OUR HOUSE

Friday, April 13, 2012

5 down 1 to go

My youngest wants to wear underwear. Can I just send him off to a potty-training school and pick him up when he is done? It is sooo hit and miss, more miss than anything. I might hyperventilate with all the deep breathing I am doing. Day 1 is always good but keeping the momentum going after the initial excitement is a challenge. We seemed to have gotten out of the rhythm and can't get back on track. This is definitely one of the aspects of motherhood that I am ready to move on from. The thought of no more diapers just sends me into a frenzy. Imagine, I will be bumped up into the next income bracket with the money that will be saved.

Sunday, April 8, 2012

sewing and chocolate

A shock to read this I know...but I guess I just want to put it out to the whole world (of my 11 followers who've had nothing to follow for an eon). I think that I will quit sewing clothes. I am absolutely jinxed in this arena. I have just grand visions but my kids would probably do better in a paper sack. I stayed up way late sewing an Easter outfit which the child refused to wear because she decided that she didn't like it. So to ease my frustration in this matter we turned to making chocolates.
I asked my kids if it would be okay if we didn't buy any candy this year but instead made our own. It was a thumbs up from everyone. The great thing about chocolates is that no matter how they look (I am no master dipper) they still taste wonderful and are so soothing as they slide down your throat. Coating your insides with the wonderful warmth of chocolate. I am now content.
To take an example of how wonderful chocolate is to me I am reminded of the movie Patch Adams. A little old lady in the hospital has the dream to swim in a pool of cook spaghetti noodles. Not me it would a hot tub of warm rich chocolate

Monday, September 5, 2011

Day 2 & Day3

Day 2...

I didn't juice in the morning because it was Fast Sunday. By the time I got home from church I had a very sickening headache. The day just didn't start out well. I was giving the lesson in Relief Society (which according to my estimation was a total flop) my printer won't print. So we dashed off to my parents to use their printer, it won't print. So I tell myself that the scratch paper in my bag has come in handy, I will just write out my lesson from my phone (I can look up lds.org on my phone to find the message I was sharing).

Wicked me sat through Sacrament Meeting and wrote. During Sunday School I realized that I could print from the Family History Computer. So my lesson-saving uncle who was working on his family history, found the talk and printed of 2 copies. URUEKA! I promptly sat down and started editing and making "help" handouts. By this point my head was starting to pound.

Made it through my fantastically boring lesson (will have to do better next time). It just seemed that everything was thrown at me just at the beginning of R.S. I pretty much lost my train of thought and couldn't seem to initiate very much discussion. And I wanted this to be a huge discussion lesson.

Well we got home I made a juice went to bed, woke up sick with my head and spent the rest of the day in bed. My darling hubby continued to make my juices for me. I have not had a headache that bad in a long time. You know the type, nausea, light sensitivity, and sound sensitivity.

Many times through the day I just wanted to quit. I didn't and made it to day 3

Today started off okay....but then I became tired and frustrated with 2 boys, and just wanted to eat. Dinner smelled so yummy! I made Hamburger Gravy over biscuits and steamed zucchini. What delicious meal do I get? Kale, beets (which I am still choking on), spinach, carrots, apple, and ginger. I am still nursing this juice. My consolation is that I can go to bed in a couple of hours and day 4 will be upon me. I do think this is helping...but a definite reprograming of my mind and taste buds.

Bottoms Up!

Saturday, September 3, 2011

Fat, Sick and nearly Dead.....

Steven and I watched a show on Netflix that completely blew our minds away. Fat, Sick and Nearly Dead was the title and it is amazing. The movie is self made by an Australian man, Joe Cross. He goes on a personal quest to help his body heal itself from an autoimmune disease. And begins a juice fast. He comes to America and travels around sharing his juice and visiting with people about their eating habits. You can see the transformation, which is impressive. The most impressive part to watch was when Joe meets up with a trucker who looks dead in every sense of the word. Phil is his name. He eventually decides that he wants to try Joe's Reboot program. WOW!!!!! is all I have to say. I'll not spoil the ending just go and see.

Steven really wanted to do this Reboot Program and I told him that I would do the program with him.

I started my juice fasting last night, and now have come through my first 24 hours of a 15 day (at least) juice fast. The first 3 days are the hardest. Right now the main things I am juiceing are apples, pears, carrots, lemons, kale, spinach, celery, cukes, ginger, and beets. Drinking the juice is very different from anything I have every done. Supposedly the flavors grow on you....well we will see. I really don't like beets. YUCK! I have one last swallow of this gagging concoction left.

I've been a little tired, no more than usual but I am starting to feel the detoxing going on in my joints. I am ready to quit, this journey seems so daunting. Maybe because I can't just hole up somewhere until the unpleasantness ends and the energy, clear head and clarity begins.

Today I had to make bread and of course the bread has to turn out picture perfect and smells divine. Dinner smelled yummy and looked so tantalizing too. I'm forcing the kids to eat every morsel and practically have them lick the plate.

My goal is to reprogram my tastes buds. Get rid of the sugar cravings, pop drinking, carb bingeing habits. And lose some pounds to boot. I mainly just want to feel good. I will try and post my feelings and experiences each day in hopes that I can stay motivated and focused.

WISH ME LUCK!

Thursday, September 1, 2011

the lazy dazy life of a cat....

So....Awhile back we acquired 1 cat, that we named Sophie. She is the queen cat! She kept all the other cats in line. That same day another family member brought 2 kittens. Brother and sister, the sister disappeared. Brother was christened P.C. Which is short for Prince Charming, Psycho Cat, Pussy Cat, Plump Cat, mainly the first two are what apply. Sophie and P.C. have turned out to be great mousers (we were having a major problem).

Today I discovered that P.C. had been let into the house and was seriously in a comatose state on my bed. Oh... the other name is Pampered Cat, beca

use he has the LIFE! Usually though he is supposed to be outside.

Back to the beginnings.... we lost a little kitten. And I felt that there were not enough cats to go around. A friend of mine had some kittens that were almost old enough to be given away. I told my friend that I would take 1 maybe 2 cats. Surely 4 cats would be enough for our kids to play with. "Giveaway" day arrived and she showed up with 4 cats! 2 blacks and 2 calicos. We could now officially say HOLY CATS!! at our house.

Funny side note: We thought for the longest time that the blacks were girls. We named them Soot and Cinder because they were solid black. The 2 calicos we thought were boys. We named them Bandit (because "he" had a black mask around "his" nose, the other Bobby (an English policeman).

My younger brother (who gave us the original brother/sister duo) was losing cats at a very fast rate. So we gave them 2 from our brother/sister pack (One good turns deserves another). It was at this event we discovered that we had the gender of these cats mixed, (hopefully the cats won't be gender confused the rest of their lives.)
I am hoping to have found a home for the remaing two because we had an event this morning.

This kitten is the first of 3. They are so adorable and closeted away in my closet. I brought Sophie inside because of prowling Tom Cats that need to go the way of all the earth!

Here is our hard working Momma, I know you can't see the 3 kittens very well (due to the dimness of the closet), but trust me when I say they are soooo adorable. I realize it is silly for me to say that I just can't quit watching them. I've spent alot of time just sitting in my closet enjoying the newness of life.

Sunday, August 28, 2011

Banana Muffin Galore

We needed an afternoon snack today. Something that could be filling enough without a lot of to-do. I had 3 very ripe bananas that I wanted to use and went looking for a different recipe. You know, break away from our traditional banana muffin recipe. I found this recipe in our Ward Cookbook and liked all the goodies that you add in, I also added chocolate chips, because in my house we can't eat a muffin without chocolate chips. These taste good, however, I can't wait to try one in the morning because I always think banana anything tastes better the next day. I would also probably add more Vanilla next time (The recipe called for 2 tsp. I put 3 tsp. here the muffins could also maybe use more salt too.).

Banana Breakfast Muffins (the recipe title was Banana Crunch Muffin. I didn't think they were all the crunchy, and the granola makes me think Breakfast).

3 cups flour

2 cups sugar

2 tsp. baking powder

1 tsp baking soda

1/2 tsp. salt (maybe 3/4 tsp.)

2 cubes butter (1/2 lb.) melted and cooled

2 eggs

3/4 cup milk

3 tsp. vanilla

3 ripe bananas left whole

1 cup chopped walnuts

1 cup granola

1 cup flaked coconut

1 cup chocolate chips

Preheat oven to 350. Bake 25-30 minutes. Mix dry ingredients; add melted butter and blend. Add eggs, milk, vanilla, whole bananas and mix. You should have bits of bananas in the batter. Add chopped walnuts, granola, flaked coconut, and chocolate chips. Makes about 2 to 2-1/2 dozen.

I also liked this recipe because I had some granola that was going stale, and mixed in and baked you cannot even tell. I suppose if you had some old hard granola bars you could mash them up and throw them in place of the cereal variety. We are having these muffins with milk and grapes, hows that for healthy. :)

Wednesday, August 24, 2011

Fried Chicken

Rinse and pat dry 3 -1/2 to 4 pounds chicken parts. Separate the chicken legs into thighs and drumsticks; cut each breast half diagonally in half through the bone. (You can see that I didn't do this part). In a large bowl stir together:

1 -1/2 cups buttermilk

1 tsp. salt

1/2 tsp. ground black pepper

Add the chicken and turn to coat well. Cover the bowl with plastic wrap or remove the chicken and buttermilk to a sealable plastic bag. Refrigerate for 2 to 12 hours. (the longer the better).

Shake to mix in a doubled brown paper bag (I used the cake pan):

2 cups all-purpose flour

2 tsp. salt (I used seasoning salt)

1 tsp. ground black pepper

Pinch of ground red pepper (opt.)

Shake the chicken in the bag or toss in the pan until well coated. Let dry on a rack at room temperature for 15 to 30 minutes. (A must)

Place in a deep, heavy skillet, preferably cast iron, large enough to hold the chicken pieces in a single layer over medium-high heat and add:

3 cups solid vegetable shortening

There should be enough shortening in the skillet to measure about 1/2 inch. Heat until a small corner of a chicken piece causes vigorous bubbling when dipped into the fat, about 350 F on a deep-fry thermometer.

Gently lay the chicken pieces skin side down in the hot fat and cover. Cook for 10 minutes, checking after 5 minutes and moving the pieces if they are coloring unevenly or turning the heat down if the chicken is browning too quickly. (At this oint, the fat should be bubbling and register between 250 and 300 F on a thermometer.)

Turn the chicken pieces with tongs and cook, uncovered, until the second side is richly browned, 10 to 12 minutes more.

Remove the chicken to a rack set over a baking sheet. If not serving immediately, remove the chicken, still on the rack, to an oven warmed at the lowest setting.