Hello...........get up and DANCE!!!!!!!!!  The Weekend is here!!!!!  I am so happy for my work week to be done!   I didn't get home from my meeting in Red Wing tonight until about 7:00pm.   ARGH!!  But it was a nice drive......sorta.  I forgot to take my book on tape with. 

Today hubby got a call from the University of MN.  Their early childhood department is doing a research study on the memory skills of 6 month old babies.  SO I think we will let Tommy participate in the study.  It is harmless enough.  They will put sensors on his to measure brain waves while he looks at pictures on a computer screen of strangers and us.  They will measure his responses to the pictures. 

Tonight Julie dropped by to give us some toys that Kristen had outgrown.   So Tommy liked that.  She brought him the Twirl and Whirl Garden thing.  He likes that but it is loud!

Tomorrow we are going to the ECFE garage sale, hopefully we will find some cool stuff for Tommy.  Especially summer clothes.  Josh is going to watch Tommy for us so we don't have to drag him along. 

Paul was great and cooked my Turkey's for me today.  He even cut up all the meat for me.  So tomorrow I need to make the broth for soup.  I will cook the soup and other meals on Sunday hopefully. 

Well I am tired so I think I will head to bed.  Night!

Yeah..the weekend is getting closer and closer.   I need a few days off!   Though I have a ton of things planned to do...we will see how that goes. 

I finally broke down and called my allergist about my asthma and allergies.  I got my script refilled and found out exactly which of my meds me wants me on how that I am no longer pregnant.   I picked up the script and will get on my new regime now, so hopefully I will start breathing better.   But this is the usual time for me to be sick and then again it gets bad end of August beginning on September.  I sure hope that Tommy doesn't get my allergies and asthma.  Josh has numerous food and season allergies just like me.   I suspect he will eventually be diagnosed with asthma as well.  He doesn't always do that well when they test his lung capacity.

I decided to do my shopping tonight since I have to go to Red Wing, MN for a meeting tomorrow for work, so I will be working late.  I will have to drive the van since I can't trust my car to go that far.  They darn thing always gets hot whenever you turn on the A/C.   I have had it into numerous garages and no one can figure what is wrong with it.  After Paul is working I will be needing to buy a new vehicle.   My car has almost 170,000 miles on it so I have gotten my money's worth out of it for sure!  

I bought Tommy 2 pairs of shorts at Once Upon a Child.  So he has a few things that fit him.  I have to get the 18 months box out of the basement and see if some of that might fit him as well.   He is a big boy, plus much of his clothes are used so they seem to have shrunk. 

Well I am off to get the turkeys out of the freezer, my hubby said he would cook them tomorrow for me.  Then when I get home I will cut up the meat and stuff.   Saturday morning we are going to the ECFE garage sale and then I will make the turkey broth. 

Saturday evening my IL's are coming over for supper.  We are having seafood fettuccine and Alaskan King Crab....YUMMY!!   It is my father in law's birthday. 

Well I am off to bed, we have ECFE in the morning.  NIGHT!

hello....it has been one of those whirl wind days.  Plus I have not been feeling very well all day ;-(   We didn't even go to our church class tonight. 

I did work on my Turkey plan today for my cooking session, which I might try to do this weekend.  We will see since we are suppose to have the IL's over for supper on Saturday!   Might be too much cooking for one weekend.

As for my Turkey Plan I am going to made turkey broth from the two carcasses.  Then with the cut up meat I will be making, turkey noodle soup, turkey wild rice soup, turkey pot pie filling, turkey divan, turkey and noodles and turkey ala king.  I hope have enough meat to do that.   I might have to scale back the number of servings I make of a few things.  Now to make my grocery list and get the stuff on Friday. 

Let's see what else I am doing..........oh yeah...I set the date for my garage sale, May 17th and 18th.   We decided actually more Paul, that it would be a great idea if we could do a neighborhood sale.  So we made flyers tonight and passed them out in the neighborhood.  So far we have received one call of a family wanting to participate and I know two others have already talked to me about it.  Plus my SIL is putting things into our sale and will help with the sale as well.   I hope my Mom will be able to come for the sale to help.  My dad always seems to need an excuse to allow her to come stay.  It would be nice if she could just come to spend time with her grandsons.   So now needless to say, the sale has become a huge thing!  LOL!!  Things always seem to go that way for me.  

Oh yeah...and the couple that was planning and organizing the annual block party, decided not to do it this year.  So Paul and I are planning it with another couple.  Should be fun.........LOL!!  Yep, one more activity.  I seem to be getting a busy little life again.  Oh well........well I should be off to bed.  

I hope to feel better tomorrow so I can go to work.  I will have to take a sick day for today as I won't be able to make the hours up this weekend.  Usually that is what I do, but won't be able to this weekend as we are so busy. 

Night!!!!!!!!

Looking for Help...........

Does anyone have an idea how many cups of cooked turkey I would get from a 12 pound turkey about??  I am trying to do a turkey plan for the two turkey's I have, but not sure how many cups I will get so it is hard to select recipes, etc........

HELP!!!!!!!!

hello..........it is warm here again today.  Which is very nice, but of course it seems wrong to start up the AC so nights sleeping are a bit warm for me.  I didn't fall asleep last night until 5:00am and the baby got up at 7:30 am since he had messed his pants.  ARGH!!

Amazingly I seemed to accomplish a lot today at work.  Just did paperwork sort of things.  When I got home ,Paul had supper in the oven and then he left for school.  Tommy was cranky!!  I couldn't get much done with him.  He did take a little nap finally, but I decided I needed one too!  After I woke up I surfed a few OAMC (Once A Month Cooking) websites for a couple of new turkey recipes. 

Once Tommy was up, I had in the highchair in the kitchen with me while I made some avocados for him.  He was a bit cranky especially towards the end.  But luckily that is when Paul came home!   Tommy was all Daddy's the rest of the night after I gave him his bath 

I must confess one thing!!  Don't tell.........I watch very little TV anymore, but Josh got me hooked on the worst show....but it is sooo funny!!   I hate to admit it, but I love to watch the Osbournes on MTV.  Yep, a day in the life of Ozzy Osbourne and family.  It cracks me up!!!!!!!! 

After the Osbournes and luckily it is only 30 minutes of brain rot...LOL!!  I had one hour until bed time.    I managed to wash the dishes (hubby was home all day again today and can't figure out what he did all day, not dishes!)  and sweep all the floors and scrub the kitchen floor.  WHEW....not just a quick chat at you, then I am off to bed!!

Tomorrow is my day to work from home, so I best get some sleep so I can get busy in the AM.   I would like to get 4 plans written tomorrow....we will see

Minnesota weather....how weird it is!!   Just two weeks ago on April First we were having a blizzard.  We received 9 inches of rain and there were car accidents everywhere.   Today, just a mere 14 days later..........temperatures in the high 80's.  Everyone breaking out there shorts and enjoying the sun.  LOL!!   You got to love it...you never know when you wake up in the morning if you should get out the long johns or bikini.........

Fine day today...Tommy is doing well.  Heard from the Dr and the radiologist doesn't believe Josh's collarbone is broke, only severely bruised.   So he no longer needs to wear the figure 8. 

I need to head to bed.  I want to look through a few cookbooks to gather the recipes for my two major cooking sessions coming up.  I have to wait till it cools down again to cook that much.  This coming weekend it is suppose to be in the 50's again...good cooking weather.  I need to stock up the freezer with some meals with summer coming, nice to just put something in the microwave instead of heating up the house trying to cook something.

Hope everyone had a wonderful Monday...and got your taxes all mailed off.   I did manage to pay my bills tonight, but have already mailed my taxes, even before the deadline.....WOO HOO!!!  Flylady was badgering me about it..................

Tooth number two has broken the surface............YEAH, Tommy!!

I need the help of some of you fabulous cooks out there.   I have two turkey's and two hams in my freezer that I need to do a cooking session with.  I need ideas of meals to prepare with each that freeze well.

I usually make Split Pea and Ham soup, Scalloped Potatoes and Ham....would love another ham soup recipe and something else.

For the Turkey, make Turkey soup, turkey pot pie, and Turkey Divan.   I want to try another reicpe with Turkey too.....

My freezer is getting pretty empty except for babyfood, so it is time to get some meals made for the family since Ham and Turkey were on sale at Easter time!

All idea greatly appreciated!!!!!!!!!!!

Weekend Update.........

Whew as always the weekend sped by at record speed.   Friday was pretty mellow, Erik had a friend, Austin sleep over.  They were up until all hours of the night.  I heard them messing around in the bathroom in the middle of the night and had to get up to see what they were doing.   Erik had to get up for Karate on Saturday morning and that was difficult for him.

After Karate we were going to go to the park, but Tommy and Kristen both were crabby so I had to put them down for a nap.  So I ran to the store to buy stuff to make smores and some pop. etc for the bonfire.  We had our first bonfire of the season on Saturday night.  A number of neighbors come over and we enjoyed the weather and a few beers.  I actually came in the house early as I was so tired.  I put Tommy to bed at around 9:00 or 10:00 and then I went to bed and just put Kristen in bed with me.     Her parents didn't get here to pick her and Nick up until really late!  ARGH!!   I gave Kristen a basket of board books and she looked at them on my bed with I dozed in and out. 

Even though we were all up so late on Saturday night we were able to get up and make it to church on time.  Small miracle.   They we did our usually going out to eat, but Old Country Buffet was too full so we had to go across the street to Denny's. 

Once home Paul, Tommy and I had to go run a couple of errands.  I needed to buy some baby sun screen for Tommy and of course jarred prunes and prune juice.      Then we took Tommy for a long walk.  I took his socks off and he loved letting his toes be in the breeze while he rode in his stroller.  We went for  about a 20 minute walk, when it was nap time.  Tommy loves being outside.  I even had him out most of the night at the bonfire.   If he is cranky you can just sit outside with him and he is fine.

He is a bit crabby this weekend since his second lower tooth is working its way through.  It has almost broke through.  Well I suppose Tommy is waiting patiently in his crib for me to get him up.  I better go defrost his mangoes and feed the boy.

We tried this for supper tonight....it is sort of like a hamburger helper.  My children liked it. 

Cheese Beef Macaroni

1 pound ground beef
1 can (15-1/4 ounces) whole kernel corn, drained
1 can (10-3/4 ounces) condensed cream of chicken soup, undiluted
8 ounces process cheese (Velveeta), Shredded
2-1/2 cups cooked elbow macaroni

In a large skillet, cook beef over medium heat until no longer pink; drain.  Add corn and soup.  Set aside 1/2 cup cheese for topping; stir remaining cheese into meat mixture until melted.  Gently stir in macaroni until coated.  Transfer to a greased 8-in. square baking dish.  Top with reserved cheese.  Bake, uncovered, at 350 degrees for 20-25 minutes or until heated through.

Yield: 4-6 servings

Quick Cooking Jan/Feb 2002

One question for you expert cooks out there.  How in the world do you shred Velveeta??   What a mess......I will buy already shredded next time, that is for sure.  I just ended up cutting it into little pieces, seemed to work just fine.