Mike has been working on clearing a section of the woods in the backyard to make a fire pit. He found a section with no trees and cleared all the brush (mostly what look like tiny wild blueberries). He mulched the entire area and has started to collect large rocks to make a ring. He could only find enough rocks to go about a quarter of the way around, so we will have to continue to work on that.
We had a fire last night and all the kids who were home participated, except Jack. Two of the kid's friends came as well. We roasted two bags of marshmallows and it was nice and pretty relaxing. I thought for sure the dog would burn his tail off, but he managed to get through it with no injuries. I think we need some light out there, though, Mike tripped on the rocks and was lucky to be able to catch himself before he fell into the fire!
Sunday, October 5, 2008
Cooking
They had a 1/2 price sale at Bloom, on roast beef, ground beef and boneless pork loin. We haven't had BBQ (Pulled Pork) in a long time because I haven't seen a good sale on the pork in forever. So we bought 4 pork loins which is enough for at least two meals. I set my alarm for 3:00 am to put the pork in the oven. I took it out of the oven at 1:00 pm and shredded it, cooked the sauce and put it back in the oven for 3 more hours. It was delicious and everyone (except Luke who hates BBQ) loved it. I figured out that two pork loins is enough for one full dinner, one dinner for Mike during the week and one lunch for the "at home" group. There will probably even be enough left for an after school snack for the three youngest kids. I froze the second batch to have at a later date.
Apples were also on sale, so last night we had sauteed apples on homemade cream cheese biscuits. It was delicious, but it took me three hours to peel, cut and cook 9 pounds of apples, plus make the biscuits. Between that and the time-consuming pulled pork today, I feel like I cooked most of the weekend.
After dinner tonight, the girls wanted to make cakes. Hannah made a devils food and Shauna made a yellow cake. I will make the frosting, cream cheese for the chocolate cake and French Silk frosting for the yellow cake before I go to bed.
I also FINALLY got to make iced coffee today. Bloom also had coffee on an almost 50% off sale, so we were able to get some of that also.
Apples were also on sale, so last night we had sauteed apples on homemade cream cheese biscuits. It was delicious, but it took me three hours to peel, cut and cook 9 pounds of apples, plus make the biscuits. Between that and the time-consuming pulled pork today, I feel like I cooked most of the weekend.
After dinner tonight, the girls wanted to make cakes. Hannah made a devils food and Shauna made a yellow cake. I will make the frosting, cream cheese for the chocolate cake and French Silk frosting for the yellow cake before I go to bed.
I also FINALLY got to make iced coffee today. Bloom also had coffee on an almost 50% off sale, so we were able to get some of that also.
Hannah's weekly rage
Hannah had her Sunday rage today. She was told to empty the dishwasher over and over again. She finally came down to do it, but I wanted her to take her abilify first. She got mad and she had a stack of clean Corelle plates that she had just taken out of the dishwasher. She smashed them to the ground and of course they shattered into tiny bits that went everywhere. Mike swept them up, but I know they got under appliances and we will be finding them for quite some time. We were already very low on plates so we really couldn't afford to lose any. After she smashed the plates, she walked all the way across the kitchen so she could punch me on the way to her room. Considering my bruises from the last two rages are still painful, I got off easy. Mike and I argued after Hannah raged, which didn't help the situation.
Friday, October 3, 2008
No fires, no rages, no lizards
Jeez, I'm not sure what to post. We haven't had anything interesting happen in the last two days!
Hannah went to her first middle school dance and had a good time. Of course, Alex went, too, but he is in eighth grade and goes to every dance that he can. I was a little worried about Hannah going, since her judgment isn't always the greatest, but I felt a little better since Alex was there. Not that his judgment is always great, but he is pretty sensible most of the time!
The middle school counselor met with Hannah yesterday and talked to her about the Rebecca problem. Hannah wouldn't talk about it (to me anyway, she probably told Alex everything!). Today she said that she and Rebecca met with the counselor and talked things over. Now Rebecca wants to be her friend. Rebecca told Hannah that she isn't racist. Hmmm, call me skeptical, but I'm not too sure how long this will last. From what I've heard about Rebecca, I think it will take a little more than one talk with a counselor for her to change.
I took Hannah to her psychologist yesterday. I went in first and told him what has been happening the past few weeks and then I left and Hannah went in for the other half of the appointment. I LOVE this counselor, even if he can't help the kids, he always helps me! I think we've been going to him for about 4 years now. I didn't ask Hannah how things went and she didn't offer anything. I asked him to work on the Rebecca thing and helping Hannah to handle it and I also want him to work on anger management and temper control with her.
I can't remember if I blogged about it or not, but Hannah went to her psychiatrist the day before yesterday (her psych and psychologist are in the same practice, so they both know Hannah and they work together to help her, which is great). Her psychiatrist increased one of her meds to try to help her keep her rages under control.
Hannah went to her first middle school dance and had a good time. Of course, Alex went, too, but he is in eighth grade and goes to every dance that he can. I was a little worried about Hannah going, since her judgment isn't always the greatest, but I felt a little better since Alex was there. Not that his judgment is always great, but he is pretty sensible most of the time!
The middle school counselor met with Hannah yesterday and talked to her about the Rebecca problem. Hannah wouldn't talk about it (to me anyway, she probably told Alex everything!). Today she said that she and Rebecca met with the counselor and talked things over. Now Rebecca wants to be her friend. Rebecca told Hannah that she isn't racist. Hmmm, call me skeptical, but I'm not too sure how long this will last. From what I've heard about Rebecca, I think it will take a little more than one talk with a counselor for her to change.
I took Hannah to her psychologist yesterday. I went in first and told him what has been happening the past few weeks and then I left and Hannah went in for the other half of the appointment. I LOVE this counselor, even if he can't help the kids, he always helps me! I think we've been going to him for about 4 years now. I didn't ask Hannah how things went and she didn't offer anything. I asked him to work on the Rebecca thing and helping Hannah to handle it and I also want him to work on anger management and temper control with her.
I can't remember if I blogged about it or not, but Hannah went to her psychiatrist the day before yesterday (her psych and psychologist are in the same practice, so they both know Hannah and they work together to help her, which is great). Her psychiatrist increased one of her meds to try to help her keep her rages under control.
Wednesday, October 1, 2008
I found the Oreos!
Remember when I was looking for the Double Stuff Oreos that I had hidden in my room, so they wouldn't get eaten before we could make Cookies and Cream Ice Cream? I found them today, while I was looking for the long sleeved shirts that I bought for Hannah and Shauna on clearance for $2-$3 each last spring. Yes, I did find the shirts.
Now if only I could remember where I hid that spare million dollars, I would be all set!!!
Now if only I could remember where I hid that spare million dollars, I would be all set!!!
We almost had another lizard in the house!!!!
(The title of this post will not make sense, unless you read the posts from Sunday, September 28th.)
I was making dinner tonight, spaghetti and homemade sauce. Alex was helping me and we mixed the sauce, put it on the stove and then put the pot of water on to boil. Suddenly, Alex yells, "Mom!". I looked over and saw fire coming up from two of the dials on the cook top. I quickly turned off the two burners I was using, as the fire was coming out of the two I wasn't using. That didn't stop the fire, as a matter of fact, it got bigger. So I grabbed a large pot cover and put it on top of the dials to smother the fire. That didn't work, the fire just started coming out of the other two dials! Then I filled a pitcher with water and poured some of that on it. That didn't do anything, either. This all happened in less than a minute and I remember yelling for Alex to go get Jack. Alex must have set a record getting up the stairs and getting Jack because within a few seconds, Jack was in the kitchen with a fire extinguisher that he had in his room. I knew we had a fire extinguisher in the cabinet, but I had no clue how to use it or if it would still work because it is at least 8-12 years old. Thank goodness for Jack because he had the fire out in no time.
The funny thing is that while I was trying to put out the fire, in the back of my mind, I was thinking that I was so glad that the kitchen was clean and it wouldn't be embarrassing to have the firemen see it! I also thought that by the time the firemen got here, the kitchen would be pretty much engulfed in flames and they wouldn't even be able to tell that the kitchen was clean! Wow, I'm a real winner.
The other funny thing is that Shauna came into the kitchen while this was happening. She saw me filling the pitcher, which was one that still had a little diet strawberry drink in the bottom. I just dumped that out and added water, so the water was a little pink. Shauna told me after the fire was out that she thought I was mixing a pitcher of pink lemonade! Yes, that was my plan, I was going to serve it to the firemen while they stood around and praised me for my clean kitchen!
Hannah cannot stand it when a picture is taken without her in it, so here is the same fire extinguisher that saved our house from severe damage.
I was making dinner tonight, spaghetti and homemade sauce. Alex was helping me and we mixed the sauce, put it on the stove and then put the pot of water on to boil. Suddenly, Alex yells, "Mom!". I looked over and saw fire coming up from two of the dials on the cook top. I quickly turned off the two burners I was using, as the fire was coming out of the two I wasn't using. That didn't stop the fire, as a matter of fact, it got bigger. So I grabbed a large pot cover and put it on top of the dials to smother the fire. That didn't work, the fire just started coming out of the other two dials! Then I filled a pitcher with water and poured some of that on it. That didn't do anything, either. This all happened in less than a minute and I remember yelling for Alex to go get Jack. Alex must have set a record getting up the stairs and getting Jack because within a few seconds, Jack was in the kitchen with a fire extinguisher that he had in his room. I knew we had a fire extinguisher in the cabinet, but I had no clue how to use it or if it would still work because it is at least 8-12 years old. Thank goodness for Jack because he had the fire out in no time.
The funny thing is that while I was trying to put out the fire, in the back of my mind, I was thinking that I was so glad that the kitchen was clean and it wouldn't be embarrassing to have the firemen see it! I also thought that by the time the firemen got here, the kitchen would be pretty much engulfed in flames and they wouldn't even be able to tell that the kitchen was clean! Wow, I'm a real winner.
The other funny thing is that Shauna came into the kitchen while this was happening. She saw me filling the pitcher, which was one that still had a little diet strawberry drink in the bottom. I just dumped that out and added water, so the water was a little pink. Shauna told me after the fire was out that she thought I was mixing a pitcher of pink lemonade! Yes, that was my plan, I was going to serve it to the firemen while they stood around and praised me for my clean kitchen!
The fire extinguisher we inherited from Gramma S.
Hannah cannot stand it when a picture is taken without her in it, so here is the same fire extinguisher that saved our house from severe damage.
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