Wednesday, April 29, 2009

And People Say it's Colder in Norway!

Weather for Butte, MT
-27°F
Current: Light snow
Wind: NW at 10 mph
Humidity: 80%
Wed
Snow Showers
31°F | 22°F
Thu
Snow Showers
38°F | 20°F
Fri
Mostly Sunny
47°F | 27°F
Sat
Mostly Sunny
54°F | 29°F












Weather
for Trondheim, Norway
66°F
Current: Clear
Wind: SE at 14 mph
Humidity: 36%
Wed
Clear
62°F | 41°F
Thu
Clear
69°F | 42°F
Fri
Clear
69°F | 44°F
Sat
Chance of Rain
59°F | 39°F

Wednesday, April 22, 2009

Reasoning with a two year old

Last night for whatever reason Avery had a hard time getting to sleep. She was up crying at 9:30 a good two hours after her normal bedtime. So I went in to see what was wrong and rock her back to sleep. I tried to lay her down and give her a sippy but that freaked her out and she started crying, “I rock you” which translates to I want to rock. So off we went to the rocking chair. At this point she decided she was wide awake and wanted to read a book. Any parent knows that letting a child read a book when it is obviously their bed time isn’t a good habit to start. So I said no, which of course freaked her out again. Finally after about five minutes of wrangling her on the chair, because once the book option failed she decided she wanted to watch TV, I gave up and put her back in her crib to let her cry it out. Ten minutes later I was back in the room to “I rock you” again. After another ten minutes of getting no where I decided to try and reason with the small child. I told her that Mommy was so tired and would she please go to sleep so that Mommy could go to sleep. I talked about how I’d be sleeping in the next room and would be so happy if she would go to sleep. Believe it or not it worked! I was astounded. Has my kid gotten to an age where I can reason with her? Was this a one time fluke? I guess we’ll find out but I was pretty darn proud of myself and her for working out our bedtime problem in a civil fashion.

On another note the kid was up at 6 am this morning and I tried to ignore her. After like a half hour of her yelling at me she started saying, “Mommy owey, Mommy owey.” She has done this to me before, said that she was poopy when she wasn’t or said owey for no reason just to get me up. So I ignored her for another fifteen minutes. Then I decided that I wasn’t getting sleep anyways so what the heck I’d get up. Come to find out the small one had somehow gotten her knee stuck between her crib bars. When I went in to get her up she said, “Mommy lookit owey.” I felt about an inch tall. It would have been a great example of the boy who cried wolf if she would have understood what the hell I was talking about. But since she’s two and wouldn’t get this concept I felt like the crappy parent who ignored their poor child in a time of need. Does this mean I’ll jump up the next time she wakes up at six a.m., probably not! I’m guessing the chances of her getting her knee stuck in the crib again are slim to none. Plus going in when she claims she’s poopy or owey just shows her that saying these things gets action from Mommy and that’s not really something I want to instill in my child. Now I’m left to wonder if leaving my child in a crib for fifteen minutes with their knee stuck will have any lasting affects on her mental well being. This parent thing is tricky!







Tuesday, April 21, 2009

Working at Harley

Is so funny working in a Harley-Davidson store. I must say I’ve learned a lot about this American subculture, some of it exactly what I expected and some of it a little shocking. The thing that I have found the most interesting, however, is that unlike what most people think… people from all economic and social backgrounds buy Harleys.

There’s the rich business man type that just wants something to show off. There is the school teacher who needs a thrill in life and just really enjoys wearing the clothing (probably more than riding the bike). There are the young kids who think owning a bike will give them an instant status upgrade among their friends. There are the old retired couples who also need a thrill. There’s the one time rebels who want to remember a piece of their past. Then there are the true Harley riders. These are the men and women that are quintessential Harley-Davidson. They belong to biker gangs and are covered in tattoos and leather. I actually like these ones the best. Most of them are sincerely nice people, as long as you don’t cross them, and many of them have stories of hard lives. Live hard ride hard right. This type has been riding Harley’s for so long that it is ingrained in who they are. Without a bike they would be lost.

True bikers whether rich or poor are an extremely loyal bunch. These guys and gals will do anything for each other and seem to consider them selves members of a secret society. As long as you own a HOG you are a member. When the chips are down they are there for each other. One thing I have learned from working here is to never judge a book by its cover. I am not surprised to see a 70 year old grandma type walk in clad in leather and riding a HOG. Nor am I surprised to have an interesting conversation with a tattooed gentleman that at one point in my life I would have been a little scared of.

I guess working for Harley has humbled me a little. Even though I’m still scared to death of motorcycles I have gained respect for them and the people that ride them.

Wednesday, April 15, 2009

Enjoy the last days of winter!

As ready as I am for spring I know that this might be the last of the cold weather and so I’ve decided to enjoy it. Winters in Butte or Montana for that matter are very very long and I tend to get burned out on them around mid January. Having that last burst of spring time weather kicked me out of my winter blues and I’m actually enjoying this last little spell of cold. Here’s a few things I love about winter and actually miss about it towards the end of summer.

  1. Dark winter nights are a great excuse to watch movies, TV, read books or just be lazy in general.
  2. I love sitting in front of my wood stove with a cat on my lap watching the snow fly outside.
  3. Sledding down our back yard hill which unfortunately we didn’t get to do much this year but I’m thinking we might be able to do tonight.
  4. Eating comfort food! Tonight I’m making potato leek soup.
  5. Baking, I LOVE baking and winter clothes hide those extra pounds oh so well.
  6. Not having to worry about wearing a swim suit (see #5)
  7. Sipping hot cocoa with marshmallows on top.
  8. Having an excuse for being late to work (the roads were bad!)
  9. Big fluffy snow flakes.
  10. Sitting in a warm hot tub with snow flying all around – I really don’t like hot tubs in summer.
  11. Having it dark for the small ones bed time and dark so she doesn’t get up too early.
  12. Snowshoeing, which we didn’t get to do this year but next year Ave should be big enough to come along.
  13. Being able to buy perishable groceries on my lunch hour and not worrying about them spoiling before I get off.
  14. Being able to leave a sippy cup of milk in the car without having it spoil ( you Moms know what I mean.)
  15. Anticipating spring!



Christmas night hanging out in my Mother in Laws hot tub with hot buttered rums - yummy!

Monday, April 13, 2009

Easter 2009

Shawna, Ryley, Avery and Grandma.


Getting ready for a walk.
Dancing cousins.


Ryley opening his basket.






Opening the Easter basket

Flashbacks

I’m getting flashbacks of what it was like when we first bought Avery home from the hospital. By flashbacks I mean I am remembering what it was like to feel like a zombie for days on end. Avery has been sick a lot this winter and when she’s sick she doesn’t really sleep. This in turn means I don’t really sleep. For the past four nights my little princess has woken up crying three to four times each night. Sometimes I just have to rock her to get her back to sleep, sometimes I just give her juice and sometimes when nothing else works, she gets to sleep in our bed. Back in the baby days getting up a couple of times a night was no big deal. These days, however, I am used to uninterrupted sleep and I really really like it! Thus reverting back to multiple nighttime wake ups just isn’t working for me. I am praying that tonight is the night she finally gets back to sleeping through the night. If she doesn’t you might see a small child up for sale on ebay. On a side note she is feeling better. Thursday night through Sat she had a fever and was just out of it. I’m not sure if she’s teething or just fighting another case of the cruds. Whatever the reason it’s causing me to have serious second thoughts about having another child! Surely once she gets back on her sleep schedule I will forget these past few days where my only coping skill has been caffeine, lots and lots of caffeine, and I’m sure I’ll forget the comment about the second child. In the meantime it may take me awhile to get my Easter pictures posted so bear with me. I am a sleep deprived zombie who may be hitting the hay right after Avery goes down tonight at eight pm! That is if I don’t fall asleep on my desk first.

Tuesday, April 7, 2009

The small one…


Loves counting to ten, but skips five.


Says “I don’t know” to every question.


Wants to be “side” all the time, will put shoes on (the wrong feet) and ask to go side. If everyone doesn’t go “side” immediately a tantrum ensues.


Whenever given a bowl and spoon claims to be cookin. “I cookin, I cookin Mommy.”


Can tell you she wants to go potty if she feels like it. Most the time she doesn’t feel like it.


Is on a huge Sponge Bob kick.


Makes demands all the time. The favorite is “come here.”


Is in love with “chocat.” Would eat it all day if given the opportunity.


Cheers on everyone that goes potty by clapping and yelling, “yeah (insert name here).” Then offers a sticker for a job well done. Also likes to be in the bathroom with said potty go-er whenever possible.


Is already learning how to get her way.


Is very sensitive.

Party in Great Falls

Last Saturday Avery and I cruised back to Great Falls for my Grandma's 75th Birthday Party. Jeff stayed in Butte to work on his thesis. Lori had been down to watch Avery on Friday (thank you) and she stayed the night. Then on Sat we trailed her back to Great Falls. Grandma's party was so nice. Wade and the boys made it up from Emigrant. It was so great to just relax with my family and visit. I don't get to do that often enough. We had an Easter egg hunt for the kids. Avery really got into it and yelled every time she found an egg. She discovered that the eggs had chocolate (or chocate as she calls it) inside and shoved a ton of candy in her face. Yoshi and Micheal were awesome and let Avery find lots of eggs. We drove back to Butte Sunday in beautiful weather and went on a bike ride with Jeff that afternoon.


Hanging on the porch Sunday morning.
Finding chocat!



"helping" Grandma blow out candles and eat cake.

Friday, April 3, 2009

PF Changs Mongolian Beef Recipe


I'm making this tonight but we've made it a few times. It's FANTASTIC and I'm not even a huge Mongolian Beef fan. If you like your spicy add some cayenne or red pepper flakes.

P. F. Chang's Mongolian Beef

Ingredients

Directions

  1. Make the sauce by heating 2 tsp of vegetable oil in a medium saucepan over med/low heat.
  2. Don't get the oil too hot.
  3. Add ginger and garlic to the pan and quickly add the soy sauce and water before the garlic scorches.
  4. Dissolve the brown sugar in the sauce, then raise the heat to about medium and boil the sauce for 2-3 minutes or until the sauce thickens.
  5. Remove it from the heat.
  6. Slice the flank steak against the grain into 1/4" thick bite-size slices.
  7. Tilt the blade of your knife at about a forty five degree angle to the top of the steak so that you get wider cuts.
  8. Dip the steak pieces into the cornstarch to apply a very thin dusting to both sides of each piece of beef.
  9. Let the beef sit for about 10 minutes so that the cornstarch sticks.
  10. As the beef sits, heat up one cup of oil in a wok (you may also use a skillet for this step as long as the beef will be mostly covered with oil).
  11. Heat the oil over medium heat until it's nice and hot, but not smoking.
  12. Add the beef to the oil and sauté for just two minutes, or until the beef just begins to darken on the edges.
  13. You don't need a thorough cooking here since the beef is going to go back on the heat later.
  14. Stir the meat around a little so that it cooks evenly.
  15. After a couple minutes, use a large slotted spoon to take the meat out and onto paper towels, then pour the oil out of the wok or skillet.
  16. Put the pan back over the heat, dump the meat back into it and simmer for one minute.
  17. Add the sauce, cook for one minute while stirring, then add all the green onions.
  18. Cook for one more minute, then remove the beef and onions with tongs or a slotted spoon to a serving plate.
  19. Leave the excess sauce behind in the pan.