February Photo A Day - Dinner

So yesterday I spent approximately four hours in the kitchen making homemade tomato sauce that, quite frankly, was mediocre.

Now it's not my first time making a less than stellar dinner. In fact, I've become pretty good friends with mediocre meals over the years. But to have spent FOUR! HOURS! on my feet in the kitchen to produce something that I didn't LOVE was, to this home chef, devastating. It literally put me in a funk the rest of the night. I woke up this morning and made a boring bowl of oatmeal because I was so heart broken at not kicking that sauce's butt, I couldn't even find the energy to fry an egg.

(I think my two biggest issues were a.) it's not tomato season, and b.) this recipe really wasn't what I was looking for in a tomato sauce.)

Anyway, I have good news! I have redeemed myself in the kitchen! Thank goodness, because I was almost ready to hang up my apron.



I've been on a huge Pinterest kick lately. Pinterest just speaks to my soul. It makes me want to TRY things all the time! I realize I'm still relatively new to it, so I'm experiencing the honeymoon/novelty phase of it. But if every honeymoon phase produced as many good recipes as I've found on Pinterest, I'd be thrilled!

Tonight I made Chicken and White Bean Enchiladas with Creamy Salsa Verde from SkinnyTaste.com with a side of Spanish rice from Rice-a-Roni. (Hey, a girl's gotta eat sometime before 8 pm!) While a tad time consuming for a weeknight meal, the results were worth it.

I loved the chicken and bean filling, and the salsa verde on top was delicious. I think the recipe could use a bit more heat, but that might be because my jalapenos were a bit mild. The only thing I'd do differently is saute the jalepenos with the onions for the sauce, instead of adding them in at the end. I wasn't a huge fan of crunching down on my jalapenos.
Unfortunately, I was so hungry by the time they came out of the oven, I forgot to snap a picture of it in all it's glory before I started shoving my face full of food! D'oh! So you'll have to settle for this, the leftovers.



Oh, man, leftovers, I can't wait for tomorrow! Enjoy your rest tonight, 'cause I'm gonna tear you up at around 12:00 in the office break area while watching Steve Harvey host Family Feud! It's on like Donkey Kong!

February Photo A Day - 10:00

This is where I was at 10:00 am yesterday.



But due to a particularly depressing result from a new recipe, I couldn't be bothered to actually post it yesterday. I was in a post-cooking funk.

This isn't related at all, but it did make me laugh. Spied at the local Food Lion while waiting to check out. I was WONDERING where they had moved the disco balls!

February Photo A Day - Stranger

I'm cheating. I chickened out and didn't take any pictures of strangers today. I almost did the grocery store, but I felt creepy, so I didn't.

So here's my cheat picture instead.



Made Caleb pose today for a Valentine's Day card idea I got from Pinterest. This one won't work for the card, but it was too cute not to share.

Tomorrow's theme is 10:00. We'll see if I can do better sticking to the theme!

February Photo A Day - Hands

Caleb struggled with his fine motor skills for a while. Just in the last 2-3 months, he's really made great strides in this area, including drawing and writing. His preschool teacher has really been working with him on things like writing, button shirts, zipping pants, putting on shoes--all things that have brought on melt downs at home when we try to tackle them.



Watching him write his name (albiet backwards) is still amazing to me. That little marshmellow of a baby has grown into such a big little boy! At school this week, he counted to 40 for me! Fourty! At karate tonigth, he counted to 10 in Japanese with no assistance from his Sensei!

Those little hands are getting so big. At least they aren't too big to hold my hand yet.

February Photo A Day - Words

I went to a luncheon today in which we took the True Colors personality test. I took this test just a couple of years ago while overseas, and I tested the same this time. I'm a blue.




It's strange. I took a conflict style assessment last summer that really threw me for a loop. At the end of the assessment, I ranked really low in assertiveness, which I never thought I had a problem with before. But I do tend to value harmony, and will sometimes feel like a confrontation is just not worth the fuss. Conflict takes a lot of emotional energy, and sometimes I just can't be bothered.

Having said that, I have noticed that while I may not address the issue at the time, sometimes it continues to bother me later. I mean, this isn't news to me. What is news is how often it occurs. 'Cause I'm assertive, gosh darnit! Aren't I? At leat, I thougtht I was...

February Photo A Day - Bird's Nest Breakfast Cup

Since my committment to blog more in 2012 has not generated as many blog entries as I had hoped, I'm reaching for another photo challenge in the hopes that this will bring back my blogging mojo.

So as stolen from a friend of an internet friend, I'm jumping on to Fat Mum Slim's February Photo a Day challenge. I like that this one has some guidelines/suggestions for shots, so hopefully I can make it 29 days!

Today's guideline was "Your view today." I thought about taking a shot at work, but the dry, dead field outside my window is less than picturesque right now. And I'm a bit weirded out about sharing a photo of my desk on my blog. (Private Facebook picture while desk is decorated for Christmas? Yes. Public blog?  Not so much.) Tonight flew by and I realized, "Nuggets! I need a pic for today!"

Fortunately, my Pinterest obsession is saving me today. This morning, I snapped this shot of a Bird's Nest Breakfast Cup  I made. Pinterest has really be spurring the kitchen creativity again and making me enjoy cooking. It comes and goes in waves for me, and having a new, interesting recipe always inspires me to throw on my apron!

This one was pretty good. I think next time I'll use my hand seasoning standby, Tony Chacere's creole seasoning (family favorite) instead of standard salt and pepper. And I heartily beleive that each cup could use a splash of hot sauce, but this is easy to remedy at the end of preparation. Also, I'll probably make these ahead if I do them again. Too time consuming for a weekday morning, that's for sure.

Having said that, I liked them enough to eat them for breakfast and dinner today! Hey, anytime a recipe calls for bacon and cheese, I know I'm heading to a happy place!

Buddies

Watching The Goofy Movie with Zeus after preschool.

Good-night, PJ

Caleb has never been huge into stuffed animals, but recently they've become more popular. I think this started this summer when he won an ugly stuffed cow at the state fair that he named Pomas. He's constantly reminding Pomas to mind his Ps & Qs and generally does a good job of parenting that inanimate bovine!

Recently the new found enthusiasm for stuffed animals has found its way to bedtime, where he is often joined by upwards of five different plush friends in his tiny, toddler-sized bed.
However, nothing pulls my heart strings quite like when he makes room for PJ.



 PJ has been my teddy bear since third grade and has been around the world with me. I still remember when my grandmother gave him to me. Perhaps at 8 years old I should have been on my way to outgrowing stuffed animals, but I knew PJ was special, and not just because he was a Heart to Heart Bear.  He was my buddy, my friend.

Growing up, my dad used to do this bit called Talking PJ Time, which came with its very own theme song. He would hold his hand behind PJ's neck and make him "talk." Of course we knew it was Dad talking, but we loved Talking PJ Time and would beg for it!

I'm tempted to speculate about PJ's place in my life at that time as I was quickly leaving childhood and heading for the scary pre-teen years. But to be honest, that feels a bit too serious for the affection I had for PJ. And the fact of the matter is, I've never been the most mature person and was a bit of a late bloomer in many ways.

Pop psychology aside, I just loved that bear. And still do. So to see Caleb cuddled up with the bear that held all my secrets brings a smile to my face. Good-night, Caleb. Good-night, PJ.

I Have Wall Tracks

Caleb is at a funny age. He's hyper aware of his age now, and really wears it as a badge of coolness. At his preschool, the kids "sign in" by putting a laminated picture of themselves on a chart on the wall. And they will kick up some serious fuss if someone has already taken the number fours spot on the chart. Because FOUR is the COOLEST number, obviously!

While cars have always been cool with Caleb, suddenly he's convinced that none are cooler than Hot Wheels. He'll even flip a car over to show you the logo, like it's a Hallmark cards from about ten or so years ago! But you know what's even cooler than owning Hot Wheels? Having Hot Wheels Wall Tracks, of course!

Wall Tracks, for those of you who don't have kids this age, are attached to the wall using Command Strips that can be easily removed when the kid outgrows the toy or you move or whatever. It's a nice way to give him a race track that literally has no footprint in his room.

He's super proud of his Hot Wheels Wall Tracks he got for his birthday last year. In fact, if he introduces himself to you, he'll say, "I'm Caleb. I'm four. I have Hot Wheels Wall Tracks."

I'm always particularly amused when this is the beginning of his conversation with a girl. 'Cause I'm fairly sure most four year old girls don't care what kind of race tracks he has. But boy, he sure does think they make him a big deal!

Of course, I'm his mom. So I already think he's a pretty big deal!

Hello, 2012!

I'm pretty good at breaking resolutions, as I suspect most people are. So while the type A/box-checking side of me really wants to set a goal for blogging a certain number of posts a week or month, I'm going to refrain from setting myself up for failure. But I do want to commit to being a more consistent blogger this year. (Of course, that's a pretty low goal, considering I blogged less than 30 times in 2011. But, hey! Low standards are better than no standards...right?!)

We spent the last hours of 2011 with family, and that is a great way to ring in the new year, if you ask me. Caleb and his cousins ran the house and wore each other out, which was very convenient for us adults! All three kiddos were down by 9! Of course, we made sure they got in some minor firework fun before we sent them off to the land of quiet movie time.



A year ago today, we boarded a plane in London Heathrow and said good-bye to our time in England. I've been thinking this week about what that means. When you've been somewhere a year, people stop asking, "Where did you come from?" After about a year, you've been somewhere long enough that your not-so-distant past becomes less relevant. You can't pull the New Kid Card anymore. And while you can't really say you are "from" your new location, your old location is used less and less to identify and classify you. The new location becomes more and more a part of the fabric of your every day life.

It's been a good year. I started a new job working for the Army, which has been a lot of fun! Tommy's kicking butt in the new avenue of his job. Caleb has learned to dress himself (finally!), and is learning to write his name. Zeus and Zoey survived the trans-Atlantic relocation, and Zeus recently discovered the trick to getting into the new kitchen trash can. (Drat!)  We bought a house!  And we survived one more move.

It's been a year of change, which was challenging at many times. As many times as I've moved as a military brat-turned military wife, I tend to think I can organize the chaos and stress out of the transition. Unfortunately, you can't do that. (Or at least I can't. Yet. But it won't stop me from trying next time!) But in spite of all the change this year, it was a good one.

Here's hoping 2012 will be even better! So from our family to yours, Happy New Year!