Easy Pork Chops and Stuffing

This is one of our favorite comfort food meals. And it's SO easy!

4-6 pork chops
1 box stove-top stuffing
(usually the stuffing calls for 1/2 stick of butter)
1 can cream of mushroom soup
1/2 can milk.

Preheat oven to 350. Brown pork chops. Make stuffing according to recipe on box. Put stuffing in 9x12 glass baking dish. Put pork chops on top. Combine soup and milk. Pour over chops and stuffing. Cover with foil and bake for 1 hour 15 minutes. Enjoy :)

Remembering...

Seven years ago:

• I was working in one of the tallest buildings in Salt Lake City and heard the news while riding the elevator to the 24th floor. Not much work got done that day before they let us go home. We mostly crowded around the few radios and t.v.s in the office.
  
• My sister, AngelFish, was serving a mission in Russia. We waited anxiously to hear from her and to see what would happen world wide.
• My cute little ScienceBoy was about to turn 3. We had him for the weekend and he went out to help The Count put up our flag. He started to say parts of the Pledge of Allegiance that he had heard, including "one nation, under Uncle The Count..." We laughed and thought it was cute. But isn't it nice to have fathers and father figures that you can turn to and recieve comfort and safety. I know that we, as individuals, as a family, and, I'm sure, as a nation also turned to our Heavenly Father during that dark time.
• I was touched by the stories of courage, the outpouring of love, the unifying of our country.

Finding Joy

Today I had my annual dilated eye exam. And by annual, I mean that it's supposed to be annual but my last one was over three years ago. I remembered why my last one was over three years ago. I hate having an annual dilated eye exam. It is not fun. At all. Sure, the doctor was very nice and competent and sociable. The staff were friendly and also competent. And then they stick things in your eye: drops that sting, pokey things, bright lights. And then the panic starts. Anxiety levels go through the roof. And I am actually a little grateful for the drops that sting because I can explain away the sudden wetness on my face with them. (There are very few things in life I don't cry at. I'm not ok with this but I'm trying to be...) So there I am thinking "breathe! Remember to breathe!" and "wow, this isn't going to be such a great day."

And then I'm pulling into the driveway (they temporarily blind you and then send you out to drive home...) and there are two cute little toddlers out for a walk with their Grandma. And they squeal in delight to see me and come in for a treat and give me a big hug and lots of smiles.

And then my awesome sister posts a picture from our practically perfect weekend at our cabin. And I remember how wonderful it was to head up to the mountains and enjoy a last day of end of summer sunshine and then enjoy two days of fall storms with fabulous rain, lightening, thunder, mist, hail, and snow-tipped mountains. I also remember watching great-fun movies on VHS that I haven't seen in years. And playing games with my family laughing at me because I will always pick the green card from the Rook deck.




And then I have a delicious BCT (bacon, cheese, tomato - I don't like lettuce I've decided) sandwich for lunch with fresh from the garden tomatoes. And while I'm eating lunch I am able to see again and pull out a great book that I am loving re-reading (Little Women.)

And I remember to post a favorite quote on Facebook:
"We can distinguish more clearly between divine discontent and the devil's dissonance, between dissatisfaction with self and disdain for self. We need the first and must shun the second, for when conscience calls to us from the next ridge, it is not solely to scold but also to beckon." - Neal A. Maxwell

And so, I decide that today is a great day. I choose to be grateful that the exam, while painful and panic-inducing, went well and showed I had no problems with my eyes. I choose to be grateful that I don't have to worry about having another one for another year. I choose to be grateful that my health has improved to the point that that kind of panic is a rarity in my life now. I choose to be grateful for a wonderful family who can laugh at my OCDness and love me because of my weird quirks. I choose to be grateful for friends who stop to say hi and encourage their granddaughters to be friends as well. I choose to enjoy this glorious fall day. I choose to find joy.

What I Learned Today

I started something today that I've always dreamed of doing - but never thought I'd have the courage to do. I actually still can't really believe I was gutsy enough to do it - but the project kind of took over and there I was this morning starting it.

I actually learned a lot this morning. I was very scared about how the final product would turn out - and it turned out better than I thought it ever could. I was very scared about what other people would think - and my sister was there to encourage and cheer me on. Plus, I decided that if I was happy with how it turned out - why would I care what other people thought? (That's something that I've had deep thoughts about before - and I'm sure I will continue to struggle with this concept for many years to come.) But today, I feel like I made progress.

I learned that I can trust myself and my instincts. I learned that my best is good enough, I don't need to push. I learned that I can make my dreams come true - even when that means conquering my own fear.

Maybe I can even learn to be excited about the next stages of this project.

Time to Brag About My Other Amazing Sister...

I am really good at being remiss. It's a special talent of mine. However, it's not the best talent to have. So, I am now attempting to make up for my lack of promptitude and blog about a very important even that took place in my most-favoritest-sister-named-AngelFish, AngelFish's life a few months ago. My sister AngelFish is amazing. She is so smart, hard-working, organized, and talented! I really admire her. In May, AngelFish received her Masters Degree in Finance. She accomplished this while working full-time and completing the requirements to become a certified real estate assessor. I am so proud of her!

Her last week of school was really crazy. In addition to final assignments and regular work projects, she had a major test instead of a masters thesis and final dress rehearsals for a Stake production of Beauty and the Beast.


AngelFish was a "Silly Girl" and she was amazing!! She flirted it up like a pro. It was so fun to go to her graduation in the afternoon and then straight to this production that night and see her transformation. Like I said, AngelFish is amazing and I'm so proud of her!

Happy Bounding Birthday, Tergaso!

I have to confess that I have been remiss in giving a birthday shout-out to my most-favoritest-sister-named-Tergaso, Tergaso. Hopefully, she'll now stop sending me looks such as the one pictured immediately above.

In all seriousness my sister is incredibly awesome. She is extremely intelligent - she got her bachelors degree in three years (with a minor, no less.) She is headed to Claremont Graduate University next week to start her masters program. She's rather a snob when it comes to books, which has provided great opportunity for sisterly argument. And she's fluent in two languages and about to start a third.

She is also one of the funniest people I know. She is crazy! She loves to high-jack my brother's laptop and use the camera to leave him folders of wacky pictures of herself staring into the computer. She actually uses this time to perfect her "looks" (bewildered, scared, smell-the-fart, and fish-hook-in-the-eyebrow...) She also loves to choreograph and record dances - still, and sometimes in public places. And she is not above dancing/awkward jerking in public.

But what I love most about my sister, Tergaso, is that she is most loyal and supportive. She'll call it like she's sees it, but with love. She takes the time to listen. When I was going through a rough-patch with my health, she crocheted me the most hideous hat (it actually had earflaps) - just to bring a smile to my face and to show she cared. She also, by the way, crocheted my Dad and brother ties for Christmas that year. They actually turned out pretty well, except they somehow seem to keep getting longer...

Happy birthday, Tergaso!


I have some really good pics to post here, but we have a new scanner, and of course I can't figure out how to work it...maybe Angelfish will come over sometime soon and help me (hint, hint...).


Thanks for setting up our new scanner, AngelFish!!

Kids Say...

I have had the privilege of having my SillyGoose spend two whole nights with me while his Mom is at Girls Camp. SillyGoose and I have a history. We are pals. We were both very excited about this visit. However, I was a bit nervous after spraining my ankle while on vacation last week (more on that later...if you're good I might even post a picture of my butt-ugly bruise.) I had all these fun things planned - going to the park for a picnic, going out to lunch and to the movies - and since it's my right ankle that is sprained, I can't even drive right now!

I guess I didn't need to worry too much, though. I ended up creating a monster. I introduced SillyGoose to The Backyardigans. That is all he asks for now - "Can we watch more Backyardigans?" I did manage to pry him away from his beloved Backyardigans to go swimming last night, but then he managed to talk me into watching two episodes before bed instead of just one. I have created a monster! At least I also enjoy watching Backyardigans - it's not like it's Barney or some other equally annoying show (in my opinion.)

I thought I'd share some of our conversations:

• SillyGoose told me on the first night that sometimes his imagination works too well at night and he imagines scary things. Later, when we were saying prayers (actually I was saying them), he whispered to me in the middle, "Don't forget my imagination!" So I prayed that his imagination would only imagine happy things while he slept. He was happy with that. Then last night it was his turn to say prayers. He said, "Please bless my imagination that it won't work." He kills me! By the way, I checked and both prayers were answered in the affirmative - no scary imaginationing here...
• This morning I told him that we had cereal, toast, or eggs for breakfast - did one of those sound good? He said that he thought toast sounded good. Now, a couple of years ago, when I was tending him regularly while his Mom taught school, our favorite treat was toast with peanut butter and chocolate sprinkles. So I, of course, knew that's where his train of thought was heading and said, "toast with peanut butter and chocolate sprinkles?" SillyGoose was pleasantly surprised with my deductive skills and replied, "that is exactly what I was thinking! I was also thinking that after breakfast, we could watch Backyardigans!"
• A few weeks ago, I got to watch SillyGoose while his parents went on a date. We were downstairs watching "The Incredibles" (I promise that I don't just stick kids in front of the tv!) and my sister, Tergaso, came home. We heard the door open and my other sister, AngelFish, said, "Who's there?" We then got into a big "You go check" war trying to get SillyGoose to go see that Tergaso was home. He didn't understand that it was someone he would want to see and was nervous to just go wandering upstairs when a "stranger" had just walked in the house. So he kept saying back to us "you go check." For some reason that struck me as really funny and I had to say, "It's actually Yugoslavia and Czech Republic." Of course that stopped the back and forth for a minute while SillyGoose tried to understand what the heck I just said. He finally decided that I had weird quirks and that he could deal with that and started up the "you go check" war again. We went back and forth several times and each time I would reply that it was actually Yugoslavia etc. He was finally quiet for another few minutes and finally said, "jkribbit, please yugoslavia who's there?" I obviously had to give in to this plea and went upstairs to bring Tergaso down, laughing the whole way...
• A few months ago, AngelFish was playing hide-and-seek with SillyGoose and he wandered through the house calling, "where are you, pretty lady?"

Since the title of this post is "Kids say..." I have to throw in a couple things from my vacation that don't involve SillyGoose, but do fit with the theme of this post...

• While coming back from Catalina Island on the boat, we went through the harbor and passed cargo ships being unloaded. There was a little boy sitting behind me and his dad was pointing out the cargo ship. He was telling his son that the big boxes being unloaded had stuff in it and a big truck would come and take them to the stores. The little boy asked, "a Honda Pilot?" His dad told him that although the boxes looked small enough to fit in a Honda Pilot from where we were, they were actually much bigger and wouldn't fit. I wonder what kind of car they drive...
• This same little boy also asked his why we weren't "speeding down" when we entered the harbor. The captain must have heard him because we "sped down" just seconds later.
• My 7-year-old cousin had a great time telling jokes at our family reunion. His favorite one went something like this:

"Knock, knock."
"Who's there?"
"Plummer."
"Plummer, who?"
"Wanna see my butt. You know, because plummers' pants fall down!"

• When Tergaso told him a joke that went over his head a bit, he replied with, "That doesn't enjoy me."