Recipe: 

Wild rice pilaf with cranberries and apples

By Mayo Clinic staff

Dietitian's tip:Not a true rice at all, wild rice is the unpolished kernels of a wild grass native to the
Great Lakes area. Wild rice is cooked differently from true rices — it requires boiling
in a larger quantity of water.

By Mayo Clinic staff

Serves 8

Ingredients

1/4 cup slivered almonds

3 cups water

1 1/2 cups wild rice, rinsed and drained

1/2 cup dried cranberries

2 tablespoons olive oil

1 tablespoon red wine vinegar

1 tablespoon sugar

2 granny smith apples dice

Directions

Preheat the oven to 325 F. Lightly coat a baking sheet with cooking spray.

Spread the almonds on the baking sheet and bake, stirring occasionally,
until golden and fragrant, about 10 minutes. Transfer immediately to a plate to cool.

In a medium saucepan, bring 3 cups of water to a boil. Add the rice. Reduce heat and cover.
Keep adding water as necessary to prevent the rice from drying out.
Simmer until the rice is tender, about 45 to 60 minutes.
Pour through a fine-meshed strainer to drain. Return the rice to the saucepan and
stir in the dried cranberries. Cover and set aside.

In a small bowl, whisk together the oil, vinegar and sugar.

In a large bowl, combine the rice and diced apples. Add the oil mixture and toss to coat evenly.
Serve warm or cold on individual plates. Top with toasted almonds.

Nutritional Analysis

 (per serving)

Calories	193	Cholesterol	0 mg
Protein	5 g	Sodium	5 mg
Carbohydrate	32 g	Fiber	4 g
Total fat	5 g	Potassium	201 mg
Saturated fat	1 g	Calcium	20 mg
Monounsaturated fat	4 g

Haven't done one of these in a loooong time:

Maddie is 32 lbs and 3 feet 3 inches tall.

"Shhhh Mommy! 
 I have three babies sleeping right now."

Maddie loves to play daycare.  This usually involves one or both of the following:
- several babies sleeping on the floor or in play pens (we have two so that helps)
- talking to the "staff" in the room (not Jason or me).  She will say things like "what are we having for snack?"  or "can you get Johnny a chair?" (this means Johnny was having trouble listening at circle time)

Lots of people have been asking about the Wild Rice....

click here

to see  a post I did quite a few years ago.

Beagles are like chips:
You can't have just one.

Bosco
(Maurice Boscorelli)

Sammy
(Samantha Jane)

A gift for Daddy.

Maddie folded all of these blankets. Inside were two pictures of her. After she carefully folded and "wrapped" she called Jason to come and get his suprise.

It was Sleepover Weekend!

Madge and I thought it would be fun to make t-shirts! Well, let's be honest here. I like things with labels. And what better than small children with labels? Especially old school, 1978 font. We also picked out appliques to iron on - you can see Jackson's bad ass pirate/skull theme. After these three shirts there were still a lot of odd letters left. And I had the ironing board out. So of course I did the obvious thing: I climbed over my mountain of clothes that needed to be ironed and grabbed several things (t-shirts, pajamas, pj tops) that did NOT need to be ironed and proceeded to iron words onto them. Yep. Yep I did. One pj shirt says "sh!" - and Madge (fab girl that she is) totally got the joke. She was all "it says sh! b/c I'm supposed to be sleepin". That's my girl.


Strange fact: I can't spell labels to save my life. I'm SURE it is spelled lables. Like Tables. And everytime I have to do a spell check. And everytime I can hear Dan laughing at my poor 2nd grade label spelling. You should be able to spell your own damn obsession.

"Labels ROCK!"

Just saw this on a t shirt:

"Dear Math, I'm not a therapist.  Solve your own problems."

Can I get a HELL YEAH!

Sleepover at our house tonight.

Within the first half hour we were able to confirm that indeed, I did in fact attend grade one.  Much to Jackson's shock.  The tip off?  I was able to name the four "tastes" (sweet, sour, salty, and...um, spicy?)

Then...

"Auntie Jenn, this is actually pretty good" - in reference to supper.

Everyone (including me in about 4 minutes) is in bed and asleep.  So far, another successful sleepover.

See you all at 6 a.m.

j

Please feed the fish!

(put your mouse on the pond and click away...)

George Glover (first row, 2nd from the left) was my Grandma Hurst's brother.

Once upon a time there were three little pigs.

CLICK HERE

Daddy, Maddie, & Mommy

Oh crap, people. I need to get back to work.  I am seriously addicted to etsy


Truly, it's a problem.  I'm on there now under the guise of "Christmas Shopping" - but it's so not true.  I'm just an addict looking for an excuse to browse and shop.

And who the hell invented Pay Pal?  They might as well put a VLT machine in my living room.  Could they at least make it a LITTLE more challenging?  Seriously?  Click?  That's it?  Click and viola - money is gonzo!  Do not tell my mother about this little invention.  My dad will go into heart failure.  Seriously.

I'm going to literally TURN THE COMPUTER OFF NOW.

RIGHT NOW.

for real.

good night.

j

Pigs in a Blanket.





Ladies and gentlemen, procrastination has reached
an all time high here , at Blog Headquaters.


Oh jeepers.


(p.s. 47 pts to the first person who figures out what I'm talking about, makes the link, so to speak)

Our hero is no match for the mighty Quiet Time Queen




Maddie doesn't always have a nap on the weekend, but we try to have "Quiet Time" each day. This mostly means she can choose to have 45 minutes or ONE hour (of course she chooses the ONE choice) to spend in her room and play quietly. Sounds like a good idea, and it is, but it also almost always ends up in one of the adults asleep. On Saturdays I use Quiet Time as my nap time and Maddie usually comes in to join me after about 30 min of play time. Today Jason went into her room. Maddie stayed up....but Daddy didn't make it...

Things I learned today:

1. When you are having trouble adjusting to increased body proportions, trying on skinny jeans is not a good idea.  In fact, it is just about the worst idea.  Especially in Old Navy with their awful white lighting that not only hides nothing, but makes everything a sick shade of blue.  Thank you Old Navy for that uplifting moment.

2. A nap, followed by two cups of coffee is a great idea if you have lots to do in the evening. Not a good idea if you likely have to get up at 7 (or earlier) with a small, energetic, and extremely verbose child.  Shit.

3. I still love going to Michaels on a Saturday night.  I used to (by used to I mean: Pre-Madge Days)  go on friday nights all by myself.  I went tonight and just loved SLOWLY walking down every isle.  EVERY isle.  And do you know what?  They have a great playlist going there.  I've always been a fan of whatever that music is called in stores. You know, the kind you find yourself just singing along to (oh, listen everyone...if you're really quiet you can hear Jason cringing).  When I lived in Minot, the grocery store (Albertsons) played music and I can remember Allison and I having so much fun in there. Ok, now that I write it down it sounds ridiculous.  I admit it.  A tad embarrassing if you will.  But people, to know me is to love me, so just deal with it. You don't HAVE to read this thing.

4. I have a bedtime for a reason.  You will note by the time (12:59) that I am up WAY past 10pm.  And sadly I'm also VERY awake.  So this is what happens.  I get on the blog and ramble away....ramble ramble ramble.

And to complete the ramble, I will share with you lucky folks 10 Random Things.  Kelly always liked these, and I think of her whenever I do them.

1. My back is sore from hunching over this laptop.
2. Bosco is curled up behind me and I swear he's the cutest thing when he's all scrunched up and sleeping like that.
3. I wish I was better at making play lists.
4. I think it's just about time to make some Baileys.  One of these days.
5. I don't understand skinny jeans.  My only question:  I thought that we were supposed to wear straight leg jeans to look thinner?  Are we just embracing our pear shaped ass now or are we pretending it's not there?  We are not all size 2 and 18 years old.  What the hell are the skinny jeans about?
6. I have sneakers with black sequins and damn I love those shoes.
7. I wonder if I should start making this blog more restricted?  Thoughts?
8. When things are organized and tidy I feel calm.   Messiness is a one way ticket to Anxietyville for this camper.
9. I love sweatshirts.
10. I love love love when Maddie puts her warm little arm around my neck.

Good night.
j

It's OFFICIAL!

Congratulations to Morgan and Georgia - 
according to The Queens Bench, they are officially a family. (Although they've been a family for much longer - now it's written in stone!)

Polly want a cracker!