Wednesday, October 24, 2007

Fried Green Tomatoes


I am not trying to make this a blog about cooking but I have to share this really yummy and very simple idea I found in one of my Southern Living magazines...


Fried Green Tomato (BLT) Poboys


Slice green tomatoes into 1 c. milk or buttermilk (as recipe called for)

Dip into batter of 1/2 c. flour and cajun seasoning, (I used Southwest Seasoning from Tupperware, it has jalapeno)

Fry tomatoes in butter (or oil if you prefer)


Fry bacon


Toast hoagie bread lightly in oven.


Spread Generous amount of Miracle Whip on the warm hoagie buns then layer them with tomatoes, bacon and shredded lettuce.


The jalapeno seasoning mingles very nicely with the crisp tang of the green tomatoes. The taste is light, yet with a little kick. You could add extra spice if you like but these were great just the way they were. I'd never had fried green tomatoes before so this was a first and I will definetely look forward to trying this again. I used the last of my home grown tomatoes for this so I will have to wait till next season for green ones.
Try it and let me know what you think!

Monday, October 22, 2007

The Pumpkin Patch

Yay! Grand Forks has a pumpkin patch! We took a drive out to the pumpkin patch on Saturday. It was just 5 mi north of the base. We drove up and saw a pumkin patch of oversized mostly rotten pumkins and almost drove away thinking that the patch had been picked clean already but a lady walked out of her house and we asked her about the pumkins and she said "oh no this is not it, there is another field beyond the trees and most of the pumpkins are in the barn"

So we headed into the barn and the kiddos picked out their pumpkins. Cody stayed home because he was still waking up when we left at 10 in the morning...so we picked a pumpkin for him. Jaiden wasn't too interested in the pumpkins or taking photos with them. She was a bit tired and cranky from a nasty cough and yucky nose. It had been a rough night for us all.

Jared enjoyed weighing the pumkins on the scale and made sure that they were in precise weight allowances for their size. What that means is, he didn't want Jaiden's pumkin to be too heavy for her to pick up...so we picked a five pounder, which she had no interest in holding. After dropping the pumkins off in the car we wandered over to the hay bale maze and the cutouts, where we snapped some cute photos. Jaiden started to get into the spirit of it a bit after that but she was mostly interested in napping so she was in a bit of a trance. The boys carved their pumpkins while she napped and I painted a face on hers. It was a gorgeous fall day, the sun was warm and bright and the air was only a bit chill. While the boys were carving pumkins, I made some pumkin and banana muffins (separately) They turned out yummy! Nothing beats a hot from the oven pumkin muffin and they are so simple to make. Here's the recipe:

Pumkin Muffins
1 box of spice cake
1 15oz can of pumpkin
Mix these two ingredients (I add a can of water to make them smoother) then fill muffin cups and bake at 350 for 30 minutes. I did them for 25 min and they came out yummy but a little bit gooey...I think 5 more minutes would have made them a little fluffier.

Banana Muffins
Mix 2 eggs, 1 c sugar, 1 stick of butter with overipe bananas, add in
1 c. whole grain flour, 1 c oatmeal, 1/2 c or so of all purpose flour
Mix well, add water if too thick and drop into muffin cups. Bake for 30 min at 350.
I added chocolate chips to the tops of mine when they came out of the oven as an afterthought...I will add them to the batter next time.

The highlight of the weekend though was of course the Boston/Cleveland game. Game 6 on Saturday night was very exciting. Boston actually played like they wanted to win and smoked the Indians out of the running in Sunday nights game. Cody was so excited after Saturdays game that he gave me a big bear hug that lifted me off my feet! For Cody this is monumental (he doesn't usually show much emotion or give hugs) I asked him which was more exciting, Boston in the playoffs or anticipation of starting his first job...of course Boston won by a landslide! He has been a fan since he was just a small boy and it's exciting to see your team come out of the playoffs a winner.

Friday, October 19, 2007

What a blustery day!

Winter is starting to set in for us here in the northern frontier. Today has been rainy and cold. The golden leaves are more plentiful surrounding the base of the trees than on the branches. Old man winter is right around the corner. His visit is not too welcome but it will be exciting to see that first snow and get out the sled for the first time...oh wait, do we have a sled? Hmmm...not sure if we packed it or not. Will have to check the storeroom.
My prediction is it will be an early, wet and cold winter. Of course I'm hoping that I'll be wrong.

Wednesday, October 17, 2007

Cody has joined the workforce!

My baby (Cody) has hooked his first job!!! I am so proud of him! He will be working at a local dept store stocking toys! :) How cool is THAT for a first job! I am jealous!!! LOL They called him up soon after his 16th birthday so they must have had him "tagged" for a while now. I know he will do great. He starts next Tuesday :)

Friday, September 07, 2007

My Personal DNA

You are an Advocating Inventor.


personalDNA
about you
You are an Inventor
Your imagination, self-reliance, openness to new things, and appreciation for utility combine to make you an INVENTOR.
You have the confidence to make your visions into reality, and you are willing to consider many alternatives to get that done.
The full spectrum of possibilities in the world intrigues you—you're not limited by pre-conceived notions of how things should be.
Problem-solving is a specialty of yours, owing to your persistence, curiosity, and understanding of how things work.
Your vision allows you to identify what's missing from a given situation, and your creativity allows you to fill in the gaps.
Your awareness of how things function gives you the ability to come up with new uses for common objects.
It is more interesting for you to pursue excitement than it is to get caught up in a routine.
Although understanding details is not difficult for you, you specialize in seeing the bigger picture and don't get caught up in specifics.
You tend to more proactive than reactive—you don't just wait for things to come to you.
You're not afraid to let your emotions guide you, and you're generally considerate of others' feelings as well.
If you want to be different:
Try applying your creativity to more artistic arenas, and letting your imagination take less practical forms.
how you relate to others
You are Advocating
Being social, empathic, and understanding makes you ADVOCATING.
Some people find being around others exhausting—but not you! You are energized by spending time with friends, and you are good at meeting new people.
One of the reasons you enjoy conversation as much as you do is that you often learn about yourself while talking things out with a friend; you realize things about your own beliefs while discussing them with others.
You have insight into what others are thinking and feeling. This ability allows you to be happy for others, and to commiserate when something has gone wrong for them.
You are highly compassionate, and being conscious of how things affect those close to you leaves you cautious about trusting others too hastily.
Despite these reservations, you are open-minded when it comes to your worldview; you don't look to impose your ways on others.
Your sensitivity towards others' plights contributes to an understanding—both intellectual and emotional—of many different perspectives.
As someone who understands the complexities of the world around you, you are reluctant to pass judgments.
If you want to be different:
While it's important to think about others, don't forget to take some time for yourself, and occassionally to put yourself first.
Take some time to spend with a few close friends; although it's difficult to find people to trust, it's worth the effort.
When you have great ideas, it can be hard to relinquish control, but it can also feel good to take the pressure off and enjoy someone else leading the way.

Thursday, September 06, 2007

What in the cell is going on?

As you quietly read these words, a whirl of activity is taking place in every cell of your body. Every second, unseen, unnoticed, millions of new cells are reborn in your body’s ceaseless program of self-generation. Since cells are the bricks and mortar from which all living tissue and organs are made, to understand degenerative and metabolic dis­ease you must become familiar with the miniature world of the cell and how they are able to perform baffling chemical transformations producing infinitely complex proteins, vitamins, hormones, neurotransmitters, growth factors, enzymes and metabolic energy called ATP.
A healthy body is determined by the health of each of its single cells. All disease originates at the cellular level and not at the organ or system level. Healthy cells create healthy tissues. Healthy tissues create healthy organs like the heart and lungs. Healthy organs create healthy systems like the endocrine system or the immune system and healthy systems make up a healthy body.
In the complex world of 75 trillion cells that make up your nation body, you are the President (the brain) that delegates the police force that protects and shields the cellular citizens from attack by foreign enemies; the cellular citizen’s work performance, transportation system, medical care, communication, food and water, and methods of toxic waste and trash removal. With your guidance and direction, the nation body will provide all the necessities for proper functioning as a whole. Your cell citizens come in all shapes, sizes and performance capabilities that manufacture an infinite variety of job tasks. Some reside in large cities that are your organs; others prefer to live in the outskirts in small towns away from the traffic - your fingernails for instance. But no matter where they reside, each cellular citizen has a purpose, an important duty for the good of the nation — your body.
So if the health of the cell is the answer, what constitutes a healthy cell? What you eat, drink, breathe and bathe in will either nourish the 75 trillion cells with oxygen, water, vitamins, minerals, phytonutrients, essential fatty acids (EFAs), glucose and amino acids, or contaminate the cells by the slow poisoning of the bloodstream. You see, what you breathe, whether oxygen or environmental contaminants ends up in the bloodstream. What you eat, whether living organic fruits, vegetables, nuts, grains, legumes and seeds or refined, processed, foodless foods and toxic sugar laden drinks end up after digestion in the bloodstream The bloodstream is a flowing river to all the cells for nourishment and removal of acidic waste residues. So, is your bloodstream a river of life or a river of death and disease? For the Life of the flesh is in the blood..." (Lev. 17:11)
Cells are multifaceted. Some are like miniature electrical generators like a lithium battery. They all respire like a lung to bring in intelligent nutrients and remove toxic waste products. Cells are also manufactunng plants that synthesize hormones, neurotransmitters, proteins and life force. These cellular engines also communicate like a wireless fiber-optic network 24 hours a day. Our finite minds couldn’t possibly fathom or consciously control the extraordinary complex tasks of manufacturing, storage, repair, communication, transportation, police, waste disposal, administration, food production, temperature control and pH balancing that goes on in our body daily to the normally metabolized acids from body tissues and maintain health and vitality.
A picture metaphor of how the cells communicate would be to envision all six billion people on this planet picking up a wireless phone simultaneously and having a phone conversation. Now picture everyone clicking three-way and having a three-way conversation. Then picture everyone in the world clicking on conference call with total conversation capability of 1,000 different people simultaneously. The question is, does your cell phone have good reception to transmit and receive messages. Your intestinal cell phone talks to the skin. Your spleen cell phone talks to the thymus. Your heart cell phone talks to the liver. All organs and systems work in unison. No organ or system works alone, just as no nutrient works alone. So what is the regulatory authority that controls cell processes? The answer is pH.
The pH of your tissues and body fluids affects the state of your health or inner cleanliness or filth. The closer the pH is to 7.35 - 7.45, the higher you’re level of health and well being and your ability to resist states of disease and the onset of symptomologies.
The pH scale is like a thermometer showing increases and decreases in the acid and alkaline content of these fluids. Deviations above or below a 7.35 -7.45 pH range in the blood can signal potentially serious and dangerous symptoms or states of disease. When the body can no longer effectively neutralize and eliminate the acids it relocates them within the body’s extra-cellular fluids and connective tissue cells directly compromising cellular integrity.
Indeed the entire metabolic process depends on a balanced pH. As more acid wastes back up, and the body slowly stews in its poisonous wastes, a chronically over acidic body pH corrodes body tissue, slowly eating into the 60,000 miles of our veins and arteries like acid eating into marble. This is what science calls hemorrhage. If left unchecked, it will interrupt all cellular activities and functions from the beating of your heart to the neuro firing of your brain. Over acidification interferes with life itself, leading to all sickness and “dis-ease.” Fundamentally, all regulatory mechanisms, including breathing, ingestion, circulation, hormone production, neurotransmitter release, etc., serve the purpose of balancing pH by removing cells. When you eat food, it ferments, just the way a banana on your counter ferments from a green, to yellow, to brown, to black. The banana rots from the inside out, not from the outside in. That is why humans can look healthy from the outside but are rotting and decaying from the inside.
This is what the medical community refers to as degenerative disease. These morbid microforms produce potent acidic by-products, which further compromise pH and create disruption in the body’s biosystem. This process can involve further morbidity through bacteria, yeast, fungus and mold with subsequent serious life-threatening symptomologies. I would say that disease comes from the inside out and that the terrain or environment of the body is the catalyst for the development and progression of all disease. This does not preclude the contributing factors from external circumstances such as trauma, airborne microforms, air pollution, radiation, chemicals and drugs. These all provide negative acidic impressions but “dis-ease” arises within the cell in response to these impressions.
Sink Or Swim
Think of your body as a fish tank. Imagine the im­portance of maintaining the integrity of the internal flu­ids of the body that we swim in daily. Imagine the fish in this tank are your cells and organ systems bathing in the fluids, which transport food and remove waste. Now imagine I back up my car and put the tailpipe up against the air intake filter supplying oxygen to the wa­ter in the tank. The water becomes filled with carbon monoxide lowering the pH, creating and acidic envi­ronment and threatening the health of the (fish), (your cells and organs). What if! throw in too much food or the wrong kind of food and the fish are unable to con­sume or digest it all and the food starts to decompose and putrefy? Toxic waste chemicals build up as the food breaks down, creating more acidic by-products, altering the optimal pH. This is a small example of what we are doing to our internal fluids daily, some of us more than others. We are polluting our internal flu­ids with acidic toxins like nicotine, drugs, excessive in­take of acid forming foods, acidic beverages and social drugs such as coffee, carbonated beverages and alco­hol, which all compromise the delicate balance of pH that maintains homeostasis. Some of us have fish tanks (bodies) that are barely able to support life, yet
we somehow manage to struggle from day to day man­ifesting severe imbalances until there is the inevitable crash and debilitating chronic, disturbing, and diseased symptomology to deal with a life-threatening illness in a hospital somewhere.

7 Bodily Responses That Fight To Maintain pH
All metabolic processes, including immunity, depend on a delicately balanced pH, which harmonizes electromagnetic energies. The body constantly fights to maintain a blood pH at around 7.35 -7.45 much like our internal thermostat that tries to maintain a 98.6-degree body temperature. There are seven homeostatic adaptation responses that fight to maintain this pH balance.
1) Using high pH bodily fluids such as water as a solvent to neutralize acid residues.
2) Pulling bicarbonate from the pancreas into the blood (an alkalizing agent). Bicarbonate ions are generated into the blood cells from carbon dioxide and diffuse into the plasma.
3) Protein buffers of glutathione, methionine, cystine, taurine, just to name a few, act as buffers intra-cellularly to bind or neutralize acids during cellular disorganization.
4.) Electrolyte buffers of sodium, calcium and potassium work in the blood, lymph, and extra-cellular and in­tracellular fluids to bind acids, which are then removed through the urine.
5.) Pulling stored calcium and magnesium from skeletal bones and teeth to neutralize blood acids.
6.) Filtration and elimination of acidic residues through the skin, urinary tract and respiration.
7.) Pushing blood acid residues and accumulated toxins into outer extremities as a storage bin away from vital organs. The wrist, joints, fingers, toes and skin are the major target areas to keep the toxins from saturating internal vital organs like the heart and lungs.
When all seven-protection phases are over­whelmed, the end result is accumulated acid residues at the cellular level, which drown out oxygen. With this acidic, low oxygen terrain, the microzyma’s (small ferments) trigger morbid microbe infiltration of fungus, molds and parasites, cancer cells, etc., where they seek the diseased acid terrain as food. (Editor's note: The term "microzyma" was created by Antoine Bechamp. These are small living components of cells and are described more fully later in this article ).
As these organisms feed, they produce waste just like you do. Their urine and feces are called mycotoxins, which are very poisonous to humans. Being acids themselves, mycotoxins greatly worsen the acidity caused by an acidic diet and toxic acid emotions. They are spilled into the blood as well as inside cells, where they cause free radical damage to the genetic material of the cell eventually causing cell death. The dead necrotic cells also spill out acid wastes. The blood poisoning results in more cell and tissue poisoning furthering the disturbance of the microzyma triggering morbid forms of yeast, molds and viruses, which disrupts body chemistry causing disease to the systems. So it’s a vicious cycle. One acid condition creates anothet Acidic diet coupled with toxic acid emotions creates an acid pH to the cells. This causes low oxygen levels (hypoxia), which is necessary for keeping back destructive anaerobic microbes and immuno-suppression is the result. Then medical doctors come in and treat the acid condidon with another acid (pharmaceuticals).
Pharmatceuticals Create Acidity, Not Alkalinity
What pharmaceutical drug neutralizes acids and increases pH? NOTHING!!! What pharmaceutical drug addresses nutritional deficiencies, especially alkaline minerals? NOTHING!!! What pharmaceutical drug boosts or enhances the immune system? NOTHING!!! And how could they? They’re poisonous and destructive, not nutritive and constructive. Pharmaceuticals are acid. How can you treat an acid condition with acid? That’s like trying to cure someone who accidentally drank poison with another poison.
The fact is all doctors are drugging the symptoms of acidity (due to toxicities) and drugging the symptoms of nutritional deficiencies. Headaches, nausea, fever, skin rashes, brain fog, severe tiredness, gastric bloating, angina pain and dizziness are the body’s intelligent warning signals of a cellular engine problem due to an acidic pH in an organ or system.
Symptom suppression with “anti” medication is analogous to snipping the wire to a blinking oil light on your car’s dashboard and thinking that you fixed your engine instead of lifting up the hood and putting oil in your engine so the light goes off.
Disease and symptoms are separate entities. Medical science teaches they are one and the same and by killing the symptom you some­how kill the disease. This absurd, twisted pseudo science originated and continues from the germ theory that was perpetrated by Louis Pasteur in the 1930’s and has continued to this day in all medical school training with little to no opposition. This brain-dead mentality of looking at symptoms as the disease has been going on since the indoctrination of medicine seven decades ago. In their ignorance, they’re creating their own business by shoving the disease deeper into a chronic state that will eventually require more radical procedures of butchery and mutilation because they never address the acid state of a patient or the direct cause to disease. God did not make us with surplus body parts.
Often times in today’s world of medicine and pharmaceutical monopoly, scientific proof comes under the titles of who wants it most, how much can you pay and how fast do you need it. Being an independent experiential research scientist myself, it’s blatantly clear that scientists findings are based upon personal philosophies, or who is signing their paycheck, rather than on truly scientific verifiable fact. The religious community has accepted and practiced the teachings of the worldly authorities (government, science, medical, agribusiness, religion, etc.) as truth. As a result, they live in constant violation of almost every fundamental principle of life God established when it comes to nourishing the body/temple and how we should live here on earth.
We blindly accept as fact the medical profession’s teaching as to why we get sick. Then we accept their drugs, chemotherapy, radiation and surgery as the only means of treating the sickness which makes us sicker and exhausts our savings, slowly killing us. Yet, we never question the validity of their teachings. We violate God’s principles by what we feed our bodies and minds and then when they break down, we violate God’s principles again on how we get well. The physician cuts out the body part or poisons the temple with a prescription drug, chemotherapy or radiation instead of reestablishing health to the patient, which is the only way to reverse disease.
So what is defiling our temple bodies? The simple answer is; any substance ingested that is not part of the structure of the human body. Let’s look at the sixth day creation that characterizes what this biochemical machine is made of ... "And the LORD God formed man of the Dust of the Ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life : and man became a living soul.” (Genesis 2:7)
To verify the scriptures in scientific findings, if you examine a decomposed body buried in the soil for decades you will find the tissue remains truly that of the dust of the ground (soil based elements). So here we have a book written thousands of years ago telling us that the building materials of man are derived from the elements contained in the earth and atmosphere. Science has only recently discovered through lab analysis and graphite furnace what the Bible has been telling us for millennia.
It is clear that man is made up of primarily airborne elements 96% (breath of life), oxygen, carbon, nitrogen and hydrogen while the remaining elements, about 4%, come from the earth (dust of the ground), potassium, magnesium, calcium, silver, copper, gold, etc. The Bible repeatedly confirms that God used these building materials from the mineral kingdom and atmosphere in making man and these same alkaline elements are necessary for maintaining blood, tissue and cell alkalinity. So in short, sickness and disease are simply our beautiful, God - created bodies reacting to the foreign things we are exposing them to through breathing, eating, drinking and bathing in acidic, toxic substances that damage the cells and immune system through time.
Our God is a God of simplicity not complexity. If anything in this world is built on confusion, chaos and mystery, it is not of the LORD, it is of the evil one. What do you think the medical profession is built on? Confusion, chaos and mystery. They get you to believe that there are 1001 different diseases for economic reasons when there is only one disease — a disease condition to a weak organ or system. This article is based on the simplicity of reversing all disease processes by changing body pH naturally by doing it God’s way as opposed to man’s way, which is short lived and destructive.
The Bible says in Romans 12:2 “Be not conformed to this world” and yet the avenge person in their ignorance has conformed to this world in almost every area that deals with physical life. In disobedience and laziness, we pay an extremely heavy penalty that is the cause of most of the prayer requests in churches.
Pasteur’s Germ Theory Is A Hoax
The adoption by science of Louis Pasteur’s germ theory* as the whole truth, (that germs and pathogens are the direct cause of most disease), without regard to the deep insight of Antoine Bechamp’s microzymian principle, (that the acidic condition of the patient's cellular environment creates disease), marks one of the most dramatic and dynamic turns of events in modern history. This article will prove beyond a shadow of a doubt that modern orthodox microbian medicine arose upon scientific error, on the kill mode mindset. Kill the bacteria, kill the virus, kill the fungus, and kill the tu­mor, which has played a major role in the promotion of illness by the creation of resistant strains of bacteria and the suppression of symptoms, not the reversal of illness.
(*Editor's Note: A theory is not necessarily a fact. It is just a good idea). By Dr Gary Tunsky

Friday, August 31, 2007

I am obese

I have been in denial for quite some time now but this morning I am coming to terms with the facts. I am obese. That is a big word. It means that I have let myself go totally. My body is now up to 47% body fat and my weight is in the 140s. My sedentary lifestyle is going to kill me if I do not do something to change. I eat healthy, but until I change something else my body will continue to pack on fat and become more and more lethargic. Causing me to therefore become more tired and even less active.

I want to be energized and full of vigor again. I want to glow from inside. I feel like I've lost that part of myself and I want to get it back again. It doesn't matter if I have the body of a model, that is just not me. But I would like to be strong and lean again. I haven't been lean since I was 10. I'm sure my sweet tooth has much to do with that. I tend to eat sweets instead of healthy foods which only makes me energized for a moment and then tired and hungry again an hour later. I am going to make a dilligent effort to eat more healthful foods and replace all those emty calories with nutrients that will feed my body and turn it into fuel for a vibrant life.

Much easier said than done. I have been eating healthy (no sweets) for a week now. After the 3 day vacation we had I thought I'd come back thin with all the walking we were doing. I was VERY good and didn't have a single fast food item. At the rainforest cafe I had a bowl of soup and a salad when I could have had a million other calorie laden dishes. At the fair I ate very little and gave most of whatever I had to hubs or one of the kiddos. I've been drinking so much water that I feel like I could float a boat. Maybe I am retaining water and my body is going through a "what the heck" phase. It doesn't know when the next "meal" of chocolate will come so it is retaining everything I consume. Today I am not as "puffy" as I was yesterday. My wedding ring would hardly fit and was cutting through my skin.

I am going to start a journal of what I eat to track and take accountability for the amount I consume on a daily basis. Not so much to count calories but find out where I may be overdoing it. I have been eating more consistantly throughout the day instead of single serving meals, hoping to rev my metabolism and energy levels.

Aug 31
0530 cup of coffee
0745 cup of coffee w/milk
0750-0900 1 cup oatmeal prepared with milk, honey and ground flaxseed *ugh... could only eat half of it because it is quite filling

Thursday, August 30, 2007

White Bread America

I will eventually catch up on my writing...hopefully before my brain dumps it all into the black hole of mental space. We had a really great vacation that seemed longer than just 3 days. We did a lot; the zoo, the waterpark (twice), the State Fair, and the Mall. We had a great time and we're all a bit exhausted still since it was non stop go, go, go for those 3 days. I will try to put together a video soon as I can.

I was even able to stay pretty on track on my newest diet. I've realized that my sedentary lifestyle and living in the North is a bad combination. I don't get ANY excercise and my thighs are exploding. I've gained a lot of weight in the last couple of months and finally when I couldn't hardly fit into my stretch jeans decided that maybe I needed to cut back on the daily routine of soda and a candy bar for every meal. I divulge in the office snack bar a bit too much it seems. I've made a pact with myself to get into a healthier routine. So far I am drinking a lot more water and no soda, and eating more fruit and less chocolate. The result...I've been totally bloated, and the last two days I've been exhausted and moody. Urgh! Besides that, I am always hungry...even when I am in the process of eating. Even when my stomach is FULL, I feel hungry. I just want a gigantic slab of chocolate cake and a tall glass of ice cold milk. Anyone got a recipe for a no calorie version?

It seems everywhere we go, everything GOOD to eat is full of fat and sugar. We went to the supermarket last night for some fish, veggies and yogurt. Healthy food is not cheap. On top of that, we had to go home and COOK it! No driveby the fast food junkies to get something quick anymore, we have to stick to this. Now why don't they make high fiber nutritional foods that are tasty and quick, affordable and readily available???

Tuesday, August 28, 2007

Our family vacation 2007

We are home sweet home at last after a very exciting adventure to Minneapolis. It was so much fun and we are all exhausted so I will try to do a play by play and post a few photos and video soon as we recoup. Since tommorrow is back to work again I must go prepare for my day.

Wednesday, August 22, 2007

Is it Friday yet?

Only one more day till our vacation!!! I am getting so excited I can hardly stand it!!!

Tuesday, August 21, 2007

Trash to Treasure

Today when I got home from work I noticed that my oldest son was about to throw out some blotchy bananas (after my shock wore off and I stopped mumbling "you gotta cook something with these") my youngest son suggested we make banana bread. (He loves to help me cook) We tried a new recipe since we only had 2 bananas. It turned out great...it's almost all gone already after just a few minutes out of the oven. Try it!

Banana Bread (Preheat oven to 375)
1/2 c. Butter (1 stick) melted
1 c. sugar
Cream butter and sugar

Add 2 eggs, 2 cups mashed bananas, 1 tsp lemon juice
Blend Well.

Sift together 2 c flour, 1 tsp baking powder, 1 pinch of salt
Add to mixture and beat well. Bake in a small well greased loaf pan for about 50 - 60 min. (I could only wait for about 48 min and the top was just a bit too mushy still so modify this to your own taste)

It smells so good and tastes so yummy. Hope you enjoy!

Friday, August 17, 2007

Heat wave???

Do I live on another planet??? I just turned up the HEAT in our house this morning before grabbing my morning coffee (the temps are hovering around 50) and then sit down and read the news that "Heat wave kills 37 in South and Midwest" What is going on???? The few days of summer here have only been in the 90s and yesterday there was quite a little nip in the air. It felt like fall. Since we JUST started getting summerish temps I am not ready for fall. This means winter is one its way. Winter is bad juju for me. I don't do the cold. If I seem mentally unstable now, I don't know what I'll be like this winter. Is there a drug that makes one feel like they are in a tropical paradise? I need that one. Yeah, I know I need a reality check.

I don't understand how someone can get too hot unless they are working outside and not keeping hydrated. I would much rather get down to my skivies and take a dip in a pool, river or lake than to feel chilled and have to put on a sweater. I am starting to hate my winter clothes already. Actually, I had every intention of getting rid of every stitch of winter clothing that I owned once we left Germany. Hmmmm...I think I should stop thinking. Or start thinking about ice since every thought I have seems to go the reverse route in my reality.

Anway, I hope wherever in the world you are today that you are having a good day. It's FRIDAY!!!! Time to have some fun.

Thursday, August 16, 2007

Family Vacation!!!!



Thanks to Expedia.com, We are going to the Waterpark of America for our family vacation this year! 3 nights in Minneapolis! It will be our first family vacation since??? hmmmm Paris? Dec 05? That has been a while and didn't turn out quite as planned. Our trip to Disney Paris ended in a blizzard and an 8 hour drive home in blinding snow. Hopefully the weather cooperates this time. The waterpark is indoors so even if it is cold we can still have fun. I would like to go to the zoo but that will depend upon the weather. On Saturday (Aug 25) our neice will be singing in the Minnesota state fair so we will be there to see her performance live.

So the iteneary so far is:
Fri - Shop at Mall of America or go to the zoo (weather permitting)
Sat - State Fair
Sun - Waterpark or zoo
Mon - Zoo, Waterpark or whatever we didn't do Fri, Sat and Sunday then come home (6 hour drive)

Chat with me

Coming up for air
Is anyone there?
do you want to talk about it?
Sure I care
What are you doing?
I am all alone
wish you were here
We could laugh
or cry
Where are you going?
me too
want to go together?
I'd love to
I just want to be
with my friend

Wednesday, August 08, 2007

where did the time go???

Scott Bao is 45....Corey HAIM just turned 35! Wow! Where did the baby faced heart throbs of yesterday go??? I watched the show "The two Coreys" the other day....it's weird that I had a disturbing thought just days before hearing that their show was coming out. I was wondering what Haim looked like as an adult (it's hard to picture him without the baby face) and if Feldman ever turned into a vampire...he actually turned into the clean one. Poor Haim is having a rough life. Ah the perils of child fame. Too much too soon and then it's all gone.

I still love the 80s. I saw the 80s trivia game at Target the other day...I soooo want it!!! My favorite heart throb was...John Stamos! He had the best hair!!!

Monday, August 06, 2007

Long hours, too little pay...

Why would anyone want to join the military??? I am wondering why we should stay. Scott has 21 years in service and 2 more to go before he can retire and each day seem to become an eternity. Last weekend he got called in because of a DUI...the whole entire squadron has to suffer while some drunk sleeps it off somewhere without a care. Who pays the price? The innocent. I am so sick of this life and all it's "benefits". Serving in today's world takes a whole different caliber of individual. Not sure what it is that they want but it is not the good guy that works hard and doesn't complain about anything. Or maybe they do, but those guys are getting wise and going to go another direction before too much longer. There is life outside of the force. A much better life than that of today's soldier. This week, they have been on 12 hour shifts, through the entire weekend. A whole weekend shot because someone wants to play games. And not the fun kind. It's annoying, discouraging and down right demoralizing. I admire our soldiers, they are the worlds finest indeed. But I do not agree that our nation's higher authorities should poop all over them relentlessly.

Saturday, August 04, 2007

Wednesday, July 25, 2007

Rockin the night away


What? Speak up, I can't hear you. Last night Cody and I went to see Puddle of Mudd, Staind, and Nickelback in concert. Today my ears are still ringing. It was a total blast and we had a rockin good time. We stayed until after encore and then it took over an hour to get out of the parking lot. We arrived home after midnight totally exhausted after a good night of fun times. Ryan Vikedal had us really foot stompin to the beat during his drum solo - the stands were vibrating from our stompin to keep up with his beat!

Sunday, July 15, 2007

Strawberry Jam



Ok, I didn't make anything nearly as creative as this but last weekend 7-7-07 we took a trip to Fertile, MN for some strawberry pickin fun times. We drove and we drove and we were about to turn around and go home after an hour of nothing but fields when we finally got to Fertile. Man at the local gas and go said that the strawberry field were just out another 15 miles or so...Jaiden fell asleep on the way so once we got there Cody sat in the car with her and we took Jared out to pick some berries. After about 5 minutes he stepped on a thornbush and started whining so he stood at the end of the row while we picked our buckets full.

The strawberries were in their 3rd week and were at the peak of ripeness. Some were sadly over ripe and had to be passed up. The day was hot and sunny so I was really enjoying the event in spite of the kids not being into it. We had about 12 lbs of berries (which I didn't think was much) until I got home and started making jam...

This is my first time making freezer jam and I used the traditional Klein family recipe. It is quick, easy and oh so yummy! 4 c berries, 5 c sugar, 1 c Karo, 1 package Pectin = tastes fresh picked! It tends to be a bit runny, more like syrup but it is yummy on icecream...and since this is NATIONAL ICE CREAM DAY what better topping could there be??? Ok, maybe a few chocolate shavings on top :)

P.S. Those two buckets of berries produced 25 pints of jam!

Saturday, May 19, 2007

A Day at the Ocean

Jared had his end of year program at school today. We got there just seconds before it began and I rushed in to save our seats but Dad slipped into a seat in the back instead. After looking around the room and spotting me Jared's face broke into a huge grin and as the teacher is announcing the program he calls out in a very loud voice "hey DAD! Why don't you go sit down beside MOM" I don't think there was any doubt whom HIS parents were! The kids all did an outstanding job singing and dancing. Jared was quite a character and during the "crabby claws" moment he was "pinching" the crabbie ears of the kid in front of him. At one point I thought he might fall off the "stage" he was bouncing up and down and wiggling all about so much. He has a LOT of energy! Later the teacher said that he had memorized everyone's line in the play. Way to go Jared! We had punch and cookies for refreshment afterwards and then the children were dismissed to go home early.