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.

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.

Infomercials & Birthday Cakes November 13, 2008

Jack watched the Nuwave oven infomercial this morning and is absolutely convinced that we should buy it. Why?

• Oh, mom! It only costs $39.99!
• You can ask the operator for a bigger one that can cook a 16 pound turkey for a WHOLE family!
• It cooks without fat and….I think, calories.
• It cooks fast!

This past weekend we celebrated Troy’s 11th birthday.

We incorporated castle Lego’s into the cake this year. I wanted to use writing that was “medieval-esc”. I knew my hand wasn’t capable of such a feat. So, I opened Word, typed Happy 11th Birthday, Troy! and found a font that was medieval-esc. We don’t have a printer, so I increased the view to 100% and traced the words onto a sheet of paper. (Clever, I know!) I then used an exacto knife to cut out the text from the paper so I had a template. I then set the paper on wet frosting and filled in the template with red sugar. Unfortunately, the frosting had to be wet to make the sugar stick to it, but it also meant the frosting stuck to the paper as well. All in all, I think it turned out pretty well. Certainly better than my attempt at writing it with frosting.

Here is a picture of the chocolatey carmel popcorn that Jack and I made the other day. The recipe came off the bag of carmels. It was good, but Jack and I both agreed it was too much chocolate.

I ate most of this popcorn.   I should be trimming back for the holidays, not splurging before they begin!

Here is a picture of a twenty minute meal from scratch – crepe pancakes with sauteed apples. I made it for dinner tonight. I cut up three Braeburn apples and sauteed them with butter and brown sugar. Yummy!!

Lilly Bud Naturals and Food Group October 29, 2008

My friend Chersten started her own company, Lilly Bud Naturals, to provide human and environmentally safe cleaning products for the home. It all started from when her daughter Lilly was young, then Bud came along. Well, Bud’s name is actually Jon, but so is Jon’s dad but we call him Joey instead. At any rate, please comment if you have a son that you do NOT call Bud!  Everyone I know calls their son Bud as a nickname.

Here is the link to an article in the local Rochester (MN) newspaper! I don’t know how long the link will be live, so check it out fast!

Cher and I worked together for many years. In fact, she was my formal mentor after I started. She was in charge of taking me out to lunch occasionally to check in on me, make sure I was feeling good about my position, etc. It was great!

Eventually, Cher, Warren (another work friend) and I decided that we needed to formalize our love of good food and friendship. Thus, one afternoon at a potluck for a departing colleague, Food Group was born. We met for about two years about 8 times a year, almost every month, with three rules:

1. The host/hostess selects the menu along a theme, cooks the main dish and makes suggestions for accompanying dishes, dessert and wine. (That sounds like more than one rule, but it really isn’t since selecting the theme can really only count as a small fraction of a rule.)

2. EVERY recipe has to be NEW to the person who is cooking/baking it. (As far as I know, this rule was only broken once by someone I invited to a dinner party. Instead of making something, she bought it from the store. I shamed her relentlessly as a result.)

3. The host/hostess can invite anyone else to the dinner party outside of the core Food Group group. (Eventually, we added two others to the Food Group second layer, but they eventually broke up and it just became awkward.)

Food Group was truly a highlight for all of us as we ventured into new recipes, new food selections and shared friendship. When I invited Aaron as my date to Food Group, it was a big deal. (Normally, I selected a girlfriend to join me…it was a coveted invitation that I passed around.) One of my favorite times to hostess was when the theme was a traditional Hanukah meal. Give me a plate of potato latkes, some applesauce and some sour cream and I am in heaven!!

When I moved away to Iowa, it was the beginning of the end. Shortly thereafter, Warren moved away to Alabama. It truly was a great time as we all had growing families at the time.

I’ve decided that I am going to keep a thanksgiving journal in November…a written tally of what I am thankful for each day in November. Today, October 29, I am very thankful for the opportunity to have grown friendships over a love of food and wine!

Me? Clumsy? February 10, 2008

Okay, so this afternoon, I agreed to play Nerf Darts with J. In order to play, he had to put me through two training tests.

Test #1 – J drew a bullseye on his dry erase easel and made me shoot until I made it into the inner ring or the bullseye. After many darts, and many attempts to show me the proper way to hold the gun and aim, I made it onto the line of the inner ring. It counted.

Test #2 – I had to stand down the hall and shoot at the door. I had to hit the inner strip anywhere…it goes from the bottom up about 5 feet. I hit this on the second dart.

Game ON! We raced around the house shooting darts at one another, ducking behind furniture and walls, scooping up darts and cocking our guns. It was quite fun and a good workout.

We eventually wound up upstairs which required much more maneuvering because the space is much smaller. J wasn’t liking my strategy of waiting for him to come to me and told me so. “You never come find me when I hide.” (Imagine the puss’n'boots begging face from Shrek.) So, I agreed to start seeking as well. No sooner had I agreed, turned the corner and shot him (I hit him.), I turned back into clumsy me.

I have NO idea how I did it, but I was moving to the right sideways into a bedroom doorway, but I SLAMMED my left side of my face into the door frame. I was shocked that I did not break my glasses.

Unfortunately, the lump on my eyelid is in EXACTLY the same place as my cellulitis which turned into a huge staph infection…A called it my third eyeball. That infection required four doctors in four days and four different antibiotics (including IV antibiotics) to get under control. This lump seems to be not so bad, but I am concerned that perhaps another infection will start in the unlucky spot. Of course, the Staph infection started out looking like a pimple then turned into a third eyeball.

Now, for some good news. I went to the Y today to run…I made it 1 mile without stopping and didn’t die! I ran more than just one mile, but this is an emotional obstacle for me. I used to run an occasional 5K, but you wouldn’t know it by the looks of me lately. I think J and I run one this summer.

I also made some good comfort food tonight…potato and carrot soup (a puree). I also chopped all my veggies up for the week as well. It is Valentine’s this weekend, so it will be difficult. It is my birthday and I will make something for my staff this week….something yummy and delightful. Unfortunately, only about half of them like coconut, so I couldn’t make my absolute favorite coconut cake. It is so moist and wonderful. I have to survey carrot cake.