Rummikub

Every once in awhile we have family game night.  I say once in awhile because it might be more than one time in a week.
Lately our favorite game has been Rummikub.  I have written about Rummikub before in this post here. 
Rummikub is a game that RT and I would always want to play and the boys would get all goofy on us towards the end of the game.  It would make playing the game a little painful.
Bella has started to get the hang of Rummikub and wants to play it all the time.  (the goofiness happens with her sometimes, too)  She's a pretty good player.  In fact, over Christmas break we played Rummikub during every meal.  Breakfast, lunch and dinner.  The game remained out on the dining room table.  Bella was always the first one at the table and would just start setting it up and picking her tiles.  Of course, she is pretty selective when picking her tiles.  Keeping the ones she can use and discarding the ones that she can't use.  (before we get to the table)  Practically going out on her first turn.
It was strange when the kids went back to school after break.  Eating lunch was not the same without a quick game of Rummikub.

Things you never thought you would say..

Until you became a parent.

Remember those carefree days before parenthood?  Where you had lots and lots of time to do things?  You had plenty of time to sleep.  You even had time to think. That thinking part came in handy when you wanted to say something to another person.  You could mull it over in your mind making sure it sounds just right before you put the word(s) out there for all to hear.

When you become a parent, some words just flow out of your mouth.  The words move so quickly that you do not have time to think about them or how they will sound once out in the open air.

 People without children have time to think, "How will these words sound once they are out there in the open?"  As a parent, there is no thinking allowed. You don't have time to think!  Especially during some interesting "parenting moments."   You parents know what I'm talking about.  Those moments in time that you never thought would happen to you.  Here you are in this situation and you have to react by saying something.  You don't have time to think it through so you just say it.  Sometimes these words become habits and you begin to say them all the time. 

I thought I would share a few of my favorites.  I have quite a few and am sure that this will be a post that you might see more than once.

Shall we begin?

Do you have to go potty?
       *this is so common that you begin to say this to other adults
Pee pee or poo poo?
      *pretty self explanatory
Wash your hands.......with soap!
      *yes, sometimes you have to make sure you spell everything out
Don't lick that
       *and yes, he did lick it (the mirror in a department store)
Don't forget to wipe.
        *hey, sometimes you get in there and with all of the excitement, you forget!
Did you wipe?
       *see the comment above for "Don't forget to wipe"

And, my kids favorite line that I use.  This is said when they are fighting with each other.  Wrestling is involved.  One of them will yell, "He's killing me!  He's killing me!"  My (sympathetic, loving,  motherly) reply?

"If you're going to kill him, can you do it a little quieter?"

Do you have any favorite words (sayings) you like to use?

Vegetarian Diaries - Collard Greens

I know what you're thinking.  Collard Greens?  Is she crazy?  And, the answer is, yes.  You should know that by now.

I wanted to try collard greens, but, the majority of the recipes out there have them cooked with ham.  I'm a vegetarian.  So, trying to make collard greens with the addition of meat happens to be a problem for me.

I searched and found a vegan recipe for Collard Greens and White Beans.  (another one of my Dr. Seuss rhymes)  I found this recipe on allrecipes.com  Here is the link with the recipe here.

I found this recipe real easy to make and it was delicious!  I added a little more garlic (I love garlic) and I definitely had more than 7 ounces of collard greens.  If you read through some of the reviews, some complained that it was real soupy.  I did not have that problem because I had more greens than was needed in the recipe.  Making this into a Collard green and bean soup wouldn't be that bad.  Adjust your recipe so there's enough water to make it into soup.

I

Delicious!

Here's the recipe (taken from www.allrecipes.com ).  Give it a try.

"Try them, try them and you may!  Try them and you may, I say!" (Dr. Seuss)

What are you waiting for?

Collard Greens with White Beans

2 tablespoons water, or more as needed
3 Tablespoons of minced garlic
1 cube beef or vegetable boullion
7 ounces collard greens
1 (14.5 ounce) can no-salt-added diced tomatoes
1 1/4 cups water
salt and ground black pepper to taste

1 (14.5 ounce) can Great Northern beans, rinsed and drained

1 teaspoon white sugar *

Directions:

Heat 2 tablespoons water in a large skillet over medium heat. Cook and stir onion and garlic in water until onion is softened and translucent, about 10 minutes, adding more water as needed to prevent scorching. Stir vegetarian bouillon into onion mixture.

Stir collard greens, tomatoes, and 1 1/4 cup water into onion mixture. Season with salt and pepper; cover and simmer until vegetables are tender, about 20 minutes. Stir in great Northern beans and sugar and continue to simmer until liquid evaporates, about 10 minutes more. Adjust seasoning as needed.

 

*I did not add the sugar and it was not missed.

 

 Enjoy!

Saying Goodbye

Saying goodbye is a hard thing to do.
Today we said Good Bye to my Uncle George.  You might remember him from this post for my Uncle George and Aunt Tessie's 60th wedding anniversary last year.  Looking back, that was such a wonderful party.  Friends and family gathered together.  Finally a happy occasion for our family. 
We will miss seeing him at Easter.  He was in charge of cooking the lamb every year (for as long as I can remember).  He took great pride in it.  He did a great job cooking and serving it to everyone.  He was always there to greet you at Easter with a big smile and a plate of lamb.  Easter will not be the same.
We will miss you, Uncle George! 

It's a surprise!

Well, now it isn't a surprise. 

Patti, if you did not get a package today, don't read this post! 

I was hoping to see my friend, Patti over the Christmas holiday, but, it did not work out.  It's hard with all of the family plans.  I know we were crazily trying to get things done around our house.

I did not want to take a chance and send this out before Christmas.  I was a little worried it would get lost in the mail.  I couldn't place it in our mailbox since it was hit with a baseball bat (something that teenagers around here like to do at night as they are driving by houses). 

So, as a post Christmas (birthday?) gift I sent a little package to Patti.  I included the necklace I made..notice how it looks like a sun?

Patti talks of doing sun salutations so I thought a necklace with a sun might be fun.  (I did not plan that rhyme, maybe it's all of the Doctor Seuss books I have been reading lately?)

I also included some bars of soap. 

Yea, get the hint, Patti? 

just kidding.  One of the bars is peppermint (tingly mint).  Patti had mentioned that she liked this one.  I tried to make it extra tingly.  Patti, you will have to let me know how it came out.

Sorry I missed you when you were in town.

Merry Christmas and Happy Birthday!

Can't upload pictures on Blogger

Thought I would vent my frustrations about Blogger and picture uploading.

 I have been trying to upload a picture to my Milestones post for a couple of days now.  Everytime I try to upload a picture I get the same text that appears where the browse files bar should appear:

      You can upload JPG, GIF, or PNG files.

What happened to the browse files bar?  And why can't I upload a picture to my blog?

I have resized quite a few picutres so there should be no problem with storage space.

So, what's going on, Blogger?

Is anyone else having this problem?

By the way, I tried to upload a picture to this post and I am getting the same thing on this post as the last post:

     You can upload JPG, GIF, or PNG files.

Maybe Blogger will respond to this post?   Or, maybe the problem will be fixed.

UPDATE:
Blogger is aware of this problem.  You can use Mozilla Firefox as your browser and you can still upload pictures to your blog.  I was able to upload a picture to my milestones post.

Thanks for your patience.

**If you are having problems, you might want to resize your pictures.  I use FastStone Photo Resizer.  It's a free downloadable program that helps you resize your photos so they do not take up as much storage space on your blog.

Milestones

When you have a child, you make note of their (many) milestones in their life.
First smile.
First time rolling over.
First tooth.
First word.
First step.
There are so many when they are a baby.  As they grow older, there are less but they still have meaning.
First haircut.
First day of school.
First bike ride (without training wheels)
First lost tooth.
I love to take it all in when each child reaches a milestone.  Taking pictures in my mind (along with pictures from my camera).  Making sure I remember the moment forever.  Memories that will last forever in my mind.
About a year ago, I wrote about Nick getting his driver's permit .  What an exciting time that was for him (and us).  Getting all of the hours and experience needed seemed like a huge task.  The hours didn't seem so bad when he decided to help drive his Grandfather back from Florida during Spring Break.  Then there's the trip (and LONG wait) at the DMV (Department of Motor Vehicles).  And the hoping (and praying) that the Ghetto Van doesn't do anything crazy during the driving test.  Oh, and that it passes inspection.
I am pleased to say that today Nick has hit yet another milestone.
Today he got his driver's license. 

I didn't get much of a smile in this picture, but, I did get a smile when he told me that he passed.   His exact words were, "Apparently, I passed the test."
I think he was pretty proud of himself.
And, so are we. :)