Last Day Of School

Carrie recently posted 'first day/last day' pictures of her daughter in Kindergarten. I thought it was a great idea. For the past couple of days I've been telling him how sad I am that this year is over and that I'm going to miss Mrs. S so much and that I'm about to cry. He keeps telling me not to cry, that he'll see Mrs. S next year during lunch, etc., etc. After he got home from school yesterday--the last day--I pretended to be all weepy and finally he got fed up and said, "Mommy! Quit being a whiney baby!" That boy cracks me up sometimes. And, honestly, I wasn't really pretending.


When First I Came Here by Edward Thomas

What's On Your iPod?

Game time! Set your iPod/mp3 player to shuffle. What are the first 5 songs?

Me first:

1. So by Tracy Chapman
2. Babe by Styx
3. Paris by Faith Hill
4. Come A Little Closer by Dierks Bentley
5. Dirty Man by Joss Stone

Your turn!

Pasta With Vegetables

The only vegetable (fruit?) I've ever grown is tomatoes. Which is kind of selfish because WD abhors tomatoes. So this year I decided to add his favorite vegetable to my little garden: squash.

That's right. He ABHORS tomatoes. As a matter of fact, there was one time when we got take out from Taco Bell and when we got home we discovered that his tacos had tomatoes on them even though "NO TOMATOES" has become a natural, instinctive, habitual add on to everything he orders. Well, he refused to eat the tacos because the tomatoes had the audacity to touch the cheese and honestly, it's been a while since this incident happened so I'm not quite sure how it was resolved. I'm sure a hissy fit was thrown and maybe a trip back to Taco Bell was made where they hid behind the counter, picked off the offending vegetable (fruit?) and gave it back to him as "brand new" taco with NO TOMATOES. And I'm sure he ate it.

Anyway. Where was I? Oh, squash. Right. WD's favorite veggie is squash and I look forward to fixing this pasta dish with my own home grown squash this summer.

2 cups uncooked penne pasta
Sauteed vegetables (zucchini, squash, bell pepper, onion, tomatoes, etc.)
1 cup chicken broth
1 TBS lemon juice
2 TBS cornstarch
1 tsp dill weed
1/4 tsp salt


Cook pasta according to package directions; drain. Add sauteed vegetables to cooked pasta.

Mix together broth, lemon juice, cornstarch, dill, and salt until smooth. Microwave uncovered for 3 minutes and stir. Pour over pasta and vegetables and toss to coat.

New Toy

My husband, WD, has always had a love/hate relationship with the military. Back in the late '90's he joined the Air Force as a military policeman (technically, security forces). After his 4 year enlistment was up, he got out, and became a civilian police officer. But after a couple of months, he missed being a part of something that had given him so much pride, so he joined the reserves.

Then 9/11 happened. WD was called up and spent 17 months at Little Rock Air Force Base. During that time Big pup was born and thanks to Uncle Sam, he only cost 25 bucks. Total. Gotta love that military insurance.

When he was finally deactivated, he was so relieved to be back home working at his civilian job with the city police department, he got out of the reserves. But he started missing it too much and ended up joining the Air National Guard.

A few weeks ago, when his enlistment was up, he considered getting out once and for all. But then he saw this:



A Harley Davidson Sportster 1200 Low motorcycle. And this time it wasn't exactly pride that led him to sign up again with the Air National Guard (as a hydraulic mechanic on the A-10 Warthog), but that nice re-enlistment bonus.

North Carolina

Click here if you would rather read about Giada DeLaurentis' nail polish.



Lowe's Motor Speedway president and general manager Humpy Wheeler is retiring after the race so he gave a speech to the fans before the race began. He needed to speed it up because I promised the boys they could watch Meerkat Manor at 7 and I wanted to see as much of the race as possible. Humpy finished in a timely manner, then we had to suffer through Darryl Worley singing the national anthem, then the green flag!


On lap 154, Brian Vickers says he has a vibration and it's either a loose wheel or a brake problem. And guess what? It was a loose wheel. Thirty laps later, while travelling at speeds close to 200 mph, his tire came off, flew across the track, and bounced into the inside camping area avoiding photographers and fans.


7 o'clock. Time for the Meerkat Manor movie. Awwww, look, it's Flower when she was a baby! You know, I always think I'm going to love nature shows but the whole circle of life thing is not pretty. So I go start the dishwasher and fold laundry instead.


Elliott Sadler had an awesome race. I was a little worried when he reported hearing engine noises toward the end of the race, but he held on and came in 8th. This brings him up to 25th in the points standings. He seriously needs top 10 finishes from here on out to make the chase.


Kasey Kahne gets the win, Robby Gordon gets the red lantern, and we're in Dover next Sunday.


Happy Memorial Day!

Graduation

Long have you timidly waded holding a plank by the shore,
Now I will you to be a bold swimmer,
To jump off in the midst of the sea, rise again, nod to me, shout,
And laughingly dash with your hair.


---from Walt Whitman's Song of Myself

My first born graduated from Kindergarten last night! I'm a very proud mommy. And WD's a very proud daddy. And Little pup...well, he's 4 and spent the time crawling on the floor under the cafeteria tables. But at least he was quiet.

I'm An Aunt!

Okay, when your husband says that you can use his fancy schmancy work camera to take pictures of the newest member of the family, MAKE SURE HE HAS THE USB CABLE! Ugh.


Baby Alexis was born yesterday evening, weighs 7 lbs 1 oz, and is 19 inches long. She's so adorable and tiny and I can't wait for the boys to meet their new cousin.


I'm sorry, Alexis, this is a horrible way to introduce you to the internet. I've got so many cables around here it looks like Homer's toaster but not one fits a Sony camera. Better pictures are coming soon.

Peanut Butter Chocolate Chip Cookies

Big pup's school had a "Water Day" yesterday where they played on those huge, inflatable water slides. Little pup was so sad that he wasn't able to participate. I wanted to make the day special for him too, so we made some peanut butter chocolate chip cookies. Besides, everyone knows that you drown your sorrows in food, right?


Peanut Butter Chocolate Chip Cookies


1/2 cup butter, softened
1/2 cup chunky or creamy peanut butter (I use creamy natural pb)
1/2 cup granulated sugar
1/2 cup brown sugar, firmly packed
1 egg
1 1/4 cup all-purpose flour
1/2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/4 tsp salt
1 cup semisweet chocolate chips


Cream the butter, peanut butter, and sugars until light.
Add the egg and mix until fluffy.
Blend the flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt together well.
Add dry ingredients to butter mixture.
Add the chocolate chips.
Drop dough by teaspoonfuls onto lightly greased baking sheets. Bake 10 minutes in a preheated 375 degree oven

Summer Fun

So the assignment was to write down and illustrate what you want to do this summer. My 6 year old has big plans. He wants to fish, sleep, and be naked. Coincidentally, my plans for the summer are very similar. Just replace 'fish' with 'not going anwhere near a school or baseball field' and there you have it.

All Star Race

Okay, for all of you that think Nascar is just a bunch of cars going round and round, go check out my sister's new website about stuff she likes. It's called my pretty purse. And whoever designed her site did an AWESOME job. Wink, wink.

Now on to last Saturday's all-star race. Basically, it was just a bunch of cars going round and round. The end.

Just kidding. Not really. But sort of. The festivities began with the burnout contest. Greg Biffle won. Apparently he was the only one of the five drivers involved that played by the rules. Then the Sprint Showdown began with Elliott Sadler on the pole. Someone got into Elliott big time on lap 6 and he headed to the garage. Boo. Elliott was not happy either: "If you take a look at the replay, you can tell what happened. The 84 just took us out. It's a shame. We had a fast race car and he got into us and just took us out." The top 2 finishers from the Showdown got to compete in the all-star race.

Then the all-star race began. It is raced in 4 segments of 25 laps each and is made up of previous all-star race winners plus a driver voted in by the fans. Am I explaining this all correctly? I hope so. Because I will be testing you all on this information in the near future, you know.

Kasey Kahne (the driver voted in by the fans) gets the win, Kyle Busch gets the red lantern, and we remain in Charlotte at Lowe's Motor Speedway for next Sunday's race.

Short And Long

Today's poem is the shortest poem EVER! Because I'm half asleep. And because I have writer's block. And because Friday mornings have become Blueberry Muffin Day and I need to go preheat the oven. So here you go, it's written by the American poet Strickland Gillilan and it's called Lines on the Antiquity of Microbes. It's also known as Fleas.

Adam
Had 'em.

That's it. Maybe next Friday's poem will be Nikhil Parekh's Only as Life. Or maybe not. It's 77 pages long and has the distinction of being the longest poem ever. Oops, I mean, EVER!

Paid Off

I think that when George Bush thought up the whole economic stimulus deal, he envisioned millions of Americans buying big screen tv's, computers, and 1000 thread count sheets. But I think the majority of people are paying off credit cards, paying bills, or putting it into savings.

Know what I did? I paid off the mini-van. The 'open door' light stays on constantly, the power locks don't work for the passenger side door, a mysterious 'ding' will sound at any given moment while driving--giving me a mild panic attack--and there's a huge stain where my Love My Nails in Red Raven leaked all over the upholstery. And now it's all mine. Yay.

Check out how other folks spent their money.

Wordless Wednesday: Lazy

I know this is supposed to be wordless but, hey, I'm supposed to be the lazy dog around here!

Key Lime Pie

This is supposed to be a sweet potato puff.

I spent 2 days last week trying to make the perfect sweet potato puff but each day I wound up with orange gloop all over my kitchen. I want a puff you can pick up! Is that too much to ask?

Anyway, while I was trying to decide what else I could fix, Little pup asked me if I had any eggs. I had no idea where he was going with that line of questioning so I answered him truthfully and said yes. "We can make chocolate chip cookies then!" And although I didn't make any chocolate chip cookies, I did make a very quick and simple and delicious dessert.

Key Lime Pie

1 ready to fill graham cracker crumb crust
8 oz cream cheese, softened
14 oz can sweetened condensed milk
1/2 cup key lime juice (I used about 14 key limes)
cool whip (optional)
lime zest (optional)


Beat cream cheese until light and fluffy. Add sweetened condensed milk and lime juice; mix well. Pour mixture into pie shell, garnish with cool whip and lime zest, and refrigerate for several hours.

Darlington

Saturday night there were clear skies in Darlington, South Carolina. But not here in Arkansas. Because of the breaking weather reports, we missed the first 35 laps of the race. Big pup is fascinated by tornadoes these day and he got a little nervous when the sirens went off. He went around the house shutting all the windows. The storm moved to the north of us so we were fine here at the home of the lazy dog.

Julie Roberts sang the national anthem. Didn't see it. The moms of the drivers gave the command "Sons, start your engines!" Didn't see it. Elliott Sadler wrecked on lap 2. Thankfully, didn't see that either. He got loose and slid up the track into Tony Stewart and spent the next 120 laps in the garage. With a finish of 42nd, he is getting farther and farther away from the top 12. He's now 28th in points. Sigh. McDonald's was his sponsor for this race and even sprung for an in car camera. How upset do you think they were for losing so much tv time? Probably as upset as I was when I found out that a seemingly healthy fruit and walnut salad still has 25 grams of sugar.


Kyle Busch gets the win, Greg Biffle gets the red lantern, and we're under the lights this Saturday night in Charlotte for the All-Star race.

Mother's Day

In the early 1900's, Anna Jarvis rallied for a memorial day for women. The idea caught on and in 1914 President Woodrow Wilson declared the 1st national Mother's Day. But, like all holidays in the United States, overcommercialization set in and Anna Jarvis then became an opponent of the holiday with all of its flowers, giant pink greeting cards, and bath gift sets. Yeah. Me too. Who needs a package of assorted Lindt Lindor chocolates or a package of caramel filled Ghirardelli squares? Certainly not me! Right, Anna? Um...Anna?

To My Mother by Wendell Berry

Belated Birthday

Awwww, wook at dis wittle poopydoggieeeee. Sorry about that. Ahem. Look at this little puppy! I can't believe that Howard was ever that small. He came to live with us when he was 7 weeks old and we just celebrated his 10th birthday a couple of weeks ago. And when I say 'celebrated,' I mean I found some questionable salami that was in the fridge and added that to his bowl of Pedigree.


Happy Birthday, Howard!

Wordless Wednesday: Censored

Word Search

Here's a few recent google searches that have led people to my site:

1. are saudi's lazy--Um, well, I'm going to say no. They're just very rich that's all.
2. cannot import unsupported file type--Sorry, I know the mental anguish you must be experiencing, but I can't help you. I just start clicking on things and hope for the best.
3. lazy dog saying--Okay, I had to look this up, too. It's the quick brown fox jumps over the lazy dog.

This is almost as exciting as a 'text message' post isn't it? Please don't answer that, I have a fragile ego. And a head cold. So there.

Richmond

We were under the lights at Richmond Saturday night. This is Elliott Sadler's home track. Oh, but it's also Denny Hamlin's home track.

Hamlin started on the pole and led the 1st lap, and the 2nd lap, and the 3rd lap...and the 3ooth lap, and 301st lap, and the 302nd lap, you get the picture. After being everyone's bff last week at Talladega by bump drafting everyone to the front and then leading the whole race Saturday night, he deserved to win. But with just 20 laps to go, he had a flat tire and came to a complete stop on the track. Sorry Denny.


Dale Earnhardt Jr. and Kyle Busch battled for 1st. As they were side by side, Busch went up the track and Jr. went down the track and they collided. Did you know that there are a lot of Jr. fans in Richmond? There are. Did you know they like to defend Jr. even though he was partly at fault for causing his own spin out? They do. And so while everyone was busy booing Busch, Clint Bowyer slipped to the front and won his second cup race.


Elliott Sadler had an issue with his brakes--he didn't like them--and he finished 20th. He is now 25th in points. Top 12 makes the Chase.


Clint Bowyer gets the win, Patrick Carpentier gets the red lantern, and we get another night race on Saturday at Darlington.

Poetry Out Loud

Did anyone catch the recap of the poetry out loud match on sportscenter last night? Anyone? Just kidding. It wasn't on sportscenter. I don't think. I don't really watch ESPN. But these kids do have poetry coaches. How great a job is that?

The winner of the 3rd Annual Poetry Out Loud National Recitation contest is 16 year old Shawntay Henry of the U.S. Virgin Islands. Her winning performance was a recitation of Robert E. Hayden's poem Frederick Douglass. Now, if you'll excuse me, I need to go figure out how I can be both a poetry coach and an ice cream taste tester when I grow up.

Frederick Douglass by Robert E. Hayden

Save A Horse Drive A Minivan

Big pup continues to be fascinated with all things calendar. We were playing outside on the driveway the other day and he took a piece of chalk and wrote:


1313 no vans
1313 horses


And he proceeded to tell me that in the year 1313 there were no vans and that everyone had to ride horses. And with the gas prices these days, riding horses doesn't seem like such a bad idea. Except I'd have to leave 2 hours early to get Big pup to school and where in the world would I plug in a dvd player on a horse?