This & That

Telling Stories

There are some stories that just need to be told.

And this was one of them. Missed this kid. Still miss him and all his brothers off on their various grown up endeavors. It's OK. I understand the growth and changes that are a part of life, and I get the bonus of DDIL' s and grandbabies. But every so often, I miss the chaos that used to take place at the end of the school day....backpacks flying, races to the cupboards or fridge to forage for sustenance, 6 conversations going at once about homework, events from the day and "oh by the way, I need....."

But every so often, I'll get a phone call. One of the boys will be on the other end asking a "mom" question. Sometimes it's about a recipe or a grandbaby's diaper rash. Yesterday GS Boy called saying, "Moooooooom, I'm sick." The nurse in me told him to drink lots of fluids, get as much sleep as he could and eat healthy food. The mom in me wanted to hug him and tell him he'd be better in a couple of days.

Then this morning, early, SD Boy called. He just wanted to tell me he'd gotten an A on his first Chem test. It was the best moment of my day, that he wanted to call and tell me that first thing. It made my heart happy for the whole day. And it made me want to hug him. But it will have to wait for the next trip home.

Caution

You may want to be just a little extra cautious on the roads if you happen to be in my neck of the woods. 

The Girl has her driver's permit and that means that I will spend the next 6 months in the passenger seat of the little car she will be using when she gets a license. I will be clutching the dashboard with one hand, the door handle with the other, while vainly trying to push my foot on the imaginary brake that should be on my side of the car. All the while listening to her say, "I'm a good driver. Quit freaking out."

Yeah, well you've driven a grand total of about 6 hours in your whole life, so I'll freak out if I want to.

Is Yours Squeaky Clean?

You may have guessed from this post last week that I had some kind of medical screening exam. Yes, I did. Just for informational purposes, when you turn 50, you all are supposed to have a baseline, screening colonoscopy. I turned 50 last year and my doctor, my DH and my eldest son have been on my case continually since then, asking when the exam is scheduled for. I find this more than a little irritating because my DH is a year older than I am and hasn't had his done yet.

Be that as it may, last week I gave in to the pressure and had it done. (Aren't you so glad you've tuned into this post?) Without going into great detail, I will share with you a few things I have learned.

1. I have a squeaky clean colon.
2. The prep is oh so much worse than the actual exam. I will never look at Gatorade in the same way again.
3. My son can spend his time bugging my DH.
4. I don't have to do this again for 10 years. See #1.

The nurse in me will tell you that if you are 50 or older, you need to have this done. It is a potentially life-saving exam, as 2/3 of polyps found during a colonoscopy are pre-cancerous. I didn't have any polyps. See #1. But I never would have known that if I hadn't had the test done.

The real person in me gets why most people put it off. But don't. You will live through the prep, and the exam is, well, lost time. You sleep through the whole thing. Unless you are my DH's hunting buddy who had his done without sedation. Because he wanted to be awake to experience the "proud" gas. Sometimes I wonder about the people my husband hangs around with.

My Love/Hate Relationship With Pears

I have a love/hate relationship with pears.....specifically canning them. It's not that I have anything against pears per se, it's just that canning them is a horrendously labor-intensive job. 

And on top it that, they are my family's favorite bottled fruit. Why is that? Why is it that the favorite is always the one that takes the most effort? 

Although I have to say that there is a certain sense of satisfaction when I see the rows of bottles...but definitely not while I'm canning them. There is absolutely zero satisfaction while I'm canning them.

Chicken and Vegetables and a Little Pasta

This recipe is especially good to serve this time of year, because of the array of fresh vegetables available. I have freely substituted different veggies for those listed in the recipe, including broccoli, zucchini, onion...really whatever sound good to you will work. I used broccoli this time instead of sugar snap peas and added some onion as well.

Chicken, Tortellini and Garden Vegetable Bake

• 1-2 (9 oz.) packages refrigerated cheese tortellini (depending on how much pasta you want... I used 1 package for the dinner pictured)
• 1-2 medium carrots, thinly sliced
• 1 1/2 cups sugar snap peas, halved crosswise (or broccoli or zucchini)
• 1 Tablespoon margarine or butter
• 1 pound skinless, boneless chicken breasts, cut into bite-sized pieces
• 1 cup sliced fresh mushrooms
• 1/2 cup chicken broth
• 2 Tablespoons snipped fresh oregano OR 1 1/2 teaspoons dried oregano, crushed
• 2 teaspoons flour
• 3/4 teaspoon garlic salt
• 1/2 teaspoon pepper
• 1 cup milk
• 1 (8 oz.) package cream cheese or light cream cheese, cubed and softened
• 1 Tablespoon lemon juice
• 1 cup quartered cherry tomatoes
• 1 small red or green sweet pepper, coarsely chopped
• 2 Tablespoons grated Parmesan cheese

Cook tortellini in boiling water according to package directions, adding the carrot during the last 5 minutes of cooking and the sugar snap peas during the last 1 minute of cooking; drain.

Meanwhile, heat margarine or butter in a 12" skillet. Add chicken and mushrooms and cook about 5 minutes or until chicken is no longer pink. Remove from skillet.

Shake together chicken broth, oregano, flour, garlic salt, and pepper in a screw-top jar until smooth. Add to skillet along with milk. Cook and stir until thickened and bubbly; add cream cheese. Cook and stir until cream cheese is smooth. Remove from heat. Stir in lemon juice. Add pasta mixture, chicken mixture, tomatoes, and sweet pepper. Toss to coat. Turn into an ungreased shallow 3 qt. baking dish.

Bake, covered, in a 350 degree oven for 30-35 minutes or until heated through. Stir mixture and sprinkle with Parmesan cheese. Serves 6.

Miscellany

Some miscellaneous shots I took last weekend at the cabin.

This cute face. 

And while he was smiling, his daddy was looking for critters. I thought this was an interesting stance. The photo is mostly for his brothers.

This one cracked me up. The SGB being dragged inside by his dad. Yeah, it brought back a lot of memories for me...

And this one of The Girl helping her dad do the solar panel winter-time tilt. She was so proud of herself that she did it.

Although it always makes me just a little nervous to have my kids standing on top of the truck. Didn't bother her, though. She apparently doesn' t have my fear of heights.

Fall in the Mountains

We spend a lot of time at the cabin. In fact, we try to spend as much time as possible up at the cabin.

At this time of year, we start feeling a little bit of urgency about it, too. Probably because we know it won't be long before the snow starts to fall and the only way we can spend time there is snowmobiling in. Not that it's a bad thing, but the effort required to put it together is so much greater....sort of like canning pears.

We see changes every time we go these days. Just last week I showed you a picture of the river that looked like this. 

 

And now that same view looks like this. See what I mean? Changes all over the place.

Eldest and I went out before the sunset last weekend to get photos of the river. Here he is working hard to get just the right shot.

And being the outdoorsman that he is, he also scanned the hillsides for critters...and saw one, too.

I got you a better picture of the salmon in the river. To answer my sister's question, we could catch them if we wanted to, but haven't tried this year.

29.

Here it is rolling around again. It's Eldest's birthday today. He's....29. And he thinks he's old. 

Pardon me while I roll around on the floor laughing hysterically for a minute.

(Wiping the laugh tears out of my eyes...) Really, though, I don't know where the time has gone, either. For me, it just seems like yesterday that he was the SGB's age. He was the one that started this whole parenting adventure off. He was the guinea pig, the trial model, the trail-breaker. Sorry. Someone has to do it. And we did try to learn from our mistakes.

So proud of you. Love you lots.

Just Asking...

Keeping in mind that I turned 51 this year.....what's your opinion about medical screening tests?

Seriously.

Other People's Cameras and Why I Should Never Be the Downloader

My DH really, really needs to learn how to download the pictures off his own camera. But since he doesn't know how, I have that job. I have talked before about the things I find on other people's cameras. And this week's download session was no exception. 

Here are a few from the week-long horse pack trip in the Wyoming mountains. The group shot which includes my brother (holding up the fish in the back) and two of his boys,  Eldest, SD Boy, PB and The Girl. She was a little put-off at first by being the only female in the group, but there she was.

 

See? Here she is enjoying the wilderness. She really, honestly does love to fish.

And here's one of my nephews. What's wrong with his eyes you ask? Well, if you look carefully, you can see about a gazillion mosquito bites on his forehead. All that swelling is from them. You see that net hat he has on? That's supposed to keep them away.  They keep asking me to go on these jaunts with them. Let's see.....riding a horse 17 miles....no toilets....no shower.....cooking over a fire....and don't forget the mosquitoes.....What do you think? Does it sound like paradise? 

So then we get move from photos that are just eyeroll-worthy, to the ones that make me want to do some damage to the responsible party. DH took a couple of the boys on a mountainous far-away adventure late this summer.

Yes, that is my precious boy being strapped into a 2-seater plane. The kind that looks like it could fall out of the sky at the slightest provocation.

It bounced down the "runway," and I use that term so loosely to fly off to their luxurious accommodations. 

Wouldn't you love to spend some time in those tents as the only barrier to whatever might be out there? Poor SD Boy and his California-thin blood. He confessed later to me that this was the coldest he'd been since he's been home.

And geez, why not throw a grizzly bear into the equation? Standing there looking you in the eye. Yeah so much fun. My DH really has to learn how to download his own photos, or I may just wring his neck.