Chinese Cabbage Salad

For a couple years now, we've had the tradition of almost every Sunday we grill hamburgers for lunch/dinner (I only cook one meal on Sunday. :) )  It started while my parents were on their mission in Africa and just mentioned once that they did this, cooked hamburgers for lunch every Sunday.  So to feel like we were connected to them, I started doing the same thing.  Plus, I love not having to slave over a big "Sunday Dinner" and decided to keep things nice and simple.  We don't do it EVERY week, I do still cook other things, too, but my kids are so disappointed when I do.  So, the majority of the time, Summer, Winter or any time in between, it doesn't really matter, we'll be out grilling.  However, we're running a little low on the hamburger in the freezer, that's a different story, and I'm trying to make what's left last for the rest of the summer at least.  So now I've added hot dogs to the Sunday dinner rotation.  The kids still think it's awesome to have a cookout each Sunday, hot dogs are even easier than hamburgers so I'm happy, and we usually cook some brats, so Bill doesn't mind either.  So as I was waiting for Bill to get home on Sunday, I decided to throw together a salad to go with it. I made Chinese Cabbage Salad and it was the perfect addition. I forget how good this salad is!  Now I'm NOT a fan of cabbage, but I've found that this is delicious with napa cabbage.

Chinese Cabbage Salad
In a large bowl combine:
1 head cabbage, chopped (I like napa cabbage, use 2 heads of napa)
1 bunch green onions, chopped
2 c. cubed chicken
2 pkg. chicken or oriental ramen noodles, crumbled and toasted in oven with 1/4 c. slivered almonds

Dressing:
1/2 c. oil
2 Tbsp. sugar
3 Tbsp vinegar
1/2 tsp. pepper
2-3 Tbsp. soy sauce or the packet of soup flavoring (I usually do 1 1/2 Tbsp soy sauce AND the seasoning packet.
Some versions say to let it refrigerate for a while, but the noodles will soak up some of the sauce and get soft. I like my noodles crunchy, so I don't let it sit for long, if at all, before I eat it.

I only made a half batch on Sunday because I knew it would be pretty much just Bill and I eating it, and when I went to eat some again later, Bill had eaten the whole bowl. It's that good!


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Not Just a Housewife 
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All The Small Stuff

Happy 4th of July

LAND THAT I LOVE!

 We had a great 4th of July this year, pretty low key, but a lot of fun. Bill's objective was to come up with some great idea so we didn't have to go to the parade (I love the parade, he doesn't.)  So his brilliant idea was to take all the kids to the movies.  We slept in and then had a big delicious, relaxed breakfast (things you can't do if you're trying to make it to the parade.) Then at around 11:30 we went to the movies; Bill taking the little three to Cars 2, and I took the older three to Transformers 3 (since Bill had already seen it.)  Everyone had a great time at their movies, and we all gave both shows 2 thumbs up.  Then we went home, the kids played in the pool while the rest of us read or dozed or Bill decided to change a sprinkler head. :) Then we grilled some hamburgers, ate potato salad, and played/relaxed some more until it was time for fireworks.  Sparklers were awesome as always, only about one screamer, and the grand finale of a 7-minute whopper was pretty good.  We also had a good show from the neighbors fireworks, well, through and around a big tree in our way.  When we were finished, we tried to glimpse the moon through our new telescope (the moon hasn't been up since we got it), but we missed it.  So we tried looking at some stars, but there were just too many cars coming down the road then.  We did go out the next day, however, and the moon was AWESOME!  Anyway, the kids went to bed very tired, a little sticky, and smelling like mosquito spray mixed with sunscreen - all signs of a fun filled day.  I am just so thankful for a country that allows us these freedoms and a sincere thank you to all the men and women, present and past, who protect those rights for us.

New Skirts From Old Shirts

While surfing in blog land, one of my very favorite places to visit is Make it and Love it.  She is awesome!! Her tutorials are so easy to follow and very complete.  Anyway, I had found this tutorial a while ago and really wanted to try it out, especially since our little Chloe is showing a fondness for wearing skirts to school or to play in.  So fast forwards a few weeks later, and as I was bagging up another load to take to the DI, I came across the perfect shirts - two matching shirts of Cheyenne and Natalie's.  Perfect, if I messed it up, I wasn't out anything, anyway.  Then I remembered the GIANT stash of material my mother-in-law has, specifically knits,  and headed to her house to try and find something.  After some searching, I think she's saved every scrap of anything she's ever made, I found the perfect material for the turquoise shirt, but nothing for the pink one.  I did have to buy a little piece of pink knit; the total expense for two skirts, a couple bucks!  Now, I'm not a super seamstress, I'd barely call myself a sewer of any sort, but this was really easy.  It took me about 1 1/2 hours, and a good portion of that was reading my sewing machine manual and playing with different settings and stitches.  My skirt isn't near as full as the tutorial, but my shirts were only a child's size large to begin with; it worked, though. End result two CHEAP skirts, a proud momma, and two HAPPY girls. YEAH!

Parties I'm linking to:

Birthday x3

After Billy's birthday and baptism, the fun continued with Mother's day, Bill's birthday, and our 16th wedding anniversary, boy time flies.  Then we were busy with the end of school stuff, band concerts, kindergarten program, oh and the fun of driver's ed every day after school for Cheyenne.  By then Chloe, Maddie, and Jon's birthday was rapidly approaching.  This brought up a lot of debate and question regarding how to handle their birthday.  Do we have 3 seperate parties, a boy party and a girl party, do it all on one day or celebrate on different days, and more.  We finally decided to be very brave and do one big party, inviting their whole kindergarten class!  What was I thinking?! 

So we decided on a carnival theme, fun for both boys and girls. We did a lot of planning and prep, and then called in more help. We had my parents and Bill's parents, my niece and nephew's - Ashtyn, Rhett, and Kade, and Cheyenne, Natalie, Bill, all manning the games. I moved the kids from game to game, took pictures and laughed a lot. We ended up only having 9 kids come, including our 3, but that was the perfect number. We were a little worried about the weather, again, as the big black clouds moved in and out all day. But the weather held out and the kids had a blast, I think. After the kids all went home, the rest of us relaxed, enjoyed a pop and then the rain started.

This pinata WOULD NOT BREAK!  Every kid took a turn or two at it, then they all grabbed hold of a string to pull it open, and it still wouldn't open.  So Natalie took matters into her own hands and got a metal bat and went at it.  Nothing.  Finally we just dropped it on the ground and Cheyenne ripped it open, and she had to work at it.  That was one tough clown head! :)

The next day the kids enjoyed being sang to in primary and getting their own bags of popcorn.  Then we had some pizza for lunch, and another party with the family later that night. When 3 kids have a birthday at the same time, it's like Christmas all over again, paper and presents everywhere.  It's a lot of fun! We're sure lucky to have three such wonderful kiddos in our family.



Three happy 6 yr. olds (and only half the presents.)




Birthday Season Begins

Still giggling over the whoopee cushion.

Well, it's been a long time since I've posted, life happens.  Now I'm back and committed to posting more regularly.  Birthday season, the time at which we have 5 out of our 8 birthdays, plus few other special occasions, at our house is always a little crazy, but a lot of fun.  This year we had some extra things thrown in there which were fun, but the age for birthday parties collided this year and we also had two parties, which was crazy.

So the birthday season began with Easter this year and all the fun of that.  Then the following Friday was Billy's birthday.  We had a family party on Friday and he was showered with gifts.  He got lots of  legos, tickets to a movie, and lots of other fun things, but the best was a in a card from Mr. Reece (Bill's boss).  It was a whoopee cushion!  The present opening came to a halt as he farted it over and over again, making everyone else there laugh and laugh as Billy was dying over how funny it was.  Who new the best present would be something so simple.

The next day was the big party. Billy decided on an army theme.  The boys were told to wear camo, and I made dog tags for all of them.  The weather was supposed to be cold and rainy, so at the last minute we did some changes and the party was all moved in the house.  We started with "flight school" and everyone made/decorated paper airplanes while everyone arrived.  Then we did some calisthenics Simon Says and then marched the boys upstairs.  Bill was awesome and constructed a whole shooting range in the bonus room.  The boys had a great time shooting down cups or the targets on Winnie the Pooh.

After the shooting range, we had a "rescue mission" (treasure hunt) in which they ran all over the house and finally outside to rescue lost soldiers (little bags of army men and a parachuter guy.)  The sun was actually shining then, and almost warmish, so they played outside for a few minutes.  We finished up with presents and cupcakes and a little more shooting while waiting for parents to come.  As the last boy left, we all gave a big sigh of relief as having survived 8, 8 yr. old boys.  Billy had a great time, though, and that was the most important thing.

Since this was such an important birthday, the fun wasn't over yet.  The next Saturday, Billy was baptized a member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.  He had lots of family there, both sets of grandparents, Uncle Shaun, Aunt Alana, and Chase, and cousin Ashtyn (it was her birthday, too.)  Uncle Shaun gave a wonderful talk on the Holy Ghost.  He told Billy that he was given lots of presents for his birthday and that each person thought about Billy and just what he'd want to receive.  He told him that Heavenly Father did the same thing and gave him the most special gift of all.  Shaun is just the best, he always does such a good job speaking!  Then afterward, we had everyone over for a little luncheon.  It was a great day!  I asked Billy how he felt and he said, "Warm."  I said, "What does that mean, warm inside or warm outside?"  He replied, "Both.  The water was really warm, but I felt warm on the inside, too."  Of course that was said with his little twinkly, dimple grin.  I love this boy!

Upcycling and Recycling

So I've just recently learned a new hip and cool word - upcycling.  Here's the definition:

• Upcycling is the process of converting waste materials or useless products into new materials or products of better quality or a higher environmental value.
• The repurposing of a material into a product of higher quality. An example would be a purse made out of woven candy wrappers.

I'm not quite sure how this differs from recycling, but blogs that are way cooler than mine use this word all the time.  So here's my newest "upcycling" projects:

 This mirror, in all its lovely golden splendor, hung in my parents entry way for a long, long time.  Underneath it was an equally lovely, and matching gold shelf on which two ivory and ebony little elephants stood.  I asked my mom the other day if I could have the mirror.  She said yes and pulled the dusty thing out from under her bed (my sister had already taken the little shelf). So in the mode of upcycling, and because I get asked at least 6 times a day, usually more like 12, what's for dinner, I decided to try my hand at making a chalkboard out of a mirror to post our weekly menu on.  It actually was pretty easy and if anyone wants to make a chalkboard out of something, I have TONS of the chalkboard paint left. (Found out later, there are much smaller bottles in the craft section, instead of the paint section.)

Next is my other new love, painting on t-shirts using freezer paper as a stencil.  I've cut the freezer paper using my Cricut (or I also did one by just laying the freezer paper over a picture I printed out and cutting) and then iron it on the shirt.  Then paint away.  Maddie's shirt had a stain on it which I carefully covered with the butterfly.  Jon was very sad when his favorite shirt (which is a hand-me-down from Billy, and before that cousin, Chase) got a big snag and hole in it.  So I cut out the felt guitar and painted it and the shirt.  Now he has his favorite shirt back and he thinks it's cooler than ever!  I also painted a shirt for Cheyenne, Natalie, and me (covering up a hole I patched).  I even painted all of the kids Halloween shirts.  My kids are now becoming a little leery of telling me they have a stain because they know I'll whip out the paint and fix it right up, instead of just buying a new one.
What do you have sitting around your house just waiting to be upcycled?

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Happy Halloween

What a fun weekend we had! I'm kind of liking Halloween on Saturday/Sunday, it sure makes things less rushed and enjoyable.  Friday the kids all wore their costumes to school.  Maddie had her hair done first, and after I was done ratting it up, I showed her in the mirror.  She almost started crying and didn't want her hair "crazy".  After Chloe's got "crazy" too, and then we sprayed them blue, she decided it was kind of fun.  However, Jon wasn't so keen on wearing his "church clothes" to school, especially since it wasn't red. (If they wear red on Friday's they get a pride pass to redeem for candy and he didn't want to miss out.  I assured him that there wouldn't be any pride passes given out and he'd get lots of candy anyway.)  Billy was just psyched that he got to wear his costume all day long since it was just camo pants and shirt, and everyone else only got to put on their costumes after lunch.  Even more exciting for Billy was getting to wear his camo pants and shirt together since his dad had told him he couldn't before because one is "desert camo" and the other is "forest camo" and they don't match. :)  I was even a good mom and went to the costume parade - first time I've ever done that.

 Saturday we had a nice relaxing day at home and especially enjoyed having Bill home with us, a rarity in the last couple months.  Finally, it was time to get all dolled up again and have some more fun.  This time there were tears for a minute when Jon had to wear his "church clothes" again, but the threat reminder of no trick or treating if he didn't wear them quickly stopped the tears and he had a great time.  I even joined in with them thanks to my sister's great Cat in the Hat costume.  Cheyenne and Natalie were too, old for trick or treating this year, but luckily their brothers and sisters got plenty of candy to share.