LOST & FOUND: GRILLED CORN WITH LIME BUTTER

Another of my recipes that was buried deep in the clutter of my craft room. This one really is fantastic. While I thought it sounded like it might be good, I wasn't too sure of what to expect the first time I made it. Talk about a very pleasant surprise...this is just plain old tasty! Hope you corn-on-the-cob fans enjoy this one.

GRILLED CORN WITH LIME BUTTER

1/2 cup unsalted butter, softened

2 Tbsp. snipped chives

1 Tbsp. chopped parsley

1 Tbsp. chopped dill

2 tsp. grated lime zest

2 tsp. lime juice

1/2 tsp. salt

1/4 tsp. black pepper

4 ears fresh corn, husks left on

In a blender, combine the butter, chives, parsley, dill, lime zest and juice, salt, and pepper. Puree until smooth. Scrape the contents onto a sheet of plastic wrap and shape into a small log or pack into ramekins. Refrigerate until ready to use.

For the corn, heat grill to medium-high. Peel husks down without removing them. Pull of silk and replace the husks. Rinse corn under water and then place on the grill. Grill for about 13 minutes, turning every few minutes, or until tender.

Serve corn immediately with lime butter. Refrigerate any extra butter in plastic wrap or sealed container for up to 1 week.

NOTES:

• I only use fresh chives and parsley for this recipe (gives it a really great flavor) but have only used dried dill as I couldn't get my hands on any that was fresh. Hoping to use fresh dill next time but it has always been good with the dried.
• I use my mini food processor rather than a blender...just the right size.
• We have used this on both grilled and steamed/boiled corn and either way, it's totally delicious - doesn't matter which way you prep the corn.

Next recipe to be posted: Italian Beef for Sandwiches.

LOST & FOUND RECIPE: MONKEY BREAD

Here is the first of many "lost & found" recipes from cleaning out my craft room. I served this at a bridal shower brunch that I threw over a year ago. They were a big hit...even my "not picky" husband (he just knows what he likes) thought they were good and requested that I make them for our family sometime. I still haven't made them...maybe this weekend.

MONKEY BREAD

3 (12 oz.) packages/tubes refrigerated biscuit dough

1 c. white sugar

2 tsp. ground cinnamon

1/2 c. margarine

1 c. packed brown sugar

1/2 c. chopped walnuts (optional)

1/2 c. raisins (optional)

Preheat oven to 350. Grease one 9- or 10-inch tube/bundt pan.

In a plastic bag, mix the white sugar and cinnamon together. Cut biscuits into quarters. Shake 6 to 8 dough pieces in the cinnamon sugar at a time. Arrange pieces in the bottom of the greased pan. Continue until all biscuits are coated and in pan. If adding the nuts and raisins, arrange them on top of and in between the biscuit layers as you go along.

In a small saucepan, melt the margarine and brown sugar over medium heat and bring to a boil. Boil for 1 minute and then pour over the biscuits.

Bake at 350 for 35 minutes. Allow to cool in pan for 10 minutes and then turn out onto a plate or platter. No need to cut...rolls pull apart.

NOTES:

• Help me out: what this stuff called "margarine" on the list of ingredients? Butter is the only thing besides Crisco that ever graces my baking with its presence. I used butter and had no problems.
• Knowing the tastes of the bride-to-be at the shower and my ultra-picky husband, I left out the nuts and raisins...still very good.
• My bundt pan is a wee tad bit on the small side (one of these newer formed/shaped ones) so I didn't use up all of the biscuit dough - probably about 2 1/2 packages worth instead of the full 3.

Next recipe to be posted just in time for summer BBQ's: Grilled Corn with Lime Butter.

LOOK WHAT I FOUND!

So, as I slaved away at cleaning up my craft room/office last night, I kept finding all kinds of precious little treasures. Some of my favorites...

The Blue Day Book: my mom gave me this a few years ago. It's a really fun little book. Good for at least a few smiles and giggles. It's full of pictures of animals with a single line written below each (like the one with a pictures of a monkey sitting on top of a cactus and the line, "Maybe work is a pain in the butt."

An unopened copy of Anna and The King. It's a fantastic movie. But we already owned it when I received this copy when I was sick a little over a year ago so I tucked it away. And I mean really tucked it away. It has been sitting in the tornado alley that is my craft room for just as long.

I also found a baby teether that no one in our house has needed or used for close to a year.

Then there was the Pez dispenser with Santa's head on top. He's kind of a strange looking Santa...he has these white stripes on his face that I'm sure are supposed to be a moustache but they have light blue lines on them. What's up with that?

Oh - and Elmo's hand. No, we aren't doll/toy destroying weirdies...it's a paper hand that was ripped out of a board book we have. There's a pop-up Elmo at the end of it and his hand was apparently torn off when some excited child (aka Claire) was "reading" the book. And it wasn't the first time it had been amputated, either. It's totally covered in tape - obvious evidence of skillful tape-surgery on my part when Hudson was a tike. Now I just need to locate the book and perform my magic again.

Next we have my 2-lb. weights. Bought them years ago when I was working out to an exercise DVD a few times each week. I'm actually really glad I found them because I need to dust that DVD off and get crackin' on working out again.

There is also an old card that I found many years ago. It's a picture of Han Solo and Leia going in for a kiss. Her thought bubble says, "I'm the luckiest girl in the galaxy." and his says, "She's the luckiest girl in the galaxy." I still find it amusing.

Next we have a little plush bunny on a ribbon. It goes to a "plush"/fabric book that my mom gave to Hudson when he was just a wee toddler. You're supposed to move the bunny from page to page as it goes about getting ready for bed. Can't really do that when the cute little rodent hasn't been attached to the book for at least a couple of years now, can you?

Lastly is a little pair of white, tan, and pink argyle mittens that I purchased from Crazy 8 for Claire...about 18 months ago. Still new with tags. For some reason, I don't think she'll be using a pair of size 6-12 month mittens anytime soon.

Anyone want a DVD of Anna and The King or a pair of baby girl's mittens? Both are up for grabs and if you're the first one to leave a comment claiming one, it's all yours. I'll even pay the postage.

In my mission to clean up my messy room, I went through my old records and paper files (and I mean OLD) and found just a few things to shred.

The sink that my shredding stack is resting in is about 6 inches deep...nearly 5 inches of that is taken up by the papers. And speaking of the papers, I found some interesting stuff there, too. Like the sales contract and a copy of my insurance information from when I got my Land Rover Disco II. Not such horrible things to have. But I bought it back in 2003 and traded it in for my Expedition back in 2005. Not so sure that I need the paperwork anymore. I also found some documents from when we replaced all the windows. In our old house. Before Hudson was born. Uh....

The one thing that I found interesting in my going through all those papers (no paper cuts, by the way, thank you!) was a number of old bills from hospitals and documents from our insurance company showing the cost of some of the "stuff" we went through back in 2007 and early 2008. Here are a few fun figures:

Hospital charges for 2 nights/3 days when I had Claire:

Mine $4,729.85 (and that's before my OB or the anesthesiologist)

Claire's $1,473.63

MRI of my 1st spinal MRI back in November 2007: $1745.94 (one of the "cheap" MRI's I've ad)

Charges for my spinal surgery in November 2007:

Neurosurgeon $6,676.90

Hospital $49,632.81 (if I remember correctly, my tiny little titanium implants were around $5,000.00 alone)

Anesthesiologist $2, 925.00

Assistant Surgeon $4,000.00 (it was more than that but I can't find the paper now)

Charges for Max's hip resurfacing in February 2008:

Physician $5,225.00

Hospital $48,711.07

Charges for my brain surgery in March 2008:

Hospital $23,105.52

ENT $9,640.00

Neurosurgeon $$23,531.27

Anesthesiologist $2,111.00

I left out Max's two hand surgeries that were in September and October of 2007...didn't see any of the figures on those. All I can say is thank the heavens above for insurance, adjustments, and having met our out of pocket before my surgery in November '07. Granted we had to meet it again in '08 but that was taken care of with Max's hip surgery.

P.S. Also found some AWESOME recipes that had been hiding with Anna and The Kind in my ironing basket (where else should I have put them?). You can bet I'll be posting a few in the next week or so!

WHAT I SHOULD BE DOING...

I have a hankering for writing a really fantastic post right now. But, as so often happens with me, I am hitting a wall when it comes to material. Recipe? Posting one on Friday. Story about the kids? Too many to pick from. List? In the works.

So, instead of writing some brilliant piece to add to my blog (which we know all of my posts are), I'm going to do what I should be doing. What will give me a sense of accomplishment. What I should have done months ago. I'm going to clean up and organize the mass chaos and horror that is my craft room/office. Ugh. Guess I'll turn on some tunes and take a spoonful of sugar to make this medicine go down. Speaking of which, we watched Mary Poppins in the car the past 2 days...good flick!

SALAD DE MAISON

Here's one that I am yet to serve at a group dinner without getting at least one request for the recipe...

SALAD DE MAISON

2 heads romaine lettuce
2 c. cherry, grape, or yellow pear tomatoes, halved
1/2 lb. bacon, cooked & crumbled
1 c. grated Swiss cheese
1/3 c. grated Parmesan cheese
2/3 c. browned or toasted slivered almonds
1 pkg. Caesar croutons

Place shredded/torn lettuce in the bottom of a large bowl. Top with tomatoes, bacon, and cheeses. Keep in fridge until ready to serve and add almonds and croutons just prior to serving.

DRESSING

must be made at least 3 hours in advance

juice of 1 fresh lemon

1 tsp. salt

1/2 tsp. pepper

3 cloves garlic, minced/pressed

3/4 c. vegetable oil (or similar such as canola or blended)

Using a regular or a hand blended, whir together the lemon juice, salt, pepper, and garlic. Slowly add the oil, keeping the blender going until the dressing emulsifies. Pour into a jar or other container and set in fridge for at least 3 hours prior to serving.

NOTES:

• I'm a ginormous fan of using just romaine hearts rather than the whole lettuce head so instead of 2 heads of romaine, I usually go for 3 to 3 1/2 hearts (you can get them in a bag of 6 at Costco for something like $4.00).
• I never measure the amount of tomatoes...I just use about 1/2 to 3/4 or a pint container.
• Instead of cooking up fresh bacon, we just use the cooked crumbles from Costco and "guesstimate" how much to use (they're Kirkland brand and the opened package freezes beautifully).
• To brown or toast the almonds, you can either do it in the oven or in a skillet on the stove with a dab of butter or, to make them extra awesome, with a bit of grease from cooking the bacon. Mmmmm...
• Our hands-down favorite Caesar croutons are by Fresh Gourmet and are called "Multi Grain Parmesan Caesar". Nothing like 'em!
• On the dressing, you MUST use real, fresh lemon juice.
• Three words: fresh ground pepper.
• When blending the dressing, I've sometimes added a bit more oil than it calls for in order to get it to emulsify well (especially if I had an extra juicy lemon).
• If your dressing ends up separating in the fridge during it's sitting time, don't worry about it, it'll still be good. Just shake it up and remember to blend it longer - perhaps with the aforementioned bit of extra oil - next time.

That's it, kids. Super duper yummy and always a huge hit. Enjoy!

HUDSON'S GRADUATION

This morning Max, Claire, and I went to Hudson's big preschool graduation. I know...he's really moving up in the world. Hudson was SO stinking excited and with good reason: he was the only kid with a solo part in the program. He led us all in the Pledge of Allegiance.

After Hudson's big turn in the spotlight, the whole class recited a few Shell Silverstein poems, did their sign language ABC's, and sang a few songs. When they had finished the little program, each child was called up and given a diploma and had a red graduation cap placed on their head.

Hudson did his best to keep the cap on his head but between his "monster hair" and the size of the cap itself, it wouldn't stay on very well.

When the ceremony was done and we'd eaten some refreshments (TOTALLY good, by the way...fresh strawberries, chocolate drizzled Rice Krispie treats, chocolate chip cookies, and made-from-scratch brownies), Hudson's day was made even more awesome by a play date invitation from one of his little friends, Anne Marie.

He got to go straight home with AM where the plan was to eat lunch (I admire her mom for taking on this task after all those goodies) and then play to their hearts' content. Before they even left, Hudson was already asking if we can have AM to play next week. Such excitement!

Speaking of AM: a few weeks ago, Hudson said that all of his friends from preschool would be going to Kindergarten with him next year. When I told him that they'd actually all be attending other schools, he thought for a second and said, "But Anne Marie and I will be friends forever."

Now we'll just have to see if we can top his big day off with a trip to see the new Night At The Museum movie this afternoon. Max is trying to make things work at the office so he get break away. Here's hoping...

OUR NEW TITLE

On Saturday morning, Max and I decided to attack the mess that was the base of the ginormous pine tree in our front yard. We've been intending to do this since late spring last year and just never got around to it. Well, we finally rolled up our sleeves and went to work. While Max started slicing off branches with his chainsaw, I planted a few flowers in the raised beds in our front yard and then had my little manservant (aka Hudson) go and fetch the camera so I could take a few "before" pictures of the tree. Want to see them? Too bad...those will come in a later post.

After finishing my planting and expert photography, I stuck Claire in her stroller in the shade, pulled on my hand-saving gloves, and started pulling branches into the street. A short while later, Max summoned me over to the large branch that he had just sawed off and pointed towards the middle of it...

There sat an absolutely beautiful, perfect, and very empty nest. I carefully pulled it off the branch (it was glued on with mud) and then Hudson and I marveled at the most amazing workmanship. Not only was there mud on the bottom, there was very pretty mud "trim" surrounding the center of the nest. It was made entirely of this mud and a few different types of grasses or plants. There were large hula skirt grass-like strands on the outside and finer thread like stands on the inside. It was completely firm with the center bowl being solid with mud but soft and comfy for baby birds as it was carefully lined with the grasses. After we examined this masterpiece, I set it in the grass several feet away so it wouldn't be harmed. Then it was back to work.

As we continued working, we discovered another nest in the tree. It was up higher, resting on a branch that was to stay attached to the tree. A short while later, we noticed a male robin that was very curious about what we were doing. He'd land beneath the tree when we were a little ways away from it and then fly up into the branches. Then he'd take off, only to come back and watch us from a nearby tree moments later. We hoped that we hadn't removed his nest. That the nest we'd left alone was what he was guarding.

The day wore on and we kept working. After a break for lunch, we headed out to the front yard again and I went back to my job of hauling branches. As I walked up to one of the piles in the tree's large bed, I was terrified to see a beautiful little blue egg sitting at the edge of the grass. Make that Robin's Egg Blue. I immediately picked it up and looked it over. Other than one tiny scratch, it was absolutely perfect. Once again hoping that the nest remaining in the tree was where it belonged, I pulled the branch down and examined the nest in its place...totally empty and falling apart. It was an old nest. And we all know what that makes us: home wreckers.

I took the gorgeous little egg and placed it in what was once its safe home. I felt positively horrible. I must have apologized to Mr. Robin a dozen times. As I kept working, I started giving reasons why it was okay, why I'm not a baby birdy killer...

• There are blue jays in our area. If we hadn't committed this crime, a jay could have easily swept in a taken the egg.
• We would have left the branch if we had known.
• There was no evidence that the nest was new and being used (not even a single little poop!).
• It was an accident. As if we would intentionally destroy a nest!
• There was only one egg...I was saddened by the thought of the birds' loss but at least the nest wasn't chock full.

After providing myself with these justifications (which provided almost no consolation for me and certainly none for Daddy and Mommy Robin), I was feeling okay. That is, until the end of the branch-hauling when I started raking up branch fragments and the billions of pine needles beneath the tree. There, beneath a bunch of sticks were the remains of a second blue egg. Far from perfect, it had obviously been crushed by the large pile of debris that had been there. Or maybe one of us evil home wreckers stepped on it. Either way, the little blue shell pieces made me feel even worse. The only thing that made me feel a tiny bit better was the fact that what was there with the shell was only yolk and albumin. No little baby bird as far as I could tell. But those robins are now without their precious eggs.

After we had finished much of our work for the day, I placed the nest with its single egg up against the trunk of the tree, hoping that Mr. Robin would accept the gesture as an apology:

I was hoping that he'd stop searching for the nest, stop flying around, stop trying to make me feel worse than I already did. No such luck. He kept coming and going - all afternoon and evening long - even after we picked the nest up and gave it to our school teacher neighbor so she could take it to her class on Monday.

Then, to top things off, on Sunday evening, Max was in the front yard for a minute and found yet another whole egg. It was sitting on the ground, very close to where I had found the 1st intact egg on Saturday. I don't know whether Mrs. Robin sat down and laid that egg where her "hospital" should have been or if it fell from another nest or another bird's beak. But regardless of how those whole eggs ended up on the ground, we are responsible for the destruction of their intended home.

Home wreckers indeed.

CANDID CLAIRE

During a family dinner this evening (2 of my 3 awesome brothers and their families were here), I was shooting a few pictures in the backyard. I had the camera aimed in Claire's direction and asked her to smile. Instead of doing this, she started walking towards me as fast as possible. Hoping to catch one of her cheesy forced smiles, I quickly pressed the button. This is what I got:

Definitely not the shot I originally wanted. Actually, it's much cuter if you ask me. A super close-up shot of my mop-topped little girl. I love the hair over her right eye, the fingers in her mouth, the sly grin. And look - you can even see the callous on her thumb. That's my Claire!

BLACK BEAN DIP

Third day, third recipe. After this little stint, I think I'll try to go back to my original goal of posting one recipe each week. So keep your eyes out for more tasty stuff starting sometime towards the end of next week.

This recipe come from a friend in my neighborhood. As I mentioned in one of my previous recipe posts, we used to have a recipe group going around here. This dip is up at the top of my favorite recipes from said group...right up there with the super easy dinner rolls that I love to make.

BLACK BEAN DIP

2 cans black beans, rinsed well and drained

1 can shoe peg corn (so good & very important)

2-4 tomatoes, diced

1/2 c. chopped red onion

1/4 c. finely chopped cilantro

6 Tbsp. olive oil

6 Tbsp. freshly squeezed lime juice

2 tsp. cumin

dash of cayenne pepper

dash of garlic salt

Combine all ingredients in a medium bowl and stir well. Chill through before serving. Serve with tortilla chips (or just eat by the spoonful!).

NOTES

• It can be a bit hard to find but the Shoe Peg corn is SO key in making this recipe. If your market has it, it should be in the same section as normal canned corn. But it comes in a smaller/shorter can and may be down on a lower shelf (where I always find it in our stores). I've only seen the Green Giant brand but there may be others out there.
• This is very good with either classic tomatoes chopped up or Roma tomatoes. If you're using the larger classics, only use 2. Or if you go the Roma route, plan on 4-5 fruits.

THE BEST TEXAS SHEET CAKE

I know that many of you probably have a Texas Sheet Cake recipe kicking around somewhere. But until you've tried this one, you've been missing out (unless this is the exact recipe you have). I had a recipe that I used to use and even though many of the ingredients are the same and most of the measurements are the same or close, I'm telling you, there seriously is a difference in the end result. We are addicted to this cake...

THE BEST TEXAS SHEET CAKE

2 c. flour

2 c. sugar

1 c. melted butter

1 c. water

1/2 c. buttermilk

1/4 c. cocoa powder

1 tsp. baking powder

1 tsp. baking soda

1 tsp. vanilla extract

2 eggs

Preheat oven to 400 and grease a large, 1" deep sided cookie sheet. In a large bowl, stir together the flour and sugar. Pour in remaining ingredients (making sure the melted butter is first) and mix well. Spread batter into the greased cookie sheet. Bake at 400 for 15-20 minutes (mine is usually perfect at 18 minutes).

FROSTING

(make towards the end of the cake's cooking time)

1/2 c. melted butter

1/3 c. milk

1/3 c. cocoa powder

1 tsp. vanilla

3 3/4 c. powdered sugar

Combine all ingredients and mix well. To thin the frosting out, add additional milk by the Tbsp. or to thicken, add more powdered sugar a bit at a time. Frost the cake while it's still warm (I usually let the cake sit for about 5 minutes and then frost).

NOTES

• DO NOT OVERBAKE THE CAKE!! I did this for the first time the other day. It was only in the oven about 2 minutes too long but it really seemed dry to me. But it was still super tasty and everyone gobbled it up (they didn't know the difference).
• Only use normal or butter flavored spray for greasing the pan (or good old Crisco). Do not use spray that has flour in it as the cake will bubble and overflow and make a horrible mess of your oven. I did this...very un-awesome.

MEXICAN CHICKEN SOUP (CROCK POT RECIPE)

Alright, my friends, I am back. I've been seriously slacking in the posting department lately and I'm going to do my best to get back on the blogging wagon. I'm starting off by posting a few super recipes for y'all...three days, three recipes. Here's my first:

To those of you who have been waiting for me to get myself in gear and post this recipe, here you go (and thanks for being so patient). And for those of you who haven't heard me rave about how totally easy and delicious this soup is, you've got to try it!

MEXICAN CHICKEN SOUP

1 lb. cooked chicken, shredded

1 (15 oz.) can whole peeled tomatoes, mashed

1 (10 oz.) can red enchilada sauce

1 medium onion, chopped

1 (4 oz.) can chopped green chile peppers

2 cloves garlic, minced

2 c. water

1 (14.5 oz.) can chicken broth

1 tsp. cumin

1 tsp. chili powder

1 tsp. salt

1/4 tsp. black pepper

1 bay leaf

1 (10 oz.) bag frozen corn

1 (15 oz.) can black beans, undrained and unrinsed

fresh cilantro

sour cream

shredded cheese

Fritos (or corn chips of choice)

Place chicken, tomatoes, enchilada sauce, onion, green chiles, and garlic in bottom of slow cooker. Pour in water and chicken broth then season with cumin, chili powder, salt, pepper, and bay leaf. Add corn, beans, and cilantro and stir well. Cover and cook either on LOW for 6-8 hours or on HIGH for 3-4 hours. Serve with sour cream, cheese, and crushed corn chips.

NOTES

• While I'm sure the pre-cooked chicken is fine, I've always made this using the frozen chicken tenders from Costco (purple bag...Foster Farms?). I just drop about 12+ of them (I love the extra meat) in the crock pot and let it do the work. Then, at the end of the cooking time, I pull the chicken pieces out and shred or tear them using two forks. Only thing with doing this is that I've found that the uncooked meat doesn't "fall apart" unless it's had the longer cooking time.
• I have never bothered with buying whole peeled tomatoes...I just use a can of diced or chopped tomatoes instead.
• We use mild enchilada sauce but if you like your food spicy and want to kick the soup up a notch in that department, go for medium (or hotter).
• Here's a BIG ONE: for a really good base/broth on this soup, I use 2 full cans of chicken broth instead of 1 can + water (the second makes up for about 1 1/2 cups of the water) and then add a bit more water to make up the rest of the liquid (approx. 1/2 cup). Make sense?
• Instead of the frozen corn, I use a full 15 oz. can of corn (drained). The extra corn really adds to it and considering that I always put in extra meat, it helps balance it.
• I'm the only cilantro fan in our house so I leave the cilantro out when cooking the soup and just toss some fresh cilantro in when I put my toppings on...it adds a really nice, fresh zing to it.
• This makes a good-sized batch so if you have a small family like we do, be prepared to have some leftovers (which freeze really well).

Tomorrow's recipe will be for a super fantastic Texas Sheet Cake. Mmmmmmm....chocolate!

HAPPY MOTHER'S DAY

Let me just start off by saying that over the past couple of days, I was trying to come up with a post for Mother's Day. But coming up with something that I feel is worthy of Mother's Day is not an easy task for me. Two of the greatest things in my life are my mom and being a mom. Words couldn't possibly tell how grateful I am for my mom, how amazed I am by her, how much she means to me, and how much I love her. Nor can I adequately express how incredibly blessed I feel to be a mother, how much more I have appreciated my mom since becoming a mother, and how much happiness my children have brought me. That being said...

Just like he does every Sunday morning, Max had the kitchen t.v. turned on to Music & The Spoken Word this morning. When I went out to grab something from the kitchen, I heard the Mormon Tabernacle Choir singing a song that I know and love, A Mother's Eyes Reflect The Love Of Heaven. I stopped and listened. This is a song that we grew up singing at family reunions on my mom's side. We would sing it to our grandma every year. When she passed away 4 1/2 years ago, the grandchildren sang it at her funeral. I was so touched that while we stood up there singing, I bawled my eyes out...couldn't stop sobbing for the life of me. So this morning, when I heard this song for the first time in years, I stood there in the kitchen, thinking of all the times that I had sung those words. How much meaning they hold for me, both as a child and as a mother. Each time I think of the words, it makes me want to me a better mother, to raise my children to the best of my ability, and to set the kind of example that they need. No tears fell this morning as I stood in the kitchen, but I immediately knew that I would be basing my post around this song. Here are the words (not shown is that men and women sing different lines and sections separately and then some together):

A MOTHER'S EYES REFLECT THE LOVE OF HEAVEN

by Steven Jones

A mother’s eyes reflect the love of heaven.
A love borne long before this life began.
A love which grows each day, which will not fade away,
A love inspired by Heavenly Father’s plan.

A mother’s hands reflect a life of service,
A life of sacrifice for those she loves,
And with her giving hands she shapes the soul of man,
Prepares him for eternal life above.

A mother’s words teach children righteous living,
And her example leads them to the light,
She speaks the words of truth that guide their tender youth,
And points the course they take throughout their lives.

A mother’s life reflects itself in our life,
Her ways of living are engrained in ours,
And through the changing years and days of joy and tears,
Her love will lead us on,
Her words will point the course,
Her hands will lift us up to God.

To all you mothers, grandmothers, and girls and women who will one day be mothers:

HAPPY MOTHER'S DAY

P.S. I couldn't find a full recording of the song online, but you can listen to a little clip of it here. MOTAB's arrangement and performance was far better...if you ever happen to find a recording of them or have the opportunity to hear them sing it, it's a must-hear.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY...ARE DAD & MOM AROUND?

This post is dedicated to my incredibly awesome middle brother, Dave. It's his birthday today and so here comes another list from my listy-self. Some of the many reasons why I think he is the bomb:

• He's very caring, empathetic, and concerned for other people and their well being.
• It was super fun to work with and have lunch with him a few times each week during the years that we were employed by the same company.
• He has a disgustingly thin and cute wife and a bunch of fantastic kids.
• He knows why I call him Kitten (and he calls me the same).
• Other than to get our mom's goat, he never complained about the fact that our parents were out of town for approximately every birthday he had as a kid.
• Four words: "It's a free country." They may have been annoying back in the day but they make me smile now.
• He used to call his wife on the phone when I was in the car and say embarrassing things to her just to push her buttons...very amusing.
• He is yet to have an issue with all the jabs we (my sister and I) make at him for being one of our 3 non-communicative brothers.
• He taught me all the secrets of Dark Castle and Beyond Dark Castle.
• When he was about to lose his hair during chemo, he let his friend Kristy and I dye and style his remaining locks to our hearts' delight.
• He introduced me to Led Zepplin, Pink Floyd, Tom Perry, and Rush.
• Even though I'm younger than him and we're all grown up and mature, he lets me boss him around sometimes and does what I ask (aka command) without any fussing...wish he'd train Hudson for me.
• He is very understanding and easy-going.
• Like our younger brother, Estee Lauder, he used to let my sister and me dress him up like a girl. And man, did he look good!
• We are surgery and staple scar buddies (he wins for longest scar and I think I win for most staples). No one else in our family is in this club - we rock!
• He drives our mom crazy when he pushes his eyebrows in the wrong direction.
• Whenever someone needs help, he's quick to pitch in.
• As you've probably figured out by now (and much like both of my other brothers), he's not a complainer...and that makes him about as pleasant to be around as is humanly possible!

Now, since it's a free country, below is my super special birthday photo pic for today. Unfortunately, while I am currently giddy with the thought that this picture of my brother is out there for all to see, I am also apparently fishing for snide remarks about my feathered hair (sure is a shame we outgrew our dangerously good looks). I just wish he'd had his braces on for this one:

Happy Birthday, Kitten!

I hope you have a wonderful day and that you actually check my blog for once so that you get to read this. Maybe I'll send you an e-mail.

5/9/2009: Here are Anee's two cents:

Now it's my turn to add to the list of Dave's many fine attributes...

• He has always been a hard worker. No wonder Dad liked his help best when we were working outside. (What a kiss-up.)
• He has that nice upper-body swimmer's build.
• He can laugh AT himself with the rest of us. For example, "You can do maaaa-jic! You can have anything that you desire!" You know what I'm talkin' about, bro!'
• He beat cancer, and then went on to spit in its face by having five kids.
• He doesn't fight his thinning hair. Nothing I hate more than a combover!
• He knows how to pick out a beautiful and good wife.
• He has a funny sense of humor.
• He is helpful and pitches in without fussing.
• He has a strong testimony and really tries to do what's right.
• He let us call him "Dade" for years. (Where did that come from, anyway?)
• He had big glasses AND braces and still went out in public. Brave.
• He will find humor in that last statement.

Happy Birthday, little bro! Love you tons!

Love, Anne

ONE BIG SIGH OF RELIEF

For those of you who haven't already heard, we got to breathe one big sigh of relief around here on Thursday. I took Claire in to the doctor's office on Thursday after a few sleepless nights with her coughing. She was diagnosed with nothing more than a cold. I'm still not convinced as this nasty cough that she's had for over a week doesn't seem to be improving...last night was the worst night yet. Now watch. I'll eat my words (quite gladly, I might add) as she'll now sleep through the night and the cough will be gone in the next couple of days. But this cold/cough is not the reason for the sign of relief...

While we were at the office, I asked the doctor (not our usual...Thursdays are Dr. M's day off) to see if they had heard anything about Claire's x-rays from PCMC. He checked her chart and couldn't find anything so he had a nurse check. In a case of ZERO surprise, she found the results on the hospital's online system with our geneticist's name as the prescribing/referring physician (see below for my wining about that). I know you've probably assumed what we found out from the title of this post, but the news was:

The x-rays of Claire's hips and pelvis came up totally normal.

Ahhhhhhhhh. Breathe in, breathe out. There is still the question of why that foot is turned out. I asked the doctor we were seeing about this and he said that he'd be leaving that discussion for Dr. M to handle. I didn't get a call as expected on Friday so I'll be making one to the office on Monday. Here's hoping it's an easy fix for our little girl. Either way, it feels simply GREAT to have that first little weight lifted off our shoulders.

Now if you don't want to read my complaints about the hospital's records, stop here. However, if you want to be peeved with me, read on!

When I went and registered the kids at PCMC on Tuesday morning, the girl doing our data entry and such pulled the blood order from their files and I gave her the order for the x-ray from our pediatrician. I told her that they were two different physicians and that we needed to be sure that the x-ray results went to our pediatrician and that any information regarding the blood work got to our geneticist. She said, "We'll make it work". Side note: Her looks and behavior totally reminded me of Jennifer Lopez's semi-spacy assistant in The Wedding Planner (the actress is a bit cuter and doesn't wear glasses). On we go...as she typed away on her little computer, she asked me a couple of times to remind me of our geneticist's name and the spelling of the name of my ENT who referred us to him. I reminded her again that we really needed to keep the x-ray and blood work separate. "We'll make it work". Thanks for the reassurance, honey, but you've not asked me a single thing about my pediatrician and his information and I don't freaking believe you!

After registering, we headed to Radiology where the nurse who took us back kept calling my daughter "Clarie". I finally glanced at the chart and computer and saw that Miss Make It Work had misspelled my daughter's name (which was spelled correctly on the orders from both of our doctors). They finished up the x-rays and the nurse told me to go back to registration before leaving the hospital to get the error fixed. So on we went to the lab where I was informed that they couldn't proceed with the blood draw until the error was made. Back to registration I went. I took the lab "card" to the wedding planner and she laughed it off, made the correction, and got me a new card.

I didn't think of our registration issues again until our pediatrician's office showed that they hadn't received the x-ray results as they should have. As stated before, when the results were found, there was absolutely no mention of our pediatrician's name on the hospital's records. I still need to call our geneticist and let them know why they received information on an x-ray order that they knew nothing about. I'm curious to see what happens with the blood work...I'm thinking that chances are, in a number of weeks, Dr. M is going to get test results for some blood work that he had nothing to do with. Anyone else want to make bets?