Around the house

This morning Nikki asked for Frosted Flakes for breakfast. When I put the bowl in front of her she said, "Not Frosted Flakes! I want bran flakes!" What?! She actually does like bran flakes but only when we don't have frosted flakes. It would be nice to make it through at least one breakfast without her dark side showing through.

I mopped the floor today. Isn't it funny how things always get spilled right after you mop? I was making waffles for supper and a drop of the batter hit the floor. I decided if that was the biggest mess on my clean floor then I was doing okay. Not two minutes later Nikki dropped a whole glass of orange juice.

Nate changed the oil in the car today. At least he tried. But as usually happens, it didn't work the way he wanted it to. He needed a tool to get the oil filter off, but he didn't have one that was the right size. Our neighbor next door who has let him borrow a couple of tools before wasn't home, and he walked the neighborhood asking if anyone else had one he could borrow, but no one did. He came back and looked at me and said, "Everyone else says they pay to have it done." However, he bought the tool at the store today, so I guess he'll be trying it again in a few thousand miles. Poor guy.

I just got some strawberry shortcake out of the oven. I can't wait to try it. It's the kind Grandma Bass always made. The recipe just comes off of the Jiffy box, but since Grandma made it, you just can't beat it. I put too much sugar in the strawberries trying to get them juicy, but that's one problem I can handle.

Sprinklers

Here's a way to lay out and still avoid skin cancer.

It is in the 80's today, and the girls had so much fun playing in the sprinklers. Our seasons have been completely off this year. January felt like spring, and now at the beginning of spring it feels like summer. I'm not complaining though (except there are tons of wasps swarming our house already). I love this weather.

An Act of Love

Love is going to an organ recital with your wife even though UNC is playing in the NCAA tournament that night. Nate is so wonderful! We went to a recital last night by Dame Gillian Weir. She was an incredible organist, and she was also such an elegant lady. I really enjoyed watching her. She will be performing in the reopening of the Tabernacle in April. In the first piece she played I think she grew an extra couple of fingers because it just isn't possible to play that many notes at one time. It wasn't really pretty, but it was amazing. I wanted to sit on the front row so I could see her feet as she was playing. Wow! She is an older lady, probably in her 70's, but you would never guess that by watching her feet move.

We went with my organ teacher and his wife. At one point he asked Nate what his favorite kind of music was. Nate kind of thought for a minute, and then he said, "Classical Beethoven." I thought I would die laughing! He probably wouldn't even recognize a Beethoven piece if he heard it. He told me later he was trying to think of something that would impress my teacher and that was the only thing he could think of. It worked. He was impressed.

I had a lot of fun, and Nate said it wasn't that bad. He did say that he was just as lost when we were talking about organ stuff as I get when he tries to talk about GIS. I think it was so sweet of him to go with me. He survived, and the VCR taped the games he missed. So today he has been watching basketball all day. He deserves it!

Chicken Enchilada Ring

While I'm on a recipe kick, I'll post this one, too. It's a Pampered Chef recipe, and a friend of mine gave me a tablespoon of the southwest seasoning when she gave me the recipe. Next time I think I'll just substitute taco seasoning and chili powder or something like that. If any of you chefs know what would make a good combination please let me know. I made it last night, and Nate loved it. It was really good and easy, too.

2 cups chopped cooked chicken
1/4 c. chopped pitted ripe black olives (of course I left this out!)
1 c. shredded cheddar & Monterey Jack cheese
1 can chopped green chilies
1/2 c. mayonnaise
1 Tbsp. Southwestern Seasoning
2 plum tomatoes
1 tsp. lime juice
2/3 c. crushed corn tortilla chips
2 pkgs refrig. crescent rolls
salsa
sour cream

1. Preheat oven to 375 degrees.
2. Combine chicken, olives, cheese, chilies, mayo, & seasoning.
3. Seed & chop tomatoes; add. Then add lime juice.
4. Add crushed chips except for 2 Tbls.
5. Unroll crescent dough and place triangles on a round pan/stone, forming a ring with pointed ends facing outer edge of pan and wide ends overlapping. Lightly press wide ends together.
6. Spoon chicken mix over wide end of rolls. Fold points over filling and tuck under wide ends (filling will be visible). Sprinkle reserved chips over the top.
7. Bake for 20-25 minutes or until golden brown. Serve with sour cream and salsa.

Peanut Butter S'more Bars

This is the recipe for the dessert we had at family night this week. I usually like recipes where I already have most everything on hand, and I don't normally have M&Ms and the cookie dough but this will be a good once-in-a-while treat that the girls really like. It's really easy and Nikki did a great job helping.

1 tube (16 1/2 oz.) refrigerated peanut butter cookie dough
3 1/2 cups miniature marshmallows
3/4 cup chocolate chips
2 tsp. shortening
1 1/2 c. M&Ms

Let dough stand at room temp. for 5-10 minutes to soften. Cut into 24 slices; arrange side by side in an ungreased 13 x 9 baking pan. Pat together to close gaps.

Bake @ 350 degrees for 18-20 minutes or until lightly browned and edges are firm. Sprinkle with marshmallows; bake 2-3 minutes longer or until marshmallows are puffy.

In a small microwave-safe bowl, melt chocolate chips and shortening; stir until smooth. Sprinkle M&Ms over marshmallow layer; drizzle with melted chocolate. Chill until set before cutting.

Family Night

We had such a fun family night tonight. Hannah was in charge of the lesson, and thankfully Nate got home early tonight to help her. While I was cooking supper he went over it with her. She took a picture of Jesus praying in the Garden of Gethsemane and told all about where he was, who went with him, and what he was doing and why. I thought she did a great job. Then she wanted to make popcorn necklaces for our activity. I think you can tell from the picture how excited she was about it. She got a good laugh over what a funny face she made for the camera.


Nikki looked through a cooking magazine and chose these peanut butter s'mores bars for dessert. They were really sweet but everyone wanted seconds. It was really nice to be together tonight. The preparations were really simple, but even if it had taken a lot of work it would have been worth it for the wonderful feeling we had just being together.

Popcorn Tree

We are so excited about Spring! We can see this Bradford pear tree out of our dining room window, and every morning for the past week Nikki says, "Mom! Come look at the popcorn!" The little kids at church sing a song about "popcorn popping on the apricot tree" and they just love that we have a popcorn tree of our very own!

My phone phobia

Tonight I had to make about a few phone calls to some of the women at church to set up a time to go visit with them. Such a simple thing, right? They are all very nice ladies. No one said anything rude to me or even acted like I was invading their evening, but it was the hardest thing I've done all day. Especially making the call to the lady that I haven't met yet -- oh, I don't know how I did it. I even had to get a piece of chocolate when I was done. I have no idea why I have such a phobia of making phone calls. I had an appointment for a check up at the gynecologist yesterday, and I was much more comfortable doing that than picking up the phone tonight. It seems like I've always been this way. I remember when I moved in with the Littles in high school and I needed to call the school about getting a parking sticker. I still have a sticky note reminder in one of my music books that Eileen left there while it was sitting open on the piano to remind me to call. It's written in all capital letters. She must have been so frustrated with me, but I just wanted her to make that phone call for me so much. She made me do it, but I remember it because it was so hard. I can always come up with an excuse not to dial the number. Maybe they're not home from work yet. I don't want to interrupt supper. Oh no, I better wait until they get the kids to bed. Well, it's too late to call now, guess I'll have to try again tomorrow. I thought I would grow out of it, but when is that going to happen?

A Busy Day

Maybe yesterday wasn't filled with lots of great accomplishments, but there were many small ones. I did 5 loads of laundry, folding each of them right when they were finished drying. My visiting teachers came to visit me for about 45 minutes. I did the dishes, and since the sink was full that was indeed an accomplishment. I cleaned out two closets, and cleaned up two piles of papers that had accumulated by the filing cabinet. I cleaned our bedroom, which is always the last room of the house that I touch since I can just close the door and no one goes in there. I cleaned the laundry room. I pulled some weeds outside. I swept out half of the garage (the other half I was too afraid to touch because it had way too many spider webs). Then I grilled some steaks which were very good and made mashed potatoes. I watched JW & Alli's 4 kids so they could go out for the evening. Nate got home late from work, so when he walked in it was time to get the kids pj's on. Then I took the Bass kids to their house to put to bed. I'm so glad Alli has them trained really well because I think putting 4 kids to bed, ranging in age from 6 years to 7 months, could be quite a challenge, but they knew the routine and did very well. They are really cute kids. To top the day off, Nate called me a little while after I had the kids in bed and said he was taking Nikki to the ER. Her arm had been pulled out of the socket at her elbow again. So, he brought Hannah over to me and took Nikki in. The doctor showed him how he fixed it, but hopefully that won't happen again. It's the third time her poor little arm has been dislocated.

We have a Winnie the Pooh book that says, "Doing nothing is much more fun after a busy day of doing something." I think that might be right.

Cozy Cat

This is the warmest spot in the house in the afternoons. Nikki reminded me of a cat when she came and curled up in the sun. Wish I could join her.

On the Move Again ...

Last Friday Nate got two job offers, and then on Monday his bosses pulled him into their office and told him he was getting a raise that was effective immediately. They also promised him his own office in the new office building that they will start construction on this summer, and they told him they are hiring several new people so within the next month his travel will be cut down to two or three days a month. Man, it's nice to be wanted. While the raise and extra benefits (they also threw in a family pass to the YMCA) did make him pause for a little bit, it's still not in his best interest to hang around. They're being really nice because about 3 important employees have quit in the last month, and once they hire on a bunch more people it's hard to believe they'll continue to be this appreciative of him. Dr. Phil says the best predictor of future behavior is past behavior, and there is just no need to hang around to begin looking for jobs again in another year or two.

Yesterday he accepted a job in Raleigh with an engineering firm. He's pretty scared about transitioning again, and after what he went through here in Goldsboro, I can't really blame him. But can the grass really be any browner than it is with this company? I'm so excited that he's going to be home. His trip for this week was cancelled, and it almost feels like a vacation for me to have him around. He grilled hamburgers last night, and I felt like I was eating out when I walked into the dining room and the table was set with all the food ready to go.

He put in his 2 weeks notice today, and I called the realtor this morning. So, here we go ...

Hannah's reading

And my final video of the day is one that I'm including just for journaling purposes. We might not have any child prodigies around the house, but I am so proud of how much Hannah has learned this year in Kindergarten. Here she is reading a book.

Tootie Tot

Here the girls are singing the Tootie Tot song. If you haven't heard it before, they actually do a pretty good job. They get a kick out of watching themselves do it on video.

Hannah on the organ

While I'm trying to figure out why Google won't send this video to my blog like it says it will, I'll just have to put in this link for you to see Hannah on the organ. I've written before about her singing the pitch she plays, and she was so excited for me to catch it on camera. She didn't really appreciate Nikki's help on the pedals.