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No Mail Mom Fail

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A couple of months ago there was a note in Rylee’s cubby at school. I don’t remember the exact wording now, but it said something about Miss Sarah {her teacher} putting a mailbox {AKA empty tissue box with the word “mailbox” on it…3 year olds are SO gullible} on the window sill of their classroom and parents are welcome to leave notes for their kids that would be read aloud during circle time {remember this part, it will be important soon}.

“CUTE!” I thought. I took the note home and after it got shuffled between the counter, kitchen table and island a few times {I am so my father’s daughter} it must have mades it’s way into the recycle…where I proceeded to completely forget about it.

Now, fast forward to last week at school pick-up. I head to the big room to pick Ry up and we head into her classroom to grab her things. But, on this day, she got to be the LINE LEADER and had to take me over to the little pouch on the wall to show me that her name was in it!

Seriously! So! Exciting!

While we’re standing there chatting about how TOOL {cool} it was to be the line leader, in what I can now only assume is the spot the have their circle time, mid sentence she stops, puts her little hands on her little hips, lets out a little sigh/grunt and says totally distraught “I don’t get no mail ever!”

Forget about the fact that that was a total double negative…it only took about 2.5 seconds to sink in…and I felt like a big fat jerk and about 3 inches tall.

MOM FAIL!

Every other kid in my daughter’s class has been getting “mail” in their mailbox but her.

Fast forward again to drop off this morning.

There was a note stuffed into that empty facial tissue box mailbox.

She better love it.

Old pic, but this is SO what her attitude was summed up in photo form! She was PISSED!

All I want for Christmas…

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I am normally a BIG proponent for “respecting the turkey” and not doing anything remotely Christmas related until after Thanksgiving…actually that’s still the case, “all I want for Christmas” is just a catchy way for me to ask you for your help!

You see, there’s this company called Modern Bird Studios…you may remember me writing about them before. They take a photograph and turn it into an amazing piece of hand painted art.

They’re having their semi-annual-ish photo contest that they’re calling “The Epic Holiday Photo Contest of 2011!”

Here’s where you come in…please head on over to Modern Bird’s contest album, track down my photo (photo #43 or 86, in case you were wondering) and like it! It’s that simple.

Here’s the photo I submitted this year…

You will have to “like” Modern Bird on facebook first to actually “like” my photo, but don’t worry, they’re not annoying faecbook updaters, plus BONUS, you’ll get info to get in on whatever future contests or giveaways they do!

You can ‘like’ as many as you want, and ‘liking’ will take place between now and Monday, 1pm EST. Top 10 photos will be sent to our panel of judges were a winner will be chosen and announced on Tuesday!!

There are lots of other fantastic photos that deserved to be liked as well, so go…now…like away!

And seriously? THANK YOU so, so much!!

Giving a New Meaning to Built Ford Tough

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Dear Ford Motor Company,

I wanted to take a minute to write you a letter and tell you about my dad and his Ford truck. I’m sure you receive a lot of letters on a daily basis, from customers all over the world, but I’m not sure you’ve ever received one quite like this.

First let me tell you a little bit about my father. My dad’s a 62 year old consulting forester who has worked hard every day of his life and will continue to do so until his body will no longer let him. Almost 20 years ago, he set out on a new adventure….he started his on forestry business. And with his new adventure, came a brand new 1994 Ford F150.

I remember the day he got that truck. I went with him to to the dealership to pick it up. I sat quietly in a too-big chair waiting for him to finish signing all the paperwork, excited I got to be the first one to ride in it with him.

Since that day, that truck has seen most of the state of Oregon and some pretty rough terrain. As a forester, he’s on gravel logging roads, dirt logging roads and sometimes no roads at all, for the better part of the year. It’s hauled tree seedlings for new plantings. He’s been to Canada in that truck, bringing home a moose in the back.  And I’ll never forget the countless camping trips where that truck pulled our family camp trailer.

Needless to say, I think his truck as served him well over the years.

When his truck reached 300,000 miles, my sisters and I, concerned he may get stranded out in the woods somewhere, would ask him when he was going to finally go buy a new truck. He’d just get this twinkle in his eye, smile and laugh the way only my dad does, and say, “I’m going for half-a-million miles.”

Of course we thought he was joking…or crazy…or even a little bit of both.

But that? Well, that was over a hundred-thousand miles ago…yes, more than 100,000 miles have passed since then.

As of today, or at least the last time I checked, he’s tipped 430,000 miles on his truck’s original motor and is well on his way to his goal of half of a million miles.

“Built Ford Tough” takes on a new meaning when it comes to my dad and his Ford F150…wouldn’t you agree?

The Sunday Review: Foil Baked Halibut

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So, since Andy’s trip to Alaska over the summer we have an abundance of halibut. Not a ton, but enough to get sick of it if I make it the same way every time. Know what I mean? I make it once every 3 weeks or so and I’m trying to use a different recipe every time.

This week was Foil-Baked Fist with Black Beans, Corn & Chipotle. I got the recipe out of America’s Test Kitchen, 30-Minute Suppers, Winter 2010 edition.

Level of Difficulty: All in all, this was pretty easy. Parts seamed a tad difficult, but that’s because I had a 3 and a half year old sou chef.

What I did Differently: I actually did quite a bit differently than the recipe called for. I didn’t use chipotle peppers because I didn’t want to buy a whole can of them to only use 2 teaspoons worth. So I used a touch of chili powder and some red pepper flakes. The recipe also called for orange zest and fresh orange juice…which I TOTALLY forgot to buy an orange so I ended up using lime zest, lime juice and a little bit of lemon juice. Worked out great!

Serving Suggestions: I served this with some rice and in hind sight? That was a whole-lotta carb action. It was definitely filling, but I’d suggest going with steamed broccoli and/or a salad too.

PROS: It was really good! And it didn’t take too long to make either…a 1/2 hour tops between prep and cooking. And bonus, since the fish were baked in foil packs, my house didn’t have a nasty fishy smell!

CONS: With just Andy & I (and Rylee), it was a too much. We did eat all the halibut, but mostly because we’d hate to see it go to waste. We could have easily fed 1 to 2 others. And there was entirely too much of the corn-black bean mix. We ended up throwing some out. I don’t have a recipe to link to. If you’re interested in seeing the whole recipe, let me know and I can email it to you!

Will we make it again?: Well, I already said that we try to cook the halibut different every time, but I would definitely make this again. This is a great dish to make when there’s more people over because the beans & corn are so filling.

Next week I’m making TWO brand new recipes: Turkey & Black Bean Chili and Baked Penne. Which would you like to hear more about??

Working With Style {7}

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Nothing much to report here…oh looks…Jeans again! I did however, take advantage of the ON 30% off sale last weekend and when their website was finally done screwing me over, I bought some not-jeans-not-slacks pants! They’re hang-drying right now {stupid long legs}.

The ?? with those boots? Well, those boots were a hand-me-down from my mom who can no longer where heels, and, well, I’m too lazy to get off my butt and check them for a brand. We call that shirt my pirate shirt…well, my husband calls that my pirate shirt…I just stopped arguing about it. Whatevs…it’s my pirate shirt and I own it. Ha.

Hope everyone’s having a great weekend so far!

Check back tomorrow for my “Sunday Review” of a new recipe we tried over the week!

Are you a working mama? You should link up with us!!