Fortunately, Unfortunately

I have to steal this from my cousin because, well, I loved it.  Plus, who doesn't need to hear such things?


“Give your child a compliment and a hug; say, ‘I love you’ more; always express your thanks. Never let a problem to be solved become more important than a person to be loved. Friends move away, children grow up, loved ones pass on. It’s so easy to take others for granted, until that day when they’re gone from our lives and we are left with feelings of ‘what if’ and ‘if only.’ … “Let us relish life as we live it, find joy in the journey and share our love with friends and family. One day, each of us will run out of tomorrows. Let us not put off what is most important.” -President Thomas S. Monson


On to the purpose of tonight's blog.  Have you ever heard the Fortunately, Unfortunately stories?  Well, if not, prepare to laugh at my expense because I'm going to tell you one.  Yes, UNFORTUNATELY, it IS based on real life events...Mine...Today.


UNFORTUNATELY B woke up at 4 am.  FORTUNATELY that is about 6 times less in one night than she has been doing since Thursday.


UNFORTUNATELY Sam woke up with a belly ache this morning (eating a lb of grapes will do that to a child, but what do I know?  I'm just the mother.) & an eye that hurt.  FORTUNATELY her eye was & is not pink or boogery.


UNFORTUNATELY Sam decided she was needing to stay home from school today.  FORTUNATELY about 10 minutes before I walked out of the house, she decided that she was miraculously well enough to attend school.


UNFORTUNATELY I couldn't find the keys to the Expedition.  FORTUNATELY I found them.  UNFORTUNATELY they are in Rock Springs with my husband.  FORTUNATELY my dad wasn't working today & rescued me.

UNFORTUNATELY my dad needs his truck back Wednesday.  FORTUNATELY Travis overnighted my keys to me & I should have them by the end of the day tomorrow.  UNFORTUNATELY this means I need to break down & go get a spare key made.  Why haven't we before now?  It's a chipped key & costs about $80-$100.  FORTUNATELY Travis gets paid on Friday. 


UNFORTUNATELY I had to rearrange the classroom I'm in on Monday's so my students could do their research project presentations.  FORTUNATELY I made it to work with enough time to do so.


UNFORTUNATELY I had 3 kids that were not ready to present today.  FORTUNATELY the other 33 kids did.  UNFORTUNATELY we had technical difficulties all day long.  FORTUNATELY one of my fifth graders came to my rescue & we were able to work all the kinks out....eventually.


UNFORTUNATELY I was late leaving the school because I had to put the room I was in back together.  FORTUNATELY Laura, my day care person, loves me enough that she lets my big kids walk to her house after school when I can't get my butt there on time to get them.


UNFORTUNATELY I'm getting a migraine.  FORTUNATELY the kids had piano today & not dance.  UNFORTUNATELY they are still being quite loud.  FORTUNATELY I can send them downstairs to play.  


UNFORTUNATELY I didn't get dinner in the crock pot until 5:45 pm.  FORTUNATELY my crock pot is a super crock pot & dinner should still only take about 2 hours to do.  UNFORTUNATELY if they don't like it, I've already promised to make Ramen!


FORTUNATELY I survived today.  UNFORTUNATELY when my mom said "Hopefully tomorrow will be better."  I made the mistake of saying, "It can't possibly be any worse than today was!"

Crock Pot Recipe Day 15

Carolina Pulled Pork

From Hands Off Cooking

Serves 6

1 3-4 lb boneless Boston butt (pork shoulder), excess fat trimmed I bought one that had a bone in it (didn't know it) and it was roughly 6.2 lbs

Salt & freshly ground black pepper

2 cups (one 19 oz bottle) tomato based barbecue sauce I used a Kraft bbq sauce.  It said 18 oz and measured just under 1 cup.  I ended up using 2 1/2 bottles of bbq sauce

Red pepper flakes or cayenne pepper, to taste (optional) I didn't use this

1 cup apple cider vinegar I used regular white vinegar

1. Preheat oven to 400* F.  I put mine in the crock pot on high.

2. Remove any strings or net on the meat.  Sprinkle it all over with salt & pepper.  Put the pork in a large, heavy pot like a Dutch oven.  Taste the bbq sauce and add red pepper flakes if it isn't spicy enough for you.  Pour the vinegar on top of the meat, then the bbq sauce.

3. Cover the pot & braise the pork in the oven for 3 1/2-4 hours, or until the meat is falling apart and shreds very easily when pushed with a spoon.  Remove the pot and shred the meat by pushing it against the pot.  Stir it together with the sauce.

4. If you want, you can pour the meat and sauce into a colander set over a bowl to drain off any excess fat.  The meat will have absorbed most of the sauce already.

5. Serve immediately.

Ok, so like I said, I used a pork shoulder that had a bone in it & was roughly 6.2 lbs.  I did trim off the excess fat.  I put mine in my crock pot & cooked it on high.  Since I was using about double the meat, I doubled the vinegar & bbq sauce.  My suggestion is this: if you like a LOT of sauce, use what is in the recipe.  If you don't like a lot of sauce, you could likely get away with only doing about 3/4 of what it calls for.  There was TONS of extra sauce with mine.  Not sure if it's because I cooked it in the crock pot or if it is because it was doubled.  When I took mine out of the crock pot to shred it, I used a knife so I could get around the bone but was still able to use a fork for most of the shredding.  I then put the meat back in the crock pot with all the sauce and let it cook about 30 more minutes.  They turned out really good - they kids scarfed them right up.

Brookelyn

Sister finally has 2 teeth!  The 2 bottom front teeth she's been working on for the last 6 months have FINALLY come through!  Yes, I did do the happy dance when I saw them last night!

Took B to InstaCare again tonight.  Poor girl had eyes that were red, goobery, and nearly swollen shut since Thursday.  I thought she either had a cold & it had gone to her eyes or possibly had an allergic reaction to cinnamon.  Nope.  Sister has pink eye...in BOTH eyes.  Great.  Got some eye drops for that.  Twice a day for the next week.  Sister didn't care for that much.  Awesome.  Good news is her ears look great.

However, since she started back up with the diarrhea again I asked the dr. about it.  The dr. we saw tonight consulted with the dr. we saw last time we were there.  Decided we'd better put her on the rx we talked about last time.  I guess she has an infection from being on too many antibiotics for too long (four rxs in about six weeks).  So, she gets to be on this rx FOUR times a DAY for the next TEN days.  Then we have to follow up with her regular pediatrician to make sure the infection is cleared up.  Kinda weird they want to put her on a rx for diarrhea that she got from being on too many rxs for too long of a time!

She now weighs 21 lbs even and is 27 3/4 inches long.  I think it's time to take her out of the baby carrier and put her in the upright carseat facing backwards.  Not sure how she'll like it since she's still not a huge fan of being put into her carseat in the first place, but, maybe this will be better for her.

On a random side note, a piece about Caleb:
Tonight I left him with my mom & dad while I took B to InstaCare because Trav was doing homework & the older kids were with my sister in law.  When I came by to pick him up my mom told me my Grandpa Maughan had stopped by.  Grandpa was trying to talk to Caleb and get a conversation going.  When Grandpa asked "What's your name?"  Caleb answered "DON'T look at me!"  When Grandpa asked him how old he was, Caleb answered with, "I'm NOT telling you."  Grandpa kept asking him questions and finally Caleb looks at Grandpa and says "You're messing with the WRONG Boy!"  That kid apparently has waaaay too much of his mother's attitude!

I have a bunch of pictures from the concert last night that I'm going to try & download to the computer tonight so I can blog about it tomorrow.  It was most fantastic!  Three and a half hours of music & awesome special effects!

Crock Pot Recipe Day 14

Chicken Soft Tacos
From Fix It & Forget It Big Cookbook
Page 348

Makes 6 servings
Prep time 5 minutes
Cooking time 6-8 hours
Ideal slow cooker size 5-6 qt

1 - 1 1/2 lbs frozen, boneless, skinless chicken breasts
14 1/2 oz low sodium diced tomatoes with green chilies
1 envelop low sodium taco seasoning I used a chicken taco seasoning packet


1. Place chicken breasts in slow cooker.
2. Mix tomatoes and taco seasoning.  Pour over chicken.
3. Cover. Cook on low 6-8 hours.
4. Serve in soft tortillas.  Top with salsa, low fat shredded cheddar cheese, guacamole if your diet allows, and fresh tomatoes.  Travis fried some tortilla shells instead of just using them straight out of the bag.


These were awesome.  My kids inhaled them.  I worried they'd be too spicy for the kids but they apparently weren't!  Will be making these again (probably often).

Crock Pot Recipe Day 13

Ok.  I decided I need to explain why today is only day 13 despite being January 22nd.  With Travis being gone most of the time I end up with a lot of left overs (especially if the kids don't like what I've made).  So, we've eaten left overs on more than one occasion.  Also, we have eaten at Travis's parents house once or twice.  Only once have I ordered pizza (Sam was having a sleepover over here)!  I haven't had any recipes turn out bad enough that we had to scrap it and start over (shocker).

Ham-Broccoli Casserole
From Fix It & Forget It Big Cookbook
Page 451
Makes 4 servings
Prep time 20 minutes
Cooking time 4-5 hours
Ideal slow cooker size 4-5 qt

16 oz pkg frozen broccoli cuts, thawed & drained I used a 14 oz bag and I didn't thaw or drain it.
2-3 cups cubed, cooked ham  I had about 2 1/2 cups.  I used the left over ham from when I made Ham in Foil.
10 3/4 oz can cream of mushroom soup I used cream of chicken
4 oz of your favorite mild cheese, cubed I used mild cheddar & I grated it, not cubed it
1 cup milk
1 cup instant rice, uncooked
1 rib celery, chopped I just used celery salt because no one here likes celery
1 small onion, chopped I used about 3/4 cup white onion


1. combine broccoli and ham in slow cooker.
2. Combine soup, cheese, milk, rice, celery, and onion.  Stir into broccoli.  My cheese grater was in the dishwasher so I didn't add the cheese until it had been cooking for about an hour.
3. Cover.  Cook on low 4-5 hours.