Dinners 2009

Last year one of my goals was to try to add more variety to the things we had for dinner and put a little more effort in to it.  I think I did pretty well.  I tried out many new recipes, some of which have made it into the regular rotation.  Who whould have thought that tofu and bok choy would be regular items on my grocery list?  We like it and the kids will eat it, the tofu at least. I also decided to keep track of what we were eating.  You may have noticed a link to my What's for dinner blog in the side bar.  I think that helped a bit when I got stuck in a rut.  So thanks to Excel pivot tables I counted up how often we repeated the dinners.  The top 10 were:

BBQ pork sandwiches 23
pasta 18
Pizzeti 16
Chili 13
pizza 13
sausages 12
chicken salad w/ mandarin oranges 11
pork chops & rice 11
hamburgers 10
Chicken kabobs 8
stir fried tofu & veggies 8
(OK so it's 11, but the last two were a tie)

Check here for a more complete list.

We burned out on Pizzeti (pita pizzas) as our quick after church meal and the kids won't eat them any more.  Part of the popularity of the BBQ pork sandwiches is that it is something that I make at home and something that Sam's Barbeque does very well.  For as healthy as the chicken salad w/ mandarin oranges sounds, they all came from Wendy's.  At least it is better than a Baconator.  (I did eat one of those, but only one.)  After looking at the list, I think I did pretty well.  Another year, another 365 dinners to go.  Any suggestions?

The good word for the year

2010
My cousin selects a word to focus on for the year, last year was ENJOY.  This year, PEACE.  I started thinking...What could be my word for the coming year?  This past year has been a good one.  Baby Girl is really no longer a baby.  She is sleeping fairly well, which means that I am also sleeping better when I remember to get to bed at a reasonable hour.  Her spunky personality is blossoming as she learns to talk and express herself.  Buddy boy is such a good kid.  He is learning and growing so fast.  Dad is having a good time pursuing his goals.  After making it through the sleep deprived blur I have had a good time reading, sewing, cooking, paper cutting, teaching and playing.  It has been a good year, there have been challenges, but it has been good overall.  A word for last year?  EMERGE or INDULGE come to mind as I spent much of my free time this past year getting back in to the things that I set aside after the Baby Girl was born.

What's next? 

Looking ahead, Baby Girl will be at home with me all year again.  She misses the cut off date for starting pre-school by 2 days.  She is a busy little person.  Buddy boy will finish pre-school this spring and start kindergarten in the fall.  That will be a big change that will affect the whole family.  Dad will finish up his CPA early this year which will open up new opportunities.  (We joke about our letter collection BA, MBA, CPA, BS, RD, MS, PhD etc.  It just keeps growing.)  For me the coming year looks a lot like last year, cook, clean, care for kids, repeat.  I still keep my Good Life Goals in mind in the things that I do.  (See side bar)  More specifically I need to work on being more organized, you know, a place for everything and everything in it's place, at least some of the time.  I also need to be sure that I stay engaged with the kids, keep them busy and happy, and continue to teach them.  They are getting big enough to understand a lot.  They pick up on everything.  I need to make sure that my voice is loud and clear as I teach them so that there is no mistaking what I expect of them and what I believe.  I also want to pursue my hobbies and get back in to exercising more regularly.  It keeps me sane to have something to think about outside of the domestic sphere. 

So, what is my word?  How about ENGAGE. 
Definition:
–verb (used with object)
1. to occupy the attention or efforts of (a person or persons): He engaged her in conversation.
2. to secure for aid, employment, use, etc.; hire: to engage a worker; to engage a room.
3. to attract and hold fast: The novel engaged her attention and interest.
4. to attract or please: His good nature engages everyone.
5. to bind, as by pledge, promise, contract, or oath; make liable: He engaged himself to repay his debt within a month.
6. to betroth (usually used in the passive): They were engaged last week.
7. to bring (troops) into conflict; enter into conflict with: Our army engaged the enemy.
8. Mechanics. to cause (gears or the like) to become interlocked; interlock with.
9. to attach or secure.
10. Obsolete. to entangle or involve.


These apply to varying degrees, although I hope that my year does not involve any armed conflict other than play sword fighting with Buddy Boy and the Rock Monsters or perhaps the boxes that remain stacked in the office.  This is better:

"Verily I say, men should be anxiously engaged in a good cause, and do many things of their own free will, and bring to pass much righteousness; For the power is in them, wherein they are agents unto themselves. And inasmuch as men do good they shall in nowise lose their reward."  D&C 58:27-28

That's it.  ENGAGE!

What's your good word for the year?

Pont d'arc

Another Christmas gift for difficult to shop for relatives. My in-laws love France and visit often. This is a pretty spot along the Ardeche river quite popular for canoeing and kayaking.



The original photo taken by my father-in-law that I started from.
The landscape turned out to be a lot harder than the faces I've done recently. I had a little trouble getting the right amount of detail in the cutting and the right colors. I need more practice. Looking forward to it.

The nephews

My sister-in-law and her husband are impossible to shop for. So this is what I did for them for a Christmas present. They really liked it and were a little surprised as well. I'm glad. They are fun to do. My Father-in-law took the photos I started from.

The boys are really growing up.

New Dolly for Baby Girl

Baby girl loves buckles and buttons and snaps and zippers. So I decided to make a doll that had all of those things. As a kid we had a Dapper Dan doll that had lots of little fasteners and things on it. I also had a doll that was awake on one side and asleep on the other. I combined the ideas for this doll.

For the hair I used curly elastic shoe laces. I think that this might be her favorite part. She pulls them and they spring back. For some reason this is hilarious. The awake side has a little jacket that buttons closed. Underneath she has suspenders. One buckles and the other goes through a little ribbon loop and velcros closed.

The sleepy side is wearing footy pajamas with a zipper and BIG snap at the top. (Thanks for the snap Mom.)

This had been a lot of fun to plan and make, but I don't think I will be doing anything like this again any time soon. No Etsy shop for me. It took much longer than I had planned, but the end result was worth it.

Paper ornaments

We made a few paper ornaments today to hang on our paper tree. I used wrapping paper, but you could use just about anything. The instructions are here at How About Orange.

You do not work alone.

In preparing for today's RS lesson I remembered a General Conference talk by Pres. Eyring from October 2002. The talk is advice to people who are new to their church callings. To me, at that time, I think that it applied more generally as well, to any time that we are doing a good work and the work of the Lord.

He counseled people that God would magnify them in their callings and that they would need it. The part that I particularly remembered was this.

"There will be times when you feel overwhelmed. One of the ways you will be attacked is with the feeling that you are inadequate. Well, you are inadequate to answer the call to represent God with only your own powers. But you have access to more than your natural capacities, and you do not work alone." -President Henry B. Eyring

Knowing that I was not alone in my efforts of the time was incredibly comforting. It still is today.

Christmas candy

Buddy boy wanted to make candy canes today while Baby girl napped. We made a modified version instead. It is red and white and peppermint, but much easier to make.

Cream cheese mints:

4 oz. cream regular or low fat cream cheese, room temperature
1 pound powdered sugar
1/4 teaspoon peppermint extract (more or less)
Food coloring (optional)

Mix it all together. Done!

It will probably seem like there is to much sugar, but keep mixing/kneading it in. If the cream cheese is room temperature and softened it will be easier. Add food coloring if desired. I suggest using paste food coloring. If you are using liquid food color use only a small amount.

Roll into a log and slice or do the following for striped candies.
Color about 1/3 of the mints and roll into 4-5 snakes. Make alternating white snakes as well as a center snake.

Put them all together like this...
The green sugar was an unplanned addition that happened as I was getting Baby girl up from her nap.

Roll until you get the the desired thickness.

And slice...

You can also make little shaped mints with mold like these. Much more labor intensive.

The mints are also delicious dipped in chocolate. But this is more than I wanted to tackle today.

Dough

Mother...

Daughter...

pencil subscription

I saw an article on subscription gifts that included one that really caught my eye. Twenty five colored pencils a month for 20 months. That's 500 pencils! I love this idea. During grad school on particularly bad days I would head to the book store art department and buy myself a few Prismacolor pencils. I ended up with a great collection, but not 500. I didn't have much time for artwork during those years, but buying the pencils was cheap therapy and made me remember that it would all be over some day.

P.S. Mom, Christmas? :)