Like Father, Like Son

Here is another blast from the past. My brother and my dad, and then my brother with his son. Big Brother calls it "vacuuming the lawn".

How times have changed

I was going through my mom's old photo albums and scanning our baby pictures to preserve them. This is what I found. Who would have known that over 20 years later we would end up being related?!

She did it!

I am so proud of my sister! She graduated from UCR this weekend with a Bachelors in Comparative Literature. The amazing news (well, not really amazing if you know my sister) is that she graduated Summa Cum Laude, which means she is in the top 2% of her class. She deserves it! She has been slaving away at her laptop for the past 4 years and has held a 3.98 GPA. Wow. Like I said, I am so proud of her. The graduation ceremony went off without a hitch, thankfully, since there was a bomb threat the day before and that ceremony was canceled. So, we cheered her on as she marched up in her dignified black robe and was handed a scroll that said "you will receive your diploma in the mail". Woohoo! I love you Dobug!

Fixed the Video

I tried out the youtube.com thing, and apparently it didn't work the first time. The videos below should be working now. Let me know if they still have problems.

Here is the other video of my adorable nephew where he jumps when the fish moves.

Gone Fishin'

I haven't felt like blogging lately. I'm having a mini identity crisis. After working my tail off every day since I was 14, I am faced with a whole new reality. I have nothing I have to do, no where I have to be. Even through college I was working 2 part-time jobs, and volunteering at the fire department. Then I got a job at the PD and sometimes worked 50-70 hour weeks. Now, flat line.... What do I do with myself? I clean the house, go grocery shopping, cook meals, rearrange my table decorations, edit wedding pictures, cross stitch etc. I can't find a job until I get home from my 2 week trip to CA in June anyway though. I finished my resume, and it's all ready to hand out. But what do I do? I can't really work dispatch again, Hubby doesn't want me working nights, and I would rather not work weekends. I do want to find a part time job but the possibilities are a little overwhelming.

It's kind of like the people that live in houses that are full to the ceiling with junk, and they have to crawl in through a window because the doors are blocked with stuff. If closely scrutinized, these people are actually perfectionists. Sounds contradictory right? Not really. They really do want to clean it, but when they can't identify starting point it becomes paralyzing. There are too many possibilities, so they never actually start to pick things up,, and it snowballs out of control. Am I paralyzed by possibilities? It feels like I've lost my direction. I have nothing pushing me now, no one depending on me or on the decisions I make. I should be happy shouldn't I? I can do anything I want to do, right? I just have no idea what that is! I've been in public service so long- it feels like I should go back to it, but I have lots of other talents and interests too. Hubby and I want to have kids in a few years. So, I have this little window, this little gift of time, that I can really do something important with. And yes, it's paralyzing. Am I being selfish? Should I just keep my mouth shut and go work at a coffee shop or something and not worry about it? I feel like I should be helping people though... but is that just me being egocentric? aaaaack. I have a wonderful husband, he has a great job and takes good care of me. I don't even have to go to work if I don't want to! I really like my new home and new surroundings... it's beautiful here. Why can't I just be content? Maybe I sabotage myself. I guess all I really can do is keep praying about it, and wait for the Lord to show me what I'm supposed to do. This is why I haven't posted in a while.

On a lighter note, here are 2 clips of Big Brother. We went fishing on the lake a few days after Mom's wedding. He got a chance to 'drive' and was tickled pink. Then my brother caught a fish and Big Brother was excited! He thought it was very yummy later that night too!

Happy Mother's Day

Happy Mother's Day to all you mothers! Being a mom is the most important job any one could ever have! You are tasked with molding your little ones into the intelligent, responsible, productive adults of the future. No small task! My hat is off to you.


In other news, I tried another culinary experiment today. I usually do a crock pot roast on Sundays if we have company over. I was tired of doing the same recipe with minor variations, the meat always turns out great but it was getting boring. So, I found a crock pot recipe that calls for onions, red wine and a jar of mushroom spaghetti sauce as the 'juice' to cook the roast in for about 10 hrs on low. I sliced the roast, then made spaghetti and mixed it with the sauce. It turned out really good! Even I was surprised. The meat was a little drier than I hoped it would be but I reserved some sauce to use as 'gravy' which helped.

Honey Baked Chicken

My sister in law asked for this recipe, and I thought I would share it with all of you as well. It's quick, tastes great, and you only have to wash one dish. I usually serve it with rice and pour the leftover sauce over the rice. Enjoy!

Honey Baked Chicken

1/4 c. margarine or butter
1/2 c. honey
1 Tbls. Dijon mustard
1 tsp. salt
1 tsp. curry powder
4 boneless, skinless chicken breasts

Preheat to 375. Place margarine in 9x9 or 9x13 pan in oven for 5 minutes until melted. Remove from oven, stir honey, mustard, salt and curry into melted margarine. Coat both sides of chicken with mixture as you place them in the pan. Bake 20 minutes. Remove from oven, turn chicken pieces over. Bake 15 more minutes.

Mom's Wedding

Here are some pics from my Mom's wedding last weekend. It was good to see them both so happy! It was a beautiful day and everything turned out really well.

New things

I tackled bread making this week! Not successfully, mind you, but at least I tried. I am having problems getting it to rise properly, so this week I'm adding more yeast to see if that helps. I have a few more things to try if that doesn't work. 3 inch high loaves aren't helpful for sandwiches, but Hubby loves it with his dinners.

I have found that allrecipes.com is soooo cool! I can type in something like 'chicken casserole' and scroll through all the recipes till I find one that has ingredients that I have on hand. Love it. Also, this little magazine is a handy helper too. Its FREE! Just go online to kraftfoods.com/free to sign up. Sure, its a thick advertisement for Kraft foods, but its full of fast, easy and tasty recipes. And if you want to use the name brand ingredients, that's up to you!

Also, we went to Hubby's cousin Kenny's wedding on Saturday. Beautiful day for a wedding, it's finally looking like spring! I could finally get out my strapy sandals too! The bridesmaids were wearing knee length strapless slate-navy blue dresses with light pink sashes. I'd never seen those colors work together so well before. Their bouquets were pink roses and wax flowers framed with broad leaf greenery, and looked really beautiful. The dinner reception was at a hotel in Cape May right on the beach, and we were privy to stunning sunset. Ahhhhh... tis the season for love.

Speaking of which, my mother is getting married in TWO weeks! Cinco de Mayo is the day! She sounds happy but busy busy, as usual.

Branded

How's this for self-esteem? I get to drive around with this plastered on my windshield. NJ requires all vehicles to get 'inspected' every year. A team of disgruntled government employees pick over your car, slam on your brakes, honk your horn, test your gas cap and mess with your mirror and seat adjustments. It's all very humiliating but necessary I suppose to keep our roads safe. Then as a final insult they slap this sticker on my car. Something about having California numbers on my NJ insurance card. I failed inspection in my new home state! Ug. I was crushed. Especially since I had waited in line for 40 min and would have to do it all over again!

Nat'l Telecommunicators Week

April 8-14 is

National Dispatcher Week

Special recognition to all the men and women

under the headset.

I would say "have you thanked your local dispatcher this week?" but don't you dare call unless it's actually an emergency!! Instead, the next time you do need to call the police or 911, listen to what they are saying and answer the questions they ask you. They are trying to help YOU. Please do what they ask you to do. Know that they honestly want to help if they can if you have a real emergency. Please forgive them if they are a little short with you, remember that they are a valuable resource that is abused each day by people who are lazy and rude. They are the ones who can send you the help you need. Take a second and say thanks to the dispatcher before you hang up, it would mean a lot to them. After listening to people in crisis all day, its nice to hear that someone appreciates their help.

911 is about life and death situations and medical emergencies. Every call that they answer that deals with anything else- takes resources away from those who genuinely need it.

Hats and Jackets

Happy Easter!
It was 38 degrees today but
I still wore my spring hat!

And thanks to my hustband,
I gained a new respect for this
piece of spring clothing this
afternoon. Augusta National is
absolutely beautiful.

Oh Spring, where art thou?

Katie and I went to a Beatrix Potter Tea Party. A very 'spring' thing to do. Even the Easter Bunny was there. We had cups of tea, tiny sandwiches and lots of little sugary things. It was in an old Victorian house turned Bed&Breakfast, and after lunch they had readings of Beatrix Potter stories in the carriage house, followed by an easter egg hunt for the kids in the garden. It was a lot of fun. However, it was 34 degrees today. It actually was snowing at our house this evening. Would someone PLEASE tell New Jersey that its SPRING! How am I supposed to wear a nice spring dress, white straw hat and sandals for Easter sunday if its freezing outside?!

Quilting Progress

My first attempt at quilting is going surprisingly well. This leads me to believe I'm either missing something really important, or I haven't gotten to the hard part yet. I got one of those cutting matts and one of the sharp roller dealy-jobbers which is really fun to play with and makes the job a lot easier. Would you believe there are no quilters in Oz out here? After moving from a town rich with experienced quilters, I pick now to attempt making one myself. My timing is really lousy. I love our homemade quilt, btw!!

City of Brotherly Love

This statue is way smaller than I expected it to be. We had fun! Lots of walking, and we stopped at the Amish market on the way home for some goodies.

Sis is here

It's so good to have her here, I have missed my family soooo much. My cat too. I begged her to sneak Squeak into her suitcase, but Hubby said no way. We went to DC on Monday and went to an art museum. My sister is very knowledgeable about art and was explaining otherwise meaningless globs of paint to us in a way that actually made them interesting! DC was beautiful with blooms everywhere, and the weather was fantastic. On Tuesday we went to the DC Zoo. I love zoos. One of my favorite animals is the Meerkat, and they happened to have a baby one there! I was tickled pink. They are hysterical to watch. Last night Hubby, Sis and I went up to Philly to see the Tut exhibit at the Franklin Institute. It was absolutely amazing. They have a lot of the artifacts found in Tut's tomb along with many others dating further back. Its weird to look at everyday items like a child's chair, and think that a child was actually sitting in it 3300 years ago. (Did I do the math right? ~1330 BC?) What were they like? What did they look like? Did I mention I love history? Hubby really likes Egyptian art and architecture so he really enjoyed it as well. Tomorrow we are off to Philly to do some more sightseeing.

New Baby

For those of you who know my cousin Heidi, here is her new baby girl, Lexie. Congrats to new Mommy and Daddy!

There are some more pictures on my uncle's website:

http://philsautoteacher.tripod.com/lexie/

Missing home

I had the worst craving for shrimp cocktail. Not the kind they have here though, which consists of just shrimp and dipping sauce. Back home the mexican restaurants would serve it more like a soup. La Casita near where I used to work had the best. So, I decided to make my own. Start with homemade salsa, then add shrimp, avocado, cucumber, cocktail sauce, ketchup, green onion, and cilantro. Man, I love that stuff. Served with tortilla chips, it hit the spot. Hubby actually liked it too!

Back from Virginia

We just got home from our last minute trip to Lynchburg,Virginia. Mark and Andrea R. were down there with their family at a home-school basketball tournament, when Andrea was taken to the hospital. She learned she had a massive bacterial infection that started from a bladder infection (or urinary tract inf., I can't remember). After a few days of being really sick, with what she thought was food poisoning, her blood pressure tanked and she fainted in the hotel room. This prompted her to call 911. Before the medics arrived, she drank a Pepsi... Wouldn't you know -it brought her pressure up long enough for them to tell her she was going to be ok. (what are they putting in soda now days?!) Mark took her to the hospital to get checked out at Dr. Philip I.'s advice. By the time they got there, her pressure was down around 70/40, and she was septic. After pumping antibiotics through a central line, the doctor said that if she had waited one more day to come in, they wouldn't have been able to save her. That was Thursday.

Hubby and I drove down there on Saturday. Andrea had been steadily improving, and by tonight she was walking around and looking much better. John and Lorie R. and Joseph and Joanna C. were also down there with us. We ended up having meeting in a hotel room in Virginia, which turned out to be one of the nicest I've been to. Even those who don't normally, participated. It gave me fresh appreciation for Matthew 18:20, "For where two or three are gathered together in my name, there am I in the midst of them."

Andrea's doctors say there doesn't appear to be any permanent damage to her kidneys, and she should recover completely. Hopefully she will be released Monday or Tuesday. Morals of the story: 1) prayer is a powerful healing tool, and 2) go to the doctor right away when if you get a bladder or urinary tract infection - it maybe caused by something very bad.


In other news, we got our carpet cleaned by Jim and Brian. They did a fantastic job.

New Toy

Hubby is now the proud papa of a new Xbox 360. He spent all last evening cleaning up the wire jungle that occupied the guest bedroom/office, and installed his this new little box. I was told this is a more space efficient way to go, and he was right, the jungle is gone, and there is just the one little white box. Very nice. Aparently Xbox also has Windows Media Center, so we can watch tv, recorded tv/movies, and music from the Xbox instead of a pc, AND he can play Call of Duty 3! :0) Windows Media Center is pretty cool, I have to admit. It manages practically everything using a computer.