Randomania

I've had a lot of random thoughts spilling out of my brain today. Maybe its a result of driving to work, stuck in traffic, with no radio. So I'm just gonna dump a few on you in this post. Is anyone else noticing the list theme in my posts lately? I am a sick list maker, the kind of sick list maker that adds something to a list just to cross it off. I need help.

• The Amish have forsaken me. So I've shared my love for the Amish and their devilish friendship bread. I was bestowed another 'starter' mix this weekend. I've been following the directions but I noticed this batch was puffing up more than the other one. You have to let the air out of the bag... I think its the bread rising from the yeast or something. Well I noticed it was about to burst at the seams the other day so I let the air out a couple of times that day. I think it was acting crazy because of the heat or something. So I wake up this morning and go into the kitchen to find an Amish friendship bread explosion. The bag done blew up and spewed its thick, yeasty, batter everywhere in the kitchen. I am going to refrain from any Amish massacre jokes here given semi-recent Amish events. Anyhow, what a mess.


• I was on freecycle.org this morning and spotted the best post to date. Wanted: Sitz bath- Finishing up the last week of kitty toilet training and I need a Sitz bath.
  
• I just walked past my boss's desk and noticed a photo of her daughter. Her daughter is 23. The photo is her class picture from the 7th or 8th grade. Really, is that nice to do your first-born?


• A couple of summers ago we volunteered for a day at an organic farm. The group of volunteers was assembling, forming a circle a late-comer hustles over to the group, out of breath "Sorry I'm late, what did I miss?" Without missing a beat, another volunteer quips, "We just finished telling our most embarrassing stories. Your up next." The latecomer, looking all uncomfortable, starts to speak but soon figures out the ruse once he notices the rest of us laughing. That's genius. I want to pull that on someone.


• I participated in a great email exchange with Johnnie B. regarding his new children's book series, Goodnight Framingham. At the risk of f-ing up his patent/copyright, I will only divulge a couple of gems from within its pages: Goodnight Pinefield Shopping Plaza, Goodnight Bose Mountain, Goodnight Reilly's Roastbeef, and (my favorite) Goodnight Han's Dynasty (and your delicious Scorpion Bowls.) I suggested he branch out and work on a second book, BiCurious George: Adventures of a Frisky Monkey.

That's all for now, my friends.

I ♥ Faces- Week 16: Reflection

A couple of months ago, I discovered this website: http://www.iheartfaces.com/. You should check it out. They offer weekly photography contests. The only requirements are that you must have taken the photo and it must highlight a face. They have one category for images of kids and one for adults. I decided to enter the contest this week. The topic is Reflection.

A little background on this photo: Back in January, I walked into my bedroom to find Beatrice starting at herself in the mirror, giggling, having the best time checking herself out. I quietly snuck out and grabbed my camera. When I came back in to snap this shot, she was in an intense lip lock with herself. I love her eye in this photo... its looking at me as if to say, "Do you mind, can I get a little privacy here?!?"

I'm saving money on hair brushes

This weekend we got a taste of the New England heat and humidity. Some wild things happened to the babe's hair.

Now, for the close-up. At first glance, you'll notice the intensity of the kinky 'frizz-curl.' Upon closer inspection, note the receding hairline that rivals that of any middle aged Jewish man.

If things don't straighten out, I'm afraid this is Bea's future:

It's What's for Dinner- Week 4

Here's what's on the menu for this week. I get off easy... only 2 real dinners need to be cooked.

Monday- Nanny's
Tuesday-Grilled Chicken, Grilled Vegetables, and Salad
Wednesday-Fend for yourself night
Thursday- I think I'm having dinner with the girls. Cory will eat leftovers. I have never met a person who takes such pleasure in eating leftovers and 'clearing' out the fridge. The weirder the combination of foods, the better. I'll let you know what he comes up with on Thursday.
Friday-Asian Lettuce Wraps & Edamame

Egg on Your Face

I am going to preface this post by stating that all of these embarrassing moments occurred while I was NOT under the influence. It both makes them more horrifying and more embarrassing. Also, the list would be far too long if we were discussing dumb stuff I've done while drunk.

1. Naked feral child: We're reaching back 25 years for this one. I only remember bits and pieces of my childhood. This little bit I remember like it was yesterday. When I was about 5, we lived in an apartment below my grandparents. There was one other apartment in the building. My grandmother was babysitting us one evening up in her apartment. She was getting us ready for a bath and just as I was about to get into the water we realized that I didn't have a hair elastic. My hair was down to my butt (see tartar sauce incident in 25 Things List on the left) and it was not a hair washing night so we had to avoid getting it wet and going through the whole blow drying rigmarole. (Valid question: Why she didn't have a shower cap... don't all grandmas have shower caps?) She yelled at me to run down to our apartment to get a hair elastic. I started to get my clothes back on and she told me to hurry, the water was gonna get cold, "just run down quick like that". Not one to rock the boat, I agreed and got my hustle on. Just as I rounded the first flight of stairs I heard the key in the lock. The front door at the foot of the stairs opened, almost in slow motion, behind it the man that lived in the back apartment. Paralyzed in fear and horror and still on the stairs, I had nowhere to hide. The door finally opened, our eyes met, the man froze, I ran down the remaining steps, already crying in horror. Years later, I wonder what that man must have thought as he opened his front door and looked up to find a dirty, naked child with hair and limbs aflailing, running down a flight of stairs like her ass was on fire.


2. Asian intern: We had this really annoying intern one summer. Just a real complainer type. I had her working on a boring project for a couple of days that involved lots of on-screen reading. She called in on the 4th day: "I'm not going to be in today. I need to go to the eye doctor because my eyes are bothering me from all the reading I've had to do." You are interning at a publishing house?!? Anyhow, fast forward a couple of years. I am walking down the hallway and I see her getting introduced around as the new assistant in another group. I groan, feeling sorry for my colleagues who will now have to put up with her B.S. I remark to my boss how it sucks to be that group. A couple days later, I pass by the girl's cube and notice her newly affixed name plate. Yup, definitely not the same name or same girl. I should have pulled a Michael Scott and marked their hands.


3. Butt dialing my former boss: I worked for the same man for many years at my company. He recently moved to a new company and we've stayed in touch, leaving the door open for a potential future working relationship. Last Thanksgiving, we had high school friends back in town from CA. We went out in Boston and were out pretty late. I get an email from said ex-boss a couple of weeks later mentioning that he got a call from me at 2:00a.m. and all he could here was muffled noise like I was at a party. He was a good sport about it but c'mon of all the people to butt dial, it had to be him?And I have one of those phones that you need to hit 2 buttons to unlock it before it will access your contacts. That's some shit luck.


4. Backing into Cory's car: This one caused physical damage, not just emotional embarrassment. All 3 of us are in my car. The babe is crying in her car seat. I glance back in our 1 lane driveway (who f'ing paves a 1 lane driveway!) and somehow miss the fact that Cory's car is directly behind me. Boom! Crash! I drilled his car. It doesn't help that I have an SUV and he has a sedan so it wasn't just a bumper to bumper snafu. His hood crunched up like a sardine can. Incidentally, if you've just backed in to your husband's car and are standing assessing the damage while he shakes his head at you, saying in your defense "Well its not like your car was nice to begin with" won't help the situation.


5. Office tech guy: For months I've been calling him, Darrell. His name is Dwayne. He is not Darrell from The Office. I am sensing a Michael Scott pattern here.


6. Let's race: About 7 years ago, while walking the beach at sunset, I challenged Cory to a footrace. He won. He was running backwards. In a recent email to Bri, I reminisced about this event. She reminded me of her 'race' with Cory: "He beat me running backwards too, on our way to Han Dynasty that night. But, I'm pretty sure I was wearing heels. I'm sticking to that excuse, but leaving no room for rematches. Ya, forget it. I'm not racing him. He doesn't play fair. He walks on stilts." So true.

So as you go into the weekend, make a mental list of all of the embarrassing, sober(ing) moments of your life.

Jinx!

It happened. The first jinx of my blogging career. Yesterday morning at approximately 11:45, I was pulled over by a police officer going 42 in a 25.

I'm not gonna lie, I got nervous when he motioned me over to the side of the road. Why was my immediate thought "Do I have anything illegal in the car?"

He was actually very nice and almost apologetic. He let me go with a warning. I can now say that I've been on the other side of the law. It frightens me. Off to cross "I've never been pulled over" off my 25 Things List. Damn.

I will now leave you with a joke I recently read in a David Sedaris piece in the New Yorker.

Q: What do you have when you have nuts on your chest?

A: Chestnuts

Q: What do you have when you have nuts on the wall?

A: Walnuts

Q: What do you have when you have nuts on your chin?

A: A dick in your mouth.

I laughed out loud.

Hug a Tree

I know everyone is probably Earth Day'd out and its only 11am. I just wanted to share a couple of thoughts on the topic. I've been taking baby steps in this greener direction for a couple of years now... I didn't just wake up one morning and throw out all of my harmful cleaners and plastic bags. And by no means am I 'super-green' (just take a look in my diaper pail.) My philosophy is that I will do my best to be mindful and try to do my part and that's that.

1) Re-usable bags: These aren't just for the supermarket. Use them at Target, CVS, etc. Find one that folds down really small and stick in your purse. Also, re-use those thin plastic produce bags. I stick them in with my re-usable bags for grocery trips. Or better yet, skip those plastic bags all together, especially if you're just getting one of an item. I also re-use the mesh bags that you sometimes get certain produce in like kiwis or potatoes. They hold up well.

2) Re-use instead of throwing away or recycling: Pause for a moment before you throw something in the trash or recycle bin (when appropriate). Can you re-use it for something else? For instance, I've been saving plastic berry and tomato containers for this summer. Hopefully I'll have bounties from my garden to share with neighbors (and you!) and these are the perfect containers. I also use the larger ones for bringing cookies or whatnots to parties. I take the labels off, put some tissue paper or a pretty napkin inside, and then put in my food items. Then you don't need to worry about remembering to take your plate home.

3) Paper towels: Get rid of them. Keep a pile of rags under your sink. Its not as hard as you think.

4) Plastic bottles: Get rid of them. This one is a bit harder but you can do it. Invest in a couple of metal water bottles and a Brita or water dispenser.

5) Start a vegetable garden. Start a compost. Get a rain barrel. Many local towns offer reduced pricing on these items. If you can't do that, try and buy local from farmer's markets. This will also make you eat a more varied, healthy diet. If your garden happens to be sprouting cauliflower or if the farmer's market has leeks this week, guess what you'll be eating?

6) Transition to eco-friendly cleaners. All those chemicals have to be negatively impacting us and the earth, don't you think? Green cleaners are more expensive but the good news is that more companies are starting to make these products so the cost is going down.

You're probably already doing at least one of these things. Maybe just do one more this month, then another next month. Every little bit does help. Beatrice and her fellow little ones thank you!

Please share some of your earth-friendly ideas. What are you currently doing or what will you commit to doing this month or this year?

Double D's

Not those kind of Double D's. Though that might make for a more entertaining post. (Note to self: Include more adult-themed double entendres in next week's posts.)

Today's post is instead a reminder that Dunkin' Donuts is offering 50 cent Small Iced Coffees today. Plus, 10% of the purchase price of every iced coffee will go to The Dunkin’ Brands Community Foundation to support Homes for Our Troops! More details here!

It's What's for Dinner- Week 3

Last week's meal planning went well. The only night we diverged from the plan was Friday because we had an impromptu night out. This is what's cookin' this week.

Monday- I think we're back on the Nanny circuit this week. If not, we'll just have leftovers.

Tuesday- Shrimp and Langostino Ceviche**and "Fried" Plantains

Wednesday- Fend for yourself night

Thursday- Stuffed red peppers, salad

Friday- We'll go for the sushi this night. Homemade Salmon Sushi and Sashimi and Edamame.

Ceviche recipe

Ingredients

1 pound of shrimp; 1 lb langostino tails

1 large red onion

3 cups of orange soda (I use diet orange soda)

1 cup of fresh squeezed lemon juice

1 cup of ketchup

2 tablespoons of fresh chopped cilantro

Salt and pepper to taste

Preparation:

Cut the onion into long thing strips -julienne style. Place them in a bowl with water and 2 tablespoons of salt and let it settle for 10 minutes. Then gently rinse with water. This will remove the bitter bite from the onion and make it sweeter.

In a large bowl, mix the onion, orange and lemon juice, ketchup, cilantro, salt and pepper.

Add shrimp and mix.

Enjoy cold.

[There are lots of variations of this recipe. Just google 'ceviche']

Kissing Cousins

Isabel and Dave graciously took the babe overnight last night. We had a grown up night out and slept until 9 a.m. I feel young again.

Its so cute to see the 2 babies together. They go crazy when they see each other. They spent all day together on Thursday, then were re-united last night. You'd think they hadn't been together in months the way their little fat faces lit up. I hope this unbridled, innocent enthusiasm never goes away. Well maybe the enthusiasm can be bridled a bit as they get older....we're not looking for this to blossom into a George Michael Bluth/Maeby Funke kind of love.

Kenny Powers Please Come Home

You're safe here. Please come home. We miss you.

I'm the Tax Man

Cory usually does our taxes via TurboTax. This year we decided to go to our local Tax Man, thinking that with the baby and all, maybe there were things that we weren't claiming correctly or tax breaks we didn't know about. So last month, we ventured over to his 'office,' which was actually his converted garage. Please allow me to set the scene. You enter a tiny waiting area, filled with the aroma of burnt coffee. Pan left to the stanky coffee maker, Styrofoam cups, powdered creamer, and old-school Zenith TV, blaring Days of Our Lives. There's wood paneling, mangy carpet, and yappy dog taking up 2 of the 4 chairs. Pan right to the china cabinet housing porcelain dog figurines.

Tax Man comes out of his open door and profusely apologizes for making us wait. Its 1:03, our appointment was at 1. And let's note that his door was open the entire time he was meeting with his other clients and us. So much for confidentiality.

He starts exchanging pleasantries with Cory but I'm not really hearing what's he's saying because I'm fixated on his tucked in, short-sleeve button up shirt. I use the term, "button up," very loosely because only the bottom 3 buttons were actually buttoned, revealing a healthy dose of graying chest hair. To finish off the look, he's donning faded black jeans. Ladies, are you hot yet?
His office was even better than the waiting room. No word of a lie, these are items that adorned his wall:

• painting of dogs playing poker
• framed photo of a 10 year old kid (his grandson?) wearing a birthday crown & a black eye
• framed photo of the same kid wearing an in Interstate 420 ski hat
• framed photo of the Tax Man in front of a Corvette circa 1970

He starts the appointment off by getting our basic info. He's finger pecking his keyboard and offers up my favorite line of the day, "I can't type for shit."

All in all, he saved us $0, cost us $200, and got us no larger a return than years prior. Maybe this had to do with the fact that none of the tax reference books on his shelf were dated past 1974.

Overheard in the Cafeteria

Overheard this morning while minding my own by the coffee machine.

Her: "Ya, I just got back. We went to the French Riviera, then to Paris."
Him: "I went to Paris about 5 years ago. Then to Amsterdam. We had a great time.
Her: "Ya, we had a blast. "
Him: "That was the best trip my wife and I ever took. The second best was to Hawaii. You should go there when you get a chance."
Her: "Ya, I was actually supposed to go at the end of the year, but I'm getting a divorce instead."

Silence...Ouch.

Eastah 2009

Eastah 2009 was lovely. We went to Cory's aunt and uncle's for brunch and to my sister and brother-in-law's for dinner.

One of my favorite parts of any holiday is making goodies for the host or hostess. This year, I made Amish Friendship Bread . Amish Friendship Bread is basically a bread chain letter. Someone (in my case, my mother-in-law) gives you 'starter' bread mix in a Ziploc bag, then you do stuff to it for 10 days. On the 10th day, you add more ingredients (mostly sugar, flour, and oil) and bake. The results are ridiculously delicious and really bad for you. It actually tastes more like a coffee cake but with a yeasty, bread-y hint.

I also made eggshell planters. I saw these last month in a magazine when I was at the doctor's office with my mom. At about minute 55 of waiting for the surgeon, she flips to the section on Easter crafts. We read through the instructions for a couple of minutes, then the doctor finally comes in. He looks my mom over, chats for about 5 minutes, writes a couple of prescriptions, and goes on his way. As we're gathering our stuff to leave (mind you the door is still open and there are doctors, nurses, and patients milling about), my mother makes eyes with me and motions to the magazine, "whispering" in Portuguese "Want me to put it in my purse?" I just look at her, with that, "C'mon, are you serious?" face. She shrugs, shakes her head and says, "Oh, what's the big deal. Your sister does it all the time." Awesome.

We did not stuff the mag into her purse, nor did we tear out the spread, as she also suggested. I assured her that the Internet would offer the same information. Lo and behold, it did: Eggshell Planters.

It's What's For Dinner- Week 2

Last week was a success. We stuck to our menu. So here's what's cookin' this week:

Monday- Grilled Cheese and Trader Joe's Tomato Soup

Tuesday- Roasted garlic chicken sausage, wilted curly kale, roasted brussel sprouts and carrots

Wednesday-Fend-for-yourself night. Probably leftovers.

Thursday- White Bean Turkey Chili

Friday- Homemade Salmon Sushi and Edamame

I will also be printing this out and posting it on the fridge because a certain Mr. Someone I Live With, despite reading this blog, still feels the need to ask me every night, "What's for dinner?"

The "Rabbit" Is Coming

In our house, to mark Easter, you say ad nauseum "The rabbit is coming". You need to say "rabbit" like a Hasidic Jew in deference to Cory's Zadie (grandfather.) The lore goes back about 25 Easters ago. One of Cory's brother's friends was over and Zadie asked him "Was the Rabbit good to you?" ("Rabbit" sounding more like "Hahrahbit.") The poor Goy just smiled nervously trying to figure out what this cute little old man was saying.

I am hoping that Beatrice will impress all of our relatives on Sunday and tell them that the "Hahrahbit" did in fact come and he was damn good to her.

The Monthly Give- April 2009

I've been trying to get back into doing something charitable at least once a month. I was doing better with this last year but haven't been as committed in 2009. In the past, I've collected goods from my generous family and friends for Project Just Because, Birthday Wishes, St. Patrick's Manor, and local families durings the holidays. While these are all great causes, I think now is a tough time to be asking people to buy and donate goods. There are other, smaller ways to help out.

Throughout the years, I've baked sweet treats for my local Salvation Army's Miracle Kitchen. (Special thanks to my mother-in-law for telling me about this.) I want to get better about doing this at least once a month. I'm not saving lives but I hope it sweetens someone's otherwise tough day.

Tonight I made spice cake cupcakes. So if you have extra baking goods laying around... get to it, Betty Crockers. You can find your local Salvation Army here. Be sure to check if they have a Soup Kitchen and accept home-made goods.

Mommie Dearest

I knew motherhood would be challenging. I never had the naive, preconceived notions that it would be all baby's breath, puppies, and carnations. However, I never imagined it would be this hard. I'm not really talking about the day to day stuff. I can handle that (on most days). Luckily my girl is a great sleeper and my husband is a wonderful father. The daily minutia is way more manageable with helpful husband , at least 9 hours sleep, and did I mention, our nanny sent from heaven above?

Its the larger issues that have me troubled. We are now out of the 'baby' phase into the 'toddler' phase and the girl gets what's going on. Every day is a new adventure in mothering. And with that comes the constant second guessing, the constant questioning of decisions. I never imagined the incessant persevering over things I never even knew existed... are we being consistent enough? Are we doing the right thing by having a nanny take care of her instead of exposing her to other kids at daycare? Is she going to outgrow the separation/stranger anxiety phase? Is she going to be able to to make friends? Why is she whining? Am I coddling her too much? Am I reading enough to her? And it goes on and on and on...

These are the questions that don't really have answers. At the end of the day, when I'm falling asleep, I just try to remind myself that I'm doing my best. I'm figuring it out as I go along. And as I always tell my older sister, the first born in our brood, "The first child is always the practice one."

And if I am still feeling inadequate, I search the internet and come across nuggets like this. Bring on my Mother of the Year award.

Livin' the Dream, Huh?

Our friend, Jeremy, was over the other night. He and Cory were laughing about an encounter they had a couple of weeks ago while out at a bar watching basketball. A visibly drunk, slurring guy leans over and says to Jeremy, "I like your watch. That a Rolex?" To which Jeremy laughs, "Ah, thanks. Its actually a Swiss Army." The drunk guy leans back, takes a pregnant pause, nodding his head in Jeremy's direction. He then utters possibly the best line ever, "Living the dream, huh?"

After I finished laughing we got to talking about how that line would be great on a t-shirt. But you'd have to juxtapose it with an image of a '84 Fiero. Because really, nothing says livin' the dream like a cherry red Fiero.

[Best part of the above photo: Look closely down the center- that is definitely a fold mark. This was totally a spread in a hot rod mag. I can only imagine that some finely-mulleted young man once hung this with love and care next to his Paulina Porizkova SI Swimsuit Issue cover.]

For your additional viewing pleasure: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1wnn6Igw0q8

In other news: Hallelujah, today is April 7th. College basketball is over (just in time for Red Sox Opening Day). I hear that UNC won. Great... big deal. Bigger deal... Cory won his pool. Yahoo!

And finally one last thing, thanks to those who have left comments. They've made my day. If you leave me a comment with a question in it, I'll reply to you in the comments section of that post. Thanks so much for reading! I hope you're finding it mildly entertaining.

Off to go work on my t-shirt design. For the record, don't you worry, the patent is pending.

It's What's For Dinner- Week 1

This is Week 1 of the meal planning project. Let's see how it goes.

Monday- Dinner at Nanny's (Cory's wonderful grandmother). We go every Monday night while Cory plays basketball. Mondays are always a no-cooking night. Yay.

Tuesday- Roasted chix, roasted cauliflower and carrots, & salad.

Wedesday- This is my late night. I go to the gym, then WW, then out to coffee with the girls so I don't get home until around 8pm. Cory makes himself dinner on Wednesday nights so I usually have an omelet and toast. I kind of look forward to breakfast for dinner nights since breakfast is my favorite meal of the day. I think I'll go for an asparagus and mushroom egg white omelet this week.

Thursday- Turkey meatloaf and brussel sprouts

Friday- Shrimp & Langostino tails, spinach, asparagus, artichoke hearts & pasta in a lemon caper sauce

I think I'll just plan the weeknights to start.

Blue Plate Special

I regularly read HelenJane. She had a great idea a while ago about weekly menu planning. I go through spurts of planning out the week's meals. I am going to try and commit to this for April. Every Monday, I'll post my list for the week. Let's see how it goes.

Another thing I've been better at is cooking meals ahead and freezing them. Sundays have been filled with crocking, baking, sauteing, grilling, and containing. I find it therapeutic. Having a fridge and freezer full of meals for the 3 of us makes me feel in control of what we're putting in our bodies. It can be challenging at times because sometimes I need to make meals 2 ways... 1 for the babe and husband (full fat version) and one for me (low fat version). All in all, it beats cereal for dinner every night.

Is It April 6th Yet?

March Madness is under way, otherwise known in my house as women and children, you're on your own month. Every year since my husband was of school age, he's taken off the first day of the Tournament. Yes, that's right, school days, work days, you name it. We may even have a member of the family, name withheld, who moved his son's surgery out a week so it wouldn't overlap the start of the tournament. My husband backed this move, stating "His son will understand one day." (To be fair, it was not at all life threatening surgery and one week did not make a difference.) That's just a snapshot of how important sports are in this family. They are also important enough to move your daughter's high chair into the living room so that you don't miss even one play.

He just better win his brackets. He's in the lead now so we'll see.