All That She Wants, Is Another Baby...

Gonna be serious today, folks. Fair warning.

Do you know what birth defects run in your family? What kind of illness that tend to be familial traits? Do you know about your genetic makeup?

Well, let's say you didn't, but now you do. And now that you do, you know that if you were to have more kids they would stand about a 20% chance of inheriting a birth defect. And what if that birth defect could possibly requite surgical intervention or lifelong support?

So let me ask you this - do you chance it and have more kids or do you not? Why or why not?

I'm just askin'. No real reason or anything. Honest.

Shut up, you, and just answer the question. Please.

Seriously Free-For-All

Big, long month here, guys. We have any extra Tuesday so you can do what you want with it. Tell me what's Sacred. Rant about what's Profane. Spill your Secret. Talk about something Stupid. Whatever. It's your day, do what ya want.

Red, Red Wine...

If you've read me for any amount of time, then you know I like to drink the koolaid of all wines. Yeah, that's right..so what? A certain namesake of mine made fun of me when I admitted it last time..and to her I say - hey, you wanna go, girl? Let's throw down, yo. *wink*

Anywho.

I hate that word, don't you? That NONword.

What? Oh, right. So I drink a koolaid wine and I'm tired of it. I want something different. But let me tell ya, I'm particular. I don't like dry wines and red wine scares me. It may (does) have something to do with an unfortunate incident involving cheap Shiraz and a few Tequila shots. Alcohol poisoning, anyone? So, I don't venture far. But I'd like something new. I want a wine that's more fruity than spicy. Something that isn't overly dry. Something that pairs well with Tequila...just kidding.

So - do you drink wine? What kind do you prefer? If you were to head up to sit in a hot bath with a book, what would be in your glass?

Hook a sister up.

Friday Freebie Winner!!!

Which means the winner is ...Isabel Princes!!!

Thanks for playing along!

Isabel - email me your firs tand last name and email address that you would like your Jumpstart account info sent to and I will pass that along to Jumpstart.

Next week is Mimi's week so make sure you head to her place and see what kind of goodies she has for ya!

He's Dead, Jim.

Yk what? I have an opinion about Michael Jackson dying. I'm tired of the 24/7 coverage of his death and the "mystery" surrounding it. Let me break it down for you, mmmmkay?

He sang.

He mutilated himself.

He MAY/or may not have molested little boys.

He mutilated himself some more.

He died.

The end.

Carry on.

Stop giving him some Hero's funeral. The man is a pedophile and the only reason he wasn't convicted is because the world runs on Cash and he had it.

He's dead. Sad. Sorry. Move on.

Every day our military men and women deploy to unknown areas for things they have never seen nor experienced before. We pray they come back, but when they do they generally come back completely different people than when they left us.

But let's talk about Micheal Jackson dying, shall we?

The unemployment rate is higher than it's been in decades. People can't find a job and are losing the ones they have faster than you can blink, every day.

But let's talk about Michael Jackson dying, shall we?

Housing are being foreclosed on. Business are closing. People are laying off workers and people are losing their livelihoods. Every day.

But let's talk about Michael Jackson dying, shall we?

Really? Seriously? Honestly?

Really: Nearly 100,000 men and women have DIED in the Iraq War, to date and documented.

Seriously: The unemployment rate was 9.4% in may. That means that nearly 10% of the population has filed for unemployment.

Honestly: 6% of people have had their homes foreclosed on this May.

But let's talk about Michael Jackson dying, shall we?

Look - the man was a weirdo. He was a freak. He had a bad childhood and was just completely whacked out..at best. At worst he was a pedophile and a child molester. The fact is, he died. Sad? Sure. It's always sad when someone dies. But put it into perspective okay?

In the reality of all that is going on around the world today, MJ dying is not even a drop in the bucket.

That's my story, and I'm stickin' to it.

Giddy up.

DE-nied

Never before in the history of Friday Freebies has it been so shunned. What gives?

Friday Freebie!!!

It's been said before and let it be said again, Thank God it's FRIDAY! Fridays are one of my days off and I reallllly look forward to them. Even though it means I just have to work without pay - HA! Today is no exception - I have umpteen errands to run, a house to clean, Sienna has to go BACK to the Dr. because her throat hurts AGAIN, the kids have an art class, etc etc etc. I also get to use Fridays to catch up on my blog reads, which I am very much looking forward to!

Anyway. Enough about me - you'd think this was MY blog or someting - HA! It's Friday that means it's time for a Freebie!!!





I'm sure you've seen this giveaway going on in various places around the blogosphere and hopefully you realllly wanted to win, because I'm going to give you another chance. Lucky ducks!!

I really don't have anything more to add that hasn't already been said. Jen loved it. Nanette is a fan now, too. Kailani enjoyed the sites features.

I love Jumpstart products for the kids. I have been a fan for years now, buying their CD games for the girls at each age and skill level and they've always enjoyed playing them. This time, though, Jumpstart ramped it up a notch and made a virtual world for the kids.

My girls went in and made their own Jumpee, which was like dress up so of course they were excited. Jumpstart automatically set the game at their level based on their age, which rocked. I didn't have to sit and try to help Cara do things and Sienna wasn't stuck with things that were so far below her age level that she was bored. I also liked that I had ONE login and both girls could create their accounts under that one login.

Yk what? I'll just let THEM tell you about it:

Cara, age 8:

Mommy: Can you tell me about Jumpstart.com?

Cara: "Uh, well there's like three worlds and you can play lots of games. And I like how you can create your guy and actually go shopping and change it's clothes and you can become an explorer and go on journeys and sometimes a journey is across the ocean. Um. And you can play these games, well when you play games you can earn points and that's like your money. There's like these purple things that you can jump on them and you'll land somewhere else far away. There's like this dog that can float and he is like the master and he like talks to us brings us in the game, kind of like helps us in the game and makes us an explorer. I have a secret hideout kind of thing and when you climb rocks sometimes you can jump off into waterfalls and you can go down inside the waterfall and like behind the waterfall. Sometimes if you turn around you can see behind the rocks like there's another land in there and uh it has lots of places so sometimes you don't know where to go first. And why it's called jumpstart is because you jump a lot."

Mommy: Do you think people should go play this game? Why?

Cara: "Yes because it's fun and kids will like it and because, well, it's really fun!"

(Like, I think she, like, likes it and stuff.)

Sienna, aged 10:

Mooooooom: What did you like about Jumpstart.com?

Sienna: "That it's like an adventure." (She's just prepubescent and a little surly..I have to prod her some more.) "And you get lost."

Moooooooom: Which adventure did you like the most?

Sienna: "The pirate one." What did you like about it? "Um. That....you can become an adventurer or somethin'..and you have to try to beat the fuzzy people things. Oh! (She actually got excited here!) And you get to go on the hang-glider!! and you get to swim and go on slides. Aaaaand....yeah."

(That's all we're getting out of her. I tried.)

So there ya have it - a couple kids' take on jumpstart.com. The kind people over there have offered up a free 3-month membership for me to giveaway to you guys so YOU can try it out, too.

You know the drill - leave me a comment to enter, tell me why you deserve to win. Want some extra credit? Blog about this giveaway and link to both Jumpstart and me (make sure you leave me a seperate comment telling me you've done so!).

I will announce the winner by midnight tomorrow (Saturday, in case you mixed up your days of the week undies).

Luck to ya! And Happiest of Fridays!

Iron Chef June WINNER!

Comin' in juuust under the wire today, I know. It's been one of those days.

Thank you to all of the guest judges this month for participating and for checking out the 3 great recipes. If you'd like to go meet the Iron Chef June unOfficial Chairman, go see Francesca. She rocked it out this month.

Ok...

All three salads were delicious and completely different flavors. I was the only one in my family that cared for the Spinach and Strawberry Salad (Sorry, Viv - I tried!). The Ramen Noodle Salad has been a house favorite for years. The kids really loved the Pepperoni Pasta Salad and we all liked making Corban say Pepperoni (puppy-oni).

Popular vote clearly went to the Pepperoni Pasta Salad. When the guest judges weighed in, though, it was ~stephanie~'s Ramen Noodle Salad that took grand prize.

Congrats Stephanie!! Email me and let me know your mailing address and where you'd like your GC to - WalMart or Target. Here's your award to display on your blog:



Thanks again to all the contestants, guest judges and those of you out there in the popular crowd. If you'd like to judge in August, hit me up and let me know via email. In July we're going to have some special judges and participants that I'll let you know about next Wednesday.

The Long Lost Menu

I promise that I've been planning, just not posting.

Here is the menu I'm using from yesterday until the 15th:

Pepperoni Pasta Salad, Fruit
Mac n Cheese, Tater Tots, Fruit, Veggie (Carb fest at Rob's request)
Spaghetti, Green Beans
Lemon Roasted Chicken, Stuffing, Asparagus
Armenian Beef Kebabs, Tabbouleh (For Me), Cucumbers, Sauteed Mushrooms, Armenian Rice Pilaf (For them)
Sausage & Rice, Steamed Veggies
Greek Salad & Breadsticks
Ginger, Honey & Lime Beef Kebobs, Asian Slaw (cheating and using pre-cut slaw mix), Watermelon
Breakfast Burritos

The Iron Chef June winner will be announced very soon - just waiting on one last vote!

Seriously Stupid.

Oh yeah. I think we'll keep this one around, too. Imma hafta get a button made to matchy-match my others, eh?

I find it stupid that people that have no clue sitting in a building somewhere far away get to determine what is, and is not, medically NECESSARY according to some little rule book they have. They have no idea, do they? How do THEY know if it's medically necessary? Is every case the same? Do they have a degree and an M.D. after their names? Or are they just talking out their a$$e$? <---That's the one.

What do YOU find stupid?

Head Like a Hole

...I'd rather die, than give you control...

gonna hafta pop on the headphones and find that one on youtube while I type.

Just checking in - coming up for air. B is doing better, his pain more manageable. Tomorrow he gets his stent/cath out, his sutures out and the bandages removed. His surgeon said "It's going to look very ugly at first, do NOT be shocked." Ok. I won't. *shudder* But I probably will.

The Dr. removing all of this stuff is NOT the surgeon because he is in Missoula and we? We are not. There are no pediatric specialists in this damn town. So, his pediatrician is doing it all. The surgeon walked him through it today and then I called the ped for the lowdown and to ask some questions. As we're discussing it all and I'm voicing some concerns he's saying stuff like "I guess we'll cut distally...." and "I'm just supposed to snip the suture and the stent SHOULD just come right out." Uh...hello? You GUESS? It SHOULD?

Yeah.

So I said "Um, Mark? You're not exactly inspiring confidence right now."

I'm sure it'll be fine. We're dosing him with his pain meds and bladder spasm meds before we go in but I imagine it'll still be muy painful. No escaping it. And the ped (that'd be Mark) has removed catheters AND bandages before - just not on a procedure like this. He's not an idiot. Plus, if he does it wrong, he'll have to deal with me more and I doubt he wants to do that because I'm kind of a pain in the arse.

Now I have to decide - do I stay in the room with B while it's happening and help restrain the poor kid or do I wait in the hall?

Yeah. I'll be in there. How can I not? I can't give up control to anything. It's a character flaw.

P.S. - It occurs to me that I have never actually explained WHY B had surgery. HA! Wanna know why it occurred to me? Cause ya'll emaile dme and said, "Um, maybe I missed something but WHY is B having this done to him?" I'll fill in those blanks here in a bit. Patience, grasshoppers.

Look Away...Baby..Look Away

Ladies and Gentlemen of the jury, thank you for coming today and fo ryour service to the blogging community. I know that you have many other more important things to do, so I am extremely grateful for your service.

The case before you is a gnarly one. It isn't pretty and can't be fancied up just so your stomach doesn't turn. It is what it is... ugly.

It began in April of this year and has continued on well into the month of June. It is disgusting and repulsive. It is uncalled for.

The defendant, heidi, as she sits before you now has willfully and with wanton abandon been quickly eating her way through an entire clothing size. After the severe deprivation endured for the sake of her youngest child, she began to gorge herself on all of the forbidden tasties that she had so lovingly missed. Longed for. Yearned for. Needed. Wanted. Desired. *drool*

Oh,uhh...right...Ladies and gentlemen of the jury - this woman MUST. BE. STOPPED. To quote Susan Powter "Stop the Insanity!"

How long do we let her go on? Until she's eaten her way back up 4 more sizes? Until she outgrows all of her clothes and needs to buy more, in larger sizes?? Until she throws herself into a hormonal and emotional tailspin the sights of which have not been seen in this area for over a year?

No, ladies and gentlemen, it's time to stop this woman. To stop her tyraid. To stop the Oreo Reign of madness. Please, before she can no longer fit into her computer chair.

*sigh*

Farewell sweet, delicious cookies. Au revoir to my lovely, salty and silky cheese. Adios to Cerveza. Ciao to the wonderfully delicious pasta. Auf Wiedersehen to fast food. Sayonara to cream based anything. A big fat see ya later to all things bread. A sad, tearful, gut wrenching Adieu to iced lattes and iced chai teas.

It was a fun affair while it lasted but you are toxic to me. You are making me sick. We can't be friends. If you see me walking by, and there's a tear drop in my eye? Look away..baby...look away.

I'm off to finish off throw away the rest of the Oreos and start drinking my water.

Saturday Salad

Another salad that's a meal this week. I LOVE salads, don't you? Mmmm!

GREEK SALAD

1 pkg petite sirloin steaks, or cut for stir fry beef
Greek or Italian Salad Dressing
butter leaf lettuce, torn into bite-sized pieces
Baby Spinach
romaine lettuce leaves, torn into bite-size pieces
1 cucumber, thinly sliced
3 green onions, sliced
8 radishes, sliced
3 tomatoes, cut into eighths
18 Greek or ripe green olives
4 ounces feta cheese, crumbled

Cut steak into bit sized strips and marinate in salad dressing for a few hours. Stir fry the steak until done. On a large platter, arrange greens in center. Cover greens with a row of sliced cucumbers. Sprinkle cucumbers with sliced onions. Surround those with sliced radishes. Encircle edge of platter with tomato wedges. Garnish with olives and sprinkles of feta cheese.

***I generally just use black olives because greek olives are expensive!


Pssst! WTHeck is up with Blogger not posting my scheduled entries?!? Idiots.

Cause it's all in my head..I think about it over and over again..

Help! I'm trapped inside my own head! It's dark and scary in here, yo.

Another day, another complication. Well, technically the SAME complication just complicated more and then a new complication on top of the old recomplicated complication. Do you compute?

B's bladder spasms continued to get worse and worse throughout the night and his pain levels were insane. Even when dosed with his Tylenol with COdeine and his bladder spasm meds he was nearly inconsolable most of the night.

The bladder spasms forced the catheter/stent out a total of about 4 inches (there's 8 inches in there - holy KEYRAP). So, off to the Dr. we went.

Thank the good Lord above they did NOT force the stent back in again...this momma can't watch them do that to her unanesthetized child again. They did an xray to confirm the placement of the stent and found that it was still in his bladder enough. So, they sutured the stent to the dressing on his penis. No, not to his penis, it's already sewn to the tip of his penis. They swaddled hm up and strapped him down while they performed the 'procedure'. His urine analysis cam eback with bacteria, even though he's on antibiotics. So they gave me some two hundred and fifty freakin dollar antibiotic (uh, thank God for insurance - we only paid 1/4 of that). They gave me more of the bladder spasm meds and upped his pain meds to Lortab. His surgeon told me he should be well enough to have NO narcotic pain meds after the first 24 hours. These dr's told me the first 72 are the WORST and it peaks around 72 hours. I'm a little miffed at the surgeon.

Anyway. everything is otherwise healing well and we're hoping to keep the stent in until Tuesday when he's scheduled to have it removed an dhis sutures cut. Should be a fun day.

I will hopefully have you back to your regularly scheduled sarcasm and wit by mid week. In the meantime, don't forget that Tuesday is your last day to vote for the Iron Chef June challenge.

Giddy up.

Friday Freebie!!!

I apologize! This was scheduled to go live today but it didn't post!! *sigh* Amanda is running it extra long this week so you still have plenty of time! Thank you for all the prayers - we're home now and trying to keep B as comfy as possible. I'll try and update later today or tomorrow.

Hey, hey, hey! What time is it??? Time for a freebie! Just like it is EVERY Friday!

I love how you all have really jumped on this FF bandwagon. Faithfully entering and offering to host? It's awesome. THANK YOU!

Speaking of guest hosts...this week I'm putting you out to pasture. What the hay? I want you to get down on the farm! Oh, just go see Amanda at Pround Mommy of Four and see what wonderful goodies she's giving away!

Come back next Friday for a humongo Friday Freebie!!!

Post-Surgery Update ... and Stuff

No song title today. *sigh* It has been a very, very long couple of days.

The surgeon said the surgery went well and saw no reason it shouldn't be successful. B has been having a tremendous amount of pain (duh...he DID just have reconstructive surgery on his penis and all) and his stupid catheter/stent/WTHever it is keeps coming out. Last night after his coddle (sp?) block (think: epidural for kids) wore off he was just a screaming mess. His bladder kept spasming and he was in so much pain. Throughout the night he would alternate been screaming and shaking with pain and passing out from it. But, the Dr. assured us it was all normal and he didn't want to see us. In fact, perhaps we should wean him OFF the Tylenol with Codeine (crack head). This morning we drove in to town after I told him that No, I was NOT putting the catheter back in MYSELF and YES we were on our way in. He put it back in as far as it would go (cringe, eh?) and said the dressing and skin grafts look like they were doing fine. He said if the catheter comes out again they will probably xray to see if it is sitting in the bladder where it needs to be.

So, we talk about whether or not to head home and call back home to find out that B's ped is out until the twenty-freakin-second. Get in the queue for the on-call Dr and find out she's got a message from the surgeon, too. They call back and tell us it's ok to head home that they can monitor the catheter situation from there. In the meantime, however, his catheter has come out further and we've noticed that when he pees it's not even coming OUT of the catheter but out of his urtheral opening. Now we have a call in to the surgeon, again, and are waiting to hear back to see what he wants us to do (happy, happy, joy, joy).

Lord help me...I don't know how those of you with children in chronic pain or that have to undergo multiple procedures do this. I just don't have the cajones you do, I think. I mean - I'm sure it's more of a "Well, what else am I gonna do?" kind of thing but ay yi yi. Kudos and hat's off to you. You are made of more substance than I.

While we've been here we had to go into the clinic because Sis said her throat was hurting again. Sure enough, Strep. Still? Again? Stilgain. She's on Ceftin and it's wrecking her gut, big time. Corby has been feeling a bit off the last few days and actually laid himself down and went to sleep today.

I know.

That's just totally out of character for Corbs.

So, to recap. Surgery is over (Thank God), still dealing with complications (damnit), Sis has strep stilgain (craptastic) and Cara is an emotional wreck from watching B and I battle it out the past 24 hours (she's my sensitive child).

Now, I must go look at my work schedule and rearrange it to fit in more and other post-op appointments which will make my employer do cartwheels with joy.

Thanks for thinking of us and/or keeping us in your prayers.

Grassy Ass, Amigos.

Seriously Secret.

Psst...c'mere...I hafta tell you something...

Don't tell anyone, ok? It's a secret. But...uh...I scheduled all of these Seriously posts this month, LAST month. HA! <--lame secret

Do you have a Secret to tell? Go ahead and let fly.

Vacation...All I ever wanted..

...vacation, happy to get away!

Boo ya! Checkin' in from the land of vacay. Otherwise known as the land of a thousand pounds because of all the garbage I'm eating. Hey, everyone knows calories don't count on vacation, right? Well, until you get home and can't fit into the clothes you just bought for vacation. Then they count double.

The weather has been great so far! Of course, uh, this is only day 2 and it's 11 in the morning but hey, I'm an optimist.

Yesterday we visited our old church and friends. That was fun. Then we spent the late afternoon/evening hanging out with my bio-dad.

There's a Starbucks here. Mmmmmm.

The stress of B's upcoming surgery is kinda doin' me in. I tend to internalize it and then end up with some physical ailment. This time my left eye is swollen and my head won't stop hurting. Oh, yeah, and I'm eating my stress. It tastes like Cheese Crackers. Tonight I think it might taste like a Pomegranate Martini. Or Two.

Yesterday was B's 1st Birthday. Happy 1st Birthday, Brennan!

June 2008:



June 2009:



Dunno if I'll check in much more this week. If you think of it, B's surgery is on Wednesday at 7:30am MST. I'll post an update after we get him home and settled.

Have a week!

Saturday Salad

Another Saturday, another salad! This one is super quick and easy and can be used as a meal on a hot summer day.

Baby Spinach & Chickpea Salad

8 ounces baby spinach, 5 cups, chopped
1 can chick peas, drained
1/2 medium red onion, finely chopped
1 Tablespoon balsamic vinegar
3 Tablspoons extra-virgin olive oil
salt & pepper

Combine spinach, chickpeas and chopped onions in a bowl. Add one Tbsp balsamic vinergar and 3 Tbsps extra-virgin olive oil. Toss well to coat and combine. Season salad with salt and pepper to your taste. Serve.

Friday Freebie!!!

Welcome to Friday! Another GLORIOUS Friday! Hip-hop-hooray..ho...hey...ho...uh, sorry. Anyway. It's Friday and we're giving stuff away!

Wanna take a peek at what you are entering to win?



Ooooh! Polka Dots! I LOVE Polka Dots! Want me to tell you what it is?

Too bad.

HA!

I'm not giving it away. Nope. This week the incredible shrinking Lisa is lending her time and talent to give you a little somethin' wonderful. Go check her out, tell her I sent ya and get your Polka (dot) on. *shimmy shimmy shake*

In your letter, oooh, in your letter....

Dear Boy:

I don't understand why you feel the need to dump out EVERY tote of toys and then leave them all in a heap on the floor. Was the whole point just the wanton destruction of my living room? Perhaps it was just the satisfying sound of the toys crashing to the ground? I mean..you didn't even PLAY with them afterwards, you just left them all there. I don't get that, little man, I don't get that at all.

Why is it that you make that strange sound between the movie previews and beginning of the movie? That weird "Haaaaaaah" kind of sound? Why do you do that? You've done it for as long as I can remember. Where did you get it? What does it mean? Are you communicating with aliens? Do you also make crop circles? E.T. phone home?

When you say your prayers at dinner and bedtime why do you say "Dear Me" instead of Dear Jesus? Are you the second coming? Man did you pick a weird family. When you pray to yourself do you also have the ability to then ANSWER said prayers?

What is your deal with ketchup? I have to have extra bottles on hand just so we don't run out. Does it really taste good on apples or angel hair? I would think that waffles with ketchup would make a person gag but apparently not you. Stomach of steel, yo.

Is there any specific reason that you feel the need to discuss genitalia with random people? It's kind of embarassing to mommy when you ask people if they have a penith or a bagina. These things are private, Corbs.

Well, whatever the reasons are I sure do love you. Even if you do want to be Magnum P.I. (but please stop hitting your brother with the butt end of your squirt gun) because it really is cute when you jump to the middle of the room with your orange squirt gun pointed out and yell "I Magum Peee EEEEEYYYYYYEEEEE!!!".

With 1/5 of my love,
Mommy (Yes, love, I have a bagina.)

*~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~*



Click that super cool button to go see what other people wrote about. Thanks for the prompting, MamaKat. *wink*

Twenty Truths

A little variation on the question game: Rob has agreed to Guest Blog here at Sacred & Profane but doesn't just want to pontificate on any old random topic. No, he wants to have questions to answer. So, let's play 20 questions - ask him anything (the man has OPINIONS, yo). You can post them here or email them to me at heidimt2003 AT gmail.com. If I don't reply to you it means you got sent to spam land and I never saw your email.

Woohoo! Isn't this kind of DARING of Rob and I? To tell the TRUTH it's more DARING for Rob than me. Do YOU feel DARING? *wink*

Iron Chef: BBQ/Picnic Salads

Well, this was easier than I thought it would be! We had 5 initial entries however only 3 stayed in the game. One person submitted an entry - but is also a guest judge so she decided to judge instead of entering. Another person accidentally submitted the wrong type of recipe. So, that's 2 less entries, leaving us with just the following 3 contestants:

Vivienne with Viv's Spinach and Strawberry Salad
~stephanie~ with Ramen Noodle Salad
Shelby with Pepperoni Pasta Salad

The prize will be a $10 Giftcard to Walmart or Target.

Grab a button, ladies, if you don't already have one and good luck!



I'll put the links and poll up in my sidebar sometime today. Remember - you should actually try ALL THREE recipes before you vote.

Helpful Hints from heidi

While rushing around in the mornings and getting a cup of coffee, be careful not to stir your coffee with the spoon that you just used to spoon out the pre-cut garlic cloves to marinate the steaks. It makes your coffee icky.

Seriously Profane.

Oooohhh....it's our favorite Tuesday of the month! It's PROFANE DAY! Woohooo!! We get to go to heidi's place and rant to our little heart's content!! AND?! I don't even have to SIGN MY NAME! Yehaw & giddy-up!

So? What're you waiting for? Rant. What has been Profane to you this past month?

This was Profane for me:



Maybe all of my incessant videos are profane to you? Eh. Keep that to yourself mmmkay? ;-)

Diseased

Body Count:

1 Male Adult: Upper Respiratory Infection, Severe Middle Ear Infection (2 courses of antibiotics, eardrops, nasal spray, cough medicine, pain reliever)
1 Female 10 yrs: Strep Throat (Amox, Motrin, Throat Lozenges)
1 Female 8 yrs: Strep Throat (Zithromax, Motrin, Throat Lozenges)
1 Male 2 years: Upper Respiratory Infection, Sinus Infection (Augmenten, Motrin, Cheritussin {cough meds with codeine})
1 Infant Male (11 months): Upper respiratory infection (Tylenol)

Giddy up.

Saturday Salad

Playing along once again over at Katie's place! Click on that button up there to go see some yummy salad recipes!

This is one of my most FAVORITE summer salad recipes. It's so clean and the mixture of tastes is divine.

Orzo and Corn off the Cob – courtesy Better Homes & Garden magazine

4 Fresh Ears of Corn*
1 1/4 cups of orzo
1 Cup Greek Black Olive, pitted and halved (I use regular black olives)
1 medium red sweet pepper chopped (3/4 cup) (I generally omit this)
1/4 cup thinly sliced green onions (white and pale green parts)
1/4 cup finely snipped fresh basil
1/4 cup finely snipped fresh parsley
1/4 cup olive oil
2 tbsp white wine vinegar
1/4 tsp salt
1/4 tsp freshly ground pepper

Cut corn kernels off the cob, you should have about 2 cups. Set aside. Bring a large pot of lightly salted water to boiling. Add the orzo and cook, stirring occasionally, for 8-9 minutes, adding corn the last 3 minutes of cooking. Drain well and place in a large serving bowl.

Add the olives, sweet pepper, and green onions; toss well. Add the basil, parsley, oil, vinegar, salt and pepper. Toss gently to combine. Serve at room temp or cold. Makes 6 to 8 servings.

ENJOY!

Friday Freebie!!!

Hey - what're you DOING here? Don't you know that Mimi hosts the first Friday Freebie of the month EVERY month? Hell-ooooo??? Where have you been?! Duh.

So, head over to Mimi's place and see what kind of goodies she's handing out THIS month!

Thanks Mimi!

Iron Chef: June

Welcome to another edition of Iron Chef! What? You don't know what Blogstyle Iron Chef is? Well you can read this. And if you want to see everything there is to know about this little competition you can check this out.

Now, it's summer (or, yk, WILL be soon) and we'll all be heading outside to BBQ's and picnics, right? So I thought that maybe we could all use some new recipes to use. This month we don't have an ingredient but a theme...and the theme is:

BBQ/Picnic Salads!

What salad do you have that people always ask for the recipe to? What is your standard to bring to the family reunion? We NEED to know! I have one rule, though - NO Potato Salad.

Here's how we play:

Normally we'd link up to Mr. Linky, but since he's having issues I'll just have you leave me a comment when you've posted your recipe and I'll link you in this post. Link me to your favorite BBQ/Picnic Salad Recipe. It can be one you've already posted or one you go post right now. Next Wednesday I will use a random.org widget to choose the three finalists from the list. I'll post the recipes and link them in my sidebar. I'll hook up the poll and pass out the 'vote for me' buttons. I'll also reveal the prize for June.

There are 3 celebrity judges plus myself. All 3 of these judges have committed to trying the 3 recipes and passing along their vote to me. My family will be weighing in with their collective vote as the 4th judge. The poll will count as the 5th vote.

You guys are the 5th vote. So, it's up to YOU to go and try all three recipes and then come back and vote in the poll. Feel free to post reviews of the recipes! I think it's fun to read what other people thought.

Any questions?

Ok...so let's see 'em...show me your BBQ/Picnic Salad recipes!

To quote the chairman on Iron Chef America...

"Allez! Cuisinez!"

P.S. I still need ONE MORE guest judge! If you're interested, let me know!Position Filled!

The Contenders:

Vivienne
~stephanie~
Shelby

Seriously Sacred

After the fire (am I milking this enough?) a few weeks ago, I realized there isn't much inthe house beyond my family that I hold Sacred enough to run back into a burning building for.

Everyone plays the "What would you grab" game but we're gonna change it up a bit here today. I wanna know..

If you were told that your house was being quarantined and condemned and you could only grab 5 things (besides your family) that you could physically carry out of the house by yourself, what is so SACRED to you that you would put it on that list?

MIA and Ringtones

I'm MIA. Notice? No? Eh..no big.

I'm on a mission. I want everyone that has me on their cell phone to change their ringtone to Lowrider for me.

Oh yeah babe.

Everytime the phone rings, and it's me? It should sound like this:



Take a little trip with me.

Sweet deal dude.

Rock it.