Let's Examine the 'Fax'

Question:
When did "Secretary" become a derogatory word? It's now "administrative assistant" or some other fancy-schmancy name for the same job. The other day I was talking to Aaron about his job and I made the mistake of referring to one of Aaron's "assistants" as his "secretary", and got all poo-pooed on for using a no-no word. "Administrative Assistant" sounds to me like the Secretary wasn't doing his or her job, and instead was using a thesaurus to look up a cooler sounding title to fit their job description.
You answer the phone. You send faxes. You make copies. You file stuff. You actually use the word "memo". You are a secretary. There is nothing wrong with this. Being a secretary is a respectable occupation...so why the sudden frown on on the job title? The job description didn't change.

It's the same with the guy who cleans my septic tank every few years. He is a "sanitation equipment maintenance specialist".
Huh?
You clean my septic tank. Trust me, I am grateful you do. I respect you and appreciate the service you provide. So why the need for the glammed up title? If you spend your days knee-deep in someone else's crap, you are a Poo Cleaner. Poo Cleaner is your job title. Don't take offense. I'm not calling YOU POO, I'm saying you CLEAN the POO. It's what you do. It pays your bills. It feeds your family. Be proud of your job title.

If you clean da poo, you are a Poo Cleaner.
If you answer da phone, you are a Secretary.
Own it.

Among other job titles, I am officially a Diaper Sniffer, a Booger Catcher, and a Butt Wiper.

I'm ok with that.
It's what I do.
And I do it well.

Good Eats 2009

I'm thinking I might include a recipe once in awhile on the blog. Who doesn't love to try something new? Especially when it comes highly recommended by someone with such great taste as myself.
Ok, I took pictures, and probably shouldn't have, because I'm no fancy photographer and my photos probably will only end up making the food look less appetizing. When I look in a cookbook, I like to see pictures. When I go out to eat, I look at people's faces, and when I see people who are smiling and happy, I look at what's on their plate (or what's left of it), and ask a nearby server what the happy people ordered. (because in my twisted head it MUST be the food that made them smile? Really, I don't know why I use this method for food selection, but I do nearly every time I eat someplace new.) I also like a visual to see if I am making the recipe correctly, because I don't always read the directions thoroughly.

Tonight's Main Dish:
Chicken and Black Bean Empanadas
My friend, Erin, has a GREAT recipe for this, complete with pineapple salsa fresca. Unfortunately, I was missing a few ingredients (like onions and cumin) and added cheese to meet our need to make everything even more fattening. I was also missing the desire and energy to make fresh salsa tonight that only I would eat. Here is the mock up version we ate tonight. Fresh salsa aside, they were pretty fabulous!

1 pkg puff pastry-thaw (it takes about an hour)

Mix together in a frying pan:
1/3 green bell pepper, diced
1 tsp dried oregano
1 tsp minced garlic (or 2 pressed fresh garlic cloves if that's how you roll)
3 TBS olive oil
salt and pepper
sautee about 4 min

add:
1 1/2 c shredded chicken (I diced a grilled chicken breast leftover from last night)
15 oz can drained and rinsed black beans
2 TBS salsa
heat through

add:
1/4 c fresh cilantro leaves

Roll out puff pastry and use a pizza cutter to cut into 9 squares.
fill each square with 1-2 TBS chicken & black bean filling
top with a pinch of pepper jack
Use a little water on your fingers to fold over into triangles and pinch closed
brush with olive oil

Bake at 375* for 11-13 minutes
I topped them with Pace medium salsa (yep, from a jar), and delicious avocado dip

1 ripe avocado (smash)
1/2 c low fat sour cream
1 TBS Mexican seasoning
dash garlic salt

sO gOoD! The pepper jack was the perfect touch.

Puff pastry comes in a two pack, which I forgot about until I had already let it thaw, so I cut the other sheet into 6 squares and filled them with cherry pie filling and a dollop of cream cheese.
Brush with vegetable oil, sprinkle with granulated sugar. Bake 375* for 15 minutes (I think they took longer because they were bigger than the empanadas)
Dust with powdered sugar.
Top with fat free, sugar free, flavor free vanilla ice cream
Tell husband you are (surprised, yet) proud of his decision to purchase "healthy" ice cream this year.
Listen to husband (also surprised) whine and complain for 10 minutes because he is pissed that he accidentally bought fat free, sugar free ice cream..and that this was in no way a "healthy decision" but rather the devastating result of yesterday's late night ice cream run oversight.

Agree that the ice cream is totally disgusting, but at least the cherry turnovers are good.
Resolve to use up the leftover gross ice cream in root beer floats at a football party later in the week.
Hopefully, the "fake" ice cream will not ruin the floats. He did purchase a good, non-diet root beer, so hopefully the two will create a happy, low calorie balance.
While we're (sort of) on the topic (ok, not at all) of "healthy":
"Healthy" ice cream should be kept in an entirely different freezer. That way, the people that DO purchase it don't have to look at all the really good stuff mocking them through the glass doors while they make their lousy low-fat selection. Knowing that you are going home with Creamies and Skinny Cow bars should be a happy time. But once you pass by the Chunky Snicker Chocolate Delight, Chocolate Thin Mint Girl Scout Cookie, and Peanut Butter Iditterod Ice Cream Selections...well Skinny Cow just starts looking kind of sad. Sad like maybe he needs some Chocolate Fudge Brownie Swirl to cheer him up.

Don't Eat Yellow Snow. No... NO! The Brown Snow Is Not Ok, Either

Aaron took the kiddies out to "enjoy" the 5 ft snow drift that kept us trapped in the house most of our visit. We loved that we got to see the family, but we are pretty certain that we will forever keep our visits to Utah void of the winter months.

Grandma Lynda helped bundle up the girls with her surplus of warm clothes. We thought we had done well for ourselves when we packed for a chilly climate, only to have it laugh in our faces and remind us why we so enjoy January days in Arkansas like today, where the temp reached a sunny 72.
This little jacket must have been Janae or Jana's. I fell in love with it. It was a little snug for her, but if I find out we are having a girl, I hope this little jacket will make it's way to my mailbox. It looks exactly like something I might have worn as a child, and...well just look at that little ruffle around Quincy's face, so stinking cute.


Reese was frozen to her bones, but it didn't stop her from making snowball after snowball and throwing them at me. If I had been a cool mom (as opposed to the wimpy, non-cool, boring mom that I was last week) I would have built a snow fort with her and had a good laugh pelting the dogs with our pre-made ammo. But wet dogs smell worse than regular dogs, so we left them alone. And since I was bitter that I was banned (for legitimate reasons, but still...boo.) from sledding, skiing, or ice skating this winter, I pretty much left the snow alone alltogether during our trip...with the exception of throwing up in it outside the bowling alley, Jordan River Temple, Rob and Lynda's house, the church, Weinersnitzel, The Gateway Parking garage (why do parking garages have to smell so bad? Is there some sort of rule? It's like car exhaust meets mildew from and underground cave meets cigarette breath) Target, Cafe Rio, and Taco Bell. (Ok, that sounds like a lot of throwing up...and it was. I actually have been feeling loads better the past few weeks, but we were struck with some lovely food poisoning during our trip, and coupled with my worthless stomach, altitude headache, and the nasty cold I had been fighting, the result was a very green and grouchy Meg most of the week.)
Lucky for my kids, they have a super dad, who enjoys building snowmen, "snowcastles", snow angels, and sledding. He took the camcorder sledding (the old camcorder...we decided to return the Black Friday Camcorder since our new digital camera can take little videos, and aside from being non-digital and enormous, there is nothing wrong with the old one.) I wish I had pictures of them sledding, maybe one of the aunties have pics on their cameras?


Most of my pictures of Pieces in the snow turned out fuzzy. I'm not sure why. She did manage to hit me with a snowball, though and I wonder if there was moisture on the lens when I took some of the pics. This is precisely why we do not pay big money for cameras. They begin their slow death once they become ours. This particular camera only cost 60 bucks. I'm taking bets on how long this one will last us!

OH! And just so I don't receive 100 phone calls tomorrow asking if our baby is going to be "Princess Daisy Genevieve" or a "Algneron Baby Stogie Jackson" (no, she doesn't know what a stogie is, but that's Reese's latest name for baby boy), my appointment has been MOVED! Apparently my Doctor "unexpectedly" needed to take the day off, and they have "conviently" rescheduled me for an appointment Wednesday evening. Since I doubt the ultrasound tech will be around after 5pm on a wed evening, we might have to wait another week to see if we spy a little pee-pee or a pink bow on a bald head. I can't believe I waited the whole 9 months to find out the sex with Reese and Quincy. The suspense is klling me! Probably because this pregnancy has been so different...I just want to know if the rumors are true, or if this kid is going to get a Barbie Powerwheel Jeep on the day of her birth just for making pregnancy relatively easier this time around.

"You Know I'm Training To Be a Cage FIghter..."

Q pretty much rocks the somersault.
We don't know where she learned it,
but it's awesome.
Here she is practicing her Okinawan Crane technique:

Daniel: What were you doing on those stumps?
Mr. Miyagi: Called crane technique.
Daniel: Does it work?
Mr. Miyagi: If do right, no can defence.
Daniel: Could you teach me?
Mr. Miyagi: First learn stand, then learn fly

All we have to do now is get her to wash the car...

"I Would Slippy-Slippy-Slidey Over Everybody's Hidey, Oh I Wish I Was A Little Bar O Soap"

I've seen the colored bath fizzies before...and I've heard that kids totally love them. But there is something about a kid bathing in yellow water that's just gross. Or what about red water? That's disturbing in a different way. Even blue water makes me think of "1000 flushes" household cleaner-blue toilet water.

But after an hour of playing in the snow, what could be more fun than taking a nice warm tubby in pink or purple bathwater?

Quincy kept calling it her "juithe tubby" and drank more than what could still be considered a healthy amount of the soapy pink bath water. Oh well, at least she didn't eat any of the yellow snow from Grandma's backyard.

"Drifting Falling, Floating Weightless, Coming Coming Home"

We're home.
45 minutes to the airport
$75 total fees for "excess" luggage
2 1/2 hr flight
2 1/2 hr layover
1000 fruit snacks and oreos (thank you Grandma, they saved our lives...well you saved the lives of your crabby grandchildren)

1 hour flight
1/2 hour fighting to get our car from long term parting (there are two identical lots, but the one we were parked in charged $70 instead of $30)
2 1/2 hr drive home
4 with food poisoning
1 ear infection
2 sets of pink eye
52 degree house full of Christmas paper that we didn't clean up in our rush out the door to the airport Christmas morning.
takeout dinner
hot chocolate
a bath
a fire
hot chocolate
warm jammies
sleeping children
We're home.

We had a whole week to visit with the Willy's!
The kids were spoiled by grandparents, got to play with cousins and fun aunties and uncles, eat all the junk food a little kid could want, throw up the junk food all over Grandma's bed, stay up super late, watch movies, play in the snow, play with Grandma's never ending supply of really cool toys, go to a discovery museum, see dozens of Christmas lights, and learn to love the family doggies.

Considering that no one has felt well for about 4 days, the kids woke up happy as can be this morning. It was 60 degrees outside, so we went for a walk and watched the birds (who needs a museum? drop by our yard and you'll see plenty of wildlife in their natural habitat...if you show up after hours, you are sure to get a peek at special exhibit of two adults happy to walk around the house in their underwear, curtains closed or not. Good thing our neighbors have old eyes.). After we visited with our neighbor friends for a bit, we came home and made these DELICIOUS (and healthy..toot toot.) smoothies to go with our (not so healthy) frozen pizza lunch.

Citrus Blend Smoothies
(I don't really measure, but here is an estimate of what we put in there)
1 1/2 c frozen pineapple
3/4 cup frozen peaches
3 heaping tablespoons vanilla yogurt
1 tsp lemon juice
1/3 c orange juice
1/3 c nonfat milk
Blend.
Forget that the blender is going while you haul more leftover Christmas paper trash out to the curb and flag down the garbage truck before it drives away.
Wash stinky trash hands.
Wash hands again because you still smell the trash on them.
Smell butt of toddler and realize that the smell is coming from her diaper, not from your trash hands.
Change really stinky diaper.
Wish you didn't have to store stinky diaper in your garage for 6 days until the trash is collected again.
Wash hands a third time.
Pour smoothies and sip with pink straws
Enjoy!

Thanks to those who keep up with our "daily journal-ing of irrelevant nonsense."
It's not irrelevant to us.
I'm glad we can share our adventures with family and friends who feel the same way.
Happy New Year to all!

"Our House, In the Middle Of Our..."

...living room.

Santa stuffed the stockings with new "peoples" for the dollhouse! Reese got a Grandma and a little brother, and Quincy got another mommy and little sister. Lucky for us, there are plenty of beds in the Loving Family Grand Sweet Sounds Mansion for all the new arrivals. Especially when "Dad" is always outside propped against the BBQ pit or "at work" (in the box with the spare furniture). It makes me sad that neither of the girls ever want to be the "Dad people"...I guess now that they have a "Grandma people" around, both the Mom and the Dad will be long forgotten.

Very happy children. Thanks again, Missie!