Broccoli Salad

By request, if my memory serves me right, here's the recipe courtesy of the Kingsburg First Baptist Church cookbook:

2 florets cut up into small pieces (approx 8-10 c.)
8-10 pieces of cooked bacon cut into small pieces
1/2 c. sunflower seeds
1 c. mayo
2 tbs. vinegar
1/3 c. sugar
1 large Purple onion cut into small pieces
1 tsp black pepper

You can modify some ingredients to your taste. I only put 3/4 of the purple onion. And I used the whole package of bacon (minus the one piece I ate) in. It's best if you make it a few hours ahead of time and let it sit so the flavors can be absorbed throughout. Happy cooking

from THE mighty chef,
tb

veggies, turkey and work

Broccoli Salad
My husband and I have a new favorite salad at our house. Mom makes this awesome broccoli salad and she took it to G&G B’s for Thanksgiving. I think I had 3 servings of it on Thursday. Saturday night we had company for supper. Ryan made Salisbury steak and stuffing. I make a broccoli salad to go with it. Yesterday morning Ryan mentioned that I needed to buy the stuff and make him some more broccoli salad. It’s kinda healthy and if that gets him to eat veggies, I’ll be making it again.

Thanksgiving
We headed down to Prairie City Wednesday night and fought the wind. Thursday morning (after not so much sleep) I helped Grandma a little in the kitchen. We sat down for a great meal shared with some of the B’s and my parents. We had a good time visiting with everyone. Scott only managed to spit up on one person and was able to wear his ISU shirt for most of the day which is amazing! We left out Thursday night at 5pm and headed home. Stopped in Waterloo for lunch and only one place was open – a buffet. Like I needed a buffet after a Thanksgiving meal!

Black Friday
Did you go shopping? I didn’t! I worked at the office, what a quiet and awesome day. The phone only rang 4 times and we had no body come to the counter. It was good to get a few things done at my desk without all the distractions.

My Growing Kid

This was the evening they induced me, just a few days before Scott was born!










Then Scott shortly after they pried him out into the world.









Scott-R still super thin at one month old.








This is his 2 month picture (gotta love the spit up on his outfit)












Now he's really starting to fill in a little and is stylishly sporting a Bulldogs cap.









Here he's hanging out with his great grandpa B early in November




Scott and his great grandma B in early November.





Okay, that's it for now. More bragging later

Mean Dr. Miller

Scott received his 4 month shots yesterday. While there, the ladies all had to check him out and/or hold him. Sue is our nurse and she’s got such a good personality. Krista works at the front desk and her son is in our youth group. Those are our two buddies at the clinic. The other guy is Mean Dr. Miller. He really is a nice guy, I just don’t care for him as a physician. So, here’s my elaborate story in a condensed version:
Scott’s appointment for shots was scheduled for 4:30. Arrive a few minutes early and wait in the lobby. No big deal, we pass the time by playing and chatting with Krista. Nurse lady (not Sue) takes us to the back. Measures Scott (25 ¾”) and weighs him (15lbs 7 oz). Checks his heartbeat, etc and Sue comes in. She greets us and goes out to get some help for shots. He gets 3 separate shots and so they usually have 3 nurses so that he only feels the pain one time. PROBLEM #1: Sue didn’t want to give Scott a shot (babies learn real quick who causes them pain) and so there were only 2 nurses. This meant that Scott received 2 shots at the same time, followed by his third shot. Bad Sue. I don’t want my kid to feel pain. Scott cried for about 15 seconds and right after I picked him up he quit crying, was a little fussy but otherwise content. That was just before 5pm. PROBLEM #2: At 5:30, Dr. Miller still hadn’t come into the room to see Scott (he’s actually supposed to check Scott before hand to make sure he’s well). By now, we’d been waiting over half an hour and I was beyond mad! I got up and walked out. Sue must have been guarding the door so I shared my thoughts with her. She kindly took the blame – said she allowed too many call-in patients to get squeezed. While those folks were getting squeezed in, I was getting squeezed out. I had another commitment at 530 and should have been out in plenty of time to get back to Elgin. I even told Sue that if it weren’t for her as the nurse, I wouldn’t go to Dr. Miller. While we were in the hall talking, Dr. Miller came out. She warned him and he came into the room. He asked me what we could do to make things better next time and I said “don’t make me wait 35 minutes to come in the room”. PROBLEM #3: he proceeded to blame Sue. I attacked right back and mentioned that this happens EVERY single time we’re in. Last time we were there for 2 hours! He continued to try to justify and told me to call ahead next time to make sure he’s running on schedule. I don’t think so. He needs to either run on time or call his patients. Actually he needs to not let all the random people in for colds that they don’t do anything about anyway. It was 6pm by time I left the clinic. I was so mad!!!
Fifteen minutes later I got to my other commitment. The Zurbriggen’s are home from South Dakota for Thanksgiving and a bunch of us were getting together for pizza. The rest of the night was good considering I had a super fussy kid who had missed a much needed nap. There were 3 of us with babies. Two of them have other little ones. And there were a 4 other 6th and 7th graders with their families. It was fun to see a house full of young families all hanging out. That doesn’t happen much where we live. It was so good to see the Z’s and baby Micah.
Okay, so I missed a vital part of the story… I got to the Jensen’s and went to get Scott out of the car. It was then that I realized that Scott’s car seat wasn’t buckled in. Bad Mom! We always take his car seat out but I didn’t want to drag it around the clinic so I just took him right out of it. When we left the clinic and I was so furious, I assumed that his car seat was still buckled in. So, I strapped Scott into the car seat and headed down the road. Thank our good God for watching over us. On a country road (yes, they’re all country out here), I managed to drive for 15 minutes and see only one deer. And that little doe stayed on the shoulder so I never even had to hit my brakes. Thank you Jesus!

Scott's first snow

Here's my little guy and his first snow. Not quite the picture I was hoping for but his daddy didn't have time to get him in his snow suit and get a different picture. Thanks to Ryan for capturing Scott's first snow.

The snow is still on the ground. The sun is shining today and it is supposed to get up to 40. I hope it does so I can wash my car today. I left my car at the bottom of the driveway last night. Didn't want to venture out on the ice. Before we left for bible study, my neighbor came through and sanded the hill. So, if it doesn't melt off some today, I'll at least be safe to drive down our sanded driveway tonight. TGIF

GO Bulldogs!

Go Bulldogs! Saturday at 7:15 PST, the Bulldogs take on #1 USC. I'm hoping my #16 Bulldogs can upset the #1 USC

Weather

I do love the weather, that is until it changes. Late this summer I was anxiously awaiting fall and winter. We instantly got winter weather this year. It was 60 degrees less than a week ago and this morning it was 5 degrees when I left for work with snow and ice on the ground. Our grass never even turned brown this year. We had a beautiful fall weather, perfect for laying out in the hammock (not that we did that this year, our hammock is falling apart). Do I miss the CA weather? Umm, not sure. Cold, damp, bone chilling winter, nope don't miss that. The cold here is different. Even though it was 5 degrees this morning, it wasn't bad. I even went outside and through the goat two apples and an avacado. Yesterday though was a different story when it was in the high 20's and windy. That was COLD! The wind makes all the difference out here. I do however miss the beautiful CA sunshine, playing on the river or lake and eating fresh fruit while getting a tan. I loved multi-tasking like that. It doesn't happen these days. And the two days I did go outside to tan this year, I looked like a beach whale laying out one day. The other day I sat on the riding mower and my belly hung over so much that you couldn't tell that I had bottoms on. I miss things about CA and definitely the people but I absolutely love where I live, the change in seasons, the friendly people here and more.

Brick House History

So, this is the house. According to our records it was built in 1912 or 1915 (I can't remember which). This view is of the South side of the house. I'm adding to a post from earlier in the week about the surprise visitors last Friday. Lois put me in contact with the granddaughter of one of the little girls who lived in the house when it was first built. The following is the email I received from her this morning:

I'm delighted that my friend Lois went to visit you! I've driven around out there but really didn't know where to look and since my mom wasn't with me at the time, I didn't have her help. She remembers the house very well, but hasn't been out there for many, many years. The last time I was there, I visited my great uncle, Rusty Larson and that was 1963.

The property was homesteaded by my great, great grandfather, Orm Larson (Norwegian) in the early 1850's. The first year they lived in a dugout in the side of the hill as I understand it, until the log cabin was built in the spring. His son, John, inherited the property and lived there until he and his wife, Amalia, passed away. My mom thinks my grandmother, Viola Larson Arness, was born in the cabin - and your house was built when she was very young. The basement was used for baking bread, canning & washing and since alot of people lived in the house, there was probably a lot happening down there daily. John and Amalia had 11 children - their son Russell (Rusty) took over the property and did some renovations in the late 50's / early 60's like opening the stairway and moving the kitchen. We aren't sure who or why the door was bricked up.

My grandmother had a ruptured appendix when she was about 9 or 10, and since they didn't have much in the way of hospitals in 1915, they called the local doctor. He was drunk when he arrived, but went ahead and cut her open on the kitchen table by lamplight - and she lived thru it! She had at least a 12" jagged scar across her abdomen - terrible. She died in 1992 at 86 years old.

And here's a tidbit that I always thought was funny. Orm Larson liked to drink and swore a lot. One day he was in the woods on the property, chopping wood ( had a nip or two), and was swearing to himself. All of a sudden he was surrounded by Brownies (little people) who gave him a very bad time for being drunk and foul mouthed - scared him so bad he never swore or drank again in his life. So, when you're out and about in the woods, you might run across something special!

And as for the daughter of the king - yes, there is that story. I'll have to ask my mom again, but she's told me about it. I'll let you know.

Now isn't that some cool stuff. More on the daughter of the king story when I get more information. It's a pretty neat story.

Scott's 1st snow

Okay so it has been drizzling the past few days which has been both good and bad. Good to replenish our groundwater supply and hopefully keep our well functioning for another year. Bad for Ryan who's outside working cattle in the rain and wind. Yesterday we were in Guttenberg, a cute little town on the Miss...i River. On my way back to the office, the snow started turning to a sleet like substance. Just as we pulled into the office it turned to snow. About 45 minutes later as I headed home (further west), there was more snow falling. It was so gorgeous. BUT, because it was a nice gentle rain that turned to snow, it created a little bit of ugly in the midst of the beauty. The snow on the roads mixed with rain was a little slushly so I did slide around a bit on the way home. This morning, the water on the roads, sidewalks, driveways, etc had turned to ice. And becuase we had 25-40 mph winds, the ice was nice and polished. Before I left the house Ryan called to let me know that the snow drifted in the driveway and I'd have to get a good run at it. Plus the driveway was ice and I would need to be careful there. With my experiences last winter, his phone call made me a bit nervous. As I got outside and headed down the driveway, things weren't near as bad as I had imagined. As usual, the 20 mile stretch of county highway that I drive had yet to be plowed. I met the plow half way and he was plowing the other direction as usual. Most people leave early when the weather is bad to give themselves more time to get to work. I leave later in hopes that maybe some of the road just might be plowed or have sand on it. I did make it to work safely. Unfortunately I didn't get any pictures of Scott and his first snow. Its already dark tonight so I'll hope for some pictures tomorrow.
Already the week is crazy and I'm super tired. I've gone to bed at 9pm the last two nights. I must be getting old!

Such a great weekend

Friday was quite the surprising day. It was early morning, Scott was playing in the floor and I was sanding on the cabinets when I heard a knock at the door. I thought that was odd since we live 3 miles outside of town. I got to the door and there were two women standing there. I immediately noticed that one women, Lois, was holding an old picture of my house with a family standing in front. I invited them in and we had a nice little visit. The picture belongs to Jan, a woman in Colorado who wanted to know if Lois could locate where the house was located. It was taken in 1916 and the people in the photo are her grandparents. Our house was built in 1912 or 1915 (can’t remember at the moment) so I was excited to see this picture. I contacted Jan this morning with an email and hope to hear back from her soon. Ryan and I are super excited to hear about the history of our home.
The remainder of the day, I cleaned house and finished sanding one of my cabinets. Other than that, I played with my little guy who is an absolute blast to play with. I’m excited for the time that he’s even more playful and is crawling around on us.

Saturday was the Valley Football game. They lost to North Mahaska and had more points scored on them during that game than they did all year combined! Congrats to the Valley Tigers in their 4th consecutive year to make playoffs and congrats on being 3rd in the state. After the disappointing loss, we headed to Waterloo for some shopping. I practically ran through Sam’s Club, fed Scott while the folks were in Home Depot, ran through Old Navy and shopped some in Sears. My arm is still sore this morning from carrying Scott in his car seat around the UNI Dome and through Sears. I had to feed Scott one more time before we drove home so I fed him and the folks ran into Walmart.
We got home right at 6:00pm. The ISU v. Colorado game was scheduled to start at 6:00 and Ryan was having some people over for the game. That morning he commented that I could get things cleaned up before hand and then realized that I would be gone all day. I thought he’d pick up a few things – we all know he’s not a cleaner. I was wrong. He hadn’t picked up anything and I was embarrassed and mad. The more time passed, as mom and I were in the kitchen making some artichoke dip for his friends, the more mad I got. I didn’t know if maybe he was out on calls all afternoon so I tried not to get too worked up about it. Then during a commercial he came in to show me that he worked on Scott’s Christmas gift. At that point I was so ticked off. He couldn’t even move the vacuum out of the living room but he could play/work in the basement. Grr. I had a headache, I was tired and my back hurt – all of which didn’t help matters at all. The remainder of the night, I was not a loving or respectful wife. Finally at 9pm, I took Scott upstairs to feed him and went to bed. Ryan had no clue that I was mad at him but I’m sure he noticed that I wasn’t being nice. Sorry honey!
Sunday morning started slow. I must have slept crappy – I guess that happens when you don’t deal with issues. Anyway, Ryan ended up staying home from church with some back problems. When I came home we discussed things and I reminded him of his role as leader in the home. I need him to take the responsibility seriously and be our spiritual leader like a husband should do. Things went awesome in the afternoon. Scott was fussy and hungry non-stop yesterday. Ryan and I had fun together hanging out on the couch. I also got a coat of Kilz on the cabinet and hope to start painting the red tonight.

Today is Scott’s 4 month birthday. Grow, I mean, GO Scott-r

a much needed update

I know it’s been a week since I’ve posted but that’s the way it goes. I’ve been running around quite a bit for work lately. Last week I spent a few days in Des Moines. This week I spent 2 days in Platteville, WI for meetings. Usually we’d stay the night but breastfeeding a baby sure makes the over night trips a bit difficult. So, we drove back and forth each day. I’d leave the house at about 6:30, drive 30 minutes to work and then drive 2 hours to Platteville. I’d get back home around 6:00. Not too bad, sure helped me add a few credit hours (that means vacation time) to my time sheet. Yesterday, my first day in the office, I was ancy to get outside so instead of mailing some documents to the O’s, I hand delivered them while Ryan just happened to be there working cattle :)

Back to last weekend. I do truly love my Fridays. Saturday was a good day to get some things done around the house. Scott was super cooperative and did awesome at going to sleep for naps. Every 3rd hour, I fed him and then put him down for a nap that lasted about an hour. Gave me some time to get things cleaned. I was able to clean both of our living rooms pretty well, I dusted the big stuff and ignored the stuff in the cabinets. It felt so good. I left the kitchen to Ryan although I did sweep and pick up a few things. Sunday after potluck, I cleaned the dining room and our bedroom before we headed to the Carlson’s for apple fritters. I had taken Brittney (5th grade daughter of our buddies) home with me so she could play with Scott. Their whole family adores Scott except their 18 year old son. Anyway, we got home from potluck and fed Scott. He was cranky and I put him down for his hour nap. That hour turned into 3 and I woke him up in time to feed him and head out the door. Poor Brittney didn’t even get to play with Scott. But she did lie in my bed and watch Elf on my portable DVD player while I cleaned my room. The apple fritter was a whole church thing and Scott was the star of the show. People who don’t typically gawk over him did just that. I was enjoying the fellowship but eventually snuck downstairs with the kids to catch the end of Extreme Makeover: Home Edition. Such a good show!

Like I said earlier, its been a super busy week. Monday I got home from work, fed Scott, played with him for a while, grabbed a quick bite to eat and snuggled up on the couch to listen to our Valley Tigers playoff football game. By the 3rd quarter I was out. Ryan woke me up when it was over to tell me they won :) Tuesday night was much the same, all the driving was tiring I guess. Last night I hung out at mom’s which is my typical Wednesday night. We ate supper and then I sewed for a little bit before heading home. Again, I’m excited for the weekend. But before that is our Thursday night bible study and I love that group of people that we meet with.

Its Friday for me, tomorrow is a federal holiday so I’ll be home. Big plans for my 3 day weekend. I hope to get my tulips planted and then start refinishing my cabinets mom made me for college graduation. I’m going to sand them a little and paint the inside a wine red so that my off white china will really stand out. The outside will be repainted off white which looks awesome against my olive green walls in the dining room. I’m super excited to get that started. We’ll see if it happens – if Scott cooperates.

friday

I've really been looking forward to this day. I love Fridays. I love having a weekend off to spend time with my husband, get my house in some sort of order, spend Sunday morning learning and I certainly love playing with my little guy.
Scott continues to grow so fast. This week he's been trying to sit up in his bouncy chair. When I hold his hands to pull him in a sitting-up position, he stands up for a few seconds instead. He's really taking on more character traits each week. He's starting to be super fussy when he doesn't get naps during the day. Last night was one of those nights, and once again it was during bible study. I couldn't get him calmed down. And when I finally did calm him down, he would start crying again if I sat down. Eventually he was asleep and I sat down but couldn't lay him down or move him away from me without him waking up and crying again. We got home last night, I fed him and Ryan put him to bed at 10pm. Scott slept till 645 this morning - I think he was tired!
I'm tired too. It's been a long week and I haven't had much time at all with my honey. And I've been super moody this week and yesterday morning I took it out on Ryan. I hope this weekend gives us some together time - cleaning the house :)

pictures

Here are the pictures that I couldn't add the other day. He did wear his little outfit to the game last night, what a stud! I joked with Holly that if she would kiss him he would turn into her prince. [Holly is one of the post-college kids and we joke that Scott will take her to prom in HS - she'll be 40 then. Holly is Scott's adult girlfriend.]

Make sure to check out the photos below

Weekend
what a nice weekend we had. mom kept scott friday night and saturday. of course i had to stop and see my kid after work. he has a cold and sounds like a goose. poor thing. he literally slept all day except when he was being fed. mom would wake him up to change his diaper. i was there and he slept through his feeding and i changed his diaper quick before i left. of course he woke up then and was so playful so i had to stay longer. Was there for about 90 minutes – so much for Friday night with my honey! saturday i made my honey breakfast in bed after i pumped. then we headed to waterloo for some shopping. hello transfer from the savings account! it was a fun day though, nice to just hang out with ryan and not worry about caring for our little guy. i love playing with and watching scott so it was nice to give ryan my full attention for a while. mom needed some rest so i took my kid home saturday night. he sounded pretty good but we kept him home Sunday from church. ryan went to church while i stayed home and then he came home and i went to the church to help some friends with their 25th anniv party. it was nice to have a slow non-rushed weekend.

Monday
It went well to begin with. Now that I’m feeding scott every morning at 530, the follow-up pumping doesn’t go so well. I think my boobs are confused about making milk vs. letting it down. Later that morning at work while pumping, I wasn’t giving my full attention. And to spare all of you the details (especially Cori), I’ll just say that I overflowed the bottle. I’m so an 18 lb. cow with awesome milk supply. Anyway, it ran down my right thigh. Fortunately scott’s diaper bag got left in my car so I got a baby wipe and tried to clean it up. It was a bigger mess at first but by time it dried, you could hardly tell what had spilled. Baby wipes are awesome!

Beggar’s Night
The phrase takes on more and more meaning every year. I’m not into Halloween and could care less about it. BUT, I fell into the temptation and bought Scott the cutest outfit from Old Navy. It’s all about the photo op and showing off my kid. So, we went to mom’s and had a massive bowl of candy. Not many visitors but the majority of kids that came SUCKED! They didn’t even say “trick-or-treat”. What the heck! And there were kids that weren’t dressed up at all! Last year since we were at a friend’s house, I told a few big kids they needed to get a costume before I would give them candy. This year we had the same thing (different town). One time it was 4 HS kids, 3 of them had dressed up. So I gave them crappy suckers. I figured they were too old and could buy their own candy. There were even little kids that were dressed in their regular clothes. One kid had a mask that didn’t even stay on his face. He’s from our church so I made sure to ask him (and loud enough for his mom to hear) where his costume was. One kid had some “swords” through his belt loop with normal clothes and said he was a knight. Come on parents, lets get a little more creative. I would be embarrassed to take me kid out begging for candy if he wasn’t in a costume. AND, I had Scott in his cute little costume and only got two compliments on it. One was a little guy dressed as a lion. He was a bit young to say “t-or-t” but he clearly said “baby”. My favorite was a family of 3 kids: one was darth vador, one was r2-d2 and the baby in the stroller was yoda. They were awesome! Before heading home I had to stop at Shane & Michelle’s (a couple from my bible study) and show them Scott. Here’s what they got to see: If you want to see him in person, come to the Valley play off game on Wednesday night. I’m dressing him up again for everyone to see :) Okay, off to a few meetings and an overnight trip to Des Moines.