We Love Eggs From Our Heads Down to Our Legs.

One of our favorite breakfasts is bacon and eggs.  Back home it was almost a daily meal, sunny side up, Scrambled, omelets, or Noah’s favorite, the egg and the toast cut up in a bowl and mixed together.  I like it with the egg piled on top of a piece of toast and I break apart the yolk to let it run out over the bread and egg.  Then I sop it all up with the other piece of toast while enjoying it all with bacon.  Now, to be able to sop it all up you need a jumbo sized egg, easily found in Oklahoma.  Not in Washington.  Because of this our egg breakfasts have become almost nil.  We have tried finding jumbo eggs at all of the different stores that we shop at to no avail.  We have tried extra-large eggs, but it just isn’t the same.

Well, this week Chad and I went to a grocery store called Trader Joes.   While we were there I checked the eggs and they had the jumbo size, but the eggs were very expensive, $2.79 a dozen.  We didn’t get any but I would keep it in mind for the next time we were in that area.  This past Sunday Chad wanted to make waffles for breakfast and we had run out of eggs.  Since he had started the batter before he found this out he went to The Market, near the house, to get some eggs.  He came back with jumbo eggs!  The little store near us sells jumbo eggs and I became a very happy person that day.  The eggs were still expensive at $2.69 a dozen.  I looked at the carton and read that the farm where the eggs come from is in the next town.  I called them up and guess what?  They sell to the average person!  That’s me!  I am the average person!  So, guess what I did today?

 That’s right, I bought some eggs.  Did you read the box?  I had to purchase 15 dozen at one time, but it was only $1.66 a dozen.  There is some interest from some of the families at Chad’s office wanting to go in with us on the eggs, but with all of us and the way Cody bakes I really think we will be fine before the eggs go bad. 

 
The best part is that as I was telling the man behind the counter my “woe is me” story, he brought up that they sometimes have specials (they didn’t this week).  They will sell the double yolk eggs for a dollar a carton.  I almost jumped over the counter and kissed that man on the lips I was so excited.  Double yolks are our favorite kind of eggs.  We fight over them.  I asked him why they didn’t sell them in the stores.  He told me that they will if the store wants to have a special to sell the eggs at a cheaper price.  What is wrong with these people!  No jumbo eggs.  No double yolks.  That’s okay, I will be more than happy to purchase my double the yolk double the yum eggs for a dollar a dozen.  And, I will enjoy the extra cash in my wallet as well.  Ah, the incredible edible egg. 
 

Now we just need to work on finding some good bacon.  That's a whole other blog post.

Yay, I Actually Wrote Something!

Wow, umm this has kind of become momma’s blogJ. Everybody else is just too lazy to get on here and write something! But since it is Thanksgiving, I thought I might make an effort to jot down a few things.

Lately it has been super-duper cold in our house. It could be because it is even more super-duper cold outside but, that isn’t an excuse! Seriously, I am really glad I own a pair of fuzzy pajamas!

It has been so cold outside that when we wake up in the morning to take the dogs out there is heavy frost on the ground! That is just totally crazy! Mom was telling me the other day it was 70 degrees in Oklahoma! I really wish it was 70 degrees here!

The other day Cody and I took the dogs down to the beach for a little bit. I wore my new awesome Nike tights, a jacket, gloves, and the scarf I made. On the way to the beach I was fine but, coming back I was so cold. It made me realize that I just might need to invest in some actual winter clothes. Running shorts and racer back tank tops aren't going to cut it anymore!

Since I have been complaining about the weather this entire post, I might as well tell you about the fact that it is supposed to rain all this week. I miss the sunshine so, so, so, so much!!! It gets rather depressing up here without sunshine. And no, taking vitamin D isn’t the same, trust me! No wonder the Vampire’s like it up here!

Oh now that I am over griping about the weather, I guess I should tell you a few things I am thankful for this Thanksgiving.

I am Thankful for:

· God

· My parents

· My sisters and my brother

· My best friend!

· Amazing food

· SUNSHINE!

· Hot chocolate. It is a life saver right now!

· Fuzzy pants. HAHA

· Photography 

· And, the best TV Show in the world “Psych”. Never a dull moment in the life of Shawn and Gus!

Thanksgiving Preparation

Chad invited a guy from work and his wife over for Thanksgiving.  Had it been just us I wouldn’t worry about when everything would be done so we could eat.  If we ate at noon fine, if not, fine.  But since we will be having company the pressure is on to make sure we eat at a decent time.  So, in a feeble attempt to do just that we started our cooking for Thanksgiving yesterday.  I got up and made the cornbread for the stuffing.  I think we started that a bit late.  Hopefully it will go stale before tomorrow.  Then I made Spinach dip.  The moment Chad walked in from work he started eating it, and the threat that I was going to break his fingers if he didn’t stay out of the dip fell on deaf ears.  So, now I have to make more.  The pumpkin pie was not one of the food items that made the “Things we want to eat for Thanksgiving” list.  Thanksgiving without pumpkin something or other just seemed wrong to me, so I decided on a pumpkin roll instead.  Cody likes to bake, so she got that job.  She did a good job on it.  It tasted really good.  Now, she has to make another one.  At the rate we are going we are going to have to order pizza for Thanksgiving dinner.

Today we are going to be doing the rest of the cooking and baking.  Hopefully there will be enough left over for Thursday.

An Update on Noah's Hand

It was a week ago yesterday that Noah burned his hand.  It looks a lot better, but he lost the skin on his ring finger (about the size of a nickel).  I think that he will eventually lose the skin on his middle finger, starting from the base of his bottom knuckle to just above the the middle part and around the finger.  We have been keeping antibacterial ointment on it at all times.  For two reasons, the most obvious one is that we don't want an infection setting in, and the other is to keep it moist so that it doesn't dry up and the skin peel off.  We are trying to keep the dying skin on long enough for the new skin to form so it won't be as tender when the dead skin comes off.  He says it doesn't hurt, but I think he will be whistling a different tune if and when the skin comes off and it is still raw underneath.

I used the word skin a lot in this post!

P.S. An Operation Psych update coming soon.

Last week in Cody’s health class she was to make a splint for an injured person.    I got to be the injured person.  Jessica decided that a touch of reality was needed, so she gave me a black eye (with make-up).  As I lay on my bed wailing and writhing in pain, and playing Blackjack on the Kindle, Cody started making my splint.  I learned two things that day.  1.  Never take the hints the Kindle gives you for Blackjack.  I lost every time.  2.  If you are in need of a splint DO NOT let Cody put it on you.  It started off with her asking me if I was okay.  Then it was, “I know first aid.  May I proceed to help you?”  That was the start of me cracking up.  My leg is shattered, I am thrashing about in pain, and she is asking me if she may proceed.  Then she grabs a hold of my leg and just about lifts it over my head trying to put the splint on it.  I lost it.  All I could think about was that the poor person who Cody helps is going to wish she hadn’t.  Thank goodness Jessica stepped in and showed her how to carefully place a splint on my leg.  Cody made two different splints, and the second one was quite good.  She passed.  Still, when it comes to an emergency Cody panics, a lot.  I know, she gets it from me.  Do you remember the movie Airplane?  There is a scene where this woman is losing it.  One by one the people line up to slap some sense into her and to get her to calm down.  That woman is me.  I don’t do well in emergencies… until Saturday.

Saturday Chad was off with Jessica running, so I was home with Ryan and Noah (Cody was at work).  Noah decided to make Ramen Noodles for his lunch.  I didn’t know this.  All of a sudden I heard this cry coming from the kitchen and I knew it was serious.  I ran to the kitchen and saw Noah clutching his hand.  It was his left hand.  The same one he had in a cast after he broke his elbow and ended up having surgery on it.   The same one he uses for writing.  His broken collar bone was on his left side as well.  Ahhh, the joy of having a boy.  I think he has given me most of my gray hairs.  Anyway, I asked him what happened and he said he spilled his Ramen noodles on his hand.  I asked to look at it.  When I did the panic started to set in.  It was red, really red.  At one point almost a purplish-blue color, but that was a little later.  I took him to the sink and ran cool water over it, all the while trying to remain calm on the outside while I was in panic mode on the inside.  Chad walked in while I had his hand under the water.  While I was telling him what happened Noah said, “I’m getting dizzy.  I think I need to lay down.”  I looked at him and he was white.  I helped him to the bed and told him to relax and breathe.  Since Chad was there I allowed myself to panic a bit.  It didn’t help that Chad was a bit more serious about it than the usual, “Ah, He’s okay.  Boys are supposed to have scars” speech.  Chad called a work buddy to see if there was a clinic that we could take Noah to.  While we were still deciding on what we were going to do Chad went and bought some burn cream.  In the end we decided we would keep an eye on it and keep putting medicine on it.  That night it looked really good.  The next day, not so much.  He blistered in between his pinky finger and ring finger.  Later I noticed he blistered in between his index finger and his middle finger.  He has small ones at the base of his fingers on his palm side as well.  A part of me kept thinking we should take him to a doctor, but what could they do really.  There isn’t a magical cure for a burn.  We have been giving him pain medication, even though he says it doesn’t hurt, and alternating burn cream and antibacterial ointment.



Eureka, I Have Found It!

Well, I can’t say that I found it, but I must start from the beginning.  I just knew with my new found detective skills that it wouldn’t be long before I knew where my Psych buddy lived.  I had a plan.  I was going to ask the office where he lived and hoped they would tell me.  I was sure that I could bring it up in a way that they wouldn’t feel the need to alert him or call the police.  But, while doing some gathering of information I found that all I had to do was ask for a directory of the residents and no one would be the wiser to our plan and there would be no cops and no alerting of the Psych producer.  Apparently, I took too long to go ask for the directory.  Ry took it upon herself to look up the information on the internet and found out everything in less than 5 minutes.   She even found a picture of the house and a map to get there.  I couldn’t believe it.  All at once I was elated at knowing where he lives and sad that the chase is now over.  I have to admit I think it a bit scary that, these days, one can find out all they need to know in a matter of minutes on the internet.  But I digress. 

I immediately called Chad and told him what Ryan had found out and that we had a mission when he got home.  Once he got here, we all, including dad, walked to my Psych buddy’s house.  We took pictures along the way to document the moment.  When we reached his house there were lights on, so we knew someone was there, and Noah wanted to go knock on the door.  I wouldn’t let him.  I suddenly got the feeling that we were being a bit creepy.  Noah was not a happy person.  He told me the only reason he came was to meet him and now it wasn’t worth it and he should have stayed home.  He had tears in his eyes all the way home.

On our way home we were trying to decide how best to meet this man.  We came up with the idea to put a pineapple in his driveway with a note underneath it mentioning our blog.  That just struck me as really creepy and I don’t want to scare him.  I just want to be best friends with him.  Just kidding.  We just want to meet him.  Then, while I was telling my friend Jennifer about it, it hit me that we had the perfect opportunity to meet him and we missed it!  We could have gone to his house during Halloween as trick or treaters.  Unfortunately, I didn’t think about it until after Halloween.  So, we are back to the drawing board on how to meet him.  It will happen, I just know it.  I just need a non-creepy way of doing it.  Now that I think about it, I can totally picture Shawn and Gus leaving a pineapple on his driveway and running away.  I may just have to entertain that idea again.

Pike Place Market

About a week and a half ago Verna took Dad and us to Pike Place Market in Seattle.  It has all kinds of shops from vegetable stands, bookstores (all extremely liberal), clothing stores to the famous fish place where they throw the fish to each other.  The fish stench was just gross.  And the people, so many people!  Cody and I had to take a breath and relax, because, there were just too many and they made us a little nervous.  I was constantly counting heads to make sure we all stayed together.  I knew we would be okay with the girls.  They would make sure they stayed near us, but Noah has a tendency to not pay attention to his surroundings.  I was worried that he would walk off thinking we were behind him when we really weren’t.  He did really well though.  He stayed near one of the adults most of the time and the one time I had to call out for him he had just turned a corner and was waiting on the rest of us.

There is a doughnut stand there where they make the doughnuts right then and there.  Miniature round chocolate covered doughnuts with sprinkles, powdered doughnuts or plain doughnuts, and they were good.  Verna bought three dozen of them.  I tried one of each and was happy to leave the rest to the kids.  Noah and Chad stopped to feed the pigeons some of the doughnut leftovers.  They got one of the pigeons to come and eat right from Noah's hand.  You can tell they were feed leftovers a lot.  They had no fear of humans.

There was a stand that sold different kinds of pasta and Ryan got to try chocolate pasta.  Yes, you read that right, chocolate pasta.  It wasn’t even cooked yet.  What do you put on chocolate pasta?  I am usually up for anything chocolate, but not that.  She said it was bitter to start with but was actually pretty good.  I will have to take her word for it.

So the market has a gum wall.  It is a side of a building where people have put their gum over the years.  It was so thick you couldn’t see the brick underneath, just the gum.  People would go and write out stuff with their gum or draw faces with it.  On the windowsill they would place their gum and pull it down so that it would look stringy and covered the windowsill that way.  Everyone but me put their gum up on that wall, even Jessica.  I would never have thought she would do it, but she did, without wipes or hand sanitizer.

We finally left and went to look at the Space Needle.  There is a convention center near it that was having a Battlestar Galactica convention.  Chad wanted to get tickets to go.  Thankfully and much to Noah’s dismay, I talked Chad out of it.

Dad left this past Wednesday.  It was nice to have him here and it was hard to watch him leave.  He was a piece of home right here in Washington.  That may sound strange, but I don’t know how to explain it any other way.  He spoiled us all and reminded us of what we were missing back in Oklahoma.  I love you dad.