Training Camp 2009-10

It's beginning feeling like an Al Qaeda camp around here. We currently have the following training sessions going all at once:

• Potty Training
• Sleep Training
• Jumbo Jet Flying

Recipe Successes

Well, it's all over...sigh. We had grand Christmas, spent with good friends and family. Over the course of the past few weeks, I've been trying out some new recipes. Considering that my oven died a few weeks ago--so the extent of my cooking has been done on the stovetop--I've found some real recipe winners. I thought you might be interested in seeing what I've made. If I was super awesome, like The Pioneer Woman, I would've taken beautiful photos of each step-by-step process but, alas, I'm not, so consider yourself lucky to get links to these recipes.

Potato Leek Fondue Soup
(courtesy of {cringe!} Sandra Lee)

I don't have a hand blender and didn't feel like transferring the soup to the regular blender either, so I just left it chunky. Aside from having to make sure to spoon from the bottom when serving (all of the chunky goodness went to the bottom of the pot) it was perfect. I highly recommend serving this with a crusty sourdough bread on a cold day.

Roquefort Pear Salad
(courtesy of Jana)

Yum. The dressing alone is going to become my new salad dressing staple in this house (naturally, we have to keep a trusty bottle of Ranch on hand as well, for a certain toddler). I couldn't find Roquefort at our grocery store, so I used bleu cheese. This salad is dressy enough to serve with a nice dinner but simple enough to use often.

You Won't Be Single For Long Vodka Cream Pasta
(courtesy of Rachael Ray)


I made this for our Christmas Eve dinner. Oh Holy Night, indeed! This pasta was awesome (if I do say so myself)! I don't normally cook with heavy cream or this much butter, but for a special occasion, I absolutely plan to whip it out again. We ate the leftovers tonight for dinner and I think that the sauce improved after spending a couple of days in the fridge. I served this with the above salad and some crusty bread. The toddler ate 2 helpings of it on Christmas Eve (almost making us late for church!) and then ate another 2 helpings tonight at dinner. That's saying a lot...this child who eats like a Hollywood starlet.

Olive Cheese Bread
(courtesy of The Pioneer Woman)

I prepped this then flash-froze it at home and then baked it at my mother-in-law's house for our Christmas evening festivities. It got rave reviews from even the pickiest of eaters, who looked sceptically at the copious amounts of olives piled on top. Again, not the healthiest option, but really good for a special appetizer.

Anna-isms: Christmas Eve Edition

"We wish you could marry Christmas. We wish you could marry Christmas. We wish you could marry Christmas and a happy new year!"

'Tis the season for...

writer's block, I guess. Thanks to Jana, I can now eek out a blog post and call it a day. Here's my Christmas meme:

Eggnog or hot chocolate? Egg nog...yes, egg nog! Promise Land Dairy makes the best. Preferably the "light" version. Silk's soy version is passable too, if you really want to reign in the calories.

Does Santa wrap the presents or leave them open under the tree? I think that when I was a kid, Santa wrapped some of the gifts (in different paper, which really helped to prove the "Santa is real" theory). I think that at Kevin's house, he didn't wrap the presents. So far, at our house, he hasn't wrapped the gifts, because they've been the big gift (toy kitchen, etc). This year, however, Santa is bringing any and all gifts that are difficult to wrap--because he's super generous like that--so, no wrapping for Santa this year.

Colored lights on a tree or white? White only...but, the older I get, the more I'm warming up to the idea of multi-colored lights on a tree. It makes a tree look so happy.

Do you hang mistletoe? Nope.

When do you put your decorations up? The weekend after Thanksgiving. I try to get the most play out of my Holiday decor as I can because I usually yank it all down as soon after Christmas as possible.

What is your favorite holiday dish? Hmmmm. Maybe Kevin's mom's cheese ball? (We don't typically do a big Christmas dinner anymore)

Do you open a gift on Christmas Eve? Yes, the kids get to open one gift from us on Christmas Eve--it's always pajamas. Then, they get to open their gifts from their Paw Paw and Granny.

How do you decorate your Christmas tree? White lights and lots of mismatched ornaments. I love that our tree tells a story. We used to get an ornament every time we traveled. Lately though, our travels aren't too exotic. We also have ornaments that were given to us as wedding gifts as well as ornaments that the kids have been given. I love all of our ornaments.

Snow: Love it or hate it? Love it, as long as I get to stay home and enjoy it.

Can you ice skate? Um...no.

What is your favorite holiday dessert? I'm a pumpkin pie kind of gal.

What is your favorite holiday tradition? I love our Christmas Eve. We spend the day, lounging around the house then make a nice dinner for Paw Paw and Granny. This year, we'll be going to church, then coming home to do some gifts. Christmas Eve is, by far, my favorite day of the year--so calm and relaxed. Christmas Day just feels like a rat race.

Candy canes: yum or yuck? Eh. I could take them or leave them.

Favorite Christmas show? I usually try to watch as many airings of A Christmas Story as possible between Christmas Eve and Christmas Day. It doesn't feel right to watch it any other day of the year. But, Christmas Vacation is definitely my end-all and be-all, as far as Christmas movies.

Why marriage is beneficial to your health:

Because your wife might walk in the kitchen one evening, only to discover that you're about to confuse the carton of Egg Beaters with a carton of Egg Nog and intervene just in the nick of time.

But how awesome would it have been to see his face, after taking a giant gulp of Egg Beaters?

Scenes from the season, so far

A few pictures to tide you over. Here's our new formal living room. It used to be this God-awful urine color. I've suddenly become quite a fan of blue and this color makes the room look so bright and clean.




This goofy, dinky table, that I've had for years always seems to be my favorite focal point in our living room, when decorated for Christmas.

I think this is hilarious. Jack on the left and Anna on the right. They're such different kids.

More snow day pictures

In lieu of interesting prose and creative writing--I got nothing, folks, sorry--I thought you'd enjoy a few more pictures of our snow day.

When the first flurries began to fall. The older I get, I'm amazed at how pointy my profile gets. Wicked Witch much?

Someone should really put a hat on that poor baby, but get a load of those snow-covered eyelashes

All bundled up and ready to play

We asked Anna if she wanted to make a snow angel and we were completely prepared to show her how it's done. Before we could even get the words out of our mouth, she'd plopped on the ground and began going at it. We have no idea how she knew how to make a snow angel.

Snow Day 2009

Delicious snow

Jack found one downside to having long, supple eyelashes..."snowflakes that stay on my nose and eyelashes"

What a fun day

It's beginning to look a lot like....

Christmas! The decorations are up and there's snow in the forecast for Friday (yes, snow). Things are looking up.

Great Moments in Creature* Care

*I say "creature" here because this epic failure in care-giving involves not just my child, but my pets as well.

We're out of wet cat food--completely out. Now, don't you worry about my cats because they have piles of dry food in their bowls, but they've grown accustomed to having wet food at night. Due to the weather today, I just didn't make it out to the store to buy wet food. So, 5 pm rolls around (which is kitty dinner time) and I'm trying to decide what to give them in lieu of wet food. So, I grab the step ladder to peek on top of the fridge (where I typically keep the wet food) to see if, by some twist of fate, a wayward can was lurking up there. No wet food was to be found, so I was going to improvise and use cat treats instead--essentially, giving my pets junk food for dinner. Thank goodness I'd never feed my children junk food for dinner. (Insert sarcasm here)

So, while I'm up on the step ladder, grabbing the bags of various and sundry cat treats from the top of the fridge, I spot a brown paper bag up there, covered in dust, with Anna's name on it. I look inside and it's the entire contents of Anna's Valentine treat bag from school...from 10 months ago. It looked completely untouched. Poor child.

The top of the fridge is about the only place in the kitchen where I can stash things that I don't want Anna to have (out of sight, out of mind). The only thing I can figure is that I shoved the bag up on top of the fridge, as soon as she got home from her Valentine party. Then, I promptly went into labor with Jack and, the rest is history.

Now, I'm pretty excited because it turns out, there's some good loot in this bag. The fact that it's 10 month old Valentine candy doesn't bother me one bit. Stale candy hearts and a half-melted Blowpop--score!

Open Letter Tuesday: Grumpy Housewife Addition

Dear stack of Christmas cards,
If you could just go ahead and address, stamp and mail yourselves, that would be great.
Thanks,
Me


Dear HEB,
If you could just bring one of those 18 wheeler trucks of yours directly over to my house to re-stock my pantry, fridge and freezer, that would be great.
Thanks,
Me


Dear Wynonna Judd*,
If you could refrain from pissing in our breakfast room, that would be great.
Thanks,
Me

*our cat, not the country singing sensation


Dear other bloggers,
Blogger (and I'm sure Wordpress as well) has a snazzy spellchecker, so you don't have to publish your posts with glaringly bad spelling throughout. Also, "Holidays" doesn't need an apostrophe, unless you're using a possessive form of the word (such as "the Holiday's end").
Sorry, but I had to say it,
Me


Dear audience of Rachael Ray's talk show,
Please don't applaud every blessed time Rach adds garlic or EVOO to the dish that she's cooking. It's stupid and one of the main reasons that I always have to change the channel.
Thanks,
Me