Mom to the Screaming Masses

Making Life (Or At Least Mealtime) Easier, Volume Thirteen

Thank you SO much for the great movie suggestions for my daughter.  She vetoed a ton of them right off the bat as being "too babyish" - apparently, 14 is the new 27.  Who knew?  I think we've almost settled on either Bella or A Walk to Remember. I think.  We've still got, oh, six days and I'm sure it'll change ten times. 

I know I've said before, but I love Sundays.  It was rainy and cold today, so I took a 20 minute nap.  It would have been longer, but I woke abruptly when SOMEONE broke a lamp.  But the rest of the day was football, beginning Christmas cards, cooking granola, football, teaching Mackenzie to make foccacia, facebook, football, and an enormous and quite heavy pan of pasta bake for the week ahead. 

Today's recipe is one of my daughter Allegra's favorites.  I originally thought it was a crock pot dish, and was delighted to find a new recipe.  But it's not, and I was dismayed. Until I MADE it and realized the yumminess that was all wrapped up in there.  Chicken Italiano has quickly become a family favorite - well, for all except my youngest son, who wants to be a hotdogetarian when he grows up.

I'm SO not kidding - that's what he says.

Another Question, This Time From My Daughter

She's hosting a birthday party - correction, I'M hosting the party, it's for her (I clearly haven't had enough sleep) - and the agenda is chip and dip, taco bar, virgin margaritas, and a movie.  She's stumped on what movie to watch. 

Here's the dilemma.  Fifteen girls, age fourteen or younger, most of whom go to Catholic school. I'm pretty strict on what movies I allow my kids to watch, but a few of the moms are more strict than I am.  I need to find a good movie, one that won't cause any discomfort with sex scenes, one that will keep their interest - as much as a movie can, when there are BOYS to discuss and GOSSIP to have and much SQUEALING to be had by all.

All of my suggestions have been vetoed, (except for Bella, she came up with that one and it would work) and she requested that I "ask your bog readers, Mom."

So, I'm asking.  Any thoughts?

How I Broke My Daughter's Day After Thanksgiving Tradition

Well, huh.

That last question was a bust.  Sorry about that, Angela in Ohio.  The general consensus was that too many people have been burned online to even attempt to unravel one of, if not the, most complicated relationship that they have.  I'm so sorry to those of you who were hurt by the question.  Mea Culpa.

Moving on.

My 13 year old daughter woke up this morning in a grumpy mood.  No one said the right thing, no one did the right thing, no one BREATHED the right way.  She opened the fridge and howled at the top of her grumpy little lungs, "WHY is there NO Pumpkin PIE in this HOUSE?"

Let me 'splain.

The Latest Episode in The Ever Popular "A Reader Asks A Question"

NOTE:  I did not ask this question.  It was sent to me by Angela in Ohio, a beyootiful, faithful reader (without a blog!) who has been puzzling this conundrum for a while now. Please feel free to ponder and then leave her some heartfelt answers.

Here's a thought! Have you ever written about our relationships with our own mothers? Mine is a bit wobbly and it only gets worse at the holidays.  I know I can't be the only one!

 

Have a great day,

Angela in Ohio

Intrepid readers?  Care to chime in?

Can't.Blog.

Too full.  Most everyone shows a picture of a crispy, tanned turkey, or a table full of yummy treats.

Me?  We all know I roll a little different around here.

My photo is not of the Bourbon Sweet Potatoes with Pecan Topping, Corn Pudding, Carrot Souffle, Homemade Rolls, Green Beans, Cranberry Relish or Broccoli that I slaved over.  (Heh.  Like how every single dish is Capitalized?) Rather, it is of something someone gave us, something that caused me to completely lose my cool with my kids today when they begged and pleaded to eat it, while I was cooking the aforementioned dishes, cleaning up the dirty dishes and refereeing a dozen fights. 

I ate two (small) pieces.  Which totally blew the 6 miles I walked this morning.

But it was worth it.

I'm thankful for cake.  (Burp.) Happy Thanksgiving, everyone!

 

Because You Asked...

And only because you asked.

Here are four hat pictures. I didn't like any of them, so I thought I'd just post them all.  Unadultered, no makeup touch up, hair hanging in my face.  Hopefully not many of you will print them off and use them for dart practice.  If you plan to do that, the two below the fold are for you.  When did I get so many wrinkles, anyway?

Yes, I know it's vain.  What can I say, it's allll about meeeeee. And always alll about meeeeee.  

 

 

Busting A Myth That Was All In My Head

Note:  This is undoubtedly the dumbest post you will read all night.  Pay no attention to it - it's just me blathering along, trying to use you all as free psychoanalysts.

I did the smallest, dumbest thing this weekend, and it made me happy.

I bought a winter hat.

I know.  It's a tiny thing, really a dumb reason to feel proud of myself.  Hear me out.

I've never worn a winter hat.  Never have.  Wanna know why?  Because it was something I thought fat chicks didn't do.  With a hat, your hair is covered, your face is pretty much stripped bare for all to see, and there's no denying that you are a porker when your face is out there for all to see.  No way to hide it.  In years past, I looked like a gigantic moon.

But, my head has been cold in this recent cold snap, and when I leave the martial arts studio and I'm sweaty, I don't like how cold my scalp gets.  I see all kinds of people wearing beanies, and they look pretty cute, so I thought, why not? I didn't look to be "cute", I just wanted to look like, uh, not a fat dummy.  It took me, believe it or not, five attempts before I was actually able to buy a beanie for myself. 

How dumb. "Who cares?  Just put a hat on your head and stay warm, you idiot", I can hear you saying from inside the computer.  "How vain can one person be?"  And you'd be absolutely correct. 

Vain or not, I just couldn't make myself wear a hat. Until now.  And I bought one.  And I've worn it every day this week, and no one has said a word.  Which just goes to show, all of the worrying I did was all for nothing - no one cares about your looks nearly as much as you do.

I'm still proud of myself for busting though one of my "Fat Girls Don't..." rules. I'm more confident in my skin, more comfortable in what I look like, and less concerned that people are staring at me.  Because no one is - everyone is too busy worrying about what they look like to notice what you look like.

Gah.  My mom told me this 30 years ago - imagine if I'd actually listened - I could have had a warm head all this time! 

20 Years Ago...

The Lovely, lovely Elizabeth asks:

I don’t have a blog, but have been thinking of a topic I’d be happy to lend you if it helps fill the month. I have been hearing people talk about the election and how people just a generation ago couldn’t imagine a person of color becoming president. I also pause TV and use my TiVo, trying to explain to my younger kids what it was like when we didn’t have these. My oldest belongs to a Facebook group called “When I was your age, Pluto was a planet.”

All this has me wondering if you (and maybe your readers) would be interested in picturing the things we’ll be saying in another generation.  It doesn’t always have to be specific about the outcome. Some examples:

20 years ago, my car got 25 mpg, and I thought THAT was good!

20 years ago, our trash was hauled to landfills! And we PAID for it!

20 years ago, immunizations were given with injections!

20 years ago, cancer treatments could take months, and would make people feel sick!

I realize this is rife with potential for political takes, but hope it can be fun as well

Readers?  Any takers?  I think it's a FANTASTIC question and I'll be back to fill in my answers as soon as I can formulate a proper answer. 

And if you don't have  a blog, or if you do and don't want to put it on your blog, ask a question of me and I'll post it for my readers!

Making Life (Or At Least Mealtime) Easier, Volume Twelve

Never ending NaBloPoMo, day 212, 23

Hey, guess what? 

Shhhhh.  I have only a small headache today.  Not the great galloping hits of the past week, but merely a tiny presence.  A liveable, tolerable ache.  I attribute it to the massage and the tylenol pm - although, when I woke up, the pain was unbearable and I thought I'd pass out.  As the day progressed, it waned until now it's just a ghost of the former.  It might be too good to last - I'm drinking a glass of sangria as I type, so we will see.  Thank you so much for your input - if it continues, I will certainly look into an MRI or some other such action.  I think it's a combination of several things, most of all stress and tension.  Stress.  Oy. 

Moving on. 

Two recipes that I've mentioned this week were requested by you all time and time again, so I thought I'd post them here.  Chai-Spiced Tea Loaves came from this month's Good Housekeeping. The recipe said it'd make 6 mini loaves, but I found it made 16.  Yum.  I also posted the cranberry liqueur recipe that was so popular.  Both are below.

Operation Get Rid of THE HEADACHE

To whit, I have tried the following:

800 mgs ibuprofen - lather, rinse, repeat
Maxalt - three times
Imitrex - once
chiropractic adjustments - five
removing Diet Mt. Dew from my diet, due to the probability of the Nutrasweet causing the pain
cutting way down on coffee, to just one a day
drinking much more water
eating more protein
Excedrin Migraine
Tylenol PM
Benadryl, in case it is sinus related

Tonight, I used a gift certificate that I'd gotten for my birthday and had a massage.  The masseuse - Doreen is awesome, if you live in my city, ask me and I'll hook you up and you'll thank me forevah - worked overtime on my neck and shoulders, and I feel better. 

The pain is better, but I can feel it still lurking right behind my temple.  I'm hoping that more sleep tonight will help.  I plan to sleep with an ice pack on my head and some tylenol PM in my bloodstream.

Wish me luck.

Oh, and PLEASE go read me over at Zwaggle and leave me a comment - I'm really interested in your answers to the burning question I have!