March in a Nutshell

Well, I'm not sure how this month flew by so quickly, but we are only days away from April.

I'll try to remember a few of the highlights.

The first weekend of the month was Mitch's Pinewood Derby.

It was a LONG derby. 

Sadly, I can't remember what place he came in.

Obviously it was 1st.  I think I would have remembered 1st.

But he had fun and already planning for next years race. 

I had my 36th birthday.

Justin decided that year 36 means you are officially old.

Perhaps I am.  I feel very tired and forgetful these days.

But it was a nice day. 

I had a couple lunches out and some fun gifts. 

I always enjoy my birthday.

Justin had his Kindergarten Screening/Registration.  He was pretty excited.  He did well and is ready to go.  When the teacher asked him if he knew his alphabet he said, "Sure I do."  So she pulled out a paper with them all on there and what did he say?  "Holy Crap!  That's a lot of letters!" and then preceeded to tell her what their names are.

She came out laughing her head off to tell me.  Then she made a note of it for Mrs. Rice (the principle).  When she read it she started laughing and commented that he wasn't as quiet as Mitch or Todd. 

They have to take him, right?  I mean, I pay my taxes and everyting.

And just to be sure that I completely loose my mind this month I've decided to drive the kids to Idaho during their spring break.  Layne can't make it, so it is just me & the kids.  This ought to be interesting.  They always do really well on those long 30 hour drives, so I'm not too worried. 

Although, Justin is.  He is sure that I'm going to get us lost.

I keep showing him that there are only three different roads we have to get on.  It shouldn't be too hard.

I have all sorts of plans.  Visiting as much family as possible, including two little neices we've never met & a brother-in-law we've never met, checking out my mom & dad's new digs, hair appointments, swimming at Green Canyon, lunch with my Granny, my first Hen & Chick's party, Mini Bazaar while it is open (haven't done that in at least 5 years), and several visits to Scotty's to induldge myself in as much Ironport & Cherry pop that my gut can stand. 

I'm sure there is more on my list and more that will be added to my list.  I kind of like to just go with the flow when I'm on vaca.

Like the Ironport, I always pick up some food articles that I can't get here in Ohio.  I think I can understand Aunt Millie (maybe like 2% understand) wanting something and it just isn't around to have.

Oh, for those of you that keep asking about the progress on the house....

I hope to see some of this action when I get back.

Everything is ready to go.  We are just waiting to be able to get out in the field without getting stuck.

This post has been very random.

I know I've missed a ton of stuff because we've been running around like chickens with their heads cut off. 

Winter was so long this year, but the fun stuff has started up again:

kite flying

baseball

spring flowers

green grass

So all is good.......

Happy Easter to everyone! 

New Ideas Needed

Cute kitty found here.

Hi everyone.

Once again, we are snowed in.  I think the kids are finally at a point where finding something interesting to do (besides practice piano, work on scouts, read, and clean) is getting harder to think of.

Today the boys have finally pushed their limits on what they could find to do.  Years ago their dad taught them the fun trick of spraying Pledge on the floors to make them really slick and having sock sliding contests, but today they decided to include the cat. 

She really didn't enjoy it as much as they did.  As a matter of fact, when she finally got away from them she disappeared for hours.  We did find that cats do slide pretty good though.

I L.O.V.E. Layne

Each year I get beautiful

red tulips from my sweetie.

Each year they make me happy.

Happy Valentine's Day

Global Warming? Where?

I've NEVER believevd in global warming

*but if I did*

I would have some questions.

Why is it so dang cold?

Why is there so much snow?

Where the heck is the school bus?

I do admit, the snow is breathtakingly beautiful.

But I don't like driving on icy roads and the kids haven't gone to school for A VERY LONG TIME.

I love him, I love him not

Do you have a food that you just can't love?

Once a year, or so, I like to try foods that I know I don't like.  Just to make sure I haven't change my mind. 

(I didn't want to miss out on something good.)

The other day I noticed that there are a few things that USED to be on that list that I can't hardly get enough of now. 

Isn't it funny how your tastes change?

*I've changed my mind on* 

Sweet Potatoes

I love to roast these in the oven with a little bit of olive oil, drizzle of honey, and salt & pepper. 

Beets

I still don't love the greens, like Layne does, but in the past few years I've really grown to like the beet.  Pickled, steamed, or fresh.

Relish

I'm not sure this counts because I never hated relish, but I could totally go without and rarely used it.  Until my mom gave me a recipe from her friend Alice Worthen.  So worth making.

1/2 way to a Strawberry 

I'm not able to go 100% on this pretty little fruit.  It has to be fresh and in a perfect world it is eaten with other things.  But I still can't stand them smashed, squishy, or thawed out.

Fried Green Tomatoes

I found that you really need to have the right recipe for these.  After I found out how I liked them they are now on the new list.

*I still don't love and may never will*

Venison

Brussels Sprouts

Chili Beans

Baby Formula (j/k)

Collard Greens
Lamb

Goat

Mussels, Clams, Snails

Chocolate Chewies

Homemade Oreo's

Obviously this isn't a complete list. I'm guessing that for some items, if they were prepared differently/correctly I would like them. Or at least not gag on them.

But some of them I will never like and that is okay.

That said, there are so many things I haven't yet tried. 

So I don't know if I never liked them or not. 

I guess that is the fun part.

Try something new this week...

I dare ya. 

Little of this ... Little of that

I never did show or say anything about Christmas.

We had a wonderful day.

It had a couple of firsts.

*First time in 14 years that we were in a different house.

*First time we opened gifts in the dark.  (High winds took out our power till 10:30 am)

*First time it was all cleaned up before 11:00 a.m.!  (We had the missionaries over for breakfast.)

This took a load off!

Layne and I finally decided to tackle the file cabinet the other night.

Looks like we put that off a little longer than we should have.

Layne had a business trip to a city just south of Nashville this week.  Judd and I decided to join him.  It rained and rained (and thundered really big) the whole time we were there, but that didn't stop us from finding some GREAT food.

We now L.O.V.E. Sarge's Shack, just off of exit 14 &  I-65, in Frankewing, TN.

I'm guessing there is more to Frankewing than the three little stores and one motel on the side of road,  BUT that wouldn't even matter because all you need is Sarge's Shack.

Here is my review:

House Dressing:  ROCKS
Ribs:  ROCKS

Fried Green Tomatoes:  ROCKS

Everything thing else we ate that night:  ROCKS

I told Layne that we needed to plan that trip to TN that we've always talked about, just so we can get back to Sarge's for a couple of meals.  He totally agreed!

*I loved it so much I wrote a poem*

Thanks to all at Sarge's Shack. 

100% sure that we will be back.

(Ya, the eight hour drive, in heavy rain the whole time, is starting to show.  I'll go to bed now.)