Tuesday, January 26, 2010

new in the TV room

Doesn’t take too much to amuse some people…. I have a new love seat! Well, new to me… Jane and her staging people might be proud… the colors don’t match the sleeper sofa (except they are all muted colors that go with the “Scotland Road” paint on the wall), but it seems sturdy and very comfortable. It could think about reupholstering or getting a throw cover later. And now there is another piece of furniture for visitors to sit on in the TV room.


The view at Thanksgiving, with grandkids watching TV from the open sleeper sofa and Zen on the elliptical.


The view this morning... Yeah! more comfy seating for watching TV


And I get a nice chair for my bedroom to enjoy as I watch TV – the golden brown one, moved upstairs from the TV room. Best of all, it was gifted by one of the families in the ward who got a new leather love seat. Thanks a bunch!

Monday, January 11, 2010

The great tortilla soup weekend

It was a cacophony of sound – two moms talking about their recent book readings, a dad watching a football game, one little kid in the elliptical machine racing fast, one pushing buttons on the Dr’s waiting room amusement table, one trying to climb over the baby gate on the stairs, another climbing over the stair railing, “Grammie, can I have some more ice cream?”, other child quietly watching the movie “Up”, “let me put the crying baby to bed and let’s start the game”…. Well, you get the idea. And I wasn’t even getting a headache because of all that activity. LOL! Scarier still, we had taken the time to all sit together around the dark wood dining room table which has a long history with this household, say a prayer, and helpfully pass the food around: Sue’s great tortilla soup stirred together today by the Grammie, adding sour cream, and some of Lora’s fabulous guacamole dip and Doritos Scoops. Add black cherry cool-aide or milk. Yummy!

Here is the recipe for Sue’s Chicken Tortilla Soup
1 cup shredded carrots
1 # chicken, shredded
15 oz diced crushed tomatoes
1 10 oz. red enchilada sauce
1 4oz. can chopped green chilies
1 14oz can chicken broth
1 15oz can corn or 10 oz. frozen corn
1 medium onion chopped or ¼ cup dried
2 cups water
1 clove garlic
1 tsp cumin
1 tsp chili powder
¼ tsp crushed bay leaf or basil
¼ tsp peper
1 tsp salt
1 Tbsp cilantro

I had some frozen turkey leftovers (about 3 cups shredded) from Thanksgiving and used that for the meat


In the middle of dinner, a parent happened to notice a new adventure for one of the babies – an unattended computer



another techie in the making

Wednesday, January 6, 2010

The joy of receiving a thank you note

Grandmothers – and many others I’m sure - sometimes wonder how their gifts at Christmas time, birthdays, etc are received. And then a thoughtful thank you note arrives... let me show you:





Sue and I had a short discussion yesterday about thank you notes and the value of hand written card in this day and age of emails and instant messages, and cell phones… And who is Emily Post and Miss Manners anyway? Oh, maybe it is a generational thing. Take a look at one of the Dragonfly’s comments – she is a long time friend of Sue’s…


anyway - Becky and your kids - it was a great card :-) and I thank you for taking the time to write it, and even include a photo