An update and a preview

A few of you have asked me to post a picture of the "after" of Bathroom Disaster 2008. Bathrooms are so difficult to photograph, but...

Remember this?


I survived and it's all better now.





And...David and I are soon heading to New York City for four days. I am so excited because OHMYGOODNESS I love New York City. The grandparents will be taking over here. Yes, they joyfully take all four kids at once. They always have, even when part of them were babies and toddlers. They are amazing. That's another post for another time.

The preview is this. Every night in New York City I am going to post an NYC picture from 3 different categories.

1. Something beautiful
2. My favorite thing
3. Somethin’ I ain’t never seen in Oklahoma

And possibly some bonus categories if I feel so impressed.

See ya Sunday night.

Orange Julius

These drinks are so delish. Everyone in our family loves them. And I think they are actually healthy because they have orange juice and milk. And sugar. But still, orange juice and milk. That’s right friends, vitamins A, C, D, calcium and pottasium.

And sugar.

Orange Julius

6 oz. unsweetened frozen orange juice concentrate
1 cup cold water
1 cup milk
1 tsp vanilla
½ cup sugar
1 cup crushed ice, or a little more than a cup if it is ice cubes

Blend together in a blender until smooth. Serve immediately.

.

By the way, did anyone notice how coordinated all four pictures in my last post were? All those circles and squares? I didn't even plan that amazing visual extravaganza.

I need to show you a couple of important things...

Alrighty. First of all, last weekend Riley was looking at the Kandinsky painting, Squares with Concentric Circles and she decided to create her own version.

We are calling it Sassy Concentric. You like?

And second, you may have noticed that there was some discussion about my mints. I started trying to figure out where I could get some more because David got mine at a resort in Arizona. My research turned up NADA. They are not to be found in my area. This made me need them even more. The adorable slide-tin and embossed designs on each mint combined with their elusiveness were making me nuts. So look what David ordered to surprise me...

Yes, that is ALL OF THE FLAVORS! All of them! All mine! He loves me. I now have jasmints, a new mojito mint, classic peppermint, fabulous fruit, mimosa mint, green tea mint, 7 deadly cinnamon, spare mint, and night light caffeinated chai mint.

I believe my favorite right now is the jasmint. I mean, just look at it.

Marcie also found a couple of flavors at a secret coffee shop on the secret base where her secret military husband works, but that is not a place I am welcome. Although she did offer to get me some whenever I need a hook-up.

Which clearly won't be anytime soon.

My exciting garage sale find

So we did a garage sale with my sister's family today. It's always fun. The kids have a lemonade stand and the adults have some laughs and we eat a little junk. There are worse ways to spend a Saturday, right? Times were tough this year. We just didn't sell much. Tyler even put out a nickle marked 2 cents and it didn't sell. Come on people. Simple math.

Anyway, I had a very exciting garage sale find.

I'll give you a hint...it was small and adorable... and smart and funny.

No it wasn't a chihuahua, although someone did have one of those for sale and there were some tears that were shed over my veto of some plans that were being made. I mean if a dog is being sold at a garage sale and he comes with a bottle of odor neutralizer...you understand where I am coming from.

My find was...

Kim Heinecke!

Oh my word! For real! She wasn't for sale, but still! After we worked to convince each other that, other than today, we normally wash our hair and wear make-up and look quite glam, we stood on the driveway and met parts of each other's fams and chatted for a bit.

My sister couldn't believe that I had never met her. She assumed from my blog that we were dear friends. I explained to her that we kinda are. It's so interesting how you really get to know someone and their family and their heart through their blog, ya know? It's fun. So if anyone out there is reading and not commenting I'd love to hear from you. You are welcome here and we'd all love for you to jump in with your comments and let us know you are hanging out with us! If you don't want to that is fine too, of course. But if you do, bring it on. The more the merrier.

Kim. You rock. I knew you would.

Jarred heaven

I am a salsa snob. A big one. I require my salsa to be fresh and perfectly crafted by an experienced Tex-Mex chef. No jarred salsa for me. No way. Until now. May I present to you


PACE SALSA VERDE.

I kid you not, this stuff is incredible. It is smokey and limey and tomatillo-y and pure perfection. I would drink it in a Route 44 with a straw if Sonic would serve it. Maybe even if it wasn’t happy hour. If you find the above flavor descriptions to be desirable, I urge you to give it a try. Especially if you love the lime.

Imagine my delight when last weekend one of my BFFs cooked this fine dish using my favorite jarred salsa. I love you Marcie! And you love me.

Salsa Verde Enchiladas

2 rotisserie chickens
2 jars (16- to 17.6-ounce) mild salsa verde
6 green onions, thinly sliced
1/4 cup fresh lime juice
1/2 cup (loosely packed) fresh cilantro leaves, chopped
16 corn tortillas (6-inch)
1 container (8-ounce) reduced-fat sour cream
1/2 cup reduced-sodium chicken broth
1 package (8-ounce) reduced-fat (2%) shredded Mexican cheese blend

Remove meat from chickens and coarsely shred; place in medium bowl (you will need 5 1/2 cups; reserve any extra for use another day). Discard skin and bones. Stir 1/2 cup salsa verde into chicken to evenly coat.

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Grease two 13″ by 9″ glass or ceramic baking dishes; set aside. In 12-inch skillet, heat remaining salsa verde, green onions, and lime juice to boiling on medium-high. Boil 2 minutes, stirring occasionally. Stir in 2 tablespoons cilantro; keep warm over very low heat.

With tongs, place 1 tortilla in salsa verde mixture; heat 10 seconds. Place tortilla on waxed paper; top with about 1/3 cup shredded-chicken mixture. Roll up tortilla and place, seam side down, in prepared baking dish. Repeat with remaining tortillas and chicken mixture, arranging 8 tortillas in each dish.

Stir sour cream and broth into remaining salsa verde mixture in skillet; spoon over filled tortillas. Cover one baking dish with foil and bake 15 minutes. Remove foil; sprinkle with 1 cup cheese and 1 tablespoon cilantro. Bake 5 minutes longer or until cheese melts. Meanwhile, sprinkle remaining cheese and cilantro over second casserole and prepare for freezing.

To reheat after thawing:
Conventional oven: Heat, loosely covered, at 350 degrees F 45 minutes; uncover and heat 10 to 15 minutes longer.

You can do what you want regarding the lowfat cheese versus regular, but I recommend you use the low sodium broth. I made them a couple of days ago with regular broth and found that the lime gives it such a bite that you really don't want any extra salt.

Pain

Yesterday Cole had a little accident and he wanted everyone to see. He fell from a pull-up bar and bit all the way through his lip. The picture doesn't do it justice. From the side his lip is sticking out as far as his nose. And the blood...oh the blood. It was everywhere. My friend Amy was over and got to participate in the fun. Luckily she and I are alike in that we don't get too worked up over things like blood. 'Cause it looked like a crime scene over here. He was brave and didn't even make a sound while the dentist was feeling around trying to see if the chipped off piece of his tooth was lodged inside his lip. Yeah.

I'm feeling a little paranoid that DHS is gonna come aknockin' because here is a rundown of my family and their injuries.

1. Cole and his fat lip.

2. Garrett and Tyler are covered in circle bruises they incurred while playing paintball last weekend.

3. Riley chose to give herself a hickey on her upper arm. It looks like someone viciously grabbed her and left a thumbprint bruise.

4. David also has the circle bruises from paintball, plus some other cuts and scrapes he received in a different incident. I won't go into details, let's just say it is sometimes painful to have the spirit of a 10 year old and be trapped inside a 37 year old body.

So that leaves me, the only member of the family without injuries at this time. Suspicious anyone?

Obstacles

As some of you know, we have a die hard drummer in our house. Well, recently Cole has decided that he also wants to be a drummer. He has asked for a drum set like Tyler’s and we have told him that he has to be a bit older to be responsible enough to take care of such an expensive instrument. I think that for a lot of people that would have been the end of the dream for now. But not Cole. He has created his own drum set. He is very serious about it and plays it all the time.

He puts his heart into it.

Pencil drumsticks are soaring, head is banging and blond curls are flying. He loves his drums.

I love that he went ahead with his drummer dream, not phased by the roadblocks in front of him. He couldn’t have a drum set, so he said “Hey! I know, I’ll use TRASH!” and moved on.

It makes me think of all of the times we are so easily derailed because things aren’t exactly right. You know, the “I’ll do _______ when________happens” syndrome. How often are we waiting around to do something we really want to do until we finally have our house perfect, or our bodies perfect, or a number of other excuses when we should be charging ahead and doing what we want to do despite the silly obstacles that are in our path? I know there are a couple of things on my list. How about you?

We would like to take a moment to thank Cole’s sponsors, Orville Redenbacher, Country Time Lemonade, Great Value Vanilla Cappuccino Mix, Planter’s Peanuts, and Hungry Jack Pancake Mix.

That's right, we are health nuts.

Refresh me

Here are my mints

Here is my phone

Ever since I got these delicious mojito mints, my kids flip out when I pull out my phone. ‘OH OH OH I WANT A MINT CAN I PLEASE HAVE A MINT! MINT! MINT! MINT!” I have to gently say “Oh, precious children, this is not a green tin of mints, this is my green phone, and I am trying to talk on it, so please soften your sweet voices.” Ahem..or something like that.

I have even noticed now that occasionally when I see my phone in my purse I crave a mint. But no mint is to be found. Only a fake. An impostor. A phone that offers no tingly refreshment. It’s starting to get annoying.

I was thinking today about all the impostors I have in my life. All of the things I think are going to be great and refreshing but turn out to be a disappointment.

I have found through much trial and error that God is the only path to my contentment and happiness. But I have also found that despite that knowledge, I still look to fakes for those needs. We all have them, those things we chase after hoping to find contentment. It may be money, control, food, addictions, material possessions, you name it.

But when we get them and find out what’s inside, we are left unfulfilled. So why do we keep grabbing for those things when we know the truth? Why is it so hard to hold fast to the knowledge that He is more than enough?

Lord, please help me to remember that you are all I need. You are all there is and all I want and all that ever satisfies. You plus nuthin.’

Oh, and please help me remember to get some cinnamon mints next time I am at the store. Amen.