Thanksgiving leftovers, Barbies, kitchen strikes, football and prayers

The Thanksgiving gluttony is over. Hallelujah! Now, what to do with those leftovers? Thankfully, I didn’t over cook this year like I usually do. I kept the menu small and simple. As a result, I had just enough leftovers to make a couple of meals with.

For leftover turkey I made turkey salad. I diced up a couple of cups worth of turkey and added 1 stalk of chopped celery, one handful of dried cranberries, one diced apple, a few chopped pecans and about ½ cup of mayonnaise. I lightly salted and peppered it.  Then I made little sandwiches with the leftover bread from dinner. It was great and I didn’t feel like I was eating leftovers.

I also used leftover dressing with leftover turkey and gravy. I cut up about 2 cups of turkey and placed it in the bottom of a small casserole dish. Then I topped the turkey with leftover dressing and covered with foil. I baked it at 350 degrees for about 30 minutes. I served this topped with the gravy. For sides I made a green vegetable and used the remaining bread dough I had to make fresh parker house rolls.

For leftover mashed potatoes I handed “J” a large bowl and a fork. I had him mix in ¼ cup of cheddar cheese, a sprinkle of garlic powder, ¼ cup of milk, crumbled bacon and ¼ cup of softened butter. I put this in a casserole dish, covered it and baked at 350 degrees for about 20 minutes. I served this with fried pork chops.

There were no leftover Brussels sprouts. I told you they were good!

Friday night was a good night. We hung out with my lifelong friend Sara and her family. Sara let me make chicken scaloppini for her family. I was tickled to death when even the kids loved it and cleaned their plates. Then we played cards and talked about women who should learn to pluck their eyebrows and about silly things we did when we were kids.

For the record, I still insist that all Barbie dolls are built exactly the same and there was no reason whatsoever that Golden Dream Barbie’s pants should have ripped when I put them on Pink and Pretty Barbie. It’s been 29 years and that’s my story and I’m sticking to it. *sticks tongue out at Sara*

 Golden Dream Barbie...1981

Pink and Pretty Barbie 1982

The remaining pie was finished off Saturday night. Don brought me more pecans because he wanted another pecan pie. The pecan pie was amazing. It was blissful. It was beautiful. It was the most perfect pecan pie I’d ever tasted. Then….then….I topped it with the whiskey maple cream sauce. I can’t even describe how good it was. There just aren’t words to describe “better than perfect”. It was so good it was sinful.

In the past four days I have spent so much time in the kitchen and washed so many dishes that I’m pretty sure I won’t be having any new recipes for at least a week. I don’t care to see the kitchen again. In fact, I’m letting the crock pot do my cooking today. They’ll get roast beef tonight. Tomorrow, and possibly the rest of the week, they’ll be lucky to get bologna sandwiches and red kool-aid. I’m on strike.

This was a fantastic football weekend! The Saints won. The Hogs beat LSU! AND! AND! AND! …. For the first time EVER little J insisted on watching football all weekend, and knew what the heck was going on, and kept up with the score, and loved it! 

*happy dance* I’ve created a football fan!!!!!   Yipee!!!

Speaking of football…There are a couple of football players that I’m just sick to death of.  These are supposed to be “men” (used lightly) that our little boys look up to. They are viewed as role models. Most of them are pretty good guys.

However, you also have guys like Michael Vick who is a completely disgusting life form. I don’t care how good he is on the field. He’s abhorrent enough off the field that I feel that off the field is exactly where he should stay. Why does the NFL keep singing this sub-human being’s praises? Send him back to prison where he belongs. Better yet, inflict upon him some of the abuses he inflicted on those dogs.

Or, let’s talk about the Tennessee Titan’s cornerback, Cortland Finnegan. He’s another disgusting life form. He is currently ranked the sixth dirtiest player in the NFL. He has openly stated it is his goal to be THE dirtiest player in the NFL. Read this: http://sports.yahoo.com/nfl/blog/shutdown_corner/post/Texans-coach-gives-Andre-Johnson-a-game-ball-de?urn=nfl-289983  and then watch the video and decide for yourself.

Now there’s something to be proud of, huh?

What kind of raising did these idiots have? Who taught them that this was acceptable behavior? Where are their mothers? I’d like to have a word with them.

In other news… Don is trying to bid on a big job. It would be just the boost we need to get the business moving along. I can’t provide any more detail than that. We’re just asking that you please pray on that for us.

That’s all I’ve got today. I hope I wasn’t disappointing. I have surrounded myself in a drama free zone. It’s paying off. However, it can be a little boring sometimes. Sorry.

Thanksgiving Dinner....new recipe

I'm making dinner tomorrow. I have to. Jack loves Thanksgiving and he would be heartbroken without turkey and cranberry sauce.

The menu?

Roast Turkey, homemade dressing, mashed potatoes, gravy, brussels sprouts, homemade Parker House rolls.

Dessert: Pecan Pie with Whiskey Maple Cream Sauce. Courtesy of The Pioneer Woman and
             Nantucket Cranberry Pie also Courtesy of The Pioneer Woman

Now, I can hear you saying, "Brussels sprouts? Really? ewww....Why? Well, I'm about to share. These are good even for the most picky eater. J asks for more when I make them.

You will need:

Fresh Brussels sprouts Let me stress again... FRESH! FRESH! FRESH! If you use frozen I will know.

See this?

I have one of these here wooden spoons. I will find you and smack your hand with it!

So...let me start again....

FRESH Brussels Sprouts
4-6 slices of bacon
1/2 an onion diced
2-3 teaspoons or so of Balsamic Vinegar (depending on how much you like. I never measure)
1 teaspoon sugar
1/4 cup of chicken broth
salt and pepper
oven proof skillet with a lid

I use one similar to this:

It's cast iron and belonged to my grandmother. It's one of the few belongings of hers that I have and I treasure it. It's coated on the outside with a beautiful turquoise gloss. It makes amazing pot roast and great fried chicken!

First, clean and trim your brussels sprouts. Cut each sprout in half lengthwise. Preheat your skillet using medium heat. Cut bacon into small pieces and place in skillet. When bacon begins to brown  add the onion and cook until translucent. Remove bacon and onion from the skillet leaving enough drippings in the skillet to coat the bottom.

Increase heat to medium high. Add brussels sprouts cut side down in a single layer. You may have to do it in batches depending on how many brussels sprouts you have. If you need more oil just use a little olive oil or the remaining bacon drippings you previously removed. I use the drippings. Emeril says, "Pork fat rules" and I believe him.

Set your oven to preheat at 400 degrees. Remove the sprouts and set them aside. Add the bacon and onion mixture back to the skillet (with heat still on).   Add the broth, sugar, and balsamic vinegar and bring to a boil. Allow it to cook for 2-3 minutes and reduce a little. Remove from heat.

Add brussels sprouts back to the skillet and salt and pepper to taste. Stir the brussels sprouts well to coat with the liquid.

Cover skillet and roast in the pre-heated oven for about 20 minutes. You want the sprouts crisp tender. This simply means soft enough to chew but not mushy. Mushy vegetables are gross and have no nutritional value. Mushy green vegetables are exceptionally nasty. Plus it makes them that ugly "army green" color. If you make mush out of them I will not share any more recipes with you. Please don't disappoint me. Vegetables should at least slightly resemble what they started out like.

These are great and my family actually gets excited when I make them. Even the 18 year old and Dylan  hates most green vegetables. Of course, they have bacon on them and he thinks bacon makes anything taste good.

Enjoy!

Wild thing I think I love you....

I have neighbors.

My neighbors have milk goats.

When my neighbors go out of town I milk their goats and feed their chickens. In exchange I get to keep the milk and the eggs for my trouble.

It works out nicely.

Up until now I have only encountered their female goats.

This is Latte'. She's not been bred  yet. She's incredibly sweet and she always thinks she's starving.

This is Lucy. She can't be bothered right now. She's eating. She is standing on a stanchion. It's a milking stand. You lock  her head between the slats of wood while she eats so you can milk her.

This is Carmella. She can't be bothered either. I used to think she was evil but we have an understanding now and get along just fine.



Chocolate was always with a friend of theirs because they didn't want the goats who needed to be milked to kid.

Chocolate is back. This is Chocolate. A.K.A Billy D. Goat.

We weren't properly introduced. I met him while I was tethering Lucy. He walked up snuck up behind me. He then proceeded to nudge me in the behind.

He followed that with rubbing his head up and down my leg.

I didn't understand why.

I googled it.

Male goats have scent glands next to where thier horns are.

(his horns have been removed for the safety of other goats, human caregivers and himself)

He is in "rut".

This means he's ready to breed.

He was marking me.

I need therapy now.

You want WHAT for Christmas???

It’s almost that time of year. It’s almost time for Christmas. One more month and I will be sitting in the floor next to the Christmas tree after wrapping gifts and thinking to myself that I spent too much money. Then, I will promise myself that it won’t happen that way next year, even though I know it will. I will eat half the cookie left on the plate for Santa, drink the little bit of eggnog in the glass, crumple the napkin and then climb into bed exhausted.

But, for now, I am busy compiling my mental list of what to get for whom. I’m trying to keep myself motivated to knit and crochet those few projects that I want to give away. I’m looking at my husband like he’s completely lost his mind.

“What do you want for Christmas?” I ask. I was in bed. I was exhausted. I wanted to be asleep and he wanted to talk. Asking him what he wanted for Christmas was what I thought would shut him up. I figured he’d need time to think on it.

“Night vision goggles,” he says.

“WHAT?!?” I ask, opening one eye to stare at him. “Why in the world would you want night vision goggles? What are you going to do with them?”

“But, they’re cool. I NEED them!” he says.

“You NEED them? For what?” I ask while rolling my eyes. “You don’t hunt and when it’s dark you’re sleeping.”

“But, do you know all the cool stuff I could do if I had night vision goggles?” he says while jumping into a ninja like pose. “I can see you in the dark!”

“Whatever. Go away.” I say. I’m trying really hard not to laugh and at the same time just a little annoyed because I want to be sleeping. I close that one eye.

“No, seriously.” He says. “Do you know how happy I would be if I had night vision goggles? I wouldn’t need anything else if I had those.”

“You don’t NEEEEED night vision goggles. I’m getting you a GPS. Now, go away.”

“But…”

“Shut up.”

“But…”

“Go away.”

“OK, fine. I WAAAANT night vision goggles. I really, really, really want them.” He says. “If you got me those I would be so happy.”

I open that one eye to look at him again. Then, he does it. He really does it. He begins to do the Carlton dance while singing, “I’ve got night vision goggles. I’ve got night vision goggles. Oh yeah! Oh yeah!”

“Good grief! I’m not buying night vision goggles. Go away!” I say while stifling a giggle.

He sighed and walked around to his side of the bed and climbed in. “Night vision goggles are so cool.”

“Sshh.”

“They…”

“Sshh.”

“But..”

“Stop it.”

“But…”

“Shut up.”

“NightvisiongogglesarecoolandIwantthem.” He says quickly and in one breath.

“OK, fine.”

I have no intention of buying night vision goggles.

I'm tired

It’s Monday and yet I’m still feeling the wear that my weekend put on me. My body is screaming today. I would kick myself this morning but my legs are begging me not to move them and threatening to revolt if I do.

I’m staring at the Tylenol Arthritis and battling with myself about whether or not to take it. The migraine doctor says to get off over the counter pain meds. Apparently they contribute to headaches? I find this confusing. I want to kick the migraine doctor.  But, again, my legs beg me not to.

I took an entire bathroom apart and put it back together again. I scrubbed the walls and I scrubbed the floors on my hands and knees. I baked cookies. I washed, dried and folded 1,672 loads of laundry. I took my kitchen apart and scrubbed the cabinets and floors. I took everything off of every shelf in the living room and dusted it. I moved every piece of furniture in the living room and vacuumed. I spot cleaned the carpet and then cleaned the carpet machine. I cooked dinner (with photographs) so I would have a recipe to blog this weekend. I washed dishes again. I folded 4 more loads of laundry.

By the time I did all of this I was too exhausted to perform the final touches and put those last few things away. What’s the result? I cleaned and my house looks like a mess.

The shoes are still in the middle of the bedroom floor where I tossed them when I took them out of the living room. My bed isn’t made. I still have 20 loads of unwashed laundry in the laundry room floor because I decided to wash runners that were on shelves and bedding in addition to all the clothes I washed.

I almost washed curtains. But, I told myself to shut up and I listened.

I have dog food and dirt on my freshly scrubbed kitchen floor. Those girls always ruin my clean floors. But, they’re cute. Aren’t they?

I didn’t put the dishes away or wipe off the stove when I cleaned the kitchen after dinner.  There is flour, splattered olive oil, and spinach on my stove from the pasta recipe I made last night.

Now I want to kick myself again because it doesn’t look like I did anything at all. I could’ve been knitting or crocheting and saved myself the trouble. But again, my fibromyalgia plagued body begs me not to kick myself.

I fell into bed at 9:00 last night and immediately fell asleep. I woke up at 5:00 this morning and am so tired that I could easily go back to bed for a few more hours. Sitting here at my desk I could easily close my eyes for just a minute and drift off to sleep.

I hate days like today.

If I had a genie...

We’ve all done it. We’ve sat and wondered, “What would I wish for if I had a genie?” In all fairness, I suppose if I’m going to ask the question then, I should be willing to answer the question.

Note: I’ve thought about this often enough that I’ve even given thought to how to express my wishes in a way that a sneaky genie couldn’t trick me.  LOL  I’m extremely nervous now. Each and every one of you now knows that I have a serious mental deficiency because, after all, normal people just don’t do this. Do they?

I guess, first and foremost, I would wish for good health and well being for all of my family members. Wouldn’t it be wonderful to know that all the people in your family were in good health? It’s the one wish that always outweighs all the other wishes on my list. It’s always first. This is the one thing that, no matter how many times I wonder, I always have on my list.

            

               Ok…honestly, I almost always have a Kitchen Aid artisan mixer on my list too….just sayin’.

My other wishes vary depending on my needs at the time. Sometimes I wish for money, or a new car, or a perfect figure, or a new house. I’ve wished for a re-do of many events in my life. I’ve wished for a daughter. I’ve wished that I had a baby. When I was single I sometimes wished for a partner. I’ve wished for an easy button.

What kinds of things do you wish for? What’s always on your list?

Is it or ain't it? A look at Asperger Syndrome...

I don’t know who is aware that I have a special needs child. Just exactly what all the special needs are may be undetermined as of yet.

“J” is my angel child. Having him is like having a bright little light always shining in my world. He is my constant. He is my will and determination. He is my moment of peace at the end of the day. He is my encouragement when I don’t feel like I can do another thing. He is clueless that he is any of these things. If you ask him, he’ll tell you, “I’m just J”.

Several times I have had someone responsible for some aspect of J’s care come to me and ask, “Has he ever been tested for Asperger’s?” J is quirky. That’s what I’ve always called it. He doesn’t care if his underwear is on backwards, sandwiches must be cut in triangles (never squares) and he is VERY literal.

How literal? Here’s an example…

J is playing barefoot in mom’s yard in the summertime.  Somewhere in the process he steps on some manner of flying insect with a stinger. He immediately begins to wail and scream. While nursing the injury mom and I are having a discussion about what it was that stung him.

“I think it was a bee,” I say.

“I don’t know. I’ve seen yellow jackets,” says mom. “Maybe it was a yellow jacket.”

Says J between whimpers, “Yeah, a yellow jacket and don’t forget the yellow pants”.

At two years of age we started with Developmental Delay, Oral/Verbal Apraxia (this is a speech problem), Sensory Dysfunction and low muscle tone.

Officially, at the moment, the diagnoses are ADHD, Developmental Coordination Disorder and Sensory Integration Disorder. In Europe and Australia these disorders, when co-morbid (existing together), are known as Deficits in Attention Motor control and Perception (DAMP).

Upon further research, I’ve learned that DAMP and Autism have many overlapping symptoms. This leads me to believe that perhaps J doesn’t actually fall anywhere on the Autism Spectrum but, more accurately, just has other disorders that mimic the appearance of Aspergers or Pervasive Developmental Delay.

J is currently being screened to find out if he falls on the spectrum. It’s a process that takes some time. I’ve been told months.

Does it change anything for me if he is diagnosed with a spectrum disorder? Not really.  If he does fall somewhere on the spectrum he is VERY high functioning. There are a lot of people in the world who have gone on to do great things while falling on the spectrum.

Examples:

Vernon Smith –Economist who won the Nobel Prize

Gary Numan – an electro pop rocker

Craig Nicholls – Frontman for The Vines

Satoshi Tajiri – creator of Pokemon

Temple Grandin – Colorado State Univ Professor and author

Bram Cohen – inventor of BitTorrent (although it said he may have self diagnosed)

It is also speculated that people like Benjamin Franklin, Albert Einstien, Abraham Lincoln and Napoleon Bonaparte also may have had Aspergers.

I don’t believe J will ever be any other way than the way he is now.  He’s been very fortunate. It was realized early on that there was something different about him. As a result, he’s had early intervention.  From the ages of 2-8 he received Speech, Occupational, and Physical therapies. He tested out of PT at age 4, Speech at age 5 and Occupational at age 8.

It occurs to me that you might be wondering what I mean when I say, “Autism Spectrum”. Well, there are three “types” of Autism.

They are:

       Autistic disorder (also called “classic” autism)

       Asperger Syndrome

       Pervasive Developmental Disorder Not Otherwise Specified (or atypical autism)

Overall, I guess all of this just to say that it really doesn’t make a difference if the label is attached or not. J is a cool kid. I like him. I’m proud of him. I wouldn’t change a thing about him.

So, lick the back of that label and stick it on if you think it applies. We’re ready. We’ll just keep on keepin’ on the way we have been and we’ll be fine. J