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10/23/2008 Chicken White ChiliWHITE CHILI CHICKEN 1 ½ cups chopped onion 2 cloves garlic, minced 1 Tbsp. olive oil 3 cans (15 oz each) white beans, drained 1 can (14.5 oz) chicken broth 2 cans (4 oz each) chopped green chilies 2 Tbsp. Italian seasoning 3 cups cooked, cubed chicken breast Pepper Jack cheese Salsa Chopped fresh cilantro Saute onion and garlic in oil in 4 quart stockpot until onions are tender. Stir in beans, chicken broth, chilies, and seasoning. Bring to a boil; reduce heat and simmer 10 minutes. Stir in chicken. Simmer another 20 minutes or so. Garnish each serving with chees, salsa, and cilantro. Makes 6 – 8 servings. The Libby Way: Follow as above, but add cheese at the same time as adding the chicken. Texture should become thicker and more chili-like. Could take about 1 pound of cheese. I will also sometimes substitute one can of green chilies for one can of jalapenos. 8/14/2008 StuffI am adding more pictures. I had no pictures of Sol's 3rd birthday party (my camera was full), but was able to get some pics from a friend who was there.
I will also be adding pictures of other things. Our first cabin camping trip and tent camping trip. Sol had a blast at both. He rode an ATV (with "Grandpa" Ron) and I got a cute video of him pretending to ride one. I need to find a new video host as I have disconnected from my old one.
Sol had his very own tent for tent camping. He's not spoiled at all. He did very well for that. Better than I had expected. We went swimming in Lake Pend O'reille. I think I spelled that right. It was very very very very cold. So of course I did the crazy thing and swam across Beaver Bay 3 times. I think I was fascinated by how my body was affected by the extreme cold. It was hard to breathe and I couldn't feel my arms very well. At least I was surrounded by fellow idiots.
My little brother got married last weekend. Sol was the ring bearer and I was a bridesmaid. I started coughing during the ceremony and could not stop. I will forever be known as the dying bridesmaid... However, Sol was adorable. I wasn't able to take pictures of him going up the aisle as I was behind him, but he had to stop and pose for every camera he saw. There were a lot of cameras. I will have no problem procuring pics of him later.
Sol is currently staying with his granparents in FL. He seems to be having a lot of fun. I miss the little booger. He will be flying back to WA on the 20th with his Nana Bobi. I can't wait to see him (and Bobi). 5/25/2008 Updating PicturesI am adding in more of Sol's pics. We finally emptied our camera and I am finally getting around to updating my pictures. 5/11/2008 A new start. AgainWe have finally made it to WA (and I finally remembered to write about it here). Sol and I got here on April 9th and we moved into our new apartment on April 11th. I really like our new place. It has a nice courtyard outside our back door for Sol to ride his new big boy bike around and it is in walking distance to pretty much anything we need. I found out my friend, Genn, moved about a mile down the road from us, so I have been having Sol ride his bike (while I walk) to her place. It's great - he gets so worn out that day that he usually goes to sleep with no complaint. Or very little complaint anyway as he usually can't seem to help conking right out.
I have been applying for a large variety of jobs. In all actuality, we just need a little supplemental income, so I am hoping to get work with a grocery store or Home Depot or pretty much anyplace that will allow me to have an evening schedule during the week. That way I can stay home with Sol and we won't have to worry about daycare fees. Just to be safe though, I have been applying for a lot of office positions as well. I figured it wouldn't hurt. If I can get one that will cover our expenses and daycare, why not? Sol has been asking to go to "school" lately, so if we can afford it, I would love to send him to one.
Genn has asked me to join her in a venture of sorts. She buys a lot of old furniture and refurbishes it. She wants to start selling it at a local antique store. She has asked me to come in on it with her and has offered me 1/2 the profit. This also means that I have to pay 1/2 the costs, which are a slight problem right now. I think it would be a lot of fun. She has already started to teach me the basics of how to look for furniture that will be able to be refurbished, what is worth something, and what is worthless. I can't wait to start helping her to fix and repaint some of it. She is an amazing bargainer... A lot of this stuff she got for under $5. She is pretty sure she will be able to sell most of it for anywhere from $60 to $600.
Our house should be going on the market any day now. We are just waiting for Gino to finish up his work. It is a little frustrating to see all the work I had wanted done while we lived in it to be done when we are trying to sell it. Bobi tells me it looks absolutely fantastic.
 Oh well. We are looking for a house here that is lower than what we are selling for. Once we get a house, it won't really be necessary for me to work, so I would like to find a bit of a fixer-upper or a place with a large yard for gardens or both. I keep coming back to this one:
However, it might be too much of a fixer-upper.
I think this is it for now. 1/20/2008 *GASP*I will be offline starting in a few days. I will have limited... possibly no... access to a reliable online source. I may go to the library, but I have too much other shit to take care of. Sorry Internet - you have to go on the bottom of my important thingies list. Just to make most of you who care jealous - I may be going through the town of Deadwood on my journey. Depends on how the weather is through the Idaho mountain passes. However, I won't be starting this journey until early March. Talk to all of you in a few months! 1/11/2008 Catching UpThis is going to be as brief as 3 months can be and sloppy. I am going to be cross-blogging this everywhere, so if you are a member of another one of my many blog communities - be forewarned. The past few months have been pretty durned stressful for my family. Trask found out in November that he would be out of a job by the end of December. This seriously sucks as it meant we have a pretentious apt we can't afford, 3 loan payments each month to really worry about, and now I can not afford to get the medical insurance on our boy as we need as much of my paycheck as possible. Poor Trask was applying like a madman for a new job during this time. At the end of November, our tenant found out she needed to downsize. So now we have our mortgage to worry about as well as the various other house things that had been taken care of by the rent (insurance, property tax, etc). December went alright. Abby's ex was shot and killed. That was pretty much the only excitement and was unfortunately not altogether a surprise. I hope he finally found some peace. Now January. He starts Feb 4 and will be moving out there before Sol and I head out there. I will be staying in Florida to help with arranging for the sale of our house and getting our stuff ready to go west. The hard thing here is leaving my mom, mom-in-law, and dad-in-law. They have been so incredibly, beyond words, helpful to us. They also all have an extremely close bond with Sol and this is going to be hard on them and on him. Yet another reason to delay our move by a couple of months. I am considering staying until just after Sol's 3rd birthday, but I want to make sure Trask will be able to celebrate it with us. So yeah. Our lives pretty much did a 180 in the past couple of months. 7/31/2007 Scratch that last blog.I finally figured out my problem. It would seem that I am unable to upload photos when using Mozilla. I gave it a try with Explorer and had no problems at all.
 I was getting pretty upset with the whole thing when I suddenly remembered that Mozilla is not always supported by some websites. Dur. I should have thought about it sooner.
In any case, I have uploaded 200-300 pics. Yay! Hmmmm.Ok. For some reason I am unable to upload the hundreds of photos I have finally downloaded to my puter. I'm not even sure if this entry will post. Very annoying... 6/23/2007 Nine Years.Trask and I have just celebrated nine years of married life. That's a really long time. And we were together for 4 1/2 years before we got married. That's even longer.
We went to Disney World to celebrate our anniversary a couple of weeks ago. We were cruel parents and left the rugrat with his grandparents so we could behave like children ourselves.
Our hotel is geared towards families and had lots of fun things to do for kids. Our room even had a bunk bed. At night they would play a movie at the pool so kids could go swimming and watch a movie. I thought that was pretty nifty.
At the Magic Kingdom, we went on Space Mountain 3 times (2 of those times were almost immediately after we got there), ate tons of ice cream, candy, and junk food, and left when we were completely exhausted. It was a good day.
On our way down to Orlando, we managed to catch the shuttle launch. On our way back, it rained, our car overheated, then it started to hail. We were driving a convertible by the way.
All in all, we had fun. We missed Sol horribly though. We couldn't stop talking about him and saying things like "Sol would LOVE this!" We are planning on going again in October with Sol. I am also hoping to take Zan and Abby as well. It would be my treat for Zan's birthday. I think it would be great fun to not tell him anything until we get there. 5/26/2007 Seriously...I need to get off my butt and add some more pictures. I have a bunch that I just put onto CD, so I hope to add those maybe tomorrow or sometime within the next week.
5/21/2007 Magic!Grandma Jan treated Solomon and I to the Magic Kingdom the Saturday before Mother's Day. Well, actually she treated me as Solomon was free for being under 3 years of age. Yay!
He seemed to really have a blast. He had such a curiosity about pretty much everything and was also so calm about everything. He loved the train ride around the park and did VERY well on all of the rides, except for the ferry boat ride that goes around Tom Sawyer's Island. He seemed to get the idea of lines pretty quickly and did not try to get ahead of the people in front of us. This is a very important lesson for children to learn if they go to any form of large amusement park. At least I know that I have been severely annoyed by children running rampant through lines in the past.
Trask and I will probably take him again in October sometime. I really want to take him on the Pirates of the Caribbean ride.
Pictures shall be posted as soon as I can get them uploaded. 4/16/2007 TwoMy son is 2 years old today! We had a Jacksonville party this past Saturday and I will be having a smaller gathering in Gainesville this upcoming Saturday. Exciting stuff!
Trask and I gave him a funny little googlie-eyed puppet that he has named Doot Doot. It is the first of his toys that he has given a name to on his own.
He really got a lot of cool toys and clothes.
I also got a tattoo for his birthday. It is my representation of Solomon. Thanks to Abby, who sketched it out, and to Chad, who did the needle work. Abigail spent about 3 months drawing it up for. I probably drove her nuts with "put some of this in there" and "try this kind of thing" and "oh wait - take that back out of there". It took about 2 1/2 hours to put it on me and I do need to go back in about 3 weeks for touch-up and some more color. If I can remember how to add a picture, you will be able to view it in this blog. More pictures will be forthcoming also - I have about 200 pics that I need to go through and upload.
Yay! I remembered how to do it! 3/23/2007 What adventures we may find!So.
Solomon has finally discovered how to climb out of his crib. I knew it was coming, I guess. It still seems a bit unexpected.
I have not had the chance to see him climb out, yet. He just started after I left Jax last weekend. Trask has told me that he will hear Sol crying or talking for a bit, then a THUNK, a quick cry, talking, then he will open the door to his bedroom and go off in search of Mommy or Daddy or possibly just to see what there is to see.
He was super sick last week. I was up in Jax almost the whole week due to Spring Break and pretty much spent the whole time cleaning up vomit and changing diapers. Well, he only puked for about a day, but I had a ton of diaper changes to do for about 3 of the 5 days I was there. He's doing much better now and is eating like a teenager. I suspect he will be twice as big when I see him this weekend as when he was last weekend. I feel like I am missing out on so much. I see him every week, but it doesn't feel like it is enough. 3/11/2007 Some extra stuff.Two blogs in one day. Aren't you lucky
 Solomon used his training potty on his own this morning! Yay! Of course over the course of the night he had completely stripped off his clothing and peed ALL over his crib. I guess we have a little bit of work ahead of us.
I bought Sol an Easter outfit. Very cute. It's a blue and white pinstriped seersucker suit. He looks so cool in it.
April is looking to be a very busy month for us. Trask will be officially inducted into the Catholic church on Easter. I have finals, will receive my AA at the end of April, and make the final move up to Jax. Sol will be turning 2. I will be quitting my job at the beginning of April. It's getting to be that time of year again.My little guy is about to turn 2. I am in the planning stages for possibly 2 parties. One in Gainesville and one in Jax. I have updated his gift list with the correct sizes. I am quite aware that most people will have no trouble finding toys etc, so I have not really included any of those other than a few DVD's. 3/7/2007 UpdatesIt has been a while since I have updated this thing.
Trask now has a job with his stepfather. So, he and Sol moved up to Jax while I am trying to hurry time along so this semester in school will be over and I can join them. We have a pretty nice apartment set up there and I am itching to be able to decorate it.
We are not sure what to do with the house yet, but we are considering renting it out. If the market evens out this summer, as I was told it may, we might consider getting it on the market. I am hoping we can find some decent tenants. I just have a lot of renovations that I would like to attempt. Well, I should say minor renovations: painting, replacing bathroom fixtures, putting in new faucets. I don't have any near future plans to change the floor plan or anything like that. For now.
Sol also recently contracted pink eye and has an ear infection. He seems to be a lot better now though. I, on the other hand, have grown increasingly paranoid about my own eyes... 1/17/2007 Keepin' up.It's been forever since I wrote anything on this site, so just wanted to let everyone know what's been goin' on.
Trask, Sol and I went out to Washington to spend the holidays with family out that way. I got some great pics that I will be uploading sometime soon. Sol got to see his first snow, although it wasn't much and melted by the following day. It was a lot of fun to introduce him to friends and relatives who had not yet met him. He got along really well with his cousins.
Trask may have a possible job offer back that way. They may fly him out there in February for a face-to-face interview. It was a shame they didn't contact us when we were there, but we had looked at possible houses just in case one of the companies out there showed interest.
Trask has also recieved some interest from a company located on Long Island. Looks like we will most likely traveling sometime this year. Just not sure which way, yet.
I have also started my final semester of community college. Yay! It's keeping me super busy. I have reports due at least twice a week, plus tons of reading.
I am also going to be moving the majority of my photos to an account at Ringo. I will post the link later. You will be able to actually order prints through Ringo at (what seems to be) a fairly reasonable price. I believe it was .10 per print. I do not know what the shipping cost is though. 11/15/2006 MusingsIn less than a week, Abigail will be moving to Jacksonville. I am sooo happy she will be so much closer. She has also asked us to watch Zan for a few days so she can work and find a daycare for him. I think this will be an interesting adventure. Sol and Zan met once before when Sol was just a couple of months old. It will be neat to see how he reacts to having an older "brother" around. I just hope I don't run myself completely ragged chasing after the 2 of them. I'm thinking about bribing Zan - maybe a few dollars to help out with housework and a few more to do a lesson or 2.... Abby had told me he was learning all sorts of neat things at his previous school. Like colors and things like that.
Abby is moving into a 1 bedroom, so I am also thinking about making him a little teepee. I actually found the pattern for one a while ago and bought it with Sol in mind, but I think Zan might appreciate having his own little "room". I think I will also make the little sleeping mat that is in the pattern.
Not much else is going on. I got to cruise around Jax on Saturday with Abby in a red convertible. We were definitely stylin'. Guys kept trying to impress us with their loud music and we were even serenaded by a very young Latino boy. He was at least 16 since he was driving. It was a good day.
She found the perfect place for her and Zan. Close to her work and close to a few schools. Close to my in-laws too.
11/8/2006 Osteoderm is a fun word.This last weekend I went on my first ever archeological dig. I stabbed myself with a screwdriver less than 5 minutes after they had me start.... Anyway. We were digging in a clay pit (hardly a pit... we had to drive UP to it) with little screwdrivers. The first day I found nothing. On Sunday I found two quarter-sized pieces of osteoderm. It's a term I had never heard before - but isn't it fun to say? I basically found the hard shell-skin of a giant armadillo. About 20 feet up the pit from me they were ever so very carefully digging out what seems to be most of a skeleton of a giant armadillo. They are really looking for a type of ancient tapir, but only found the tooth of one while I was there. I was jealous, but I also didn't want to work on it as I was afraid I would ruin it. I did mention that I stabbed myself within 5 minutes of starting there right? Yah. So was probably a good thing I was working the lower area that didn't seem to have as much delicate stuff. The people working around me did find parts of a rather large variety of wildlife. Alligater spine, turtle toes, turtle shells, capybara lower jaw piece, osteoderm of armadillos, something from a ground sloth. It was pretty hot work and exhausting. I really loved it. I can't wait to find some time to go back there. They are digging until Dec 20... |
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