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Feb
8
I want to do a little recap of yesterdays big game, because football is such an important part of my life.
…NOT! I want to talk about the FOOD!
We did not have a big party yesterday. We never have had a big Superbowl party, its always just our family. For me and the kids, the best part is the food. And the commercials. Normally, we have some combination of the typical cheese dip with the hunk of Velveeta, a seven layer dip, and some kind of sandwich. This year, with most of my family on a “healthy eating plan”, I mixed it up a bit. And it was a huge success!
Here are the recipes I tried – there are no pictures of the food I made. Please, with three men, do you think I had a chance to take a picture?
Smoky Sweet Wings - these were my favorite.
Baked Parmesan Garlic Chicken Wings - these wings made my sons swoon, seriously. Even the picky eater.
Pico de Gallo - this was my attempt at a healthier dip, and we all loved it. I admit that I’m a chip and dip addict, so I’ll be making this one again.
Oreo balls - Ok, so these might not fit in the “healthier” category, but they definitely fit in the OMG category. I used the recipe as a guide, but I don’t have a food processor so my son crushed the precious oreos with a rolling pin. I dipped the crushed oreo mixture in almond bark instead of melted chocolate. Delish and sooo easy.
I don’t normally post recipes, but my family normally doesn’t gush about anything I make 
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Feb
2
We all are slowly making our way back to the land of the living after our visit from swine flu. But its slow going. I wanted to post an update, but you’ll have to excuse the randomness of my ramblings.
~My kids had a two week Christmas break. The week they went back to school, they had two snow days, so another four day weekend. Then they got a three day weekend for Martin Luther King day. Last week they got out of school early on Thursday and no school at all on Friday because of snow. Even without the flu, I would be exhausted from all the snow days! I am not enjoying this winter wonderland anymore.
~I turned 41 on Sunday. It was actually nice to be snowed in on my birthday, a very quiet day.
~I went to a meeting for parents of incoming high school students last night to learn about enrollment. I’m not sure why I was asked to attend, don’t they realize there is NO WAY my baby can be in high school?? Although that same baby keeps reminding me that he will get his driver’s permit this summer. Why does he want me to have gray hair?
~My husband and oldest son are doing the P90x program. My husband has been doing the exercise program for a few months; after the holidays he started loosely following the eating plan. Tanner started doing the exercise program in January and is also loosely following the eating plan. What this means is that there are no good snacks in my house. None. I’m all for eating healthy, but a girl needs some snacks around. Also, eating healthier means cooking more. None of this grab a bag of processed something or other and throw it in the oven. There is chopping, slicing, dicing, baking, broiling, and in my case, burning. Yes, burning. A few weekends ago, I decided to grill some steak that my inlaws had given us. My husband and Tanner were practically salivating at the thought of those steaks after a week of tuna, chicken and 500 pounds of vegetables. I started grilling when Mike and Nolan were driving home from baseball practice. I haven’t grilled in awhile, let me just say that. So when the smoke alarm went off, I ignored it. Must be malfunctioning, why would the smoke alarm in the house go off when I’m grilling outside? When that thought sunk in, I ran outside to find the back of the house covered in smoke. The flames were so out of control I could not open the grill for about 20 minutes after I turned it off. So when Mike got home, starving for steak, to find a plate with baked fish and a pile of veggies waiting for him, he was not happy. We all cried that night.
~I am not doing the P90x program with the guys. I may have told them that I am diligently doing the workouts during the day, when I’m home alone. That may have been a small lie fib. The truth is more like when I’m home alone I sometimes pick up the exercise dvds and move them off the table. To make room for my snack. Then I remember, NO SNACKS! I’m really suffering through their fitness program, and I do not appreciate it.
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Jan
21
I didn’t invite it, but its here. The flu. That flu. The swine kind. It snuck in and made it itself at home, but its on its way out. I hope.
My youngest had the swine flu back in the fall. Very mild and short lived. Not so much mild for me or my other son now. So I’m taking a short time out.
Be well. And do not answer the door if that swine comes knocking.
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Jan
11
Meet my Grandma Bonnie. Isn’t she beautiful? Yes, she is.
My grandma is 94 years old. She’s tiny, not quite 5 feet tall. But you don’t want to mess with this one. She’s a spitfire. And we love it that way.
At 94, she lives by herself in a senior apartment complex in a tiny tiny Kansas town. Everyone knows her and watches out for her, which is nice. But she does pretty good on her own. In her small town, she can walk to the post office, bank, grocery store and the lone restaurant. She drove until just recently,when the battery died in her car my uncle decided to take his time fixing it. But she doesn’t sit at home.
Her little apartment complex had a New Years Eve party in their recreation room. Guess who was in charge of unlocking the room, getting it set up for the party and staying there until the end of the party? Yep, my grandma. She welcomed 2010 at midnight, and headed off to a casino with friends the next day.
She also writes for the local newspaper. A little column called Bonnie’s Blog. When I expressed interest in reading what she wrote, she bought every back copy of the paper since she started writing her column and mailed them to me. What a treasure!
We visited her over my kids’ Christmas break, and it was a much overdo visit. I was worried about how much she would have changed since I saw her last. But the only way you can really tell that she has gotten older is that she’s quite hard of hearing now. Otherwise, she’s just as busy, active, and opinionated as ever. My kids are still laughing about her telling a story about how during hunting season,every jackass in town has a gun. She doesn’t mince her words, never has.
She has worked hard all her life, and while I like to consider myself a hard worker, I’m pretty sure the work I do can’t begin to compare to hers. In her day, work was cleaning houses, cooking meals at the cafe, and working at the local nursing home, while raising four kids. Hard, back breaking work that she did until she was 77 years old.
When I was a shy, lonely outcast of a kid in a new town, at the most awkward of ages, my grandma was my best friend. Her door was always open. I’ve always felt close to her, and while I was thrilled to see her doing so well, I do worry that our visits are numbered. One of my resolutions is to see her more often this year.
Another unspoken resolution of mine is to be more like her. Sometimes I look in the mirror and I see a tired, worn out shell of the woman I should/could be. What do you see when you look at my grandma? No tired shell there. You see a beautiful, full of life, vivacious woman who has had lots of good times and plans on having many more. I want to be like her.
Who do you want to be like?
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Dec
31
Happy Almost 2010! 2009 tried its darndest to leave me battered and beaten, but I’m still here. Still here and still fighting.
I want to ring in the New Year with gratitude and joy, so here is a list of things I am so very thankful for right at this moment:
- My boys. If I never do anything else right in my life, I have done two things very right, and they bring blessings and joy to my life every day.
- Health. Mine and my families. Never before 2009 have I faced such health problems, and never again will I take my health for granted.
- My husband. He deserves his own category, because he loves me in spite of myself.
- My various jobs. I am grateful just to have a job right now, even if none of them is anywhere close to being a “dream” job.
- My dog. Unconditional love all the time. You just can’t beat it.
- Home. I have one. It is warm and it is mine. I love it
- My parents. I’m so sorry for all the years I resented you and thought I hated you. I was wrong, and I was difficult, yet you always love me.
- My in-laws. If only everyone could be as blessed as I am to have in-laws like you.
- Opportunities. Not everyone can go back to school, but I am doing it and doing it well. I know this is a huge gift, and I am determined not to waste it.
- Friends. Online and in-real-life. A gift I need to learn how to give back.
- Second chances. Every single day is a chance to get it right, and I have needed every single day of my 40 years. I may not have gotten it right yet, but I am thankful for the chance to try, and I will keep trying.
I hope this is a coherent post. It is truly from my heart, but the glass of wine I had to ring in 2010 is making me foggy and sleepy. I hope you are wherever you want to be right now, and I hope you are looking forward to 2010. Let go of 2009, let go of the mistakes and heartaches of the past, and move forward with anticipation of the good things that you WILL make happen in your life.
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Dec
23
Happy almost Christmas! I’ve finished -and survived- my grad school semester, with just a couple of dark circles under my eyes to show for it. So glad to be finished for a few weeks.
I have to confess. I kept waiting to feel the holiday spirit, but I don’t. I haven’t felt festive or joyous or merry. In fact, I’ve read about people that get seriously depressed by the holidays, and for the first time, I felt that way. It has not been pretty. I’m not making light of it, because I’ve dealt with depression before and there’s nothing light about it. It just kind of snuck up on me in the past few weeks.
A little over a week ago, I was just done. DONE. I didnt want to get out of bed. I wanted December to be over. My husband gently but firmly convinced me that on that particular day, a Sunday, I needed to get up and go to church with my family. Very grudgingly, I did.
My heart was pretty closed that day, I just felt horrible. You know where this story is going, right? Somehow, when the priest talked, it was like he knew how dark my heart felt. I won’t repeat everything, but his message couldn’t have been more fitting for me.
One of the things he said was something about how we are supposed to give, no matter what we are lacking. We all have something to give. He said, if you have two coats, give one to someone who needs it. That also spoke directly to me. We don’t have a lot and sometimes the list of things we need seems overwhelming and impossible, but I have two coats. More than two. My sons have two coats. We all have plenty of coats, and we are all warm. I need to remember that too many people don’t even have that.
I cried throughout that church service, I couldn’t stop. But I was better. It was the boost I needed to make it through this month. It was hope, which I was greatly lacking.
My kids and I cleaned out our closets yesterday. We took three garbage bags full of clothes – and coats – to a local charity. That put some much needed joy in my heart.
We all have something to give, even in our darkest days. What can you give?
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Dec
10
Overwhelmed, buried, stressed out, burnt out, tired. Did you guess “words that describe Sheri right now”? If so, you win!
No time to chat, or sleep, but I wanted to share a moment of my day with you. This moment is symbolic of how my entire week has gone.
Picture the great state of Oklahoma in all its glory. In all of Oklahoma, there is only one small patch of ice. Just one. So it should be easy to avoid. Huh. Not quite, because now you can picture me, flat on the ground in the parking lot of my doctors office, after I found the only patch of ice in Oklahoma. Of course I did. Its my gift.
I did see the ice just as I stepped on it. I knew what was going to happen, but I had nothing to grab. My elbow and butt hit the ground hard. I was sure I heard bone crunch but I think it was my pride disintegrating. At times like that, I really envy toddlers. Its perfectly acceptable for them to cry and wail and weep and moan when they fall, even if they are only two feet from the ground and land on soft carpet in their padded diapers. I wanted to cry and moan and wail, although I’m not sure if it was because of the pain or the absolute mortification I was feeling. Instead, I propped myself up and hobbled across the parking lot.
I would like to say that my son, who was walking ahead of me, was a gentlemen and only expressed concern for his dear mother. No. He did ask if I was okay before busting into loud uncontrollable laughter. Apparently he saw the ice in time to avoid it. Hmph. He did come back and help me stand up and held my arm as we walked. While he laughed.
They say life is like a box of chocolates. Sometimes, life is like one big patch of ice just waiting for me to crash and burn.
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Dec
4
I might be over Christmas. Over as in, moving on. Oh, not over the holiday. Over the frenzy that seems to start earlier and earlier every year. I’m seriously considering dropping out of the whole thing.
Christmas – the holiday – is probably my favorite time of the year. I love the start of cold weather, the twinkling lights on the houses, pretty trees lit up in windows, and Christmas music. I don’t love the comercialized version of this holiday. I never have, but as I get older and crankier, I don’t want to participate anymore.
I long ago decided that the Black Friday shopping madness was not for me. Lately I’ve been thinking that I want to avoid the shopping madness all season long, not just on Black Friday. When did this holiday become all about bargains and sales and long lists of wants? I could be wrong, but it seems like we’re missing the point.
For me, this is very much a religous holiday. However, I respect other people’s beliefs and don’t want to assume that it is about religon for anyone else. But since that is my belief, then all this buying and shopping is contrary to what I really want to be celebrating right now. My family. Our health. Friends. Not getting the best deal on the latest and greatest electronic gadget.
I won’t lie. If money was no object – and it has always been an object – maybe I’d think differently. If I didn’t have a budget, then maybe shopping wouldn’t be so distasteful to me. But I know my heart pretty well, and its really not about money or the lack of it. My kids are used to what they consider “slim” Christmases, which I consider not slim but certainly not excessive. We’ve never gone overboard with gifts, which goes back to that whole money thing. It makes me happy that when I ask my boys what they want for Christmas, they don’t have a long list of stuff. In fact, one of my kids cannot come up with more than one thing he wants. There are a few things they need, which they will get, but it will be slim, again. There probably will not be a gift under our tree with my name on it. The things I want more than anything are things I need, and no one can give me these things. I need rest. I need peace. I’m not being hokey. There is not one single product that anyone could buy that I want. Not buying anything for me – now that does make me happy.
This has been a crazy, stressful year for my family. Health issues, job issues, kid issues, on and on. The last thing I want is to spend December trying to figure out how to pay for a lot of “wants” and then fighting the crowds to shop for those wants. Nothing crushes my Christmas spirit more than the dreaded mall – or Super Center.
A lot of blogs post Christmas gift guides, with the coolest gift ideas. I love reading those, especially the ones with homemade gifts. I even posted a gift guide last year. But I’ll be honest, I’m not a shopper, so for me to come up with a gift guide is a stretch. And this year, more than any year before, I’m not in the mood for those kinds of guides. I’m going to be contrary and offer you a different kind of guide. This is my guide, a guide of things I love doing during December. Most of them cannot be bought, either online or in stores
- Now that my kids are older, letting them get out the Christmas decorations and decorate as they want – even if their decorating would make Martha Stewart cringe.
- Seeing my son get excited about doing his annual Christmas “job” , which is making covered pretzels.
- Watching our favorite holiday movies as a family. Elf, A Christmas Story, Its a Wonderful Life, and of course, Rudolf the Red Nosed Reindeer
- Driving around looking at the lights
- Going to midnight Mass on Christmas Eve. That was the boys’ idea last year, and we all loved it. There’s just something magical about midnight on Christmas Eve.
- The fact that my sons still want to leave milk and cookies out on Christmas Eve, even though they know.
There’s my guide. No gifts. But plenty to warm your heart and help you get in the proper holiday spirit.
My oldest son was recently given some money by his grandfather. Not much, just $5. But that was $5 more than he had. He went to the mall with his $5 bill. And gave it to the bell ringer outside the mall. Bless that child. Maybe the true spirit of Christmas, the spirit I love and crave, has found its way through the consumerism after all.
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Dec
3
This is pretty much exactly how I feel right now:
Except he gets to sleep all day. Lucky dog.
After a nice long Thanksgiving break, I came home with some kind of sniffling, sneezing, coughing, aching bug. The kind of bug where all you want to do is sleep, but you can’t, because you can’t breathe!
I’m finishing up my grad school semester, so lots of projects due and very little free time. Light posting here for about another week, then I’ll be ready to celebrate the end of the semester – and hopefully clear sinuses!
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Nov
25
We are packing up and heading to Kansas for some much needed family time and rest. I hope you have a peaceful week, full of thanksgiving and whatever else you need right now.
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