largest, most powerful land animal on earth, the elephant. Liberals are symbolized by the jackass.

Modern liberals like imported beer (with lime added), but most prefer white wine or imported bottled water. They eat raw fish but like their beef well done. Sushi, tofu, and French food are standard liberal fare. Another interesting evolutionary side note: most of their women have higher testosterone levels than their men. Most social workers, personal injury attorneys, journalists, dreamers in Hollywood and group therapists are liberals. Liberals invented the designated hitter rule because it wasn't fair to make the pitcher also bat.

Conservatives drink domestic beer, mostly Bud. They eat red meat and still provide for their women. Conservatives are big-game hunters, rodeo cowboys, lumberjacks, construction workers, firemen, medical doctors, police officers, corporate executives, athletes, members of the military, airline pilots and generally anyone who works productively. Conservatives who own companies hire other conservatives who want to work for a living.

Liberals produce little or nothing. They like to govern the producers and decide what to do with the production. Liberals believe Europeans are more enlightened than Americans. That is why most of the liberals remained in Europe when conservatives were coming to America . They crept in after the Wild West was tamed and created a business of trying to get more for nothing.

Here ends today's lesson in world history:
It should be noted that a Liberal may have a momentary urge to angrily respond to the above before forwarding it. A Conservative will simply laugh and be so convinced of the absolute truth of this history that it will be forwarded immediately to other true believers and to more liberals just to tick them off.

Monday, September 29, 2008

Winter 4 months old

Better late than never!



Winter at 4 months with her purple bunny! Hand in mouth is her favorite thing right now. She has hit that fun stage where everything goes in her mouth.

She is using all different level of vocals now.... and last night when she was in her new excer-saucer from Auntie Carmen, she was laughing at all the toys.... There is so much going on with the toys on those things I thought for sure she would go into stimulation overload but she was just loving it. Her attention span has increased, which means it's now longer than a gnat's.... we are getting to the fun part of being around littel babies!

I was working out of town the last two weeks, I would talk to Oscar on the cell phone when he was holding her. He said she would hear my voice and look all over the room for me. She just couldn't grasp the fact that she could hear but not see me.

Saturday, September 20, 2008

Perfectly Moist boiled chicken

I use a lot of cooked chicken in meals.... everything from chicken salad for Becca to a killer Zucchini casserole to use up all the stuff I grow during the summer! I was buying those roasted chicken for the last couple of years because I could never get my boiled chicken breast to come out moist enough....

I have found the perfect method to get moist chicken breast from boiling.

Use fresh or frozen breast meat but if using frozen make sure it is completely thawed. Fill a pot with just enough chicken broth so it will cover the meat by one inch. Bring the broth to a boil and add the chicken and return to a boil. Reduce the heat to a simmer and let it cook for 10 minutes. When 10 minutes have passed, put a secure fitting lid on the pot and remove from the heat.

I let it sit in the pot for about 30 minutes with the heat off. Use a thermometer to check the internal temp make sure it has reached 160. If ti's still not there, i turn the heat back on just till it starts to boil and then off again with the lid on. That time I check it after 5 minutes..

This is the only method I've used that gets the best results especially with previously frozen chicken breast.

Thursday, September 11, 2008

To Amy Van... it's your birthday

Today is Amy's birthday .... to you my friend.... may today be everything you want it to be.... but with Cake on top!



See I didn't tell everyone how old you are!

Tuesday, September 9, 2008

The 80's




I'd like to say I remember the 80's but mostly I was pregnant,giving birth or rasiing little ones for most part. So when some friends had a Totally 80's birthday party I was excited. I have to say I think I looked better now then I did in the 80's because I NEVER dressed liek this back then!

Becca just kept shaking her head and using that snarky humor she got from her mother!

Monday, September 8, 2008

Ever peel a hard boiled egg?

My sister is a whiz in the kitchen... she shared this with us this morning via email...

You don't have to be a Sous Chef to appreciate this video tip that really does work. Instead of the slow boil the video suggests, see my tip for cooking the eggs. Removing from the heat helps prevent the green sulfur ring.

Cover eggs with 1-1/2" cold water and 1 t baking soda. Bring to a boil over med-high heat. Once it boils, cover and remove from heat for 15 minutes. After about 5 minutes of standing in the hot water, uncover, gently stir the eggs, recover. This helps reposition the yolks. After 15 minutes, drain and immediately cover with cold water. Then onto the peeling tip. Be sure to make the holes big enough - you'll see what I mean.


Here it is folks..... oh yeah he says a bad word... there should be a low level profanity label for this, cuz Paige Never says bad words.... laughing at myself...



Hey just a thought... this will work with my tip on deviled eggs.... I'm a genius

Wednesday, September 3, 2008

Quicky Labor Day Video

We went to Kevin and Linda's place on Sat for a BBQ and they have a donkey! This is a video of Winter. More details later but she sure is cute!



More details and pics from the weekend later!