just squeezed this in...

Whew...glad we got this in before January was done! Now, onto February...

the latest cooking buzz...

Maybe I can talk the author into adding last night's recipe for this...

What do you think my chances are? The recipe includes one of her favorites -- Ritz crackers. Do you think that perhaps she won't notice the broccoli?

i thought i fit in...

...but that New York (pronounced yahwk) speech impediment keeps giving me away. Yesterday, I spoke to one of Sofia's religion instructors on the phone. As I was speaking to her (pronounced heuh) she commented that I sounded just like Sofia when I said my "R's" (pronounced awhz).* Waaaaaaah! :-(

She doesn't know that I've been "wohrking" on that darn speech impediment since we moved "heah" three "yeahz" ago. I mentioned to "heuh" that when we "fuhst" moved "heah" Sofia's "fuhst" grade "teecha" recommended speech "thehrahpee" for Sofia. During the meeting with this "teecha" and the speech "thehrahpist" the "teecha" mentioned that Sofia did not enunciate her "ahhhz" correctly. I "tuhrnd" to the "teecha" and said to "heuh" -- "that is just "heuh" New Yahwk accent." The "teecha" shook her head and just "staahd" at me. On the "uhtha" hand, the speech "thehrahpist" laughed and said -- "I don't know how much I can do about the "r" problem, but, we'll work on it along with whatever else I find."

So "uhthahz" do not "suffah unnecessaaruhlee", maybe this important linguistic "fawhm" should be added to the "dicshunaaree"...

~*~

~*~

Guess it's time for me to go practice in front of the "meahrer" for awhile...

Translation table

wohrking = working
heah = here
yeahz = years
heuh = her
fuhst = first
teecha = teacher
thehrahpist = therapist
ahhhz = r's
tuhrnd = turned
staahd = stared
uhtha = other
uhthahz = others
suffah = suffer
unnecessaaruhlee = unnecessarily
fawhm = form
dicshunaahree = dictionary
meahrer = mirror


Uhtha word translations that may be of intuhrest to you...

intuhrest = interest
soder = soda
eurl = oil
turlit = toilet
turdee turd = thirty third
fuhgeddabahwddit = forget about it


*F.Y.I. The entire telephone conversation was accompanied by associated hand gestures. These hand gestures will distinguish the genuine SI, NY dialect from imitators. The fluency of the dialect is in direct correlation to the hand gestures, so they must be used even during conversations that are not face-to-face (such as the so described telephone conversation).

maybe this will work...

I purchased tons of "snowflakes" to decorate the windows after the holiday decorations were down. That bare post-holiday thing just doesn't work for me. I've been putting them up -- a little here, and, a little there. Kind of whereever it makes me happy to look at them. On Monday, when it was like springtime, I wanted to take all of them down -- but I kept in mind that it IS still January, and, it WILL get cold here again. Stephanie Abrams is telling me that we are in for some snow Friday or Saturday -- so I put up more on the front door this morning. Maybe the powers that be will get the "snow vibe" here and send some of the real stuff our way! :-)

stuffed peppers and...

...a little chicken love!



Time to go eat! :-)

beef...

...that's what's for dinner!



I recently found 85% angus beef chopmeat in our local supermarket. I am quite happy at the quality and freshness of this chopmeat and recommend it. I make tomato sauce twice a week, and have tried many different types of chopmeat from different supermarkets. I even considered purchasing a meat grinder because I was not satisfied with the taste of the meatballs. But, do I really need one more thing to do when preparing daily dinner? No. Maybe someday I'll get really picky and do it -- but not this week. The meatballs in the picture are not cooked -- I wanted to show the pretty color of the meat to you. This type of chopmeat is a bit more costly than the regular kind ($4.50 per pound), but, I can get 2 meals for 4 people out of 1 1/2 pounds -- so it averages out to about $3.50 per meal or 88 cents each. In my opinion, that is a good deal.

chasing away the winter blahs...

*the phone is on the fritz*
*rick received a jury duty notice in the mail*
*the builder is not going to fix the draft in sofia's room*

Okay, so it's the end of January. I need to "get away" from these everyday annoyances. I'm tired of the winter, already. Hope that groundhog doesn't see his shadow.

Since I am not the world traveller, I'm off to the "sunshine" in my kitchen. This is what we had last night for dinner:



I got the recipe from my new best friend -- Giada. Of course, she doesn't know that she is my new best friend -- but nonetheless, she is. Why? Because she has recipes that are easy, quick to make, and, my family actually gives me compliments on the food! Here is the link for this recipe -- Chicken Saltimbocca I didn't add the spinach -- Rick turned his nose up at it. We ate this with caesar salad and pasta (shells) with butter/cheese. As I was preparing the chicken, some pieces turned out to be too small to roll, so I fried those with panko (japanese breadcrumbs) for Sofia.

The most time consuming part of this meal was the chicken preparation. So, if you're not into the chicken cutting and flattening thing -- just buy the thin sliced chicken cutlets at the supermarket.

it's too noisy here...

There was alot of traffic here earlier this morning -- and -- noise. At the time these pictures were taken, we could not imagine how "crowded" it would be here after all the homes were built.

Looking south towards "front" of house

Looking east towards driveway

I do not like the noise. And I liked it better when I could look out my front window and not see...

THEM!

All of those houses were built during the 3 years we are living here (this picture was taken this morning) -- and I haven't even painted my bathroom yet. Maybe I need some of whatever those workers eat for breakfast!

hmmm...needs something...

Sofia carefully cleaned Great-Grandma's espresso set. It turned out so pretty -- and is a bit delicate -- so it is now displayed on top of the kitchen cabinets (until we get an "official" display cabinet). I explained to Sofia that this is very old -- and a family treasure -- not for everyday "play". I needed a reason to use it (this is totally self-justification) -- and, to take it out so Miss Sofia and I can have a "special" snack time.



Here is my reason!



This is a late Christmas present to myself. Hopefully it does the job right! I got it at Wal-mart yesterday for -- $34.99! :-)

We need more of...

these!

So, we can have more of...

this!

These are only some of Sofia's art supplies. As she was putting them into this Grandpa Larry (a.k.a. Larry Love) box, she remarked that if she didn't have so many art supplies then her art area would not be so messy.

Pause to scratch head. Okay, so does that mean I don't have to buy her any more art supplies? Or, does that mean that she doesn't want to be responsible for putting away the art supplies that she has already?

Pause head scratching as Sofia yells this from next room -- "Hey, Mom. Can I have the bigger box from Grandpa Larry now? I have more stuff to put away."

Pause to scratch head again. I can already see the next question coming at me. It goes something like this... Hey, Mom. I put all my art stuff away. Can we go to Michael's so I can get some stuff for my next art project.

Pause head scratching. Sigh...

running in circles...

January is proving to truly be the beginning -- but it won't let me finish anything! Everything I want to do seems to come with a roadblock attached to it. Okay, now that I understand that (I only realized it at this very moment while I was typing venting) I can flow with it. I guess it's a good thing, because I am actively working on a few things that have found their way to my "new" list (a.k.a. the list you see in the background picture) Among these are: Paint the master bathroom (this is entirely "Martha's" fault -- and who made her the boss of colors anyway?), Replace light fixture for the bathroom (this is because the home supply store does not carry the perfect light fixture), Finish painting Nicholas' room (throw blame to the color red for this), Hang new curtains (the curtains shown in the picture for this post "do not speak to him")...

Can you see the lightbulb blinking over my head? These are not "new" things for me -- I am actively finishing projects that have been in limbo.

So, if I stay on track -- I can close the circle for each of the projects I mentioned. Maybe I'll let one of the kids take a picture of me jumping up and down and clapping when this happens!

I was feeling overwhelmed (again) and all I had to do was stop and take a deep breath. Ahh, I feel recharged! Thanks for lending an ear eyeball. :-)

now...

I'm...



Fourteen!



For a Tuesday in January, it was a good birthday. The sun was shining. We ate homemade shrimp parmigiana for dinner. We had ice cream cupcakes from Coldstone Creamery. We spent time together. Nicholas officially turned 14 -- 14 minutes ago! Happy Birthday to you!

where am I...

Can't you see me? Way UP there waving...I have the seat over the wing...

Just kidding... I am so overwhelmed and disorganized this Monday morning -- I think if I just start moving I will be fine. Isn't January supposed to be the month when you can stop and catch your breath a bit? It is never that way for me. I keep running and then somehow I skid into February.

Okay, I think the coffee is kicking in. Time for me to decide what kind of birthday cake I want to put some love and hugs into for Nicholas. I like the way warm homemade brownies topped with Coldstone creamery ice cream sounds.

What do you think? :-)

this works great...

I cannot deal with the mess under the bathroom vanities any longer. I love my vanities -- but they are in desperate need of some structured organization. The worst is the vanity in the kid's bathroom. I can only fight this battle so much -- and I am not winning. I saw this cute little gadget in Wal-mart yesterday -- and I figured if it didn't fit in the vanity it was functional enough to go somewhere else. This is what the left side of the bathroom vanity looks like now. All nicey, nicey.



Watch out Wal-mart! I am coming back to buy another for the right side of the vanity!



And then 2 more for the master bathroom. Perhaps one for under the kitchen sink too! At about $9 each. I think these are a great deal! :-)

this is good...

It has cinnamon in it -- sooo... my house smells yummy! Best thing -- I ate it while watching Rachel Ray making the best looking "entreetizers".

My midday "me break" is over -- back to my "to do list"!

hey, remember these?

Okay, if you're not part of the "exclusive group" that would have even a clue, never fear. These are the cutest little boutique sneakers that my Mom purchased in the 1980's for my ever stylish and beautiful niece. I coveted these little jewels until they were passed on to me while I was pregnant with Nicholas. They were really not "his style" -- ha, ha, ha -- so I put them away. They were forgotten by the time Sofia arrived -- so she never wore them. Now, here they are -- can you believe they are back in style and they fit Sofia's My Twinn doll. Ha, ha, ha -- Nani would be happy! :-)

hmmm... now what's this?

Can you guess?

Hmmm...interesting...

Do you think it's for me?

Maybe...

All my "stuff" that has been sitting on the floor in the basement now has a place! And...even enough space for me to cut fabric, do arts & crafts, and make a worry free mess! Hooray!

emotional color day...

After almost 3 years, I decided on what color to paint the master bathroom. Actually, I didn't decide -- David Bromstad (of HGTV Color Splash fame) mentioned on one of his shows that "everyone should paint their bathroom spa blue". So, I said "okay David" and proceeded to the bathroom with my wooden crate full of Martha Stewart paint chips. I think I might be missing a few -- but have over 300 colors that "belong" to her -- and a few of them belong to me and are painted on our walls. So, after a day of watching the color chips in different light settings (morning, noon, night with lights on) I decided on "MS 261 Sea Spray Blue". Rick was very happy that we were going to put some color on that big wall you see in the background of the picture below.

So, today we went over to Lowes to purchase some wood for a small project and stopped into the paint department for some pink paint for Sofia (not an MS color -- I think this might be a subconcious form of rebellion from Sofia). Anyhow, I figured while we were there, I might as well get the paint chips that are missing from my MS paint chip collection -- so I headed over to the wall where they are located -- and they were gone! What? This is not making sense to me, so, I look around and don't see the MS brand label above any of the paint chip areas. I am suddenly overcome by emotion and cannot speak -- good thing Rick was there to ask the sales associate what was going on. Apparently, Ms. Martha wanted Lowes to fork over more $$ to her for her exclusivity (the increase has to do with something about attorney/legal fees -- sounds like a bunch of chicken poop to me). So, Lowes said adios Martha. Waaaaaaa! I regained my composure and asked the sales associate about what to do when I need to purchase paint to match the Martha on my walls. He was very kind (my heart was on my sleeve after all) and explained that he could probably help me out. At this point, since I was not feeling the warm and fuzzy, I proceeded to pull paint chips from everywhere in an attempt to replace the "Sea Spray" color that I FINALLY decided on for the bathroom. The stack shown in the left side of the picture is what I brought home. There are almost 100 chips in the stack. Exactly ONE of those chips might look like the MS 261 chip. I can't be sure because it is a Waverly color (which I have never used) and the chip has no coordinating color strips on it. Sigh...

Rick, understanding my frustration in the pursuit of the perfect color -- and his own personal weariness of the "builder's white" wall in the bathroom, suggested I go online to find out if Ms. Martha would be selling her colors anywhere else. You guessed it -- Home Depot -- but not until March -- guess Rick will have to put up with that white wall a bit longer.

I'm hoping that wasn't the winning ticket...

If it is, do you think they will believe the dog ate it?

the money jar...

...or, for this year -- the money can!

There is an old superstition that whatever comes into your home first on New Year's Day will be what comes into your home throughout the year. So, every year on New Year's eve, we put a container filled with money outside. As soon as we wake up on New Year's Day, the container is brought into the house (before anything else). As you can see, this can only has small change and a single $1 bill. Hmmm... maybe that's why I'm not seeing the big bucks! I'll mention to Rick that he should stick a few larger bills in there next time. :-)