And who did we get to see? Buzz and Woody and all the gang from Toy Story 3!
As you can see the girls had fun! Daddy Dearest and Mommy did too, even if our wallets were considerably lighter leaving the show. 
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What I love today!
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Ever since one of the Girl Scout moms and I had a conversation about parks the other day, I have been nostalgic.
I have been taking the kids to the park more since the weather is warming up. Something I haven’t been able to do in the past because I worked and when I was first staying at home, Dominik was too little.
Anyway, we were talking about how we missed the things that made the park fun for us as kids. The silly little animals on springs that you could get and ‘ride’, the creaky old merry-go-round, the swing sets…..
If that last one surprised you, it sure did me too. They have done extensive remodeling on our parks in my town over the last few years and apparently not only did we lose merry-go-rounds and monkey bar domes, but swing sets didn’t make the cut either.
So the the remodel of the park across the street took us from a full playground with several areas and things to play on down to three things. A sand volleyball area, a soccer field and what as kids we called a ‘big toy’.
The big toy has three slides and is similar to the picture above though much taller. It has one tire swing off to the side and that is it.
My kids go to the park and after 30 minutes they are done. Why? Because we have a small version of the big toy in our backyard. And….at least ours has swings attached and sand to play in.
If there aren’t many other kids there when we are, there is nothing to do, you can’t play soccer or sand volleyball with a mom, a 4 yr old and an 8 yr old.
It makes me sad that they won’t have memories of climbing the pole to ring the bell, riding the silly bear with the circus hat trying to get the nose to touch the ground or having swinging contests to see who can get the highest.
The worst is the feeling that my kids will not know the camaraderie and excitement of getting a whole bunch of kids on the merry-go-round and taking turns spinning it.
Ten of you holding on for your dear lives with one leg down, all pushing off like we were rowing a boat…faster and faster.
Or the satisfaction of talking a ‘big kid’ into spinning you as fast as they can and you hold on as tight as you can, feeling like you were going to throw up and loving every second of it.
Don’t be surprised if you see a post this summer that we are installing a merry-go-round in our backyard, lol. Never put anything past me.
Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.
In a small bowl, stir together paprika, black pepper, onion powder, thyme, rosemary, garlic powder, and cayenne pepper.
Place sweet potatoes on a baking sheet, or in a casserole dish. Add olive oil and seasoning mix and stir until the sweet potatoes are coated.
Bake in preheated oven until tender, or about 45 min. Makes 4 1/2 cup servings
Number of Servings: 4
Ok, this week has been hellacious for me….I have a houseful of children that have RSV including my tiny premie son who can barely breath from all the mucus. We have now had two trips to the doctor and an emergency room visit under our belts all within the days of a St. Patrick’s Day prep, parade and party for the Girl Scout troop I lead and my first week of the 100 Days til Summer Challenge with the Rants from Mommyland folks. So it goes without saying, this week has left completely exhausted and overwhelmed. I did manage to pull the quickest recipe together one night out of stuff I had in the cupboard (which isn’t amounting to much…I really need to get the store!)
Crockpot Chicken with Black Beans and Corn
4 boneless, skinless chicken breasts
1 package of frozen corn
1 can of black beans
1 can of cream of chicken soup
cayenne pepper, to taste
chili powder, to taste
pepper, to taste
salt, to taste
sour cream, to taste
shredded cheese, to taste – we used our fave, Colby Jack
Pour package of corn, can of beans, cream of chicken soup and 3 soup cans full of water into the crockpot and turn to High – 6 hours. Once the soup seems to blend and the mixture starts to warm add chicken breasts (we left them whole, but the way I served them we could have sliced them up also). I then added cayenne pepper, chili powder, salt and pepper to give it a spicy southwestern taste.
6 hours later, we sliced up chicken on our plates, spooned black beans and corn on top and then added shredded cheese and a dollop of sour cream. It was heavenly and took me about 10 minutes total to make!
When I first entertained the thought to write a post for “Stodgy is Sexy”, I was a little hung up on the word ‘stodgy.’ I’m not stodgy am I? And I’m not in many senses of the word, but one thing I am is old-fashioned. I’m also conservative, not in the right wing political kind of way (exhale my liberal friends), but in a financial, material and taking risks way.
The more I thought about it, the more I liked the concept. In the last few years, Jason and I have gotten back to more traditional roles. I stay at home with the kids; he works hard to bring home the bacon.
I make every effort to cook from scratch, in an effort to both save money and insure that our kids our eating healthy. I don’t want ingredients that have been sprayed with pesticides or injected hormones; I’d like to grow more myself and I would very honestly love to have the milkman be a commonplace thing again. We try to make as much as possible ourselves; building, creating, using the items we have or that we can get cheaper in an unfinished, pure form.
Hell, I would love to don a dress and heels à la June Cleaver and wear a flowery apron everyday (which just in case you are wondering, I am working on sewing for myself right now!) You just save so much money by making your own curtains, bookshelves, costumes, dresses, etc. You also feel so much accomplishment when you finish and every time you look at that object.
I feel that I was raised in a society that championed bigger, better, easier, quicker and it took us away from the things that really matter. We began to look at boredom and boring as horribly bad things that we should avoid and numb away by using our Blackberries and googling our questions and having a GPS unit tell us how to get there. We forgot that we need those times of boredom for reflection,for innovation, for accomplishment. When you look at it that way Stodgy is Sexy, extremely sexy.
The Stodgy is Sexy movement embodies a time when common sense mattered and so did face time with your significant other, your children, your extended family. Things moved a bit slower, things were a bit simpler and there was much more pride is what you created and accomplished rather than how much money you made and what awesome new gadget you bought it with.
For more blog posts to read and videos about the movement, please visit www.StodgyIsSexy.com and watch the webisodes.
And here is my own little Stodgy Is Sexy video:
I have given this out to my friends before but I know you all want to try it, right?
Creamy Potato Soup
Ingredients -
10 Potatoes, diced – I used large Idaho potatoes
2 cans Cream of Celery Soup
1/2 large Onion (quartered and thinly sliced) – I did not use these bc Jason hates onions, I subbed in Onion Powder, about 2 tsp
4 to 6 slices Bacon (fried and cut up)
2 cup Hot Milk
1/4 stick Butter
Pepper, to taste
Salt, to taste – I used Sea Salt
Ground Thyme, to taste
Celery Salt, to taste
I also added in Rosemary, Basil and Oregano
I put corn in there too bc Jason loves it
Preparation:
Place diced potatoes in pot; add only enough cold water to cover; cook on low until soft; remove from heat but do not drain. Fry bacon; drain but retain drippings. Saute onion in butter (since I did not add onions I added the butter, corn and cream of celery soup to the potatoes at this point); add cut up bacon, seasonings (and strained bacon drippings for flavor if desired); simmer. (To retain creamy white soup color, do not let mixture turn brown or burn). Slightly mash cooked potatoes; add onion mixture; combine milk with soup then add to potatoes. Simmer for 1/2 to 1 hour or until soup is mushy and potatoes are soft. Stir often. (Sprinkle with flour if too thin; add more milk if too thick). Serve with hard bread.
I served it with corn bread and it was heavenly!
