Friday, November 28, 2008

Black Friday Hunting of a Different Sort

We needed to get out of the house today, so we went to a beach. I was so excited, we found a lot of sea glass. I am hoping to collect much more over our time here.

Here's Boo sitting on the sea wall.

Like the tongue sticking out me? He's such a nice boy.

I think the sea glass is so pretty. As you can tell, some started life as a beer bottle. We got some nice shells too.

Collecting shells, and sea glass after mommy mandated we all look for it. Luckily the boys were happy to help me out. Garrett is not in this picture because he just could not move on down the beach. There were shells everywhere. He would start to head toward us, stop pick up something else and run back to the pile he had started. It was really funny, he just could not walk past anything.

Thursday, November 27, 2008

Stuffing recipe

This is the recipe I used. I did not use it to stuff my turkey, so I used more stock than the recipe called for since I was baking it in a dish. And I used 1/2 wheat, 1/2 white for the bread cubes. Since we do not have Golden Delicious apples I used a Wojin apple. That is one of only about 3 kinds here. And apples are crazy expensive here, as are potatoes. Gotta love the produce embargoes. Oh, and I added the apples and cranberries to the skillet to warm them through a little before adding to the bread cubes. I am going to get a picture of the green onions sold at the Japanese grocery here. They are huge. You'll see. Someday. I promise. Someday.

  • 1 1/2 cups cubed whole wheat bread
  • 3 3/4 cups cubed white bread
  • 1 pound ground turkey sausage
  • 1 cup chopped onion
  • 3/4 cup chopped celery
  • 2 1/2 teaspoons dried sage
  • 1 1/2 teaspoons dried rosemary
  • 1/2 teaspoon dried thyme
  • 1 Golden Delicious apple, cored and chopped
  • 3/4 cup dried cranberries
  • 1/3 cup minced fresh parsley
  • 3/4 cup turkey stock
  • Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Spread the white and whole wheat bread cubes in a single layer on a large baking sheet. Bake for 5 to 7 minutes in the preheated oven, or until evenly toasted. Transfer toasted bread cubes to a large bowl.
  • In a large skillet, cook the sausage and onions over medium heat, stirring and breaking up the lumps until evenly browned. Add the celery, sage, rosemary, and thyme; cook, stirring, for 2 minutes to blend flavors.
  • Pour sausage mixture over bread in bowl. Mix in chopped apples, dried cranberries, and parsley. Drizzle with turkey stock. Spoon into turkey to loosely fill.

Wednesday, November 26, 2008

Happy Thanksgiving everyone!

Happy Thanksgiving! We just got done eating Thanksgiving dinner, hence why I am on the computer; I am too full to move! For the first time ever I made dressing from scratch. I appreciate the dressing, this may be a sign I am growing up.

Sunday, November 23, 2008

Critter watch 2008 continues!

I took this picture at a friend's house over the weekend. This plant is literally right next to their sidewalk. I know it is hard to see, but there is a big spider right in the center. I don't think so. She and I could not co-exist.


Garrett and I found something interesting in the house today, a little lizard. We think he came in to get out of the rain today.
Loading these pictures today made me realize my camera has the wrong date now. I guess if you cross the international date line it would require you to reset the date on various electronics.

The Toothless Wonder

Seth lost his other front baby tooth. We like to call him "toothless wonder".
In true Seth fashion, there was a lot of drama that last day when it was barely holding on. Thank god it finally came out. Now he won't starve to death or exist on a soft foods only diet.
*Edited* I forgot to tell you, because I am sure you were wondering, the tooth fairly left yen, not dollars! Seth got 200 yen, he was really excited. Since the dollar has only gotten weaker since we got here, that is a good deal for him.


A Feast

Seth's class had a Thanksgiving feast last Friday. The dish Seth asked me to make was Warm Winter Lemon Cake. Jer, Garrett, and I were there with Seth. They had a great spread, yum!



The things we need?

These are a few pictures of our household goods shipment arriving. It is interesting the things we sent for the time we will be here. It was much easier here before all this stuff got here. Our house here is much smaller than we had in Cali, and it is an adjustment.

Un-crating all the boxes.


We gave Garrett this box of Hot Wheels and it kept him very busy. After not seeing these for almost 2 months, they were like new to him. BTW, that is our front door that is open in the picture. I will have to take a better picture of the front of the house some time. The previous resident left me a nice flower bed.

The crates still waiting to be opened.

Our own name on a crate!

We had the movers unpack the boxes since we (read Jerry there) knew there wouldn't be anywhere for the empty boxes.
So, here is the poor little munchkin trying to eat some mac and cheese amid the initial chaos. We had to clear that little spot for him to even sit down.

This is what the house looks like after the mass unpacking.
One side of the living room.

The other side of the living room.

Steven's room.

Vaughn's room. He was NOT happy when he got home from school and saw this.

I made a lot of progress over the weekend in getting some of the last things put away. We haven't hung any pictures yet. And, of course, all the curtains I brought are the wrong size. It never fails.

Wednesday, November 5, 2008

There ARE reasons.....


1. Mommy's still sick
2. He likes to dress himself
3. Seriously, who could ask him to change, he's so proud
4. We make him wear a sign saying "I dressed myself"

Tuesday, November 4, 2008

Oh no, momma's sick!

I am S.I.C.K. Like laying in bed, shivering, then sweating, coughing, thinking I may throw up......it is NOT good. The boys are very worried. The husband is trying to be supportive, and keep the kids in line. This is the first time I have been out of my bed in 18 hours. Yeah, it is that bad. Say A prayer that Okinawa doesn't kill me.