Made From Scratch...

If you know me well, you know that the kitchen and I aren't as familiar with each other as we should be.  A good week I cook 4 nights. A normal night I cook once.  I try but, hey, somethings are easier left up to others to prepare.  But as part of my New Year's goals of "Making an Effort" (my mantra for the year) I have been working on all aspects of my homemaker and Motherhood skills.  In the past week, however, it is like I got a jolt of determination to do things better.

I love my friend Christy's cooking blog- The Girl Who Ate Everything. Christy and I have known each other since middle school (and I wish my scanner was working so I could put an embarrassing photo on here), and I love that we both have 3 boys. So, if she says her boys ate something I know mine will.  She gives me the guts to try things I normally wouldn't, and just last week I tried 3 of her recipes for dinner- which were all big hits! I made the Poppy Seed Chicken, the Pizza Rolls, and even put my own spin on her Italian Chicken (we call it Beach Chicken). You've got to check her out. Trying things like this is a huge step for someone who gags when they touch raw chicken, or browns beef for tacos (ahem, gag..someone like me).

And, as an added bonus of trying so many new recipes, I found it very necessary to organize and make a list of my spice cupboard. So, no more hunting for Celery Seed or a bay leaf, I know right where it is!  Yeah for clean cupboards. I also saw a cute idea for vinyl to go inside a cupboard door with measurement conversions, and that I want to do maybe along with a list of spices...Hmmmmm.  I even had to replenish my supply of flour, sugars and the like! I'm telling you, I've upped my game big time.

A week or so ago, in causal conversation, having nothing what-so-ever to do with baking, Rusty mentioned that when he was growing up he always thought his wife would make the best cinnamon rolls. He didn't mean it in a negative way at all, but still it left me thinking. Had I ever even tried to make cinnamon rolls all on my own? Nope. Not once.  Cookies, yes. Brownies, yes. So, I enlisted every great baker I know to ask for tips and recipes. Lucky for me, my friend Verlinda was in town visiting her daughter Janae.  I had made a number of treats off their family recipe blog so I thought I'd ask her about making rolls.  Well, I got more than that. I got Verlinda and Janae in my kitchen to walk me through making them from start to finish!

(Prior to the icing, I was so proud I couldn't wait for them to cool to photograph them-- and by no means is this a foodie blog, so if you wanna see what they look like all gussied up and plated, well, sorry. I'd rather eat them!)

I didn't tell Rusty my plans, and when he came home he was very surprised. Better yet that he LOVED them. In case I wasn't convinced he ate four. I was so excited!  Thanks 'Nonna' and 'Nae"! Especially thanks to Nae for playing playdough with Berk while we slaved away!

Actually, he liked them so much that Saturday I made them again, all on my own. They didn't turn out as pretty, but they are still all gone.The boys had a ball 'helping' me, and the inches of four on the floor served as proof. Thanks to my neighbor Mendy for helping me figure out what I did wrong. She is my official taste tester and willing offered to eat them even though they were flat. Thanks for taking one for the team to help out my baking skills.

Well, my birthday is a week away, and now that I'm  "Making an Effort' in the kitchen I thought I'd throw a Kitchen Aid on my birthday list-- just for fun. Just to show you how serious I was about actually thinking I'd get one, it appeared on the list right before Nanny.  And yes, I made it ten years of marriage with a hand held Black & Decker mixer, if that shows you how much I used it...Sooooo, Sunday night we had my birthday dinner with Rusty's parents (who'll be out of town for the actual day) and I got to open my gift early. Needless to say I was shocked and SO excited and grateful that they got me my Mixer!!!

So, to break in my Kitchen Aid, I enlisted Christy's blog again and made these yummy cookies! I loved being able to change the speeds and know what I was doing.  You have to make these cookies. The dough alone was delish! Tomorrow, I am trying bread. Fingers crossed. One of the rarely mentioned bonuses to living in Arizona is that everything rises fast here, just put it in your garage and it comes up in no time! So, I hope I can swing it. And don't mind my messy counter tops in all the photos, my house was clean yesterday, I swear.

Feel free to send me any of your favorite cooking blogs, I bet I check them, but the family cooking blogs always have the tried and true stuff on em.

Better Scared than Sorry...

So earlier this week our house was robbed. We weren't home and no one was hurt. And that's the most important thing. It was between 9-10 am. They took a lot of things, ruined a number of things and made a big mess. But they were just things. Things can be replaced. Because it is an open case I won't go into much detail here, except to say that I am so sad about a few of my jewelry items taken and irate that they took some of Braden's Christmas presents...(so email me or call if you just have to know more details).

So here is my Soap Box Moment...

We were house number 3 of 5 with in a week.Not just in my neighborhood but my area (a few square miles). Let me just say, I live in a nice, family friendly neighborhood. So it's not just something happening in 'bad parts' of the city. All over the city, this is happening. I had no idea there was any kind of spree going on. I have a routine, we all do. And people took advantage of mine.

As far as how they are targeting people, there are two schools of thought 1. They go door to door knocking, posing as solicitors-if no one answers they try the door. If it is open well then... 2. They case them. Learn your schedules and routines. That's believed to be the case with us. It is so unsettling to know someone could have been watching me put my kids in the car, get my mail ect. Who knows what drew them to us? It is a downward spiral to play the 'what if' game.

The detective on the case said he has about 100 other recent open cases...

Times are hard and people are desperate and greedy or both.

So here are some tips to help protect yourself...Stuff I've learned the hard way, or had Police officers tell me or just common sense reminders. Most of these examples aren't even what happened to us, but a good reminder non the less.

• Always, always lock your doors, even if you are home. Even if your just running to the neighbors for a bit, or down to the school. Cause let's face it, "a few" can become an hour real quick.
• Never keep your purse or car keys in your car (I almost added 'anymore' to you out there who know who I am talking to! ) Even if it is in the garage. It only takes a moment for someone to come into your garage and open a car door.
• Vary your routine!
• When you leave if you have one, set your alarm!
• When you leave, lock the door from your home to your garage.
• Install double deadbolts. Those locks require a key to open- even on the inside. So when you remove the key, you can't get out (which is great if you have kids too BTW)
• Look like you are home. Make sure you get that paper off the driveway, and those dang adds off our door. Thief's really do look for that sort of thing. There is a really easy way to have your mail put on hold when you go out of town go to the USPS.com site and it's there. Turn on the lights on the porch, front AND back.
• Know your neighbors. Have a contact for them just in case. I'm not saying you gotta have a block party, but know you can get a hold of someone if there's a fire, or you see something funny, or their dog gets out.
• Keep your garage closed! Be a good neighbor, if it's dusk and your neighbors garage is open, go close it for them. How many times have you pulled away and thought if you shut the door or not? This is also where the locking the interior garage door comes into play.
• Be aware. If your neighbor's lawn guy always comes on Saturday and you see a landscape truck there on a Tuesday, maybe give your neighbor a shout. What can it hurt? When ever you leave if you see someone on the street, make eye contact with them. If you live in a circle where you know what cars should and shouldn't be there, don't think its retarded to keep a little notebook with plate numbers.
• Be in the Know. They have security cameras now that can be hooked to a DVR and you can check them on your Iphone or Blackberry. Check out companies like Lifelock and Carbonite to protect your identity and anything on your computer.

Now, as far as helping the Police recover things that are stolen here's what you should have in a perfect world (although in a perfect world you'd never need it)...

• A home inventory list. Go room to room with a camera and take pictures of everything. Open drawers, pictures on the walls, garage too. I can tell you first hand, when they are asking you what is missing your mind goes blank- until 3 am and then you start remembering the most random stuff...
• Make digital copies of any important papers, irreplaceable documents ect. ie birth certificates, Passports, High School Diplomas and on and on...
• Be able to prove what you have! In order to aide in the recovery of things, you need to know the serial number and have a description. For insurance you need (if possible), the value or a receipt. Everything has a serial number, your iPod, your cell, computer- shoot even the baby monitor does. Write it down, and keep a file at your residence and somewhere else. If it was a gift, make a note of it. If you keep cash on hand- they have those handy numbers on them for a reason. Knowing a bill number isn't just for banks.
• Pictures Please! When an officer is showing you stacks of photos of piles of jewelry, and other things--trust me when I tell you its a WHOLE lot easier when you can pull out a picture you have and say, "yep that's mine'. Otherwise it's, "well, that looks like the side of that bracelet maybe." Not so helpful. And when you are trying to remember what a ring that you got when you were 10 looks like, your memory gets fuzzy.
• Kids Stuff too! Our kids have so much crap. Ok I mean things... and some of what was taken was theres. So don't forget to write down their electronic stuff too. ie, their DS and all the games that they had.
• Collections- DVD's, CD's, golf balls, you name it. If you have a lot of them you will never remember them all. Think video games, tools ect ect.

So let's say it all together now

"MAKE A LIST and TAKE PICTURES"

so you have a shot at getting some money back to replace them.

Just use common sense. Be aware. Don't be afraid to call your local PD if something doesn't seem right. They have an 'non emergent' number for things just like that. I know it seems like a lot to remember, but being on this side of it, it would have been 100 times easier to do any of these things than to be calling, emailing, a million places to try to put your life back and pick up the pieces like we are.

I had to laugh a few mornings after it happened. The officer assigned to our case called to see if he could come by and show me some photos. Keep in mind, I am still functioning at half capacity because Brenner AND Berk have been sick, plus the break in, plus getting back into the swing of having Rusty back at work... anyways, when he came in I had piles of laundry in my hall ready to be done, and dishes all over the kitchen. Berk was in a pull up and shirt, screaming that he "wanna be NAKED" and Brenner was doing what Brenner does, crying. And the officer says to me, "Glad to see you are getting back to your normal life." It made me laugh.

Consider me stepping down from my soap box now...

What a way to start of my 2010 huh?