Merry Maid

I was doing some cleaning around the house today. I cleaned the fish tank. It was looking really green. Those poor fish. I thought I'd clean the bathroom while I was in there. Jenelle noticed me cleaning the toilet. I must have made it look like a lot of fun because she asked it she could clean. What mom will ever say no to that question? Jenelle spent about 10 minutes swirling the brush around the toilet. I don't think the toilet has ever been so clean.

Just a side note on toilets... EVERY single time Jenelle goes to the bathroom for a poop, she plugs the toilet. I'm not joking. Ten minutes ago she was in the bathroom. The toilet won't flush now. I just bought another plunger at Walmart so I'd have one on both levels of the house. Someday Jenelle will kill me for putting stuff like this on the blog, but I think it's funny. It won't be long before she can read the blog for herself so enjoy these funny/embarrassing stories now while I'm still able post them.

Garden Guy

Curt has been working hard at getting our garden started. He did something new this year. He planted lettuce outside in winter. He planted romaine, spinach, swiss chard and mesclun. I've been buying the bulk lettuce at Sam's Club. It's way too much lettuce for us to eat in a week. It ends up going bad and we throw some of it away. It is so fun to go outside and pick lettuce for a salad. He also had some nice tomato plants started. I'm already collecting some good recipes that use tomatoes.

So I've been hunting for salad recipes. I was scanning the Food Channel and saw that Simply Delicioso was making a mango salad. I taped the show and made the salad last night. It was so yummy. Eileen, you might want to try this. The salad dressing ingredients sound weird, but the peanut butter and lime tasted great together. The cilantro was so good in the salad. I didn't have any radish, but I'll try that next time.

Here is the recipe.

Mango Jicama and Radish Salad with Peanut Dressing
recipe courtesy: Ingrid Hoffmann

Ingredients

• 3 tablespoons smooth peanut butter
• 1/4 cup fresh lime juice (about 2 limes)
• 2 tablespoons light brown sugar
• 2 tablespoons canola or vegetable oil
• Salt
• 8 large radishes, halved lengthwise and thinly sliced crosswise
• 6 cups mixed baby greens, washed and dried
• 1 large or 2 small mangoes, peeled, fruit cut off the seed and cubed
• 2 cups peeled and cubed jicama (cut into about 1/2-inch cubes)
• 1/4 cup fresh cilantro leaves

Directions

In a medium bowl, whisk the peanut butter and lime juice until smooth. Add the brown sugar, vegetable oil and some salt and whisk until combined. Add enough water to thin the sauce and give it a dressing-like consistency, about 2 to 3 tablespoons.

Place the radishes, greens, mangoes, jicama and cilantro in a large bowl and toss together.

Drizzle with the dressing, toss using tongs to coat and serve.

Bowling Babe

We took Jenelle bowling for the first time on Saturday. We went to Mr. Biggs. That place was a mad house. It was VERY loud and Jenelle was cringing the whole time we were there. It was a 45 minute wait for a bowling lane so we left. Being the coupon girl that I am, I found a coupon for AMF Lanes. We went over there. Most lanes were full, but it didn't have that chaotic feel. It wasn't too loud and Jenelle had no problem.



The bowling alley was very kid friendly. They had 6 pound bowling balls and bumpers for the alleys. Those bumpers saved me from getting a few gutter balls. We tried several styles of bowling. The granny throw. Put your fingers in the holes and regular bowl. Ramp bowling. I think we were most successful with the granny throw. Jenelle scored a respectable 85 on her first game and a 72 on her second game.


We all had a lot of fun and we plan on going again. It will be a fun rainy day activity for us.

Bug Girl

Jenelle has been studying bugs at school. It's all good and educational and fun... until she wants to bring those bugs home. Jenelle said, "We could get a bunch of jars and line them up and put all the different bugs inside. " Jenelle is on her quest to collect the bugs. Yeah, like I love that idea.

Jenelle went to a play date at Eme's and brought home one very pathetic dry looking worm. We put dirt on it, but the worm died. So Curt helped her find three fresh juicy worms. They are sitting in a bag of dirt in her room. One day this week I picked her up from school and she had a ladybug in a plastic cup. We built a little home for that bug. It has it's own jar with pine needles, grass and leaves. Jenelle named her Mirabella. Jenelle is very into taking care of her "pets". She wants to clean out Mirabella's home because she thinks the ladybug might have peed everywhere. The worms are constantly needing fresh dirt.

She is asking for a caterpillar kit so she can have her own butterflies. Let's hope this is a passing hobby! I'm a little worried about what bugs come out in Spring. Where will we put them all?

Cousins Cousins Cousins

Eileen, David and Carly came to visit over their spring break. That was weeks ago, but I've been pretty slow to update the blog.

We had a great time except that Curt and I had the stomach flu. Curt and I had "issues" for about four days. David caught the flu, too. Eileen and David went to Sports Authority to look for ski gear. David lost his breakfast right there at the Sports Authority check out. Luckily, David had the 24 hour version of the flu. They were still able to go up to WinterPark and go skiing. They had good weather and they are becoming more like the locals every year. Now they know where to park so they don't have to drag all their gear through the village tourist trap.

Carly stayed back in Littleton with Jenelle. Carly got the special treat of going to school with Jenelle. Jenelle's Spanish teacher, Senora Henshaw, invited Carly to stay and join the class for the afternoon. One day I took the kids to "My Art Workshop". They made many beautiful crafts. One day we went to the movies. One day we went to the park. We did our tradition of feeding the ducks. David will get to feed the ducks in August.

We played lots of games. Grandma-ma taught David to play "Steal the deck". They played a lot of checkers, too. Each night Curt and I played board games with the girls. They are ruthless when it comes to playing "Sorry".

Jenelle and Carly put on a show. It was a cute song and dance about cousins. We went sledding one day. Grandma-ma had us over for a yummy dinner. It was a great time. We look forward to our camping trip in August.