Onions

Growing up my dad would tell me, his picky eater, that life would be much easier if I learned to like onions. 

I never did.

I was the girl that would pick out all of the teeny-tiny pieces of zucchini out of my mom’s zucchini casserole.  And, I wouldn’t touch anything that had an onion, mushroom, cucumber, tomato (ugh, tomatoes!), peppers, lettuce or squash in it. 

Basically, I would eat carrots. If they had ranch.  But if you cooked them?  No way.  Put them in cake?  Even worse.

Luckily, for me, tastes change.  My tastes have changed dramatically over the last ten years.  Now?  I love salad.  At first, I could only eat them with ranch dressing and lots of croutons.  These days, I’ll eat them with different dressings and I don’t often put croutons on.  I’ll eat them with carrots, ham, eggs…I even had one a few weeks ago with nuts and strawberries – seriously, the best salad ever.  I’ll eat cooked carrots, and I like onion rings.

I still don’t eat tomatoes unless they are in the form of ketchup, spaghetti sauce or pizza sauce.  I just can’t get over the smell of tomato breath.  Please, stay away from me if you’ve just eaten a tomato.    I also don’t eat cucumbers.  I tried one a few weeks ago.  No thanks.  I haven’t tried a mushroom in twenty five years.  I can’t get past the mushrooms that grow in the grass. 

My WW leader gave me a yam a couple of weeks ago.  She challenged me to bake it, then, squeeze some fresh lime over the top and sprinkle on some pepper.  We cooked it up and served it with dinner and…I kind of liked it. 

I was thinking yesterday that life would be easier if I liked onions.  After all, you find onions everywhere. 

So last night, I made sweet and sour chicken.  The recipe called for one green pepper, one onion, pineapple, and carrots. I cut the peppers and onion up smaller than I normally would and…

…I ate them!

Granted, they were covered in sweet and sour sauce, but I ate them.  And they were good!

I’m sure that I’m a ways away from having sautéed onions on my steak, but it’s a small step.

Now, if I could just get the 9-year-old and the 5-year-old to believe Grandpa’s wisdom ~ Life is easier if you like onions.

Ice Day

We had snow flurries last night.  Combined with 30 mph wind, it was quite a sight to behold.  My youngest took full advantage – grabbed his sweatshirt, cowboy boots and one-size-fits-all gloves and headed out to play.  Not long after, it started to be ice pellets which is, I guess, called freezing rain.  At some point in the night, it turned to rain but was still very cold so we woke up this morning to icy sidewalks, windshields and roads.  Which means:

No school today!

We’re had ourselves a lazy morning with Garfield being streamed through the Wii.  All my kids love to sit and read Garfield books and Calvin and Hobbes books.  By 2:00 the temperature had raised to the 50’s and it’s raining.  

One of the things I miss most about living in Utah (other than family and friends) is snow.  I love, love, love the snow. I love to watch it snow.  I love to shovel snow. I love to drive in snow. I love to play in snow.  And, I really love the memories I have of snow.  The memory of my oldest shoveling the sidewalk with me.  Making snow men with my oldest and my daughter.  Going sledding and having my southern born daughter want to be back in the warm car after about ten minutes.  I remember going cross country skiing with my dad, sister and brother.  I remember building forts with my brother and shoveling all the snow to one corner of the yard so we could have our own sledding hill.

And of course, Utah has been having some of the snowiest winters in years since we moved away.  Sigh.

I wonder if now that I’ve lived where it rains all winter if I would still like the snow if I lived in it.  Time changes us. 

For those of you living where the snow is, do me a favor:

Throw a snowball or three, make a snow angel and try to catch a snowflake on your tongue.  Isn’t the feeling of the flakes hitting your face amazing? Then go inside and wrap up in a blanket and watch the snow shimmer in the moonlight while you enjoy a cup of hot chocolate.  With some mini marshmallows and a mini candy cane.   

Monday Afternoon Cocoa

(From January 2010)

I’m sitting here listening to my daughter cough while she rests on the couch.  I can hear the Judd’s playing on the kitchen radio and the sun is shining straight into this room.  It’s warm and bright.  And makes me think of spring (even though we didn’t get winter yet – don’t get me started on the lack of snow this year). 

I’m helping with the school book fair again this year.  We had our first planning meeting this morning and realized that it is in six weeks.  It happens to be the same week as my daughter’s birthday so in six weeks she will be eight years old.  That is totally unreal.  Time to start planning for her baptism, and a birthday party.  Any fun ideas for a girl party?  I’m kind of thinking an evening party with jammies, pizza, movies…maybe decorate pillow cases or jean pockets into purses or something.  She wants to invite seven girls.

Then, a week and a half later my oldest child will be ten years old.  Any ideas for a boy party?  I think that he will want to invite four or five kids.  He’s into video games so I’d kind of like to set up a gaming tournament or something.

I’ve always told my daughter that she can have her ears pierced when she is eight.  Bryan would like her to wait until she is twenty-eight.  Hard to believe it’s almost time for her to be eight and have ears pierced and go to activity days at church and be baptized and…  I feel old today.

I’ve been busy doing hair this month.  I only did a couple cuts in December so everyone is playing catch up now.  It’s nice though. I enjoy it quite a bit and I miss having the room for a salon in the house.

The laundry is going and the kitchen is most of the way clean.  It’s probably time for me to get up and finish that. 

What’s happening at your house today?

Ear Update

I took my youngest into the ENT doctor this week.  They didn’t do another hearing test, but a test that blows a puff of air into the ear and measures the movement of the ear drum.  His ear drum doesn’t move at all (it should) which means that there is a fluid build up behind the ear drum. 

Interestingly enough, the ENT thinks that the eczema that my son deals with could be related to this fluid as well as any snoring that he might do. 

The treatment options include: A) Waiting to see if the fluid goes away; B) Treating it with asthma/allergy medication which sometimes helps the fluid drain; C) Draining the fluid out and putting in tubes; and D) Removing the adenoids which are behind the tonsils and typically disappear in the teen years.

The doctor felt that if the fluid were to go away on it’s own that it would have happened by now.  So, we are treating it with medication for now.  He will do one week of medicine and then after another week we will go back in to see if it has made any difference.  If it has, we will either continue on treatment or possibly continue with tubes anyway.  If it has made no difference, we will decide between tubes and the adenoid removal. 

I have been asked if he has had a lot of ear infections.  Honestly, I don’t know. I wonder if he has had more than we have realized.  He hasn’t had many that we know of, but the ones that he has had we didn’t know he had until his ear drum ruptured (which has happened several times). He would never complain of ear pain and then suddenly, his ear would be oozing greenish goo.  (Nice image, huh. You’re welcome.)

Not too exciting but I thought I’d give an update anyway. We’re praying the medicine will do the trick!

Hoping to remember…

 

…that she loved to climb on the couch with me to watch my favorite movie: Seven Brides for Seven Brothers.

…that she always wanted to help in the kitchen.  Peeling eggs and carrots are her favorite ways to help.  She’s a pro at toast, ramen and macaroni and cheese too.

…that she wrote a letter to her new primary teacher.  In it she told how she loves to go to church and hopes that her teacher loves to go to church too.  She also hopes that her new primary teacher will like her.

…that when she was seven, she got up in testimony meeting and bore the sweetest testimony on her own twice.   I love how she knows that God loves her and that we are a family forever.

…the smile in her eyes after she has practiced the piano.

…how she found an Albertson’s ad and circled all the meat that was on sale. (and the pickles).  She wrote “Buy these” on the ad and left it on her dad’s desk.  She loves meat.

…how she wore her dad’s shoes out to get the mail with the big umbrella.

Ten Best Photos of 2010

For You Capture this week, Beth has challenged us to share of ten favorite photos from 2010. Here are mine:

I wish there wasn’t that shadow across her face.  Otherwise it would be perfect. 

She’s so beautiful.

 

The Portland LDS temple

At Punchbowl Falls

 

My favorite flower

 

At the flag plant with the cub scouts

Watching a barge go up a lock.  Love how they lined up from tallest to shortest.

 

Rain makes for great hair-dos

Love this boy

Toy Story birthday

Baby nephew’s feet

As I look back I feel a little bad that my favorite photos from 2010 don’t include my oldest child.  He doesn’t so much want to have pictures taken, but still.  For 2011, my goal is to have more favorite photos of my family.  I want to use Manual mode with my camera too.

Head over to I Should Be Folding Laundry to play along.

This makes me laugh…

The kindergarten classes made these Santa’s that were displayed in the classroom for the Christmas party.  They make me smile.  Today, my youngest brought his home and it makes me laugh:

Is Santa happy?

Gotta love kindergarten art.

2011 Word & Goal

In 2010, I wrote about my resolutions here.  I did okay.  Not great – far from perfect, but okay.  And I’m totally okay with that.  On to this year:

I have never thought that I would be one of the One Little Word people. You know, the people that choose one word for the year.  A word that keeps them focused and on track.  I’ve admired people that have been able to do it, but it hasn’t been me.

I’ve got a couple of smaller goals that I want to work on through the year, and one big resolution.  The resolution is kind of big (to me) so it’s my only resolution for 2011.  Here it is:

Become a finisher.

Basically, I want to finish what I start.  I want to put away the laundry and leave empty baskets in the laundry room after a folding marathon.  I want to wipe down the counter and sweep the floor after the dishwasher is loaded and the pans are washed when dinner is done.  I want to finish the quilts that I have started.  I want to finish the things I start. Too often, I let myself get distracted by something else and I have so many things left unfinished.  Can you say ADD?  I don’t know if I have it, but I do wonder. 

So, to go along with this resolution one word has been coming to my mind:

Finish

So there you have my One Little Word for 2011.  I’m thinking of hanging it on my fridge, taping it to the bottom of the laundry basketball and putting it on my sewing machine.  And any other places of inspiration.

Do you do resolutions?  How about One Little Word?  What is yours?  Any advice for me on mine?  Are you good about finishing the laundry completely?

Best of 2010

Over the summer we had a family reunion at Lake Owyhee, Oregon.  My whole family was there – parents, sisters, brother, nieces, nephew, brother-in-law, husband, kids – and it was so great.  We went boating, swimming, tie-dyed tee-shirts, saw wild life, saw amazing sunrises and sunsets and camped out all together.  It was so great. Definitely a highlight of our year. 

 

Portland to Coast 2010.  This was the 25th anniversary of the walk and my second time doing it.  I was on a team with three of my cousins and my mother-in-law.  It was great fun.  I wasn’t as prepared as I would have like to have been though.  I had been walking and was in pretty good shape when I got a nasty staph infection in my leg.  It was painful so for the six weeks or so before PTC, I didn’t walk much.  I’ve never taken so much medicine (or been so grateful for it).   The other best part of this is that Bryan and the kids, and his sister, her husband and nephew came out to meet us at the finish line and we stayed with his mom in Cannon Beach for a few days.  It was so relaxing and fun.  We walked on the beach, explored the cute town, rode bikes in on the sand, and explored the tide pools.

Time Out For Women, Portland.  I absolutely loved this.  It was the perfect time out and I came back inspired, uplifted and ready to be mom.  We heard several great speakers – Michael McLean, Mark Mabry (photography), Ardeth Kapp, Hillary Weeks, Michael Wilcox, Emily Watts, Merrilee Boyack, Kris Belcher, and Mariama Kallon  . My cousin and I hope to get to Seattle in April ‘11.

All three kids started school in September.  With the youngest in kindergarten it’s a welcome break. I’m not sure I’ll feel the same way when all three are gone for seven hours each day.  But for now, I get two and a half hours alone each day.  Since he’s goes to afternoon, Bryan and I try to have a weekly lunch date.  I am also able to help in the 4th grade class twice a month, and the 2nd grade class twice a month. I help in kindergarten once a month.  I also get to run errands alone, watch the occasional episode of Frasier in peace and enjoy some quiet time to get chores done.  I also am able to join WW and go to meetings.

I took a break from the blog.  Honestly, when I quit I really thought I was done with it.  It didn’t take long until I really missed it though.  Hitting publish on that first post back was almost scary.  I was worried that I would get to “into” blogging again, but I haven’t. I think I’ve found a pretty good balance, and the few months off was really good for me.

 

Summer road trip – the kids and I took a two week summer road trip.  We went to Salt Lake, then on to Vegas for two nights and up to Ely, Nevada for a day, then on to Nephi, Utah for one night, back up to Provo for a few nights, to Orem for one night and then on to Jackson Hole, Wyoming for a couple nights.  We went swimming, played, walked, saw movies, went river rafting, played games, visited old (and new) friends and I drove more than 3,000 miles by myself.  As much fun as it was, though, I missed Bryan terribly and have decided that we wont be doing another two week trip with out him.

My parents came to visit after Christmas.  They came for six days and we stayed up way too late every night, we played lots of games, went bowling, saw True Grit, went swimming, ate good food, chatted, exercised and enjoyed each other.  I love my parents and I love when they come to visit.

I’m betting that there are other things that I will think of later and think “oh! I should have included that!”, but for now this is it. 

2010 was a good year.   

Friends

I think that people that don’t blog would think it was weird if I said that i have had a lot of blessings from blogging.  But, other bloggers get it. 

The biggest thing that I have been blessed with is amazing friends.  Remember my post a little bit ago about books?  Well, one of those amazing friends sent me The Book of Awesome as a happy new years surprise.

It totally made my day!  What a sweet surprise.  Julie, you totally rock. Thank you so much.  For the book, for your blog, and for being such a good friend.

Over the summer, we went to Julie’s house.  The kids still talk about it and ask when we can go back.  Next time, we’re planning on more than a few hours because that time absolutely flew by and it was such fun to be together with such great women. 

  Me, Julie P, Cheryl (and darling boy) and Michelle ~ Summer 2010

Big Plans

I had such big plans for the end of the year here.  I was going to do a few different Best in 2010 posts, but the weather was good enough that my parents were able to come up and spend a few days with us!  So we are busy enjoying them and keeping the kids happily entertained until school starts again. 

Instead I’ll share this thought that makes me smile (I’m not sure I’m getting it exactly right, but you get the idea):

“An optimist stays up until midnight to welcome in the new year.  A pessimist stays up to make sure the old year leaves.”

I hope you have an optimistic New Year!

Best Books of 2010

In 2010, I read 55 books. 

Here are the books that I gave 5 stars on Goodreads:

A Sweetness to the Soul by Jane Kirkpatrick – This was a book group pick and it’s not one that I would have picked but I ended up really enjoying it.  It was about a couple that settled the area that we live in.

The Help by Kathryn Stockett – If you haven’t heard of this book, you live under a rock.  I think most people either love it or hate it.  I was fascinated.  I’m not sure how I feel about them making it into a movie though.

The Chosen One by Carol Lynch Williams – This is a young adult book about polygamy.  It is about a girl who is trying to escape that life.

Hotel on the Corner of Bitter and Sweet by Jamie Ford – I’m not sure I remember this book except that it was bitter and sweet.  If I remember correctly, it’s about a man of Japanese descent who lost the woman he loved.

The Last Song by Nicholas Sparks – The book was about 100x better than the movie and the movie was written first, which I think is interesting.  My favorite Nicholas Sparks books are the ones about young people (A Walk to Remember being one of my other favorite books.)

Band of Sisters by Annette Lyon – This book is about five women who have to deal with deployment and the military.  I really enjoyed it.

When You Reach Me by Rebecca Stead – This is another YA book, and it’s kind of fantasy or science fiction type book that kept me thinking.

Positively by Courtney Scheinmel – This is one I saw at the library and picked up.  It’s about a young girl that has to deal with being HIV positive. It was a heart wrenching book.

and we’ll end with my favorite book of 2010: The Book of Awesome: Snow Days, Bakery Air, Finding Money in Your Pocket, and Other Simple, Brilliant Things by Neil Pasricha – I think this book started as a blog where Neil talked about the little things in life that are awesome and it made it’s way to being a book.  I would love to own a copy of this book to keep out all year long.  I smiled the whole way through the book.  Have you read it?  If not, put it on hold at the library and get your hands on it asap.

What were your favorite books of the year?