Men Will Be Men

Well, I'm doing my part to help the economy.

I kind of guilted myself into it. You walk into Mister Man's room, and you get cold this time of year. Actually, last winter we put up one of those films to hold in the heat and umm the wind comes through his window so much that it blew the film off the window. We then taped it back on with packing tape. That blew off, too.

Yep, we're getting new windows. A lot of new windows. A lot of new windows that cost way too much money. But we have to do it.

Today, they replaced the window in our bathroom. And since they haven't totally finished yet, the blinds are still off the window. When my husband walked upstairs, he asked how we were taking showers this morning.

Given that I was in the process of trying to put the wee ones to bed myself, I suggested he find a solution. Me, I would have found something that held up a sheet -- like maybe a tall broom and a rake or something along those lines. Maybe some duct tape, with a follow up of Goo Gone once the blinds went back up.

A few moments later, I heard hammering.

I ran in to check what was being hammered, and I discovered that my husband had already put two nails into the new windowframe. And was in the process of putting in a third. They were to hold up a sheet.

At least he got the sheet right. But my first day with new windows and they already have nail holes in them. Men!

I'm Cheating

Ok so this was a fun meme, and a good thing right in the middle of the holidays when we're all running around stressing too much. Enjoy this one, and I hope you have fun reading it.

For the background, I took this from Veggie Mom who stole this from Lynda, who got it from Hot Tub Lizzy. Feel free to steal it from me!

1. Do you like cheese? Yes. I have at least six kinds of cheese in my fridge at the moment: cheddar, mozzarella, ricotta, parmasean, asiago, and gruyere. And I think I'm going to make beer cheese soup for dinner while I'm at it!

2. Have you ever smoked? Nope. My dad did growing up, and I have always hated the smell. Plus, I'm a cheapskate.

3. Do you own a gun? Absolutely not. Never, ever.

4. Do you like listening to Christmas music? Yes, but only between the Saturday after Thanksgiving and December 30. Any other time, I can't stand Christmas music. You may have picked up on the fact that I have a lot of rules.

5. Do you get nervous before doctor appointments? No. I'm not big into being nervous in general. I never saw the point -- and yes, I've been told that I'm a little too pragmatic for my own good.

6. What do you think of hot dogs? Well, they're food, right? And full of nitrates. But not horrible, especially at a baseball game. I rarely eat them though, and if I have a choice I'd rather have a beer boiled brat. The Chicago-style dogs are worth it though!

7. Favorite Christmas song for all time? I was just thinking about this yesterday. It's really hard to decide as I chage my mind each time I hear one of the ones that's in the running. Carol of the Bells might be the winner though.

8. What do you prefer to drink in the morning? Water, but that's my answer pretty much any time of day.

9. Can you do push ups? Yes, but not as many as I really want to. I started Angela's push up challenge this summer and got almost to the end and was doing over 100 pushups total, but ummm life happened.

10. Who is your favorite "Grey's Anatomy" Character? Oooo, that's a tough one. I like Christina, but I have issues with all of them at times. Maybe Erica Haun?

11. What's your favorite piece of jewelry? I'm so not into jewelry. My NU necklace, I guess? Or my wedding and engagement rings?

12. Favorite hobby? Yoga or cooking. I think. Horseback riding if I could find the time again. I really miss riding. I did hunt seat from the time I was eight until I was pregnant with Little Miss.

13. Do you eat "exotic" foods? Not only do I eat them, but I love them. Ethiopian is one of my favorite foods. And I could eat sushi morning, noon and night. Then again, exotic is all in the mind of the beholder. My in-laws think that Italian is ethnic food.

14. Do you have A.D.D.? That might explain a few things, but I'll go with no.

15. What one trait do you hate about yourself? Ummm I procrastinate sometimes. I know I can get things done... and so I hold off doing them. It's not always ideal, as you can imagine.

16. Middle Name? I've got several, which one do you want? There's the one my parents gave me, the one from confirmation, the one I got when I got married... but shhhh I'm not telling!

17. Name 3 thoughts at this exact moment? Uhhh. Do I have time to get a manicure today. Where's my recipe for beer cheese soup. I wish these things stayed bold when you copied them.

18. Name 3 things you bought yesterday? Would you believe that I bought not a thing? Nothing. I dropped Mister Man at preschool and worked the rest of the day until 7:30. Oooo, technically I suppose I bought windows, as I had to give up another monstrously large check.

19. Name 3 drinks you regularly drink? Regularly I'll assume means more than once a month or week, right? Given that, I'll go with water, water and ummm water.

20. Current worry right now? Will that last Christmas present arrive? And how will I do Christmas Eve with the family when I'm also supposed to sing at church at 3, 5 and 10?

21. Current hate? My boss. And the economy. Am I allowed to hate something so intangible?

23. How do you bring in the New Year? Dinner out at Wildfire with friends, so we can order the supper club. But I'm usually back in bed before midnight... so I can be sure to wake up in time to enjoy football all day long on the First!

24. Where would you like to go? Australia. Fiji. South America. Thailand (yes, even after all the stuff happened there and in India recently). Ireland. Scotland. Somewhere, anywhere warm.

25. Name 3 people who will complete this? Ooo, that's a tough one. MaBunny? Angie? Cookie? Anyone? Don't make me feel like an unloved loser by no one doing this! ;)

26. Do you own flip flops? Yes, but only for when I get my pedicures.

27. What shirt are you wearing? Blue long-sleeved tee-shirt. I refuse to admit to whether or not it's a pj shirt.

28. Do you like sleeping on satin sheets? Like Veggie Mom, I've never had the pleasure!

29. Can you whistle? I certainly can, but only like a girl. I sometimes wish I could do the good boy sports whistle; it should be mandatory that all moms be able to do this. Unfortunately, I never figured that one out.

30. Favorite color? Purple. Royal purple, in fact. Did you notice that I had absolutely not hesitation on that one!

32. What songs do you sing in the shower? I don't. I listen to WBBM. They have no music.

33. Favorite girl's name? Ella. Or Isobel. Or Marguerite. Or Gwendolyn. Three guesses why Little Miss isn't named any of them, and the first two don't count. I so should have exerted post-birth authority to name. Stupid C-section drugs that knocked me for a loop.

34. Favorite boy's name? James. Alexander. Spencer. And yet, Mister Man isn't named any of those either. Hmmm.... Ok, so I also love love love Mister Man's first and middle names. And had Little Miss been a boy, she was going to be James Spencer (Jaime).

35. What's in your pocket right now? Nada. I have no pockets at the moment.

36. Last thing that made you laugh? Watching Mister Man and Little Miss run around. They're quite the ummm unique little children.

37. Best bed sheets as a child? I have very few memories from childhood. That's sort of sad, isn't it? I couldn't tell you for the life of me what I had on my bed!

38. Worst injury you've ever had? I broke my leg at the age of two falling down the stairs while trying to get the newspaper for my parents. They had a baby gate up for my sister and I'd had a bloody nose the night before and was in a too-big hand me down nightgown. Five terra cotta flower pots were also involved.

39. Do you love where you live? Yep. I've got the greatest neighbors and friends around! Plus, I have sidewalks. That's huge for me.

40. How many TVs do you have in your house? Hmm. Seven, I'm embarrassed to admit. However, three of them are in our game room, and only two are hooked up. And really we only ever watch two of them.

41. Who is your loudest friend? Other than my husband? Definitely Jeanette.

42. How many dogs do you have? None. And given the experience that my parents have with their dogs... we're gonna stay that way!

43. Does someone have a crush on you? I'm sure someone must. I'm absolutely irresistible, right?

44. Do you get embarrassed easily? I'm a mom. Mom's lost the ability to be embarrassed, didn't they?

45. What is your favorite book? I think I'd have to go with Pillars of the Earth by Ken Follett. But also possibly the Outlander series by Diana Gabaldon. Or the historical fiction series by Sharon Kay Penman. I'm not too decisive when it comes to favorites, am I? I'm just too easy to please!

46. What is your favorite candy? Umm. I'm not really into candy. Don't hate me. If I never ate it again in my life, I'd be totally cool with it. If I had to choose something though, I guess I'd go for those little French fruit candies that come in the white circle tin.

47. Do you know all the words to the Fresh Prince theme song? Sadly, I never watched that. Or maybe not so sadly.

48. What song do you want played at your funeral? Something happy. And Irish. And I want bagpipes there. I seriously looooove bagpipes.

49. What were you doing 12 AM last night? I was sound asleep!

50. What was the first thing you thought of when you woke up? I tried to figure out why on earth my husband set the alarm for his regular wakeup time when it was a snow day and we didn't have to wake up. And I tried to remember whether or not I told him explicitly before I went to bed that I'd kill him if he didn't turn the alarm off.

More than you ever needed to know, wasn't it?

The Best and Worst of Christmas

Ok, I have to get in one more post on Christmas. It's one that's been brewing for awhile, but I keep forgetting to write it down.

We all get gifts that we love, where we can't stop thinking about and playing with and looking at the magical item that we got that we didn't even know we wanted or never really expected even though we hoped against hope that maybe we'd find this piece of heaven under the tree.

Then there are the other gifts. The ones that we open, smile through gritted teeth and then surreptitiously check to see if there is a gift receipt, letting out a mental sigh of relief if we see one and calculating what we can do with it if there is no such receipt.

This year, hands down the best gift was the Vitamix. I can't wait to start making me some good whole food when I get back from San Antonio. I'm totally geeked about this gift. I've read through the cookbook and the directions. More than once.

The "worst" gift was easy, too. My husband sticking the Alamo Bowl tickets in my stocking - the tickets I bought that were addressed to me when they arrived earlier this week - shouldn't even count as a gift. He says he just didn't want to look bad in front of the wee ones.

Over the years, I've gotten many presents that have stuck out in both the positive and negative. Hands down, the best gift ever was one my husband thought up for me back when we were still dating. He knew I was always cold at night.

Now that I think about it, my top two gifts have to do with me being cold at night. An ex bought me a snuggly warm down comforter one year that I still use today when it gets too cold. That was totally unexpected, and a wonderful gift. Then again, that particular ex rocked with the gifts. The gifts he got me the first Valentine's we were together were by far the most thoughtful I've ever received. I'll be using him as an example of gift giving as the wee ones get older!

Anyway, my husband found something even better. It's not quite an electric blanket that warms the top of you but tends to get tangled up and around and doesn't work so well for me. Instead, he found a mattress warmer. Considering that he gives off the heat of a nuclear power plant, he did well in finding on that has two controls so we can each be comfortable.

Since it goes on under the sheets, it never slips around. We turn it on high when we start getting ready for bed, then I turn it down to two or three before slipping under the now fully warmed covers. On colder nights, I may leave it up a little higher, but I'm always comfortable. It's the gift that keeps on giving.

Then there's my aunt. She's the queen of inappropriate gifts. For Mister Man's first Christmas (when he was two months old), she gave him a magnetic advent calendar tree. This year, he's finally really into the tree, but last year was the first year we even took it out of its box.

But she topped herself one year with a gift from me. Let's just say that this year I didn't get so much as a card from her, and I'm really ok with that. This particular gift arrived when I was 27 or so. I had owned my own home for a few years at that point and had lived on my own since heading to college at the age of 17 (I turned 18 shortly thereafter, don't worry).

Yep. She sent me a book that literally talks about how long you can keep produce in the fridge, how to dust, how to wash dishes, etc. The woman never made it to my house (they live in Minnesota), so it isn't like she had somehow seen (fabricated) evidence that I was a poor housekeeper. No, she just thought this would be a perfect fit for me. Or maybe she didn't think at all; I'm really not sure which. Regardless, I'm still insulted by it. I keep it only for laughs when I sometimes feel the need to page through it in utter disbelief.

So what are your all time best and worst gifts?

Christmas Rewind

I'm finally recovering from all that is Christmas. This year, that means that I'm just about ready to start writing out my Christmas New Years cards to send out to friendss and family. In fact, earlier today I picked up the photos of the wee ones visiting Santa (from Christmas Eve) to put into the cards.

So let's do a little review, shall we?

We started out our celebrations in St. Louis with my husband's family. We froze at the Rams game and then came back to his parents for the big Christmas celebration with that side. We had the traditional turkey Christmas dinner (we're not very original) before opening up the multitude of presents from them.

Little Miss was most impressed by her new black Tinkerbell backpack. I have a feeling her "old" Disney princess backpack will be headed for the donation bin by ohhh say January 5. She actually wore it around all day yesterday during Christmas while playing with her other toys, which was very cute. She also got a huge Tinkerbell soft blanket from her Uncle and his girlfriend that has replaced all other blankets as her favorite.



Mister Man was just as thrilled with his toys from the Alphabet train puzzle he got to the Spiderman and Friends Matching Game that I have now played enough times to know which top goes to which bottom within about 0.00000002 seconds. Fortunately, it's better than the Scooby Doo Haunted House game, so I'm not going to complain.



I also tried to get a picture of the wee ones by the tree thinking I could use that for the Christmas card photo. My SIL took that as in invitation to tell her daughter to plop down in front of the tree. Ditto with my husband's aunt's children (yes, who are younger than the wee ones). Fine. No one cooperated with this picture.



Then I asked them to do a silly picture, hoping that would get it out of them - after removing the youngest cousin who had no interest in being in the photo at all.



Finally, I got a decent picture of the wee ones under the tree. Then I decided that they weren't dressed Christmas-y enough anyway, so I decided to not use it anyway. Yep, that's me - Ms. I-Can-Change-My-Mind-Anytime-I-Want-To.



We ended up leaving St. Louis a day early due to the forecasted snow in Chicago and freezing rain in St. Louis. Neither sounded appealing to drive in, and the precipitation wasn't supposed to let up until midday on Christmas Eve. We had plans for Christmas Eve, and some of those included finally seeing Santa. We were going to try to do it on Monday, but my husband got something in his eye at the Rams game and had to go to the eye doctor for most of Monday (or so it seemed).

We've discovered that Mister Man is too big to sit on Santa's lap now. Or at least this Santa, who can't figure out how to hold a five year old boy. We finally gave up on this idea and had Santa stand by both wee ones.







We also had plans to be in the pageant at our church that afternoon. Lucky for Mister Man and Little Miss, they got to be the shepherd and sheep, just as they'd hoped.





It was a fully unscripted pageant, with the director of religious formation reading the story, interspersed with carols, while the appropriate characters came up to the aisle and deposited their sheep/shepherds/angels in the creche. The wee ones went around twice because they liked the stage so much. And Little Miss came up the aisle a third time with Mister Man yelling "Little Miss - GET back here" just like a good little shepherd tending his sheep. When she didn't come back, he chased her up the aisle and herded her to the back of the church.

After church, we came home and had my yummy lasagne dinner (including molten chocolate cake for dessert - and yes, I'll share the recipes eventually). Every Christmas Eve, we open up a single present. They were both thrilled with the new books that Grandma and Grandpa got them -- we love Peanuts books around here!





Come Christmas morning, I turn into Mean Mommy. I make the wee ones bring all four stockings up into bed with us to open and look at there. This gives me just a touch more time to actually wake up before having to get out of bed.

This year, my stocking contained -- wait for it -- a banana, an orange, and the Alamo Bowl tickets that *I* bought that arrived for me on Monday. Unfortunately, my husband forgot about my stocking until about 10pm on Christmas Eve when I was at church singing in the choir for the late service.

Fortunately, he made up for it by buying me a Vitamix! My old blender no longer worked, but I couldn't justify paying the cost of the Vitamix, though I have lusted over it for over a decade. Unfortunately, I ended up returning most of the other gifts he got for me (two candles that I'd be allergic to, a quesadilla maker, and canisters that were unfortunately too small for what I need). All I really needed though, was the VitaMix. Yay!

The wee ones really loved what Santa brought them. Little Miss got new Wellies, a really cool animal tag game, and a traditional Christmas book. Mister Man was just as thrilled with his Christmas book, Thomas train set (yes, another one), and Handy Games for Boys set. Santa only brings three presents in our house, just like the Wise Men brought Jesus. My parents make up the difference.



After breakfast of blueberry coffee cake (mmm, another Tasty Tuesday opportunity!), Mister Man finally remembered to check to see if Santa ate the milk and cookies we put out and the carrots for the reindeer. Just like last year, Mister Man put the carrots by the fireplace, but the milk and cookies went to his place at the table so he could have a nice respite and sit down at the table to eat them - just like the rules he has to follow. Awwww!

Later in the day, we went to my parents' house for dinner and to open up the rest of the presents from my parents. Yes, they're very spoiled. I've given up on telling them to stop buying things. I'll be having a massive giveaway of barely or never used items come January. Someone will enjoy them, right?

The hit gift from my parents was the slot car racer set. It has 23 feet of track and is remote controlled. It somehow senses where it's going so it goes around the curves and avoids the barrel obstacles you put out on the track. That's another toy that will stay at my parents' house.



In fact, Little Miss liked it so much that she picked up the blue car and would not put it down for anything. She even opened her presents one-handed. Notice the right hand behind her back holding onto the car in case anyone might want to look at it.



All in all, it was a fun Christmas. Lots of fun and entertainment from the wee ones. My favorite quote of the day had to come from Mister Man. The Thomas set had pine trees as part of it. The base of one tree was cracked, which he found very upsetting. "Mommy, there must have been an elf who didn't like his job. He rushed through making my toy, and he broke it." Ahhh, the innocence of youth!

I hope you all had a wonderful and joyous Christmas (or Hanukkah)!

Merry Christmas!

Ok, so this was supposed to be way cuter, but my dad was in charge of it, so you'll have to pretend. Little Miss sorta takes over, but pretend Mister Man sings every word in the "appropriate" voice. I'm going to try to get a better version of this later today and repost the video.

MERRY CHRISTMAS, EVERYONE

(and Happy Hanukkah)!

I Jinxed It

Earlier this year, someone made a comment to me that they no longer had a company Christmas (excuse me, holiday) party at work anymore. I thought that was really sad, and I mentioned that I was glad that we still had ours.

Ours is a great one. We rent out a hotel lobby and banquet room(s). It's open bar before and after dinner. We have a sit down dinner of pretty decent food. There's a great, huge live band that plays until after midnight. Each person who comes gets a raffle ticket for neat prizes -- everything from a GPS unit to a gift certificate to movie tickets. There are lots of prizes, although I've never managed to win in the time that I've been working here. They even let us off work early that Friday so we can get home and pretty up for the party.

A few days after I made the pronouncement about how we have our great Christmas party, an email announcement came out that we were not having our traditional Christmas party this year. Instead, we'd have a party at our new headquarters to cut costs, and we were no longer to bring a guest.

I was bummed, but ... I can deal.

This fall, expenses were cut further, and no Christmas party at the division level. The individual departments could do something small if they wished, and we were assured that our department would do something to celebrate yet.

Well, this past Thursday was our departmental Christmas party. Most people weren't there because we only found out about it the prior Monday. With so many people who work remotely, there wasn't much time -- nor incentive -- to move around work schedules to be in the office. It was from 11:30 to 1pm in one of the conference rooms. We should stop by as we were able. Oh, and it was potluck. But we were to only bring in store-bought food.

Apparently they were a little worried that we might want to poison our bosses. Oh the difference a year makes. It's actually really sad. Needless to say, I didn't go to the office specifically for this party. It just didn't seem like there was all that much to celebrate.

I can only hope that next year life returns somewhat to normal. The lack of a Christmas party isn't big in the grand scheme of things, but it's definitely symptomatic of what else is going on in the rest of the country. Too many people have lost jobs. Too many people are in fear of losing their livelihoods and their homes. Too many people are taking part-time work they don't want just to try to make it.

A Merry Christmas to everyone. And let's pray that it feels more like a merry one next year.

Tasty Tuesday

Just for Melisa, I'm putting something out there that she can eat. Granted, there is the option of pork product, but it isn't central to the recipe.

And given that it's colder than blazes here and lots o' snow, I need to pretend it's still warm and yummy out. This week, you're getting grilled pizza. You can also do this in the oven on a pizza stone, which I do regularly, but grilling a pizza is really impressive.

And easy. I was so scared the first time I tried it, but I figured the worst that could happen is that I'd close the grill, turn it up high and burn away my mistake. No need! And so delicious!

First, you'll need your ingredients for the dough:
1 c hot water
1 T yeast
3 c flour
1 T oil
a pinch sugar (totally optional)
1/2 t salt



Add the water to the mixer, with the yeast, oil, and sugar on top of it. Keep the salt away from the yeast, as salt will kill it and that's bad. Mix this just a touch, then add half the flour. Mix it until all the flour is incorporated, then add your salt and mix again. Once the yeast is coated with flour, you're safe to add the salt. Add the rest of the flour slowly. You may not need it all, depending on the humidity of the flour you're using.

It will start to look like this, which is scary.


Keep mixing though. Eventually it will all come together, I promise. Use your dough hook for 10-15 minutes on low to medium speed, until your dough looks like this:


Once it does, cover it with a damp towel (still in the bowl) for an hour and a half or so to let it rise. Gently punch it down and separate it into four equal sized balls. They'll need to rest here for a few minutes.

Push/roll/stretch the first ball into an approximate rectangle shape. Just keep working with it until it eventually relaxes into the shape and size you need. I like mine super thin. Brush olive oil onto both sides of the dough and set onto a jelly roll pan. Repeat with the remaining three balls. You can set them atop each other in the jelly roll pan, and they won't stick too badly.

Make sure your grill is hot. Like 450-500 degrees hot and has been for a bit. Ensure you have all your ingredients ready, whether you're doing a pizza with sauce or just toppings (I like chopping kalamata olives, sundried tomatoes, red onion, and artichokes, as well as crumbled feta or goat cheese, some shredded asiago, with torn basil and prosciutto added after cooking). This is your pizza, so make it how you like.

Gently lay your dough on the grill, and close the grill. It's ok if it isn't perfect. We're all about taste here, not presentation! This part makes you look the most professional.


Grill it for 2-3 minutes, until you can lift it with tongs and you see grill marks but it doesn't look uncooked. Place it on a second jelly roll pan, and apply your toppings. When you get comfortable with this, you can actually have this going in shifts so while you're putting toppings on one pizza, a second is grilling and then you switch them.


Grill on the second side with the cover closed for just a couple more minutes. If you're melting cheese on it, go until the cheese is melty.

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Otherwise, you just made a whole lotta pizza for a whole lotta people who are going to be super impressed with you. And trust me, this is much cheaper than ordering takeout or popping in a frozen pizza. The taste, of course, doesn't begin to compare. This is one of those things that sounds like it would be hard "oh, I made homemade pizza for dinner last night" but is actually super easy!

If you want to do it in the oven instead, preheat the oven with the stone inside to 450 degrees. Put all the toppings on your pizza on a pizza paddle that is lightly covered in cornmeal so nothing sticks. Put it in the oven at 450 for 10-12 minutes, and use the paddle to pull it out. For oven baked pizzas, you do not need to oil the dough first.

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Enjoy!
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PS I forgot the *best* story from yesterday at the football game. Picture this: The Rams (who are horrible this year) are up 16-3 with only a few minutes left in the game. Suddenly, there is just over a minute left, and it's now 16-16. I turn to my husband to offer support:

Me: Maybe they'll miss the extra point (leaving the game tied)
Husband: Right, and maybe monkeys will fly out of my a$$. (He stands up, turns around to look at his rear end) Nope, no monkeys.

And the Niners made the extra point. And won the game. The image of it all still cracks me up.