Hello Snow

In honor of the recent 8-inch snowfall, I thought I’d post about the big storm we had … in January. (When did it become March already?)

It’s not often that we get storms that do stuff like this.

The snow was so deep that my car couldn’t clear it on my driveway. And I drive a high-clearance car, so this was pretty deep. First time I’ve seen my car do this.

It even gave us a temporary privacy fence in our chain link.

And so, since we had all this snow, we took the opportunity to take the kids sledding.

Perhaps, someday, I’ll edit the video I took as well so you can hear their giggles, but for now content yourself with more pictures.

Some Changes Are In Order

We’ve lived in our house for almost 7 years now. I suppose it is time that we started making it a place that we want to be in rather than just dealing with what the previous owners put up.

It’s not bad, it’s just not what I would do. This is what was in our living room and down the hall.

It took a hole in the wallpaper in the entryway to rip down that stuff, but for the living room? All it took was this corner.

This was the corner where they had wallpapered around the corner and mudded it, then put wallpaper on top of that. I know why they did it that way, it makes for a cleaner edge where you have two different wallpapers meeting. (This was the corner between the hall and the entryway.) Our original plan was to trim off the paper and just paint the entryway, then paint the kids’ rooms, then paint the rest of the living room. But this corner altered our plans. They left just too little of an edge to trim. (It’s about a quarter of an inch wide, if that.)

On to Plan B, which was to just see how hard it would be to remove that section of the wallpaper. Well, it was so easy we decided to rip it all down.

This is Jared reinstalling the blinds because they had wallpapered underneath the blinds. (Why on earth would you do that? Whatever.)

After we finished removing the wallpaper, I think we’ve discovered that the previous owners have never had anything but wallpaper on these walls. Underneath all the glue, we think we can see the original primer. The other clue? This.

This is a wall anchor of some sort that they just mudded over and then wallpapered over. Gee thanks a bunch for that. I realize that you can get away with that when you wallpaper, but you’ve just made more work for us since we want to paint. We’ll have to sand it just to get to the anchor, get them out, patch up the wall, prime it and then paint. And did I mention there are two sets of these? Yah. They had some sort of curtain (we think) that spanned the windows. I just want to paint now.

It’s time to make some changes around here.

Branching Out

Sometimes I just get tired of making the same stuff all of the time for dinner. (I do keep a list of dinner ideas on the side of my fridge, and it has 30 or so items, but still.) I decided to flip through my Better Homes and Garden Cookbook and see if something inspired me. I was in luck.

I took a recipe for a chicken pot pie casserole and had to modify it based on what I had on hand and translated it into something that my family liked very much.

I’m glad that I have learned enough about cooking to be able to do this, and add to our list of stuff to eat. Timothy’s favorite part? The initial I put on top of each one.

Update: The recipe is below for those who requested it.

Chicken Potpies (modified from Better Homes & Garden)

1 10-ounce package frozen veggies (I used a baby potato blend and added about 1/4 cup frozen corn as well)
1/2 cup chopped onion
1/2 cup chopped fresh mushrooms (I sautéed a lesser amount on the side and put them in only pies of those who like mushrooms in our family, which would be me.)
1/4 cup butter
1/3 cup flour
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon dried sage, marjoram or thyme, crushed (I used 1/4 teaspoon ground sage since that’s what I had) 
1/8 teaspoon pepper
1 can (14.5 oz) chicken broth
3/4 cup milk
3 cups cubed cooked chicken or turkey
1/4 cup snipped fresh parsley (I used about 1 teaspoon dried basil instead)

Prepare pastry for double-crust pie (2 cups flour, 2/3 cup shortening and 1/2 teaspoon salt – blend with pastry knife until it is in pea-shaped pieces – then add 6-8 tablespoons water, one at a time, stirring with fork until dough is just moistened. Then spread on floured surface and roll out).

In a saucepan cook onion (and mushrooms) in butter till tender. Stir in flour; salt, sage and pepper. Add chicken broth and milk all at once. Cook and stir until thickened and bubbly. Stir in veggies, chicken and parsley (or basil). Cook until bubbly.

Pour mixture into prepared pie pans. Roll out crust for tops, making sure to cut slits into the top to release steam. Bake in 450 degree oven for 12-15 minutes or until pastry is golden brown.

A Subjective Work

Part of my job is very subjective. You do what you think looks good and hope that others agree. I take a story, its art elements and try to put them in a shape and form (within certain rules) that is easy to read, draws readers in and is visually interesting.

Perhaps the most subjective part of my job comes when designing elements on a page that promote something within (we aptly call them “promos”).

Last week, I was working on the front page and had a promo for a philanthropy special section that was running in that day’s paper. My boss had seen an early version of what I had done, but when I had finished, he told me to revert back to an earlier version. I disagreed, but he ultimately has the final say, and so I deferred to his opinion and ran the promo as he wished.

Below, I present both versions of what I designed. I see merits in both, but I do lean toward my version (on the left). But again, it’s very subjective.

(Click on the picture for a larger version, if you wish.)

Here’s Something Crazy

Still Waiting

Sarah had her appointment with the neurologists on Monday. The short story is that they want her to have an MRI, but are willing to wait to see if her delay in gross motor skills will be something that she overcomes on her own. We have a return visit scheduled in six months.

The long version begins with Sarah and I leaving at 11 a.m. I thought it would take 45 to 60 minutes to get there, with an extra 30-minute cushion for getting lost, allowing us to get there 30 minutes before her appointment. The instructions indicated that we needed to be there 30 minutes early in order to fill out all needed paperwork and to register.

Well, we got there in 30 minutes. So with an hour to kill, I wandered up the road to a Target where I found some cute clothes for Sarah (she’s growing out of a lot of her stuff) and some barrettes to keep her hair out of her eyes. With our mini-shopping trip finished, we arrived back at the clinic at the right time.

After the routine little physical by the nurse (she’s 33 inches and 26 pounds), we saw Dr. Nelson first. He examined her reflexes and listened to her heart and checked her muscles. (The global hypotonia – or low muscle tone – that Sarah’s pediatrician was worried about seems to have resolved itself. She has an adequate amount for her age.) He also had her walk between the two of us to evaluate her walking skills.

And then we did a comparison of her skills to find out her average. She is about 9-12 months on gross motor skills, which is the same ranking that Kids on the Move gave Sarah at her 18-month evaluation – it represents a severe delay. The other area in which she is severely delayed is social skills (i.e. talking). Her fine motor skills are just mildly delayed – about 12-15 months.

After that evaluation, Dr. Bennedict came in and discussed where we needed to go from here. (She and Dr. Nelson work together on these cases.)

There are three scenarios that we are watching. If Sarah makes some progress and then levels off, or if Sarah makes progress and then reverts back to earlier skills, then they want Sarah to have an MRI of her brain to see if there is a cause they can identify.

However, if Sarah continues to steadily make progress (continuing to develop but just at a slower pace – kind of like two perpendicular lines), then Drs. Bennedict and Nelson are content to wait it out. We will return in six months for another evaluation.

Part of their consideration for waiting is due to the high cost of an MRI for our family. In six months we will still be in the same fiscal year, and the MRI is unlikely to find anything that they could fix. The MRI would just point to a cause, which would help pinpoint a specific treatment beyond what we already are doing – early intervention physical therapy and speech therapy. They gave me a chart to give me a general idea of what to expect. If Sarah shows any signs of the first two scenarios before the end of the six months, we are to call and schedule an MRI.

Otherwise, the two of us will make another trip in September. I’ll just make sure I don’t leave so early.

Making Memories

I don’t have very many memories of my mother’s parents. For a variety of reasons, some being financial in nature, I just didn’t get to spend very much time with them. But I knew that they loved me, just from a distance. (They always sent me a birthday card and we would send school pictures every year to them.)

Some of the memories I have include a visit from them to our home in the summer of 1982; I have this vivid image in my head of Grandma sitting at the table and Mom was doing something in the kitchen and they were just talking. I also remember taking a car ride back to their hotel, which was about 15 minutes from our home. (To this day, every time I pass that hotel I think, “That’s where Grandma and Granddad stayed.”)

This is a picture from their visit in 1982. It’s one of my mom’s favorites because it shows how much Bill and Marge loved each other. This is how I remember them also. Big smiles and warm hearts.

I remember visiting them in Oregon for my cousin’s wedding, and how they got in a car accident on the way up and so Grandma was in a wheelchair for a bit. Granddad had his own evidence of the encounter, as well, but he was mobile. But I also remember Grandma gently being my helper as I tried to play a Spades-type game (we called it the very aptly named “Hell”). She was very kind and patient with me, her youngest grandchild. She and Granddad died in 1996.

However, one memory that is closely associated with Grandma and Granddad is that every Christmas I would receive a brick (about a pound – half of a batch) of homemade fudge from Grandma and Granddad. (They would also send a box of See’s Chocolates. I blame them for my addiction – but I’m not really sorry and don’t want to kick the habit.) Since they died, I have not really had an opportunity to have this fudge. To my knowledge, only my aunt knew how to make it, since she specifically took time to learn it from her mom in the months before Grandma’s death.

Since I’ve decided that I’m not afraid of the kitchen anymore, I contacted my aunt with my desire to try my attempt at fudge. My first two attempts failed. The fudge tasted alright, but it had a weird texture. So I did some research to see if some principles of fudge-making were the same. My third attempt succeeded. (Pictured below is a half-batch.)

I must say that I have some respect for my Grandma for making fudge without a candy thermometer. I realize that she had lots of practice and probably could just tell when it was ready, but I failed without my thermometer. Maybe if I’d learned from the source I could perfect her recipe as written, but I didn’t have that luxury. But I’m glad that I was able to figure out a successful way to make it. Now I have a way to happily remember Grandma and Granddad.

Grandma’s Fudge

6 cups sugar (heaping)
6 tablespoons Dark Karo
1/4 tea cream of tartar (scant)
dash of salt
8 1 oz. squares unsweetened chocolate
1 can evaporated milk

Mix sugar, Karo, cream of tartar, salt and milk in a large saucepan. Add chocolate. Place on burner, stirring constantly. Bring to a boil  and cook about 1.5 minutes. It is better undercooked. Take off burner and test. Place a small amount in a serving tablespoon and beat with a knife to see if it will set up. If not, cook a little more. Test. Then add 1/4 cube butter,  stir until melted. Pour into a dish to cool. Then beat until just starts to set up. Pour into a buttered 9x13 pan.

What I did: Combine ingredients as listed above. Stir while chocolate melts until it just begins to boil. Clip in candy thermometer. Let cook until it reaches 235-240 degrees (it’s a little less where I live – about 225. You can test your thermometer by boiling water. It should read 212 around sea level. I live at almost 4,800 feet, hence the lower cooking temperature for me). Remove fudge gently from burner and add butter, but don’t stir. Let fudge sit undisturbed until fudge cools to 110 degrees. Beat until fudge begins to thicken and lose its gloss (about 5-10 minutes). Pour into buttered 9x13 pan. (We always stored it in the fridge, but I don’t think it has to be since it was shipped to us in a box with no cooling element. I just like it cold, so I keep mine in the fridge.)