Beef, beef and more beef with Star Wars, Star Wars and more Star Wars

This isn't quite the holiday update post I had planned, but I guess that will come later.

What do beef and Star Wars have to do with each other. In our house this week we have had an overdose of both. Where shall I begin???

I am so sick of beef right now. I discovered on Monday that one of our freezers had thawed almost completely. I'm thinking the circuit blew on Saturday when we (or rather, the boys) were messing with the Christmas lights. I'm thankful we have two freezers and the 1/4 cow we bought in September was split between the two. After tossing 4 very large packages of steaks and 2 pounds of ground beef into the trash I got to grilling (this would have been Andy's job, but he was in Denver). I had a sickening amount of beef piled high in casserole dishes in the fridge. I grilled and cooled it (mostly steaks of many kinds) then sliced it thin and re-froze it to use in fajitas down the road. Then, I pulled out the crockpot and threw some beef in there. On Monday we ate shredded beef tacos. On Tuesday we ate BBQ beef sandwiches. On Wednesday we ate leftovers from the previous two. On Thursday we ate hamburgers. On Friday we ate spaghetti with ground beef. Today we are eating more hamburgers and quesadillas with ground beef. I can't do it any more. Tonight all leftovers are going back in the freezer and we're getting back to eating rice and beans (my favorite) for a while. Of course the boys say they could never eat enough cheese-burgers so they are perfectly happy.

Now on to Star Wars. Tegan has been asking for a Star Wars Marathon Party since August. I finally put him off by telling him to wait until January. Well, of course, January 1st arrived and he was ready to start planning his party. We sent an Evite (love these things - no stamps, envelopes or addresses needed) to four of his friends asking them to our Star Wars Marathon Party. They showed up today at 8am and started Episode I at 8:15am! It is now 7:15pm and they are on Episode V with only one more to go. The goal is to be done by 10pm. Tegan is in heaven and has been thoroughly engrossed in every episode. The others however, well.... one called late last night to say he couldn't make it at all...one stayed for one episode and that was enough...another called his mom to come get him after four episodes and I think the last friend is going to make it all the way (but he has said he would rather play for the rest of the time than watch the movies and as I write he and Riley have migrated to the trampoline with their light sabers). Riley and Conner had to take a forced break during Episode III because we will not let them see it yet. I think I would go crazy watching six movies in one day, but then maybe it's just a guy thing to do. Tegan is all about a good party with just the right food. He planned the menu for the day today and I served up all his requests minus the refined sugar that usually shows up in this stuff. I figured I didn't need seven boys trying to sit through over 12 hours of movies with a bunch of sugar in them. We started with pumpkin muffins and apple slices for breakfast during Episode I, followed by Episode II and a snack of strawberry milkshakes (amazing recipe I made up - 1 bag frozen strawberries, cover with FRESH whole milk with a bit of the cream shaken in, add 2-3 tablespoons of 100% Grade B maple syrup and blend until smooth). Episode II and lunch consisted of grilled hamburgers, healthy potato chips (if there really is such a thing), carrot sticks (offered, but not one was touched), clementines and Juice Sueezes (soda water mixed with 100% fruit juice). I did make some cookies for an afternoon snack during Episode IV. I was too lazy to go grind the wheat so I used some leftover "Christmas cookie" flour (aka white flour), but I also used real sugar and added butterscotch chips - as told in a long ago post, I learned my lesson, cookies are not supposed to be healthy so I no longer try to make them such. For dinner and Episode V they each had the choice of spaghetti or quesadillas and now I'm off to make some popcorn for the Episode VI. I feel like I've been working in a restaurant all day long, but it's been fun to serve them all and I've enjoyed letting Tegan do something he's been asking to do for a very long time. I think he will be the last man watching.