Playing with the header pics...

I keep changing our header photo because I can't decide which one I like. I liked the one we took on the dock that is now at the bottom of the page (if you wanna scroll down to look). Or at least I like everything about it except that it's a horrible picture of me. Very cute of everyone else, and the background is cool and it fits our blog "style" ....if we have one. I like the feet pic, because it's kind of fun. I like the picture that's up today (with us in red), because I think it's a good picture of everyone and I (the most UNphotogenic person in the world) don't look like a dork. Anyone is welcome to vote if they have an opinion....but I'll probably play around with it until I find one I really like.

We bought a car last night. We got a really good deal on a very nice 2004 Hyundai XG350L with only 32K miles on it. It's not a van, which I would have liked. But we really don't NEED a van, we just thought it would be nice. But, this makes more sense financially, and it really is very nice. Looks sort of "Lincoln"-ish. If I get time I'll post a pic...although I'm sure it's not exciting to anyone else. I'm just glad to have a car that will get me where I wanna go. Although, the truck did that. Just not with too many other people. Of course, the truck had the added advantage of the "E-ticket" ride that the person in the passenger seat got, since that seat won't latch in any one position: slides forward when you stop, and back when you go. Whee! Susan will be SO disappointed to miss that.

We LOVED having Amy and her kids Sunday night and Monday morning. She has such sweet kids, and Sam got an enormous kick out of Howie (and vice versa). We hope they come back soon, when they can stay longer.

Swapping out Houseguests.

So, Ryan and Susan are off today, after being here for nearly a month. We love having them here and are definitely going to miss them. They will probably miss the cool air when they get back to Phoenix, but I know it's always nice to get back to your own comfy bed.

Sunday night, my niece Amy and her family will be here, I think just for the night, although I'm not sure about that. So, we have a day or two to catch up on some sleep, do some damage control around here, shop for a car and catch up the laundry. Of course, I had already signed up to feed the missionaries on Sunday night, and I have Stake choir practice at 6 pm (stupid time...right during dinner). Since I"m the pianist, I can't very well ditch that. I signed up for the missionaries before I knew about the Stake Choir. I agreed to play for the choir and Stake Conference (ulterior motive, we're having a Gen Auth and I won't have to come hours early to get a seat) before I found out when they were going to practice. How does that always happen to us? I'm gonna have Sam make his famous spaghetti and he'll just have to entertain everyone until I get home. He's entertaining, it'll be fine.

Grandma Bailey is coming a couple of weeks after that, and one of our friends will be staying with us a for a month or two after that, while he starts a new job.

The Dodge has bit the dust. Time for a new car. I was really hoping to eke out another year on that thing, but I guess not. It's kind of fun looking at new cars, but since we've committed to pay cash this time (I may just be committed when its over), we can't have exactly what we want. Our shopping styles are very different. Sam is an eBay, Craig's list kind of shopper. Which is fine with me if the vehicle is somewhere where we could drive it, etc. Unfortunately, all the best deals are out of state, where we have the extra cost of getting here, not to mention it makes me nervous to buy a car sight unseen. At any rate, we'll hopefully have a new car within a week or so. In the meantime, I get to drive the 1988 Ford Ranger pickup with manual transmission. My first car was a "stick" so that's not really a problem. However, it's been awhile and Sue and I have had a couple of laughs at my trying to negotiate hilly stops and starts while trying to maneuver over to the keypad for the gate. (My clicker is in the Dodge at the shop). Not to mention, the truck has trailer mirrors that I keep forgetting about. I swear they stick out about four feet. I just about took out the keypad with the mirror a couple of times.

We had our first consultation with an orthodontist for Meghan. That was depressing, so I won't go into detail. But, between the orthodontist and a couple of implants for teeth that she doesn't have adult teeth for, she's going to have the most expensive smile in Elsberry family history, anyway. Not sure about Bailey family history, too many Baileys to count for me.

Gotta run, got a little two year old buddy coming for awhile this morning and I need to get my work done before that.

Recipes

Ok, a couple more recipes that we like. The first is a side salad I make when we make Mexican food. Sam loves it and then doesn't eat as many carnitas. :0) It's also really good with grilled food, or just by itself.

Corn and Black Bean Salad

2 cups fresh corn kernels (I use frozen, it's faster)
1 cup diced red pepper
1/2 cup thinly sliced green onions (or red onions)
1/2 cup chopped fresh cilantro
1 can black beans, rinsed and drained
1/3 cup red wine vinegar (I use cider vinegar)
1 teaspoon sugar
2 teaspoons canola oil
1/2 teaspoon garlic powder
1/2 teaspoon ground cumin
1/2 teaspoon chili powder
1/2 teaspoon black pepper
Dash of salt

Combine corn, bell pepper, onions, ciantro and beans in a medium bowl.

Combine everything else in a small bowl, whisk it up and pour it over the other stuff. Toss and chill for at least 1/2 an hour. It's better if it chills a little longer, though..

10 servings (1/2 cup)

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This one is a favorite dip that even Meghan likes. We eat it with baked pita chips. I like to bake them myself, slow on a low temp, so that they don't burn. They aren't as hard then as, say, Stacy's Pita Chips. Meg just cuts fresh pitas into triangles, separates the layers and we either dehydrate them (I have a dehydrator), or bake them at like 250, spread out on a cookie sheet, until they're crispy. It's also good with fresh veggies or chips (but then that negates the low fat thing)

Low Fat Red Pepper Hummus

1/2 jar of roasted bell peppers (or if you're ambitious, you can roast and peel a fresh one)
2 1/2 Tablesppons of lemon juice
1 T tahini (sesame paste, you can find it near the peanut butter at the store)
1/2 teaspoon ground pepper
1/3 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon cumin
1 can garbanzo beans (chickpeas), rinsed and drained (save a little liquid aside)
1 garlic clove, minced.

Stick it all in a food processor and process until smooth. If it's too thick,add some of the liquid you drained off the beans).

6 servings (1/3 cup)

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Ok, one more. This one is from a friend, also. Sue and I loved it, Sam wasn't crazy about it, but he doesn't like spinach much.

Chicken Caesar Lasagna

9 dried whole wheat lasagna noodles, cooked to pkg directions
2 10 oz containers refrigerated light alfredo sauce
3 Tbls lemon juice
1/2 tsp cracked pepper
3 cups chopped, cooked, chicken breast (I use Costco rotisserie chicken)
1 10 oz pkg frozen chopped spinach, thawed and well drained
1 cup bottled roasted red peppers, drained and chopped
3/4 cup shredded Italian blend cheese.

Preheat oven to 325.

Combine Alfredo sauce, lemon juice, and pepper. Stir in chicken, spinach and red peppers

Spray a 3 qt rectangular baking dish with Pam. Arrange 3 noodels in bottom of dish. Top with 1/3 chicken mixture. Repeat layers twice. Cover; bake for 45 to 55 minutes or until heated through. Uncover, sprinkle with cheese and bake, uncovered for an additional five minutes or until cheese is melted. Let stand 15 minutes before serving.

9 servings


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OK, Sue and I are off to play today. We made plum jam this morning from plums a friend gave me. Yum. The guys are off at work so now we're going shopping. :0)

We're gonna give family pics another shot tonight, it was so late that the last ones we did were pretty grainy. Hopefully, we'll get started earlier this time and we can post some.

Here it is on the downhill side of the summer into fall...

Haven't posted in awhile. I've been pretty busy, but Ryan (who was sitting in my living room when he said it) said, "How am I supposed to know what's going on with you guys if you don't post?" I told him I was waiting for good news. But, that may be a long wait. Not that there's any really BAD news, just annoying stuff and too much of it. But, we keep chugging on.

We've had my parents and youngest sister here for a few weeks, they'll be here until the end of the summer. Meggie is really good with my little nephew Tanner, so she's been entertaining him. We've been on a couple of little touristy trips, once on a Glass Bottom boat in Monterey Harbor and the other day to a "tall ship" that was parked in our harbor for a couple of days. You can see pictures here, here and here. I only had my camera on one of those trips...so that's Keri's blog.

Ryan and Sue have been here for the last three weeks, they'll be going home next week. It's been fun having them. As always, Sue and I have managed to mostly maintain our "Hand and Foot" lead over them, over many card games. I've decided that the guys just think too much about it. It takes us about 5 seconds to decide what to do, Sam and Ryan agonize for five or ten minutes making decisions. It's just a game, guys! :0) Of course, since we usually win, I can say that. I"m not sure what happened in the last couple of years, the first year they were here the guys stomped us pretty regularly, but now they only win once in a while.

We also went shopping a couple of times and spent Sue's "fat money" or "skinny money", whichever you wanna call it. She bought some cute clothes and Grandma Elsberry wants a fashion show, so when we do that, I'll take pics and make a slide show.

And, I wanna shout out to my nieces Amanda and Emily, who had great posts about being thankful for stuff that made me shut up and think about the good things, and not dwell on the frustrating things. It didn't hurt that my sister Julie commisserated with me for about five minutes and then told me to "get over it and get on with it". She's a smart lady and she makes me laugh, even when I don't feel like it.

Ok, I know I promised some recipes, so here's one of our favorites. We make this with fish, but Liz borrowed my recipe and made it with chicken for Molly's reception.

Pistachio Crusted Fish (be sure and see the notes at the end)

1 lb fish fillets
1/2 cup shelled pistachios
1 tsp thyme
1 tsp salt
honey mustard

Chop pistachios with thyme in a food processor or blender and spead out in a wide bowl or plate. Pat a fillet dry, "paint" with honey mustard, then press both sides into the nuts. I usually paint one side, put it mustard side down, then paint the other side and turn it over. Place fillet on a baking sheet coated with Pam. Continue with remaining fillets. When all fillets are on the baking sheet, spray them lightly with Pam.

Bake at 425. Length of time depends on the type and thickness of fish that you use.

Notes: We make this with Mahi Mahi, that I buy at Costco in the freezer department. It's wild caught, frozen on the boat and individually wrapped. We do two fillets for the three of us and serve with a vegetable and rice pilaf. You can buy roasted, salted pistachios already shelled at Trader Joes. When I use those, I leave out the added salt. I usually chop up two or three recipes of the nuts and then put them in the freezer, so they're handy when I want them. I don't buy honey mustard, I just mix honey and mustard, about 1/2 and 1/2, little heavier on the mustard side. The friend that gave me the recipe uses Tilapia. The mahi-mahi only takes about 10 minutes. I imagine the talapia would take only 4-5 minutes, as it's usually much thinner filets.

It's a Beach Day.....we thought....

Ok it's supposed to be extra warm today. I would say hot, but then the Arizonans give me grief. :0) So, my little sister and I decided to take our kids to the beach. As I'm sitting here wrapping up work, a cool stiff breeze starts in from the West. Hmm...I hope we don't freeze down there. There was no cool breeze blowing in Monterey this morning when I was hoofin' it around while I waited for my car. Meg and I walked the 3/4 mile to the camera shop for Sam, then took the scenic long route past the library back to the mechanic. It was hot, then, I was feeling pretty cooked. So, I called Ryan at home and told him to open all the windows and pull the shades so it didn't get too hot inside. Now I'm gonna have to run around and close them all before we freeze. We have weird weather here!

So, my sister Kate and her hubby came up and fixed the gate that the car thief demolished. (They built the gate in the first place). She posted a picture here. Looks lovely, no?

I'm getting lots of requests for recipes that we used for our weight loss. I'll post a few of our favorites over the next couple of days.

Elsberry Biggest Loser Contest

So, Susan pretty much "kicked our trash"as my nephew would say. Final results for just our family:

Susan 21.4%

Michelle 16.1%

Sam 14.1%

Ryan 10%

So, Susan got the $1000 prize. We're going to take it next week to the Gilroy Outlets and find that girl some pants that FIT.

I'm bummed that I didn't win, but our little family lost a total of 151 lbs. I'm proud of us. We'll take a new family pic and post it this weekend or something. We plan to keep on so that we can take a great pic by Christmas.

Here are some before and after pics.

Actually those aren't her pants...she left her "fat" pants in Arizona. I loaned her MY fat pants, but not the "fattest" ones, I couldn't find them. In all fairness, my fat pants would have been big on her before she lost weight.

Ry says I can't show his "before" pic without mentioning that he looks much better, too. We all do. Sam only has about half his tummy now.

July, already???

Wow, it's July. Weird. I think my brain is still somewhere in March. This is a picture Sam took last year at Monterey's fireworks show.

We've been pretty busy. I've had friends moving, then not moving. Several other friends with medical issues that we've been helping with meals, tending kids, etc. Trying to get Molly's wedding pictures sorted through. Grandma Bailey is here this week, as are my parents and sister and her two kids. Ry and Sue should be here before the end of the day and another sister on Thursday. I've been scrambling keeping up with normal household stuff and my job. I need a maid, but I'd be embarassed to have her come until I cleaned my house. How bizarre is that??

In other news, Amy called today. It was nice to talk to her and maybe they'll come see us on their way back from San Diego. I've always loved her sense of humor and her forthrightness. It'll be a treat to spend some time with them. I might even clean my house for their visit. Seems unlikely, however. :0)

Sam got a USB turntable for father's day, so we've been recording a bunch of our old albums to MP3 and Cd's. It's been fun listening to all this old stuff that you can't get on CD. Meg is totally fascinated with the vinyl album/turntable thing and Sam has her working on it during the day. So, she's been working on a jigsaw puzzle with Grandma Bailey while she monitors Grandma's Mario Lanza and classical records so that we can make her some CD's. She's doing a good job of entering the information, etc, so that all Sam has to do is burn the CD's. She's also enjoying playing trains with my nephew Tanner aka "The Tan Man" over at Grandma Elsberry's next door.

Well, Ry and Sue oughta be here any minute. We cleaned out the office (sort of) since Grandma Bailey is staying in the loft, and now I need to find some sheets for the airmattress.

It's going to be a party. You should come!

I was tagged....

My niece, Danesa, tagged me....so here goes.

20 Year Tag

20 years ago

1. I was 29.
2. I was living in Orem, Utah
3. I was still dispatching for the trucking company.

10 years ago

1. I was living in San Jose on that crazy ranch.
2. Meghan was between 1 and 2.
3. Sam ditched the crooks at Hytek and started working for Rick/Cad Alliance for a significant raise in pay.

5 years ago

1. Spent the first part of the year building our new house.
2. Moved into the new house in June.
3. Went to England with Sam's sibs in October for 2 weeks.

3 years ago

1. I was called to the Stake RS Presidency
2. We did our National Park Marathon in Utah in June
3. Celebrated our ten year anniversary.

1 year ago

1. We took three long road trips, one to British Columbia, one to Arizona via Boise, and one to Arizona and Utah.
2. Sam started working for Nuova Systems
3. Meghan turned 11.

So far this year ...

1. We took a cruise with Sam's sibs.
2. We took a trip to Yosemite and Sequoia Nat'l Park for spring break.
3. We started building our super cool patio.

Yesterday I . . .

1. Watched my friend's two girls while they got ready to move.
2. Went to a birthday party for a different friend.
3. Planned a going away party for the friend who's leaving.

Today I . . . .

1. Found out that the friend's husband got a job here and they aren't moving after all. Yeah!!!
2. Cleaned the kitchen and did the grocery shopping.
3. Finished planning the going away party, which is now a "Woohoo! They're staying!" party.

Tomorrow I will . . .

1. Be "babysitting" a friend who just had surgery, and her two year old.
2. Making dinner for the same family.
3. Doing 852 loads of laundry. ugh!

In the next year . . .

1. We hope to have a grandkid.
2. We hope to have enough saved to pay cash for a new(er) car.
3. We will finish our super cool patio.

OK, I"m supposed to tag three people....How about Mark, Kathryne and Emily M.

Ok, so now it's winter???

This place has the weirdest weather. We were all roasting last week, this week it's freezing. Not literally, of course. But, we're wearing sweaters again and keeping the windows shut. Fortunately, my west facing windows keep our inside temperature nice and we don't have to run our expensive propane heater. Not that I would, I don't get that cold and I'm mean and make Sam and Meg wear sweaters until it's just WAY too cold to do otherwise. Maybe next December. We had a lightening storm on Saturday...something that rarely happens here. I think we've had maybe three since we moved here in 1999. Unfortunately, with the heat and the dry conditions here, it started several fires all over the state, three of them near here. So, the air's not the greatest right now.

Our good friends, the Filceks, are moving to Utah the end of the week. We're gonna miss them, especially Meg. Her two favorite buddies are Filcek kids. We had them over the to spend the night Sunday night and all day Monday so that their parents could help the movers get them packed up. We had a good time. Too bad they can't hold off until Ry and Susan get here, Sue is one of their kids' favorite people. Anya (who is seven) saw their picture while they were here and said "I know her! She's that pretty lady that's so nice... Susan!". I agree!

Speaking of Sue, she's gonna win the Elsberry Biggest Loser prize, for sure. Sam and I are down almost 45 lbs, but she's down 42 and started lower so that's a bigger percentage for her. I've still lost the most actual weight, but unless Mom changes her mind, there's no prize for that. Other than I may break my arm patting myself on the back. Sam actually wore the suit that he bought for our wedding to church Sunday. First time he's had it on in over 10 years, I'm sure. I'm proud of him, this hasn't been easy for him at all.

When Ryan and Susan get here for the 4th of July, we'll take a new picture and post it...

Saw a bumper sticker that made me smile: Jesus is coming! Look busy!

Local news...

1. It was HOT yesterday. 94. No breeze. Ugh! It was 88 in my house, and my ocean breeze "air conditioning" wasn't working. No breeze, whatsoever. Then, a fire broke out about 10 miles north of here. Then it was hot AND smoky.

2. Meg sewed her first piece of apparel the other day. Flannel pj bottoms. She's worn them constantly since, even when it was 88 in the house.

3. Our best friends are moving this week. Again. Not the same friends moving multiple times, it's multiple friends moving away. Sam says we need to start making friends with non-military families in our ward so we have a better chance of them sticking around.

4. We have had fire north of us, and fire south of us. We had ash raining down one day last week, and the air was so bad that it looked like twilight at 4:30 pm....sun doesn't go down here until 8:30 or so. Now everything looks like it has a dusting of snow that will never melt.

5. The idiot who drove through my new gate gets sentenced this week. I gave them a list of damages, but I'm not holding my breath to get anything back.

6. Ryan and Susan are coming in a little over a week. Hopefully, they'll stay about a month. We can get lots of card-playing in.

I guess that's all. It's supposed to be hot again today, I'm gonna get housework done so that when it does I can take my Pepsi to the beach and hang out.

Bizarre accident and silly video....

Last night Meg was in the bathroom, when I heard a crash and then hysterics. I ran in and found that the screen out of the skylight had just fallen about 10 feet and whacked her in the face. Very weird, since we've never opened that skylight (we can't reach it and the long crank handle has been missing since about a week after we moved in). So, five years, almost to the day, that we move in, it decides to fall off and whack my kid. Mostly it just scared her and she got a fat lip....but she screamed so loud I thought she was dying for sure. We didn't put it back up....we can't open it without the crank or a ladder, anyway.

Totally unrelated, the following is a video that Sam took of me, my friend Lynette, and her son Gordon practicing a three person duet (that sounds wrong, but it really was a three person duet) around Christmas 2004. I hate that you see way too much of my huge backside, and we didn't have the song completely learned. But, he didn't video the actual performance (which was MUCH better) and this still makes me smile. We laughed so much learning the song and figuring out transitions that it's a great memory. I noticed while watching it, though, that we start out pretty fast and then get faster and faster. I hope we fixed that before we performed it, but I don't remember.

Life's a beach...

It was a perfect "beach day" today. We actually don't get many of those, it's usually kind of cold and windy. But, if you get a day when the fog's burned off before noon, you have a couple of hours of lovely, warm weather until the wind kicks up. My friend called, so we dropped everything and with a couple of other friends and a pile of kids, sat on the beach for a couple of hours.

It was lovely..

Didn't take my camera so you just have to take my word for it.