I'm surprised and my FIL will be, too!

Since the NASCAR race is rain-delayed, "Mr. Cranky Pants" is taking a much needed nap, and dear hubby is on his way home from Pennsylvania, I had some time to check email. My friend Sarah had a link to the 100 Acre personality quiz. My son has many "Pooh" movies and my FIL says that I'm just like Rabbit. Well, according to the quiz, I'm not.


Take the 100 Acre Personality Quiz!

By hand and homemade!

As a working mom, I have generally avoided things that need to be done "by hand" or that are "homemade" but I've seen a change in this recently. I found that I've actually wanted to make things myself more than being pre-packaged or prepared foods.

There are some limits. I still buy wine at the store. I'm not in a position to start my own vineyard! I buy milk and cheese since I cannot have livestock in the city limits.

I took a few days off work while my husband enjoys a vacation in Allentown, Pennsylvania at the IDPA National Shooting Competition with his friend Mike. I figured this would give me a chance to get some things done that I've wanted to get done. On Thursday, I made a large pot of soup from a recipe in "Good Housekeeping" that was part of a soup diet. The article included some variations to jazz up the basic vegetable soup recipe. My goal is to use homemade soup that I freeze in containers instead of buying pre-packaged frozen dinners as often. My basket in the upstairs freezer is full of soup!

Today, I was very busy in the kitchen. For breakfast, I made waffles, from scratch. The leftovers heat nicely in the toaster for breakfasts later. This afternoon, I made Jonnie a surprise batch of brownies from scratch. Jonnie loves the "brown & white" at Cici's pizza so I tracked down a brownie recipe and whipped up a batch. I put my own twist by poking pieces of chocolate into the batter. I dusted the top with powdered sugar after they were baked so they looked like the "brown & white". For dinner, I made macaroni and cheese from scratch! I have to say it was really good. Mind you, I could have easily grabbed a box of mac & cheese from the cupboard with the neon orange cheese and served that for dinner. However, I was in the mood for a homemade cheese sauce and a bubbly casserole out of the oven.

When it comes to fixing things around the house, I've often suggested replacing it or hiring someone to fix it. This is why I think Jon will be surprised when he comes home to find that I sanded down the rust spots on our grill and painted it with high heat paint. I think it looks much better. I tried to renew the grates inside the grill but these are more rust than anything else. Replacement is inevitable.

Speaking of fixing things, I need to fix one of Jon's battery operated trains. This is the 4th train that has needed a new battery this weekend. Another had it's face fall off which I tried to fix with glue and ended up added tape.

Have a wonderful rest of the weekend! If all goes well, Jonnie & I will go to 8:30 AM mass tomorrow and plant some crocus and hyacinth bulbs.

Am I starting to become a homebody?

As I was sitting watching one of many "Thomas" DVDs that my son and I have viewed this weekend while sipping my apple cider detox beverage, I thought about the past few weeks and wondered if I have started to become a homebody?

I've tried to be better about doing my chores and I've actually dusted, mopped, and wiped down all of the bathrooms in the past week. I also ran the vacuum on the second floor. The first floor is a problem because I haven't gotten the toys off the floor!

I've also done more cooking and baking these past couple weeks that I think I've done in the past several years! I have done several crockpot meals over the past few weeks so that there would be hot meals when Jon got home while I worked the late nights. I made an Enchilada casserole which was like a lasagna except with tortillas and Mexican flair. It was huge and we're down to one piece being left after making over a week ago. I baked Italian sausage and potatoes with onions for a simple but very tasty treat the other night. Twice this week, I made batches of cookies. I made "no-bake" chocolate-peanut butter-oatmeal cookies for a meeting the other night. A recipe for 24 cookies ended up making 48 cookies and I wasn't being skimpy when dropping my piles onto waxed paper to set. At the meeting, I was told my cookies were "awesome". I took the leftovers to work only to find out that my son was upset because he wanted "Mama's brown cookies". Oops.

On Friday night, I got out my tiny stand mixer to make a double-batch of bar cookies that had a cake mix base. Well, my stand mixer couldn't hack 2 cake mixes, sugar, eggs, and butter and shut itself off. My bowl was too full so I could not add the large bag of chocolate chips and small bag of butterscotch chips to it. I managed to get my mix into a larger bowl and stirred all of the chips in my hand. Who needs to go to the gym? Whew. I split the mess between 2 foil pans and put it in to bake. Instead of 35 minutes, they took closer to 45 minutes to cook thoroughly. I wondered why I didn't just buy something at Kroger instead of making something. Seeing the chocolate on my son's face as he ate a bar cookie answered my question. I hope the folks attending the Adoration picnic last night enjoyed them, too. Unfortunately, Jonnie and I didn't stay past mass. I'd given Jonnie allergy medicine since I knew we would be outside with a bonfire and a hayride. Unfortunately, he ended up lethargic and had a tummy ache. I was a bit bummed not to stay and see my friends and have Jon play with other kids but it was a chilly night and spending the night inside curled up in a blanket was not all bad either.

This morning, I made waffles. I went to allrecipes.com and grabbed a recipe that I liked and printed it off. Despite a cupboard full of cookbooks, I find I get more recipes from this website than my cookbooks! I got out everything from the pantry to make waffles. Jonnie pulled a chair up to the island to watch me. Once I got the batter mixed, he got bored and ran away. He came back in time to have part of the first waffle off the waffle iron. He likes his waffle cut into strips so he can dip it into syrup. He just polished off 3 small sections of waffle for lunch! I got 5-6 large waffles out of the recipe. The large waffles break down into quarters which fit into the toaster for reheating. It was nice to "Leggo of the Eggo" and make homemade for a change!

I have chicken thawing in the frig to put together a chicken and potato crock-pot recipe to cook tomorrow while we're at work. Even though I'm back on my normal work schedule Mondays can be rushed since I have Adoration at 7 PM.

I hope everyone has a great week and that you have some tasty meals!

I am an Espresso!

I bookmarked the site called "Blog Things" when my friend Sarah did the posting about "What Color Crayon are You?". I didn't have anything specific to write about today as I'm sure y'all are tired of me posting about my Dad. I decided to do some quizzes for fun and chose to share my coffee personality with everyone!

BTW, in case you're interested. I'm also a cheese pizza based on one of the other quizzes I took tonight!

You Are an Espresso

At your best, you are: straight shooting, ambitious, and energetic At your worst, you are: anxious and high strung You drink coffee when: anytime you're not sleeping Your caffeine addiction level: high

What Kind of Coffee Are You?

Now I'm confused

Okay, those of you who know me are probably thinking "that doesn't take much" when you read the title of my posting.

I'd posted previously that my Aunt Jean died who was my Mom's last living sibling and that my Dad fell. Unless there is more than she'll lead me to believe, Mom has put Jean's death behind her and moved on. She knows her sister was ill, suffering, and is in a better place. Dealing with my Dad is a whole different story.

This goes back to why I say I am confused. My Dad knows nothing about how he fell, why he fell, or anything. Aside from busting open his head and getting stitches, he has numerous other wounds. Instead of bruising like most of us do by getting a sore spot that turns various shades of yellow, green, and purple, my Dad gets bruises that are red where the blood just comes up to the surface of the skin. He's got about 5 of those from last weekend and his one finger is really stiff. Jon said that the finger could be broken. Dad is moving around okay although it is slow. He has his mood swings that, while I was there, was being nice to me but being nasty to my Mom pretty much in the same moment.

More than before, I have seen where both my parents seem to be more confused that before. On Friday, my Mom and I were going to run errands after lunch. My Dad was sitting in the living room with the TV on. Before we left, he asked me "Isn't the game supposed to be on at noon?". I had to explain that the game (OSU vs YSU for those who might thing another game is important) was not on until Saturday and that he would not be able to watch it because Armstrong Cable had not secured the Big 10 network.

Then there is my poor Mom. She explained to me that her credit card company charged her a late fee but she could find no record of having gotten a statement from them to pay. I asked her if she called them and she said she wrote a note on the bill. She showed me her statements with check #s and the late fee she was charged was more than the medicine that had been billed to the card! I told her that no one probably saw her note and if she does not see a reversal in charges on her next bill that she needs to call them. I also told her to get a different card because her APR is out of this world. Then we had the gas bill which Mom wrote the check for and everything except that she forgot to remove the promo material from the envelope and realized that she sealed to that instead of closing the envelope. She wanted to try and steam it, etc. I told her just to trim off the part she didn't need and use tape. Next she shows me a bill from one of the hospitals saying that she was 90 days past due for some treatment Dad received there back in March. It showed that they had gotten a payment early in August. I told my Mom to call because either it was an insurance delay or they're confused.

I talked to my Dad to find out if he felt trying to take care of the house was too overwhelming. He said it's fine since my Mom hired someone to cut the back yard. Dad still cuts the front and is at the point where he's going to stop cutting the neighbor's grass and force her kids or grandkids to help her out. I tried to see if there are things that my Dad would like to do and he told me he's having lunch with some retirees soon. I guess he is content with sitting around doing fill-in puzzles.

I asked my Mom if she would like me to work with her to make arrangements for me to set up on-line banking for their accounts and for as many of their bills to come to me electronically so that I could take care of their bills. She feels that she is still capable of taking care of the bills and wants to do this as long as she is capable.

I left Ashland yesterday feeling more confused and with more questions than answers. No one knows why my Dad fell and he simply has to have more tests. I see my Mom having some issues with the bills but wanting no help. My Mom's car has something wrong with it but she cannot get it fixed because either mechanics don't hear the problem or they think she's crazy. The only thing that was very clear to me is that Mom is very offended that I ever considered sending Jonnie away to boarding school. She understands that with no family or friends that in 2 years Jon and I face the situation where we might have to send Jonnie to the Catholic school nearby so that both of us can keep working because neither of us would be able to be home to send him off to school or greet him when he comes home. Mom went to boarding school growing up and she got an education but she got a lot of "extras". I highly doubt that boarding schools beat the students in this day and age.

I'd better wrap this up. I need to get a shower and get ready for church. I have to be there early since I'm ushering this morning.

Have a wonderful holiday weekend and a great week!