He said/She said

Sunday


Husband says: Do we have any more hand soap?
Wife says: Isn't there a refill bottle of soap in the linen closet?
Husband says: No. We must be out. And all of the soap dispensers are nearly empty.
Wife says: That can't be! I was sure we had some in the linen closet. Darn! I must have missed that on my Target list the other day. I'll run back to the store tomorrow to get hand soap.


The wife was completely distressed that she had let the family run out of hand soap and began to fret about all of the possible nasty germs her family would catch if she did not get to the store before the last of the hand soap ran out!

Monday


The wife runs to Target to purchase much needed hand soap and she also buys Reese's pieces. Wife realizes she should not have bought Reese's pieces because they are so super yummy she wants to eat them all. She did NOT! But she wanted to.


Wife says: Sorry about that husband. I don't know what happened. I thought we still had hand soap.
Husband says: It's OK, no big deal.


Wife thinks husband is a good and patient man! Wife is relieved family is safe from germs!

Tuesday


Wife pulls out cleaning supplies to clean bathrooms. 

The wife is surprised to find 1/3 full refill bottle of hand soap with cleaning supplies.

Wife says: Honey, do you remember placing the hand soap refill in the bucket with the cleaning supplies after you cleaned the bathrooms last week?
Husband says: Ummm...I...have...no comment. Maybe?!


The family will not run out of hand soap any time soon!

The important point of this story (and the wife knows it) is that the husband had cleaned bathrooms! 


Thank you Husband!


Christine

  P.S. The wife also got Reese's pieces out of the deal! Bonus!


This post was husband approved.

Jerk

It was back to the recipe file yesterday.

It's been a couple of weeks, I know. I want to try a new recipe every week, but I have to face it, some weeks it's just not gonna happen. And really it's not my fault that it's been awhile. I had planned to make parmesan straws last week, but by mistake I placed the puff pastry in the freezer when I was supposed to put it in the fridge and then it wasn't thawed out to use. OK, it was my fault. Anyway, I still haven't made the parmesan straws, but I'm gonna. Sometime.


Back to yesterday.


I found a recipe, out of the Midwest Living magazine, for Jerk chicken wings with mango salsa in the file.  I have never used Jerk seasoning before and for some reason I imagine Jerk anything must be good, add in mango salsa— Yum, mango salsa—and it must be fabulous!


Finding Jerk seasoning was not an easy task. My local grocery store does not carry Jerk seasoning. Cajun—yes,  5 different types of bbq seasoning—yes, actually, they had every seasoning but Jerk. On a whim, I checked Target...found Jerk seasoning! I should have known. Target has everything! Hurray for Target!


With Jerk seasoning in hand, I whipped up the marinade of Jerk seasoning, cider vinegar, orange juice, lime juice, olive oil, and soy sauce. Doesn't that sound good?

I cut the chicken wings into 3 pieces, tossed out the wing tips, and placed all of the remaining wing sections into a gallon size Ziploc bag with the marinade. The baggie then went into the fridge to soak the wings in all of that Jerky goodness for several hours.

With that done I moved on to making the mango salsa. It's a simple combination of diced mango, finely chopped sweet pepper, fresh jalapeno pepper, basil, lime juice, red wine vinegar, and a little sugar. That went into the fridge too. How yummy does that look?

I love a meal that I can prep early in the day, because when it comes time to make dinner the meal seems so easy. It's like early prep amnesia! All that was left to do was broil the wings...

...and serve them up with the salsa. We also had some fresh veggies and dip.

There you have it my friends...Jerk chicken wings with mango salsa. I thought it was delicious. 


The family however, gave it two thumbs down and one ehh. I was the only thumbs up. Then they asked if we could order pizza for dinner tomorrow, if their lips were no longer burning. Did I mention that Jerk seasoning has a bit of a kick to it?


Well, it was worth a try, but this is what happens to recipes the family doesn't like.

Would anyone like a practically full bottle of Jerk seasoning?


Christine

A good distraction

I have a very hard time waiting patiently for spring! It's April, and in my opinion April should equal sunshine, warmer days, tulips blooming, and the wonderful smell of hyacinth. But we don't say April showers bring May flowers for nothing. It's gonna be awhile. Blah.


It does help to know that the growing season has begun though! I found the evidence this past weekend in my flower gardens. Look!

It's so exciting to see even the smallest bit green. Is it obvious that I am one of those people who prowl the garden incessantly in the spring, looking for the new growth and for assurance that everything has survived the winter?

Because of my struggle to wait for spring, I was delighted to get to join some friends at the Macy's spring flower show.


Oh the smell! How I wish I could contain it to enjoy at whim!


The fragrance was outdone only by the magnificence of the colors of the flowers.

It was fun to forget, even for a little while, that the ground outside still has a few snowy patches, and look at Tulips and Peonies.

This Weeping Cherry tree was like something out of a fairy tale.

I don't know what this flower is called, but...WOW!

Lovely flowers, wonderful smells and a good time with friends! Then it was back to reality.

Grow little flowers, GROW!


Christine

I can see it now

We are finally beginning to warm up in my neck of the woods. It was 49˚ yesterday. Woohoo! Of course today is April 1st so we will probably get 4 inches of snow. I had to say that to counteract the fact that I had just said it was warming up, because once we begin to say it's getting warm in Minnesota...we get more snow. So now we won't get more snow, cause I just said we will! However, now that I said we won't, it will snow. It's a vicious cycle! And now I can't remember if I should expect more snow or not. Anyway...


Yesterday was a very nice day and I am excited that once again I can see most of the flower beds around the house. I can also see the rocks we stack, for fun, in the side bed. Yea, they're all still there!

 I can also see the garden snail we picked up while exploring Jurustic Park in Wisconsin. Very fun place to visit!

And I can finally get a really good look at the apple trees at the end of our property. 


When the first snow of the winter arrive, it was so beautiful that I ran outside with my camera to capture the lovely white landscape. This is how our apple tree looked.

Moments after I took the shot, this is how the apple tree looked.

See that large limb that has fallen. It got worse! The large limb on the left fell also. The weight of the snow was too much for the old apple tree.

This is how the sad tree looks now.

It's a goner! Frankly the tree needed to go anyway. It was overgrown, it no longer produced good fruit and it made a huge mess in the fall. We hadn't planned to deal with it this year though.


Looking on the bright side...the tree offered some hungry critters some good eats through the long, long, long, winter.

The critters did quite a job removing the tender bark from those branches, didn't they?


And I get to start planning what we'll plant to replace the apple tree. 


Originally there were three apple trees along the back of the property. One we had previously removed because it died. Now we need to take out the broken one and while we're at it, we'll take out the third as well.


I would really like to put in some smaller apple trees. Some Honeycrisp apple trees could be nice. Wouldn't it be delicious to have our own Honeycrisp apples in the fall? I'll just answer...YES!

And it would be scent heaven to plant a row of Lilac bushes behind the apple trees. Then I could stop searching fields for abandoned Lilac bushes to swipe blossoms from. Not that I do that...when anyone is looking.

Adding in a few Hydrangeas, dotted between the apples trees, with the Lilacs for a backdrop, would look spectacular. I think the blue ones.

Wait! Maybe pink ones instead!

Definitely pink!


It will be a lot of work, but it will be lovely once we're all done. I can't wait!


Now I just need the snow to go away, and then I need to tell the husband what I'd like to do. Maybe I'll tell him after he has rested from removing the trees...and after I bake his favorite cookies!

Christine

Lunch anyone

It's not my fault! I suspect it's in my DNA! I have a grandparent that does it and a parent that does it, therefore I cannot be held responsible!

My Grandma makes hers with butter and onions, my Dad likes peanut butter, Miracle Whip, bologna and cheese in his (it's true, feel free to read it again if you must!) and my favorite sandwich has Miracle Whip and potato chips! 

It can't be just any old potato chip for my sandwich either. It has to be Ruffles! Mmm Ruffles, they have all that ridgy goodness! Definitely my favorite chip! Yum!

I like to make sure the bread is well covered with a double layer of chips, for maximum crunch. Oh yeah...crunch! That's what I like best about this sandwich. CRUNCH!

That's right my friends, I come from a long line of weird sandwich lovers! And that is why I have a recipe file full of other peoples recipes. The family has no desire to try my creations. They know the family sandwich history.

So there you have it, me, my Dad and my Grandma...weird sandwich eaters. We can't be the only ones though. Right?

Anyone else like a weird sandwich? 

Anyone? 

Somebody? 

Hello...anyone there?

Christine

Teenager!

It happened in the blink of an eye! In a split second! Without warning! Dun dun daaaa!


Well, I might be exaggerating, but only a little. It's probably more accurate to say that it happened faster than I wanted it to. But it happened and there isn't a thing I can do to change it! I have become the Mother of a TEENAGER! (Cue blood curdling scream and crash of thunder).


That's right, my little baby...

...is getting all growed up! Sniff

Now, I've heard the talk. Yes, I've heard people say "teenagers these days." And while I am no longer allowed to sing, dance, or be goofy in any way around my new teenager's friends, (unless they already knew me and therefore already knew that I was goofy and/or they have parents that are also known to be goofy and/or it is the 35th of the month and the 35th lands on a Tuesday) I think having a teenager will be a good thing.


There are all kinds of new adventures to enjoy with a teenage daughter in the family, such as preparing for school dances,

and having a sleepovers. FYI: they only call them sleepovers so parents will agree to them, not because they intend to sleep. All they really want to do is giggle all night!

Teenage girls also like to spend more time painting their nails than they did when they were younger.

And today's teenage girls think it's very cool to wear ripped jeans.

Hmmm ripped jeans...that sounds vaguely familiar.

Me, a long time ago, in my totally cool ripped jeans! (Radical)

Though my experience raising a teenage girl has just begun, I'd say that it seems pretty similar to when I was that age.


Teens still want to spend time with good friends, they want encouragement and reassurance that they are on the right track, they want to begin to make their own choices and they still want Mom and Dad to hug them and spend time with them and be silly with them...as long as no one they know is looking!


All things considered I think the teen years will be awesome and hopefully we have many more years before our teenage girl brings home some cute guy for us to meet!! Gulp

Me and my cute guy, a long time ago! (With totally awesome hair, for sure)

Christine

Hey neighbor

We have new neighbors. They're a family of seven...Mama and six little ones. 


They must have moved in about a month ago, but kept to themselves. I only found out about them yesterday.


The little ones are adorable. When I saw them I just wanted to pick them up and rub my face on their bellies, and talk baby talk to them, and then I wanted to tell them that they are sooo cuuute I could just eat them up. Their Mama might not have taken to kindly to that sort of interaction and I did want to keep all my fingers and my nose, so I kept my distance and took photos instead.


Just look at how cute my new neighbors are!

Look how nicely they sat to have their photo taken.

Photo by Amy L

And Mama has been doing a very nice job of keeping the squirrel population down on our block. Squirrel seems to be a favorite meal for the little ones.

It was great to meet our foxy new neighbors yesterday! Foxy! Get it? I crack myself up!


Christine