To Do or not To Do List – Week 3

1. Wash bedsheets. Lather, rinse, repeat x3.
2. Make Hubby’s Dentist appointment.
3. Get interview questions ready for Whoorl for the Great Interview Project. (Thanks, Neil!)
4. Hopefully get rid of this migraine that has lasted 4 days.
5. Fill out paperwork for Scamp’s Dr. Appt on Friday.
6. Check to see if we can still go to above appointment since we switched insurance carriers. Pray we still can.
7. Go to Home Depot. Pick up new sprayer for sink. Look into shelves for Lazy Susan cabinet. Maybe also a cabinet for the laundry room too.
8. Reorganize closet. Purge items I haven’t worn in at least a year.
9. It might be time for a mani/pedi.
10. Post another new dish I plan to make this week. Coq au Riesling. Nigella Lawson, natch.
11. Snuggle with my boys, and catch up to the Hubby on Guitar Hero 3. (He’s SO competitive!)

Love is Maturity in All its Shapes, Sizes and Forms

The Love Thursday is back, and not a moment too soon, if you ask me. (and you DID ask me, didn’t you? I could have sworn I heard something…) Shutter Sisters has kicked things off so I thought I would shine the spotlight on my oldest…..

…but then as I was putting this together he snuck in and scared the bejeezus out of me. I actually jumped. He laughed and the whole maturity thing went out the window.

But I digress.

The past few days have been just a little on the left side of hell for me. The weather has been cruddy, and my migraine has reemerged with a vengeance. The two left side tires on my MomVan decided to crap out, and I have been so distracted I didn’t notice it. My neighbor did as I was driving away from the school, with 5 children in the van. Only one of them was mine. He called me on my cell as I was driving home. He helped make sure we got home safely and filled up my tires so I could at least get to the tire place. I spent 3 hours at the tire store while they replaced one tire, refilled the other, and replaced my brake pads, because they were bad too.

It never rains, it just pours here, people.

So, car fixed! Still have migraine though. Tried to be good, healthy mom and put a stew kit from Tyson in the Crock Pot. People, this thing was HORRIBLE. Vile, even. Threw it out and picked up something quick. Came home, and crawled into bed. When I get these, it is really about all I can do. So since The Hubby is in Alabama for work, the boys were pretty much left on their own for the nighttime rituals. Spiff rose to the challenge and did a fantastic job. He really has been lately trying to make better choices and be a little bit more mature. Last night he nailed it, and tonight since I am not feeling 100% better, he is still trying to make things easier for me.

Except for the scaring thing, but we’ll overlook that. Just this once.

So for this Love Thursday I salute my son, my teenager, who has the ability to drive me absolutely bananas with his forgetfulness and idiosyncrasies; but also is trying each and every day to do his best. I’m incredibly proud of the young man he is becoming. So thank you, Spiff, for all of your help the past few nights. I couldn’t have done it without you.

Now, go pick up your sopping wet towel off the floor in the bathroom. Thanks.

Love you so much Spiff!

Deconstructionist Theory

Kristen commented in my last post that Scamp didn’t really fit the words on his T-shirt in this photo:

Truth in Advertising

Boys and Their Toys

Julie of Mothergoosemouse (and various other places) is getting ready to add to her family, a beautiful baby boy, and in her honor I would like to take a moment to share with her (and you, because you? are AWESOME too) why I have two boys, and not three.

Or four for that matter, because that sense of humor that God has? I’m well acquainted with it.

1. Boys are color blind when they are young. This is the only excuse I have as to how my teenager can walk out of the house wearing a blue-red T-Shirt with orange shorts and call it fashionable.

2. Newborn boys WILL pee on you. It’s part of some sort of newborn hazing ritual. Scamp peed so much right after he was born while he was on the warming table that a nurse mistook him for a fountain. It was hilarious.
3. Boys will, at some point, try on mommy’s shoes. As I type this, Scamp is moseying around my house wearing my Uggs. He’s also been seen wearing my flats and kitten heels. Take pictures. It’s just as cute (and funny!) for boys as it is for little girls. And oh! the embarrassment you’ll cause later? Priceless.
4. A boy’s idea of cleaning consists for shoving everything either in a closet or under the bed. Or in a drawer. Or in their brother’s room.
5. I recommend that you put a large piece of plastic underneath their chair where they eat meals in your home. Continue this trend even after they outgrow the highchair. You may want to just keep it there until they leave home. Or buy a dog.
6. The penis? For some odd reason, even though Daddy is much better equipped to handle all things penis, you’ll get asked the questions. A lot. Start reading up, but even that won’t be enough. I just start speaking in another language and shake my head. This worked well until he took Spanish in Middle School. Now I’m studying Japanese. Wish me luck.
7. You will have to know how to put together all of the Transformers, the LEGOs, and the Hot Wheels tracks. Expertly. I have no other tips for you except have band-aids handy. and a stiff drink.
8. You will have to pick up the pieces of their broken heart when some evil girl smashes it to smithereens. You will also have to fight the mad urge to go kill said girl; but see, I just warned you. My work here is done.
9. You will become an expert in detecting whether or not they have showered by how the towel is hung up in the bathroom. In our house, it is lovingly bunched on the floor, sopping wet.
10. You will find humor in bodily functions, and farts become a running joke. Burping becomes a second language, and a quest to create the loudest, most resonant underarm fart is yours to be had. Embrace it, revel in it, because honestly? Girls don’t do any of this.

Not without lots of alcohol, anyway.

Boys are wonderful, and messy, and perfect. Congratulations Julie!! Mazel Tov!

Love,
CrazedMommy and her Clan*

*where she is outnumbered 3 to 1 by the male species.

To Do or Not To Do (List) – Week 2

1. Drop off dress and suit at cleaners (because I didn’t do it last week)
2. Pick up comforters from said dry cleaners (see parenthesis above)
3. Go get check in Oviedo. (Because I forgot last week)
4. Wash bedsheets. Lather, rinse, repeat x3.
5. Do weekly grocery shopping.
6. Make Hubby’s Dentist appointment.
7. Pay each child $5 for helping to do yard work.
8. Mop kitchen floor.
9. Vacuum too if I’m so inclined.
10. Maybe pay closer attention to this list.
11. What the heck, I could probably dust around here too.
12. Play Guitar Hero III until I drop.
13. Search for more Southern Comfort.
14. Thank the powers that be who approved this 4 day weekend. Huzzah!

Sundays were made for memes

I have the BEST. HUBBY. EVER.

If you need me….

If I Went Vegan, I Would Eat These Almost Every Day

Assertagirl and the Canadian BlogHer’s ACT! are going vegan for one month.

Bless them, because there is NO WAY I could do that. NO, really. Don’t tell me I could if I WANTED to, because I JUST CAN’T.

(I know. I’m weak. I’m surprisingly okay with that.)

But…if I did, I would probably have these dishes every chance I got. You couldn’t eat them as part of the same meal because they are vastly different. The first, a salad, is light and summery, and perfect for me every other day but today here in Florida. It’s rather cold and windy outside. (Yes, 64 degrees to a Floridian is cold, thankyouverymuch.) The next dish is PERFECT for today, and if I had all the ingredients on hand, I would have made it tonight. The reason I would have made it tonight is because what I DID make the kids didn’t want (Chicken Nuggets breaded in panko, cheddar-garlic biscuits and broccoli) and I would have enjoyed these more, I think.

Actually, I know I would have.

Both of these recipes are courtesy of Nigella Lawson. Her recipe track record is amazing; there has only been one or two things out of many that I didn’t like the outcome. These are not them.

Recipe #1: Watermelon, Feta and Black Olive Salad

I have never met a black olive I didn’t like. I look forward to the holidays, mainly for the fact that I can justify buying the many cans of black olives to “serve” at gatherings; but really eat them all by myself. This salad is light, sweet, tart and perfect.

INGREDIENTS:

1 small red onion
2-4 limes depending on juiciness
3 & 1/2lb. sweet, ripe watermelon
9oz feta cheese
bunch of flat leaf parsley
bunch of mint, chopped
3-4 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
4oz (1/2 cup) black olives
black pepper

PREPARATION:

Peel and halve the red onion and cut into very fine half moons and put in a small bowl to steep with the lime juice, to bring out the transparent pinkness in the onions and diminish their rasp.

Two limes’ worth should do it, but you can find the fruits disappointingly dried up and barren when you cut them in half, in which case add more.

Remove the rind and pips from the watermelon, and cut into approximately 1&3/4-inch triangular chunks, if that makes sense (math is not my strong point).

Cut the feta into similar sized pieces and put them both into a large, wide shallow bowl. Tear off sprigs of parsley so that it is used like a salad leaf, rather than a garnish, and add to the bowl along with the chopped mint.

Tip the now glowingly puce onions, along with their pink juices over the salad in the bowl; add the oil and olives, then using your hands toss the salad very gently so that the feta and melon don’t lose their shape.

Add a good grinding of black pepper and taste to see whether the dressing needs more lime.

Serves 6

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Recipe #2: Linguine with Lemon, Garlic, and Thyme Mushrooms

I have to come clean, I haven’t made this recipe yet. I did make another recipe that was Nigella’s, and it smelled SO AMAZINGLY GOOD we couldn’t wait until the next day to try it for our lunches. And when I say we, I mean The Hubby and me. My kids rarely try new foods unless drugged by grandma’s special grandma-like potion or they are at someone else’s house. Usually without me, of course, so I only hear about, and not see, this Guinness Book of World Record moment.

Ah, the joys of parenting.

But I plan to make it. Next week, actually, when my kids want a cardboard pizza from the freezer and I want something delicious and not cardboard. Since I’m making it, so should you.

INGREDIENTS:

8 ounces/4 cups finely sliced chestnut/cremini mushrooms
1/3 cup extra-virgin olive oil
1 tablespoon kosher salt or 1 1/2 teaspoons table salt
Small clove garlic, minced
1 lemon, zested and juiced
4 sprigs fresh thyme stripped to give 1 teaspoon leaves
1 pound linguine
1 bunch fresh parsley, leaves chopped, to give 1/2 cup
2 to 3 tablespoons freshly grated Parmesan, or to taste
Freshly ground black pepper

PREPARATION:

Slice the mushrooms finely, and put them into a large bowl with the oil, salt, minced garlic, lemon juice and zest, and gorgeously scented thyme leaves.

Cook the pasta according to the packet instructions and drain loosely retaining some water. Quickly put the pasta into the bowl with the mushroom mixture.

Toss everything together well, and then add the parsley, cheese and pepper before tossing again. Eat with joy in your heart.

Serves 4 to 6
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Easy Peasy, delicious, and vegan. I may put down the Slim Jims yet.

A Reminder, and an Update

Because if I don’t do this, there is a good chance Styrofoam will go in there. And then I will have to cry, and I’m not a pretty crier. At all.

Funny, no?

UPDATE: Spiff has moved past the kerfluffle with the young girl. He doesn’t care if she doesn’t like him. I’m actually pretty proud of him that he has moved past it. I guess time will tell if he really has, because he tends to bring things up again from years past like it was just yesterday that it happened. So I guess we will see.