Way-late Wednesday Words

It's just 10:00 on a Wednesday night.  For me, this is 'way-late'.  I'm usually about ready to flick off the light about now.

One of the MYP presented me with a lovely gift yesterday.  He said, 'you don't have to get up in the morning for R or me since you don't have to make lunches'.  Really-truly?  It's finals week here so they've been home by 11:00 every day.   I've enjoyed the extra half-hour in the morning compliments to a thoughtful son.  

The other day I asked one of the MYP about my advice.  I said, 'can you think of any piece I've given you that is really, really good or really, really bad?'.  There was a slight giggle and this response, 'well usually when you are giving advice I try to tune you out'.  How's that for a parenting confidence booster?  

Her sister gave me this advice, 'you sound really ornery when you yell out our names from low to high pitch.  Why don't you say it from high to low.  It sounds nicer.'.  And really, she's right.  Try it!

I posted this gem on FB.  As I was talking to our son in his room before bed he said, 'do you know the nice thing about being a guy?'  I had no clue where he was going with this.  So I said, 'no.  What is it?'.  'Guys just don't have stress like girls do.'  That, my friend, kind of sums up a lot of things.  

We've been doing some practice driving around here.  I'm having a major struggle with something.  No, not having full control of the steering wheel.  My struggle is that when I look over to see my dear daughter driving, I just picture an adorable chubby little baby that was just here a few years ago.  I try to mention it and receive a sweet smile and a slight eye-roll.  Time is moving too quickly.  

Last night I went to pick up son #1 and a neighbor boy off the ski hill.  I was feeling a bit frustrated as they were not at the loading zone at the exact moment I drove up.  My patience was tested for 5, 10, 15 minutes.... and finally I hopped out of the van and stood a bit away from the chair lift hoping to get the attention of at least one of them that it was time to come home.  I see a lighter-green coat.  I start waving the 'come over to me' wave.    I kind of think I made some young guy a bit uneasy out on the ski hill as well...

Is there anything wrong with having breakfast food for supper?  I hardly think so but I have a young person that doesn't agree with me.  We've been boiling down sap into maple syrup here.  I sure would love to pour that over a dutch baby tomorrow.  Well not a real-live Dutch baby silly, but a yummy pancake in a skillet dutch baby.

Speaking of maple syrup and perfect timing!  Our newspaper published a recipe someone requested from Outpost Natural foods for a salad they serve.  I read the recipe and thought it was a bit odd, but wanted to try it out.  It is deliciousness!  It seems to be too much salt, but the sweet/saltiness of the dressing makes it terribly addicting.  You're welcome.  I changed the canola to olive oil.  And we use Earthbound Farm "Power" greens from Costco.  It makes 2 cups of dressing to keep in fridge

Spinach Salad with Maple Vinaigrette Dressing

1/3 cup apple cider vinegar

3/4 cup maple syrup

3/4 cup olive oil

1 tablespoon sea salt

baby spinach or "Power" if you want to take it up a notch

onion

dried cranberries

sugared, roasted nuts (I keep a mix of walnuts/almonds/pecans in freezer)

feta cheese

Lisi and I discovered a new path yesterday.  She's really a great walking partner and she really, really loves to pose.  :-)  Happy rest of the week!  

Monday Musings

Well here we go again!  Another Monday and another Muse.

There quite possibly will be some cranky and slightly frustrated people here in Dairyland.  You see if you are aware of the NFL, you might know there is a football team in a smaller city north of here.  That aforementioned team lost a very heartbreaking game yesterday or so I'm told.  To put it in perspective, Saturday I was trying to buy some more Annie Sloan paint from a nearby little store the lady had Green Bay Packer nails, earrings, a huge ring like she won a past Super Bowl, and a sweatshirt on.  I made the mistake of asking her if she thought 'we' had a chance on Sunday.  She looked at me through narrowed eyes and said, 'Aaron told us to relax at the beginning of the year'.  Well relax they did at the end of the 4th quarter and we know how that turned out.

Did you know there is a term called 'free range children'?  Kinda like free range chickens if you ask me.  However, I do think children have bigger brains than bird brains (well usually).  There's a couple that is in trouble with child protective services somewhere out east for letting their kids walk to and from school and to and from a park.  Maybe I don't know the full story, but life sure is different than when I grew up.  If we could see the neighbor's house through the blizzard and the wind chill was above -20 that was good enough to don our snow boots and trudge off the 1/2 mile to school.

Speaking of free range.  This happened.  A temporary license to practice driving her parents to the world of white knuckles and stomping imaginary brakes.  So far, so good.

And then there's these two people.  Who send pictures like this that make me giggle.  My parents love to travel and see others and enjoy the sights.  It's obvious in this picture.  They also sadistically sent weather forecasts.

Sometimes I worry about being a crazy cat lady since I like our golden boy as much as I do.  But at least I won't need to go for therapy.  

You know you've been married awhile and have a slightly boring existence when you text a photo to the Chairman with a picture of the new recycling bin:

And finally, there was recently some controversy related to my last post that I decided to remove to alleviate concerns of insensitivity.  You see I was sharing some private matters that a reader felt was over-dramatizing a recent medical concern.  I wrote all I did out of love for those that support me and as a memory of what I was feeling at the time.   In no way do I want it to seem that my minor scare can compare to others dealing with much bigger concerns.  :-(

Sorry for the little content on this Musings... there's always next time.  :-)

Monday Musings

Hello there!  Long time, no chat!  You see I had some family members tell me over the holidays that maybe once a week is enough for the Musings.  I had muttered something about feeling like I had little to share some days and that was the advice.  I'll try and keep it once a week, but I might miss you too much.  Will see.

What's happened since we last visited?  Cold.  Bone-jarring cold.  Like I can't feel my forehead when I'm walking outside cold.  Lisi seems unaffected by the bitter temps in that she still wants her walks and then runs back to her bed in the kitchen.  It is a bit more temperate now and looks better as the week goes on.  It's all relative though.  I ran out to the mailbox in my pj's this am and as I got back in the house I was thinking, 'it must be pretty nice out today!'.  The thermometer said 9 degrees...

Today daughter #1 begins her first day at driving school.  Where has my dear little black-haired baby gone?  Well away forever.  But a lovely young lady has replaced her.  And that's nice too.  We had an extra young man here over the weekend.  As we all filed in and sat down yesterday morning in our meeting I looked to my right and saw all four of them sitting in a line.  I got that feeling of your heart in your throat.  It's really a privilege to be with these teenagers.  

Yesterday, we ate out with some friends.  I glanced over at the other table and saw this.  I would have taken a 'better' picture, but trying to get teenagers to cooperate in a public place for a picture can sometimes be challenging.

If you know me at all, you know that my ability for creativity and craftiness is about a -27.  I actually dared myself to hop back on Pinterest last week (during the brutal and boring cold spell) and got the chills (not from the temperatures but from my lack of abilities).  Pinterest is just way too much cuteness and cleverness and crafts for my structured, engineering-like brain.  Someone please come decorate my house!  I digress...

Anyway, I have heard raving accolades about Annie Sloan chalk paint from friends and relatives.  So I bought a sample-size of burgandy and slapped it on my Goodwill chair.  After a couple rub downs of clear wax, here is the result.  I might move along to a couple other projects.  The Chairman is doing full-blown research on what colors to choose.  Heh.

Did you know we live in the same state that the Green Bay Packers are in?  Just in case you are wondering, they won yesterday.  

I got our "Happy New Year!!!" card sent out a few days ago.  If you didn't receive one in your mailbox and are wishing you had a hard copy of it, let me know your address.  I have a few left.  

A new gas station opened up a couple miles from here.  'Why on earth is she telling us this?' you ask yourself.  Well this isn't just your average corner gas station.  This gas station sells lots of food items - one of which is their specialty.  Donuts!  And let me tell you, they are deliciousness.  Since they were running an awesome special on half-dozens, I may or may not have bought up about five extra boxes (equates to 30 donuts if you're struggling with the math) and threw them in the freezer.  The rest of the family may or may not know about these extra boxes...  however if I ate 30 donuts in the next couple of weeks, I would invite you to come visit me in the heart or diabetes wing of the nearby hospital.

This was happening last night in our house.  

It reminded me a lot of this video.

Well I think the cat has worms again.  So off to Amazon I go to place an order.  Happy Monday to you!  Maybe I'll see you later this week.  Maybe not... but first, maybe I should do some housework.

Monday Musings

Well hello there!  Long time, no chat!  It almost seems longer since our days have been busy since the last Muse.  We had more family and new friends and festivities and of course, food.

Some young men came spend some time here.  It was really fun to have them.  Young guys might not totally know it, but they can be very, very amusing to listen to.  Especially coming from the vantage point of a middle-aged mother.  Heh.

One of daughter #2's besties came for a couple days.  They both are experienced skiers but wanted to learn how to snowboard together.  And that they did.  Sugar-pie sweetness are the M&M's.  Well mostly...

New Year's eve was spent with a house full of good friends.  

no, Lisi didn't go.  But she was feeling festive anyway!

We finally got snow!  There was no white Christmas here, but there will be a white January it seems.

I finally got my get-up-and-go and joined my family on the local ski hill.  It causes a surge in feel-good endorphins once you get out there... as long as you don't fall and tear your rotator cuff.

Last night Lis was doing this to me.  I call it the dirty dog stare.  It translates to, 'get your rear off that chair and walk me!'.

And so I did.  In this weather.  Don't ever say I don't love her.   And yes, it did feel like -24.  Every last negative degree.

I heard a young guy at Costco the other day say to his girlfriend/wife/someone, 'hey look!  Five pounds of Cutie clementines!  Can you imagine buying a bag this big?'.  Um.  Mr?  We can go through a bag like that in approximately one hour.

I heard an ad again for a product I cannot fathom buying.  If you send in $54, you will get a star named after you!  Seriously?  People buy that?  I was considering having people send me money and I could name a dust bunny after them.  Maybe I'm on to something...

Theracane.  Did you know what that is?  Well here is the link.  This is not a paid endorsement.  However, if you can handle the sight of a geriatric product in your home and suffer from knots in your back/neck/otherwise, please don't hesitate to order.  The reviews speak loudly and I give it a two-thumbs up as well.

After nearly two solid weeks of family and friends and fun and food and fatigue, one of the MYP looked at me and said, 'can you tell me when we are going to do something really fun next?  I'm not talking about just playing games at home with the family or something like that, I'm talking about really fun.  When will that happen again?'.  Um.  My dear teenager, please let me take a nap first and then we'll talk.

At the end of a year and the beginning of a new year, I find it easy to pause and consider.   Consider all the good things I have.  I'm not talking possessions.  I'm talking blessings.  Many years ago, I met with a man that often spoke about the importance of counting his blessings one-by-one.  I've often thought of that since and I'm thankful he shared that and I'm also thankful that if I try and count my blessings one-by-one it takes so long that I forget where I started.  This group clad in blue is one of the reasons I feel blessed.

Think this is enough pictures and Musing for today,  

Monday Musings - late edition

I've been a bit preoccupied, so today's Monday Musings are a late edition.  I have limited time even now, but can't let this Monday go by without a bit of Muse.

My heart is full.   I have been blessed with many, many people coming through our doors and enjoyed a welcome mat at other places as well in the past week.  Most of them were relatives.  Some are friends that feel like family.  One of the biggest blessings in my life is that I have two sets of family.  The Chairman's family and then my family.  We spent Christmas Day with the Chairman's side and the following day with my side.   Both special and wonderful in their own way.

My stomach is full.  In fact, I think I may have felt a touch of a hunger pang yesterday, but then it may have been gas.  Between busy family events, we had one meal with just the Chairman and I and I had a banana for lunch.  And that was almost too much.

Our home has been full.  We thoroughly enjoyed two overnight visits from my mostly nice brother and family.  At one point I was almost ready to elevate him to the status of 'just plain nice' brother, but he failed a couple times.  Might be a year before I get a chance to test him again.  We thoroughly enjoyed a table full of relatives last night.  And we throughly enjoyed an overnight visit from my niece and her super-nice and tall husband that live in the Sooner state.  And now we are thoroughly enjoying having some extra young men from our state and another state that are hanging with my nephew who didn't want to board the plane today with the rest of his family.  We also are thoroughly enjoying the company of a local girl in town that feels like my niece and spends a lot of time here.  Her duffle bag looks packed for more than one night.  In fact she told me with a huge grin, 'you never know how long I'll be staying!'

I think you get the idea.  There is a lot of people coming and going.  Towels and bedding to wash.  Pots to fill with tasty food.  And great conversation between.  The rest of this week promises to offer up much more.  I might sneak a nap sometime between now and New Year's Eve.  I might even sneak a nap on New Year's Eve.  Think anyone would miss me?  I love New Year's Eve, but it makes me queasy that I can't go to bed at 10:15 like I usually do.  I hope the appetizers are worth it.  Oh wait, I'm still not hungry.

I may just put on some photos and call this a Muse tonight.  I just might jump in my pj's, curl up in the fetal position on my bed and suck my thumb.  Just kidding.  Well about the thumb anyway.

I hope your holidays have been full of nice things and your waistbands stretchy too.

p.s.  We had some family photos taken on Dec. 26.  If you do the math, you might understand that holiday pictures did not get sent.  Will see if it happens.  Or not.

Monday Musings

Welcome to post 1,113!  No, nothing significant about that number.  Just something I noticed as I settled in for another installment of "Monday Musings".  As mentioned before, this week promises to be jam-packed with family (from near and far and both sides of the tree),  fun, food, and the feeling of being too full.  

Having lots of people come into your home makes you do things like dust cold-air returns and wash your hot pad holders.  Yes, there's lots to do.  Even before bed:

These were posted somewhere this past week.  For some reason it is funny to me.  Maybe because I have teenagers and hear lots of school stories.  However, don't get me wrong.  I think teachers should be highly respected.  

Advertising is getting smarter and irritating all the time.  When you go research something online for a gift and then that item keeps popping up here and there, people wonder why you are looking at something.  

I spent most of Saturday with daughter #1.  I love alone-time with the MYP.  I love hearing stories I wouldn't ordinarily hear.  I love having lunch with just one teenager.  I love just quietly riding along.  I love hearing the soft-spoken jokes.  I love the pleasant ways she has.  The black/white parent/child overlapped into shades of gray.  I think that's called friendship.

On the back front.  Thanks for your suggestions of people and places and ideas to help.  I met up with a chiro last week who did an adjustment and x-rays.  He was ok, but wanted me to come back three/week for the next month etc.  I honestly feel better after one adjustment and doing exercises/yoga.  So.  He's not getting my business.  On a side note, using Icy Hot before bed makes your bed linens smell like a nursing home.

Our little "Styles" keeps swimming along.  We have this goldfish that I would like to be rid of.  I actually Googled "humane ways to dispose of goldfish".  Then as I read about putting him in the freezer it made me feel sorry for him, so he'll continue to swim along here.  They say he needs 10-30 gallons of water and he's in a 2-gallon fish bowl.  I hope he doesn't start protesting.  

It's a bit sickly here at the Chairman and Co.  Son #1 ate his breakfast.  Then after he brushed his teeth I heard the tell-tale sound of losing breakfast.  I went around the corner and said, 'uh-oh'.  He looked at me.  "I think I drank my milk too fast.  I'm good" and headed off to catch the bus.  I'm keeping my phone handy today.  Daughter #2 is home with a 101 fever.  Lovely.  

As she was returning upstairs just now, I told her, 'you should read our study.  It's about Zacharias and Elisabeth.  She asked, 'were they good parents?'.  Yes.  'well maybe you should read about them and learn something too.'  Get any closer you fever-induced smarty pants and I'll smack the sass right out of you.  I'm sure that is an example of good parenting.

Well tonight at dark o'clock my slightly nice older brother and wonderful family will be flying to the midwest to be with our extended family.  Looking forward to this winter break and all it will bring.  I may or may not blog before next week's "Monday Musings".  

Have a wonderful holiday with those you love.  

Thoughts this Thursday

How's your week going?  Mine is going by too quickly.  Here it is Thursday already!  A week from today we'll be having a few less than 100 people in our house.  Or maybe 35 people that are Italian, married an Italian, or just plain like Italian people.  I can smell the garlic already.  Heh.

Speaking of food!  We had a cookie exchange a couple days ago.  We used to do it every year and then we kinda fizzled out.  Then some of us decided we need more fats and sugars in our lives and wanted to do it again.  Friends did not disappoint.

 Another friend shared this recipe for focaccia.  It is very yummy and full of gluten.

I saw this on my notepad.  I have no idea which of the MYP wrote it or why, but maybe that's a good lesson for all of us some days.

I called to schedule my annual mammogram yesterday.  Just as I started to set up the appointment, Simba decided to do some serious caterwauling because he wanted to be picked up.  "Denise" asked, 'is that a cat?'  Yes.  I said 'oh he's just an indoor/outdoor gold tiger tom'.  Then "Denise" said, 'that's just what we had!' and proceeded to basically describe our Simba.  So we shared kitty tales back and forth and approximately seven minutes later she says, well maybe we should start setting up an appointment for you!  At the end I found it interesting that she asked if in the last 30 days I traveled to a country that has Ebola...

I went to see a local chiropractor yesterday.  There was a free consultation so I thought why not since he's only 5 minutes from me.  As he was doing his examination he asked, 'do you do yoga?'.  Um no.  You're extremely flexible!  Well maybe my body might be, but don't try to change my mind anytime soon...

We are in the holiday season of Christmas concerts.  Our high school (as many of yours I'm sure) puts on an incredible show of talent and music to the ears.   Last night did not disappoint at all.  In fact, the top boys of our high school sang a song I had never heard of.  It is called "Bui Doi" and it is from the musical "Miss Saigon".  It is a song of the Vietnamese orphans after the war.  Between the music and the lyrics I was stricken with tears.  Part of the reason is because anything touching can make my eyes wet.  And the other bigger part is that once you've adopted one of these precious souls, your heart is soft for the others left behind.  If you want to hear a version, here's one that I found on YouTube.

And finally, a friend of mine shared a quote she saw that I like.  "Live in such a way that if someone spoke badly of you no one would believe it".  I better start practicing.