Where Life Leads You...

It is Saturday and we survived Thanksgiving with my parents. Don't get me wrong I love them, but going out to eat at an AYCE Buffet restaurant is not my idea of a joyful holiday. As usual my younger and only sister disappointed and did not make it up from Chicago, though my parents headed down there yesterday to visit her. Seems we are always going to her, not me though, I don't play that game. Work Thanksgiving night was dull, but I am glad I was not there for Friday morning.

Did you hear about this?
A 34 year old temporary employee of Wal-Mart in Valley Stream, New York was trampled to death by hundreds of early morning shoppers as he attempted to unlock the doors of the store at 5 a.m! Apparently the employee was stepped on by the shoppers as other Wal-Mart employees fought their way to the crowd. There was a stampede that knocked down and injured some shoppers to the floor.
Ridiculous, but I can believe it happened. I have not shopped a Black Friday frenzy since I fought a sixty plus woman for the last original Tickle Me Elmo doll at a Target when Cheyla was a baby. Nothing is worth that madness to me.

I think I am finally settling into the routine of working, now to get the rest of my life routine back into gear. Should be an interesting week ahead though as Papa Bear will be home due to another plant shut down.

I also got summoned for jury duty ~ yeah. I am scheduled the week of the 15th to be on call, so I need to notify work I am on call. I don't work Mondays usually so I should have no problem on the initial day.

We got our tree put up and started lighting it, but we need more lights. What ever happened to lights lasting more than a year or two? Even our angel is acting up, which is upsetting as she is only on her 3rd Christmas. Decorating will happen next weekend, once we buy some more lights. Normally we would have decorated yesterday.

Well, as usual I am waiting to leave for work, so it is time to say adieu to you my friends. May you have a safe and happy weekend.

EC Advertiser's of the Week

This past week's

Advertisers at The Cafe at the END of the Universe were...
Saturday ~ rambling stuff
Sunday ~ The Post-It Place
Monday ~ From Ohio With Love
Tuesday ~ More Than Sew So
Wednesday ~ The Wise Young Mommy
Thursday ~ The Success
Friday ~ The Retro Blog


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Wishing you and yours a Happy Thanksgiving

May your day be filled with joy and love.
I am thankful for all of you.

~ Penelope Anne

In all Honesty

I have really lost the love of blogging for the moment, and it is not just blogging but other things. This always happens when I add something like work into the mixture of my life, especially when I am pulling in more hours than originally planned. I expected 20 hours a week, and did 16 alone over the weekend. I imagine it sounds like all I do is whine about working and I think I do, I hate doing it. Nick is happy though that he will have a paycheck of his own this week, and we won't have to borrow money to make ends meet.

Another thing I want to be honest about, as I expected the homeschooling is suffering. I don't think the kids think they have to do their work, which of course is wrong. We won't even mention the housework, though Papa surprised me and cleaned out the garage, and it looks great. Now I need to figure out where to put a table before the day ends. Why? Mother Nature decided to snow last night.

One more point of honesty? Public bathrooms, why do people disrespect them so? I treat a place the same as my home, and I would not leave some of the nasty messes people leave in a public restroom in a million years. Just gross things you come across some days.

Okay, now to be honest, it is lunch time, so I'm splitting.

Recipe of the Week: Thanksgiving Stuffing

Italian Sausage Stuffing

Ingredients
2 loaves Italian bread (2 pounds), crusts removed and bread cut into 3/4-inch cubes (20 cups)
1/4 cup extra-virgin olive oil
1 1/2 pounds sweet Italian sausage, casings removed
2 large onions—1 finely chopped, 1 quartered
1 large celery rib, finely diced
3 large garlic cloves, very finely chopped
1/4 cup finely chopped sage leaves
4 tablespoons unsalted butter
6 cups turkey stock or low-sodium chicken broth
Salt and freshly ground pepper
One 18- to 20-pound turkey, rinsed
2 carrots, cut into 1-inch pieces
3 cups water
1/4 cup all-purpose flour

Directions
Preheat the oven to 375°. Spread the bread cubes in a large roasting pan and toast for 15 minutes, stirring occasionally, until dry and lightly browned.
In a large, deep skillet, heat the oil. Add the sausage and cook over moderately high heat, breaking up the meat, until browned and no trace of pink remains, 10 to 12 minutes. Add the chopped onion, celery and garlic and cook until softened, about 6 minutes. Stir in the sage and butter. Scrape the mixture into a large bowl. Add the bread cubes and toss. Stir in 2 cups of the stock and season with salt and pepper.
Increase the oven temperature to 450° and position a rack in the bottom of the oven. Set the turkey in the large roasting pan fitted with a shallow rack. Spoon 5 cups of the stuffing into the cavity and tie the legs together with kitchen string. Spoon the remaining stuffing into a shallow 2 1/2-quart baking dish. Scatter the quartered onion and the carrots around the turkey and add 1 cup of the turkey stock. Roast the turkey for 30 minutes. Lower the oven temperature to 375°. Roast the turkey for 3 hours longer, covering it loosely with foil as the skin browns and adding 1 cup of water every 45 minutes to prevent the pan from scorching. The turkey is done when an instant-read thermometer inserted into the thickest part of the inner thigh registers 175°. Transfer the turkey to a large cutting board and let it rest for 30 minutes.
Drizzle 1 cup of the stock over the remaining stuffing in the baking dish. Bake for 30 minutes, until the stuffing is heated through and crisp on top.
Meanwhile, pour the pan juices into a heatproof measuring cup. Spoon off the fat. In a small bowl, whisk 1/2 cup of the stock with the flour. Place the roasting pan over 2 burners on high heat. Add the remaining 1 1/2 cups of stock and cook, scraping up any browned bits stuck to the bottom and sides of the roasting pan. Pour in the reserved pan juices, then carefully strain the liquid into a medium saucepan. Boil over high heat until reduced to 4 cups, about 10 minutes. Whisk in the flour mixture and boil until thickened and no floury taste remains, about 5 minutes. Season the gravy with salt and pepper.
Spoon the stuffing from the cavity into a bowl. Carve the turkey and serve the stuffing and gravy alongside.


Make Ahead
The bread-and-sausage stuffing can be prepared through Step 2 and refrigerated overnight.
Stand Alone
The bread-and-sausage stuffing can also stand alone simply bake for 1 hour at same temperature.

EC Advertisers of the week

This past week's

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Saturday ~ Arohan's Investing Life
Sunday ~ At Home in the Ozarks
Monday ~ Mommying on the Fly
Tuesday ~ My Crazy Life With a Toddler
Wednesday ~ On The Verge
Thursday ~ West of Mars
Friday ~ Outnumbered Two to One



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guest

My mother is sick so I will be blogging today.
I was told this had to be fun so I guess there will be some videos
First of all some videos.










times up so see you next time,
zak

The Mommy wardrobe...

You know you are a mom when you have a multifaceted wardrobe, and I am not talking about having clothing for every season or occasion.
I am talking the reality of your wardrobe being categorized more simply...
1. Special Occasion Only
2. Fit for Public Viewing
3. Never Wear it Out of the House

Yes, this is my wardrobe and it is so stylish. I know I need more clothes when I have very little available in category 2, which is my current situation, but of course, being mom...I will sacrifice any major clothing purchases until after the holidays. Other than another pair of pants suitable for work, which I need, I will survive with what I have on hand, and stay home more or wear my coat all of the time.

Tell me I am not the only mom in this predicament. I need a wardrobe makeover something major.

Weekend Wrap-up

Wow what a weekend. I worked my first long shift at work and survived barely. It was a good tryout for this upcoming weekend when I have 8 hour shifts both Saturday & Sunday...yikes. Nick worked too, so we got to see each other at breaks which was sort of neat.
After work we headed to Appleton to hit Sam's Club, a nice perk of working at Walmart. Got some nice hot drinks, to survive the cold nights we are starting to experience in Wisconsin. Yeah it is starting to get frigid up here in the north woods, time to break out the hot chocolate, hot cider, and hot tea. Definitely start the day with some hot coffee too, and delicious flavored creamers...see I spoil myself once and awhile. You have to, right?
Then we enjoyed a fav family dinner of chili dogs and played a heated game of Risk, from Friday night into Saturday...I rule the world!!!!
Sunday was Packer game, and we kicked some Bear booty on the good old frozen tundra of Lambeau field.
The boys are also hooked on playing cribbage all of a sudden so we've played that on and off. I also relaxed a little something I have needed and crocheted and read a book. Those are always the things to suffer when I work...the housework & my relaxation items.
Have a lighter work week this week until the weekend, but do have to work on Thanksgiving night I found out. I lucked out and do not work on Black Friday, but Nick does, poor boy.
Now we are just hoping that Papa Bear's company does not decide to shut down for the entire month of December because that would really put a pinch on the finances in a month no one wants to be pinched. He was home this past week because of a plant shut down, better than laid off I know and I count that as a blessing.

Hope everyone has a super duper Monday. We'll be off to Scouts tonight, I have to sit in on some boards of review, and the troop will be working on bridge building.

TTYS

Once Upon a Time...

I was an innocent little girl, blind to the cruelty within the world and the harshness of a thing called reality. Kind of a nice place to be, don't you think? I stayed that way for quite awhile too, but then as all do I grew up. Not as fast as the youth of today though, they grow up way too fast.
The other day I read an article titled, When Did 7 Become the New 16? and thought to myself it is the truth, youth today are acting like teens long before they hit their tween years even. As the mother of a twelve year old I admit I have tried to keep her manner of dress modest, avoiding the fashion trends that change like the wind but always trend towards the skimpy. As I walk through the store now though I see short shirts, shorter skirts, hip hugging pants and outfits that scare me. The sad fact this is the youth department sizes 4-10, thus geared at the little girls in elementary school and not high school students, whose fashions are trending like a bad nightmare for those of us who survived the eighties.
It is not just fashion though, it is attitude these youth give too. A me first, gimme it now attitude that parents have got to start putting in check before these kids do become teens, and even more so before they become adults.
Folks it is time for a reality check. As parents we need to do right by our children. I guess I would rather my child be a little sheltered rather than a total pain in the backside or worse a trouble making rebel without a cause. My kids are in the teen years and tween years, and we somehow managed to do pretty good by them. We are not hard headed cruel parents either who yield whips and deny our kids the fun things in life. They watch TV, see movies others would cringe at, and play mature games...BUT they do so with our knowledge of what they are doing, when they are doing it, and knowing about the thing they are reading, playing or watching. I would rather be there watching a movie that doesn't thrill me if it means I can answer my child's questions, instead of them doing something stupid because they saw it in a movie or TV show.
As life long homeschoolers we do get classified as people who shelter our children because we don't let them experience reality. What happens in a school building is not the best reality in the world, and I have the experience of my own school years to remember. They spend time with their peers and you know it is them who make observations about some of the absurdities they hear and experience while with them. Now, do not get me wrong my children are far from perfect...in fact I've taught them that there truly is no such thing as perfection, something I believe. They have attitudes and they know how to use them, but they also know about the facts of life, and the harsh realities of what life can lay at their feet.
Nikolaus is working his first job and he has helped pay the household bills since starting work as he has seen his father laid off. Is he 100% happy about that? Certainly not, but he knows also the hard reality of being without heat or even a home and he'd rather share his money than do that again. It also helps that the kids have seen both Papa Bear and I make sacrifices to provide for them and the family. My working now is a hard reality, everyone has had to step up and take more responsibility at home to keep things running as close to smooth as we can and we have stumbled along the way. Yet, I would never change a thing.
If I was still the innocent little girl above, I would not be married to the man I am, have the children I do, and lead the life I do. My higher power has a plan for me, and there are times I scream at the thought of what it could be considering some of the things that we have lived through. I am blessed in my own singular way, and I would not change a thing. Would you? If you had a magic wand that would allow you to change the past would you? I wouldn't even in the hardest times, I love my husband and three rugrats.

EC Advertisers of the Week

This past week's

Advertisers at The Cafe at the END of the Universe were...
Saturday ~ A Little Girl Talk
Sunday ~ Cool Mom Guide
Monday ~ News from NOLA
Tuesday ~ Homeschooling Four
Wednesday ~ Pro Blog Reviews
Thursday ~ Puss Reboots
Friday ~ Thyme2Dream


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Thursday Thirteen #55 ~ Penelope A-Z: The F Edition

Join in the weekly fun at The T13 Hub
Thirteen WACKY THINGS ABOUT ME: THE "F" EDITION

I am a family oriented, feisty mama who tends to fidget.
In high school I could facilitate a good debate on the Forensics Team, and even play a little fiddle, when I was suffering low self esteem and thinking I was an utter failure.
I collect fairies and believe in them, and collect fabric, which my dustbunny collection likes to gather on. I think fedoras are sexy, and my daddy has one in his hat collection.
I've been a freelance writer, but now I think I would rather go fishing than meet a deadline.


Get the Thursday Thirteen code here!


The purpose of the meme is to get to know everyone who participates a little bit better every Thursday. Visiting fellow Thirteeners is encouraged! If you participate, leave the link to your Thirteen in others' comments. It’s easy, and fun! Trackbacks, pings, comment links accepted!

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Life, Work, and Everything

So, I've been thinking I don't like working...but, I'll do it because the economy dictates that I must. It would be okay if I would enjoy the hectic life of a cashier but I think I outgrew that, boy people can really push your buttons. I of course, plaster on my pretty smile, and sweet voice and do the job I was hired for. I then cry and whine on the way home ;o)
Working has really pinched my time only because of the oddball shift but I think that will be getting better, and I will be working more nights than midday shifts after next week. Midday shifts throw a giant monkey wrench into the day and leave you unable to function fully I think. Great for the diet though, I barely find time to eat.
Reading, crafts, and writing are sitting on the sidelines taunting me...hopefully that will change as it is NaNoWriMo 2008, and I did not meet my goal last week of 10,000 words. I have Friday off so hopefully I can spend a few hours writing.

So, can you believe Christmas is so close? I hate to think about shopping, as I have no idea what our budget will be and no clue what to get the kids. I have one or two ideas, and one of those is books, we always buy the kids some books. Maybe a MP3 player for each of them too.

I need new shoes and some more work pants. I am such an icon of fashion in navy blue and tan/brown. Speaking of which I must be donning my super cashier uniform and be flying off into the rainy grey yonder within the next half hour so I must bid you all adieu for today.

Heads or Tails ~ Where Oh Where

Is that a hard question or what?
So close to doing Blog 365 and I blew it, but I swear I have no excuse...
I just had no desire to get online and blog.
I spent Thursday, Friday and today working. I work the rest of the week as well. Looks like I will be working 20-35 hours a week as we get through the holidays. I managed not to have to work on Black Friday, but do have to work on Thanksgiving evening.
The weekend was a joyful time of girl's only as the guys had a Boy Scout event. I am not a fan of joining them for cabin events, I'd be the only gal on the trip. So I'll be having girl weekends through the winter months with Micheyla who loves them.

To my pals who are faithful readers I am sure I will get the swing of this working again soon enough, so I hope you'll bear with me. To those I owe an email, I promise I haven't forgotten, just have not found the time to get to the post office.

This has been a ...

post, see more at: Home Sweet Home

EC Advertisers of the Week

This past week's

Advertisers at The Cafe at the END of the Universe were...
Saturday ~ Through Frigga's Eyes
Sunday ~ West of Mars
Monday ~ Weather for Headphones
Tuesday ~ Crazy Mom with 4 Boys
Wednesday ~ Mommy Always Wins
Thursday ~ Junkfoodaholic
Friday ~ The Mortgage and More Blog


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Thursday Thirteen #54 ~ All about Me: The E Edition

Join in the weekly fun at The T13 Hub
Thirteen THINGS ABOUT ME: THE E Edition

Liza at Mommy's Little Corner tagged me for the 6 and & things about me Meme, so why not make it a Thursday Thirteen, The E Edition...

1.... Eloise, portrayed her in forensics during high school
2.... easily excited
3.... Eighties Era teenager
4.... efficient
5.... earnest
6.... earthling, at least I believe so
7.... eccentric
8.... eclectic
9.... educator, homeschooling my 3 children since 1992
10.... egalitarian
11.... Egypt - fascinated by the ancient civilization
12.... Elton John - love his music
13.... eleemosynary

Get the Thursday Thirteen code here!


The purpose of the meme is to get to know everyone who participates a little bit better every Thursday. Visiting fellow Thirteeners is encouraged! If you participate, leave the link to your Thirteen in others' comments. It’s easy, and fun! Trackbacks, pings, comment links accepted!

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Wow, what a change....

History was made yesterday as Barack Obama was elected our 44th President. This is a monumental thing and even the kids understood the impact of this change. Now we watch and see the impact this will have on the nation and world.

Tomorrow starts a change for me, a return to the working world. I work 9-4. It is also the beginning of another phase of Nick's growth into adult hood, driver's education. So much change in one week, I am not sure I can handle it all.

At least there will be no more junk mail of the political nature.

Election News from the Boy Scout front...
Neither of the boys got the positions they were running for, talk about a popularity contest issue within the troop. Honestly though I was more upset over them losing than they were though. I guess I raised them to be good losers and to see the bright side of things even if I am one of the world's greatest pessimists.

This week in Bartotto life...

Monday... Boy Scout elections, both boys running for positions
Tuesday... Getting out and voting
Wednesday... Relax, maybe
Thursday... I start work and Nick starts Driver's Education
Weekend... Guys have camp out & us girls have weekend in

It has been asked what happened to the Shop at the END of the Universe, I closed the blog do to lack of business and time for me to keep adding items. All scarves, except one are still available, and if you are interested, email me. I will be posting new items and the scarves again on here.

As for the writing, I have one tenth of the story written to meet the 50,000 words. Got some good writing done over the weekend.

A Sunday Gift to you

May your day be blessed. I am busy writing for NaNoWriMo 2008 folks and may not be the most prolific with my daily posts but promise to be here when I can.

Halloween the Aftermath

It's Over, except for the sugar rushes the kids and Papa Bear keep giving themselves. They got way too much candy on there last trick-or-treat adventure until they have kids of their own. Next year they get to do up the yard and give out candy.
Nikolaus dressed as a Walmart employee and worked but Zak and Micheyla went out.

The Wicked Witch and the witless Scarecrow


We left the scout in the woods
maybe a bit long??


In character, the zombie and witch embark...

They had a blast and I went out with a friend later for a party, came home and watched TV, and I stayed up later than I have in ages.

Now it is time to de-Halloween the house, and keep the family from attempting to put the Christmas decor up before Thanksgiving.

Have a great Saturday loves,