Table for Eight

Ree Drummond's (Pioneer Woman on Food Network) Chicken Fried Steak (and broccoli). Dave made it for us last night and it was awesome. (And messy. Holy deep fryer.)   I'm affectionately dubbing this summer my "Chicken Fried Summer." Why, you ask? Because I think my post-Survivor way of coping with transitions, stress, etc., has been to EAT. Anything and everything! Sour gummy worms? Don't mind if I do. Chocolate cake? Sure. Green olives and chocolate cake?  Uh ... okay, sure! The overeating is kinda (emphasis on KIND OF) funny for someone who starved on an island in the Philippines for 39 days last year, but work with me: I'm doing the best I can. And when I can do best er , I will. Promise. In the meantime, I'm just trying to begin a regular exercise routine to balance out the extra food intake AND love myself as I journey through this phase. And even that hasn't been super easy for some reason.  (For those of you w...

I finally meet Sherri in the game! (She's from Idaho, PS. 5 hours away from Utah. Fun!) Me, Sherri, and Erik--on MERGE DAY. Survivor Caramoan. (c) CBS, 2012, Monty Brinton. My apologies to PETA or whomever governs the care in invertebrates overseas ... because this week's Survivor i s INCREDIBL E. In addition to MERGING tribes (so long NuGota and N ewBikal = AMEN!), they've brought back a classic Survivor challenge: the food -eating challenge (where you eat foods native to the la n d where you are living --Philippines). The promo s are showing pretty much everything in the chall enge, so lemme just start with these little fellas : BEETLE LARVAE! Talk about earning a payche ck ( Corinne's phrase)! I felt horrible --for about 2 seco nds--when I learned we'd be doing this. (For a mill ion dollars and some protein, I'll eat a living bug. Sad, but true.) Beetle larvae. Sorry to say, alive. Apparently these are eaten in the Philippines regul...

Jay and Jr. built this rollercoaster yesterday.  It's pretty amazing--see video below. When I was young er, I never imag ined I'd be a mother of 6 k iddos.  It sounds like so many kids, no? A half-dozen ?! I mean really, even today when someone asks me how many children we have, I'm almost shocked to hear my own reply : "We have six children ." Six! That's a lot of small people under our watch.   S o much responsibilit y.   And so much ... well, so much of everything! I'm g rateful I get to spend my time o n the planet with each of our beautiful kids.  I love you Jay, Bam, Papaya, Jr., Zu and Lu . (And I'm grat eful to each of their birthpar ents for bringing us together. I love you, too. XOX O .)     Jr., Z, Papaya, Bam and Lu--in line for the ferris wheel at Sheel's. Bam and our dog Harriet. Bam. Papaya. Papaya and Lu--when it snowed last Friday. Our neighborhood park ... a...

There's a great scene i n the movie The Bird Cage , where Robin Williams' chara cter is concerned about his partner's sta te of mind ( played by Nathan Lan e ).   A s he ( Williams) laundry-lists his concerns , Lane's character heads o ver to their "Humble Man-Servant" ( Hank A zaria) and says, "Give me a PIRIN" tablet and I'll be fin e." To which William s' character says, "You're giving him drugs?" To which Azaria replies, "No. Shhhh ! It's A spirin with the 'A' and the 'S' scratched off. " Fol ks. I think Dave and I have been living that scene over and over again these past two weeks--as life has dealt us some pretty overwhelming challenges. And honestly, if it weren't for the PIRIN tablets (and a n insanely funny /supportive family ) , I think I'd have a head ache the size of Tex as.   So, what are the challenges? Well, I think they're norma l every d...