Day 204 (9/19): What my co-workers missed out on...

I had plans to meet with some colleagues to discuss assessment on our day off.  Yes I know not the greatest thing to do on a Friday on your day off so I bribed them with food.  Told them I would bring lunch.  So in the midst of doping myself for my ear infection, Colton's football practice, making muffins to bribe my coworkers to vote for me in the spirit competition, I was making my first pressed sandwich and trying out a new macaroni salad recipe.  It was a crazy night and my kitchen looked like one of those hoarder shows' kitchens with crap all over the countertop after I was done but I was too tired to clean it up.  I came right home the next day and cleaned it up because it was disgusting!

Well during the workshop someone mentioned ordering pizza and everyone raised their hands so I knew I was going to take my sandwich and pasta salad home.  I shared with my neighbor because I couldn't eat the entire thing by myself.  It was pretty tasty but I went a little overboard on the meat.  Mark didn't want to eat it because of the tomatoes so it was up to me to eat this meat masterpiece.

I basically made a sauce of balsamic vinegar, olive oil, garlic cloves, salt and pepper.  I soaked some tomato chunks in it for about 10 minutes. I drizzled the juices on the bread halves  and put the tomatoes on top. I layered the bottom half of the bun with basil leaves and started the layering of meats and cheeses.  I used ham, pepperoni, salami, provolone, and mozzarella which were on sale at Dillons.  I wrapped it tightly and then pressed it with books in my fridge overnight.  My fridge is now well educated with the Mayo medical dictionary.

I also tried out a new pasta recipe.  I tried not to add too much so that Mark and the other picky eaters would eat the leftovers at the tailgate on Saturday but this is a great basic recipe that you can add whatever you have on hand to make it even better.

Macaroni Crackaroni
Ingredients
1 package macaroni elbow noodles
2 cups light mayo
1/4 c. white vinegar
1/4 c. white sugar
1 Tablespoon prepared yellow mustard
Salt and Pepper to taste
Garlic Powder to taste
2 stalks celery, chopped
6 hard boiled eggs, diced

Directions
1.  Cook macaroni according to package directions.
2.  Hard boil eggs while macaroni is cooking.
3. Chop up eggs and celery and add to cooked macaroni.
4.  Mix mayo, vinegar, sugar, mustard, salt, pepper, garlic. 
4.  Pour mayo mixture over noodles and toss to coat.

Day 203 (9/18): Ears and Darth Vader

Star Wars is not my favorite movie but I think someone up above wants to make me live it.  I have been diagnosed with another ear infection.  It is NOT fun!  In fact, it is pretty miserable.  I don't know how little kids do it.  When your ears are impacted, it really effects your entire body.  I am dizzy.  I can't hear worth a darn.  I don't know how many times I said "what" today. It sounds like Darth Vader is inside my head as I can hear myself breathing inside my head.  It's very creepy and will wake you up in the middle of the night as you think someone may be standing over you breathing on you but then you realize it's all in your head.  It effects your equilibrium.  I stand up and wobble a little.  I literally got backed into by a car in the Dillons parking lot last night.  I was walking into the store and this car just came backing right out and bumped me.  I fell over and the college girl did stop and apologize profusely. Not sure if it was because I couldn't move out of the way fast enough due to my lack of balance or it was just a college girl on her phone while trying to back out of the parking lot. 

It feels like there are little pick axe in my ear  just poking away trying to find the bad spot.  I am miserable but trying not to think about it all the time.  The last doctor said that tubes may be in my future which scares me but if it means I don't have to have this pain, I'm all for it.  So for now I'll just continue my regimen of antibiotic, eardrops and ibuprofin and curl up with my blankie  and hope Darth doesn't visit tonight.

Day 202 (9/17): Winner Winner but no Chicken Dinner!

I did not get the lucky gene like my mom.  She wins tons of free things and I wish I was that lucky.  But I'm not except for today!  You know I made the muffins for my coworkers and it worked like a charm...well that and thanks to this crazy looking hat. 

I told Colton I needed his spirtit stuff so I could dress up.  We keep a bag of KSU pompoms, slider signs, megaphones, clapping hands, buttons and who knows what else is in the bottom of that bag that we take to games.  So many choices but I wanted that prize.  I knew it had to be something technology related since it was given by the Title 3 peeps. 

And so we were called up in front of the room to model our apparel.  I didn't have the pretty purple boots or ribbon in my hair like Brenda did.  I definitely didn't wear that ugly red Nebraska shirt like Mark (knew there was not much competition there!).  Mike tried to sway everyone with the beer logos on his European futsal shirt.   And here I was with an animal on my head.  I will do anything for free things and Willie helped me win a new free portable hard drive!  So tonight I will be backing up my laptop on my new 500 GB drive!

Day 201 (9/16): Apple Craisin Mini Muffins

There was a competion at work for the person that had the most spirit.  I decided that I would umm....sway a few votes and bake some muffins for the meeting.  I knew I was going to use the cinnabon muffins but after hearing there would be 23 people there I was going to be a little short.  So I scoured the internet for a new recipe.  Plus I can add that to my 101 in 1001 days list. I refused to buy anything new and I knew I had some apples in the fridge so that was my start.  I adapted a recipe of Paula Deen's and they were delicious!  Moist and seemingly healthy with the apple and leftover craisins from my cherry infused craisin kick I went on around Christmas.  But I doubt they were that healthy...Paula Deen likes butter.  I will definitely make these again because they were so adaptable.  The original recipe called for raisins and walnuts but I think you could add just about whatever you had on hand and they would still be very moist.  My coworkers gobbled them down and said they were even better than the cinnabon muffins.

Ingredients:
1 cup water
2 cups sugar
2 cups grated apples
2 cups craisins
1 cup butter (and yes I used the real stuff)
2 tsp. ground cinnamon
2 tsp. nutmeg
1/2 tsp. ground cloves
1 cup chopped pecans
2 tsp baking soda
3-1/2 cups flour

Directions
1.  Preheat the oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit.
2.  Combine the water, sugar, apples, raisins, butter, cinnamon, nutmeg, and cloves in a saucepan.  Bring to a boil.  I let mine boil for a couple of minutes because the house smelled just like fresh baked apple pie.  Remove from heat and cool completely.
3.  In a large bowl, stir the notes and baking soda into the flour.  Add the cooled mixture to the bowl, and stir until blended.

Fill greased miniature muffin tins with batter to the top. I had to use the same muffin tins a couple of times and ended up only greasing it once but I have good teflon coating.
4.  Bake for 15 minutes.    Makes about 5 dozen mini muffins.

Day 200 (9/11): What were you doing on this day?

On facebook everyone is writing about what they were doing on 9-11-01.  I can't seem to remember exactly what I was doing and it is very frustrating.  I can remember being glued to the TV. I can remember having Colton but I don't remember exactly the day.  I watched the coverage on TV this weekend and it is hard for me to watch.  I still get sad and when I see some of the stories I start to tear up.  But then that frustration from not remembering exactly what I was doing sneaks up.  Did it not make that big of an impression on me that I can't remember? 

At first I thought I was at school. I remember watching it on TV as the plane hit the second tower.  But then I remembered Colton had not been born that long ago and I was probably still on maternity leave.  I do remember at some point during that week after that I pulled out my pictures from when I went to New York.  I had pictures of the skyline that showed the towers from when I was there on a youth trip.   If I had a working scanner I would post them. 

I'm sure I held Colton a little tighter that day hoping that all would be safe in his world...hoping that he would not encounter or know such hate.

I do remember not realizing the gravity of the tragedy that set off a chain of events.  The towers came down, one at a time and I watched in disbelief. But it was not in my neck of the woods so did I truly grasp what was to come.  Is the world a better place now because of the events that surrounded 9-11-01?  Not sure. Most of us still live in a world of fear, a fear that I did not know before that day of terrorists. I don't like the fact that know I'm nervous when I'm on an airplane with a Muslim. Flying can be a nightmare because of the events that happened that day. There's a huge list of things that have changed for the worse.

But it does bring me to think about the "why". I have always believed that things happen for a reason.  So what was the reason for this tragedy?  Was it to draw us closer as a nation? Was it meant for us to appreciate the time that we do have? To respect firefighters, police, emergency medical providers?  Did it provide us with that appreciation for kindness when we watch the stories of the heroic acts on that day? Did it teach us to appreciate the small things? Anyone who has sufferend any loss at all - and we all have - would give up so much to go back to the way things were before that event happened.

As the world stops to commemorate the ten year anniversary of the attacks of September 11, 2001, it is a reminder that life is fragile and unpredictable.  I hope that you seize the day and live life to the fullest. I hope you appreciate all the world around you, hold those around you a little tighter and try to live life without fear.

Day 199 (9/9): Colton "lit" someone up!

Colton's first scrimmage was this week.  I was really not sure what to expect.  Colton didn't play as much as I wanted him to last year because he was somewhat timid to tackle others.  This year Mark mentioned that he had gotten better so I was hopeful that he would play more. 

He got in his uniform that night and said, "I'm pumped mom!"  He was so excited to go play. I thought - good sign - maybe he'll be more aggressive.  In the back of my mind I was still worried that the first instance he was hit, he would become timid again. He started on first team offense which is great and he played as a wide receiver.

Their team, the Indians, started off with gusto and scored a couple of touchdowns and the defense looked much better than last year.  The boys were so cute (oh I mean manly) on the sidelines as they got excited for their teammates when they scored and gave them high fives and helmet pounds. 

Colton had told me a kid in his class was on the opposing team and had been giving him crap all day long how they were going to kick their butts. There was butt kicking but it was not in that kids' favor.  Colton even leveled him on a defensive play.  In a not so proud moment of his (well he was proud but momma was embarrassed), he turned around and said something while standing over him and then ran off to block the next guy.  I think he was talking trash.  He came off the field and got the congratulatory cheer and told his teammate - "I lit him up!"  It was so funny as he was so excited and pumped. 

My little boy has turned into an aggressive little football player.  He helped the team with a touchdown of his own and made some other really great plays.  I'm so proud of him and can't wait for our season to begin in a week.

Day 198 (9/7): Beef Enchiladas

I'm always making To-Do lists and seem to get a few of the items crossed off.  Now as my vacation is ending I'm realizing that I wanted to get a LOT more done on my list.  I started the 101 in 1001 goal setting list to see if it goes any better.  You can read about it here.   One of those goals is to cook some different foods besides what we've been eating so in the next 2.75 years I set a goal of cooking 50 new recipes.  Colton saw this recipe in a new cookbook I got and has been craving them for about a week now.  With running him to practices and games, I need to find some quick and easy recipes that he will eat and this was a keeper.  I modified it some so here are my revisions.  The recipe in the cookbook left out the onion and beans so it can be made even simpler.

Beefy Rice Enchiladas

Ingredients
1 pkg spanish or mexican rice
1 lb. ground beef
1/2 onion, chopped
1 can refried beans
1 pkg shredded cheddar cheese
1 pkg tortilla shells
2 cans enchilada sauce

Directions
1.  Brown beef with chopped onion.
2.  Cook rice according to directions while ground beef is browning.
3.  After beef is browned, add rice, can of beans, and 1 can of enchilada sauce.
4.  Spread meat mixture on tortilla shells.  Sprinkle a little cheese on top of meat mixture and roll.  Place in pan.  I was able to get 10 rolled enchiladas so I cooked about 6 and froze the rest for later.
5.  Pour other can of enchilada sauce over rolled enchiladas and sprinkle with rest of cheddar cheese.
6.  Cook for 15 minutes, uncovered at 350 degrees.  (I had to run and pick up Colton from practice so I covered with foil before I set it in oven and uncovered for 5 minutes when I got back.)