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.

Addictions and Procrastinations January 13, 2009

I discovered that you can play Shaun White Snowboarding on Wii without the balance board and only the remote. That makes me a LOT better at the game! Jack and I have been playing in co-op mode most the of weekend. I’m able to do loads of crazy things that my body aches just thinking about in real life.

I promised Julia I would sew her a zippered pouch in October. I made one pouch in November, then sewed on the zipper. Then, I had to rip out the zipper and start over. I made another pouch and sewed in the zipper, then had to rip out that zipper. It has been sitting on my craft table ever since. It has been staring at me and flapping its flap at me as if to say you SUCK at sewing in zippers. As a result, I have completely avoided sewing altogther because I feel guilty sewing anything else until this overdue project is in the bag.

Well, last night I finally took my own advice (suck it up, buttercup!) and re-sewed it. It worked very well, and I did a great job (in my own humble opinion anyway). I even successfully recessed the zipper! Now, I can get it to Julia!

Here is a picture of my new lampshade positioned directly over my sewing machine. I’m going to make some beautiful curtains to accompany this. Thanks, Ikea!

It is official and I can no longer act like it didn’t happen. I’m not bloated…I’ve just added 10 lbs (at least) thanks to a variety of things which I will simply call HOLIDAYS! Yesterday, Jack and I found a new sledding hill which made me feel better about the whole thing, but I came home and drank some absolutely fabulous hot chocolate given to me as a gift from a great chocolate shop in New York. I figured if I was going to waste all the exercise, I might as well go big, so I added a shot of Kahlua to it too.

I discovered two great blogs over the weekend while trying to pick out the perfect pattern for a purse to make out of this AWESOME fabric! I can’t wait to find it, but I love it so much that the thought of cutting this makes me nervous.  I found great ideas for mother’s day gifts and great ideas for neices and god-daughter gifts for this year. All these crafting ideas in my head makes me think I am craftier than I actually am.

My Spare Time is one of the blogs you should check out. Tara Whitney Just Be You is another good blog.

Speaking of crafty, Aaron spent all weekend working on Jack’s derby car. (This picture is in the middle of the painting process.) Jack designed the car, Aaron cut and shaped the car, Jack sanded, Aaron sanded, Jack painted, Aaron painted. The big race is Saturday with the weigh in on Friday night.  Thank god we’ve got Aaron because looking at my version of a derby car would not be very pretty.

Here is a picture of one of our family christmas’s. Oh what fun!

Cold Showers Before Bathtubs were invented December 4, 2008

Context for the conversation between me and Jack this morning:

Jack likes to take his sweet old time in the shower. This morning, I feared he’d run out of warm water since Aaron and I both had taken showers, so I told him to get a move on it. I asked him if he ever had taken a cold shower, and he said no. I said that he didn’t want to find out what it was like this morning.

Jack: How old were you when you had to take a cold shower?

Mom: I’ve taken many cold showers through my whole life.

*Silence as Jack thinks this through.*

Jack: Mom, did you have to take cold showers because bathtubs weren’t invented? Like did you have to wash in a bucket?

Mom: NO! Are you serious?

Jack: Well…yes. I mean you aren’t grandma old, but you are old.

Mom: I am huh?

When my parents were in their twenties and thirties, I always thought of them as young. Maybe it was in their mid-thirties that my idea of “young”  changed. I guess it is only downhill from here.

I must have been overly distracted by this conversation because both Jack and I completely forgot his breakfast this morning! I had already seered a beef roast, cut vegetables and packed two lunches by the time he woke up, but I forgot his breakfast. As we were about to go out the door, he asked if he could have a pop tart. (I keep them for Aaron.) I said, “OH my God! We forgot your breakfast!”

Bad mom, bad mom, bad mom. At least he was clean and dressed when he went to school!

Kettles, Carbon, Cocoa and Parties December 1, 2008

Well, tonight I attended an informational meeting on our soccer club’s board of director’s opportunities. There are plenty of opportunities there, but also a lot of good work that needs to get done so the soccer club can flourish and grow. As Jack appears to be turning into a gifted soccer player, it may be a good way to give back since I certainly canNOT coach and mowing lawns is not one of my favorite activities.

I’ll be ringing a Salvation Army bell this year with Jack, and Troy if he is here the weekend we ring. I first did this many years ago with my friend Peggy in Rochester. We froze our asses off because it was below zero if I remember correctly, but we had one person drop a $20 bill in the bucket! It was very exciting. Anyone can sign up online to spend two hours for a good cause!  Even if you get cold, you feel GREAT!

I’ve been seriously considering NOT sending xmas cards this year because of the carbon footprint and waste involved. The $80 or so dollars I would normally spend on the cards and postage could be dropped into a red kettle along with taking Jack and Troy shopping for Toys for Tots. I may make an email card which I know is considered tacky and sending cards to those I don’t have email addresses for. Tacky and give to good causes or not tacky and wasteful???

Since taking a job here in Des Moines, I have reduced my carbon footprint by 90 miles x 4 days x 50 weeks!!! Now, my carbon footprint for work is 4 miles x 5 days x 50 weeks PLUS 20 miles x 5 days x 50 weeks on MASS TRANSIT! Merry Christmas Earth!

I’d like to follow up on my last post about the new pie recipes. The chocolate pecan pie was NOT better than traditional pecan pie. It was not bad, but it wasn’t better. What is more is that I always forget that baking cocoa is a killer on the caffeine (i.e. my dessert kept me up until 2:30 am Friday morning which caused me to actually consider getting dressed and going out to the mall which had opened at midnight). The apple cream pie recipe was GREAT! I cut the cream in half and upped the sliced apples to about 6 cups and it was absolutely perfect.

My mom is coming this weekend to celebrate Jack’s birthday. I remembered tonight while cooking dinner that my mom loves the Christmas task I dislike – physically setting up the Christmas tree and flaring out all the branches. I love decorating it, but detest the boring details involved in the setting up process. I am so lucky!

Normally, we wait until after Jack’s birthday party to set up the tree (his friend party is Sat. the 13th) to keep his birthday his own, but he decided this year to set the tree up before his friend party because of his birthday party theme…I will be helping ELEVEN 2nd graders build gingerbread houses from graham crackers in two hours. UGH!!! I really should have asked my mom to come for that because I am going to need a lot of help. Jack wants two things for his party – building gingerbread houses and bobbing for apples OH and he earned enough points to invite ONE friend for a sleepover that night. OH and he also thinks having a drawing dragon contest is a good idea. When I told him that all his friends may not like drawing and focusing on the competition is probably not a good idea, he thought I wasn’t quite in tune with his friends and their drawing as I should be.

Did you read the part when I said ELEVEN 2nd graders – I usually have more than I can handle with my ONE second grader. What was I thinking? I was thinking that Jack turning 8 means inviting 8 friends which means having 9 second graders at one time over. That was overwhelming enough, but at least between two tables and a counter, I could physically position them all. Well, paring down the list from 10 to 8 proved so difficult that I caved, and we are inviting 10 kids over. Imagine frosting, candy and graham crackers EVERYWHERE! UGH!

Sometimes I am a good mom!