Listening to the Funnies June 18, 2009

Troy and I are home alone tonight. Aaron is at a meeting, and Jack is at my mom’s house for the week.

Troy is soooo funny. He remembers practically every detail about everything that we’ve done or seen. So, tonight, he is retelling stories of Jack….of why we LOVE Jack. Troy is always very funny in the retelling because he just tells all these random thoughts that pop into his head. My brother Jay used to do this when we were kids which I think is amusing.

Remember when….

Jack FREAKED out on the small roller coaster at Mt. Olympus in Wisconsin Dells?

You had to bribe him to ride a second roller coaster at Mt. Olympus with an airbrush tattoo AND cotton candy and he said that if he survived this roller coaster he would NEVER ride another roller coaster?

We were in the car waiting for Jack and my dad started backing up really slowly and Jack came out the door and froze and was all panicked like we were going to leave him?

Oh yeah, and the other day when Rachel (our summer nanny) was here, I fell and cut my elbow, and Rachel asked where the wet cloths went and Jack grabbed it and walked into the kitchen and threw it on the floor (a specific spot on the floor which is where we put the dirty dish towels/rags/etc. prior to transport downstairs to the laundry) and Rachel said, “Uhhhh, are you sure?” and Jack said, “yeah, that’s where they go.”  (He told the story in ONE sentence just like I wrote it.) I bust out laughing and told him that that story was really embarrassing because we do keep the dirty cloths and towels in a STUPID (though convenient) spot. Troy said, “I know.” Then he laughed.

The tooth fairy strikes again April 26, 2009

We were very busy this weekend with dodging rain, or not dodging it as the case was mostly, during soccer and baseball games. Aaron left Saturday afternoon for a work conference, so I pretty much attended all rainy events alone or with Troy. We survived and are no worse for the wear.

The high school was performing Grease for the spring musical, so the boys and I went to check it out. Jack has seen Grease at least 100 times as it was his movie of choice last summer. The high school did a good job on it, but Jack was not impressed. “They skipped three parts. I can’t take it anymore! This is just not right!” Troy and I did a lot of laughing as a result.

A couple weeks ago, Jack had his allergy tests. Troy is allergic to pretty much every nondomesticated animal in Iowa along with every grass and tree. Jack is allergic to the animals we actually have (a cat and a dog) along with dust mites, mold and some grasses. Crazy enough, he has never had any problems with allergies inside the house with the animals. His are mostly as a result of being outside then coming back inside. His allergist was pretty shocked to learn he was fine all winter inside with a cat and a dog…I didn’t tell him that we like to maintain hellish levels of dust as well. Given his test results, there is no doubt he is allergic to the animals. The white blotches are the cat and dog.

We’ve been having crazy thunderstorms and downpours today. It will downpour, then stop and look as if there is an opportunity to walk the dog or something. Then, pouf, downpour. When we were driving in the car today, I saw lightening strike a business and sparks flew.

I was also able to get moving on my quilt this weekend. I was at a major standstill mainly because I didn’t like one of the fabrics I selected. I purchased another fabric and resewed those squares. I am much happier with the end result even if it required significant seam ripping on my part.

Aaron and I are still trying to pin down a vacation for the summer. We’ve been going back and forth between D.C. (though Jack is convinced there is a resident ghost in the White House and doesn’t want to go anywhere near it), Orlando (though the heat may be repressive, I’ve heard the lines are manageable at Disney), and the San Diego area. California is by far the most expensive option. I’ve thrown in a road trip to Yellowstone National Park via Mount Rushmore. This is shaping up to be not only comparatively inexpensive, but also interesting. The cost is going to depend heavily on weather or not the camp sites are reserved or not by the time we are able to make our reservations after May 1st. If the campsites are all reserved, there is very little cost savings PLUS there is all that time in the car with one another.  Soon we’ll know.

I fit in baking two batches of cookies this weekend as well. One was a chocolate chip recipe with instant vanilla pudding in the mix that I made with m&m’s. NUMMY!

Troy lost a tooth Saturday, so the tooth fairy brought him a dollar bill origami boot to add to his origami ring.

The Rumbling Begins… March 10, 2009

I just got this email from Aaron…

Aaron pours himself a bowl of raisin bran.

Jack: “I’m going to warn you about that cereal. It will make you fart a lot in the morning.”

Aaron: “It does huh? Is that what happened to you?”

Jack: (pouring himself a bowl of raisin bran) “yeah”.

Two hours later and the angry sounds of methane trapped in my colon are literally interrupting other conversations at the staff meeting.

Pretzels, Purses and Mushroom Trees March 7, 2009

I made these fabulous homemade baked pretzels last weekend, and they will be making a repeat performance this weekend again. Yes, they were that easy and that good!

I found the recipe over at The Fresh Loaf blog. The recipe is from Alton Brown and thus in metric measurements, but The Fresh Loaf converted it to American conversions. The only change I would make is creating 10 good-sized pretzels from the dough instead of 8 gigantic pretzels. All of us loved these!

I also made my first true quilting project. I made it up so it is pretty simple. I wanted a table runner, but it turned out to be pretty gigantic for a table runner. I’m not sure what I’m going to do now. I purchased a back material for it and will finish it this weekend.

I just love the mushroom trees and the I promise to keep the trees fabric (both purchased at JoAnn’s).

Jack was also busy sewing a little purse for his crush. It turned out great! Again, we made it up as we went along.

Who Rocks? February 17, 2009

Saturday was my birthday, and I get a little selfish on my birthday.

I request a homemade cake baked and decorated by loved ones. I got this. Aaron baked my favorite cake from my younger girl days. It is called crazy chocolate cake, and I requested it every year for my birthday ages 9-16 along with the super sweet canned German chocolate frosting. This year I made the frosting because at least two people who were joining us do not like coconut. Unfortunately, I went a little overboard on the powdered sugar in the frosting because it was way too sweet for me in taste.

But it was just sweet enough in looks – this is how Jack decorated it for me!

Yeah, me, I ROCK!

He made me a lovely birthday card shaped like a valentine. (His is the only card I don’t mind getting that harkens to my valentine birthday.) The inside of the card includes this:

You tuck me in at night, and make me assume (awesome) quilts.  PMS (PS) You make ricecrisby bars and chocolate chip cookie dough bars too. I love you! Yes I do.

Then, we went out to lunch with Aaron’s family and came back to the house for cake. I was treated to a special birthday dance from our neice Quinn. It was awesome and full of exciting choreography! It was the highlight of the birthday party!

Later that night we all went bowling. Troy really made some strides in his form thanks to Aaron, and it showed in an awesome score for his second game. He is thinking about joining a league which would be great for him. It is a sport that he could do his whole life and enjoy.

Speaking of bowling, a couple years ago Aaron and I watched a documentary called A League of Ordinary Gentleman about the pro-bowling circuit. It was very interesting.

Other worthwhile documentaries available on Netflix include: Word Wars about people who play Scrabble for a living, Grizzly Man is a surreal movie about a guy who moved to Alaska to live with grizzly bears and eventually gets eaten by one, Air Guitar Nation is about the world air guitar championships (yeah, who knew!), Mad Hot Ballroom is about an inner city NYC school whose students win big in the citywide ballroom dancing competition, Jesus Camp could make you furious or incredulous depending on your point of view, Spellbound is about the national spelling Bee spell-off, and Born into Brothels about kids living growing up with their parents in brothels in Calcutta, India.

Whenever I go to my camera to download pictures, I always find exciting “finds” such as these ala Jack.

I was busy last week working on a sewing project I’ve wanted to do for at least a year and a half. It is from Lotta Jansdotter’s Simple Sewing book. It is called a bed pocket and you set it between the mattress and the box spring and the pocket hangs over the edge for books and whatnot. It was my goddaughter’s birthday, so it was a good opportunity to make it. It turned out really well even if the M is a bit crooked. The bird’s wing is a funky button.

The first time I sewing the M on, it was SOOO crooked. I worked hard to remember that the seam ripper is my friend.

I couldn’t understand why the whole thing needed to be lined, so I sort of made some changes to the original pattern. It is now VERY clear to me why the lining is necessary. I won’t be making that mistake again!

25 Random Things About Me January 31, 2009

This is going around Facebook, and I absolutely love reading the lists of people I know. Here is my list:

1. I love to read.
2. I would nap every day if I could.
3. I had my tonsils and wisdom teeth removed within two months of my 30th birthday.
4. I’ve never had a broken anything (beyond heart) or stitches (except for during labor but those don’t count).
5. I used to regularly fall out of my office chair in Rochester because I’m so damn clumsy.
6. I’m a grammar and editing whore…Mr. Turk would be so proud!
7. I cried like a baby when I was 32 and a cap came off my tooth at work. My friend Jakki knew not to laugh and immediately called the dentist for me.
8. I’ve had two cavities in my life.
9. Intolerant people piss me off…really, how does a gay couple’s marriage threaten me or my marriage?
10. I miss my best friend from high school.
11. I would drink a cup of coffee and eat a generous slice of apple pie every morning for breakfast if I could.
12. I nearly moved to Italy with my son for a Roman dentist I was in love with.
13. I absolutely love being a mom, but sometimes I wonder why God let me be a mother when I miserably fail at it sometimes.
14. Even though my brother Jay hasn’t spoken to me in at least 15 years, I brag about his accomplishments whenever I can to anyone who will listen…YES he is an animator for The Simpsons.
15. If I could teach English, History or Business at a community college tomorrow, I would stay up all night long making lesson plans.
16. I love to cook for guests and my family, but can’t make gravy to save my life.
17. I would take a homemade ugly birthday cake any day over a purchased store bought one.
18. I am so proud that I earned two college degrees, started a career, bought a house and had a son all without a man. (Well, a man was involved for the latter but only briefly.)
19. I only completed my master’s degree because a family member showed up every single Monday night for two years to watch my son so I could go to school. They all came to my graduation ceremony too.
20. I am always surprised when my husband tells me I’m beautiful.
21. I was on speed dial with the principal my son’s kinder year.
22. My husband and I don’t share money. Absolutely none.
23. You couldn’t pay me to stay home and take care of my kids all day long. God didn’t build me that way.
24. When Jack wanted to know how babies came out and how babies got in, I told him.
25. I would be happy listening solely to National Public Radio and never listening to music.

I would add one more that I was surprised I didn’t before.

26. I love my step-parents and think of them as bonus parents not as people married to my parents.

We are in the Loop January 29, 2009

The modem is in the craft room, so tonight Jack saw it and noticed that it was from Qwest. The conversation that ensued follows:

J:  What is that for?

Mom: For the internet.

J: ARE WE IN THE LOOP????? WE are IN the loop!

Mom laughed and poked her finger with a stick pin because she was pinning fabric.

Seriously, how does he know all these commercials?

We were in the sewing room because Jack has taken up sewing lately. He has finished two projects, one project each night. His grandmas will be so proud! The first project he wanted to make was a bag which is good because, if there is one thing I can sew, it is bags. He picked out the fabric from the stash, and we designed as we went along.

I thought that it would be really hard for him to sew through his finger, but honestly thought it was a distinct possibility because he is as clumsy as his mother.

He is such a perfectionist which, in general, makes for a very good sewer. He selected a detail stitch for the edge and a straight stitch for the seams. The detail stitch can be seen on the picture next to the finished product.

He threaded cord through the bag and attached a cord lock with my help. It turned out GREAT!! He filled it with candy, and we’ll deliver it to his cousin Ty this weekend.

Tonight he wanted to sew again, and since his cousin Riley was in the hospital overnight to get some tests for his migraines (he is 6), we decided that making him a bed buddy was a good idea. What is a bed buddy you ask? Well, we didn’t know either until Grandma Babs came over last weekend and told us.

A bed buddy is a bag filled with rice or dried beans and sewn shut. Bed buddies can be microwaved for 30 seconds to get warm and are perfect for little boys (and girls) to fall asleep snuggled with. As it turned out, I had one made out of my dad’s sock when I was pregnant because my midwife recommended it for back pain. I think I like Jack’s version better.

Jack selected his fabric, then considered an R applique. I have always wanted to applique, but haven’t tried it yet. Given the fabric was flannel, it was a must for this project if the R was going on. I cut the R and Jack did the rest! I am very impressed at how well he did…he took his time and was very precise.

Because homemade sewing articles from our house also come with tags most of the time, we made Jack a tag too! I didn’t think of it until tonight, so we didn’t get one on the bag. Unfortunately, we don’t have a microwave, so we couldn’t test it out.

Troy got Stratego for Christmas, and we got to play last night. I remember playing my step dad all the time when I was a kid. Troy is really good at it and has some good strategies. I am always amazed at ALL the things he keeps track of in his head like complicated rules, detailed plot points, random musings, everything! He does really, really well in school as well, so I don’t know how the heck he has so much room for all that stuff in his brain!

Oh what fun! January 19, 2009

What a busy weekend we had.

We started with teching in the Pinewood Derby car Friday night. It was running really well and fast, so Jack and Aaron felt confident for the morning’s race.

Unfortunately, Saturday morning everything that could go wrong went wrong. The derby race was supposed to last between 1.5 and 2 hours, but 3.5 hours later we left. It was very painful for everyone, and I think it was really unfortunate for the boys because no one could hardly tell what was going on. Additionally, it seemed as if Jack’s car had been dropped over the night and was running horribly. It was a huge downer for all, but sometimes that is just how they go. Jack and Aaron had a good time working on the car, and Jack has a great looking car as a result.

My cousin Julie and her family – Dan, Maggie and little Owen – came down for the weekend as well. We had a great time swimming and playing Wii at our house. Dan curls, and they brought a game with curling. Unfortunately for Dan, he got stuck on my team. Troy’s team beat us handily two times. Dan and Julie are both allergic to cats and dogs, but they medicated themselves well before coming and were able to stick it out for a good 5 hours before leaving!

Owen kept busy by taking kleenex’s out of the box and dusting which, of course, I encouraged.

Jack has a little crush on his cousin Maggie. Two years ago, they were in my cousin’s wedding together. Maggie took to being smitten, and Jack and Maggie were awfully comfortable in the chair together for much of the evening together.

Sunday morning, then, I made homemade pop tarts courtesy of Chez Pim. We used traditional pie crusts with combinations of the following: Nutella, raspberry jam, lingonberry jelly, chocolate chips and cream cheese. I would make them much smaller next time as a little goes a long way AND it is nice two have two different kinds of small pop tarts rather than one giant one.

Once I started cooking on Sunday, I didn’t stop as I had friends coming over for an appetizer dinner that night. We had crab rangoon (in an open wonton shell), sausage stars (in an open wonton shell), edamame, spinach artichoke dip and assorted crackers, and mini pizzas on whole wheat crusts (tomato, feta and basil was one combination and tomato, arugula and fresh mozzarella was the other combination). These pizza crusts are going to become a standard in my house…I made the boys taco pizzas with them before company came and then polished the other six over the evening. I couldn’t believe how easy they were to make and how yummy!

It was a really fun night and lots of good food! We started the evening drinking mexican hot chocolate spiked with Kaluha or Bailey’s Irish Cream and then switched to wine.

Jack and I both had the day of for the MLK holiday, so we slept in late and cracked open the Wii Fit. That was really fun…Jack is very good at the hula hooping portion. Much better than I am. We took the dog for a nice walk and even went up to Marshalltown to visit my friend Dini with her two baby boys. Jack really was a very good entertainer of the boys.

Unintended Consequences January 8, 2009

Yes, I know it has been a long, long time since I blogged. I have been enjoying my last three weeks with family. It has been quite nice.

January is in full swing which means we’ve got the Boy Scout Pinewood Derby Race, my cousin and her family are coming down, sledding, a YW gals reunion (hopefully), me working 40 hours per week and, of course, Wii Fit to help with the post-holiday diet.

I’ve been reading Jane Eyre for a couple weeks, and I am really enjoying it. I can’t believe I was 35 before I ever picked this book up. It almost makes me a bit upset my book friends never made me read this before now!

Jane Eyre in combination with my 7:30 am work start time has put some serious crimps in my sleeping time. This morning, I feel asleep on the bus ride in (30 minutes) and woke up two stops past where I should have gotten off! The only reason I woke up was because the hydraulics on the bus were beeping. I know, I’m a loser.

I’m also teaching Monday – Thursday all day long as well which is quite tiring. I’d forgotten. Teaching basic computer skills can take a lot out of a person, but it is quite rewarding as well.

Jack got Shaun White Snowboarding for Wii last night, and it is quite cool! He is loving it and caught on to the balance board movements quite well. I only tried once so far, but let’s just say, I need some practice. It is fun to watch as well.

Second Graders, Frosting Bags and (Avoiding) Walmart December 18, 2008

Its been more than a week, and I have survived 11 second graders making gingerbread houses, secret santa and a Mario Kart Wii shortage everywhere except for Walmart (which in case you’ve forgotten, I HATE…Walmart, not Mario Kart or Wii).

First, Saturday evening after Jack’s friend birthday party, I called my BFF and told her to remind me next year when I think it is a good idea to have a party with children at my house because it will be fun and cheaper than going someplace else. I told her to remind me that $100 is NOT too much to spend, that it is worth every single penny and that to interrupt me if I every start to talk about becoming an elementary school teacher. Since she already upholds this philosophy, it won’t be difficult for her to remind me. THANK GOD!

The kids weren’t that bad aside from all the wrestling, but 11 kids for two hours takes a lot out of you, particularly when you give them frosting bags with tips. Stupidly, I forgot that just because Jack has used a frosting bag and tip and knows that you MUST twist and hold from the top, it doesn’t mean that any other 8 year old know this technique. Thankfully, all the kids were able to make it to the sink before the frosting overflowed onto the floor.

These kids were genuinely fun, just maybe not ALL at one time while they are hopped up on candy and frosting.

Jack chose a chocolate chip cookie bar tower for his cake which saved me a lot of time and energy.

I chose to take part in Secret Santa at work because Secret Santa is fun. I like finding the right gift for my giftee. This year I’ve experienced two problems. The first is completely selfish and indulgent. I got what I asked for: mechanical pencils and Nutella. I was thinking those little packets the size of peanut butter packets at Perkins (say that 5 times fast) , but I got a regular 13 oz jar of Nutella.

Me+13 oz Nutella+a fork=6 oz of Nutella

Of course, I keep forks in a baggie in my desk drawer for my lunches. Of course, the Nutella jar was taunting me sitting there between my monitor and my keyboard.  And, of course, one of my favorite things EVER is being the first person to dig into a smooth, silky mess of peanut butter or NUTELLA! Aaron once got into a little pickle because he dug into the peanut butter without offering me the opportunity, but this is not about issues that I discuss with my therapist…

The second Secret Santa problem is this…my giftee’s wish list included a .5mm z4 Bic pen, movies and Scrabble. I thought the pen should be no problem, but I was wrong. A movie ticket could not be accommodated in the $10 Secret Santa budget, so I opted for specialty popcorn from a store nearby. Scrabble was a toughie…I was hoping to find some word-ie type of fabric to sew up into something fun. Unfortunately, I could find nothing word-ie that was not babyish as well. I found fabric with dominos, bingo and crossword puzzles, but not a single Scrabble related theme.

My next thought in Jo-Ann’s was buttons! Make something and sew on buttons that would fit the theme. Nothing. Ribbon is next to the buttons. Nothing. Scrapbooking supplies surely would have something suitable. Nothing…until I found these capital letter stickers that were BROWN and SQUARE. I found a pack of 8 blank greeting cards and two pieces of fun scrapbooking paper. With my 50% off coupon for the greeting card pack, my total purchase with tax was only $4.83. What a bargain!

I was counting on Aaron for help since he is typically far more creative than I am when it comes to paper items…remind me to post about some of his handmade Christmas cards to frat buddies. I needed him to make something that could resemble a Scrabble tile rack. Just as I suspected, Aaron came up with a pop-up three dimensional tile rack, but it wouldn’t quite work given the time constraints (about 60 minutes for 8 cards). While he cut paper, I dug out Scrabble and added numbers with black ink to all the tile stickers. The previous night, I searched for good 8 letter words (7 tiles PLUS the tile on the board). So, this morning, my recipient got a pack of greeting cards with a Scrabble theme.

Secret Santa left this in the mail room…

I’ll be looking for a used Scrabble game on craigslist.com because Santa’s final gift is this…

As it turns out, Santa has completed his shopping for the boys in our house, but mom and dad have not. I have had a serious lack of inspiration for Jack’s xmas gift after getting him the BEST birthday present ever – a new snowboarding sled and a helmet. Both of these boys have their birthdays in Nov. and Dec. so that makes it that much more difficult. I did get an inspiration the other day with Mario Kart Wii only to find out that no store in all of Des Moines had the game. I went online and everyplace was out – Target.com, Amazon.com, Bestbuy.com. Ebay was asking too much. The one place it was available was Walmart.com. I searched for another hour online…craigslist, facebook, etc.

For one hour I asked myself again and again if my boycott of Walmart should “ruin” Christmas. Then I thought, good god, I volunteer with the Cub Scouts despite my well documented distate for discrimination against gays. What more do I have to do? I succumbed to the motherly urge to not ruin Christmas only to find that my hour saved me and ruined Christmas – Walmart.com was sold out.

This morning, I searched some more and my last search (before Walmart) was proved fruitful! Bestbuy.com had it in stock, but you can never be sure at Bestbuy.com because sometimes items look like they are in stock only to have the out of stock show up at checkout. It looks like I saved Christmas AND avoided Walmart! Yippee!

Here is a picture of one of Jack’s gingerbread houses from school…he cleverly made a door that opens and put a waving gingerbread boy inside. In this picture, it looks like ET. I think he sorta looks like ET in person too.