Thursday, January 31, 2013

Oatmeal Pancakes!

I have this really awesome cookbook that I purchased at a yard sale back while I was in high school - if I recall correctly, it was $5 for a whole box (and I still have the Scandinavian cookbook that was in there, too!) It's the Second Edition, published in 1956, and I still use it at least once a month.

I generally make the "Favorite Pancakes" on page 87, but I'd been eyeing up the Oatmeal Pancakes from Mrs. Robert Rypinski of Pasadena, California who says, "My two boys love them.  They're not a bit rich, but they taste so delicious everyone raves about them."  I love reading old cookbooks!

I made them on Saturday morning, and they were a big hit with the whole family!  They were very filling (my kids usually eat 3-4 regular pancakes, but only had 2 of these) - I've been microwaving the leftovers and having a leisurely breakfast the past two mornings after taking the kiddos to school ;)  They went together pretty easily; the batter was kind of a strange consistency, and I was worried that the oatmeal would give it a strange lumpy texture, but no worries.


Oatmeal Pancakes
Combine:
1 1/2 cup rolled oats
2 cups buttermilk
Allow to sit for 10 min or so, then beat in:
1/2 c flour
1 tsp sugar
1 tsp b. soda
1 twp salt
2 eggs, beaten

Makes approximately twelve 4" pancakes.

I ate mine with bananas, almonds, and maple flavored agave syrup.  Yum!

Monday, January 28, 2013

Catch Up (but no mustard)

There's been all sorts of things happening at our house lately.  Figure I'll break it down by child, so let's start with the oldest, shall we?

This is D's arm - I took several pictures of the rash, but just couldn't capture how funky it really looked.  It was very regularly spaced and raised.  It started on his arms, then spread to his torso and finally his legs.  When we went to the doctor (which is a family practice residency) the head doctor actually came in and took pictures just as reference.  Never had that happen before! His temp sat between 101-102 for three days.  He's also dealing with either a cold or allergies on top of it, so it's hard to know what symptoms actually were part of the virus.  We did make it to church yesterday, but he was pretty wiped out by the evening.  He was complaining his stomach hurt this morning, but I chalked that up to nasal drainage overnight, so gave him some crackers and sent him off to school - no call from the nurse (yet).

This pic is at the doctor's office, playing on the kindle.  You'll notice he has his foot up on that uber special footrest (snort).  I don't know what it is, but this kid LOVES the stirrups!  He discovered them when he was about 2, and thought they made a great ramp for his little cars and trains... And now, he thinks it's quite comfy to put his feet up, and even asked the doctor if he could buy the special table.  I was choking back the laughter at that point (right along with the doctor).  I have one other funny D moment to share from church yesterday.  I generally teach over on the preschool side, but yesterday we were working on a big project so I was helping out with the grade school class.  There were 2 girls there who don't attend regularly, and he was telling them that I was his Mom.  Nice, right?  And then he went on "...but that's not her real hair color. She dyes it. She actually has a lot of grey."  Hooo boy, wonder why it could be turning?!


On to news of A: as previously mentioned, she hit the big oh-eight earlier this month,and on her birthday eve she made a big show of  bringing in her booster seat from the car.  It's really strange to look in my rear view mirror and not see any car seats!  She continues to do really well in school.  She got all A's this past quarter (officially half-way through this school year) PLUS made it to the next level in the school reading program, so to celebrate we girls went out for lunch at McD's (who can resist Hello Kitty Happy Meal toys?), then off to the library where she finally got her very own library card.  Yes, she even filled out the form all by herself.  She hardly needed any help at all - wow, my little girl isn't all that little any more, is she?  She checked out six books and has already read two of them.  No denying she's my daughter ;)

I also had a funny moment with her recently.  She's definitely growing up - deodorant is required daily, and I was thinking that bras may be showing up in her future soon.  She and I were out running some errands and I stopped by Ross.  I found some training bras on clearance, and when she saw what I had taken off the rack, she dramatically declared, "My nightmare is coming true!"  Yes, she has a couple friends who already are wearing them, and evidently they've complained about how they're not particularly comfortable.  Sorry to tell you sweetie, but you might as well get used to the discomfort...

And finally, just a bit of general catch-up: We have five limes on the tree in our backyard. Yippee!!  We also got some oranges from a friend just this past weekend.  There are definitely some perks to living in citrus country.

Friday, January 25, 2013

Friday Funny

Stuff that wouldn't have happened while living up north:

- I just had a guy come to our door, selling Virgin Mary posters.  I couldn't make this up if I tried.

In other news, our son ended up with a crazy virus that has resulted in a full-body rash.  He's missed 2 days of school, and continues to run a low-grade fever.  I have more to say on that (and even pics) but that's just going to have to wait for now.  On a more positive note, I am cautiously declaring our house lice free.  But I will continue to have phantom head itchiness and be doing scalp checks for another week or so.

There are a number of other things both big and small that have left me mentally exhausted.  I have high hopes of sleeping after 8 tomorrow morning.  Am also hoping to get a few mini-projects crossed off our "Get 'Er Done" list, and make some decisions about future happenings.

IF I can prevent this from taking place: Smiley

Friday, January 18, 2013

Friday Funny

Might as well laugh about it!

(More found here - warning, some are a bit off color)

Tuesday, January 15, 2013

Birthday Fun

And more photos here

Mommy Milestone

One I'd hoped to avoid.

Lice.

It's just as awesome as I'd thought it would be.

Ewww.

Saturday, January 12, 2013

Happy 2013!

Soooooo, um, Christmas is over.  We were blessed to have the Arizona contingent of our family come visit, which meant we had 9 people total under our roof for about a week.  It was fabulous, and we made some great memories.

Kids went back to school this past Monday, and our daughter's bday was also this week.  We were insane enough to promise her a dance birthday party, which means that last night our house was full of screaming little girls, accompanied by strobe lights, glow sticks, and fog.  It was deemed a smashing success, but I am exhausted.  I am too old to party like that anymore (anymore? I say it like that used to be a common thing - ha!)  We will all be going to bed early tonight.

I have approximately 4 billion pictures to share - there are several albums over on facebook, but I just haven't taken the time to upload them here. I've also thought, "Oh, I need to blog about that!" several times in the past few weeks, but haven't actually sat down at the computer and allowed my wisdom to spill forth.  I've tried writing on my Kindle Fire, but somehow my thoughts flow better when I'm using a real keyboard versus those silly little touchscreen keys.

A few random bits:
  • I've sold a few more items on the local FB yard sale site. And even if I'm not currently selling something, I can go on there for my daily giggles as people haggle over prices or try to sell their "treasures."  Some highlights from this week:  a whole collection of used flip flops for only $5 a pair (complete with stained foot imprint, and no, they're not designer), plus a women selling infant baby clothes and lingerie.  Yes, really.
  • I love the convenience of online shopping, and have even been referred to as the "Amazon Queen," but have recently had to return a number of items.  The vast majority of the time things go beautifully, but I am having issues with ONE seller, and it's making me really angry.  Their customer service reps have got to be in another country, and their misuse of English comes off as really snarky, plus I've been waiting ten days to get the money credited back to my account.  Grrrr.
  • I miss doing creative stuff!  My crafty endeavors have been sorely neglected, and I really miss that outlet -- plus the kids have even commented that they miss making things.  One of my goals for 2013 is to be more intentional* with my time, including doing something creative at least once a month.  I also am planning to start A on some sewing basics this summer.
  • Our house is still far more disorganized than I would like.  This may sound goofy, but in some ways it's almost like we have too much space, because stuff just spreads out and it's far too easy for me to just stack piles in a corner... but I never seem to actually take care of all the misc papers, game pieces, etc.  Yet another thing I'm working on. (And for the record, I am most definitely NOT complaining -- our previous house had much less square footage, so I've fought the battle on that side as well.  But evidently disorganization issues don't miraculously disappear simply by getting more space)
Well, that's all for now -- I will be back before February, though :)

*On a side note, I'm being all trendy and making this my "word of the year" - just something to keep in mind as I go about my daily business. Am I going this on purpose or am I just mindlessly doing what's easy?