October 31, 2011

Outside Temp: 38 F (and dropping... lots of cold wind today and we should get some snow tonight)

What I cooked today:

Burritos: With our busy day, I didn't have much time to make anything.  So, we went with burritos, which were super easy and quick!  They were done in less than 20 minutes, so we had some time to hang out before putting the kids to bed (by 8:45pm!)

Update:

So, if you read yesterday's post, you know that we saw wolf tracks while we were playing in the snow.  We've been meaning to start the ball rolling with getting a firearm to protect ourselves, if we choose to head into the woods, and yesterday's observation just pushed us another step.  Of course, to get a gun in Montana, you have to have a Montana Driver's License.

We've been meaning to get the whole 'license' thing done, since we've been her over a month, but we've heard that it's easier if you go to Lewistown instead of Great Falls, since in GF, you have to take a test and you have to have an appointment and there's a line and stuff like that.  In Lewistown, there is no line and you don't have to take a test.  So, after Ryan's IEP this morning, Patrick, Ryan and I, jumped back on the highway for the 60 mile drive into Lewistown. 

(on a side note, I almost had Patrick pull over so I could take pictures... The clouds were amazing and it was so beautiful...)

We got to the Montana Department of Transportation (MDT, our version of the DMV I guess) and there was one guy there, Joe.  Really nice guy!  We filled out our forms and got together our paperwork.  I have my original birth certificate (from Spain), my social security card, and my CA drivers licence.  Patrick had his passport and his driver's license.  And we had the bill from the energy company. 

Joe looked at our electric bill and said "uh oh".  You see, the service address for the house is "one block west of the mint bar".  That doesn't work as a residential address, since it doesn't correspond to our actual address. So, he can't use it as 'proof of residency'.

He called up the energy company, to ask them about it,

They said: "That's the address we have on file". 

He said: "You are required by federal law to have an actual address.". 

And they responded: "Yea, so?". 

He hung up with them and asked us: "Do you have a copy of a rental agreement?", which we don't.  (oh yea, one more thing on my list).

"There is one other thing you can try... Do you have a voter registration card?"

I've never even heard of such a thing, since in CA, the workers at the voting booths aren't even allowed to ask for ID.  But, apparently, a voter ID card is proof of residency.

But, we had to go back to Stanford (about 45 minutes back towards Geyser) to the county courthouse in Judith Basin, to register to vote.  So, we told him we'd be back in a few days.

We got to the Judith Basin courthouse (which is beautiful, by the way) and went to the county clerk and recorder's office.  There was only one employee in the County Clerk's office.  We explained that we wanted to get registered to vote and she was so nice!  She got us the forms and we filled them out and 10 minutes later we had our proof of residency in the form of a voter registration card! 

Now we just have to make the hour trek back to Lewistown... :)

After our adventures, we brought Ryan back to school for his afternoon class (he's seeing his teacher M-Th, from 1:30-3:30).  The elementary school was having their Halloween parade around 2:30, so he had a short day, then we made up his face like a zombie and he joined in the fun!  Katie walked around to the classroom's with him, which was so nice.  Then the school had a carnival with the (you guessed it) cake walk and bean bag toss and fishing pole game, along with a few others.  The junior high and high school kids ran all the games and the kids had a great time!  Ryan joined in the fun and we all came home with enough candy that we didn't have to go trick or treating tonight!  (We skipped the Haunted House in Geyser tonight, and had to feel a little bad about that.  Okay, I'm done)

Woo Hoo!  My least favorite holiday is finally over!

October 30, 2011

Outside Temp: 56 F (and rising... We are having a Chinook, which is a warm wind that causes big temp changes... Snow is scheduled for tomorrow night and again Thursday and Friday)

What I cooked today:
Chicken Stock: I purchased two fryer chickens last week, since they were on sale, and I had the second one in the freezer until Friday, when I was planning on making another batch of stock.  Of course, Friday and Saturday were so busy, I didn't get it done.  So, I HAD to do something with the chicken today or risk loosing it!  So, I cut it up and tossed it in the crock pot for the last 10ish hours.  I saved back the breast and thighs for the chicken noodle soup tonight.  I'm getting pretty good at cutting apart a chicken and I'm beginning to wonder why I've been paying $3.50 a pound for chicken breast, when I can get the whole chicken for less, and still end up with 2 perfectly good breasts (not to mention some really awesome broth!)

Chicken Noodle Soup:  Since we played in the snow today (see below), we really needed a warm soup to come home to.  Nothing compares to homemade chicken noodle soup.  Sooooo easy!  The broth was mostly done by the time we were ready for dinner, so I simply sauteed some onions, carrots and celery for a few minutes, added about 4 cups of stock and 2 cups of water.  Then I cut up and cooked the chicken breasts and thighs from the chicken from this morning, and tossed those into the pot and simmered for another 30-40 minutes.  During that time, I boiled up some egg noodles.  I dished the noodles into the bowls first, then added the soup, which keeps the noodles from over cooking.  Totally awesome!


Update:
Connor was complaining because he missed the snow the other day.  He was at practice and by the time he got home and ate dinner, it was dark.  Since he had school the next day, the snow was all melted before he got home.  Granted, I can completely understand why he was upset. 

So, we got up this morning with very little to do, and decided to have a picnic up in the mountains.  We packed a cooler with sandwich fixing's and a picnic basket with bread, granola bars, and Reese's peanut butter cups (oh yea) and jumped in the car and headed up into the mountains.

The first 30 minutes made me a little nervous, since it was in the mid 50's outside and there wasn't a lick of snow anywhere.  But as we got a little higher, I began to notice some snow in the shadows, around Belt Creek.  By the time we got up to the snow area, there was a small amount of snow on the ground.  We pulled off the road into the 'Recreation Area', which is code for Snowmobiles and cross country skiers.

The parking lot was covered in snow!  We simply pulled the car into a (snow covered) parking spot and jumped out.  The kids immediately began picking up snow and forming snowballs to throw at each other. 

Then we moved onto Snow Angels

Then, we decided to work on a snow man!!

And he turned out fine...
But, then Katie and Connor had to make a BIGGER one! Of course, by now the snow was really melting and we got a lot of dirt into our snowman, but that didn't matter.  I promised them that next time there should be more snow, less dirt.  :)
We finished off the snow trip with a short hike in the wood, which was awesome.  We saw tracks from a rabbit, and probably the wolf that was hunting the rabbit.  And the kids were bummed when I told them not to venture too far off the trail.  After seeing the size of the wolf tracks, we might want to bring some sort of firearm for protection next time!

After the snow trip, we headed into Belt for their 'OctoberFest and Halloween Carnival'.  The kids had fun in the haunted house and they played a few carnival games, but I think they were pooped from all the fresh air and fun!  I know I was!!!

October 29, 2011

Outside Temp: 41 F

What I cooked today:
Hamburger Tomato Soup:  So, I was all set to make Goulash tonight.  I had the onions and green peppers sauteing with some garlic (okay, so that's not how most people make it, but I was kind of improvising) and I'd thrown in the ground beef to brown, when I reached for the macaroni.  And some little mouse (okay, so it was my husband, but the same thing) had eaten almost ALL of my macaroni!  I searched high and low, and couldn't find any macaroni in my house.  I knew Connor didn't like my Spanish Rice (which would have added rice and water and tomatoes at this point), so I figured I'd try something else.  I just added some Worcestershire sauce and some Tomato soup and a little extra tomato paste.  It made it soup, but was still like a chili with the ground beef.  Although it wasn't that cold, it was really nice to have a soup.  Of course, Connor still didn't like it (I think it's the green peppers), but everyone else said it was great.  Maybe next time I'll try celery or some other flavor and see if he likes it more.

Biscuits: I wanted to try the recipe in Better Homes and Gardens instead of Alton Brown's recipe.  There wasn't much difference, but the BH&G recipe called for cream of tartar (I have no idea what this does) and 3/4 cup butter.  I barely mashed the butter into the dough and there were still chunks of butter in the biscuits when I cut them and placed them on the pan.  As they cooked, the butter melted, so the bottoms of the biscuits were essentially frying in the melted butter.  They turned out great and the kids really liked them.  I actually broke mine up in my soup, which I thought was awesome. 

Update:Oh boy, this was one of those days.  From the time I woke up, I felt like I was running.  Of course, I didn't wake up until about 9:30, so I shouldn't complain.  And I should apologize right now, because I totally forgot my camera today, so there are no pictures... I'll make sure to get pictures tomorrow or Monday.

Patrick, Allen and Connor moved the 50 bags of pellets from the garage out to the shed in the backyard.  He chose the furthest shed, because it's on a slab that's about a half a foot off the ground.  I can just see the complaints while the kids are trudging through the snow to get bags during the winter, but oh well.  So, Allen was loading three 40 lb bags into a wheelbarrow and wheeling them out to the shed.  With the wind and the cold, it was slow going.  So, after the first 10 bags or so, Patrick felt like rescuing them.  The backyard has a big fence, large enough for a car, so he had the boys load about 20 bags into the trunk of his car, and drove it out to the shed.  Then they unloaded and did it again. 

And, because he's a cool dad, he let Allen drive the car from the shed back to the garage.  You should have seen the grin on his face!  I know, he's 13, but around here, he should really know how to drive a car.  Every other 13 year old has already been driving a tractor for years, so it's really time.  I've heard that you can actually get a licence at 14 1/2, so we need to get started. 

Then we moved a few remaining boxes around in the garage and now, I can fit 2 cars in my garage!  We've had the Miata in the garage for the last few weeks, but with the snow and the cold, I really wanted to get my van inside.  Patrick's Aveo will just have to suffer in the snow.  Of course, the garage door opener needs batteries...

Then we rushed back inside to get ready for church.  Patrick took all 4 kids to church, while I went over to the community center to help set up for the kids party, which started right after church.  As soon as church was over, I picked up the kids and brought them back home to rush into their costumes and head over to the party.  For a town as small as Raynesford, they attracted kids from all the outlying areas!  There was probably 50 kids there!  Some of the older kids were helping run the games (cake walk, bean bag toss, bingo, bowling) and then there were some games I would never have seen in CA, like the rubber band gun shooting game, and the balloon darts (with real darts!).  Kids as small as 2 and 3 were aiming and firing the rubber band guns (complete with scope).  Ryan LOVED the rubber band guns, and couldn't get enough!  He even was able to throw the dart and get a balloon!  Of course, he was about 6 inches from the balloon by that time, but who's counting!

An hour and half later, we rushed back home and changed, cleaned up the face makeup (Connor was a vampire), got our stuff together for the basketball game, and rushed out the door again for the basketball game.

The game was at Stanford, which is about 30 minutes from the house.  Because the Geyser school is pretty small, they co-op with the Stanford team to make 1 whole team.  So, in this case, the game was at HOME, even though it was 30 minutes away.  Then again, when the games are at Geyser, they are still 15 minutes away, so what's an extra 15 minutes?

The boys played great and they won, again... 26-10!  Both boys got to play for at least a quarter and they did great.  After the game, we stayed to watch the 7/8 grade boys play for a while, just to have the boys watch how the teams played.  (The teams are separated into Elem: 5th/6th and Junior High: 7th/8th.  But, since Allen has never played before, he plays on the Elem team.  There are two boys who play on both teams.  The Junior High team has only 7 players, including the 2 6th graders who play). 

We had a great conversation about how certain plays worked and how aggressive some players can play.  Allen was really interested, but Connor really just wanted to get home and relax.  I can understand that.

We got home and I made a quick dinner (see above) and they get a few hours to relax before tomorrow.  There's another Halloween (October Fest) party in Belt tomorrow afternoon, so I guess we get to be social, again.  Then, of course, the Halloween Parade at school on Monday, and trick or treating in Belt Monday night... When is this silly 'holiday' over????

October 28, 2011

Outside Temp: 51 F

What I cooked today:
Burgers and Pasta.  We had so much going on today, I didn't have time to cook.  Okay, that's not true.  I could have cooked something that would have been done when we had time to eat, but I didn't.  I know, not cool.  But no one seemed to mind!

Update:
The boys played against Centerville today, and WON!!  Woo Hoo!  It was amazing how much better the team played today!  The coach has been really running drills and there was a time (I think the entire 3rd period) where both Allen and Connor played, without the help of their two best players.  They did great!  I noticed that they seemed more confident of their place in the game, and they didn't seem as confused.  Allen still needs to work on Offensive vs. Defensive, but he's getting better.  Their dribbling has really improved!  I've heard their coach was good, and now I really believe it!  Final Score: 32-16.

As many of you may know, Patrick and I are not much into the whole 'Halloween' thing.  It's usually Jen and Mandi's thing, so we have always let them do Halloween, while we stay home grateful that we don't have to get dressed up and do things.  But, up here, we felt that we were required to put in an appearance at the local Halloween party. I actually wanted to go, but I worried about the whole costume thing.  I haven't had a real Halloween costume in years.  The local 'Raynesford Community Center' has both an 'Adult' party (which was tonight) and a 'Kids' party (tomorrow).  So, we ran into Great Falls today to see what we could come up with as far as costumes, not only for us, but for all the kids.  Yes, I'm that parent, who waits until the complete last second to grab the remaining options for Halloween costumes.  I'll post pictures of the kids tomorrow (and then they have a parade in school on Monday) but I was economical since Patrick's costume can be used by Allen tomorrow.  And my cape can be used by Connor tomorrow.  Two costumes for the price of one! We had a blast at the party tonight!  We played 'Beer Pong', without the beer, which, I know, makes no sense.  And we came in second (out of about 12), which was amazing since I haven't played beer pong since college!  Also, they wanted to have a 'head on a platter' and Allen was recruited.  So, we made up his face and he sat on the floor under the table, waiting for some unsuspecting guest to take the lid off his dish.  Needless to say, he had a great time with that one (and not just because at 13, he was allowed to attend the 'Adult' party!).  They got some good pictures, but I didn't get a copy tonight... I'll post it tomorrow, assuming I get a copy.

Everyone at the party was great, although I'm struggling with remembering who is whom.  Especially, when they have costumes on!  There was a woman there who was dressed up as Robin Hood, complete with the beard and mustache.  I totally thought it was a guy, but I couldn't place him... I knew I'd met him before... Patrick explained it about 30 minutes into the party, and boy, did I feel like an idiot!

October 27, 2011

Outside Temp: 42 F

What I cooked today:

Walnut Chicken with Fried Rice:  I haven't made this in a while, and I thought it would be a nice change from stews and soups.  Of course, when I went shopping on Sunday, I forgot the snow peas, the mushrooms, and the celery (well, I tried to get celery, but they were out).  I also didn't check to make sure I had enough sherry and soy sauce and sesame oil.  I was lucky, but I used up the rest of the oil and almost all of the soy sauce.  Ugh.  It turned out fine, but was missing that crunch I get from the snow peas and the celery in the fried rice.  I'll try to be better planned next time!

Update:
Patrick did catch a mouse today.  Ryan has still been going around setting off the traps, but he missed one in the closet.  The mouse got hit right in the middle, which squished his guts out.  Katie said his face was still cute.  We tossed him out the front porch, where the neighborhood orphaned cat was waiting for his 'dinner'. 

We got our first Electric bill today.  I was actually expecting the bill to be a little higher than it was in California, since the stove, oven and dryer are all electric (they were gas in Ca).  There were two things I found funny about the bill.  First off, it was only $60.  I don't think we EVER had a bill that low in CA.
Second, I looked at the comparison to last year (and the last 12 months) and I had to laugh.  In October of last year, the owner (who is a bachelor who worked a lot), only used 256 kWh, whereas we used 490 kWh.  Of course, I'm sure he didn't do 4 loads of laundry a day, then use the stove and oven to prepare food for a family of 6.  He left in January, so the house has been empty since them.  And in the summer months, the kWh usage was below 100 a month.  I guess that's the cost of the fridge and having the other appliances plugged in.  :)

I also thought I would log into Southern California Edison, to see how my bill was running for the CA house.  The fridge is still there, but we took the washer and dryer.  And, we obviously havn't been running the A/C.  The current bill is about $9.  Yea!

The boys have another game tomorrow night, so we'll see if they've inproved in the last 4 days.  I really hope so.  And maybe I can actually get a clear picture this time!  I've also learned that we need to bring $1 bills, since the vending machines don't take anything larger than a $1, and they really don't take credit cards.

We also have the halloween party (for adults) tomorrow night.  I'm hoping to get some good pictures, but we'll see.  I'm not big on halloween, so Patrick and I may show up without costumes.  :)

October 26, 2011

Outside Temp: 40 F

What I cooked today:

Burgers and Mashed Potatoes: Okay, all the cooking finally caught up with me, and I had absolutely no desire to cook today.  So, the old stand-by of burgers and mashed potatoes was the choice.  I'm realizing that Allen is getting older, since I made about 9 potatoes, and it was gone.  Like totally scraped clean.  I think he was licking the plate.  Ugh, at least potatoes are cheep. 

Update:
So, the kids mentioned something yesterday, but I thought they were kidding, so I didn't post it.  I talked with the lunch lady today and yes, indeed, they had sirloin steak for lunch yesterday.  Are you kidding me?  I have never heard of feeding kids steak for lunch from a school cafeteria!  But, apparently, their 4H group has a few cows and needed to slaughter them for the season... so the school gets fresh beef.  They also have pigs, so I'm sure the bacon and pork chops are fresh.  They are so spoiled!

The only complaint was that they had Heinz 57 instead of A-1 sauce, and some of the kids thought it was too spicy.  Not mine though; Allen tasted it and said it was just like the sauce his mom makes! 

The school also had a pep rally today in Stanford (about 15 miles away).  So, they all loaded up on buses, except Ryan and I who took my car, and drove over there.  Since our school is so small, we team up with the Stanford teams to make 1 whole team.  They girls volleyball team is about 11 students, and the boys football team is 8... yes 8 boys.  They play 6 man football, which I had never heard of before we got here. 

The pep rally was very similar to my memory from Napa.  The coach wanted everyone to yell the team mascot, 'go wolverines' every time some said 'team'.  They called all the members, by name and height, of both the girls volleyball and the boys football teams, who had to come stand in the middle of the gym, looking bored.  Then there was a game that took longer to explain than it did to actually play.  All that was missing was Eli and Aaron doing a skit of  'Wayne's World'. 

I also found it interesting, since both schools are K-12, the stands were half-filled with elementary grade kids, who were probably bored but liked to be able to yell out every time some used the word team.  Even Ryan got into the mix and by the end, was howling like a wolf and clapping.  I guess that's part of the whole 'school pride' thing.

The snow was burned off by noon, which bummed out the kids who wanted to play in the snow when they got home from school.  I told them they would have more than enough chance to play in the snow once the winter sets in.  The good news is that even though the outside temp last night hit about 19 F, my house was still in the mid 60's when I woke up.  I guess my pellet stove is doing it's job!

October 25, 2011

Outside Temp:  27 F

What I cooked today:
Beef Stew: I got a roast from Albertsons on Sunday (they had a deal where you got free carrots, celery and potatoes when you bought a 3lb roast.  Score!).  It was about 3.5 lbs, which is a lot of meat.  So, I cut it in half, sealed the side with the best marbling in my FoodSaver, and cubed up the rest for beef stew.  Since it was sort of cold today, I thought the boys would like a great hot stew after practice. 

Buttermilk Biscuits:  I used to always use Bisquick for my biscuits.  It's not bad, but I wanted to try something from scratch.  Of course, Alton Brown had a recipe for Southern Buttermilk Biscuits in his cookbook.  I was pretty sure I was doing it wrong, since I only got about 10 biscuits out of the recipe, and they only filled about half of my cookie sheet, but they turned out great.  A little too great.  Now I HAVE to double the recipe, since everyone wants biscuits with honey and butter.  Katie even told me they were better than KFC.  Oh jeez, I should hope so!


Update:
Okay, so one rule on mouse traps... they don't do much when they are not set.  Apparently, Ryan went through the house yesterday, or maybe Sunday, and, using a knife, set off every mouse trap he could find.  So, this morning, I had Patrick go through the house and re-set every trap.  He did find a single mouse, dead, behind the couch.  I guess Ryan couldn't reach that one. I expect to find a few more tomorrow morning, since it's getting cold and it's nice and toasty in my house.  Okay, not toasty, but I guess 60 degrees is better than freezing outside!

Also, today, we had a beautiful snow storm! 

I was inside, working at the community center to prepare for the halloween party on Friday and Saturday, when one of the ladies opened the door and commented on the snow.  So, of course, being new to this whole 'snow' thing, I had to run outside and take pictures!  It was sooooooo pretty!

One of the comments around here is 'if you don't like the weather, wait a few minutes and it'll change'.  When I left about another hour later, I took a few more pictures of the snow on the ground.  The storm blew through in about an hour or so, and we were left with a pretty dusting of snow on the cars and on the ground... just enough to make a snowball and throw it at the kids! 

The pellet stove is keeping the house at a nice 68 degrees, so I'm sitting here typing in my short sleeve shirt and no socks.  Okay, that's a lie, I have socks on.  :)

October 24, 2011

Outside Temp: 31 F

This was the view from my car on the drive to take Ryan to school this afternoon.  I was so excited to see the mountains, I had to pull off the road to take a picture!  I can't wait to see it when it's covered in snow!

What I cooked today:

Spaghetti Sauce:  Since the boys had the game today, I wanted something that I could throw together quickly when we got home, but was still warm and filling.  Of course, the first thing I thought of was my spaghetti sauce.  Using my slow cooker (and my secret ingredient of about 1/4 bottle of Merlot), it was simmering along by 11 this morning.  When we got back from the game, I threw together the pasta and put the rolls in the oven, and dinner was ready by 8:30pm (the game was over by 7:30, and Belt is about 15 minutes away!)  We also had enough extra that we could invite Uncle Tom (Patrick's mom's brother) and of course, the parents, to dinner!

Homemade Dinner Rolls:  I have a recipe for a sweet bread dough, so I made that up before the game and let it rise while we were gone.  Once we got home, I rolled it into rolls, and tossed it in the oven, so we had fresh hot dinner rolls with our sauce!

Brownies:  We needed a dessert to celebrate the boy's first game, so I grabbed the box of Brownie Mix and cooked those up between bringing Katie and Ryan home from school and heading out to the game (about an hour).  I had just enough time to get them together before we ran out the door, and they went over great!  Oh yea, like anyone has EVER complained about brownies!

Update:
So, the boys had their first game tonight against Belt.  And the thing I learned quickly: my camera stinks.  Either that, or I can't take pictures, or maybe, basketball games are hard to photograph.  Below are some of the pics I took tonight. 











  

The only clear picture I got was of Allen's behind (number 34).  Lovely.

The game was great and the boys played well.  Not great, but I was really proud that they both played about a quarter and they kept running up and down the court, without complaint.  Allen got the concept of defense just fine.  He covered his 'guy' and blocked him great.  His only problem was the transition from defense to offensive.  He kept blocking his guy when his own team had the ball.  :)

Our team has been practicing for about 4 days.  The team we played had been practicing for about 2 1/2 weeks.  So, yea, we lost.  But we played well and I was really proud of my boys! 

The kids also got to go to a field trip into Stanford (about 20 miles) today.  They had a 'play' at the local community center, which meant they all loaded up on the bus and went to the production.  They also got out of about 2 hours of class time, which is the really awesome thing about field trips! 

We had a beautiful rain storm today/tonight.  They (the forecasters) have claimed that we might get a little snow tonight, so we'll see if there is ice in the morning.  I see a cold morning coming!

October 23, 2011

Current Outside Temp: 41 F

What I cooked today:

Frozen Pomegranates:  We bought 22 lbs of pomegranates from Bountiful Baskets about two weeks ago, and finally, last night, finished 'processing' them.  We'd removed all the seeds (using the awesome underwater method) and today they were frozen solid enough to pack into FoodSaver bags and toss in the freezer.  What on earth am I going to do with 7 1/2 lbs of pomegranate seeds? 

Chicken Stock:  I bought a 'fryer chicken' from Albertsons this week (for $0.79 a lb!) and had to do something with it.  I used to think that chickens were just born in chunks, you know, like breasts, wings, legs, etc.  It turns out that chickens are like turkeys, born as a whole bird, and you can cut the individual pieces off!  Who knew?

Okay, I'm kidding, I knew they came as a whole bird, but I had never really done anything with a whole bird except the turkey at Thanksgiving.  And this bird was way too small to stuff and serve with mashed potatoes and pumpkin pie. 

Referencing my handy 'Alton Brown: Good Eats' cookbook, I learned today how to octo-sect a chicken.  I cut the bird into all eight parts (breasts, wings, thighs and legs), and didn't do too bad of a job.   I took the breasts and the thighs and sealed them up with my foodSaver and tossed them into the freezer.  The legs and wings, and the rest of the bird, went into my 12 qt stock pot, along with an onion, a carrot and a stalk of celery.  The top went on and within about 20 minutes, all was boiling nicely. 

Of course, today we had to go into Great Falls for our weekly shopping trip, so I transferred the stock into my crock pot.  It filled the pot to the top, just shy of going over the top.  I left it simmering for about 8 hours and came home to a pot filled with beautiful homemade chicken stock!  I strained out all the 'stuff' and was left with about 12 cups of stock.  It chilled for about 2 hours in my fridge, and then I canned it.  I'm throwing the jars into the freezer, instead of pressure canning it: a) because I'm too lazy to do it tonight.  and b) because I want to read up a little more on pressure canning meat products before I subject my family to the string of bacteria that can occur.  'Alton' suggested putting it into ice cube trays, and then you can use as little or as much as you want. But I figured I'd make a mess of that.  Maybe next time!

Chicken and Noodle Soup:  Using a couple cups of my newly made stock, I tossed together some carrots, celery and onions to make a great homemade chicken soup!  I had a single 'freezer burned' chicken breast in my freezer, so that got defrosted and cooked and tossed into the soup.  Cooking up a handful of noodles, dinner was ready about 45 minutes after I walked in the door!  Patrick said the broth was awesome! 

 Update:
Today was our weekly trip into Great Falls for shopping.  It's about 40 miles in (and 40 miles out) of Great Falls, so I hate to do it more than necessary.  Since Patrick's parents are leaving on Tuesday, I thought we'd take advantage of them (again) and have them watch the kids so Patrick and I could have a date.  Of course, that date consisted of shopping, but I'll take it!  In 3 hours, we hit Big R, Walgreen's, Wal-Mart, Sam's Club, Smiths and Albertsons.  I worked on my weekly list of meal planning last night and I think I'm good until next Sunday. 

Tomorrow's forecast is for a high of 45 and a low of 27, which means it will be kind of cold.  Not really cold, but kind of cold.  It's also calling for rain, which means I might get to see more snow tomorrow or Tuesday morning!  It also means that at 6:45 tomorrow morning, in the dark, while I'm getting the kids ready for school, it will be cold.  Ugh, I'm not looking forward to the whining tomorrow morning: 'Mom, I'm cold, I don't want to get out of bed!'.  But, since I'm driving them in tomorrow, instead of taking the bus (Ryan has speech at 8:15), they get an extra 10 minutes!  :)

The boys have their first Basketball game tomorrow night, in Belt.  Apparently, Belt's team is really good, but we'll try our best!  I can't wait to see the boys on the court!  Stay tuned for pictures tomorrow...

October 22, 2011

Saturday, October 22, 2011

What I cooked today:
Chocolate chip cookies
 Connor made the recipe and I cooked them.  Of course, he was trying really hard to help and I ended up bumping him with the pan, which resulted in a nasty burn on his arm, and a significant amount of guilt on my side.

Split Pea Soup
  I found a recipe that didn't use ham, since I don't have any.  I cooked everything on my stove, then transferred to the crock pot.  But I forgot to check to make sure the crock pot was actually plugged in, wasting an hour.  And the recipe called for 1-2 hours of simmering, but it wasn't ready for about 3 hours.  We had lunch around 4 today. 

Burgers and Potatoes
  My old standby, which works fine. 

Number of loads of laundry: 4
  I hate laundry.  But I'm laughing at my 8 boxes of linens (towels, sheets, etc) and another 6-7 boxes of clothes.  I really don't want to unpack those boxes.  If I unpack the boxes, people will wear those clothes and use the linens, which will leave me with more clothes to wash. 

Update:
So, we recently bought a Pellet Stove to heat the house. 

I had never heard of a pellet stove prior to our move.  When we asked to rent the house, we were told that it had two working fireplaces, and an electric heater, along with a forced heated air system.  Of course, we weren't told about the high price of propane.  The owner told us that he had to fill the propane tank almost every month, at about $700 per month, to keep the house heated through the winter. That's more than we spent during the summers in California, keeping the house at 70 degrees when it was 105 outside. 

We thought we could get firewood from the national forest (about $5 a cord, if you cut it yourself) and use the wood fireplace.  When we got here, we realized the wood fireplace was installed into half of my master closet, probably 20 years ago, and the blower doesn't really work anyway.  It just eats wood and doesn't heat much. 

The second fireplace is propane, which defeats the desire to NOT use the propane.  The forced air heater is also propane.  And the electric heater is a space heater that doesn't start. 

So, we decided on a pellet stove.  Since we are renting the place (for now), we couldn't make any significant modifications to the house.  Then, we found a pellet stove that sticks in your window.  It's similar to a window air conditioner.  But, we wanted it in the family room, which doesn't have any windows.  So, what do all self-reliant people do in this situation?  We bought a door, replaced the door to the backyard, and cut a hole in it. 

Feeling very smug with ourselves, we turned it on.  Nothing happened.

Smart people would have started it in the garage prior to installation.  So, we removed it and realized that auger (the part that feeds pellets into the heat unit, looks like a big drill bit) was stuck and not moving. 

Now, in California, we would just return it to the store and get a new one.  But, in this case, we called their customer service, who had us take it apart to figure out what was wrong.  We laughed and said we were afraid of voiding our warranty.  She said the warranty couldn't be voided and said she would send us a new auger.  After we hung up, we pulled out the auger, and used a file to remove a burr that was scraping against the shaft.  7 hours later, it worked great. 

We re-installed it and now it heats the family room great.  However, we'll have to see what happens when it's actually cold outside. 

Introduction

Current outside temp: 52 F

SOME PEOPLE (you know who you are) have suggested that I blog about my adventures in Montana.  So, here I am.  If you know me well, you know that I never finish anything I start, so I'll probably blog for about 8 entries, then get bored and forget for about two years (which makes me think of my diary when I was a teenager, but that's another story).  If you are actually reading this blog, please let me know, so I have some reason to continue once I get bored.

As most of you already know, I've lived my entire life in California.  I grew up in Napa, in northern California, then moved to San Diego for college.  I've lived the last 13 years in Temecula (just north of San Diego).  My biggest complaint about California is that there are too many people, and I hated the weather.  It was too hot.  So, like most things in my life, we make a decision and just run with it.

After spending the summer with Patrick's parents up here in Montana, we decided (on the 20 hour drive home) to pack up our entire house and move 1200 miles away to a new town, a new environment and a new life.  There will invariably be many moments in the next 6 months in which I regret that decision, especially when it's 20 below zero, but I really believe that this is what is best for our family.  But ask me again next spring!