Life of Reilly

Many of you are already fans of Rick Reilly's weekly columns, and hopefully the rest of you will be after you read this.

Cookies- success tips

I have struggled forever at making chewy cookies. I generally will make a different dessert or there a a couple of no fail cookies that I occasionally attempt. But really, I just try to avoid making them all together.

Nate, who is very aware of my struggles, was kind enough to share this link to help me out.

Apparently butter is the key.

So I tried a few of their tips and followed the directions on the Andes Mint Chips bag(check out the link for a copy of the recipe.

and Voila! Chewy cookies!

(the photo is from the above link but honestly this is what mine look like too!)

They are really minty- in the future I may be tempted to put in a little less mint chips and maybe put a few chocolate chips into the mix- but they did still turned out really well.

And for an extra bonus- I didn't burn any! I can rarely successfully cook an entire batch without messing up one pan- and with my bad luck lately with cooking I was really nervous but I guess I was extra careful and actually remembered to set the timer and had no problems.

Snow= sledding time!

The best part of winter snow is the opportunity to go sledding. I have so many memories of sledding. It used to be that on Thanksgiving we would hit a sledding hill near my aunt's house- maybe that only happened one year- there hasn't been snow on Thanksgiving for a while.

Christmas Day we always brought our snow gear to slide down my Gma's hill. She has a good yard for sledding as long as there is snow. Now my kids bring their gear with them when we visit there.

We used to have a really big wooden toboggan with cushioned seats. Gosh, we felt cool riding that down. And Mom and Dad were generally left to drag that back up to the top. I wonder if they still have that somewhere?

Then in high school, it wasn't cool to wear snow gear while sledding. So I would try to find some boots that didn't actually look like boots (and usually weren't extremely warm) and then would wear long underwear under jeans. Also hats were not the fashion it was some sort of ear muffs or something similar. Weren't we silly! Luckily warm mittens were acceptable, we weren't totally crazy. Once we were "appropriately dressed" we then hit the hill.

One of our favorite hills was Starring Lake in Eden Prairie. They had a nice hill with hay bales protecting those walking up the hill. It was generally very fast and you really had to watch out for those coming down after you. Good times. They also had a warming house- lovely! The best part of that hill is that they had free inner tubes you could use. It was awesome...I wonder if they still provide those? That is the way to ride down a hill and it was easier to go down in groups with tubes too.

There was an article in the Star Tribune today about the best 10 sledding hills. Perhaps the reason that I haven't been sledding for awhile is because I realize how much effort it takes. Now that I no longer have to pull or carry my kids up the hill as well as the sled I might be more willing to take my kids this year.

But that would require actually getting some real snow gear for myself, like snow pants. I am beyond looking cool and am ready to just stay warm.

Christmas Music...

it was so fun to sing so many Christmas Carols at church today. My kids are still singing or at least humming the tunes. In fact, Spencer has already asked to go out an purchase some Christmas sheet music for his cello. While I am all for finding more ways to get him to practice...buying some easy sheet music is not something I wanted to do.

So what thought occurred to me? "Google it" -of course!

I found a wonderful website that had just what I needed. So if anyone else is looking for some easy sheet music that is free I would suggest this site Celloonline.com. The link takes you to the free portion of the website. There are other arrangements available for violin, viola and full score (piano).

Now that Spencer has his cello out and is currently playing Jingle Bells (the only Christmasy song in his current book) I should bring him some more options.

I hope everyone is having a wonderful Sunday- we are bundling up and getting ready to do some baking. Wish me luck- I swear I have been so distracted lately that I keep burning stuff! Even toast- perhaps I should have kept that to myself.

And the numbers are in...

Seriously, my kids just won't stop growing! We keep trying to tell them to slow down but strangely they are not listening to us.

My dad has been keeping track of their growth on their kitchen wall (just as he did with us except that our measurements were lost when we said goodbye to the wallpaper.)

He measured them Nov 1st and then again a few days ago.

Spencer has grown 5/8 of an inch
and
Jenna has grown 7/8 of an inch
in 1 month!

Then I decided to double check Jenna's shoes... yeah, she has outgrown her size 1s. They are not even close to being worn out yet. Poor kid, no wonder she had an overly clumsy month- she was growing too fast.

She asked me at the beginning of the school year why she doesn't have as many different shoes as other kids in her class. This is why. And yes, I was astounded that she has already taken an interest in shoes. I blame her Aunt Jill for her shopping addiction. :) (BTW Jill, we need to go shopping!)

Currently the kids heights are: Spencer at 4'6" and Jenna 4' 1".

(and no, I haven't checked Spencer's shoes yet, he generally tells me when his feet hurt- apparently Jenna hasn't realized that her feet are not supposed to hurt since I am constantly replacing her shoes.)

Wouldn't it be great if they invented expandable shoes that had stretch in them to allow kids to wear them longer?

How to know when it is cold outside...

Now, this is not to scare those of you who may not be from the frozen tundra up here...there are only a few days that live up to these descriptions -one of those happened to be today! BRRR

• The car washes are closed- too cold!
• The dog doesn't want to go out at all- but makes her trips very quick!
• It hurts to breath through your nose (nostrils freeze) and through your mouth (teeth freeze)- cure is to wear a scarf
• The car finally warms up after you reach your destination
  
• You remember that there was a reason to buy a coat with a hood
• The neighbors disappear behind your not-so-well-insulated windows
• The automatic car windows refuse to budge- no take out windows for you! (Was true for both cars today and they spent most of the day in the garage!)
  
• The Dairy Queen starts writing messages on their sign "we need customers!" -I actually saw this today!
• If it gets really cold you can blow bubbles and watch them bounce on the snow
• There will still be a large number of fisherman- possible more than usual since they can now drive on the ice (those fish houses are heated don't ya know)
• You thing that the cart return guys probably aren't earning enough money
• The fireplace/space heater, a good book, and a blanket are sounding REALLY inviting
  

That is all that I can come up with for now...anyone else have any other great signs of a cold day?

A small miracle...

Spencer is having a wonderful day! Last week, while on vacation, his favorite Discovery Channel hat was lost at Universal Studios. It was a very sad day. We had checked the lost and found with no luck. It was a real bummer.

But today, Nate called the Lost and Found again to see if the hat had turned up...

Guess what...Spencer will be receiving his hat in the mail in a week or two. Lost and Found called back not 10 minutes later and his hat did turn up. Spencer is SOOOOO excited!

So much for my gift giving ideas this year...that may be his favorite package to open this Christmas.

Ordinary things you suddenly notice...

I find that I notice a lot of things after I return from a trip...

• I no longer need to refer to a map in order to figure out where I am going
• The license plates of the cars on the road all remind me that I am home
• My body is thankful for the familiar bed and pillows
• I always seem to need a day or two to sleep off the "relaxing" vacation- (which I don't get)
• Running errands in the car to escape being at home - not so tempting
• Real meals rather than eating out-more work but worth it

I am sure that there are others but I have forgotten.

I have fallen off the blogging wagon as late. Twittering was so much easier than blogging, but I am returning because you just can't replace good old blogging.

Tis the season...for SOCKS

Okay, so perhaps it is the season for many things but at this time of year I become more aware of my sock collection - or lack there of.

The weather now is generally cold and wet, and thus it often requires removing your shoes. Yes, of course there are many people who always require shoe removal to protect their carpets, but often times in good weather that leaves many of us in bare feet (which is a whole other issue that I will not discuss here.)

So what are you wearing under your shoes? Do you ever panic and think-

"Yikes, I hope these aren't the socks that have the hole in them?"
Or
"If I sit on my feet maybe no one will notice these socks!"
Or
"If I keep my feet flat on the ground- no will will notice that I wore these white socks outside (more than once)"
Or
"Oh no, the only clean socks in my drawer are the ugly, last resort pair that are losing their shape! Should I pull some out of the laundry?"

Are there sock rules out there? I just have so many questions.

It is bad to wear white socks with black pants? Is matching your socks to your shirt good or bad? Would it be best to just match your pants instead? Are toe socks (the ones that divide your toes) an appropriate gift for grandma this year? Do I feel confident enough in myself to wear wild socks to tomorrow's Pampered Chef party?

Although perhaps the best problematic question is- Yikes, will these thick socks fit into any of my shoes? Nope, guess it is time to go shopping!

Just to be safe I bought a few new pairs of socks today- I wonder what outfits they will go with?

Derby! Aaargh, Matey.

Well, the Derby season has begun again. I was able to enjoy a night out with the siblings and we dressed up to cheer on the Pirates. Unfortunately, our team didn't win, the Zombies won instead.

Don't we just look precious? And then we went out to eat after this, and boy did we get comments about the mustaches! It is amazing how a little thing like a fake mustache can suddenly make perfect strangers approach you with advice about facial hair removal and how it can be the key to getting dates!

Dave and Lindsay, Jill and I are still waiting to hear about your future date. Dave, do you need any lipstick?

A belated Halloween post

Our Ward Halloween Party was held during the day. The kids had a lot of fun. I was amazed at how good Spencer is at the hula hoop. This is where he spent most of his time.



Jenna, our Texas Longhorn Cheerleader, made the rounds, including the face-painting station. Thanks again Gma for finding the outfit. She has really enjoyed it.


While others I know skipped over the pumpkin carving- we were not allowed to do that- however I managed to avoid cleaning out the pumpkins. Spencer was a trooper and cleaned out both his and Jenna's pumpkins this year. I just had to collect the pumpkin seeds for roasting, a job I can handle.






Here are the masterpieces- lit with glow sticks. Spencer did his own design and made a sword and Jenna and Nate used a template to make a scary tree.


Here is our only shot of them just before they went trick or treating and they were standing still very well. We had a storm trooper, a cheerleader, our neighbor, Spiderman and Bruno was a pirate.

What a wonderful fall...

My favorite season...

Here a couple of attempts to capture our fall colors. Not the best shots but - I tried.

I had not taken my kids to an apple orchard yet. And apples are VERY big here.
Of course the one orchard we went to was rather lame but we had fun anyway and it was a beautiful day to be outside. Next year we will do better.

The kids needed help getting to the "good" apples.

Jill couldn't find any shoulders to sit on so she found some branches instead. (SHH don't tell anyone, she was breaking the rules...
no one offered to carry her ;-D )
Hopefully she won't shoot me for posting this "winner" photo. Hee Hee.

What comes with Fall? The falling of the leaves and somehow there seemed to be more of them this year. Don't know how that happened.
We had fun in our leaf pile - it was huge when we took the photos
but it is even bigger now!


Nothing like a leaf fight!

Jenna managed to lose a shoe in the battle. Miraculously she found it again.
I hope you had a lovely fall!

2009 Theme Word Art and ideas

Each year our youth program at church has a scriptural theme. They have recently released what the 2009 theme is and here are a few things that I have found to help with future planning.

First, I must say how cool it is that the church is using technology to help us learn more about our religion, our callings at church, how to help our families. Have you checked out the new video player to watch General Conference and other meetings?

They are also coming out with a DVD and other materials to help end this year's theme and to begin next year's theme. While I wish it were coming out before December - what a cool concept! Maybe next year they will roll out those materials earlier to assist with planning.

Isn't this cool? It could be done on t-shirts, programs, any number of things.


Here is the link to where you can find this- she does a lot of Word Art. You can learn how to download the PNG file by going to this link.

Here is the site where I found the Word Art link and it may have some other great ideas for anyone interested. It is called SugarDoodle.

A beautiful day to be outside!

We started our day with a race...I was a fabulous spectator!
(Spencer and Dave did the running).

Here they are before the 5K race.


It was a wonderful autumn day and the leaves are so colorful right now! Dave was afraid that Spencer would overdo it and he tried to point out the trees in order to help Spencer pace himself but it didn't work- he was too concerned about staying on the path and not running into anyone. There were a lot of people - over 900! A record number this year.

Here they are at the end of the race.

Yep, the fingers they are holding up are the order they finished in. Spencer kicked it into high gear at the end and finished in 29. 40. Check out the results here.

Then we headed home so that Jenna could finish out her soccer season. I wasn't able to see much of her season since I was coaching Spencer's team but she had a lot of fun.


One thing that I am unfamiliar with is organized cheering from the sidelines. The girls would line up and start cheering and clapping for their team. That doesn't happen on any boy teams I have seen.

Everyone got participation medals in 1st grade. It was so refreshing to watch games where the score was not the main focus of the game. I just found myself chuckling most of the time.

I will post a photo of Spencer's team soon. We took the opportunity for a group photo after our next to last game...good thing too since our last game was in the fog, at night. Until then, here is a photo taken after the final game. Our team got second place.

*Update 8/12/08: Poor Spencer can hardly walk today...despite my best attempts to hydrate him and encourage stretching...he is going to be sore for a couple of days.

Cheaper Flights coming to MSP?

Nate just notice a new announcement! Guess who is coming to our airport in March 2009!
Finally. They are adding flights to Chicago and then we can fly to other locations and some of you to us!

I love free things!

I am always trying to find a good deal and do fun things. I love that Macy's has joined with the libraries around here to offer free entrance into many museums and historical places around. We haven't visited a lot but we have gone to the MN Zoo and The Works and other places.

I have recently found out that Target has a partnership with the MN Orchestra for free tickets to upcoming family musical productions. It is a drawing but hey- I will sign up if for a chance to win 6 free tickets. If you are from around here and want to enter for the tickets too check out this link.

I have also looked into volunteering to get you free admission. I got the girls in our church youth group into the state fair for free by having them fill a shift at a little kids farm area. There are also several smaller theaters such as Stepping Stone Theater that by offering to usher (they look for youth groups, I think) you can watch the production for free!

Several radio stations also offer deals for free or discounted gift certificates from time to time. I think that KDWB (Dave's Deals) does and also 107.1 FM I am sure there are others but you actually have to listen to hear when they have good deals. I missed out on a 1/2 price membership to the MN Science Museum because they sold out in about 2 hours from being made available. Bummer. You can find links to the deals through their websites. Many times you can get a $50 gift certificate for $25.

Does anyone else have any suggestions on how to find the best deals?

Here is another pumpkin stencil site...

Okay, I know that there are probably a ton of pumpkin carving sites out there...

But here is one more for you Disney fans, and they don't look too hard either.

I have pumpkins on the brain because we managed to (thus far) successfully grow 4 pumpkins this year. They are not all orange yet but they are getting there.

Practice your pumpkin carving!

I was just sent a fun link. The site lets you use your mouse to carve faces into a virtual pumpkin. It is kind of fun... no mess, no cleaning, no sharp utensils, no rotting...

Check it out here.

Have Fun!

Wouldn't it be nice...

• if we had as much energy as our kids
• if we could have robots to do all our chores (Spencer's idea)
• all of our problems could be fixed quickly like they often are on tv shows?

Nate has been suffering for 4 weeks with a terrible cough, shortness of breath,and feeling tired. He has been drugged (multiple times) poked, prodded, etc. and after another trip to the doctor (I think we are up to 4 or 5 now), at the ER this time he has been told that he is suffering from Asthma!

Why? How? What caused it?

All very good questions but apparently he needs to see yet another doctor to try and get an explanation.

Open Revolt Against the Yellow Pages

The great promise of the digital age is the elimination of paper. I can file my taxes online without so much as a stamp being sent to the IRS. I can renew my license plates and driver's license with no lines at the DMV and no writer's cramp from mile-long forms. I just confirm my info from last time, pay my fee and done. The statements for my bank accounts, investments, credit cards, and several of my utilities arrive electronically with nary a tree harmed. Overall, I'm pretty pleased with the progress. But....

Why on earth is it so hard for the yellow pages folks to get on board??? At this point I go online anytime I need a phone number. The only time I've used the physical phone book in recent memory was during a power outage to find the customer service phone number for the power company. I probably could have found it somewhere else, but there was a STACK of phone books sitting in the kitchen begging to be used just once in their pathetic lives.

I don't actually have a need for one set of hardcopy yellow/white pages. I'm pretty sure I don't need the convenient travel size copy to go with it. I quite certain I don't need the duplicate set of the both from each of the other phone book companies.

It's time to end the madness. This year, the books got waylaid in the recycling bin and only the refrigerator magnet made it into the house. But that's not nearly enough. Apparently there's a little known escape hatch. You can opt out of phone book delivery. The phone book companies don't advertise that fact, and it can be hard to find out how to do it for each one, but it is possible.

And it just got easier. YellowPagesGoesGreen claims that they will opt you out of all the different phone books. There's a 30-second form and off it goes. I just signed up. I'll let you know how it works.