Wednesday, May 26, 2010

Random

I'm on my way to NYC with my good friend Steph. I am SO EXCITED! I cleared out my camera so I have plenty of room for fun big city photos. Here's the dish:

One of my wonderful college roommates and dear friends, Kim, and her hubbs Brent came for a visit last week. They live in Seattle but were in Colorado visiting her fam for a couple of weeks. It was AWESOME seeing them. They drove down from Denver and got to eat dinner and see our home. We had great convo and laughs. It made me miss her even more, but it was worth it!



Here is a picture of this really pretty tree outside our house. Aren't the white blossoms so lovely against the red? Love it!


And I can't stop taking pictures of these gorgeous tulips. They have been providing bouquets for me for weeks on end. And there are still MORE in the yard!




See you when I get back next week!

Cleanliness is next to...CRAZINESS

OCD. Obsessive Compulsive Disorder. Or what I like to call Occasionally Crazy Disorder. If you know me really well, you know I like to have the house clean. And by clean I mean CLEAN. I don’t know when this desire started. When I was really little my room was a disaster. You could hardly see the floor. And I hated to clean it. But by the time I was in high school, my room was relatively clean most of the time. I don’t recall whether I had a deep desire for my room to be clean, or if I just did it. But nowadays, the desire is indeed deep. And a little overboard. OK, maybe a lot overboard. Don’t get me wrong, there is nothing wrong with a clean house. In fact a clean house is usually a very good thing. However when it comes to Terri, something snapped somewhere, and my NEED for clean, no spotless, is out of control. For example, Jeff used to take guitar lessons on Monday nights. So Monday is when I would clean. It was a good time for me to put on my iTunes and go to town without worrying about the vacuum making too much noise. I also don’t want Jeff to feel guilty about not helping. Sure, I like it when he helps, in fact I LOVE it when he offers, but let’s face it, I do a better job. And because of my weird obsession, I’d rather just do it myself so I know it’s done “right.” Right there is part of my problem. Hello, if someone offers to help clean, LET THEM. Back to Mondays, though. I would be at work on Monday mornings and all I could think about is getting home to clean. What would I clean first. What needed the deepest clean. What could just be sort of dusted over. OK, maybe it’s not ALL I could think about it, but the fact that I was thinking about it at all is another part of the problem. It gets worse, though. I worry about it. Dust, crumbs, spills, footprints, cat hair, unmade bed, papers lying around. It makes me feel “weird.” Like I just have to wipe it away, pick it up, straighten it out, wash it, or I don’t feel completely relaxed. I see things that other people would never notice. A smudge on the coffee table. Little spots on the floor where the kitty sneezed. Dust on the kitchen chairs we don’t sit in. A magazine out of place. It is ridiculous. And it still gets worse. I let these things become more important than what is really important. I say over and over again “take off your shoes. Did you take your shoes off? What are these tracks I see?” To my step son. My 12 year old step son. These are the things he’s going to remember about me. Instead of “did you have fun playing with Brandon? What did you guys do? Show me what you made. Want to play a game?” It’s something I’m working on. I do feel like I’ve gotten better. I KNOW what is important and what isn’t. I KNOW family time, feeling like you can be yourself in yoru home, feeling comfortable in your home, not stressing about smudges and footprints, not cleaning every day. I WANT to be the carefree wife, step mom, hostess. I WANT to feel relaxed whether my house is clean or not. I don’t WANT to think my house is dirty just because there are 4 pairs of shoes at the door and the mail hasn’t been sorted and the counter hasn’t been wiped down. I want to be able to leave the dishes in the sink for a day and not give it a second thought. Clearly whether I wait a day or a month to clean, the house can still be made clean. Sure it might take a little longer, the longer I wait, but the end of the world will not come. Yes, cleaning can be sort of therapeutic for me, but really it’s the end result that I crave. Like I can take a deep breath. Like I can sit and do nothing. Like I’ve accomplished something. And it’s only in my own house that I care. That I feel this need to have it perfect. Spotless. Other peoples clutter, dust, piles, etc don’t bother me at all. In fact I’m not sure I even notice them. Why is that? What is going on with me and how did it happen? How can I find more balance? This is not a rhetorical question. For Cade's sake. For Jeff’s. I don’t want a dirty home. I just want to be the wife and mom that doesn’t worry so much about it. That clearly cares more about her family than her house.

Wednesday, May 19, 2010

memories

Look at this wonderful picture of my grandparents on their wedding day! Can you believe my grandma was only 18 and ran away to get married to Granddad? What a story!

Thursday, May 13, 2010

Do Vegetarians Eat Animal Crackers?

Ha! So I have a new blog for my recipes. I'm hoping that maybe one day I'll make a blog cook book out of it! Check it out for my weekly recipe reviews :)

Thanks for stopping by :)

http://eatinganimalcrackers.blogspot.com/

Sunday, May 9, 2010

Recipe Review - Mediterranean Pizza

I got the basic idea for this recipe from a book,but basically just took something really simple into my own hands. It was two thumbs up for sure!

Ingredients:
Make a pizza crust OR get an awesome one from Whole Foods so all you have to do is add toppings.

Directions:
Preheat oven to 350
Brush olive oil all over the crust
Throw on toppings:
cherry tomatoes, halved
fresh basil, cut
goat cheese
feta cheese
mozzarella cheese
olives
Bake for 15 minutes (ish) and serve! Easy, relatively healthy and quite delish. My crust came with two in the pack and I have leftovers of all the cheese, so this is a meal we'll enjoy again soon. YAY!
4 thumbs up

Spring





What a lovely weekend. We spent all day today outdoors. We worked a lot on our pond and the weather was perfect. Well, for me, for Jeff I'm sure it was pretty hot. I even got IN the pond to dig out the leaves at the bottom. Gross! It's all filled and the waterfall is going again. It was wonderful to sit and relax with a glass of sangria, chips and salsa and a good book. Yay!

Recipe Review - Mexican Sangria



adapted from: http://www.designspongeonline.com/2010/04/behind-the-bar-jose-joels-mexican-sangria.html

Ingredients:

1 bottle of red wine

1 cup of tequila

1 1/2 cups of orange juice

1 a cup of brown organic sugar

1/4 cup of fresh squeezed organic lime juice

1 sliced orange

Mixology:

In a pitcher mix ingredients in this specific order. Add ice to chill. The longer it sits in the pitcher the more flavorful it will be. Using a little lime juice, give the glasses a nice brown-sugar rim and then serve and enjoy!





Ah, what a refreshing drink. It was a little strong, so I think next time I'd use a sweeter wine and less tequila. It was fun new drink, though.

4 thumps up.




Recipe Review - Cream Cheese Danishes



Ingredients:

16 oz Cream Cheese-softened
1 c. sugar
2 packages crescent rolls
1 egg, separated
1 tsp vanilla
fresh or frozen fruit
1/2 c. sugar
1 tsp cinnamon
4 oz. butter-melted
nuts (optional)

Directions:

Place 1 can rolls on the bottom of a greased 9 x 13 baking pan, much like a pie crust. Mix cream cheese, sugar, egg yolk and vanilla and layer over rolls. Add your choice of berries. Layer next crescent rolls. Brush with whisked egg white. Mix sugar, cinnamon, butter and nuts. Spread over 2nd layer of rolls. Bake 30-45 minutes at 350. Enjoy for a decadent breakfast!








Oh my word these were good. Restaurant worthy if you ask me! I used blackberries on half, MY half. Jeff had the plain side. We both really loved it.
4 thumbs up!

Recipe Review - Olive Cheese Dip



Ingredients:

12 oz cottage cheese
4 oz cream cheese
20 kalamata olives
dashes of season-all, garlic salt, salt, dill and any other seasoning you might enjoy

Directions:

Combine all ingredients in food processor until mixed. Serve with crackers for a wonderful appetizer or snack.




I had a sample of something similar at Whole Foods while doing my Saturday shopping. I thought I'd just check out the ingredients and try to make it myself rather than buy it. It actually called for ricotta cheese rather than cottage cheese, but since I couldn't find any I improvised. Jeff and I both really liked it.
4 Thumbs Up.

Recipe Review - Spicy Black Bean Burgers



Ingredients:

2 T olive or vegetable oil
2 cloves garlic, minced
1 T fresh ginger, minced
½ t allspice
½ t nutmeg
1½ c black beans, cooked or canned
1½ c cooked rice
½ habanero pepper or 1 jalapeño pepper, chopped (seeds optional)
1 c bread crumbs
1 t salt
black pepper

Directions:
Heat 1 T of oil and sauté the garlic, ginger, allspice, and nutmeg and sauté for two minutes.

Pour into food processor along with beans, rice, and peppers. Pulse repeatedly, until mixture is chopped, not puréed.

Transfer to bowl, add remaining ingredients, and mix well. Taste and adjust seasonings.

Shape into four patties, adding more bread crumbs if necessary.

Fry in 1 T oil over medium heat until crust forms, about 4 minutes per side.








Absolutely wonderful. Seriously, these are the best veggie burgers I've ever had and I've had a LOT! They were very spicy, but that doesn't bother me. And you could remove the spice by replacing the jalapeno with bell pepper or just leaving out pepper all together. The ginger was amazing! I was so surprised by the strong flavor-delightfully surprised. Two thumbs up!

Friday, May 7, 2010

Recipe Review-Spicy Oven Baked Sweet Potato Fries

Ingredients


2 sweet potatoes
2 Tbsp Cumin
1 Tsp Chili Powder OR Cayenne Pepper
1-2 Tsp salt
4 Tbsp olive oil

Directions


Preheat oven to 350. Peel and wash potatoes. Cut into tiny slices or you may prefer wedges. Combine olive oil and other ingredients in large bowl. Toss with potatoes until coated. Place on baking sheet and bake for 30 minutes. Serve with catchup or sauce of your choice.

Delicious! I tried tiny fries, but even though I baked them for longer than instructed they still didn’t turn out very crispy. I think next time I will try wedges since I know they will be soft anyway and the flavor of the potato was so yummy. Beware, these were super spicy. You might like to replace the chili powder or cayenne pepper with a milder seasoning of your choice.

I've always wanted to try making these because the two times I've had them at restaurants I've loved them. We give them 4 thumbs up!

Tuesday, May 4, 2010

More celebration!

First of all, aren't these tulips in front of our house pretty?! They actually look even lovelier now. Just wait until that bush comes out!


The girls came down for sushi last weekend! Steph, Grace and Tiff, aren't they the best. Missing were Sar, Sar and Kimmie! They were all there in my heart, though :) Check out that sushi boat!




Love these girls! Thanks for a great celebration!

An open letter to the school district

 So the plan for school this year, at the K-5 level, was pretty complicated to begin. (the plan was made after lots of meeting and planning ...