Your Stove Sucks lol

I was reading AOL news and found THIS!

It's pretty awesome. It's a space-age stove that looks freaking awesome. Here's the vid:

The Preteen

I knew having preteens would suck mostly because I was such an awful preteen LOL!

I knew it would be even worse since every once and a while there was a biological mother involved who makes me feel like it's her personal mission to make sure I am unhappy.

Boy I couldn't have been more right!!

My beautiful stepdaughter got in giant trouble the Friday we were taking them up to see their biomom. I told her she would be grounded two days but I obviously couldn't ground her while she was at her mother's house so I made the two days after she came back to be her appointed punishment days. She agreed.

Of course now that she actually has to carry the grounding out she has no recollection of either getting in trouble or agreeing to be grounded when she came back!

She actually told me she thinks I'm making the whole thing up! It's ludicrous to the point of being funny!

I told her if she wants I'll keep a little journal of everything she does to get in trouble so she'll remember and she again accused me of making stuff up to put in it. She must not know me at all! I don't lie as a rule. #1 I'm not smart enough to think of good lies and #2 I have such an awful memory I'd forget what I lied about and screw it up with the truth eventually.

It hurts my feelings that she thinks my sole purpose in life is to keep her in trouble 24/7 but we keep trying to help her to make the right decisions. I swear she makes up ways to create drama in her life. But she's a preteen and there's certain things she just has to deal with on her own. After all, when I was a horrible preteen all I wanted was to be left alone so that's what I'll do!

She's probably one of the reasons I'm loosing my hair LOL!

blankaroo

The Mr "Um, I don't want to be a jerk, but shouldn't I have been consulted on the SECOND puppy?"

Me: "Um, I DID talk to you about it for three days."

The Mr: "Well, YA, but you didn't ever tell me your decision."

Me: "Well, YOU said 'I don't care: It's up to YOU,' so I didn't figure you cared and it was up to me."

The Mr (after walking away and pouting trying to think up a reason to say no to the 2nd puppy): "I meant, why didn't you call me and tell me 'hey, there's a new puppy coming to the house?'"

Me: "You told me not to call your office so much because every time I call you have to 'crawl out from under a truck.'"

The Mr......no comment.

Hey, you told me it was up to me and I made the decision. If it doesn't work out she can go back where she came from or I can find a better home for her. Either way, she's better off here keeping my Porkchop entertained than she is in a shelter just hoping somebody might want a puppy someday.

My husband is so funny sometimes!!!

Pork & Puppies

Last night I made the BEST PORK EVER!! The cut was called a center cut loin half or something, and it took three hours to roast! My husband literally dropped this thing in my lap and said "find a recipe for it" but I didn't realize how long it took to cook - so when The Mr called at 2:30 asking me if I had put it in the oven yet I said no.

I did another quick google search but the only recipe I found that I actually had the ingredients for looked boring and -after I made it and rubbed it all over this chunk of raw meat- disgusting, so I didn't save the recipe. And I roasted it.

Then I tasted it.

OMG BEST PORK EVER!!! Now I have to REgoogle it LOL! It was just the best pork I've ever eaten in mylife! My stepdaughter thought it was too dry and "tasted like turkey" and my stepson hated it altogether, but the rest of my kids loved it and who cares? The more people don't like it the MORE THERE IS FOR ME HA HA HAAA!

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In other news I broke down and got another puppy. Her name is Dawn's Butterfly but you can just call her DIVA. The second she was dropped she took charge of the whole house. I am going to have to work hard on her manners or we will end up on "The Dog Whisperer" for a nasty little dog. It's so funny to watch her boss around Porky when he's a full pound and a half bigger and probably a full inch and a half taller. But she is DEFINATELY the boss and she is DEFINATELY a diva. If I pay any attention to Porky whatsoever she is all up on her hind feet trying to get me to pet her instead. And heaven forbid if he pokes his nose in HER sleeping box!

It's all very amusing and she is seeming to like it here, so as long as she's not bossing around any of my CHILDREN she can stay. :)

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Last but not least is the weather. I love Spring and I just can't WAIT to get outside and start planting stuff and taking care of my yard but I have to say I've been enjoying this winter more than any winter I've ever spent in Illinois. I've said before I think I have that SDD (Seasonal Depressive Disorder) and since I vowed to spend a little time EVERY SINGLE DAY outside I've been a ton happier, so I think I really do have SDD!

And now that I have puppies and I HAVE to go outside every couple of hours helps me keep my vow of outside time every day.

New recipe 2http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/claire-robinson/bacon-and-blue-cheese-stuffed-chicken-breasts-recipe/index.html

Chicken

I didn't have any internet all day and I couldn't find my cookbooks (I have 3) so I kind of pulled this one out of my butt as it were. I did a quick google search and came up with this.

But my husband came home and said there is no blue cheese at Walmart.

And even though if I was put in front of a jury and asked if I had bacon I would have SWORN I had it, I do not.

So instead of bacon I fried up some ham and chopped it as small as I could. And instead of blue cheese I used mozarella.

My personal opinion was WAY TOO MUCH BUTTER. I've mentioned before I just don't like butter (the taste, anyway ~ my Dad once said he would disown me cuz I hated butter and I hated chocolate). But my husband loved it so much he actually kissed me right on the lips! (Not that he never does that but he's never done that because of dinner!) The kids loved it too. I think all of them had seconds. As for me, I couldn't even finish the half a chicken breast I gave myself.

If I make it again (and if so many of them like it I probably will) I may cut back on the butter. A lot, LOL. But anyways I posted the link up there so if you want to try it go for it! I wouldn't suggest it for diets where you need to be cutting down on your fat intake though.

Just Blah Blah Blah

Nothing really new to blog about. Just thinking of some random things I thought I'd share.

My husband recently told me he was getting "bored" of my menu, which I found amusing considering just about everything I cook I learned to make from him. Still, ten years of the same ol' same ol' CAN be dull, so I began researching new recipes on the internet. I currently don't have my computer so I won't be able to post links, but one recipe I rated on allrecipes.com, so if you know my profile url you can see it for yourself. It's called "Famous Pork Chops" and it requires ritz crackers and a crapload of butter. I didn't like it but The Mr. and all the kids just LOVED it.

The next thing I tried was chicken with a honey/brown sugar glaze which I overcooked so I didn't have any. Most of the kids liked it and I never got an answer from The Mr. so I'll take that as a "nay" lol.

As it happens the next day was National Pizza Day (according to a book my son and I read about the origins of pizza - I have not yet actually confirmed this date [Feb 9] on the internet although I found hundreds of other food holidays!!) so we repeated what we did last year and made special home-made pizza. Well the Mr. MUST have liked THAT because we're having it again tonight. Sure it's easier and faster to just order it from a pizza joint but apparently I make it better because I am now slaving away in the kitchen making dough and getting pizza crusts made so the kids can put toppings on them and I'll make more dough while it's cooking.

For Valentine's Day we had to go to a funeral, and we decided to eat out since we were already "out." We picked a tucked away place called mancelli's or something (I'll post the correct link when I have my PC back). It was freaking awesome!! The soup was superb, the seafood alfredo was the best I've had in this area. And the servings were freaking HUMONGOUS! My husband and I could have shared one, easy, but luckily we didn't know how big the servings were so we had enough to take home and I made it up as leftovers for the kids. I thought it'd be a nice Valentine's day luncheon for them. Shockingly, however, my son TEddy hated it! (He did eat the seafood out of it, tho). He is so strange! He hated my gouda macaroni and cheese (from a four star resteraunt), he hates yogurt, and he hates eggs! This boy is odd LOL.

In other news I have welcomed a new member of the family - a puppy we call Porkchop. He's the cutest thing ... a little bit of a chewer. It's funny because all the kids are fighting over who gets to wake up to take him outside, and who gets to clean up his accidents in the house. How long is THAT going to last? heh heh - I'll take advantage of it while I have it. I have cleaned up a few accidents but the kids are taking him outside so much that he might be getting the idea.

The funniest thing about this new addition is my husband. He tried everything he could think of to talk me out of a puppy. When we went to look at the litter this dog came from Porkchop is the one who went straight to The Mr., sat down on his feet and didn't leave his side. So that's the one I picked. The Mr. decided to pretty much ignore the little tyke but I think he really does have a soft spot for him. We had to go to our local Best Buy to hand over my computer to the Geek Squad. We have done everything in our power to figure out the problem on our own but nothing worked and no one's suggestions worked, either. So we finally gave up and decided to take it to see professionals. As we were getting ready to leave the kids and I were discussing where we would put the baby (pup) while we were gone, when the Mr. suggested that we just take him with us. I was shocked!

So we took him with us. We were a little early (who knew Best Buy didn't open until 11?) and the Mr suprised me again when he suggested we go to Petsmart and buy Porky some toys and treats.

OK who are you and what did you do with my husband??

So I think secretly The Mr really likes our new addition.

Oop! I think my dough is done rising - time to go roll out some pizza crusts! See you later.

Then and there and here and now.

As I've said before, I come from a pretty big city. A suburb of San Diego, as a matter of fact, probably one of the biggest cities in America. My stepdaughter is entering a period of her life that I remember with great detail and great fondness. I called it Middle School - she calls it Junior High.

I was a "popular" girl back in California, so I did a lot of social functions. I remember almost every dance I went to (I even remember a lot of what I wore - of course it's hard to forget bicycle shorts and neon, neon, NEON!!). Some I went to with my friends, some I went to with one boy or another, and some I even went to by myself. Middle school dances were pretty awesome.

I knew my stepdaughter's first dance wouldn't be the block party that my middle school's were, but I was still pretty shocked when I went to pick her up and the entire6th, 7th and 8th grades could all gather into half the cafeteria. In my eyes it seemed like a party at someone's house. There couldn't have been more than 20 kids there. I was even more suprised when one of the other mothers mentioned it was a "really good turnout."

Some things still catch me off guard. In a way I'm kind of sad that my kids won't experience the wonderful childhood I had before I moved here (I moved to Illinois when I was 15 and my school experience after that was downright awful - and the only dance I went to was Senior Prom and I went stagg), but on the other hand I know that schools out there are different now then they were when I was a kid - and I can imagine that since there is now a huge fence surrounding the entire school that dances aren't as cool, even if just for safety reasons. I would hate to be constantly worried about my kids in a school area where there are gangs and school shootings and drug problems.

There is less of a chance of that in a small school. Here we have tornados and snow days, there we had bomb threats and smog days (and earthquakes, although I don't remember ever experiencing an earthquake at school). Here they have smaller classes (a LOT smaller) and a lot more one-on-one attention from teachers, there we had lots of different people to get to know and lot more emphasis on science and math and less grammar and history. There you could be whoever you wanted to be and people liked you if you were a little different. Here, not so much.

So my kids will have more their father's school experience, and in some ways that's great, and in other ways just makes me sad. Seeing the Junior High Dance really made me kind of sad - but Poinsettia really enjoyed it so she at least has this awesome memory for her adulthood. I tried not to mention my Middle School dances because I don't want to sound like I'm dissing her tiny school - but I am constantly bombarded with seeing how her life is compared to mine - and liking mine a lot more LOL!

She has the difficult job of breaking me in to all these new experiences - by the time my other kids get up to her age I will have gotten used to it. I think I seem more distant to her because I get lost in my own memories while trying to sort stuff out while seeing what she's doing.

But as long as she's happy, I'm happy.

Games Games and more Games!

Two of my five kids each recieved a Nintendo DS for Christmas. Two years ago we bought a used DS so we already had a couple games. Unfortunately the battery turned out to be unfixably flawed and we were told there was no way to fix it ever so we got rid of it. So when my two kids each got their own DS everything seemed good. Then came the fighting.

Well officially Santa got the brand-new DS's and I couldn't afford new ones so finally The Mr. caved and bought another used one. Now all three older kids had their own DS. We bought a couple more random games for them. One was "Sims 2." Well I started playing Sims 2 whenever the kids would let me. The Bossman began playing a DS. He played with one about a week before he busted it. Of course everyone was furious.

So we went out and bought ANOTHER used one. The Bossman is not allowed to touch any of them. Then one of the kids got a Super Mario game. Now when I was a kid the original Super Mario Brothers came out. I beat the game. Some time later Super Mario Brothers 3 came out. I came very close to beating that game but I never actually did. Then Super Mario Brother's for Nintendo 64 came out and I loved that game! I never beat it but it was by far my favorite Mario Brothers ever. The Mario Brothers game my kids got was a recreation of MB64 for the DS. So I began gathering secret stars for each of the kids. They were very impressed with how much knowledge of MB I had (you know, since I"m a GIRL).

Unfortunately now they know me as a MB "expert" and they are constantly asking me to do stuff on the game for them. My littlest girl got a recreation of MB3 and she plays until she dies and then makes me finish the level for her!

It's rather hillarious. Who knew all those gamer skills I aquired early in life would help me win the favor of my kids someday?

Strange Happenings...

Since I had given up all forms of pop (aka "soda" in this part of the world) I have occasionally been drinking "Flavor-aide." This is a generic "Hi-C" and it's lovely because I can control the amount of sugar I put into it and as far as I know there is nothing addictive in it as there is in all forms of pop - caffinated or not. I have a tupperware pitcher I have been using to keep my flavor-aide in and I have been keeping it in the refridgerator because I cannot find it's lid.

I have two other smaller pitchers that I put HI-C and juice and other drinks in for the kids. They are not supposed to drink out of "my" pitcher because #1 there is less sugar in mine and #2 some flavors of Hi-C I love, the rest of them I can't STAND. I would rather drink the tapwater around here and I can NOT stand the tap water around here. You can practically taste the trace amounts of arsenic (I have documentation proving it's presence, so no one get snippy with me). I generally drink bottled water. Anyway I have made two different piles of Flavor-aide packets. A large pile with almost all Flavor-aide flavors for the kids to pick and chose as they like, and a much smaller pile with only the flavors I like. Since the kids get to drink it more often and they can pick their own flavors I usually don't have a problem with someone stealing "my" Hi-C but occasionally (and I'm pretty sure 99% of the time it's my younger two, mostly the youngest boy) someone takes some of mine. Usually it's not a big deal.

Lately I have noticed a strange thing happening. I would go into the fridge to get a drink and the pitcher would be turned around. I have a little space for it and I set it in spout-first and handle out (to the opening of the fridge) so I can just grab it when I want to. Lately I open the fridge to find it spout out. I have to grab it by the spout and pull it out which, although my hands are generally washed several times a day, is a little disconcerting to put my fingers where the drink is supposed to come out.

It has happened five or six times and each time I figured one of the kids I mentioned above has gotten my pitcher out, poured themselves a drink, and just put the pitcher back in the fridge the wrong way.

Today, however ....

I was planning on taking a nice, long, relaxing bath. I got all my kids out the door to go to school and then, since I planned on spending at least two hours lounging in the tub, I poured myself a big cup of Hi-C complete with ice and a straw and put my pitcher back in the fridge. I took my bath and after my bath I decided to lay around some more (I'm lazy today) and read. As I mentioned in my other blog (not sure if you guys read the other blogs - I don't add to them as often as this one) I had been having horrible OLD Stephen King cravings. I went out into the garage to try and randomly pick one but the second I saw "Misery" I snatched it right up and headed out of the garage. You have not read Stephen King until you have read "Misery." In my opinion it is the greatest book SK ever wrote. It's truly frightening if only because it is TOO real. I digress...

I ate lunch and my usual habit has always been to drink something sweet at the end of the meal. So I went to get another cupfull of my Flavor-aide. My stomach sank and my head went blank when I opened the refridgerator to find my pitcher turned backwards again with the spout facing out.

Now, for as much as I joke and tease about ghosts I don't actually believe in them. The fact that I had spent a good 45 minutes reading an extremely effective horror novel didn't help my brain's functioning when I became terribly afraid. My kids are gone at school. I was in the tub. Who turned my pitcher around?

Being from a big city I have always had some big-city fears. When my stepson suddenly decided he never wanted to go to school again my big-city red flags all came up and I started questioning him on bullys or inappropriate teachers. I lock my doors every night. I lock my car doors whenever I go anywhere. I keep a steel bat under my bed in case of intruders. I have pellet guns where I can get to them extremely easily. I never, EVER open my front door until after I've looked out the window to see who's car is in my driveway. So when I decided to take a bath I locked my doors and shut all my windowshades (peepers lol). While I was in my room it sounded like someone was walking around my living room and computer room area. Anyone who knows me knows my house has made these sounds since I moved in. So I simply shut my bedroom door so I wouldn't have to hear it and continued with my bath.

Only NOW I am wondering ... was someone in my house? Of course that's ridiculous because why would someone enter my house, bypass my computers and DVD players, etc, go straight to my refridgerator, drink some of my HiC and turn it around the wrong way like that and leave?

Then I started questioning my sanity - did I come out of the bath and get a drink and turn it around the wrong way? That can't be, though - even if I came out of the tub in a fugue and went to my refridgerator there would be wet spots on the floors and there isn't.

So EITHER a kid came back in the house after I shut my bedroom door and snuck a drink, putting it in the wrong way back in the fridge, OR it's POSSIBLE I have a ghost. Maybe that girlfriend of The Mr.'s (the one I joke about who I blame if something's missing ESPECIALLY if that missing something makes The Mr. really mad at me) likes my flavor-aide. Or maybe I'm just nuts. Or maybe the Mr. is spiking my kool-aid with vodka and I'm drunk LOL!

But after my Bossman came home from preschool and I agreed to give him some of my Hi-C guess what? I opened the fridge and....it's turned the wrong way again!!

This is starting to freak me out....

So Cute!!

My four year-old has a new hobby. He gathers toys and things from around the house and he takes them into his room. He sets them up on his brother's dresser and then opens his "store" and then wants people to buy things from him.

It is just about the cutest thing I've ever seen! He's only four! Is this normal or is he smart?

He likes getting paper money so he can give you your change.

I'll post a couple pics when I get a chance.

SO CUTE!