nothing blog-worthy here...

i know it's been like a week! but i've had nothing really pressing me to sit down and write up a post.

the weather sucks. the snow is all gone except for what the snow plow pushed up along the sides of the road and a few lumps left of our snowman and igloo. now it's just pouring rain like crazy and half the state is flooded.

dave's parents were here for a while. that was fun. they gave the kids mario kart for christmas and we played a lot of that while they were here... that and wii sports. papa gary was determined to catch up to shane's bowling score before he left... i don't think he made it. the best was watching him and dave box each other. HILARIOUS!

layla wept buckets when we dropped them off at the airport saturday night... we tried to cheer her up by going to dinner at the rainforest cafe. instead, it totally freaked her out.

on the way to the airport, i had noticed that my phone was totally screwed up. i could see maybe a quarter of the screen and everything else was colors and all spidery. so after dinner we spent like 5 gazillion hours in the at&t store and i wound up coming home with a new blackberry pearl. it's red... you know, so when i set it down in the kitchen, it will match.

shane's back to school, but he's got some evil cough going on right now that's wearing him out. layla is layla... going through a super-cute name-calling phase. her best is inspired by the movie cars. she likes to call either of her brothers a 'nodder'. micah has been doing a lot of whole-hearted crying for no apparent reason lately (including right now)... teeth maybe? who knows. he's had 8 for what seems like forever and it does seem like he should be getting a few more at some point.

and i'm supposed to be putting away my christmas tree ornaments which are spread out all over the living room floor. i feel like an idiot because i totally want to stop and go to bed. but i did it on purpose so i'd have to finish putting them away tonight or the kids will come out and destroy them in the morning. ugh.

so that's it. maybe something interesting will happen tomorrow.

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beef stew recipe

another taken from the betty crocker cookbook, but i mess with this one so refer to the disclaimer … 1 tbsp olive oil 1 clove of garlic, pressed (or some good shakes of garlic powder) 1 lb. stew beef 3 cups of hot water (I probably use closer to 3.5 or 4) 1/2 tsp salt 1/8 tsp pepper 3 medium carrots, cut in thick coins 2 stalks celery, cut into 1/2 inch pieces 1-2 medium potatoes, cut into 1 inch pieces 1 small onion, chopped 1/4 tsp salt 1 bay leaf *optional: 1/2 bell pepper of your choice; 1 turnip; 1/2 tsp browning sauce (whatever that is) 1/2 cup cold water 2 tbsp all-purpose flour heat oil in large pot. cook beef and garlic in oil about 15 minutes, stirring occasionally, until beef is brown. add hot water, 1/2 tsp salt and the pepper. heat to boiling; reduce heat to low. cover and simmer 2 to 2 1/2 hours or until beef is almost tender. stir in remaining ingredients except cold water and flour. cover and simmer

tater tot casserole recipe

i realized i forgot to post this last week when we had it. i actually like it a little better than the hash brown one, but both are good. it’s VERY similar. once again, this is something i’ve made so many times that i just kind of wing it now, although i do have the recipe that kate sent to me after she made it for my family when micah was born. i like to keep the recipe because it has some little ‘britishisms’ throughout, just like kate! ;-) who, by the way, rocks, having called to check up on me the other evening when she saw that the power in our area was out AGAIN! thanks kate, smooch smooch! but now i’m getting distracted… big surprise. here goes. you will need: 1 lb or so ground beef (or ground turkey) 1 chopped onion a bunch of veggies (kate’s recipe calls for a ‘tin’ of mixed veggies, but i use fresh carrots & celery if i’ve got’em, frozen beans, peas, corn, whatever). maybe 2-3 cups. 1 can (or tin) of cream of something soup (i use celery usually

it just keeps getting better...

so obviously, from my earlier post, the dinner-making portion of my day was a little less than spectacular. oh, that was just the beginning. dave worked late today. after dinner, i ran a bath for the younger 2 and in the process of getting them from the dining room to the bathroom, micah knocked the container of cheerios off the table and they dumped ALL OVER the floor. i scooped up what i could and threw it back in the container, then, mindful that the water was still running in the tub and i didn't want to flood the bathroom, i herded the kids into the bathroom and dumped them into the tub. i went back into the dining room and proceeded to sweep up the mound of cheerios that was left on the floor, all the while keeping an ear open for both voices and giggles in the bathroom (as long as you can hear them, their heads are above water, right?). that took all of about 2 minutes. i looked in on them (both happy as could be) and discovered that both of my younger, happy ch

a blue period...

i'm feeling really lazy lately. well, some might think i'm lazy all the time, but it's worse right now. i always get really down on myself when i'm having trouble keeping things organized, when my house is a mess, when we eat mac and cheese for dinner, etc. usually that's appropriate motivation to get me off my butt and make me keep things in some sort of relative order. but night now it's really bad. i don't feel like doing anything. there are toys all over, and i purposely make myself not see them because i just don't want to pick them up. same with the dirt behind the door in the bathroom. the pile of clothes that need to be ironed, the mess in my bedroom, the crap falling out of the drawers in my bathroom, the garage. i don't want to go grocery shopping. i don't want to cook. the floor needs to be swept and mopped in the kitchen and dining room and the sink is dirty. the backyard is a total disaster and i just don't feel like

oh come on! seriously???

so i just discovered something unpleasant. my favorite bagged salad (not very green, i know) is packaged in the bad #7 plastic! this is the one that canada just anounced they will be banning for use in food and beverage containers because it leaches BPA into the food it contains. i'm so ticked. i am a major fan of packaged salads because i love salad, but i HATE to wash lettuce. no really, i despise it. i'm not sure exactly why, but it's a very unpleasant task for me and i avoid it at all cost. so i'm majorly bummed. i realize that i can still get salads in the little plastic boxes, which is probably better since they are usually organic, but they don't have the ones with all the nifty extra veggies in them that i like and they usually have lots of extra greens in them which dave (aka, mr. iceberg) won't eat. LAME!!!

rachel's continued ramblings

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