January 31, 2012

Outside Temp:  34 F (it's still windy outside, but not too bad.)

What I cooked today:
Pizza and Bread sticks: We got our kit from Little Caesars for Allen's Fundraising last month.  It included 3 medium pepperoni pizzas and bread sticks.  We also got individual pizzas and cinnamon sticks, but I saved those for another day.  The kit was really easy, just pull out the already formed crust, slather on the sauce, sprinkle on the cheese, place the pepperoni and throw in the oven.  8 minutes later, a nice warm pizza is available to be inhaled.  Patrick even liked it, and he is very picky about what he eats.  I should have bought more!

Update:
Patrick and I spent the day in Great Falls today.  Ryan was feeling a little punky and he had a cough, so we let him stay with Grandma and Grandpa and watch movies all day (we didn't think it would be right to bring him into town or school). 

We stopped at the Pierce Homes site, where they have some amazing modular homes.  Of course, they all looked way too big for us.  We are not really in the market to buy anything now, but we wanted to see what our options were.  Since, if we were to actually buy a modular home, we would have a basement and the kids would all have their own rooms in the basement, we really only need a master bedroom, a kitchen, a dining room and (maybe) a family room.  Perhaps an office or somewhere we can put the computers.  But that would only come out to a 2 bedroom house, which they didn't have on site.  It was a great experience to see how nice these places looked inside.  There was one with an amazing kitchen, that I was just drooling over.  Ahhh, how nice it would be to have a large kitchen with some actual counter space.  But I'm still just grateful for working electrical and plumbing. 

We also stopped by the Treasurer's office and got our permit to use the local dump.  Since our place is out in the middle of nowhere, it's quite expensive to have garbage service.  Patrick's dad had a permit last year, so they would go to the dump every 2-3 weeks, and remove all our garbage.  But, since the permit expired at the end of the year, we have been waiting to get our permit since the first of January.  Which honestly means there is a large pile in my garage, waiting patiently for us to remove it.  Fortunately, it's been quite cold, so nothing is growing in there and there's no smell.  But it's annoying and really needs to be removed.  I'm hoping that Patrick can borrow his dads truck this week and get rid of my garbage soon!

We stopped at Office Max, since I had some office supplies I needed to pick up.  Allen needed a day-timer to keep track of his homework (since he's apparently forgetting some) and I needed a new binder.  Oh my goodness, thing are a lot more expensive outside of 'Back to School' time.  Over $5 for a binder?  Are you kidding me?  They are about $2.50 at Wal-mart.  That was the last time I'm going there for things I can get at Wal-Mart.  Geez.

And, after we got home, Allen wanted to bring Grandma her pizzas.  And, since Allen is about 13 1/2 now, I figured it was time.  I let him drive up to the Grandparents, and back.  It's about 2 1/2 miles on a dirt road.  He did great!  Although, he needs to learn about how hard to push the brake, and sometimes it's okay to go 30 MPH and sometimes you need to slow down to 20 MPH.  I figure all that will come with time.  I'm so excited to be able to teach him out here, with no one on the road, in a pretty safe environment.  He was so proud of himself!