Merry Christmas to me!!!!!!!

Santa, otherwise knows as my husband decided to get me a laptop for Christmas. Mine broke, it actually broke in half, the seams of it cracked and now the screen won't work.

So before we settled on the Dell, we decided to go and check out the Electronics store and at the same time check out our favorite Chinese restaurant. We like it cause it has all kinda of Asian food, not just Chinese.


The kids all insisted on eating with chopsticks, and of COURSE they did when they are eating red sauce in a white shirt...!!! We haven't eaten that in a long time because of our food allergies, but we decided to give it a break today...

MMmmmm healthy, fried food much?

The sugar is intoxicating

Going to lunch with me is alot like going to lunch with the paparazzi.

John's fortune. Its so true, he is pretty irresistible.

Brian's fortune.

My fortune. Yay, even Confucius thinks I should catch up on chores.

Emma's fortune...

The aftermath......

Princess Leia Sparkle Trex Update 11 weeks

Can you see these ears? Over night they decided to stand up on their own. I can't tell if that is the boxer in her, or the German shepherd. She is absolutely adorable with them though.

We have to take her on walks at least once, of not twice a day to drain all the excess puppy energy. Walking she and Mac the Corgi together is like some kind of two stooges reenactment. Leia spends the whole walk trying to "pounce" on Mac and attack him. She will hang back, get down low and wiggle her behind, and the run up and try to pounce on him. This makes the walks a little chaotic, so I have put Mac on a really long lead, and her on a shorter one. I think she is a little frustrated with me now.


She and the cat are working together now. I took a picture of the cat up on our table. Our dining room table is right when you come in the door and it becomes the "landing strip". The cat obliges the dog by knocking off the things on the table so the puppy can chew them. Either that, or she is still holding a grudge against the puppy and is trying to knock her unconscious.

Oh and we are definitely "teething". We have solved the problem with cow hooves. They keep her very entertained and it keeps her from eating the couch.

She is fascinated with the laptop. I think maybe I will have her be a guest blogger one day....

Power to the Sheeple

I spend most of November really digging the term Affluenza. In one word it just said sooo much that was on my mind. I have a great affection for words and how they are used. For how they feel when spoken, or the images they produce. Yes, I know I am a huge nerd, I have just come to terms with it.

My husband, whose thinking processes just astound me, introduced me to my new favorite term "sheeple". Sheep+people=sheeple. I had always referred to them as "herders", but I think I like sheeple much better.

It came up in a conversation we were having about a friend of mine who had told me that she hadn't read anything in the past ten years longer than a magazine article. I was telling Brian that I just couldn't conceive of it. Reading is so much a part of my life, to me that would be like choosing to live in black and white when I could be living in color. I couldn't wrap my brain around the choice.

So we started talking about how choosing illiteracy (a non reading lifestyle) makes for perfect sheeple. You are exposed to much fewer original ideas. As soon as he used the term, I had a lightbulb moment and I burst out laughing.

Since I was so curious, I looked up a few definitions and merged them into one I liked...

• noun. Individuals who have lost all traces of actually individuality, forfieting their right to choose their own way, to wander aimlessly following another individual or group's ideals and beliefs so they can be included in groupthink in their "herd".


• Allowing the influences of different forms of media and group members to hold great sway in the formation of attitudes, behavior and opnion.


• To accept the group think as fact without examination.


• Not only to be told what to do, but to accept the paradigm of thought as absolute thereby removing the weight of personal responsibility.

Sadly, although I think each gender has sheeple, sometimes it seems as though women are just very predisposed to becoming sheeple. Its almost as though all of the things that would make you a "good little girl" in societies eyes also would make you an awesome sheeple. Don't offend anyone, be agreeable, being nice is much more important than being intelligent, don't disagree, pretty>intelligence.

It always seems as though women who are more independent minded wind up being labled with unflattering names that sound alot like witch. Sometimes, well deserved, sometimes because of society's expecations. Well, and many of them were burned as witches in earlier times. Raising two girls, my greatest hope is that they will be their own person, follow their own path, be strong and intelligent (even when their mother doesn't agree). But then I see the other side of it, and I hope that by the time they are mature, things will have changed.

Ghengis got a bad rap...

Isn't my sous chef the CUTEST??? This is the activity that John and I like to do together, John is fascinated by cooking!

Tonight I made Mongolian Beef. Its kinda part of our "hey can we make this at home?" restaurant tour. And really, I think this time it was better. The kids have NEVER have eaten a beef dish I made. Tonight they asked for seconds, seconds, it was like the heavens opened and the angels sung, all the planets aligned and my children ATE! So, I figured I would share. This recipe is a compilation of several different recipes. The recipes I researched called for flank steak, but flank steak has ever been my friend. Its so tough, I have never gotten it to turn out right in any recipe I have used it. So I used round steak and it turned out perfect.

MONGOLIAN BEEF

Prep/cook time: about 30 minutes

1 cup vegetable oil
1 tsp ginger minced (or you can use the dried)
2 TBL garlic chopped (again you can use the dried, just use a little less)
1 C Soy
1 C water
1 1/2 C Brown Sugar
1.75-2lb Round Steak
1/2 c cornstarch
1 sliced onion


Slice your round steak into bite sized pieces. It helps if you tilt the blad of your knife to a 45 degree angle. Put slices on a plate, and cover them in cornstarch. Let the beef sit for ten minutes soaking up the cornstarch.

Heat up the oil in your wok or skillet. Let it get hot, but not to smoking. Put in your cornstarchy beef in batches. Let it cook in the oil until it gets lightly brown around the edges. Don't worry at this point about the beef being cooked through... it will go back in to cook more. Put the beef on towels to drain.

Once you have all the beef cooked, throw in your onion and start it cooking. Once the onion is translucent add in your ginger, garlic, soy, water and brownsugar, stir. Add beef back into sauce and onion mixture. Let it simmer away until the beef cooks through. As it cools the sauce will thicken slightly. Serve over rice.

Silly, Willy, Nilly Day

We had a bad day, well...really I had the bad day, and more about that later.. so we went on a walk to look at the lights through the neighborhood. And just in case my neighbor's somehow stumble upon this, Seriously they are my kids favorite house to look at, I mean they every single decoration you can imagine. But then, I saw THIS. Pooh Bear lashed to the ground. At first I thought they had caught him in a new fangled bear trap, but now I think they might be holding him prisoner. You can't even see the two ropes in the back in addition to the two in the front. Now, the last time I saw anyone locked up this tight it was Hannible Lector, or maybe the vampire/werewolf guy in that movie Underworld. But maybe my neighbors know more about that seemingly sweet and innocent Pooh then we would have ever suspected, perhaps "rumbly in my tumbly" is way more ominous that we ever believed before. Maybe he thirsts for human flesh? I dunno, but clearly with the way they have him fastened down, he won't be coming to visit my house thank goodness. Its, ...... disturbing.

Oh and here is the craft I managed to churn out tonight. Its an advent calendar, I am taking a closepin and hanging them from a line run around the house. When I get it up tomorrow I will have to post pics. There are 25 stockings, and each stocking has a number from 1-25 and this way I don't have to keep answering that question.... "how many more days until christmas????"

Today was not a great day. It started out great. I got dinner in the crockpot, recovered some fence wood from a trashpile to make our snowmen tomorrow for our outdoor decoration project. Things were looking up.

Then we ended up off schedule and having to stop for lunch. I have slowly let caffeine back into my diet and today was just IT. We stopped at Whataburger, and I got a giant coke. Okay no biggie right, well yeah, unless you are sensitive to caffeine and the chemicals in Coke.... flash forward to two hours later and I am having a full blown raging panic attack in Kroger. First, how embarrassing... its bad enough when I have them at home. For those of you who blessedly haven't had one... I don't "panic", its more I get chest pain, dizzy, I can't think straight, and I can't breathe and then I start to panic. See, I wait till its appropriate. After, it leaves me with a splitting headache and ringing ears for a few hours. Fun right? TOTALLLLY worth the coke right? I could have just kicked myself.

This also explains why its midnight, and I am still up at this computer. Yeah, thats how much of a baby I am... I drink coke at noon, and at midnight I still can't sleep... UGH.

On the other hand, I churned out a pretty nifty craft in my insomniac delusions. Hm, well, still, I think I will stick with weak green tea tomorrow.

Gee your weenies smell terrific.....

Okay so no, thats not a come on line.... its what I thought to myself as I reentered the house today. I guess maybe its the homeschooling, or the husband having the totally unpredictable schedule, but the crockpot has been my lifesaver lately. The hours between 4 and 5pm are not my "primetime". Im a little grouchy, overdone and hey guess what? the kids and dogs need a walk... but who will cook dinner? The Crockpot!!!!

We had an interesting day, and I do plan to blog about that later..... but for now.....

So I tried this homeade Beans and Weenies recipe and it was awesome! and lets face it, the bean song never ever gets old... and since we just had the black bean soup the other day, the kids are THRILLED with the volume, and noise of the gas they are able to create lately. So just in case you wanna, here is the recipe.

3 cans kidney beans, drained and rinsed or you can use the equivilant of fresh like I did and soak them the night before.
1 medium onion chopped
1 big package hillshire farms little smokies,or you can use regular sausage
2 cups of chicken broth (if you use canned beans, you might have to use a little more)

Throw it all in the crockpot in the am and let it cook!

Dreaming of a white Christmas....

1. 
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   Even though today the temperature outside was almost in the seventies, we tried to make a little "white christmas". We read Snowflake Bentley and Gingerbread friends. Then we watched The Santa Claus. Brian had never seen it, and the girls found it very funny.
   
   Then we made coffee filter snowflakes. Because, lets face it, now that I am not allowed to have coffee, we have alot of filters to dispose of. It was really super easy, we just folded the coffee filter in half, folded it in half again, and then in half again. Then we cut designs into the folded paper, and whaaaa- la, a snowflake!
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   The kids were really very impressed with this craft. I think they really enjoyed unfolding the snowflake to see what they had created more than anything else. What was surprising is that John joined us for this one. Up till now, I thought he was sorta craftphobic. Hm, maybe he was just excited to get at the scissors....
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   

This is what we had for dinner. I found the recipe here at my new most favorite site. It was TOO easy, so I figured I would share. You just soak the beans the night before, throw them (and their water) in the crockpot with chicken broth and a jar of salsa and some frozen corn. Then wait 9 hours. Afterwards, you can stir in sourcream and/or cheese. We had some fresh dinner rolls with it. This was absolutely AWESOME. What surprised me the most was that the kids ate it, I would never ever have predicted that. Chloe wants me to make it again tomorrow.

The official recipe

--1 pound chicken (I used frozen breast tenderloins)
--1 cup dried black beans (or 2 cans, drained and rinsed)
--4 cups chicken broth
--1 cup sliced mushrooms
--1 cup frozen corn
--1 jar prepared salsa (16 oz)
--1 1/2 tsp cumin
--1/2 cup sour cream (to stir in at the end)
--shredded cheddar cheese, avocado slices, cilantro (all optional)

The Directions.

I used a 6.5 quart crockpot. You will need a 4 quart or larger.

If you know you are going to make this the night before (yay for meal planning!) soak the black beans in enough water to cover and another 2 inches overnight. In the morning, drain the water and rinse the beans.

If you don't have super hard water or live in a super high altitude, you can quick soak the beans by pouring boiling water over them and let them sit for an hour or two. I did an hour, but 2 would really be better if you have the time.

Drain and rinse the beans. Add to the crockpot. Put in the chicken, and add the broth and salsa. Pour in the corn and mushrooms, and add the cumin. Stir, but don't disturb the beans---let them stay at the bottom of the pot, closest to the heating element.

Cover and cook on high for 9 hours. Yup. High. For 9 hours. It took a crazy long time for the beans to soften, but they did.

If you are using beans you soaked overnight, canned beans, or pre-cooked beans, you can cook on low for 6-8 hours, or on high for 4-5--similar to normal soup-cooking time.

If you'd like to thicken the broth (I did this), you can use your immersible blender (I love that thing) to blend a bit of the beans and chicken. If you don't have one, scoop out 2 cups of the soup and carefully blend in your traditonal blender. Stir the mixture back into the crockpot.

Stir in the 1/2 cup of sour cream before serving, and garnish with shredded cheese and avocado slices.