In all fairness to Big Daddy, who is away on business, I felt obliged to post about the cute little notes he left around the kitchen for Little Sprout and I to find while he was away. Here is an example (written in red Sharpie® marker):
It is rather hard to call him Mr. Ridiculous when it is obvious he has been looking for little ways to show he loves us. Nothing says, “I Love You” quite like Spaghetti-O's®, after all.
[Spaghetti-] O' That Man O' Mine, ha, ha, ha.
In like a lamb and out like a lion?
The lion-lamb dichotomy may be reversed, but that's March for you. This old adage is just right for making a "bye-bye" batch of cheery lion-and-lamb cuppycakes.
If you're staring out at another dreary day — like me — why not banish it with festively frosted baked goods? It fits right in with my winter decorating philosophy. Even Martha Stewart thinks it is a good idea. (Not that I'd jump off a bridge or get involved in a stock scandle if she did...hee hee.) M. Diddy, as the lifestyle guru was dubbed during her prison stint, has jumped on the cuppycake bandwagon by hosting her own Cupcake Week celebration.
So I've decided to make lion and lamb cupcakes today to say sayonara to the month of March. Anyone care to join me?
My 13-month old son is eager to try new flavors so today I gave him two new foods.
Well, in truth only one new food — Branston Pickle — the other food — hummus — he had sampled a few weeks earlier at a neighbor's birthday party. I am thrilled to say he likes both.
Here is a photo of Little Sprout's fussy face. I had taken his sippy cup away to fix the inside straw. It had come loose and was floating inside the cup. See how he splashed juice all over his tray?
But before sharing more photos of my messy Marvin, I have to brag about Branston Pickle. You will understand why in a minute.
Little Sprout liking Branston Pickle proves that he shares my DNA. It is a big win for Mommy in Silly Hat Central's ongoing "Pickle Wars." And since I've been forced to endure rude graffiti scrawled across my Branston Pickle label, this flavor victory is one to be savored.
What rude graffiti?
The word "Pickle" on my favorite British condiment label had been altered with a Sharpie® marker to read "Puke." Big Daddy delights in these clever surprises, which is why he is sometimes called Mr. Ridiculous on these pages.
I know that often the better part of valor is in choosing our battles. But after the graffiti stunt lines were drawn and trenches dug in the war over whether Branston Pickle is an epicurean delicacy or a palate profanity.
So it was with great pride that I watched Little Sprout pick apart the tiny bites of his cheese sandwich to eat the saucy pickle bits first. I wanted to hug him close when he baby-signed for more!
Naturally I called Big Daddy right away to share the good news. His response?
“He's no child of mine.”
Like I said, it was a banner day for Mommy.
You may notice how tired and achy Little Sprout looks in the photos; it shows in his droopy eyes. He is cutting teeth so his gums feel hot and sore. After lunch, a Popsicle® and a ½ dose of Infant Tylenol® the little guy was feeling more perky.
You are Marianne Dashwood of Sense & Sensibility! You are impulsive, romantic, impatient, and perhaps a bit too brutally honest. You enjoy romantic poetry and novels, and play the pianoforte beautifully. To boot, your singing voice is captivating. You feel deeply, and love passionately.
GUYS: take the Which Austin Hero Are You? quiz.
I can't tell you how tickled I am about the results of this quiz.
Kate Winslet is one of my favorite actors. She is gorgeous, intelligent, witty, well-spoken and we share the same middle name. (For the record, both she and Emma Thompson are Eminent Women of Distinction in my book.)
Marianne Dashwood is the character I felt I most identified with the first time I read Sense & Sensibility. It is a sublime novel. (But you know that! If you made it this far, you've read it yourself, or at least seen one of the movie adaptations.)
The description is slightly off the mark on two points:
Here's hoping you are delighted with your results! Leave me a comment telling me which one you are.
I wish I had a copy of the April issue of Vanity Fair on hand to scan in the photo. I don't, but you can turn to page 179 of the latest issue, or click on any of the links to see the 26-year-old Texan in her superbity. Oh sweet mercy, look at those legs!
What a Beautiful Summer
Summer...is a Pin-Up Girl in Vanity Fair
The next “pin-up” link is from 2006 and, I suspect, a movie poster. It is a lethal-looking pose of Summer as Firefly/Serenity sexy psy-asssassin (“I can kill you with my brain.”) River Tam.
http://www.jasonnahrung.com/summer.html
Like an Easter bonnet, A Parently Speaking is sporting a spiffy, new three-column look. Do you like it?
I've wanted to make this change for a while, but couldn't wrap my brain around the coding. So I begged Big Daddy to do it.
He's such a darling man.
Don't the bubbles look amazing? I am almost hypnotised by them, as is Little Sprout. It just goes to show, sometimes the simple things are what life is all about.
And oooh, ha, ha, ha! If you look carefully, you will see one soap bubble perfectly poised in front of Big Daddy's nose -- so silly!
I just sit at the typewriter and curse a bit.
-P G Wodehouse (1881-1975), on his technique as a writer, _Collier's_, 1956
I so identify with PG Wodehouse's technique.
UPDATE:
A Man with Bread dropped me an e-mail with his quote, since his login failed. Here it is:
Time is the fire in which we burn...
-Star Trek
CaelieSon tried to access the Choice Quote Meme post as I was updating it, so she got an error. Blarg and bother, confound the unlucky timing! Here is her quote:
Go to Heaven for the climate, go to Hell for the company.
-Mark Twain
I was thrilled when I saw this bit of entertainment news on WhizBang.com. A quick Google search confirmed Variety and a few other news sites have picked up the story.
Three cheers for families going to the movies!
Big Daddy has fond memories of he and his brothers piling into the back of the station wagon - in their P.J.s - for a family evening at the drive-in. Even though I grew up within 20 miles of one, my family never ventured out to see a drive-in movie. Little Sprout needs to experience this bit of Americana!
Here is a link to a map of open drive-in theaters across the U.S.A.
[Source: WhizBang.com] Movie and Industry News |
Those fine folks over at BoingBoing.net have posted an article on the 7 new SOCIAL sins the Vatican recently issued.
What?!? Now I have to worry about my sins affecting society at large? I'm not sure I can handle that kind of pressure. I mean, for the love of God, I recycle. I don't do drugs. And I generally consider myself to be a moral, upright, human being.
**sigh**
If this had really been that imperative to the salvation of our souls, wouldn't you think that His (departed) Holiness, the great Pope John Paul II would have covered it during his 27-year reign?
I'm just sayin'.
[Photo reprinted with permission]
Ellen over at Hurrayic posted a very interesting brain teaser recently that her daughter ripped from the back of an Annie's Cinna Bunnies package.
Try to say the color, not the word. It is not as easy as you might think. I ran through the list two or three times before realizing I was saying the word, not the color. Once my brain started interpreting the colors it was a lot more challenging.
Ellen was kind enough to grant me permission to use her photo. Leave her a comment if you enjoyed her amusing little puzzle. While you're at it, why not leave me one too?
Here's a tip: If you click on the photo a super-sized image pops up and it will be easier to read the small print.
Ever since I started this blog, readers have had trouble identifying with the name Bruce.
Either they didn't know who Bruce was (That's him in the photo.) or they thought I had somehow misspelled his name.
So I'm throwing in the towel. From now on Bruce will be called Little Sprout.
And if you don't think he looks (even a tiny bit) like The Jolly Green Giant's young sidekick, then Lettuce Be on Your Head.
I just had to share what happened to me yesterday. But to do that I have to rewind a bit.
Over the past year I have been downloading digital scrapbooking freebies from a couple of scrapbooking sites. During that time I have kept tabs on the blogs of a few designers whose work I like. Ellie Lash Designs is one of them.
Ellie does a great job on her digital scrapbooking kits, challenges and contests. Recently, she asked her readers to leave a recipe in her comments section and randomly chose four winners to receive her Kitchen Angels kit. It was such a simple idea, and one that really got me thinking.
Many designers ask for layout submissions before handing out free products. Now, I'm all for whipping up a layout for a chance to win cool stuff. But by randomly choosing winners from comments, Ellie's gift was more an act of kindness than a prize. And she got tasty recipes.
My college Public Relations prof would have said she is a relationship marketing genius. I think she didn't know what to cook and utilized her social network to get new ideas. Brilliant!
So I decided to share recipes in my blog.
(Isn't piggybacking off a good idea in itself a good idea?)
To thank Ellie, I e-mailed her about the Chocolate Coconut Balls recipe.
To my surprise, she sent a note back to say she appreciated my thoughtfulness and gave me two free kits -- just because!
I guess kindness is never wasted.
| “Kindness in words creates confidence. Kindness in thinking creates profoundness. Kindness in giving creates love.” ~ Lao Tzu (Chinese taoist Philosopher, founder of Taoism, wrote "Tao Te Ching" (also "The Book of the Way"). 600 BC-531 BC) |
[Image Credit: wikimedia]
The deathnell tolled today for Dungeons & Dragons co-creator Gary Gygax. He rolled his last 20-sided die. He was 69. Farewell, Dungeon Master.
I played D&D in the eighth grade. Specifically, in eighth-period study hall waiting for the bell to ring.
I haven't thought about that time in my life or that idle pursuit in more years than I care to mention. But after hearing the news of the fantasy game developer's death, I e-mailed my old role-playing pals to suggest we pay tribute to the man responsible for fueling our creative imaginations.
And then a remarkable thing happened. I got replies from everyone I had contacted. Everyone.
Apparently I'm not the only one who felt a bittersweet pang of nostalgia at the news.
So this weekend we'll gather around a table, raise our glasses, nosh nostalgic D&D snacks, recount old war stories and before long we'll all be transported back. Those were the good old days.
Goop
Here's a sweet pang of nostalgia courtesy of my old DM's mom, who made a batch of these whenever her son asked her. He would bring them to school in a brown paper bag and store them in his locker. The contents of the bag would morph from perfect, coconut-covered balls into a solid mass of fudgy, sweet "goop" that we would devour right out of the bag. (I know, how gross, eh?) It was a messy mouthful of pure chocolate love.
This well-worn recipe has been guarded jealously since my D&D days. It is a must-have for any late-night gaming adventure. I also make a batch of these every year around Christmastime, since they look a bit like snowballs. But I still call it "Goop."
If you can't make out the penciled-in instructions at the bottom, here is what it says:
I invite you to whip up a batch. Then post a comment back here to let me know what you think. I predict you will love them. They may even change your life.Don't use nuts.
2 ½ hours before serving, place in ziplock baggie and store in a locker until squishy.
What do daffodils, kites and Girl Scout cookies have in common? They're all associated (at least in my little corner of the world) with the month of March. March is a tenuous month, not unlike the creamy filling in an oreo cookie. It is sandwiched between two seasons.
John at From Here to Paternity describes March's delicate nature, likening Winter and Spring to roommates who don't see eye to eye. It's a great read, so please go see what he has to say.
Whether the weather in your corner of the world fits the bill or not, here are a few of my favorite early Spring indulgences to ward off Winter's chill and cure cabin-fever.
Daffodil Days
What is it about a bunch of fluffy, yellow daffodils that brighten your entire outlook? I always contribute to Daffodil Days because it makes me feel happy to have fresh flowers on my table, plus the contribution goes toward cancer research.
National Kite Festival
"Brushstrokes in the Sky" is the theme for this year's kite-flying extravaganza. Why not get out of the house and put up a kite?
All those bright "brushstrokes" will paint your heart light.
Saturday, March 29, 2008 10 a.m. - 4 p.m. at the Washington Monument, Washington, D.C.
Girl Scout Cookies
As I do most Saturdays, I went to the grocery store this past Saturday to pick up a few things. And there they were! True harbingers of Spring: Girl Scouts selling cookies. What a sight for winter-weary eyes.
I rushed right over to grab a few boxes because, honestly, Girl Scout cookies are what get me through the month of March. You can bet that those girls will see me at their cookie table again.
What gets you through those dismal days before the snowdrops, hyacinth and crocus poke their heads through the last of the melting snow? Is it the sound of songbirds in the garden? Or tournament-style college basketball?
Like the new banner? It was harder to create than I expected. I drove Big Daddy to distraction with my steady stream of PhotoShop questions before settling on a design. For the record he likes the old design "a LOT better" than this one.
It was a "Welcome Friends" weekend at Silly Hat Central. Early Spring-like weather coaxed friends and family out of doors. Three sets of visitors beat a path to our door, all of them wonderful!
First was my longtime friend Leslie and her daughter Mallory. They came to help me master a new software program and play with Bruce. We shared a terrific lunch of Roasted Red Bell Pepper Bisque with Shrimp and Romano Cheese and grilled cheese sandwiches. All too soon they were called back home.
My parents arrived later that afternoon to spend some time with Bruce, rest and rejuvenate from the first leg of a long drive north from Florida. They hadn't seen their grandson in over a month so it was the first time they saw him walk, climb, dance, and say his latest new words. They were amazed at how fast he could crawl when he wasn't walking, climb the stairs, and how much he had grown since last they had seen him. Every look from him, whether he was flirting, laughing, shy or rambunctious, completely charmed them. He had them at hello!
Gammy and Grandpa got to share yummy cuppy-cake with Bruce, since they had missed his birthday party. He gleefully gobbled icing and fistfuls of tender cake, mashing it all over his face. He even offered to share bites. God love her, my mom accepted his gooey, crumb-covered, fisty-bite offerings without batting an eye. There was icing up his nose and behind one ear, cake matted in his hair, mushed under his chin and smushed thoroughly into both sleeves. Gammy looked almost as messy, but she didn't seem to mind. Now that's Grandmotherly love!
Not long after they had said their goodbyes we got a surprise call from Bambi and her husband Tony. They happened to be in the neighborhood and wondered if they could stop by? Of course, of course! They brought Bruce two adorable shirts: one said "Chicks Dig Me" and the other "Lock Up Your Daughters." Ha ha ha! They also spoiled him by bringing him a toy chest. With all the toys that are threatening to overtake our house, it couldn't have come at a better time. Sadly, they couldn't stay long, since they also had a long drive ahead of them. It was a short, but lovely visit.
