Italian Cooking Day.

Today I hosted Italian Cooking Day at my house. 3 other moms and their kids came. It was fun! I made Chickpea soup with Noodles, an Italian recipe and then we all made Ravioli and homemade breadsticks. The kids shaped the breadsticks and helped stuff the raviolis. I think everyone had a good time. We didn't have as much pasta dough as I wanted. I hoped everyone could make a couple batches. I didn't realize the dough called for 4 eggs in each batch. We made 2 and 1/2 batches and everyone had enough for one meal I believe. I made mine after everyone left on the last 1/2 batch of dough.

Tonight we are eating for dinner, the raviolis and a pizza with Sausage and Roasted red peppers on it. MMMM!

Speaking of all this food. Last night DH grilled pork baby back ribs. OH MAN! They were to die for. It was awesome. We also had salad and Ranch Potatoes in the oven (potatoes, dry ranch mix, and olive oil = shake and bake for about 30-40 minutes). Then after the cooking was done, the fire in the grill was campfire-esque, so we roasted a couple of 'mallows over the flame. Perfect!

Also perfect is that I look out the window and see my son is in the sandpile, FULL OF WATER! AAHHH! Nasty muddy sandy mess. Guess I better log off and clean him up.... in a bit. :)

First I have one more thing to say. I - HATE - FLIES!! Maybe my total hatred of flies comes from my early years on the farm. We had pigs and I remember battling the flies ever time I came near the hog house. Or the time my sister got her long hair caught in those sticky fly strips that hand from the ceiling ( of course it was covered in dead flies) BARF!!! Anyway fast forward to NOW and the flies are invading my house. The kids have destroyed the screen on the patio door again. So now anytime someone goes out the door, 50 flies rush in. I am not exaggerating when I say that last night I went on a fly killing spree and the floor was covered with them. I had to sweep just to avoid stepping on the carcasses. Then I had to do that same thing again this morning, and AGAIN just now.

Homeschool party

So it always cracks me up at peoples misconception of homeschoolers as sitting at home all day. NEVER happens. When we get to be home its like "Oh how relaxing!" Ha ha. Whether it is dance lessons, or our homeschool group getting together, or a field trip somewhere homeschool kids are always learning through their environment. Its how its supposed to be. I learned more working at my grandmas store when I was a teenager than several years of high school combined. I mean, that work actually translated into life experience that meant something. I really hope my teenagers (when we get there) will have lots of opportunity for internships and life skill events.

Anyway this week we had our homeschool halloween party. It was grand. We played games, painted pumpkins, face painted and ate some cookies, snacks.




In my not so humble opinion, here are the next two most pretty girls after Gioia! HA HA! We went to Iowa this weekend to visit our family. It was good. I took a few really good pictures of my nieces. I thought I would share for my family that hasn't seen these girls in a while. They are 6 (almost 7) and 11! I can't believe it. I feel old.

It doesn't get much more white trash than this....

Celebrities never fail to amaze me as to how they got that way in the first place. Case in point. One of everyones favorite rockers proves that no amount of money can make you any less skanky.

Kid Rock arrested outside waffle house

10/22/2007 7:00 AM, AP


Kid Rock was arrested early Sunday after a brawl at a restaurant and spent about 12 hours in jail before being released, police said.

The musician stopped at the Waffle House restaurant shortly after 5 a.m. after his performance at The Tabernacle in Atlanta, authorities said.

"He and five members of his entourage were involved in a fight with a male customer inside the Waffle House," said Mekka Parish, a spokeswoman for the DeKalb County Police Department.

Brawlin' at Waffle House. Gotta love it.

Mama brags.

We were at the Chinese restaurant after church Sunday and we got fortune cookies. Gioia wanted to read hers by herself, but she can't read yet. So I told her that she could read the lucky numbers. I helped her figure out 39, and 13 then the next number was 26. I said, what number is 2, 6,? She said "8". After I picked my jaw up off the floor I said, Yes, 2 + 6 makes 8. But when they write it like this>>> It is Twenty six. She said Oh ok. Twenty six. WOW! We have been working on simple addition, but I wasn't sure it was clicking yet or if she was just counting.

We got Handwriting without Tears workbook. I explained that it was a "real" schoolbook and when we did the pages I would like her to work hard and be serious. She took that to heart and LOVES IT! She did 10 pages or so the first day. She is up to 27 pages total this week. It has about 90 pages total in the book. She does it when she wants and for how long she wants.

Dominic is into animals and knows the names of tons of them. He can also pronounce the Italian words really well. I am working on teaching him his colors. We need to work on our numbers to 10 as well.

Hayride.

Last night we went on a fun hayride and campfire with our friends. There ended up being 40 people. 10 were kids under 3, the rest was 4 and up. It was really fun. We roasted marshmallows, had apple cider and the kids ran around and played. It was nice. It rained all day yesterday, but cleared off and was a nice evening.

Here are a couple pictures. Oh and for all of you wondering what is up with Dominics nose?...well he fell at Deanna Rose last Monday. He fell on a rubber track where they drive pedal cars. So it gave him this awful rug-burned scrap. On the way home last night he pulled that huge scab off. It looked so painful. This morning however, it looks loads better.

New things I have made.

I am really starting to get the hang of this sewing stuff. It is really fun and since I moved my sewing machine to the living room, I can get a lot more things done. Of course it makes my living room look more cluttery, but whatever. I live here and I want to be able to do things in the living room. So I couldn't post before what I made because those people read this blog. But since they have received their gifts. I will post now!

First is turkey placemats I made for my mom for her birthday. Second is the quilted style placemats I made for my cousin and his wife for a wedding gift.

So far so good.

Well yesterday I was A LOT better about what we ate. Breakfast : Oatmeal Lunch: Bean burritos with cheese on whole wheal tortillas. Snack: Veggie chips (baked), apples and carrots Dinner: Cooked Chicken on Salad ( raw carrots, raw broccoli, raw cauliflower, peas, ham, lettuce). Homemade Clam Chowder. We ate mostly the salad, and everyone had one bowl of the soup. It actually is only about half dairy and half water, so not that bad. I resisted my urge to go get ice cream after dinner. :)

Tonight we are having some friends over for dinner. We are making Smoked Chicken Legs, salad, Spicy Beans, and strawberry shortcake. Should be fun. I have to go run the vacuum and maybe get the yard mowed today.

Re-doubling my efforts

So I have been thinking about food and health lately. It was interesting that a friend posted this very same stuff on her blog this week. My issue is stemming from the fact that I seem to have these little sores..canker sores maybe on my tongue that keep coming back and they really hurt. DH also just had an ulcer that he went to the Naturopath and got help with healing it up. We have really been slacking lately with our conscious food choices. Easy things to fix, like not eating a proper variety of veggies, or not eating enough salad and raw things. We decided that for our Anniversary (Sept. 30th) we were going to buy a juicer. After DH gets paid this friday we are going to do just that. Hopefully we can make those combo veggie/fruit juice drinks and stop buying store juice.

So far so good today. Oatmeal for breakfast and water to drink. Need to sort out lunch and dinner. Salad is on the menu somewhere in there. I also need to buy some new Probiotics to help our guts get back to where they need to be.

I once told my husband wouldn't it be great if we were so healthy that eating fast food made us sick! He was like, well yeah, that is kind of warped thinking but I see your point.

In other news, the electric car project is coming along quite nicely. He has ordered the engine, controller and all that stuff. It will be here in a couple weeks. We are so excited. The man he ordered the engine from also makes these cars for people to buy. They cost 11,000 but TOTALLY worth the expense. You use zero gas for one thing. The engine is supposed to last 50 years. The batteries like 5 years. Anyway, here is the website, if you want to check it out. This man said Discovery channel has contacted him about doing a show on his electric cars. So if you were thinking about a Prius, just do this instead!! http://www.ev-blue.com/
I was re-reading the above and just to make clear, we are just ordering parts and my DH is building the car himself, so it will only cost us about 8000. Then we get tax credits for about 1/2 that and we will sell his current work car. So all said and done I think we will only be out about 3000. That is cheaper than what we have into his work car currently. GOOD DEAL!!

Word of the day.

So Garth Brooks-mania has hit Kansas City. He was supposed to do one show to honor Walmart/Sams Club for selling his new album coming out. Well people freaked out and went nuts, so he added a total of 9 shows. He is not going back on tour, just these nine shows, which I heard sold out in 2 hours. Garth is cool. I used to listen to his music in college, but I am not freaking or even caring to go to a show. It really cracks me up when non-country people, or people that don't typically listen to this kind of thing, join in on the madness.

SO here is your word of the day: Latigo Can you tell me what it is.....WITHOUT looking it up on the internet? if so post in the comment section. Here is the word in Garth Action:

"It's boots and chaps
It's cowboy hats
It's spurs and latigo
It's the ropes and the reins
And the joy and the pain
And they call the thing rodeo"

My DH is also calling into question some of our friends "hippie-ness". You know who you are....reading this right now, going to a WALMART sponsored concert. That is right, hang your head in shame. You can turn in your crunchy card on the way to your Garth Brooks concert.

Another wedding

We have had a really fun weekend so far. My cousin Jason got married to his Fiance Sarah. Gioia was the flower girl again, this time it was planned that way. Ha ha!! The rehearsal was Friday night. We had smoked brisket and chicken afterwards, that Jason cooked. It was excellent! Really good. When Gioia was rehearsing she was concerned because there were no flower petals in her basket. She insisted she needed something to throw so we filled the basket with dried leaves. It was pretty cute. The ringer bearer was only 2, so they held hands to walk down the aisle.

I have to say it was the fastest wedding I EVER been to. It literally lasted 10-15 minutes. They just walked in, did the vows and walked back out. Everyone looked really lovely though. It was outside and real nice weather. The party was just great. Sarah and Jason met singing Karaoke at a bar. So of course they had Karaoke at the wedding. They had a margarita machine, beer, food, DJ. It was really fun. I have never been to a place were everyone that got up to sing was really good. However, Sarah's family is very talented. Ever single person that sang was great. Including myself of course. LOL! They also handed out Koozies that said "Sarah and Jason got married and all I got was this damn Koozie. October 6th, 2007." I love it.

There was only one moment of aggravation and that was when some guy at the reception got pissy at Massimo. Dominic got all excited and was rough housing with a little girl about 5 years old. He pushed her twice and Massimo got up to go stop him. The guy says "that your boy?" Massimo said Yeah. I am handling it. The guy said "Not fast enough." Massimo said something back and gave the guy a pissed off stare. I mean, seriously people, no one was crying or hurt, just chill out.

I do have pictures but they are on my 35mm camera and I actually have to get them developed. Remember those cameras of old that use film? Crazy!

OH MY!

Last night my sister volunteered to watch the kids for a couple hours while DH and I went out to eat. GREAT! Then yesterday Gioia started running a fever. She had it all day and was sleeping most of the day. My sister assured us she could handle it so we went ahead and went out for dinner. I said, If she throws up or anything call me and we will come home. So dinner went fine, then we went to Costco for groceries. About the time we were getting ready to check out, she called and Gioia puked. Ok... we are paying and heading home. 10 minutes later she calls again and says Don't go in the downstairs bathroom, we are heading for a bath. Dominic pooped/diarrhea everywhere! OH MY! Poor sister. Well, it turns out Dominic just had a messy poop, probably from the WHOLE pear he ate at lunch time. He was fine. My sister gave Gioia a homepathic I had and she didn't barf anymore and is feeling pretty good today.

My DH laughed and said that this is good for my sis. This is her new line of work. She is going to Nursing school right now. HA HA!! Anyway, it was all under control when we got back and everyone slept pretty good.

Another thursday

It is our busy day of the week. We have our friends son today. Go to speech, pack a lunch and go to the park. I have 225 lbs of flour belonging to others that I have to swap with them. Then homeschool preschool this afternoon. I have reading and we are just going to have to put together a collection of things from here at home.

Tonight DH and I get to go on a date. My sister offered to watch the kids for us to go out. So we are going to take her up on that offer. FUN!

I am working on getting a couple sewing projects done by this weekend. I also am going to attempt to have a garage sale. I have tons of girl things that need to go to a new home.

Have to go because little man is throwing a fit.