Adventures of Flat Talon

ok. So for a school project, Talon created a cutout representation of himself and sent it to some family for a visit. The family he sent it to is suppose to send a postcard and pictures telling what "Flat Talon" had been up to. So far it has been quite the adventure.

(Insert appropriate action music)

First Flat Talon visited his Aunt Kelly in Clark, MO. On December 12, 2010 he gets stuck in a snowstorm!

After our hero gets himself out of the snow and warmed up a bit, he thinks it might be a good time to head farther south for the winter. Fort Leonardwood, MO is his next stop to visit his Uncle Sean and Aunt Kathy.  Here he gets a VIP tour of the base.

 All is going great into the new year, until the base gets hit by a tornado on New years eve!

 (this is a REAL picture of the tornado with an unhappy Flat Taon photo-shopped into the frame to express his displeasure at New Years Eve being a little more exciting than he had planned for.) Our hero had survived yet another exciting adventure. I wonder what will happen next?! Stay tuned for more adventures of  

Flat Talon!

(insert super hero music)

And The Drama Continues

I make my children dinner, I jump on the computer to take myself off of all the facebook pages concerning my former place of work. I open my account to find this waiting in my inbox: (remember names have been shortened)

Jaenelle,

Its taken me awhile to put my words together….Time and distance has helped me look at things.
I learned that you made my milk bath on your bed….all I could think about was if you used plastic or a sheet or whatever …all I could think about was that (where you were working) there could be cat hair, dog hair…bugs, in the product which I purchased…then I wondered where you made my bath salts?....….a bed is a bed…even if it is a couch…it is where people sit, lay, and even animals sleep….You told "N" this when you called her….she knew that I had purchased and was going to use this product…. I am very thankful she felt the responsibility to tell me…

That was it for me…”all she wrote”…couldn’t go any further…soooo I asked her to give me her cell phone and I texted you the message which you received…I didn’t want an explanation…I just needed to get all your product out of my store….I knew you were on your way down…I knew you were very upset and angry….I turned off the lights locked the door and left…

I know that you need to be making your product like you prepare food …not on wood table.…or on plastic…but on a disinfected counter or stainless steel….to makeshift your product area sitting on a couch etc…well, a health inspector would shut you down…you were not only selling your product…but sold it in a store where not only yourself was represented but others and myself….



I wish you the very best…
"J"

So did you catch that part insinuating that I have bugs in my bed? And I know what you are thinking. "N" threw me under the bus here. I was assured by "N" that the conversation about me making the product on my bed was part of an unrelated conversation. At this point I am more apt to believe her over "J". I thought long and hard about my response to this. I went through a couple of drafts and eliminated all cuss words and came up with this which I sent a whole 10 minutes ago.

"J",
What you did was unprofessional, disrespectful, and childish. I did make my bath milk on a work area on my bed. In clean containers, with clean tools.

Frankly, from your actions I am more inclined to believe this is a big excuse so you don’t have to work around me to get your grants. A reasonable person would have talked to their "friend" and coworker about the problem, not kicked them out of the store without a word and then run away and hide when they came asking questions.

Do what you want. Think what you want. I see what kind of person you are, and I am glad I found out now before I invested too much in our friendship and the store. I hope that you can get what you need out of the store now.

Jaenelle 

Not the nicest I know. But I assure you it was the nicest I could come up with. I also sent a copy of all this to "N" so that way she knows what exactly was said in case "J" complains to her that I was being mean. 

Oh. And just to make things perfectly clear. I am breaking no laws. My product is hand made at my house not in a level 9 nuclear clean room. I have no bugs in by bed, and the only animal anywhere near my bed when I was making any of my products is my children. 

Grrr. Arg. I feel better for now. :D 

Saturday Sales

Out and about today with the kids. It was Roseau's City wide Garage sale and we spent about 4 hours hitting sales today. Wyatt, the poor boy, was very upset that every time he started having fun, we had to pack up and leave. It got to the point where I quit taking him out unless I knew I wanted to stay and browse. But overall he did well.

Roseau had about 50 garage sales listed on their map. I hit about 20 of them and somehow only spent $30. Talon bought a bunch of Pokemon stuff for $10. There was plenty of stuff that I wanted. but thankfully or unfortunately it was all to big to fit into my van. 

Lost a job, Lost a friend.

I was having a great day yesterday. I was productive, I was feeling good, even Wyatt and the animals were behaving. Unfortunately, It was not to last. At 2 in the afternoon I get this text message. (names have been abbreviated.

" Jaenelle,

I am sending your chair and product home with "N" (to her house) you are not making your products in sanitary conditions. I will not renew your being in the store.

"J""

I hopped in the car and met "N" at the grocery store to get my stuff. She is at a loss and don't know what happened. I then go to the store where I find that "J" had closed down the store 3 hours early.  I can only assume that she knew I was on my way and left so she didn't have to talk to me. How pathetic.

I think I have the right to know what prompted this action, as well as who is spreading lies about my product. What it seems like as of now is that "J" made up this to get me out of the store. Even more sad is that "J" is not just the store manager, she is a pastors wife, and was my friend. WAS my friend. And this entire thing came out the the blue.  One day she was excited about extending the business hours of the shop and excited about my new product, and the next I am fired and she will not return my email.

But as I start to get angry about the knife in my back and the castration of my business I get to work doing something productive. I am secure in the fact that I did nothing wrong and that Karma will make its way around to her. Eventually every one gets what they deserve.

Back on the healthy path

I have struggled sense my last health post. I still cook much of my own food, but with the addition of a part time evening job I have to leave the dinners up to my husband on most nights. For him, it is hard to cook anything that does not involve a microwave or a grill. And with our George Foreman out of commission I am forced to buy a lot of prepackaged food that is easy for him to cook. I have even gotten calls right when I get off of work asking me to bring home dinner because he didn't realize how late it had gotten. It happens, I understand that. But it does not do anything for my health or money saving goals.

I have not come up with a solution to the dinner dilemma, but I have started taking steps towards overall health yet again. I have given up my beloved MtDew. A 2 liter a day habit has dwindled down to nothing. And has staid at nothing for an entire week. Instead of a morning MtDew I have been drinking a cup of detox AM tea followed by a cup of Peppermint Ginseng tea. Throughout the day I have substituted a MtDew for Lavender Lemonade, Water, and Milk.

On top of this small dietary change I am going to start using my exercise ball for exercise. lol. What a concept. There is a list of exercises at Women's Health that I will be using to start. By the time I get a handle on them my friend wants to get me involved in a Couch to 5K Program. But that will not start until July.

3 meals 1 Roast

I Just wanted to share the recipes that I usually use to get the most out of one normal sized Beef roast.

**All measurements are estimated**

Dish 1 - Crock Pot Roast
Ingredients -

1 beef roast (thawed)
2c Apple Cider
2c red wine
1 Tbsp minced garlic
1 bay leaf
celery salt
onion powder

put all ingredients into crock pot and cook on high until beef is cooked fully. Served with baked potato.

Dish 2 - beef flavored rice
Ingredients

1 can cream of mushroom soup
1 can cream of celery soup
2 cans beef broth
10 hand fulls of rice (estimates 3 1/3 cup total)

Preheat oven to 400*F. Mix soups and broth together until fully blended. Mix in rice. put Mixture into baking dish or cake pan. cover with aluminum foil. cook for 60 minutes.


Recipe 3 - Beef and Noodles/Dumplings
Ingredients

shredded beef
1 can cream of mushroom
1 can cream of celery
1 can beef broth
1 batch egg noodles/dumplings . (If using frozen egg noodles use 1 bag)

Mix beef, soup and broth into pot and cook on medium string occasionally. In second pot boil 1 quart of water. add egg noodles or egg dumplings to water and cool until done. drain water and add noodles to beef sauce. stir until noodles are fully coated and serve hot. If dish seems to "dry" add low sodium beef broth. milk, or water until dish takes on desired consistency.

tastes great over mashed potatoes or as open face sandwich topping. recipe can also be made in crock pot and kept on warm setting for a few hours without drying out.

3 meals 1 Chicken

I Just wanted to share the recipes that I usually use to get the most out of one normal sized chicken.


 **All measurements are estimated**

Dish 1 - Crock Pot Dijon Chicken
Ingredients -

1 chicken (thawed)
3-4 c Apple Cider
1 Tbsp minced garlic
2 Tbsp Dijon mustard
1 bay leaf
celery salt
onion powder

put all ingredients into crock pot and cook on high until chicken is cooked fully. Served with baked potato.

Dish 2 - chicken flavored rice
Ingredients

1 can cream of chicken soup
1 can cream of celery soup
2 cans chicken broth
10 hand fulls of rice (estimates 3 1/3 cup total)

Preheat oven to 400*F. Mix soups and broth together until fully blended. Mix in rice. put Mixture into baking dish or cake pan. cover with aluminum foil. cook for 60 minutes.


Recipe 3 - Chicken and Noodles/Dumplings
Ingredients

shredded chicken
1 can cream of chicken
1 can cream of celery
1 can chicken broth
1 batch egg noodles/dumplings . (If using frozen egg noodles use 1 bag)

Mix chicken, soup and broth into pot and cook on medium string occasionally. In second pot boil 1 quart of water. add egg noodles or egg dumplings to water and cool until done. drain water and add noodles to chicken sauce. stir until noodles are fully coated and serve hot. If dish seems to "dry" add low sodium chicken broth. milk, or water until dish takes on desired consistency.

tastes great over mashed potatoes or as open face sandwich topping. recipe can also be made in crock pot and kept on warm setting for a few hours without drying out.

Turtle Ran Away :(

Ok. It is starting to get nice and warm outside so I decided to take both of the box turtles out to the turtle box to sun themselves and wake up after their winter naps. All day they were fine. they stayed in their sunny spots and the dogs left them alone. I got to work and when I come back 3 hours later I see Beka, my husbands little pup. chewing on a turtle. I blew up. I rescued the mangled, but still alive turtle and beat the hell out of the dog. she has not been allowed off the chain sense then. So I go to take both turtles inside and.... the male is missing. we spent an hour looking with no turtle in site. Now, my husband believes that Beka ate the male. But we found no shell and no bones or anything. So I am believing that he ran away while the female was being attacked.

April is fine by the way. her shell is a bit tore up and some of the underside has to heal a bit but she is alive and hiding inside in her box. My hopes is that she was bred before the attack and we can get some babies out of her this year.

Spring Stress Continued

Ok. I got my plumber, Darryl, to come out to the house and walk around with me. He told me that while he does not do septic systems anymore, he does have a guy to take care of that for me. He will come out to give me a better estimate but should be able to start withing 2 weeks. Darryl did warn me that the septic will most likely have to be a mound system. I have a vague idea what this is but it also means that we are looking at around $7000 for the system. This means that I have to pay out $3500 because the property owners are taking care of half.  The rest of the work that needs to be done is the well tie in and digging a hole for electricity. this is going to cost another $3000 our of our pocket. then the electrician to tie in the electricity which I have not gotten an estimate for yet.



We found another trailer to take a look at in Thief River Falls. It is a 3 bedroom 1 bath for $3250 with a pre-estimate of $600 to move it to the house. I am still trying to get the guy to call me back though. But regardless, I have to clear a crap load of small trees and have someone lay down gravel I guess before we can put the thing on the property.


Good news though. We got our taxes done and our return will pay for most of this. Bad news now. We were suppose to get our state return last week and still have yet to see it. That is killing our bank account. But I will call and  take a bite out of the Tax people and make sure everything is going as planned.

Spring stress

I have to admit I am starting to get nervous about this spring and summer. I have Sooooo much to do and way to little time and money to get it all done. But I have to get it done and on a deadline too.

First I have to have a septic system put on to the property that I am living at. The owner of the property has offered to pay half of this cost. With only a quick quote i am looking at footing the half bill of $3000.

Second I have to buy, move, and place a manufactured home on the property. I have been looking a bit and I have found very few in our price range but have found 2 possibilities under $5000. Moving the trailer is an estimated $1500.

Thirdly I have to Tie the new trailer into the existing well. I hope to be able to do this at least. If it is not possible then I am looking at another $5000 to dig a new well. I also have to hook the trailer up to the electrical system.

Lastly I have to get myself and my family moved into this house. The owners are expecting to have their house available to them in June. That means if all is not in place by then my family and I will be taking temporary housing in the mother-in-law house on the property. That will be all fine and dandy for the month or so that the kids are on vacation with their grandparents but everything must be in place by August.

Right now it seems like an impossible task for us. But Good news comes in the form of a renter. Our unsold house in Omaha will soon be the happy rental for a friend of ours. He takes possession in June, I believe, and that will give us an extra $600 a month to spend on getting this stuff done. It dont seem like a lot now, but I hope it will be enough to be allowed to take out a small loan to get this all done and get it payed off without getting in over our heads.

Avatar with the kids

Well, while Avatar was an animation, it was not the cartoon I thought I was taking the kids to. It was good though and Talon says we have to get the movie when it comes out on DVD. Husband says it reminds him of "Dances with Wolves" I can see the resemblance. I also agree with one review I seen that said it was like Pocahontas with big blue aliens.

About 2 hours into the move Wyatt had a fit. We had been expecting it and out I go to the lobby with crying child. Lobby made it worse. He was then in the middle of an all out hissy fit. He wanted to go back in with daddy, I couldn't go get daddy because I had no one to leave him with in lobby and couldn't bring Wyatt into theater. About 10 min of letting him do his thing my husband comes out. Wyatt runs strait to daddy and I go grab diapers from the theater room. Hubby said to go back in and watch the rest of the movie and he goes to change diaper and calm wyatt. Right on time he comes back in and stands with wyatt against the wall behind our seats and we were all able to watch the climax of the move together.

Over all it was a good family outing. Both kids and adults enjoyed the movie. both parents missed about 10 minutes of the move to deal with the hissy fit.

To Vlog or not to Vlog

I have been inspired to possibly do a video blog or vlog instead of writing everything down. I never have time to put my thoughts into print but video taping it would take much less time. I will not be doing vlogs exclusively but often in an attempt to keep my blog up to date.

Thanksgiving Dinner '09

This is my first year actually cooking for just my family for Thanksgiving. I opted out of the super turkey that I bought in favor of a smaller bird. I used Alton Brown's Butterflied and Broiled Chicken recipe. It turned out ok, but I had a small issue with my broiler, it being the first time I have ever used it. So the skin of the chicken chard a bit more than I had expected.

Chicken Butterflied and ready to be put in oven.

Into the old ass oven.

My son taking the picture for the lovely Tamara's Blog give away. (see sidebar for link to Drabby to Fabby)

Bird done and resting. a little more chard than I had planned.

Wine for de-glazing the pan to make the sauce. I had to have it once I saw the name. Plus it was only $10.

Sauce reducing. I didnt have time to reduce it as much as I would have liked.

Bird quartered and plated with baked potato and the kids have some whole cranberries.

Even though the skin was slightly singed the bird was flavorful and moist. Even the breast. We had a simple chocolate pudding for dessert.

Happy Thanksgiving!

Pink Elephants

My New blog is up and running. All dedicated to making alcohol and Tintures. All of the recipies from this blog are being copied over to Pink Elephants.

Bottled Blueberry Cordial

I finally got around to bottling the Blueberry Cordial. It tastes great and I have not even diluted it yet. I think I will, but not with water. I am going to get a hold of some 100% blueberry juice bottled or from concentrate. Why add just water when blueberry juice will also add a bit of flavor. I bottled in a recycled Brandy bottle I recovered from the hotel I work at. 

I also am going to poor off about 1/4 of this bottle for medicinal use. Yes I said medicinal use. Blueberry Tincture can be used to treat UTIs and kidney stones and diarrhea . Being a woman I am always at a high risk for UTIs and having something around to help with kidney stones sounds like a good idea to me.

Trick or Treat '09 Pictures

I know. Halloween was 2 weeks ago and I am running very late getting these up. But, like I have mentioned the last 2 weeks or so have been more than a little busy for me. Better late than never though. Here are our pictures.

First the costumes:

We went to Roseau for trick or treating on main street and then headed to DQ for dinner. Talon was not feeling well so he almost didn't get to do anything more. But he begged and I gave in. I told him only 1 hour and then home for an early bedtime. He said "deal".

Out we went after dinner to trick or treat around the town. Notice how amused this first lady is by me being dressed up.

This next pictures are funny because of the story behind them. First the spider. Talon went walking through the yard after getting candy and my husband yelled at him to watch were he was going. He looked down and screamed at the site of this huge spider at his feet. He almost dropped his candy. We were laughing about it for the rest of the night.

This next picture is of a cat. This cat was doing tricks in honor of the holiday. I went walking past the tree and the cat scared me. almost as bad as the spider scared Talon. I did not scream, or drop the candy but I jumped back about 3 steps as my husband laughed his butt off. 

Happy Halloween and Blessed Samhain to everybody from all of us. (Even Hubby who is hiding behind the camera)

Drabby Day Post w/ a Side of Guilt Trip

Ok. I have been so excited about starting to do this Drabby to Fabby thing on my favorite blog site. But as soon as i get excited about something, all hell breaks loose. 2 weeks ago I promised to do her Drabby to Fabby Hair day and then everyone in the family got sick. No coloring my hair, no getting a hair cut. Only bundled up on the couch with a death grip on by tissue box. So I missed the hair fabby competition.

The next one, due today, is the just plain drabby day. Cool, this should be easy enough. Oh crap. what a bad week for it. I am in my last 2 weeks of classes. not just for the term but for my associates degree. As of last week I was flunking Intro to Psych due to a few missed assignments. My own fault for falling behind, but am in the progress of fixing it. In fact, I turned in 2 assignments yesterday that should pop me up to a C.

Now the drabby to fabby hostess with the most is sad because no one is wanting to post pictures and enter. Well hun, here you go. It is not me at my most fabby but it will do:

And to make you smile a bit, I included Wyatt's drabby pic. This is the last day of his cold.

So there. Pictures in a drabby way. PLEASE no more guilt trips!!!

Stress and Samhain plans

3 more weeks of classes. I finally caught up with my Associates Capstone class and are still 2 assignments behind in Intro to Psych. I will hopefully catch that up tomorrow. If I am lucky, work ahead also.

This has been an emotional week for me. I am trying not to tell my boss exactly what I think and get fired. I have reconnected with an old friend I forgot that I had. I have been working my butt off catching up with my homework. And on top of it all, my house is trashed  because I haven't had time to clean up after my boys. I feel like I want to smile and cry all at the same time.

Samhain is Saturday and I have not nailed down plans besides trick or treating with the kids and some Halloween party at a church in town. Depending on the weather I would like to have an outside ritual with the bonfire. Maybe set up a labyrinth using string or flour.  That would be nice. If it is snowing like crazy, and I heard that the first real snow happens around this time, I will set out a plate for my grandmother and great grandparents and be content with that.

Autumn Yard Work - Day 3

Day 3 (Friday Oct 23) I took a bit of a break and started in again today. Alas, I only really got through a 3 foot wide row before I had to stop. I didn't manage to get past the Pine tree so I didn't even bother taking a picture. My hubby did get manage to get my progress area mowed down so that it looks a bit more manicured.

Autumn Yard Work - Day 2

Day 2 (Monday Oct 19)I worked another hour clearing grass, but did not have any help with watching Wyatt. I did not get as much done in this hour, but Wyatt got to run around an play outside with the dog and went down well for his nap. After my husband got home from work we went outside again to do what little work we could get done before dinner. 30 more min got him burning a couple bags of garbage and I cleared the debris that I uncovered when working earlier in the morning. I found a wooden pallet, some bricks, some small boards and a few peaces of medal. I also raked the entire area 3 or 4 times to completely clear the fresh cut grass, as well as last years dead grass and leaves. It is starting to actually look like part of the yard now.

Picture of progress from day 1 in the light of day


Day 2 end of the day. Talon is there to show how far back the grass is cut. I cut the bush out from around the tree on the left.