WEC Week was good, but very tiring! I spent the first half of Friday's session helping corral the 4-year-olds. Jacob stuck to me like glue and wasn't happy when I left when my shift was over, but he stayed with his group and had a great time playing. Billy and I picked the boys up a little early so we could beat the crowd to the cafeteria. After enjoying some pizza, we went to the coffee shop on campus and got some frozen chocolate custard. That's some great stuff!

We had made plans to spend Saturday with Jay and Allison and their 10-month-old, Grant. (He's so adorable, and he's a really good baby, too!) After encountering several traffic jams on the way to their house, we finally got there - an hour and fifteen minutes later. (It usually only takes us about 40 minutes!) I stuck Paula Deen's corn casserole in the oven and played with the boys while Allison ran out to the grocery store to pick up a few last things. Jay and Billy were busy turning pens in the garage for an order Jay had. We took a lunch break for some delicious grilled Angus burgers, French fries, and corn casserole.

After lunch the guys got back to work, and Allison and I took the boys to a nearby park. The boys played on the playground for a little while, then we walked a leisurely 1.2 miles around the pond, watching for ducks and geese to feed. We tossed some kernels of corn out to some ducks in the pond a few times, but none of them were interested. The turtles weren't interested either. Finally we found some geese that were pretty hungry. Jacob showed no fear as he held out his few kernels of corn to one of the geese. It would've taken it right out of his hand if I hadn't told him to toss it. (Geese frighten me when they get close. They're aggressive, and I've seen them chase someone before.) Before long, that goose was right in front of Jacob, grabbing at his arm with its beak. He didn't freak out like I expected - or like I know Caleb would have. I wonder if Allison got a picture of that...

When we finished our stroll around the pond, the boys decided they wanted to ride in the paddle boats. We were all going to ride in one earlier, but they wouldn't let Grant in the boat since he's a baby. (Their rules said children had to be at least 30 inches tall and 30 lbs.) I'd never been in a paddle boat before, but it turned out to be a lot of fun. Of course, I had to do all the work. Caleb couldn't quite reach the pedals. I had to take a break a few times, and Jacob always scolded me for it. I guess he thought if I wasn't pedaling, we would sink or something. During one of my breaks, Caleb took pity on me and said, "You rest, Mom. I'll pedal for a while." Then he leaned down, put his hands on the pedals, and tried his hardest to get us somewhere. He wasn't able to do that for long, but it was a really sweet gesture. He mostly steered us while I provided the power. Jacob gave orders. After about half of our allotted 30 minutes, I was nearly wiped out. We ended up being out for about 20 minutes. Exhausted, we made our way back to Allison and Grant and loaded up in their van to go back to their house. (Allison took a few pictures of us in our yellow duck boat. I'll post one later.)

Before we left that afternoon, we saw four hot air balloons floating across the sky behind their neighborhood. That's the second time we've seen hot air balloons from their back yard. I wonder how often they get to see them. I'd love to go up in one. Tethered, of course.

Birthday Boy

Yesterday was Caleb's 7th birthday! I can't believe he's already that old! It doesn't seem like that long ago...

We started out the day at LIFT, our homeschool co-op. I baked a double batch of brownies for him to share with all his friends. They sang "Happy Birthday" to him while he grinned and hung his head, a little embarassed from all the attention.

After LIFT and our group lunch, we headed to the library for our weekly trip. I had thought about going to the zoo for his birthday like we had done for Jacob's last month, but the skies were threatening rain and I was still exhausted from last week, the weekend, and playing tag for nearly an hour with the two P.E. groups earlier in the day. After staying in the library for an hour, we came on home. I cooked Caleb's favorite food for his birthday supper: fried rice. We also had stir-fried veggies (broccoli, mushrooms, red peppers, onions, and baby corn) and Billy and I each had an egg roll. We ate the leftover brownies for dessert.

Caleb opened two of his birthday gifts after dinner and dessert. First was a dice game called "Toss Up", which is a lot of fun. We all played a round of it after things settled down a little. He also got a 110-piece Magnetix set (to add to his many other Magnetix and GeoMag sets). Those are so much fun! We played with them after our dice game and ended up losing track of the time. He'll open his other gifts this weekend while Billy's parents are here.

It's been nice to have a stay-home-day today. I've been able to get my kitchen cleaned up and some laundry done. I can still think of several other things I should be doing instead of blogging right now, but I needed a break. I think we'll have an easy supper tonight - BLTs. I'll cook Tuscan chicken with angel hair pasta, salad, and garlic bread tomorrow night. Mmmm... I need to start posting my weekly menus again. No time like the present.

Monday night - frozen Totino's pizzas (I had a cooking show and got to snack on a few slices of Sun-Dried Tomato and Cheese Pizza and some Chocolate Trifle. Yum!)
Tuesday night - Caleb's birthday dinner: fried rice, stir-fried veggies, egg rolls
Wednesday night - BLTs
Thursday night - Tuscan chicken with angel hair pasta, salad, garlic bread
Friday night - leftovers or sandwiches
Saturday night - out
Sunday - sandwiches (standard for Sunday nights since we don't get back in from AWANA until around 7:00.)

Idol Chatter

Last night was the first night of competition for the final 12 contestants. The girls outperformed the guys by a wide margin. My top picks: Melinda Doolittle (who had Paula in tears), Lakisha Jones, and Jordin Sparks. I still like Chris Sligh, but his rendition of "Endless Love" was not good. He was the only consistently good guy until last night. I hope he's able to stick around, though. He's too good to go home yet. (Who am I to say? I don't even vote.)

Pick to go home: Sanjaya Malakar is by far the worst in the bunch, but I doubt he'll be the one going home tonight. I'd guess either Phil Stacy or Brandon Rogers. They're both okay, but just okay. They aren't standing out much, especially when their performances are sandwiched between the much better, much bolder ladies' performances.

We'll find out soon. At least AI isn't on Thursday nights anymore and I can get back to watching Survivor instead of flipping between the two shows.

After only two days I'm back in the swing of things. I spent time yesterday and today catching up on paperwork for Caleb's schooling. My laundry is in good order. My apartment is fairly clean (thanks to assistance from FlyLady!). I'm back to cooking on a regular basis after a week of eating cereal or eating out. I'm back to exercising in the mornings and will resume racquetball later this week. Tomorrow night I'll be back at the ladies' exercise class at church for the first time in a month. It's good to be back in the routine!

Idol Chatter
Most of the American Idol contestants were in top form tonight. Chris Daughtry started things off with "Wonderful World" - quite a change for the rocker. He was awesome! Paris Bennett followed him with an Ella Fitzgerald classic and performed really well. It made me like her more again. Taylor Hicks did well with "You Send Me". He even got good remarks from Simon. Elliot Yamin was great. He made me think of Harry Connick, Jr. (He should've been the one helping the contestants this week, but Rod Stewart did great, too. I'm looking forward to seeing him perform tomorrow night on the results show.) And then came Kellie Pickler. And the night went downhill. She was awful - very nasal and flat on many notes. She even admitted that she butchered the song. But thanks to the lovely folks at Vote for the Worst, she'll probably be around another few weeks... Ace Young followed her and did nothing to improve things. His look was awful - wearing a suit and his hair slicked back into a tight ponytail. Not a good look for him at all. His singing wasn't that great, either. He and Kellie are tied for the worst. Katharine McPhee brought things back up again with her performance. She's got a great voice, and this week's style was perfect for her.

My predictions for the bottom 3: Kellie Pickler, Ace Young, and Elliot Yamin. (I don't think Elliot belongs there, but I think that's where he'll show up.)
My prediction to leave this week: Ace Young. (My dream will come true if it's Kellie.)

On the Menu
It's been a while since I posted about food. I made Chile Rellenos Chicken a few weeks ago, and it was pretty good. Billy said it reminded him of Mexican Chicken Casserole; once he said that, I could definitely taste it. The best thing we had that night was the Spanish rice that Billy's mom sent me the recipe for. It's going to be a standard on my menu from now on whenever I serve Mexican food. I'll post the recipe before long.

Last night I made Applesauce Meatloaf (minus the applesauce because I didn't know we were out), Roasted Rosemary Potatoes, and Stewed Squash. Mmm-mmm good! I made enough meatloaf so we can have meatloaf sandwiches tomorrow night. There was barely a serving of the potatoes left. Caleb loved them, which surprised me. I wasn't sure he would like the herby taste, even though it was subtle. I'll definitely make the potatoes that way again. Here's how I did them:

3 baking potatoes, peeled and cut into large chunks
olive oil
salt
pepper
fresh rosemary

(Don't ask me about measurements for the seasonings. I just sprinkled until it looked good.) Drizzle olive oil over potatoes and stir well to coat. Sprinkle with salt and pepper; chop fresh rosemary and sprinkle over potatoes. Mix well to evenly distribute seasonings and bake at 400 degrees for 45 minutes, stirring potatoes occasionally.

Tonight I made a veggie pizza - zucchini, onion, fresh spinach, fresh mushrooms, and marinated artichoke hearts with Colby Jack cheese (I didn't realize I was out of mozzarella.) on a crust brushed with olive oil, Italian seasoning, and fresh garlic. Billy and I ate every bit.

Here's what follows for the rest of the week:
Wednesday - leftovers or sandwiches
Thursday - omelets (so I can finish using my fresh mushrooms and green onions)
Friday - BLTs

Considering...
I'm seriously considering becoming a Pampered Chef consultant. There are several reasons: I love to cook, I love Pampered Chef products and recipes, and I'd like to do a little something to make some extra money. I'll be making my decision in the next few days...

The boys' dentist appointments went really well. Caleb did great and has beautiful teeth - no spots of any sort anywhere. His mouth is too small for the bite wing x-rays, though. Every time the dental assistant tried to put them in his mouth, he gagged. He loved getting his teeth polished. He said it tickled. I think he really liked having the water sucked out of his mouth with "Mr. Thirsty".

Jacob wasn't too sure about things, this being his first trip to the dentist. He didn't want to lay back in the chair, but once the dentist started talking with him and showing him his new toothbrush, he opened up. She was impressed with how clean his teeth are, too. He has two spots I need to work on in the back; they're just slightly "stained" she said. Other than that, everything was great. She didn't polish his, only brushed them. I didn't want to try x-rays with him because I was pretty sure he wouldn't cooperate with that.

They left happy and wondering why other kids there were crying...

Idol Update
Well, I guessed the bottom three almost completely wrong. Lisa was there, and the one to go. Ace surprised me since he's done better the last two weeks. Katharine completely shocked me. She's really good, except for last night. I was surprised Bucky didn't make it in the bottom, but I'm kind of glad he's sticking around.

So, next week's theme is country. No problem for Bucky and Kellie. I just want to know what Chris will sing. Maybe something from Travis Tritt? I don't know much country anymore so I'm not too sure which artists have a harder edge. It'll be interesting to watch.

What's Cooking
Last night's supper was really good: hamburger steaks with sauteed mushrooms and onions, seasoned potato logs, and green salad. Tomorrow night I'm cooking Chili Rellenos Chicken (from my Pampered Chef Stoneware Inspirations cookbook), Mexican rice (from a recipe Billy's mom gave me), and green salad. Friday night will be one of the boys' favorite meals: spaghetti and meatballs, garlic bread, and Italian seasoned green beans. Well, the green beans, not so much.

Caleb has picked pancakes to be his special supper Monday night. That day we'll be celebrating his 100th day of math. Actually, it'll be more than that, but that's the day we will complete Lesson 100. He's excited to reach that milestone. Now I have to figure out what I'll be cooking the rest of the week. Any suggestions?

I love to play Sudoku. It's become part of my morning routine: after exercising and Bible study, I check my email, peruse the news, read a few blogs, then get my daily fix of Sudoku Challenge. Several months ago, I beat my personal best solving time of 6:18. There have been times since then that I've finished in the late 5's, but yesterday I finished in 5:12. My new record. Then I beat it again this morning - 4:56. I know that's not going to happen too often, though. The last two days' puzzles were fairly easy. Easy or not, I love to work them every day.

Even Caleb has gotten in on the Sudoku craze. He's helped me a few times with working Sudoku puzzles in my book, as well as a few times on the computer. Once on one of our many Wal-Mart trips, when we made our usual stop in the toy section, Caleb found a children's Sudoku puzzle book. It's a Dora book with picture stickers to place on the correct spots on a 4x4 grid. He just had to have it. The next morning, I showed him how to work them, then he was off. He said he was only going to work one puzzle a day, but that quickly changed once he realized how much fun they are. That day he ended up working about 10 puzzles from his book. The next day he worked a few more. I showed him how to use pennies to cover up spaces on the more difficult ones. I had to put it out of Jacob's reach several days ago, and once it was out of Caleb's sight, it's been out of his mind. I'll have to get it back out for him so he can finish. I think he's only halfway done with it. Maybe he'll work on it this weekend and show Pops how he can play Sudoku, too.

What's Cooking?
And what's been cooking?

Jay and Allison came over Saturday night for dinner and a movie. Allison has gestational diabetes right now and is having to be extremely careful in what and how much she eats. Jay is on the Atkins' diet; he figured this would be a good time since Allison can't eat just anything. Allison was worried about me cooking to meet their dietary needs, but I told her it was no problem. She even offered to bring their own food, but I assured her that wasn't necessary. I had her tell me what she could eat and together we planned a really delicious meal for us. We had baked BBQ chicken topped with bacon, cheese, green onions, and diced tomatoes; baked potatoes; broccoli; green salad; and strawberries for dessert. That was the first time I had made chicken that way, but it wasn't hard at all - and you can get it at many restaurants. Here's what I did:

5 boneless chicken breasts, thawed and trimmed of excess fat
KC Masterpiece original BBQ sauce
8 strips bacon, fully cooked
shredded Colby-Jack cheese
thinly slice green onions
diced tomatoes

Brush chicken with BBQ sauce, then baked at 350 degrees for 15 minutes. Turn chicken over, brush other side with sauce, and bake for 5-10 minutes, until chicken is fully cooked. Top each chicken breast with 1-2 bacon strips broken in half, cheese, green onions, and tomatoes. Bake for additional 5 minutes, or until cheese melts.

How easy is that?!? Billy really liked it (he's never ordered chicken that way from a restaurant) and said it's something he'd definitely like to have again. Yay! Another dish to add to my rotation, which I don't really rotate. I just cook what I want when I want it.

We also had Baked Potato Soup again this weekend. I made that Sunday afternoon, and Billy bought us a loaf of Asiago cheese bread from Panera Bread to go with it. It was so good! We've decided that getting a loaf of that scrumptious bread from Panera on occasion to go with soup, chili - or whatever! - is something we're definitely going to do more often.

I'm planning on making another omelette for supper tonight - and this time I have fresh mushrooms to add! Homemade veggie pizza is on the menu for Thursday night.

Ever since I got my new Pampered Chef cookbooks a few weeks ago, I've been dying to try some new recipes. I even got out all my other Pampered Chef cookbooks and went through about half of them, marking recipes I want to try before too long. I've got lots of cooking to do!

I planned my menu for the next week and a half since I needed to go grocery shopping today. Of course, I forgot to put a few things on my list so I'll have to go back. At least I won't need any of those things until early next week - just about the same time I'll need to pick up some more milk.

Here's what's planned for the rest of this week and next week:

Wednesday (tonight)
chili-cheese corn dogs
salad

Thursday
spaghetti & meatballs
breadsticks with fresh garlic
salad

Friday
**baked potato soup - new recipe!
salad

Saturday
leftovers

Sunday
leftovers or sandwiches

Monday
leftovers or sandwiches

Tuesday
**coconut crab cakes - new recipe!
plum sauce for dipping
stir-fried veggies

Wednesday
crab salad sandwiches
fruit

Thursday
veggie pizza (like the one my mom and sisters made last weekend!)

Friday
leftovers or sandwiches

One thing I try to do when planning my menus is to group recipes that use similar ingredients (read: fresh veggies) so I can use them up before they go bad. For example, the celery and green onions I'll need for my potato soup will also go with my crab cakes and the crab salad. The red bell pepper for the crab cakes can also go on the veggie pizza. I could also use some in my stir fry. Or I could toss it all into a salad if I get desperate!

What are you cooking? Anything I'd like to try? Let me know - and I'll let you know how my stuff turns out!

I can't stand not being able to blog when I want to, so while my page at Diary-X is down, this will be my temporary home. Welcome!

Crazy about Curling
Have you been watching any of the Olympic coverage? I've missed out on a lot, but I've been enjoying watching the curling competitions the last few days. I watched it some during the last winter Olympics, but I've really gotten into it this time around. I even looked up some information on curling so I'd know more about what's going on. Even Caleb has gotten into watching it.

I think this will be a good opportunity to teach him some geography - locating countries where the opposing teams are from. I've also got several children's books on hold from the library about the Olympics.

Cut Short
We had to cut our Valentine's Party short yesterday. I don't know exactly what Caleb's problem was - if he was tired or what - but he acted horribly! After only an hour - and 2 or 3 warnings - I got the boys together and left. He was complaining about not liking the craft (a tissue mosaic heart magnet for the refrigerator) because "it's for girls". He was whining about having to play the games; then when he played once and didn't win, he pitched a royal fit. He kept going outside to play by himself and jump on the trampoline alone after I repeatedly told him not to, then he started jumping on the couch and complaining because I made him come inside. He tried to hit me and shouted that he hated me, then he started yelling that he was sorry when I told him we were leaving. He tried to talk his way out of having to go home, but I told him it was too late. Then he ran out the front door and walked away like he was going to run away. When Jacob went after him, Caleb tackled him and hit him. More drama followed in the van on the way home and I finally told Caleb not to say a word, that I didn't want to hear his voice. After we got home, I got Jacob settled in with the cookies he had won from the "cake" walk and sent Caleb to his room. We had a discussion about his behavior, he got a spanking, and he was confined to his bed for 15 minutes. After that time was up, he was free to get up from his bed, but he couldn't come out of his room until he was ready to apologize to both Jacob and me. Apparently he learned a lesson. He was nearly perfect the rest of the day.

My leaving also made an impression with the other mothers at the party. The lady who hosted the party called me in the afternoon to thank me for helping out with the craft, to ask when she could bring my supplies and the boys' valentines over, and to tell me how "awesome" I was for leaving early. She said that she and another lady talked about how hard that must have been and what a great example I set for everyone. She said I have encouraged her to do the same thing when her kids are misbehaving and won't straighten up after a few warnings. At least something good came out of a very embarrassing situation!

Tonight's Menu
Roasted Chicken Au Jus
**Baked Parmesan Risotto - new recipe!
Green Beans
Salad

(This was originally planned for last Thursday night, but since we already had lots of left overs and I was going to be gone all weekend, I decided we'd just eat what we already had. I'm really looking forward to trying the risotto!)

What are you cooking tonight? Have you tried any new recipes lately?