Holiday Eating Guide

Too good not to post:

1. Avoid Carrot Sticks - Anyone who puts carrots on a holiday buffet table knows nothing about Christmas spirit. Leave their home at once and go next door where they're serving rum balls.

2. Drink as much egg nog as you can - It's only available for four weeks each year, so it's not like you'll get addicted or anything.

3. If something comes with gravy, use it - That's the point of gravy. It is not a stand alone item. Make a mashed potato volcano with gravy lava. Eat the volcano. Repeat.

4. As for the mashed potatoes, ask if they're made with skim o r whole milk - If it's skim, pass. What's the point? It's like buying a Porsche with automatic transmission.

5. Do not pre-snack in an effort to control your eating - The main reason for going to a Christmas party is to eat other people's food for free. Lots of it.

6. Do not exercise between now and New Year's - You can do that in January when there's nothing else to do. December is for long naps, which you'll need after circling the buffet table carrying a ten-pound plate and a gallon of egg nog.

7. If you come across something really good at a buffet table, like frosted cookies in the shape and size of Santa Claus, station yourself nearby and don't move - Eat as many as you can before people start to whisper and point. Opportunities like this are fleeting; if you pass them up, you may not get another chance.

8. Same goes for pie - Apple, pumpkin, mincemeat, have a slice of each. If you don't like mincemeat, double up on apple or pumpkin. Always eat at least three slices. When else can you have multiple desserts?

9. Fruitcakes - Granted, it's loaded with calories, but avoid it at all costs. You've got to have some standards.

10. If you don't feel terrible when you leave the party, yo u haven't been paying attention - Reread this list and try to do better next time. Hurry, January is right around the corner.

Well, that was fun... sorta

Today was the teacher appreciation lunch at the boys' school and lucky me got to sub for both the boys' teachers while they attended the lunch. How is that possible you ask? Well, it's a huge school so they stagger when the teachers go to the luncheon - they all go at the time their kids go to lunch, then get to stay for an extra half hour. Yep, a whole hour for their lunch. You'd think we'd given them the day off they get so excited. Superman has lunch at 10:30 and Sunshine has lunch at noon, so I actually had 1/2 hour between classes. So I had time to yak w/ the other moms for awhile.

The Kindergarten teachers were apparently worried that parents would lose one of the kids and made color coded nametags with "Kindergarten" and the teacher's name on it just in case. Luckily I know most of Superman's class from volunteering up there so I was able to keep up with most of them. Had a tad bit of trouble w/ the special needs child, since his aide went to the luncheon also, but at least I knew he was supposed to be in "my" class. We were supposed to play BINGO, but then the teacher found out the office was showing a movie (they all have TV's in their room and can turn it on to a certain channel to watch stuff). Something about a little bear that made no sense to me. Then, Ms. S came back and said that was one of her favorite movies. I think she needs to get out more!

Third grade was a bit trickier. No one gave me a nametag and I was supposed to somehow make sure they all washed their hands on the way to lunch. Good luck on that one. At least 3 boys came out with soap still on their hands and I had to send them back. Boys are so weird.

After lunch I got to discuss voice in writing with them. Not something I recall learning as a third grader, but my kid is a genius and apparently in some accelarated school and no one bothered to tell me. I swear. They did economics last month. I didn't learn about economics until high school. I was really impressed with the kids' answers and discussion. Then I read a story while they wrote down when they heard the author using voice in the story. I didn't quite get the assignment, but they did.

I was pleasantly surprised when it was time to go. I thought it would be much harder. Not sure I'm ready for a full day of subbing just yet, but a couple of hours was kind of fun.

A White THANKSGIVING??

We're back. Cold and wet, but home. While it may be cold and wet in Central Texas today, the big surprise of Thanksgiving 2007 was that is snowed out in West Texas. Real snow. By the end of the day there was about an inch and a half in the yard. The kids had a blast. I was cold. Freezing cold.

All in all it was fun. However, I wasn't able to take many photos because, as I have mentioned, I was cold. I didn't have my gloves and the camera was, you guessed it, cold. You might say I'm not a cold weather person. Mark went outside and actually played with the kids in it. Of course, he didn't bother to take photos. I took the one above from the safety of Mom's patio and ran right back inside the house.

It was definitely an interesting Thanksgiving. We had made some huge efforts to plan getting toegether with my Dad's side of the family. It's been at least 5 years since we spent a holiday with that whole clan, so we were looking forward to it. Of course, they had to drive down from Lubbock and called from Tahoka (sorry, have to mention that because how many times does one have the chance to mention Tahoka in a blog entry?) that the snow was so heavy they couldn't see a foot in front of them and were turning back.

Lucky for us, Mom made the half of Thanksgiving dinner with the ham, turkey, cornbread dressing and green beans. They had rice stuffing, jello mold and pecan pie for lunch. I'd feel bad for them, but knowing that crowd they rounded up some other food fast!

True to Midland form, the snow melted by Friday afternoon and we headed out to see Santa. Superman was so nervous he'd forget what to tell the big guy he wanted for Christmas. I thought he was about to cry when it was his turn. He kept turning back around asking me "what do I want?" He managed to remember that he wants a remote control helicopter. Whew. At least this year Santa didn't offer his own suggestions.

Sunshine was more interested in the cookies and hot chocolate - he's figured out that as long as Daddy knows what he wants from Santa, there's a good chance he's getting it. Dunno if he believes Santa is real anymore, but I do know he's smart enough to fake it if he doesn't.

And here's the whole gang.

I love taking them all out together because everyone is freaked out by that many siblings so close in age. Ha! Like I'd be out of the mental hospital already if I'd had 4 kids in 5 years! Especially THOSE four!

Now I'm off to take a HOT bath because I still have not warmed up from the cold. And some joker left the AC on in our house and it actually got cold here while we were gone!

Learn a word, give some rice

Here's a neat little game someone posted over at Paperbackswap.com. For every vocabulary word you get right in the game, they donate 10 grains of rice.

According to the FAQ, your playing the game earns money from the advertisers on the site and the money is then used to purchase rice. Fun little game too. I've earned about 1000 grains of rice just now while talking on the telephone to a friend.

One last try

Once again we've undertaken a project trying to fix the patches of dead grass and mud in our front yard. I forgot to take a before photo, but just imagine all the mulched parts in the after photo with patches of dirt and mud instead of mulch. And instead of the plants.

From the street:

And here it is from the driveway:

Much better and now everytime it rains we won't have so much mud in the house. After 3 tries at replanting grass, it's just not going to happen. I'm not sure if the plants I put there will survive or not. Between the tree roots soaking up all the water and the kids playing football in the front yard it's not likely. I just had to try anyway.

When uploading these I noticed the color isn't very good. Which just adds to my case for needing a new camera...

New pet?

For about a week now, I've had a green anole living in the space between the window and screen in our office. At first I thought he just kept running in there, but he's geen there every time I come in here for a week now. I'll try to post a photo later, but it's not really a spot where it's going to show well. And my camera is currently on a cub scout campout.

Anyway, my new pet is growing on me. He's moderately cute, he doesn't shed, he doesn't bark and he finds his own food. Hmmm. Maybe the dog could learn something from this tiny green monster.

Paint Fumes

I've finally decided to paint the cabinets in my kitchen. I've hated the color ever since we moved in her and my hatred has deepened since we repainted the kitchen walls a year or so ago. I keep thinking I need to save up some money and pay someone because all the websites on how to do it make it sound extremely hard with suggestions of painting with some type of special putty first to make the paint stick and rigging up some kind of thing on the shower curtain rod to hang the doors up to dry. Oookay. So, night before last I grabbed some white paint and some brushes and talked Mark into taking one of the cabinet doors off for me. Since this process involved power tools he happily obliged.

So far, so good, but I've realized that at the rate I'm going it's going to take me at least 2 weeks to complete this project. This is as fast as I can go given the need for two coats per door and on each cabinet and the need for them to dry for 2 hours between coats and overnight before replacing. I only have so much space in which I'm willing to paint and dry doors and that space will hold about 3-4 doors or drawers a day. Add in that both sides of the doors have to be painted and throw in a dash of paranoia about the kids messing with it all if I paint while they're at home and that two weeks may take even longer.

The up side is it's not nonstop painting so I am getting other stuff done. The down side is that I'm going to be sniffing paint fumes quite a bit for awhile. I took some pictures today and I'll post them as soon as I either load Photoshop onto the new computer or Mark tells me where to find this great photo program that is "hidden" on here. Since it doens't involve power tools I'll either have to wait a few weeks or do it myself.

Recalls

Is there anyone out there who has not had something they own, ate or borrowed recalled in the past year? I'm getting tired of it. The latest in the bunch? Some cub scout badges. Somehow that just seems wrong! If nothing else, surely we can rely on the scouts to check things out before they buy. Apparently not. And lucky for us, the den leaders are in charge of collecting all the "bad" ones from their dens to turn into the scout shop. Bleh. Like I needed one more unpleasant job.

Name Tag

Candy over at House 'o Beauchamp tagged me on this.


1. YOUR ROCK STAR NAME: (first pet, current car) Bo Passat
2. YOUR GANGSTA NAME: (favorite ice cream, favorite cookie) Butter Pecan Chocolate Crinkle
3. YOUR FLY “GUY/GIRL” NAME: (first initial first name, first 3 letters last name) D-Denise Ham
4. YOUR DETECTIVE NAME: (favorite color, favorite animal) Green Monkey
5. YOUR SOAP OPERA NAME: (middle name, city where you were born) Elaine Midland
6. YOUR STAR WARS NAME: (first 3 letters last name, first 2 letters first name) Hamde
7. SUPERHERO NAME: (2nd favorite color, favorite drink and add” the”) The Black Margarita
8. NASCAR NAME: (first names of your grandfathers) James James (seriously - but they both went by their middle names, which would be Edwin Scott)
9. STRIPPER NAME: (favorite perfume, favorite candy) Musk Lindt Truffle
10. WITNESS PROTECTION NAME: (mother’s and father’s middle names) Jean Bryan


Looks like I'm supposed to tag 5 more people. I tag:

Sula
Angela
Jenny
Megan
Dawn

You people better be reading my blog.

Bush vetos children's health insurance bill

ARGH! Grrr. I don't usually get too political. And we all knew this would happen. But I'm still hopping mad about it.

Call me a flaming liberal, but I just can't fathom opposing health care for kids!

President Bush on Wednesday vetoed legislation expanding a children's health insurance program by $35 billion over five years.
....

"I think that this is probably the most inexplicable veto in the history of the country. It is incomprehensible. It is intolerable. It's unacceptable," said Sen. Edward Kennedy, D-Massachusetts, who pleaded with Republicans to help overturn the veto.

I'm w/ Ed on this one.

Roars and Snores

I petted a rhinocerous, I fed a giraffe, I touched a hedgehog, I walked at least 100 miles. Our camera battery died. We had so much fun. I'm tired as a person could possibly be, but in a very good way. I have to admit I was more than a little nervous at the prospect of spending the night at the zoo. Doubly nervous since we didn't know until we got there if we'd be in with the reptiles and amphibians or in the saltwater aquarium. Triply nervous because my darling husband agreed to take and be responsible for another kid whose parents could not go (and there may be more on this in a later post).

It all went well. My worries were for naught. I'm so glad we went and I'm so glad we took O because I know this is one of those things all the boys will remember forever. Possibly one of the stories they'll tell their grandkids. They'll embellish it, of course.

When we got there, we unloaded and divided into groups. I thought we were stuck in the reptile house group, but somehow ended up in the aquarium group because the numbers were off or something. That was sooo cool. Well, except for when someone popped up about an hour after everyone went to sleep and yelled 'THE EEL IS OUT." and all the kids ran to the front of the tank and started screaming about it. That was exciting, but not exactly "cool" for us old people.

After setting up, we had pizza and our group of 60 split up into another 3 groups. Our group started in the small animal exibit. There we got to touch a snake, a hedgehog and look at an exotic bird up close. The zoo people told the kids all about them. I spent most of my efforts keeping the kids focused so I missed a lot of the talk. Then we went on a "night hike" and to check out the animal habitats and see who was "up." We saw the elephants and one of the lionnesses out in the dark. Then she showed us where they keep the animal's food. The kids were most excited by the mice. Both the dead ones on a glue trap in the grain room and the frozen ones in the freezer across the hall. Yep, frozen mice - individually frozen with their fur on and packed on a little styrofoam meat tray. ICK!

Then came the really cool part. We went to see the rhinos and were allowed to reach into the cages and pet their tusks. Their tusks feel really strange - kind of soft and smooth, but hard and rough all at the same time. We got an up-close look at some lions and some tigers. Not just close, but so close that if we reached out we could have touched them. We were, however, very careful not to reach out and touch them! Next, we got to feed the giraffes. Giraffes (at the zoo at least) eat cut up bananas and apples. Sunshine kept dropping his fruit because he couldn't manage to hang onto something that disgusting long enough to carry it two feet from the bucket to the giraffe. Wow. Giraffes are actually quite friendly and seem like they'd be really fun to have for a pet if you had a large enough yard. The yard would have to have extremely tall trees, but they'd sure be fun to have around!

I'm pretty sure I'm forgetting something here. When that was all done we went back to the little dining deck and had some animal crackers and water for a snack then it was off to bed. Which involved walking back uphill to the aquarium to get our stuff, down to the bathrooms and uphill again to the aquarium. By this time my legs could barely move and I was too tired to do more than tell the kids to get themselves into their sleeping bags and pass out.

This morning we had breakfast, then had a full 3 hours to tour the zoo before it opened to the public. If you ever decide to do one of these zoo overnight things, definitely do it on a Saturday night. That was a huge bonus to the whole trip.

I have a couple of people who took pictures for us since our camera battery died about 20 minutes into the trip and if they actually do send them I'll post them.

My book reviews

Not sure if anyone ever checks out my book review blog. I'm not sure exactly why I started except it seemed like book reviews don't really fit on this blog and I occasionally like to blabber about books I've read.

I thought I should point out for those of you who actually do read the book reviews that I don't necessarily blog every book I read and that there is absolutely no rhyme nor reason as to why I do or don't blog about a book. I'm updating my list of books I'm reading and realized I might mention that lest anyone is holding their breath for reviews on some of the books I've read recently. Not likely, but stranger things have happened.

I hate AT&T

First, let me say that the only reason we have a landline in the first place is for our internet service. We had problems with cable when we moved out here so we switched over to DSL. I'm not really advocating that DSL is better or has better service in general - at our previous house we'd had cable because they couldn't get the DSL to work right there. OK, there we actually went without phone service for weeks at a time because the phone company couldn't be bothered to come out and fix broken lines. Here, they couldn't get cable to work, but no problems with the phone service. At least now until now. But, I digress.

Recently our area changed zip codes. Which has been a huge hassle because many stores and a little site called Google Maps have our new zip code listed as being in an entirely different town. Not just the next town over, but a town I'd never heard of - Sandy, Texas. I'm sure Sandy is a very nice place to live. I'm not dissing it. But, I happen to live in Round Rock, which is in Williamson County, just north of Austin. Sandy is in Blanco County, somewhere between Johnson City and Llano. Nice. So, I'm wondering if that's what's taking my mail so long now that we've changed - does it all have to go to Sandy first?

Well, the change apparently caused some issues with the phone company. Because now that we are in the 78665 zip code, which they have changed for us, we are now outside the city limits of Sandy and we got a card letting us know that our calls to Sandy, Austin and Round Rock are now long distance. Which doesn't really matter since I use my mobile for most calls anyway. But, I find it more than a little disturbing that they want to charge me long distance fees to call my next door neighbor. Since she is also 81.7 miles outside the city limits of Sandy it seems it should be a local call. Am I right here? Yes, I realize I can just walk next door, but what if I just got out of the shower and need to tell her something urgent? It's the principle of the thing.

After a 30 minute wait I finally reach "Bill," who has a suspicious accent for someone with such a genericly English sounding name. "Bill" proceeds to tell me that I need some kind of pin number for him to talk to me about my account. I don't have a pin number. I just need him to tell me what I need to do to get myself relisted as living in Round Rock instead of Sandy. I can go find the number later and call back when I get my ducks in a row, but I need to know what type of info I need to send them to straighten it out. I'm not asking for account changes right now. I'm not asking for personal information. I'm not asking to sell my firstborn son into slavery. I'm just asking for some general information about how to fix a problem so I can go get the necessary info and send it to them. Surely he can tell me some general info without a pin number. I think the pin number is written in the booklet that the DSL guy gave us when we moved in 5 years ago. It's filed somewhere but I'm not really sure where since it's been 5 years since I've needed my 7-digit telephone number pin code. Seriously. Do people really just *know* these things? Gah.

Unfortunately, "Bill" "cannot give out any special information related to the account holder's account without accessing the account holder's 7-digit-pin number or the long distance telephone number calls in question to the account holder." Niiiice. There aren't any long distance calls in question YET. I'm trying to prevent problems rather than wait for them to happen. Thanks Bill. Thanks AT&T. I may be giving cable internet a try again soon. And if you start seeing calls to Sandy, TX on your phone bill, it's me. Since I now live outside the city limits of Sandy. 81.7 miles outside the city limits.

What a way to start the week. Now I get to go get new tires on my car. I can hardly wait.

Public Service Announcement

A little word from E about why parents who don't want to join the PTA should at the very least be nice about it.

This is crazy.

I've heard of rabid sports fans, but this is just nuts. Seriously. Over the top.

63 Annoying Questions

Not sure why, but I feel like annoying my readers today so I stole this from Sula:

1. Song that always makes you sad? : Everybody Hurts by REM

2. Last thing you bought? : lunch at Cafe Java

3. Last person you argued with? : My mother

4. Do you put Butter before putting the jelly on? : yes, I put the butter on, toast it under the broiler, THEN put the jelly on. for me anyway. The kids get what they get.

5. One of your stuffed animals : When I was a kid I had a cat w/ three little kittens attached.

6. Did you ever own at one time a Nysnc Cd? No

7. Favorite day of the week? : Sunday

8. Favorite Sundae topping? : Butterscotch sauce

9. Did you take Piano lessons? : Yes.

10. Most frequent song played? : That's a tough one. Maybe "1985" b/c that song cracks me up. Or maybe it's "There is a River" by Jars of Clay lately.

11. T.V. show you secretly enjoy? : Mary Tyler Moore reruns

12. Would you rather play basketball or hockey? : Neither. Do have HAVE to pick a sport? I guess hockey b/c you can hit people w/ those sticks. I'm too short for basketball.

13. Date someone older or younger? : Older, but barely (Ok, so I'm married to him, but whatever)

14. One place you could travel right now? : could or want to? I could travel to Waco and will this weekend. I want to travel to Italy and will in another 1o years or so.

15. Do you use umbrellas? : Very rarely. I just get wet.

16. Do you know all the words to the Canadian national anthem? : No.

17. Favorite Cheese? : Buffalo Mozzarella

18. Disturbed or My Chemical Romance? : Disturbed

19. Do you prefer Blondes or Brunettes? : Brunettes

20. Best job you ever had? : Mom

21. did you go to your high school prom? Sort of - we didn't have a prom but did have a formal dance by another name and I did go to that.

22. perfect time to wake up? : noon

23. perfect time to go to bed? : 3 a.m. (assuming I can sleep until noon - see above)

24. do you use your queen right away in chess? .. can you do that?

25. Ever been in a car accident? : many

26. closer to mom or dad...or neither? : Dad

27. what age is this exciting life over for you? : 70

28. what decade during the 20th century would you have chosen to be a teenager? : This one. Really any but the 80s. haha

29. Favorite shoes you have EVER owned? : I have some awesome boots that are black w/ heels and *really* nice, soft leather.

30. Do you have an article of clothing you have had since you were in high school : Yes. I have a jacket I've had since Junior High!

31. Were you in track and field? : Nope.

32. Were you ever in a school talent show? : yes.

33. Have you ever written in a library book? : NO

34. Allergic to? : My father-in-law

35. Favorite fruit? : Fresh Cherries

36. Have you watched sex and the city? : I watched 1/2 an episode once.

37. Baseball hat or toque? : Baseball hat

38. Do you shampoo first in the shower or soap? : shampoo

39. Wet the toothbrush or brush dry with the toothpaste? : wet

40. Pen or pencil? : pen.

41. Have you ever gambled at a casino? : Yes.

42. Have you thrown up on a plane? : No.

43. Have you thrown up in a car? : Yes.

44. Have you thrown up at work? : Yes.

45. Do you scream on roller coasters? : Heck, yes!

46. Who was your first prom date? : Tommy somethingoranother.

47. Who was your first roommate? : Debbie

48. What alcoholic beverage did you drink when you got drunk for the first time? Margarita

49. What was your first job? : Babysitting.

50. What was your first car? : Honda Prelude. Red, with a sunroof.

51. When did you go to your first funeral? : Supposedly I went to my grandfather's funeral when I was 2. First I remember was my granny's when I was 10 (I think - I was in elem. school)

52. How old were you when you first moved away from your hometown? : 17

53. Who was your first grade teacher? : I'm too old to remember.

54. Where did you go on your first airplane ride? : Dallas

55. When you snuck out of your house for the first time, who was it with? : Jennifer, Jennifer and Melissa. We walked to Whataburger and got some taquitos. No kidding.

56. Who was your first Best Friend and are you still friends with them? : Danny. We don't see each other very often. No falling out or anything though..

57. Where did you live the first time you moved out of your parent : Waco, TX (woo hoo!, now that's a big happening place!)

58. Who is the first person you call when you have a bad day? : Mark or Shelley

59. Who's wedding were you in : Jennifer, Karen, Christine, Bryan and Natalie, Stacia, Beth, gosh,I can't even remember them all!

60. What is the first thing you do in the morning? : Hit the snooze on the alarm.

61. What was the first concert you attended? : Amy Grant

62. First tattoo or piercing? : Ears pierced when I was 13

63. First celebrity crush? : Scott Baio. I still love him.

Done!

Cub Scout popcorn show and sell is over, done, finished. Our pack did a great job and I am so glad it's over. Britt, who will take over next year, came over last night to count the last batch of money (hey, if you had to count up more than $4,000 and most of that in 1s and 5s, you'd need help too!). I've updated the database with everyone's sales and now all I have to do is sit back and.... wait for the take-order phase. [sigh] The fun never ends.

Luckily Britt seems pretty set on taking over for next year and Mark's agreed to be the pack treasurer so I can always fall back on the argument that it's *unethical* for the head fundraiser to be married to the treasurer. Right?

Other than all the popcorn and cash, we had a great holiday weekend. We cooked out with some neighbors and the kids ran around the culdesac all day Monday. Next weekend is the beginning of sports season for us. Superman starts soccer and its the first Baylor home football game, which I can't say I'm jumping up and down excited about, but the relatives are expecting us to meet up with them for the evening in Waco. Which can be either fun or torturous. I just never know. Sunshine's football won't start for another week. Then we'll be really crazy on Saturdays. Not that we are exactly not crazy now.

Now, there's a career I hadn't considered...

"Mommy, you should get a job with the Round Rock Express and we could go watch you play and eat hot dogs." Apparently I've really improved my batting skills this summer!

And the Verdict Is...

The boys had a great first day of school. No calls from the principal, which is good and no notes in the bags, which is also good.

Spencer's main impression on his teacher is that she talks too much but he likes her anyway because she has both Pokemon chapter books AND A-Z Mysteries on her classroom bookshelves! He said they did not really do any work today and he played kickball at recess.

Superman doesn't really remember much about his day except that the teacher did not yell at him and his lunch was good. I can't imagine how anyone would enjoy eating tomato soup (his lunchbox request) with crackers at 10:30 in the morning. But, apparently he did. He seems exhausted so after a quick trip to Sonic, they collapsed in front of the TV for awhile.

Whew. I can rest easy now.

First Day of School

Today was the first day of Kindergarten for Superman and the first day of Third Grade for Sunshine. I know I'm supposed to be sad my baby is starting school, but at this point all I feel is relief that we've made it to this point and I'm going to have some time to get stuff done around here.

They're doing drop off a bit differently this year. The kindergarteners meet up in the gym, as they've done for the last 4 years, but the older kids aren't meeting in the cafeteria anymore but go straight to their class. Not sure when they plan to do assemblies. This will actually work out better for us b/c after the first week or so Sunshine can just take Superman to the gym for us since he'll be going that way anyway.

The boys were not thrilled about having their picture taken together before school:

Nor were they happy about getting their picture taken walking into the school: I took 3 but I could not get any of them to stop for even a second:

Here's Superman walking into the school building:

Here's Sunshine outside his new classroom:

Superman waiting in the gym. I dunno if he's upset about starting school or just irritated I keep taking photos:

I'll have a full report on the first day tomorrow. Today is also Mark's birthday so we're taking him to dinner at Dairy Queen. Wouldn't be my first choice, but whatever.