Lunch

This are the lunches we had this week. :)

Monday-Turkey Chili with beans (garbanzo, black, kidney, and Cannelloni) and roasted squash
Tuesday- Tri-tip, salad, and roasted squash
Wednesday- Hamburger patties, salad, butternut squash, and my chocolate cake.
Thursday-Lamb chops, salmon, or chicken (they made them all). Roasted red peppers and green onions, avocado, and salad.
Friday-I'm on my own, and getting hungry :)

My Siblings

I have four siblings. 2 sisters and 2 brother, half brothers if any ones counting. I am the oldest. As of this writing we are Tanya (34), Chandra (26), Jenna(24), Jacob(21), and Tim(18).

Tim is the youngest and the craziest. I often worry about him and where his life is headed. For the first time ever I sat with him and had an actual conversation this past Christmas. I remember Tim as little Timmy. My cute but troubled baby brother. The one I was a birth coach for. The one I would often babysit for when my mom went to work. The boy who had to have speech lessons because at two he would say "boid" you know the things that fly in the sky. I remember doing a presentation about him for Psychology class, but not the specifics. It was so cute that he would say "boid". He is the one that got kicked out of preschool and sent to special classes once he entered kindergarten. He has learning problems still to this day, anger issues, and is on and off medication. I hope that as he gets older he can get on a regimen that helps him become a wonderful young man, but still I worry.

At the other end of the spectrum is Jacob. He was the cute kid I took to school with me to show off during child development. I remember him telling me when he was very young that he was going to own his own business. I asked if I could work for him in the office and he said "would you know what to do?" :) When he got to be about 8 he was annoying as hell, and would not shut up. He has grown so much since then, into a handsome young man who I can have a real conversation with. We should be closer. He's smart too and is getting ready to graduate from the University of Boulder with a degree in Engineering, Full Scholarship! Hey where's my sweatshirt? And to be honest I did not want him to be born. How much I would have missed out on if my mom had followed my desire. :(

Then there's Jenna, my 'little' sister, who towers over me. She probably doesn't realize how protective I am of her, but I am. Ever since the breakup with her first boyfriend. She's a good girl who slips off the path every now and again and then jumps right back on. She's smarter and stronger then she realizes. She's like me in that she is a pleaser. Take her to the mall and she'll go where you want, share a soda, and be sweet. She can tend to be loud, but that's just Jenna. She would never hurt anyone on purpose. She was a teen mom, who defied the odds. Graduated with honors and went on to finish nursing school. She's afraid of failure and that can tend to hold her back. She currently lives with my dad with her two gorgeous kids Kaylee(6) and Derek(7). She will succeed in whatever she does as long as she puts her mind to it.

And last but not least, is Chandra. My sister! My "twin". The one who ruined my single child-hood. ;) She seems to constantly change, never bad, just changing. She's an adult now. She lives with her boyfriend and desires to be a SAHM so didn't go further then H.S. She was the bratty one growing up. Always getting into my stuff and making me punch her in the stomach. Which she will gladly tell you the story of even today. She is more independent, take her to the mall and you better be ready to go to the stores she wants to go to and fork out the money for the extra soda because she isn't sharing with anyone. She's gone though the "black" phase, the "pot" phase, and I've even called her a "fag hag", and now she's just chill. She's not 100% sure of herself, but she tries to hide it. She is not a girly girl.

Those are my siblings in a quick nutshell. I'm sure I have forgotten to mention many things, but I love them all and just wanted to take a second to let them know I notice them, and love them. :)

Lunch

The other day Kristen mentioned something about the lunches at my work, and I too had just been thinking about them. So I've decided to start keeping track of what we had for lunch. Here goes:

Today I was on my own as is often the case on Mondays and Friday, so I went and got a sandwich. But here is the line up for the rest of this past week.

Tuesday - Grilled lamb chops, grilled veggies(zucchini and peppers) and organic salad with organic dressing (I have a feeling the veggies were organic too).

Wednesday - Grilled hamburgers with cheddar on whole wheat buns with lettuce and tomato, same type of grilled veggies and salad.

Thursday - Grilled Salmon, grilled sweet potatoes, acorn squash, and salad.

And these meats and veggies are not from the corner store, no they go to Jimbo's or Whole Foods, so most stuff is most likely organic. I am not complaining, because it is good and healthy, but I could get paid a buck more an hour for what my lunch costs! One of my coworkers is the one that gets to do all the grilling. My boss has commented that if we don't get any trenching jobs soon we'll be selling cakes and hot lunches out of the office.

New Stove

Well it looks like we are going to have to get a new range. I've been babying the one we have for quite some time now, but now it seems that my oven, yes the oven, is giving me problems and we can't have that. Two of the burners will not light by them self and so I've been using a stick lighter, but the other night it took over two hours to cook a chicken. I have to make a cake tonight and I hope it turns out okay. It may just be that the calibration is off because when I checked my oven thermometer it read about 25 deg less then where I had it set. That could possibly explain the troubles I was having with a few sheets of cookies this year, or that could have been the sheets them self. I'll be sure to check it as soon as it's preheated to see where the temp falls.

Not that I wouldn't love a new stove/oven. I would REALLY love a nice big double oven and/or a convection oven but I refuse to spend $1500+ on one. I was trying to go as cheap as possible, but there are a few things I require which the cheepos don't have and if I spend a little more I will hopefully get a better insulated product which will cost less in the long run. And maybe I can actually go digital with the oven now, instead of the turn dial. Our current oven doesn't match anything in the kitchen as it's bisque and all the others are white.

So far there are two that I have in mind but I have to go to Best Buy to look at the one I saw on their site. There is another at Sears. Both are in the $550 range, ouch. If tonight's baking shows that I do in fact need one, I hope to have a decision made by next weekend before I have to bake another cake.

One Thing

Have you ever thought about the fact that if you changed just one thing about your life, how totally different things could be? It could be something small that makes a small difference or something big that makes a huge difference.

For instance how different would your life be if you choose to stay at a job you left or vice-versa, or how about picked a different home to live in, or even chosen a different name for your child? Pick anything....

Contemplate!

Wednesday Weirdness

Wednesday Weirdness

1. Why do you keep a blog?

Because I'm horrible at things like baby books so I use it mostly as a place to write things my son has done. Oh and I can't loose it in the clutter, like the baby book.

2. Who is one long lost blogger you wish would come back?

I think all the people I read still blog.

3. If you made a New Year’s Resolution, did you break it already? If you did not make one, why?

I did decide to make one. Clean the clutter out of my house. Then I decided to expand it and just clean all the clutter out of my life. I'm keeping it so far. Two areas in my house have remained clutter free for a week already.

4. People who still have their outside Christmas lights up. Festive or Lazy? Discuss.

Smart! Our house is tall and is a bear to put up and take down lights that's why we haven't had any in several years and it's sad really.

5. What is the last annoying song that got trapped in your head?

I can't even remember the last time one did.

6. Have you ever worn or tried edible underwear? What are your thoughts on it?

Had some that I got as a gift, but they never got used. Passed the Exp date, lol

Bonus: If you could do one bad thing and get away with it, what would you do and why?
On the VERY slight chance that someone might read this I will have to say, um, I'm so boring I have no idea. I guess key someones car that pissed off R just to say "feel better babe?" Or maybe I should just let R do it.

Eggnog Recipe

Ingredients
2 eggs

Directions: Per Justus
take da egg, den take ahnder egg and nog it.

Daddy-how do you nog it?
Jusuts-it means stir

Cute Perception

Today we say a commercial for this battery operated mascara. the way J perceives things is pretty cute. First when they showed a split screen of the woman's eyes he said "she broke her face." And every time they showed someone applying the mascara he would cover his eye and say "Ouch." I ask him if we should get some for him and he will pass.

Happy New Year

Happy New Year to All, a few days late!

We had a very quite New Years Eve. It consisted of us going out to dinner for Chinese and then spending the rest of the evening at home. Pretty boring, but at least I felt good the next day, unlike some unfortunate people. ;)...JENNA!