Today's To Do List - tomorrow

Today was a bit of a washout. I'd planned on taking Brayden to the library and to the car wash this morning, but he arrived at 7am not feeling so well. I'm not sure if his asthma kicked in or he's starting another round with a cold, but by 8am I had to give him a breathing treatment, which he doesn't like but is super good about doing. That helped him a bit, but not as much as normal, which made me suspect he was actually coming down with another croupy cold. By noon his nose was running a bit. He was fairly quiet all morning and seemed tired, so I fixed lunch early and took him up for his nap at noon. He went right to sleep. Unfortunately, I forgot to turn off the phone in the bedroom, and the phone woke him up at 2:30, which may seem like a long time for some, but not for Brayden. As tired as he was, I think he would have slept until 3:30 or even 4:00pm. But he was up and having more problems breathing, so Jeff took him outside. It was a nice day but still cool (high 40's), and cold air will often help Brayden. He seemed to do much better from that point on. So we didn't get to the library or the car wash, so both must now be done tomorrow. Jeff's had my car for the past two months and he never cleans the car out (mumblegrumble), while I'm a near fanatic about having my car clean (I have cleaning wipes in my console so I can clean the inside in case I get stuck sitting at the train crossing or in traffic! LOL!), so I really need to get it to the car wash and get the two months of grime taken out! Today Brayden was playing with his NASCAR race cars, and he asked me what Car #24 was, and I said "That's Jeff [Gordon]". He looked at me and said, "Uncle Jeff!" He's only met his Uncle Jeff once, but we make sure to show him pictures often, so when JJ and Lisa come home he will know that they are family. We are working on him saying "Auntie Lisa"! Tomorrow's To Do List: -- WalMart (quick trip) -- grocery shopping (not WalMart) -- Library -- Car Wash -- Quilting Last Saturday, March 15, was National Quilting Day and I'd planned on spending the day quilting, but didn't. (I can't even remember why...) So I've decided to get up early and get my errands done by 11am (the Library and Car Wash don't open until 10am or I'd be done earlier), then spend the entire afternoon quilting. Ahhhhh... I can't wait. No pictures for this blog today, though I do have pictures of my new ironing board table on my quilting blog and Brayden has new photos on his View from Two blog.

Photo of the Day

Tears in my eyes -- from laughing!

I've mentioned how Cincinnati folks over-react when it snows. One snowflake and it's instant panic on the roads and in the grocery stores. Well, we're having some nasty weather here and granted, many areas are having some major flooding, which is no joke. I'm not going to make light of people actually experiencing major flooding. But c'mon.. take a look at this link (sorry, I can't figure out how to move the picture here), and to Picture #6 in the group -- the one with the boat. Now look down... see the wheels? See the fireman's boots?? The water can't be more than a half inch deep! LOL!!! Do you think it was really necessary to put these people in a boat????

A good (and frugal) recipe

This is a great pilaf-style recipe I use often when I need to use up leftovers. It comes from a book written in the 1990's titled THE COMPLETE TIGHTWAD GAZETTE by Amy Dacyczyn. It's one of those "Pick one from Column A, one from Column B..." type recipes, and you adapt it to whatever you have in your refrigerator, freezer or cupboards at the time. Great way to use up leftover meats and veggies. GROUPS Grains - 1 cup --Uncooked brown or white rice --Bulgur --Couscous --Other favorite grain Fat - 2 tbsp --Olive oil --Butter, margarine --Vegetable oil --Other favorite oil Base Vegetable - 2-3 cloves garlic, minced AND --one small onion, cut up --three shallots --one small leek Liquid - 2 cups -- Vegetable broth -- Chicken broth -- Cooking water from boiled vegetables --Water Meat or Protein - 1/2 to 2/3 cup --Chicken, cut up --Tuna --Cooked white or red beans --White fish --Hamburger --Cheap steak cut into cubes Additional vegetable - 1/2 cup frozen or fresh --Peas --Carrots, cut up --Corn --Green peppers --Celery --and/or any favorite vegetable except leafy or potatoes Seasoning - Whatever works and to taste

Directions:

Heat fat in large cast-iron or non-stick skillet. When hot, add the base vegetables and cook until golden and translucent. Add the meat and brown (unless you're adding tuna -- don't add yet). Add the grain and fry for a minute or so to coat it with fat. Add the liquid and bring to a boil (add tuna now). Add the other vegetable(s), season, stir, return to a boil, simmer, and cover. Check it often. Whole grains will take about 40 mins to cook, white rice about 15 minutes. When the liquid is completely absorbed, it's done. Stir, season to taste, and serve.

Today's List

Things you will never see on this blog:

• Britney Spears anything.
• Lindsay Lohan anything.
• Paris Hilton anything.
• Political discussions - (my son needs to create a blog for that one)
• Religious discussions
• A post about how quickly and thoroughly I Spring-cleaned my house ...sigh
• Favorite egg recipes (I don't like eggs - except quiche - and I make a great crustless quiche so this one's not set in stone.)
• A tutorial on how my husband inserted my sewing machine into my sewing table (apparently, despite my begging, this isn't going to happen -- he doesn't want to wreck the vintage desk I sew on.)
• A photo of the newest $500 handbag I found on sale for $125. ($25 - maybe)

Beef Barley Soup

We eat a lot of soup at our house during the cold weather months. My favorite soup is Lentil Soup with Ham but Jeff's favorite is Beef Barley. Last week on a day I had Brayden, I threw together the mixings for Beef Barley soup and put it in the slow cooker for the day. It was one of my best yet (although, we say this for almost every pot of soup I make! LOL) so I thought I'd see if I can remember the recipe and post it here. 1.5 lbs of stew beef* 3 tbsp Beef soup base 8 cups water 2 carrots, diced 2 stalks celery, diced 2 med onions, chopped 1 can petite diced tomatoes 1 cup barley 1 tbsp worcesteshire sauce 1 serving spaghetti noodles broken into thirds 1 tbsp oregano Salt, pepper to taste Add beef, beef soup base, water, carrots, celery, onions, worcesteshire sauce, oregano and salt & pepper to the crockpot. Put on HIGH for 4 hours. Add tomatoes and barley, stir, switch crockpot to LOW for at least 2 more hours. Add spaghetti and turn back to HIGH until noodles are cooked (about 30 minutes). That's it! I do like a "thick" soup (thick with beef, noodles and vegetables, less broth), but if you like more broth, increase the water and beef soup base accordingly. I do sometimes buy a chuck steak or other steak that's on sale and cut it up for my own stew beef. This is usually quite a $$$ savings. Stew beef goes for $3.49 a pound and chuck steak often goes on sale for $1.89 lb. If you do this, leave SOME fat on the meat -- that's what gives the stock flavor. I know a lot of people roll their beef chunks in flour and brown it before adding it to soup, but I don't. I just toss everything in the crockpot and go. *Beef soup base can be found in your grocery aisle near the beef bouillion. It has a much more natural taste to it and a lot less salt flavor than bouillion and adds a nice beef flavor to the soup. I use chicken soup base as well.

Picture of the Day

The Inquisitive Two's

Brayden was here for the day yesterday (our standard Friday), and my goodness - I was absolutely worn out by the time he left! I think in Brayden's case the Terrible Two's should be changed to "The Inquisitive Two's". I could not take my eyes off him for a second or off he went -- up the stairs by himself or opening the sliding patio door by himself or deciding he REALLY needed to know exactly what was under the kitchen sink (cleaning products)... He is really flexing his independence muscles, believe me. (And just so everyone who's reading this has some peace of mind -- Jeff is off this week and we'll be installing all those child-guard devices we bought and thought we wouldn't need!)

Of course, besides following him all day, he also made me smile. Since he learned the word "No," he has used it for many improper occassions -- such as me telling me "No!" when I tell him it's time to change his diaper. When he does this, I tell him he's not allowed to tell Umma "No" when I ask him to do something, and I go get him and bring him to whatever it is he's supposed to be doing. So yesterday, I say "Brayden, come lay on the monkey blanket -- I need to change your diaper." Our couch is katty-corner in our family room (leaving a large space where I store Brayden's larger toys but they can't be seen), and Brayden headed behind the couch and crouched down... and I hear "NO, Umma!" "NO, Umma!" "NO, Umma!" about fifty times!!! LOL! I guess he thought if I couldn't see him I certainly could never hear him tell me no!!!

But who could ever be upset with this sweet faced child?