Stir Crazy!

We are all going a little crazy here! It has been a week of bad weather here in the Northwest - something we are not used to. School was canceled three days last week and our Christmas parties last night and tonight have been canceled. We haven't been able (or willing) to get out much the last week.

It is starting to wear on us. Case in point, last night. We were playing a game of Clue as a family. People were, um, pushing each other's buttons. For the most part, it was in fun and the kids were fake fighting with each other. The screams and general loudness, however, were driving the parents nuts.

Finally, Hubby had had it! "The next kid who attacks someone is getting thrown out on the deck!"

Now, in order to truly appreciate that threat you have to see the deck:
That is a 18 inch snow drift covering the deck. Pair that with a temperature of about 19 degrees and suddenly being thrown out on the deck seems like a real punishment!

So what did they do? They stopped actually attacking each other and settled for screaming and yelling. So that was the new rule, "Anyone who yells, gets thrown on the deck!"

Kaden pushed the boundary just a little too far and Hubby picked him up and set him down in the snow drift. Upon which Kaden cried, "But I didn't do anything!" At that point, Jana decided it was time to post the rules:
(Have I told you all how much I love this white-board? It has almost never been used for messages - its intended purpose - but it has provided tons of entertainment for our family.)

After Kaden changed his clothes, we resumed our game but by the end of the night the board looked like this:

Can you tell what kind of night we had?

As much as I love the snow, please let it melt!!

Jill

Day 31!! Wahoo We Made It!!

As if to mourn the end of my Month of Nothing, the weather turned gray and rainy today. This is what my walk to work looked like. It was very wet. In fact, I stopped to roll up my pant legs because I didn't want to work all day with wet pants! But I did walk to work, and it wasn't so bad. My goal is to keep walking. After all, I only live 6 blocks from work, it seems silly to drive.

Meals today:

Breakfast was cereal for everyone except me. I had leftover mashed potatoes, fried. Yum.

Lunch was whatever people could find. We don't have much left and I haven't baked. I took the last frozen burrito, a banana, and a homemade granola bar. Then I had WAY to many "treats" at work. I work at an elementary school and the staff got all the leftovers from the Halloween parties. All 19 of them! I ate doughnuts and candy. Ugh.

Dinner was trying to make up for all the junk we had all eaten (and had still yet to eat). I made brown rice (tossed it with butter, lime juice and salt), heated up some black beans and added a little garlic and cumin to them, grated cheese, sliced the last of the cherry tomatoes from the garden, chopped up the last little bit of lettuce from the fridge, set out salsa and sour cream. People made "burrito bowls" ala Chipotle (my favorite Mexican restaurant - their burritos are to die for!). It was very, very good. And so easy! Everyone raved about it and we ate it all (and could have eaten more if I'd had it!). This is a keeper recipe. On those nights when I don't know what the heck to have - burrito bowls it is!

Halloween was fun. The kids went trick-or-treating, Hubby got in a car accident, we saw my Dad . . . OH wait!! Did you see that whole part about Hubby getting in a car accident? Yup, it really happened, on the way to go visit his mom. He never got there. He's fine, the car is fine. He was at the front of a line of three cars when number four car slammed into the back of car number three. Car #3 was pushed into the back of car #2, which was pushed into the back of car #1 (Hubby). Thankfully, by the time it got to the front of the line, there was very little force left and we can't see any damage to his car. But the other cars were badly damaged and the police came and they had to exchange info, etc. etc. etc. An hour later, he decided that he would just go back home instead of going to his mom's house. The worst part is that the driver that caused the whole thing doesn't have a license and was driving his mom's car. He was not a happy camper.

So that was the fun end of our Month of Nothing. In the coming days I'm going to be posting about some things that I have learned. I'm also going to be talking about the recipes and tips that saved my bacon this month. Stay tuned!

I want to give a great big virtual hug to everyone who has followed my adventures this month. I've been so thankful for the encouragement, pats on the back, and just general support from everyone. Thanks so much!

Jill

I Love Fall

I love fall! I love the leaves. I love the crisp cool mornings and evenings. I love the smell of fall in the air. The light feels different in the fall - maybe the different slant of the earth? I love going back to school. (I also love this picture, it is of my daughter Tali on a trip to Portland State University, my alma mater (go Viks!). My husband gave me a framed copy of this picture with the words "Life is an occasion. Rise to it." This quote is from the movie "Mr. Magorium's Wonder Emporium" and is my motto for life.)

When fall comes I feel the need to prepare for winter. I want to can applesauce and pears. I want to stock my pantry. Anyone else get this feeling in fall?

I am so busy these days that I don't feel like I have time to do any of the things I want to do. But I do want to do applesauce. My children are addicted to applesauce!! The take it with graham crackers for lunch. The eat it as snacks, before bed, and after school. In addition, I use it in place of oil in baking. I use in my latest "favorite" recipe (it changes weekly it seems), Cinnamon Bread Delight. If I run out of applesauce in January, I'm in trouble! But when do I find time to do applesauce? I guess tomorrow I could do some and then afternoons next week. I'd like to do 40 to 50 quarts of applesauce. Sheesh, that sound like a lot!

I think I'll go back outside and enjoy the leaves. Maybe go for a walk. If I go downtown I could walk here:This is Portland State again. This is so Portland! Look at all the bikes. Portland is the bike capital of the world! Actual we have a very "bike-friendly culture" and you can sure see it in this picture! If I walk here maybe I could forget about 50 quarts of applesauce. Probably not.

Ok, tomorrow I get up early and buy 100 lbs of apples and start making applesauce.

But I'm not going to like it.

Jill

I Love Living Here

It is blackberry season in the Northwest. Oh, I'm in heaven! When I was growing up, my grandmother lived in a house which was surrounded by blackberry bushes. In fact two whole sides of her house didn't have fences - just really big, giant blackberry bushes. I'm positive that those blackberry hedges kept out far more people than any fence in the world. Maybe they should plant blackberry bushes along the border in Texas?

Unless you live here in the Northwest, you really don't understand the magnitude of the blackberry "problem." They are everywhere! Along roads, along bike paths, in abandoned lots, in parking lots, in everyone's backyard, in everyone's front yards - seriously, they are everywhere!! We don't plant them, they just grow. And grow. And grow. Cities have a budget to deal with the blackberry growth. We live next to a green space and the city comes and mows the blackberries back every year. If they didn't we wouldn't have a yard, we would just have blackberries.

Now, while this is a problem in the sense that they are prickly and invasive and will take over, the upside is that they produce blackberries! For free! Everywhere! Happy day, happy day!

The city doesn't completely mow down the bushes in back of us, they just trim them back severely. The blackberry bushes don't mind, they still produce tons of beautiful shiny blackberries.

Then, they call to us. "Come and pick us! We are yummy! We would taste good in cobbler! We make great jam! Eat us with crepes! Put us in milkshakes! Come. Come. Come to me!"

So, we come. We pick and pick and pick. This year we have picked lots and we still have a month of blackberry season left. I've made jam, I've frozen some, we've had milkshakes, we had them with crepes, we've had them in smoothies, we ate them on cereal. And we still aren't sick of them.

You need lots of pickers, and I have the best right here in my family. Hubby is the best 'cause he's tall. The others are wily, though and have come up with strategies. The best and most useful is the "reaching stick" strategy. You find a stick with a crook at the end and you hook it on the bunches that are just out of reach and pull them down to where you can get them. Didn't I raise smart kids?

Oh, wait! I think I hear something. Is it . . ? Yes, it is! I'm sorry, I'm going to have to go. The blackberries are calling me!

Jill

Whoa! Did you just paint in here?

Big changes here at Jill's Crazy Life. I was getting tired of the old look (the dark background with the black type was driving my eyes crazy - anyone else?). I decided to change it up a little.

Since I'm married to a web designer, I enlisted his help. I'm still using the Blogger templates but don't you like that fancy picture collage up there behind the words "Jill's Crazy Life?" My hubby made that - took him about 30 seconds and he wasn't going to keep it but I said, "Hey, I like it!" That is my backyard on the left, my waffles in the middle, and my lentil stew on the right. It's like my life, right there on the internet! (My six year old loves that him and his siblings are "right there on the internet!")

I will probably be tweaking the colors, layout and such for the next few days - I'm never truly satisfied, and it is so much fun to play! Be patient and no, you're not going crazy!

Jill

Monkey See, Monkey Do

I caught the three of them on the couch the other day. I'm pretty sure Hubby had sat down and, like any normal 40-something man, sleep snuck up to him and attacked.

The other two just wanted to be like Dad.

They never outgrow it do they?

I'm so glad they don't.

Jill

Guess Where We've Been . . .

You guessed it, vacation! All the people in Jill's Crazy Life went on Jill's Crazy Vacation! We went camping on the Oregon coast. We go every year to a place called Ft. Stevens (in between Astoria and Seaside for those of you who care). Ft. Stevens is the best place! You are camping in the woods, there are bike paths everywhere, there is a lake to swim and boat in, and the beach is about a 10 minute bike ride away from your campsite. You get beach, lake, camping, and biking all in one vacation! We took my nephew with us this year and we had so much fun! The weather was beautiful except for a demonic wind on the beach. We all got sunburned and tanned and exhausted and rested and whatever else good stuff you get on vacation - oh yeah, fat! We ate and ate and ate! So, for the next few weeks, I'm focusing on healthy food that doesn't cost a fortune and my kids will actually eat. Check back to see what I'm cooking in Crazyville!

Jill

Cookies to Die For!

I own a bazillion cookbooks. No really, if there is such a number as "bazillion" then I have that many cookbooks. I don't buy a cookbook unless I've checked it out of the library at least three times, I figure by then it has enough good stuff that I should own it. The one exception to this rule was that one time I joined a "book-of-the-month" club. When you joined you got six books for a dollar (or something like that). I joined because there was one book I was drooling over and I figured if I could get it for a buck it was worth it (that book was Homebaking by Jeffrey Alford and Naomi Duguid.). I ended up getting several books that I had never read/looked. When they first came I looked through them and put them on my shelf. I have been going through my cookbooks again and finding some great stuff.

The book I'm going through right now is called The All-American Cookie Book, Nancy Baggett. I is sort of a history of cookies in America. The one I tried today is called Caramel Frosted Brown Sugar Drops. Can you say "to die for?" Oh. My. Goodness. If you like caramel, like I do, these are amazing. The frosting recipe that is in the book didn't work for me and I ended up throwing out a lot of weird-looking-burned-caramel-smelling stuff. I found another recipe on CDKitchen, it was fabulous. My kids (and husband) ate almost half the recipe before I frosted them and loved them so I guess you could do it either way (go with the frosting).

Caramel Frosted Brown Sugar Drops

Mix in a bowl and set aside:

2 3/4 c. all-purpose flour (I used about 1/2 c. whole wheat, cause I'm just like that)
1 tsp. baking soda
generous 1/4 tsp salt

In another large bowl or bowl of your stand mixer, beat together:

1 c. (two sticks) butter
1 1/3 c. brown sugar

When the butter/sugar mixture is light and fluffy add:

2 large eggs
1 1/2 tsp vanilla extract

When it is combined add half of the flour mixture then add:

2/3 c. sour cream

Then add the other half of the flour mixture. If you want them, add:

3/4 c. chopped pecans (I didn't have any and my family has this whole "no nuts in things")

Drop by tablespoons on cookies sheet. With greased (or wet) fingers, press the tops so the cookies are relatively flat. Bake at 350 degrees for 9-12 minutes. Put on wire rack to cool. Top with Caramel Frosting.

Caramel Frosting

Melt in medium saucepan:

1/2 c. butter

When melted, add 1 c. packed brown sugar

Stir and bring to a boil, stirring constantly. Reduce heat and boil (still stirring) for two minutes. Add:

1/4 c. milk

Bring back to a boil then remove from heat. Stir well. Cool to lukewarm then add:

2 c. powdered sugar

Stir well and cool (put your pan in a bowl that has cold water in it). Use to frost cookies. YUM!

I'm off to look for more cookie recipes.

Jill

Book Review: Saving Dinner

My husband laughs at me for the way I read cookbooks. Ok, actually, my husband laughs at me for lots of things, but he really thinks I'm crazy for how I read cookbooks. You see, I check cookbooks out of the library and read them like novels. I always have a cookbook going next to my bed and I pick it up and read a chapter or so before I go to bed. Right now I'm reading, and loving, the book Saving Dinner, The Menus, Recipes, and Shopping Lists to Bring Your Family Back to the Table by Leanne Ely.

For those of you familiar with Flylady, the organizational website/email group, Leanne Ely is the woman who does all the food related content for Flylady. She also happens to be a certified nutritionist, cookbook author, cooking class instructor, food editor for ePregnancy magazine,and radio show host. The woman is busy, which must be why she wrote a book about quick, healthy meals that you whole family will actually eat.
.
This book is the result of, and compilation of, Ely's Menu-Mailer program, a program where you sign up, pay a small monthly fee and receive a menu of meals, complete with shopping list, each week. As a result, the cookbook is set up in weekly format. At the beginning of each "week" in the book, you are given a list of the meals that week along with a shopping list. You could, of course, follow each weekly plan and use the shopping lists, or you could (as I did) pick and choose meals from different weeks and make up your own list.

Each weekly menu contains a crockpot meal, a fish meal, and a meal featuring beans.
Since I am trying to incorporate more beans into my families diet, because they are cheap, healthy and can be vegetarian (for my daughter Talia), I picked a bunch of the bean recipes to try. I have been very impressed . I tried the Polenta Casserole and my whole family actually ate it. I called it Tamale Casserole, because my children are convinced that polenta is the worst food item in the world, but since it wasn't actually called "polenta" they ate it and liked it.

One recipe I would definately recommend is the Garlic Lime Chicken. It was moist, flavorful and very yummy! I'm trying several more recipes this week and have already recommended this book to several people. I might actually have to go and buy it!

Jill

The beginning of the end

Tomorrow I start my last term of college. Well, actually it is my last term of undergraduate work. In March I will graduate from Portland State University with a Bachelor of Arts in English. In June I will, hopefully, start a Master of Fine Arts program at Pacific University. So while this isn't the end, it still feels like a milestone.
I went back to school at the age of 39 with four kids. When I started I met with an advisor who told me I "only" had 125 credits left! I figured I would be stretching myself to take 12 credits a term and when I did the math that meant that I had. . . . . a long time 'til I would graduate. I remember calling my husband on my cell phone from campus after that meeting and crying, "I can't do this, it is so long! I'll be 41 when I graduate!" He asked me how old I would be in two years if I didn't go back to school and I admitted that I'd still be 41. He said, "Do you want to be 41 with a degree or 41 without?" Pretty smart guy. The really amazing thing is that I did it! I made it through those 125 credits (except for the 12 I'm taking this term), and I'm actually going to graduate from college.
Graduating from college was one of those things I was going to accomplish "someday" and now it is actually here. It has not been easy. My kids were 14, 12, 9 and 3 when I started and it took a lot of juggling to make it work. I couldn't have done it without a terrifically supportive husband and kids who were willing to be independent. The best time was last year when there were five family members in five different schools (preschool, elementary school, middle school, high school and college). I told my husband he needed to go get his Masters and then we'd have six in six. His response was "Honey, one of us needs to be sane and I nominate me."
He's been amazingly sane and often was truly the only one of us who was!!
So, tomorrow is the beginning of the end. What a journey it has been.