Showers, Flooding, and Sweating!

It's been a busy week or so.   Do you ever look back at the past few weeks and wonder what you did?  The weeks have flown by and you've been busy, but you don't know with what?  The officer has been hard at work.  Period.  April was a crazy month for him.  He worked every single weekend with hot rod shows, Thunder basketball games, the Memorial Run and other work things.  During the month of May, he has been training a new motor officer.  During his off time, he tries to spend time with us and do household projects like .... tear out our shower.

Now we are trying to figure out, do we want a shower pan that is fiberglass, or made of onyx, or do we want to just tile it all.  Then the question is which tile should we choose.  We are going to re-tile the floor so we have to keep that in mind too. We'd like to sell our house in the next couple of years so these are some things we have fix.

One of the other things we may need to change could be a couple of bigger french drains for our backyard.  Last Thursday morning, it rained and rained and rained.  Our backyard looked like this:
:

This has happened a couple of times before.  Most of the time this is due to a clog in the drains.  However, on Thursday morning it seemed we had a little more rain in a short period of time than we've ever had before.  The right side of our yard was flooding too.  You can see the rain coming from under the fence from the neighbor's yard.  I went into the front yard to check the drains.  They were both clear and gushing water like Niagara Falls.  The sidewalks and streets were flooded too.  You could only see the very middle of the road, the rest was covered in quick, moving water.

I took a little video of the hail and rain.  It reminds me of that Winnie The Pooh song:

"And the rain rain rain came down down down
And the flood rose up up upper."

The rain eventually stopped and water slowly drained away.  Not before my daughter got her rain boots on and splashed around in it though.  We were waiting for the water to go down on the streets to go to Target.  My kids asked if they could play outside in the rainwater for "just 10 minutes before we go to Target."  Sure.  10 minutes later, I went outside to call them in.  I see my son's face first - half covered in mud.  I guess it was just too irresistible.  So of course I grab my phone, snap the picture, then hose them down and make them shower.  There might have been more dirt in the shower when all was said and done.

On a different note, I have been keeping up with my walking.  I have really been enjoying it.  I'm up to walking 2.5 miles.  It's not a struggle to get up and get out there any more.  In fact, this morning I woke up at 6:30 a.m. to go walking.  It's not even Black Friday folks!  I prefer to get out there when it's cooler, so earlier it is. 

Yesterday, I did something new on my walk.  I ran.  Not far.  Not long.  No, a rabid dog was not chasing me.  I just wanted to see what it was like.  All together, I ran about 1/3 of a mile.  This is something completely new.  I mean I had the picture below as my Facebook profile picture for a while and I meant it.  :)

This morning I tried running again and I made it about 1/2 a mile in all.  This is not a pretty sight.  There's a lot of .... jiggling.  :)  Just keeping it real.  I really don't know why people "like" running.  I don't see the appeal.  I may or may not run again.  I'm not sure it's my cup of tea.  I almost prefer to walk double the distance than run half the distance.  I've heard you need to do what you enjoy (exercise wise) in order to keep with it.  We'll see.

I am enjoying bicycling.  Not "cycling" with my feet strapped into the pedals and spandex because nobody wants to see that.  "Bicycling" with a big large comfy bicycle seat.  I am trying to ride several times a week.  My daughter loves going.  She's a monster.  She can ride and ride and ride and not get tired.  I wish I could harness her left over energy.  It's been fun - except for this Oklahoma wind that had me pedaling twice as fast, but only slowly crawling along.

I've been also doing good cutting back on the Coke.  I've probably had once Coke a week.  There was a can of Coke sitting in out frig for week.  I told the officer he needed to drink it because it was tempting me.  I don't mind drinking a Coke as a treat, but I don't want to drink it just because it's there.  I needed it gone.  He obliged.  He sweet like that.  :)  

That's it.  That's all that's been going on lately.  

Zucchini Parmesan Pancakes

I tried a new recipe today.  I got it from a Martha Stewart magazine.  You can find the original recipe here.  It was Zucchini Parmesan Pancakes.

I am not sure I will keep them in my "Tried and True Recipes" book.  I think the flavor has only intensified now that they are a little cold, which I like.  Honestly, when I first looked at the recipe to make a list to purchase the ingredients, I didn't look at the directions.  I purchased all the ingredients.  I only read the directions when I started to prepare it.  You have to fry these pancakes.  I had just assumed you baked them.  I am not a fan of frying foods - the whole splattering grease thing.  Plus, I'm trying to eat a little healthier and it took me forever to cook them!

I decided to go ahead and make them because I had already purchased the ingredients.  At first, it didn't go very smoothly.  I think the grease wasn't as hot as it was supposed to be because the first three pancakes I put into the pan just fell apart when I tried to flip them.  It was a hot mess. As far as the way the were supposed to look, the second batch of pancakes I put into the grease turned out much better.   

Here is the recipe:

Zuchhini Parmesan Pancakes

Ingredients

2 lbs. of Zucchini (about 3)

1 lb. of Russet Potatoes, peeled (about 2)

1 medium onion, chopped

3/4 c. Fresh Parsley, chopped

1/4 c. of Grated Parmesan

6 T. Matzo Meal

2 T. Fresh Dill, chopped (I just used Dill Weed)

2 t. Sugar

2 t. Lemon Juice

1 Garlic Clove, minced (I just used 1 t. of Minced Garlic)

2 Large Eggs, slightly beaten

1 t. Coarse Salt

1 t. Ground Pepper

3/4 c. Canola Oil

Sour Cream for serving          

Directions

1.  Grate Zucchini, Potatoes, and Onion onto a clean dish towel.  Squeeze out excess liquid.  Transfer into a large bowl and stir in all other ingredients except Canola Oil.

2.  In a large nonstick skillet, heat oil over medium high heat under oil is hot.  In batches, drop mounds of Zucchini mixture (around 2 T. each) into skillet.  Flatten with a spatula and cook until golden brown on both sides, around 6 minutes total, flipping once.

3.  Place on paper towel to soak up excess oil.  Sprinkle with salt and serve warm with sour cream.  

Parmesan Hash Brown Cups

I tried another recipe from Pinterest.  It was individual Parmesan Hash Brown Cups.  The original recipe can be found at The Yummy Life.

The recipe has a little more pepper in it than I care for and not enough onions (that's almost always the case for me), but I did like it.  They were crunchy on the outside and soft on the inside.  It was easy to make and there wasn't a lot of prep time (especially when you use the shredded hash browns package).  I also liked that I wasn't frying it in a lot of oil.  However, there were cons. It did take an hour to bake and my hash brown cups stuck to the muffin pan despite spraying with cooking spray.  In the end, they were yummy and would be a great pairing with a quiche.

Here's the recipe:

Parmesan Hash Brown Cups

Ingredients

1 bag of Simply Potatoes Shredded Hash Browns or 3 1/2 cups of shredded russet potatoes (I used the Simply Potatoes Shredded Hash Browns)

3 Green Onions, sliced (about 1/3 cup).  Use the white and green parts

1/2 C. Grated Parmesan Cheese

1 t. Kosher Salt

1/2 t. Pepper

2 T. Olive Oil 

Directions

1.  Preheat oven to 350 degrees and coat 12 muffin tins with cooking spray.

2.  Slice green onions and combine with all other ingredients.

3.  Spoon into 12 muffin tins and slightly pack down mixture

4.  Place on the lower l/3 of oven and bake  for 60-70 minutes.

5.  Remove wait 5 minutes.  Run knife around edges and place the inverted hash brown cup on a plate.

Looking for Sole Mates

My friend, Jill, and I trade days to watch each other's kids.  We both homeschool so we send school along with our children to each other's houses.  Then we have a day to ourselves to run errands or do whatever we want.  Yesterday, I took my kids to Jill's house.  My plans for the day:  go back to my house and clean.  There was just too much piled up at my house to ignore.  

My first plan of attack was laundry.  I've mention laundry on this blog before haven't I?  Wasn't it just last week that I showed a picture of my laundry pile that desperately needed attention?  Well there were several piles that desperately needed attention now.  One pile of clean clothes in front of my dresser that needed to be folded and put away and several piles elsewhere that needed to be washed and dried.  

I had purchased my son two new packs of socks.  I am not sure what has happened to all his socks, but he need new ones.  I went to Target and purchased these socks.

One, my son likes them.  Two, they have color on the bottom so they are easy to match. The OCD in me comes out when I see him wearing mismatched socks, but it doesn't seem to bother him so I try very hard to ignore it.  Anyhow, I started my laundry with a light-colored load and threw all 12 pairs of brand new socks in the washer.  As I pull them out of the dryer, I am finishing the putting away of the clean clothes.  I usually just throw all the socks in a pile and wait until I have folded the clothes to match socks.  I get to the sock matching.  This is what happens when I am finished matching socks. 

Three. Left. Over. Socks.  This is the first load I've washed for the day.  All the other clean clothes had been put away, so I only have this one light-colored load of laundry that I am folding at the time.  I cannot find these socks.  I search through all the t-shirts to see if the sock got stuck in sleeve.  I search around the washer to see if they were flung on the sides of the washer when I threw them in. I check the dryer to see if I just didn't get them out.  Can't find them.  Makes me crazy!

I saw a sign on Pinterest I need.  A Lost & Found sign for lost socks.  I think I need it.  Although it wouldn't really solve the problem of lost socks would it?  It would just be a home for those socks looking for their sole mates.