A blast

The Great Wolf Lodge was a blast. A little on the expensive side, yes, but a huge blessing to go have some fun. Next time, I will take a one piece bathing suit, instead of the tankini...going down slides and such causes some concern with the bottoms! Fortunately I don't think anyone could see under the water! The girls were not too wild and crazy...just one girl (not my kid thank goodness!) who was rude to one of our waiters at IHOP...I don't think she realized it, though. Our waiter was very olive complected and his name was Ali. This girl, very loudly, asked "are you from Japan?". We (as in the chaperones and most of the other girls) were stunned! He took it well, and gave her 2 more chances to get it right (she never did, she guessed France and Saubi Ababia...yes, she really said it like that)(What are they teaching kids these days?) He was from Usbekistan(russia). We turned it into a fun moment by telling him to ask her if she was from Mexico (If you saw her, you'd be pretty sure she was not). Anyway, he had an interesting family story that he was able to share through this dialogue. So anyway, we all had a blast, and were pretty dog-gone tired by the end of Saturday.

I've rushed through the rest of the weekend, and into Monday. I've really been craving fried chicken. I got inspired last night and was going to cook som for myself. In the process, I made my kitchen a huge greasy mess, and all I can smell in here is blackened chicken, because I burnt it to a crisp! My family had a last minute meal of McDonald's, sincetheir ususally patient and perservering mommy(yeah, right) was pretty upset with the thought of cooking after that.

Today, I've had the opportunity to run back over to Harris Teeter for a few more triple coupon sale adventures. I also went last Thursday night. I was fairly pleased with my deals this time around...and cannot wait until the next triples sales!

I'm on my way!

If you are reading this around noontime on Friday 3/27...then I am probably just arriving for a stay at the Great Wolf Lodge in Williamsburg, VA. I'm going as a chaperone with some sweet middle school age gals from a church youth group. (one of which is my Princess Leia). Cinderella gets to go sleep over with her Granny, and the Jedi boy is going to have some quality time with Mr. Snippity.

Hopefully these gals don't want to be too pranky, because I might have to show them a thing or two. I've been on quite a few overnight trips with my peer group, and, well, lets just suffice it to say: band camp wasn't THAT long ago :) One highlight of a particular high school trip (not band camp): Someone in the girls room (* blink blink with innocence*) snuck into the boys room and took all their toilet paper. And tissues. They didn't notice until one of them was in dire need. The funny part happened when they had to come ask to borrow ours... Sorry Jeremy ;) school band.

Tasty Thursday 3/26/09

Man, am I really messing up on the Tasty Thursday segments! I keep forgetting. Of course, I have a good bit of other responsibilities that should come first, so I guess that my praise is that I am taking care of the truly important things first. Oh, and sorry for all my typos lately. You'd think I would 'proofread', since I notice mistakes in other people's work *sheepish grin*.

No photo today, but dinner tonight was inspired by a recipe I found on a blog devoted to crockpotting. Of course I altered it so much that it really wasn't the same recipe, so here is my version of their "asian ribs".

ribs- I used "country style" pork ribs (you could use beef)
about 1 cup soy sauce
1/2 cup brown sugar
1/2 cup water, if you have extremely lean meat
throw the meat in the crock
pour everything on top
cook about 8 hours on low

Of course, they were tender, with a salty/sweet flavor. I liked it, especially because it was something different from our usual bbq pork version. I'm guessing the soy sauce is the reason it is called asian?

Difficult concepts

Simple things my kids do not seem to understand

(even though we've been working on it for years!)

When I tell you to put your shoes away...

it means in the closet, not behind the couch or under a pillow.

When I remind you to pick up your dirty clothes...

it means put them in the hamper, not under your bed or under a pillow.

When I say go to bed...

it means YOUR bed, not your sisters'.

When I say wash the dishes...

it means ALL of them, not just the cups.

When I tell you to come home at a certain time...

you might want to wear your watch (or take your phone), especially when you are the one that has someplace to be.

When I ask you to clean up the blocks...

yes, I mean the whole pile!

Do you really think I'm not going to find/smell the rotten apple core on the closet floor?

Everyday when you get home from school, you have to do your homework first.

Every time, every day...

and no you cannot play Wii yet!

When you finish using the bathroom...

you must wash your hands EVERY SINGLE time!

Where should you drop your backpack everyday?...

in the middle of the living room, really?

When I am talking to someone else, and I see you coming to me,

and I hold up a finger to signal 'just a minute'...

I really mean a full minute, not 2 seconds!

Ok, enough venting for now. Thanks for listening. Sometimes it feels like I am banging my head agains the wall with some of these topics. I need a beter attitude

before they get home today.

Tasty Thursday on Friday 3-20-09

Here's a picture of the goodies I made this week.

They were called cheese triangles, and the recipe came with a pampered chef cookie press. I was hoping they would turn out like a "cheese straw" or even a flavored cracker like sociables. NOT.

The recipe had cheddar & parmesan cheese, flour, dried dill weed, mustard and water.

Here's my review: do not try this at home. I ate about 3 triangles, just because I was hoping they'd taste better than they did. Cinderella ate one, and no one else would go past the first nibble. So, no do overs! I liked the shape & size, with the zigzag texture, so I may look for a different recipe to try with the press. If you have a good recipe, pass it on!

Word-full Wednesday

I've seen several other blogs use a picture to represent their words for Wednesday posts. I'm not doing that today...but I may start that later. Today, I feel like talking. Really! I stayed up late reading last night, and am kind of sleepy. It is kind of quiet here, since babes are sleeping. I'm chatting to you to keep myself from putting my head on the table and crashing!

Today is supposed to be the first day of baseball in my house!. Jedi boy has his first "real" baseball practice~as opposed to Tball in previous years. I hope he likes it...he is a little anxious.

I am feeling a bit blue in my heart for Princess Leia. Her paternal grandfather has died, and she will find out from her dad this evening. I know she is going to be upset, because she has only gotten to meet and know him in the past year, and really enjoyed him. His home is about 10

I have a training for my work later tonight, so I will be leaving Mr. Snippity in charge of all the shuffling kids, dinner, and getting ready for bed time. I hope he's up to the task! (I am prepping the meal stuff for him, so all he has to do is warm it up, so it should be easier.)

For classwork, I should be doing some work...but I am procrastinating, as usual. I have worked ahead most of the semester, but am at the point where I slow down. Fortunately, the class I am taking does not require any papers this semester! I have until tomorrow night to finish the labwork...and I haven't started yet. It better not be too complicated!!! (I' m not going to worry about that so much...they have been easy all along, and I don't think that is going to change...)

For church, I am working on a mission project, and I need to make a powerpoint presentation for Sunday to solicit helpers for the project. So why am I still here rambling? I think I'm using this post to gather my thoughts and action plans...thanks for helping!

Nap time

Something unusual happened to me yesterday.

Normally, parts of this would have been a good thing. Except this time, it wasn't.

After church, I had to go pick up Cinderella, who had spent the night with her Granny. We ate lunch, and then headed home. As I was driving back , and got about 5 minutes from home, my head started pounding...like the beginning of a migraine. When I get to the house, I tell Mr. Snippity about my head and tell him I am going to take meds and rest for a bit. None of that is so unusual...right? Who wouldn't love a Sunday afternoon nap???

Here's the unusual part: No one disturbed me! Not one peep from any of the 4 people that normally slam doors, stomp around, fuss and just can't make do without my input for more than a couple of minutes. I never dreamed that would happen, so I didn't bother to set an alarm. Cinderella finally caved in and came to ask me to fix her some juice at 5:15!!! I had a 3 hour undisturbed nap!

Of course, I was supposed to be at a Bible study at 5 pm...so I missed it!

I was quite restless when it came time for bed, and I didn't sleep well the rest of the night either, so I had some punishment in addition to missing the study. :(

Reflections-5 years

I've read on several blogs recently that have the theme of advice to your younger self. I think that it is an interesting idea, and I think I will try it. I'll have to do mine in small increments, though. Spread the joy, right?

Advice to myself, 5 years ago: (2004-ish)

Don't spend that money on worthless pursuits...it is not worth the time! Pay debts instead.
When visitors overstay their welcome while you are in the hospital laboring with your 3rd child, tell them to leave!
Backup your hard drive frequently or go ahead and print those photos...you are going to wish you had!
That new couple you are going to see around at soccer games...definately get to know them! (and she did, great friends now, btw! yay!)
Don't forget to water the veggies (that is advice I need every year:)
It is PPD...don't wait, just take the meds!
Pray more! Keep your faith strong, and you will not be let down.

Laundry Conspiracy

I think the piles of dirty clothes in my hampers have been formulating a plan to take over the world...beginning with my house! Keep an eye on your laundry...it may have been talking to mine!

Yes, I said hampers, plural. There are 5 of us that live here! (and then there's the childcare:)One in each bedroom, plus 4 sorting bins in the laundry room. Usually the bins in the utility room and bedrooms aren't full at the same time...it's kind of a "staging area" thing. And does anyone have any good tips on how to teach the clothes to put themselves away when they are finished with their attack?

Early Morning Scenario

Princess Leia has a trip planned for Saturday(Today). She has a friend stay over so that friend can go with her. Departure time: 4:45 am from our home(being picked up in van).

Miss Snippity (me!) has to wake up at 4 am to get those girls out of bed. I will have the world know before we go any farther...I am NOT a morning person. So this whole thing is a stretch for me. As soon as they are up and starting to get ready, I head to the kitchen, where I whipped up a big homemade breakfast because Princess Leia asked for eggs and bacon. And, in order to make sure those girls didn't have empty, rumbly tummies I made a batch of pancakes. Homemade. (Really yummy!!!). (And I was out of bread, so I had to do something, and now that I think about it, there was a whole pack of english muffins I could have used...argh...oh well) Breakfast is ready on the table at 4:28 am. I was patting myself on the back, cause I was on-time. The girls come to the table. The first thing out of Leia's mouth is "Mom do you have anything besides eggs, because 'my friend' doesn't like eggs!" I usually ask the friends before I cook if they like whatever it is. This friend has stayed before, and I was sure I've cooked eggs for her before, so I didn't ask this time. It was so hard not to come back with an answer, well, that was SNIPPITY! I'm thinking...there's pancakes and bacon on the plate, that is something else! But I didn't say that! You would have been proud to see how nice I was :) I offered some yogurt and extra pancakes with a smile. The friend ate plenty, and Princess Leia took the eggs all for her own.

Of course, Princess Leia wasn't totally ready...and had some to the table without fixing her hair, and didn't pack her 'entertainment bag' last night like I told her...so she wasn't quite ready when the van got here. They had to wait a couple of minutes for her...if she had only listened to her momma!

Friday

It is a lovely Friday. I have been outside, and it is beautiful!

My only hang-up is I am dwelling on a waste. I experimented with a recipe the other day, and it just didn't work out. I wasn't all that broken hearted, but I am mad that I wasted 1/2 cup of olive oil! I have just gotta let that go! Maybe now that I have shared that with the blog world I can get past it! I know I am a little strange...I can handle the truth :)

Tasty Thursday 3/5/09

Homemade Biscuits for dinner last night, thanks to Melody

Before:

After: I had to stop hands from grabbing them all up in order to take the photo:They turned out really good The taste was delicious. Even Mr. Snippity, my Mr. Picky, said they were really good. Better than the ones in the blue freezer bag, I think! And I know it was fresh! (Mommy B is rubbing off :) Mine took a little longer to cook than in her recipe, but maybe that was just my baking stone or something like the fact that I was multi-tasking the oven at the time. I also rolled my dough a little thinner than she did (not intentionally), so next time I will leave it thicker.