Chef Crazy

Mike decided to take a weeklong motorcycle trip to Wisconsin leaving me home. Wah, wah, I know. What's a girl to do?  I decided it'd be best to dive into Culinary Arts Course at Iowa State.  Obviously, I have in-laws who allow me to take advantage of things like this. 

Otherwise, I'd be nothing more than a desperate housewife eating tater tots. 

It started out Monday morning and I swear I learned more in 2-1/2 hours than I did in 4 years at ISU- maturity matters.  For example, I learned how to breakdown a chicken.  That means knowing which bones to break where to get 8 pieces from each chicken.  Below is my interpretation of "Airline Chicken".  Note the perfect shoulder bone of the chicken standing perpendicular to the breast.  And Goose had nothing to do with it!  Yep, these are the things that get my adrenaline flowing these days.  This was also lunch on Day 1.

The second day was filled with tours of Des Moines Restaurants.  We started out at Pizza Ranch.  G'funk of all people, taught me if you can't say nothin' nice, you shouldn't say anything at all.  Moving on we went to Lakeside Casino to tour their kitchens, buffets and cafes.  The employees there seemed SO burned out.  I've never been SO grateful for my college education.  After that we headed to the Embassy Club Downtown.  It has the best view of Downtown Des Moines EVER.  We ate with the CEO and owner of the Embassy Club.  Below is lunch from day 2.  Apparently I'm 75 years old and have started taking pictures of food. 

This is 4 oz of Iowa Fillet served with the most delicious horseradish sauce I've ever eaten, topped on grilled asparagus, with crispy shallots and a wheat berry salad next to an appetizer of a gazpacho shrimp shooter along toasted baguette with prosciutto.  The dessert was vanilla panna cotta with fresh berries. 

And this was the view from where I sat.

I've added "Become a Chef" to my Bucket List. 

However, Chefs have horrible schedules. 

For example, If I were a Chef, I'd never get to spend my evenings with this little Chef.

Yes, she's wearing hair extensions.  We do those sorts of things around here.

I pray she learns to embrace her Passions, Stop at NOTHING and know the world is SO much bigger than she could ever imagine.

Let food be thy medicine and medicine be thy food!
Hippocrates

Concert Time!

We threw our first concert. Naturally, it was hotter than... HOT.  But it's July in Iowa and that's whatcha get.  The purpose was to raise funds for our trip to China.  Luckily, we were awarded a $3000 matching grant for this fundraisier.  I've always loved a good challenge.

Cindy and Denny provided the venue (including a spotless yard with pops of color, seating, parking, playground area, background music and bug-free grass).  GG and Aunt Judy showed up as the work horses and made sure the roasters were hot and food was being served. 

GG ran around with her camera to be sure she'd have photos for our birthday cards.  Therefore, this glamourous shot of me by the jumper cables and pesticide sprayers exists.

There were two guests with casts (one was a child).  Did I mention how HOT is was?  Bless their hearts.

The heat didn't stop these two performers.  The dancing was started by Maisie's best friend Ava.  Ava won 2nd place in the talent show Maisie participated in last winter.  You know, when she sang "Fight Song" on stage and didn't freak out like we all expected her to."

The little girl with the cat ear headband is Ava's sister.  She and Molly were born at the exact same hospital, on the exact same day, by the exact same doctor.  1 hour apart.  Crazy town!

And of course, they all adore Maddy.  The neighbor girl.

Don't look at Molly.  It makes her uncomfortable.  She may punch you in the face.  She's a wild card.

Cindy and the Mack Daddy strike a pose.

Ross takes the comfy seat while poor Brandon is crammed against the house.  Brandon is the same friend Ross traded Brandon a stick for his necklace when they were 4.  Brandon's brother Evan is peering out behind them. He's on crutches.  Live Generously Ross, live generously.

Giant Jenga was happening in the background.

And not long after, the idea of gymnastics began. 

Maisie has no clue who this person is, yet felt moved to demonstrate her backbend for her.

Oh Chad Elliott, you belong on that log cabin porch!  Please come back!

Maybe you won't be sweating through your shirt next time.

This was during the Grandpa song. I think it was close to Heaven on Earth for at least one of 'em.

Ross was SO eager to count the cash afterwards.  I wouldn't have posted a photo like this cause it's tacky, but Ross and I have been obsessed with Monopoly lately.  I love how this photo shows our ongoing Monopoly game as we figure out how much more we need to raise to bring his big brother home.

This was supposed to be a super-attractive photo of our family.  Because duh, we're all in matching shirts.  However, we were hotter than.... HOT, I'm just noticing Mike must have shaved his facial hair?, Molly's face is partially covered, there's the reflection of a mini-van in the window and Ross is completely soaked from sweat. 

This is us. 

The local family bringing a 13 year old boy home from China.

Mack, we don't speak Chinese, I'm not that good at making rice, we're gonna mess up more than once as parents, we don't even know if you like the name Mack and we've never done anything like this before. 

But our hearts are ready for you.

Enjoy the below link of Chad Elliotts song dedicated to our journey. 

Oh, my heart!

Chad Elliott, If I Needed You

School House Rock

Just when I'd come to the conclusion my kids were most disrespectful, demanding and helpless people to walk the earth, (yep, it's summer break), I discovered them here...

Upon entering...  Seriously, they took their shoes off outside?

Inside the girls were crammed into this desk.  The same desk I refinished for the fair when I was in 4-H.  Not a necessary fact for this story, but still a fact.

And take a look who the teacher was...

Trust me, I snapped these photos as fast as I could and tip-toed outta there.  I didn't want anything to ruin this moment.

5 minutes later Molly came in bawling that Ross kicked her out of school.  Maisie followed her in quoting multiplication facts and asking if the cookies were ready. 

Whatever, it was great while it lasted.

Summer Schedules and Crinoids

I started seeing the Chiro.  I woke up Wednesday morning and limped to the bathroom as my hip shot bullets down my thigh and into my shin.  I reached up into a cabinet and felt the nerve shoot the pain back up into my hip.

  That's the moment I surrendered. 

Guess what the Chiro found out?  Besides the fact that I have scoliosis (Heather, you're not alone), and the spine in my necks bends a little forward instead of a little backwards, but my right pelvis bone has shifted up, causing my leg to be shorter on that side (a little Great Grandma Green Syndrome) and I have 2nd degree sciatica.  The good news, the chiro can fix it.  The bad news, it wont be over night.

So hells bells, I'm gettin' 'er fixed. 

Thursday morning I needed to be out the door by 9:45 for my 'adjustment'.  During the school year, that's practically lunch time.  However, during the summer, it may as well be 5:30 a.m. 

Don't judge.  It's summer, sleepers gonna sleep.

Ross is completely bored with the Winterset pool, and it's the only place the girls want to go.  It's a constant tug-of-war.  Therefore, we had a long talk about 'trying things even if they suck sometimes.  Cause, you just never know'.

We went to the cat show at the Madison County Fair Wednesday.  OMG.  Please remind me to skip that next year.  And because that wasn't enough torture, we attended the open-class Pet show immediately following.  Again... OMG.  Things didn't get much better from that point on as we attended the 4-H Fashion Review modeling, however we tried something new and everyone survived.

On Thursday we picked up an old pastime and went crinoid hunting.  If you don't know what a crinoid is, you obviously were not following my blog in 2012-2013.  Molly had to pee immediately upon hitting the trail and I was forced to make her squat.  I just KNEW she'd end up peeing on her sneakers, so I managed to lean her backwards into my arms during the void, allowing the pee to fall straight down instead of shooting off in an awkward ankle.  Sneakers stayed dry!  Lo and behold, crinoids, fossilized shells, snails and mosquitos were discovered.  That's when Ross decided it'd be fun to show us the shortcut trail to the Ford.  The Ford is water rushing over a makeshift road that you can cross by car or foot.  The kids LOVED playing in it, however the algae at the bottom of the ford was SLICK!  Yep, I wiped out immediately and told the kids, "Nope, I'm spending way too much on my hip to participate in this death trap.  You guys can go knock yourselves out".  Luckily, we walked away without drowning or concussions. 

Maisie told me it was the best day of her life.

I watched another mom at the Ford take a cute photo of her kids under a shade tree.  That's when I remembered my camera was in the car, but there was no way I was hauling my Nikon down that sketchy path to capture my kids wiping-out on the slick algae. 

And yet for some reason, I have a feeling the image of Maisie's silhouette skipping down the Ford in her jean shorts and algae stained owl shirt, laughing to high heaven wont need a photograph to make space in my memory.  It didn't cost a dime, we laughed more than we complained, we came home with a fruitsnack bag filled with crinoids, and we tried something new. 

After Ross came out of the shower, he announced the Ford has sticky mud and he really could have used the "Plymouth Stone" to get it all off. 

Have I mentioned how much I love these people?

Concert Preparations

I caught someone on the front porch listening to the boom box.  He rushed through dinner and made his way to the porch.  When I went to see what was going on, he relied, "I'm just gonna listen to a little Chad Elliott".

He's a huge fan.

Saturday night Chad Elliott will be HERE!  Can you tell we are EXCITED!

Weekend Rundown

This years' 4th of July Festivities started with 2 horses and a Texas Miss Rodeo Contestant in our front yard.  Luckily for me, the horses weren't interested in my marigolds either.  Apparently too stinky for horses too.  Miss Texas Rodeo (aka, my cousin Ellie, aka, Barbie) directed countless horse rides over the 48-hour weekend. 

Bless. Her. Heart.

But then our Winterset crew loaded up and headed to L.G. (aka: Long Grove) for the next rounds of entertainment.  I have no idea why I'm suddenly into 'aka'.  I'm going with it though.  These two fancy ladies (aka: Aunt Judy and mom/GG) were quick to prepare a lunch, dinner, breakfast, snack, beverage, joke, smile, you name it. 

The youngest party guest was spoiled rotten by Aunt Judy. 

It's a Romeo on a Romeo!

No, Molly didn't have a headache.  She just really, really, really doesn't like attention.  I swear she and Ross ARE related.  Barbie even claims Molly spoke to her.  The word was 'No', but still...baby steps.

Ella (my cousin Chris and his wife Kim's daughter) LOVED riding Strawberry.

And of course Sam was all smiles.

Zach couldn't hide his smiles either.

Photobomber Maisie

There's our country bumpkin', Laura.

Aunt Heather snaps the shot while Eric calculates his drone location.  Yep, there was a drone.

GG even rode Romeo like a pro!

Getting down was another story.  We were just lucky she had a sober hand to help her off the horse afterwards.

And of course, my little cowboy.

Look out John Wayne, there's a new kid in town.