Saturday, January 20, 2007
I ironed yesterday. You might not find that all that notable, but it was for me because I usually put it off until I have a clothes basket stuffed to overflowing. Yesterday it wasn't. It was really nice not to have to spend the whole afternoon doing it. I also got all my mending basket emptied. I had a shirt for Julia that had the snaps on the bottom. (That doesn't work for an almost three year old who's been potty trained for a year and a half. I'm a little surprised that they actually make body suits in this size.) So I just trimmed the bottom off and hemmed it. I had a few other equally boring things, I won't bother telling you about.
I did another scrapbook page last night. It was a challenge laying out the pictures for some reason. I still need to do the journaling. I will try to post later when I get it finished.

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10:07 AM
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Wednesday, January 17, 2007
Matthew is doing very well in his reading. Dad came down to hunt yesterday and Matthew wanted to read him a story. I had him do one of the ones in a previous lesson. I was impressed and I don't think he did well just because he had it memorized or something like that. We are over half way through the book. I'm not sure exactly what to follow up with, but maybe I'll know when we get closer to the end. I think he's going to need some phonics to reinforce what he's learning.
I'm painting a little rocking chair white for Julia's room. Linda will remember the one that came from Tophams. It's gooking pretty cute even though I only have one coat of paint on it. Julia wants butterflies on it, and also a cushion (she must have seen something in a magazine since this is all her idea.).
I cooked up some chicken yesterday and de-boned and froze it. I also have quite a bit of broth. I was looking at some websites with ideas for freezer meals. One of the concepts I found interesting was the kit idea. For example, your taco kit would contain the pre-cooked and seasoned meat, cheese and burrito shells. (The proper amount for the servings needed) They also had pizza kits and other things. The idea is to do the prep work in advance and have everything chopped or whatever. Another concept is to do the prep work but no cooking, instead of the Once a Month Cooking where everything is already cooked. (Or pretty much) I was thinking this would work nicely with a beef stew, where you could have your cubed beef and veggies frozen together with the broth. I know they have some crockpot meals like this at the grocery store, so I'm going to go check out my options. I guess one could just buy those, but they seem overpriced and I have my favorite recipes for most things already. Plus since Mark isn't terribly fond of pasta and most of them have some sort of pasta, I'm not sure they would go over well.
A few days ago I made freezer french toast,as an experiment. We liked it quite well. You bake it in a hot oven on a greased cookie sheet, and them flip it, cook a little more and freeze. Then when you want to have it you just throw it in the toaster. It tasted just like it was fresh from the skillet. Well, except for the end piece that didn't have quite enough egg on it. It was a little hard and dry when I ate it. Anyway, here's the recipe:
Freezer French Toast
5 eggs
1-1/4 c. milk
1/2 t. salt
16 slices bread
1-1/2 T. sugar
Heat oven to 500F. Combine eggs, milk, sugar, and salt, mixing well. Dip slices, then place on baking sheets sprayed with non-stick cooking spray. Bake about 5 minutes, until bottom is golden brown. Flip and cook for 2 more minutes. Cool then freeze in single layer. Once frozen (about two hours) they can be packaged individually or placed in a single freezer bag.
To cook:Remove from freezer, and heat in toaster or toaster oven, then serve.

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2:35 PM
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Saturday, January 13, 2007
...too cold to go out,
too wet to play ball,
so we sat in the house and did nothing at all...
I wonder if the Cat in the Hat will come to visit today. It's cold and snowing. We are staying in today after going out yesterday. I'm feeling a little like burrowing down into a cozy spot and taking a nap. It's one of those kind of days. The temperature earlier was only 5 degrees and blowing a little too. It's January.
Maybe I'll get my little heater going in my stamp closet and do a little creating in there. I want to make some baby cards. To send to friends and also for birth announcements. I may have to put them up for a vote if I can't decide what to do. We'll see.
I'm constantly amazed by what kids pick up sometimes. Julia said last night when I was reading her Jonah and the Whale, "Jonah disobeyed God. Everyone is going to die someday, because Adam and Eve disobeyed God." It's not like I've told her that everyday of her life or anything. Makes you really stop and think about what's going into their little heads.
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10:48 AM
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Friday, January 12, 2007
I really think the nesting bug has bitten again. I can't seem to go into any room without seeing something that needs cleaned or organized. This is a good thing though. The kitchen is the flylady zone (see www.flylady.net ) for this week and it was nice to already have the mission done for today. Both of the freezers are cleaned out. I still need to clean out under the sink, but I have pretty much everything else on the list finished for this zone. Oh and by the way, why is it that the cabinet under every kitchen sink is yucky? Even new houses.
It's turned off really cold here. I didn't want to get out of bed this morning just because I could tell it was cold outside. Of course, we planned to go into town this afternoon instead of yesterday. Brrrr.......Oh well. We've had great weather so far this winter. I do wish I would have vaccummed the van yesterday.
I did a two page scrapbook layout last night. It was of Matthew playing trains. I used the Kazoo Kids slab that I used on his birthday invitations, only I used the train themed paper. I was going to use the side that had railroad symbols and such, but it looked too busy. (The papers are heavy and double sided.) They have really cute alphabet stickers and other themed things to go along with the papers. I was a little disappointed in the sticking power of the stickers though. I ended up using additional adhesive, so I think they will stay fine.


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9:58 AM
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Wednesday, January 10, 2007
Alot has happened since I last updated. I can't believe it's almost been a month. Christmas was keepimg me too busy I guess.
We had a really nice Christmas. The kids enjoyed it of course. We got Matthew cowboy boots, which he has been wearing almost everywhere we go. Julia is really enjoying the tea set and table that Grandma and Grandpa Stearns got for her. She and Matthew had a tea party the other day, complete with water in the teapot. They ended up with wet clothes, and a lot of water on the floor, but they cleaned it up themselves, so I didn't mind. Julia wore her new princess dress from Auntie Shell for the occasion.
Christmas day we went to Mom and Dad's and then that evening we left for Houston to go see Joyce and Paul. We had a really nice time. Joyce and I went to Hobby Lobby and Micheal's and another scrapbooking store called Memories. Memories had some Making Memories photo decor kits on sale really cheap, so I bought three of those. What I didnt' realize was that the two photo cube kits both had three cubes each in them. So, it was an even better deal than I realized. (I'm not sure I needed six cubes, but they can always be used for gifts.) We also discovered the Cuttlebug embossing folders and dies. They give and much deeper impression than the sizzix brass embossing stencils and they are less expensive. We also went to a resale shop that Joyce goes to. I found several really nice maternity things. I've been wearing the one sweater almost constantly since I got it. It's a hoodie style and perfect over tees.
Matthew and Julia enjoyed the cousins alot. They also swam in the jacuzzi part of Joyce and Paul's pool. Mark did to, but I decided to stay in with Joyce rather than try to fit into my swimming suit. Mark said it was really nice until you had to get out and come in. The weather was beautiful, but not really hot enough for swimming.
We went to Brazos Bend state park and got to see 1 alligator, along with a lot of different birds and nice scenery. It was a lot of walking, but good for us to get some exercise.
We ate out several places including Fogo de Chao, which was very yummy. (I didn't really like the results of all the good food on the scale at the Dr. yesterday, but oh well) We went to the Natural History Museum which Mark and I enjoyed more than the kids. And to top it all off we got to bring back some Guarana from the Fiesta there. It was a very enjoyable trip.
On the way back we went through Wichita and stayed with Glen and Joy and the girls. Lori came over for breakfast in the morning so we got to see her as well.
We've been working hard since we got back. Mark has been hauling corn. Today he's grinding feed to get the calves weaned. The guy to work on the attic is getting started also. They got a hole cut for a heat register up there, which blew air out when they opened it up. We were able to tie in to an exisisting heat run, which was a very good thing and should save us a lot of money. I'm hoping they make big progress soon, but I"m afraid it's not going to happen as fast as I would really like.
I've been doing a lot of different things to get ready for the new baby. I wanted to remake the bed set we had. I redid the bumper pad and dust ruffle. I also made a new crib sheet, but I may need to add more elastic to make it stay on the mattress better.
Monday I sorted out baby things and cleaned up the closet in the hall upstairs. Everything is much more accessible now. I still need to go through the boxes in the guest room and try to get all the stuff in there catagorized and labeled. There's still a lot of junk that should be tossed as well.
Last night we cleaned out and defrosted the freezer. It was really frosty (about 1 shelf worth). We still have things up in the freezer at Mark's dad's, which we are going to go through. Hopefully we can get it cleaned out and shut off, since there's not enough food in it to make it worth running. I got a few dinners frozen also. It was nice to see what I actually have that needs used to incorporate that into my freezer meal plans. Today I am planning on doing the refrigerator freezer. It self defrosts, but it needs organized and wiped down.
Well, I guess I'd better get back to laundry and my morning routine...