One Can Never Be Too Safe

A bite of spaghetti. 

        

A spoonful of grapefruit.

         

A bite of spaghetti.

        

A spoonful of grapefruit.

         

Another bite of spaghetti.

      

Another spoonful of grapefruit.

          

He alternated every bite of lunch by donning and doffing protective eyegear each time he switched from spaghetti to grapefruit.

Because that morning he had witnessed a tragic grapefruit-eye-squirting-tragedy when his sister was cruelly attacked by an angry grapefruit.

And he vowed he would not be the next victim.

        

        

He is so very, very brave. 

Thankful

I could write a sappy, soppy entry about all I’m thankful for, because I really am thankful for so much. 

But I’m not going to.

Instead I’ll tell you about a little exchange I had this morning with Jack.  He reminds me that we should all just be thankful for the little things in life…like saws:

Jack:  Mom, when I grow up and I’m in jail, will you visit me and don’t forget to bring a saw so you can cut me out.

Me:  Jack, why will you be in jail?  Are you planning to be a naughty grown-up?

Jack:  In case I rob a bank or something.

Me:  But you’re a good boy now!  I don’t think you’ll be a naughty grown-up!

Jack:  Mom!  Just in case!  Bring a saw!

Me:  Jack, I promise to bring you a saw if you promise to not ever rob a bank and go to jail.

Jack:  Okay, mom, deal.


My funny little fella.   I am thankful for so much.

Aww, heck, it got sappy after all.

Pumpkin White Chocolate Chip Cookies

Yesterday I made cookies to send with the kids for the bus driver and for their teachers for Thanksgiving.  The recipe comes from the cookie exchange I co-host every year with my friend Trudy (more on that in a future post).  This cookie was made one year by my friend Jolein, and I’ve made it in the fall every year since then. 

Ben says they are absolutely the best cookie in the world.

I was actually going to make these for teachers for Halloween, but they got pushed off to Thanksgiving when it hit me, as I was looking through the kids’ candy haul, that I had completely forgotten to make the darn things.
 
I have found an extremely efficient way to bake cookies.  I use three cookie sheets and keep them moving on a rotating basis, starting on the bottom rack of the oven, moving to the top, and then out of the oven to be emptied and refilled. 

You can see in the photo below that the cookies on top have already done half their oven time and the ones on the bottom are just starting.  While they’re both in the oven I’m emptying/refilling the third cookie sheet.

When the timer goes off, out comes the top sheet, up goes the bottom  sheet, and in goes the sheet I’ve just filled!
After the cookies have cooled I drizzle them with some melted canned frosting mixed with brown sugar…I know it’s cheating, but it’s easy and yummy!  I just put the melted frosting in a baggie and cut a tiny hole in the corner.  Placing the cooled cookies on paper towels makes clean up very easy.

Pumpkin White Chocolate Chip Cookies

2 c. butter

2 c. sugar

1 – 16 oz. can pumpkin

2 eggs

4 c. flour

2 t. pumpkin pie spice

1 t. baking powder

1/2 t. baking soda

1 – 12 oz. bag white chocolate chips

1 – 16 oz. container cream cheese frosting

1/4 c. packed brown sugar

-Cream butter and sugar, add pumpkin and eggs, beat until smooth.  Add flour, spice, baking powder and soda.  Stir in white chocolate chips. 
-Drop by teaspoonfuls about 2 inches apart onto a greased or parchment paper covered cookie sheet. 
-Bake 13-14 minutes or until set.
-Combine frosting and brown sugar in a small bowl.  Microwave about 30 seconds until melted, stir well, then drizzle over cooled cookies.
Enjoy!

(Get Your Photo) Before the Parade Passes By!

Maddie was in our local holiday parade over the weekend.  Grandma asked if she and my niece Shayla wanted to ride on the Red Hat float (Red Hatters are all ladies past a certain mature age who get together to do fun things like eat out—they do that a lot—and ride in parades).  Maddie was absolutely thrilled to don the sequined (red) Santa hat and become a future Red Hatter for a few hours.

We dropped Maddie off at the parade organization point and headed down Cumberland Street to claim a spot.  The parade was great!  Every high school band in the county was there, plus lots of fire trucks and church group floats, midget football teams, local gymnastic studios, and Brownie troops.

Ben sat on my lap for most of it.  I bounced my legs to the beat when the bands went by to the embarrassment of my cringing Ben.  “Stop it, mom!”  he’d say.  Not because he minded the bouncing, but because he thought all the teenagers in the band were looking at him.  GAAA! I’m already making my son embarrassed!  He’s only 8!

Grandpa was also in the parade, playing with a band comprised mostly of grandpas.  He went by so quickly, all I got was this:

…then he  heard us yelling at him and he turned and smiled. Look at this lovely shot:

Then the band started to play:


Oh well.

Finally, the last two minutes of the parade, the float we were really waiting for:
 

Pictured here:  Shayla, Grandma, and Maddie

I actually had to run down the street for the last picture.  I was using my zoom and snapping so quickly, I didn’t realize I missed Shayla in the first closeup picture!  I’m going to talk to the Parade Organizer next year about slowing the parade down for us slowpoke  photographers.

I’ve always loved the musical Hello, Dolly!  Here’s a quote that seems to fit today’s post:

When the whistles blow
And the cymbals crash
And the sparklers light the sky
I'm gonna raise the roof
I'm gonna carry on
Give me an old trombone
Give me an old baton
Before the parade passes by!

Before the parade passes by
I've gotta get some life back into my life
I'm ready to move out in front
I've had enough of just passing by life
With the rest of them
With the best of them
I can hold my head up high
For I've got a goal again
I've got a drive again
I wanna feel my heart coming alive again
Before the parade passes by.

I Guess a Christmas Bonus is Out of the Question

My husband is a hard worker, a detail-oriented perfectionist who wakes up at 5 a.m. to start work in our home office and usually finishes his day by 7 p.m.  Finishes is the wrong word, as he still pecks away at emails on his Blackberry and keeps sorting out work issues in his head while reading the evening paper or wrestling on the floor with the kids.  He often heads back into his office after the kids head to bed to do what appears to be a lot of graph analyzing and other boring looking stuff like that.

But now he finds he suddenly has a lot of time on his hands.

Because he was abruptly“let go” from his job on Thursday afternoon.  He’ll get glowing references from the company which, like many companies, is struggling in this economy (the same company for which he missed Labor Day, Halloween, his birthday, my birthday, Valentine's Day, and Mother's Day all in one year).  We saw it coming then, so luckily I have been back in the teaching saddle again as a substitute (and I wrote my first resume in twenty years on Thursday night to apply for some long-term subbing jobs—scary), but it was still a shock.

Right now I just feel sick to my stomach.

Dave, as always, is optimistic and looking forward to some new experiences and finding that perfect new position, which is, hopefully, out there and will be available soon. 

Please.
   

A fringe benefit of unemployment? 

No more Skyping Daddy on all of his business trips!!

On My Nightstand

My friend Stephanie asked me to do a post about what’s on my nightstand.  I think she meant What are you reading, Beth?, but I’ll take it literally and give you a picture.


So, on my nightstand….lots of dust.  And some reading glasses that I now unfortunately need.  My electric blanket switch, t.v. remote, and telephone, a candle (never been lit), a picture of Dave and me, a pair of earrings and a ponytail holder and two hair clips.  Two cough drops and some ear buds for an ipod.  A lamp.  And eight books.

I’m currently reading Dune Road by Jane Green. It’s just okay.  Also on there are the three books I just read (Saturday by Ian McEwan and Me Talk Pretty One Day by David Sedaris are both waiting to go back to the library tomorrow.  The Girlfriend’s Guide to Getting Your Groove Back  by Vicki Iovine is waiting to go back to my sister-in-law.  The book didn’t work by the way.  My groove is long-gone and considered MIA.)

That’s four down, four to go.

Waiting to be read are two books I picked up at a yard sale.  I’m saving these for the day when I have no good library books to read, as library books have a deadline and yard sale books do not.  My two yard sale books are The Secrets of the Fire King by Kim Edwards and Babyville by Jane Green.  The library book waiting for me is The Crowning Glory of Calla Lilly Ponder by Rebecca Wells who wrote the Ya-Ya-Sisterhood books.

I can't wait to read my final book, that is cozily nestled amongst the tiny dustbunnies.  I actually bought this book!  As a longtime fan of Jane Austen’s Pride and Prejudice, I was thrilled to find a novel based entirely on her masterpiece, but with zombies in the cast.  Who could not resist that???

Pride and Prejudice and Zombies

                  

I left the 20% off sticker on there on purpose---my husband will appreciate it.

If you’ve read P&P, you’'ll see why the first paragraph of the book hooked me: 

“It is a truth universally acknowledged that a zombie in possession of brains must be in want of more brains.  Never was this more plain than during the recent attacks at Netherfield Park, in which a household of eighteen was slaughtered and consumed by a horde of the living dead.  ‘My dear Mr. Bennet,’ said his lady to him one day, ‘have you heard that Netherfield Park is occupied again?’”

Seriously!  The quintessential Comedy of Manners has been overtaken by zombies???  I can’t wait! (Let me just add here that I am not generally a fan of slasher/thriller/blood and guts books...I just have to see how someone can take this novel and follow Austen's storyline exactly while adding zombies to the mix).

So, if you’re able to comment (good luck with that…I’m not sure why no one’s been allowed to comment), I’d love to hear what’s on your nightstand!

Blog Your Little Heart Out

I was asked recently how I find time to blog.  This may have been said in that jellyfish compliment kind of way---you know:  it sounds like a compliment, but it’s really a sting.  Similarly, another friend recently said, "Wow, Beth, you sure do read a lot of books, I just don't have time to read!"  I guess the jellyfish meaning here is they are busy taking care of their children or working a job or scrubbing their baseboards while I am cuddled up all day with my nose in a book and the pool boy, Paco, massaging my feet. Of course there is no Paco.  And I don't read during daylight either.

After the kids go to bed, I usually read instead of watching t.v.  Don’t ask me what’s going on with the Kardashians or who is Lost or who was eliminated on American Idol or Dancing With the Stars. But I can never say that to people because it sounds like I’m looking down my nose at those who watch t.v. 

Which I most definitely am not. 

I used to love t.v. before I got too old to stay up late.  Now I just want to crawl into bed as soon as the last prayer is said and the last lullaby is sung, and I usually just choose to read (on most nights except Thursday.  The Office and 30Rock—YOU ROCK!)

But I digress.

So anyway, it’s easy to blog.  First of all, if you’re interested in starting your own blog, look up in the top-right corner of my blog.  You can click on Create Blog and Blogspot will help you design a blog and get started.  That part is easy.

You will have to play around with it a little bit, and over time I’ve added things like the counter at the bottom of the page, pictures, Blogs I Follow, and so on.

Writing is fairly easy too.  I tend to get an idea in my head, and then I think through the idea while I’m mowing the lawn or showering or as a means of blocking out Jack’s constant chatter.  When I finally sit down to write, it’s when the kids are all in school or bed, and by then I’ve got my idea pretty well diagrammed out in my steel trap of a brain. 

What was I talking about again?

Hmmmmm. 

So then I type it all out.  I use Windows Live Writer to do my actual typing.  I downloaded it from somewhere when I got frustrated with Blogspot’s terrible picture downloading process (I hear they’ve fixed that now, but I still use Windows Live Writer).  Then I click on publish, and WLW transfers what I’ve posted to Blogspot. 

My friend Wendy recently started her own blog, (click here to see it) and it’s fabulous.  And I’m so jealous because she has actual Followers who type actual Comments at the end of her posts.  I have one Follower (thanks Stephanie!) and used to have another who I think pulled out of following me because she was embarrassed to be the only one willing to commit to my fledgling blog at the time (come back, Maria!)

If you would like to become a Follower, go to the top-left of this page and click on "Follow". I think you have to “follow” in order to “comment”, but once you become a Follower I’d love to have any input from anyone!

Well, good luck to you if you’re going to try blogging.  And let me know if you do, I’d love to follow you!

Flu Shot-Maddie’s Perspective

A few posts ago I wrote about our yearly flu shot drama.  You can read about it by clicking here.

Yesterday at Maddie’s school conference, the teacher sent home Maddie’s account of the same day.  They were so similar (though I think hers is written much more artistically), I had to share it…great minds think alike!

 

“’I can do this,” I thought.  I tried to concentrate on my copy of Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire.  “Dumbledore’s what?”  I put the book down.  I couldn’t concentrate on it.  I heard a lot of little kids crying.  You could tell it was flu shot day.  I could hear explosions in my head.  Then a nurse called our name.  All of a sudden everything in my head got silent.

When we got to the room, my mom and I sat down on two hard, grey chairs. 

My brother, Ben, said he wanted to go first.  I looked away when he got his shot.  I hate looking at people getting shots.  After Ben got his shot, I felt like I was going to throw up.  My mom rushed me to the bathroom.  When I didn’t throw up, my mom said that we shouldn’t keep the nurse waiting.  Then I had to get my shot.

I had to sit on the tissue paper-covered examining table.  The nurse washed the spot (where she was going to give me the shot) with some rubbing alcohol.  It smelled like nail polish remover (P.U.)  Then she said, ‘I’m ready to give you your shot.’

The nurse put the medicine in the shot and said, "’Let me know when you’re ready'.’

Several minutes passed.  Then I said, ‘I’m ready.’  The nurse put on rubber inspection gloves and picked up the shot.  I looked away.  The nurse said not to make my arm go tense, because it would hurt  more.  Then she gave me my shot.  It felt like you prick yourself with a pin.

‘Wow!’ I said, ’That didn’t hurt!’ The nurse told me "’Don’t forget it didn’t hurt next  time you get a shot!’

I thought to myself, ‘Shots aren’t that bad!’”

Jump In!

Our neighborhood has friendly faces and children zooming around on scooters, and well-tended lawns with pumpkins and mums plopped in front of mailboxes and front porches.

But it does not have mature trees.

And I really love trees.  I keep bugging Dave to add more trees to our yard, but he likes the open space.  The trees we do have are babies or maybe tweens.  But they are definitely not even close to being grown up. 

So on Wednesday, a free afternoon with no piano lesson or swim practice or choir rehearsal, we jumped in the car and headed to Grandma and Grandpa’s house.  They have lots of mature trees, therefore there were lots of crunchy, golden leaves littering the ground!
First some raking…
         

           

But before we were able to jump…Grandpa arrived!
              

Now let’s get jumping!

                 

          

                

The boys gave up on the leaf jumping after a few minutes but Maddie loved it and raked pile after pile (and destroyed pile after pile!) 
I found the boys in here….Grandpa’s workshop…Jack working the sander, Ben working the jigsaw.  Guess it’s hard to compete with power tools.

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My Smart Boy

So we go trick-or-treating and we get three bags full of an unbelievable amount of cavity-inducing treasure.  Pounds of it.

What we find works for us is that each child looks through his/her bag, pulls out his/her favorites, and puts them in a gallon Ziploc bag labeled with his/her name.  The rest goes in the community bowl, so that mommy and daddy can gorge ourselves enjoy the occasional treat.  After each child’s personal bag is eventually eaten, they can also take from the community bowl (because once the KitKats and Reese’s PB Cups are gone, mommy and daddy stop helping ourselves anyway.)

But Ben has figured out a way to work the system. 

He is not taking his desserts and lunch box snacks from his personal bag—he is taking them from the community bowl.  In a few months when Maddie and Jack’s bags are gone and the community bowl has trickled down to stale Laffy Taffy and smashed Smarties, Ben will still have his bag of candy to draw from. 

So do I let Maddie and Jack in on this little trick?  So far I have turned a blind eye, figuring Ben’s smarts deserve a little reward.  If Maddie or Jack notices this and sees the beauty of it, they too may enjoy their snacks from the community bowl. 

But for now, as long as he stays away from the KitKats, his secret is safe with me.

Get This Song Outta My Head!

A long, long, long, long time ago, I used to listen to my own music in the car.  No Disney songs or Bible School soundtracks or God-help-me Caillou DVD’s blaring in the background.

I was really into musicals at one point and the soundtracks from both “Rent” and “Les Miserables” were constantly playing in my head. 

How lucky I was then.

Jack has been watching the “Fresh Beat Band” on Nick Jr. for about a month now.  This new show is definitely watchable, the characters are all smiley and fun and kind of dopey but lovable, and they sing and dance to pop rock type music.  I initially felt a surge of happiness when the show came on.  Finally!  He’s not watching Caillou!

I hate Caillou.

But these songs are going through all our heads, all hours of the day.  I wake up at 2 a.m. to make a little trip to the bathroom and find myself singing , “We had a great day!  We had a super daaay.” 

Ben says, “Goes a little something like this.  Come on.”  And we all start singing “LAAAA La La La La LAAALA”.

Dave dances out of his office humming “Let’s stick-stick together…Best best friends forever.”

And I heard Maddie in the shower singing “Uh-oh, Oh-No What’cha say? Uh-oh Oh-no, things are kind of trick-ay.”

Jack has every song memorized.  Every song.

I long for the days of Cosette & Jean Valjean and Mark & Roger.  I want to have a song running through my brain that isn’t referencing the fact that one of the characters got his feet stuck in buckets. 

However, I could have the Caillou theme song pummeling my brain cells over and over and over so I guess I should stop complaining and count my blessings.