sanity

They played happily for over an hour and asked to go in the next day. I know I will have to limit how often I do it or it won't be "fun" but it gave me the sanity I needed to get dishes done, supper cooked and the triple bonus was it kept their toys contained. (It actually forced them to play with them too!)

facebook and a few random thoughts

Just thought I'd let you know that I'm on facebook now. It's more for my family who is addicted and continued to harass me until I finally decided to cave... so in case you're interested you can request to "be my friend". I just posted a very corny video I made of Wendell and me on youtube which is attached to my facebook page. So here I am going all technical on everyone... I hope I don't start texting on a regular basis... that will be the end of me.



Anyways.. the new year is coming. Have you thought of your goals for the next year? Me neither but I do think it's a good idea to reflect on the past year and to think of what's coming. I'm pretty sure I'll be doing at least one if not two triathlons next year. I didn't think I could do a sprint triathlon and it was actually pretty easy.. so now I wonder if I should challenge myself to a olympic distance? I'm not a person to want to go faster so improving my time just doesn't really motivate me. It might depend on schedules as I don't plan to spend my whole summer training for a race. I do have another goal to drag one person along to a 5k to kick start them into exercising and then another person to a triathlon. I have some people in mind for each but neither has fully committed... plus it's a ways off to think about. Spiritually? I need to think of that one.. I think a good place to start exploring my "issues" and trying to tackle them. Like my disappointment with God.. and continue to read and learn from the book I've been reading. I hate when I complain about the same things over and over; and when I become a stereotype. So I guess I might be working on that... becoming the opposite of certain areas. One example of that is that I don't want to be a "nag" to my husband but I also want and need him to fulfill his duties around the house. So we need to find a balance with that.. but in the end, I don't want to be that stereotype.



One last thought. Today is another Turkey day. Yep, I'm roasting another turkey. I even got a giant roaster pan last night from Target so I'm excited to see what happens. Then I'm making a dinner for a family Christmas that is on Friday. I'm also making homemade caramel out of sweet and condensed milk. Yum, Yum! I'll let you know how it all turns out.



See you on facebook and Happy New Year!

Let it snow, let it snow, let it snow...

Wow... I'm not sure how much snow we have but.. it's A LOT! So since it was warm (or should I say not freezing cold) outside, I took the kids outside to play. Harlie is still a little unsure of what she likes.. one minute she likes the sled and the next she doesn't. One thing for sure is she doesn't like doing a face plant in the snow. Wendell however, love, love, LOVES the snow! He likes to sled, "dig", or just watch life go on outside (like plowing, talking to neighbors, or the snow blower down the road). Luckily, our neighbor has a plow and he plows our alleyway which creates this mini mountain in our back yard, perfect for sledding or looking around like you're at the top of the mountain. So here are some pictures of our fun today.

On a more important note, today is Christmas Eve and the time of year has come to celebrate Jesus' birthday. Yep, that's how we say it around here. Recently I have been reading a book called "Disappointment With God" and I'm reading about how all through history there has been disappointment with God. In the Old Testament there always seems to be a barrier between a Holy God and very unholy people. After many years of silence from God, something very special happened, Jesus was born... so why is that special? Because for the first time God put on human skin. Jesus as a baby meant God felt the cries, pain, hunger, and even disappointment himself just like a human. I don't know how the book will end but for the next few days I hope to think about Jesus and how his birth and life can help me learn about my own disappointment with God. Anyways, great book... good thoughts. I hope all of you take a moment to reflect on Jesus' birthday and what makes it special to you. So I leave you with a jingle mix: Happy Birthday to you, Happy Birthday to you, Happy Birthday dear Jesus! Let it snow, let it snow, let it snow! : ) Merry Christmas to all and to all a good night!

4 Years Old!

What a day for our little boy... I still can't believe how fast time flies.. now that we are out of the terrible two stage... he's now in the fantastic four stage where most of the time, he's really fun to be around.

So here he is with the hat they made him at preschool and him showing us how old he is.






















Here is Mr. Wendell with the birthday cake that grandma made him. I made a cake today for preschool so I let her make one for our birthday party with the grandparents.




















Wendell got a lot of great gifts.. one was binoculars. His other favorites are a camera, a pillow pet, and a firetruck.

Wendell started the day at preschool where I stayed along as a helper. It was great seeing all the great and creative things he gets to do at school. Then Phil joined us about 1/2 through the morning while my parents watched Harlie (as she napped : ). After preschool we went home and Wendell found a surprise, big Grandma and Grandpa (my parents) and Little Grandma and Grandpa (Phil's parents), were there.. and that is what Wendell calls them, not us. We went out to eat at Pizza Ranch then came back for gifts. He finished the day watching Curious George, a DVD he got this past weekend for Christmas.

We had a great day, Happy 4th Birthday Wendell!

Movie Trivia - Rambo

Phil and I have Netflix and every once in awhile we get a classic. Well, after the movie sat around for a few more days than normal, Phil and I both agreed that we weren't so excited to watch the movie and neither of really knew what it was about. I vaguely remember watching one of the Rambo movies when I was a kid but who knows which one I watched. So for fun, I present you with a quiz... testing your own memory and having a little fun.



Keep in mind this is Rambo - First Blood (the first movie).



1. The main them of Rambo is

a. a war movie

b. a gorilla warfare

c. post traumatic stress

d. aliens



2. The movie takes place in

a. China

b. New York City

c. South America

d. Washington



3. Rambo is

a. a veteran

b. a member of the Mafia

c. a marine

d. an assassin



4. Rambo is a

a. a good guy

b. a bad guy

c. a disturbed man



5. Did Heather fall asleep while watching Rambo?

a. yes

b. no



And for fun, I'd like to know one of your favorite old movies and soon I will post the answers along with one of my favorite movies when I was a kid. Good luck!

3 years ago

It was about 3 years ago that I decided to try and lose weight, again. It wasn't the first time I had tried. Almost 100 pounds later (100+ if you count baby Harlie weight) .. it's hard to believe... but then I always find reminders. Like these pants that I found in the garage tucked away for me to someday make a bluejean quilt. These pants aren't even the biggest ones I owned but they are the ones I had left. Sometimes I look at my jeans I wear now and think they look big.. then I saw these and it puts all things into perspective.

bridesmaids dresses

1,2,3,4 ..and one from my own wedding. Yep, I own 5 bridesmaids dresses. I have always thought I would keep them in case I have a girl/girls (or boy) that want to play dress up and lately I've thought, why? 3 of them are so big that I hope they never fit me again.. or any of my children. They are so big that even dress up would be a drag. I thought, when will I ever wear them again? I will probably keep the one from my wedding because (even to this day) I liked them so much and it's fun for memory sake. And the one I wore this last summer would still fit but what ever will I do with it? and then the other three? One of them is really not my style, one is fine but not exactly the kind of dress I would wear anywhere and the last one is really neat and not really a dress but more a very dressy black outfit... but it's from my + size days so I don't plan to wear it again, even for maternity.

So.. any idea as to what to do with the old bridesmaids dresses? Any neat way to reuse them? other than taking them to Goodwill? Maybe save one for Halloween? Have Phil dress drag? : )

brrrr.. a chilly run

Even in the cold temps I guess I am a die hard for running. Phil informed me last night that it was going to be about 0 degree's for our runs this morning. He went first and survived so then I went. I had almost all the gear on. Three shirts (one long sleeved tshirt, a thermal, and a hooded sweatshirt), two pairs of sweatpants, socks, stocking hat, gloves, and my underclothes of course. I did not have an extra pair of socks (which I rarely wear) and my spikes for icy roads. Anyways, lots of layers but I was warm and sweating by the end. But I slowed my mile by almost a minute.. yuck. I blame it on the extra layers.

Tomorrow I'm off to the pool in the morning, that will be much warmer!

and the winner is???

Today I flipped a coin and Sarah won the great prize of a book/CD combo. Thanks to Sarah and Megan for commenting on my blog... even though the rest of you didn't respond I hope everyone took a moment to thank God for all the blessing he gives each of us!

Hope you all had a Happy Thanksgiving!

Christmas is coming soon so stay tuned, I'm thinking of a trivia game for you!

G-day

Yesterday was a big day for me. I tried to make gravy, yep G-day stands for Gravy Day. It's been a long time since I've tried since it's not really a talent of mine but after getting advice from a few people I was up to the challenge again. But before that I want to tell you about another day, that is Turkey Day. As some of you know one of my sisters is due to have twins in a few weeks so I thought I'd make some food for her for when the babies come. When I saw a coupon at Hy-Vee to buy a ham and get a free turkey, I couldn't refuse. So the ham was easy as it was precooked, and no bone. Slice and go. The turkey however was frozen and raw, like most turkeys. This turkey took me for a "cooking" ride. After talking to a few people and hearing "it's so easy" then I was up for the challenge. I could either bore you with all the details or I can bullet the event.. yes, it was an event.

1. Thaw the turkey - this was suppose to take 2-3 days but my turkey liked being frozen so it took 4-5 days. The original cook day was planned for the Friday after Thanksgiving but with it being frozen I decided to wait until Monday after we returned from our holiday travels.


2. Cook the turkey - this was actually pretty easy. I bought a $3 disposable roasting pan as I don't own a big one and did not want to buy one for a possible one time occasion. So I put in the turkey and some water, covered it with foil and baked at about 275 degree's for about 6 hours. I basted it off and on and checked on it but all went pretty well. I kind of had a hard time telling if it was done. I had a meat thermometer but it wasn't working so that didn't help. But they have this plastic thing in the turkey that popped out and I assumed that meant it was done. The thickest part of the turkey was done so I felt safe with the rest of it.

Taaadaaa!

1. Eat the turkey - so as I said I gave most of the meat to my sister but I did keep some for myself as I wanted to try it out in case I wanted to make it again. So the meat part is pretty easy, but then I got advice on what to do with the rest of it. Some of this might gross you out but trust me, it is really good. I took the leftover bones and simmered them in water (about 1/2 the pan) for 2 hours. Drain the leftover water into a bowl and you have homemade turkey broth, which I later made a soup. I will admit I did not eat the giblets and neck, apparently some people love these parts but I declined the delicacy. So onto the grand finale - the gravy! I took the juice out of the roasting pan and put it in a plastic container (after it cooled off) and put it in the fridge. Last night I took the fat off the top and then used the bottom jello-ish stuff to make gravy. And it turned out delish! I won't bore you with the details but if you ever make a turkey and want some ideas then let me know as I'm always happy to share.

For the first time in my life I made one of Phil's favorite meals. Opened faced sandwiches with all the fixin's. I lucked out and had some texas toast on hand, and then did a slice of turkey, a mound of tators, smothered in gravy. And some butternut squash on the side. He said it was one of the best meals I've ever cooked. Yum, yum!

My next challenge: try the same thing only with a whole chicken instead.... I'll keep you posted. Hat's off to gravy day, it was a success!