I Can't Believe It's Already Thursday!

I have no idea where this week has gone.  It's not like we've run tons of errands or had huge projects to work on all week.  It's just been a typical few days, so I guess that's a good thing.

Unfortunately, it's snowing again today.   We've gotten used to playing outside everyday, so this is a real bummer.  Especially since Brennan's energy level seems to be on the extra high setting these days, and not going outside makes him not a happy little boy.  We're still doing good with our no TV watching, but today I think I might have to break out some Elmo.  Either that or I'll be running the Roomba quite a bit.  I don't know what it is with Brennan and vacuums, but there is a definite obsession.  He wants to "keen the for" all the time.  How young can OCD start?

I took a few random pictures of our week so far. 


I finally started putting together a collage wall in the stairwell.  I plan on going all the way up, but I have to get some more frames and some more photos printed.  I think it looks pretty good so far.  This is the view from our front door.  


This is the tree in our front yard.  It's so pretty with it's white blooms.  I really want to get outside and takes some up close pictures of it's flowers, but you see that white stuff on the ground.  That's hail.  Oh, and flowers that the hail knocked out of the tree.  So for now, I'll just take pictures from inside the door and hope there are some flowers left on the tree when the weather gets better.  Oh, and Jason would want me to point out the grass in our yard, compared to the neighbor's yard. Jason's a real "Grass Man," so that is definitely a point of pride at our house.





And last but not least, here's one of the little man.  This was taken last night as I was making supper.  I keep his art supplies in a cabinet where he can reach them any time he wants.  Most of the time that works out wonderfully.  If he gets the urge to color, he runs in and gets the box of crayons and a piece of paper or a coloring book and goes to town.  At other times, it's not so good, and turns into something like this.  I guess he was just looking for the perfect piece.  Thankfully, Daddy was nice enough to pick up all the paper when he got home from work.

Speaking of Jason, congratulations are in order!  Jason was awarded the Non-Commissioned Officer of the Quarter award yesterday!  Great Job, Honey! 

And  that's all folks!  The excitement for today?  I will probably work on my quilt, and do the typical house cleaning and laundry thing.  We're having Swiss Chicken for supper tonight, so if I think about it later, maybe I'll post that recipe if I haven't already.  The cold, snowy weather has me thinking there's probably a couple Mocha Lattes in my future....and if Brennan has his way, lots of vacuuming.

A Friday Post About Nothing Much

I don't really have anything to say about anything in particular, just a few random things from our week, but I do have a picture of Brennan, so that makes it a proper post, right?

We'll start with the picture.

- Brennan's been in heaven most of the week, because we've been able to play outside!  We even wore short-sleeved shirts yesterday with no jackets. It got up to 70! I'm keeping my fingers crossed that the snow is done, and spring has finally started.

- Brennan and I have gone a week now without watching any TV during the day. It started because I was tired of Brennan screaming to watch Yo Gabba Gabba or Elmo every 15 minutes. I turned it off and listened to that round of screaming, and we really haven't missed it since.

- We do watch TV after Jason gets home from work. The other day we watched the 90s movie Volcano with Tommy Lee Jones. Remember, it's about the volcano under Los Angeles, and Jones' character is Emergency Management for the city (which is what Jason does for the Air Force), and he spends the movie fighting lava, making barriers out of fire trucks, and blowing up streets and buildings. Yeah, pretty far out there. That's been our joke of the week when something doesn't turn out right. "It's because you didn't blow up the building and divert the lava. What were you thinking!"

- Speaking of natural disasters, there was an 5.0 earthquake in Utah last night. It was centered in Randolph, which looks to be about 2 hours from here. It happened around 6:00, and it was felt south of Salt Lake City. We didn't feel it here, but that doesn't surprise me. Jason was a couple houses down helping a friend fix his car, and Brennan and I were reading books. You'd think that would be a still activity and we would have felt the shaking, but Brennan is like an erthquake and never sits still. Yep, doesn't surprise me at all. Let's just hope that's all for the earth moving around here.

- My quilt project is coming along. I've made it my goal to finish 4 diamonds a week. I have one more to finish this week, and then I'm up to 16! Only 70ish more to go.

Well, I think that's about all of the randomness for now. Hopefully, everyone has a wonderful weekend. Aside from the typical Walmart and commissary runs, we're planning on working in the yard, and maybe going for a drive.

...That is, as long as Jason's not out blowing up buildings and diverting lava!

-

Spicy Thai Peanut Noodles

Spicy Thai Peanut Noodles

1 lb. chicken breast, chopped
2 Tbsp sesame oil
1 cup chopped onion
1 carrot shredded
5 garlic cloves, minced
1 cup light italian salad dressing
1/2 cup peanut butter
1 tsp ground ginger
1 Tbsp honey
2 Tbsp soy sauce
1/2 tsp crushed red pepper flakes
8 oz cooked angel hair pasta
peanuts



Directions
1. Coat chicken with 1/2 cup italian dressing. Refrigerate for 30 minutes.
2. Whisk remaining italian dressing with peanut butter, soy sauce, honey, ginger and red pepper until smooth, set aside.
3. Saute onions, garlic, carrots, and chicken in sesame oil until chicken is done. Add sauce to the chicken and cook until heated through.
4. Toss chicken mixture with pasta and sprinkle with peanuts.

This is especially good as leftovers the next day!

Blueberry Cornmeal Pancakes

This is the newest favorite Sunday morning breakfast food around here.  Jason's not a big pancake eater, and he even went back for seconds!  Brennan loves everything with blueberries or strawberries, so he's not too hard to please. 

Brennan loves to help Mommy cook.  In this case it made for some puried blueberries, but the pancakes still tasted great!


Blueberry Cornmeal Pancakes

Ingredients:
1 cup all-purpose flour
1/3 cup cornmeal
2 tablespoons sugar
1-1/2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 beaten egg
1-1/3 cups buttermilk
2 tablespoons cooking oil
1 cup fresh or frozen blueberries

Directions:
1. In a mixing bowl stir together flour, cornmeal, sugar, baking powder, baking soda, and salt. In another bowl combine egg, buttermilk, and oil. Add to flour mixture all at once. Stir mixture just until blended but still lumpy. Fold in blueberries.
2. For each pancake, pour 1/4 cup of the batter onto a hot greased griddle or skillet. Cook until pancakes are golden brown, turning to cook second side when pancakes have bubbly surfaces and slightly dry edges.
3. Add lots of butter, syrup or powdered sugar and enjoy!

Recipe from Better Homes and Gardens

Bringing in Some Spring

The weather this week has been great...
...for polar bears.

Actually, yesterday wasn't so bad. It got up to 60 and it was sunny, and Brennan and I were able to play outside for a couple of hours. Prior to that, however, it snowed 8", hailed, and was just downright cold. There is definitely a case of Spring fever going on in the Bal household. It didn't help that I ran across a slideshow the other day of beautiful flowers and trees that are blooming and budding right now. Around here, not so much. Well, besides an occasional daffodil in somebody's landscaping, and, of course, the garden department at Walmart.

With that mentality, (and the fact that everything looked so bare when I took down the Easter decorations) I went to work bringing some faux Spring into the house.

One of my favorite signs of Spring back in Indiana are when the dogwoods bloom. I'm not sure if dogwood trees grow in Utah, but in our house they do. The paper variety, anyway.

I just folded up some plain white copy paper, cut a scallop, punched the end with a hole punch, dabbed on some green and brown paint, and tada, paper dogwood flower.


I think they turned out pretty well.  Oh, and check out my cool moss rocks from the Dollar Tree.  We have the mother of all Dollar Trees right down the street.  Gotta love that!



After I made up several dozen flowers, I glued them to the branches leftover from our Easter tree.


I also scattered some over the mantel and on shelves and bookcases throughout the house.

If you're wondering where the mantel came from, it was the solution to the empty wall I talked about back in February. I got the mantel itself pretty cheap on eBay, and then Jason and I built the base. In it's future it will have added embelishments and a nice paint job. (Right now it's only primed.) I'm also on the lookout for a fireplace screen and a big mirror.  The mirror that's hanging right now is stolen from our bedroom. :)

Maybe I'll have all that done by the time the "real" Spring arrives.

Wordless Wednesday - Quilting Buddy

A Lemony Fresh Easter

We colored Easter eggs on Saturday. It was Brennan's first time coloring eggs, and let's just say he got into it, literally. By the time we were finished, both of his hands were a nice martian color green. And thank goodness egg dye is non-toxic! Brennan thought the coloring wands were bubble blowers, so they were up to his mouth more than they were in the egg cups. I didn't have any vinegar to add to the dye tablets, so I used lemon juice. I guess he thought we made him a bunch of really colorful lemonade.


Before the Mess!



Let the fun begin!



Wow!



He was trying so hard to get some bubbles.



He's a pro now. Showin' Daddy how it's done.



Two-fisted egg coloring.



Almosted finished. Brennan decided it was easier to use his hands.



Martian fingers. (Thank goodness they washed up with some Dawn.)


Oh, and if you can tell, Brennan fell earlier in the day and busted his mouth on the coffee table. The day before Easter, of course.



Easter Morning...with a mouth full of candy. He was definitely full of energy the rest of the day.

We had a good Easter. We hid eggs inside several times. It would have been nice to go outside but it was too cold and windy.

On the other hand, I guess hunting Easter eggs in the snow would have been a cinch!

Thrifty Thursday - Fleur-de-lis Plaque Before and After

As I am clearing out our excess stuff, I am finding all kinds of things I can repurpose. One of these things is this garden plaque.



Instead of sending it off to the Savers store, I decided to give it a makeover.



A few coats of acrylic paint, a hand painted fleur-de-lis, and the year Jason and I got married, and ta da, cool new art for the living room!