crickets

I wonder if the crickets I heard last night were coming from my blog? Totally possible!

Anyway. The culinary adventure of the week is the grilled pizza! My sister is hosting her own birthday party tomorrow and we are doing grilled pizza. This will be the third pizza grill out. I'm making some of the dough right now, a slightly sweet oat flour mixture that will be for some raspberry peach dessert pizzas and cherry pizzas. It's an experiment, kind of made up the recipe and I hope it works!
I will also make semolina dough (nice and crispy for pizza) and some whole wheat dough. We've made some crazy concoctions involving salmon, funky cheeses, sauces, and vegetables. Not sure what's in the mix tomorrow as I usually end up rolling out the dough and Bubba (sis's husband) makes the actual pizzas.
I just had a thought. Beer batter pizza dough? Hmmm. I may mix up a small batch tomorrow!

Last minute substitution

I haven't really done anything fun with my cooking this week yet. Made the kids chicken noodle soup (Campbell's) with green beans for dinner. I did a sneaky thing though. We were out of milk and I wanted to make drop biscuits to go with the soup. Box of dried milk powder I use for some of my bread machine recipes saved the day! The kids haven't said anything about it and I doubt they'd even notice. We couldn't have grilled cheese because I was out of sandwich bread too. I sense a trip to the grocery store in my future!
Watch out for a coming post on experimenting with Oreo truffle balls. I'm going to attempt them with candy cane oreos this year.....

So I was wandering around the blogging world tonight and realized I'd not been here in months. Bad me, I know. I'm sure I could make excuses saying life has been busy, work hectic, kids a handful, whatever. But it really was just laziness.
I've also realized something. I love food. I don't even have to eat it. Just cooking it, baking it, or grilling it makes me happy. Having people tell me what I made was yummy makes me smile. I watch Food TV. I'll discuss recipes forever. I ENJOY getting new gadgets and appliances for Christmas, my birthday, and Mother's Day. I love cookbooks and food magazines. There are so many things I want to try. I want to roast a pig in a ground oven. I want to bake bread on my bbq grill. I want to grow more of my own food here at home.
So in the next few weeks I'm going to come up with a game plan for this coming year. I'll be experimenting in my kitchen and will post stories about my adventures here in my blog. I will also learn how to put pictures in and upload those. That will be the focus of my blog for 2010!

Work Work Work

So those that know me IRL know I'm back at work. I didn't HAVE to go back right now as I babysit for my sister. But I was worried that with the economy, I wouldn't have a job in the fall when I will most likely need it so I went back to Subway. I like it. I dont' work a lot of hours. I'm working about the same number I used to work, between 15 and 20. Right now most of it is going into my savings account for a rainy day.
But of course with the job, comes the DRAMA! A girl I used to work with before I left last spring is still there. She's the only one I knew from before. The first few weeks back were fine. This last week, she reprimanded me for staying past my scheduled time by 20 min. She's not a manager but she is a crew leader which is one step below. I did not know she was only in charge of cleaning detail and had no business telling me I was in trouble. The reason I stayed late that day was because CL (Crew leader) had left me and closer with 90 min of work that CL should have finished before she left. So the next day, CL tells me the manager was upset I stayed late (I found out this was false) and that I should have left by 8 (was scheduled til 9, stayed til 9:20). There was NO WAY I could have left at 8. At 8 we were finally starting on things that should have been done by 7. Plus I'd checked the computer and I was definitely okay to stay with the amt of orders we had.
Well it bothered me for a week. So I finally see manager last night and told her why I was upset. I told her exactly why I stayed over that night. I told her that CL used to work with me and KNOWS I will get out of work as soon as possible even if it means shorting myself hours on my paycheck. If we're not busy and things are done, I'm going home. I understand labor costs having been a manager at a restaurant previously. Manager said she never told CL she was upset that I stayed over. She had seen how busy we were and had no problem with me staying over by 20 min. So what CL was saying to me was complete BS.
I work for the first time with the manager this saturday. She scheduled herself so we could work together finally. She likes to work with everyone at least once a month so she can talk to us about how things are going and all that. I'm glad it's her because usually I work with CL on saturdays. I'm sure we'll talk about the CL situation.

Babies, Babies, Babies

I've had a population explosion in my family the past few months. Back in November, my sister Bethany had a baby boy Joshua. In December, my sister Lisa had a baby girl named Norah. And yesterday my sis in law Jennifer had a baby boy named Collin. Still unknown baby Wethington is due in August to my brother Mark and his wife Elizabeth.
I'm excited by all the babies but sad that they are all spread out over the US. Joshua lives in Michigan, Norah lives down the street but will move later this year to Findlay. Collin lives in Erlanger Kentucky (outside Cincy) and Baby Wethington is in Nebraska.
I've crocheted them all baby blankets, I finished Collin's last week, not knowing if he was a boy or a girl. The girl one sits 2/3 finished beside my chair. My neighbor is due with a girl in 2 months, I may finish that one up for her. Baby Wethington is still due far enough away that I can go yarn shopping for a girly blanket next time I'm in Toledo. I have boy yarn already.

Lifetime!

I'm now officialy a Lifetime member of Weight Watchers. I received that status today at my meeting. 6 weeks of maintaining my goal weight actually went a lot better than I'd thought especially since my first week of maintenance was the week they started the new Momentum program. After it was explained, I realized that it was pretty much how I did WW anyway so it wasn't the big change I was afraid of.
I'm a size 6 jeans. I still need a large in many shirts because my chest didn't go down too much (yay, lol) but I'm able to wear some mediums there too. I've not been this size or weight since fall of 1996, prior to getting pregnant with my oldest child. 13.5 years ago on my wedding day I was actually 13lb heavier than I am now.
I'm very excited and glad I did it. I plan on keeping up with it and attending my weekly meeting faithfully so I can keep at goal.

Bummed

Mark has to work afternoons when he goes back to his job next week. When the kids were little, it wasn't an issue. But now with them all in school, he won't see them unless he takes them to school in the morning. Also now my Yoga and Power fit classes are on hold because what little money I make babysitting needs to not be traded for babysitting for my kids.
Due to the babysitting, I can't get another job. I can't take in more kids due to having no vehicle to take my kids and babysat kids to school. ARGH! Everything was going so well. Things like this always seem to happen. I was doing so well and having fun with my classes. Last time he got back from deployment, he was put on afternoons about 5 months after he got home, forcing me to quit my job. So I guess at least they told him this time before I found a job. I'd just started looking.

New Year!

I know it's been some time since I have posted an update. There's been a lot going on but some of it was a secret from my husband so I didn't feel I could blog without mentioning it.
Nothing horrid, but it was a surprise for his homecoming. He's home now so I can say.
In July I joined Weight Watchers. I've done it before, online, and did rather well. But I knew I needed the support of a meeting. So as soon as he left back to his unit after R&R was over with, I joined up. Yeah I know, I'm not what most would consider overweight. I wore a size 10/12. But I was unhappy with how I looked and it kept me busy while he was gone.
So, I joined and did well. After about 2 months, I started going to the gym a few times a week. Gotta use that membership I bought last February. In October I started a Yoga class which I LOVE.
A week before he was due home, I hit my goal and actually overshot it by a few pounds. That week I was sick with a stomach issue that I believe now was part of the current Salmonella thing going around since Sept. That's another post for another day though.
So the day I picked up my husband from his deployment, I was the size I was 12 years ago, a month before we got pregnant with our oldest child. I was in a size 6 jeans for the first time since having my son.
Many people were in on the surprise. Including my entire family basically, and my husband's mom. I am surprised I was able to keep it quiet because I'm never good at that. Well, pretty much everyone knew but dh, lol. It was hard not to mention it on my facebook and I completely stopped blogging because I was afraid I'd mention it. My husband reads my blog and facebook.
I should be back posting at least once a week now.

VOTE!

I am not going to tell you who to vote for. I'm not going to tell you how I voted. I just want to remind everyone to go out and vote. It is a beautiful day here in Ohio so no excuses involving the weather!

Yoga

We all know how the holiday season can be with stress. Add to that the happy homecoming of a soldier and being a part of the FRG and you have Super Stress!
So I'm trying something new tonight. I'm going WAY outside my box and going to a yoga class. I am a member of our local rec center gym and they have a yoga class twice a week. So we'll see how it goes. It's pay as you go, $3 per class so if I dont' like it, no biggie because no committment.
I was supposed to start last week but my babysitter forgot. I'll let her claim preggie brain, hehe. She apologized and even gave me pumpkin cookies. But I am going tonight and hopefully I'll like it.
Being a stay at home mom of 4 with a spouse on deployment, I don't often get the chance to get out of the house in the evenings without the kids. So that in itself will be a good thing, lol. Plus it will give me something to look forward to every week other than the latest episode of NCIS or ER.
Originally I'd wanted to try yoga on the Wii Fit but I can't find a Wii Fit to save my life right now with the Holidays coming up! So I guess I'll have to do the 'real deal' for a while.

18 years

18 years ago today my husband left for basic training. It was also the day of my friend's funeral. I cannot believe it's been 18 years. A blog post about a rainbow reminded me.

At long last, my baby started Kindergarten today. All 4 kids are in school now. It was very quiet when I got back in the house after dropping them off. They all looked cute in their uniforms. Andy came home with a new pet called Stryker. He's a praying mantis one of his friends brought in for him. Those that know Andy know of his obsession with bugs. And fish. And turtles. He's going to be a Herpichthyentomologist some day. The girls enjoyed their day as well and are excited to go tomorrow.

Zucchini

From the time I was little, my mom always tells about how their first garden in this house grew monster zucchini. I planted a garden this year, a little late but it's just starting to show what we'll be eating fresh here in a week or so.
Yeah. A lot of zucchini, lol. So I'm sure I'll find some inventive ways to prepare it. I'm not a fan of zucchini bread or muffins. I don't like it sweet. I like it with garlic and olive oil or mixed in with spaghetti. Not sure what the kids will think, lol.
I'm making my corn-stuffed tomatoes for dinner tonight and I might try adding zucchini next time. Or stuffing the dang zucchini, lol. If anyone has any other ideas, I'm willing to try just about anything.
And just beware. If you come to visit in the next month, you may be sent away with a gift from the garden, haha.

sniffle, hack, cough

I hate summer colds! It started with a slight sore throat, then a cough, minor laryngitis, and now it's sneezing and blowing my nose all the time. It's a gorgeous day outside. I had things to do today. But today was the most miserable I've been since this all started.
Thankfully none of the kids are sick and they've all been great, playing outside and having fun with their cousins.
Hopefully this goes away soon, been 4 days now. I had about 3 weeks of colds/allergies in the spring and was hoping to not deal with it again this year. It must be stress that is making me more prone to getting sick this year.
What's worse is with my husband gone, I sitll have to do all the housework and yardwork, deal with the kids, and cook. I just want to curl up in bed and watch stupid tv shows all day but I have to stay downstairs to keep an eye on things.

In his own time (but finally!)

My son is himself. He's stubborn. Those that know him, know this, lol. He is almost 11 and never learned to ride a 2 wheeler. He had one with training wheels for a while and rode it all the time. I took off the training wheels, he fell a few times and gave up. Refused to try. So I gave the bike to my friend's son. Too big for him but my nephew needed a bigger bike so Hunter got Robert's, Robert got Andy's.
Well, we've kinda been asking him if he wanted a bigger bike to learn to ride. His best friend has one and rides to school. Andy always rode his scooter around with his friend. I think when I got my new bike the other day, he finally realized he should do it. All 3 sisters know how to ride so he was the last hold out.
Well, I guess after riding his scooter around the block with his two sisters and cousin on bikes, he and Bethy got to work. They secretly had him practicing on Bethy's hot pink mountain bike out back, lol. Well, he got it!! They came running up yelling that he did it. I wish I'd gotten it on tape with him on the pink bike, lol.

So since Daddy is still home on leave they are now shopping together for Andy's new wheels. And now that I have a bike, the 4 kids and I can all go on bike rides together now. I'm pretty excited about this, especially with gas prices. Too bad it's dark out now and we're going to Cedar Point tomorrow. That means no more riding til after Daddy is gone again. Next summer however, all 6 of us will be cruisin around town on our bikes.

This is how it should be

The news is on. My kids are watching cartoons while I make supper. My husband is folding laundry in the dining room. This is normal life around here at 6pm on a monday night.

Mark returned home a few days ago for his R&R from deployment. It has been very nice having him home. We had a big bbq for the 4th and had our families over for that. My parents and grandfather excluded as they are on their annual summer excursion in the camper.

Yeah it will suck next week when he leaves again but we don't dwell on that because it takes away from the fun of having him here. Hopefully we'll still get to Cedar Point and maybe the Toledo Zoo as well. He and I are escaping for some "quality time" for an overnight later this week. Our anniversary was the day before he got home so we're going out to celebrate that. Dinner, movie, jacuzzi room, etc.

Originally when he deployed we were told no R&R so I'm very happy to have him here.

Happy Anniversary

Today is my 13th wedding anniversary. I won't hear from my husband today but that is ok. He's on his way home for R&R and might be here in about 24 hours. Yay!

Update

Still have the eye twitch, lol. I am trying a few things. A friend suggested taking my vitamins more regularly, that helped her when she had the same issue. Another said she had same thing and after about two weeks it was gone. So I'll do both, wait two weeks and remember my daily multivitamin.

What I learned today

I was reading my sister's blog and at the end of today's post she asked "what did you learn today" Oh boy. Do you rreeeallllly wanna know??

1. Husbands can be dunderheads at times. At least he freely admits this and apologized. I fixed the problems his dunderheadedness (is that a word?) caused with much cursing and general pissy-ness. It didn't help I was minorly annoyed with him to begin with when the issues arose. He'll be home on R&R soon and I will make him grovel. (smooch babe)

2. Sisters living down the street can be rather cool. I was stressed out earlier due to number one on my list and my sis Lisa called and asked if my kids could come down and keep hers occupied outside so they could finish unpacking. Hell Yeah. We both were able to get some things accomplished around our houses and the kids stayed out of our way. This could be a good thing!

3. Did you know that having an eye twitch for 48 hours is annoying? It's intermittent and I read that it's a sign of stress. Haha. Cure is either time or a botox shot. I'll pass for now.

4. And I learned that I'm very stressed out. Imagine that. I tend to hide it but after a while if I don't get stress relief, I get short with people and pissy. I've felt rather invisible lately and it just got to me. I hope to be back to myself asap now that I know I'm stressed. No hitting trees or walls or anything like that. Maybe I'll go hit a few thousand wiffle balls to the kids in the backyard tomorrow then spend an hour "testing" my new portable hammock I bought myself. I can lay there watching the kids play and imagine all the fun things I can make my husband do when he gets home. You know, so he can get back on my good side. Hehe.

Neighbor, Part Two

Lisa, Patrick, and I went to look at the house today. Yeah I hope they get it. It's wonderful. Perfect. Fabulous. I'm jealous. Never had a rental look that nice and be so perfect for me, lol.