This is not a flashback (more of those to come later)... I just couldn't resist sharing today's hilarity/mayhem.
Circa 1am our power went out due to the rediculous wind accompanying the equally rediculously strong thunder/lightening storm. Circa 6am the goose wakes up and heads straight for the potty... two seconds later the tears start when the light won't come on... and because she has to let daddy help her... and because we won't let her flush. You see, we have well, and no power equals no pump, hence no water to flow in to flush said potty. This, to an almost-four-year-old is VERY troubling... AND prompts EVEN MORE questions than the standard 100/hour. We did our best to explain why the lights won't work and why we can't flush the potty, then proceeded to bribe her into ceasing with the 50 questions game by letting her carry around the battery-operated Snow White night light, which is clearly better than a flashlight any day. Well, Wes had to take the dog out, and I couldn't take the questions on the very few hours of poor sleep I had, so, being the stellar mother that I am, I sent her out with him, the dog, and, of course, the Snow White light... (Enter 4 minutes of peace... ahh!) Upon her arrival back in the house, the goose, who is now no longer scared of our lack of power, proudly informs me...
"Mommy, there are a lots of leaves and sticks in the yard... I think that's why we don't have any potty power."
Yes, Goose, I think that's it. And the moral of this story... never underestimate the importance of potty power!
Wednesday, May 11, 2011
Tuesday, May 10, 2011
Almost Alice Springs Chicken
Contrary to popular belief, I do still possess some domestic skills... I am just a bit more hesitant to exercise these skills than I used to be. ANYWAY, I got the crazy idea (based on a craving I think) to try and find a recipe for something close to Outback's Alice Springs Chicken. OH MY GOODNESS... I found (and slightly altered) this recipe... It's not exactly like The Alice, but it's pretty close AND surprisingly easy (I can make it start to finish in less than 30 minutes... now that's saying something!) There is one drawback... it's not even close to healthy (I must admit I am typing this while watching the Biggest Loser, which is some kind of irony) But who cares! It is G-O-O-D! Give it a try... you'll be glad you did.
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| Not the prettiest, but umm umm tasty! |
Almost Alice Springs Chicken...
Honey Mustard marinade/dipping sauce
Whisk together the following ingredients
• 1 cup Mayonnaise
• 4 tablespoons Sugar
• 4 tablespoons Cider Vinegar
• 6 tablespoons Honey
• 2 tablespoons French Mustard (don’t use the spicy kind… at least I didn’t think it tastes as good)
• 2 tablespoons Soy Sauce
Ingredients
• 4 skinless, boneless Chicken Breast halves
• 1 tablespoon Olive or Veg. Oil
• 2 cups sliced Mushrooms
• 2 tablespoons Butter
• Salt & Pepper to taste
• 8 slices Bacon – cooked
• Shredded Cheeses of your choice (original recipe calls for a cheddar-jack blend, but I once added a slice of swiss to the top of shredded cheddar and it was even better)
Directions:
1. Whisk together honey mustard ingredients
2. Put chicken in baking dish or Ziploc bag to marinate, then pour half of the honey mustard marinade over the chicken… cover or seal bag & let marinate for at least two hours or as long as overnight. (Save remaining honey mustard in a sealed container in 'fridge.)
3. Preheat oven to 375 F
4. Heat up the oil in a frying pan (or large dutch oven… I prefer using a deeper pan to keep down on spattering) on the stove and sear each chicken breast 4 minutes per side until golden brown.
5. Transfer chicken to baking dish and brush with honey mustard (or just pour a little more honey mustard over each piece of chicken
6. Salt and pepper the breasts. (OPTIONAL)
7. Add butter to frying pan and saute mushrooms.
8. Stack bacon across each breast, spoon mushrooms on each breast and then top each piece with cheese
9. Cover pan with foil or lid and bake 10 minutes. serve with remaining honey mustard for dipping (OPTIONAL).
Honey Mustard marinade/dipping sauce
Whisk together the following ingredients
• 1 cup Mayonnaise
• 4 tablespoons Sugar
• 4 tablespoons Cider Vinegar
• 6 tablespoons Honey
• 2 tablespoons French Mustard (don’t use the spicy kind… at least I didn’t think it tastes as good)
• 2 tablespoons Soy Sauce
Ingredients
• 4 skinless, boneless Chicken Breast halves
• 1 tablespoon Olive or Veg. Oil
• 2 cups sliced Mushrooms
• 2 tablespoons Butter
• Salt & Pepper to taste
• 8 slices Bacon – cooked
• Shredded Cheeses of your choice (original recipe calls for a cheddar-jack blend, but I once added a slice of swiss to the top of shredded cheddar and it was even better)
Directions:
1. Whisk together honey mustard ingredients
2. Put chicken in baking dish or Ziploc bag to marinate, then pour half of the honey mustard marinade over the chicken… cover or seal bag & let marinate for at least two hours or as long as overnight. (Save remaining honey mustard in a sealed container in 'fridge.)
3. Preheat oven to 375 F
4. Heat up the oil in a frying pan (or large dutch oven… I prefer using a deeper pan to keep down on spattering) on the stove and sear each chicken breast 4 minutes per side until golden brown.
5. Transfer chicken to baking dish and brush with honey mustard (or just pour a little more honey mustard over each piece of chicken
6. Salt and pepper the breasts. (OPTIONAL)
7. Add butter to frying pan and saute mushrooms.
8. Stack bacon across each breast, spoon mushrooms on each breast and then top each piece with cheese
9. Cover pan with foil or lid and bake 10 minutes. serve with remaining honey mustard for dipping (OPTIONAL).
First Trip to the Zoo...
So... I am a month behind... what's new! Instead of one rediculously long flashback, just pretend that the next few posts were spread out over the course of several weeks. And if you are feeling particularly imaginative, pretend it's still April.
We started off the month of April with a fun-filled trip to the zoo! We met some of our dear-old-college-friends and their adorable girls for an afternoon-o-zoo-fun, which clearly involved a trip to Chick-fil-a too... what toddler outing would be complete without that?!?
The girls had a great time together and were fast friends, just like their moms :) They enjoyed many-a-game of monkey-see-monkey-do, which is appropriate considering we were at the zoo... only the game involved no monkeys... just a goose who did her best to teach L some new tricks. Though the monkeys were #1 on the goose's "to see" list, they weren't very exciting... nothing at all like Curious George, so the elephants and giraffes took the top spot as her favorite animals. Despite their pretty color, the flamingos came in as her least favorite... they STINK! Here are some highlights of our day with our sweet friends...
We started off the month of April with a fun-filled trip to the zoo! We met some of our dear-old-college-friends and their adorable girls for an afternoon-o-zoo-fun, which clearly involved a trip to Chick-fil-a too... what toddler outing would be complete without that?!?
The girls had a great time together and were fast friends, just like their moms :) They enjoyed many-a-game of monkey-see-monkey-do, which is appropriate considering we were at the zoo... only the game involved no monkeys... just a goose who did her best to teach L some new tricks. Though the monkeys were #1 on the goose's "to see" list, they weren't very exciting... nothing at all like Curious George, so the elephants and giraffes took the top spot as her favorite animals. Despite their pretty color, the flamingos came in as her least favorite... they STINK! Here are some highlights of our day with our sweet friends...
Saturday, April 30, 2011
You are now entering heaven… no walkers needed!
Ever since Grandan’s death prompted our discussion of heaven, the Goose has on several very random occasions returned to the topic. Here’s this week’s latest revelation about our heavenly home…
While playing at Granny’s house the goose made a new discovery in the guest room… Grandan’s walker. Now mind you, she has been in the guest room multiple times a week, as this is where the toys are kept, for the last 4 months, but somehow she has never noticed the walker or wheelchair located directly beside her toy basket! Until Thursday…
“Mommy, why did Grandan leave his walker in the guest room.”
“Because he doesn’t need it in heaven.”
(At this point, I simply want to avoid the tears, so am trying desperately to keep the theological discussion to a minimum.)
“He didn’t take it with him?”
“No dear, he doesn’t need a walker in heaven because now he can walk just fine without one… I bet he can even run!”
“But why?”
“Remember how we said Grandan went to heaven because he was old and sick and his body was just too tired to work anymore? Well in heaven God makes us all new again, so Grandan’s not tired or old or sick anymore… and that means he can walk without a walker! And he can probably even run now too!”
The Goose, smiling (praise God!)… “And you don’t need a walker when you run!”
That’s right! No walkers needed in heaven… Praise God for that! AND for a toddler heaven discussion with no crying!
While playing at Granny’s house the goose made a new discovery in the guest room… Grandan’s walker. Now mind you, she has been in the guest room multiple times a week, as this is where the toys are kept, for the last 4 months, but somehow she has never noticed the walker or wheelchair located directly beside her toy basket! Until Thursday…
“Mommy, why did Grandan leave his walker in the guest room.”
“Because he doesn’t need it in heaven.”
(At this point, I simply want to avoid the tears, so am trying desperately to keep the theological discussion to a minimum.)
“He didn’t take it with him?”
“No dear, he doesn’t need a walker in heaven because now he can walk just fine without one… I bet he can even run!”
“But why?”
“Remember how we said Grandan went to heaven because he was old and sick and his body was just too tired to work anymore? Well in heaven God makes us all new again, so Grandan’s not tired or old or sick anymore… and that means he can walk without a walker! And he can probably even run now too!”
The Goose, smiling (praise God!)… “And you don’t need a walker when you run!”
That’s right! No walkers needed in heaven… Praise God for that! AND for a toddler heaven discussion with no crying!
Friday, April 29, 2011
Where have all the parents gone???
Why do they write children’s books where there are kids living alone? Seriously. Doesn’t someone recognize the potential fear this might cause in children that they too might someday be left to live alone? Evidently not.
Tonight, while reading a new book to the goose, which is supposed to be a simple counting story, we encountered this very problem, for Johnny lived alone… and though the story clearly states that Johnny liked living alone, the goose was quite troubled by this fact.
Goose… “Where are his mommy and daddy?”
Me…“He must be all grown-up so he doesn’t live with his mommy and daddy anymore.”
oh no… here come the tears…
Me…“what’s wrong?”
Goose…“I want to live with you and daddy.”
Me… “You will, until you’re a grown-up, which is a very long time from now.”
uh oh… more tears… that didn’t help…
Me again… “I lived with Gamma & Beba until I was WAY grown-up and married Daddy, then Daddy and I got our own house.”
Goose… “But I want to stay with you.”
Me… “You don’t have to go anywhere, I promise. You can live with Mommy and Daddy as long as you want, even when you’re a grown-up.”
(Note… this is NOT a lie, for I feel it is safe to say that she will NOT want to live with us when she’s 30)
Oh but Daddy, he had to chime in…
Wes… “You might have to start paying rent, though”
“Can you do that?” I asked the Goose.
Goose… (shaking her head no) “I don’t know anything about that kind of stuff”
And the moral of the story… ALWAYS include the whereabouts of the parents in children’s books (and movies)… always!
Tonight, while reading a new book to the goose, which is supposed to be a simple counting story, we encountered this very problem, for Johnny lived alone… and though the story clearly states that Johnny liked living alone, the goose was quite troubled by this fact.
Goose… “Where are his mommy and daddy?”
Me…“He must be all grown-up so he doesn’t live with his mommy and daddy anymore.”
oh no… here come the tears…
Me…“what’s wrong?”
Goose…“I want to live with you and daddy.”
Me… “You will, until you’re a grown-up, which is a very long time from now.”
uh oh… more tears… that didn’t help…
Me again… “I lived with Gamma & Beba until I was WAY grown-up and married Daddy, then Daddy and I got our own house.”
Goose… “But I want to stay with you.”
Me… “You don’t have to go anywhere, I promise. You can live with Mommy and Daddy as long as you want, even when you’re a grown-up.”
(Note… this is NOT a lie, for I feel it is safe to say that she will NOT want to live with us when she’s 30)
Oh but Daddy, he had to chime in…
Wes… “You might have to start paying rent, though”
“Can you do that?” I asked the Goose.
Goose… (shaking her head no) “I don’t know anything about that kind of stuff”
And the moral of the story… ALWAYS include the whereabouts of the parents in children’s books (and movies)… always!
Tuesday, April 26, 2011
Seriously Funny...
While you anxiously await the monthly review (coming soon to a blog near you!) Here are a few funny quotes from the goose to tide you over....
"When the baby is born and you still have to write a paper, I will take care of her."
(can you tell what I do too much of lately???)
After crying, stomping, and throwing herself on the floor for no apparent reason...
Me: “what was that outburst about?”
Goose: (with most serious and sad look ever) “sin.”
Me: “well, I can’t argue with that.”
Goose to Wes…
“Daddy, get your bike out so we both can ride.”
Wes… “Well, I can’t right now…”
Goose… “Yeah, you don’t have your bike riding clothes on… Go put on your tennis shoes, socks, leggings and dress… THEN we can BOTH ride bikes!”
(I would like to see that!)
Clearly, there are some words I say too much, for instance… clearly. Actually ranks right up there with clearly, as does seriously. (Can you clearly tell that I seriously like adverbs a bit too much?) ANYWAY, evidently I need to add "rather," "quite," and "attractive" to the list. As usual, the goose provides me with such a funny mirror… here’s the conversation over the playdoh table…
Goose: “This is rather quite purple. Actually, it is quite a tractor.”
Me (looking up to see if she had miraculously created a purple tractor): “What’s that?”
Goose: “This purple is quite a tractor!”
translation… “the purple playdoh is quite attractive”… Guess I need to work on annunciating… at least she is increasing her vocabulary!
"When the baby is born and you still have to write a paper, I will take care of her."
(can you tell what I do too much of lately???)
After crying, stomping, and throwing herself on the floor for no apparent reason...
Me: “what was that outburst about?”
Goose: (with most serious and sad look ever) “sin.”
Me: “well, I can’t argue with that.”
Goose to Wes…
“Daddy, get your bike out so we both can ride.”
Wes… “Well, I can’t right now…”
Goose… “Yeah, you don’t have your bike riding clothes on… Go put on your tennis shoes, socks, leggings and dress… THEN we can BOTH ride bikes!”
(I would like to see that!)
Clearly, there are some words I say too much, for instance… clearly. Actually ranks right up there with clearly, as does seriously. (Can you clearly tell that I seriously like adverbs a bit too much?) ANYWAY, evidently I need to add "rather," "quite," and "attractive" to the list. As usual, the goose provides me with such a funny mirror… here’s the conversation over the playdoh table…
Goose: “This is rather quite purple. Actually, it is quite a tractor.”
Me (looking up to see if she had miraculously created a purple tractor): “What’s that?”
Goose: “This purple is quite a tractor!”
translation… “the purple playdoh is quite attractive”… Guess I need to work on annunciating… at least she is increasing her vocabulary!
Thursday, April 7, 2011
A baby…
Sister! … Just what the goose wanted! I guess she got her way, again… but we don’t mind at all. I asked Wes if he had a preference, and he promised that he didn’t… he returned the same question, to which I replied, “Two legs, two arms, 4-chambered-heart, 2 sides-of-brain…” and he chimed in, “that’s what we’re looking for!” … we got all we were hoping for and more. Baby Sister measures exactly how she should, already likes doing yoga (just like the goose), and appears to look just like her big sister (at least as much as one can tell from an ultrasound profile).
As promised, our first stop after “getting the baby’s picture taken” was none other than Target, where the goose picked out the first gift for her baby sister… pink pajamas-with-the-feet-in-them, tiny pink baby shoes, and (of course) a pink baby toy. Clearly, we are all set for baby’s arrival… Now the waiting begins.
To top off our nearly perfect morning, we headed to Starbucks for a morning treat… and when we pulled up to the window, the car in front of us had already paid for our beverages… the drive-thru-difference certainly added an extra-bright spot to our already fantastic day… best iced caramel macchiato ever!
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| ...waiting... waiting... waiting... |
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