My Birthday!

I had to put in some pictures of the new baby blankets that I am starting to make. I did get some sewing done today so that was good. Here are a couple of pictures of the baby blankets, I wanted them to be big enough so that they would be able to swaddle the baby but also I wanted regular fabric and flannel. So it turned out ok. I will keep working on it and see if I can add some different things to make them even more cute. I think that I will give this one to Bub for her new baby - Still not sure what she will name the kid but at least we know it is a girl - I am always partial to girls! Glad that I had 2 girls, I don't know what I would do without them!

Well today is my birthday - I am now 34 years old, I guess I am glad to say that I have made it this far. I remember when my parents were 34 and I thought that was old then - oh well here I am :) I had a good day today! I made myself waffles for breakfast - with my waffle maker from christmas. I had coffee all to myself but it just wasn't that good this morning - not sure what I did wrong. Although I have been known to forget how many scoops I have put in and either put in too much or too little.

At work today I got to see 2 patients that I like, actually I like all of my patients, there are challenges at times but that is what makes it fun! My 2 today were fun to talk to and that always makes my day better. I also had a great birthday party at work! Janell and Rhonda did a beautiful job on flowers (tulips) and setting the table so nice with pretty plates and napkins. Then we all got to have a pizza party before our regular meeting. I got to pick the pizza too! Also we had Italian Cream Cake for dessert and it was awesome! But what cake would not be awesome right ? I love all sweets and really all food! So after gifts, that were really nice (chocolate, coffee, kitchen equipment, spices and a frame!) (I think they gave me too much!) I got to leave work early and spend some time at home. So I finally got some sewing and cooking done this afternoon. I know that since the day was so nice I should have played outside with Faith or at least tried to weed in the asparagas patch - but no, I was very selfish and did some cooking and sewing - 2 of my favorite things. Oh and I got to catch up on emailing my sisters.

So when i got home I started my new recipe for Roast. It starts with a pound of bacon cut into little strips - can't go wrong with that! Then after the little strips cook, remove them and cook 2 sliced onions in the bacon grease. When those have cooked long enough - just guess! I removed those and poured off most of the grease. In the hot pan I seared pieces of roast ( I used 1 arm roast and 1 thick cut round steak that was not tenderized cut into pieces) I had to sear them off in 2 batches since I did so much meat. After that - you add back in the grease and put in a few large spoonfuls of flour and cook that for a while. Then add back in the onions and bacon and add a bag of carrots, a can of beef broth (or home made like I had) and 1 beer - you are supposed to use a dark sweet beer in this. I had some Goose Island Nut Brown Ale, I thought that since it was Goose Island I couldn't go wrong but this was not for drinking - at least not for me. But I was glad to find a use for it here! So once all was in the pot, I covered it with a lid and cooked it in the oven at 325 for 2 -2 1/2 hours. It was really good - I think that I will add in some cubed red potatoes next time. There was a ton of leftovers so we are saving them for Saturday lunch or Sunday when Dad is home.

So the plan this weekend is - Becca will be coming tomorrow night after work to spend the weekend with us, like usual. Then I am hoping that we will all be able to watch the new disney movie - the Princess and the Frog - I just got it yesterday in the mail! I had to order it - I love disney! Then on Saturday night we will have a mexican pizza bread feast - I may even make some gucamole and pico de gallo! Ofcourse the reason I picked mexican is so I can have margaritas! Or at least mexican beer. Also Becca says that she will make me my favorite birthday cake - chocolate oreo cookie cheesecake!!!

Bub is not able to travel anymore since the new baby is coming soon - in about a month. So she will be missed and so will Scott and Dean! I can't wait to meet the new baby and see what the heck they name that kid!

I am guessing that the kids will start being grumpy this weekend since it is almost time for Spring Break to be over - but we will see what happens with that. Maybe I will have some more pictures from this weekend to post, maybe not! We will see what happens. I might even post a few more recipes on here from the weekend too!

Bub sent me flowers for my birthday so that was awesome - I had to post a picture of those. So those are the roses that Faith is standing next to, she wanted to be in the picture. I didn't count how many roses there were but there are a ton! I don't think that I have ever had that many before - and they are very pretty colors too! Looks like Spring!

More Disney World Pictures

I found some more pictures of Faith at Disney. When you go to the parks there are lots of opportunities to get pictures taken with your favorite character and Faith did just that! There were some that had too long of lines and some that she didn't really want to meet that much but then there were some that were very popular and had photographers with them. These are the pictures taken by the real photographers - I have to buy them but that is ok, I also found a 40% off coupon that is helping me to decide to buy them :)

Faith saw Donald in Mexico at Epcot. I love the ones that show Faith hugging the characters. I think that it looks sweet. She is really good sometimes :)

I think that these princess photos are neat, especially since Faith is not dressed up as a princess in them. It was neat for her to dress up but I wanted some of her just regular too!

Faith decided that Belle and Beast are one of her favorite couples in Disney. Mine are Cinderella and the Prince but everyone has their favorite. I know that she likes Mulan too. When Mary was about Faith's age, I think that her favorite was Esmerelda on the Hunchback of Notredame. But both girls loved the 101 dalmation movies too! When I was a little girl the Aristocats was my favorite movie.

Now the big girls didn't want to get their pictures taken with the real photographers. Not really sure why, they had other areas that they took pictures that was not with characters, like over in France or by the Cinderella Castle but we never did that. I guess that is something we can try next time :)

Disney Vacation

The Potters (6), Bruces (3-4) and Webster (1) all had a glorious week at Disney World! We left on 1-23-10 and had difficulties getting to our plane once we landed in O'hare in Chicago. We ended up having to run around the American Airlines concourse to get to our flight. They kept saying over head that this was the last call for Potter and Webster on the flight to Orlando and that they were final boarding and closing the doors - yes! I even ran! Surprisingly :) I brought up the rear with Mom...anyway Bub, Scott and Dean were already boarded and telling them that we were coming. We called once we landed in Chicago from Wichita so they new we were there but just late arriving due to the plane. I now feel for the fools running in the airport - I was one of those fools and it was totally NOT my fault - believe me there is very little that will make me run! But, Disney would be one of them :)

These first few pictures are of the kids in Downtown Disney. They have tons of shopping there and a ghirdelli ice cream/chocolate shop. Not surprising for me to go there with ice cream, chocolate and shopping involved! Especially if there is Disney merchandise available :)

This picture was when we were at Epcot and we ate at a fish resturant which was pretty good. I think that Katie was sick of me taking pictures by this time so she opted out!

This is the one and only picture that I took at the Animal Kingdom. I went there and went on ride with the kids, I even got myself on the Yeti rollercoaster which I will never do again - dummie me even let Faith go on it and she was not thanking me by the end. The big girls loved it so I took them there again to ride the Yeti ride and the Dinosaur ride (that makes me sick). It is so funny how when you get old those rides no longer appeal to you!

This is a great picture of when I took the big girls to Epcot with me! We were in Morracco in the upper picture and I also wanted to get a picture of the big golf ball and it looks like Katie is holding it :)

Ok this is France at Epcot and this is as close as I will ever get to France - which is fine with me :) I did have a champagne though.

Here we are in the UK, I thought that the red telephones were cool but the flash showed up alot, I am not a good picture taker that is for sure and these are mush less than professional, but I like them.

Ok while in the UK I had to get a Bass Ale. Oh and here is a good time to check out my fanny pack. I found it funny that everyone laughs at the fanny packs but they all want to put their stuff in it. Also Mary and Katie started a count of all the fanny packs they saw and we were up in the hundreds when we left, and even found a place to buy one if we wanted. I threatened to buy each of the big girls one but I didn't do it.

Ok, here is me having another ale again. Mary liked the guy that worked at the pub that sold it to me. She thought that I should ask him for his number - I said that he was way to young. He was British and talked just like Harry Potter. I asked if I should try a Bass Ale or a Stella Draught, he pointed me in the direction of the ale and said that it was 'brilliant'.

Here is Bub, Scott and Dean, Dean is not happy at the moment. But he was really good for most all of the trip. I was pleasantly surprised :) Bub and Scott caught up with us the last night at the World, we were at Epcot and had dinner at the steak place in Canada called Le Celliar. It was really good!

This is another UK photo in the red phone booths - I thought that the kids looked good!

Here is Faith with Mary Poppins! She loves Mary Poppins and this was taken in Epcot in the UK. Notice that I like Epcot the best - I wonder if it has anything to do with alcohol served there... Here is another picture of Faith with Alice in wonder land. She looked cute and we were still in the UK at epcot.

When we were in epcot a different day we saw a ton of characters and even the big girls were talked into getting pictures with them.

Here is one with the girls and Max - Goofy's son and the big girls with Bolt.

This is when we were waiting to get into the Liberty Tavern to eat at the Magic Kingdom. It is a character dinner so we got to see a ton of characters and they are all dressed in colonial clothes.

Here is Faith with Chip and Faith and Caps (dad) with Dale.

Pluto is hugging Faith and Caps is watching and smiling :) And Dean is kissing Pluto on the nose. Dean happened to love the characters and liked it best that they didn't talk and seemed to speak his language of pointing and blowing kisses etc. He really was a good and sweet kid.

Minnie Mouse is giving Faith a hug whie Scott and Caps are happy :) It really is one of the happiest places in the world. And we were all sad to leave.

These are my favorite pictures of Dean - he was so happy at the character dinner he was laughing right out loud and he kissed each character on the nose, it was so cute. I think when I took these pictures he was playing peek a boo with Mary across the table and she was giving him funny faces.

This picture is when Faith dressed up and went to Epcot to Belle's castle for lunch. She got to meet all of the princesses and got her picture taken with each of them. It was located in Norway at Epcot and there was real Norway food. I got some weird stuff that I can't pronounce or say, I couldn't even say it when attempting to repeat it after our waitress who was from Norway. But she was happy to see that I was trying one of the Norway dishes.

This last picture is of Becca and Faith in Norway with a huge troll. Bec even put on one of the viking hats :) I thought that it made a cute picture.

Chocolate Torte Recipe

Hey I forgot that I was going to post this recipe. I thought that it was pretty easy and we had all the stuff here at the house since we have some of everything, even things you may never use. So anyway here it is:

1/2 cup butter
1/2 cup corn syrup
1 cup semi-sweet chocolate chips
1/2 cup sugar
3 eggs
1 cup flour
1 cup chopped nuts (optional)
1 tsp vanila
In a large sauce pan, melt butter and corn syrup until butter is melted. Stir in chips until melted. Add sugar and eggs, stir until well blended. Stir in flour, nuts and vanilla. Heat oven to 350 degrees. Bake in a buttered and floured wax paper lined 9 inch cake pan for 30-35 minutes or until center springs back to touch. (make sure to butter and flour and use wax paper to line the pans if you want it to come out) Cool in pan 10 minutes. Remove from pan. Glaze warm or cool. Chill until set. Freezes well glazed. If you can't get it out of the pan just do what I did and serve it out of the pan. I also didn't chill this or refrigerate it but if you use whipped cream to decorate it like I did it needs refrigerated if there are leftovers...
Glaze:
1/2 cup chocolate chips
2 Tbsp butter
1 Tbsp corn syrup
1 tsp vanilla
Combine all ingredients in a small sauce pan and stir until melted.

Faith's Baptism

This is a pic of Bub and Scott they sent me and I loved it! She thought that they looked bad in the picture, I guess it was a work party, but I think that they make a good couple. I also wanted to include them since they were not with us for the baptism. Bub had a ton of work and I guess she spent the weekend traveling for work and then this past week out of town. She has been really stressed with work and the house hold issues and the new baby. I am hoping that the trip to Disney will not be too stressful for her. I am hoping that we all have fun and chill out together and most of all that the kids have a great memorable time!

Faith got baptised on 01-16-10. She was very good about it all and it was really nice the way the priest let her be in charge of answering all the questions and taking responsibility for her own faith with was completely fine with me.

As most people know I am not all that pro-catholic at this time however I was ok with Faith getting baptised as long as I didn't have to be all that involved. Most people know what I mean about all of this since I have spouted often about my problems with the great bald one so I should not go into it all here. So it was exciting to have Faith baptised before going to Disney that way if the plane crashes or something then hopefully she will make it to heaven :) Or maybe it will help me get to heaven since it is all my fault she wasn't baptised prior to this date. Anyway she was very good and Becca said that she was holy at church and said all of the prayers so that is nice. Faith changed into her PJs when she got home so she wouldn't get some stain on the special dress.

I made my special Chocolate Torte which Faith totally loved and I whipped up some whipping cream and sweetened it with powdered sugar and vanilla and wrote on the top of the cakes. Everyone loved the cakes. Mary was eating it with her hands but Katie was being nice and polite and eating with her fork :)

Faith wore a special white satin dress that Becca had gotten her and it was very pretty. She also got a special silver cross with a diamond in it from Ruppelius Jewelers and it was just perfect for her.

Faith got to have Mads and Lexi spend the night so there are some awesome pics of the girls playing dress up.

Then they pulled out the bed of the couch and watched Escape to Witch Mountain before they went to sleep. Then in the morning they got my special waffles and Becca's special chocolate chip muffins.

So here we all are at the house, we are missing Bub and her family and Bec tonight. Mary went to Katie's house after school to get packed for the disney trip. Katie and Mary are here now getting Mary packed up and ready to go. Faith is pretty excited about the trip to Disney and didn't eat very much supper but I have her playing games on Mom's computer so that is giving her something to do with her time. Bec is at home waiting to meet us tomorrow in wichita at the airport at 8am so we can fly out to chicago and then we will have just a 30 min layover so we may have to run to the next plane - can you really imagine me running? Maybe for Disney!

Dad is taking care to check and double check all of the plans, he is so good with all of this stuff. He has been so patient to tell us all about not taking liquids unless it fits in a small zip top bag or just put liquids in the suitcases to get checked. The girls were freaking out about how many shirts and clothes they needed and what they would be able to fit into their luggage. We will have a washer and drier in the place that we are staying so there is no need for a ton of stuff...but try telling teenagers that! I have a huge rolling case and I think last I weighed it was 46# so I am sure my fat ass is not rolling it - maybe Mary will for me :) (No wonder I am a fat ass right?) Anyway, I packed the essentials, 2 jeans, 2 capris, 8 disney t shirts, 2 pairs of shoes, medications that someone may or may not need when we are there, coffee, filters, creamer in the little circular containters that don't have to be refrigerated, then a ton of snacks! The fat ass carries the food as well! But I just can't see spending $4 for a cup of coffee when you know I will need at least 4 cups or more each day, also if people want a snack it is easy to grab a granola bar that I packed or peanut butter crackers that I packed instead of trying to go out and find snacks...so not only am I a fat ass I am also cheap!!!

So anyway, my next post will have tons of Disney pictures and that will be great! I am so ready to be there!