Tonight is our Relief Society Birthday dinner, and this is half my kitchen island. Mom and I are spending the day making 40 cups of guacamole. And it looks like we'll just make our deadline!
Until this week I'd never made guacamole. So we've done a number of test runs this week, including purchasing ready made varieties, and, if we like them, reading the ingredient list so we know what to add to our recipe. Our final recipe tastes pretty good if I dare say so:
4 avocados, diced and slightly smashed with a fork
1/2 cup yellow onion chopped
1/4 cup red onion chopped
2 Roma tomatoes diced
1 tablespoon jalapeno puree
juice of a lime
1 teaspoon salt
2 dashes of pepper
This little judge things the guac is better than the chips! Let's just hope the ladies do too!
The snows nearly gone and things are starting to warm up again. We've got garden plans on the brain and are slowly working our way to making those dreams a reality.
Sunday night: Late night dinner making homemade pizza's.
Monday night: GR and I have a fun night out on the town - dinner and Bon Jovi!
Wednesday afternoon: Ceramics!This is something I've wanted to do with the kids for two years now, but never known quite how to pull it off with everyone. Mom stayed with Anna, I took a deep breath, and we jumped right in with both feet. We met some friends there and had a great time. I'm so pleased with how everyone's projects turned out ... so great! (picture is of their projects before they got fired)
Thursday: Kangaroo Math Contest for Rebecca, Emily and Sam. Sam was the youngest child participating in this national math competition. We'll get the results in May. In looking over the exam and their answers, they did well. More importantly, they had a good time and enjoyed being with some of their classmates for the afternoon - even if they were quietly sitting in a classroom taking a test.
From Kangaroo Math, we went straight to Ann's for haircuts for the four older kids, although Anna needs one too: 
Friday: picked up new library books, had friends over for dinner, temperatures dropped 30 degrees.
Saturday: SNOW! Spent the day watching movies, hanging out and playing in the snow.
As a youth I attended many Sunday night firesides at members homes. Typically they were held at youth leaders homes, or the homes of fellow youth, but occasionally they were held in other members homes. When GR mentioned at the beginning of the year that they were going to start having more youth firesides ... now called devotionals cause fireside really is a confusing term, since they are rarely held at the side of a fire ... and wanted to have them held in members home whenever possible, I got excited for the youth.
Tonight we got a chance to host the first one, and I think the youth had a great time. The speaker (pictured left), I'm told, did a bang up job as always. Sadly, my plan to listen in from the back door didn't happen. Just as he got started, Alex had an accident and my mother called totally lost in KC. I'm still trying to figure out exactly where she was. After driving around the suburbs for a while and consulting google maps, we finally got her back on the right highway and she eventually made it here to spend Spring Break with us (Daddy's out of town for the week, so she's spending it with us!).
Thankfully, it was just dry enough and just warm enough to have it outside around the fire pit. We rounded up all the fleece and wool blankets in the house for them to wrap up in and served a good amount of hot chocolate, s'mores and fruity rice krispie treats. I hope we'll be able to host more things like this, where we can provide a fun place for the youth to hang out, feel the spirit and allow their testimonies to grow in a safe environment. And I'm excited for other families in the ward to provide the same kind of space for the youth this year too.
.... that is, I think it's a little known fact ... I guess we'll have to see.
One of the perks of buying Grandma and Grandpa's house is having access to the shed. The shed houses all of Bob's wood working equipment. Bob couldn't take them with him, so we're looking after them, providing them a good home, and when he needs something, he shows up and uses or takes what ever he needs for the project of the day.
Like most guys who went to a small high school, GR took shop. He really enjoyed it and had a shop teacher that would let the kids make whatever they wanted. So after the first standard project, he started making other things; a set of nesting elephants for his mother, a rocking horse, a bench with storage under the seat. Since high school, he's done small projects here and there for church or scouts or the fireworks or to help Bob with a home improvement project, but hasn't really been able to do hard core projects because he hasn't had easy access to the tools like he does now. Now that he sleeps 30 feet from them, a whole new world is opening up ... that and the discovery of this blog back in January!
Just before we moved, we cashed in every single credit card point we had a crewed over the last decade or more, for Best Buy gift cards, and finally purchased a big flat TV with every single one of those points. It got delivered the weekend we moved in. After watching a couple of shows, we realized a table or console of some kind under the TV would be smart to help little kids, their hands and their toys at a distance, otherwise, we were going to have a problem. We looked at Target and Walmart, even Craigslist, and found some suitable options, but in almost every case they were expensive for what you were getting. And so we figured we could totally make our own, and settled on these plans.
It took a series of nights over two weeks to complete it ... it was all GR. I did nothing, but make sure sleeping children didn't wake up, admire his handy work, console him when he pointed out mistakes, and of course, click pictures so I could brag on him. I'm not sure exactly how people are able to put this thing together in an evening or two?! But we are both so pleased with how it turned out and are already planning future projects!
So there you have it, a little known fact, my husband can build stuff from scratch!
Have you seen the water tables some preschools have? It's basically a table with a deep basin they can fill with water, sand, oatmeal or an assortment of beans to serve as a tactile station. At every station like this, kids typically have to be pried away and told to do something else, or they get squeeze out by other kids who want to play too.
Today was my day to host and teach preschool again. Our topic was rain, snow, wind and water. We didn't have any snow, so we focused on the other three elements. Our free play was my own "mom" version of a water table. Had I had enough sink space, we'd have just all pushed chairs up to the sink and played there (Anna and Alex will never tire of this - thank heavens for double sinks and tile floors!).
I used two under bed storage bins, filled them 1/3 full with warm tap water, had a plastic watering can for each child, plastic cups in different sizes and measuring cups.
Since I wanted the kids to make it home somewhat dry, I used plastic grocery bags to make 'smocks' for each of them. I flattened out the bag and cut out the middle of the bottom 'seam' of the bag. Leave 3 inches of the seam on both ends, these will be the shoulders of the smock. Next cut open both sides of the plastic bag all the way to the bottom seam. Snip the handles apart to create ties. This should resemble something like a scrimmage jersey.
Slip their head through the opening in the bottom of the bag, and tie the handles securely at their hips.
If the child is wearing long sleeves, you'll want to push them up well past their elbows to keep them dry.
Keep a stack of towels on hand, because try as they might, water will get on the floor and you'll want to wipe it up periodically so your feet don't get cold and wet.
These kids played with this set up for a 30-45 minutes, with no sign of getting bored.
Had the weather been better, this would have been perfect to do outside. Prop the storage bins up on buckets or set up two folding chairs facing each other, using the seats to set the water bin on, making it accessible from both sides and would allow up to four kids to participate.
This school year the girls joined the Math and Chess Club. They learned to play chess at my parents house over the course of a couple of visits (Mom and Dad still don't have cable, and the children NEVER seem to miss TV there - amazing - anyhooo.) and were excited at the prospect of learning strategies and going to tournaments. Unfortunately, I didn't ever really hear about 90% of the tournaments, and the ones the girls made sure I heard about were in early February when, ahem, we were a bit ... preoccupied.
Our school got a last minute opportunity to host the last tournament before state (kids must attend 2 tournaments to go to state) and I was able to get the three big kids signed up. The day ended up crazy ... Enrichment planning meeting for the birthday dinner that morning, hosting dinner for the new bishopric and their families for dinner before bishopric training that evening, I still had a lesson to prepare for Sunday, and a handful of other things I had hoped to accomplish in a single day ... ha! when will I learn.
For the schools very first tournament hosting, it was hugely successful, and TONS of kids were there ... 80 maybe? Which from what I understand from other parents who actually know what's going on, is big for most Kansas tournaments. And the kids who attended were really good. There were lots of very high scores. Each child played 6 rounds of chess. And if you win or loose or draw, (hee hee) you are awarded points. For their very first tournament ever, our kids did well, especially considering the competition. Their Chess teacher, said she hopes that kids get at least one point or half point at their first tournament. Becca got a half point from a draw (she was playing 4-6th graders); Emily got 2 points (K-3rd); Sam got 2 points (K-3rd).
They had a really good time and want to attend tournaments next year. We've already placed an order with a friend who's attending state for a nice portable chess board with large weighted pieces like they use during club meetings and at the tournament. And GR is looking up legal chess moves to teach the children to improve their strategies.
And for those considering your first tournament here are some survival tips, cause you'll be there for at least 6 hours, possibly longer.
- Take a laptop and something to do on it. I did the Relief Society newsletter and updated the ward website, but don't count on having wireless access. Some parents were playing games, others watched tv shows or movies (bring your headphones), others caught up on work.
- If you don't want to mess with the laptop, take a book, a couple of magazines, hand sewing/crocheting/knitting, note cards for writing letters, etc. You basically want something simple you can take in a tote bag to keep you busy while your child plays any of their six games. You want it to be simple, because you are going to be distracted and interrupted on a fairly regular basis throughout the day. Think 40ish parents plus all those kids in the commons area of an elementary school sitting at the cafeteria tables.
- Bring bottled water. A couple for each person in the family.
- Bring a cooler of snacks and lots of them. Boredom = hunger = paying $20+ over the course of the day for JUNK at the concession stand. Bring a variety of healthy snacks and let the kids pick 1-2 things from the concession stand to round out the day and make it fun, plus the money raised supports the host schools chess club.
- Check in to what the team is doing for lunch. Our team was hosting, so they provided pizza for all the kids from our school and their parents. Other teams/parents could purchase pizzas to be delivered. Others brought lunch, or sent a parent out to a fast food joint.
- Have your kids bring a "church" bag of simple activities. Mine were pretty content to play chess between rounds, talk with friends and generally goof off a bit, but books, coloring books, puzzles, hand held games, etc. are good time busters between rounds, and keep your kids within arms reach rather than running the halls in an unfamiliar area.
- Make sure your kids know about some of the basic legal moves for tournaments ... ask one of the more experience players in their club, or do a google search. It will help level the field just a smidgen and they won't feel quite so new and awkward.
Yesterday the Realtor called with TWO offers on the house. Both offers were for about the same ... less than the asking price, $$$ for closing costs, closing dates in May and one wanted home insurance. I have to say this was discouraging, that we got two offers wasn't discouraging, but that they were asking for SO much. We worked so hard on that house, putting a lot of time and money in it, and then we were very careful in how we priced it. We did not over price the home because of the work we put into it. We priced it dead on, to sell quickly, and yet no one has offered full price, and everyone is asking US to pay for lots of additional costs.
Our Realtor told us not to feel like we had to settle. Counter with what was best for us. And so we countered, and countered hard to both parties telling them whoever responded first would get the contract. We countered with full price, 1/2 their request for closing costs, no home insurance, and upped the closing date to April 1st. Very quickly we got an acceptance to our terms and last night we signed the papers to make it official!!
What a blessing. The house is going to a really nice couple from NE with three boys. They are all older (college aged) which I'm sad about (really changes the dynamics of that little end of our street), but hopefully that will mean grandchildren in the coming years.
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Some of you asked if I had before pictures of the house ... I don't really, other than pictures we've taken of the kids in the house. You should be able to just browse through the blog to find pictures of the 2 red accent walls in the dining room, the pale sun yellow on the rest of the walls on the main floor, the horrid gray carpeting, the bluish gray tile in the entry way and around the fireplace, the old whitish cream counter tops in the kitchen and the white, stained cream vinyl flooring in the kitchen. It was a cute house, that was well loved and worn by out little family that nearly doubled in our 7 years there.
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Yesterday afternoon Alexander christened the new house with our first accident. The kids were playing a rousing game of hide and seek in my bedroom. All of a sudden Alex comes running to me in the kitchen holding his palm and screaming. He had tripped and his hand ran down the edge of an unfinished square of colored glass used in stained glass work. It had been left behind by Grandma and Grandpa, and not knowing if they needed it or intended it for something specific, I moved it out of the general path of daily activity until I could ask and "deal with it." The glass did not break, it was not jagged, but the cut was deep and ugly (be grateful I didn't photograph it - :).
Poor kid, he wasn't doing anything wrong, he wasn't being silly or making poor decisions, he just tripped, and his hand touched the wrong then when trying to brace his fall. Thankfully, there wasn't a lot of blood! Monday night we couldn't tell if it needed stitches or not, so clean it, and bandage it ourselves ... this morning when GR was helping Alex get ready and the cut broke open and started bleeding again. GR took him to work for a couple of stitches to keep the skin flaps together, and insure the cut would heal correctly. Anna and I were right behind him, meeting up with them at the ER just before the stitches. He was so brave!
So his left hand (his dominate hand) is pretty thoroughly bandaged in an effort to keep the stitches covered and clean, nearly impossible when you're a 3.5 year old who now lives in the land of mud and shovels. We also discovered a good sized wart on his right pinky during all of this yesterday. So like his left hand, his pinky is also bandaged ... it all looks so much worse than it really is! He's getting lots of sympathy from people at the store!
ETA 4/6: Alex's hand took a while, but it's finally healed. We had the stitches taken out a week later during Sam's quarterly ENT check-up. It still wasn't completely healed, but the skin was getting irritated by the stitches, so they definitely had to come out. We kept it bandaged for an additional week using the sticky ace bandage type stuff -- that is fantastic stuff! So wish we'd had something like that with the stitches. Instead we were using masking tape - such a nuance for Alex and after a week, it started to really irritate his skin. The other stuff is now permanently in our first aid kit! The wart ... well we're going to start a second round of treatment. We didn't get all of it the first time, so it's come back.
And the closure on the green house went off without a hitch on Friday!! GR's had a couple of conversations with the couple who bought the house and really likes them ... so much so he invited them to Easter dinner. They ended up declining, but it feels good knowing we're passing on that home to good people.
Our open house got pushed a week. The window instillation was delayed thanks to a myriad of issues. And there was a lot of clean up work to be done once all the work crews finished up inside and out. So we waited a week. Sunday I called my mother to see if she could come stay a couple days while I cleaned the old house. Miracles of miracles she was able to arrange her schedule such that she could come. I spent most of Tuesday and Wednesday at the house, late into the night, cleaning. Every wood surface in that house got rubbed down with Old English. It did wonders for repairing the scratches that the baseboards and mantel suffered during the remodel and before. So after many, many long hours and more elbow grease than I thought I had to give, Thursday the house went on the market and we had our Realtor open house. The response from the dozen or more Realtors who walked through, was really favorable.
Mom and GR (and a couple neighbors who came to the open house) are the only ones who have seen the "improved, depersonalized" inside of the house, so I've created a slide show of picture so you can see all the changes. I didn't photograph the basement ... it's no longer deep blue, but the same color as the bedrooms, and the floor got painted the same color as the coffered ceiling in the master bedroom (which is also the same color as the far wall (garage wall) of the dining room. It looks really nice with the bright white wood work down there.
Saturday afternoon we had a public open house, and again the response was favorable. A couple minor things that needed to be addressed, but they are simple fixes. There were lots of open houses in the neighborhood so we had more than a dozen interested parties walk through! Apparently of the 8-9 comps in town, ours is by far the best house for the price.
We know of one very interested family who came Friday, and spent an additional 45 minutes at the house Saturday. We'll see how this shakes out. We did have an offer after the open house ... it's rather telling when your Realtor closes his conversation with you that you have an offer on your house, instead of leading with that bit of information. Needless to say, we rejected it out right and didn't even bother to counter.
Mom had a cute story about Alex from her week with us. One night when he was sad that he couldn't say goodnight to us, mom told him that we were at the old house working really hard to get it ready to sell so a good family could purchase it. Alex looked at her and said, "Grammy, WE could buy it!!"
It's going to take a while for the kids to see Grandma's house as our house and home.
Our last school music program was tonight. The fourth and fifth grade did their 'broadway' selection together and did an amazing job, as always. They did a very, very truncated version of Annie. From start to finish the entire show lasted 18 minutes. There were lots of speaking parts and solos to pass around to the kids. And lots of costumes for them to come up with ... among our favorites, President Roosevelt, the Rockets, Babe Ruth, Mobsters, King Kong, Lady Liberty. Most of the kids dressed up as orphans, newsboys, flappers, or hobos. Rebecca had a small singing part, as Molly, one of the kids in the orphanage, so we created an orphan costume, using these as inspiration. With some layering and a smock made with calico I had, I think she turned into a pretty good little orphan. Wednesday night we tested the smock I made along with the piece from the closet we were layering together to see if the ensemble would pass as an orphan. 
With some finishing and a little embellishment we had ourselves an orphan. Here she is with some of her good friends from class. The gal on the far left, had the part of Annie. 
Rebecca singing her solo. 
Taking Alex to preschool this morning the radio discussion was all about pancakes - for Fat Tuesday of course. 30 minutes of discussion of what makes the best pancake and what do you put on it, sealed the deal of what dinner would be tonight. The kids had lots of questions about what Fat Tuesday was and why people eat pancakes today, and it made for some good dinner conversation. Either way it was a great excuse to make Mom's scrumptious pancakes.
And blog about food, again!
It took a while and one had to wait until tonight to be eaten, but they each made their own cakes without the other interfering and they were delicious.
Emily's Quick Tunnel of Fudge Cake was a favorite Sunday night:
Rebecca's Buttermilk Devil's Food Cake w/ White Chocolate Frosting made the perfect end to Family Home Evening:
Initially, I planned on setting up the craft/sewing room last. This week has proved that I cannot leave this portion of boxes for weeks and weeks. My kids, especially my girls, are very art oriented and they need their supplies.
Weeks ago, I purchased Valentine pencils and made sure I knew right where they were so they could get taped to store bought Valentines this week. Easy peasy, no stress. I got out voted. They all wanted to make them. So I went digging for boxes marked 'kid craft supplies' and 'scrapbook paper,' and 'craft/sewing room' to retrieve the needed supplies. I am more than a little embarrassed at how many boxes of supplies I have ... and they all need to fit in one room. We have now created a plastic tub to contain all the Valentine supplies. This years Valentine's turned out very cute and the children are all very pleased with what they created this year!
I'm so proud of Alexander! Look, he wrote his name on each of the Valentine's he gave his preschool classmates! Then he wrote each of their names, too!
The big kids spent Wednesday afternoon totally in the zone. The entire kitchen island was covered in paper, tape, glue, pencils and lots and lots of Valentines!
Tomorrow we're having GR's parents over for dinner - spaghetti and meatballs - and the girls are making dessert. They haven't narrowed it down yet, but the clock is ticking so I'm sure they'll figure it out soon enough.
Hope you have a fun filled Valentine's day that includes good chocolate!
P.S. Look at these paper boxes! I went looking for the MS Craft supplies necessary to make them at Michaels this week ... no luck. I'm making them just using my basic supplies ... they aren't prefect, but oh so cute! Wouldn't these make sweet shower favors, or little gift boxes for oh so many things! I love how easy it is to make them exactly the size you want for the contents.
I found the box of cookbooks this morning and while mom put them away, pulled out the Fall '09 Food and Family from Kraft. Surprise, surprise, two recipes jumped out as possibles for dinner tonight. Both were a huge success. Dinner was a tex-mex beef and potato casserole that was very yummy and went over well with everyone except my potato poo-pooing 3 year old. What isn't there to like about cheese and potatoes? It will be a bit before I get the food storage unpacked and put away - still trying to figure out the best way to do that given the space we have for it. Anyway, we're still paying "use it up" when cooking for dinner, so we used the leftover Velveta & Rotel dip from Monday nights basketball game, and instead of using frozen cubed hash browns, we diced and boiled our own potatoes. Worked like a charm and since the potatoes are hot and cooked it didn't need much time in the oven at all.
For dessert, Alex and Anna helped make a special surprise they were both quite proud of. This yummy triple-layer chocolate pie is a quick, simple dessert they could easily help with, as you can see:
We are successfully moved in! It's bitterly cold and snowed all day Friday. But we (and more than half a dozen friends) managed to move a load of furniture Friday night and then again Saturday morning too. I'm so glad we had the kids go to St. Louis. Friday night after the first load of furniture went, we started dismantling the bunk beds to make Saturday morning go more smoothly. That really helped. By the time the kids got home Sunday evening, we had their rooms put together. Kathy spent hours here on Saturday, helping me get the kitchen unpacked. And now is fully functional!
I keep moving furniture around, from room to room, spot to spot. And there are an insane number of boxes in our corner of the basement. We'll continue to chip away at them box by box, week by week.
Work on the old house started on Monday. There are a lot of work men there, and I'm stopping in each morning after I drop the kids at school, to take a look at the progress. We're making a lot of cosmetic changes. When it's all done, it's going to look so different. Hopefully that will help me walk away from this house without too many tears.
When our real estate agent walked through back in November, he said, buyers don't want to do anything. Gone are the days when you can provide a carpeting or paint allowance, or even drop the price. They want the ultimate move in ready home. Our house had none of that. The carpeting needed to be replaced years ago. The kitchen floor ... well you remember. And then there are all the beautiful painting projects we've done in the kids bedrooms and in the dining room and basement. Apparently, rose pink, cornflower blue checks, confederate red, and deep ocean blue aren't huge selling points. I'm going to miss those walls!
We need the house to sell fast, we can't afford to let the house sit for a long period of time. So we're having the carpeting replaced, the kitchen floor & counter top replaced, the tile around the fireplace replaced (thanks to a chipped tile), and the entire house painted four different shades of beige. Unfortunately for us, the windows are horrific and poorly constructed (most of the small pieces that allow the window to open to the inside to be cleaned have broken) we're replacing those too. We're praying that this investment will pay off when the house goes on the market next week.
Tuesday morning was my day to teach preschool. As luck would have it, I had zero voice. Whispering was a bit of a stretch. Mom was here and had a voice and that was a good thing. This same thing happened to me in December the last time it was my turn to teach ... typically this only happens once a year. Sunday night a little tickle in my throat started and by Monday morning my voice was completely gone.
My little preschool group is a lot of fun. Today we talked about 'Where we Live' which worked out perfectly because Kansas Day was just a couple of days ago. We did some crafts, read a story or two and talked and played with the doll house. When Alex's good friend showed up for preschool wearing a new shirt and brown pants, Alex exclaimed, "I have that shirt!" and ran up stairs. 2 minutes later he came down stairs wearing his matching shirt and a pair of brown pants so he and his friend could match! They thought that was just the greatest thing and "posed" for pictures at the end of class:
Update on Mom and the Moving process continues ... Monday Mom felt so much better. Not up for running a marathon, but well enough to take care of Alex and Anna so I could move boxes for Bob and Diane. Bob, Brent and I took 9 truck/van loads of boxes on Monday. Tuesday, they moved more boxes, but I was only able to help in the afternoon after preschool and before the big kids got out of school. Tuesday night GR and I, with the help of good friends who heeded our desperate call for able bodied men, came and helped us move all of Bob and Diane's furniture out of "the farm house" and into the "townhouse." We started at 6pm and finished at 11pm, taking two loads. Today my whole body aches. My visiting teacher talked me into letting people bring us dinner tonight. To lesson the burden on any one sister, three sisters are bringing a different element tonight. I'm grateful she finally convinced me to accept that offer of help - everything is packed. Tomorrow, as soon as the kids are done with school, they are heading to St. Louis with my Mom in our van to spend the weekend with my Dad while we move all the furniture and set up their bedrooms.
[Anna now knows exactly what to do with a box at every stage - assembly, packing, and lifting. Her Grandpa would be so proud!]
In other news, I have a new calling. I'm sad to be saying good-bye to my primary councilor responsibilities which I've only had since April, and will sorely miss working so closely with the children and their dedicated teachers. But as it is with all new callings, I'm excited and looking forward to being back in Relief Society working so closely with our new president as her first councilor. Although it hasn't been very long since I was released from serving in my stake Relief Society calling, there is still lots to learn and do, and we're looking forward to the challenge and to working with the great sisters in our ward.
Ever since Emily got wind that the ward was hosting a Chili Cook-off she has requested to enter a pot in the contest. She complicated things this week by saying she wanted to make a unique chili - something different than my standard recipe. Something we've never made before is fine, but I wanted to make sure she would eat her chili too. I also wanted the recipe to be simple enough that she could literally make the chili all by herself. After consulting the one cookbook left on the self, and my Southern Living magazine, we found a recipe that fit all the criteria. 
Emily's chili was really terrific, although it didn't even hit the judges radar screen. There was a lot of stiff competition this year, even with our attendance more than half what it typically is, (there was a big basketball game tonight between the two rival Kansas teams! thankfully our team pulled it out in the end, but man was it close!) Emily's chili was quite a hit with the audience members who tried it and she got LOTS of complements from them. It's a simple chili with great flavor and texture. It can be made with ground turkey, but since I forgot we had ground turkey in the freezer, she used the ground beef I knew about in the freezer. Turkey-Black Bean Chili (from Jan. 2010, Southern Living)
(From SL) Black Bean Chili using meat crumbles or ground round received a "definitely a keeper" comment from our readers when we first shared it. Here is our update using ground turkey.
3 (15-oz.) cans black beans
1 large sweet onion, chopped
1 lb ground turkey (or ground round)
1 Tablespoon olive oil
4 teaspoons chili powder
1 teaspoon ground cumin
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon pepper
1 ((14 oz.) can low-sodium fat-free chicken broth
2 (14.5 oz.) cans petite diced tomatoes with jalapeno peppers (we used one plain can, and one with green chilies)
Topping options: sour cream, shredded Cheddar cheese, sliced jalapeno peppers, chopped fresh cilantro, chopped tomatoes, lime wedges, corn chips.
Drain and rinse 2 cans blacks beans (do not drain or rinse the third can.)
Saute chopped onion and ground turkey in hot oil in a large Dutch oven over medium heat, stirring often, 8-10 minutes or until turkey crumbles and is no longer pink. Stir in chili powder and next three ingredients; saute 1 minute. Stir in drained and undrained beans, chicken broth, and diced tomatoes.
Bring to a boil over medium-high heat; cover, reduce heat to low, and simmer 10 minutes. Serve chili with desired toppings. 
A fun addition to this years contest categories, cornbread. Hearing Emily was going to make something for the ward activity, Rebecca wanted to make something too. It took her a while, but she finally settled on cornbread muffins and made an excellent batch that was quickly gobbled up. It went up against Native American fry bread in the competition and didn't stand a chance! Someone brought homemade walnut honey butter - oh so very, very scrumptious, especially on Becca's great muffins.
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Today was a crazy day. It's our last weekend before the big move. Alex had a birthday party this morning, Kathy came and helped me pack boxes for most of the morning, and GR and I took a couple good sized loads to the basement of the new house. My Mom has been here all week long. She came to help with the kids so I can make better use of my time during the day. She was suppose to go back yesterday, because of assignments she had a home, but realized that since she was coming right back on Sunday, it wasn't worth the 10 hours in the car. And so she stayed. This morning, she got royally sick and has been in bed since about 9:30. This afternoon, GR and a friend gave her a priesthood blessing, and she says she's feeling a bit better but man, whatever she has, has really hit her hard! She did ask that we save her some of Emily's chili and one of Becca's muffins so she could try them.
ETA: Sunday morning about 3am, Mom woke up, felt up to eating a bit, and ate Emily's chili with Becca' muffin, and went back to bed. She was a bit slow moving today, but felt so much better. She said that in the blessing GR gave her, he said something to the effect of, ' this infection is going to take some time for you to recover from, but don't worry, we will be taken care of.' This has been so true.
There is an art to making do. Some do it well, and others ... well they just don't. Some can decorate their houses to look like the pages of magazines with thrift & junk store finds, throw in a few key pieces from the want ads and accessories with curb side finds. Others, try and ... well, it looks like it. I am definitely a "make do-er" and probably fall somewhere in the middle, leaning well toward those who look like they "make do."
What I love is usually too expensive, and so I make do with what I have, find or can afford. Our dining room furniture is the dining room furniture GR grew up using. It's the set his parents purchased when they got married in the early 70s. When his Mom and Bob moved to Kansas (shortly after we moved into this house 7.5 years ago), they no longer had room for the set, and it became ours. Honestly, I didn't love it, it was not something I would have picked for myself. It is very 1970s, has only 4 ladder back chairs, and the wood is very, very dark.
We had plans to replace it, but the money was always needed for something else, and so we made do.
Last year when the heavy paper twine used to weave the rush seats of the ladder back chairs started to break and the seats give out from nearly 40 years of use, again we went shopping. Knowing that we wouldn't stay in this home forever, knowing we would eventually have a little more space for a table and chairs, we opted not to replace the entire set and just replace the needed chairs. I found great chairs that instantly updated the look of the table at World Market, on clearance for $90/chair. Not the bargain I typically go for, but all the other chair options I found were either $50 and would have snapped in half 3 months later, or were $150. These are solid, heavy, sturdy chairs that can withstand the everyday use they get in our house.
GR really had hoped to get rid of this set before we move. We tried giving it away, but the set really wasn't the right size for their family. So last week GR listed the entire set on Craigslist ... the hutch, 6 chairs and the table. We had one inquiry ... and really, I don't blame them. The picture was terrible, and the condition of the table, not so great either - would you pay $100 for this table? Neither will anyone else.
The big white spot in the center came from setting a hot pan on the table without using a sufficient hot pad. The tan marks near the end of the table came from me using my ironing mat on the table and steaming the pad to the table finish - dumb. Add to that all the scratches, etches and dings in the top of the table, and you have yourself one very distressed family dinner table in need of some tlc.
I did a google search to see if there was any way to remove the white mark, and found a great YouTube video (I can't find the exact one now, but there are lots out there). Turns out you can easily remove the majority of the white marks left by heat or water using a t-shirt and dry iron. See: 
It took a couple of swipes with the iron, but it's gone! Amazing. I love google and all the resources people have put out there!
As for the tan rough marks left behind by my dumb ironing project a couple years ago ... I figured I didn't have much to loose, and tackled it with a green scrubby. I would have used a fine steel wool, but I didn't have any and this did the trick. With a lot of elbow grease I was able to improve it immensely. It's by no means perfect, but much improved.
With no takers on the furniture, it looks like they'll be coming with us to the new house. And we'll put them to good use. The hutch will get used in the craft room and hold all the kids craft supplies. Eventually, I hope to give it a fun coat of paint too. The table and chairs we'll continue to use until Anna is out of her high chair. Then it will probably get moved to the basement for use as a game table for when the kids get older and have more friends over. Until then we'll start hiding a bit of money away here and there so we can purchase my handmade Amish dream table ... Or maybe we'll make our own (LOVE this blog!!) with salvaged wood, and be very happy, making do with something perfectly suitable, easier on the budget, and more in keeping with our lifestyle.
We are smack dab in the middle of packing boxes in a big way. Every couple of nights GR and I will load up the mini-van and take boxes over to the new house (if you're just catching up with us ... we're buying Bob and Diane's country house! They are moving into town - a huge, beautiful, brand new condo!). The mini van, with the back bench folded down can hold 13 plastic storage tubs - who needs a truck when you have a mini van? Bob's given us a corner of the basement and it is quickly filling up. Thanks to the help of good friends and my Mom, we're on track for moving the first weekend in February. One second I'm super calm and feel really good about what we've accomplished, the next minute I'm sure we'll never make it and I'm totally overwhelmed with what is left to do. And there is still so much!
The kids are handling the house slowly being packed up over the course of five weeks fairly well. More often then not, I'm having to say, I'm sorry we've packed that already when they ask for something. All but a few of their books were packed weeks ago, as were most of the board games. All the craft supplies are packed up too, save but a box of crayons, a pair of scissors and some glue sticks.
The biggest challenge for me has been having the food storage packed and all but one cookbook. I'm discovering some great new recipes in a seldom used cookbook from 1998! And I'm rather impressed by what I'm able to make using only what's in the refrigerator, little pantry and freezers -- good gravy we have a lot of random things in there. Thankfully it means I don't have to shop much and hopefully we will have less to move as we whittle our way through it.
Anna continues to be extremely adventuresome, what a little personality!! She is definitely one who you have to worry about if she's super quiet. When she's super quiet one of three things is happening ... she's sleeping (rare), she's playing independently, she's discovered something to disassemble and dump out. Lately she's been doing the later more so than the others, probably because she knows I'm tired and have my head in boxes all over the place.
Here's a glimpse of what she's been doing ... I'm sure I'll have more to share in the weeks to come!
14 January 2010
Waving at the camera to wish her cousin a happy birthday. Note all the toothpicks on the floor behind her.
15 January 2010 - Lots of slivered almonds from the freezer. 
18 January 2010 - hundreds of little red tube beads ... Ms. Sherlock, discovered them well hidden under the couch. 
20 January 2010 - off to the Grocery store with Mom for a gallon of milk - all decked out with her scarf and three necklaces that had to be worn together. Yep, I'm worried ... 
They've been working on for a full week straight. Designing, cutting, sanding, painting, assembling, weighing, testing. To be fair, and allow each the level of participation they desire, two cars were made. The son's car, and the dad's car. Both enjoyed the experience immensely. Both learned a lot for next year.
The whole family went out to support Sam at his race. We were all thrilled with how his car turned out. Sam really wanted a Jayhawk on his car, not just red and blue paint (pictured above, far left - red and blue with blue wheels). We were able to use temporary tattoos for the Jayhawk decals on the nose and tail of the car. Worked really well and a clear protective coat kept it from rubbing off.
Both cars won lots of races. Sam placed 5th in the Boy Scout division and was so pleased with his car! 
GR's car raced in the open division. He worked really hard on his car ... using a sweet design he found on line, spending lots of time in Bob's workshop getting cuts just right, and the final touch - a special color changing paint. We are all very proud of his car ... and were all pleasantly surprised when it won ... race, after race, after race. 
They are already making plans for next year.
