Maddieism of the Day

"I have a booger in my nofe."

(She has the cutest tendency to make her "s" sound like an "f". Like mouse is moufe. And house is houfe. And nose is nofe. Utterly heart-melting.)

What Goes Up, Must Come Down

Remember my post about things being pretty relaxed and running smoothly around here lately? Well, what goes up must come down. Taylor seems to be developing asthma, and the grand part of all this is that her insurance covers nothing. Zero. Zilch. That is, until we spend $3500. It's that old embedded deductible thing. I've complained about this a lot here, what with my recent medical happenings. $135 per week doesn't buy you much medical insurance these days. I can't wait until January when we can change our medical insurance. You know, where you pay $40 to go to the doctor. And $20 gets you the prescription you need. And that old deductible stuff doesn't even come into play unless hospitals are involved. She is now on an albuterol inhalation medication (Ventolin HFA) as needed, and the best part is the equipment we had to purchase seperately, the AeroChamber. This is a piece of plastic shaped like a tube that cost $50. I asked if I can just wrap a toilet paper tube in saran wrap, would that work? Ha.

Ebb and flow, baby. Ebb and flow.

Stuffed Green Peppers

This general recipe comes from my mom, but being the kind of cook that I am, I may have changed things up a bit. I'm also not the type to follow a recipe by measurements, I tend to add something until I think I've added enough. So I hope you can follow this recipe and enjoy these like we did1

Clean out the peppers, how ever many you think you need. You can also use red/orange/yellow peppers, but I am rather cheap so I use green. Try to find the ones with wide bottoms, so that they will sit up. After you have removed all of the inside gunk, pat dry inside and out and sprinkle parmesan cheese in the bottom of the pepper. I used the shredded because that is what I had in the fridge, but you can use the regular grated if you want.

Brown ground beef and chopped sweet onion together, drain grease. Add one can of diced tomatoes, 1/2 cup water, 1/2 cup minute rice (I use brown), some worchestire (I use a lot of that but the recipe says 1 tsp). Cover and simmer about 15 minutes, or until the liquid is absorbed. Add shredded cheddar cheese, and I also added some shredded Romano because I had it in the fridge. Stir. Fill the pepper cups and sprinkle some extra shredded cheddar on top. Bake at 350 degrees for 25-30 minutes.

Now, I took this picture before the baking. I took another one after, but as you will see when you make this, they don't look as pretty after they are done baking so I'm going to use this one!! Also, the Velveeta in the background is not in this dish, I used it to make homemade macaroni and cheese as a side dish, which goes great with it by the way. Also, if you like your green pepper softer, you can boil it for a litte bit before you assemble the peppers. I don't like soggy veggies, though, so I didn't.

Color Her Purple

Taylor loves purple with a passion. Clothes, food, crayons, anything that comes in a color needs to be purple. She has had purple curtains and a circular purple shag rug in her room for a couple of months now, and we have been on the hunt for a comforter that would match. I, for one, was wanting something pretty, feminine, little-girly, with just a touch of purple that would tie in the curtains and rug. As it turns out, Taylor had entirely something else in mind. Behold...the blinding purple satin comforter...

I gave in, since it is her room after all. Sigh.

Maddieism of the Day

"Put clip in my hair."

five seconds later...

"Take it out."

Insert more offensive bragging...Did you know that it is considered normal for a two year old to just begin using 2 word sentences? (as per "Parenting Magazine"). My slightly-under-two year old used a 5 word sentence today. And you know what? That is not uncommon. Well, usually her sentences are only 4 words. I'm so proud...

Recipe for Turkey Burritos

Ha! I'm just kidding. There is no recipe. These two girls have been, uh, having trouble with their behavior this past week. Let's just say that they are disinclined to acquiesce to my requests (I love to use that quote, it's from "Pirates of the Caribbean". Makes me feel smart!). "Turkey" is the kindest word I can think of to describe them right now. But in case you need a few more, "brat" and "hooligan" would be accurate as well.

9/23/10..That's All

Can those eyes be any more blue? No photoshop here!

Do you know that saying "no news is good news"? It seems like (to me, anyway) I mostly blog about the problems and annoyances in my life. When nothing is really happening around here, I feel like I don't have anything to blog about. Other blogs seem to garner attention and traffic when something big/awful/tragic is going on in the authors' lives. Illness (especially in babies), financial problems, high risk pregnancies, etc. All of you other mommy bloggers out there know what I am talking about. Fortunately for me, I have no major difficulties or drama in my life right now. So, I guess "no blog is good blog". Huh. That was really stupid. See what I mean? I have nothing to blog about.