Didn’t win the car. Darn. I have to keep a positive attitude and know that if I keep trying, one of these times it will be my turn and I will win one. We had fun, though. My dear friend Robin is in town, and she came with me to the car winning thing, and they always let people put their names in to draw out for the extra keys, so she got a key, too. So, there we were, me, Robin and Ryan’s brother Kyle. We compared our keys, which looked exactly the same, and realized that it wasn’t really possible that any of us had the winning key. As they were going through the numbers, they weren’t even 10 people in and a girl won the car. Good for her. It would have been better for me, but I’ll try to keep the bitterness to myself.

***

Last night I went out with my greatest friends in the world. We laughed, we ate, we shared stories of ex-husbands, twins, jail, meth busts, birthday parties, and accidental shootings. Seriously. My life is blissfully boring in comparison. But OH, I love those ladies. They are the best, and I don’t know where I would be without their friendship and fun all these years.

***

This week, our fun friends from Arizona are here. They wanted a touch of winter for their spring break, and we are happy to have them. We’ll go and bother them there when it’s our spring break, so all’s fair. My kids are so thrilled to have them here. Mom eases up on the rules and the jobs and stuff, and they get to play and play all day. Yes, it will be hard on them when they have to go to SCHOOL on Monday and their friends do not, but oh, well. Today they’ve spent record time playing the x-box. It will be a fun week together, I’m sure.

***

This week I organized and pulled off a large scale cooking event. I and 10 other ladies got together with our chicken and a few other ingredients, and we each came away with 6 chicken dishes to freeze and use later. Since I’m in the RS presidency, I suggested the idea, and I therefore, was in charge of it. I divided up the ingredients, made assignments, bought a bunch of stuff, cooked a whole bunch of chicken, and organized the troops. It was honestly a WHOLE LOT OF WORK. But the ladies seemed to
a- have a good time
b-were happy to go home with so much food prepared
c-hopefully saved some money by buying in bulk.

Tonight for dinner I pulled out the chicken and broccoli, cooked up the noodles, heated the chicken and broccoli through, and there was dinner! I just had to have some fruit and veggies to go with it, and it fed 9 of us, with enough leftovers for one lunch. And it was easy and fast.

The event did not go without a few hiccups, of course. One of which was WHEN I LOST MY CHICKEN. Seriously! I had five cups of shredded chicken in a ziplock bag, as well as four grilled and sliced chicken breasts, and I COULD. NOT. FIND. IT. I kept wandering around the kitchen looking at everyone’s chicken, asking whose it was. I knew I had brought the chicken, I had showed it my friend. She had seen it and was my witness. So, I just made three of my chicken dishes without the chicken. Yes, I did. I knew it would show up SOMETIME. Preferably before the night was over. I was kind of stressed out at this point, hoping everything went well, and I’m sure my frazzledness didn’t help. We did run out of the manicotti stuffing, and our sauce for the artichoke chicken bake didn’t set up, but other that those things, I think it was a good event. I’ll have to ask people if they thought it was worth it, and maybe we’ll do it again for those people who weren’t able to come that night. I did have one friend tell me they want to do it again, and this time with hamburger recipes.

Maybe I can get her to organize it.

I am from:

smiles
last note of a song
fluff and feathers
curling up with a good book on the couch
fingerprints on the walls
hugs
testimony of truth
carpools and team moms
snow on the mountains
What caller am I?
trying not to be so frazzled, yet still frazzled
laughing

How about you?

**idea stolen from my friend Tess

A pirate walked into a bar and the bartender said, “Hey, I haven’t seen you in a while. What happened? You look terrible.”

“What do you mean?” said the pirate, “I feel fine.”

“What about the wooden leg? You didn’t have that before.”

“Well, we were in a battle and I got hit with a cannon ball, but I’m fine now.”

“Well, ok, but what about that hook? “What happened to your hand?”

“We were in another battle. I boarded a ship and got into a sword fight. My hand was cut off. I got fitted with a hook. I’m fine, really.”

“What about that eye patch?”

“Oh, one day we were at sea and a flock of birds flew over. I looked up and one of them pooped in my eye.”

“You’re kidding,” said the bartender, “you couldn’t lose an eye just from some bird poop.”

“It was my first day with the hook.”

I picked up a 1/2 gallon of organic WHOLE milk the other day. Because it was expiring, and thus was only $1.00. I don’t usually buy organic milk, and I NEVER buy whole milk. 8 grams of fat per serving? I don’t think so. So, that was the special treat milk for my two ultra skinny kids. I told them, “Cole and Megan, here’s some milk for you. Only you. Don’t tell the other kids about it, and you can drink as much as you want, just make sure you finish it in the next couple of days.” They each poured themselves a glass of milk right then. And then another glass for dinner. And then they must have had another glass or two after dinner, because by morning, there was an empty milk carton in the fridge.
(Why do people do that? Put an empty container back? At my house, that happens all the time. I guess it’s like not admitting that you took the last of something. Whatever. I digress).

I must admit I’m sometimes somewhat of a milk scrooge, especially last month when I was attempting to only spend $100 on groceries for the month. I just couldn’t afford to be buying 5 or 6 gallons of milk per week like I usually do, so I would only let them have one glass of milk for dinner, and then if they were still thirsty, they had to have water. So these two skinny kids were SO THRILLED to have this carton of milk to drink with reckless abandon. Who knew that milk could make a kid so happy. I’ll have to remember that, and the next time whole milk is on sale, maybe I’ll get them some.