Best Birthday Ever....Part 2

I had a very specific birthday request this year, I wanted fried calamari. The closest and best place to get that is Cinzetti's Italian Buffet in Overland Park, KS. All day, I looked forward to eating calamari. We drove to Cinzetti's only to discover a sign on their door that said they were closed due to the bad weather. Well, at 5pm today there was NO bad weather. There was nothing falling from the sky. NOTHING! So why did they close? What a terrible way to run a restaurant. I would understand if there was ice or lots of snow on the ground but there was neither. So, no calamari for me! Instead, I chose to go to eat Chinese at Fire Wok. Fire Wok is a small family operated restaurant and they were open! So a big thumbs down to Cinzetti's, I will never eat at your restaurant ever again! We had a great dinner at Fire Wok, and then we went home to open my presents.

For my birthday I got some video games that I wanted, the Flat Stanley book series, electric guitar lessons, and I got the home and away Kansas City Wizards Jersey's. I do not like birthday cake. Every year, Mom makes me dump cake instead. The best gift of all came about 8:30pm, we got a text that school is cancelled tomorrow!


Marshall

Best Birthday Ever...part 1

I love to celebrate my birthday. Tonight was awesome. My Grandma Pat and Pappa John gave me my birthday present. I got an electric guitar and amp! I was so surprised when I got it. I immediately opened the box, tuned it, and started to play. I'm not very good, but I know that with practice I will get better. I think that I look really cool playing my guitar. The louder the better, you know?

The second surprise that my grandparents had for me was taking me to the Comets' game. We ate hot dogs, nachos, and had Sierra Mist to drink. This was my first time to see a soccer game inside. I was shocked at how fast and exciting the game was. At one point the ball flew out of bounds and landed right by me. Even though the Comets lost, I still want to go again. Mom & Dad, how about season tickets next year?

Marshall

The REAL State of the Union

Memo to the President:

Time to wake up to what reality really is!

1. Gas prices are $3 a gallon. When you took office it was around $1.78/gallon. That was not the change I voted for.


2. You said last night that you do not want the tax cuts for the rich to be permanent. Well...you were the one who made a deal with the devil to extend the cuts in the first place. Now you have second thoughts? You should have ended them when you had the chance!


3. EDUCATION...You want the US to compete with China. Really??? How??? Federal stimulus money for schools is expiring. The new proposed Kansas budget reflects that school districts stand to lose $107 million next year and $85 million the year after. Also, base state aid to public schools could drop by $232 a student, nearly 6 percent. School districts are in a total free-fall. Schools are being closed, class sizes are increasing to potentially 30 kids in a class, and teaching positions are being eliminated. So your "I want our students to compete" talk is just that....TALK!


4. JOBS JOBS JOBS...last month the unemployment rate went up in 20 states. A year-over year 0.6 percent decrease in employment put Missouri third-worst among states in percentage job loss last year. Missouri's jobless rate was 9.5% last year. How about putting Americans back to work? Jobs that disappeared in the Bush era are not coming back. Americans are still out of work! Companies still receive tax benefits for jobs that are OVERSEAS. Here is a crazy idea....put Americans to work and see how the economy responds.


5. Health care is still unaffordable, still unavailable, and still being run by the big drug companies. You have done NOTHING to combat this issue. Your health care bill is worthless and does nothing to control out of pocket costs to Americans.


So, on the issues, the real issues, you have done NOTHING! Zero, zilch, nadda!


Sterling

3 for 3

All 3 kids went with Dad, Daddy, or Dadda first.

Sterling

Crock Pot Creamy Potato Soup

I experimented and finally perfected my Creamy Potato Soup Recipe. Reheats very well.

Crock Pot Creamy Potato Soup
Ingredients
1 onion, finely chopped
2 (10.5 ounce) cans condensed chicken broth
2 cups water
5 large potatoes, diced
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon dried dill weed
1/2 teaspoon ground white pepper
1/2 cup all-purpose flour
2 cups half-and-half cream
1 (12 fluid ounce) can evaporated milk
1-2 cups cheddar cheese
6 slices bacon, cut into 1/2 inch pieces (added immediately before serving)


Directions

1. Add onion to slow cooker, stir in chicken broth, water, potatoes, salt, dill weed, and white pepper. Cover, and cook on Low 6 to 7 hours, stirring occasionally.
2.In a small bowl, whisk together the flour and half-and-half. Stir into the soup along with the evaporated milk and 1 cup cheddar cheese. Cover, and cook another 30 minutes before serving.


**When serving I added chives, cracked black pepper, small bacon pieces, and more cheddar cheese to each bowl.**

I also enjoyed a few red pepper flakes in my bowl.

Enjoy!

Sterling

Time flies...

I was cleaning/organizing my external hard drive this morning and found myself looking at old pictures of the kids. Where does the time go? Wow!



Sterling

Regress, Stay Stagnant, or Evolve...

As human beings, we have a choice as to how we are going to live our lives.

Regress...We return to making the same decisions, mistakes, and actions that we have made in the past.

Stay Stagnant...We continue on the current path that we are on and do nothing to better ourselves, our relationships, and our lives. The status quo is clearly acceptable.

Evolve...We constantly grow, learn, and change. If we as a people are truly evolving we learn from our past mistakes and set out to not repeat them. It does not mean that we will not make new mistakes, it simply means we are not as apt to repeat the past ones.

Sometimes, the people that are in your life help to influence the decisions and actions which decide whether you regress, stay stagnant, or evolve. These people could be parents, friends, co-workers, a spouse, and etc. I have discovered that in my own life, in order to evolve I have had to say goodbye to people that had once played a big part in my life. I came to the realization that I have to be more than just an option.

I deserved more, needed more, and ultimately demanded more.


Simply put...I choose to evolve! I want to be a better man, father, and husband. I now surround myself with people that truly care about me, my goals, and my life. If I can evolve as a person, learn from the past, and be the man that I am capable of being, then I can say with no reservations that I serve a purpose on this planet. I refuse to take up space, serve no purpose, and contribute nothing to society. The world has enough of those kinds of people!

Sterling

I'm sick...

Today, I was sick and stayed home from school. My dad took care of me. He made sure that I rested and had a lot to drink. My stomach was hurting, and I was sick. Dad made me "sleeping bags" for lunch. We cuddled on the couch together and watched Glee. I love Glee because they sing and dance. I take dance classes and love to sing. My favorite Glee episode is the episode with the Lada GaGa song Bad Romance. My second favorite is when they sang Sweet Caroline. I am a gleek and so is my dad. He is always singing and dancing.
I am starting to feel better and that makes me happy because I hate missing school. School is so much fun.


Sydney

Moo, Baa, La La La La!

Moriah likes when I read the book Moo, Baa, La La La La to her. She laughs and points at the pictures. Moo, Baa, La La La La was my favorite book when I was little. Mom and Dad read this book to me over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over. I love reading to my sisters.

Marshall

Snow Day

SNOW DAY! SNOW DAY! SNOW DAY! This is the chant that is recited when school is cancelled due to snow. The kids cleaned their rooms, wolfed down breakfast, and were outside sledding in record time this morning. Moriah sat in her Bumbo and watched the snow fall. Marshall and Sydney were busy taking turns sledding down the hill. Snow days are celebrated in our house and we are all hoping to celebrate again tommorrow morning.

The Turtle Garbage Plate

I can cook! I love to cook, always have. Everything that I make has my own unique flair. Whether it be a cheese-ball, cheesy potatoes, house burgers, pancakes, baked ziti, enchilada's, soups, and etc it all has my own personal touch. I am a firm believer in trial and error to reach perfection. Where is the fun in following a recipe? I make each item my own. Which leads us to my Garbage Plate...

The simplest way to describe my Garbage Plate is that you take eggs (scrambled), and add anything else that you might have in your fridge. I love to have breakfast for dinner. Eggs are an easy meal that with very little effort can be jazzed up to go from ordinary to "eggstraordinary". Sorry, that was corny but it fit pretty well!

I have experimented with numerous ingredients. To date my most unique Garbage Plate consisted of eggs, cheese, and leftover Stove Top stuffing. Yes, stuffing! It was delicious. Imagine the confused looks that I got when I put that on the table, but as always the plates were returned to me empty after the meal. I will happily continue to cook, experiment, try new things, and have fun in my kitchen.

Sterling

Playoffs?.....Good luck!

The Kansas City Chiefs are in the playoffs........WHO CARES?

Does anyone truly believe that the Chiefs are going to do anything in the playoffs? The 1990's burned me out on getting excited for playoff games. I expect them to do what they have done the last 17 years. NOTHING! The Chiefs no-showed today versus the Raiders. Next week will be the same result. So good luck Matt Cassel, maybe you will remember you are an NFL quarterback. Good luck offensive line, there is a game next week might wanna show up. Good luck defense, you gave up 350 yards and 31 points to the Raiders with Jason Campbell as their QB, I'm sure you will have it fixed by next week.

So to all of you fans who purchased playoff tickets ranging from $47-$147 enjoy the game. I know what to expect...but apparently some of you have forgotten that it may be "The New Arrowhead" but the same ol' Chiefs play there!