This story would be better with some pictures of these mishaps. But when you are in the midst of things sometimes you are overwhelmed and stopping to take a picture of your own stupidity isn't first thing on your mind, you know?
I had the bright idea to make some weighted blankets rather than purchase them. That way they could be the exact fabrics that the kids wanted. Etc and all the other reasons why I have a craft room in the first place!
Then it was on to Pinterest to research how these things are made. You have to know how much weight is correct for the size/height/weight of the person using it. Then it was a matter of figuring out what to use for the weight; the plastic weighted things (like in Beanie Babies) or something else. Rice, flax seed and corn are good things because they are natural and can be heated or stuck in the freezer for cooling treatments, too. But those items are not washable. If they get damp they can mold inside the blanket and have to be thrown away.
Then I discovered cherry stones. They are also a natural product, they come from Michigan the land of cherries, and believe it or don't they can be washed and dried. Who knew?!
Cherry stones sounded like the perfect answer to the question. I was really intrigued to try this project. Anyhoo, we got the fabrics and I washed, dried and ironed them while waiting on the cherry stones to arrive. And I watched tutorials on how best to sew these up.
Basically, you sew the fabrics together on 3 sides with the right sides facing in. Then you trim it and turn it right side out. You will then decide how many little segments you want to have with the stones evenly divided throughout the blanket. Got it?
For the size I am doing for a 2 year old who weighs 30 pounds the weight of the blanket should be between 10 and 20% of total body weight. We were shooting for 4 pounds of total blanket weight. The size of the blanket evenly divided into 6 x 4 squares. Six segments down the long side crossed with 4 going across. I then took the blanket sewn on the 3 sides and marked it into the six and sewed there creating six channels. I took the cherry stones and divided the 4 lbs into 24 equal-ish bowls.
So far, so good, right? But I looked at the fabric and thought how flat the color was. And then it dawned on me that I had NOT FLIPPED THE FABRIC RIGHT SIDE OUT!!!!
Oh good Lord. So I got my seam ripper and carefully took out all the channels that I had just sewn in. And then I cleaned up all the bits of thread and flipped it correctly and remarked all the six channels again and sewed them in place.
I took the first 6 portions of the cherry stones and poured them in and pushed them down to the end and pinned across to sew them in place. This is working out! Yay!
I did the next row up and pinned and then sewed that row. Then on the third row I started having a little trouble because of the weight of the whole thing and the stones wanting to shift around. But I got the 3rd row done and as I lifted it and cut the thread from the machine I heard the sound of falling cherry stones. That was closely followed by the sound of my heart also falling into my stomach.
That whole 3rd row was not closed because I had run out of bobbin thread. Son of a BITCH!
So I got down on the floor gathered up all the cherry stones and divided them up again and set all of this on my work table. And I got my bobbin out and refilled it and got my machine ready to rock and roll and turned everything off and left the room.
You can only make so many mistakes before you realize it is time to take a break and come back to this project tomorrow.
Showing posts with label kids. Show all posts
Showing posts with label kids. Show all posts
Tuesday, June 7, 2016
Tuesday, May 31, 2016
Random thoughts
I have had so many different things swirling in my head that I thought I would get some of them down in black and white. Here goes!
1. My son has a lovely girlfriend who has 2 little boys, so they are like my almost-grandchildren. I went and picked up the 5 year old and spent the weekend with him. He had finished kindergarten on Friday and had his very first graduation. We played Legos, colored, drew pictures, read books, swam, counted fireflies, and made homemade ice cream.
1. My son has a lovely girlfriend who has 2 little boys, so they are like my almost-grandchildren. I went and picked up the 5 year old and spent the weekend with him. He had finished kindergarten on Friday and had his very first graduation. We played Legos, colored, drew pictures, read books, swam, counted fireflies, and made homemade ice cream.
It was a pretty perfect weekend, actually.
2. This whole debate in social media about the child who climbed into a gorilla enclosure at the Cincinnati Zoo and the gorilla was shot and killed is horrific. Everyone is vilifying the mother of the child. From the accounts I have read BOTH parents were there, why are we blaming just one? I don't like the blaming and judging that goes on from women on other women and their parenting. We are all guilty of it. My first thought was "why did the mom allow her child out of her sight?" I took a step back and can see all sorts of judgment and blaming in my own mind. It's a fucking tragedy with enough responsibility to be spread around. Let's hope all the parents who know of this will now educate their children on how to act appropriately in a zoo setting, and that the zoo officials will find more ways to keep the animals safe from this happening again.
3. While thinking about this zoo/gorilla/parenting debacle I have been going over and over in my mind how would I have acted. What would I have done differently so that my kids would not end up in that life threatening situation? I don't know. I do know that I was really strict and clear about what behaviors were appropriate in public venues. I see friends and family who parent differently than I do/did and I try not to compare. But we all want to justify and validate our own decisions so some comparisons are going to happen. My hard and fast rule with little ones was always if I am not touching you or holding your hand we have to be able to see each other's faces. If you can't see my face you are too far away. I think for me this came from living in a city on the border where we were told on the news damn near weekly about children being abducted from under your nose and taken across the border before you could blink. So a fair amount of paranoia and fear were at play here. I hope like hell that my kids don't feel scarred and smothered by this. They haven't ever said so and they are both pretty great and well-adjusted adult people now. That's the thing with parenting, you really just have to go with your gut and good intentions and hope that the love and care come through.
4. Are any of you watching Outlander on Starz? Season 2 has been confusing me mightily so I have started reading the books. I am now on book 2 which seems to be different than the show. Jamie is fantastic, both in the books and the show. Why Claire would think twice about that dry, boring Frank especially knowing his psychopath great grand relative Black Jack is beyond me. But Claire does bug, irk and annoy me.
5. And while on the Scotland topic I am doing more and more research on Ancestry.com. And Scotland and Ireland are both difficult countries to do deep research on. I need to get more details on names, locations and dates so that I can plan a trip to see what all I can find. I am more than a little afraid that I will get to Scotland or Ireland and never want to return. It does call to me.
6. After getting my DNA done on Ancestry I came up with a vision of a tattoo I would love to get. I keep picturing it in my head of what the components are and how to do it. Then I get on Pinterest and what do I find? A whole bunch of people have come up with similar visions! WTH??? I was so thoughtful on what I imagined as a very original idea. Good Lord. Now I am unsure about it. I don't want it to be what everyone else has since I may be chicken and it could very well be my one and only tattoo.
7. It's been a month since my good and dear friend Jon died. It seems like yesterday. The pain and grief are still so very fresh and my feelings so raw. I need to find a positive way to honor him and deal with my sadness. Any ideas?
That's it for now. This is my closing thought.
Saturday, November 3, 2012
Catching up. Again.
And a great good Saturday to you! It is the most gorgeous day outside. I have no idea why I am inside typing on the computer instead of hanging around outdoors.
Oh right, the flipping allergies! I pay for it each and every time I spend big chunks of time outside.
But, that is not what I want to share with you. I have things to talk about and pictures to show you. So, get up now and go pee. Go get a refill of your favorite beverage and settle in to see what you shall see. : )
First up, I saw that I was running low on Downy. Yes, I still use Downy. No, I do not feel guilty about it. When I was at the store I had to keep looking at the bottles to see which one is the same as the one I have at home because it was slightly different. So when I got home I set them next to each other to make sure I had bought the right flavor. And what else did I spy???
Here is a close up of Bottle A, aka the old one, the one that was already here: Spend a few minutes perusing the label, won't you?
And here is a close up of the new label. Go ahead and check it out and notice the differences.
They are both Downy. They both contain 1.84 liters. They are both lavender scented.
Here's the deal:
THE OLD ONE SAYS IT CONTAINS 78 LOADS worth of softener.
While the new one only does 72 LOADS!! ???
I took the caps off and looked at them since they are the measuring devices to know how much product they recommend. And guess what?
EXACTLY THE SAME CAP, EXACTLY THE SAME MEASUREMENT.
Anyone else confused by this?
Those dicks over at the Downy offices have done some very creative math to come up with this.
And by the by, I don't follow their recommended quantity per load. The first thing I do is to pour half the new bottle into the empty old bottle and then refill both with water and mix them well. This is following the Rule of Half. Half of any recommended amount of product will do the job just as well. Try it with your shampoo, conditioner, laundry products, liquid hand soap, etc. I promise you won't miss the other half and you just saved yourself a bunch of money and time shopping to replace these things.
In other news, the lovely and talented Miss Rachel Pie has been working with small children. And you know what that means, don't you?
She got sick! You have to have a really strong immune system to work with the wee ones, as they bring in germs like nobody's business. Anyhoo, she was S. I. C. K. She went from feeling a bit poorly to running ridiculously high fever, throwing up and sick as a dog overnight. And thanks to the Affordable Healthcare Act, she is still on our insurance (at least until her next birthday). Our insurance has this great local business partnered up on it called White Glove Health
Go check out their website and see if they are near you or if you can sign up for them. Essentially, they are in business to get people well as quickly as possible and back to work. It keeps up productivitiy and that is why Mr. Big Ed's company has gotten this policy for all the insured employees.
Anyway, Miss Rachel Pie was sick as a dog and there was no way she was going to be able to sit for hours at the med clinic waiting to be seen, so we called the White Glove Health people and they sent a nurse practitioner right over. She examined Rachel Pie, she looked down her throat, in her ears, listened to her heart, asked tons of questions, you know, the same thing the med clinic doctor would have done. Then she said Rachel Pie has a sinus infection and a ear infection and prescribed medication, antibiotics, bed rest, liquids, etc.
And did Miss Nurse Practitioner then hand me a bunch of prescriptions to go fill?
No she did NOT! She reached into her Mary Poppins-style bag and brought out a bottle of antibiotics, 2 bottles of Mucinex, 2 bottles of nose spray, 1 bottle of ear drops which you will see below sitting on a box she also gave Rachel Pie called a Well-Kit.
See the Well-Kit box? With its cute little carry handle? What do you suppose is inside?
Let's look, shall we?
I spy with my little eye: cough drops, 2 packs of tylenol, 2 packs of motrin
1 can of chicken noodle soup, 1 bottle of Gator-ade, 1 pack of jell-o, 1 can of Ginger Ale
1 pack of Kleenex, 1 snack sized apple sauce, and a box of saltines.
We didn't have to go to the store. We didn't have to go stand in line at the pharmacy. We didn't have to get Rachel Pie out of bed for 24 hours, actually.
She may call herself a Nurse Practitioner but I think she might have been Florence Nightingale reincarnated. : )
And FINALLY!!!! I know, I know, first I don't blog for a month and then I go on and on f o r e v e r . . .
But this is cool, so you will want to stay tuned for this last part.
Have I ever told you about the glass ball collection I have?
Well, my mama travels to Germany a lot. She used to, anyway. We have relatives over there so she goes to visit and takes a suitcase full of Mexican food items that they can't get and refills that suitcase with lovely things for all of us. Anyhoo, she goes to some glass factory and buys these gorgeous blown glass balls. All different sizes, and colors.
And we string them up with ribbon or fishing line and hang them in the windows like sun catchers. They are just gorgeous.
Well, we moved to this house in May of 2005 and I have never found a great place to hang them in this house. So they have been sitting in a cabinet in bubble wrap, just waiting.
And you know how one thing leads to another and then another and then BAM!!!! The light bulb comes on of how to think outside the box? Well, that is what happened to me.
Why do they have to just be unused sun catchers? Why can't they be Christmas ornaments?
But what kind of tree would they really be showcased on?
And BAM!!! I got hit with another picture on Pinterest of a gorgeous wrought iron tree with loads of space between the branches for just such baubles as my glass balls.
So, I ordered it and it arrived!
Yay!
I spent yesterday putting it together and hanging all my little glass balls, some of which are egg shaped and some are heart shaped. And here is your photo montage of this!
Here is the shipping box as it arrived and I took it to the corner of the dining room where I am going to assemble and display it.
Once I opened the shipping box, here is the box that was inside.
And when I opened the box this is what I found.
Each of the corrugated paper wrapped items had a label on it identifying what piece this is.
Once I unwrapped every piece and lined them all up in alphabetical order, way on the bottom of the box was this instruction sheet.
Here it is all put together and naked. I think it might need a skirt of some kind. What do you think? Any suggestions?
And here it is with all the beautiful balls, eggs and hearts in place.
And here are some close-ups of the ornaments. Sadly the glass reflects the light so much that they don't show up as beautiful as they truly are.
What do you think? I think it was well worth the $$ to buy a new item to showcase these beauties rather than letting them languish in a drawer. And besides, you all know how I am on a campaign to quit using the shitty quality Made-in-China Christmas lights.
As always, I am happy to get some comments and hear your thoughts.
p.s. Should I write or call the Downy Dicks to see what gives on their bottle information?
Oh right, the flipping allergies! I pay for it each and every time I spend big chunks of time outside.
But, that is not what I want to share with you. I have things to talk about and pictures to show you. So, get up now and go pee. Go get a refill of your favorite beverage and settle in to see what you shall see. : )
First up, I saw that I was running low on Downy. Yes, I still use Downy. No, I do not feel guilty about it. When I was at the store I had to keep looking at the bottles to see which one is the same as the one I have at home because it was slightly different. So when I got home I set them next to each other to make sure I had bought the right flavor. And what else did I spy???
Here is a close up of Bottle A, aka the old one, the one that was already here: Spend a few minutes perusing the label, won't you?
And here is a close up of the new label. Go ahead and check it out and notice the differences.
They are both Downy. They both contain 1.84 liters. They are both lavender scented.
Here's the deal:
THE OLD ONE SAYS IT CONTAINS 78 LOADS worth of softener.
While the new one only does 72 LOADS!! ???
I took the caps off and looked at them since they are the measuring devices to know how much product they recommend. And guess what?
EXACTLY THE SAME CAP, EXACTLY THE SAME MEASUREMENT.
Anyone else confused by this?
Those dicks over at the Downy offices have done some very creative math to come up with this.
And by the by, I don't follow their recommended quantity per load. The first thing I do is to pour half the new bottle into the empty old bottle and then refill both with water and mix them well. This is following the Rule of Half. Half of any recommended amount of product will do the job just as well. Try it with your shampoo, conditioner, laundry products, liquid hand soap, etc. I promise you won't miss the other half and you just saved yourself a bunch of money and time shopping to replace these things.
In other news, the lovely and talented Miss Rachel Pie has been working with small children. And you know what that means, don't you?
She got sick! You have to have a really strong immune system to work with the wee ones, as they bring in germs like nobody's business. Anyhoo, she was S. I. C. K. She went from feeling a bit poorly to running ridiculously high fever, throwing up and sick as a dog overnight. And thanks to the Affordable Healthcare Act, she is still on our insurance (at least until her next birthday). Our insurance has this great local business partnered up on it called White Glove Health
Go check out their website and see if they are near you or if you can sign up for them. Essentially, they are in business to get people well as quickly as possible and back to work. It keeps up productivitiy and that is why Mr. Big Ed's company has gotten this policy for all the insured employees.
Anyway, Miss Rachel Pie was sick as a dog and there was no way she was going to be able to sit for hours at the med clinic waiting to be seen, so we called the White Glove Health people and they sent a nurse practitioner right over. She examined Rachel Pie, she looked down her throat, in her ears, listened to her heart, asked tons of questions, you know, the same thing the med clinic doctor would have done. Then she said Rachel Pie has a sinus infection and a ear infection and prescribed medication, antibiotics, bed rest, liquids, etc.
And did Miss Nurse Practitioner then hand me a bunch of prescriptions to go fill?
No she did NOT! She reached into her Mary Poppins-style bag and brought out a bottle of antibiotics, 2 bottles of Mucinex, 2 bottles of nose spray, 1 bottle of ear drops which you will see below sitting on a box she also gave Rachel Pie called a Well-Kit.
See the Well-Kit box? With its cute little carry handle? What do you suppose is inside?
Let's look, shall we?
I spy with my little eye: cough drops, 2 packs of tylenol, 2 packs of motrin
1 can of chicken noodle soup, 1 bottle of Gator-ade, 1 pack of jell-o, 1 can of Ginger Ale
1 pack of Kleenex, 1 snack sized apple sauce, and a box of saltines.
We didn't have to go to the store. We didn't have to go stand in line at the pharmacy. We didn't have to get Rachel Pie out of bed for 24 hours, actually.
She may call herself a Nurse Practitioner but I think she might have been Florence Nightingale reincarnated. : )
And FINALLY!!!! I know, I know, first I don't blog for a month and then I go on and on f o r e v e r . . .
But this is cool, so you will want to stay tuned for this last part.
Have I ever told you about the glass ball collection I have?
Well, my mama travels to Germany a lot. She used to, anyway. We have relatives over there so she goes to visit and takes a suitcase full of Mexican food items that they can't get and refills that suitcase with lovely things for all of us. Anyhoo, she goes to some glass factory and buys these gorgeous blown glass balls. All different sizes, and colors.
And we string them up with ribbon or fishing line and hang them in the windows like sun catchers. They are just gorgeous.
Well, we moved to this house in May of 2005 and I have never found a great place to hang them in this house. So they have been sitting in a cabinet in bubble wrap, just waiting.
And you know how one thing leads to another and then another and then BAM!!!! The light bulb comes on of how to think outside the box? Well, that is what happened to me.
Why do they have to just be unused sun catchers? Why can't they be Christmas ornaments?
But what kind of tree would they really be showcased on?
And BAM!!! I got hit with another picture on Pinterest of a gorgeous wrought iron tree with loads of space between the branches for just such baubles as my glass balls.
So, I ordered it and it arrived!
Yay!
I spent yesterday putting it together and hanging all my little glass balls, some of which are egg shaped and some are heart shaped. And here is your photo montage of this!
Here is the shipping box as it arrived and I took it to the corner of the dining room where I am going to assemble and display it.
Once I opened the shipping box, here is the box that was inside.
And when I opened the box this is what I found.
Each of the corrugated paper wrapped items had a label on it identifying what piece this is.
Once I unwrapped every piece and lined them all up in alphabetical order, way on the bottom of the box was this instruction sheet.
Here it is all put together and naked. I think it might need a skirt of some kind. What do you think? Any suggestions?
And here it is with all the beautiful balls, eggs and hearts in place.
And here are some close-ups of the ornaments. Sadly the glass reflects the light so much that they don't show up as beautiful as they truly are.
What do you think? I think it was well worth the $$ to buy a new item to showcase these beauties rather than letting them languish in a drawer. And besides, you all know how I am on a campaign to quit using the shitty quality Made-in-China Christmas lights.
As always, I am happy to get some comments and hear your thoughts.
p.s. Should I write or call the Downy Dicks to see what gives on their bottle information?
Wednesday, August 8, 2012
Doula Stuff
I was going to come up with a catchy title and then I thought to myself, "Self, if you let them know ahead of time it is doula stuff, those who are interested will check in and read and those who don't give a fig about birthing babies will know to leave this alone and not bother and then be disappointed." So that is what I did.
Did I tell you that my Rachel Pie has moved back home? First time in 7 years that she has been back living at home. And it's about damn time if you ask me. Anyhoo, she has been interested in the doula work and has taken the training twice now and was working on her doula career back in CO. So now that she is back here, she already has the "in" so to speak on getting into the birthing community here. And she has just gone headfirst into the deep end!
So I took her on as my little apprentice/shadow doula to accompany me to all my visits and birth with my client so that she could learn the lay of the land here. I am sure birth is like everything else and has its little regional differences in how things are done.
And Sunday was my client's day to birth her baby. She woke up in the wee hours of the night/morning with her waters broken and light contractions. It was a beautiful birth. She was so calm, composed and totally willing to try anything I suggested in order to have her labor progress. She and her husband worked well together, plus she had me and Rachel Pie there to support and help. There was a lot of trust in that room.
Sixteen hours from the early morning awakening was the birth of a precious baby girl. She made her entrance to the world at almost 5 p.m. Her mama did a spectacular job of pushing and working hard and just did her best for that baby. It was an honor to be there.
It was also a pleasure to have my Rachel Pie there to witness, to help and to learn what it is to birth a baby. She did an amazing job and I was proud to have her there. I hope as she grows and moves through her doula career that I will get to continue to watch her work.
I am thankful for my work. Thankful for my clients. Thankful for my Rachel Pie. It was a rewarding day.
Did I tell you that my Rachel Pie has moved back home? First time in 7 years that she has been back living at home. And it's about damn time if you ask me. Anyhoo, she has been interested in the doula work and has taken the training twice now and was working on her doula career back in CO. So now that she is back here, she already has the "in" so to speak on getting into the birthing community here. And she has just gone headfirst into the deep end!
So I took her on as my little apprentice/shadow doula to accompany me to all my visits and birth with my client so that she could learn the lay of the land here. I am sure birth is like everything else and has its little regional differences in how things are done.
And Sunday was my client's day to birth her baby. She woke up in the wee hours of the night/morning with her waters broken and light contractions. It was a beautiful birth. She was so calm, composed and totally willing to try anything I suggested in order to have her labor progress. She and her husband worked well together, plus she had me and Rachel Pie there to support and help. There was a lot of trust in that room.
Sixteen hours from the early morning awakening was the birth of a precious baby girl. She made her entrance to the world at almost 5 p.m. Her mama did a spectacular job of pushing and working hard and just did her best for that baby. It was an honor to be there.
It was also a pleasure to have my Rachel Pie there to witness, to help and to learn what it is to birth a baby. She did an amazing job and I was proud to have her there. I hope as she grows and moves through her doula career that I will get to continue to watch her work.
I am thankful for my work. Thankful for my clients. Thankful for my Rachel Pie. It was a rewarding day.
Wednesday, May 23, 2012
A little of this, A little of that
I have been silent for a while and I need to break that silence, but all the thoughts I have had for blog fodder are all jumbled up so I am liable to be flitting around from topic to topic. Grab yourself some caffeine and try to keep up!
Have you read about the gay penguin couple? Here is the latest update on them:
"After six years of lovingly building a nest together each spring, a pair of male Gentoo penguins named Inca and Rayas finally have an egg to keep in it. According to their keepers at Madrid's Faunia Park, the two are inseparable and have taken to parenting like, well, penguins to water. Inca has adopted the female role of incubating the egg, while partner Rayas watches over his buddy and the little one. Their keepers hope that the donated egg -- and the bub that hatches out of it -- will boost the pair's spirits. In past years, they apparently became rather blue during spring when surrounded by all their friends' newborns."
Have you read about the gay penguin couple? Here is the latest update on them:
"After six years of lovingly building a nest together each spring, a pair of male Gentoo penguins named Inca and Rayas finally have an egg to keep in it. According to their keepers at Madrid's Faunia Park, the two are inseparable and have taken to parenting like, well, penguins to water. Inca has adopted the female role of incubating the egg, while partner Rayas watches over his buddy and the little one. Their keepers hope that the donated egg -- and the bub that hatches out of it -- will boost the pair's spirits. In past years, they apparently became rather blue during spring when surrounded by all their friends' newborns."
Awwwww. What a sweet story.
Did you watch the DWTS finale? I had no hopes that this season would be as good as it was. It really was great to watch. The final 4 were all so good that there was no reason to be disappointed no matter who won.
Speaking of finales, all the shows are having their season finales this past month and none more important to watch than Monday night's airing of the SERIES FINALE of House. The whole series is over. No more cranky pants House. No more weird diseases to be discovered and cured. No more co-workers to kill off. It was really good and stayed true to the character of the show. I hate it when they come up with some cutesy ending that fails miserably to resolve anything.
Oh! I found a new favorite blog! My absolute favorite blogger in the world is Martha Payne.
Have you heard of Martha? No?
Well, she is a 9 year old girl who lives in Scotland. And just the most clever thing around. I wish I had been that smart at 9. She was becoming disillusioned about the school lunches and she now writes a blog about it. She posts a photo of it and rates it on taste, nutrition, how many mouthfuls she actually gets (these photos of her lunches have shocked me by how small they are) and also by whether or not she finds a hair in them.
This is an eye-opening experiment. She asked for kids around the world to send in pictures of their own school lunches (or made at home and brought to school) to her for comparison. And yes, her dad is helping her by tweeting about this. And yes, Jamie Oliver is aware of this and encouraging her. He needs to get his gorgeous Naked Chef self up to Scotland and do something with their school lunches. Those meals have negligable protein, few vegetables, little or no fruit. Mostly carbs, bread, potatoes, pasta and the like. So go read Martha and send her some encouragement.
And on a completely different train of thought, in the paper this Sunday, right on the front page was an article titled "Despite changes, more kids are dying"
Seems that our county has taken the lead in Texas for most child deaths involving parents from abuse and/or neglect. Lovely. Our county has had 20 child deaths in the last fiscal year. We also had the most confirmed cases of abused and neglected children in the state, 5,915 which is more than the 5,493 for Houston which has nearly three times as many children as our city. More deaths with 1/3 the total number of children. Doesn't that make your stomach turn?
The article goes on for another full page of facts, details, information, etc. And it ends with a half page listing each of the 20 children who were killed and the pertinent facts of each of their cases. It made this very personal and real to see their little names, ages, cause of death and what criminal case or charges have been filed, that kind of outcome. I think these little ones deserve to be honored in this way and create some awareness and hopefully get more people to step up and volunteer to help.
Do any of you remember last July when I posted this?? This little angel boy was the last one listed on this page of 20. I had periodically checked the news online to see if anything had ever come of the father of this child admitting to hurting and ultimately killing this baby and never could find anything. So I read the little bit they had listed Sunday on this baby. And I am going to go ahead and type what is there since it is the newspaper I can assume there is no expectation of privacy. Here's what is said:
Kaleb Alexander Janosik
Age: 22 days
Date of death: July 24, 2011
Died of head injuries.
Father admitting to striking and biting the child.
Mother and father were found "reason to believe" for physical abuse.
Justin Janosik (father) pleaded guilty to murder, received a life sentence.
My heart just breaks for all 20 of these shameful deaths. One thing I looked at is that 11 of the 20 had previously been investigated by CPS so someone already knew there was a problem in the home. I don't know the answer to this horrific problem but I do know that I try my hardest to make sure my work with each of my clients helps them to fall in love with their children and to know there are resources for when they are overwhelmed and feel helpless.
If you feel so moved to help with abused and neglected children, consider becoming a CASA advocate. Or check with your CPS office and see what it takes to become a foster family for children in need. Some of our local high schools have nurseries for the babies while moms attend school and they need volunteers there to work with the babies. You can teach parenting classes. There are many ways you can get involved and make a difference in a child's life. Please make the effort. Don't just sit back and read about the tragedies being perpetrated on these young lives and do nothing. It really does take a village.
Thursday, January 19, 2012
So, the other day we were out . . . .
and we pulled off the side of the road to talk to this homeless couple that I see regularly. They are on my route of regulars and I always have snacks, blankets, wet naps, $, fruit, or whatever for passing out to those in need. And I have chatted with them for years now.
Seriously, years.
Several years back it was obvious that she was pregnant and then I only saw him alone for a long time and I was afraid to ask what happened in case it was really bad and they had lost the baby or something. So, anyhoo, we were talking and they brought up that their daughter is living with his sister and they don't get to see her very often. And since they opened up that conversation I had to go there. You know what I mean?
I said "well, at least she is with family and you get to spend time with her. And that is way better than being in the foster system, isn't it?" They allowed how they do get to see her some but not very often. Then I asked, "what is your daughter's name?"
And they looked at each other and said "Well, we had named her Audacity, but his sister is calling her Diana." Then he looks at me and says "can't imagine where she got THAT NAME."
This is where we all got the WTF??? look on our faces. Yeah, can't possibly imagine where she came up with Diana, when they had the perfectly fine name of Audacity already.
It's a head scratcher, that's what I am saying.
Seriously, years.
Several years back it was obvious that she was pregnant and then I only saw him alone for a long time and I was afraid to ask what happened in case it was really bad and they had lost the baby or something. So, anyhoo, we were talking and they brought up that their daughter is living with his sister and they don't get to see her very often. And since they opened up that conversation I had to go there. You know what I mean?
I said "well, at least she is with family and you get to spend time with her. And that is way better than being in the foster system, isn't it?" They allowed how they do get to see her some but not very often. Then I asked, "what is your daughter's name?"
And they looked at each other and said "Well, we had named her Audacity, but his sister is calling her Diana." Then he looks at me and says "can't imagine where she got THAT NAME."
This is where we all got the WTF??? look on our faces. Yeah, can't possibly imagine where she came up with Diana, when they had the perfectly fine name of Audacity already.
It's a head scratcher, that's what I am saying.
Sunday, January 15, 2012
January 15, 1938
January 15, 1938 is my Papa's birthday. I have written about him several times and if you want to, you can go here to read the other times and see the photos.
Today would have been his 74th birthday, and you know, 74 isn't really all that old. And that makes it all the harder to deal with the fact that he died just weeks after his 57th birthday. 57.
The closer I get to 57 the more I realize how young it really is. You know how that goes.
So while everyone else is out celebrating the birth of Martin Luther King and having big grand marches in his honor (believe it or don't, the largest MLK march takes place here. Isn't that amazing?) and enjoying having a day off tomorrow, I have a higher priority in remembering my Papa and what all I learned from him. My kids were only 8 and 9 when he died and they are the oldest of his grandchildren, so it is really important to me that I keep telling them things about him so that they know. My sisters' kids are a bit younger and I don't think have too many real memories of time with him.
It's sad that it only takes 2 generations before the stories are all that is left of a life well-lived and well-loved.
I take this as a constant reminder to spend quality one-on-one, look-you-in-the-eyes time with people. I don't ever want to leave things left unspoken. I would like for people who know me to know that what they get with me is the real me, no holding back, no polite fakeness and hopefully no regrets.
Today would have been his 74th birthday, and you know, 74 isn't really all that old. And that makes it all the harder to deal with the fact that he died just weeks after his 57th birthday. 57.
The closer I get to 57 the more I realize how young it really is. You know how that goes.
So while everyone else is out celebrating the birth of Martin Luther King and having big grand marches in his honor (believe it or don't, the largest MLK march takes place here. Isn't that amazing?) and enjoying having a day off tomorrow, I have a higher priority in remembering my Papa and what all I learned from him. My kids were only 8 and 9 when he died and they are the oldest of his grandchildren, so it is really important to me that I keep telling them things about him so that they know. My sisters' kids are a bit younger and I don't think have too many real memories of time with him.
It's sad that it only takes 2 generations before the stories are all that is left of a life well-lived and well-loved.
I take this as a constant reminder to spend quality one-on-one, look-you-in-the-eyes time with people. I don't ever want to leave things left unspoken. I would like for people who know me to know that what they get with me is the real me, no holding back, no polite fakeness and hopefully no regrets.
Monday, December 26, 2011
Worst Blogger Ever Returns
Hey there! Yes, it has been 2 full weeks since I last posted anything. Yes, I do realize I am in the Worst Blogger Ever category. But, I have been really busy. For reals.
My sweet little Rachel Pie is home and we have been busy staying up damn near all night long playing cards, drinking tea, drinking eggnog, crocheting, watching Christmas movies, you know, the usual.
Plus there have been many days of trudging through the grocery store to get everything we need to make:
A. Chex Party Mix. It is not the holidays around here without tons and tons of Chex Party Mix. My s-i-l and I both make it and we go through that stuff like there's no tomorrow.
B. Tamales. Tamales are a traditional thing to make for Christmas eve and we really try to make good ones and have enough to get through New Year's.
C. Christmas candy and treats to pass out to the neighbors.
D. Regular meals during all of this holiday shenanigans.
Now about the candy, let me tell you this, I got the recipe from the blog of someone else, and since I haven't asked her permission to send you over there, I won't do that just yet. But if she tells me "yes, please send your 5 readers over here" I will do just that. I got the recipe she calls Crock Pot Candy and thought it seemed like a really fun idea. So I bought all the ingredients and did as it told me to layer them up in the crock pot and leave them for 3 hours. DO NOT TOUCH OR STIR FOR THREE HOURS! And then you stir it all up and drop by spoonfulls into little miniature cupcake papers to set up.
I left it the requisite 3 hours and went in to find a 2 inch thick wall all the way around the inside of the crock pot of burnt all the way to charcoal mess. It was horrendous. You have never smelled anything so gross. Not to mention it took days to soak, scrub and chisel that crap out of the crock pot and try to get rid of the burnt smell.
I got a few more ingredients and tried again. I'm so brave, right?
This time I checked it after 1 hour and it was almost ready. After 1 1/2 hours it was perfect. My crock pot must run really hot in the low heat button. I don't know what's up with it. But half the time was just right for my crock pot. I guess crock pots are like microwaves in that they are each a bit different and quirky.
So Rachel Pie and I got all the little shiny gold and silver papers ready and dropped all the ooey gooey goodness in to them and I added some crushed peppermint on top for festiveness. We packaged these in little tins with gold tissue paper and passed them out to the neighbors. And within an hour of returning home several of them had called to say how much they loved the candy. Now I don't know about you, but when people come calling with treats I tend to put them on the holiday table to serve along with all my other goodies. I don't generally open the package and scarf them down right there at the door. But that is what they seemed to do, and they all loved them. New recipe to add to the holiday repetoire.
Today is our 30th wedding anniversary. Can you believe that? Mr. Big Ed and I are officially old farts if we are that damn old.
Here's something else you aren't going to believe! (Lisa Pie's blog, where you come to find the unbelieveable and be astounded) Mr. Big Ed is known far and wide by his lack of the shopping and gifting gene. The man just doesn't like to shop and is oblivious to gifts, getting or receiving. It has taken a lot of years for him to get to the point where he is today.
In fairness, it has taken me a lot of years to learn to tone it down when gifting to him, because his not wanting a lot of stuff and a lot of fuss made over him is not a character flaw.
So when we exchanged our anniversary gifts, I almost fell out of my chair when I opened the box to find a 36 inch strand of Tahitian black pearls.
I'll just let that sentence stand alone and let that thought soak in. Pearl is the traditional gift for 30 year anniversary. Black pearls are one of the things that would be on my bucket list of things to acquire.
I may have toned down my gift giving just a tad too much, since all I got him was a cute little thing to heat up his towels for after the shower. I am not saying it's a crap gift, but next to black pearls? It didn't look all that awesome. I hope he enjoys it as much as I will enjoy those pearls!
My sweet little Rachel Pie is home and we have been busy staying up damn near all night long playing cards, drinking tea, drinking eggnog, crocheting, watching Christmas movies, you know, the usual.
Plus there have been many days of trudging through the grocery store to get everything we need to make:
A. Chex Party Mix. It is not the holidays around here without tons and tons of Chex Party Mix. My s-i-l and I both make it and we go through that stuff like there's no tomorrow.
B. Tamales. Tamales are a traditional thing to make for Christmas eve and we really try to make good ones and have enough to get through New Year's.
C. Christmas candy and treats to pass out to the neighbors.
D. Regular meals during all of this holiday shenanigans.
Now about the candy, let me tell you this, I got the recipe from the blog of someone else, and since I haven't asked her permission to send you over there, I won't do that just yet. But if she tells me "yes, please send your 5 readers over here" I will do just that. I got the recipe she calls Crock Pot Candy and thought it seemed like a really fun idea. So I bought all the ingredients and did as it told me to layer them up in the crock pot and leave them for 3 hours. DO NOT TOUCH OR STIR FOR THREE HOURS! And then you stir it all up and drop by spoonfulls into little miniature cupcake papers to set up.
I left it the requisite 3 hours and went in to find a 2 inch thick wall all the way around the inside of the crock pot of burnt all the way to charcoal mess. It was horrendous. You have never smelled anything so gross. Not to mention it took days to soak, scrub and chisel that crap out of the crock pot and try to get rid of the burnt smell.
I got a few more ingredients and tried again. I'm so brave, right?
This time I checked it after 1 hour and it was almost ready. After 1 1/2 hours it was perfect. My crock pot must run really hot in the low heat button. I don't know what's up with it. But half the time was just right for my crock pot. I guess crock pots are like microwaves in that they are each a bit different and quirky.
So Rachel Pie and I got all the little shiny gold and silver papers ready and dropped all the ooey gooey goodness in to them and I added some crushed peppermint on top for festiveness. We packaged these in little tins with gold tissue paper and passed them out to the neighbors. And within an hour of returning home several of them had called to say how much they loved the candy. Now I don't know about you, but when people come calling with treats I tend to put them on the holiday table to serve along with all my other goodies. I don't generally open the package and scarf them down right there at the door. But that is what they seemed to do, and they all loved them. New recipe to add to the holiday repetoire.
Today is our 30th wedding anniversary. Can you believe that? Mr. Big Ed and I are officially old farts if we are that damn old.
Here's something else you aren't going to believe! (Lisa Pie's blog, where you come to find the unbelieveable and be astounded) Mr. Big Ed is known far and wide by his lack of the shopping and gifting gene. The man just doesn't like to shop and is oblivious to gifts, getting or receiving. It has taken a lot of years for him to get to the point where he is today.
In fairness, it has taken me a lot of years to learn to tone it down when gifting to him, because his not wanting a lot of stuff and a lot of fuss made over him is not a character flaw.
So when we exchanged our anniversary gifts, I almost fell out of my chair when I opened the box to find a 36 inch strand of Tahitian black pearls.
I'll just let that sentence stand alone and let that thought soak in. Pearl is the traditional gift for 30 year anniversary. Black pearls are one of the things that would be on my bucket list of things to acquire.
I may have toned down my gift giving just a tad too much, since all I got him was a cute little thing to heat up his towels for after the shower. I am not saying it's a crap gift, but next to black pearls? It didn't look all that awesome. I hope he enjoys it as much as I will enjoy those pearls!
Thursday, March 24, 2011
What to post
I have been trying all morning to decide what to talk about here. And I was perusing previous posts and you know what?
It seems like all I ever do is promise to follow up one post with some pictures and stories that tell you the rest of the story. And then . . . . . nothing. wth?
I had no idea I was that big of a dingbat. So I either need to come up with a system that tells me it is time to take some pictures and do a follow-up post, or I need to just shut the hell up and quit promising things I am clearly not capable of delivering.
Did any of you notice that I do this? If not, never mind.
But! I do have something awesome to show you.
This is actually courtesy of Mr. Big Ed. Follow the link here to the Washington Post and see this slide show. I tried and tried to capture each photo and post them individually here and could not make it happen. I also have no idea how to imbed this slide show here. So please, click over to the Washington Post and scope this out.
If you have been here for any length of time you already know about my love of Peeps. And did you know that you can go to the Peeps website and have loads of fun?? When you are in the Peeps site, click on the general store and there are gift tags, coloring pages, wallpaper, all sorts of fun things you can print up. Not to mention recipes using Peeps! Love the Peeps!!
Since St. Patrick's Day I have been listening to my Irish Drinking Music and I finally had my fill of The Clancy Brothers and switched today to my 70's Soul Music. This is my go-to play list. What could be any better than a couple hours worth of Marvin Gaye, Al Green, Teddy Pendergrass, Barry White, The Four Tops, The Temptations, Isley Bros.?
I got sucked into a 30 minute long infomercial the other night by Smokey Robinson. It was all Time-Life DVDs of Soul Train. And do you know it took the the whole 30 minutes to figure out that the Soul Train DVDs in question were in fact . . . . DVDs???
The whole flipping time I was thinking that it was going to be cds to listen to, not watch. What a goober! Anyhoo, if you haven't seen old Soul Train episodes in a long, long time you are probably like me and didn't remember how epic the outfits and the hair was! O.M.G. Indeed!
I am probably going to have to go to the Time-Life site and order the damn set. Oh! And the DVDs are supposed to include the old Afro-Sheen and Ultra-Sheen cosmetics commercials. Woot!
I really didn't like being a boring white person without an afro in the 1970's. I could have rocked a nice big afro and carried a pick in my back pocket. But no, sadly I am just a generic Irish-German white person.
It is only a month till Easter. Time to start making my plans. It's not like I have that much to do with grown kidlets and no grandbabies yet. Pretty much it's just a few decorations, and planning the Easter menu. And that has become entirely too easy since we have settled on our very traditional Easter paella. I mean paella is a big one dish meal with some salad and bread. I still boil and color eggs so that we can have deviled eggs, egg salad and such afterwards.
Enough rambling from me. Let me hear from you! And I hope it's a great day for you. Thanks for stopping by.
It seems like all I ever do is promise to follow up one post with some pictures and stories that tell you the rest of the story. And then . . . . . nothing. wth?
I had no idea I was that big of a dingbat. So I either need to come up with a system that tells me it is time to take some pictures and do a follow-up post, or I need to just shut the hell up and quit promising things I am clearly not capable of delivering.
Did any of you notice that I do this? If not, never mind.
But! I do have something awesome to show you.
This is actually courtesy of Mr. Big Ed. Follow the link here to the Washington Post and see this slide show. I tried and tried to capture each photo and post them individually here and could not make it happen. I also have no idea how to imbed this slide show here. So please, click over to the Washington Post and scope this out.
If you have been here for any length of time you already know about my love of Peeps. And did you know that you can go to the Peeps website and have loads of fun?? When you are in the Peeps site, click on the general store and there are gift tags, coloring pages, wallpaper, all sorts of fun things you can print up. Not to mention recipes using Peeps! Love the Peeps!!
Since St. Patrick's Day I have been listening to my Irish Drinking Music and I finally had my fill of The Clancy Brothers and switched today to my 70's Soul Music. This is my go-to play list. What could be any better than a couple hours worth of Marvin Gaye, Al Green, Teddy Pendergrass, Barry White, The Four Tops, The Temptations, Isley Bros.?
I got sucked into a 30 minute long infomercial the other night by Smokey Robinson. It was all Time-Life DVDs of Soul Train. And do you know it took the the whole 30 minutes to figure out that the Soul Train DVDs in question were in fact . . . . DVDs???
The whole flipping time I was thinking that it was going to be cds to listen to, not watch. What a goober! Anyhoo, if you haven't seen old Soul Train episodes in a long, long time you are probably like me and didn't remember how epic the outfits and the hair was! O.M.G. Indeed!
I am probably going to have to go to the Time-Life site and order the damn set. Oh! And the DVDs are supposed to include the old Afro-Sheen and Ultra-Sheen cosmetics commercials. Woot!
I really didn't like being a boring white person without an afro in the 1970's. I could have rocked a nice big afro and carried a pick in my back pocket. But no, sadly I am just a generic Irish-German white person.
It is only a month till Easter. Time to start making my plans. It's not like I have that much to do with grown kidlets and no grandbabies yet. Pretty much it's just a few decorations, and planning the Easter menu. And that has become entirely too easy since we have settled on our very traditional Easter paella. I mean paella is a big one dish meal with some salad and bread. I still boil and color eggs so that we can have deviled eggs, egg salad and such afterwards.
Enough rambling from me. Let me hear from you! And I hope it's a great day for you. Thanks for stopping by.
Tuesday, March 8, 2011
Getting political today
I have made it a point to not get political here. I don't really want any dischord in my life or my cyber-life. But I am going to step a bit, just a big toe dipping into this political pool, so please bear with me.
I am a birth doula. I am also a post-partum doula. And I am a massage therapist who specializes in prenatal and infant massage. I am also a mother. And I hope one day to be a grandmother. So you might tend to pigeon-hole me into the group of people who like to call themselves Pro-Life. Who would not want to consider themselves Pro-Life? Are we ever Anti-Life?
Groups have ways of finding innocuous-sounding names to bring in people who might never darken their doors had they really known the group's agenda.
Because of all that mentioned above, I am firmly encamped in the Pro-Choice side of this debate. One thing that is sacred to me as a woman mentoring other women is choice. I tell every. single. one. of my clients over and over again
If you don't know your choices, you have none.
It's true. It is true about childbirth, about parenting, about making food choices, about budgeting, whatever. If you only know one way, that's what you do. If you only have one viable choice, you go along. Even if there is a niggling little feeling in the back of your heart telling you "there must be another way".
So, today I am here to say that this is absolute bullshit being put out there that funding must be cut to Planned Parenthood. Please go check out Planned Parenthood and see just exactly what kind of work they do. There is so much need for the kind of education they provide, the testing of HIV they do, the pregnancy testing, just everything.
If the Pink Bus is coming to a city near you, please go and support them. Go and find out. Go and educate yourself about the need to educate.
Just don't do nothing while they get their funding slashed and the rights of women get trampled and thrown back to the 1940's.
I work with pregnant teenagers, some who have homes, some who do not. I work with some at the juvenile detention center. And I work with some who believe they are in a committed relationship and have the rose-colored view that everything will be the way they are picturing it in their head as opposed to reality. The numbers of my actual clients who end up staying together with their boyfriend, keeping their babies, and living as a family unit are dismal. This never happens. It does not matter what the ecomonic level of the family is, this is such a ridiculously hard way to start out, that most of these girls can not find their way through it with this dream intact.
What they need is more support from the community. From people like me who have lists and lists of organizations, agencies and such that can provide education, support groups for the young moms and dads, access to birth control so that they can cope with what they have before adding to it.
What they don't need is to be treated like children who have done wrong and now have to be punished. "You made this bed, now you have to lie in it". Really? That's how you want them to approach parenting? As a consequence of being bad? How does that translate to their feelings about this baby? Are you able to love a baby that is a daily reminder of your transgressions and your failings?
It's a thorny issue this one. I just thought I would go ahead and let you know my stance on this. I will be standing outside my closest Planned Parenthood clinic tonight from 6 to 8 p.m. in solidarity with others.
Please do some research and arm yourself with facts. If you don't know your choices, you have none.
I am a birth doula. I am also a post-partum doula. And I am a massage therapist who specializes in prenatal and infant massage. I am also a mother. And I hope one day to be a grandmother. So you might tend to pigeon-hole me into the group of people who like to call themselves Pro-Life. Who would not want to consider themselves Pro-Life? Are we ever Anti-Life?
Groups have ways of finding innocuous-sounding names to bring in people who might never darken their doors had they really known the group's agenda.
Because of all that mentioned above, I am firmly encamped in the Pro-Choice side of this debate. One thing that is sacred to me as a woman mentoring other women is choice. I tell every. single. one. of my clients over and over again
If you don't know your choices, you have none.
It's true. It is true about childbirth, about parenting, about making food choices, about budgeting, whatever. If you only know one way, that's what you do. If you only have one viable choice, you go along. Even if there is a niggling little feeling in the back of your heart telling you "there must be another way".
So, today I am here to say that this is absolute bullshit being put out there that funding must be cut to Planned Parenthood. Please go check out Planned Parenthood and see just exactly what kind of work they do. There is so much need for the kind of education they provide, the testing of HIV they do, the pregnancy testing, just everything.
If the Pink Bus is coming to a city near you, please go and support them. Go and find out. Go and educate yourself about the need to educate.
Just don't do nothing while they get their funding slashed and the rights of women get trampled and thrown back to the 1940's.
I work with pregnant teenagers, some who have homes, some who do not. I work with some at the juvenile detention center. And I work with some who believe they are in a committed relationship and have the rose-colored view that everything will be the way they are picturing it in their head as opposed to reality. The numbers of my actual clients who end up staying together with their boyfriend, keeping their babies, and living as a family unit are dismal. This never happens. It does not matter what the ecomonic level of the family is, this is such a ridiculously hard way to start out, that most of these girls can not find their way through it with this dream intact.
What they need is more support from the community. From people like me who have lists and lists of organizations, agencies and such that can provide education, support groups for the young moms and dads, access to birth control so that they can cope with what they have before adding to it.
What they don't need is to be treated like children who have done wrong and now have to be punished. "You made this bed, now you have to lie in it". Really? That's how you want them to approach parenting? As a consequence of being bad? How does that translate to their feelings about this baby? Are you able to love a baby that is a daily reminder of your transgressions and your failings?
It's a thorny issue this one. I just thought I would go ahead and let you know my stance on this. I will be standing outside my closest Planned Parenthood clinic tonight from 6 to 8 p.m. in solidarity with others.
Please do some research and arm yourself with facts. If you don't know your choices, you have none.
Thursday, February 3, 2011
Returning to Dallas!
How excited am I? Oh my sweet Lord! Dallas is returning! Dallas, you say? You mean those stupid ass Cowboys owned by that stupid Jerry Jones? Nope.
I mean Dallas. The glitzy, glamourous, fabulous show from the 1980s. Yes indeed! It's back! And guess who is coming back for it?
J.R.! (Do you remember who shot that sorry bastard that everyone loved to hate?)
Sue Ellen (who didn't seem to know any other facial expression than that one!)
and Bobby!
Here's the scoop: The show is to center around J.R. and Sue Ellen's boy, John Ross and Bobby and Pam's son Christopher. And of course a love triangle. 'Cause what would night time soap opera drama be without cousins fighting over a love interest!
I can NOT wait to see who gets cast for John Ross and Christopher. (Can you tell how exciting this news is to me?) Oh, and won't it be a hoot if all the women are STILL wearing 1980's hair and makeup?
For those of you who are not from Texas and from the Dallas area in particular; the house Southfork that they used in this show really exists. It is in Plano. And I went to high school with 2 of the boys of the family that live there. I sure hope they are going to all still be living at Southfork on the new show!
All my kids lives I have told them that I wanted a house like the one on Dallas where it would be shaped in a square and Mr. Big Ed and I would have a wing, each of my kids get a wing and the fourth side would be the familial public areas. We would all meet downstairs in the parlor for cocktails before dinner and have a huge family dinner together most evenings. My kids' kids would grow up right there surrounded by their grandparents, aunts, uncles, cousins. In the bosom of the family, as it were!
Oh, I had such high hopes! sigh. They are not the least bit interested in this plan. Ungrateful savages.
Here is what I am thinking, hopefully they will be using Southfork as the setting for the new show. My kids will watch it and the subliminal message will sink in. Heh, heh, my evil plan will work! Yes!
More news as I hear about the show. And as always, if you hear anything before me, please, please, do share!
I mean Dallas. The glitzy, glamourous, fabulous show from the 1980s. Yes indeed! It's back! And guess who is coming back for it?
J.R.! (Do you remember who shot that sorry bastard that everyone loved to hate?)
Sue Ellen (who didn't seem to know any other facial expression than that one!)
and Bobby!
Here's the scoop: The show is to center around J.R. and Sue Ellen's boy, John Ross and Bobby and Pam's son Christopher. And of course a love triangle. 'Cause what would night time soap opera drama be without cousins fighting over a love interest!
I can NOT wait to see who gets cast for John Ross and Christopher. (Can you tell how exciting this news is to me?) Oh, and won't it be a hoot if all the women are STILL wearing 1980's hair and makeup?
For those of you who are not from Texas and from the Dallas area in particular; the house Southfork that they used in this show really exists. It is in Plano. And I went to high school with 2 of the boys of the family that live there. I sure hope they are going to all still be living at Southfork on the new show!
All my kids lives I have told them that I wanted a house like the one on Dallas where it would be shaped in a square and Mr. Big Ed and I would have a wing, each of my kids get a wing and the fourth side would be the familial public areas. We would all meet downstairs in the parlor for cocktails before dinner and have a huge family dinner together most evenings. My kids' kids would grow up right there surrounded by their grandparents, aunts, uncles, cousins. In the bosom of the family, as it were!
Oh, I had such high hopes! sigh. They are not the least bit interested in this plan. Ungrateful savages.
Here is what I am thinking, hopefully they will be using Southfork as the setting for the new show. My kids will watch it and the subliminal message will sink in. Heh, heh, my evil plan will work! Yes!
More news as I hear about the show. And as always, if you hear anything before me, please, please, do share!
Wednesday, December 29, 2010
This is how you win at Pictionary
So the week before Christmas my in-laws were here. And any time I can get 4 or more people together to play some board games, well, it's a good time here at Chez Lisa Pie.
Ended up me and my s-i-l, let's call her Donna. Because that's her name. Me and Donna were one team. Or is it Donna and I were one team? Regardless, you know the make-up of Team 1. Team 2 was my son and her daughter. Cousins who are younger and think they are smarter than we are. Ha!
They did start out doing really well and at one point I thought we were going to get our asses waxed. But then . . . . something clicked and we got on a roll and just whipped those young puppies into shape! I tell you I was totally channelling Kathy Bates from Fried Green Tomatoes, "Face it, you may be younger and cuter, but we are older and havemore insurance better drawing skillz".
That would be wrong because we had almost no drawing skillz at all! Our drawings were so bad, they were horrible! How bad were they, you ask? Well, let me show you a drawing that Donna did for me to guess.
Now, when you look at this lovely drawing what comes to mind?
Knives?
Torpedoes?
Sperm?
Balloon animals?
Well, unless you guessed mermaid you would be as wrong as I was. For mermaid she drew a fish (of sorts) and then put THREE LEGS on it!
We all damn near peed ourselves over that one. It was so damn funny I didn't even care that we lost that point and had to pass the cards.
But I also wanted to share with you a picture of the winning picture. Keep in mind we still have the same person drawing (Donna) and the same person (Moi) guessing.
First she drew the thing on the right. (I guessed basketball hoop and was correct)
Then she drew the stick figure person and I started guessing basketball players.
She shook her head no, and colored in his face. Which led me to confine my guesses to Black basketball players.
I said "Michael Jordan"
No.
"Wilt Chamberlain?"
DING DING DING DING DING DING DING !!!!!!
And THAT is how you win at Pictionary, my friends.
With plenty of time left on that timer.
(Puffing out chest a little too proudly and not being at all nice about beating the pants off our kids)
Ended up me and my s-i-l, let's call her Donna. Because that's her name. Me and Donna were one team. Or is it Donna and I were one team? Regardless, you know the make-up of Team 1. Team 2 was my son and her daughter. Cousins who are younger and think they are smarter than we are. Ha!
They did start out doing really well and at one point I thought we were going to get our asses waxed. But then . . . . something clicked and we got on a roll and just whipped those young puppies into shape! I tell you I was totally channelling Kathy Bates from Fried Green Tomatoes, "Face it, you may be younger and cuter, but we are older and have
That would be wrong because we had almost no drawing skillz at all! Our drawings were so bad, they were horrible! How bad were they, you ask? Well, let me show you a drawing that Donna did for me to guess.
Now, when you look at this lovely drawing what comes to mind?
Knives?
Torpedoes?
Sperm?
Balloon animals?
Well, unless you guessed mermaid you would be as wrong as I was. For mermaid she drew a fish (of sorts) and then put THREE LEGS on it!
We all damn near peed ourselves over that one. It was so damn funny I didn't even care that we lost that point and had to pass the cards.
But I also wanted to share with you a picture of the winning picture. Keep in mind we still have the same person drawing (Donna) and the same person (Moi) guessing.
First she drew the thing on the right. (I guessed basketball hoop and was correct)
Then she drew the stick figure person and I started guessing basketball players.
She shook her head no, and colored in his face. Which led me to confine my guesses to Black basketball players.
I said "Michael Jordan"
No.
"Wilt Chamberlain?"
DING DING DING DING DING DING DING !!!!!!
And THAT is how you win at Pictionary, my friends.
With plenty of time left on that timer.
(Puffing out chest a little too proudly and not being at all nice about beating the pants off our kids)
Friday, December 24, 2010
Christmas Tamale-Making Tired
Yes, I am so tired I am Christmas Tamale-Making Tired. And THAT, my friends, is t. i. r. e. d.
Little Rachel Pie and I have made this year's tamales. We spent Wednesday at the store buying everything we needed and then soaking the beans and cooking the beans and also cooking the pork. Basically, doing all the prep work we could ahead of time.
Then yesterday we started making the tamales. Typically, I have a group of friends over and some neighbors drop by and my s-i-l and with a kitchen full of people we knock those babies out. But since we didn't get this planned till the last second and my s-i-l is traveling, it ended up being just the two of us.
And do you think I was smart enough to think of taking my camera out and sharing the experience with you here? No, I was not. I actually thought of it TODAY! A day late and a dollar short, as the saying goes.
So visualize this in your head: both of us in our Christmas aprons. Rachel Pie did NOT like her Christmas apron and kept calling it a Muu Muu. Then it became a M-apron. Then it was Muu-pron. Which to me sounded like a prescription drug for e.d. or restless leg syndrome or something lame.
Anyhoo, back to the kitchen. We had the big giant silver ice chest full of corn husks soaking in water. We had all 5 giant tamale pots out and at the ready. There were large pans of mashed beans, shredded and seasoned pork, corn, chopped roasted Hatch chiles, cheese, and bowls of mashed chipotles. May I just interject here that one of my all-time pet peeves is MORONS who mispronounce CHI-PO-TLE. It is not now, nor has it ever been CHI-POLE-TEE. Please don't say this, it just makes you look like an idiot. Or like Guy Fieri when he says BUH-SAL-MIC in place of the correct BAL-SAM-IC. It is not that hard to say chi-po-tle.
Anyhoo, back to the kitchen again. Picture the giant tupperware full of the masa. And also picture the food processor and all the masa ingredients on the other section of the counter. What I am saying here is that the kitchen was full of stuff and looked like a tamale bomb had gone off. And we are clean-as-you-go people. And it still looked that bad.
We ended up with 18 - 20 dozen tamales total. Some were pork, some were bean and chipotle, and the rest were were corn, chile and cheese. In other years we have added in other varieties, we do sweet ones, we mix pork and venison, sometimes we put bacon in the beans, cilantro in the corn, chile and cheese (which I like to call C 3 or C- cubed) If we had cilantro it would have been C to the 4th power, which I have no clue how to do on my lovely computer. But that's how we label them when packing away in the freezer.
There was no set rhyme or reason as to how many we made of each. We just started with the pork and made them till we ran out of the pork. Then the beans. And finally the C 3.
In case you are interested in the specifics, we started with about 5 lbs of pork shoulder which I cooked overnight in the crock pot with a little bit of chicken stock and a ton of garlic. The beans were a 4 lb. bag of pintos that I cooked all day long with a ton of garlic. When they were cooked well, I added in salt, chile powder, cumin and a couple cans of Ro-Tel.
I bought Chile ancho, chile guajillo, and those little Chile de Arbol (those are the hot ones) and we seeded them and roasted them and then softened them in boiling water and then processed them with lots of garlic and salt and some of the soaking water till we had about a quart of chile puree'. This mixture got blended into the pork, and each of the masa mixtures. I vary the ingredients of the masa to better coordinate with the filling. When making the pork tamales I use the rich pork drippings and mix with chicken broth and some of the chile puree', but with the bean ones I use the bean juice that I strained off before refrying the beans. Just to add another layer of flavor. Make sense?
After all the giant tamale steamer pots were done and cooling we still had to package up the tamales and label them. And find room for them in the freezers.
Time involved: 2 people at 12 hours each, plus 2 people shopping for 2 hours, plus 3 more hours prep work. Total: 34 woman hours.
Money spent: No clue. I hate keeping up with that end of things. Plus how do you account for the baking powder and salt that was already in the pantry and used 1 tsp at a time? All I know is that people who bitch about buying tamales for $5 or $6 per dozen have never made them. There is no way I would do all that work and sell my 20 dozen for $6 each. That's $120 and if you divide that by 34 hours of labor it comes to $3.50 per hour. Isn't that slave labor wages?
Whatever.
The point was not to belittle our efforts but to show that spending that time together and producing a quality traditional food that our family loves is truly a labor of love. What other reason could there be for doing all that work?
Love of family. That's what motivates most of these customs.
Enjoy your Christmas Eve and Christmas Day with your family. And notice your customs. Do them with love in your heart and a song on your lips. Holiday beverages help, if you have too many in-law outlaws hanging around your kitchen. : )
Little Rachel Pie and I have made this year's tamales. We spent Wednesday at the store buying everything we needed and then soaking the beans and cooking the beans and also cooking the pork. Basically, doing all the prep work we could ahead of time.
Then yesterday we started making the tamales. Typically, I have a group of friends over and some neighbors drop by and my s-i-l and with a kitchen full of people we knock those babies out. But since we didn't get this planned till the last second and my s-i-l is traveling, it ended up being just the two of us.
And do you think I was smart enough to think of taking my camera out and sharing the experience with you here? No, I was not. I actually thought of it TODAY! A day late and a dollar short, as the saying goes.
So visualize this in your head: both of us in our Christmas aprons. Rachel Pie did NOT like her Christmas apron and kept calling it a Muu Muu. Then it became a M-apron. Then it was Muu-pron. Which to me sounded like a prescription drug for e.d. or restless leg syndrome or something lame.
Anyhoo, back to the kitchen. We had the big giant silver ice chest full of corn husks soaking in water. We had all 5 giant tamale pots out and at the ready. There were large pans of mashed beans, shredded and seasoned pork, corn, chopped roasted Hatch chiles, cheese, and bowls of mashed chipotles. May I just interject here that one of my all-time pet peeves is MORONS who mispronounce CHI-PO-TLE. It is not now, nor has it ever been CHI-POLE-TEE. Please don't say this, it just makes you look like an idiot. Or like Guy Fieri when he says BUH-SAL-MIC in place of the correct BAL-SAM-IC. It is not that hard to say chi-po-tle.
Anyhoo, back to the kitchen again. Picture the giant tupperware full of the masa. And also picture the food processor and all the masa ingredients on the other section of the counter. What I am saying here is that the kitchen was full of stuff and looked like a tamale bomb had gone off. And we are clean-as-you-go people. And it still looked that bad.
We ended up with 18 - 20 dozen tamales total. Some were pork, some were bean and chipotle, and the rest were were corn, chile and cheese. In other years we have added in other varieties, we do sweet ones, we mix pork and venison, sometimes we put bacon in the beans, cilantro in the corn, chile and cheese (which I like to call C 3 or C- cubed) If we had cilantro it would have been C to the 4th power, which I have no clue how to do on my lovely computer. But that's how we label them when packing away in the freezer.
There was no set rhyme or reason as to how many we made of each. We just started with the pork and made them till we ran out of the pork. Then the beans. And finally the C 3.
In case you are interested in the specifics, we started with about 5 lbs of pork shoulder which I cooked overnight in the crock pot with a little bit of chicken stock and a ton of garlic. The beans were a 4 lb. bag of pintos that I cooked all day long with a ton of garlic. When they were cooked well, I added in salt, chile powder, cumin and a couple cans of Ro-Tel.
I bought Chile ancho, chile guajillo, and those little Chile de Arbol (those are the hot ones) and we seeded them and roasted them and then softened them in boiling water and then processed them with lots of garlic and salt and some of the soaking water till we had about a quart of chile puree'. This mixture got blended into the pork, and each of the masa mixtures. I vary the ingredients of the masa to better coordinate with the filling. When making the pork tamales I use the rich pork drippings and mix with chicken broth and some of the chile puree', but with the bean ones I use the bean juice that I strained off before refrying the beans. Just to add another layer of flavor. Make sense?
After all the giant tamale steamer pots were done and cooling we still had to package up the tamales and label them. And find room for them in the freezers.
Time involved: 2 people at 12 hours each, plus 2 people shopping for 2 hours, plus 3 more hours prep work. Total: 34 woman hours.
Money spent: No clue. I hate keeping up with that end of things. Plus how do you account for the baking powder and salt that was already in the pantry and used 1 tsp at a time? All I know is that people who bitch about buying tamales for $5 or $6 per dozen have never made them. There is no way I would do all that work and sell my 20 dozen for $6 each. That's $120 and if you divide that by 34 hours of labor it comes to $3.50 per hour. Isn't that slave labor wages?
Whatever.
The point was not to belittle our efforts but to show that spending that time together and producing a quality traditional food that our family loves is truly a labor of love. What other reason could there be for doing all that work?
Love of family. That's what motivates most of these customs.
Enjoy your Christmas Eve and Christmas Day with your family. And notice your customs. Do them with love in your heart and a song on your lips. Holiday beverages help, if you have too many in-law outlaws hanging around your kitchen. : )
Tuesday, December 21, 2010
Holiday Traditions
Yesterday I was asked by one of my clients for suggestions that they could adopt as their own holiday meal traditions. His family does the big turkey and all that stuff ( basically it's a rerun of Thanksgiving) while her home celebrated with a Mexican feast. Now that they have their little one she was looking for something fun to try out this year as their own big Christmas meal. We both went about our business and continued thinking about it and then said to each other at the same time "Paella!!"
In my house we have a big paella for Easter dinner. We did it once and loved it so much that we have continued it and made it our family Easter tradition. I don't think you can force a tradition into existence, but you have to start somewhere, right?
So I am writing down my recipe and loaning her my paella pan so they can try it out and see if they need to go buy a pan for next year.
Anyhoo, it did get me to thinking about our particular family traditions. Traditions that Mr. Big Ed brought from his family, things that I do because my mom did them, or my aunt or one of my grandparents, and also the traditions that we have cobbled together over the long history of our marriage.
Mr. Big Ed's family was not big on stockings. They were go to Midnight Mass people and then come home and eat the tamales that his Mom had worked on all day and then open presents. I don't guess anyone felt the need to wake kids up early after all that to do stockings.
My family was HUGE on stockings. We still are. Our "stockings" are essentially large paper grocery sacks full of stuff with your stocking hanging on the front. We totally over-do it. It is an obscene display of over abundance is what it is. We also did a big Christmas Eve thing with dips, pate', tamales, chili, and tons of cookies. But we only got to open one gift on Christmas Eve. Then Christmas morning we had our stockings, a special breakfast and then we got to open our gifts.
The holiday traditions that we have put together for our little family unit has grown and evolved and with each move to another country we added in something we picked up at each new place and also had to shed a few that were just not practical in the new place.
Our Christmas Eve and Christmas day is a real hybrid of what we each have brought and what feels right for us as we have grown. For example, there were a number of years when 3 out of the 4 of us were vegetarian. That right there will put a spin on your holiday menu. And we try to work around what is important and a priority to each of us.
Being from Texas and having lived in Mexico for a number of years it is way up on the list of "Must Haves" that we make tamales for Christmas Eve. Being from Texas it is equally important that we have the Velveeta/Ro-tel queso dip stuff. From Mr. Big Ed's family we have onion dip with Ruffles. Not just any onion dip, it needs to be the Borden brand store-bought stuff that you bring home and add a bunch of fresh black pepper and stir it up really well. Lots of cookies and baked goods figure in. And everyone loves the spicy roasted nuts. This has gradually morphed into having cheese enchiladas, more tamales, guacamole and rice for Christmas dinner.
Usually for Christmas morning we will make a special drink. Sometimes it is Bloody Marys or champagne and orange juice, but most times it is Mexican Hot Chocolate. (Only Ybarra's not that crappy Abuelita's brand) I either make a stuffed French toast or sometimes these ham cups that have either sauteed mushrooms or spinach in them and topped with eggs and then baked. These are delicious.
I have cut way back on my giant bags-o-stocking stuffers. No one wants all that much stuff. I would rather buy one really fabulous bar of the best chocolate made than have 30 pieces of crappy candy. So, that's kind of the way things are going for us.
I see our traditions as more of a fluid, moving thing rather than a set-in-stone "this is how we have ALWAYS done it" sort of thing.
So, here's what I want to know: What are your holiday traditions? What are the most meaningful things you do that if everything else fell away, this is the thing you would try to keep?
Lemme hear from you! And remember, it is most important to be relaxed and enjoy the time together. So don't sweat the small stuff and the details. It will be wonderful even if the cards aren't all sent on time. It will be just the way it is meant to be whether or not those bows match or not. Enjoy your selves.
And thank you for reading. And even more thanks for commenting through this year. It really means a lot to me and inspires me. That's my present from you!
In my house we have a big paella for Easter dinner. We did it once and loved it so much that we have continued it and made it our family Easter tradition. I don't think you can force a tradition into existence, but you have to start somewhere, right?
So I am writing down my recipe and loaning her my paella pan so they can try it out and see if they need to go buy a pan for next year.
Anyhoo, it did get me to thinking about our particular family traditions. Traditions that Mr. Big Ed brought from his family, things that I do because my mom did them, or my aunt or one of my grandparents, and also the traditions that we have cobbled together over the long history of our marriage.
Mr. Big Ed's family was not big on stockings. They were go to Midnight Mass people and then come home and eat the tamales that his Mom had worked on all day and then open presents. I don't guess anyone felt the need to wake kids up early after all that to do stockings.
My family was HUGE on stockings. We still are. Our "stockings" are essentially large paper grocery sacks full of stuff with your stocking hanging on the front. We totally over-do it. It is an obscene display of over abundance is what it is. We also did a big Christmas Eve thing with dips, pate', tamales, chili, and tons of cookies. But we only got to open one gift on Christmas Eve. Then Christmas morning we had our stockings, a special breakfast and then we got to open our gifts.
The holiday traditions that we have put together for our little family unit has grown and evolved and with each move to another country we added in something we picked up at each new place and also had to shed a few that were just not practical in the new place.
Our Christmas Eve and Christmas day is a real hybrid of what we each have brought and what feels right for us as we have grown. For example, there were a number of years when 3 out of the 4 of us were vegetarian. That right there will put a spin on your holiday menu. And we try to work around what is important and a priority to each of us.
Being from Texas and having lived in Mexico for a number of years it is way up on the list of "Must Haves" that we make tamales for Christmas Eve. Being from Texas it is equally important that we have the Velveeta/Ro-tel queso dip stuff. From Mr. Big Ed's family we have onion dip with Ruffles. Not just any onion dip, it needs to be the Borden brand store-bought stuff that you bring home and add a bunch of fresh black pepper and stir it up really well. Lots of cookies and baked goods figure in. And everyone loves the spicy roasted nuts. This has gradually morphed into having cheese enchiladas, more tamales, guacamole and rice for Christmas dinner.
Usually for Christmas morning we will make a special drink. Sometimes it is Bloody Marys or champagne and orange juice, but most times it is Mexican Hot Chocolate. (Only Ybarra's not that crappy Abuelita's brand) I either make a stuffed French toast or sometimes these ham cups that have either sauteed mushrooms or spinach in them and topped with eggs and then baked. These are delicious.
I have cut way back on my giant bags-o-stocking stuffers. No one wants all that much stuff. I would rather buy one really fabulous bar of the best chocolate made than have 30 pieces of crappy candy. So, that's kind of the way things are going for us.
I see our traditions as more of a fluid, moving thing rather than a set-in-stone "this is how we have ALWAYS done it" sort of thing.
So, here's what I want to know: What are your holiday traditions? What are the most meaningful things you do that if everything else fell away, this is the thing you would try to keep?
Lemme hear from you! And remember, it is most important to be relaxed and enjoy the time together. So don't sweat the small stuff and the details. It will be wonderful even if the cards aren't all sent on time. It will be just the way it is meant to be whether or not those bows match or not. Enjoy your selves.
And thank you for reading. And even more thanks for commenting through this year. It really means a lot to me and inspires me. That's my present from you!
Saturday, November 27, 2010
Saturday Stuff
Yes, I am up at the crack of dawn. Yes, it does suck. I am not a morning person. Never have been, never will be. But my little tiny Rachel Pie had a crack of dawn flight this morning so we had to be at the airport 2 hours before that crack of dawn flight, which meant I had to be up even earlier than that!
I am back home from the airport and drinking my morning tea and thinking about going back to bed. It's always sad when people leave, but most especially if it is one of my kids. That's the hardest thing.
Thanksgiving day was really nice. The food was fabulous, the company was spectacular, and the conversation was great. The only bad thing that happened that day actually happened to my poor s-i-l, who was making a few of the dishes and bringing them over. She was loading the food in the car and dropped one pie on top of the other one. And bam, just like that! There was no pie. That's pretty flipping sad, is what that was.
So I trotted on over to Luby's and picked up a few pies and was back in no time. No harm, no foul. Except for all the time and ingredients and effort she had put in were in the garbage.
Now we tried some new recipes this year and some tried-and-true ones and here is the scoop on them:
New England Maple Herb Butter Turkey and Gravy (t and t recipe) ***** (that's 5 stars)
This is always fabulous. The recipe is a few days back if you want to scroll back and find it.
Dressing with Sausage, Apples and Cranberries (t and t recipe) *****
Same thing here. I make this because it goes perfectly with the turkey and gravy recipes above. And this year it was just sublime. Love this dressing.
Cranberries with Grapefruit and Mint (new to the rotation) *****
This was so good, I can't even tell you. I did make it twice, rather than doubling it. Sometimes recipes just don't double well and I didn't want to screw up all the cranberries and have to start over, so I just made single batches twice. I can't even think of a thing this stuff wouldn't be good on.
Shredded Brussels Sprouts with Smoked Ham and Pecans (new recipe) *****
We doubled this recipe, but did half with ham and half without. We had a guest who is from Saudi Arabia and doesn't eat from the pork so we split it up this way. It was really good. We went around the table and critiqued each recipe so I could make notes on which to keep and which to ditch, and everyone agreed the sprouts were awesome.
Butternut Squash with Tangerine Juice and Sage (t and t recipe) ****
Everyone loved this and went on and on about it, but I thought it was only a 4 star dish. I am not sure exactly what was missing for me, but it was not quite top-notch.
My s-i-l made a sweet potato dish that was very savory and spicy rather than the usual sweet stuff and it was really good. She also did some homemade Parkerhouse rolls, and a corn dish. Also, along with the poor smashed pies she made this Apple, Cranberry, Pineapple crisp recipe that we made last year. It was just delicious. That one might be 4 and 1/2 or 5 stars.
We served champagne (Korbel Natural), iced tea, jamaica and water. Jamaica (pronounced Hah - MY - Kah) is a beautiful tea served iced from Mexico that is made of dried hibiscus blossoms. It looks a lot like cranberry juice in the glass. Just gorgeous color. It is loaded with vitamin C and other good things and is a diuretic and so is used as a diet aid to help flush things out of your system. It tastes good, it's good for your body, it is pretty, I mean, what more can you expect out of a beverage?!
That's my review for this year's recipes. Someone please remind me next year to find this post so I can remember what to do and what to tweak and which ones to kick to the curb.
Yesterday we did our traditional trip to the Esperanza Peace and Justice Center. They do an annual shopping extravaganza called the Peace Market that is so much fun. It is essentially an anti-Black Friday thing to do. They invite artisans from all over South America and Mexico and local artists to come set up booths and sell their wares. In addition, there is wonderful food and live music. It is like the best little street fair you ever attended. I had such a good time and I bought some great things. As a matter of fact, I will probably go back today with a friend and see if there are any treasures I missed the first go-round. I promise to post some photos of my new goodies, all recycled, or made from recycled stuff or just cool and original. No plastic or crap involved is what I am saying!
It has been a wonderful Thanksgiving week. I was dreading it and didn't even realize that until we got into it. Probably because of Grandma dying last Saturday, but I didn't make that connection until Thursday. When we were sitting down to the Thanksgiving dinner I said how sad I was that this was my first holiday without her and that we needed to all remember her because we were eating off the beautiful dishes she had given me.
Grandma gave me a set, a huge set, of antique Franciscan Desert Rose dinnerware. Her uncle worked in the factory in California where they made these dishes. They are kind of a rustic pattern and each one is hand-painted. Not like now. Franciscan was bought out by some English fine china company and is made there now and each piece is perfect and identical to the last piece. I don't like the new stuff near as much as the older, more charming pieces. Anyway he worked there way back in the day and he was able to buy the seconds for a song. So he collected a set for each of his nieces. And that is where Grandma got hers. And get this, she never used them. Never. She carried these boxes and boxes of dishes around with her since the '40s and never used them. Doesn't that just beat all? Ever since she gave them to me I have used them every single Thanksgiving. I will try and remember to post some pictures of some of the really cool serving pieces I have of this set.
Have a wonderful weekend everyone, and I hope to do the same. It sort of seems like a weekend after a weekend, doesn't it?
I am back home from the airport and drinking my morning tea and thinking about going back to bed. It's always sad when people leave, but most especially if it is one of my kids. That's the hardest thing.
Thanksgiving day was really nice. The food was fabulous, the company was spectacular, and the conversation was great. The only bad thing that happened that day actually happened to my poor s-i-l, who was making a few of the dishes and bringing them over. She was loading the food in the car and dropped one pie on top of the other one. And bam, just like that! There was no pie. That's pretty flipping sad, is what that was.
So I trotted on over to Luby's and picked up a few pies and was back in no time. No harm, no foul. Except for all the time and ingredients and effort she had put in were in the garbage.
Now we tried some new recipes this year and some tried-and-true ones and here is the scoop on them:
New England Maple Herb Butter Turkey and Gravy (t and t recipe) ***** (that's 5 stars)
This is always fabulous. The recipe is a few days back if you want to scroll back and find it.
Dressing with Sausage, Apples and Cranberries (t and t recipe) *****
Same thing here. I make this because it goes perfectly with the turkey and gravy recipes above. And this year it was just sublime. Love this dressing.
Cranberries with Grapefruit and Mint (new to the rotation) *****
This was so good, I can't even tell you. I did make it twice, rather than doubling it. Sometimes recipes just don't double well and I didn't want to screw up all the cranberries and have to start over, so I just made single batches twice. I can't even think of a thing this stuff wouldn't be good on.
Shredded Brussels Sprouts with Smoked Ham and Pecans (new recipe) *****
We doubled this recipe, but did half with ham and half without. We had a guest who is from Saudi Arabia and doesn't eat from the pork so we split it up this way. It was really good. We went around the table and critiqued each recipe so I could make notes on which to keep and which to ditch, and everyone agreed the sprouts were awesome.
Butternut Squash with Tangerine Juice and Sage (t and t recipe) ****
Everyone loved this and went on and on about it, but I thought it was only a 4 star dish. I am not sure exactly what was missing for me, but it was not quite top-notch.
My s-i-l made a sweet potato dish that was very savory and spicy rather than the usual sweet stuff and it was really good. She also did some homemade Parkerhouse rolls, and a corn dish. Also, along with the poor smashed pies she made this Apple, Cranberry, Pineapple crisp recipe that we made last year. It was just delicious. That one might be 4 and 1/2 or 5 stars.
We served champagne (Korbel Natural), iced tea, jamaica and water. Jamaica (pronounced Hah - MY - Kah) is a beautiful tea served iced from Mexico that is made of dried hibiscus blossoms. It looks a lot like cranberry juice in the glass. Just gorgeous color. It is loaded with vitamin C and other good things and is a diuretic and so is used as a diet aid to help flush things out of your system. It tastes good, it's good for your body, it is pretty, I mean, what more can you expect out of a beverage?!
That's my review for this year's recipes. Someone please remind me next year to find this post so I can remember what to do and what to tweak and which ones to kick to the curb.
Yesterday we did our traditional trip to the Esperanza Peace and Justice Center. They do an annual shopping extravaganza called the Peace Market that is so much fun. It is essentially an anti-Black Friday thing to do. They invite artisans from all over South America and Mexico and local artists to come set up booths and sell their wares. In addition, there is wonderful food and live music. It is like the best little street fair you ever attended. I had such a good time and I bought some great things. As a matter of fact, I will probably go back today with a friend and see if there are any treasures I missed the first go-round. I promise to post some photos of my new goodies, all recycled, or made from recycled stuff or just cool and original. No plastic or crap involved is what I am saying!
It has been a wonderful Thanksgiving week. I was dreading it and didn't even realize that until we got into it. Probably because of Grandma dying last Saturday, but I didn't make that connection until Thursday. When we were sitting down to the Thanksgiving dinner I said how sad I was that this was my first holiday without her and that we needed to all remember her because we were eating off the beautiful dishes she had given me.
Grandma gave me a set, a huge set, of antique Franciscan Desert Rose dinnerware. Her uncle worked in the factory in California where they made these dishes. They are kind of a rustic pattern and each one is hand-painted. Not like now. Franciscan was bought out by some English fine china company and is made there now and each piece is perfect and identical to the last piece. I don't like the new stuff near as much as the older, more charming pieces. Anyway he worked there way back in the day and he was able to buy the seconds for a song. So he collected a set for each of his nieces. And that is where Grandma got hers. And get this, she never used them. Never. She carried these boxes and boxes of dishes around with her since the '40s and never used them. Doesn't that just beat all? Ever since she gave them to me I have used them every single Thanksgiving. I will try and remember to post some pictures of some of the really cool serving pieces I have of this set.
Have a wonderful weekend everyone, and I hope to do the same. It sort of seems like a weekend after a weekend, doesn't it?
Saturday, November 13, 2010
Sparky
This has been a long time coming. My boy, Sparky, is headed to a wonderful university. He made this happen all on his own. He has asked for nothing from us to help in this. It has been many years in the making, with some slips and falls but always, always picking himself back up and getting back on the right path.
You know how when your babies are one year old and just taking their first steps and you are hovering around trying to let go of their hands and let them go on their own and it's exciting and it's scary all at the same time? It never quits being that way.
You know how you wanted to wrap the world in soft wool and cotton so as to protect them from the bumps, bruises and scrapes as they were learning to make their way in the world? And it's exciting and scary to watch all at the same time? It never quits being that way.
And here he is at 25 years old and finally knowing his path and quietly and forcefully making his way along it. There is no more trying to run ahead and make sure things are safe for him. That ended for me a while ago. My role has changed to one on the sidelines and not an actual participant.
My wish all along has been that he could see himself as I see him. Intelligent, capable, compassionate, witty, sharp, funny and thoughtful.
He is coming into his own. And it's a pleasure to watch.
You know how when your babies are one year old and just taking their first steps and you are hovering around trying to let go of their hands and let them go on their own and it's exciting and it's scary all at the same time? It never quits being that way.
You know how you wanted to wrap the world in soft wool and cotton so as to protect them from the bumps, bruises and scrapes as they were learning to make their way in the world? And it's exciting and scary to watch all at the same time? It never quits being that way.
And here he is at 25 years old and finally knowing his path and quietly and forcefully making his way along it. There is no more trying to run ahead and make sure things are safe for him. That ended for me a while ago. My role has changed to one on the sidelines and not an actual participant.
My wish all along has been that he could see himself as I see him. Intelligent, capable, compassionate, witty, sharp, funny and thoughtful.
He is coming into his own. And it's a pleasure to watch.
Friday, July 30, 2010
25
This is one of those posts where you are gonna get really tired of old cliche's, like kids grow like weeds. You know the old saws people trot out all the time, the same ones you swear you will never say because it makes you sound older than dirt? Well, get ready!
Today is my son's 25th birthday. It is so unbelievable to me that I need to say it again. Today is my son's 25th birthday.
Here's where those old sayings come into play. Time has flown by. It seems like only yesterday. How can he be 25 when I still feel like I am 25?
So last night we had to talk all about the night before his birth. My whole pregnancy I didn't really eat meat. I had no desire for it. I ate a lot of beans, mac & cheese, really bland stuff. But that night I had a real craving for a spicy chili cheese dog. So that's what we had. And I was up all night with gall bladder pain like you would not believe. Horrendous! And when I am in pain all I want is to be in warm water. I spent most of the night in the bathtub floating around like a big pregnant whale. I finally got into bed in the early morning hours and slept. I woke up around 8 a.m. and was easing myself out of bed when my water broke. We called the doctor and you know the drill. If your water has broken they would like to see you at the hospital sooner rather than later. This labor was pretty easy, but my guess is after the horrible pain I was in the night before, labor was a piece of cake. When I finally decided I could use some drugs, it was too late. It was time to birth this child.
Jonathon Karrol came into the world at 4:04 p.m. on a Thursday. He was 8' 8" and 19 1/2" long. He had a full head of hair and was absolutely perfect. I can't imagine a thing that I would have changed about him. He and I learned together and from each other how to be parent and child. My body knew how to birth him and then to produce milk and I was smart enough or naive enough to just believe that it would happen and all would be well. It was. At his first check-up he had increased to 10 lbs.
My heart was overflowing. No one can ever explain to you how deeply you will fall in love when you give birth. It is the most all-consuming thing. Everything else around you ceases to exist when you are looking into the eyes of this little miracle.
This is Jonathon at 6 months. Most of his baby hair had just fallen out and he looked like one of those little old men who are thinning on top. Look at that sweet face, those sausage-y fingers, his little fat nose.
This is when Jonathon was about 5 years old. The other boy with him is the son of some good friends and he has since grown up to be a huge defensive lineman for the NFL.
This is Jonathon and my grandma 2 years ago on her 90th birthday.
This is my boy (and Johnny Cash) presenting me with a white chocolate raspberry cheesecake he made me for Mother's Day a couple years ago.
Another view of the best smile in the world.
This is my boy. I have loved him from before he was born. I have loved him through the hard times of seeing his grandpas die of cancer, of the loss of pets, the broken hearts each and every time we had to move and uproot the kids and plant them in a new place and have them start all over again making friends. I have loved him through the times where he has struggled mightily and I thought I would have to kill him or myself to get through to the other side.
The place we live may change. The people around us may change. Life's difficulties may change our circumstances. But the one constant is our love for each other. There is absolutely nothing I won't do for my kids. They know I would walk through fire for them.
This first 25 years have literally flown by. I hope that I am here to witness your next 25 and beyond. I am always proud of you and the fine man you have grown to be. You are full of character and understanding, you have empathy for your fellow man. The world is truly a much better place with you in it. I am constantly amazed at you and the impact you make on those around you.
I love you Jonathon, my Sparky boy. Happy birthday.
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