This 'N That

Stitches: Well, I got my stitches out last Wednesday and I feel like a free woman! I can wash my hair with two hands!! What a relief! I went back to the tool of pain (mandolin) to slice onions for the French Onion Soup. We ate it last night with a shrimp pasta (didn't like) and homemade bread. I need a good shrimp pasta recipe. I wasn't too happy with the one I tried. It was too dry. Like 2 tablespoons of butter is supposed to coat a pound of pasta? We added olive oil and seasoning which helped.

Easter: Easter is tomorrow and I am SO ready. I'm bringing salad to both gatherings and mostaccioli to my in-laws too. The salad I'm making is really simple and a favorite of my neighbors. Use your favorite leaf (I use green leaf with some iceberg), mix in pimentos, sliced red onions, provel cheese and Imo's Italian dressing. Mmmmmm!!! It is really good!

Weight-loss: I've lost 5 pounds!! Cutting out chips, cookies and soda has worked!! I don't think soda tastes the same anymore. I'm not used to it. I think for home, I will drink flavored water from now on. They have nifty powder packets to flavor your bottled water. I'm going to try this system out.

Swimsuit: On my birthday, I went shopping with Ted for a swimsuit. I tried on all of them at the mall and didn't like any!! Except, I did like the Land's End ones at Sears but felt the selection was lacking. I decided to buy a suit from Land's End catalog. I really liked the quality and fit. I've been looking at tankini's with no deep "V" in the front. Hard to find! I'm all set to order when, lo and behold, what comes in the mail? A Land's End catalog with free shipping for me and a friend!!! I decided to order 3 suits (since there was no charge to ship) and try them all on and keep the favorite one. I can easily return the ones I don't want at Sears. What a deal! I like this one the most.

Riding Mower: One day last week I mowed the lawn with our 20 year old riding mower that we bought used a year ago. The grass grew quick and fast with all the fertilizer, sunshine and rain! I had only mowed it the week before and it was already towering!! After I mowed it, it looked terrible because the mower blew all the tall grass blades everywhere. We decided to get a mulcher blade. Ted tried but to no avail. Nobody sells the mulching kit for that mower anymore. So what do we do? We took the kids and bought a new mower last weekend! I might have mentioned it in my last blog. I don't like those big tractors. We got a small, rear engine Craftsman 270320 riding mower. It's got a 30" cut which is fine by me. It will be delivered on Monday and the mulching kit/blade is included! I'm glad we went with a used one first to decide if it was worth the money to buy a new one. It is. I love using the riding mower. It's so much faster. We only have 1/3 of an acre, but it's still worth it. My sister Lisa is going to take the old mower in exchange for watching our kids for a weekend. The old mower works fine and is a Honda so we're not totally ripping her off. Her riding mower shuts off when you try to make a right turn. Isn't that funny? She has to cut her lawn always turning left.

Anniversary weekend: Since my sister has agreed to watch the kids, we've decided to celebrate our 15th anniversary at the Lake of the Ozarks! We were going to go to Jamaica, but didn't have enough vacation in Ted's new job. Jamaica will happen someday...*wistfullook*. We'll go either the first weekend in June or the 2nd weekend in July.

Spring Break: The kids are on Spring break. Tuesday night, they each get to have 2 friends over to spend the night! Ted will be out of town Tuesday through Thursday. Yikes!! Am I crazy? It's too cold to go to the zoo or to the park.

On the menu this week: Leftover French Onion soup and shrimp pasta, hamburgers (using my awesome Cuisinart Griddler), Roasted Whole Chicken with vegetables, and pork tenderloin (tonight).

Report Card rewards: I took Sam and Abby shopping for to reward good report cards. Abby got Nintendogs to play on Sam's DS and Sam got Sim's Executive Edition. They are both playing with each other's new toys. I keep hearing Abby say "Sweety....Sweetie....SIT!....SIT!....SIT!". Then I see her taking the stylus and poking on the screen. "What are you doing?", I asked. "I'm petting her!", she said. I guess it's a lot easier and cheaper than a real dog! Meanwhile, Sam is building is own house, letting me work (Security Officer), while he buys things for the house like furniture...on this game of course. It's like real life on the computer. They eat, wash up, go to school and play basketball and listen to music in their free time. I told him he couldn't get married. One time his house caught on fire. It's all strange. Just now Abby said, "Sam, can I take your dog for a walk?". Hmmm....