Angry at Facebook rant of Randomness

Facebook decided that I was spreading viruses and is preventing me from commenting or updating on Facebook for 24 hours.  After scanning my computer to be sure that I did NOT have a virus (I don't, other than this sinus/chest thing which can go blow a goat) I decided that since I cannot randomly plod through the world at large and express my thoughts on it on Facebook, I would do an update of major randomness.

Homeschooling - We did stuff FOR SCIENCE today.  Little Guy learned about states of matter and converting material from solid to liquid to gas using water.  He also got to see "condensation" in action.  We also officially practiced the scientific theory and made hypotheses (guesses). One thing I hope my Little Guy understood after today's practice - just because a hypothesis is incorrect, it is not bad.  An incorrect hypothesis can often lead to a correct answer.  Yesterday, we planted some flowers out front for him. He got to pick out a wildflower seed pack at the local store and we found a suitable spot in the front yard.  We even marked down on the calendar when to start checking for seedlings.  

While we planted flowers yesterday, I put the ingredients for dough into the bread maker.  However, because I am me, I could not leave well enough alone and completely ruined the first batch of bread.  With a minor adjustment and a little patience, I left the next batch alone and ended up with a loaf that was edible. I also found ham on sale at Meijer for $.59 a lb and made a 10 pound ham for dinner one night (complete with a honey-brown sugar-brandy glaze).  It was delish.  Last night for dinner, we used some of the left-overs and some swiss cheese to make Hot Ham and cheese sandwiches.  I bet it would be even better on the homemade bread. 

Sprng is in the air and we opened up the porch for use last night.  The heat is supposed to go up to near 80 this weekend and, I must admit, I'm kind of excited about it.  Also, after next week, I will be on vacation for a week.  You have no idea how much I am looking forward to it.

Ch-ch-ch-ch-changes

Krafty Kitten is taking a huge leap forward, as you can see.  I've changed the formatting (a bit) and I am hopefully improving the content.  The change reflects (in a way) the changes we've been going through around here.  Aside from the move, Little Guy has started being homeschooled, Big Guy is still the house-husband, and I, the intrepid instructor, am trying to talk myself into going back and getting my Master's degree. 

Right now, my vacation week is winding to a close.  I had a great time at home with my guys.  We were productive indoors since it rained most of the week.  Hopefully, we'll be able to enjoy the outdoors in the next week.  I'd like to have Little Guy look at trees as the seasons change from summer to fall.  I have grand plans that will probably never quite work the way I want them to.  Such is the price of having a Little Guy like mine. 

Tonight, my last night, I am cooking dinner and then showering since I spent the whole day putting together next month's plan for my class.  I have a few new tricks up my sleeve and I really needed this break to recharge those creative juices.  The dinner I put together was quick and relatively easy.  Big Guy had cooked bacon and eggs for breakfast and we had a pan with bacon grease on the bottom of it.  I took chicken breast tenderloins and fried them, onions, garlic, green beans, and spices in the pan.  Then I boiled some angel hair pasta, drained it, and tossed it with the chicken mixture and fresh basil.  It turned out really well though I may have over done the red pepper a smidge. 

The shower will be appreciated since I feel like I'm coming down with a cold.  Perfect timing.  I'll pop some cold meds before bed and hopefully kick this before it starts.  I hate being sick, and being sick while teaching is a full measure of suck.  We do what we must though and I am determined to make this an excellent month. 

One final note, I did get my interview published on Mommy Page.  It even has a picture of me!  SO EXCITED! 

Game Day

Today is game day in the Kitten household.  We have friends coming over and I am preparing a rather hearty meal in order to feed the fam and anyone else who chooses to eat.  Game day is always fun despite the nerdiness that generally ensues.  

Big Guy has been running a “GURPS” game for the group.  I apparently managed to cement my nerdiness by commenting that I preferred the GURPS magic system to D&D.  *shrug* It just makes more sense.  Admittedly, it can be a pain to deal with, but magic shouldn’t be easy.  We’ve gone through our fair share of characters already in the game.  

Dinner to go along with game is pot roast, homemade bread and mashed potatoes.  A warm and filling meal to go with the snow-laden day.  I actually began cooking the pot roast last night.  Chopped the carrots and potatoes, seasoned the roast and stuck it in the crock pot to cook on low for 12 hours.  It smells delicious.  I woke up a few times throughout the night and smelled it.

The bread is shamelessly stolen from Oregon Cottage, who shamelessly stole and adapted it from the easy artisan bread in five minutes.  I slightly adapted it myself, mixing the dough in a gallon sized ziplock bag for easy fridge storage.  I think I also may have added less flour than the recipe called for, but I ran out of flour.  I popped it in the oven today and worried because it was definitely more liquidy than the pictures on the website.  I had visions of a flat, black, almost bread.  I was pleasantly surprised.  It puffed up and looks BEAUTIFUL.  Seriously, if the bread tastes half as good as it looks, I am excited.  

The mashed taters will come from a box, but that is because one of our friends prefers boxed, instant taters to homemade.  Meh, whatever makes him happy. 

Finally! The end of April!

Today is the first day in a long while that I have had a chance to sit down and write. My class for April finished yesterday and I submitted the grades last night.  Whiteybare also moved in officially this week, so that has added to the busy schedule of the household. But, I now have a 3 day break before my May class begins. Whatever shall I do with all this spare time.

Well, today I made strawberry-blueberry muffins for breakfast.  Admittedly, they came from a mix, but Little Guy doesn't seem to mind too much.  I'm looking forward to making actual strawberry muffins when our strawberries start producing this year.  Provided, of course, that we get to them before the animals do.  I also have plans for an Italian Beef pizza at some point, on homemade pizza dough. 

The dough would obviously be made in our breadmaker (which has been a gift from the gods).  And requires the leftovers from the Crockpot Italian beef Sandwiches I made this week. (Thanks to eatathome.com!)  I had plans to do this whole homemade dinner thing, but our kitchen is a mess and I can't stand working in it.  There isn't enough room or clean dishes, and I end up getting all tense inside.  It's generally  Big Guy's job to do the dishes but, like everything else, dishes fell to the wayside with all the other chores. 

I am also going to work on the calendar and family room today and start getting our schedule back on track.  I want to get this place back to a point where I don't want to set it on fire and run screaming into the night.  Though, with a 4 year old hurricane running through the house, that may NEVER happen. I need to get done what I can today.

This weekend we're going out of town, though things aren't going to be nearly as pressed as I thought they were. Saturday we're heading up to Holland, MI to see my sister-in-law.  Sunday is NOT Mother's Day.  I say that only because I trule thought it was for the past month.  It's a welcome surprise though because now I'm not trying to figure out how to fit everything in. 

Monday starts my May class and I am teaching Fundamentals of English again.  It will give me a good ten minutes at the end of class to write something while the class does their freewriting, so I hope to get back on the blogging track as well!

Oo-ee-oo He looks just like Buddy Holly

Yesterday, I managed to make a wonderfeal meal out of a tragedy.  It also proved my point that everything happens for a reason.  I have been trying to get back to planning menus and trying to use what we have.  Unfortunately for me, I may have planned too well.  Last nights meal was supposed to be oven roasted chicken.  However, I unwrapped the chicken and realized rapidly that there was no way we were going to eat this meat.  It had already gone bad.  I was so upset. 

However, the night before I had picked up some store-made fried chicken after work and had picked up enough to act as a couple meals, most likely a couple of lunches.  But I certainly had enough for a mixed dish.  So, I sped up the menu plan and made the meal I had planned for the leftover roasted chicken.  It was a completely made-up and yet it turned out better than I could have imagined.  It's a relatively easy Cheesy Chicken Casserole recipe.   And we would not have been able to have it had I not picked up that fried chicken. I'll include the recipe at the end of the blog post. 

Yesterday, I also took advantage of the lack of school-teaching to get some important things done like folding laundry and I also trimmed Little Guy's hair.  I loved his hair style, it was definitely in keeping with his personality.  It was kind of wild and free, and definitely marched to the beat of its own drum...  However, Little Guy doesn't believe in using napkins.  That, apparently, is what his hair is for.  And, as it got longer, the harder it was becoming to prevent.  So, after his bath yesterday, I made a valient attempt to cut his hair.  That meant trying to get him to stand still for a few seconds. 

What actually happened is I managed to get parts of his hair cut short.  It is DEFINITELY not a professional hair cut and I am thrilled that his hair is curly enough to hide some of the mistakes I made while trying to get him to hold still.  As Big Guy pointed out though, it's short in the back and longer in the front...  And with his hair being the way it is, it's totally a "Buddy Holly" hair style.  What have I done?

Sadly, with both his father's and my eyesight, he's likely to need glasses like Buddy Holly too.  I hope that the mad eating of carrots that I did during the pregnancy may help him to avoid too terrible of eyesight though.  Poor kid. 

But now, the recipe:
Easy Cheesy Chicken Casserole

Leftover chicken pieces
1 family size can Cream of chicken soup
1 can mixed vegetables
1 can corn
1 cup shredded cheese
1 tube large flaky biscuits

Pre-heat oven to 350 degrees F.

Tear up the chicken and  remove from the bone.  Put chicken, Cream of Chicken soup, veggies, corn and carrots in a large baking dish and mix with the cheese. 

Open the tube of biscuits and tear each biscuit in half and layer across the top of the mix.  Bake for 20 - 25 minutes. 

Chicken Soup for the Writer's Belly

The first day of class went well.  The group seems, if not interested, at least energized for now.  This is a good thing because we'll end up feeding off eachother's energy.  I find that if the class is more energetic, I am more enthusiastic.  And that leads to a higher energy in the classroom!  It becomes a cyclical thing and keeps class interesting and fun. 

We went through the writing process last night which. I told them, is the reason that most writers are alcoholics, drug addicts or both.  I also explained that no one, not even writers, like the writing process and that writers have a love/hate relationship with their chosen profession.  I love writing, it's in my blood, and I adore it but oh how I hate the process. 

I've been working on my novel for 6 years.  Yes, you read that correctly, SIX.  I found out that there's actually a term for this process.  Unpublished Guy calls it "Slow Writing your story into oblivion". 

On the one hand, it's nice to know, as a writer, you aren't alone.  On the other hand, I really wish that I could find the wherewithal to finish the book.  Finding the time, the energy and the desire to write is difficult.  Of course, that's why I've gotten back into blogging.  I am forcing myself to write on a daily basis and perhaps, eventually, work on the book again.  Good luck to me! 

Yesterday was somewhat chilly despite the sunlight.  I woke up early and was unable to go back to sleep, so I got up and decided to make chicken soup.  We had ended up with 3 large chicken breasts thanks to Big Guy and his ideas.

The plan, initially, was a chicken marinara with melted cheese.  And it certainly sounded delicious...  Right up to the point that I realized Big Guy had bought the cheap chicken breasts, with the skin on them and bones still in them.  When I explained the work it was going to take to debone the chicken, he decided that, perhaps, the chicken marinara wasn't the right meal after all.  I assuaged his sadness with a promise to make my chicken soup though. 

Big Guy loves my chicken soup, and I try to make it most often in the fall or winter. It's a long simmering soup that takes about a day to cook and is truly worth it.  This one started out with a pot of water and some seasoning.  I added celery seed, black pepper, sage, rosemary, thyme, parsley, salt and garlic. I always kind of eyeball the addition of seasonings and taste often throughout the cooking process.  After I got the pot to a rolling boil, I added the defrosted chicken breasts and let that cook for an hour.

The house smelled so good during that hour, my belly was rumbling.  I was relieved when the timer went off and I was able to lower the pot to a simmer and pull out the breasts.  While the broth simmered and bubbled, I skinned and deboned the breasts and tore apart the largest one to add back to the pot.  The other two will probably be shredded into a cheese and chicken omelette for Little Guy and I for breakfast. 

I added the shredded chicken and chopped up a carrot and an onion to throw in the pot and let it cook for another hour, getting the carrots soft and the onion practically invisible.  I then threw in some frozen green beans and let it finish cooking.  I managed to nab a small bowl before I left for class and it was really, truly worth it.  While I was gone, Big Guy and Little Guy finished off most of the soup and then I had a couple more bowls when I got back. And not alone either, Big Guy had another bowl and Little Guy had two more. 

Kitten's Chicken Soup

Chicken Breasts (bone in & skin on)
Salt
Pepper
Water
Seasonings - recomm. Parsley, Sage, Rosemary, Thyme, Bay Leaves
Veggies - Recomm. Carrot, celery, onion, green beans

This simple and tasty treat involves hours of simmering goodness

1 - bring water and seasonings to a rolling boil. 
2 - add chicken breasts and simmer for an hour, adding water as needed.  The skin will add all the fat you need to the broth
3 - Pull the breasts out of the water and let the broth simmer while you debone and skin the breasts.  Then, shred the meat and add to the broth.
4 - Chop and add the veggies and simmer
5 - Add water and seasonings to taste during the cooking time

Delicious!

Preparing for the Holiday Season

So, preparing for the holiday season is well underway. I have Big Guy all shopped for and we’re working on Little Guy. I have a major weakness when it comes to Christmas shopping though. I like to keep going. Big Guy gets upset with me every year and tries to limit how much I can buy for him. This year, when I made my first purchase, he immediately got irritated and told me I spent too much, even though it was under $25. I think it’s because he’s somewhat flustered, having a wife who tries to dote on him on the holidays.

I have to figure out what we’re getting everyone else for the holidays and work from there. It’s a different type of holiday than last year. It will be our first Christmas without the kids. Luckily, we have Little Guy to focus on and we can work to make it good for him.

Right now, I am also trying to plan my Christmas Eve dinner and breakfast. For breakfast on Christmas day, I am strongly considering a meal of “Night Before French toast” (recipe to follow), sausage, bacon, coffee, and biscuits. But dinner the night before is usually a good meal. My mom comes over and we have our Christmas Eve family gift exchange. This year, it looks like I am making a turkey, mashed potatoes, stuffing, green beans, sweet potatoes… I’ll have a few finger food snacks and we’ll have a wonderful night. I am excited and looking forward to it.

The big meal the night before enables me to play around the next day and not have to worry about meals. And Christmas Day is one of my favorite things to do.

Night Before French Toast

1 loaf Texas Toast
lots of brown sugar
about 1 stick butter
4 eggs
2 cups milk
1/2 tsp cinnamon
dash nutmeg

Directions:

Melt butter and brown sugar together stirring frequently.

Spray a 9×13 pan (important!) with cooking spray. Pour mixture on the bottom so it’s about 1/8 inch thick. Lay the bread slices on top of it.

Mix together eggs, milk, cinnamon, and nutmeg. Pour egg mix over the bread. Cover with plastic wrap and refrigerate overnight.

In the morning, preheat the oven to 350 and uncover the baking dish. Bake for 30 min. You can serve with toppings of your choice.

A Nearly Frigid Fall

A chill is in the air as fall and winter begin to descend on Northern Indiana. I should consider myself lucky that we had such pleasant weather lasting through September, but now I can see the leaves go from green to the yellow and red shades for fall. The warm colors belie the coolness in the air though. We had our first frost this week.

My tomatoes never did well, nor did anything else I planted this year. I know part of it was the sheer distraction we experienced with the losses we suffered this summer, but I also blame the groundhog for eating my beans and the ground for sucking so hard. There just isn’t enough good dirt to grow anything useful. So, next year, Big Guy is building me a raised bed and we’re going to go through and add real dirt to the soul and hopefully do much better.

I finished my super secret project, which was a 9 square blanket for my sister-in-law for her birthday. It turned out much better than I could have hoped for, considering the crunch I was under. 9 granny squares of 9 rounds, with each grouping 3 sets of triple stitches. Clever enough for a birthday that occurred on September 9, 2009.

I’ve also been busy teaching. I just finished a round of Composition 2 and am preparing to start a class for the basics. This will be my first time teaching this particular class, so wish me luck! I was telling Big Guy, I really do love teaching and it is rewarding to see people connect with the language.

We received our Angel Food Ministries box and already have made some tasty meals from it. My personal favorite involved pork chops, pears and fresh sage from my garden. It was truly delicious and the pears complemented the pork beautifully. I also made chicken and beans in the crock-pot because we received two HUGE chicken breasts so I used one breast with beans and I think the other might be slated for some homemade chicken soup. Yum!