A Pilgrim And An Indian

That's Little Pup. He's 5. And he's very good in the kitchen. On his "How To Cook a Turkey" paper at school he definitely showed off his cooking knowledge. He may have been off on the time but he knows that time is important and there's seasoning involved and that it's cooked in an oven and not on the stovetop. Give me another 15 years with this kid and he'll be a pro in the kitchen--not a bad quality for a man to have.

As for Big Pup, my 7 year old,...

...well, a sense of humor is important, too. Right?

Wordless Wednesday: Happy Thanksgiving!

One More Trip Down Memory Lane

Yesterday's picture of my old jean jacket has put me in a nostalgic mood. So I got down the Presto Professional Deep Fryer box from the top shelf of my closet that holds all my old cassette tapes and found 5 cassettes that embody the whole decade of the '80s for me.

Poison--This was the first tape I ever bought. Every Rose Has Its Thorn? Awesome. Fallen Angel? Can't be beat. Nothin' but a Good Time? Best played with windows rolled down and volume turned up.

Whitney Houston--This may have been the second tape I ever bought. I love Didn't We Almost Have It All.

Indigo Girls--Who doesn't love Closer to Fine? It appeals to my folksy side.

Terence Trent D'Arby--I stayed up super late one night because a local radio station was going to play Introducing the Hardline According to Terence Trent D'Arby in its entirety. I put a blank cassette in the HUGE stereo we had in the den and recorded the whole thing. And then I listened to it 1,185 times. Wishing Well is still my favorite. He's reinvented himself and goes by the name Sananda Francesco Maitreya these days.

John Mellencamp--My all time favorite artist. I've listened to The Lonesome Jubilee so much that the words on the cassette have been worn off. Nothing tops this album. I'm thinking that I need to have a third son just so I can name him Johnny Cougar. I don't think WD would go for that, though. Maybe Sananda Maitreya...

Wordless Wednesday: My Jean Jacket (ca. 1989)

That's Strange

I'm stealing this meme from Robyn who stole it from Sunday Stealing who stole it from someone else who stole it from someone else who...you get the point. Feel free to steal it from me!

The Strange Question Meme: 1-10

1. What is the color of your toothbrush? Green. It's my favorite color. Even when I buy them in packs of 2 and the other brush is pink, I will still pick the green and WD gets the girlie color.

2. Name one person who made you smile today. My 7 year old. He was the first I woke up this morning and before he even opened his eyes he asked if it was cold outside. I said yes--in the 30s--and he said "I don't think I'm going out today." That made me smile.

3. What were you doing at 8 a.m. this morning? School starts at 8 so I was probably heading back home after dropping the boys off.

4. What were you doing 45 minutes ago? Looking at huskies at local shelters online and wishing I could adopt every one of them.

5. What is your favorite candy bar? The kind that's made with chocolate, ha! Snickers is my fave.

6. Have you ever been to a strip club? Nope.

7. What is the last thing you said aloud? "'Who's a gooood gurrrrrl? You're a pretty girl! Pretty gurrrrrllll!" I said, in an annoying, high pitched voice.

8. What is your favorite ice cream? Yarnell's Hog Wild for Cookie Dough. I like it so much, I wrote a post about it.

9. What was the last thing you had to drink? Coffee with milk. Four cups of it.

10. Do you like your wallet? Yes, I love my little cheapo wallet from Dollar General. It was originally my sister's but her Coach purse spit it out in disgust and so she gave it to me.

"Pitchers"

I'm not a photographer. I wouldn't even call myself an amateur photographer. Furthermore, I'm even a little bit embarrassed to list "photography" as a hobby on online profile forms. I just like taking pictures with my simple point and shoot camera. That's all.

All of my pictures tend to be too yellow or too grainy--and I tend to get carried away with saturation and contrast during editing. I don't know anything about lighting, composition or apa apu aperture. But I do know one thing. A border and watermark can turn an okay picture into one that's not so bad.

Thank goodness for photoshop.

Taco Soup

That's Taco Soup. It's delicious. And I'd love to share the recipe but it's a long road to get there, so hang with me.

When I was around 12 or 13 years old my mom joined a bowling league. Every Tuesday night she had to leave the house around 5 p.m. to head to the local bowling alley. She had to get dinner on the table for our family of 5, fast. So Tuesday nights became pizza night. As a result, Tuesday nights became my favorite night of the week. You have to understand that my family just did not do fast food back then. We went to Western Sizzlin' for mother's day but that was about it. This whole take out thing was new and exciting and Pizza Hut secured a place in my heart forever.

But back to bowling. Each year the ladies would have a party and everyone would bring food. One year, one of the other bowlers brought Taco Soup and my mom got the recipe. It's more like a chili than a soup. Thick, hearty, beany, delicious. It also has half a pound of Velveeta in it, which, coincidentally, has a permanent place in my heart, too.

Taco Soup (from the Tuesday Night Ladies Bowling league potluck)

2 lbs ground beef, browned
1 pkg ranch dressing mix
1 pkg taco seasoning
1 can white hominy
1 can pinto beans
1 can southern ranch beans
2 cans kidney beans
1 can Rotel
8 oz Velveeta
Corn chips

Add everything to a slow cooker and set on high for 4 hours. Don't worry about draining and rinsing the beans, just dump everything in. Serve over corn chips.

Wordless Wednesday: Naptime

Sunny Day...

...Sweepin' the clouds away!

It's Sesame Street's 40th anniversary today. I love Sesame Street. Grover was my favorite. Remember the Pointer Sisters 1-12 song with the pinball machine? Classic. And what about the mahna mahna song? That one's gonna be stuck in my head all day. Oh, and remember the time Gonzo tried to sell his soul to Alice Cooper in exchange for fame and fortune? Wait...that was The Muppet Show. Another favorite.

Big pup has been carrying Elmo around with him for most of his 7 years. He has tons of stuffed animals--a monkey, a couple of teddy bears, all of the inhabitants of Hundred Acre Wood--but his favorite has always been Elmo. I can remember when they used to be the same size! Elmo still sleeps with Big pup at night, travels on vacations with us, and rides to school with us every morning. I even tucked him into my purse just in case my son needed him when he got his flu shots a couple of weeks ago (and he did).

But Elmo hasn't always been "Elmo." He first appeared as Little Monster in 1979 and his character wasn't really developed until 1984, the year Kevin Clash took over as puppeteer, er, muppeteer.

Happy Anniversary, Sesame Street!

I Hope They Remember

I hope they remember having blueberry muffins every Friday morning.
And spending Friday nights with their grandparents who are willing to take them to McDonalds every single Friday.
I hope they remember how I put their clothes in the dryer on cold mornings so they'll be warm when they get dressed for school.
Baking cookies and watching holiday cartoons is one of my favorite memories from my childhood. I hope it will become one of their favorite memories, too.
I hope they remember carefree summers full of fun activities like playing in the pool and going to movies. I'm sure they'll forget the trips to the library.
I hope they remember making s'mores and carving pumpkins for Halloween. I never did that growing up--why didn't someone tell me that it's so much fun?
I hope they remember the happy times playing with Indie and the Huskies. There's no better friend than a dog and I hope they'll always be able to experience that friendship.

I hope they remember that above all else, they are brothers. And they'll always be able to count on each other. Because--to borrow a quote from Antisthenes--when brothers agree, no fortress is so strong as their common life.

I really hope they remember that.

Wordless Wednesday: Summer Memories

Web Surfing Part 3

I'm drawing a blank on a blog post today. I asked WD what I should write about and he suggested I drum up support for Obama's healthcare plan so he can get out of the National Guard without having to worry about health insurance.

But I think I'd rather talk about makeup. You know, FUN stuff.

Makeup Alley is my favorite place on the web for makeup tips and reviews. You do have to login to use it but it's not a hassle. Want to know if NARS lipgloss is really worth the big bucks? Want to know if the kabuki brush that comes with Maybelline's mineral powder foundation holds up after cleaning? I can spend hours on this site.

I love watching Michelle Phan's makeup tutorials on youtube. She makes putting on makeup look so easy. I'm always making mistakes with my mascara wand and getting my blush uneven.

More fun stuff on the web: Hulu. During the week my tv is tuned to Spongebob, CNN, video games, and sports. So on Fridays, I park myself in front of the computer and get caught up on my favorite shows--The Office, Glee, 30 Rock, It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia, etc. And there's usually chocolate involved, as well. It's a good day.

And speaking of tv, I love reading the recaps on Television Without Pity. A lot of times, the recaps are even funnier than the shows.

Just in case you missed it, here's Web Surfing Part 1 and Part 2. Happy Surfing!