Burst of Energy

 For some reason I had a burst of energy last night. This is odd because usually on Thursday (huge working day), I am tired and kind of die and sit in front of the TV the whole night. Maybe the January blahs are behind me now and I've been able to get my energy back after the holiday push. It's been a busy week, but a very productive one.

Saturday and Sunday: Baptism Preview Preparations and Fireside... plus Primary lesson.

Monday: Big day, 2 houses and one business I clean. Home around 9 pm

Tuesday: Piano lessons and Brady wanted me to sit and watch a movie with him. When he asks this, I know he needs my attention. I always stop going and going and sit with him to watch a movie. We watched Ghost Town... I always laugh so hard during this movie. Love it!

Wednesday: Young Men's program. They had a special night for the Boys and their parents. The focus was to work and complete the Duty to God program. Then we divided into Deacons, Teachers and Priest with parents and worked on completing 2 activities in the book.

Thursday... Clean my biggest 2 customers (always a hard long day).

I had committed to Kelli to let her borrow my fake fire that we use for Primary Pioneer sharing time (July 24th). She needed it for Pack Meeting Thursday night. It's just 4 round pieces of fire wood stuck together with red and yellow crape paper stuck around it like a fire. Then I put flash lights inside to make it glow. It's been sitting in my garage for a couple of years and needed to be refreshed. She needed it for Pack meeting that night. I got home from work and revived it and took it to her.

Then I ran to Deseret Book and picked out a birthday present for Lauren, my first Primary student to turn 8 this year. Then I ran it over to her house. Happy Birthday Lauren!!

Usually I make a pot of soup over the weekend, bread and cookies or goodies to last through the week. I was terribly busy and didn't make anything for left overs during the week. I needed some soup. I decided to get busy and do some cooking.

I made chocolate chip cookies. Believe it or not - this is the first batch of cookies I have made since Christmas. It's the first time I was able to use my new Cookie Scoop that Jason and Sharon gave me for Christmas. I LOVE IT!! It really makes it easy to put the cookie dough on the cookie sheet. Yeah!!

I've also had some very sad bananas on my counter that needed to be made into Banana bread. I finally got that done too and made two loaves. One is in the freezer and one out to eat. Yum! (And now those sad little bananas are gone and not in the trash!)

I made my favorite soup, Chicken and Wild rice. The recipe is from Kimmie and it is my absolute favorite. It tastes like summer garden to me... Delicious! 

Then I remembered that we needed to run over to Norma's house and take out her garbage. She is one of my elderly customers and can't do it herself. I take Brady over there to do it for her. I almost forgot to do it and it was dark outside when I remembered. I called her and told her that we were on our way.

When we arrived at the gated community, I went to look for the code to get through the gate. To my dismay, I left it on the counter when I called her. I didn't want to run home and get it, so Brady crawled under the gate and ran over to her house. There are cameras around the gate. Who knows a police may show up at our house any moment. Hopefully not.... At least her garbage is out.

My Direct TV box to my big screen TV died last night. I have a repairman coming on Saturday. I haven't watched the Vampire Diaries yet. Thank goodness it is DVRed in my bedroom. I'll have to watch it tonight.

I also received a telephone call from someone who was referred to me for my cleaning services. I was in a quandary of what to do. Finally the holidays are over and I can have some extra time again to scrapbook and do fun things. Did I want to take on a new customer and give up the little free time I have? Hmmmmm - what to do? I decided to tell him I was full and would put him on my waiting list. The reason I decided to clean houses was to have time to myself and Brady. I want time to live. Just like my blog description says " Never get so busy making a living that you forget to make a life."

It was a great day! I love when I have bursts of energy on a week night -- and now I have yummy food in my kitchen. Can you say cook free night tonight and NO to ordering pizza.. We have yummy soup in the fridge!  Yeah!  Happy Friday!

Brady Cooking Dinner

This has been a lucky week for me. Jason cooked dinner on Sunday and Brady cooked dinner on Wednesday. AND it wasn't just a regular meal - it was deluxe meal both times. I am such a lucky Mom!!

 I told Brady that he needed to take 2 days a week and start cooking dinners for us. I think it is great missionary/college student/husband training.

Brady's Foods and Nutrition class "final" was to make a meal for your family. He had to search for a recipe he wanted to try that was nutritious and modify it to make it more nutritious. He chose a recipe for "Shrimp on Skewers". He made up the shopping list and I took him to the store with me and he pick everything out. He doesn't like to go to the store - but it was HIS assignment and he needed to do the shopping.

Recipe:

20 large shrimp, peeled and deveined, about 1 1/4 lbs.

2 sm zucchini, about 1/2 lb (he changed this to lemon squares)

1 tsp minced garlic (only used 1/2 tsp)

1 tbsp. chopped parsley

3 tbsp. oil

1 bay leaf

3 tbsp. lime juice (used 2 tbsp lime & 1 tbsp lemon - because we ran out of lime juice)

1/2 tsp thyme

1. Cut zucchini into 1/2 inch rounds.

2. Combine all ingredients and marinate for several hours.

3. Alternate shrimp and zucchini rounds (lemon) on skewers. Skew the shrimp so that they will lie flat, i.c., inserting skewers through the tail end and the head of each shrimp.

4. Lay skewers flat on grill for about 4 minutes. Then turn over skewers baste, and grill another 3 to 4 minutes. Serves 4.

Brady is making the marinate. He is crushing the garlic. I told him that 1/2 Tbsp was probably enough. That was a lot of garlic and it was yummy with half of that. Here is our handy dandy garlic press - which I love. See the garlic coming out?

Squishing the lime for the lime juice. We only bought 1 lime and should have had two. We used a lemon for the last tablespoon.

We purchased a bag of frozen shrimp. We unthawed it under running cold water while he took off the shell and made sure it was deveined.

Twenty beautiful shrimp.

Then he put them in the marinate for a couple of hours.

In the mean time he chopped up all the vegetables for the stir fry. I had him separate the vegetables into two bowls. The hard veggies that need to cook first and the soft veggies that you add later.

1st bowl had carrots, celery, green onion, green pepper. 2nd bowl had zucchini, crookneck squash and broccoli.

He also made brown rice in the pot next to the stir fry. He added some olive oil to the fry pan and put the first bowl of veggies in the pan.

Then the second bowl... doesn't that look yummy!

Brady put the shrimp and lemons on the skewers. Next time I will have zucchini on the skewers.

They look wonderful. He did such a great job with this deluxe meal.

It was a windy day and every time he had the grill lid open the flames would blow out. Here he is brushing marinate on the shrimp as they cook.

His presentation! Brown rice, stir fry and shrimp skewer.

Ooooh it was heaven. I felt like I was in a restaurant. I loved the flavor - aaaaaah! Everything tasted great. I always order grilled shrimp from Sizzler or Red Lobster - it is my favorite. This was a great recipe and one that we will be making again and again. I've never made shrimp taste this wonderful - I didn't know how to get that flavor in it.. Now I know.....Marinate. Yum!

Today he has to give a presentation in class. Here is his presentation board. The assignment was to create your own company, frozen meal for the diet conscience. He had to design the way the food would be in the box, the box artwork, the nutrition data for the meal and the price.

Because we are kind of "over the top" weird people - he spend hours and hours on his assignment. He stressed out last night making sure he had all the information ready for his presentation. I am sure it will be wonderful! That was quite the assignment. It probably took him 10 or 11 hours for the assignment. Two evenings. One shopping and making the dinner. The next night he put it together. The biggest thing was making the nutrition information that you find on a product you buy in the store. Then he had to write down what he was going to say. He did a beautiful job on his poster display and I could hear him in his room last night saying out loud his presentation. He's such a great kid!

Thanks for a yummy dinner. Because you are such a great cook - your new assignment is dinner 2 times a week. Love ya!

Avatar "I See You"

Check out this blog about Avatar. This particular topic is on what "I See You" means in the movie. I loved her explanation and the spiritual meaning behind it. I wanted to share this beautiful message (because I loved it). Enjoy!

Thoughts of the Day

Tuesday Brady had is monthly Seminary Devotional. It's nice to see what we did January 2009, because we did the same thing this year. Here is a link to the devotional 2009.

Basically this is the wrapper for the candy bar and the book mark.

This is what Brady said:

During the moth of January, we celebrate a new year, and most of us, if not all, make resolutions to help better ourselves for the rest of the upcoming year. Following Jesus' example as he was growing up can help us improve our resolutions.

In the New Testament, it says in Luke 2:52 "And Jesus increased in wisdom and stature, and in favor with God and man" In other words, the savior increased intellectually, physically, socially, and spiritually.

Following Jesus' example in developing intellectually, we can make goals to read good books, and try harder to get a good education. We could refrain from watching movies and television shows that have questionable content. In D&C 88:118 "Seek ye out of the best books words of wisdom"

Following Jesus' example in developing physically, we can follow the Words of Wisdom by eating healthy, and refraining from drugs and alcohol, or addictive stimulants. Its also good to get plenty of sleep and exercise.

To increase socially this year, we can choose friends with high standards, and be more attentive listeners, and allow other people to feel more associated in the conversation.

Lastly, resolving to grow spiritually this year. This year, make it your goal to read the Book of Mormon faithfully, and pour out your heart to Heavenly Father during your prayers.

I know that if we can do these things, we will become happier, and more Christ like every day.

Our ward sustained a new Primary Presidency on Jaunary 10th. I'm excited for these wonderful women. As a side note, I was Primary President 2005 - 2008 August. Karen Deitchler was August 2008 to January 2010. Now Christine Browne, Stephanie Lange, Terresa Henrie and Lucy Bennion have been called and sustained as the new Primary Presidency. I love each of these women and know they will do a fantastic job.

Since they are new and Sister Browne is in the middle of wedding preparations for her daughter, they asked me if I would put the Baptism Preview Fireside together. Of course I would love to do it. This is my class and my favorite part of Primary - Baptism.

It is scheduled for this Sunday because Lauren turns 8 on the 28th.  I was able to get the invitations out - here is a great site for all you need to know and do for the Baptism Preview. The Idea Door Baptism bookmark. I will blog about the preview next week. I'm excited, but it will be a busy week getting everything prepared.

Have a great Thursday!

Avatar 3D

Last week Jason and Sharon finally went to Avatar 3D. After they returned home Jason called me in awe. They loved it! He raved on and on about the cool effects of the movie in 3D and wanted to go again. But this time he wanted to go to IMAX 3D and wanted Brady and me to go with them. We tried to work out our schedules for the best time to go. He couldn't go Friday night, I couldn't go Saturday night (because I had Stake Conference), of course Sunday is out, so we decided to go on Monday.

I had to work Monday morning so the 11:15 am show was out, the next show was 3:15 pm which we decided to go to. It was a holiday and the kids were out of school so we decided to leave our houses 45 minutes before the movie started and meet each other there. When Brady and I arrived there was a line. I purchased our tickets and then the show was quickly sold out before Jason and Sharon arrived. I was bummed that I didn't purchase their tickets for them. We called and let them know it was sold out - bummer.

We've never been to the IMAX theater before. It costs a lot - $14.50 each (WOW!!). The screen is huge - but the seating was squished together (which I didn't like). Plus, it was a sold out show and we were packed in like sardines. We put on own glasses and experienced the movie in 3D.

It was fun to see the dimensions of the people and more detail. It put the picture in a whole different light. It was cool. The fast action spots go really blurry - for Brady as well...so it wasn't just my eye sight. There were so many details you missed in the regular movie and it was amazing.

However, I was so caught up with all the little details - that I couldn't focus on the story as much. For me and Brady we prefer the regular movie - I thought it was much better and we were able to fall into the story easier.

While the 3D is fantastic it was harder to enjoy the story. As I ponder this in regards to some of the movies I've seen lately, it's like people just want to see action and special effects. They don't care as much about the story line or the acting (in my opinion). I prefer the other way. I want to be lost in the story line, feel the love, enjoy the love story, the heartache and laughter as the story is being told. I don't need all the bells and whistles to enjoy a good movie. For me the 3D version should only be watched after you have enjoyed it on the regular screen - that way you can fall in love with the story.

I love the Avatar movie. I love the love story, the humor, the Avatar people, the forest, the scientists. It was a wonderful movie (if I haven't said that enough - LOL).

After the movie, the original plan was that Brady was going to go home with Jason and Sharon while I went and cleaned my business customer. This didn't work out, because Jason and Sharon were not there. Unfortunately Brady had to come with me to Compton's and help clean. He didn't realise I was taking him there until we pulled up into the business parking lot. He wasn't happy (oh well). He had to help me clean. It was good that he helped me because I arrived 2 hours later then I regularly do and it would have been a late night. He was a great help.

As we left to go home I asked, did it kill you? He said, that a part of his soul was left behind.. He cracks me up. Too bad Jason and Sharon couldn't make it to the movie with us (we probably wouldn't have been able to sit together though). I'm sure we will have to try again to go. I'm not quite done watching Avatar in the movie theater... a new addiction.

The Weekend

Last week Brady asked if we could get together with Jason and Sharon. I said I would invite them over for Sunday dinner, but he said he wanted to go over to their house. I called Jason and told him that Brady wanted to come over and hang out with them. I asked if we could come over on Sunday - then I told him that he should make us dinner too... Ha ha! Sometimes it nice to have other people make dinner (instead of always me). He said that was fine and I think he enjoyed hearing that his brother wanted to hang out with him. I'm glad they love each other with 10 years age difference.

Of course I didn't have my camera - so these are just random pictures.

Sharon made huge baked potatoes and asparagus for dinner.

She lit the coals on the grill and had Jason barbecue some delicious rib eye steaks. The whole dinner was yummy - the steak tender and cooked just right! It was a very deluxe meal. Thanks for having us over for dinner!

After dinner they played Halo - while I sat and read a book and dosed in and out of a nap. It was a relaxful weekend together with my family. I could have more of those anytime.. Jason and Sharon, do you want to have us over for dinner tonight - you cook *wink. I sure love you both!

Brady's Biology Game

Brady was assigned to create a review board game for his Biology class. The name if his game is "Biological Warfare". They played the games the children made in class. The goal was to have the children review concepts taught during the semester for the upcoming final. Since it was an assignment, they would receive a grade. However, I think they learn more making the game (if they put the effort into it as Brady did).

He spent 9 hours making this game - wow! His creativity and ingenuity is amazing. He came up with the concepts on his own. During this semester they had 4 different study guides. He decided to use a different color for each study guide. He worked hard on the question cards, coming up with all of the questions/answers for each card. Then he double sided them with what unit/study guide the question went with. When the player landed on a square, they picked up the color matching card to advance - if they could answer the question right.

His playing pieces are army men from his Risk Game. Every thing is color co-ordinated. He even found colored dice.

He also had to come up with instructions. On his game He put different scenarios that would happen during a biological warfare. Each one had a different meaning and you can click on the picture to read what each symbol meant.

And another rules/instruction sheet.

Brady did an awesome job. They were called up individually to show the teacher what they had made and the teacher asked them what grade they thought they should receive for their game. Of course Brady deserved an "A".

I have to tell you about another child in the class. She had forgotten to do the assignment and remembered while they were discussing what they came up with during first period. Biology is 2nd period. The girl classmate proceeded to make her game during 1st period on notebook paper. When she handed it in - the teacher asked her what grade she thought she should get and she said an "A". AND THE TEACHER GAVE HER AND "A" - YIKES!!! I hate that!

But, I know through Brady's effort he will pass his final. I guess that is why he is a straight "A" student - and I am a proud Momma!

Thought:

Beauty

Sometimes I cry.

No, not for sadness,

But because happiness fills my soul,

And through my tears,

I realize that

My cup runneth o'er.

New Tables

I'm giddy with happiness! Good things come from tragedy (sometimes). As you may recall, a week ago while hanging my new Christmas picture, I killed/broke my glass table. You can see the original post here.

I looked around for a replacement table and found a pretty good deal. I decided to take the plunge and go ahead using my Christmas bonus money to purchase it. I also decided to by a matching new coffee table.

Here is the replacement table. This is placed right under the picture that caused all the breakage.

I love the bottom shelf to add pictures or nick knacks to.

Here is the new coffee table. This side points out the to couch. My sister Cindy let me have the tile on the table. It says: "The SERVICE that you render IS THE LEGACY that you leave". I need to make a backing for the tile to make it pretty on both sides.

This side points into the love seat. I couldn't decide if the drawers should face out or in. I decided if I was sitting on the love seat I would want to have the drawers there. I love that I can put my Sunday Paper in a drawer and magazines in the other one.

Here is a wide view with both tables. I love how it grounds the room with the beautiful wood.

I thought I would show the piano too. This is where I moved the Jesus picture (above the piano). It used to be on the wall where my new picture is.

I love getting new things. New tables have made me happy! (Jason and Sharon are the proud owners of the old coffee table - hand me downs are great too!)

Thought: "Happiness is that particular sensation you acquire when you are too busy to be miserable."

No Heat!

We woke up this morning to a cold house. I just hate that! That means I had to get a fire built and a repairman called. Luckily they were able to come this morning and get my furnace fixed. Unfortunately it was a VERY expensive part. $629 dollars later and I have heat again.

Luckily I can still work today and make some money :-D..... And luckily I have money in savings too - although it's getting smaller by the second and right after Christmas.. It is a hard hit.

Thank you YMC man for fixing my furnace so we have heat again.

Movie Review: "Avatar"

Now that is what a call a movie!! A wonderful movie... It totally ROCKED!!

The reviews have been mixed with things like "it's political", its "environmental", it was trying to say the US is bad. I'd heard all of those things and was weary about going. Then it became such a hit that I knew that we needed to go.

It was an actual story. It flowed very well. It let you fall right into the story and your feelings became part of it. The graphics were amazing, to have human and fictional characters in the same movie - it was flawless.

I could go and see it again and again, and I will. This is the movie to spend your money on. I will own it.

It was a great ending. It was a feel good/spiritual movie. I recommend it wholeheartedly. I think it was brilliant! You need to see it on the big screen. See it today! Wow weeeeee!! Loved it!

To tell you how much I loved it, we had to go back tonight and see it again. Twice in one day and I loved it just as much. I haven't seen it 3D yet, because 3D gives me a headache. But I may have to try it.

I enjoyed Sigourney Weaver in the movie. She did a great job. I thought her Avatar was really cool and it looked like her too. The visual graphics are unbelievably great. It is such a fun ride. Loved it again!!