Words of Wisdom from Mama

Lost in Translation...

Translating language is not a perfect science-even a computer doesn't always get it right. In the early days of computers a reporter entered the English phrase; "out of sight out of mind". The Russian result was translated back to English; invisible idiot.Advertisement for donkey rides in Thailand? ; would you like to ride your own ass?These were some of the results I found while trying to find a translation for a tee shirt our Belgium friends sent my husband while in Turkey.

I Phone Pic... Sorry!

The groom is modeling this 'nonsensical' shirt, it says "I'm a hot guy can I get your number?  With a large sprinkled donut in the middle. We are still scratching our heads.
But we will thank them for the gift that escaped our English translation. Because there is one saying that is the same in any language; "you never look a gift horse in the mouth".

Words of Wisdom from Mom

Loose  change...

 

What do you do with the change from the bottom of your purse or pocket? Ours ends up in jars.

 

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When the girls were young we saved all our change, when I broke a bill I never used the change I brought it home and in the jar it went. Of course you can put your coins together in one jar and let the bank sort them for you but I liked to separate them and roll them up.

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The girls loved to watch the change jars fill up. Every now and then we would dump the jars and roll them in papers.

As the girls grew older  they not only learned how to save money but also  learned how 40 quarters make $10.00, (their favorite) 50 dimes make $5.00, 40 nickels make $2.00, 50 pennies made 50 cents.

We counted that money over and over.Sure is fun watching money grow!

 

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So maybe we didn't really fill a shopping cart with money but we we saved for a year, then right before school started we cashed the coins in for as many $20's we could get.  Then went on a shopping spree buying school supplies, clothes and shoes (even at an early age- a girl's gotta have her shoes).

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So if you don't have children in school what can you save your coins for?

What about new clothes for yourself? Now, I am not saying you should only buy clothes once a year- impossible. But, maybe if you saved your coins for a  year you would have enough to splurge on something you would otherwise not buy for yourself.

4 days ago4 days ago

 

Just a thought.

Canning Tomatoes...

On Sunday, I went over to our friends' house to can some vegetables. Our friend Adam has a really nice sized garden, and had a lot of produce to do something with. So, we decided to can it all! In the next few days I will do a few different posts on the different things we canned.

So, first things first... tomato basil sauce! We used the recipe from William's Sonoma's, The Art of Preserving cookbook.

Basil. Yum.

My mouth is watering...

Here's Adam! He's straining the tomatoes after they've cooked for an hour... Looks darn good doin it too!

Here's the sauce after it was strained....

The finished product... delish, right?

We both decided that next time around (when my garden tomatoes are ripe), we will blanch the tomatoes, peel them, and then boil them down. That will eliminate the straining process. We actually ended up adding a few of the chunks we had strained out back into the sauce because it was too smooth. Obviously this will depend on preference, but this way just seemed a little too wasteful!

Check back tomorrow for pickles!

WI Dells Weekend Part 2

We left off on Sunday.

Sunday morning our sweet Husbands got up and went to get Dunker (aka Dunkin' Donuts)... Yum city!!

We got ready and headed to Kalahari indoor/outdoor waterpark for the day! This place was a blast!

I didn't get a lot of pics due to being wet and not having my phone on me!





After Kalahari, we went back to the hotel, read, lounged, and enjoyed each other's company!

We went to Marley's for dinner. It was really yummy!

Before we got wet! Do you enjoy my husband's swim trunks from the 70's? Lol

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After dinner we were all pooped! We just went back to the hotel and lounged around.

Monday morning, we headed to Devil's Lake State Park. It's sooo beautiful!



My sweet and I went on a love walk.... and then we all drove home!

Hi Sweetie Baby! Aren't those teeth getting big?

Forgot to include this of the boys in WI Dells part 1!

Love this baby!

Words of Wisdom from Mama

I wanted to impress in the mind of the possible reader,  the well known saying;


Anything worth doing, is worth doing well...


But, I needed a more mrsminimartha way to say it.  Nick Stellino, a chef from public television said it precisely;


"When it comes to cooking...When it comes to life-do it with passion"

I know mrsminimartha does!

WI Dells Weekend Part 1

Last weekend we went to WI Dells with the Loenser Family! We had soooo much fun. Here's a recap of Friday and Saturday...

We left Friday night and got to the hotel about 10pm. We just played some board games- boys vs girls. Girls won!! Woot woot.

Our Resort...
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Saturday morning we woke up and went to Mr. Pancake. If anyone goes to the Dells, Mr. Pancake is a must! They have soo many different kinds of pancakes and they're all homemade and delicious!

Yum.
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After breakfast we headed to Kalahari for the indoor theme park. We had never been to Kalahari before, so we were in for a real surprise! We spent the day playing mini golf, go karting, doing an obstacle course, and playing laser tag! Boys won mini golf... girls won laser tag.

My Sweet, Sara, and Roomie trying to figure out the Baby Bjorn. So cute!

Mini Golf! Darn those boys for winning....

Sara and I on our way to the obstacle course!

Sara and I on the obstacle course. So fun!

When we were finished at Kalahari, we went to Pizza Pub for dinner. It wasn't great... but it was food, and we were hungry!

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We went back to the hotel, and the boys decided to go on khaiking! The resort we stayed at had a lot of fun stuff to do. Kayaking, row boating, volleyball, horseshoes, indoor and outdoor pool, and chairs all over to relax!

Those are some good lookin' swim trunks, sweetie.

Teamwork!

Cuties...

The back of our resort.

The dock

When the boys got back from kayaking, we went for a swim in the pool! We ended the night with some more games. Boys won.

Check back next week for a Sunday and Monday Dells recap!

Kiss the Cook!

My wonderful Husband had dinner ready for me when I got home tonight! What a sweetie, huh? It was reeaal yummy too! Ribs, mac and cheese, and green beens. If you've read my past blogs, you will know my Husband isn't exactly comfortable in the kitchen area; so, when he made me a dinner, and it wasn't pizza... I was pretty impressed! It also gave me the excuse to say, "I better kiss the cook!"

The cook tasting his food...

Our very gourmet sides...

I realize this is upside down... I can't get it to rotate for some reason!

Marm on Monday: Garden Booty

Just a quickie today... we just got home from a weekend with the Loenser Family! I will do a few posts on that this week... but right now- I have a suitcase to unpack, work to get prepared for, and some sleep to get!

After we got home tonight we ran out to the garden to see if there were any veggets ready to be picked. We got a few cherry tomatoes, 2 large tomatoes, a thai red chili pepper, and some apples! It's so great to be able to go and just pick them right off the plant and know where they came from!

Words of Wisdom from Mommy:

 Power of a Kiss

One of the things I treasure the most from my children is the hello and the right before they leave kiss they give me.

I get super excited when I know my children are coming; knowing one of the first things they will do is give me a kiss.

It is such a wonderful way to start a visit. My heart is filled with happiness and joy.

 

They say when your children are growing up to "Treasure every moment because they grow up so fast."

Well I think that is how we should treat each visit from our children.

Enjoy every moment, because it goes by fast. I know I am not the only mom that thinks a child's visit is never long enough.

"What? You’re leaving already?"

But, then I remind myself, they will be back.

And the kiss they give me before they leave is not a good-bye kiss but an, "I will see you soon, Mom," kiss.

 

One little kiss can make the happiest mom in the world.

 

So don't forget to kiss your mom.

Stuffed Green Peppers

Here's one of my favorite things to do: use left overs to make a second meal! Night number 1: ground beef enchiladas with spanish rice. Instead of using all the ground beef in the enchiladas, I save some.  I usually like to wait a day between the enchiladas and the left over meal just so it doesn't seem like you're eating the same thing over and over. So, on night 3 or 4: Stuffed green peppers: Mix the ground beef and rice in a pan to warm it up. Add some shredded cheese... and voila! I boil the peppers for about 5 min in water. Then, fill the peppers with the meat/rice mixture. Mix a can of tomato soup with some water and pour it over the peppers. Cover with aluminum foil and bake at 350 for about 15 min. They are so easy and yummy! Plus, the best part... you don't waste anything!

Baby B Time!

On Friday night I got to babysit the sweetest little sweetie baby there is... Baby B!

Our friends Evan and Sara went out for the night, so I got to soak up some precious B time. My parent's (who we call WBG for Wanna Be Gramma/Grandpa) stopped over to bring some dinner and see B too!

It was so fun! They had gotten KFC, so I put B in her high-chair and plopped a pile of mashed potatoes in front of her and watched her have so much fun! As you can see below, I am not sure how much she actually ate, and how much she got all over herself, but it was fun none the less. Love that Baby so much!

It started out innocent....

Thanks for the grub Mommy and Daddy!

Thinking so hard about what to do with this delicious fluffy stuff: eat it, or smear all over myself? That's a tough one. I'll do both.

Hmmm someone thinks they are funny!

This Baby needed a bath!

Company is coming....

I'm interrupting the regularly scheduled programming of Marm on Monday to bring you this late breaking news. Really it's not late or breaking news. Wait, is late breaking news 1 thing, or 2? You know late breaking or late, breaking? Hmmm I'm onto something there.

If you don't know, I work for Walgreens! W Club, what's up? I recently was promoted to be a store manager. Me, a store manager? Yep, that's right. I get to be the boss! Except for when my boss, his boss, and his boss's boss come to my store! You see, last week my boss-Mr. W- sent an e-mail out asking 5 stores to volunteer to have a meeting at their store on either August 1st  or 2nd. It won't be just any meeting, it will be a meeting with very important Walgreens Managers. There will be 8ish people at the meeting. So, little old me decided to volunteer! I have to get noticed somehow, right?

I still don't know if I am going to be the store who they are going to be going to, but, if I am... I not only want my store to look perfect (that's a given), but I want to have a delicious spread of breakfast treats for my company.

So, I need your help! What should I make?

Here are my ideas so far...

Petite Vanilla Bean Scones from Pioneer Woman. I have made these and LOVE them.

http://thepioneerwoman.com/cooking/2010/04/petite-vanilla-bean-scones/ 

Martha Stewart's Blueberry Muffins... these were my Sweet's idea. I like it (and him!).
http://www.marthastewart.com/347307/blueberry-muffins

Fruit Kabobs- super easy.
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And I feel like 1 more thing.... maybe this Raspberry hazelnut jelly roll I saw in my last Martha magazine? Anyone?

From August 2012 Martha Stewart Living Magazine.

I'm open for ideas people....

Words of Wisdom from Mama

One of the finest human traits is giving and expecting nothing in return. Nature has a way of perfecting this gift.

                     

D. Elton Trueblood said it best;

"A man has made at least a start on discovering the meaning of human life when he plants shade trees under which he knows full well he will never sit."

Don't forget to take the time to smell the flowers today!