Category Archives: Five Question Friday

Five Question Friday – DIY

Posted on May 18, 2012 | 7 comments

Well, Mama M isn’t doing a 5QF this week due to creepy stuff (sounds ominous) so I’m just going to make up my own… you can join in too in the comments or on your own blog.

1. What’s your favorite sound?
Here are a few:
– Jack’s giggle
– Liam drumming
– Simon’s accent
– lawn mower (because then I get to smell fresh-cut grass)
– espresso maker brewing
– when a can of Diet Coke is opened (I realize this is the same as any other can of pop/soda/cola/soft drink)

2. What pet peeves do you have?
– People who drive slowly in the left lane on the highway when there is no reason for them to be there
– Dirty dishes left in the sink
– People who stand with their carts in the middle of the grocery aisle instead of off to one side
– Bad service in a restaurant

3. What’s the strangest thing you’ve ever eaten?
I ate quite a few strange things in Kazakhstan – fermented mare’s milk and these very hard cheese balls that had the consistency of chalk and tasted like strong, stinky cheese are at the top of the list. And one of the things I could have eaten but didn’t was a cow tongue sandwich. Yum. I also had some of the yummiest things there – fresh-baked bread (daily, sold from a vendor’s cart), honey cake, pelminis (no idea how to spell this, but they were like dumplings with a meat stuffing inside), Korean spicy carrot salad and borscht (soup made with beets).

4. Do you wish you had a different name/did you ever try changing your name in middle school/high school?
I have always liked my name, especially once I learned I was nearly name Robin Renee, a name I don’t at all like. But I very much like being Michelle Marie (apparently my parents believed in alliteration). I went by Shell and Chelle in middle school and high school (this makes me think of my friend who decided that instead of Melissa, she would be M’lissa – we were dorks). I very much dislike being called Shelly (though I know some perfectly nice and wonderful people that go by that nickname and it works for them, just not for me) but I have a couple people who call me that just to drive me nuts and I let it go because if it makes them happy to antagonize me, who am I to kill their fun? 😉

5. Do you have a meal you never tire of eating, no matter how many times you have it?
I’m rather partial to anything Mexican or Tex-Mex so I’d have to go with my pork tacos (recipe here), the carnitas style beef and roasted veggie tacos (recipe here) and my beef and bean burritos (recipe below).

Beef and Bean Burritos
1 pound ground beef (I often use ground turkey, or half turkey, half beef)
1 package taco seasoning
1 can refried beans (I typically use the fat free ones)
1 package burrito-size flour tortillas
2 cups shredded cheese
1 jar of taco sauce

In large skillet, brown beef until fully cooked, add taco seasoning and simmer 5-10 minutes. Add can of beans, heat until the beans have fully incorporated with the beef/taco seasoning. Add a large spoonful of the mixture to center of tortilla, top with cheese (I grab a large pinch of cheese), wrap up tortilla (fold sides in first then roll. Place rolled burritos in 9×13 pan and repeat until filling is gone. Top with taco sauce and bake at 350 for 15 minutes, top with remaining shredded cheese and continue baking until cheese is melted – serve with sour cream and any other toppings you’d like.

The burritos freeze really well, just put them in the freezer before you top with the taco sauce and when baking (after thawing them out), cook them for 15 minutes without sauce, then add the sauce for another 15 minutes, then add cheese for another 10ish minutes. You can also package them individually in foil and take them for lunches (microwave, without foil, for 2-3 minutes – from frozen; be sure to slit the top of the burrito).

Also, yesterday Sirius played a David Gray song that I’d never heard before – a cover of the song “Money (That’s What I Want)” – makes me super excited to think that maybe a new album is coming out. He’s doing a North American tour this summer but the Chicago show sold out too quickly so we didn’t get tickets – it would have been perfect since the show is the day before my birthday. Alas, it wasn’t meant to be. Dear David Gray – Please come to Grand Rapids. Thanks, mucho! Michelle

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Posted in Five Question Friday, Food

Five Question Friday

Posted on May 11, 2012 | 2 comments

Sorry… didn’t post yesterday, I’m sure all of you were in withdrawal 😉 But today we’re back to our regularly scheduled blathering nonsense…

And update on Jack and his tooth – he did wonderfully at the dentist. He ran back with the hygienist when she came for him and after they Novocained him, she came and told me he cried a little and explained how they would hold his arms and likely his head for the 30-second extraction. I appreciated this little chat since it alleviated any questions I might have about what was happening and if Jack had told me that someone held him, I would know why. Nice touch. Less than 10 minutes later he was all done and once again sitting on a little bench with gauze clamped down between his front teeth. He eagerly showed me his toy and told me that he couldn’t talk well because of the gauze. He wasn’t traumatized or upset, just eager to find out if he could go back to playing with the toys in the waiting room. After I buckled him into his car seat, he told me, “The boy did bad things to me.” Love that he referred to his 60+-year-old dentist as “the boy” like he didn’t deserve the respect of being called a man. He cuddled for a little bit at home and then was back up and running around. He mentioned once that he didn’t like his tooth being out but otherwise appears to be unphased by it all. The sedative that I gave him prior to the appointment didn’t taste very good so when I gave him the bubblegum-flavored amoxicillin for the first time, he paused and asked, “Am I going to like it?” But he likes it… I miss bubblegum-flavored antibiotics.

I will say the tooth was way longer that I expected it to be – all the other teeth I’ve seen when the fall out are very short but this one was 3/4 of an inch long – a bit ridiculous. I’d also show you a photo of Jack’s new gap but I’m going to wait on that one until the scene of the extraction looks a little less gruesome. I’m sure you appreciate my discretion with that one.

Anywho… happy Friday, enjoy my 5QF answers below…

1. What advice would you give a couple getting married?
Marriage is hard, not always, but it can be and likely will be at some point. Difficulty in marriage doesn’t mean it’s failing or you are failing, it’s just difficult. Circumstances, life in general with all it’s outside influences and communication levels all help contribute to those difficult times and oh my does the devil weasel in there as well. But just remember, like life, marriage can be hard but that doesn’t mean it’s not worth the effort. All the good things are hard work (except ice cream – ice cream is good and oh so easy to get).

2. If you could tell your 16 year old self ONE thing, what would it be?
Just one thing… that’s the kicker. I could write a whole novel of the stuff I’d love to tell me. But what would be the most important thing? I’d like to think that perhaps it would have to do with not obsessing over certain boys, or boys in general, but I think that I must have learned something through all that drama and heartache – though I also wasted a whole lot of time and energy. So I guess I’d just have to say, “Don’t be stupid.” That applies to whole variety of things but much like wearing a WWJD? bracelet, I hope my teenage self would stop in any situation and think to herself, “Don’t be stupid” and then continue on and make a smart(ish) choice.

3. What do you do to keep cool in the summer? (AC, windows, fans, swimming, etc.)
Air conditioning all the way. I still remember the summer my parents got central air when I was growing up. I was away at camp for the week when they got it installed and I came home after sleeping in a stuffy cabin for the week to the beautiful, wonderful coolness of central air. I’ve lived in places since then that haven’t had central air but I so love it and hope to not give it up again!

4. What did you (or your wife) crave most while pregnant?
With Liam it was fruit smoothies and ice cream (he was born in August) with Jack it was salads, Subway and Kettle chips. But I ate too many Kettle chips and ended up having to get my gallbladder out after Jack was born. Sad times. But now I can eat them again so that’s happy. Nothing like a little out-patient surgery to make my world a better place.

5. Who is your favorite TV mom? Why?
It’s funny, but I think my favorite TV mom is definitely not the mom I ever would have wanted for myself but I loved Lauren Graham’s character of Lorilai in the Gilmore Girls. She was cool and hip and they had a great relationship and she really did love her daughter but knowing myself, I would have found her so frustrating as my parent. But still I just love the character.

Linking up with Mama M for Five Question Friday.

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Posted in Five Question Friday, Life in general, Pop Culture

Five Question Friday

Posted on May 4, 2012 | 6 comments

1. What did you wear to prom? Include a picture if possible.
I haven’t thought about prom in a long, long time! I went with my BFF, Rodney, who despite everyone’s thoughts to the contrary, was never someone I was interested in romantically (and no, he wasn’t my gay BFF, we were just inexplicably friends without any benefits – an anomaly). [Side note: Any time Rodney would call my house, my dad would ask who was on the phone and then say, “Rodney Dangerfield?” thinking he was so hilarious. Every time. And every time, it was not really that funny. Though after the 20th attempt at this joke, I do believe I started laughing at him because it was so ridiculous that he tried to sell it every time so really, he won.]

Anywho… back to what I wore to prom. It was a red dress and I LOVED it. I need to dig up a photo because it was everything I wanted a dress to be, flattering, with great flow and dramatic details without being trashy or too old for me. When I find a photo, I’ll talk more about it and my prom hairdo, which I also loved!

2. Would you rather be on the biggest loser or a food eating challenge?
I don’t know that I could actually survive the biggest loser but I really don’t want to be on a food eating challenge (unless that challenge was something like traveling around the world and trying a specific type food – that’s a challenge I’d be totally up for). So given the choice between those two, I guess I’d go with the biggest loser because at least I’d lose more weight, which is a good thing. Though I can’t say I would like to be away from my family, or on TV for that reason or be yelled at while I was working out. Sounds lovely.

3. Done fave sonic drink? Refreshing summer drink? (Hey, Kristina…was that a typo, or some “done good” Southern thing?)
Tie between: Cherry Limeade Slush OR Grape Cream Slush. So glad we now have TWO Sonics when we didn’t have any a couple years ago, though we had commercials for them for AGES prior to their coming to our neck of the woods. Note to Sarah: Next week – Sonic date and Frog Hollow – okay?

4. What was your first car, and what did you call it?
My first car was my parent’s old Buick LeSabre. It was awesome. I drove it during high school and college and then took it with me to Chicago, where it was stolen. Have you ever had a car stolen? It’s the strangest thing because it is fairly unbelievable that it has happened to you… And in my case, who steals an old Buick LeSabre on a street filled with nicer cars? I had been living in Chicago for about six months when it happened. I came out of our apartment (we lived in a residential area with mostly single-family homes, but our building had four apartments, including our Indian landlord who lived upstairs with his mother who cooked a whole lot of curry but sadly never shared – I have lots of fun stories about Kenny) and walked out to where my car was supposed to be on the street and it wasn’t there. And I just stood there looking around, like perhaps it had moved itself or I had forgotten where I parked it the day before or maybe I just couldn’t see it. It was gone, but rather than run back inside and call the police, I walked to the post office a mile away because I needed to get there before it closed and my car would still be missing when I got back so that detail could wait.

I went to the post office, picked up some food and rode the El back to my stop, walking up and down every street between the station and our apartment, hoping my car would appear along one of those streets. (I knew I hadn’t parked it on another street, but I had a friend in Chicago whose car had been moved by the city to another street because they were doing work on the street and she hadn’t moved her car and although they hadn’t posted warning signs on my street and weren’t doing construction, I held out hope that this had happened to me. It had not.) After I got home, I called the police and filed a report. My parents were coming to Chicago on their way back to Michigan from Texas so they arrived later that day and I told them what had happened – I remember hoping they weren’t mad at me, like I was to blame for someone stealing my car. The next morning at 5 a.m., I got a phone call from the police, my car had been found abandoned but was all banged up with the ignition ripped out of it and the front passenger door missing (apparently those doors were matches to lots of other cars so it was likely stolen just for the door but also got taken on a joy ride) – it had been towed to an impound lot. We ended up sending them the title to the car since it wasn’t worth even paying to the towing fee to retrieve it. Awesome. Lesson to be learned: if you live in Chicago: park in a garage, have an alarm or get one of those steering wheel lock things, otherwise your car just might get stolen.

5. What’s one thing your child or spouse does that sends you over the edge?
Since this blog is very much about the things that my kids do to drive me over the edge (to wit: last week’s post) and sometimes my husband (also, to wit: the dishwasher post), lets pick on someone else: me. I’m a procrastinator and this drives me crazy about myself and YET, I still procrastinate. Why? I don’t know. I wish I did and I wish I had more discipline to not procrastinate because I think I would be less stressed (at times) and sleep better (maybe). But I do work better under pressure and I think that people in general are more prone to procrastination, unless of course, you are my dad, who never procrastinates. He’s much more disciplined than me, why couldn’t I have gotten that gene from him? Alas.

Linking up with Mama M for Five Question

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Five Question Friday

Posted on April 20, 2012 | 1 comment

1. Groceries are high right now what is easiest way you have found to cut back?
We’ve just decided not to feed the children anymore… which is handy since Jack has decided he only likes eating a few things – mainly toast with Vegemite. Really, we haven’t cut back on our grocery list at all so I’m not really qualified to answer that question. I’ve always been a coupon-user (my mommy taught me) so I just continue using coupons and purchasing things on sale. Though there are some staples we purchase whether they are on sale or not and we’re okay with that.

2. What are the top 3 things on your “bucket list”?
Hmmm… I have to put some thought into that one… let me go check my list.
I’m going to tie #2 and #3 together – hopefully these happen before retirement. I’ve had a story floating around in my head for years now, someday I hope to get it written down and I hope that when I do, it can be successful and I can quit my job. Then I’d go with traveling to and around Europe – at least a month in Europe would be perfect. But the most important thing on my list, at least to me, is have a great relationship with my children and their spouses as adults (seems slightly more important than making sticky toffee pudding).

3. Would you rather give up AC or heat?
I’ve always said I’d rather be cold than warm because you can always put on more layers but you can’t take off your skin if you are stripped down and still too hot. It certainly stinks to be too cold and Michigan gets cold to the point that it would be serious trouble if we didn’t have heat. But we have a fireplace and I’m going to assume we could use that rather than our furnace (the question wasn’t specific) and ultimately we could get a wood-burning stove/furnace set up. But I’d keep my central air – priorities. I hate being hot and sweaty.

4. What’s your favorite cocktail??
There is a bar in Chicago that serves 20-ounce Long Island Iced Teas. You get a class with 10 shots plus a little ice and Coke. Then they give you a second glass full of ice and a third with Coke. For only $6. Can’t beat that when you are 22. But now I’m an adult and have sophisticated tastes (though try as I may, I cannot like martinis) and I’d say that vodka tonics with extra lime and whiskey sours are favorites. And anything my brother, Mike, mixes up at the holidays.

[Side note: My parents, when they VERY rarely ordered a drink, would get a Seagram’s 7 and 7-Up so when I was all grown up and at a nice restaurant, I ordered one of my own. Umm… yuck. Guess I wasn’t all that grown up.]

5. What was your first job & how old were you?
My first non-official job was as a babysitter for my church youth group leaders. When I started babysitting for them, they had two kids (the youngest was a couple of months old) and when they switched to another sitter, they had three kids and the youngest was about 4 or so. Those boys are now all grown up and nearly all in college – I see them sitting in church when I visit my parents and I can hardly believe it – makes me feel very, very old.

My first real job (one that I paid taxes at/for) was at Dunkin’ Donuts where I worked for three years. I started out working out front, behind the counter and ended up in the back, making the donuts. I actually loved that job, it might even top my list of favorites (aside from the 2 hours I spent as a Bath & Body Works employee, of course).

Linking up with Mama M for Five Question

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Posted in Five Question Friday, Life in general

Five Question Friday

Posted on April 13, 2012 | 3 comments

Happy Friday to all of you!
Here are a few updates I’m sure you were just dying to know about:

  • One week later my shellac manicure is still holding strong; only two tiny, tiny chips are present which is pretty darn awesome in my book.
  • Jack went to the pediatric dentist today and we determined that the best course of action is to pull his broken tooth as the nerve is indeed exposed (quite a bit the dentist said) so we have that scheduled for May 10; it does not come as a surprise to me that Jack is my child who will prematurely lose a tooth. Anyone else?
  • Liam has school pictures again… I have never heard of both fall and spring photos. Why? I can assure you that we won’t be buying both.
  • I still love pretzel rolls from Costco
  • I need to get back on the workout bandwagon, but the last two weeks I’ve been a) busy with work most of the times I’m not with my kids, b) sick with a sinus infection which makes breathing less than perfect c) dealing with a serious lack of motivation BUT I will return to it. Sometimes you just need to take a break to regroup so you can like it again – right?
  • I wonder if your name is appropriate, that it is required that you become a dentist – the two dentists we’ve seen this week have last names of Payne and Smiley.
  • I still adore my MOPS table this year – we have been so blessed to have been put together. We went out again last night and I just love them – good times, great conversation and SO much laughter.
  • I expect to have all of the above again tonight as I am getting together with my college friends for fondue and to celebrate Amy’s birthday [happy birthday for the third time today, my friend, so glad I get to tell you that in multiple ways, if it were in the budget, I’d totally procure a sky writer to say it again]

1. Who mows your grass?
My loverly husband mows our grass (I take care of weeding and all the other plants). When it was just my house (before we got married) I mowed it so it’s not like I can’t do it but Simon’s home two days a week without the kids and part of his getting to do that means that he needs to mow the lawn during that time and not on the weekends when we have family time.

2. Do you have a picture wall or picture gallery in your house (show us!
I do, or rather did, but at the moment it is out of commission due to a leak in out stairwell (it was on the wall next to our stairway). A picture wall is something I always wanted and I guess I do also have a smaller one in the hallway downstairs but at the moment I’m too lazy to go take a picture and post it – sorry ’bout that.

3. What book has influenced your thinking the most? Or, what blog? (I want to read what gets people thinking!)
The book I thought about the longest after reading it – Time Traveler’s Wife – just LOVED it.

It actually makes me laugh because I thought about this question a whole lot and realized that the answer was fairly obvious, because while I love to read and have read a TON of books, I don’t know that many influence my thinking and then I remembered, um, the BIBLE. That BOOK pretty much influences me on a daily basis.

And as far as blogs – just check out any of the ones in my sidebars – those are the ones I love the most and help guide who I am as a blogger.

4. Do you have allergies? If so, how do you handle it this time of year?
Not any seasonal ones but I am allergic to cats. My ears get itchy, I get hives and my eyes water but mostly only if I pet them or they are heavy shedders. For the most part I can avoid that.

5. What’s your go to meal to cook in a hurry?
Breakfast for dinner or some sort of pasta. My kids are fairly particular with that they eat (well, mostly just Jack these days) so we stick to a familiar repertoire of chicken nuggets, PB&J, pasta, pizza, smoothies, pancakes and various sides. For myself, if it is just me eating, salads are my standby – though I add so many veggies that it’s not exactly quick but faster than cooking up a hot meal and typically a whole lot healthier.

Linking up with Mama M for Five Question

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Posted in Five Question Friday, Life in general