When Life Hands You Lemons...

Easter just kind of crept up on us this year! It was an interesting Easter this go around. Memorable is a better description. So what are the "lemons" in my Easter "When Life Hands You Lemons" post you wonder? The first is the terrible, horrible no good very bad weather we've been experiencing around here lately. It freak'n dumped 8 inches the other day and it looks like more snow this week - doesn't feel like Spring to me!

The second "lemon" was Joel's accidental sign-up for a moonlighting shift on Easter morning - oops! He didn't even realize that he had scheduled a shift on the holiday until it was too late - who would've thunk the Easter Bunny would come in the middle of March? His intentions were good and we certainly needed the money so we decided to make some "lemonade" out of our 2nd "lemon."

Joel headed to work Easter morning with a trunk loaded with eggs, baskets and presents. His mission was to engineer a really cool egg hunt for the kids - which he pulled off quite well I might add. As a side note: We could do an egg hunt because this particular hospital where Joel moonlights is pretty empty -the first (out of 5 or something) floor is the only one used for patients. The entire 2nd floor is for the sole doc that's working the shift. It's really nice for us when we visit because the kids get to run around, find all sorts of abandoned medical equipment and have wheelchair races up and down the halls - perfect for an egg hunt.

So we spent Easter morning with our Daddy hunting for eggs & eating way too much candy (especially Christian - he was blissfully occupied with the first treasure he discovered). I managed to throw in there a nice little lesson (with visuals I might add) about the real Easter Story. We ended our morning with a brunch in the cafeteria catered by the one and only McDonalds - yummy! The kids were so full from their candy fest up on the 2nd floor, that they didn't eat much. Joel and I ended up eating most of their food - mmm... there is nothing like cold pancakes with margarine smeared all over them! The sad thing is that we had such a pleasant morning together and then Joel and I ruined it by getting annoyed with each other as we were ready to leave. Things were made worse by having a terrible, horrible, no good very bad afternoon at church. Ahhhh - it was just one of those days. I got over it when Joel came home that evening with roses - nice touch babe!







We didn't get a chance to dye easter eggs until today. We made it our Family Home Evening activity. It, like our Easter weekend, started off really terribly (Camryn knocked the cup of hot pink dye into Joel's lap - staining his clothes and hands. And Christian kept throwing our hard boiled eggs around the room - here come more ants!). But in the end we ended up having a good time and the kids finally ate something healthy - some incredible edible eggs.

So when life hands you lemons, I guess it's best to make lemonade - no matter how tart!

~Happy Easter

Bi Bim Bop + Being a Dr.'s Wife = ????

So what happens when you try to add Bi Bim Bop (a popular Korean dish - pronounced Bee Bim Bop) with being a Dr.'s wife? Do read on...

A couple of weeks ago I was registering my kids for some Rec & Ed classes for Spring semester when I ran across the adult education section (that sounds kinda nasty!). I noticed something I hadn't noticed before: Adult cooking classes. After discovering there were tons of classes offered (I'm talking like 2 pages worth!), I got excited. You see, I've been stuck in this "chicken and rice" vacuum that I can't seem to escape. I can prepare probably 2 dozen variations on that theme: Hawaiian Haystacks, Russian Chicken, Cream Cheese Chicken, Chicken Cordon Bleu, Chicken 'n Rice and it goes on and on.....and on. They're all really tasty, but holy freakers, a gal can only take so much. A life with no change sucks the, well, life out of me, so I was highly motivated to add some new dishes to my culinary repertoire. Anyway, I digress...

So as I'm perusing through the list of cooking classes that I want to take, the thought crosses my mind, "Why are you doing this? You know what always happens." (You'll understand what this means a little later.). I ignore my better judgement, make a master list of interesting classes that I want to take and sign up for my first cooking class: Bi Bim Bop.

So how brave is this: I didn't even know what Bi Bim Bop was when I signed up for the class. I knew it was Korean (that's what it said anyway) and I love love love ethnic food, so I went for it. So for 2 weeks, I excitedly counted down the days until my class. Yes, my life is that pathetic.

Now here is where being a doctor's wife comes into play. So if there is one thing I can count on with Joel's schedule as a resident, it is this: There is no part of his schedule that I can count on! He never comes home at the same time - sometimes it's around 4 pm - sometimes it's around 6:48 like it was the night of my cooking class. The class started at 6:30.

My frustrating night started around dinnertime. I was still recovering from this yucky virus and I didn't feel much like cooking. However, I wanted to make Joel some Pepper Steak Sandwiches because I felt sorry for him (he's been getting the crap kicked out of him at the hospital). So I made a dinner knowing that my kids wouldn't like it and that my husband might not be home to eat it (happens all too often). That's exactly what happened.

So six o'clock rolls around and I finally get a phone call from a frustrated Joel, "I'm still here and I can't tell when I going to leave." Argh! So this doesn't exactly throw me for a loop - I'm used to it (precisely the reason I never sign up for anything in the first place!) The frustration set in when I couldn't find a last minute babysitter - imagine that. So the thought returns, "Why did I sign up for this, I knew this would happen." I started cleaning up the dinner that only I ate and accepted the fact that I wasn't going anywhere that night.

Now my depressing story could end there, but it has a happy ending (for me at least).

Joel called around 6:30 (when the class began) and said he was on his way home. Sweet. I was all excited until I saw his face when we passed each other in the doorway. He looked so tired. I felt bad for him. So then I felt guilty the whole night because I knew he was exhausted and he was up for a heck of a weekend too.

Well, the class was great. The instructor was this little Korean lady that has never used a measuring tool in her life! We kind of got used to it as the 3 hour course proceeded. She would add something to her sauce or marinade and we'd all look around at each other, "How much was that?" Or, "Did that look like 1 or 2 tablespoons??" A bunch of us whipped out our phone cameras or pocket cameras and started taking pictures of the ingredients she was using so that we could purchase them on our own at the local Korean grocery store. At one point this lady next to me was completely disgusted by the fact that our instuctor kept using the same knife and cutting board for raw meat and vegetable alike. I seriously started laughing because I noticed the same thing, but I so didn't care by that point! Hey I was already sick (on so many levels), so BRING IT!

After 2 1/2 hours of prep work, the Bi Bim Bop was ready - my first taste of Korea. The aroma was intoxicating and the taste was amazing. I can't tell you what other Bi Bim Bops taste like, but this little Korean lady sure knew what she was doing! So I came away from the class knowing what Bi Bim Bop is (sushi rice topped with all sorts of steamed and marinated veggies, some kind of marinated meat, a drizzle of spicy sauce, all topped off with a fried egg). I also came away with a new yummy recipe and a realization of why I always make the same meals over and over: TIME! Throughout my class, I kept thinking, "Man, this is taking for freak'n ever to make and she's an expert!"

So I came home to a husband half asleep watching tv in bed. We talked about our days for a bit and then he was out. He works so hard and is so tired all the time. I think I'll make him some Bi Bim Bop tonight...

...That's what she said! he he....

I Gotta Get Out Of Here...

Joel taking a siesta at Universal Studios. We were on vacation with Grandma, Grandpa, Scot, Jenny & the kids. We were all hang'n in the water area, but Joel and Scot just found a cozy piece of curbing to snooze the afternoon away.

Poor Joel, he's soooo burned out! As of late, he's been going through this little routine of coming home from a long day at the hospital and he has this look on his face. You know, that look that says, "I gotta get out of here!" He corners me in the kitchen (which I kinda like) and asks me if I want to hide from the kids. "Yes!" - I don't even let him finish his sentence. So we grab out latest addiction, Jericho (the TV series - pretty darn good I must say), and head upstairs. We leap on our 10 foot high bed, position our pillows just right, and delve into our next episode. Yesterday, we heard some crying or fighting or something of a devious nature going on downstairs, but we figured JD could handle it. Aren't we good parents?

We shouldn't have gone to Mexico because we discovered we still liked each other - now we're just trying to relive the memory. If Joel had his way, we'd be on a permanent vacation. His definition of work is "a means to an end." The end being a vacation. So as you can deduce, vacation time is a top priority for us when we start looking at practices to join.

Don't get the wrong idea about Joel's love of his kiddlins...he adores them - he just likes me better (ha ha!). Well, at least for now. It might be a different scenario in about 24 days when the hag lady comes out for a visit! So Joel, if you're reading this, I'll meet you up in our room about 5:30 pm tonight for a Jericho fix.

Hang in there babe!