Pamela Faith

I cooked this on Thursday night. It tasted wonderful. The seasonings were so stout that we had to open the kitchen window though. It also came through the breastmilk. Baby had garlic breath. The chicken is beneath all the seasonings. (Picture was what it looked like before I put it in the oven.)

Ingredients

• 1/2 cup butter, cubed
• 4 tablespoons minced fresh rosemary or 2 tablespoons dried rosemary, crushed
• 2 tablespoons minced fresh parsley
• 3 garlic cloves, minced
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1/2 teaspoon pepper
• 1 whole roasting chicken (5 to 6 pounds)
• 6 small red potatoes, halved
• 6 medium carrots, halved lengthwise and cut into 2-inch pieces
• 2 medium onions, quartered

Directions

• In a small saucepan, melt butter; stir in the seasonings. Place chicken breast side up on a rack in a roasting pan; tie drumsticks together with kitchen string. Spoon half of the butter mixture over chicken. Place the potatoes, carrots and onions around chicken. Drizzle remaining butter mixture over vegetables.
• Cover and bake at 350° for 1-1/2 hours, basting every 30 minutes. Uncover; bake 30-60 minutes longer or a meat thermometer reaches 180° and vegetables are tender, basting occasionally.
• Cover with foil and let stand for 10-15 minutes before carving. Serve with vegetables. Yield: 9 servings.

See this recipe online…click here.

I might get me a cat now. The last cat we had in the house used to get in her litter box and kick all the litter under the washing machine. Now you can potty train the felines. As My Sweetie would say … “The best thing since sliced bread.”

I am cleaning out my kitchen drawers today and decided to make a list of everything that was in them. I am embarrassed and ashamed of my family. I can’t stand things not to have their own homes, but obviously the rest of the family doesn’t care.

1. Science Kit Manual
2. (5) Empty CD Cases
3. (3) Xbox 360 games in their cases
4. Sirius Satellite Manual
5. A can of Fix a Flat
6. Sirius Vehicle Radio
7. MP3 Player
8. Pack of drawer brackets (we recently had one of the drawers break, and by the time you read this entire list, you’ll know why it did.
9. Clothespin
10. Soldering Iron
11. (2) Bag Clips
12. Ruler
13. Pocket Knife
14. (2) Wrench Sets in Plastic Cases
15. Plastic Bag that zips
16. Pack of Marlboro Cigarettes (it only had 1 cigarette in the box, My Sweetie and I both quit smoking early last year. I think he quit February 2009 and I quit shortly thereafter.)
17. 2 Pocket Lighters
18. 3 Long Stemmed Grill Lighters
19. Paperwork for our Durango (vehicle)
20. A Roll of Duct Tape
21. 24″ Bungee Cord
22. (2) Flashlights w/o batteries
23. Soldering spool
24. Swimming Pool Light Cover
25. GPS Box w/ Accessories
26. Scissors
27. Sirius Radio Remote
28. Cell Phone Car Charger
29. (2) Car Air Fresheners
30. (2) Bicycle Manuals
31. (3) Lip Balms
32. Pocket Calculators
33. Dart Tips
34. USB MP3 Player
35. MP3 Player Remote
36. Wooden Dowel
37. Multi-Colored Wiring
38. Broken Couch Handle
39. Glue Stick
40. (20) Pencils
41. (7) Pens
42. Car Fuse
43. (2) 9V Batteries
44. Disorganized Messy Stack of Post It Notes
45. (9) Paper clips
46. (14) Pencil Erasers
47. Rubber band
48. (6) Drywall Screws
49. Cold Sore Medicine
50. Keyboard USB Converter
51. (2) Pencil Sharpeners
52. Cash Register Keys (we haven’t owned a cash register for several years)
53. (3) Screws
54. (8) Push pins
55. (2) Key chains
56. Kid Sized Plastic Cross Stitch Needle
57. (2) 3V Batteries
58. Button Cell Battery
59. (2) Safety Pins
60. (3) Dimes
61. Nickel
62. Penny
63. Ashtray
64. Walkie Talkie Charger
65. Dry Erase Marker
66. Air Conditioner Remote
67. C Battery
68. Pack of AAA Batteries
69. (4) Walkie Talkies
70. Wind Up Timer
71. Headphones
72. Surgical Scissors
73. Charger For A Razor
74. Windup Flashlight
75. Sugar Tester in Box
76. Motormouth’s Bible
77. Bookmark
78. Swiffer Coupons
79. USB MP3 Player with Headphones
80. (9V) Charger?
81. Cable for Computer Monitor
82. Gameboy Car Charger
83. Road Atlas
84. Temple Therometer
85. Motormouth’s Sunglasses
86. Magnifying Glass
87. Gameboy Charger
88. Cellphone Charger (to old phone)
89. MP3 Docking Station
90. Gameboy Case
91. Large Notebook
92. Small Notebook
93. My Sweetie’s Sunglasses
94. Sticky Labels
95. Science Kit Dropper
96. (3) Small Screwdrivers
97. Small Toy Flashlight
98. Toenail Clippers
99. Amp for Cellphone (signal)
100. D Battery
101. Gameboy Connector Cord
102. (3) Sharpie Permanent Markers
103. (7) AA Batteries
104. Upward Football Card
105. Yellow Highlighter
106. House (Monopoly Game Piece)
107. Tweezers
108. (2) AAA Batteries
109. (2) Large Paper Clips
110. Hair Clasp
111. Dice (actually only one)
112. (7) Battleship Game Pieces
113. Unrecognizable Cord

I can’t get it off my mind. Monday night, My Sweetie, Motormouth, Princess, and I were watching The Bachelor when all of a sudden Motormouth falls apart crying. I was in the kitchen part of the room trying to stay awake loading the dishwasher and ran over to him. I asked him what was wrong, but he was babbling uncontrollably. I looked at his dad and sister, but they looked as confused as I was. After waiting for forever a few minutes, we finally managed to make out, “I don’t want to die.”

My first thought was that he had received some message from the reaper or something. I wanted to know why he thought he was dying. Was there something wrong? Did I need to rush him to the hospital or what?

Mind you, this was about an hour into the t.v. show and out of the blue. The Bachelor is nothing about death or dying, unless you count the evil side of Ali. I’m pretty sure she is trying to figure out a way to eliminate Vienna.

Anyways, Motormouth concedes that he’s been bothered by the prospect of dying for awhile. He says that he is afraid of dying and not being here any more. Thankfully, My Sweetie decided to handle this one.

“I know your momma told you there was no god or heaven, but I never said that. No one knows for sure buddy.”  I am rolling my eyes and thinking how I just got thrown under the bus. Reminding myself that it wasn’t the time to become personally offended, I swallowed some nasty retorts and let My Sweetie continue. “People that go to church believe that when they die they get to go to heaven. Maybe you should believe that.”

Motormouth shakes his head slanging tears back and forth and sucking up the snot trying to run out of his nose. “No, I don’t believe that stuff.”

My Sweetie resorts to … “People are living longer now than they use to. Babies use to die right after being born and grown ups killed over at about 30. Now you can live to be 100. I know this person who said he wanted to live to his 100th birthday and he did. He died about a month after his 100th birthday.”

During this bonding experience, Princess decides to help out. She starts dancing like a ballerina and shedding her clothes. I think she just wanted her brother to laugh and I couldn’t help but comment myself with, “We’re not paying you for this dance.”

This helps Motormouth start to laugh and then he goes back to tears. His father explains to him that it’s alright to cry and be a little afraid. My Sweetie tells him that everybody experiences that at least once in their lifetime. He ends the conversation… “You can talk to me any time you feel like you need to.”

I get Princess off to herself and tell her to stop talking about dying. I figure she creeped him out the other day when we were in the van. Every once in awhile she talks about how she wants to be cremated instead of letting the bugs eat her eyes out. She carried on with this for several minutes and I bet her brother was listening. My 11 year old boy is a bit more sensitive about these things than my 9 year old daughter. I don’t know why this is, but it’s the way our family works. I knew my daughter was a bit more scientific (non emotional) about death when I caught her with a pair of scissors cutting a bumble bee into tiny pieces. The look on her face during that episode still scares me today.

You never know what your kids are going to say or do. It definitely keeps you on your toes.

On Wednesdays all over the internet, bloggers post a photograph with no words to explain it on their blog. Hence the ‘wordless’ title. The idea is that the photo itself says so much that it doesn’t need any description.

Want to participate in Random Tuesday Thoughts? Be sure to link back to Keely.

• My Sweetie and I went to bed last night worried about Motormouth and his thoughts about dying. I wish my kids could live forever. I hate telling them the truth about death. I wanted to lie to him and say that he would never die, but he’s 11 now and I think he knows that nothing lives forever.
• I read somewhere on the internet that my breast milk could cure pink eye. I wonder if I could bottle it up and sell it cheaper than the medicated eye drops and build the add on to my house that I’ve been dreaming about.
• Do all older siblings try out the baby equipment? Princess, at age 9, has tried out the baby’s stroller, Close & Secure Sleeper, car seat, play mat gym (or whatever the things called), and the walker. I’m pretty sure she’s been in the swing, but would never admit to it.
• What’s the longest time a balloon has stayed floating with helium? Baby Molly’s balloon she got at the hospital 7 weeks ago is still like new.
• I took my children to get their pictures made (not sure if it was last week or the week before last), and I can’t believe the props. I refused to lay my daughter on the block to help make her rise up on her belly. What’s up with that? The photographer says the prop is soft. In my opinion, a baby weighing 12 pounds would not think it’s as soft as a 120 pound girl (she couldn’t have weighed more than that). She could mash it between her hands, but my baby didn’t mash it in at all when she was laid on it. I immediately picked her up and said that I was happy enough with her sitting up in a baby seat.
• Just when I think I have all the laundry washed, dried, and put away, my two older children start dragging in arm loads of dirty clothes from god only knows where. Why do they burst my happiness like that?
• The night before I was awaken by a knocking sound several times. I would get up and walk through the house to see who was at the door, but would find no one. I could only hear the knocking in my bedroom and that’s when I realized that our privacy fence had come loose and was banging against my bedroom wall. So annoying.
• Last night in order to eat something healthy I reverted back to my childhood and held my nose while chewing my food. I hate brussel sprouts, but the nutritional value is worth suffering through the near choking experience.  I want to set a good example for my kids that even though the food tastes like sh*t, you should do the right thing by your body. This has been really hard for me to do lately, because since having the baby my taste buds have went on the brink.  All meat stinks and tastes gross. Most green foods taste bad to me also. The only thing that taste good is cereal (which I am avoiding milk – the baby was having a hard time with this in my breast milk) and bananas. So since cereal isn’t as good without milk, I’ve been eating my fair share of bananas. Sweets tastes good too, but makes my belly hurt. I think it’s from going without it during my pregnancy.
• I’m thinking about a basketball career. I rarely miss the garbage can across the room when I’m changing the baby’s diapers. I could challenge others and win, I think.

I’m choosing to be late on this writer’s workshop, but I can’t seem to schedule time for fun stuff.  I have to just grab the time when I can (you know, when the baby’s asleep).

Out of the 5 prompts, I want to write about prompts:

2.) The strangest dream ever…
(inspired by Amo from Where A Woman Shakes Her Tablecloth.)

3.) Write a list of 10 things that can be done to stave off boredom.
(inspired by Lourie from CA Girl).

Just a few nights ago when I was able to snatch a couple hours of sleep (rare, considering my baby is a high needs baby), I had a dream that instead of having one baby girl, I’d actually had a set of twin girls. In my dream I was feeding my baby when I heard a baby whimper from another room. I put my baby down on my bed and went into the nursery where I found a small baby curled up under a blanket. I picked this baby up and noticed how puny the baby looked. She was pretty, but looked very starved. I took the baby to My Sweetie and asked him where the baby came from and he told me that it was our baby.

I remember shaking my head and beginning to cry. I told him there was no way that I’d forget about one of my kids and I’d definitely not let one of them starve like this baby. The baby was looking up at me and smiling. I quickly put the baby to breast. I woke up feeling overwhelmed with emotion. After thinking over the dream, I feel like it was because I sat and watched some of the happenings in Haiti. I am shaken over all those children with no one to take care of them. It makes me appreciate my lot in life. I have more than I’ll ever need.

Ok – I have to get that dream out of my head.

Here are my 10 ways to avoid becoming bored:

1. Top thing to do is visit someone in your family that you don’t like. The more you dislike them the better. (For any family reading this – I’m not referring to you.) You’ll be sure to entertain yourself for hours doing this. It’s even better if this family member dislikes you too.
2. Throw a cat into an empty garbage can (the really big ones). Watch the cat try to climb out.
3. Get 2 dogs together and throw one bone to them and watch to see which dog gets the bone. Be sure to have another bone for the loser. There’s no reason to be mean to an animal.
4. Wrap tape around all 4 feet on a cat. (My Sweetie showed me this. I should have known then that this small town didn’t offer much in the way of entertainment.)
5. Watch for your neighbor to be busy outside, call their phone (disable caller id before dialing their number), and hang up when they answer. Wait until they go back outside and repeat. (I have family that lives on both sides and I wouldn’t do this to them, or would I?)
6. Play Xbox 360. Prefer Battlefield: Bad Company online against 23 people you hope you never see face to face after knifing them in the back.
7. Download a romantic book from http://ebooks.eharlequin.com.
8. Draw and color pictures, scan them into your computer, and make them your desktop background. If you’re real good, build a website and give them away for free or sell them.
9. Start playing a game on Facebook.
10. Write a blog about your life or about other people’s life.

I will be skipping around some today, but I don’t think I can stay very focused and I’m tired of fighting it.

Today I was reading a blog “Because I Said So” and I have to wonder about the toaster settings too. Why do they make toasters with so many different levels of toasting. I doubt anyone has ever intentionally used the higher settings. Why not just have a light or dark setting?

I accomplished one of my New Year’s Resolutions. (#14 Make a friend on facebook or myspace with the same name as me) I’ve actually made friends with 2 people who have the same name as me. That’s pretty cool.

Homeschooling News:

• The kids and I discussed whether stores should charge .20¢ for every plastic or paper bag. I don’t know about you, but I reuse the plastic bags for my bathroom garbage cans. Most of them do end up in the garbage though. I use to collect every grocery bag until My Sweetie pointed out how ridiculous it was to do it. I think the desire to salvage every plastic bag came from always moving around as a child. We used a lot of bags.
• We learned that the Himalayas have a lot of undiscovered animals and plants.Click here to read the pdf of the Weekly Reader.
• Motormouth reads too softly and way too fast. Princess reads like a robot. Between the two, I had to take a nap today. I yawned the entire time they took turns reading the Weekly Reader magazines. I rather read silently and it’s hard for me to listen while someone reads aloud.
• I was reminded how difficult it is to teach Princess something new. She doesn’t like to be instructed. Motormouth claims to know everything, even when he doesn’t have a clue.
• Having a baby distracts me constantly. My 6 week old baby was smiling at me and it was hard to stay focused on our lessons. I found myself stopping and playing “Patty Cake” several times.

I had a couple of days that I felt rested this week. The feeling has since come and went. I don’t want to say that I wasted the time and energy that I had, but now I wonder if I should have used that time cleaning my house or planning meals so I can grocery shop more efficiently. Instead of doing the more adult things, I played outside and went visiting family. I enjoyed myself a lot. Between the uncomfortable last month of pregnancy, having the c-section & recovery, lack of sleep, and the freezing weather, I’ve been feeling a little bit of cabin fever.

Now I need some sleep. Perhaps I might just need some coffee. That’s never been my choice of drink, but I’ve been making a pot every morning this week, but now I’m out of creamer and it’s just not the same without it. I noticed the coffee seemed to have given me a little pep to my step when I drank it. I could really tell that I didn’t have some this morning. I am not sure if it was the headache or the inability to keep my eyelids open.

I had a very embarrassing moment lately. Last Friday (Jan. 15th) I got up early and went to my postpartum check up. I left all the kids, even the baby, with My Sweetie. I had a bottle of milk pumped and everything. Got to the doc right on time and signed in. The ladies at the desk called my name within just a few minutes. I went back up to the desk and the secretaries wanted to know why I was there. I told them it was for my postpartum checkup.

“You’re appointment is on the 18th.” The secretary informed me.

“I know, that’s why I’m here. Did someone forget to put it in the computer?” I began rummaging through my purse for the appointment card.

“Honey, Monday is the 18th.”

I stopped digging and looked up at them. “Are you serious?” At this point I looked around the waiting room and remembered that my doctors do not see patients on Fridays. I told the ladies (who get to sleep more than a couple of hours every night and probably have a calendar on their refrigerator and wouldn’t ever get their days mixed up) that I just figured the doctor made an exception for me and scheduled me on a Friday.

Anyways, I left the office and got in the elevator. I immediately called My Sweetie to inform him that he had dealt with the fussy baby for no reason and that we’d be doing it all over again on Monday. Let’s just say that I now have a calendar on my refrigerator and one hanging in my bedroom above my desk. All doctor appointments are marked on the calendar in red ink.

On Wednesdays all over the internet, bloggers post a photograph with no words to explain it on their blog. Hence the ‘wordless’ title. The idea is that the photo itself says so much that it doesn’t need any description.

On Wednesdays all over the internet, bloggers post a photograph with no words to explain it on their blog. Hence the ‘wordless’ title. The idea is that the photo itself says so much that it doesn’t need any description.