My baby boy turns 15

So what if I'm six months late posting these pictures?  Go ahead and judge me!  I dare you!  Lol!  Oh well.  I found this post still labeled as a "draft" and thought, "What the heck? Better late than never."

Alex...age 15!  :)  And what else does a teenage boy want to do on his birthday?  (well..besides hang out with cute girls)  The arcade, of course.

This picture is my fave.  I guess he got to hang out with a cute girl after all, right?

Why?

Why is being a good mom so much harder than being a bad mom?

New Post

I have started a "new post" 5 different times in the past few days and I just end up throwing it out instead of posting it.  Apparently, I am out of words at the moment.  So I will post a few pictures of my adorable daughter prancing around in her tutu.  Her closet door is a full length mirror, in case you are wondering what she is looking at.

Ta Da!!

....sigh....

I try to be upbeat on this blog most of the time.  I really do.  Because who wants to read about all my problems?  Nobody, that's who.  But sometimes a person just gets to the point when venting is necessary.  So if you prefer not to keep my misery company, then you might want to leave this blog and go to your happy place.  Otherwise known as Pinterest.

Do you ever have those mornings where getting out of bed and facing life is just so difficult?  I have those mornings more frequently than I care to divulge at the moment, but today is one of those days.  I am weary.  I miss parts of my life in the past that in retrospect seemed to be free of worry.  Sometimes I start to feel sorry for myself, with all of our problems and stresses, and I wish I had that part of my life back.  But sometimes it's the little things that really set us off.  Like my dryer.  I want it back.  It died on us a week ago and I have been doing laundry one load a day and then hanging it all over my house and across a sad little line strung across my family room.  One load a day is not sufficient when your family has six people in it and four of them are adult sized.  It seems like such a piddly thing to complain about really, compared to the other challenges we are facing, but believe me when I say that it feels like the last straw.  Do we have the money to fix it?  No.  It could have at least had the decency to last until May when it would be warm enough to hang outside.  But nooooo.  The middle of winter is a much better time for a dryer to kick the bucket.

I know what you're thinking;  stop complaining because it could always be worse.  I agree.  A few days after the untimely death of the dryer, we had a lady we know stay at our house for a few hours while her kids were in school.  Her and her family were just evicted from their home and they are living at a homeless shelter.  She takes the bus with her kids at 6 in the morning every day to take them to school because she doesn't want them to have to switch schools in the middle of the year.  She told me that it's the only stable thing in their lives right now and she won't take it away from them.  While they are at school, she finds some place to wait for them and then takes the bus with them back to their temporary home.  After she left, Shawn and I just looked at each other and I know we were thinking the same thing:  it could always be worse.  Could it be a coincidence that she came at a moment in my life when I was acting particularly ungrateful and spoiled?  Maybe.  But I know that night we thanked God for our home, for the means to feed our family and for the relative stability we enjoy at this moment.

Perspective is everything, wouldn't you agree?

My quest for cheese dip

***disclaimer***  Certain names in this post have been changed to protect the innocent.

I *heart* a certain little Mexican restaurant that is native to Utah and rhymes with, oh, let's call it Cafe Meo.  Yes, I see nods coming from those who suffer from the same addiction that afflicts me.  I could seriously eat there every day and never tire of their sweet and spicy pork, tangy tomatillo dressing, handmade tortillas and let us not forget the A-mazing queso dip.  But since our little family has started our "Adventures in Nursing School!", we have had to all but give up our love of all things restaurant.  So I have learned to apply my natural sneakiness toward the goal of finding a copy cat recipe for every one of my favorite items on their menu.  So far I have made their pork (NOT using cola, thank you very much), fire-grilled chicken, cilantro rice, tomatillo dressing and am currently working on finding a duplicate for their green enchilada sauce.  But the elusive queso dip remains out of my grasp.  I have searched for hours, people!  I cannot find more than a hint of what is in that "secret" recipe and judging from all the threads that are out there on ask.com, it seems I am not the only one who would love to get their greasy little salt-covered fingers on it.  So I have decided to take matters into my own hands, so to speak, and I will not rest until I have made a queso dip that is comparable to theirs.

I found a recipe that sounds similar and is from a restaurant that appears to be back east called Cafe del Rio (funny coincidence?).  I think with a few tweaks, it might be pretty close.  Here's hopin'!
 

Ingredients: 2 1/2 lb white American cheese (find in the grocery store deli) 1 pint half & half 1 cup whipping cream 1/2 cup jalepeno peppers, chopped (more or less to taste) 1/2 c. frozen spinach, chopped Directions: Melt all ingredients in a crockpot.   Ha ha!  I love those directions!  I think 1/2 cup of jalepenos seems a little hot, so I will be adjusting that.  Plus I think at least half the cheese needs to be some sort of melt-able cheddar or regular American.  I know it's more expensive to use the real American cheese, but I refuse to use Velveeta.  Ew!  If you are shocked at the amount of cream in this recipe, we'll just pretend it's not there and go on living in denial.  All I'm saying is that there is a reason that restaurant food tastes so good, ok?  I might decrease the cream a little though and add some salsa.  We'll see.   I plan on test driving this little recipe this weekend and will post the taste testing results.  Mmmmm, my mouth is watering already.   In the meantime, here is my favorite copy cat recipe for "Pork Barbacoa".   1 boneless pork roast (any kind works, but some cuts are more tender than others) Kosher salt 2 cans 8 oz mexican tomato sauce (I use the El Pato brand, in a yellow can.  It's usually right next to the regular tomato sauce.  Don't be alarmed by the word "hot".  It doesn't come in mild and trust me, you don't want it that way.) 2 cans 8 oz regular tomato sauce 2 cups brown sugar   Put roast in crockpot, add a small amount of water, maybe 1/2 cup.  Sprinkle roast with kosher salt.  Cook at least 8 hours on low.  When roast is done, remove from crock pot and shred.  Place in large saucepan.  Add tomato sauces and brown sugar.  Over medium heat bring to a low simmer, reduce heat to medium-low and simmer for at least 30 minutes, stirring often.  You might have to adjust the sauce depending on how big your roast is and how hot you like it.  The original recipe called for 3 cans of each, but I thought it was too saucy.  This definitely has a kick to it as well.  Love it!

How to argue with a woman

I saw this picture on in-your-face book and it made me chuckle:

Just life

January is not my favorite time of year.  The cold temperatures and perpetually gray skies do not bode well for me and my inconsistent moods.  But today the sun is shining and I feel good.  So I'll take it while I can.

Have I mentioned that my husband gave me the best Christmas present ever?



Yes.  That is a Kindle touch.  This might come as a shock to those of you who have been on the receiving end of my anti-Kindle speeches during the past few years, but I admit that I was wrong about most of what I said (hehe, did you really think I would admit to being wrong about everything?).  I freaking LOVE this thing!  It's not like the new Kindle Fire, which has most of the bells and whistles of an iPad.  It doesn't have a dedicated internet connection and it can't check my email or my facebook or babysit my children.  But it is so genius in its simplicity that it doesn't need any of that crap.  It has pretty much become one of my most precious possessions second only to my library card .  I really didn't think I would like reading books this way, but evidence (like the fact that I have read 6 books this month alone) has proven otherwise.  Did you know you can check out books from the library and have them delivered instantly to your Kindle?  Whoever thought that idea up is now going to be worshiped by me for the remainder of my days.  Ya, it's pretty awesome.  I still think that good ol' fashioned books win for readability and the fact that they smell good and look much better on your bookshelf, but the Kindle is soooo nice to have when you are reading and eating (something I do constantly) or waiting in the car for your children (again...constantly) or sitting in church pretending to read your scriptures while you are really doing a crossword puzzle.  Oh...uh....ahem....anyway, to sum up:  me and my kindle = BFFs.