January 23, 2012

Outside Temp: 28 F (it was over 32 most of the day, which makes for some very slushy roads)

What I cooked today:
Chicken Stock: I cooked up about 4 quarts of chicken stock today, which I then canned in my pressure canner.  Now, I can just put them in my pantry and use them whenever I need them, without having to defrost!  I still have 2 more fryer chickens, so I see this happening 2 more times in the next few days. 

Orange Chicken: With the stock cooking all day, I forgot that I had to actually make dinner.  I had some chicken defrosted from a few days ago, so I whipped up the orange chicken sauce and cooked up the chicken.  I didn't spoil the kids with fried rice, but they still ate up every bite.  I even had a few tablespoons of sauce left, which everyone fought over to pour over their rice.  Katie tried to steal my last bite of chicken, but I wouldn't let her!  Bad mom!

Update:
Ryan had speech therapy today, and I had in the back of my head that it was not at 8:00, like usual.  But for the life of me, I couldn't remember when I was supposed to be there.  So, I brought all the kids to school at 8, and waited.  And waited.  Around 9am, I gave up and headed home.  I walked through the door, only to be greeted by Patrick telling me the speech therapist would be there by 9:30.  So, we turned right around and headed back to the school. 

So, when the speech therapist told me today that she would be there at 9:30 next week, I put it right into my Outlook calendar the moment I stepped in the house.  Hopefully, I won't forget next week!

It turned out to be a blessing, since Ryan finished with speech right around the same time the kids were outside for recess.  So, Ryan headed out with the other kids.  There was a large section of ice that was still frozen, and the kids were skating over it in their boots.  The kids helped Ryan skate over it as well!  He had so much fun!

We had our Adult Faith class tonight, which is always nice (and not just because it's 2 hours with no kids!).   The program we are working on is a series of DVD sessions, about 50 minutes each.  It's a great program and we have time to stop the video and discuss what we are learning.  It's nice to be able to spend time, talking with our wonderful neighbors, and simply being a part of the community.