Freak Out

The dreaded words...Hon, have you seen my wallet?

Me: No didn't you put it on the dresser

Russ: No it isn't there.  Maybe I let it in the car.

Stomp, stomp, stomp....creak, slam...stomp, stomp, stomp.

Me: Was it there?

Russ: No, maybe someone took it out of the car.

An hour later of searching the house, replaying every move we had made since getting home, a few trips down to the car, a dumpster diving trip, one back pain caused from trying to jump out of the dumpster, and NO WALLET!!!

Me:  Are you SURE you took it out of your pants before putting them in the washer?

Russ:  I think so.

Me: Let's double check the washer.

Me: Nope, but will you throw this trash away?

Russ: No way!  That was in my wallet!

Me:  Check the dryer:

Russ:  Look a receipt!  But where is my wallet?

Five minutes of looking back and forth from washer to dryer we find it.  Only after I had crawled on the floor to see if it had gone under the dryer did we find it. I looked up to the open dryer and saw this....

 

It took quite some time for us to stop laughing from relief that it hadn't been stolen.  Even funnier was where we found it!

Try-It-Tuesday: Ham and Cheese Braid

Try-It-Tuesday has kinda been on hold right now because Russ is gone so much.  I mean, do YOU want to cook a big meal that only YOU are going to eat?  I don't, so me and the girls don't eat many "real" meals when Russ is gone.  Anyway, I found this cool recipe from Ducks in a Row.  When I read the name of this recipe I instantly thought of a ham and cheese sandwhich, which my girls love.  I also noticed it was a Freezer Meal.  I have been wanting to start doing some freezer meals, so I thought I would try this out and see if we like it. Here it is....

Ham and Cheese Braid

Ingredients:

1 loaf Rhodes bread dough

1/2 cup or 1 stick butter

1 envelope Hidden Valley Ranch dressing mix (not generic)

3/4 lb. thinly sliced ham

1 1/2 cups shredded cheddar cheese

1 teaspoon poppy seeds

Directions:

1. Roll bread dough out into a rectangular shape so that its approximately 1/2" thick. 
2. Combine butter and ranch mix. Spread about 5 tablespoons of mixture on the rectangle.
3. Layer ham and cheese down the center of the rectangle. 
4. Use a pizza cutter to cut strips along each side of the dough (even numbers on each side).
5. Starting at bottom, take each piece, cross and twist. Continue criss-crossing until your it is all braided. 
6. Brush remaining butter ranch mixture over the top. Sprinkle with poppy seeds. 
7. Wrap loaf with plastic wrap and then foil. Label with cooking instructions and freeze. {see below if you want to skip the freezing step.}

  

Cooking Instructions 

1. Unwrap from foil and plastic wrap and set on a lightly greased baking sheet, cover with plastic wrap. Let thaw overnight in refrigerator. A couple hours before you are ready to bake place on counter to let rise. Bake at 350 for 25-30 minutes. 

 Some of the above instructions were confusing to me so I had to research the recipe a little.  I found another blog with the recipe that also had pictures.  It made things a little clearer, but I still had to "wing-it" when doing the criss-cross twist part.  I decided to take some pictures of what I did and offer up what little advice I have on how to create this recipe.

First off here is my "rectangle" dough, butter mix, and ham.  

Lessons learned:

1.  It doesn't have to be perfectly rectangle to work.

2.  The said amount of butter mix is WAY too much.  It leaves the bread a little soggy and salty after baking.  I'm going to cut mine down by 1/2 next time.  If you don't believe me try it yourself, but don't say I didn't warn you!

Ham topped with cheese, cut dough, and my first criss-cross twist.

Lessons learned:

1.  Until I saw a picture I could not figure out how to cut the dough.  Hopefully this picture helps you.

2.  Use kitchen shears for easy cutting.

3.  Cut thinner strips.  Cut more strips.

4.  There is no twisting involved in this recipe.  I tried multiple ways of crossing the dough and found this first way the easiest.  All I did was take them and cross the dough, then I pulled it a little and tucked it under the edge.

All ready to get in the oven.

The finished product

This was so yummy!  Both my girls loved it, especially Allie.  She ate THREE slices and asked for more.  I drew the line at three though.  I'm still not sure if it warms up well as a leftover, but I imagine it would.  And rest assured this was a very QUICK and EASY meal.  I hope you give it a try!  I'm making it again, and I'm going to freeze some for those days when I just don't want to cook :D

A Day at the Park

I can tell it is February.  It doesn't matter whether I live in cold, dreary Idaho or sunny, rainy, slightly cold Texas I can still tell it is February.  I don't want to go outside.  I don't want to really do anything.  I just have a huge case of the blah's during February.  Some people like to refer to it as cabin fever.  Upon having a crappy day yesterday, and waking up with the feeling that today was going to be crappy too, I promptly decided that I was going to take the girls to the park.  Who can have a blah day when you are playing at the park?

I told Lily early in the morning that we would go to the park.  I knew if I did this she would keep asking when we were going, and I wouldn't flake out and not go.  So after lunch I hauled the kids downstairs and off we went to the park.  I've been a little wary of parks since Allie fell off of one of them and tried to bite her lip off.  But you can't let little things like that hold you back, right?!

So played...nothing extra ordinary happened.  I followed the girls around with the camera most of the time and enjoyed capturing the joy on my girls faces.  When it was time to go to the store, the girls happily ran to the car without my begging or bribing or dragging them.  It cured the blahs for a few hours, which was sweet relief.

I love capturing "an hour of our lives" every so often.  It is always pretty plain jane stuff, but it is fun and eye opening to the joy me and my girls have together.  Today at the park was one of those times I chronicled our fun.  Bare with me as I display mass amounts of photos at the park.

Loved this picture.  Not really sure why, just did :D

Allie can climb the rock wall all by herself.  I think it is great!  A little scary but great.  As I was taking these pictures I kept thinking: 

"I sure hope she doesn't fall, I don't want to drop my camera.  Of course if I drop my camera my hubby might buy me a new one.  No that is wrong, just don't fall Allie"

  

 

Both girls always have to twirl the steering wheel before progressing on to the slide.  It is some weird nervous tick or something.  Sometimes Allie will just play with it though.

Just last month Lily couldn't climb this by herself.  She was too scared she would fall.  This time she had no problem, and didn't even ask me to help.  She's growing up TOO FAST!  Look how excited she is that she can do it all by herself.

Again not sure why I love this picture so much but I do.

Love the static hair!  Speaking of hair...did you know that Lily's hair comes down to the middle of her back?  The curl in her hair bounces it up to her shoulders.  The curl takes off a good 4 or 5 inches of her length!

 

 Allie loves these steps.  Many times she will go up them, just so she can walk back down them.  Look how happy she is on them!

  

This is such a crappy shot, but when Lily is happy her whole face radiates that joy.  Check it out. 

   

 THIS IS MY FAVORITE PICTURE!!!  Again I don't know why, but it is.

The girls were all smiles when I snapped the picture.  Apparently the camera didn't snap as fast as their smiles went away.  Guess they were plumb tuckered out from the fun day. :D

  

 

Where does it come from?

 

I've had to giggle lately about some astonished reactions I've gotten concerning Allie.  Her hair has really started to grow lately.  Not surprising in the least bit, because Lily was about the same age when here hair grew enough for ponytails.  Anyway, since Allie's hair is now long enough to be visible I'm getting a lot of comments like this:

Person: Oh my G_ _ it is bright red!

{We live in the South so the three letter word is spoken a lot in that context}

Me: Yes

Person:  Has it always been red?

Me: Yes, she's always had red hair.

Then I go off and giggle.  What were they thinking, that I dyed my 18 mo old daughters hair?  What makes me laugh in harder is that these people see her twice a week, EVERY week!  LOL!  Her hasn't changed from one day to the next.

But then the kicker is..."Where did she get the red hair from?"  Hmmm...could it be from her mommy who has red hair?  I know my hair isn't quite as "flamming" as Allie's, but come on!  Can't you tell that when I stand between Lily and Allie my hair color is MUCH closer to Allie's than Lily's?  Hmmm....maybe the think I dye my hair too!  Check out the family picture on our header and tell me what you think.

Oh goodness, I needed this giggle fest today.  More pictures of the gorgeous red head, and stunning blonde should be coming tomorrow.  {But please don't hold me to it!}

For Sale

Occasionally I like to torture myself and look at houses for sale.  Usually I look at things and sigh in relief that I don't want any of the house for sale at the time.  If there is nothing I want out there then I'm not dissappointed that I don't have a house.  About a month ago though I found a house that I just sighed, oohed, and ahhhed over.  After a bit of convincing I talked Russ into taking a tour of this house.  Russ was sure this was a bad idea because he was SURE I was going to love it and be heartbroken when it got bought.  I assured him I would be fine and it would be "fun" to see this house.

We headed over there, and he was right.  I fell in love with house.  What we weren't counting on was that Russ fell in love with the house too.  At the end of the tour I grabbed a brochure so I could document what kind of house I would like when we do finally start looking for a house.  I apologize for the poor quality of the photos they are scans : (

Here is what the house looks like from the street.

 

The backyard would need work but look at that shed that would be staying!

The inside of the house was gorgeous!  Most of the house had vaulted ceilings.  Something I have always wanted in a house.  These are pictures of the living room.  When you walk in the front door it is directly in front of you.  The wall color is a light brown, I've heard it called taupe.

 

  

 

There was a beautiful dinning room to your right as you enter through the doorway.  It is tiled, which is so smart!

Continuing past the dining room and through an archway door is the kitchen.  Oh the kitchen!  All faux stainless steel appliances that would be staying.  Professional grade oven.  A large island. Beautiful granite counter tops.  Custom cupboards.  Oh, and don't forget the breakfast nook!  

 

  

The house was a four bedroom house.  The master was nice sized.  It had a big bathroom with a jetted tub, and a shower that had a built in seat.  I kept looking at the seat and thought how nice it would be.  Then of course there was a walk in closet.  Oh, and a built in desk in the master.  The other bedrooms were fairly large too.  The only picture of the bedrooms on the brochure was one of the built in desk.

And lastly there was a covered patio just outside of the living room.

Sigh.  I was so in love with this house that Russ and I couldn't resist.....as of February 10th this house is FOR SALE NO MORE.  Yep you read that right!  Russ and I now own this house.  Did I mention that it is only five years old? Sweet huh?! 

This weekend we spent a bit of time "prepping" the house.  The carpets needed cleaned, a few spots of touch up paint applied, a few vinyl sayings taken down, and the whole kitchen/appliances needed a good wash down.  Sadly we won't be moving in any time soon.  Russ is gone again for the next two weeks, so our house sits empty.  I'll be visiting it most days to check on it, and we can't wait until Russ is back and we can move in!

New Do

Allie was sporting a new do at church.  I loved the fact that she didn't touched it, not once!  It was so cute the way it curled over.  A true Pebbles in the making!

Saggy Pants

There is a true problem going on in this house.  It looks something like this....

 

And this....

My girls have a hard time keeping their pants.  At least twenty times a day we are pulling them.  Lily tries to pull her own up, but most the time she can't pull hard enough to actually get her pants to move.  It is really funny to watch.  I've tried a belt a few times, but Lily can't get it undone to go to the bathroom.  So that is out. Sigh, so I deal with pulling them up 100 times a day, and get a giggle out of when Allie's has fallen down so far she can only waddle around, and I haven't noticed.  I love how some of the dumbest things makes moms laugh!

Reaching Composure in February

As I was typing up my Round up last night, I began to think more about Composure and my journey to find it.  As I pondered on it I realized that I did really well this month with it, until I got sick.  Which of course happened to coincide with Russell going out of town for work.  Those two things together caused me to spiral out of control {Seriously you should see my house!}  I was struck almost numb with the realization that these really weren't huge catastrophic events in my life that caused me to lose it, but small bumps in the rode that sent me careening off course.  Why do small bumps seem to effect me so much?  Definitely something to think about, and possibly to try and focus on in the  future.

With this revelation in mind I determined that I want to set some more goals for myself.  I think monthly goals will serve me well.  I accomplished all my January goals {which were fairly minute}, but they put me on the road to success.  This months goals are more ambitious.  In no particular order:

Clean the house before bedtime.  I've recently noticed that the days I wake up to a cleaner house the better the days starts off and finishes.  This goal is as simple as reminding the girls to put their toys in the toy box and making sure there are no piles around.  Tomorrow is going to be my big "get the house in order" day, and then we'll from there.  Tuesdays are nice in that way because I don't have to leave the house for anything!  I can clean all day and not have to stop what I'm doing to go somewhere else! YIPEE!

Exercise FIVE days a week. I can proudly say that I am already exercising on a fairly regular basis.  In fact, it has helped me lose a smidgen of weight.  I'm sure my numbers would be better if I could break my nasty addiction to caffeine and fast food.  Anyway, I have access to some amazing videos at home that I hope to start doing again.  I also plan to keep up my walking that I do with some friends.  Friends are such great motivators when it comes to exercising  :)

Document my life, my husbands life, and my children's life more fully.  With all the anxiety swirling around me like a tornado I've become trapped in a bubble.  I forget to take pictures of cute things my kids are doing.  Not because I'm enjoying the moment with them, but because I'm too exhausted to burst away from my bubble. 

Lastly, stop trying to "Keep Up with the Jones"  I think I would be immensely more composed if I could stop this nasty habit.  I find it very ironic that I married a Jones.  First item on the list: being content with my Kodak point-and-shoot camera.  I'm learning some amazing things that I didn't know was possible from my camera.  I've seen many people do "grateful Sundays" and I've thought about picking this up just to help me to see what I DO have and not need to have what others have.

Wow, I think I just outed myself on a lot of things! LOL!  I'm excited to see how I do this month with these goals.  Is anyone else still working on their resolutions?  How are they going?  Let me know so I can cheer you on!