Prepping For Trek

Step one: start your coals. Here is our cool coal chimney. We started about 60 briquettes for our 2 Dutch Ovens. We used a 12" and a deep dish 10" 

Step Two: gather your ingredients and dump them in your foil lined 12" Dutch Oven. I started with a recipe but since I HATE being told what to do...I changed it....a lot. Do what works for you.
2 cans chicken (I didn't drain them. Just dump them in and break up the big chunks.)
2 boxes of dehydrated potatoes (the little milk cartons of dried shredded potatoes is what I used here)
About a TBS dehydrated onion
2 cans of cream of chicken soup
1 can of water or chicken broth if you want to be fancy
2 small bags of veggies. I used the carrot/corn/green bean mixture (mostly because I like carrot slices better than cubes).
2 cups Bisquick mixed with 1 1/2 cups water
1 cube of butter

Spread your Bisquick mixture over everything else you just dumped in. Slice up a cube of butter and place the slices around on the Bisquick. Put the lid on. Now you want to mix up your chocolate cake. We used our deep dish 10" pot but a 12" would work too. Make sure you line it with foil and spray the foil with pam. Unless you don't mind cleaning the heck out of your Dutch Oven. In that case, whatever works for you!
1 chocolate cake mix
4 eggs
3/4 cup oil
1 cup water
2 small boxes of chocolate pudding mix
Mix all these ingredients in a bowl. Mix them well because if you don't the texture will be funky in places. No bueno.
Place 17 hot coals on the ground. Place your chicken pot pie on those coals. Place 18 coals on the top. Stack your cake on that. On the lid of the cake place the remaining coals. Try to evenly space all your coals so you don't get hot spots.

Check your chicken pot pie at 30 minutes. Ours took 37ish. It was bubbly and hot and quite good. Check your cake at 30 minutes. We poked it in the center with a knife until it came our clean. Ours took the better part of 45 minutes. I am glad we practiced these recipes BEFORE we got out in the wilderness. I will probably post this weekends recipes later. Monkey bread and either chili or cheesy egg bake. Who knows where the wind will take us!! Good luck with your camp cooking!!

A Little Birthday Cake

A little while ago we had a birthday in the house. Or as you can see...in the driveway!! This guy was mildly interested in his cake but really his joy came from just being outside. He grabbed a couple hands full of frosting and moved on to play in the grass.

As you can see here he liked it ok. We expected him to dive right in. But he was more interested in playing. I love that about him. He is so happy outside. We sit on the porch together all the time. Him in his stroller and me in a chair. Love him!!

Playing with Jo is one of his favorite things! They take photos together all. the. time!! I love this pic of them. I think Jo and Michael will be friends FOREVER!!

Has It Been a Year Already?

This little guy came into our lives one year ago toady!! He has turned our lives upside down (in a good way). I cannot imagine loving a tiny human more than I do this little guy.We are so blessed to have him (and his parents) here. Watching him grow has been such a joy. I can't wait for every new day.

He has grown and changed so fast. It seems like every morning he looks a little different, a little bigger.

He has even had his first haircut...it was that or grandpa was wanting to take the clippers to it. 

He is sweet and smart. He loves to be held and played with. He will bring one of his three favorite books to you and expect you to read them to him until he is done. He loves "The Red Tractor", "How Do Dinosaurs Count To Ten" and "The Going To Bed Book". In the last couple of days he has started branching out a little and bringing me the "I Love You, Stinky Face" book too.

He will sit (or stand) still for a minute or two and watch some Curious George or Dragon Train. Mostly he likes to play with cars or balls or do anything outside. We haven't found a food he won't eat. Even the nasty meat-in-a-jar he gagged down. He LOVES mandarin oranges and black beans and especially toast. 

He is a joy to be around and I am so blessed to be his grandma!! Happy Birthday, buddy!!!

Wicked

For Mother's Day this year I have BOTH my kids here! I am so excited for that!! Last year they were both far away and it made for a long day indeed. 
Jo and I have wanted to see Wicked for a few years now but it never worked out....until.....

The touring production came to Omaha (again) and we got tickets!!! Kevin is taking Abby for their anniversary later this month so it was just Jo and me.

We were in the SECOND row!! Yep...only one row of seats and the orchestra pit stood between us and the stage. It was STUPENDOUS!! Sitting that close it was very easy to get lost in the beauty of it all. The costumes and sets were wonderful and the actors did a great job of pulling us in. It was magical.

It was so perfect that I probably won't ever see it again. If the second production isn't as good I'd feel bad and if it was better I'd feel worse. I will let this be perfect in my head forever. 

What an amazing evening!! Thanks Jo!!!

My Life Right Now

Let's face it, I'm not as young as I once was. I thank the heavens that I have been physically active for the last 5 years. Who knew it was training for this new gig of mine. I am a stay-at-home grandma. I feel so old at the end of the day. I do everything I can for the 5 other people that live in my house. I love them. I nurture them. And I wouldn't trade it. But man I am tired. When I read this poem by Annie Flavin I instantly felt connected. I only have one to chase and wrangle and love...but it feels big. I love what I do but by the end of the day....

Bitches Get Shit Done

by Annie Flavin

It’s 4pm, also known as

Mama’s So Tired and Kids Are Crazy o’clock.

I want nothing more than to hide on my couch

with the covers pulled tightly around me.

I want to close my eyes

and drift off

with no other human body

touching my own.

There will be none of that, though.

They are heckling me

with arguments over scraps of paper,

or garbage,

if you were the judge,

and complaining of

hunger and

weather and

clothes that are not just so.

Where is their mother?

Oh, that's right.

I rise up

even though I am

bedraggled,

befuddled and

so, so weary.

He won’t be home soon enough that I can coast.

The TV isn’t cutting it.

I channel

women who are not me;

wise, strong, capable, creative, nurturing

mothers

who push through difficult times and

get shit done.

I channel them,

I become them,

I am them.

I march into the kitchen,

I turn on music and

I find something, anything,

that looks suitable enough

to be called dinner.

They flock to me now:

do I sense a bewilderment in their eyes?

Mom is moving. Mom is happy.

“Mom, I’m a super hero! I save people from pirates!”

he yells as he zooms

around our tiny kitchen.

I am, too, I think to myself.

I get shit done.

Happy Mother's Day my friends. Mother's rock!!

A Quick Before and After

This is my bed. My massive log bed. It probably weighs 500 pounds. It is cool and unique and very manly. The bedding was purchased for a cool $20 at a garage sale 4 years ago (as of this summer). It too is quite masculine. I have liked it, but lately I have been wanting something a little more me. Back when we bought our mattress, NFM gave us a gift card to come back and use. We had to use the entire card in one trip so I wanted to get something good. I needed a new rug and the rugs I found were reasonably priced, leaving some money to spend on bedding......

Of course this isn't the first set I loved. The first set was aqua (go figure) and had yellow and pink and brown accents. Beautiful. Come to find out it was two bedding sets combined. Yeah...bummer. So I kept looking and found this floaty cloud looking set. They had this fluffy white and a beautiful, soft purple. Both were so lovely. I decided on the white because I can throw different pillows at my whim and change the whole look. So now my manly bedroom has a little softer look. I am loving it!!

Another New Chapter

There are a lot of things going on in Omaha right now. Specifically at our house. Two weeks ago Kevin and Abby and Michael moved into our house. Kevin is going to school at Metro and (hopefully) very soon Abby will be working. I have offered to help with Michael while Kevin is at school.

With that exciting change we have more vehicles to park on our VERY narrow street. Finally Jim caved to my request for concrete (about twice a year for almost four years) and in a week we will be able to get Kevin and Abby's vehicle and Jo's car (now the red Fusion) off the street.

That will leave the green car on the road...but no one has complained. It will just be nice not to have to worry so much about blocking half the road constantly.

We had them fill in that ridiculous planter. It was in such an awkward spot. You'd go to get out of the car and have to dodge the dirt pit. I tried to kill the little shrub in it...but it refused to die!

So with five cars and five drivers...wait...five?? What am I driving if Jo has the Fusion?? Oh yeah....only my dream car!!

After four years of saving every nickle I could (with the help and budgeting skills of my awesome hubby) we were able to score this sweet ride at the car auction. I love it! It is so cute and comfortable...and I am able to sit up a little higher and that is a good thing for sure!!

So now we are all settling into our new reality with a very full house. I love having all my chicks in the same town. It has made me very happy indeed.