Thursday, June 3, 2010

Old Fashioned Pork Chops in Crock Pot

Ok, I haven't been very good with my blog, but I am making it up to you with my most fabulous new crock pot recipe. It is a definate A.

Old Fashioned Pork Chops

1/2 cup all purpose flour
1 1/2 tsp ground mustard
1/2 tsp garlic salt
1/2 tsp pepper
6 boneless pork loin chops (5 oz ea)
2 tblsp canola oil
1 can (10 1/2oz) condensed chicken with rice soup, undiluted
1 medium onion, quartered
1 1/2 tsp dried parsley flakes

1. In a large resealable plastic bag, combine the flour, mustard, garlic salt and pepper. Add porkchops, a few pieces at a time, and shake to coat.

2. In a large skillet, brown chops in oil on each side. Transfer to a 3-qt slow cooker. Top with soup, onion and parsley. Cover and cook on low for 5-6 hours or until pork is tender.

These came out wonderful! I am allergic to rice, but I ate one anyway. The onion was slightly carmelized and the whole thing was tasty!! I love easy and yummy recipes.

Monday, March 29, 2010

Donkey Basketball

Tonight I got to witness something totally new and unique - donkey basketball.

Katya was part of the girls basketball team that went up against the equestrian team in a fundraising event at the high school tonight. There were real donkeys brought in that have special rubber shoes on thier hooves to not scratch the floor.

It was pretty funny to watch, especially when Katya's donkey had a mind of it's own.

I brought Alexis and Logan and they were interested for all of ten minutes. They had to hold out for a whole hour until Bob came to rescue them.

Katya had a really good time. It's a shame she never gets to do anything fun or different up here.

Saturday, March 27, 2010

Unmistaken Child

Anyone that really knows me knows that I am very open-minded in my beliefs. I have a fascination with world religions and remain open to learning what other people think and believe. After all, I sure don't have all the answers nor would I ever pretend to. I have a core center of what I believe, but there is a lot of room for expansion.

Therefore, I believe strongly that every religion and every person's religious beliefs are sacred and should always be respected. I may not agree with what you particularly believe, but I will always respect it.

When I was lying on my back in the zero gravity chair I watched a lot of Netflix on demand. One of the movies I had in my queue was "Unmistaken Child". It is about the search for the reincarnation of a Llama that passed away in Nepal. I remember reading about the child that this movie was about and I was fascinated by the whole thing.

I watched this movie with a bit of a skeptical point of view. I was certain that I would be able to see, without a doubt, some form of a pre-concieved notion of which child it was. The entire movie centered around the old Llama's assistant, who in my personal opinion, has achieved enlightenment. Talk about a pure soul seeking nothing but love, peace and goodness. I really admire this person. He is a simple soul who misses his mentor terribly.

Since I don't want to give it away, all I can say is - I am not sure that this child is NOT the reincarnation of the Llama. There were two moments in the movie that really shook what I thought to be the truth. Katya and I are both left dumbfounded and completely intrigued by the whole thing.

I am not sure that a group of people that are that closely bound together by faith and by their love and respect of the earth and each other could not, somehow, have reincarnation. It goes against Christian thinking and every Western religion that I can think of (Hindu being the exception). But man, it leaves you thinking that maybe there is a master plan for these people that we are just not privy to.

Watch it and let me know your thoughts. Don't miss the last five minutes... that one moment still has me thinking.

Tuesday, March 23, 2010

Bad Back

I have a bad back.

It is a relatively new thing for me. I used to have a really strong back and never once had so much as a sore anything. Shoulders and neck yes, but never my back.

Then came Alexis.

When I delivered Alexis she did something strange on the way out and my tailbone was broken. Ouch. I couldn’t figure out for the longest time why I absolutely could NOT lay on my back and why it hurt to sit. I guess it is a common occurrence for deliveries. It took me several months for my back to recover. I had to sit on pillows and really baby my lower back. Then as I was just about recovered….

WAH BAM!!!!!

… here comes Logan. Although I didn’t know I was knocked up for the first three months, I sure as heck knew it the last six. I had sciatica and horrid lower back pain. I slept with a pillow at my back every night for extra support.

After Logan I could tell that I had a tender back because it made itself known whenever I would bend over changing a diaper, bathing him, picking up Alexis… anything. Even my mattress made it hurt. A few lucky times something zigged when it should have zagged and I ended up crying. Man, oh man, I was dying. Luckily Bob and motrin saw me through.

Sunday it did it again. Katya asked if I would go to a Bikram Yoga class with her on Sunday morning. She didn’t want to go alone and I wanted to try it out because I noticed their pose sequence was not really heavy on the arms (since I can’t do arm junk). Bikram is that “hot” yoga where the room is set at 90 something degrees and you end up dripping with sweat after about ten minutes. At the end of 90 minutes every part of your body and strand of hair on your head is wet. You feel great afterwards though.

I was having a good time and focusing on my breathing and stretching until I hit the pose that took me out. I was all loose from the heat and didn’t realize I went too far until it was too late. I was dying the rest of the class. I went home and after a shower put myself into Bob’s zero gravity chair (it flips back to relieve back pain) and didn’t move really until last night. Man… I was dying. But Katya and Bob picked up my slack and took care of me, the house and the short ones. Katya wouldn’t even let me get myself something to drink. I think she feels pretty bad.

But this has not put me off of the yoga with Katya. I just now know to baby myself and not try to do all the poses until I have been a few times without pain. It’ll happen. Besides, I like having something special to do with Katya. I think she is pretty cool and a lot of fun to hang out with. Just give me a month to recover.

Wednesday, March 17, 2010

Books

I am a bibliophile.

bib·li·o·phile (bĭb'lē-ə-fīl') n.
1. A lover of books.
2. A collector of books

Give me a good book and I can block out the world for hours or days. Even a so-so book I’ll usually read to the end. Those are actually pretty nice because it doesn’t make my entire world stop.

My “need” for reading comes in waves usually. I always have to have something to read so I have books and magazines stashed all over the house, in my car and usually something in my purse. I can easily have four books going at once depending on where I am.

Then there comes “A” book. One of those all-consuming, can’t put it down, don’t care if people around me are hungry, what is wrong with wearing dirty socks, hope the health department doesn’t come by – books. It doesn’t have to be a national bestseller or even a terribly great book, just one that catches my imagination. There is no specific genre that does it and no particular author.

This weekend I had such a book. Started it on Saturday afternoon after pulling it at random from a stack of books that my cousin, Beth had given me last Thanksgiving. Just wanted something to have “in case” I had a spare 5 minutes somewhere. Then I got sucked in.

Sunday I was totally worthless. All I wanted was to sit on the couch and read. I didn’t take a shower, I didn’t change out of my jammies and I didn’t even eat until around 2 o’clock. I forced myself to put the book down for a little bit in order to do a couple of loads of laundry and visit with my children, but that was pretty much it. After baths I sat on the couch “for just a few minutes” while Bob watched some tv. I seemingly blinked and an hour had passed.

It reminded me of when I was in middle and high school and my mom would take my book away from me and put it on the fridge so I would actually do my chores. I thought she was so mean when she did that. I didn’t recognize I had issues at that point. Recognizing your addiction is the first step towards recovery, right?

This insane love of reading runs in the family. Katya is a book addict along with my aunts, cousins and nephews. Not sure if it is nature or nurture – but when Bob asked me about that Muzzy early reading system I laughed. I seriously don’t think that Alexis or Logan will be needing any assistance to try and get them to read any earlier than they normally would. I told him that the important thing is the LOVE of reading. The skill comes from practice, not from regurgitation of sight words when you are 3. The short ones already love books. They will both sit with their favorite books and make up stories to go with the pictures. They will bring stacks of books for use to read at night before bed. I’m not worried.

So, although my life can become totally derailed for a good story it is nice to know that someday we will all be sitting on the couch with our noses in our books and I can call it “educational”. And some day when they are forced to read books that they don’t like, they won’t be intimidated. Even books that are really, really long won’t seem like a problem. That just makes for a longer story and that is always a good thing, right?

Saturday, March 6, 2010

Give a Day, Get a Day

I have seen these ads on TV for a while now. The whole “Give a Day, Get a Day” for Disneyland.

Well, a friend of mine here in Bend did just that with her husband. They spent a day fixing bikes for a local non-profit and are now getting their tickets for Disneyland.

I just didn’t think that there would be anything in Bend that would qualify for that program, so I never checked it out. When I did, I found all kinds of stuff! So, on March 13th Katya and I will be volunteering at a fun run supporting the local “Healthy Beginnings” child program.

Evidently we will be doing something like directing walkers and runners along the path and helping pick up trash from about 8:30am to 2pm. What an awesome trade!!

Everyone ages 6 and older can volunteer and earn their free ticket. What a sweet deal! Volunteerism is also an important thing for our community. This is just a way cool way to encourage it and be richly rewarded!

So, we are all scheduled for our volunteer day and at some point we will be getting our free tickets to Disneyland.

After that it will just be getting ourselves down South to go. Maybe we could meet up with some family while we are there!

Anyone care to join us?

Thursday, March 4, 2010

Bye Bailey

We lost our dog today.

I still can't believe it. She seemed ok when I left this morning. But luckily Bob saw that she seemed out of breath and her gums looked white so he rushed her to the vet.

The vet had done an ultrasound and determined that her spleen was bleeding, probably from a tumor. Evidently they are very common for German Shephards when they reach middle age. We adopted Bailey when we "think" she was about a year and a half in 2002, so her estimated age was 9.

Since she had no other health issues, Bob gave him the go ahead to remove her spleen. Dogs can live without them with no ill effects. However, when they were putting her under she went into cardiac arrest and passed away.

Total shock.

Some people don't understand how animals can become part of your family. Bailey was a definate part of our family. When Bob was living in Oregon and I was still in San Diego for those two years, Bailey was with him. If the kids were playing downstairs and I was in the kitchen, I knew that they were fine because Bailey was down there to protect them. Bob would take Bailey out to the property and walk around or take her with him when he rode dirtbikes. That dog could run and run and run and run. Her endurance and energy seemed endless.

Her patience with the toddlers was endless. She stood there and let them hug her, pat her back or brush her. She followed them around to make sure they were safe. Although, sometimes it was from a safe distance.

I even put her name at the bottom of every Christmas card that we sent.

Bob is torn up. I haven't stopped crying for two hours and I am trying to somehow let the kids know that Bailey isn't coming home. She is in heaven. Hopefully hanging out with my other beloved animals; Shen, Phuff and Bandit. I still have to tell Katya. She will be everybit as heartbroken.

Goodbye Bailey. We loved you. We will always miss you. Thank you for being such a wonderful and loyal friend. I am so sorry I didn't get to say goodbye.

Wednesday, March 3, 2010

Pink Overload

Ya know, before my mom had breast cancer I only wore pink when pregnant. It most definitely was NOT a color that I would choose for anything. In fact, I was kinda anti-pink.

When Michelle and I went to Seattle and did the Breast Cancer 3-Day it was pink overload. Pink hats, pink shirts, pink boas, pink … everything. Susan G Koman is an organization that I have historically donated to anyway and pink is their signature color. So after the walk, I just embraced the pink.

I work with a bunch of guys. I mean, I am the only female in the entire engineering department. When you factor in the manufacturing group – the ratio of men to women is crazy high. Normally this is not a big deal, but working with that many guys means that you have to deal with some guy issues.

The main one the bugs me is the – “If I see something that I need, I’ll just grab it off someone’s desk and abscond it”.

It is not malicious, but guys tend to be forgetful. They grab something because they need it “at that moment” and then later on they don’t remember where they got it from. At Qualcomm I had a label maker so I labeled everything. My ruler, my stapler, my scissors, my tape dispenser…. People laughed at me, but I always got my stuff back.

Now I don’t have a label maker, but I have some stuff that I have to have in order to just go to the bathroom and my normal colored stuff kept walking off. Like safety glasses and a hard hat (lots of construction). Not to mention having an open desk crammed in a single-wide trailer with my “stuff” sitting out for grabbing.

So, I have again embraced the pink. I am now the proud owner of pink & purple safety glasses (shiny pink too from Amazon), a pink hardhat and now… pink scissors. My last pair of scissors walked off last week and I intentionally found this breast cancer pair. Still waiting to see if I need to find a pink tape dispenser and stapler.
Trust me, my stuff won’t be taken any longer.

Monday, March 1, 2010

Best of Intentions

When I get in a hurry, I mess things up.

I am sure that it happens to other people, but it really seems to ring true for me. Maybe that is why I tend to be so methodical about some projects, I know I will mess it up otherwise.

Case in point, I wanted to do something nice for my family and have warm muffins waiting for them when they got up Monday morning. I set out the muffin mix, muffin pan, bowl… everything I would need. It is a box mix, how could I screw it up?

I can.

Evidently this little box mix had an “apple packet” that you were suppose to put in after the eggs, oil and water. Totally didn’t connect with that until I had put all the mix in the muffin pan and was getting ready to put them in the oven. I was going to be late as it was making the muffins, so I didn’t the time to scoop out all the batter from the muffin pan, mix in the packet and then re-ladle the muffin pan again. So, being totally wasteful, I dumped it all down the drain and left.

How frustrating!!!

So, I was late to work for nothing.

Tonight I will make muffins – for tomorrow! They won’t be warm and fresh, but they will exist. Which is more than the ones from this morning ever got to be.

Sunday, February 28, 2010

Our Sunny Sunday

Today was just... beautiful. Perfect and glorious.

The sky was an amazing clear blue, the sun was shining and it was cool... but not cold. Perfect for a t-shirt with a sweatshirt.

By the time I drug my sleepy self out of bed (with a cup of coffee brought to me by my hubby) everyone else in the house was up and going. Katya went to yoga and Bob was itching for a walk so I threw together a picnic lunch, grabbed the dogs and we all headed out to Tumalo for some exploring.

We went to the same spot that Bob had taken Katya for lesson 1 on driving a stick shift. The road was closed, so we had an awesome flat road to walk on with the kids. We meandered on the road until it almost reached the reservoir and then we headed back. Bob estimates that it was about a mile out and a mile back. Awesome first hike with the short ones! They did great! The dogs were so happy to go out and get some exploring in too.

Right about the time we got back to the truck they were famished so we enjoyed a lovely meal of sandwiches, apples, pickles and chips before we pulled out the bikes and let the kids go at it. It didn't work quite as well as we had hoped in the dirt. Once the frustration level got too high we packed it in.

I thought they would be exhausted and ready for a nap but nope... they wanted the park. So off to the park we went! They played for another two hours before they really were fried and we headed home for a rest.

Awesome day, glorious weather, wonderful kids, patient husband... a fabulous way to spend a Sunday.

Friday, February 26, 2010

To Booster Or Not To Booster

Alexis is now four years old. Dang! It seriously was just yesterday when she was born, wasn’t it?

My little firecracker has been growing like a little weed and now I am left with a dilemma: is it time for a booster seat?

When she outgrew her infant seat we bought a Britax carseat (4 actually, 2 per car). Hers has a cool pink cover with flowers and it is super soft to lay her face on when sleeping. It has been awesome. When it is locked into my truck the top is secured to the headrest and the bottom is secured to the car. That puppy ain’t going anywhere. But, she is getting taller and now I am wondering that even though the carseat goes to 60 pounds, should she be moving to a booster seat for the height?

Being neurotic like I am, I found a cool one that was not only recommended by the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety as a “Best Bet” but is pink. I personally like Alexis having a girlie seat, it suits her personality and my love for a splash of flair. It is called the Maxi-Cosi Rodi XR and looks pretty cool. The reviews that I have read on it are pretty good too. Granted the other best one on the market is made by Recaro, but it is $350 and only comes in tan and black. Yulk. I’ll probably end up getting those for Bob’s truck and pay for them by selling the other carseats. He was really impressed with the Recaro one when he saw it in someone else’s car.

I have seen several of the “Good Bet” carseats at Target for only $50. Part of me wants to just go with one of those, but the other part is thinking that if they have to stay in a booster seat until they are 8 years old and 4’9”, the booster should be nice, safe and comfy.

Or am I being neurotic?

It was much easier when Katya was little. The rules were not as strict and I was so poor I was happy that I could afford anything at Target for what looked like a good carseat and booster seat.

So, does anyone has comments, suggestions or experiences that they would be willing to share. I’m kinda in a dilemma here.

Thursday, February 25, 2010

How Starbucks Saved My Life

Before Christmas I was walking through Barnes and Noble looking at books and writing down titles I wanted to check out from the library (I’m bad that way). On one of the center tables I remember picking up this small green and tan book called “How Starbucks Saved My Life”. I remember thinking what a silly title and I put it down and moved on.

Right before Christmas with the cleaning rush before guests come over to stay I stumbled upon a few boxes of books that my wonderful cousin, Beth, had sent up with me at Thanksgiving when driving home. We are a hard core reading family and we often route books around to other family members to share the love. In this box was that little green and tan book. I figured it was ironic and that I would have to read it now.

Last weekend I was doing some cleaning and thinning out of our “stuff” and I stumbled upon that little book again sitting so lonely on the bookshelf. I was wanting something to read and it seemed like it would take no time at all. It didn’t. It turns out that it was a pretty decent book. Granted, it is written from the perspective of a white, 63 year old man who was raised in privilege in the East Coast. I know that the East Coast has a different way of thinking so I just had to go with him on why he thought the way he did.

In a nutshell, it is the story of a man who had lost his way in life (you’ll have to read it for the details) and then through a chance encounter at a Starbucks Job Fair applied for and got a job at a local Starbucks. Through his time at Starbucks he really learns to live the Starbucks (and his amazing manager) company culture and it helps him become a better man. A happy man who feels more fulfilled in life.

Most of all, I really liked his “3 L’s” so much that I thought I’d share an abbreviated version of them:

1. Leap … with faith: Leap with faith rather than huddle in fear.


2. Look … with respect: Learn to look and see everyone in your day as a welcome guest to be treated with respect.


3. Listen … to your heart to find true happiness: Trusting your own heart is your greatest path to real happiness. Everyone is given a unique path to happiness that is special for each person – we just have to listen to our hearts.

Wednesday, February 24, 2010

Vision Board

My vision board is in serious need of some vision.

Katya, Bob and I have all watched “The Secret” and at one point last year we all had vision boards with where we wanted to be in life, what we wanted, where we wanted to go…etc. Bob has one at work with business related goals and Katya has one in her room with her life goals. Mine was always kinda small. I only managed to have a list of books to read and a smiley face.

Pretty pathetic.

So, here I am trying to get my personal house in order. I’ve gone to the doctor, I’ve gotten new glasses, I’ve started working out again, I’m cutting down on sugar and eating more fruits and veggies. Now I am working on my vision board and I am finding it hard to put anything up on it. I’ve always struggled with the 5 year plan at work. You know, the “where do you want to be in 5 years” thing.

I have a home, I own a nice car, I have three beautiful children, I’m in a loving marriage to a great guy, I have two dogs and two cats, I have all the “stuff” I think I could ever want. I can’t even think of a car that I would want to replace my Durango with.

When push comes to shove, I do want a finished master bathroom and fireplace. There are other things I suppose I want for the house like a big deck and upgraded kitchen, but those are “nice to haves”.

After watching the Olympics I did realize that I really, really, really want to go to the Olympics and watch an opening or closing ceremony. It wouldn’t even matter what events I watched, I love them all. I’m strange that way. No sports all year and then the Olympics have my full attention.

So, I am sitting here thinking of things to vision about. Being debt free … taking Katya to London … going to Costa Rica with Bob … reading everything on the BBC 100 list (this was Julianne’s idea and I like it) … live more simply and travel more. I guess this is a pretty good start, but I've still gotta work on it.

Tuesday, February 23, 2010

Meet “The Chief”.

“The Chief” is Katya’s first car. It is a 1987 Jeep Cherokee Chief 4x4. She only cost us $600 and an extra $675 in repairs, but for the money she is a good little car. It has nice tires, is four wheel drive, has a good interior and is a nice mid-sized metal tank. Granted, like many of us, she comes with issues.

Her main issue is her driver’s side door. It not only has a rusted hole in it, it has issues closing. That means when you are driving in the early morning you get a nice cold breeze on your tushy (as I did this morning driving it to the mechanic). But Katya is looking for gainful employment and we will have the local body shop fix that part up soon. Since this is her car, she has to pay for it. There are a few other rust spots on the car, but we will see how much time, money and effort Katya wants to put into making this car pretty.

Life Lesson: Anything worthwhile is going to take effort

The previous owner was one of those people that wasn’t a big believer in maintenance. It has become very apparent that although certain parts of the car are in great shape, he only fixed things as they broke. So when Bob (my hero) spent the entire weekend working on this car with Katya – he found a lot of rust. On the upside, he was able to use his torch to “unfreeze” certain bolts. He had fun doing that. So, Katya can only drive this car as far as AAA will tow it back for free. Thank goodness for AAA and cell phones.

So as of now, “The Chief” has new rear brakes, front brake rotors & pads, rear U joints, gear knob, license plate light and a lot of new fluid and oil. Hopefully she will run without issue for a long time.

Not to mention I hope Katya finds a job so she can pay us back for all this.

Monday, February 22, 2010

Home Gym - Here I Come (Again)

It has been a while since I have taken working out at home as seriously as I did before I moved. Not sure what the deal was. Maybe not having a set schedule for a few years just totally did me in.

It made me complacient.

Throw in a couple of pregnancies, a little boy that just does not like to sleep through the night regularly and you get a bit chubby too.

Soooooooooooooo, I am going back to my old habits. My treadmill was serviced today and it seems to be running awesome. For my belated birthday gift, Bob had gotten me a little tv to post over it because it is so deathly boring walking facing a wall. I had a little tv in my garage in Poway, but it is too fat for the space I've got now. This fancy new little flat screen will be totally cool. AND it has a DVD player in it. I will be doing a LOT of Netflixing of tv shows. It should be the right amount of time to be on the treadmill every morning.

Until my tv eventually gets mounted, I will just be content listening to my IPod for the next few weeks. Katya has really loaded a bunch of new music on our shared ITunes library. It will be quite the adventure to find out what I will be listening to.


But I am not going to lie, this is going to be painful. As in seriously painful. I know I can do it, after all I woke up at 4:30 every morning for almost a year to drive across town to hit the gym and I paid $40 a month. This way, I don't have to drive so dang much, I save some cash and I don't have to haul that gym bag around every day. Let's not even get into the whole changing clothes in front of other people when you are self conscious to begin with.

So, wish me luck. I will be needing it until it becomes habit.

I'm Baaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaack!

I have taken a seriously long hiatus on my blog and for that I apologize.

Inspiration was just not coming to me and life had just taken over.

But as time has gone on, I realize that I really like having a blog. Even if nobody else (other than Laura, Nan and my Mom) read this... that is ok.

So, if you have nothing else to do, then check in from time to time. I'll be updating with my randomness on a more regular basis. :)