We've had our Wii for a little more than a year. Until recently, I really hadn't gotten into it. But then my division at work got a Wii as an award for winning a sales contest. It's now set up in one of the conference rooms, on a sweet LCD complete with surround-sound speakers.
Last week, our admin decided to set up a bowling competition.
If you know me, you know that I am competitive. It doesn't matter whether I'm actually good or I totally suck; I'm still competitive and can talk some good trash. Well, as soon as I heard there would be a competition, I started sending some talk via email to my first opponent and spending some of my lunch time bowling practice games.
My first opponent didn't have a chance on game day.
Now that I'm going into the second round, I have started to get a little obsessed about winning. I had the high score at work with a 188, but then some guy took it away with a 200-something. It was good motivation for me. I now own the Jensen in-house bowling high-score of 209. I think Kyle is a bit irritated that I am way better than him now. I've been training at home since last week and since I've put up so many consistent games, I am now a Wii bowling pro. Rock on!
I am looking forward to my next round in the tournament at work. It should be a good one.
Friday, November 28, 2008
Thursday, November 13, 2008
Now this is what I call progress
The linen closet is complete. I couldn't go to girls' night tomorrow night and face Jessica if I didn't get it done.
Wednesday, November 12, 2008
No winner-winner chicken dinner
We eat out embarrassingly too often and it's ridiculous the time and money wasted on mediocre chain restaurant food. So I'm trying to us get back on the homemade dinner practice.
Clearly, as a working family with two young kids, there are two important things at stake:
It fit my criteria perfectly. Kids love chicken, the prep and cook time is around 30 minutes. So I prepped it up, got it in the baking dish and then noticed I forgot the soup packet. I figured, what harm could it be to just pour it over the top? Bad idea. It never reduced in intensity, nor did it mingle with the juicy chicken, so that is all one could taste. Fortunately, it was easy enough to scrape off and eat the chicken without some of the breading and it ended up tasting pretty good. I'm looking forward to preparing the recipe correctly sometime and see if it's the perfect mix of parmesan and savory herb and garlic bliss.
Oh, and we also had some noodles and peas to round out the meal. Not exciting, I know, but it got the job done.
---------------------------------
Now I know I can go online to plenty of culinary sites and source top-rated recipes. But I thought it would be better to put it out to you and see what kind of recipes you have to share. Drop a line and let me know what you've got. I'm sure everyone would appreciate a new recipe or two.
Clearly, as a working family with two young kids, there are two important things at stake:
- It's got to be picky-eater proof
- It has to be quick as we get home at 6pm
Parmesan Crusted Chicken
1 packet Savory Herb and Garlic Soup mix packet
1/3 cup mayonnaise
1/4 cup grated Parmesan cheese
2 Tbsp bread crumbs
6 boneless, skinless chicken breasts
Pre-heat oven to 400 degrees. Combine soup packet, mayo, cheese in a bowl.
Brush mixture on both sides of chicken, then coat with bread crumbs. Bake for 20 minutes or until the chicken is no longer pink.
It fit my criteria perfectly. Kids love chicken, the prep and cook time is around 30 minutes. So I prepped it up, got it in the baking dish and then noticed I forgot the soup packet. I figured, what harm could it be to just pour it over the top? Bad idea. It never reduced in intensity, nor did it mingle with the juicy chicken, so that is all one could taste. Fortunately, it was easy enough to scrape off and eat the chicken without some of the breading and it ended up tasting pretty good. I'm looking forward to preparing the recipe correctly sometime and see if it's the perfect mix of parmesan and savory herb and garlic bliss.
Oh, and we also had some noodles and peas to round out the meal. Not exciting, I know, but it got the job done.
---------------------------------
Now I know I can go online to plenty of culinary sites and source top-rated recipes. But I thought it would be better to put it out to you and see what kind of recipes you have to share. Drop a line and let me know what you've got. I'm sure everyone would appreciate a new recipe or two.
Sunday, November 9, 2008
A normal week
I just noticed it's been over a week since I last posted.
Obama is now the president-elect. I waited almost two hours (between two different polling places--don't ask!) to cast my ballot. I was so proud to be standing among so many others who were eager to have their voice heard, no matter which candidates they support or which views they hold sacred. I am not going to wax poetic about the historic significance of this election and results; I leave that to professional writers. I'm just glad we didn't have to wait late in the night to know who our next nation's leader will be. Although, here in Minnesota we have to wait until December 19 to learn who will be our Senator for the next six years. At least we won't have to endure additional political ads while we wait for the election judges and others to work through the recount process.
We woke up to the lawn being coated with snow Thursday morning. Cate wanted to wear her snow boots to school. She also wanted to know when we were going over to Grandma and Papa's house to sing Christmas Carols and open presents. "Not yet, my dear."
As I was in Urgent Care on Thursday, I recounted that someone in our family has either been to the doctor, urgent care or minute clinic nine times in the past six weeks. A lot of money has been dropped on co-pays and prescriptions. While this has been an incredibly frustrating time, I have to look on the flip side. I am grateful we have good health insurance and that while we all may be having a bit of a bump in the road health-wise, all in all, we are fortunate our illnesses are minor and that we will recover soon enough. This phase is a good call for us to take advantage of the health care spending account benefits offered by our employers, so least we can minimize some of the little medical expenses that eventually pile up.
Speaking of illness, Max is the newest one to be sick in our house. T'is the season with the weather change, I guess. He's a sad, limp noodle who had been cuddling with me this morning until Kyle came home from Mass this morning. As soon as the back door opened, he perked up a bit and said, "Daddy!" So he crawled out of my lap and waited for Kyle to pick him up in his big, strong arms. They sat together for a bit, but then Kyle and Cate took off to watch the Vikes / Packers game at Jeanine's house, so he returned to me. Max sat with me for a little while, but after a while he slid out of my lap, grabbed my hand and walked me to his room. I pulled back the blankets so he could climb in and has been sleeping soundly ever since. Poor guy.
At least the Vikings seem to be holding their own against the Packers so far into this game. But of course, we haven't entered the 4th quarter--that's when we typically implode. I guess I was denying the fact that we have been 0-5 against the Packers under Coach Childress. It's time for a win, so then we've got a little something to be excited about.
Obama is now the president-elect. I waited almost two hours (between two different polling places--don't ask!) to cast my ballot. I was so proud to be standing among so many others who were eager to have their voice heard, no matter which candidates they support or which views they hold sacred. I am not going to wax poetic about the historic significance of this election and results; I leave that to professional writers. I'm just glad we didn't have to wait late in the night to know who our next nation's leader will be. Although, here in Minnesota we have to wait until December 19 to learn who will be our Senator for the next six years. At least we won't have to endure additional political ads while we wait for the election judges and others to work through the recount process.
We woke up to the lawn being coated with snow Thursday morning. Cate wanted to wear her snow boots to school. She also wanted to know when we were going over to Grandma and Papa's house to sing Christmas Carols and open presents. "Not yet, my dear."
As I was in Urgent Care on Thursday, I recounted that someone in our family has either been to the doctor, urgent care or minute clinic nine times in the past six weeks. A lot of money has been dropped on co-pays and prescriptions. While this has been an incredibly frustrating time, I have to look on the flip side. I am grateful we have good health insurance and that while we all may be having a bit of a bump in the road health-wise, all in all, we are fortunate our illnesses are minor and that we will recover soon enough. This phase is a good call for us to take advantage of the health care spending account benefits offered by our employers, so least we can minimize some of the little medical expenses that eventually pile up.
Speaking of illness, Max is the newest one to be sick in our house. T'is the season with the weather change, I guess. He's a sad, limp noodle who had been cuddling with me this morning until Kyle came home from Mass this morning. As soon as the back door opened, he perked up a bit and said, "Daddy!" So he crawled out of my lap and waited for Kyle to pick him up in his big, strong arms. They sat together for a bit, but then Kyle and Cate took off to watch the Vikes / Packers game at Jeanine's house, so he returned to me. Max sat with me for a little while, but after a while he slid out of my lap, grabbed my hand and walked me to his room. I pulled back the blankets so he could climb in and has been sleeping soundly ever since. Poor guy.
At least the Vikings seem to be holding their own against the Packers so far into this game. But of course, we haven't entered the 4th quarter--that's when we typically implode. I guess I was denying the fact that we have been 0-5 against the Packers under Coach Childress. It's time for a win, so then we've got a little something to be excited about.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)