Aww... Easter 2008

 

Awww... Easter 2007

 

Heavenly Homemaker

I just love the Heavenly Homemakers blog. She has a new all natural, healthy cookie recipe e-book out now and I so want to win it.

I myself, of course work outside the home. But I still consider myself a homemaker, otherwise what the heck do you call all that cooking, cleaning, folding and laundry? :)

It Never Gets Any Easier

When your little ones get hurt.  On Saturday the kids were playing chase and next thing I know Bella was screaming.  You know that I am seriously hurt scream? So Will and I are going over her, asking where does it hurt where does it hurt, and then we see her teeth. And she has streams of blood between all her top teeth and oh, her front tooth has a corner chipped off it! And the the whole tooth was pushed out of place, higher and back from where it should be and the gum looked bad.

I called the dentist who kindly left her Spring Break plans to meet us (her office is at the Woodlands) and an x-ray turned out that the root was not broken and she explained the tooth should move back into position as the gum heals. Whew, if the root had been broken then she would have lost the tooth.  There is still some chance the tooth may darken due to trauma but there’s nothing to be done about it and the tooth itself is fine. I was so relieved. Will and I weren’t sure if it warranted an emergency visit but the dentist said anytime they hit a tooth like that and especially if it is moved out of place, it is a good idea to go in.

Shortly after the whole tooth thing I was on the landing folding laundry and Bella was on the top step and she fell! I mean she stepped off into thin air and toppled down 7 steps to the landing. I was totally freaked out, she is FINE but it scared me to death. And my nerves were already shot from the whole tooth thing (the falling happened before the dentist visit).

So now I am feeling uber protective of her, not letting her go up and down the stairs by herself (which she has been doing fine for months) and today she was clattering around in her dress up shoes and all I had were visions of her falling and chipping out more teeth!

Random picture time

Bella and her new BFF – Josh Beasley!

At the Woodlands mall playscape along with 57 million other people

Now I know I’m Crazy

Tuesday night I sort of had the night off. Will belongs to a bible study class called Dad’s With Young Children and someone wonderful decided it would be fun if the Dads and their kids all went out for pizza together. So I had nearly two hours all to myself. I immediately changed into comfy clothes and my first inclination was to find the remote and hit the couch. But then I thought why not use this one night off and turn it into several nights off? So here is the breakdown of what I did:

6:05 – Cook 1 lb of ground chicken with salt and onions. Set aside to cool (This will be added to a jar of Green Chile Stew to make a 5 minute dinner some other time)

6:10 – Cook up another 1 lb of ground chicken, this time added basil, oregano, salt, pepper, onion and garlic. Once browned, I added 1 large can of tomato sauce and a bit of olive oil. Cooked for ten minutes.

6:20 Poured into casserole dish with 8 ounces of cottage cheese. Without washing the pot, added 4 cups of water, brought it to a boil

Meanwhile:
I cooked two packages of Better Crocker instant mashed potatoes & added a tablespoon of yellow mustard & sprayed a 2nd casserole dish with Pam

I also got out the vacuum sealer and sealed up the following from Monday night’s shopping trip:

4 pork chops
6 chicken breasts bone in (2 packages of 3 each)
The above mentioned pound of ground chicken

6:30 The water is boiling so I add 8 ounces of whole grain pasta and let it cook for 11 minutes.

Meanwhile:
Spread ½ potatoes on the bottom of the casserole dish
Chop up 1 package of link turkey sausage

6:40 Drain pasta, add to casserole dish, add mozzarella cheese and cover.
Lasagna Casserole – DONE.

Added mustard and some Worcestershire sauce to the sausage & browned it up (just used the same pot as the pasta – didn’t even rinse it)

Meanwhile: Open can of sauerkraut, get out Swiss cheese & Caraway seeds

6:45 Put browned turkey sausage over 1st layer of baked potatoes, then layer sauerkraut, then another layer of mashed potatoes, top with Swiss cheese and caraway seeds.

Sausage & Potato casserole - DONE

6:50 PM : Clean kitchen, put away vacuum sealer, put casseroles in fridge and meats in garage freezer, wipe down stove & sink, prep coffee for tomorrow and unload dishwasher, rotate laundry.

7:05 – Curl up on sofa with a good book for nearly 40 minutes of blessed silence, with a clean kitchen, a stocked fridge and freezer, and a happy heart, knowing I won’t have to cook again until Saturday!