The Larabian Times

Strawberry Poppyseed Salad

2008-07-15T23:35:00.002-06:00

O-M-G!! This is the most delicious salad. After 3 hours at the park and zipping by the library to return books, we went to Panera Bread for lunch. I had heard about this salad during a commercial on the radio (and was drooling afterwards) so was delighted to see it available. I got the pick two and had the half portion of the strawberry poppyseed salad and half of a chicken salad sandwich. Ohhh so yummy. The star of the meal was definitely the salad. Just picture it, taste it...crisp romaine lettuce, strawberries, blueberries, mandarin orange sections, pineapple chunks all drizzled in a wonderfully sweet & tart fat-free poppyseed dressing. After tasting it, Morgan told me that I just *had* to figure out how to make that dressing. LOL! Seriously, it was that good. Alex was even eating the pieces of fruit from the salad WITH dressing on them.

Ok, I was just about to sign off when Kali the Daring decided to scare the crap out of us. She likes to get on top of the cabinets in the kitchen (up on the plant shelf near the ceiling) which is normally no big deal. Just now she stepped off the cabinet onto the curtain rod over the french doors...all 4 feet!! It is a cylindrical rod! A wooden dowel...and it is made to roll in the holders. Egads!! Corey jumped up and retrieved her from her "high wire act". Man, if it isn't the kids it is the pets.

Night!

It has begun...

2008-07-14T19:51:00.002-06:00

Corey is officially on vacation for the next 11 days. Woo Hoo! Tomorrow he gets to hang out with us as we go to the park to meet up with some friends and then to the library...the normal routine for me and the kids on Tuesdays. Then on Wednesday we will pick up our CSA share (share it among family & friends since we will be heading out of town), taking Bella & her stuff to my mom's house, picking up the rental car, taking the kids to their bowling league, packing & such. ACK!

Right now we are all just veggin' out. Corey is enjoying some sports bonding time with Morgan... they are watching the Home Run Derby. :-)

Early Thursday morning we are heading out for Orlando. Arriving the first day of the family get together will be the 4 of us, my dad & stepmother, and my half-sister & her 2 kids. I know on Friday my oldest stepbrother, his wife & 2 girls will be joining us...bringing us up to 13 people. At some point another stepbrother, his wife (and maybe son) will be joining us, possibly my uncle (my dad's younger brother) and maybe my half-brother. My dad was saying we might be up to 18 for the weekend. Woo! This is going to be fun! Here is the house that my dad rented for all of us http://www.tinkerbellslantern.com . Pool and spa...here I come!

Corey, Alex and I will be leaving on Tuesday to head home. Morgan is staying and will be going on an adventure with my dad, stepmother and her 11yo cousin. They are all taking a driving trip out to CA and back over 2 1/2 weeks. Morgan is *so* excited! She'll be keeping a journal and taking pictures to share.

pickles, peppers, pickled peppers?

2008-07-03T12:23:00.005-06:00

Yesterday we did our first canning projects. I made bread & butter pickles (yum) and Corey made pickled hot peppers (yuck). We are very proud of ourselves. :-) We had decided to start canning and preserving so that we could make the most of our CSA shares. Some weeks we get a ton of one thing. Our options are to eat it all in one week (can make you sick of something), can or preserve it for later, share it with others, or let it go to waste. We have shared with others and really wanted to do some canning and preserving. Here are pictures of my bread & butter pickles at the start & then after canning.

I got 4 pints of bread & butter pickles and Corey got 2 pints of pickled peppers. We are happy with the results so far. Next we will buy a pressure canner so we can do low-acid foods. You can only do high-acid stuff in the hot water bath method.

If you have a favorite recipe for canning or preserving we'd love to hear it.

Iron Chef version of Chocolate Cake

2008-06-27T09:19:00.001-06:00

Yesterday Morgan and I made a delicious chocolate cake with a secret ingredient, or Iron Chef ingredient as the kids call it. It turned out so moist and scrumpscious. We had my mom and brother over for dinner last night and we told them there was a secret ingredient in the cake and they spent a good while trying to guess what it was. Some examples of their guesses are: sour cream, mayonnaise, tomato juice, ketchup, prunes, baby food, and applesauce. And applesauce was in there but it wasn't a secret so that didn't count. LOL! After dinner, I told them that we couldn't tell them the secret ingredient until after everyone had taken at least one bite. This is when they did most of their guessing.
Alex finally was allowed to reveal the secret ingredient...beets!! They were shocked. I know, I know, some of you are too.
We had received beets from the farm in our CSA share and I didn't know what to do with them. None of us were keen on eating them which was based on only trying them once and only as pickled beets. But I knew we didn't want them to go to waste. I remember reading somewhere that you could put pureed beets into chocolate cake. I did some online searching and found a recipe that sounded really good and had great reviews. So...printed it and started working on it. We used all the beets and it made a huge cake. I'm going to link directly to the cake recipe as it is NOT my recipe and I want to make sure the lady gets her credit. Chocolate Cake with Pureed Beets and Chocolate Cream Cheese Frosting
Honestly, you can NOT tell that the beets are in there. The result, IMO, is a cake that is a cross between a red velvet cake and a chocolate cake. It is a mild chocolate flavor and despite the amount of sugar is not overly sweet at all. Try it...it is delicious! Enjoy.

Sick Bunny

2008-06-26T22:20:00.000-06:00

Parker Bunny aka PB is one sick bunny. He has been having eating, well more like non-eating, issues for about 1-2 weeks. He won't eat for a couple days and then just as we start to get worried he will start eating again and keep repeating this cycle. Well a few days ago he stopped eating again, snubbed his nose at his yogurt drop treat (which he has been known to draw blood while snatching it from you). Then he seemed wobbly or off-balance when moving around his pen. He has a 4'x4' pen down in Corey's office. Yesterday morning Corey called me down there because he couldn't hop out of his litter box but rolled himself over and then couldn't really upright himself without a lot of work. And we noticed his head was leaning/tilting/turning to the right. I called the vet and got him in an hour later. By this time his left eye was dilated, not focusing and was rapidly moving back & forth in a pattern that is referred to as nystagmus. The vet checked him out and diagnosed him with torticollis and it is caused by a bacterial infection in the brain. This is causing inflammation & thus all the problems. He is on an antibiotic but the bacteria causing this is a big yucky one and the antibiotics might not work at all, might not work soon enough, or might work just right. If they work he might have lingering problems depending on if & how much damage is done by the inflammation. So far he is accepting his medication...not easy giving a small bunny medication via syringe.

Busy?

2008-06-23T22:43:00.002-06:00

It feels like we've been very busy lately. We are all bowling and Corey & I have bowled on different days so we could bowl with our friends. They've had to change up their schedule due to some previous plans with their boys. Last Tues we bowled and I did better than I usually do. Woo!

My mom is doing pretty good. The kids and I see her on Tuesdays when we go to the library together. She qualified for unemployment and is trying to make the best of it right now and actually enjoy her extra time with the kids.

This past weekend we helped with a local homeschooling expo. Even the kids helped by drawing tickets for me to announce door prize winners. We sold some curriculum and books that we were done with as well as some we would never use. We made a little money so that was nice. Now to finish up our current stuff and order the next levels.

Corey and Morgan are taking guitar lessons from a friend. They've had 2 lessons so far and are enjoying it. Morgan figured out how to play one of the chords all on her own and she's very proud.

We've been doing a lot of activities through our library. They are offering some really fun programs this summer for the older kids. They are doing the summer reading, attending the school-age book time, and the pre-teen/teen program as well. Morgan is taking a 3 day digital photography workshop through the library and our local arts guild. She has one more day to go and she's loving it. She even showed me how to do some stuff with *my* camera! :-)

Our garden is growing....we have some little green tomatoes growing as well as flowers on the cantaloupe plants and the beans. I'm hoping for some peas too but I'm not seeing anything yet. We are enjoying the heck out of our CSA shares. We just bought the ingredients so I can make some bread & butter pickles. My first canning experiment.

We are getting closer to vacation time, July 16th. I think we are all looking forward to seeing family and (hopefully) friends. My dad and stepmom wrote us with an interesting proposal. They will be leaving after the family gathering and heading out to CA for some visiting and then heading back through CO and back home. They want to take their 2 youngest granddaughters....Morgan & her cousin, Josie. Both sets of parents have said okay. Morgan is ecstatic! She's ready to start packing. LOL! They will be gone from July 23rd to August 9th. I warned Morgan tonight that since she will be gone when we restart school that I will be requiring some work from her. Right now it is a detailed journal and pictures. :-)

Exactly!!

2008-06-11T09:48:00.003-06:00

Spread the word! Here is the website http://imvotingrepublican.com/ :-)

How does your garden grow?

2008-05-26T22:26:00.002-06:00

We have officially started our garden for this year. :-) Yea! We've had asparagus since last year. It grew this year and we had some stalks but they are still tiny. They flowered so we cut them back today while we were out working on the garden. We added soil to our garden, as it is a raised bed and needed more. We then put in several plants that we bought yesterday: cantaloupe, orange/yellow/red bell peppers, sweet basil, and tomatoes. We planted seeds for the following: corn, bush beans, peas, pumpkins and cucumber. We have one cherry tomato plant and that went in a clay pot on the deck. Our compost pile seems to be coming along nicely too. :-)

Hopefully we will be enjoying the fruits...and veggies....of our labor soon.

Morgan's brush with fame

2008-05-22T14:51:00.002-06:00

Miley Cyrus/Hannah Montana is filming her newest movie here in middle TN. Her home is between us and Nashville and they are filming several parts of the movie here in our town. Yesterday I took Morgan downtown to see if we could see them filming. Well, we could. :-) We watched about 20 minutes of filming and then Miley & Emily (plays Lily) got a break and came over to sign autographs. We got pictures and autographs from both of them. It wasn't too crowded but the people that were there "swarmed" when the 2 girls came over. Both Miley & Emily were very sweet to all the girls. Morgan was thrilled and was quite squeally and bouncy afterwards. The whole thing was about 25 minutes and then we headed off to bowling.

Today she begged me to take her up there again and I consented, figuring this isn't something that happens that often. We picked up a friend & took her too. Well, don't you know that yesterday was our lucky day. Today they spent a lot of time under the time looking at previous scenes, filming scenes with extras and then took a loooong lunch break. The girls were disappointed but I explained that this is how it is on "star stalking" (as Corey puts it)...sometimes you get lucky and sometimes you don't.

I am uploading the pictures now and will put a photo link over on the sidebar ====>>

Farm Fresh!

2008-05-21T20:39:00.002-06:00

There is nothing better than food plucked fresh from the earth. This morning we picked up our 3rd weekly share from the CSA (Community Supported Agriculture). Oh what a bounty and the season hasn't even really picked up yet. Today, in our boxes, we received 2 overflowing pints of strawberries, 2 bundles of spring onions, a huge head of lettuce (speckled butter crunch, I think), green cabbage, a decent head of broccoli, a bunch of radishes (French Breakfast variety),and a bundle of asparagus (oooh yum!!). The past 2 weeks we've also received more strawberries (7 overflowing pints worth), cucumbers, Cherry Belle radishes, speckled butter crunch & red leaf lettuces, spring onions, baby spinach and mustard greens. We also get meat & eggs from the CSA. Today was a chuck roast, chicken breasts, bacon, pork chops and a dozen eggs. The past 2 weeks brought us 2 roasts, pork sausage, chicken quarters, steaks and a dozen eggs both weeks.
All of the food is organic or from Amish Farms (grown/raised organically without being certified). It is truly wonderful. Definitely some of the tastiest food we've eaten. For us this is the best thing since we can't grow it or raise it ourselves. We are really looking forward to the next 23 weeks worth of shares. :-)

Here is a link to the CSA we have joined....http://www.avalon-acres.com/

Wii finally did it

2008-05-15T16:41:00.002-06:00

The lovely stimulus package arrived last Friday. Wii put money into the kids' savings accounts, our accounts, and decided to go ahead with the option wii had been thinking about. Wii gave the kids money to spend together (or much less to spend separately). They first decided to get Guitar Hero for the PS2 and so Corey took them to the store. Turns out that Sony isn't replenishing the stock of GH for the PS2. The kids were disappointed to say the least. Corey was asking the clerk about the Wii and how long it usually took when on the waiting list,etc. He said that he thought he had one in the back if he was interested. After talking to the kids (seriously now) they said yes. I received a phone call from them and received the message via very excited scream "Wii got a Wiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiii!!!" LOL!

Sooo...wii finally bit the bullet and joined the Wii Club! The kids got to stay up late and play a few games. Then Corey and I played bowling for about an hour. Not bad considering I'm sick... coughing my head off & feeling like crapola. Today has been all about trying out the various games and planning for future game purchases.

Spring Sickies

2008-05-13T08:58:00.003-06:00

Well ick! Alex was sick all last week. He had a fever off/on...anywhere from 99-103...and headaches. Then he developed a slight cough & runny nose, neither of which caused him any problem. Then over the weekend all that was gone but his asthma kicked up. So we were doing breathing treatments with him, he coughed half the night and wasn't sleeping very well. Mother's Day was good and he felt better. Morgan started coughing Sunday night...a wet, congested cough. She has it pretty good now. Alex and I started coughing late last night. I am feeling it this morning. Yuck!

I hope the sickies get out of here quick.

Not on the Test

2008-05-07T20:43:00.003-06:00

Just *one* reason to homeschool. :-) You've got to listen to the song. It really does depict the school system today....unfortunately.

http://www.notonthetest.com/

Happy 7th Birthday Alexander!

2008-04-19T22:36:00.002-06:00

Happy, happy birthday my sweet boy!! Can you believe it?? Alex turned 7 today! He is tall, slim, and as busy as ever. He is so smart and does great with his school work. His favorite subjects are math and science (just like his mom & dad). He enjoys our bookclub, the HP Club and homeschool bowling league. He just loves video games and computer games.

I'm not sure where the time has gone and how he has come to be 7 so quickly but here we are. We are looking forward to what the future brings for us with Alex. He keeps us on our toes...still. ;-)

He had a birthday party today with family, friends & neighbors. He asked for an ice cream cake and it was delicious. We got him a Nintendo DS, a couple games and an accessory pack. He also received some pirate stuff from Morgan, Build-A-Bear bucks from Uncle Mikey, a Target giftcard from GC, and money from friends, Grandma & Papa, and Great Grandma L. He was thrilled and can't wait to go shopping. LOL! We cooked out after his party and then he watched a movie. Afterwards I got to have some special birthday snuggles with him while we listened to a book on CD.

Oh my sweet boy...I just can't believe you are 7 already! We love ya sweetie!

Roller Coaster of Spring

2008-04-13T20:52:00.002-06:00

Lately spring has become like a roller coaster at the fair. LOL! We have had some cold days, breezy days, warm days, rainy days, and even snow days. Well, after a couple weeks of going back & forth with rainy days & gorgeous days we are now back to cold days with possible snow! Hello...middle of April?! LOL! Just cracks me up. We've had the windows open & have been enjoying it. Now we have the heat on again because it is supposed to be in the low 30's tonight and tomorrow night with a high only of 40. We will wish for this come the dog days of summer so we had better enjoy it and put it in our memory banks to pull out come August. I'm just glad that we haven't planted anything in the garden yet. Last year we did and bam had a cold spell & lots of little green shoots died. We don't want to go through that again this year.

The Weekend

2008-04-06T22:26:00.003-06:00

Saturday morning we got up early to help Morgan get ready for the parade. We met up with the others and helped unload the horses off the trailer. Then we left Morgan at the line up spot and headed off to find a parking spot and our place to set up chairs to watch the parade. While walking around with Alex before the parade (had to keep him busy) we found some flowers that he insisted we take pictures of.

Aren't they gorgeous? So that was our pretty find on our little walk. We got settled in just as the parade was starting. Lots of mules, wagons, horses,etc.....and FINALLY we see the minis! Beth (the owner) was walking Roo, Morgan was walking Rocky, Madison was walking Cherry Basket and Larissa was walking Tom Thumb. Morgan had a huge smile on her face. At the end of the parade we headed off to pick her up. We got caught in traffic right before picking her up and that took forever. They had managed to take a break, load up the horses, and then start walking towards a friend's trailer (so the minis could be taken home). By the time it was all done she walked about 3 miles. She was proud of herself. :-) Later we took her to GC's house to spend the night. They did some beading and hung out together. Corey and I took Alex to get a movie (1 for him and 1 for us) and had a movie night. Today we did some family bowling and had a good time.

Parade pics are up on the right sidebar. Enjoy.

Rain, Spring and Mule Day

2008-04-05T00:10:00.002-06:00

It has been raining and raining here in TN. Since we had such drought conditions we are still behind on water where it counts (the water table, the lakes & rivers where we get our water,etc). However, for the current year we are ahead. Hopefully when all is said and done we will balance out. With the amount of rain we've been getting some of us are really tired of the gray & wet days.

A positive side to all this rain is that it is making the new life burst forth from all of the plants! We have gone from brown & dead looking to green & fresh looking almost overnight. It is just amazing how one day you can look at a tree and see *nothing* there but brown, wintery branches and the very next day see small green buds ready to pop open and then the next day see freshly opened leaves reaching out to the sun. Spring has come to TN and our April showers will definitely be resulting in some May flowers. No doubt about it.

Mule Day...what is Mule Day? It is a BIG DEAL in Columbia, TN. A whole week is set aside to honor the critters for which it is named. It stems from the days when the farmers would gather for the big mule auction of the year. Mules were very important on the farms and it was an important event. We know have all kinds of competitions, shows, and a parade. People come from all over to participate and watch. Kind of weird....kind of cool. This is just our second year experiencing Mule Day and Morgan will be in the parade. She will be with some fellow homeschoolers and walking a miniature horse (mules, donkeys, horses and floats in the parade). She is very excited about it. She has been working with the miniature horses for a week or so now. I have pictures (click on the link to the right) up and will put more up after the parade.

New pictures up - link on the right sidebar. Morgan & the miniature horses and Alex baking his first loaf of bread.

Earth Hour & E-85

2008-03-30T09:14:00.004-06:00

We participated in Earth Hour 2008 last night. The kids went to bed early, having gotten up way too early yesterday morning, but unplugged their stereos, clocks and night lights before 8pm. Corey and I went through the house and unplugged as many things as we could, turned off those that we couldn't unplug but could turn off. I think the only things left were the refrigerator, freezer, stove & d/w. We lit a few candles and sat at the table talking and playing cards. It was a great hour, actually longer for us, and it took care of one item on Corey's 101 Things to do in 1001 Days list. So that was cool as well. We believe our neighbors across the street participated. They were home, all lights out, including their porch light (usually on). After 9pm the porch light came on. I told my mom about it and asked her to participate....hopefully she did. :-)

Did you participate?

I am ready to go for Earth Hour 2009. Head on over to their website and check it out. Get ready for 2009. Earth Hour

On a related note...while out yesterday we saw something that is new and exciting for us. A Shell gas station, on a busy corner, has a couple of new pumps and a big sign up that it is E-85!! Man, we wish we had a flex-fuel vehicle!! I've checked before and there was no place around that was selling it other than a couple of gov't/military locations. So this is fabulous as far as we are concerned.

Long time no see

2008-03-12T23:16:00.003-06:00

Well, I've been MIA for a while, huh? Sorry about that. Life gets in the way sometimes. LOL! The kids and I are back on track with schooling. We had a little period where we just couldn't get into the swing of things and had to take a step back and take some deep breaths.

Morgan has been really getting into bowling more. She has been in 2 tournaments and has done very well. She just received her plaques for the first one and she's thrilled. We will have to find places to hang them. No plaques for the second tournament but it was state-wide and she did great. She had her best game yet, score of 149, and got a turkey (3 strikes in a row)!! The end of April brings the Tennessee State Championship tournament and we can't wait. She is entering with friends and will be participating in team, doubles and singles just like with the city tournament. We will be travelling to Johnson City, TN (NE corner of TN) for the weekend. She is still very much our history buff and into literature and arts. She has some great friends and seems to have finally settled in good here. Just took a while.

Alex is doing good with his bowling but isn't doing any tournaments yet. He's at the younger level that isn't involved in the tournaments. He has made some good friends and is starting to come into his own. He has started losing teeth, finally, and they are coming out quickly. In a matter of a few months he has lost the 4 front teeth and looks toothless! Oh my gosh, it makes him look like such a big boy now too. :-( He has totally lost all baby/little boy look to him. He is still such a character and loves horsing around with Bella (our puppy), playing computer or video games, bugging his sister and dinosaurs. His favorite school subjects are math and science and he loves doing the Highlights Top Secret Adventures. They come once a month and he is the first to grab them. LOL!

I am keeping busy trying to keep up with the kids & their activities, planning our curriculum choices for next year, making some time for myself (gasp), and spending some quality time with Corey. I am also planning a summer get together for the moms group that I've been a part of since pregnant with Morgan. It will be in the Nashville area and I can't wait. It is a few weeks after we go to Orlando for a family get together with my dad & family in July. We are really looking forward to that one. :-)

We got some snow accummulation last weekend and the kids had time to play in it before it melted. Our first really "good" snow and it occurs in March! LOL! That just comes as such a surprise to me. Oh well. We are now getting some delicious spring weather. I am looking forward to seeing some green again. I like the temps of winter but not the bleak gray & brown of everything. Now to get the yard in shape.

We just finished watching The Queen so I'm off to bed. Just had the urge to post something since it has been so long!

The deliciousness that is BACON

2008-03-03T23:24:00.002-06:00

I really must share this. Corey stumbled upon this site and shared it with me. I am completely taken with the idea and knew I had to post it. I love bacon and I know many others that do. This looked like such a cool thing to do. And I can only begin to imagine all the yummy things that could be tucked inside.

Bacon Cups

Seriously...bacon cups! Even the little bacon bowls look so cute. Ooooh the crispy, smokey deliciousness that is bacon! I think we might have to try these. I know Morgan would have a blast with them. LOL! But first we must get regular bacon in the house because ready-to-eat bacon will *not* work for this. If you try it, let me know how it goes.

Enjoy!

Dad/Grandpa Paul

2008-01-31T12:14:00.000-06:00

HAPPY 60th BIRTHDAY DAD/GRANDPA PAUL!!!

Dad/Grandpa Paul,
We wanted to take this time (and space) to wish you a wonderful 60th birthday. We wish we could all be together to celebrate it. We sent you a special email birthday greeting but then read that internet is down in Saudi Arabia. Hope you get it soon. We love and miss you.

Love,
Kelly, Corey, Morgan and Alex

For Children Lost ~ An Appeal to Mothers

2008-01-25T16:44:00.000-06:00

I am posting this to help spread the word for a friend. A friend of her's is creating a space, a wailing wall, for mothers that have lost a child or children (regardless of age). Please pass along the url to anyone that might be interested. I've never lost a child and I hope I never have to know exactly what that feels like. But I know mothers who have lost a child and I think providing a space that might help any one of them is a wonderful thing.

Here is the link...please pass it along.

For Children Lost ~ An Appeal to Mothers

Earth Hour 2008

2008-01-20T20:30:00.000-06:00

We have decided that we will be participating in Earth Hour 2008 on March 29th. Here is a video about it and a link to the web site. We, all of us, must do something to help slow the rate of global warming. We have done enough to destroy our planet and we must help her start to heal and recover.

Earth Hour 2008

I hope that you will join us.

Absolutely Disgusting & Disturbing!!

2008-01-16T21:49:00.000-06:00

Huckabee wants to *amend* the Constitution to fit "God's standards". HELLO?? This is the most disgusting, disturbing, insane thing I've heard from the GOP camp in a while. Seriously, I realize that a lot of Christians think their beliefs are the ONLY beliefs out there despite the fact that there are numerous religions worldwide. But changing the Constitution to become his religious document will change our whole country...and NOT for the better!

I'm just totally disgusted right now. Here is what I'm referring to: Huckabee: Amend the Constitution

No matter what your religious beliefs are you should be disturbed about this. No one person or group should want to change the Constitution to fit their personal beliefs. What happens if you are Christian but not the "right" kind. What if you are an open-minded Christian? What if you are Jewish? Making changes like this can EASILY slip into other things. What's next?

We should all be VERY afraid of Huckabee!

Happy Yule

2007-12-22T22:09:00.000-06:00

Happy Yule! Blessed Winter Solstice to all. I finished up some last minute shopping this morning... and because I was surrounded by shoppers I did extra shopping. ACK!! I usually don't do that. This afternoon the kids opened their yule gifts. Morgan got a big art set and Alex got wooden Tinkertoys. They were both thrilled. My mom came over and we made the chocolate covered orange creams. Yum! :-)

Tomorrow we are having one of Corey's stepbrothers & his family, my mom and brother over for Christmas dinner. We are really looking forward to it.