Family Time

This week my parents, sister, niece and nephew and my brother came to visit. We did a lot of things for four days! I will post some movie clips I took from their visit later, but here are some still photos.

They got to see my choir sing. We sang a concert of all Irish music. In the picture I am the short one in the front middle right beside the harp. The other women in the choir are SO TALL!





Among other things we visited a restaurant with dinosaurs, shopped around, went to the river market, and we also visited this place. It's called Union Station and it is an old train station that they have restored. It's really beautiful inside and they have all kinds of exhibits and things to do. Here is the grand hall.














Ben and my brother decided to try out driving a segway. It looked like lots of fun! Doesn't Ben look cute in the helmet?

















While they rode around on their segways Clay and Chloe ran beside them. (great for burning off some energy) Here they all are. Chloe is saluting and Clay is acting silly.

Skidboot - this dog knows English!

Get ready for an emotional video. Both Meredith and I teared up on this one.

Baby Room

We've made some progress on the baby room. Ben scraped down the popcorn ceiling and we have primed the walls and the trim. Today we painted the trim white and started in on the color for the walls. Come to find out it is the color of Malibu Barbie's legs!! We decided to lighten the paint by pouring white in there with it. In the picture you can see the color in its original state. It was supposed to be sand color.

Recent Happenings

The weather is a strange thing in Kansas. One day it will be 72 and warm, the next 25 and snow. On one of those 72 degree weather days Ben and I decided to get outside for a while and took a walk around Olathe (pronounced OH-LAY-THUH) Lake. The grass looked like hay and it was very windy, but it was nice to get out into the sunshine.

We also recently took out our old microwave and replaced it with a newer one. Guess where we got it? That's right, craigslist. Anyway.. you can see the before picture with the wood cabinets and the after pictures with the painted.

Ben giving you a look inside the new microwave.

Before Ben could install the new microwave he had to do some demolition of some kitchen tiles that were behind there.

I also recently made my first homemade pizza (with homemade dough). I've made the kinds where you buy that predone dough before, but that doesn't count. Here's the recipe if you'd like to try it. It takes a little bit of time cause you have to let the dough rise, but it was good.

Chicken Pesto Pizza

2 tsp active dry yeast

1 C warm water (110 to 115 degrees)

2 3/4 C bread flour (I used all purpose)

1 T plus 2 tsp olive oil, divided

1 T sugar

1- 1/2 tsp salt, divided

1/2 pound boneless skinless chicken breasts, cut into 1/2 inch pieces (I used almost a pound)

1 small onion, halved and thinly sliced

1/2 each small green, sweet red and yellow peppers, julienned

1/2 C sliced fresh mushrooms (I left these off because I don't like mushrooms)

3 T prepared pesto (I think I used more)

1-1/2 C (6 ounces) shredded part-skim mozzarella cheese (I used torn up mozzarella slices I had on hand and also some grated parmesean)

1/4 tsp pepper (I used more because I like it)

In a large mixing bowl, dissolve yeast in warm water. Beat in the flour, 1 tablespoon oil, sugar and 1 teaspoon salt. Turn onto a lightly floured surface; knead until smooth and elastic, about 6-8 minutes. Place in a bowl coated with cooking spray, turning once to coat top. Cover and let rise in a warm place until doubled, about 1 hour.

In a large nonstick skillet over medium heat, cook the chicken, onion, peppers and mushrooms in remaining oil until chicken is no longer pink and vegetables are tender. Remove from the heat; set aside.

Punch dough down; roll into a 15 in circle (or square). Transfer to a 14 in pizza pan. (if you have one) Build up edges slightly. Spread with pesto. Top with chicken mixture and cheese. Sprinkle with pepper and remaining salt.

Bake at 400 degrees for 18-20 minutes or until crust and cheese are lightly browned.

WHY YOU NEVER QUESTION A DRUNK:

My uncle Bob forwarded me this joke. Hope you enjoy it! by Ben



I was shopping at the local supermarket where I selected:
A half-gallon of 2% milk,
A carton of eggs,
A quart of orange juice,
A head of romaine lettuce,
A 2 lb. can of coffee, and
A 1 lb. package of bacon.
As I was unloading my items on the conveyor belt to check out, a drunk
standing behind me watched as I placed the items in front of the cashier.
While the cashier was ringing up the purchases, the drunk calmly stated,
"You must be single."
I was a bit startled by this proclamation, but I was intrigued by the
derelict's intuition, since I was indeed single. I looked at the six items
on the belt and saw nothing particularly unusual about my selections that
could have tipped off the drunk to my marital status.
Curiosity getting the better of me, I said, "Well, you know what, you're
absolutely right. But how on earth did you know that?"


The drunk replied, "Cause you're ugly."

Baby Barreth Update

Today Ben and I went to the doctor and I had another ultrasound. Everything looked great and and my placenta has moved up like it was supposed to. Our baby was moving around, opening its eyes, having hiccups... the works. It weighs 1 pound 12 oz right now. It is quite a miracle to behold! And no, we didn't find out what the sex is either.

Here are some shots from Baby Barreth's second photo shoot.


Take a look at that nose. That's definitely Ben's nose I think.

Sign of the Times

Pioneer Women

I go through phases of stuff I'm interested in. I went through the Amish phase, the Catholic nun phase, the Mormon phase and now I'm onto the pioneer phase. I just can't get enough of reading materials about wagon trains and how they lived back then. Especially now because I live in Kansas and see the landscape here I can just imagine what it must have been like. (ok... I TRY to imagine) I'm reading a book now that I find fascinating. It's called "One Woman's West- Recollections of the Oregon Trail and Settling the Northwest Country by Martha Gay Masterson 1838-1916" edited by Lois Barton. She talks about how they lived in Springfield, Missouri and everyone had slaves back then. In fact, one third of the population of Springfield in the early 1800's were slaves. She described how her father heard about the land in Oregon and he decided that he and his 9 children (and one on the way) would set out for it. They spent a year sewing and preparing and all the people in Springfield came over to help and they would cry cause it was like a death sentence they thought. The journey took 5 months and it was hard. They ran into some Indians and they wanted to steal stuff (mainly horses to sell to Mormons) and imagine... they'd never seen an actual Indian before! How scarey would that be? Anyway... when I think my life is hard or I even feel like complaining... all ya gotta do is think of a pioneer. I mean, what have we got to complain about? I look out my window and instead of seeing hostile Indians I see a Dairy Queen. Anyway... that's my two cents for the day.

Cute in the Ugliest Sort of Way

My uncle bob just sent me this link today and I thought I'd share it. It's actually incredibly useful.

If you ever find you have a really dirty computer screen, just click here to clean it! Enjoy!

House Work- The Never Ending Story

The Roman blinds are finally up. Here they are near the table. We got some little cafe chairs recently and you can see the top of one of those too.

Here's the blind above the kitchen sink.

Tonight I came back from choir practice and my

wonderful husband has started working on the baby room. That's next on our list to do. He scraped down the popcorn ceiling and was painting it when I got home. Now... have I got a good one or what ladies?

Family Game Night

Tonight we had a family game night with the Moore's. Uncle John & Aunt Dee, Joanna & Anthony, Meagan, Ron, Jenny, Sam, Gracie & Emily all came over to party the night away. They loved the Wii of course and Jenny also brought a chocolate fondue fountain and strawberries! NICE! Here's a video of Anthony kicking John's butt in Wii boxing. Anthony basically wupped up on everyone, except little Sam scored the highest in bowling power throws by almost 100 points which came as a bit of a shock. Enjoy! Posted by Ben.

Inspirational Dave Ramsey Call

Ben and I took a Dave Ramsey course when we first got married. (thank you Leah and Rob for the invite) It really has impacted our lives a lot and we are so thankful that we took it. This call is pretty interesting and I found it inspirational to KEEP ON BUDGET AND DEBT FREE!!!

Projects

Today we have been working on some home improvement projects since Ben is off of work for President's Day. We decided to go ahead and paint our island we recently got. We used a special brush that is supposed to give the paint a fabric or "linen" look. Here's a close up.

Here is the finished product. We wanted to add color to our kitchen.

Here is one of my Roman blinds that I made. I haven't gotten them all hung yet. They were a lot of work, but I think they look nice.

Here's a side view. See the dangly things?

Aussie Mania!

My Plants

Here's an update on my flowers. I know you all have been pacing the floor just waiting for this. Anyway... I purchased a plant stand off of Craigslist and here it is. It's much better than paper plates on the floor.


















These are some that are opening really nicely.

















Here is the newest addition and they are fancy looking to me. It's nice to see blooming flowers in the winter time. Ben and I are staying home today. It is snowing pretty heavily outside and we could possibly get 6 + inches of snow! It has been a very snowy winter apparently here in Kansas City. Snow is beautiful, but I'm ready for spring and flowers and walks outside at the park.

Be watching for updates on my blinds. We are planning to put them up today. :)

Ben's Trip to Cleveland

This is Ben and sorry I haven't blogged for a while. I finally took some new pictures when I was on my latest trip to Cleveland for training and I thought I'd share them. First of all, when the plane landed it was -14 degrees! (including the wind chill). That's the coldest temperature I've ever been in, in my whole life. Secondly, people drive much more carefully in Kansas City in the snow. The taxi driver in Cleveland was slipping and sliding and driving like a maniac while talking on the cell phone and just acted like the snow was no big deal. Last of all, there was so much snow that a plane slid off the runway in the Cleveland airport. After this incident they completely closed the airport with no planes in or out until they could shovel the snow off. So my first flight out of Cleveland was canceled and they bumped me to another flight, which was also canceled and then they said I could fly out on the first available flight the next morning. When I showed up for this last flight in the morning it was also canceled! Aaargh! Finally the airline bought me a ticket on another airline to get me home.... and I was SO glad to be home.

Here's the airport the morning after. Still pretty snowy. Once we boarded the plane they had to de-ice it by spraying 2 different types of chemicals on it.













Here's a shot of one of the buildings where I did the training. Pretty boring stuff really, but trust me it was REALLY cold! :)

Six months and counting

On Sunday I will be into my 23rd week, or my sixth month. I finally feel like I'm beginning to start to show and so I'm thinking it's time for my first belly

picture.

This first picture I can't see that much... so I pulled my shirt towards me.

Do you see a bit of roundness there? That's Benjamina. That's what Ben calls our baby since we don't know if it's a girl or boy. I'm sure in a matter of weeks I won't have to ask you if you see any roundness. It will be in your face!

Thought Provoking

I'm reading this book I got from the library called "Things I Wish I'd Known Sooner- Personal discoveries of a mother of twelve". I figure this lady's got to know quite a bit. One quote really made me stop and think. I believe I had to read it a few times to let it sink in.

"When we live our lives dealing with things that really matter, the things that don't matter- don't."

Cooking and Flowers

Last night I made "Old Settler Beans" for the first time. I thought I'd share the recipe with you all. I served it as the main dish with cornbread. I think if I were to do it all over I would serve it as a side dish. I got this recipe from Ben's Aunt Dee.

Old Settler Beans

Brown 1/2 lb gr. beef (I used a pound)

1/2 lb bacon (chopped)

1 onion chopped

of course... drain the browned meat!

Add:

1/3 C brown sugar

1/3C white sugar

1/4 C ketchup

1/4 C Barbeque sauce

2T mustard

2 T molasses

1 t salt

1/2 t pepper (I used more)

1 can red kidney beans (drained)

1 can pork and beans (not drained)

1 can butter beans (drained)

Bake 1 hour at 350 degrees.

On a different note... my orchids have never been so happy! Here is one that is opening up at the moment. You can see some little droplets on the stem... those aren't bugs. Those are called "honeydew" and it is a sticky substance the plant produces to tell you it's happy.

This one is STILL blooming!

This one is ready to pop any moment. I'm waiting to see what the blooms will look like. It's been so long for some of these that I don't remember what the blooms look like anymore.

Our Newest Addition

Today we bought a kitchen island from a guy on Craigslist and while we were there we asked him if he happened to have a pot rack. He did and we bought it for $10! Here's Ben trying to figure out if it looks right or not.

Here's Ben looking culinary.

Here I am looking culinary.