It's ME!

It occurred to me that many of you have never seen pictures of me when I was small...so I thought I'd add these just for laughs. Please note the super-thin blond hair. My mom had to work for hours, probably, just to get a teeny bit of curl into it. Now, it's so curly it has a mind of it's own. Not sure how that happened...
Also, you can't quite tell in these pictures but my eyes were very blue. Now they are distinctly green. That changed, too, about the same time my hair changed.
I especially like the red dress with the huge yellow collar...

HAIR through the ages...

Mom of the Year

Today I did something I've never done before...it was bound to happen eventually. I left for work with 2 out of 3 kids; accidentally leaving one at home! In my own defense, I was REALLY tired. (I was on my way to teach my 10th class in 5 days. This is not normal for me; I had to sub a lot of other's classes this week as I am off ALL next week AND I was awoken in the middle of the night by a stinky skunk somewhere close to the house. The stench was so bad I almost gagged at 2am). Anyway, I didn't have a good night's sleep and was dragging myself to this class...

After I pulled out of the driveway and started down the street, Caleb and Sam said "Where's Peter?"

I slammed on the brakes and snapped my head back saying, "Isn't he back there with you guys?!?!?!"

>>sound of crickets here and blank stares from Sam and Caleb<<

SO, I quickly drove back home and ran into the house. The GOOD news is that Peter was putting his sandals on and had no idea I had actually left him. The BAD news is that he was sitting on the floor right in front of the door as I came tearing into the house and plowed him over.
I was so afraid he would be crying "you left me you left me!" and was already trying to formulate a plan on how to get around that one. What could I have possibly answered, "No, Mommy didn't leave you. I, uh, I was just taking the van for a, uhhh, little warm up test drive..."

Yummy cake!

I made the cake that is referenced below under the "dessert" post. It was so easy to make and SOOOOOOOOOOOO good. It serves 10-12 and looks really fancy. The hardest part is that you have to make it ahead of time and let it sit in the fridge while the cookies soften up. It is so worth it, though! You can find the recipe here.
The only difference is I added maraschino cherries (w/juice) and some chopped nuts. I used walnuts but in retrospect I wish I would've used toasted almonds...
By the way, Peter said it was better than "Six Flags Cake". (Mentioned in an earlier post--Mother's Day, May 13, 2007).

The world of orthodontia...

SOOOO, Caleb turns 9 in a couple weeks and we are already entering the world of orthodontia with him. They said that Sam could wait a year but Caleb needs help ASAP! (We already suspected that but were hoping for more time to save up more $$$ first)! Anyway, the first order of business was to have a tooth pulled. It was an "extra" adult tooth that came in behind where the top front teeth should be. It came in sorta in the roof of his mouth! Anyway, he was VERY brave at the dentist this week when I took him in to have it pulled. I was shocked at how long the root was. Thank goodness they got it out easily. The dentist in Tulsa wanted to send us to an oral surgeon to pull it! Anyway, we'll begin orthodontic appliances next month and within a year, Caleb should have a beautiful smile. Just in time for us to pay it off and start Sam's treatment!

Back to school...supplies

Aaaah, it's that time of year again. The time when we pull out the supply lists that were sent home by the kids' teachers and hit the stores. School doesn't start here 'til Sept. 5th but I was determined to not wait until the last minute to do our school supply shopping, again.

SO I head off to the store with the kids in tow. They are actually really eager and excited about this particular shopping trip as they carefully choose what color notebook to get and so on. They are also quite enthusiastic about choosing items NOT on the list but we stick to the list, with the exception of some extra post-it notes for me. (I LOVE post-it notes and consider them a mild indulgence now and then).

Anyway, you're probably wondering where this story is going. Warning: it's not going anywhere, really. I'm about to just start ranting and raving so you can stop here if you want.

Here's my complaint: WHY is it impossible to find these things on the back to school lists? Do the teachers all get together and try to figure out how to make it really hard? I know they're overworked and underpaid...are they trying to make me miserable out of revenge?

As you can guess, I couldn't find everything on the list. In fact, I could only find about HALF of the things on the list. Mind you, I was at Wal-Mart, not Macy's. I don't expect to be able to find these things at Macy's or Nordstrom's, but I do think I should be able to find more than half at Wal-Mart!
So today I made the grand mistake of going to a different Wal-Mart to get the rest of the list. I mainly chose this Wal-Mart because a) it is the closest one to my home and b) it is in a predominantly Orthodox Jew area and thus, this Wal-Mart is practically deserted on Saturdays.
SO, I'm walking up and down the school supply aisles tracking down the remaining items on my list. This time I am prepared with a complete itemized and categorized list so there will be NO confusion as I am shopping. HA.

Peter's list requires TEN jumbo sized glue sticks. First of all, there was only ONE at Wal-Mart. Secondly, it was $1.88. I'm supposed to buy TEN? That's like twenty bucks worth of glue sticks! NO flippin' way am I spending that much money on glue sticks. I select 20 regular size glue sticks for $4 and move on. His teacher will just have to DEAL with it.

Caleb's list calls for 2 Vis'a'vis wet erase fine point marking pens, any color except yellow. This is now the 2nd store that I can't find these pens. I don't even know what they are! What's a WET erase pen? I know what DRY erase markers are but those are listed further on down his list. Finally I googled it when I got home...they are transparency writing pens (pictured above). Of course. (?) Duh. Like anyone can actually know that.

Sam's list included an 8 pocket folder. I looked and looked to no avail. How the heck can a folder have eight pockets? I finally called Steph who explained it to me...it's one of those accordion style file folder things that closes across the front. AHA! I think to myself; I CAN do this (with a little help from Steph). I find the darned things only to find that they have SEVEN pockets. What does this mean? Am I supposed to buy two of them so he can have an eighth pocket? Is this teacher trying to kill me? I stagger around until I find some more folders. Can it be? Do they have eight pockets? My heart pounds in anticipation as I examine the folders. NO! Alas, they have thirteen pockets! By now I am sniffing the rubber cement and dry erase markers and so I figure thirteen pockets is better than seven and throw it into the cart.

I still haven't found the wet erase markers or even, GET THIS, notebook paper but I won't bore you with the rest of the details. In fact, I won't tell you about the THIRD store where I finally found the erasable black ballpoint pens. I also won't tell you about how Steph is actually having to mail me 5 black and one red marble-front composition books from Oklahoma! If anyone happens to have 2 Vis'a'vis wet erase fine point pens (not yellow!) that they want to send me, I'll gladly pay you Tuesday.

Dessert!

I forgot the most important aspect of recipe sharing: dessert! While I don't have any special dessert recipes to share at the moment, I would like to share info. on my favorite brownie mix! It's Ghirardelli Double Chocolate brownie mix. I used to always make brownies from scratch but this mix is the BEST! I was first introduced to it by my friend Amy in Michigan. Now, if you decide to check this out at your local grocery store, beware! Look at the box carefully because they have several different versions of Ghirardelli brownie mixes and I've tried them all. TRUST ME! The double chocolate is the way to go. Sometimes I have to look hard for it. Today it was on the bottom shelf and all the other Ghirardelli mixes were on the top shelf! But they can't fool me, no sirree. Those brownies are in the oven this very moment. Today I added walnuts but my favorite thing to add is Andes Mint bits. SOOO good! (The scary part is that I knew how to spell Ghirardelli without even looking it up)!

OK, since I mentioned Amy in Michigan, it reminded me of my other friend Amy in Arkansas. She introduced me to the joys of making cookies with butter flavored Crisco. Doesn't matter if it's chocolate chip cookies, peanut butter cookies, whatever; they will taste PERFECT if you use butter flavor Crisco. The package will usually have cookie recipes inside, but if not, just ask! I hope Dave's coworkers don't see this...they call Crisco, margarine, etc. "petroleum products" and can't believe we partake of them.

OOOH, I just remembered a wonderful recipe that we make for special occasions. It is on the Nabisco Famous Chocolate Wafer box. Once you find the cookies at the store, you can look at the box to get the recipe. It is super easy and super yummy. The only difference is we like to add things like sometimes we'll add nuts, or maraschino cherries, or fresh raspberries. Dave's family has been making these for a long time.If you're not sure what cookies I'm talking about, I've included a picture. It shows a picture of the dessert above the box. While looking for this picture, I came across a different version of the same recipe. It looks really good, and is supposedly easier than the original recipe. Click here if you want to check it out.
I swear, I get no money from these companies ;-)

Mysterious Pictures

OK, so the pictures themselves aren't really mysterious...the mystery is how and why are they on my camera? Since they are pictures with Sam and Caleb in them, I can only assume that Peter helped himself to the camera one day and snapped 4 pictures. On the one hand, that's really not OK, on the other, I admire his initiative. Don't want to discourage him in case he becomes a famous photographer one day and enables us to retire early...

Recipes, etc.

Dave keeps saying we should post some of our current favorite recipes. Now that I sit down to type, I can't think of any! They'll come in a few minutes, I'm sure. Feels similar to when you walk into a room and can't remember what you went in for.

My favorite salad at the moment is very easy to make. I don't have a name for it. I saw someone eating it at a pilates workshop and decided I could duplicate it at home. It's supposed to be full of arugula but they were out of it at the store so I substituted baby spinach. (Hopefully E.Coli-free). Anyway, it's just the greens and then you add sun-dried tomatoes, pine nuts, and chunks of fresh mozzarella. I'm sure you could use chunks of regular mozzarella, but it doesn't have the same ambiance. Fresh mozzarella comes in these gooey looking balls and it's just darn intriguing...for cheese. For the dressing, I don't know what you're supposed to put on it but I use a balsamic vinaigrette because that's what I have in my fridge. Dave and I both love this salad!

Speaking of Dave, he's become a master at homemade salsa. We don't cook it, can it, and store it. We're talking FRESH salsa. Unfortunately we've become addicted to it and can't seem to eat the canned stuff now. Anyway, we've discovered the secret is to roast the vegetables before blending them. You can stick them on the grill 'til they turn mushy and kind of blackened or if you don't happen to have the grill fired up you can put them in the oven under the broiler. Anyway, here's the ingredients:
2 medium tomatoes
half of a large Vidalia onion (very important that it is vidalia)
one fourth of a green/bell pepper
1 small to medium jalapeno pepper
1 tsp. salt
1/2 tsp. fresh lime juice
1/2 tsp. white vinegar
1 tsp. fresh black pepper
fresh cilantro to taste
Okay, so you roast the first four ingredients. You have to watch them closely and turn them over when they start to blacken a little bit. When the other side starts to blacken then they are done. Then throw the tomatoes in a blender with the salt, lime juice, vinegar, black pepper and jalapeno. Blend a little bit and then add the onion and bell pepper and set the blender to chop. Use your own discretion when blending. I like it nice and smooth but other people like it chunky; it's up to you. AFTER it cools, add some fresh cilantro leaves...again different people like different amounts so just play with it. If you don't wait 'til it cools then it will sort of cook the cilantro which is not a good idea. We usually double this recipe, at least. Especially since our kids practically drink it, too!

Dave also made some pork chops that looked like A LOT of work to me, but he didn't seem to mind AND they, I swear, tasted like they were from a FANCY restaurant. Luckily he got the recipe off the internet so you can just click on this link if you want to see it.

He also has been able to duplicate a pasta recipe that we've had a lot at Macaroni Grill, Johnny Carino's, Zio's, etc. I don't know what it's called but it has the bow tie pasta (I've always been a big fan of the bow tie pasta. They're so cute!), chicken, pine nuts, sun dried tomatoes, etc. I'll have to wait 'til he gets home and then I'll add the recipe below. 'Til then, happy eating!

p.s. the picture of Peter has nothing to do with any of this...I just thought it was funny because he was trying to show me how girls are "supposed to stand".

Dave’s unnamed italian chicken recipe:

3-4 chicken breasts, cut into strips 1x2 inches, coat with mixture of flour, paprika, and garlic salt
Cook 1/3 lb bacon until crisp...set aside
in remaining fat, add 1-3 tlbs butter, cook coated chicken until slightly crisp on both sides (cooked all the way through)
remove from pan and add 6 tbls butter, 2 tbls flour and mix together thoroughly, scraping the bottom of the pan to loosen bacon and chicken bits
whisk in 1 1/4 cups heavy cream, then whisk in 3/4 cup white cooking wine and 1/4 cup fresh squeezed lemon juice (or you could use 1 cup white cooking wine that has lemon already in it), and add salt and pepper to taste
when thickened, add chicken, bacon, and any combination of the following ingredients: fresh or sundried tomatoes, mushrooms, artichoke hearts, capers, pine nuts
serve over bow-tie or angel hair pasta

New to us

We finally broke down and bought a "new" van. It's a 2001 Honda Odyssey. It was meticulously cared for and definitely in our price range so we snatched it up quick. I think we freaked out the sellers...I don't think they expected us to make a decision right then and there. They don't know me very well...I'd already done all the research and price comparisons, etc. Unless it started falling apart while we test drove it, we were going to buy it.

The kids are most intrigued by the automatic sliding doors. They are already constantly fighting over who gets to "close" the automatic door. Wonder how long that will last...
I wonder if they'd be interested in the idea of "who GETS to wash the new van"?

Anyway, we will keep our old van (the ghetto van, we like to call it) just through soccer season this fall as long as it is still running and can help out with carpooling 3 boys to/from soccer.
Please keep your fingers crossed for me until I get it insured and registered, hopefully sometime tomorrow!

Isn't she lovely...

Y'all know I've always wanted a little girl. Well, this is probably as close as I'm going to get. Caleb's been bugging me to let him put his shaggy hair into a ponytail so I said, you want a ponytail? You've got it. We were able to get three! Notice Peter's face as he looks on in horror. Sam pretty much just rolled his eyes at him and walked away shaking his head...

The morning the sky fell in NYC

So, we had a rainstorm last night. I was vaguely aware of it while I slept. I heard REALLY loud thunder once but other than that I forgot all about it. It is sunny and hot today and we're headed to the pool now. Anyway, I happened to look in the backyard just now and noticed a plastic tub/bucket that I use for tie dye and had left outside. By the shadow of water inside, I could see even from the house that it had a lot of water in it. I asked the kids if they had used the hose and put any water in it but they said no. I went outside to take a look, and sure enough it is at least 2 1/2 inches deep with rain water. I thought to myself, wow, that's a lot of water for one rainstorm so I went inside to pull up the news on the internet. Imagine my surpirse at the national headline that says, "The Morning the Sky Fell in NYC", followed by smaller headlines:
Flooding Causes Major Transit Meltdown...
Flight delays, subway soaked...
Rainstorm Cripples Gotham...
Possible Tornado in Brooklyn...
'Cab line 1000 people deep at Penn station'...
Fights Breakout at overcrowded bus stops...

I think I'd better call Dave and see how his morning commute went. Then I'm off to the pool!!!

Central Park and a Day at the Museum

After we visited the Central Park Zoo (it's a very small zoo), we trekked across Central Park to the other side where the American Museum of Natural History is located. The highlight of the trek was coming across a statue of Balto, which we had HEARD (thanks to our friend, Amy Houghtaling) was in Central Park somewhere but had never actually found. It is dedicated to the sled dogs who carried antitoxin to Nome, Alaska during an epidemic of somekind. I don't really know what...

Anyway, we finally made it to the museum. Most of the things we saw there I wasn't allowed to photograph. We saw a show in the planetarium and two separate exhibits that weren't allowed photography: Mythic creatures and Gold. The Mythic creatures was all about dragons, mermaids, unicorns, etc. and their role in history, folklore, etc. We thought the kids would get a kick out of it, which they did. The Gold exhibit was all about gold, of course. They had some HUGE nuggets that had been mined and they showed how the mining works, how much gold there isn't in a huge piece of rock, ie., they can only get one ounce of gold from a huge piece of rock. It is very, very, lucky to actually find a nugget of any kind. They also had gold bars, gold coins from sunken treasure, and even gold Academy Awards from the likes of Harrison Ford. We literally ran from one exhibit to another and are sure glad we bought a family unlimited pass so we can go back whenever we want over the next year. If you want to see pictures of this trip, click here.

See What I Mean...?

Here's three videos of our recent excursions. The first one is inside the butterfly house at the Bronx Zoo. We dove in there to escape the rainstorm for awhile. If you want to see more pictures from this day, click here.

The next video is at the Central Park Zoo this past weekend. Peter is playing a game where he is a seal popping up out of the water to get a breath while trying not to get caught by a polar bear paw. Sam later joins him and then I ask Caleb about how much fun he's having. For more pictures at this zoo, click here.

The last video is very short because the memory card was full. I was about to find out how much "fun" the kids didn't have at the end of our day. We were sitting on the steps in front of the Natural History Museum in NYC. If you're not sure which museum I'm talking about, it's the one portrayed in the Ben Stiller movie: Night at the Museum.(Dave was trekking all the way back across Central Park to retrieve our van which was parked on the street on the other side. So, we were waiting for our own personal taxi to pick us up!) I'll write more about our trip to the museum in the next post.

To Dye For...

OK, so if you're REALLY bored, here's a link to my tie dye creations thus far. I've even written captions so you can know ALL about each item! Wow, isn't that exciting?!? If you're really nice, I might even let you purchase an item for a small fee...'cause I know y'all are all needin' a new tie-dyed bandana and such! Why, just this morning didn't you wake up and say to yourself, "If only I had a new tie-dye bandana...wouldn't that be swell". If you're really REALLY nice, Santa might bring you one for Christmas this year!

To Dye For