new puffy panckakes

I found a recipe that puts a new twist on our tried and trusted old german pancakes recipe.  I made it this morning to fill Emily's belly before she went off for a day of lifeguarding.
 It's hard work, you know.  Testing out the slides to make sure they're safe.  Saying "you can go" to all the little and not so little kiddies.  Watching out for mishaps while wearing your cool lifeguard garb.
 Hard work.
  So I have to make sure she has a substantial breakfast, that's the kind of mom I am.  Anyway, I jumped online and found this recipe and it was quite good!  I baked it in an oblong glass pan.   Not as big as 9x13, so I don't know what size that is.  And before I inhaled my piece I just sprinkled powdered sugar and a little bit of lemon juice on it.  YUM.  But then I had a second piece with warm syrup.  YUM.

Anyway, here you go.

Oven Puffy Pancakes

Ingredients

• 3 tablespoons white sugar
• 1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
• 1/3 cup butter
• 4 eggs
• 1 cup milk
• 1 cup all-purpose flour
• 1 tablespoon confectioners' sugar

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 425 degrees F (220 degrees C). In a small bowl, mix together white sugar and cinnamon; set aside.
2. Place butter in a 9 inch cake pan and heat in the oven until melted. In a blender or food processor, whip eggs and milk. Pour in flour and beat until well combined. Pour batter into hot pan. Sprinkle on sugar and cinnamon.
3. Bake in preheated oven for 20 to 25 minutes, or until puffed and golden. Dust with confectioners' sugar; serve warm.

No more late nights for me.

I'm going to do my best at typing this post.  It's about 10pm and I'm verrryyyy sleepy.   I have taken my medication tonight and am ready to lay down and rest.  I believe I was born without enough of the dopamine or whatever it is that makes you sleep.  I also believe I have had restless leg syndrome all of ny life.  I used to call them leg cramps when I was younger.  Now there's a medical term for it.  And so with a little white pill to calm my legs down and a liittle white pill to make me sleepy, I'm a very happy and calm and well rested woman.  And now that school is over, I can sleep in if i want to.  Instead of my eyes popping open at some unearthloy hour like 5 or 6 and not being able to go back to sleep, I can fall back to sleep.  I just started these things a week ago.  I don't like to be dependent on little white pills.  But the alternative is just something I cannot live with anymore.  Don't judge:)
That is all for now.  I will post something better tomorrow, when I can think.

Where is everyone?

Ok so every day I get on here thinking someone else would have posted something by now to replace my "Mom Craze" post. Where are you people? Darvil? Mom? Dad? Shaleice? Becky? Anyone? If I would get my 5,000 photos off my camera, I would post some cute before and after shots like Becky. I will do it one day, I just don't know which day.

To follow up with my new dishes system, it is working pretty well. It has illustrated just how resourceful my children are. Rather than use their own dishes, knowing they will then have to wash them, they scrounge around for paper or plastic throw-away dishes, or will even resort to using serving utensils or dishes once in a while until I catch them. When they do finally use their own, they remain dirty in the sink until they need them again, rather than just quickly washing them and putting them away the way I had envisioned. But I have to say my kitchen has never been cleaner. My counters are clean most of the time. And if their 4 or 5 dirty things stay in one sink and the rest of the kitchen stays clean, it's a small price to pay. One by one they may start catching on. Brady, who I never thought would be on board, now washes and puts his dishes away once he's done with them. So there's hope for the others.

In other news, our stake pioneer trek is drawing near. It is June 21st and our 3 middle kids are going. Rob and I are also going as a "Ma and Pa". There have been countless meetings and emails and printed info. about it. We have so much to do to get ready: pioneer clothing for each person, including bonnets and suspenders and all. They gave each person a 5-gallon bucket with a padded lid that we are to take our belongings in and it will also serve as our chair. We are supposed to decorate our buckets. Then each person needs a satchel to carry our water, journal and essentials while walking the trail. So I have to assemble all this for 5 people. Rob and I have to come up with a song and a cheer for our family, decorate a flag that our family will carry, and create a FHE lesson, several devotionals, and games and activities for when there's down-time. Oh and we need to be able to tell inspiring pioneer stories. Am I forgetting anything? It seems like there's more. If anyone has any great ideas for me I'd love to hear them. I know it'll be a great experience, a lot of work and thought has gone into it. They've gotten everyone together and taught us old fashioned dances even. So I'll give you a report of how it went when we get back, I just need to get it all together PRONTO!

Last but not least, here is a recipe I'll pass along that I HAVE NOT TRIED, so I hope it tastes good, it sounds good! Rob and I are dieting, so I can't make this yet, but one day.

King Ranch Casserole

1 bag Nacho Cheese Doritos (sounds good already, doesn't it? definitely not a diet recipe!)

1 rotisserie chicken, shredded (about 2 cups)

1 10-oz. can enchilada sauce

1 4-oz. can green chilies

1 can each of cream of mushroom and cream of chicken soup

1 can evaporated milk

1 small chopped onion

2 cups shredded cheese

Preheat oven to 350. Grease a 9x13 pan. Layer most of the Doritos in bottom of pan. Mix chicken, soups, enchilada sauce, milk, chilies, and onion and pour over Doritos. Bake for 30 minutes. Top with cheese and remaining Doritos, crushed, and bake for 5-10 more minutes or until cheese is melted.

Someone make this and let me know how it was!

Signing off, someone else post now!

Mom Craze

Every now and then I go into a little private crazy rant and then do something drastic. Yesterday was one such occurance. It has been building for months. My dishwasher doesn't work that well. It's only a few years old, and we bought a good one thinking we wouldn't have problems, but no such luck. Half the dishes come out clean half the time. So then we end up reloading and washing again, but meanwhile more dirty dishes pile up. I've had a repairman out, we've called the company (of course the warranty is expired), and have tried everyone's tips I can find. Often I end up washing several dishes by hand. Anyway, yesterday the dishwasher was full of half clean dishes, the sink was FULL of dirty dishes, and the counters were covered in their usual 500 cups. Everyone in my family must get 56 drinks a day and use a new cup each time, thereby littering my counters and whole house with cups that never quite make their way to the sink, let alone the afore-mentioned evil dishwasher. Mind you, my children do have chores, and it is someone's chore to do the dishes, but more often than not that person is nowhere to be found at moments like these. Such was the case yesterday. Brady, my current dishes person, has been working an inordinate amount of hours lately, so I never see him. I've almost forgotten what he looks like. So I knew he'd be of no help. I looked around at the cup-infested kitchen and my private craze moment began. I started hating the dishes, my satanic dishwasher, my kitchen in general, and my piggy children. I decided to take action. I began the painstaking process of washing every single dish by hand. I spread towels all over my counters and layed out all my just washed cups, plates, and silverware. It took a long time. Then I proceeded to remove every plate, bowl, cup and silverwarwe from the cupboards and drawers and place them on the counter. Then I made some little labels with everyone's names on them and attached them to the shelves in my now-empty cupboards, giving each person a designated shelf. I then placed one plate, one bowl, one cup, and one each of a knife, fork, and spoon on each person's shelf. I have enough odd, mismatched utensils and dishes that each person's is different from eachother's, just so there's no confusion. I then took every single remaining dish and utensil and put them in garbage bags and hid them away where no one will find them. I was feeling better already. The good part was when the first child came home and opened the cupboard to remove the first of their 56 cups and found the new system. Word spread fast, and soon all the kids were in the kitchen wondering what happened and asking a lot of questions. I simply replied, "Those are now your dishes on your shelf. Whether you wash them or not is up to you." I walked away knowing I had conquered. My mom-craze paid off. At least for now. At this moment my kitchen is sparkling clean. I think there's one mixing spoon in the sink. And I will wash that. Happily.

Lifeguard on duty

This is an Emily post.  That girl is a go getter!  She has been working at Fry's for about four months now.  She hates it.  She is at the bottom of the rung and feels it every time she works.  Her manager has beer on his breath and creeps her out.  Her male coworkers try and get her to go out and party with them.  She doesn't get very many hours, not enough to have much left over after her bills are paid.  So she did something about it.  She took a 24 hr. lifeguard training class spread out over last week.  She said it was the hardest thing she's ever done.  She had to swim like she's never swam before.  Learn CPR.  Take a written test and pass an interview.  But it all paid off because she got hired on at Wet and Wild, the big water park about 10 min. away.  She'll be working lots of hours over the summer and getting paid more, and probably having some fun too.  To be sixteen and be so determined is a great quality to have.  I think she's definately her father's daughter! 

I am alive

Mom called me recently to see if I was still alive. I haven't posted in a LONG time (even though it was me who did the rally to everyone to start posting, remember?) I have been in a slump. A funk. Didn't Grandma Hancock used to call it that? Except by now (it's 11:00am) Grandma would have been up for 6 or 7 hours, had her house clean, laundry done, been to the store, and would have taken a 4 mile walk! Not sitting here in sweat pants, wasting time at the computer while my dirty-from-the-weekend house is so dirty! I keep wanting a burst of energy to hit me. One that will drive me to dig deep into cupboards, drawers and closets and purge and clean and organize. Summer break is right around the corner. Kids will be home. All. Summer. Long. This will be my first summer in a long time having all of them home at once. No more year-round school schedules here. I'm not sure I'm ready to have all of them home. Boredom. Fighting. Messes. Forty-seven friends in and out. Messes. Pool towels everywhere. Tv on constantly. Messes. Did I mention messes? But, on the bright side, no 6:00am seminary. No homework. No making sack lunches and driving people to school. No projects due. We'll go see some dollar movies on Wednesday mornings. We'll go to the library. We'll watch the whole Little House on the Prairie series. I'll drop them at the community pool with some friends once in awhile. And we'll clean up those messes. Because they will come.