Ashley's Latest

Ashley just sent me this via picture text, and I had to share it. It's her latest project for art class. I'm so glad she decided to pursue a degree in the arts (interior design). Her work just gets better and better.

Spring Camporee Cochiti

Dustin went on his first overnight campout with the Boy Scouts this weekend! He had a great time. When he came home Sunday, he couldn't wait to tell us about all the fun he had, from making pancakes without water (they used orange Kool-Aid) to lighting a fire using a stick and a rope. Now he can't wait for summer camp!

Mom looks a little apprehensive at the sendoff, doesn't she?

Dustin and a few of his friends!

Cooking Breakfast

You can see Dustin just isn't having any fun, right?

Happy Easter!

Sunday it will be Easter! Although spring is not my favorite time of year in Albuquerque (too much wind, and dust that gets in your eyes and your teeth if you have to venture outside), I have such wonderful memories of this season growing up in NY. We always spent Easter in Lockport, my mom's hometown. Mass was always at St. Pat's, and dinner either at Aunt Clara's or Aunt Frannie's. I'm sure we had a great meal with ham and all the trimmings, but what I remember is Aunt Clara's jello salad with carrots and maybe pineapple that I loved. Being a finicky eater, it was probably the only thing I ate!

I remember one Easter back in the days when Lent ended at noon on Holy Saturday, and my cousin Keeta and I went "downstreet" (meaning to town) and stopped at every candy store we passed in anticipation of ending our chocolate fast. When we got back to her house, we piled it all on the floor and waited until the stroke of noon and then dived in! Wow! Was that ever a feast!

I also remember one cold Easter morning as we walked to St. Pat's for Easter Mass, stopping on the way to pick up my cousin Marion and her kids (I think she had four at the time), and they were all dressed alike in outfits Marion had made. So cute, but it was SO COLD.

My last memory of Easter in Lockport was shortly before I was married. Jay and I were staying at Aunt Frannie's. She tells me it was a wild weekend as she had several guests, including Father Simons, I think, but I don't remember that part at all! I do remember we were celebrating and she gave us some champagne and told us not to tell my mom! I think I still have the bulletin from that Mass stuck in one of my old missals.

How I wish I could be in Lockport for Easter this year!

New Mexico Comfort Food

Typical Spring in New Mexico--it can't decide whether it's still winter or not. We had two mornings with snow cover (about 1") and a day or two in the 60s! This morning we had a heavy snow squall for about 1/2 hour while we were in church, and by the time we left it had warmed up and the snow was gone! So it's hard to know what to make for dinner--one of the winter dishes like soup or stew, or if we should haul out the barbeque and grill some steaks!

I decided since it was technically still winter, we'd have some NM comfort food otherwise known as Green Chile Stew. I also decided not to use a recipe so of course it turned out to be the best I'd made. We finished the last of it today at lunch. Here's my attempt at trying to create a recipe:

3 chicken breasts, cooked and shredded into big pieces
1 can of Hatch green chile enchilada sauce (medium heat)
1 tub of frozen hot green chile, thawed
2-3 cups of chicken broth
1 can of diced tomatoes
2-3 potatoes, diced in large pieces

Put all together in a soup pot and simmer until all flavors are blended. Serve with warmed tortillas and shredded cheese. You could also add some pinto or black beans to the pot. Also, some chopped onions if you like.

Six More Weeks of Winter??

Yesterday was Groundhog Day and it looks like Winter will be with us for a while. In fact, we are under a Winter Storm Watch today through tomorrow night. We'll see. The last time this happened (last week), all 20 or so snowplows the city owns were strategically placed around town, waiting for the snow that never came. Oh, the foothills got about two inches, but the rest of the city, nada. However, despite the lack of snow, city workers were released early, and ALL state workers were on a two-hour delay the following morning. Makes you wonder who makes these decisions! At least the schools weren't closed, except for the mountain schools, of course.

Anyhow, in anticipation of our new "storm" I thought I'd post a couple pictures from last week (obviously we live in the foothills, as we were blessed with a little bit of the white stuff).

Don't laugh! The kids haven't had much practice with snowmen.

A couple of days after the big storm. At least the mountains still had snow!

Thank Heaven for Green Chile

I decided to make PW's chicken noodle recipe (?) she posted today. Not my best effort! First I drove all over town trying to find the frozen noodles, to no avail. I went to Walmart, Sunflower, and Smiths. I probably should have tried Trader Joe's but ran out of energy. So after I got home I had the brain storm to make my own noodles. Not a good decision! So I used
five of my last six eggs, rolled out the dough (obviously not thin enough), sliced it and cooked it. The result was not good. I think Ashley said it resembled brain tissue. Ugh. Plan C was to use some curly noodles (whole wheat though, so they were kinda healthy).

I followed the rest of the recipe but it never did thicken up--I think four quarts of water is just too much. So I got the bowls out and we decided to call it soup. Everyone thought it needed something, and of course, the solution to that is ALWAYS green chile! It did the trick, plus Pattie added a little shredded parmesan cheese that was good, as well.

I think I'll go back to my own green chile chicken soup recipe.

My New "Job"

Yesterday I started my new "job," volunteering at Wherry Elementary School as a reading tutor for "Albuquerque Reads." The program is only in three schools, all Title I schools, and we work with kindergarteners (since when did they learn reading before first grade?). Anyhow it was pretty interesting. I was assigned as a "floater" to cover for a tutor who was absent. There are about 100 kids at Wherry who are tutored. It's a 100% Title I school, which I find amazing. Their population is drawn from the area around Kirtland AFB known as the "war zone," although the teachers call it the "International Zone," which is a little more PC.

My first student was a very smart and active little boy. He definitely had a mind of his own, didn't want to take his coat off or follow the activities in the program. He had his own ideas of what he wanted to do! When it came to reading, he zipped through the book, not reading the words, but making up his own story from the pictures. Finally (with the help of the coordinator) I got him to settle down and read each word on the page. He did remind me of Daniel! Or maybe Lorenzo.

My second student was a little girl, very quiet, who couldn't read at all. But if I would say the words, she would say them right after me. The only problem was she wanted to look at me instead of the page. When it came to the drawing activity, she was great! Quite a perfectionist, though, as she kept erasing her work and starting again. She finally finished a self-portrait. What I loved about her picture was that she drew herself with a great big smile on her face! The coordinator had told us that these kids don't have a lot of the experiences that middle class kids do, like going to the zoo, or visiting a farm. It was certainly true in her case, as she didn't know what an elephant was, and thought a lion was a tiger. She is going to be a lot of fun, though. I hope I get her again next week.

I think I'm going to love my new job!