My Favorite Healthy Snack

I always wonder what other people eat, don't you? (My husband doesn't. He hardly even cares what HE eats. One more example of how we are opposites in almost every way imaginable.)


You know how there are the "live to eat" people and the "eat to live" people? I'm definitely a "live to eat" type. Luckily, I've been blessed with a pretty good metabolism so far. I guess it makes up for the lack of good luck in other areas, like skin, hair, personality, etc.



Ok, so on to the food. This is a snack that I eat literally every day. Sometimes it counts for lunch if I don't have anything else good that is easy to fix that day. I just eat more of it.

First of all, take a nice juicy apple and cut it up. I like to use Fuji or Gala because they're still a little sweet, but not too sweet, like Red Delicious, and they don't get mealy.

Next, take a box of these babies. I just LOVE these crackers. If you haven't tried them, you're missing out. Unless of course, you don't like the taste of rosemary. The people in my house either love or hate these crackers, so if you buy them and don't like them someone else hopefully will. One warning, do NOT under any circumstances buy the store brand of these. It is not anywhere near as good as the real deal.

And finally, cheese. I just discovered this cheese last month and we've gone through about 5 of these boxes already. It is really mild and creamy. Morgan and I agree that we feel "rich" when we eat this cheese. Before I started eating this, I would just slice up Mozzarella to use for my snack. (I wonder if rich people feel "poor" when they eat Mozzarella that they've sliced up for themselves.) Just so you know, because I was curious, this cheese has less fat than Mozzarella, but Mozzarella has more protein, so whatever you have is great. They both taste good.

So, there you have it, my favorite healthy snack. (My favorite un-healthy snack is brownies, which probably explains my bad skin.)

What's your favorite healthy snack? In case I decide to branch out some day.


It could happen.

Our New Floor Plan

Here it is! The main floor plan of our new house. I copied and enlarged it from the home show book. Unfortunately, it's looking a little bit crookedy, sorry about that!

The room that says dining room is actually soundproofed and used as a music room. We are thinking of building bookshelves and making it a library because we have LOTS of books (and a library) here.

Anyway, this gives you a general idea of the layout. All the bedrooms are in one spot so hopefully (fingers crossed) Austin will sleep in his own bed once we move.

(My OCD self doesn't like seeing it so crookedy, but I won't take the time to fix it today. I just thought you might want to see it sooner, rather than later. )

If anyone is local, I'd love to give you a little tour after May 5 so I can bounce some of my great (and maybe not-so-great) ideas off of your heads.

I've already been talked into keeping both the bright emerald green Corian kitchen countertops with the white racing stripe (at least for a few months so I can live with the kitchen and see if there is anything else I'll want to change) AND, believe it or not, I'm also keeping the Pepto Bismol pink countertop in the laundry room. I do have other plans for that room though. Great plans. (That may or may not involve more bead board. - Is that one word or two?)

That's it for now. I'll post photos of the inside of this house in May.

De-personalizing

Today I spent quite a bit of time taking down most of the big photos from our "gallery wall" in the basement. It was rather depressing. It was especially depressing when I realized that I really do need to paint the (relatively) big family room down there. Not my idea of fun.

I know people looking at houses don't want to see other peoples' family photos all over the place, but it sure looks stark seeing the bare minimum that is left.

Maybe I'm just sad because I never got the wall quite right, to my satisfaction. I never did take a photo of what I had up because it was always a work in progress. It was never "finished". I was always waiting for that semi-perfect (I don't like the word perfect - in my life there is no such thing) family portrait where everyone looks pretty good. We usually had at least one person with a scowl on their face or their eyes half shut. (I always looked somewhat presentable, because I'm no dummy. I put forth all the effort to make all the appointments and get everyone to the studio on time and in somewhat coordinating outfits. I had to listen to everyone grousing because they are being inconvenienced by yet another family photo. I also spend the time agonizing over the proofs to pick out the least bad photos. I also pay for the finished products (in more ways than one), so you can bet I'm not going to pick one where I look too bad - no matter how good everyone else looks.) You would think these guys would catch on that if they would just cooperate and all look relatively happy in the same shot, we wouldn't have to try as often to get a "good" family portrait. Some people never learn, do they?

Anyway, I need to just focus on what's ahead and remember it will all be worth it in the end.

If not, please shoot me.

Thank you.

Question of the Day:

Today is one of those days when I ask myself, "Would I like to have kids or a clean house?".


Kids?


Clean house?


Kids?


Clean house?

Today is also one of those days that I refuse to answer, on the grounds it might incriminate me.

Self- Esteem

A few weeks ago we watched the video of Donny Osmond in Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat - at least we watched most of it. I'm not a fan of Potiphar's wife and her maids' outfits. Anyway...


A few days later Austin was sitting at the counter eating lunch. He casually said, "I'm glad my sisters aren't going to throw me into a pit."

I looked at him and asked what he meant.

He said, "Well, because we all know I'm your favorite. But it's okay because they still don't hate me."

Not yet anyway.

How Was Church Today?

I'll let you draw your own conclusions.


Here are the facts:

Exhibit A

The bread from the sacrament tray that Austin dropped. Morgan scooped up everything that landed on the bench and plopped it back on the tray, which I'm sure the people sitting behind us didn't appreciate. The same people kindly handed us a ziploc bag to put everything in that fell all over the floor. The poor little deacon, our neighbor, Barry Saraiva, didn't know what to do. The girls were highly embarrassed.

Exhibit B

The note that Austin penned immediately after getting chastised by his sisters for dropping the tray. First he wrote "I am sick. Tacke me home." and when that didn't get the desired result, he added the "Pleas", thinking that would work on me. It didn't.


I did compliment him on his writing skills though.


We are now sitting here waiting for the brownies to come out of the oven. Hopefully that will help us all feel better about the day. (David Archuleta showed up INSIDE the sealed box of brownies. He's a tricky one. He also sent Morgan a rose at the school for Valentines' Day.)



The End.

Favorite Photo Friday and Catching Up (Home Edition)

I remembered!

I think I've forgotten to do Favorite Photo Friday for a couple of months now. (I just hope this isn't a photo that I've posted before. I may have, because I really love it.)

I've been very side-tracked lately by packing boxes for the move and kid discipline issues that have not been fun at all. Actually the packing hasn't been too bad, it's the kids that have been driving me crazy. Maybe I should just leave them in this house and go live in the other house all by myself. I've already told them this house will be the "vacation home" if we don't sell it before we move into the other one. It may be the only vacation they'll get this summer if we have two mortgages. (Oh my gosh! It just dawned on me that we may have to take care of TWO yards this summer. Heaven help us, I think that would be the death of me - and Hal's the one who really does most of the yard work.)

We have been having major issues with a couple of the kids and t.v. and computer time and computer games, etc. I've cut way back on my own computer time (hence, neglecting this blog), especially facebook, and it has been good for me too. The other kid is mad at me about the move, so really, right now they all hate me.

On a happier note, I got to go with Hal yesterday and look at flooring for the other house. He is sold on the idea of this new bamboo flooring for the kitchen. (I'm not sure if I mentioned that our "new" house is 14 years old so we will be updating a few things.) The old floor is "wood" Pergo and in perfect condition. I don't love it, but I don't hate it like I really dislike the pink and seafoam green carpet and pink paint. I'd rather replace other things like the kitchen countertop. It is a nice Corian countertop and in great shape, it just happens to be a bright emerald green with a white racing stripe. Try picking a paint color to match that. There's also the issue of the Pepto Bismol pink countertop in the laundry room. Not sure if I've mentioned this before, but I am not a fan of pink. Anywhere.

I want to be very careful of what I say here because we are buying this house from some friends of ours and I would hate to have her think I'm making fun of the decorating and hurt her feelings. The truth is that this house was very much in style when it was built. It was in the Parade of Homes and actually won the peoples' choice award. I think the fact that it was so much in style then is why it seems dated now. I'm trying to learn from this and keep things pretty neutral, while working with the things we need to keep that are already there. Some things, like the white laminate cabinets in the laundry room and the bright navy blue countertop in the basement bathroom will be staying so I'm trying to figure out how to make them look like they are a deliberate choice. I have some great plans for that (huge) bathroom. We'll see how far the budget goes. Right now it's all about the budget.

Oh, I just had a great idea! I am planning on putting white beadboard in the kids' (little) bathroom upstairs, but I wonder if it would look good in the laundry room too. Do you think it would look okay with white laminate cabinets?

We don't officially own the house until May 5, so I probably shouldn't post photos until then. The house does have some great Cape Cod-type pillars that separate the entry from the front room. Maybe I'll have to sneak a photo of those in one of these days to show kind of the style I'm thinking of for the inside of the house. Feel free to post any suggestions/opinions on remodeling or anything specific I'm thinking of doing.

One thing I'd love to know now is if anyone has a raised bar and the pros and cons of it. There is a raised bar in the kitchen and I'm thinking of having the new countertop be all the same height to give a little more counter space because there's not a really big area to roll out dough with kids, etc. Also with a raised bar, I always think of little kids falling off those tall bar stools. I think the only advantage would be for hiding dirty dishes from sight, but the bar is on the side of the kitchen that is adjacent to the family room and you have to walk through the kitchen area to get to the family room anyway, so people would have already seen my dirty dishes. So, if you have experience with a raised bar, please let me know what you think.

Anyway, on to the photo. This is Austin back when he still used to fit in the kitchen sink. He LOVED to take baths here. Even when he got older I was always afraid he would try to jump out by himself and slip and hit his head on the floor.

Isn't he a cute little devil?

Happy Friday!

The story that always makes my mom laugh... and I mean always

Hey there, people!
This is Ally Fronk, my mom's favorite middle child (it's true, ask her!) and I'm here to tell you a little story about my friend, Katelyn.

It happened a few months ago, when I had study hall. We were setting up chairs in the gym for it with a 6th grade P.E. class.
My friend saw a few kids wiggling around and waving their arms, and decided to join them.
A few minutes later, a teacher came up to her and said, "You do know those kids are handicapped, right?"
Well, she was pretty embarrassed, so her face turned red, and she walked away.

So, if my mom is ever in a bad mood, all you have to say is "You do know those kids are handicapped, right?" and she'll light up like a candle :)

Mime School

Morgan is at that age where she is looking at potential colleges, which makes me a little melancholy, since I really do enjoy having her around. Most of the time.

Unfortunately, her search for which school she wants to attend has also inconvenienced me a bit, which is not good. She filled out some survey on the internet and put my e-mail address in for the contact info. I've now been getting all sorts of junk in my in-box. I've been looking for some way to pay her back for a while now.

She has recently taken the PLAN test, which is sort of a practice test for the SAT and she ended up doing VERY well. I'm so proud of her! Because of this, she has now been getting letters from LOTS of colleges and universities. Some well known, some not so well-known and some that I've never even heard of or dreamed that they were even in existence.

On Tuesday, she got a letter from the Colorado School of Mines. Mines? I didn't think you had to go to school for that, I thought you just had to be born into a coal mining family or learn on the job or something.


Anyway, I got the bright idea to play with the envelope a bit and, with the help of some white-out, the school of "Mines" became the school of "Mimes", complete with a little logo of a mime that was very obviously hand drawn by yours truly. (I just noticed the mime has six fingers on one hand.)

Morgan came home from school and we had a little chuckle about it and I asked her if she could tell that I had drawn the picture, and she said it was pretty obvious. I didn't really think much more about it until about 10:00 that night when she came home from her Young Women meeting. She came into the kitchen with the envelope.

"You didn't open that yet?" I asked her. I open everything immediately, because I'm naturally curious. It's one of my better qualities. (She got three more letters yesterday, including one from Duke University, that she still hasn't touched. I may open them myself if she doesn't get around to it soon.)

So, she sat down and started reading.

"A school for individuals who like math and science?" she read, sounding a bit confused.

"Engineering?" she said next.

She then read on until she came to the part in the letter that identified the school again, as the Colorado School of Mines.

"Mines?" she said out loud as I burst into laughter, realizing that she really did think there was a school for mimes that she'd been invited to attend.

"I thought you said you knew that I'd messed with the envelope." I said, still laughing.

"Well, I knew that you drew the picture, I just didn't know you'd changed anything else." she answered. I then asked her what she had done to qualify for such a prestigious mime school to be pursuing her. She didn't think that was funny at all.


"I did think it was kind of a random place to have that kind of a school." she said sheepishly, as I continued to laugh uncontrollably.

Seriously, a MIME school? She really didn't even bat an eye at the thought of it. It almost makes me wonder if she's looked into mime schools before.

I went to tell Ally what had happened and Morgan was not at all amused when Ally and I acted like mimes for the rest of the night. We had a rousing game of tug-of-war and locked ourselves in glass boxes over and over. Morgan was especially unhappy that I had mentioned it at all to anyone else.

In fact, I think she'll be pretty unhappy that I'm writing about it on the blog. She's still a little sensitive about the whole incident.


So, if you see her, please do me a favor. Don't say anything.

Just give her a big smile..............






and then pretend like you're stuck in a big glass box.

(Actually, please don't. I'm already in enough trouble. She'll probably make me take down this post and I think it's a funny story.)

The (Little) Man Cave

Awwwww. Some things are just too cute.

One of my brothers in building a really nice house in the next neighborhood over. My brother has his own "man cave" in the basement.

Austin must have heard my sister-in-law and me talking about it when we were discussing paint colors. Now whenever Austin goes down to his bedroom in the basement he says "I'm going to my man cave."

I wonder what's going to happen once he finds out that Uncle Kendall's man cave comes complete with a snack bar and big screen t.v.

I may have a disgruntled little man on my hands.