Digital Scrapbook

We went to Arlington Cemetary back in September shortly after Senator Kennedy's death and visited the Kennedy gravesites and enjoyed a beautiful day. Here are some of the pictures.

Tomb of the Unknown

Ted Kennedy's Grave with Custis - Lee Mansion in the Background

Ted Kennedy's Grave

Robert Kennedy's Grave

John Kenedy's Grave

More Music

If you know me, then you know that there is an abundance of music in my home. Our oldest son plays cello and piano. He is in a local youth orchestra in addition to his school orchestra. And since that evidently wasn't enough for him, he auditioned for and got into his school's Jazz Band. He's happy to be in a "band." Funny.

The lovely band and strings teacher at the elementary school has agreed to take the pipsqueak into orchestra one year early. Now he has extra music too.

What does this mean? Almost two hours of practicing kids almost every day. Wow!

Interesting Election Results

Or maybe not. Lots of talk about the three main contests yesterday, two of which were won by Republicans. Is this a sign of what mid-term elections have in store for us next year? I am not a political pundit (I play one on the internet). Here's what I think though. Poor Creigh Deeds just lacked any pizzazz. He reminded me a little of John Mc Cain. I doubted his sincerity. I doubted that he really wanted to win. As for Jon Corzine, his state has some of the highest taxes in the nation and he ran an expensive campaign, funded by the fortune he earned at Goldman Sachs. Perhaps he needed to go, even if he was a Democrat.

In Upstate NY, the first Democrat in something like 100 years was elected. That's weird. The Republican candidate dropped out the race a few days ago. Some really conservative was endorsed by Sarah Palin. Was that the kiss of death for him?

Must make dinner and go to the PTA meeting. I sense you are insane with jealousy. Try to restrain yourself. But before I go, I pose this question: Is there such a thing as too much NPR?

Enjoy your evening.

Just a Few Minutes

I only have a few minutes while Operation Save the Steak is underway.

For those of you who wonder where I have been all summer, I have been working. After 3 years of semi-working and semi-looking I actually have a job. I won't call it a career because I'm basically doing data entry but I'm being paid quite well for it and the people I work with are very kind. This means I've also had to pay for childcare all summer. That was unpleasant. Thankfully, it is over.

So here are some random thoughts on things that have happened over the summer.

On health care debates - You catch more flies with honey, people!
On celebrity deaths - I wonder when the rich and famous are going to realize that lots of cash does not equate to quality health care.
On swine flu - WASH YOUR FREAKING HANDS!!!
On Stay-cations - Lots to do in our hometown. We took a few field trips and will up date you soon with some more digital scrapbooks.

Enjoy your evening.

Last Day

It's finally the last day of school. Wouldn't you know it, my 7 year old is sick. He has A flu (fever, chills, aches, stuffy nose, vomiting) but we have not determined if it is THE flu. We will call the doctor in an hour and a half and get him in. Then, of course, we will do our civic duty and inform the school system of the diagnosis. No reports on the county health department site of current issues with THE flu. Keep your fingers crossed.

In other news on the same child, he has successfully fulfilled his obligation to be an official member of the swim team. He swam two events at time trials, 25 Freestyle (more like dog paddle) and 25 Backstroke (with arms fluttering underwater by his side). Sorry, no pictures yet. I'll have some soon, though.

The over-achieving older brother was pretty amazing, too. He swam three events, (50 back, breast and free) then decided he could do butterfly. After he finished butterfly he informed me he thought he'd be good for the IM. ????? I was so proud of his willingness to try something so far out of his comfort zone.

My kids are amazing. And I am officially very boring.

Enjoy your day.

Peace

I usually have Monday to myself, but for the past few weeks this has not been the case. You can imagine how happy I was when I realized this morning that I would once again, have my solitary Monday. My day has been quite boring. I submitted a urine sample for a drug screening for a job. I called my son's dentist to schedule an appointment. I called a company I've been trying to get a job with to find out the status of my job. I did some laundry. I cleaned a bathroom and did the breakfast dishes and I baked some rolls.

It is now 1:45 pm. My kids will be home in an hour and a half. I am watching a movie called Bright Young Things (not doing anything for me) and lounging without bonbons. I still have to take the kids to swim practice and buy team suits for them AND attend the 1st grade end of the year program. I still consider this to be a peaceful day. Once in a while, it's nice not to have to talk to anyone.

Enjoy your day.

Digital Scrapbook II

We drove to Capital Hill on Saturday and then took the Metro to the Smithsonian stop so we could visit the Natural History Museum. Of course, we saw the gems and paid homage to the Hope Diamond. Then we visited the Butterfly Pavilion. Here are some pictures.

Only one minute left to wait for the train!

Freaky looking butterfly.

Two butterflies resting on the wall.

Too bad I didn't pay more attention to the names of these pretty things!

Hiding in the flowers. Perhaps all the little girls with cameras were too much.

In Other News...

I finished The Samaritan's Secret. I know. It's a miracle. It was an excellent little who-dunnit with the twist of providing a small amount of insight into the many Palestinian views of conflict in the Middle East. And the insight was provided without a bit of anti-Israeli rhetoric. I highly recommend it. Now I've moved onto Three Cups of Tea by Greg Mortenson. In case you've been under a rock for the past few years, Three Cups is the story of a man who wanders into a Pakistani village after failing his attempt to climb K2 and how he was so moved by the people in the village and their daily struggle to survive that he decided to build a school for them. I'm possibly the last person on earth who hasn't read this book. So far, it's pretty delightful.

Enjoy your day!

New Toys

We got wi-fi yesterday so now I can blog from anywhere in my house. If only I knew what to blog about...

Summer has really officially begun because swim practice started today. My 7 year old is making his second attempt to get on the team. The requirement is that you need to be able to swim one length of the pool. He came down with a virus the day before time trials with a fever of 102 that hung on for days. It was very tragic. I was tense for him today, but he did an excellent job! He's got two weeks of practice to hone his skills but I think he's going to do this. 

I love our swim team. It's a little neighborhood team that's very low key. It's the perfect athletic endeavor for our kids. Low emphasis on personal success. Big emphasis on fun fun fun!

We have very few other activities planned for the summer, mainly because their isn't a lot of money to pay for them but I truly enjoy having summers free. No schlepping kids to and fro from one expensive activity to another. Lots of time at the pool. Excellent tans. Time for everyone to enjoy their friends and for all of us to just be with each other. 

I do love summer.

Life on the Farm

My brother John lives north of St. Paul, MN. He and his wife, Debi have enough land that they are able to have lots of animals; including dogs, rabbits and some baby ducks that pay a brief visit each spring.

Not entirely sure what this is. This animal does not reside on John's land.

This is Simon walking his dog Tickle.
Tickle loves Simon so much he has jumped in the tub with him.

These are the ducks who have come to stay until they decide to leave.

This is a huge rabbit. He's bigger than Tickle.

This is Simon feeding a horse. I like the shadows.

Simon would absolutely love a horse of his own.

With Apologies to A.A Milne

Last night, our little dog had a stroke of courage and ran up the stairs. In two years, he has not attempted this feat without one of his youthful owners standing behind him. All I can think is that the thought of being away from his two precious little boys gave him the adrenaline rush he needed to make the journey. But on his last attempt, he gave up. He stopped about midway up the staircase which caused me to remember a poem by A. A. Milne.



Halfway Down

Halfway down the stairs
is a stair
where i sit.
there isn't any
other stair
quite like
it.
i'm not at the bottom,
i'm not at the top;
so this is the stair
where I always stop.

Halfway up the stairs
Isn't up
And it isn't down.
It isn't in the nursery,
It isn't in town.
And all sorts of funny thoughts
Run round my head.
It isn't really
Anywhere!
It's somewhere else
Instead!

(If you own the copyright to this poem and would like it removed, please let me know.)

Enjoy your day.

Digital Scrapbook

These are pictures from our February visit to the Natural History Museum. The captions are taken from my 7 year old's scrapbook of the visit. The spelling is his.

The ruby pictured above he called "Werd."

"Thats a crstaly a blue one."

"thats the rope dimond o hell the hope dimond."

"thats a brainy rock."

"thats me touching a crsital."

"thats a quartz i almost past out."

Enjoy your day!

Victory Not Mine

As I've stated previously in this space, the alpha dog is out of town. He returns in two days and we are all very happy about that. The boys have been melancholy and I have been bored out of my mind without my friend.

Like many people, I do, from time to time, drown my sorrows in a nice bowl of Ben and Jerry's. I know enough, in times like these, not to have any ice cream in the house so I have steered clear of the ice cream section of the freezer aisle. No "2 for $6" deal was going to spoil my resolve. I had faith in myself and I wasn't going to let myself down. But as I was rooting through the freezer last week for something for dinner, I found a lone Haagen Dazs ice cream bar. If there had been two, I would have been safe because my adorable boys, who can afford the calories, would have eaten them. But there was only one. Crap.

I was so brave for many days. My tactics for avoiding temptation in the freezer are to either put something else in my hands, like a book or a knitting project. I've made excellent progress in my latest read! Or I simply go upstairs and remove myself from the vicinity of the temptation. This may seem absurd, but you underestimate my laziness at night.

Three nights left. I so wanted to avoid that stupid treat. I resisted on Thursday when my 12 year old told me that a classmate threw him out of his bunk at Outdoor Ed and kicked him several times. I was able to stay away from it Friday, when the dentist told me my 7 year old has to have an infected tooth extracted and needs a root canal in another tooth. I avoided it on Sunday, after fighting to entertain a child who had reached the peak of boredom, a boredom so intense that even his PSP couldn't entertain him. I had such high hopes for myself. But, last night, the temptation was strong. I was so brave for so long, but the pull from the freezer was mighty. I caved. And let me tell you, it was good, right down to the chocolate that I sucked out of the little wooden stick.

Enjoy your day.

Gardening Update

We have sprouts!! On Friday morning, I checked the vegetable garden and found that the radishes and lettuce were beginning to sprout. What a thrill! Now all I have to do is keep the rabbits, squirrels and deer away until the plants grow big enough to pick.

The grass is growing too. We've had a lot of rain in the past week so I haven't had to water which is good because I'm not sure when I would have gotten that done. The Pennington seed won't truly be put to the test until July, though. Stay tuned for more updates.

The tomatoes are not doing so well. I think I got my start too late and they weren't really big enough to go outside. I'll have to go buy plants at the garden center. Oh well.

I read an interesting article yesterday about businesses that are thriving right now. Burpee Seeds has seen a 30% increase in sales this year. Hormel Foods reports sales of Spam and their chili products are up. Kraft says that Mac and Cheese sales are increasing too. This is great! It's too bad that the tanking economy is what drove people back into their kitchens and yards, but how wonderful for our kids to be able to experience dinner as a family the way we did when we were young.

Speaking of dinner, we had my fabulous soy ginger turkey burgers last night with some delightful cucumber salad. I mixed ground turkey with Trader Joe's Island Soyaki sauce, and bread crumbs. If I had some cilantro, I would have thrown some in, too. The cucumbers were made with plain Greek yogurt, onion, garlic and a little salt and pepper. Probably too much onion, but at least two of us enjoyed it. I'm looking forward to trying some light and flavorful summer recipes.

That's all for now. Enjoy your day!

Rethinking Book Selections

I'm starting to think that my stringent criteria for selecting books at the library needs to be revisited. I have given up on yet another book which fell into my careful book guidelines: 1) Needs to have an interesting cover, and 2) Needs to be in the new book section of the library. The Sicilian Tragedee was a dud. I couldn't get into it. The only character I was interested in was the spoiled daughter of the mobster and there wasn't enough of her to satisfy me.

My latest book selection is from the Number One Ladies' Detective series. I was getting pizza to take to the marathon orchestra rehearsal and I realized I had nothing to read. Now where can you get books and pizza? Duh! COSTCO!!! I picked up the newest book in the series, Tea Time for the Traditionally Built. If you haven't read any of this series, I recommend them. I love the characters, I find the setting strangely peaceful and I also enjoy the fact that the mysteries that Precious and Grace, her assistant end up solving are not complex and violent. Your heart doesn't skip any beats while you are reading. You can relax and enjoy yourself.

My favorite line in Tea Time comes when Precious is describing a conversation she had with a friend who is the Bishop in the local Anglican church. She was concerned that scientists had determined exactly when the earth would be destroyed by the sun and life would cease to exist. The Bishop answers, "Certainly not by next Tuesday when the Botswana Mothers Union meets. And, frankly, I don't think we should worry too much about that. Our concern should be what is happening right now. There is plenty of work for love to do, you know."

If you need a book that has women who are fragile, yet strong, and enjoy tea and cake, these are the books for you. Sadly, they are very quick reads. I was hoping to get a paperback but there were none. I expect to find an ample supply at the library the next time I go.

I still do have a book from the library that I am certain I will finish. It's called "The Samaritan's Secret" by Matt Beynon Rees. It centers around the murder of a Samaritan man in the Palestinian Territory who was the President's financial advisor. The author is Welsh and he was Time Magazine's Middle East Bureau Chief from 2000-2006. I'm enjoying the differing philosophies of the many Palestinian characters.

More Music?
As unbelievable as it may be, my oldest has another instrument to add to his arsenal. Today, he purchased a baritone ukulele from a local music store called Mike's Music. If you live in Howard County, and have any music needs go to Mike's. You walk in the door and Mike's wife greets you and shows you around. She helps you find music, answers any and all questions, can engage people of all ages in conversation. She is fabulous. Mike is also wonderful. His staff of teachers is wonderful. The parking is a little tricky, but worth the effort. Go visit them. And stay tuned for videos of a baritone ukulele in action! http://www.myspace.com/mikesmusicmd

Enjoy your day!

Yummy

Recently, my son's teacher slipped on the fallen crab apple petals that covered the sidewalk in front of her home. She was holding a crystal platter and in the fall, the platter broke and caused some pretty severe cuts to her hand and arm. She was in the ER for 10 hours. If anyone needed some comfort food, it was this dear woman.

The only recipes for Mac and Cheese I have are for large quantities. I searched for mac and cheese for one and came up with a delicious selection from www.recipezaar.com. It calls for the standard steps, saute onion in butter, add flour, milk, cheese etc. It also recommended adding cubed sharp cheddar and baking for 20 minutes. I didn't have a block of cheddar, but I did have some fontina. ??? I baked it in one of my cute little Pampered Chef oval ceramic dishes, and presented it to her after school as she sat exhausted, next to her friend's desk, holding her aching hand. She told me she had just been thinking how nice some comfort food would be. It feels very good to aid a friend in distress.

Green Update
It's been about a week since the grass seed went down. There's been plenty of rain, but no sprouts yet. I remain hopeful about the grass and the tomatoes, which went back outside over the weekend. Stay tuned for more news from the garden!

Enjoy your day.

Just Me and the Boys

Yesterday, the alpha dog left for Europe. This leaves me, two boys and the non-alpha dog alone for the next 12 days. Our journey began last night with tears from the 7 year old. He wanted to call daddy. Couldn't. Daddy was on an airplane. He wanted to sleep in my bed. Couldn't. Not fair to the big brother who is also sad but trying very hard to be brave. He wanted to call the radio station and talk to the DJ and tell her how sad he was. (Yes, there are still shows that take lots of calls from the lovelorn.) Finally, everyone settled down and went to sleep.

Traveling dad is not an unusual occurrence in our home, but it has been a while since he's been gone. I'm a little rusty on the solo parenting thing. Hopefully, the time will go fast.

Gardening News

We planted a vegetable garden yesterday. I thought it might be fun to see if we could get anything to grow. I hope my neighbors don't mind too much, but they have put up with my waist-high grass so they shouldn't be too offended by some cucumbers, lettuce, and radishes. And if they get to enjoy the bounty, I'm thinking they'll be even happier! The tiny picture is of the markers for the cucumbers and radishes. An occasional reminder to water the garden will be greatly appreciated!


At some point in the past 7 years, I planted Lilies of the Valley in my garden. Two of them pop up for a brief visit each spring. I'd like to plant more but I don't remember where I got them! I guess I'll have to look online for some seeds. The local garden shops don't have a very interesting selection of plants this year. I suppose people are limiting their gardening budgets. Stupid recession

That's all for today. If anyone besides my sister is reading my blog, I encourage you to check out Laura's blog too! http://streetsofstpaul.blogspot.com/

Enjoy your day!

Quest For Grass Part VII

We once again begin our quest for grass in our yard this year. We have lots of shade and lots of pine trees which have been dropping needles into our yard for 30 years, turning it into an unfriendly environment for grass. We have a beautiful covering of moss in places, many weeds, wild strawberries and onions(?), and some grass.

Yesterday, after a tune up of the lawn mower, I had the pleasure of cutting the grass which was waist high in some places. It took great skill to keep the mower from stalling but I persevered and got it done. The plan for today was to loosen up the soil and put down seed but it has been raining all day so that won't be happening.

The seed of choice this year is Pennington Professional Landscaper's Seed Mix. It's "Penkoted," whatever that means. It's supposed to be drought resistant which could be helpful in the summer when it gets so blasted hot here that you can't eat. We've used the grass seed mix from the local garden center. We've used several variety of Scott's but this is the first time we've used Pennington. We'll see what happens.

As I said, it has been rainy all day which made it a perfect day for baking, but alas, that was not to be. I have some almond paste and I was hoping to make some sweet rolls using that and Julia Child's sweet brioche recipe. The oldest is in music overdrive today. He had piano for an hour, is currently at a two hour orchestra rehearsal and has a cello sectional from 7:00 to 9:00 tonight. You can only imagine what all this work will do to the mood of a 12 year old who is being kept up about an hour and a half past his usual bedtime. I hear the prayers from my loyal followers already. Perhaps I'll bake tomorrow.

Enjoy the rest of your day.

An Open Letter to Divorcing Acquaintances

Dear Friends,
First let me say that I am sorry for the troubles that caused you and your spouse to go your separate ways. I know you are scared and sad and hurt and your children are also unhappy. But here's the thing; I really don't want to hear anymore spouse-bashing, and pretty much no one else does either.

You are making us all very uncomfortable. I don't want to hear about who the ex is dating and what your opinion of that person is. I don't want to hear about how your ex told you to return the car that is in their name. I don't want to hear about how your kids hate the person your ex is dating. I don't want to hear about the obnoxious text messages and phone calls.

This is what I have to say. I am sorry you are hurting. You have every right to mourn the loss of your relationship. I will be happy to listen to you as you discuss the efforts you are making to move on, But please don't be surprised when you get no response from me when you pull me aside as we pick up our children outside the elementary school and you launch into another diatribe. I have nothing to say. If there is something criminal going on, call the police. If there is something useful to your position in the proceedings, call your attorney. Please understand, though. I am not the person that you can contact to bash the ex. I don't approve.

Enough of that. And thought there may be more to say, I have to feed the kids, get ready for cello lessons and take one very excited first grader to a school dance.

Enjoy your day!

Huh?

I'd be failing in my duty as a blogger if I didn't mention the current Swine Flu epidemic. I have visions of Chicken Little and Gerald Ford. Seriously? Wash your hands.

I would also be failing if I didn't mention the AF One photo op in NY on Monday. Has no one in the Pentagon heard of Photo Shop? At last report, it costs $37,000 an hour to fly AF One. This puts the low ball estimate for Monday's terrorizing of NYC at $100,000. I say, next time the Pentagon wants to update a picture of AF One, give me $20,000 and I'll do it. I'd have to buy Photo Shop and take a class to learn to use it, but I bet the result would be just a good and not nearly as traumatizing.

Moving On...
I put my tomato seedlings outside. I decided they needed more light. They look very pathetic but I'm hopeful that they will perk up after a few days of sun. It isn't supposed to be very warm today or tomorrow so I may have to bring them back in at night. I'm just going to keep thinking good thoughts for them. I have the rest of my garden to get in the ground soon. Much work to be done on that and it won't be happening this weekend. What should be happening is a little lawn mowing. It's frightening.

Off to my motherly duties. Enjoy your day!

Books, Dogs and Exercise

My sister was interested in my latest library book, and I am happy to report to her, as she is apparently the only one who reads my blog, it's pretty good. At first it was difficult at first to digest all the character and place names because I don't speak Italian, but now that I've distinguished all the different people, I'm enjoying it. It's the tale of two courtships set amidst the organized crime and arts landscapes of Sicily. The setting and characters of this book could be transplanted to Los Angeles very easily, particularly Betty, the mobster's daughter. She is an overindulged monster of a young woman who begged her daddy for a new car with a DVD player. Sadly. she doesn't appear to be intelligent enough to realize the screens are in the back seat and that she can't watch and drive at the same time. For a book I used such high standards to select, it's proving to be a good read.

Dumb Dog
Our dog tries to kill himself every time we walk him. He pulls so hard on the leash that he chokes himself and it isn't unusual for him to have to stop just to catch his breath. I looked online for collar options and none of them were very highly recommended. Choke chains are out because he has turned his regular collar into a choking device. Gentle leaders have very negative connotations in my family so they're out. I was thinking about the pinch collar but it seems a bit inhumane. I guess we just have to train him. I made my first attempt this morning. The instructions I read stated that when the dog pulls, you stop, tell them "NO" and praise them when they relax. I was stopping about every 3 steps. When my dog wants something, he wants something. We went about half our usual distance and I turned around. I'm happy to say he was much calmer on the return trip. I figured out why when we got in the house. He had a natural treat that he was anxious to get home and enjoy. His mission was accomplished and he was ready to partake in his spoils. We'll keep working on this. I would call the Dog Whisperer but then I'd have to clean my house.

Slacking off no more
After a break in my exercise routine, I'm happy to say, I've worked out 5 times in the past week. I even ran at the high school track one morning. It was awful. My muscles are a bit achy, but it's been worth it. It appears that I've burned some of my flabby stomach. And now all the weight loss ads will appear to the right. My 7 year old invented an exercise for me called the waddling penguin. Stand with your arms out to the side with a weight in each hand, feet about hip-width apart and knees slightly bent. Now make tiny circles with your arms. Try not to let your hips sway too much. You'll get a nice burn on your sides. If you want to really challenge yourself, do it while standing on one leg. Excellent for the core! I try to do at least two strength exercises while standing on one leg. Not only is it good for the core, but it's an excellent way to improve your balance.

That's all for now. Enjoy your day!

Is it Wrong...

To make pesto from spinach? I have to say, I did a good job tricking my 12 year old into eating vegetables. He thought it was regular old pesto and chowed it down. I revealed my deceitful ways to him. He called me a trickster. He was smiling so I don't think he was really that put out. I won't really know until I try to get him to eat leftovers.

Recipes for spinach pesto abound on the interweb (do you like my new name for all things world wide? I think it makes me sound like I'm 85). I used spinach, olive oil, garlic, lemon juice, parmesan and basil. I served it with rigatoni and some chicken sausage that also had spinach in it. We also had a spinach salad. No such thing as too much green on your plate.

We made ER visit number 3 for our 7 year old this weekend. On Saturday, he freaked out when a bug landed on him as he was riding his scooter at breakneck speed. He lost control and landed hard, with most of the impact being taken by his forehead. After he started complaining of dizziness, we were off to the ER. (Obviously, he's fine, or I wouldn't he writing this.) He wasn't thrilled about the CAT scan but did decide it wasn't so horrible since he could keep his ratty old blanket pulled up to his chin. When it was over, we went to Burger King and he got a shake. Keeping him quiet yesterday was challenging. He must have asked 10 times if he could ride his bike. I guess that's a good sign. He was off to school today. The rain will keep the kids in for recess so I don't have to worry about any more falls.

That's all for today. I'm off to do cleaning, etc.

Enjoy your day!

Book Update

I couldn't get through Mrs. Dred Scott. I still get that feeling of defeat when I can't finish a book, like I'm some sort of literary failure. But here's the thing about books like Mrs. Dred. If you can't use primary sources for a biography, it seems that you simply have a lot of guessing about how life would have been. Ms. Vandervelde had a lot of great information about Harriet Scott's owners but this didn't translate into a lot of information about Harriet. I did learn about the Minnesota territory, but as that wasn't my aim, I can't truly appreciate the information I gained. There was one piece of information I did get that was cool. My Grandmother on my father's side was born in Pipestone, MN. I learned that Pipestone is named for the red stone that Native Americans used to make peace pipes. I had no idea! We never visited Pipestone as kids. Check out their website. They have a lot of information about the town and the history of the quarry. http://www.pipestoneminnesota.com

I am now reading a book called Sicilian Tragedee by Ottavio Cappellani. It met the incredibly high standards I have for selecting a book at the library. It has an interesting cover and was in the new book section. I get to feel a little smug about it because it was translated from Italian. I've never read any Italian books. Stay tuned for more details and enjoy your day!

Random Thoughts II

It's another day where I have so many thoughts and so little time!

• Can I turn my family into vegetarians without anyone noticing?
• Are we jealous because the Somali pirates have found a way to beat the recession?
• Are Peeps any less nutritious than Lucky Charms?
• How long is too long to play video games?
• How young is too young for a cell phone?
• Where are Drake and Josh and Carly's parents?
• How much longer before my Claritin kicks in?!?!?!

Enjoy your day!

Gross Easter, Too

I am an equal-opportunity food slammer. Easter is also the source of many disgusting holiday recipes. I choose this for today's post.

First on my list for any holiday is the ubiquitous green bean casserole. You know the one that's made with canned green beans, cream of mushroom soup and French's fried onions. I have never had to eat this pile of yuck but I am morally opposed to anything made with cream of fill-in-the-blank soup.

The Washington Post food section had a recipe for lavender honey cheese cake? What is with the need for floral extracts in food these days? I barely want them in my soap, but I'll tolerate them there. How about a lemon cheese cake?

The Chicago Sun Times lists four reasons why you should serve Spam this Easter. Here they are:

1. It's flexible. You can use it for "any possible application." Huh? Application?
2. It's cheap. Yes, it is. Poor quality meats usually are.
3. It's comfort food. Yes it is. In Hawaii. But they eat poi, too. Do you know what poi is?
4. It's patriotic. Evidently Hormel sent tons of Spam to Europe to the troops in WWII. Not enough of a reason for me to put it on my table.

On a Kraft Foods forum board, a woman was asking for a recipe for rabbit. Yes, it's true. She told her 12 year old son that she would prepare him Peter Cotton Tail for Easter Dinner. Dear Lord.

I'm not sure I can top that piece of nastiness but here's the last try. Honey Cola Ham. Take a 12 lb ham, add 2-3 liters of coke, honey or corn syrup. Bake. So gross. So very very gross.

Stomach churning. Must sign off.

Enjoy the rest of your day.

Food Opportunities

My oldest child is in Chicago visiting his Grandma and Aunts. We miss him, his droll sense of humor, the way he plays the same song on the piano over and over. Just two more days and he'll be home.

I do notice, though, when any member of my family is absent, I have a little more freedom in what I can make for dinner. When the resident gourmand is gone, we can have things like salmon cakes or chili mac. Both are easy, inexpensive and happily eaten by children. They especially like the salmon cakes when I bake them in the star shaped cupcake pan. When the youngest is gone (when that starts to happen) we can have seafood without the requirement of a separate meal prepared for him.

Fish is not big on my oldest's list of favorite foods. It's not my favorite either, but if I can come up with something light and decidedly un-fishy tasting, I'll try it. I was on a quest for fish yesterday, so we went to Trader Joe's and picked up some Dover sole, lime, tortillas, and lettuce and came home and whipped up some fish tacos. I marinated the fish for about an hour in white wine, lime, and garlic. I then sauteed it with onion in olive oil. I served it with chopped tomato, shredded mozzarella and salad. The tacos were great. They were so fresh and light. I could eat them every day. And it didn't matter that the fish disintegrated in the pan. It was getting rolled up in a tortilla anyway. No pictures of this dish. It would not have photographed well.

That's all for now. Enjoy the rest of your day.

Why Is April so Sad?

The old saying goes something like this. "In spring, a young man's fancy turns to love." Sadly, this doesn't seem to be true anymore. News in spring is filled with stories of gun violence. Just this weekend, there were reports of 21 people who were slaughtered by three men. Of course the anti-gun groups come out and say this is why guns should not be so easily accessible, but there is one group who is strangely silent; the mental health care providers.

We want to blame guns for the deaths of all these people this week. But as days pass, stories emerge about the lives of the men behind the triggers. They have lost jobs, are estranged from wives, family, they have irrational fears of losing rights and children. They are (were) clearly all suffering from some degree of mental illness.

The same can be said of the V Tech shooter. A woman who tutored him wrote a book and in it writes of her reports to the school administration of her concerns about the young man. Help didn't come to him in any meaningful way before he shot up a college campus.

The shooter at the NC nursing home must have been suffering from some degree of depression caused by the state of his marriage.

Obviously, I could go on. In my humble, highly unprofessional opinion, guns are not the problem. The people holding the guns are the problem. If you put a highly destructive tool in the hands of a mentally ill person, there is a chance that person will use that tool for bad things.

I am of the opinion that two of the incidents this past weekend could have been prevented. Two of the subjects involved in the shootings were wearing either bulletproof vests or body armor. I wonder where they got them Shouldn't this type of protective gear only be available to law enforcement? After all, deer and ducks rarely shoot back and hunting accidents don't seem to be too terribly common. Shouldn't someone, maybe the ATF, start looking into websites selling body armor and determine who is buying it?

I called Point Blank Body Armor to ask if they authorize sales outside of law enforcement. I am waiting for a call back. I looked on Ebay. There are currently 1349 items found when you search for body armor. Some of the listings are related to motorcycling or skate boarding. Who is buying the law enforcement type body armor?

Some of you may not buy my argument and may still want to blame the gun lobby. It's a powerful group and has done quite a lot to protect our 2nd Amendment rights. Now it's time for mental health advocacy groups to work just as hard to ensure that people suffering from serious mental illness get the help they need before they get guns and harm others and themselves.

Holiday Recipe Disasters

First, I have to say, Happy Birthday to Hadley, my little dog. He is 2. He is cute. We are happy he's ours.

Now, I have to say, I so look forward to the various holiday recipe editions of the Washington Post food section. Most have some excellent ideas for mixing up your usual holiday menu. And occasionally there's an recipe so awesome in its awfulness, it gets more attention than all the good recipes.

The Passover edition of the Wash Post Food section was out yesterday and it is because of one of the dessert recipes published within that I dedicate today's post to truly awful holiday desserts.

The grand prize winner is the Mock Chestnut Torte. The mock chestnut taste is supposed to be achieved with either sweet potatoes or mashed potatoes. Mashed potatoes and chocolate. Truly a ghastly combination.

In our childhood home, we had to endure this nasty spice cake made with matzoh cake meal. It was dry and tasteless. Then at some point in the 90's, our mother heard about this meringue thing called pavlova. She would prepare it and stuff it with whipped cream and fruit. I remember kiwi and strawberries. While it was an improvement on the cake, it was so cloyingly sweet, it made your teeth hurt. This was also the phase of our mother's baking that was marked with weird flavors. She no doubt found some odd extract to add to the recipe, like lavender or orange blossom that ruined the whole thing.

The Lemon cake recipe I saw on gourmet.com had promise until they had to get cute and recommend a lemon basil syrup to top the cake.

Epicurious had two gems, citrus "jello" with honey and mint and matzoh baklava. The "jello" is just a jello fruit cup. I'd be so mad if I sat through a whole seder and someone tried to pass that off as my dessert.

The baklava had promise until I saw that you're supposed to add rose water to the syrup and that you have to wet the matzoh to make it pliable. Why????

Finally, because my stomach is starting to churn, I offer you the nastiness the New York Times wants you to put on your table. First, something called zagablione which is egg yolk, sugar and wine that you're supposed to serve over strawberries and then a recipe for chocolate walnut torte from a book of Claude Monet's recipes. It calls for 12 eggs. I have this cookbook. It's awful. Do not ever make anything from this cookbook, no matter how tempted you are by the prospect of telling your guests you used one of Monet's recipes. Monet was not, I repeat, not a chef. He was a painter. Take an art class if you want to emulate him. Do not prepare any of his recipes ever ever ever.

May I recommend some lovely strawberries with fresh whipped cream. You really can't beat this simple, tasty dessert. And promise me you won't put anything other than vanilla in the whipped cream.

Enjoy your day.

Images from my Day

Here are a few images from Monday.

Cornstarch, water and green food coloring makes two mini Hulks.

A drawing from my cell phone.

Pasta with Shrimp

Enjoy your day!

So Many Thoughts, So Little Time

A bulleted list of things on my mind this morning:

• Should sleepovers be shut down at 3:00 am or should they just be allowed to run their course?
• If there are ADHD ads on my blog after I post about ADHD, do people assume I support the remedies/services advertised?
• Is four hours of the Today show really necessary?
• Am I a bad mom for letting my son have a cupcake after he ate his oatmeal?
• Will the tomato seeds I planted yesterday take?
• Can you trust a skinny chef?
• How many people on average apply for the jobs posted on Craigslist?
• Is the ever-shrinking Washington Post promoting its own demise by constantly cutting features?
• Do people still watch ER?

Enjoy your day!

This is News?

I read overviews of two ADHD studies this morning. One stated that there is little evidence that long term use of stimulants by kids with ADHD is effective. The other said that kids with ADHD should be allowed to squirm because it helps them focus.

Duh.

Don't most medications lose their effectiveness with prolonged use? I'm not a chemist, but it would seem that your body would build up a tolerance to a medication and that as that tolerance increased, a different approach would be warranted, IE different medicine or other treatments.

And of course squirming helps a fidgety kid concentrate. Who hasn't seen this with their own kid, ADHD or not? You're nervous, tense, anxious because you have to use a lot of energy to concentrate. Those repetitious movements are comforting (rocking the baby sound familiar to anyone?).

I guess what I find so striking about these studies is the one obvious missing component. Parents. If you have a child who is sick, or suffers from a chronic disorder, you have to help them all the time. If your kid has asthma, you have to make sure they get their maintenance medication. You have to make sure there's an inhaler at school. You have to make sure other adults who spend time with your child know what the triggers are. ADHD is no different. It's a lot of work.

First you have to accept it. Energy is normal in young kids. Crawling around the classroom floor is not. Occasional forgetfulness; normal. Disorganization to the point that things are always missing; not normal. The sooner you accept that your child may have a problem, the faster you can get help.

Next, you have to get help. Talk to your pediatrician. Take report cards, take school work, take drawings, provide copious examples from your daily interactions with your child that support why you feel there is evidence of ADHD. Your pediatrician should refer you to someone for an assessment. If they don't, ASK WHY NOT! It may be that you are helping your child enough that they are already learning to cope with their disorder and outside help is not necessary. It could be inexperience. I am not a clinician, but I do know that if you ever have a question about any advice you are given by a doctor, you should ask right away.

Next, after you have your child assessed, follow up with teachers, pediatricians, family, etc. Let everyone know what the main issues are and what can be done to help your child achieve success. And never give up. Schools have limited resources but they are required to help you to a certain level. Become familiar with criteria necessary in your school for developing a 504 plan. Be prepared to conference weekly with your child's teacher, even if just for 5 minutes to discuss strategies you've found effective at home.

Finally, don't ever give up. Having a child with ADHD is not easy. It is often exhausting, but these creative bundles of energy can be very entertaining members of your household. You will find yourself learning to appreciate their blunt assessments of every day observations. For example, you may struggle to politely explain why you can't eat candy for breakfast only to have your child blurt out, "Candy rots your teeth." Yes it does, and it there's a lot to be said for succinctness.

If you haven't guessed, I speak from experience. Our beautiful boy went from sailing through kindergarten to struggling from day one in 1st grade. We have been very fortunate to have a wonderfully supportive teacher who has listened and worked very hard to help our child have a successful academic year. It would be great if everyone could have teachers like this but it isn't the case. But they all have parents and as parents we need to commit ourselves to doing whatever it takes to help our children succeed.

Stepping off the soap box now. Enjoy your day.

Get Help

Not for me. Do you listen to Writer's Almanac? Is it just me or has Garrison Keillor got the most morbid taste in poetry ever? I'd post some of his selections here but it would probably be a copyright infringement. I'm not big on breaking the law. I do encourage you to check out Writers Almanac online and definitely go through the archive to read some of the daily offerings. My sister, a lifelong Minnesotan has informed me that the residents of the Land of 10,000 Lakes are officially done with Garrison.

http://writersalmanac.publicradio.org/

More Cooking with Sweet Potatoes

After the rousing failure with sweet potato fries, I tried my hand at sweet potato crisps last night and they were much better than the fries. You basically dehydrate them for a long time in the oven at about 200 degrees. I do mean a long time. It took at least two hours. The trick is thin slices and frequent turning. You also have to make sure your crisps are in one layer on your baking sheet. This means that, unless you have a commercial oven, you will either make a very small amount of crisps or have them going all day. I chose the former.

I have a temptation to make pumpkin seed butter next. I truly doubt anyone will eat it, but I'm curious.

On Juvenile Fiction

My first grader has moved onto a new book. called Sardine in Outer Space. He got it for Christmas but just picked it up this week. He is so into it, I caught him last night at about 9:15 reading by flashlight.

Sardine is a graphic novel about a girl named Sardine, who, with her Uncle Yellow Shoulders are trying to stop the evil plots of Doc Krock and Super Muscleman. In one chapter, DK and SM are trying to kidnap all the children who misbehave. I'm happy to report that they are foiled.

It is very delightful to hear my son laughing out loud as he reads. Again, I tell the naysayers, if getting books like Sardine and Captain Underpants get your kids to read, then how can they be bad? Don't judge the quality of a book by the proportion of words to pictures.

That's all for now. Enjoy your day.

The Verdict is In

I have two reports for my faithful readers of which I think I have two. I guess that makes one report for each of you. First, the pasta/chicken concoction met with mixed reviews. I didn't have any lemon zest so the sauce wasn't as lemony as I would have liked and the sauce needed a bit of roux to thicken it a little bit. The kids and I liked it but it was not appreciated by the man of the house. Oh well. You win some you lose some. It still went to school for lunch today. I'll keep trying because I liked it. And based on the report I read in the Washington Post, we need to really cut back on our consumption of beef and pork. Looks like they'll kill you. Read it for yourself.

http://blogs.usatoday.com/betterlife/2009/03/meat-heavy-diet.html

Second, I finished Butchers Meat. It did take a long time to get to the death but once it got to that point, things really zoomed along. I typically have Monday to myself and I spent a considerable part of it on the couch finishing my book. I was satisfied with the end. It was logical. I think the author should steer away from some of the romantic side tales he included. They were simply a distraction and had no relevance. (I am now a book critic as well as an art critic.) All in all, worth the time it took to get to the murder. I would recommend it.

Now I am on to a biography of Harriet Scott, Dred Scott's wife. If you remember, Dred Scott and his wife sued their owners in an attempt to gain their freedom. The case dragged on for 10 years. The Scott's lost appeal after appeal and were finally granted their freedom after their owner's returned them to his original owners in Missouri who freed them. Scott died 9 months later. The book is very interesting so far. I haven't read very much but I am amazed at how much work the author put into this work. Harriet and Dred Scott were illiterate. They could neither read nor write. There are no first hand accounts of their struggle. The research the author did was insane. There are 150 pages alone in the book for notes and the bibliography. What an epic work this is! I look forward to putting the kids to bed so I can dive back into it tonight.

That's all for now. Enjoy the rest of your day.

Who am I?

Feeling a little guilty about my comments re: Maya Lin exhibit. Really. Who am I? I can't say I enjoy fine art. I like looking at a pretty picture, or sculpture or piece of china, but my tastes are pretty basic. I like pretty things. I'm not sure I truly appreciate all that it takes to make a magnificent piece of art like the landscapes of Maya Lin. I am a shallow, shallow women. Forgive me Maya. You are great and I am a schlub.

I'm trying my hand at a new pasta recipe. I decided my cooking lacked flavor so I'm onto a sauce/marinade phase. Sauces and marinades are very Recessionista (not my term). If you marinate your meat in a lovely concoction of oil, vinegar and a variety of spices, it helps tenderize it. You can buy cheaper meats and save cash. I tried this over the weekend with some beef. We usually head for the new york strips (At COSTCO. Don't get all uppity.) But this time we got "beef loin flap meat." ??? I marinated it in a marinade with red wine, oil, vinegar, worcestshire, etc. It was fantastic! The true test of the success of my endeavor was my husband saying to make sure their was some left for his lunch today.

Tonight's creation is lemon herb chicken with a lemon cream pasta sauce. I sauted garlic in melted butter, added a cup of cream and a cup of broth with some herbs. My choice was some Italian herbs but I wish I had used the lemon grass. I let that simmer until it was reduced by half, added some lemon juice and lemon rind and let it sit on very low heat until the pasta was cooked. I will serve the chicken on top of the pasta very soon. It smells pretty good. We'll see what the masses say.

Enjoy (the rest of) your day!

We'll See

What does it mean when you say, "We'll see?" I find myself saying this frequently, mostly to my youngest child and mostly to requests for trips to the store, dessert, another hour on the PS II, etc.

Why don't I say "yes" or "no?" I don't know. My youngest is prone to taking no very badly, depending on how well he's slept and eaten. If I say "We'll see," he still has a ray of hope that his wished will be granted. And I am spared having to deal with an angry or annoyed seven year old. I could say no and provide an explanation but the chance that he would stay put for the explanation is slim to none.

So why don't I just say yes? Can I say yes to all his requests? Of course not. He can't go to Game Stop every weekend. He has no money and I can't buy him a new game every week either. Dessert? Rotting teeth nonsense is at play here. More video games? Brain rotting nonsense at play here. A conditional yes is possible. "You can have a piece of fruit or yogurt if your still hungry." That often works. I just have to hope he stays in bed and doesn't see me sneak some ice cream. "You can play video games after you have done your homework (cleaned your room, etc)." That works too.

I suppose I want my kids to grow up with the understanding that you can't have everything you want the instant you want it. You have to eat your vegetables before you can have ice cream. You have to do your homework before you can go outside. You have to sit through the horrendous meeting with the guy who has bad breath before you can work on the cool project. "We'll see," can be seen as a tool for a greater future appreciation of the inevitable unpleasantness you must endure before the fun can start.

We went to the Corcoran Gallery to see Maya Lin's exhibit, Systematic Landscapes. We enjoyed the varying sizes of the works. I think the kids like the huge room sized sculpture called "2x4 Landscape" best. It filled most of the room it was in and was made entirely of sections of 2x4s. I liked it because I liked smelling the wood. I didn't like the gallery employee stationed in the room however. She chastised my kid for leaning on a wall. ???? She wouldn't let me take a picture though no signs indicating this prohibition were posted in the gallery or the exhibit brochure. I'm no art critic but I didn't like the Atlas Landscapes. They were clever. Lin cut landscapey looking shapes out of atlases. I thought it would have been more interesting if the shapes were more relevant to the page she chose. For example. If she had chosen Israel, it would have been cool to see something the shape of the Dead Sea. Maybe she did this and I didn't see it noted in the labels for the works. It was a cool exhibit and we enjoyed it without huge crowds, thanks to a marathon and anti-war protest scaring people away from Washington.

I did feel bad for the gallery employees. While we were there, an alarm near an exhibit of small bronze statues went off 3 times. The statues are displayed on a tiered table that is open. The display tempts you to lean over to view the pieces from several vantage points, but this is not a what the Corcoran wants. There are motion sensors on the perimeter of the lowest table that go off every time you lean in. Very annoying. If they don't want people to look more closely, they should enclose the display.

That's all for now. Enjoy your day.

Reading

In the county in which we live, the schools assign all children reading homework each day. My 1st grader is supposed to read 15 minutes a day and my 6th grader is supposed to read for 20 minutes a day. I am very fortunate that both boys are avid readers so there is no challenge in getting this task accomplished.

I split the reading time with my 1st grader. He reads a few pages and I read a few pages until he is done. I've read some very interesting books with him. This is a brief overview.

If I could, I would call Dav Pilkey, bake him huge cake and give him a big hug for creating his Captain Underpants series. We tried to get our youngest to read the books his brother had enjoyed at his age, like the Magic Treehouse series. Though the series offers a wide range of topics, I think he quickly grew bored with the books' formulas.

One day, he picked up Captain Underpants at the library and sat down and paged through it. He was enthralled. He paged through, giggling at the drawings and the crazy antics of the main characters, Harold and George. Within about 6 weeks, we had completed the entire series of books. I no longer heard my son tell me that it was too hard to try new words. All I had to say was, "Dav Pilkey wouldn't have put that word in this book if he didn't think you could read it." I did get an occasional, "Stupid Pilkey," in reply, but he did keep going.

Many people are opposed to the whole graphic novel genre. To those of you who think that graphic novels are glorified comic books and have no literary value, I offer you this: They will get the most unwilling reader to read and that is the most important thing. There are words on a page and as much as we would all like our 7 year olds to read Tolstoy, it isn't likely to happen. Get them going on something that entertains, discuss the book with them and you will be giving them skills that they will apply when they are ready to read Tolstoy.

Stay tuned to this space for more children's book recommendations. Enjoy your day!

Back Again

Being a person who enjoys the approval of others, I was pushed away from my blog by excessive negative feedback on blogs in general. I didn't want to be perceived as "that person" who had to tell everyone every little thing about themselves. But, I missed my opportunity to share and converse about events that I find interesting. So I am back.

I will not bore you with my opinion of the economy today except to say that it is bad and I am tired of turning on the TV and radio and hearing about how bad it is. I will wear my rose colored glasses and try to remain optimistic. This mess was not created in a day and it will take time to resolve.

Moving on to more interesting things, I am still finding time to read and have been reading and pondering a work by Reginald Hill called "The Price of Butcher's Meat." It's a classic British mystery with the crusty police officer, the overbearing heiress and a huge cast of characters. The first part of the book is written in two narrative styles, the first is a series of emails from one sister to another, and the second is the recordings of the convalescing crusty cop. I enjoyed the different perspectives the two characters provided about the others in the story but there was one element of the narratives that bothered me. In the emails, the author used misspellings and poor punctuation all the time. I have to wonder why this is an acceptable literary device? My son has a teacher who sends email that are completely void of capital letters and have limited punctuation. I know that if my son turned in any assignments in this format, his grades would suffer. Have text messaging, IM, Facebook and other social networking made standard written English a thing of the past? I hope not.

One more comment on the book. I don't think I should have to wait 150 pages for a murder. I would rather have the murder earlier on, especially since the author gave little in the way of character development to the victim that would have made me feel that the murder of this person was forthcoming. I got that the victim was mean-spirited, controlling and manipulative but that, for me, was not enough cause for the murder.

I have also maintained time in my schedule cook. I am so happy that eating home-cooked meals is the new chic thing to do. I am a Recessionista and I don't even know it!

I was conned by Oprah into making sweet potato fries. I coated them with olive oil, cinnamon, sugar and salt and put them in a 450 degree oven for 20 minutes. They were very flavorfull but not crispy at all. They were simply julienned sweet potatoes. I was very disappointed until I read about the the experiences others were having with these little gems. Evidently, it turns out that sweet potatoes are too high in water to ever crisp as fries. But you can get them to crisp as thinly sliced crisps. Slice them thin, spread them evenly on a greased pan, salt them, and bake them at 200 degrees for 45 minutes. Check them for crispiness and repeat (without adding any more salt) for another 45 minutes. Homemade potato chips are very yummy. If you haven't tried it, you should.

That's all for now. Enjoy your day.