Jalapeno does NOT go well with contact lenses

Yes, it's true, and unfortunately I would know. I tried a new slow cooker recipe today - refried beans without the refry. I found it on the Internet and it sounded pretty yummy. It has to simmer all day, so this morning right after breakfast I started throwing everything together. One of the ingredients is jalapeno pepper, so I cleaned and chopped one up and threw it in the slow cooker. Knowing that they can be hot, I was careful to thoroughly wash my hands and went about the rest of my morning. I exercised, picked up a few toys, went to the bathroom a couple times, of course washing my hands after each time. It wasn't until I was getting ready to take a shower and put in my contact lenses that I ran into problems. Immediately after I put the first contact in, my eye started burning excessively. I'm not talking a little bit of lotion on the contact burn, I mean, burning so bad that I almost couldn't keep my eye open long enough to get the contact out. I stood there puzzled for a moment, trying to figure out what in the world could have possibly caused my contact to burn like that. Then it dawned on me: the jalapeno. So I stuck my contact back in the case with some solution and decided to jump in the shower and wash my hands really good again. After I got out, I was hoping that I would be able to put my contacts in, but no, same problem.

So I did what any girl in my situation would do, I called my mommy. She used to wear contacts, so I thought she might have some motherly advice that would help me out of my predicament. She had more than advice; she had insight. After I told my mother the story, her response was, "You know, something like that happened to me once," and she proceeded to tell me about the time that she had spent all day canning homemade salsa. That night she took her contacts out without a thought and the next morning when she put them in again, she had the same problem. We decided that I shouldn't try to put them in for a couple days until the jalapeno had a chance to wash off my hands. I think I'm going to scrub my hands with some baking soda to help neutralize the jalapeno. Then, I am going to soak my contact in milk for a while and then wash it with my contact solution and let it soak in that for a while. Hopefully that will take care of the burning. Until then, I am wearing my glasses, blah. I think I want corrective eye surgery sooner rather than later.

The moral of the story is, if you are handling jalapeno peppers, either wear gloves or wash your hands with baking soda afterward so as not to inadvertently burn your eyes.

In case anyone was wondering, the refried beans turned out awesome. We wrapped them up with cheese in whole wheat tortillas, topped with salsa and had a fresh green salad on the side. It was a scrumptious, healthy dinner.

For Tiff

I know it is difficult to see because the picture is so small. Mom is in the middle holding baby Kirk. I think she looks just like Alyssa -- or does Alyssa look just like Mom. You'll have to look at this picture in a bigger format when you get your CD. This doesn't really do it justice.

Bread and Beans

I've decided that I am joining the popular club of bread making--I think. I've been feeling extremely "homemakerish" lately, so I've made homemade wheat bread a couple times in the past 2 weeks. Tiff, I love your wheat bread recipe, thanks for sharing. Homemade bread tastes so much better than anything you can get in the store and it costs less too. Every time I eat a slice, I never want to go back to store bought bread, so I am going to join the better majority of my sisters and make a valiant effort at baking all of our bread. I will be reserving a loaf of store-bought bread in the freezer just in case. I don't have a stand mixer, so I do it all by hand, which really isn't too bad, but I reserve the right to revert back to store bought bread during any given period of time where I feel too overwhelmed to make it myself.

In preperation for the new baby (back to my nesting) I've been searching around for some yummy and easy slow cooker/freezer recipes for quick dinners after the baby is here (and before too). I've found quite a few that I will have to share after I try them out, but I'm still looking for more. If anyone has some suggestions of really easy meals/recipes that I can make ahead of time and throw in my freezer, please let me know.

Brandon had school off this passed week. We've been trying to be prepared as possible for a new baby in the middle of a school semester, so he spent part of his week shop-vacumming my entire apartment. He did all the walls, baseboards, vents, shelves, knick knacks, you name it, he shop-vact it. And all at his own suggestion, I didn't even have to ask. I am a lucky, spoiled mamma. Thanks honey, you're the best and the apartment looks great!

We all know that my daughter is not like most typical toddlers. She is extremely sweet natured and easy going and really doesn't give us much trouble at all. We recently upgraded her to a "big girl" twin sized bed and for the most part that has been going fantastic. We have only had a couple incidences of her wandering into our bedroom either in the middle of the night or early in the morning. The transition has gone very smooth and she likes that she gets to be a big girl.

One of most unusual things about Ashley is her love for fresh produce. Fruit is actually not really surprising, what's not to like about something fresh, sweet and juicy? Her preference to vegetables over any other food during mealtime is another story. She always eats all of her vegetables first thing. She usual eats most things pretty well, but sometimes I have to coax her into trying the rest of her dinner by promising more vegetables if she will eat a couple bites. Does that seem odd to anyone else? Don't you usually persuade your children to eat all of their dinner by dangling the possibility of dessert over their heads? I believe Rochelle has a rule about you can't have dessert unless you eat your veggies (I'm sure she isn't the only Mom with that rule). Apparently that is not going to be issue at my house, at least with this child. Who's to say what this rascally little boy will be like. I've got a feeling I'm in for it with him, Ashley is just too good to be true.

Anyway, yesterday I made a slow-cooker BBQ chicken recipe with baked potatoes. The vegetable was to be canned green beans, which Ashley particularly loves. Ashley is usually fairly involved with the dinner making process. She likes to stand on a chair at the counter with me and assist with small tasks like mixing. Her main role is a supervisory one, she wants to know what's going on. She wasn't seeming terribly excited about the chicken or potatoes. I pulled the green beans out of the pantry at the last minute. Brandon (who doesn't particularly care for canned green beans) was telling Ashley that we would be having green beans with dinner. She excitedly yelled, "Yay!" and started dancing all around the kitchen. All for green beans. Honestly, how did I end up with this child?