If You Give a Boy...the Sequel!

If you give a boy a rolling pin, he might make Pie. Especially if he is wearing a Pi shirt.


If he makes a pie, he'll need some butter.

If you give him some butter, he might stack it up before he mixes the dough.


If he mixes the dough, he might eat some.


If there's any dough left, he will roll it out.


If he rolls it out (with the rolling pin you've already given him), he might make some filling.


If he makes filling, it will be pumpkin.


If it is pumpkin, he will say yum.

YUM!

The Chicken or the Egg?

Sometimes my husband cracks me up. He came into the room, saying, "I know what came first: the egg." Thinking he had read something scientific, I asked, "Why?"

"Because I had scrambled eggs for breakfast, just had quiche for lunch, and we'll be having chicken for dinner."

If you ate the chicken and eggs together, you'd have a Mother and Child Reunion. (Seriously, Paul Simon named that song after a dish in a Chinese restaurant.)



Later...the handy husband had to leave me alone with the chicken on the barbecue for a few minutes, to deal with a minor plumbing issue...I fear I burnt it a little. Hey, barbecuing is HIS job. That barbecue is hot -- now I have a pink spot on my arm.

Wasabi Doc?

Subtitled: Home Remedies for the Common Cold

I discovered that a handful of Trader Joe's Wasabi Peas did a really great job at clearing out my sinuses when I had the cold!



Any other good remedies? I'll pick one comment at random and send the lucky one a bag of peas.

Happy Anniversary

I did a nice post last year for our 25th anniversary.

So here we are at 26! As with Frank's birthday, the year just flew by. Where did it go? I don't even have a decent picture of the two of us together this last year. That's always a problem when I am the one taking the pictures. I hope one of the boys will take a picture of us before we go out to dinner. We're going to Root 246. My niece recommends the chili dog, but I said "Chili dog? On my anniversary? I don't THINK so." Burp! And the kids? Although they have demonstrated that they are capable of cooking, they'll probably get pizza.

If you give a boy...

[Blink. What happened? This boy was little yesterday.]

If you give a boy a knife...




He might chop some vegetables.



If he chops some vegetables, he might keep going and cook the whole dinner.

If he cooks the whole dinner, he will eat it up.

If he eats it up, he will say yum.

Yum.

The End.

Heart Shaped Potato

So President Obama and David Letterman were joking about a heart shaped potato? We had one, a long time ago.





Oh my, isn't little Ernest adorable? He was three and and a half. His talking Franklin toy was cute, too. Sometimes, Franklin would say, "I love fly pie!" And Ernest and I would crack up. Ernest would squeeze Franklin over and over, to get him to say the fly pie line and make me laugh. Sigh.

The Rag Bag

All those clothes we've given away over the years. What happens to the ones so tacky that even a thrift store can't sell them?

Some of them are turned into rags. The Handy Husband bought a box of rags for the dirty work in the garage. "Wiping Pals?"

These appear to be knit terry rejects from the 80s.

The Beach Babe halter top --



A chunk of a monogrammed bathrobe--



Look! We had quite a chuckle over the lavender choners--



They got a little dirty --



What will come out of the box next?

Birthday Breakfast

Yes, he was surprised...

By the pie...

Hey Nineteen

Last year I commemorated Frank's 18th birthday here, here and here. And now it's a year later. Funny how a year flies by.

The plans for the day include breakfast with the family (including cousins and grandparents), and dinner out at a Greek restaurant.

The cake? Once again, he said "surprise me." He really shouldn't do that -- it gives me far too much chance for mischief. So his cake this year...shh, don't tell him (I don't think he reads my blog)...isn't going to be a cake at all!

It's going to be PIE!

Fundraising

I know the schools are short money. I donated a lot in the spring, to help fund the music and art programs.

But it's getting a little draining.

Now it's the annual gift wrap fundraiser. I don't want any gift wrap or cookie dough, thank you very much. I'm trying to reduce the clutter, not add to it. Oh, the guilt. So I made another donation.

Next week, there is a spaghetti feed. After participating in one a few years ago (cooking pounds of spaghetti in the evening, delivering it to school the next morning, and eating it reheated that evening) I am a little squeamish about that, too. [I felt comfortable eating at Mr. Thomas's pre-school spaghetti dinner because I knew there was a professional in the kitchen!] Maybe another donation instead?

And yet to come, still more fundraising for the 8th grade trip. Each child is supposed to volunteer 20 hours of time for bake sales, car washes, etc. There is a RUMOR that if the child is involved in some other kind of community service, he/she can count those hours instead.

Hello? I hope so. Ernest has already amassed over 200 (TWO HUNDRED, that's right) hours volunteering at the zoo this summer. He's got a personal goal of another 75 to go by the end of the year, to reach a cumulative total of 500 hours over the last 2 years. Something nice will happen if he makes it! This is one motivated child.

Note to self -- must find out about this rumor.

Holy Knotted Shoelaces, Batman

Jenn is student teaching in first grade. And she was worried about shoe tying.

I started to comment on her post and it got too long..thankfully, that's what a blog is for!!!!!!!!!

My latest assignment as an aide is several [still waiting for a schedule!] first grade classrooms. We've had three full weeks of schools so far and I am FULL OF STORIES.

Quite a few of them still can't tie their shoes. And, I am sad to say, there have been a few second graders also!!!! Perhaps because they wore velcro too long? I think velcro is great for Pre-K and probably for Kindergarten. [But I don't know for sure -- maybe Mr. Thomas can give me the lowdown sometime.] One first grader consistently has untied shoes. EVERY DAY! ALL THE TIME!! Does he come to school like that? His brother was the same way last year.

Muddy shoes were an issue last week, until I moved the soccer goal! My 8th grader was disturbed when I told him I had been cleaning mud out of a 1st grader's shoes. "You shouldn't have to do that," he cried. Him with the elephant poo on his shoes.

So there are my shoe stories. How about you?

Anything interesting happening with shoes in your world? (Jen's found some more cute Crocs.)

Life with Teenagers

Parents of young children, do not despair. Soon they will grow up and you will find yourselves with unexpected evenings free, although the timing may not be good.

We thought everyone would be home tonight. However... Frank's drummer friend called, said a really good guitar player was coming over and could Frank (bass) come too (35 miles away). So he's gone. And Ernest's friend called...could he come over...yes, he could eat there (because I haven't even started dinner yet). Ernest's riding his bike but we don't have enough C batteries for his bike light so he will stop at the hardware store on his way.

You'd think this would be a green light for a lovely romantic dinner, but ...I'm sneezing and the HH's car project has been enticing seducing bugging obsessing keeping him busy him all day and he is in the garage, all filthy and sweaty.

So...leftovers or takeout????

Hanging Out

Ernest had even more zoo volunteering to do this weekend: the ZooBQue tonight, and zoo theater tomorrow morning. So I said, I'll take you there, but we're spending the night so I don't have to get up so early on Saturday!

Just a few minutes ago we were IMing each other across the motel room and feeling very silly about that. And then the power went out! Now it's back on, but HBO has disappeared from the TV. This motel is much nicer than where the Handy Husband and I stayed last weekend! I've got pictures of that, I've just been too lazy to post them.

My plans for tomorrow: sleep late while Ernest walks to the zoo (we are THAT close!) at 8 a.m., shop, go out to lunch, and see a movie. It should be a nice day, and somewhat cooler. I know this because Ernest checked out the weather on his iPod.: "I love wi-fi SO MUCH!" he said.

ZooSnooze Pooz Part Twoz

Ernest went to another ZooSnooze on Sunday. The Handy Husband and I caught the gorillas at breakfast before we found Ernest Monday morning.



Then we snuck up on Ernest and I photographed him in action, just like the animals. Darn it, he moves too fast, just like the animals!



He came home with only a small amount of elephant poo on his shoes this time.

Exactly!

That's exactly what it's like around here. Ernest talks so fast I can't even understand him sometimes. Or are my ears slower than they used to be?

It's Funny How Things Work

Can someone explain to me why I have two teenage sons yet I am the one with pimples on my chin?

Why did my cat become addicted to turkey lunch meat, then inexplicably refuse to eat it?

And why, when I was perfectly happy to be laid off, did I not only get rehired but now have come across two other possible jobs? -- accounts payable at my husband's office, and administrative assistant at a local museum. (I am inclined to keep my status quo because I do love my summer vacations.)

So what's strange in your life lately?