This & That

It's Finally Here

My baby is an adult....legally. She turns 18 today and isn't really having the birthday she wants to have, since we are in the middle of traveling back home from visiting the grandboys in OOOOOOOOOklahoma, where the wind comes sweepin' down the plain. 

No, not quite the 18th birthday she envisioned, but we'll work on the make-up this week.

She likes:

• Painted fingernails
• Gauzy shirts
• Mini oranges
• Chacos
• Her nieces and nephews
• Pearls
• Zumba
• Lace
• The Dentist
• Homemade mini pizzas
• Duck Dynasty (heaven help me)

She hates:

• Calculus (but loves her Calculus teacher)
• Ollie's wet nose on her tennis shorts bare legs
• Senior Projects
• Chipped nail polish
• The last semester of high school
• Timed writes
• Morning
• Weeding

These 18 years have passed in a blink, it seems.  She is funny, cheerful after 10 AM, and I love the fact that she will come and talk to me about her day...something her brothers struggled to do. Like all my children, I love her more than I can possibly express and can't believe that she is mostly all grown up. Happy Birthday to my girl! 

 

 

 

Paper Stuff

Almost no paper stuff this week, as it has been Spring Break and The Girl has been putting together her Stupid Senior Project, which has required some engineering skills from me in using my cutting things. Stupid Senior Project.

But here is an example of the card set I did for my mother for her birthday last week. The idea came from a video in one of the Online Card Classes I took earlier in the year.

And I managed to get the Project Life weekly page done for last week. There's a 6x12 insert for more Men's Chorus photos....that's what you're seeing in the middle.

The End of An Era

We were in Utah last weekend for the express purpose of attending SD Boy's last Men's Chorus Concert. He's graduating this spring and while we are awesomely grateful for progress, it's a little bittersweet. The Men's Chorus has been a part of our lives for the past 12 years or so, and what a great influence it's been on our boys.

The concert itself was amazing, from the chorus marching in to "Stout-Hearted Men," to the set of missionary hymns, to the "Hoopla" as Sister Hall calls it, of the ending Latin set that featured "Hernando's Hideaway." It was an awesome evening. We'll play "Where's Waldo." Can you find him in the group shot? 

I took my camera with the long lens and took some pictures...the classic Tic Tac box rice shakers for "Save the Last Dance for Me."

And the mustaches were back! 

You have to admit that SD Boy has some moves.

And so do these guys...

The Birthday Round

My family's birthday round starts today. Between now and mid June, I have 6 of my immediate family birthdays, and many more, if I count extended family. 

But it all starts with this guy. We were talking about this the other day and we've marveled at the fact that we've been together in life much longer than we've been apart, considering we started dating when we were 16 & 17, respectively, and now we are in our mid-50's. 

He is most at home in the outdoors.

Or with a grandbaby in his arms. He has been an amazing husband and partner and I'm lucky he thought the strange girl from California was worth a date. Love you, hon.

 

Ollie's Fan Club

We were in Utah last weekend and brought Ollie along for the ride. 

 

He entertained a cadre of nieces and nephews....at a safe distance.

Come and Stay

That's what I substitute into the chidren's nursery rhyme.

"Rain, rain, come and stay...."

We actually had a little last week. I always love it. You can see the aspen tassels out in bloom from the warm weather we've had. That has disappeared. We haven't been out of the low 40's since this storm blew in.

And it makes me want to bake.

Texting in My World

Texting has really made my life easier with my kids. I can send something off and they will almost always immediately answer. That probably says something about our day and age, that we are so connected to our electronics, but it's also been a way for us to share things with each other. For example, here's one I got from The Girl, commenting on a lunch I packed for her this past week.

She likes to take dinner leftovers (well....certain dinner leftovers) and heat them up at school for lunch. She says the food served at school is "sketchy," so she'd rather go with what she knows. Notice how she gives.... and then takes away in the same text. And if you're wondering what she had, it was this. My little carnivore.

Next up was this text message exchange, also between The Girl and I. It happened on the recent Boise weekend, while I was in Cabela's and she was at a state basketball game.

Note the compassion and deep concern for my mental stress. Uh-huh.

This one was from SD Boy, who was attending a wedding. It made me laugh.

He does like to dance and in fact took several ballroom (termed "social") dance classes in college. He just doesn't like to rock-out dance. I should have told him the Deacon Shuffle works in a pinch. (The Deacon Shuffle is the name we've given to the "dancing" 12 and 13 year old boys do, where they just sort of stomp back and forth in the same place.)

And lastly, there are those texts that just make you hee-haw uncontrollably and yes, this one did. It's from my eldest son, describing what my newly 3-year old grandson saw at the zoo's aquarium exhibit. 

Think about it......he meant TENTACLES. Just brought tears to my eyes from laughing so hard. Kids say the darndest things. Say what you want about the electronic age, I enjoy texting with my kids.

Lazy Day Casserole

I'm not sure I'd classify this as a casserole per se. At least, not what I'm used to calling a casserole. I found the recipe on the Finding Joy in My Kitchen site and The Girl and I enjoyed it one night this week while DH was fishing in the rain. Then he and I enjoyed it the next night while she was at a school program. It goes together quickly makes the house smell good....half the battle when you want people to eat what you fix. I know The Girl is less likely to turn up her nose at something if she already likes what she smells.

Yes, I get how strange the dish looks on the Easter Egg plate, and that it would photograph better on the plain, white dishes,  but that's how we roll at this time of year at our house. Just makes it Mom Food.

Lazy Day "Casserole"

• 4 Italian sausages (I tried chicken sausage because I was really intrigued by the fancy flavor label, but found them to be a little dry. I will probably use regular pork Italian sausages next time.)
• 4-5 medium potatoes (I used a Dutch Yellow variety, but red potatoes or any waxy potato would work)
• 6 large carrots 
• 2 medium bell peppers (red, orange, yellow, I used red)
• 1 large sweet onion
• 2 garlic cloves, minced
• 1/2 – 3/4 C chicken broth (divided)
• 1 1/2 tsp. Italian seasoning 
• 4 T balsamic vinegar (I totally forgot to add this at the end and didn't miss it)
• salt & pepper, to taste

Begin by washing, peeling and preparing the potatoes and carrots.  Slice the carrots into quarters, and the potatoes into large 2-3 inch pieces. Peel and cut the onion into wedges.  Thinly slice the bell peppers. 

Spray a 9x13 baking.  Then, place all the veggies in the dish. Drizzle some olive oil over the top (about 1-2 tsp.).  Season with salt and pepper.

Meanwhile, combine 1/2 C chicken broth with 1 1/2 tsp. Italian seasoning.  Add in the minced garlic. Pour the chicken broth mixture over the veggies.  Stir to coat, if needed.

Cover with foil.  Bake at 450 for 45 minutes.  After about 20 minutes of baking, check on the veggies and if they seem dry, add the additional 1/4 C chicken broth.  Cover and continue baking. 

While the veggies bake, prepare the sausages.  Place them in a pan and brown them according to package directions.Then, slice each into 4 pieces. When the veggies have baked for 45 minutes, arrange the sausages over the top of the vegetables.  Pour over the remaining 1/4 C chicken broth (if you haven’t already used it), and the 4 T balsamic vinegar.

Return the dish from the oven and continue cooking, uncovered, for 25-30 minutes.  Halfway through, remove the dish from the oven and spoon the juices over all.

 

Projects

Projects this week mostly involved non-paper things. Things like trying to get the garbage disposal fixed, and the water softener fixed, and getting the guy who knows how to prune our trees over here. Things like that....oh, and organizing a wedding luncheon. Oh yes, LS Boy and his cute girlfriend are going to be tying the knot this spring. 

I did manage a little bit, though. Last week's Project Life and 180 Days. Documents some fairly frantic music stuff from the first part of the week, The Girl's stacking chair in the kitchen, her choir concert and senior recognition night, crocuses up and blooming, the cap and gown, the new tennis racket, paper projects, the new banana bread recipe, a text from SD Boy which will make an appearance in an upcoming blog post and an amaryllis.

And this layout which has been on my desk for about 6 weeks now. It's the birch tree in front of the room where I do my crafting. In the fall, it casts the most gorgeous golden glow into the room. I look forward to it every year. The design is based on an ad that appeared in this post on the American Crafts blog.

I also made a card set for my mother's birthday on Sunday, which I will put in next week's post. That's all I managed this week.

Tennis Duds

It's official. The Girl is on a school sports team.

All the boys I had and none of them ever went this direction, but here she is, decked out in her official sweat shirt.