Mom to the Screaming Masses

That's the Night That the Lights Went Out in My Town

Wednesday afternoon, while I was sitting at cross country, the wind shifted, cooled down a bit - from oppressive to just stifling - and the sky darkened. "Bad storm coming," everyone muttered as we waited for our kids.

My sister in law is staying by us for a while, and she and my husband, who was off work for the day, decided to order dinner out. I decided to go take 6 p.m. boxing class. I left with everyone's blessing and when I drove off,  everyone happily munching on pizza and garlic knots.

Yum.

A Lunch War Isn't Always a Food Fight

This blog post is part of Blogher's Lunch Wars tour. I have been compensated for this post as part of the BlogHer Book Club, but all of the opinions and ideas expressed here are all.my.very.own. ( As if ANYONE would chose to have my opinions, lol!)

Anyone who has been reading here for longer than, say, a month might notice that I'm pretty passionate about nutrition. We make huge efforts to get enough veggies and fruit in on a daily basis. We limit sodas to special occasions - although my kids do love to stretch the definition of special occasions. We try to eat as whole foods as possible. I make much of our food from scratch. This originally began as a way to combat the food allergens that some of my kids have, but as I started to lose weight and transform the way *I* ate, it naturally became a way that I could control what my family ate.

I will freely own that I'm a bit of a control freak. I'm cool with that - after all, half of the battle is admitting that you have a problem, yes?

Wordless Wednesday - All She Wants for Christmas...

Pinterest Successes

I made a promise to myself, way back when I first started pinning stuff on Pinterest, that I'd actually DO some of it.

Some of the things I've pinned I can't do. They are places I'd love to visit -

 

Scotland

Or my favorite place ever (so far!)

New York City

But many of the things I pin are either recipes I'd like to try, clothes I would love to buy, or hairstyles and such. So I thought, in the interest of keeping it real, I'd post some of the things I've tried and how they worked or didn't.

First up - Farmer's White Bread. LOVE IT. Best white bread recipe ever.

Cherry Coconut Bars - I thought these were ok but everyone who ate them RAVED on them

My husband has requested Breaded Garlic Chicken in Lemon Butter Sauce for dinner at least once a week

Peach butter TO DIE FOR

I bought OPI nail polish in Russian Navy, You Don't Know Jacques and Romeo and Juliet and loved them all.

I exercised with Kendra at Blogher

And did the 100 Workout when I had no workout planned

I bought a T-shirt

And also, a sign for my kitchen

We've done Sock Buns and Beach Curls. We did mini flipped ponytails. I tried DESPERATELY to tie a head scarf like this, but my head must be weirdly shaped, because it never, ever works. 

I bought boots that, sadly, had to be returned as I have ENORMOUS calves.

These Salted Butter Bars are Nik's favorite cookies.

And I found about a ZILLION sarcastic sayings that I would love to print up for my house.

What have you found on pinterest that you've either bought or made or had success with and can share?

Stream of Consciousness - Sunday, Sept 25

It's Sunday again, and although I have forgotten to do this SOC for a few weeks now, I'm back with a vengenance. I'd love if you'd participate. Here are the rules:

• Set a timer and write for 5 minutes only.
• Write an intro to the post if you want but don’t edit the post. No proofreading or spellchecking. This is writing in the raw.
• Publish it somewhere. Anywhere. The back door to your blog if you want. But make it accessible.
• Add the Stream of Consciousness Sunday badge to your post.
• Link up your post below.
• Visit your fellow bloggers and show some love.

Now…

Grab the button and link up your post on Fadra's site. And let us all know, so we can come visit.

Books I Have Loved

While attending the Used Book Sale at church this past weekend, one of the older women who was working it motioned to me. In a hushed voice, she said, "Remember at the last sale, when you asked me what was my favorite book and I didn't answer? I didn't tell you because I thought you'd laugh, but my favorite book has always been Anne of Green Gables." She half smiled and looked at me a bit sheepishly. Her daughter said that the mother had just finished reading the book again.

I wouldn't have laughed, and I told her so, but I don't know if she believed me.

This conversation made me reflect on books that I've loved throughout my life - books I've tried to pass on to my kids, and their friends, with somewhat limited success. Here's my (short) list - I'd love it if you'd add your own. I'm not going to tell you the story of them - some of them you already know, and some of them you'll need to Amazon. (That is too a verb. I just made it up.) I'll share my memories with you instead.

Personality Test Results

When I talked to my spouse about this, he joked, "So you have one?" Yep.

A comment from a reader on a below post asked me if I'd ever taken the Myers-Brigg personality test, or similar. I actually have, more than a few times, just to gauge my results.

Each and every time, I score the same

ESFJ.

The Grand Unveiling

At long last, the grand unveiling.

But first, mad, mad, MAD props to the man behind the madness - my hubby. I don't speak about him on this blog all that much - by his request. He isn't comfortable with an online presence and I have to respect that.

But I can brag on him. And so I will. He took a week off from work - the first vacay he's taken all year, even though he gets three - and I don't know if he's taking the other two. He spent the entire week working on this new office.

And doing a very long list of honey do's. What a way to spend your week off.

Unapproachable, Unfriendly, and Let's Get Down To Business, Shall We?

So, I heard something pretty interesting about myself this week.

One of my daughters had a friend scheduled to come over - it's a scheduled "Let's watch Jersey Shore every Thursday night!" kind of thing, after they had gone out to dinner. In the interim time, he elected to go home, rather than hang out at our house. It was only an hour or so until what they've termed "Jersday" begins -  it's quite the event in my house, Thursday evenings, what with an assortment of various friends showing up and snacks and such - and I queried why he'd not stayed.

Apparently, according to my daughter, he's afraid of me. And he's not the only one.

Today Oughta Be a Holiday

First sighting...

If you don't know what I'm talking about, do yourself a favor and find a Honey Crisp Apple. The best apples I've ever had, bar none.

Chime in if you agree.