This & That

Weekend...

We had a wonderful weekend at the cabin. I'm still trying to catch up with everything here, but for now here's just one happy shot from the weekend.

The Power of Fisher Price

What is it about Fisher Price that appeals to kids of all ages??

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Last installment for this session. I have only missed one day until now, but won't be able to finish off the challenge, because we are at the cabin for the holiday weekend, so only 27 out of 31 days, but that's pretty good keeping up. Most designs are from the Big Picture Classes 28 Days of Sketches class.

This next one is a lift of a layout by Becky Fleck that appeared on the Scrapbook and Cards Today blog.

First Time In

Last weekend....before the big missionary news, we took our first truck jaunt of the year into the cabin. We have had a very wet, rainy, cool spring, just like I like it, so the snow has stuck around longer and as a result, the road hasn't been plowed off for truck travel until fairly recently. I think I told you we had the grandboys for a few days and we took them with us for the trip.

I love the cabin in all seasons.  What makes it nice after the winter, is being able to stuff the truck full of things we've listed that the cabin needs and just take it all in. When we're on snowmobiles, we're not able to take anything but the bare essentials, like food. We can also hook the dishwasher and washing machine back up for the warm weather months. Because we have to blow the pipes out in the winter to avoid having them freeze, dishes are done by hand in the winter, and the sheets get washed in the late fall and then again as soon as danger of freezing is past. (Not that we're there a tremendous number of nights in the winter, but it's nice to get them refreshed.) It's a real pain to get the antifreeze circulated far enough through the machines to do it every time we go in during the winter. So I spent a good share of last weekend washing towels.

Some things change from season to season. Some things stay the same.

Louis is still in the house. In fact, I'm going to need to buy some more exciting stories for PB to read this summer. He's about exhausted the supply.

Ollie still begs for food....and sometimes gets it. Here he is cleaning off the Little Guy's plate.

And the Little Guy is more than willing to enable him. You can see the pile under his chair. (Sorry for the weird fun house angle. I was backed up as far as I could go and had to tilt the camera to get them both in.)

Hummingbirds were back. And here is the notorious nest...unuseable.

Sad. Sad. Sad.

This completes my younger sister's "misery loves company so post your ugly photos" challenge. She thinks she's the only one that had an awkward stage. Puh.....leeeeeeze!

Here we are in 6th grade, the beginning of my nearly 4 years in braces. Yes, I'll take credit for passing on the buck teeth to my kids.

Now, here's 8th or 9th grade....yeah, I'm rocking the pigtails with seam binding bows.

And saddest of all...here is 10th grade. You have to understand that I was a teenager in the mid-70's, when EVERY girl wanted to-the-waist straight surfer girl hair. My hair is very wavy, so that wasn't happening. The only other option was the shag cut. Sad....so sad.

But there is a light at the end of the tunnel. By the time I was a Junior, I'd gotten the hair a little bit under control and the braces were off.

So there you go. My adolescence documented in school photos. Glad that's over with.

The Missionary Letter

About two weeks ago I posted about PB submitting his papers applying for his church mission. Well, it took a little longer than we had planned on for the papers to get back to us, days of him checking the mailbox multiple times an afternoon, being disappointed that it wasn't there.  but Monday afternoon, he came galloping into the house with the envelope from Salt Lake in his hand.

Then we had to wait until his dad got home from work to open it. We got all the brothers on different cell phones, so they could participate (all except for LS Boy...it was 3 in the morning in Ukraine).

And then the big moment arrived. This boy, starting August 31 will be spending the next 2 years in....

The Des Moines, Iowa mission!

I am thrilled.  Having SD Boy in the States really spoiled me and removed a level of anxiety that I had with the older boys serving halfway round the world. PB says he will learn to eat a lot of corn.

And now to the really important business of the day. The cookies. It turns out that his mission boundaries include eastern Iowa and a chunk of both southern Wisconsin and Northern Missouri. We had two people that selected Missouri, so cookies will go out to:

My SIL, Kim and, if you can believe it, Baby Caroline. Yeah, I'm thinking there will be others in the family eating those cookies. I guess it's only fair since the SGB got the California guess last time for SD Boy. So I need to know flavors of cookies from both of you and I'll get them to you after the holiday weekend. :)

It was really fun to see the guesses come in from all over. I had a BIL that sent me an email saying that PB was going to go to the Orlando, Florida, Finnish speaking mission. When I replied that seemed a little far-fetched, he said that PB would spend most of his time in the Scandianvian area of "It's a Small World" at Disney World. Long story behind that, but it would be PB's idea of you-know-where. He would wish for a shotgun to take the puppet people out of their misery.

25.

Next up in the birthday list is LS Boy. (He's the one on the left there.)

He's in Ukraine right now doing an internship for school during the first part of the summer. You might remember that Ukraine is where he served his church mission, so it's been great for him to be back there. He's had the chance to see people he knows as well as getting a little experience in his chosen career. He'll be headed to Portland for the balance of the summer so we won't be seeing him much, but he's excited about the different experiences.

Happy Birthday, Kiddo! Love you!

Visitors

We had some little visitors for a few days last week. We tended the the grandboys while Eldest and DDIL#1 were in Tornado Alley looking for a place to live for the last leg of his extended schooling. Things I learned during the time they were here:

• I don't miss messy diapers.
• There's a reason we have our children where we are young and it has to do with chasing them.
• Naptime is still as wonderful as it was when my kids were home.
• There's nothing quite like that grin that let's you know they are happy to see you.
• Grandchildren are an amazing blessing.

Queso Fundido

We love Mexican food. Well, most of us love Mexican food. The Girl...not so much. She has a bean phobia. But every once in a while we make her suffer. I have wanted to try making my own tortillas for a while now, with varying degrees of success, usually not very much. But then I tried this recipe and for some reason it worked pretty well. Once you get going and get a rhythm for squishing, cooking and flipping the tortillas, it goes quite quickly. I didn't write down the name of blog I got this recipe from, so my apologies if anyone recognizes it as theirs. It is today's contribution to the Mommy's Kitchen virtual potluck.

Queso Fundido

• 1 pound Italian sausage, hot or mild, removed from casings if needed
• 1 cup chopped onion
• 2 cups grated pepper jack cheese
• 1 dozen corn tortillas, preferably homemade
• Sour cream
• Salsa

In a large skillet, brown sausage and onion, breaking up meat. Drain and spoon into a pie pan or 8" square baking dish. Cover with cheese. Bake at 350 degrees for 15-20 minutes or until cheese is melted. Meat mixture can be frozen before baking. Serve with warm corn tortillas and sour cream and salsa.

Homemade Corn Tortillas

• 2 cups Maseca (instant corn masa flour)
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• About 2 cups warm water
• A quart ziploc bag
• Tortilla press
• Hot griddle

Put maseca and salt into a bowl. Stir in up to 2 cups warm water until a sort dough forms. It's about the consistency of stiff cookie dough.

Roll the dough into golf ball-sized balls. Place back in the bowl and cover with a damp paper towel while you're forming the tortillas, so they don't dry out.

Heat griddle and start pressing the tortillas. I use a cut open ziploc bag to line the tortilla press.

If you don't do this, the tortilla will stick to the press and make a horrendous mess. Yes, it will.

Press each tortilla, then lay it on the hot griddle. They will be 6-7 inches in diameter.  Cook about 1 minute on each side, then put on a plate and cover with a kitchen towel to keep them warm while you cook the others.

While the tortillas bake, press another tortilla, flip one or two on the griddle....get a system going. You can fill them with shredded beef or chicken or a refried bean mixture. You can even use them to make enchiladas.

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Trying to stay caught up with both classes still and it's working, but it may come to a screeching halt at the end of the month when we are spending several days at the cabin. Still, I'm getting stuff done. Click on them to make them bigger.