2007 in Review

Kelli, at There's No Place Like Home, had a great idea for a little review of our blogging year. We are posting the first sentence and a favorite pic. I learned 2 things while doing this. 1) I posted very infrequently much of the year. 2) I rarely posted pictures. The last few months, though, I posted often and tried to get in as many photos as I could. Part of the change is that I have more readers now, and I want people to stay interested. Also I began tracking my visitors. Tonight we are dining with the Ross Family. Prime Rib and homeade fries. I'm bringing my italian pasta salad (see sparkrecipes for details). Kaia is looking forward to spending the night with Sam and Charlie. For tonight I'm looking forward to dinner as they are my favorite foods! Also, I'm looking forward to frequent posting and lots of photos in 2008, and I hope you are too!

January
Doesn't mean we haven't been busy. Yesterday I had to take Kaia to the dr's because she broke out in a rash over her entire body!

My grandmother in Mexico.

February
Accidents, Toilets, and Comforters! In our house these things all go together.

March
Sunday was a big day at our house. Mo received his first haricut!

April
Oops! Rode my ATV right into the branches of a tree.

I think these photos speak for themselves. My arm is still scarred up and it is very noticeable when I'm tan.

May
We generally look forward to Friday's in our home, but this week it seems like it is all we lived for.

June
We have a new member to our family.

Sampson, aka BigDumbDog, aka Stinky Dog

July

Kaia's 4th birthday has come and gone.

The princess herself.

August
With Kaia's pre-school days coming fast upon us, we found that creating a new budget was a necessity.


Kaia and Mo on the shore of Lake Couer d'Alene

September
I went to Rosauers yesterday not a planned trip, but we were out of celery and green pepper, both of which I needed for my pasta salad (see sparkrecipes for the full info).

Mo looking gQ in his g diaper.

October
Just wanted to say that I had a great time Monday in Leavenworth with my grandma, who's visiting from Mexico, and my parents.


Photo by Dad of Leavenworth. (notice the sign is for sausages)

November
You may have noticed that there haven't been any postings to the blog for over 2 weeks.

My attempt at creativity, and decorating for Thanksgiving.

December
We had yesterday all planned out.

Mommy's little helper.

Cookbooks

It's time for Kelli's Show & Tell Friday. Today I want to share about my love for old cookbooks. The photos have all been used in other posts, but I haven't told you much about them.

Both of these are Good Housekeeping Cookbooks published in the early 60's. The big turquoise binder has 17 small cookbooks in it. They each have different topics. Appetizers, vegetables, desserts... My favorites are "Hamburgers and Hot Dogs," it truly is a whole booklet devoted to those two foods. I had expected to find several casserole recipes, but there really isn't many. The recipes are for different burger mixtures, different ways to cook, different ways to serve. I enjoy reading it, and looking at the illustrations. The 10 p.m. booklet is another interesting one. The recipes are all "entertaining" meals. Apparently I'm too young to understand the 10 p.m. reference.

I love the other Good Housekeeping Cookbook because it is a no nonsense basic recipes book. I have 2 other of basic books, but one is from 1910 and the other 1930's so they often have references I don't understand. This one has provided many great recipes for pancakes (my banana pancakes started with their basic recipe) and cookies, along with some casserole ideas. There is also a beginners section that was written to teach young ladies how to cook. That will be fun as Kaia gets older.

My Fondue cards come from a box of Betty Crocker recipe cards. As I said in a prior post, I love these cards! I think they were printed in 1972. There are many sections, but I realize I've never counted to find out how many. The sections include Fondue, Budget Casseroles, Gala Menus, Outdoor Cooking, Recipes Children Can Make, American Favorites, Seasonal Favorites... If I keep this up I may just list all of them. Each card has a photo, and I LOVE photo cookbooks.

That is all I have time for now, but I will try to update later. Ok some updates done, will have to just leave it for what it is.

The Beach is calling

It's a balmy 27 degrees out today, and a snow warning was in effect. Although such a small amount has fallen, that it is hard to believe that we will get the 5 inches they were calling for today. Oh now they've updated it to just 1-2 inches. All of this makes our vacation planning that much sweeter!



The following photos are not mine. They are from the Lincoln City Vacation Homes website.

That is the front of the house, and you can see the beach access is right next to the car.

I think that making dinner won't be such a chore for us girls, not with this view anyway.

Ahhh... I can't wait for this summer. We (Dana, the kids, both sets of grandparents and I) will definitely enjoy this beach house!

I have arrived!

I feel that I have arrived in blog world! I now have enough readers for someone to call me out with an anonymous comment! Finally!

It was a good laugh to read the comment on I Finally Did It. I had expected to get called out on some of my comments eventually. I do happen to have an opinion and I know that not everyone will agree. But I was called lazy for not wrapping Santa's presents? Wow. When a friend read that she even said, "but Santa doesn't wrap presents." Apparently someone's Santa does. That's cool, but our Santa doesn't. He puts em out under the tree, and we had two very excited kids when they saw those gifts.

Ok there is my break from work, since there isn't going to be a lunch break today. I'm just so excited!

Christmas 2007

Just a sampling of photos from our Christmas Eve

As you can see, the bar was filled with food, and the meat and cheese fondue was not out.

The burners for the fondue pots refused to stay lit, or were too uneven. We sacked them for cooking the meat and just put the pots on the stove. The food section in the paper today said that throwing a 60's New Year's Eve was all the rage. The main photo was a... Fondue Pot!

Gifts for 20 people really stack up in our little front room.

A good time was had by all, and we were all very tired that night. The kids woke early, despite the late night. Kaia couldn't wait to see what Santa brought.


Kaia was so into her gifts, I couldn't get a photo of her. We did take plenty of video, though.

Christmas Day was fairly relaxing, although we did load up a bunch of stuff to take to the dump. Pretty much everything Sampson had destroyed and the plastic and wrappings from the holiday. Dana and I put away our toys, well almost. I received two sets of pots and pans. So one set is in my cupboard, and the other set will go into our trailer. I will actually have decent cookware in both of my homes! The kids played with their toys all day, except for Mo's nap which was about 3 hours. He was wearing Thomas jammies, covered up in his Thomas blanket, with his Thomas flashlight by his side. Kaia enjoyed changing into all her new outfits, playing Barbies and Princesses and as a whole family we watched Shrek 3 (and almost as a whole family we watched Nanny McPhee earlier in the day). One last thing... our home is still fairly clean!

The day before Christmas Eve

December 23rd was a Sunday, so the kids got up and dressed in their Christmas finery (courtesy of Gramma Owie).



Mo's eyes are red from a cold, not from crying




Here is the gold arrangement that I borrowed from work, in my free vase that was in the yardsale leftovers at church.

The nativity set June made also went up. It is difficult to photograph the stone look, but they are beautiful.

Here are the soaps I made, wrapped in washcloths and put into the packaging my work gift came in.

Mo observes the decorated room.

We are ready for tonight. Just as soon as I get off of here and do dishes.

Phew...

Now that I re-look at my last post, I'm sure glad I didn't choose hand modeling as a profession! Instead I chose wisely, non-profit work. And working at United Way means each year we have several fully ornamented trees donated to us by Target. Every year we give all 4 away, keeping one in our office as long as possible. This year us girls decided to keep the one the guys brought in. All gold and amber colored ornaments and lights. At first we thought "ugly" but I've learned from both Kaia and my Sunday School kids "You get what you get, and you don't throw a fit."

So we took everything off the tree and redecorated it. All the same lights and ornaments, just one less string of lights and one box less of ornaments. Much better. That also left some extras for us to practice our creativity. And even better is, being that we are closed for the next 4 days, I brought home all the gold beaded leaves/twigs. As my boss said, "they aren't going to be of use sitting in the office." (of course they may have been put to use if there were another break in) Instead, I brought them home and put them into a vase and will take them back next week. They look very nice. and I'm almost done decorating for Monday.

Show and Tell Friday

Here is my first contribution to Kelli's Show and Tell:

This ring was given to me by my grandma when she was visiting the States this Fall. I'm not a huge jewelry person. I have a few necklaces that I received last Christmas, some bracelets, and rings, but I don't typically wear jewelry every day.

When Grandma asked if I wanted a ring I

• saw that it was silver


• realized how unique it was


• and determined it fit my right ring finger

I put it on and have only taken it off to clean it, and to knead dough. It is hard to show in pictures all the intricate detail in the silver. Some of it has also worn down from wear. Note: I am modeling it on my left hand, as I cannot take pictures of my right hand while using the camera with my right hand.

To me it looks just like the end of a silver spoon. As though someone cut it down and fashioned it into a ring. There is some sort of labeling on the inside, but I can't quite make it out. I love how it is both beautiful and basic (even with the intricacies). Each time I look at it I think of Grandma and anticipate our next visit.

I finally did it

I decided I'd take care of myself and go see Dr. Jeff. After telling my mom that this wasn't in my sinuses on Tuesday, it started to feel like a sinus infection today. Dr. agreed and now I have a 14 day treatment of doxycycline and a nasal steroid due to swelling in my nasal passages. Ah what fun. But at least now I will feel better for the party on Christmas Eve and have the energy to cook dinner Christmas Day.

Tomorrow is Kaia's preschool pajama Christmas party. I was upset at first because all of the parties have happened so far on days she didn't attend. Tomorrow is no different, but she was invited to attend during the party. Only problem was I wasn't sure with Santa coming there at 10 how to pull that off. I called though and I can drop her off at her normal time, and then she will be ther during the party and get to see Santa and I'll pick her up before lunch. I'll be going straight out to Grammy and Papa's and then in to Black Angus for my office lunch.

As of today ALL presents are purchased. There were a few that I just didn't know what to get someone, or didn't know what they wanted. My co-worker (we draw names) was the most difficult. After talking with my friend I opted for a stress ball and a gift certificate to the local espresso stand. Kaia's present from Santa proved difficult this year. She's very into Barbie, so I went to look for some Barbies. YUCK They are hideous now. The Barbies she plays with are from the 80's and early 90's and they look ok, but I refused to buy any of the Barbies I found in the store. Luckily a friend suggested Disney Princess Dolls. I went online and with 2 coupon codes bought Jasmine, Belle, & princess jammies for less than $30 for Kaia's Santa present. Mo is getting a Big Wheels Trike that was $30. Santa doesn't wrap presents, he's way too busy for that, so those toys will be out under the tree all night. Daddy and Mommy are giving them each 2 small presents.

I also picked up some individually packaged food items, and some washcloths. You'll remember my homemade soap which will go well with the cloths. The food items should make some nice little gift baskets. There are always a few people that we don't buy specific gifts for and I love to have these things ready to give out. I'll hyperlink later, Mo is helping, and I'm going to lay down and read... if he'll let me.

Making A Case for Laminate Flooring

If you have kids (or ever plan to have kids), and are trying to decide on flooring DO NOT carpet.

In front of the high chair

Entrance to the kitchen

In front of the sofa in the TV room

But if you do have carpet, and kids it there is some hope

Thanks to my mom and P&C Carpet Cleaning

In front of high chair

Entrance to kitchen

In front of sofa in TV room

He didn't make any promises on how clean he would be able to get it. But, in person it looks sooooo much better. A very good Christmas present to give to a mom with young ones and carpet.

Anyone know?

Does anyone know where I put three rolls of wrapping paper? The beautiful shiny rolls that were flocked? The rolls that I bought last January for 69 cents each? I remember them in the trunk of my car. Then I moved them into the garage. From there they were brought inside. That's all I remember. Every place I think I put them shows no sign of the paper.

Christmas Eve Fondue

Don't worry I've heard it plenty now. Yes, we are having fondue for Christmas Eve. Is that weird? Not to me, and it's at my house so there! Ok it's really at our house, but Dana was poking fun at my weird food, so had to have my temper tantrum.

As you can see from my recipe cards fondue is not a new thing, although it seems to be growing popular again. My mom gave me her Betty Crocker Recipe cards a few years back. Considering that most of the time I lived at my parents house, I had the box out and was going through the cards, and I was always borrowing it, she rarely had it anyway. Actually she kept the card for her favorite recipe. It's one of mine too, but I have it memorized by now and I rarely follow the exact recipe anyway.

So Christmas Eve we will be having meat fondue. Each family will bring their own meat for the most part. I'm planning on 2 cheese fondues. 1 with crab, 1 without. And a chocolate fondue for dessert. On the side we will have breads, crackers, veggies, a relish tray, and a dessert tray with bananas, poundcake, and other goodies. There will also be Christmas cookies (Neeko and Kaia will be helping Grandma Owie with these) and I was considering trying a mulled wine recipe.

Of course, it will be a good time no matter what is served.

Housekeeping

Ok I will now show you what I will be doing tonight. The carpet cleaner arrives tomorrow morning at 9 a.m. That means I need everything off the floor, and a thorough vacuum.

What you see is the hedgehog's home. Yep Snowball the hedgehog. The one that we had put down the first weekend of November. So tonight I will dump all the litter that is left in her home, Morgan having already dumped most of it on the floor over the last month.

Here is our biggest trouble spot. The kitchen counter/bar. Everything collects on it whether it should be there or not. If you look you can see the unopened mayo, a jar of peanut butter and salt and pepper, all which haven't been put in the cupboard. Dana's lunch box is up there, but only because it's packed and ready for work. The medicine was left out by a tired mom last night. There's hand sanitizer and I'm not sure where to put it. The scale, silverware and cookbooks actually belong. The dishes will go into the dishwasher tonight. The lint roller was in the bathroom.

Speaking of the bathroom, you will notice one of two rooms that don't need cleaned. Dana cleaned both bathrooms on Monday. They do need a little something to decorate them for Christmas though.

Cold

Unfortunately I'm not talking about the weather, but my health. This weekend found me feeling very ill. I actually took a nap on Saturday, which is extremely rare. I used to work the 3 a.m. shift at the bakery, and only on occasion napped. I did get the kitchen cleaned up. Not perfect, but I took apart my stove top and thoroughly scrubbed it. Saturday night was the bowling party, and we almost did not have babysitting. I called my cousin though, and she came through and had the kids for a few hours. The party was fun, my bowling was awful.

Sunday morning I taught Sunday School. Well maybe I didn't quite teach, it was more like managing the chaos. But when they all make it through class with their 3 coins and know what the story was I call it a success.

Yesterday I stayed home and rested. I'm learning though that when I call in sick to work, something bad happens at work. In August it was a flood, yesterday it was 2 broken windows and a stolen computer.

The facial was wonderful and I will definitely save up for another. For now, I'm going to try and get some work done. I'll try to post later on our Christmas Eve planning.

Dishes, Dishes, Dishes

At first glance you might think I'm some sort of domestic diva holding the dirty dishes. Then take a look at the house in the background, and you'll see that the carpet is dirty and there is stuff everywhere. (please excuse the dark photo. Our photo editing disappeared during a recent clean-up of the pc, and I haven't had time to download a new one)

Last night however I did set about getting some dishes done. Problem is, it's hard to unload the dishwasher when it looks like this:

I keep telling Mo that I don't believe my warranty covers 30 pound toddlers on the door, but he is not fazed. He is completely unlike his mother in the fact that he actually likes to do dishes. He is a huge help putting his dishes in the sink. It is amazing that he, unlike Kaia and I, has not broke any of the dishes.

How do you replace plates and bowls when the only marking is Japanese? Yeah, so sometimes owning Corningware is a better idea than the gorgeous Asian set my sister-in-law picked up at a yard sale. I guess I could always try calling the former owner, but I can only imagine how strange the conversation would be.

Here is Mo putting silverware away. This works quite well, until he gets excited about his job. If I didn't closely watch him, the knife I had just buttered our grilled cheese with, would have been put away.

You can see some of the dishes piled on the counter, you cannot see all the dishes coming out of the sink there were so many. We did manage to get a full dishwasher, and have it run. And just so she isn't left out, here was Kaia in her pretty new dress Grammy bought her at Goodwill. Notice the recycling that needs to be taken in next to her.

Ok, so I'm just a big slacker

I don't know why, but I can't get anything done! I did get a load of dishes done on Tuesday. I did get most of the old food out of my fridge, but I have yet to wipe it all down. I have not vacuumed, and I'm completely grossed out by my own home! The carpets are being cleaned on the 20th, so I have a deadline.

Tomorrow I am getting my facial for my Christmas present from Dana. Thank you honey! Saturday I will be doing some serious cleaning of the house and the dog before Dana's office Bowling Party.

If you remember from past posts, Stupid Dog hates water. Stupid Dog is now known as Stinky Dog. The fact that our high temps have been just above freezing all week means I won't be attempting to hose him down at our house. Instead I'll have to load him up and take him to the dog wash that's located at the carwash a few blocks away. I firmly believe that I will need about 3 body builders to come over from the gym on the other side of the strip mall to help hold Stinky Dog down. But we cannot stand the smell of him any longer.

I'm not sure whether to clean Stinky Dog first or the house. Either way I will be exhausted for the party Saturday, but my face should look great!

Cleaning Update

Mom called and offered to have the carpets cleaned as a present, so tonight I will be cleaning the floors and doing a really good job vacuuming so that I'm ready when the cleaner arrives.

Well I bought myself a little time, as I got the number of the guy I really wanted to do the carpets, and he is cheaper, but won't be out until next week. That will make preparing for the carpets easier.

Another Day Wasted

Not completely wasted, yet not a bit of housework completed. I didn't even get home from work until 7:30 p.m. and then after making a quick meal for Dana and I, it was 8. Kaia and I played her new computer game Christmasville (thanks Papa!) for a half an hour, while Dana and Morgan watched the Charlie Brown Christmas special. Then it was bedtime for Mo, cuddle time for Kaia, and I was ready to crash.

Tonight the plan is this:
Get off work on time (no meetings, so this shouldn't be too hard)
Quick Dinner (maybe hamburgers)
Dishes (finish loading and start them)
Vacuum the dining and tv room
If time:
Clean out the fridge and wipe down the inside

Phew that looks like such a small amount of work, but by the time you add in both kids hanging on my legs, and the picking up of everything on the floor so I can vacuum, it should take up most of the evening. I joked this morning that I was going to ask the dr for some uppers so that I could stay awake long enough to get something done. I didn't though. I may try some black tea in the evening, but since I have a nasty habit lately of waking at 3 a.m. and not being able to sleep, I might not.

Yeady?

Meet Mo's new word. He learned it while talking with Gramma Owie this weekend. This morning I asked if the kids were ready to go, and Mo answered "yeady?" Too cute.

We are not ready for Christmas Eve at our home yet. Thank you for all the ideas on containing the clutter! I really like the idea of using the zippered bags, but also keeping them up and out of reach. I think that is why the Potato Heads did stay together for so long. Now I just need to refind all of the pieces and get it put away. I also use wicker bins to sort toys and books in Morgan's room. They were a baby shower gift from my mom, when I didn't have any room in the dresser for Mo's clothes. Now the dresser is his, so the bins make a great way to sort out toys.

I really wanted to have the house clean this weekend. But I was tired and felt like I was catching a cold. So very little was actually accomplished. Now with only 2 weeks (YIKES, where is the time going?) to go, I will be forcing myself to get some work done at night. I'm usually exhausted by the time I get off work, get the kids, make dinner, and get them to bed. I'll be posting my cleaning list/schedule shortly.

Containing the Clutter

How does everyone handle toys with many pieces? Kaia has a set of 2 Potato Heads, and although at first she did good about putting all the pieces back in the carrying case, they are now everywhere! I found a fireman's hat on our bed this morning, and a few lips are floating around the dining/kitchen area. I'm tempted to just find as much as possible and put it on freecycle, but there are a few things stopping me.
1) A friend gave these to us after her husband's grandmother stopped playing with them (dementia).
2) I like the skills involved in playing with the potato heads. Where do eyes go on the face? Lining up the hole and the stick so that they can put the piece on.
3) It's good old fashion imagination play. There is nothing talking back to the kids and no numbers and letter learning in it. Not that those are bad things, but I want my kids to spend some time using their imagination.

So how do I keep this and other great toys that have pieces without allowing them to over-run my home?

Adventures on the drive

The daily drive to and from Grammy and Papa's takes very little awareness on my part. I've done it every day for the last 4 years. The last few days with I-5 being closed, it has taken a lot more patience and some slick maneuvering to be in the lane I want, without having to drive 55 (instead of 70+).

For the kids though, the ride is always an adventure. There is a house on State Route 821 that we pass with sheep, goats and a horse or two out front. So every morning as we pass the car becomes filled with Baa Baas. Mo is really quite good at this, and from an early age his baas earned him the nickname "little lamb." During the spring and summer we can see the peacock and his hens as we leave Grammy and Papa's although now that it's winter, I'm the only one that gets to see him strutting his stuff on the shoulder of the freeway.

In town there is plenty of excitement too this time of year. Every house Kaia sees is a gingerbread house. The lighted ones are decorated gingerbread houses. We always slow down as we drive past the house with the leg lamp in the window. I have noted this year (as they have done in the past) that they decorate their tree to look as much like the tree in The Christmas Story as possible. They use the great big bulbs and hanging tinsel.

I'm thankful that the kids remind me that every day can be an adventure.

Frugal Debate

There is a little debate running in my head this afternoon. I worked at a benefits fair and the table next to me was a spa. I grabbed on of their menu of services to see what they offered. Some are definitely out of my price range, but others I would really like.

Now everything I've said I wanted for Christmas has been practical. A new set of pots and pans, a coffeemaker because I will get a lot of use out of them, and be thankful for them every day. A facial isn't very useful, and I know the effects won't last all that long. The cost of one is only $60, but when put in perspective, that's one week of food for our house. Finances aside, should I really want to put money into something just to make me look better for a short time? I don't expect one of their facials to make me look 19 again, but to have my skin look good would be nice.

So I have their menu, and while I may scoff at the $150+ for botox, or some of the other treatments, I'll still be thinking about that facial...

Lost post

Ok now I'm really upset! I went to correct the html link in my post Hiatus and now half the post is missing. I was able to view it, and had I been thinking I would have done a copy and save really fast before making the change. Now my entire rundown of Mo's hospital experience is gone. Just the first 2 days. Anyone have it saved somewhere?

"Ah Gone"

As Mo would say our snow is "ah gone." Sunday stayed cold and rainy, and Kaia's snowwoman began to melt. Yesterday felt warm in the upper 40's to low 50's with wind and light rain. This morning Kaia's snowwoman was 3 carrots in the grass. Grandma Mike from next door gave her the carrots when she saw that the snowwoman was nose and eye-less. She and Grandpa Carl had helped this weekend by feeding and watering BigDumbDog for us.

He is still big and dumb. Preferring to lay in the snow and rain, over his dog house and shelter we put up. I have to believe if he were really cold, he'd take shelter though.

The weather is supposed to get cold again though, so we may still have a white Christmas, although you'd never guess it looking outside today. Due to my parents bathroom being out of order, and not a single contracter willing to even come out and give a bid on it, Christmas Eve festivities will be held in our home. Dana looked at me and said "Guess this means we had better start cleaning." Yep, there is plenty of that to be done. I also need to find a way to keep the Christmas ornaments on the tree. Currently they are around Mo's neck, in the tv room, and propped up all over the front room. The miracle is that Mo has not pulled the tree down on top of him, YET.

I am excited though. I love having people over. We don't host many parties or guests, but when we do I have so much fun. The wheels are already turning in my head as to what we'll eat this year. Our Christmas Eve get togethers are typically non-traditional. We used to fondue every year, but that was before all the little ones joined the family. Then it was soups and cold cuts. Another time it was Mexican, which was good, but made for a gassy Christmas day. (and there is plenty of gas at my house without eating beans) Last year it was cold cuts and dungeness crab. YUM. Any ideas?

An eventful weekend, and it's not even over

We had yesterday all planned out. We'd sleep in, get ready for our trip to Seattle and drop the kids off with Grammy and Papa on the way. Didn't happen that way though. I got up about 6:50 a.m. which is technically sleeping in. I put clothes in the dryer, and did some dishes. I went to get Dana up at 8:30 a.m. and discovered that he had low blood sugar. I tried giving him some paste candy that Kaia had, and then attempted to get his blood sugar. When I finally did it was a 36. I know from experience that at 55 I get sweaty, shaky and start having numbness in my lips. I called 9-1-1 and we had the paramedics here in minutes. Mo was scared at so many strangers in our bedroom. Kaia was mad that I'd taken her candy, but very excited at seeing the firetruck and getting a sticker shield from them. She told them immediately that her daddy was very sick. The firemen and paramedics (5 of them in our small bedroom) gave Dana an IV of glucose and he was back to life quickly. Unfortunately you can't be that low, and then go high without some reprecussions. He didn't feel good, and our trip was up in the air. By 3 though we were on the road.

The pass was good and we found our hotel easily. We checked in and found a full kitchen. Complete with a full-size fridge, 2 burner range, and mini dishwasher. Plus all the dishes, a steamer, coffee pot and toaster. A little more than we needed for one night, but it was a good price. We had a nice dinner and slept in a bed without kids!

Today we went to the International Motorcycle show. I screwed up on the directions to get to Qwest Field though. Took us off into no where. I won't type any of the conversation that followed. It took quite a bit of driving to get us back onto I-5 and onto the exit again. This time I got us on the right ramp, but then the directions were wrong. We made it though. It was fun. Quite a few dealers and vendors, although we didn't get to see the black Yamaha ATV we were hoping to see. We left about noon and visited Aurora Suzuki. Took a look at the ATV's that Randy had in stock, and then headed for home.

We stopped in North Bend for lunch. It was surprising to see snow as we left Seattle. It was falling good in North Bend and very cold. We called Gordie to have him check the pass report and it looked good. Apparently we called about 15 minutes too early.

We were going 70 when the truck started to go sideways. Shortly after this sign. It says 35 MPH. And that's what we did most of the way over the pass. Unlike our last trip to Seattle (last December) we didn't see any fatal accidents. Just one fender bender that involved 3 vehicles. None looked seriously damaged. We made it home safe though. The roads in town are just as bad. The kids are wound up now that we're home and I need to go help Dana change the bed sheets and pillow cases that have sugar on them.

Snow!

We finally have our first true snowfall of the season! Reports have varied from 5 to 9 inches, but there is a lovely coating of white to our city and it is still falling. Kaia of course was thrilled, Mo seems pretty excited too. They both were squishing the little bit that had accumulated yesterday evening into snowballs and throwing them. I'm happy to report that my new tires did great today. Also Kaia didn't even put up a fight when I told her that she needed to wear pants to school because of the snow. She actually let me pick out her entire outfit, and willingly put on the yellow snow coat, all so that she could run out and play. Sampson who was probably just a puppy last time there was snow on the ground (not including the little bit that we had a few weeks ago) was outside last night barking at the snowflakes and chasing them through the yard. Hopefully I can get a photo soon, although it may be of the office as it's dark by the time I get home.

Yaki-Niku

One of our favorite places to eat is Keoki's. Both Dana and I get Yaki-Niku every time. But with 2 young ones, and the cost of going out, I found a way to make this at home that's pretty close. It's not the most budget minded recipe, but in comparison to going out, it's quite the deal.

Night before:
Put thin cut steak into a shallow container. Chop up a clove of garlic and put it in also. Then cover with 2 parts soy sauce to 1 part vinegar and add just a bit of water as needed to cover. Let marinate overnight.
This is also the perfect time to cook up some rice and throw it in the fridge, but I never plan far enough ahead, so I just cook just before use.

Dinner:
Add a tablespoon of sesame oil to a pan. Cut the steak into squares (approx 2"x 2") and place half in the heated pan. Cook until they reach desired doneness. Set aside and do the same for the other half.

While the steak is cooking get out some barbeque pork. If it's pre-cut, then pull all the small or mangled pieces aside, if you're cutting use the ends. Cut those into small cubes. Place the rest of the pork on a plate and set in the microwave.

In a second pan heat 1 T of sesame oil and add the barbeque pork that you've chopped and approx 2 cups of cooked rice. Add salt and pepper and soy sauce. Keep stirring.

After the steak is cooked, add chopped cabbage (anywhere from 3/4 cup to 1 1/2 cups) to the pan and stirfry. Then when that has begun to soften add bean sprouts. Also pour in a bit of the leftover marinade. Stirfry the veggies intil cooked. Then turn heat to low and push veggies to the side. Put the meat back in the other half of the pan so it can reheat.

Back to the rice you've been stirring. Push it to the side of the pan and break an egg into the cleared area. Scramble the egg, and when it's just about fully cooked, stir it into the rice.

Turn on your microwave for a minute on high. Check the pork, and continue to warm as needed.

You are now ready to enjoy Yaki-Niku with fried rice, veggies and barbeque pork!

The Day After

Thanksgiving went well. The family gathering was smaller than expected with one brother and his girlfriend not attending. So I helped June get things ready and the table laid out. We put one of the nephews to work on the gravy, and he did pretty good. He'll be able to add that to his dating resume.



We did not get up early this morning to go shopping, although my mom, brother and sister in law all did. The kids both have colds so I coated their chests and feet in VapoRub last night, and they both slept well without coughing. Of course I woke up with a touch of it. So today has been a fairly lazy day. I cleaned up in the kitchen, and Kaia helped clean up her toys in the front room. I promised her that if she cleaned up we could put up the tree.



Before the tree though Mo had a nap, and Kaia had quiet time. After quiet time Kaia and I played on the computer. She wanted to visit Northpole.com, and from there we checked out Santa Tracker. New this year the tracker will require Google Earth so we downloaded it and then had fun. We looked at our house, and discovered the picture is at least 2 years old. There was still a fence running through the middle of our backyard, their was the car trailer out front, and the house across the street was still a swimming pool. From there we looked at my office, and the parking lot showed it was before I worked there. Then Kaia wanted to see the hospital where brother had been, and then we looked at Gramma Owies. After trying to find Neeko's house, I zoomed back out to the Earth. Kaia wanted to see Africa, so we looked at the aerial view of the pyramids. They also allow users to upload photos they took at locations, so there were plenty of those to see too. From there it was a short trip over to Bethlehem and Jerusalem. Then we went to see "where the Wiggles live" Sydney Australia. I showed her the Opera House. Then we zoomed over to Ajijic, Jalisco, Mexico to see Granny's place. I found the pier, but with all the vegetation I couldn't pick out her house. I did show Kaia where I thought the back door on her lot was. It was very cool to use, and I highly recommend it.



Mo got up from his nap, so I got out the tree and Kaia grabbed the decorations. There is a benefit to never having fully put them under the house last year. I didn't realize how many new decorations we had. I did realize that gone are the days when my tree will have a theme. Every single decoration and ornament we had went on. This included some mardi gras type necklaces that were in a deco bag. It sounds wierd, but they look really nice. Almost like wrapping a garland around, but just in spots. Plus they are really shiny and reflect the light well.



Here is a bad photo. I forgot to tell the camera it was dark in the room. Even with all the lights on.