I'm thankful for kids who have been incredibly helpful, funny, hard-working, and self-disciplined the last few days.
What's one thing that you're thankful for?
Thursday, November 18, 2010
Wednesday, November 17, 2010
MENU - SECOND HALF OF NOVEMBER 2010
We skipped a few meals in the last rotation, so there are some repeats this time around.
BREAKFASTS
blueberry sour cream pancakes
almond coconut granola
Barbara's pancakes (from freezer)
oat & almond breakfast bars (make night before)
poppyseed & banana muffins
baked oatmeal (make night before)
DINNERS
leftovers x2
tacos x2
new soup recipe (flop)/whole wheat biscuits
upside-down pizza (base from freezer)/frozen veggies
taco soup (crockpot)/cornbread
new soup recipe/whole wheat biscuits
sausage balls/fruit salad (Devon's cooking)
chicken waikiki/rice/Leslie's salad
meatloaf/asparagus
penne & spaghetti sauce (crockpot & from freezer)/salad
Seattle cream cheese dogs/fruit
Thanksgiving (not sure what my part is yet)
Marilyn's potato casserole with chicken/frozen veggies
DESSERTS
cake from a mix (Devon's cooking)
apple brownies & ice cream
BREAKFASTS
blueberry sour cream pancakes
almond coconut granola
Barbara's pancakes (from freezer)
oat & almond breakfast bars (make night before)
poppyseed & banana muffins
baked oatmeal (make night before)
DINNERS
leftovers x2
tacos x2
new soup recipe (flop)/whole wheat biscuits
upside-down pizza (base from freezer)/frozen veggies
taco soup (crockpot)/cornbread
new soup recipe/whole wheat biscuits
sausage balls/fruit salad (Devon's cooking)
chicken waikiki/rice/Leslie's salad
meatloaf/asparagus
penne & spaghetti sauce (crockpot & from freezer)/salad
Seattle cream cheese dogs/fruit
Thanksgiving (not sure what my part is yet)
Marilyn's potato casserole with chicken/frozen veggies
DESSERTS
cake from a mix (Devon's cooking)
apple brownies & ice cream
Tuesday, November 16, 2010
CHEF DEVON
We started a new menu yesterday and Devon had planned one dinner to make on his own. Tonight was his night to cook and the results gave us all happy stomachs. He made sausage balls, fruit salad, and a boxed spice cake, which he also decorated.
.
.
Cracking eggs for the cake.
Decorating the cake. (Sidenote - I didn't notice he'd changed shirts after his nap til posting these pictures.)
The completed cake.
Chopping fruit for the salad.
Rolling two sheets worth of sausage balls.
The chef with the meal he prepared.
Monday, November 15, 2010
PORTLAND-ISH TO SEATTLE-ISH
Cheri, Toni, and I were talking a couple months ago about our desire for some girl time and a road trip. So, I asked Heidi (one of the gazillion that I know) if she'd be willing to let us sleep on her floor and couch, which are located in a town that would require a little bit of traveling to get to. Well, she said yes, then it morphed into a group of Portland-ish girls driving up and one Boise-ish girl driving over to Seattle-ish, and spending the weekend with a bunch of girls that live up there. There were about fifteen people involved over the weekend and it the first time I'd met four of them, though we all know each other online.
Oh, it was such a fun weekend!! We met up at the Country Village Shops in Bothell and spent the afternoon there. Lots of cute shops and plenty of socializing taking place while we browsed and shopped. I bought my first random (meaning, it doesn't match anything I own and serves no practical purpose) W at a kids' clothing store there. It's amazingly gaudy and you'll be shocked I actually spent money on it. Truly. In fact, I'm shocked. But it's always going to remind me of a weekend with friends, so it's worth it.
Saturday night we hung out at Heidi's house and ate a truckload of food - some snacks that people had brought and a bunch of Mexican food that Heidi had prepared for us. Then we stayed up late talking, laughing, talking, laughing, talking, lau .... well, you get the idea. The locals all went home between 10 and 1 to sleep in their own beds, then the rest of us put on jammies and stayed up as late as 3:00.
We, along with some of the locals who came back over, had a leisurely morning on Sunday, staying in jammies til almost noon and eating a fantastic breakfast that Heidi had prepared. She is truly the hostess with the mostess!! All we wanted was a place to sleep, but she really pampered us.
Although we were in the Seattle area, we skipped the city stuff and stuck with visiting smaller areas. So, after we all got dressed, we headed to downtown Edmonds for a little shopping (and a lot of browsing) in all the cute shops they have. I bought some over-priced gummy grapefruit so the group could all experience them and Melanie loved them enough to buy her own bag. I also got an ice cream spade (we like them more than scoops) and a clove-scented candle that's awesome. Eating was next on the agenda and we opted for seafood. Toni and I ended up going halves on the two meals we couldn't decide between. So, I ate half of an incredibly yummy Hawaiian cobb salad and half of a crispy coconut prawn bowl, plus the bread that comes with the meal. They almost had to roll me out the door. So stuffed!!
Then it was time to drive south, dropping people off along the way. A personal milestone occurred on the trip home when I pumped my own gas for the first time. That's right, folks, I'd never pumped gas. I've lived in Oregon most of my life and other people have pumped when I've been in other states. Crazy, huh? Faith did an excellent job of coaching me, though, so I wasn't totally winging it.
You'd think the story would end there, but it doesn't. I'll tell you the rest in a second, but first I'll show you some pictures.
The Friday night group - This is the group that met in Bothell ... minus one, plus three.
.
I won a contest about a week ago and my prize was hand-delivered over the weekend. Cute little cosmetic bag, huh?
.
The Sunday night group - This is who we spent the earlier part of the day with, minus two.
I'm so thankful for the time away from the daily grind, laughing so much my cheeks hurt, talking about all sorts of things, and just relaxing!
Ok, I said the story didn't end there. Here's the scoop. We had stopped at a Burger King in Kelso to drop someone off. I started to get back in the van, but the other three passengers had to use the bathroom. Ok, fine. So, I wait inside by the door while they do their thing. I'm thumbing through a magazine and hear someone behind me ask if there's a hotel nearby. Then she asks if it's within walking distance. Odd question, considering it's dark and drizzly outside, so I glance back to see who it was. This girl (well, I thought she was younger than she turned out to be) is in tears and trying to coordinate hotel arrangements with someone on the phone. I hear her say the young guy who was giving her hotel info had offered to give her a ride down the street to the hotel. I'm sure he's a great BK employee and he acted like a total gentleman, but it just made more sense for a group of moms to take her than a guy on his own. Right?
Anyway, my friends are coming out of the bathroom by this point, so I slyly ask them what they think about offering her a ride. They all agree and we find out she needs to be in Portland by the next morning to catch a flight. So, we brought her along with us, took her to a hotel she had reserved, found out the reservation didn't go through because the company's server was down, wait for that online reservation to get canceled, then took her to another hotel, waited for her to get her room key, gave her a hug, then left ... and still got home at a reasonable hour.
I looked her up on Facebook when I got home to let her know we wanted to make sure she got back home safely. She wrote back and ended up becoming my FB friend. So fun! I've never given a ride to a stranger before and may never do it again, but it just seemed like the right thing to do. Guess it was a good (or God, as it seems in hindsight) thing my friends all needed to go to the bathroom (or we'd have left without going inside) and that I didn't (or I'd have been in the bathroom & never been aware of the situation).
And that concludes the story ... well, some of the highlights, anyway ... of my weekend.
Oh, it was such a fun weekend!! We met up at the Country Village Shops in Bothell and spent the afternoon there. Lots of cute shops and plenty of socializing taking place while we browsed and shopped. I bought my first random (meaning, it doesn't match anything I own and serves no practical purpose) W at a kids' clothing store there. It's amazingly gaudy and you'll be shocked I actually spent money on it. Truly. In fact, I'm shocked. But it's always going to remind me of a weekend with friends, so it's worth it.
Saturday night we hung out at Heidi's house and ate a truckload of food - some snacks that people had brought and a bunch of Mexican food that Heidi had prepared for us. Then we stayed up late talking, laughing, talking, laughing, talking, lau .... well, you get the idea. The locals all went home between 10 and 1 to sleep in their own beds, then the rest of us put on jammies and stayed up as late as 3:00.
We, along with some of the locals who came back over, had a leisurely morning on Sunday, staying in jammies til almost noon and eating a fantastic breakfast that Heidi had prepared. She is truly the hostess with the mostess!! All we wanted was a place to sleep, but she really pampered us.
Although we were in the Seattle area, we skipped the city stuff and stuck with visiting smaller areas. So, after we all got dressed, we headed to downtown Edmonds for a little shopping (and a lot of browsing) in all the cute shops they have. I bought some over-priced gummy grapefruit so the group could all experience them and Melanie loved them enough to buy her own bag. I also got an ice cream spade (we like them more than scoops) and a clove-scented candle that's awesome. Eating was next on the agenda and we opted for seafood. Toni and I ended up going halves on the two meals we couldn't decide between. So, I ate half of an incredibly yummy Hawaiian cobb salad and half of a crispy coconut prawn bowl, plus the bread that comes with the meal. They almost had to roll me out the door. So stuffed!!
Then it was time to drive south, dropping people off along the way. A personal milestone occurred on the trip home when I pumped my own gas for the first time. That's right, folks, I'd never pumped gas. I've lived in Oregon most of my life and other people have pumped when I've been in other states. Crazy, huh? Faith did an excellent job of coaching me, though, so I wasn't totally winging it.
You'd think the story would end there, but it doesn't. I'll tell you the rest in a second, but first I'll show you some pictures.
The Friday night group - This is the group that met in Bothell ... minus one, plus three.
.
We got to "meet" the son of one person in our group. Having your picture on a milk carton isn't always a bad thing.
.
I won a contest about a week ago and my prize was hand-delivered over the weekend. Cute little cosmetic bag, huh?
.
My totally crazy W purchase ... I mean funky souvenir. Pink beads, orange fabric, sequins, little bells. Yeah, it's odd.
.
The Sunday night group - This is who we spent the earlier part of the day with, minus two.
I'm so thankful for the time away from the daily grind, laughing so much my cheeks hurt, talking about all sorts of things, and just relaxing!
Ok, I said the story didn't end there. Here's the scoop. We had stopped at a Burger King in Kelso to drop someone off. I started to get back in the van, but the other three passengers had to use the bathroom. Ok, fine. So, I wait inside by the door while they do their thing. I'm thumbing through a magazine and hear someone behind me ask if there's a hotel nearby. Then she asks if it's within walking distance. Odd question, considering it's dark and drizzly outside, so I glance back to see who it was. This girl (well, I thought she was younger than she turned out to be) is in tears and trying to coordinate hotel arrangements with someone on the phone. I hear her say the young guy who was giving her hotel info had offered to give her a ride down the street to the hotel. I'm sure he's a great BK employee and he acted like a total gentleman, but it just made more sense for a group of moms to take her than a guy on his own. Right?
Anyway, my friends are coming out of the bathroom by this point, so I slyly ask them what they think about offering her a ride. They all agree and we find out she needs to be in Portland by the next morning to catch a flight. So, we brought her along with us, took her to a hotel she had reserved, found out the reservation didn't go through because the company's server was down, wait for that online reservation to get canceled, then took her to another hotel, waited for her to get her room key, gave her a hug, then left ... and still got home at a reasonable hour.
I looked her up on Facebook when I got home to let her know we wanted to make sure she got back home safely. She wrote back and ended up becoming my FB friend. So fun! I've never given a ride to a stranger before and may never do it again, but it just seemed like the right thing to do. Guess it was a good (or God, as it seems in hindsight) thing my friends all needed to go to the bathroom (or we'd have left without going inside) and that I didn't (or I'd have been in the bathroom & never been aware of the situation).
And that concludes the story ... well, some of the highlights, anyway ... of my weekend.
Friday, November 12, 2010
BEARDS
Tim washed the dishes. Tim got bored while washing the dishes. Tim suddenly had a thick, white beard. Devon thought Tim was funny. Devon suddenly grew a thick, white beard. Tim and Devon match each other. Sorta.
Thursday, November 11, 2010
UNCLE DEAN
My dad e-mailed me some links to my uncle playing music on youtube. I watched them, found some more, then figured I'd share them all with you.
The man's amazing. Seriously. He's so talented musically and can build anything he wants. One of our favorite childhood gifts was a puppet stage with "Perkins (my maiden name) Puppets" painted in a banner across the top. We loved that thing!
So, if you're ever in Hilo, HI you may catch his band, Hilo Crybabies, playing somewhere. Meanwhile you can see him in action in the following videos. I've included the song title and which instrument he's playing, but you can also spot him by his checkered shirt.
June Apple - banjo
Swallowtail - banjo
Jambalaya - fiddle (the last ten seconds are the best - watch his fingers)
Downtown Blues - guitar
Walking the Dog - slide guitar
The man's amazing. Seriously. He's so talented musically and can build anything he wants. One of our favorite childhood gifts was a puppet stage with "Perkins (my maiden name) Puppets" painted in a banner across the top. We loved that thing!
So, if you're ever in Hilo, HI you may catch his band, Hilo Crybabies, playing somewhere. Meanwhile you can see him in action in the following videos. I've included the song title and which instrument he's playing, but you can also spot him by his checkered shirt.
June Apple - banjo
Swallowtail - banjo
Jambalaya - fiddle (the last ten seconds are the best - watch his fingers)
Downtown Blues - guitar
Walking the Dog - slide guitar
Wednesday, November 10, 2010
MAGDALYN & MEGAN - TWO SWEET GIRLS
Magdalyn - So many of you, my amazing blog readers, supported Bob & Cheri as they adopted their daughter earlier this year. It was awesome to have you, most of whom will never meet their family, donate to their fundraising auction, bid during the auction, and periodically ask me how the adoption was going. Magdalyn has now been home longer than she was without a family and is doing really well! In celebration of Orphan Sunday, which I didn't know existed, they created a video of their trip to "bring love home". Cheri has given me permission to link it here and I hope you all take seven minutes of your day to watch Magdalyn meet her parents. The password is "Agene".
Megan - Down's syndrome and heart problems. That's a lot for my friend Eliz's five year old daughter to live with. Throw in a cancer diagnosis in the spring and life gets even harder, but that's Megan's reality. Needless to say, it's also a lot for her family to deal with, which is why a group of people have banded together to put on a lobster roll fundraiser.
The rolls are $10 and stuffed with $6.00 worth of meat. Patrick, the man who has answered some of my questions about the fundraiser, said their goal is to sell 1,000 rolls and give the family $4,000. That money would be incredibly helpful for paying medical bills, keeping food on the table, and making sure there's enough gas in the tank to make it to all the medical appointments and hospital stays that are now a routine part of their life. Even the lobster provider is helping out by giving them fresh meat for the cost of frozen. Awesome!
Here's what Patrick had to say - "I just want it to be a significant amount of money so they can spend time with their daughter and not have to worry about the logistics of future fundraisers or where their groceries are coming from. And I want to see people come together and help just one time, people who never have before, who have never donated a cent, or an hour, for them just to care this one time, where it is a little girl...... with cancer ..... and heart trouble...... and down syndrome ..... and a struggling family. "
The deliveries will take place on 12/4/10 in three different Maine locations. Yep, you read correctly. These guys live on the wrong ... I mean, opposite ... side of the country. So, here's what I'm asking from all of you.
Spread. the. word! If you live in Maine, then please buy a roll or two or ten, then pass the info along to your local friends, family, and co-workers. If you know people in Maine, then please let them know about this project and ask them to tell others about it.
I would love to see more than 1,000 lobster rolls sold to make life a little less stressful for Megan's family! Buy for your self. Buy for your family. Buy as a gift. If you can't buy, then spread the word!!
I'll leave you with a little peek at Megan hanging out with her family. She's a doll!
.
Megan - Down's syndrome and heart problems. That's a lot for my friend Eliz's five year old daughter to live with. Throw in a cancer diagnosis in the spring and life gets even harder, but that's Megan's reality. Needless to say, it's also a lot for her family to deal with, which is why a group of people have banded together to put on a lobster roll fundraiser.
The rolls are $10 and stuffed with $6.00 worth of meat. Patrick, the man who has answered some of my questions about the fundraiser, said their goal is to sell 1,000 rolls and give the family $4,000. That money would be incredibly helpful for paying medical bills, keeping food on the table, and making sure there's enough gas in the tank to make it to all the medical appointments and hospital stays that are now a routine part of their life. Even the lobster provider is helping out by giving them fresh meat for the cost of frozen. Awesome!
Here's what Patrick had to say - "I just want it to be a significant amount of money so they can spend time with their daughter and not have to worry about the logistics of future fundraisers or where their groceries are coming from. And I want to see people come together and help just one time, people who never have before, who have never donated a cent, or an hour, for them just to care this one time, where it is a little girl...... with cancer ..... and heart trouble...... and down syndrome ..... and a struggling family. "
The deliveries will take place on 12/4/10 in three different Maine locations. Yep, you read correctly. These guys live on the wrong ... I mean, opposite ... side of the country. So, here's what I'm asking from all of you.
Spread. the. word! If you live in Maine, then please buy a roll or two or ten, then pass the info along to your local friends, family, and co-workers. If you know people in Maine, then please let them know about this project and ask them to tell others about it.
I would love to see more than 1,000 lobster rolls sold to make life a little less stressful for Megan's family! Buy for your self. Buy for your family. Buy as a gift. If you can't buy, then spread the word!!
I'll leave you with a little peek at Megan hanging out with her family. She's a doll!
.
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