March Madness

I'm finding that March is not my favorite month of the year. It has something to do with the end of the third term at school and every teacher thinking that warrants some sort of project and/or extra concerts. I think we're about done with the projects and half way done with the concerts. Can you believe we have 7 school-related concerts this month alone?! At least the last concert will feature 3 of our 4 instrument playing children in one concert, so that should help me feel like it's a time-saving venture. I mean "feature" as in they'll all be playing in the orchestra, not that they are featured performers.

Don't tell Joseph, though. March=birthday for him and he's counting down the days. He keeps trying to find out what he's getting by asking "So, what am I getting for my birthday?" at random times. I keep disappointing him by answering "Nothing, yet." I haven't really gotten around to birthday shopping because I've been helping with science projects, building bridges, and making electric eel habitats. (3rd graders should never be allowed to pick their own animals to report on.) Add in the "taxi-driving" aspect of motherhood and I feel like I'm never home between 3 and 5, never mind monitoring homework and chores. The actual school part of the day has been pretty mellow, and that's a good thing because that's when I'm catching up on all my sleep instead of other needful things like vacuuming and bathroom cleaning. And, somehow, my brain doesn't function very well when it's sleep deprived. (Oh, and I really do have a couple of presents for Joseph, but if he knew that he'd never leave me alone. So, it's all hush, hush right now.)

Tonight is the first night this week that I don't somewhere to go, at least not that I can think of right now. If you know of someplace I should be, please keep the info to yourself. I'm going to pick up Erica from track and then take the rest easy. Oh wait, I forgot. Greg and I get to go shopping for a new wireless router because ours died yesterday. I should also stop and get Ryan the Starbursts I promised him earlier this week. Happy Date Night to us, I suppose! It's been kind of nice not having internet capabilities on the laptop. The kids are "bored", but they also aren't glued to a game. But, there are papers to be written and information to look up and I can't read the information that Steven's orchestra teacher emailed because our Word program on this computer is too old and can't open it. The new program is on the laptop, and I can't check the email there, so a-shopping we will go.

Speaking of technology, we were challenged in that department yesterday. The CD player in the van is on the fritz and spends all it's time trying to eject something that's not in there. The poor little motor just keeps running and the screen says "Err". We tried putting in a CD to see if it would kick start it somehow, but it just turns on the radio, spits out the CD, and goes back to saying "Err". I discovered today that if I let it spit out the CD and leave it there, half way out of the player, that the motor stops running and the screen shows the time like it's supposed to. So, I've spent today with "Alvin and the Chipmunks" hanging out of the CD player. I chose that CD because I'm so sick of it that if it breaks in half I won't be sad.

And, that brings us back to March and Joseph because he got that CD for his birthday, in March, a couple of years ago. I think I'd take another school concert before I'd listen to that CD right now. Good thing I can't, in the car at least. Joseph is definitely getting something else for his birthday this year, but that's all I'm going to tell him!

This, That, and The Other Thing

There's no real rhyme or reason to the title. That's just what came to mind. I'm also posting this now because I'm hungry for something that I don't have and am hoping that this will prove a good distraction.

So, a while ago I mentioned on Facebook that I was finally getting around to hanging curtains at our house. Last night it was suggested that I post pictures for the whole world to see. So, here we go. I am NOT, by really any standard or definition, a decorator and am most grateful for anyone with talent along those lines that help me in anyway. These curtains were made by our friend and decorating hero, Yvonne, in NH. She was, once upon a time, an interior decorator who took pity upon me when we were selling our house in Manchester. She took me shopping, tried to teach me some basic rules for decorating, and stayed up MANY nights sewing curtains for every room in our house. I'm not much of a drapes/curtain person, so they're all valences. And, I must admit, I would have loved to have our house look just like it did when we sold it for the whole 3 years we lived there. Some of the valences are made to exactly fit the windows in Manchester and I don't have windows here they fit, but the ones in the living room, kitchen, and bathroom do. I also have some that still aren't hung, but I'm working on it.

These were taken last night, because I thought the colors would be easier to see in controlled lighting. You'll see I was right if you get to the bottom.

Here's the living room. The painting between the windows was painted but Yvonne. She's a woman of many talents and very few of ours in the creativity department overlap. The walls were green when we bought the house. Luckily it still works with the furniture and curtains. I'm not really up to painting right now.

Here's the dining room. You can see Yvonne's painting better. My favorite, which you can't see, are the little red berries in the blue picture. The lamp has similar berries on it and the red chairs in the living room are the same color. Tied it all together! Also, the other painting was done by Greg's mom. I'm not sure when, but they've had it as long as I've known Greg. I like the fruit and it's a little reminder of her.

Kitchen. Yes, Yvonne, I know you hate the little magnet board, but we use it too much to take down. Also, funny story, my camera must still be set on New Hampshire time because these pictures have the next day's date on them, even though it was just after 10:00 when I took them.

Living room today. I include this only because you can see how sheer the fabric is, not because it's such a great picture.


This is the bathroom curtain. It's made out of the same fabric as the shower curtain, courtesy, again, of Yvonne. I'm such a sucker for plaid. Love it!


This one, too, had a hard time with the lighting. Oh well, I'll take others later and hopefully post better pictures at some point.

Ok, mission accomplished and I'm now late to get the boys. Still hungry for something I don't have, though. Oh well. I'll see if I can forget while I'm out of the house!

Winter at Aspen Grove-The Other Half

Yesterday being President's Day, our family headed up to Aspen Grove to participate in the annual Snowshoeing/Cross Country Skiing event they hold. Last year, we went snowshoeing, had a great time, and saw half of Aspen Grove in the winter as opposed to our usual summer remembrances. This year we thought we'd try cross country skiing as none of our kiddos had ever been before. The snow wasn't as deep as last year and one mom told me the skiing trails were more slick and thus "faster" than they've been in the past. I'm willing to try again pretty much only if we run the course in reverse to see if I'd like "slower" snow and skiing mostly uphill better. Most of us had a great time, though, and we got to see the other half of Aspen Grove in the winter. There are a bunch of pictures of cabins that you will not likely find interesting unless you were there with us the last time we went. You may not even find them interesting if you were there. Feel free to scroll right on by either way.

The cross ski trail leaves from in front of Beckham Lodge and follows the dirt roads by the fish pond, ropes course, arts and crafts building, and around the cabins. Spencer took off like a shot and loved it the most. He said he was a natural. I told him it was the Norwegian in him. He must have an extra dose in there somewhere.

I'd put in pictures of everyone skiing down, but they all look pretty much the same, just fewer people at the top. Greg took the camera and went down first. This one's Joseph. The small dark shape on the right at the top is Steven sitting on the side of what was Dan and Melissa's cabin the last time we were there for a reunion. I went last. All I will say is that I prefer walking down on a dirt road to skiing down on the snow. There's just this thing I have with not ever wanting to do anything to hurt my knees ever again. Don't look for me on a downhill slope unless my life depends on it- and even then we'd be talking some pretty serious danger before I'll voluntarily go.

This is Erica and Joseph's hand as they came up to the bridge over the stream by the ropes course. Notice that some members of the family felt they didn't need a coat. Erica took her's off part way into the course, but at least had a sweatshirt on underneath. Joseph took his off before we even started and was quite happy to be wearing just a t-shirt. I think Spencer did the same. Crazy kids!

Ok, that's it for the family, the rest are pretty much just pictures of the places we were a couple of years ago for those that would like to see the difference. Enjoy if you feel like it!

The road up.

The main lodge- check out those icicles! Some of them were solid ice several inches thick all the way to the ground. Obviously there aren't many kids up there to break them off!

I think this is cabin #22. I tried to get shots of each family's cabin, but some weren't accessible.

Steven in front of that counselor cabin right near our set.

No idea what numbers they are, but I remember that some of our family stayed in them. They weren't on the trail, though that doesn't seem to have stopped people from heading over there.

#26

Bathrooms and laundry.


#28

This is the side of #27. I thought the splitting snow gave a better idea of how deep it was.

Arts and crafts

The kids arts and crafts lodge thing. I can't remember what it's called.

Ropes course

Fish Pond
It looks like they take out the walls that make the dam and just let the stream run in the winter.

At the End of the Day

My mental calendar has been taking me back 17 years. There's no good reason, it just is. 17 years ago Valentine's Day fell on Sunday and we were blessed with a President's Day vacation the following day. Greg and I were approaching our 6 month anniversary and still students. If I'm not mixing up my visits, my sister and a friend spent part of the weekend with us and we dropped them off at the airport so they could spend the weekend at home in AZ. We'd learned that Les Miserable would be coming to Salt Lake City and we wanted to see it. Tickets went on sale at 6:00 Monday morning. No sleeping in for us that holiday. Being the "savvy shoppers" we were, we decided to beat the crowds and get up at 5:00 to be at the head of the ticket line at Smiths. Boy, were we outsmarted! We arrived to a sea of people outside the store, some of whom had been there for the better part of the night. I had only heard of that for rock concerts, and never experienced it for myself. Afraid we wouldn't be able to get tickets, we took turns trying to get through to buy tickets over the phone. This was pre- ubiquitous internet and cell phones, so it meant using a pay phone when we could while waiting in line. We were successful, though. By 11:00 we had ended up with 2 sets of tickets- feast or famine, I guess! We eventually sold one set to some friends and I remember having a great time at the show- despite the "morning" sickness that was in full swing (all day) by the time the play actually arrived in town.

I'm not sure why that particular event has been on my mind lately. It really isn't something I've thought much about in the years since. Maybe it's because we're back in UT. Maybe it's the long weekend sparking a memory. It has been interesting to see where life has taken us since then. In some ways we've come full circle. In others, we're miles away down a straight road. Physically, yes, we're back in the same town. We aren't really the same people we were then, though. For one, our little family is now 7, not 2. Schooling is pretty much behind us and our children are edging quite close to that brink themselves. This year I'm planning to sleep in and spend some fun time with my family no where near a Smith's.

I've learned alot about myself and life in general in the last 17 years. Back then, arriving at the point where we'd have children old enough to go to college seemed a world and lifetime away. I somehow hadn't thought about what kind of life existed beyond that point. By then, surely we'd be expert parents, have all the answers, be done "growing up" and be living life on auto pilot. Don't ask me where I got any of those ideas. They seem pretty crazy from here.

Now, I find us approaching that vague point. I've learned alot, but haven't managed the things I'd imagined- no expert parenting, missing a bunch of answers, still have tons of "growing up" to do, and if there's an autopilot button for my life laying around, no one has told me where it is. I do know that we're nowhere near the end of this learning process and we still have more of life before than behind us. At least, I hate to think that my current state is my finished product. There are too many corners that need to be rounded and too much polishing to be done. It makes me wonder what the next 17, 34, and maybe even 68 years will bring and how many of my current preconceived notions will turn out to be as off the mark as my earlier ones. Does the learning slow down or speed up as you get older? As they sing in Les Mis- "At the end of the day, you're another day older..." Hopefully that means you're a little wiser, as well. Only time and experience can really add up to that.

Love One Another

"In the enriching of marriage, the big things are the little things."

James E. Faust

I might add that little saying applies to any relationship. A smile, a hug, a sincere "How are you today?" go farther in building and maintaining relationships than anything else. Validate that someone is important and you'll change their world. Thanks to all those who make a difference for me!

Happy Valentine's Day!

Sausage and Pumpkin Pasta

If you're like me you read that title and had two thoughts. 1) "Sausage and pumpkin together? Gross." 2) "There is no way my family would eat that, especially if I told them what it was called. Who eats that stuff?" I stand corrected, because, apparently, my family does. The amazing part was that everyone liked it- even after I told them the name. Most had seconds. Steven took his first bite and declared it "disgusting". I chose to ignore him and was surprised a few minutes later to hear him declare it "delicious" and go back for more. In fact, he just came back in for another serving and we finished dinner 2-1/2 hours ago. Thinking that was just about as miraculous as it could get, I thought I'd share the recipe. I did make a few changes for tonight and I'll put those at the end.

Sausage and Pumpkin Pasta
Healthy Cooking Magazine Dec/Jan 2010 p. 61

Prep: 20 min.
Cook: 15 min.
Yield: 4 servings

2 cups uncooked multigrain bow tie pasta
1/2 lb. Italian turkey sausage links, casings removed
1/2 lb. sliced, fresh mushrooms
1 medium onion, chopped
4 garlic cloves, minced
1 cup reduced-sodium chicken broth
1 cup canned pumpkin
1/2 cup white wine or additional reduced sodium chicken broth
1/2 tsp. rubbed sage
1/4 tsp. salt
1/4 tsp. garlic powder
1/4 tsp. pepper
1/4 cup grated Parmesan cheese
1 Tbsp. dried parsley flakes

1. Cook pasta according to package directions.

2. Meanwhile, in a large non-stick skillet coated with cooking spray, cook the sausage, mushrooms, onion, and garlic over medium heat until meat is no longer pink; drain. Stir in the chicken broth, pumpkin, wine (extra broth), sage, salt, garlic powder, and pepper. Bring to a boil. Reduce heat; simmer, uncovered, for 5-6 minutes or until slightly thickened.

3. Drain pasta; add to the skillet and heat through. Just before serving, sprinkle with cheese and parsley.

Nutrition Facts: 1-3/4 cups equals 348 calories, 9 g fat (2 g saturated fat), 38 mg cholesterol, 733 mg sodium, 42 g carbohydrate, 7 g fiber, 23 g protein.
Diabetic Exchanges: 2-1/2 starch, 2 lean meat, 1 vegetable, 1/2 fat.


Now, for the changes:
1) I hope it goes without saying that I used chicken broth and not white wine.

2) I'm fresh out of pumpkin, but I have a TON of zucchini from the garden this summer. It's even already pureed because I hide it in lots of dishes. I made a double recipe tonight, so I used 2 cups of pureed zucchini, but did not add the extra 1/2 cup (1 cup for a doubled recipe) of chicken broth because the zucchini was pretty runny.

3) I used a 1 lb. chub of mild sausage that I had in the freezer. I'm not a sausage aficionado (or how ever you spell it), so I don't know if that changes the taste at all.

4) Most of our family doesn't like mushrooms, so I added the same amount of TVP instead to keep up the bulk. (Don't know what TVP is? Click here for an introduction.)

There you have it. A miracle in a cook book. Hope it's as big a hit at your house as it was at ours.

Monday

It's 1:30 (in the p.m.) and I should be taking a shower, but I'm allowing myself to be slightly distracted for a little bit.

My day started out just fine. I even got up a little early to read my scriptures before everyone else was up and the noise level increased. The idea was that when I got back from walking my boys to school and getting some exercise I could come right in the house and get busy cleaning my bathrooms. Today was my day to do a complete Houseblessing. (If you've never heard of a Houseblessing, click here and scroll down to "Basic Weekly Plan".)

I was thwarted. Trying to be a cool mom and remember what it's like to be 16 with a freshly minted drivers license, I finally agreed to let Erica drive the van to school. Her Auto class will even wash it and change the oil for practice today. (Good deal, if no one dies and nothing gets munched in the parking lot. I've driven in that lot and others like it and am not totally sold on the idea.) The idea being that Erica can drive and I have to be home with my house blessing because I can't let a little errand- like that stamp I need- distract me.

I left the house with my boys right on time. We walked down to our friends and were just leaving their house when Ryan informs me he forgot his backpack. Not a big deal, except that it's a bit of a walk back up to our house and would require running all of the 3/4 of a mile to school to be on time. I'm all for exercise, but not so much for killing myself. I contemplated making him go to school without it and dealing with the consequences but today is "Penguin Parade Day". I had to get up at 7:30 (the only day to sleep in last week, mind you) on Saturday morning to help my 3rd grader make "clothes" for a paper penguin out of material scraps. I'll be darned if they don't get to parade! I didn't have a car to make the clothing run later or to drive Ryan to school. I probably should have just made him run and/or be late.

Deborah, my friend and hero of the day, offers to drive me back home, then to take the kids to school. (She's the best, by the way.) I thought I'd go for the drive so we could visit a little bit. Still trying to make Ryan somewhat responsible for his actions, I gave him the house key and sent him in to get the backpack. He did just that and very obediently locked the door with my keys still sitting inside on the chair. AHHHH!! Deborah added "Drive Shannon to Greg to get a key" to her list of things to do today and even managed to not laugh at me too much. Greg did, though.

Deborah and I visited for a while- longer than we would have on our walk- which was way more fun than cleaning bathrooms. I grabbed a midmorning snack and got going on the bathrooms. I got 1-3/4 done. The second just needs a floor job. I did get the floor in the laundry room washed, too. That's amazing in and of itself. The third bathroom will just have to wait. The rest of the houseblessing? Maybe next week, or later this week if the stars align.

So, here I sit with dry skin on my hands and the rest of me in desperate need of a shower. I need to leave in an hour to get the kids so that I can have at least a little exerecise today. My to-do list was hardly scratched today, but I'm thinking the following. It's sunny and almost 40 outside. If I don't look up, I can even ignore the terrible air quality from the inversion. The cleanliness of the house is a notch above what it was this morning. I have a family who fills it with love (and sometimes other stuff!) whenever they're here. They all love to be home and have their friends here. I have friends who are willing to help out at a moments notice and like me even if I haven't showered. I am blessed and wouldn't have it any other way. I'll clean the bathrooms and whatever else when I get to it. Someday my days and house will be quiet and empty much longer than the current school day. For now, I'm happy and in 30 minutes I'll be clean. What more can I ask for?