Monday's Random Musings

Mrs. Nurse Boy here.


Sweet Pea was sick this weekend so, needless to say, I need another weekend to recover from my weekend. She is feeling better now and I am well rested.


Ready for some randomness?
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It is not good when you actually hear your car break while you are driving down the highway. Not. Good. At. All.
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Here's hoping that wasn't also the sound of our bank account breaking.
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Nothing good can come from the phrase, "Mommy, my tummy hurts."
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When your child makes that statement from the backseat of the car, immediately pull over and terminate all other plans. Trust me on this one.
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And, do not feed the same child blueberries later that day. That is all I will say about that.
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Last week, Bruiser returned from school with ketchup all over the BACKSIDE of his shirt. How in the world does he do this stuff? Never mind. I don't want to know.
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Stain stick, don't fail me now.
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I hate laundry. (Just because I can never say this enough.)
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Last week I was trying to hide my trembling voice and teary eyes while talking to my boys about some answered prayer. Dimples noticed immediately. I told him they were thankful tears. He quickly said, "I just don't understand why women are so sensitive."


Yeah, you and the other 150 million men in this country...
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Project Runway, you did not disappoint. Thank you and welcome back, my good friend. Welcome back.
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(Nurse Boy watches Project Runway with me. Shh... don't tell him I told you. For some reason, that makes me feel loved.)
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Soccer season officially begins this week with 4 games on our schedule. I say BRING IT ON!


Happy Monday!!!

Friday Fare!

Mrs. Nurse Boy here.

It is finally Friday. This has been one busy week. I am sleep deprived and so are my children. The boys started a new school and Sweet Pea and I started a new job. I got up before God every day this week and my kids did too. Whether they wanted to or not. I have been emotional all week long and Bruiser has been a little under the weather. I have been running around town making sure we are ready for school, fall, and soccer. Nurse Boy's car "broke" this morning and Sweet Pea barfed this afternoon.

Not to mention that I am WAY behind on my blog reading.

(How's that for some randomness? And, it's not even Monday.)

Are you tired yet, cuz I am EXHAUSTED!!!!

So, for Friday Fare today, I am going to make a very logical, very well-thought-out, very reasonable, time saving suggestion:


ORDER A PIZZA IN.


And, catch some shut eye.

DO NOT set your alarm.

Honestly, this week has been FULL of one answered prayer after another. It has been crazy busy, but my emotions have been that of OVERWHELMING happiness. God has been so faithful. This week has just been one confirmation after another that I indeed heard God many months ago when I was praying about many of the decisions we had to make for the 2009-2010 school year.

I will share more later. Like, after I have slept for a solid 48 hours and Nurse Boy's car is miraculously healed. I know, I like to dream big.

Regardless, I am feeling INCREDIBLY BLESSED!

It's Birthday Time!!!

Mrs. Nurse Boy here.

Someone in our house is having a BIRTHDAY today!

I'll give you a hint:

He is funny, crazy, spontaneous, kind, loving, protective, helpful, driven, intelligent, dependable, loyal...

A terrific dad...

An incredible playmate...



Doesn't take himself too seriously...


Is attentive...

Comforting...

And, he is our ROCK.

Happy Birthday, Nurse Boy!!! We love you!!!

True Story Tuesday--Stupid Minivan

It is time for True Story Tueday, so go check it out. (After you read ours, of course!)

Two of the most reliable things in Mrs. Nurse Boy's life are me (Mr. NB) and her van. Yes, the van is also mine, but the kids insist that I have no ownership.

It is hers!

Today's story involves a time when the Mrs. was pregnant with Bruiser, our second boy. Have I mentioned that I have been neutered because I can't deal with the Mrs. being pregnant again? She was tolerable in her twenties. Once she was pregnant in her thirties, it was worth letting an old man tape the twig to my stomach and then slice and dice the berries. Did I mention that his hands were shaking the whole time?

Didn't phase me. Anything to avoid another pregnancy in her thirties.

I digress...back to pregnancy number two. Bruiser was a November baby and we had just bought a new van. This van has a safety feature of locking all of the doors about three seconds after you turn the ignition. I suppose it keeps the carjacker out or something. Well, it was cold so I went out to warm up the van for us to go for our last prenatal visit. I started the van and then went back in to help gather Dimples. We then walked out as a family and locked the front door behind us. Walked to the van and it, too, was safely locked.

No carjackers getting in that thing.

Neither were we.

I had never seen Mrs. Nurse Boy that mad. We were locked out of the car and the house. She was nine months pregnant and a force to be reckoned with. We called her dad who brought us our key to the house. We were somehow too proud to ask the neighbors to let us in their house, so we walked to the backyard to shield ourselves from the cold wind. Not our best backyard experience.

You should all know that I learned my lesson. In order to take the Mrs.'s mind off of being nine months pregnant, I planned a date that night. We decided a movie would help take her mind off the agony of a stretched and bruised uterus. I packed the van and started it to warm it up again. This time I left the driver side door OPEN. When we were ready, I walked right out to the open door holding Dimples's hand. He promptly pushed the door closed. I looked up as the Mrs. closed the front door to the house. Yes, I had locked us out of our house and our van for the second time in 8 hours. This did not get her mind off of her agony.

Let me be the first to tell you that I have never done anything to harm a singe female hormone in my life. That does not seem to matter because female hormones have abused me on many occasions. This might be the worst verbal beating I have ever received. I think I have blocked out the majority of what the Mrs. said in those next few moments, but I do remember telling her that the neighbors could hear everything she said.

She didn't care.

I didn't get to hear what she was telling me just once though. I got to hear it twice because she was echoing off the house across the street.

We missed the movie.

We did not freeze to death. The baby did finally come out. The Mrs. can now laugh about it.

But, there is a part of me that is still afraid of her pregnant.

Very afraid!

Go check out some more truth over at Rachel and Mr. Daddy's!

Monday's Random Musings

Mrs. Nurse Boy here.


It is Monday AND the beginning of the 2009-2010 school year. I officially have a first grader and fourth grader. Man, do I feel old. I can still remember bringing each of them home from the hospital while feeling completely overwhelmed and inadequate. Turns out, I wasn't. Inadequate, that is. Well, most of the time anyway.


Since I am feeling tired and emotional, it must be time for some randomness...
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My gray hairs are multiplying, even faster than my wrinkles. And, that is saying something people!
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A wise woman once told me that I have laugh lines from living with Nurse Boy all these years. I kind of like them now. Perspective sure can change your attitude, can't it?
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Then again, maybe she was just trying to make me feel better.
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Today is the first day of school. Now the phenomenon begins: The kids all woke up early everyday this summer, yet it will take an endless amount of patience and gentle nudges to get them OUT! OF! BED! from now until May.
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It must be noted that the first day of school should always be started with a brand new pair of tennis shoes. Or, is that just me?
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And, those white tennis shoes will most likely return home brown by the end of the week.
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Is it wrong that I just realized that it has been a VERY long time since my van has been washed? (And, that that just might be the understatement of the year.) Never mind. Don't answer that.
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Project Runway starts this THURSDAY and I can't wait! I know it is sad, but it just might be the highlight of my week. I can't wait!
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Nurse Boy also starts back to school this week. His determination is amazing! I am so proud of him. He has a lot on his plate and really listens to me when I think the balance it out of whack around here. I really appreciate him!!
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Football... it is near. Very near. Too near, if you ask me. Let's all have a moment of silence for all of the wives who don't watch, follow, or even care a lick about it. Enough about me...
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Are bodily functions ALWAYS funny to boys?! I mean ALL THE TIME?! EVERY TIME?!~~~~~~~~~~

Happy Monday!! Feel free to join in my randomness in the comments or with a post of your very own!

(I just hit spell check and it said, "No misspellings found." Miracles do happen!!!)

Makin' Memories

Mrs. Nurse Boy here.

This is our last weekend of summer before the kids are back to hitting the books and I am back to packing lunches. I just thought I would share some pictures of one of our summer traditions:

A surprise trip to Crown Center!

It is always a surprise to the kids as to when we will go. I love making things a surprise! It has become a bit of a tradition around here. Can you see the sparkle in their eyes BEFORE we told them what we were doing today?

Look at their reaction AFTER we told them! (They are dancing, in case you can't tell.) We are makin' memories, people!

Our first stop was Kaleidoscope. It is owned and operated by Hallmark Cards and is every kid's artistic dream. Plus, it is FREE!

Next stop, the Hallmark Visitor's Center. Also FREE!

We worked up quite the appetite, so we had to stop at Fritz's; where the train delivers your food and the grease delivers... well, other things.

But, the munchkins loved it! (It wasn't free. Nope, but those smiles just might have been worth the over-priced grease patties.)

Then we hit the Lego Exhibit. FREE, yet again!

Family photo! We really do love this city.

Here we are walking over to Union Station to watch the trains. (FREE! Are you seeing a theme here? If we are anything, we are resourceful!)

Then the boys got all white trash on us and ran through the fountains in their clothes. Of course that was FREE! And, surprisingly, legal.

Summer, we will miss you!

Friday Fare!

Mrs. Nurse Boy here.


Yet again, I found myself uninspired to create another fabulous dinner. What? You're always inspired? Well, I am almost never inspired. I like cooking and I love baking, but it is the daily ritual of cooking and CLEANING that I do not like.

Not. At. All.

That is exactly why I started my Friday Fare posts. I hope I can inspire you to have fun trying something different and, maybe, I can add some new recipes to your regular rotation of meals.

And, JUST MAYBE, your kids will like the recipes, too.

Maybe. You are on your own with that one.

Mine prefer frozen chicken nuggets from the freezer section in the grocery store or mac-n-cheese from the blue box on any given day to my homemade chicken recipes. But, I prefer they eat a healthy, well balanced diet.


Yeah, I am mean like that.

The other day I found myself wanting Cheeseburger Rollups. Only, I didn't have the pizza dough on hand and I wasn't about to make homemade dough after the day I had had. So, I improvised. This recipe isn't very original, but I am sharing it anyway, since this is my blog and I will type if I want to.

And, I want to.

So, I will.

Cheeseburger Quesidillas

(makes about 6 servings)

Ingredients:
About 1 lb of lean ground beef
Ketchup
Mustard
Relish
Grated Cheese
Tortillas (About 12 small)

1. Brown your ground beef and season like you would normally season your hamburger meat. I add minced onion, parsley, Italian seasoning, garlic, and black pepper.

2. Add ketchup, mustard, relish, and cheese to taste. Stir well.

3. As you can see, I used my stove top griddle. (I HEART that thing!) You can just use a pan if you don't have a griddle. A griddle just speeds things up, since you can do 3 at a time. First, lightly brown, or crisp, each tortilla all by itself. This will make the tortillas firmer and easier to work with.

4. Press the meat mixture onto one prepared tortilla and top with another tortilla. Place on the pan or griddle for a few minutes on each side, until heated through.

5. Serve with ketchup for dipping. YUM!!

Have a terrific weekend!! We are going to sneak in some surprise fun these last three days before school starts!

Don't even get me started on how fast summer flew by.