Your 80s Hunk Is

Kirk Cameron

Who's" Your 80s Hunk?

Thanks for this quick and funny quiz Megan!

Today's bonus chore was to clean out the beater bar under the vacuum. Val and I have twin Dyson vacuums, hers is yellow and mine is purple. After using hers on cleaning Monday for a few weeks, I had to get my own. We love our vacuums and treat them with TLC.

My recipe today isn't a crock pot recipe, but it is almost as easy. I have these wonderful neighbors who have been to Thailand a bit. They are always making this amazing Thai food and bringing it over to share. Sadly, they are moving to Thailand within the month. So I'm going to have to start cooking my own "curries" as Becky Bloomwood would say. After last weeks super yummy dish, I asked them for the recipe and tonight will be my first time trying it on my own. If anyone is brave enough to visit "The Bangkok Emporium" (or your own local Asian specialty store) and look like a complete idiot asking for help choosing a fish sauce and locating the mouse poop peppers, here's a great recipe for you!

Gaang Kiaw Wann (Sweet Spicy red curry)

• 4 oz red curry paste (I'm using Maesri brand prik khing curry paste)
• 13 oz coconut milk
• 1 lb diced raw chicken breast
• 3 T sugar
• 1/4 c fish sauce
• 8 oz baby corn
• 4 oz water chestnuts
• 4 oz canned bamboo shoots
• 6 lime leaves
• 3-6 mouse poop peppers (new guinea peppers)
• jasmine rice to serve with

Dice and smash the peppers with a mortar. In a large sauce pan bring to a boil milk and curry paste and pepper mash. Stir constantly and don't allow to scorch, blend very well. Add chicken sugar and fish sauce, boil 5 minutes covered. Mix well each time you add ingredients. Add vegetables and leaves and simmer at least 2 minutes. Serve with rice.

My birthday outing with my sisters was really fun. We went to the Cheesecake Factory and I had the crazy carrot cake cheesecake. Then we just shopped and goofed around. Deakan was so adorable at the baby gap, I just had to get a picture. The funniest thing was that we parked at Dillards on one side of the mall and ended up at the Cheesecake Factory after the mall closed. We couldn't cut through the mall and we had to hike all the way around the whole mall parking lot in the dark. Val is "heavily burdened" and at one point I didn't think she was going to make it. The second funniest thing is that we decided to stop by Albertson's because their cereal was $1 a box. So we had like 50 boxes of cereal in the van afterward. We are such MOMS! Party on.

So I love Mondays. I didn't used to, but lately, they are one of my favorite days. I work weekends now, and I really like my job at the hospital taking pictures of the newborns, but now, Mondays seem like sort of a break. I think the real reason I like Monday so much is that it is my most structured day of the week.

Starting about last March, my sister and I decided to clean our houses together. My husband was on the verge of hiring a cleaning service, but I really didn't want to spend our money that way. He agreed to pay me the amount the service had quoted if I promised to keep the house to his standards (and that is a topic for another post.) I am not a very organized person and I knew I had to get some sort of a routine going. I don't remember how we (Val and I)thought of the brilliant idea to work together, but now we call it Team Cleaning. As soon as the kids are off to school Monday morning we start at her house or mine. At our own house we clean all the bathrooms and do all the moping, at our sisters house we do all the vacuuming and dusting. We somehow manage to get both houses sparkling before lunch. Between houses we do a Maverick run for sodas and return any stray library books to the library across the street.

We have also started a bonus chore. We alternate weeks choosing a household job that we are really itching to tackle that is not part of our normal schedule. Today I chose "clean out, wipe down and organize under our kitchen sinks." We do the bonus chore any time before the next week, but I think it works best for me to do it Monday during the baby's nap.

We are often tired after cleaning day so we have started throwing a recipe in the crock-pot before we start. Today I made a Hobo Stew that was so, so easy and all my boys (except my carb-a-tarian) loved it.

We don't do extra activities or have friends over after school on Monday. It is just family night. My kids really like to play board and card games, and it is the one night of the week we have dessert.

My Mondays are very domestic and family oriented, just like me.

This is a good new website I just stumbled across http://organizedhome.com

Hobo Stew

2 C. Barbecue Sauce (we love Jack Daniel's Original #7 Recipe)

4 polish sausages

1 lb Italian style frozen meatballs

2 c. frozen corn

1 c. chopped onion

1c. sliced mushrooms

6 diced potatoes

1 c. baby carrots

Simmer in the Crock Pot for 8 hours on low.

This is not the real stew I made, my camera battery finally died, but you get the idea.

Fall Fun

I have finally decided to post some pictures of my house. Now that school is in session, I have finished some things I wanted to share.

After much thought and indecision, the name of my house instantly stuck me. I live on Lillywood Drive. It was so simple and fitting, I'm surprised I didn't realize it sooner. She is now formally and publicly christened "Lillywood Cottage."

Everyone who knows me knows I am a sucker for fall decor. My favorite thing to get out is always my fall table setting. This picture is a little washed out, but the pumpkins in the centerpiece and on the napkin rings are sparkly and I just love them. I also found some beaded candle rings in fall colors that I added to the chandelier. You can sort of see my coffee table and a few other harvest touches around my main living area. I am always glad I use a lot of green in my decor because it goes so nicely with every season and holiday decor.

There is no formal dining room in this house, but as you can see, the dining area is visible from the front door, so at least everyone can see how cute it is the minute they walk in the house.

Here is the piano all decked out for fall. You see it right when you come into the house. The entryway is to the right, you can see the stairs go up behind the piano. I know, I really need to paint this space a "real color" but you know how long it takes me to decide on that sort of thing. I simply can't be rushed. I did go hog wild on my upstairs paint. I'll post soon!

Landen Goes To Preschool

Landen was so excited to experience preschool this year. I taught out of our home last year, so this was his first time at "real school." Of course he loves it and can't wait to go back. Rhett really wanted to go as well, but we have been enjoying our few mornings a week together. Last Thursday morning I bought the final supplies for a project I have been thinking about for at least 6 months. I can't wait to get it done and show y'all. Maybe during preschool this week?

Here is Landen and Ms. Kathy

Grobanites Unite!

We had such a wonderful time at the Josh Groban concert. He was so amazing, and sounded, if possible, better than on the CD's. I hope I wasn't so exuberant that I annoyed my companions, but they seemed to be into it too. We all really wanted to get the pink T-shirts that said "You are loved," but they were like $50 and the hoodies were $80. We just couldn't bring ourselves to do it, so to show our true colors as Grobanites, T made us all van vinyl! It is great to see our three vans cruising the streets of Boise. We are so, so cool. Don't you think?