Happy Halloween, and Prepping for November

Happy Halloween! TK took a half day, we carved pumpkins, now we're playing some wii fit. It's a good day, even if it didn't happen to be one of my favorite holidays! He's trying to beat my ski jump records, little knowing I'm the ski jump MASTER. What's your best wii fit game? My mom is a wicked good hula hooper. She played on our wii and set a top score that is untouchable by us.

So, let's get on to November. I took the plunge and signed up for NaBloPoMo. I know some of you are also participating. I'm signed up as WhatACard...feel free to "friend" me. If you can figure it out, as in the few minutes I spent, I couldn't really find any of you. Or figure out how to add you as a friend. I'm technologically impaired today, I guess.

I hate to say it, but I'm not super committed to NaBloPoMo. I mean, I'm planning on it, but it'll be the first thing dropped from my schedule if things get nutty.

I'm worried about NaNoWriMo. I'm worried about the sophmore jinx. I'm worried we'll all get sick. I'm worried that my idea for a novel has less form than I had last year going into it. But hey, no plot, no problem, right?? I'm testing that this year a bit more than I did last year!

For those of you not familiar, NaNoWriMo is a challenge to write a 50k word novel in 30 days. That means you have to write, on average, 1667 words a day. However, due to a Thanksgiving trip, I really need to hit more like 2000 words a day. At least.

I'm going to try to be posting my current word count on my blog, but if I forget, or if you just want to visit, here I am at NaNo. I'll be posting (completely unedited, never re-read) excerpts of the novel-in-progress over there, too.

Oh boy, here comes November!

Who was that Hannah Montana lookalike?

The boys had a Halloween party at school yesterday. Their teachers were all dressed up. Their lead teacher dressed up as Hannah Montana. Not that my kids know who Hannah Montana is. I'm not entirely sure I even know. But anyway, their normally short-dark-haired teacher had a full length blonde wig. Not to mention some awesome white go-go boots. She was even singing. It was awesome.

After they boys were home, we were talking about school and B-man told me Mrs. Teacher wasn't at school. I told him she was, that she was the woman with long blonde hair. B-man got mad at me and insisted it wasn't her.

Poor kid. Halloween must be kind of confusing. What an odd holiday.

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I also just noticed that the little Halloween presents that came home in their backpacks were from another kid in the class (a Halloween coloring book, pencil, and spider rings). Is Halloween a "do something for all the kids in the class" holiday? I thought I didn't have to worry about this until Valentine's Day!

I KNEW it!

See, I told you I'd forget! This is my 206th post. Snap.

Here was my 200th post. Not a celebration at all. No chocolate cake whatsoever.

I'm totally breaking into the Halloween candy.

Thanks to my momma for reminding me that I missed the big 200th post. Of course, you reminded me too late. I probably wouldn't have thought of it for another 10 or 15 posts, though, so I guess you thought of it far sooner than I would have.

Boring, boring, boring!

Where have I been? Nowhere. What have I been doing? Nothing. Well, nothing that interesting. I've been busy with Mothers of Twins stuff. I've been getting Halloween stuff done. We've been mildly sick. Our water heater broke. We mopped A LOT until it was fixed. Then our gas pipes broke.

See, nothing exciting. I haven't even been that busy, certainly not too busy to post on my blog. I've just been....boring.

But now here I am, all full of excitement. Bask in it. Why am I full of excitement? Because NaNoWriMo starts on Saturday!

That's part of what's been eating at my time. I'm trying to decide on which story to write. Trying to decide which world, which characters I want to spend wrapped up in for the next month. I was going to try to do some plain ol' fiction, but I think I have to face up that I'm a total geek. I'm writing fantasy this year. Or maybe I'll gloss it up with a sci-fi coating, but let's face it, it'll be fantasy.

I can't help it. It's where my mind goes. I just read Empire Falls by Richard Russo. It was a beautifully done book about a small town on the decline. Does it make me a bad person that I kept hoping that there'd be some evil curse on the town that was causing the decline? Or that Mrs. Whiting, the rich lady who owned and controlled much of the town turned out to be a vampire? Or that Miles' daughter would find out she had some kind of superpower? None of those things happened, and I really didn't expect them to. But I have to face facts: I probably would have enjoyed the book more if they had.

So I'm writing fantasy. I'm pretty sure. I reserve the right to change my mind any time in the next three days. Or really, any time in November though it'd probably be pretty difficult for me to keep any non-fantasy-writing promise. I'd end up sending someone through a wardrobe, or have a Death Star open up an attack. But maybe, just maybe, it could all be just a dream...that's some good plotting.

In the spirit of lazy writing, anyone want to share some character names with me? I hate picking character names! I'm looking for recognizably normal but not so common that they feel anonymous. I'm not down with the whole made-up-fantasy-names, though feel free to give me some joke names filled with consonants and apostrophes (gosh, I'm not even sure if any of my readers are geeky enough to get that joke! Please, tell me I'm not the only sci-fi/fantasy geek in the room!) If I use a name you suggest, I'll give you lots of air kisses. I'll be your best friend. Oh heck, I guess you don't get anything but my eternal gratitude!

And I'll be around. Hopefully posting. I'm still considering NaBloPoMo, though I feel bad about doing it as I bet I'm not going to be the best blog-commenter during November! Last year my arms and hands hurt from all the typing I was doing on my novel. Yes, I wrote so much it burned!

This is rambling. I'll sign off now! Adios, glad to be back!

Oh, am I supposed to update this thing??

I know, I've been remiss. I'll be back. I promise :)

Allergy follow-up

B-man had his 1 year follow-up appointment for his food allergies. I've been kind of dreading it, because the scratch test is pretty horrific, and that's just watching it. I can't imagine what it's like having to be in the body that is being tortured as such.

We went to the appointment, with stickers and toys and crayons and all manner of distractions. And then the allergist (who we love), said he wasn't going to recommend doing the scratch test this year. Yay! But the reason: B-man's reaction was so severe last year, it's unlikely he's outgrown his allergies. And there's no reason to put a child through such a harrowing experience when it's not likely to produce meaningful results. Last year, his wheal from the pistachio testing covered about a fourth of his back!

So I'm glad that B-man didn't have to go through that, but sad that things are so bad that there's little hope for good news. He did run a blood test, and said if things come back looking really good, we'll have to come back in for scratch testing to confirm good results. So I guess now I have to start hoping we *will* have to go back for the scratch test.

The doctor also said it wouldn't shock him if B-man has developed allergies to additional tree nuts. Not that it really matters: while he's only allergic to pistachios, cashews, and chestnuts, we avoid all tree nuts. But still, it's just annoying.

Ah well. As I always think with these allergies, it could be worse. Far, far worse. I guess I'll take food allergies any day of the week.

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In semi-related news, last Tuesday B-man and N-man got flu shots. N-man freaked out and wanted his bandaid off immediately. I made him wait until we got to the parking lot. To be completely different, B-man fell in love with his bandaid and won't let us touch it. I mean, the first thing he thinks of when we start to change his shirt is "Don't touch my bandaid". When he takes a bath, he tell us, "Don't get water on my bandaid". So, it's been a week and a half, and do you know that stupid bandaid is still holding strong? How long will this bandaid say on? What do they make the adhesive from? Super glue? And now he's got another bandaid from his blood draw today. I swear, sometime around Christmas I'm going to be yanking these off in his sleep!

Food!

We have a bit of a (hopefully mild) stomach bug in our house. So what better to blog about than food, right?

I saw this a few days ago on The Zimmer Zoo, and am grabbing it myself :) I've seen different, more adventurous versions of this, but I like this version because it doesn't have things like blood pudding on it. I'm not sure who started this version, but apparently it's the North American version, which makes sense to me living in North America!

Foods I've tried are bold. Comments are in parentheses.

1. New York pizza (Oh, delicious New York Pizza!!)

2. Hoppin' John (I looked up what this is, and I'm pretty sure I've had dishes quite similar while I was living down south, but I'd never heard it called Hoppin' John, so I'm leaving it un-bolded.)

3. New Mexico green chile (again, I'm not too sure what this is, though I have had green chile sauce...)

4. Homemade buttermilk biscuits

5. Tasso (Yum, I love me some Cajun food!)

6. Whole Maine lobster (Double yum! I've even had it in Maine!)

7. Calabash-style shrimp and hushpuppies (Despite living down south, I never actually was in that part of the Carolinas. I've had hushpuppies and fried shrimp, though!)

8. Kansas City barbecue ribs (Had BBQ ribs, highly doubt they were KC style!)

9. Hot glazed Krispy Kreme

10. San Diego fish tacos (Have had fish tacos, but never in San Diego. What's up with the location-specifics? And yes, Nancy, these are yummy!)

11. Cheese curds (You can find these at Trader Joe's now!)

12. Key lime pie (Yes, but YUCK!)

13. Philly cheese steak (I even had one in Philadelphia...when I wasn't eating red meat at the time. I made an exception for this :)

14. Memphis pork barbecue sandwich (Yes, again, I've had pork BBQ sandwiches, but never in Memphis!)

15. Lowcountry boil

16. Huckleberry pie

17. New England clam chowder (My grandma makes the best!)

18. Boiled peanuts (Ick. Ick. Double yuck!)

19. Buffalo (Bison) burger (Okay, tastes like beef to me)

20. Eggs Benedict (One of my favorite breakfasts. I have no idea how to make it, and no inclination to figure it out. It's one of those rare out-to-brunch meals. I had an awesome one with smoked salmon and a vodka cheese sauce once. Non-traditional, but so good!)

21. Pastrami on rye

22. Corned beef and cabbage

23. Pancakes with maple syrup

24. Everything bagel with cream cheese and tomato (during college, I think I had this for lunch every other day!)

25. Thin Mints

26. Frito pie (sounds awesome, but no)

27. Potato knish with mustard (okay, I would NEVER, NEVER mess up my potato knish with mustard.)

28. Silver Queen corn on the cob

29. Soft pretzel from a street cart

30. Fresh-picked blueberries (in fact, I still have some in my freezer from some of the times we picked this summer!)

31. Sourwood honey

32. State fair funnel cake

33. Chesapeake crab cakes

34. Candied yams

35. Oyster dressing

36. Snow cone or snowball (remember those Snoopy Sno-cone makers? Mmmm)

37. Wild Alaskan salmon

38. Sauteed morels (I wish. Unfortunately, I don't have 1 zillion dollars to spend on mushrooms)

39. Persimmon pudding

40. General Tso’s Chicken

41. Frozen custard

42. Italian sausage with peppers and onions on a hoagie bun

43. Chili dogs

44. Buffalo wings with blue cheese (Being from Buffalo, let me assure you these are just called CHICKEN wings. And eating them with Ranch dressing is an abomination.)

45. Spam musubi

46. Saltwater taffy

47. Fluffernutter sandwich on Wonder Bread (I've got my boys eathing Fluffer-Faux-Nutter sandwiches now...fluff and soybean butter!)

48. Black and white cookie

49. Frybread (I'm down with any fried bread. We had this for the first time out west while we were driving across the county. I've never seen it anywhere else!)

50. BLT with thick-cut applewood bacon (I agree with Nancy that it's better with regular bacon! And I actually like BASTs rather than BLTs...Bacon, Avocado, Spinach, and Tomato)

51. Baked beans

52. Pumpkin pie

53. Collards with vinegar and Tabasco (come on, I did live in Atlanta, after all!)

54. Tex-Mex fajitas with skirt steak and sauteed peppers (I'm actually not a big Tex-Mex fan. I'd much rather have Mex-Mex :)

55. Fried green tomatoes (I just made this a few weeks ago in fact!)

56. Succotash (Sufferin'! This reminds me...my boys actually love lima beans. I should make this!)

57. Shrimp and grits (I keep wanting to like grits, but rarely do. Only with tons and tons of cheese...)

58. Hot water cornbread

59. Barbecue chicken pizza with red onions

60. Chicken fried steak (Ick!)

61. Carnitas burrito

62. Apple butter

63. Geoduck

64. Soft-serve ice cream cone dipped in chocolate shell

65. Pecan pie (Does anyone else now say this exactly like Harry in When Harry Met Sally?)

66. Catfish supper at a church or fire station (at a restaurant I have!)

67. Oysters Rockefeller

68. Homemade cranberry sauce (Yum! Actually have some frsh cranberries in my fridge just for this purpose!)

69. Pimento cheese

70. MoonPie washed down with R.C. Cola (Have had them both, but never together)

71. Pickled watermelon rind

72. Cracker Jacks at the ball game

73. Smithfield ham

74. Meatloaf and mashed potato blue plate special at diner

75. Chicken and waffles (Now THIS is a southern thing! Or at least that's the only place *I've* seen it!)

76. Po'Boy with many napkins

77. Green bean casserole with French’s fried onions

78. Stuffed sopaipillas (better just with honey drizzled on top)

79. Turducken

80. Shad roe on toast

81. Sweet potato casserole with or without marshmallows

82. Cioppino

83. New York cheesecake

84. Pan-fried river trout

85. Jambalaya

86. North Carolina pig pickin'

87. California rolls

88. Burgoo

89. Penuche fudge (never again. Not my favorite!)

90. Fried peanut butter and banana sandwich (Are you lonesome, tonight?)

91. Scrapple or livermush

92. Elk medallions in red wine reduction

93. Muscadine grapes

94. Cheeseburger at backyard barbecue

95. Open-face turkey sandwich (What else are Thanksgiving leftovers good for?)

96. Chicago deep dish pizza

97. Cobb salad

98. Peach pie a la mode

99. Macaroni and cheese

100. Root beer float

So, what about you? And, is there anything I've missed that I need to search out??

People Don't Get Me. Alternate post title: I'm weird.

While the boys were in preschool yesterday, I was out doing a bunch of errands. At the card store, I bought webkinz for my boys*, and mentioned to the clerk that I had three year old twins (it actually was in context of the conversation; I didn't just randomly bring it up).

The clerk, and older woman, asked, "Wow, three year old twins! How do you keep track of them when you go out?"

So of course I pretend to look around anxiously, and said, "Oh no, where *are* they?"

She looked around anxiously, too, and asked, "They're here with you?"

I started laughing, and said, "No, they're at preschool."

She just gave me an odd look and handed over my bag without another word.

I mean, I'm not sure how to answer that. Like most parenting twins tasks, you just kind of do it, and if you can't do it, you bundle everyone back into the car as quickly as possible. There you have it, parenting advice from a crazy woman.

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*Thank you to everyone for your advice and generally supportive comments on my peanut rant the other day. I've decided to make gift bags for my boys to trade for their candy (I figure my non-allergic child probably doesn't need any candy, either). The main thing in the gift bags will be a bat and cat webkinz, since my lil' guys love their webkinz, and I'm a bit obsessed with the site myself. Please tell me I'm not the only parent who really doesn't mind too much when the kids want to play webkinz :)

Meme'ing on a weekend

I was tagged by Ms. Melodie at Me & My Girls for a meme that is right up my alley. Here are the rules:

Grab the nearest book. Open the book to page 56. Find the fifth sentence. Post the text of the next two to five sentences on your blog along with these instructions. Don't dig for your favorite book, the cool book, or the intellectual one: pick the CLOSEST. Tag five other people to do the same.

Okay, I'm surrounded by books. Mostly my kids' books, which, being picture books, don't even have 56 pages. I also have two of my books in equidistant locations (next to each other behind the couch cushion. Yep, that's where I store the books I'm reading). I guess the one that is closest, by a hair, is Empire Falls by Richard Russo. I'm about 1/4 done with this book, and really enjoying it thus far! So here's the bit from page 56:

When Jimmy rolled down his window, the young cop abruptly walked back to the Camaro. Miles watched their conversation in the mirror, smiling when the officer took off his dark glasses. In such situation, apparently only the ranking officer got to keep his glasses on.

Since I keep my goodreads bookshelf over on the right of my blog, no one is going to ever mistake that I have hoity-toity taste in books. But in an effort to cement my reputation for reading whatever dreck is placed in front of me, the other book right behind me, that I'm also in the middle of reading, is A Lick of Frost by Laurell K. Hamilton. It's a series nearly completely devoid of any redeming value, and yet I'm still addicted. It's sad. Anyway, there's a new book in the series coming out in a few weeks, so I figured I'd refresh my memory by rereading this one. Here's the piece from page 56. Just marvel at this prose:

Veducci recoved first, saying, "Is King Taranis admitting that he beat you as a child, Princess?"

I looked at my uncle, so large, so imposing, so regal in his gold and white court clothes. "He is not denying it, are you Uncle Taranis?"

"Please, Meredith, uncle seems so formal." His voice was wheedling.

I'll give you one guess as to which of these two books won the Pulitzer Prize.

Oh, and would you look at this: one of the kids' books by my feet does have more than 56 pages. There aren't 5 sentences on the page, but as a special bonus, I'll give you the full text of the page.

Who am I?
My name is Ish.
On my hand I have a dish.
I have this dish to help me wish.

Can anyone identify this book from just one page? I bet most of you can at least identify the author!

I'm such an overachiever, aren't I? Listing three books when just one was required? So I hope you'll excuse me if I don't quite hit 5 tags. I'm just not sure who likes to be tagged (for the record, I do enjoy meme's so all of you who tag me can feel free to keep it up!) But I will do a few:

Nancy at the Zimmer Zoo, since she's been nice enough to tag me for a number of meme's already :)

Giovanna at Giovanna Diaries, since she's in my book group, and is a huge overachiever so is probably already well into the November book that I haven't even thought about getting yet.

That's two. Heck, I listed more books than tags. Sad, sad. Alright, I'll cheat and tag all of you who read this (and want to play). Oh crickey, now I've tagged way over five people. Oh, the drama! I just can't follow directions :)

Judgmental mom rears her ugly head

There are very few times you'll hear me say I'm a better parent than anyone else. You know, besides parents who smack their kids around. I'm better than them. Or parents who lock their kids in closets. I'm better than them, too. Oh, and parents who spend all their money on drugs and alcohol instead of food or clothes. I do better than that. Oh, I guess you will often hear I'm a better parent than other people. Look at me, all judgmental-y.

To be serious, though, within reason, I almost never think I'm a better parent than anyone else. We all have different parenting styles, different strengths and weaknesses, different aspects we are better at. That doesn't make us good or bad parents, just parents.

But today, I'm stating for the record I'm a better parent than an entire group of people. And do you know who those people are? The parents who ignore food bans in the schools, getting all annoyed that, god forbid, their child can't eat peanut butter for lunch.

This has always been an issue for me, long before I had a child with food allergies. When I was student teaching, I saw many parents with this attitude. It was just too much trouble to tell their precious little children that they'd have to eat something else, so they would just flout the school rules.

And now I have a child with food allergies. Luckily, it's just peanuts and tree nuts. We got off pretty easy in terms of food allergies. It's not that hard to avoid nuts for the most part, and it doesn't require huge diet changes. And nut allergies are shockingly common these days, so it's not that unknown.

Double luckily, we're not the only family with food allergies in my kids' preschool class. There is someone else in the class with egg and milk allergies. So that means the approved snack list is fairly small, but who cares? It's easy enough to follow, even if we don't have a lot of variability in our snack choices. Most days I send my kids with cut up fruit, or maybe pretzels.

But earlier this week, N-man desperately wanted a cheese stick for a snack. He begged, he pleaded, he cried, he threw a patented three-and-a-half-year-old-temper-tantrum. You know what? TOUGH. How hard was it for me to say no? Not that hard! Was it worth sending a food that could make another child potentially sick just so I didn't have to deal with a tantrum? I'm sorry, but that's bad parenting. When a parent gives in to a child; tells them that their fleeting happiness of having the desired snack/lunch is more important than the well-being of another child, well, frankly, that makes them a bad parent. Yes, I said it. So what if I'm being judgmental...it's true. Is that really the message to send to our children? To be completely without compassion for another child all in the name of eating a peanut butter sandwich (or a cheese stick or whatever it is)?

"Oh, but my little precious darling won't eat ANYTHING but peanut butter and jelly sandwiches". Well, I'm sorry to say, but that is bad parenting as well. Oh yes, I said it again. Is there a doctor's note about the child's feeding issues? If so, well, sorry, then it's not bad parenting. But most of the time, it's not that the kids *won't* eat anything else, it's that the parent doesn't want to have to say no to their child. Bad parenting! Everyone has food preferences. Heck, I'd like to eat pizza and chocolate cake every day. B-man would like mac and cheese 3 times a day. N-man would like chips and hot dogs. I understand that lots of kids love PB&J. But if your school has a nut ban, please follow it. Please remember that by failing to follow it, your child could potentially kill another child.

Yes, I'm being dramatic. Food allergies aren't often fatal, though they certainly can be. Mostly, they just require a shot of adrenaline followed up with a ride in the ambulance to the emergency room. That sounds like a lot of fun, doesn't it?

I'm not going to get into whether a food ban is an effective means of protecting children, or if it's an equitable solution, or if it's a good idea at all. But when there is a food ban, the school has fewer other policies in place. There's no nut-free table if the whole school is supposed to be nut-free. If a parent is SOOOO annoyed at a food ban, then work within the system to try to change the policy, but don't just ignore the existing policy. It's not fair to the children with food allergies. It's not fair to the teachers/lunch monitors/administrators who have to deal with the non-compliant family. But mostly, it's not fair to the child who is given the message that their own minor happiness is more important than the health of another child; that they are above the rules of the school; that they don't need to have any compassion or empathy for their fellow students. These are not the right messages to send to our children.

Okay, off my high horse. Allergies have been high on my mind recently. B-man has his 1 year follow-up retesting next week. I don't expect him to have outgrown his allergies, though it would be insanely exciting if he had. I'm also in a funk about Halloween. I just don't know what to do. There are very, very few Halloween snacks that are nut-safe. Dum-dum lollipops, mostly. Even those Snyder Halloween packaged pretzels aren't nut-safe (I know! What's up with that??). I certainly don't expect any of our neighbors to have stocked up on nut-safe snacks. I bet this year I can probably get away with doing a presto-chango quick switch for safe snacks, but maybe not. B-man is pretty observant. What would you do for trick or treating if your child was allergic to all the treats? I know I've got a few readers with children with food allergies: what do you do?

Emergency decorating advice needed!

I'm putting stuff back up on our new entertainment center. We have a nice crystal bowl we got as a wedding gift, from a guest who must have mistakenly assumed we had far nicer taste than we actually do.

So here's my question: Is it okay to continue storing our wii-motes in the bowl? What do you think? Super classy?

Inappropriate footwear and love of vegetables

Yesterday was a big day. Yeah, a big day of sit around and wait. See, we have wasps. Fun, right? So I had to sit around for the bug guy to come. And, we bought a new entertainment center (part of the grand TV failure of Aught-Eight). I had to sit around and wait for that to be delivered. Oh, and the boys were grumpy. And I didn't want them to make a mess. It was a long, long morning.

But finally, wasps were eradicated (or "majorly pissed off" as Bug-Guy said when he told me to stay FAR away from them for the next, oh, week or so). And furniture was delivered. All by 1pm no less, though the day already felt far, far longer than that.

So, what could possibly make the day better? I'm a glutton for punishment. I decide it's time to get the boys' haircuts. Truthfully, it's about one month PAST time to get their hair cut. It was ridiculously long. N-man's was always in his eyes, and B-man was a huge puffy curly mess. I mean, things aren't quite as dire as they were a year ago, when a trip to the hairdresser meant I needed to search for some black-market valium first. But it's still not great. Not my most favorite errand, by a long shot.

But this post isn't about the haircut. We survived it, kids are cute. This post is about my footwear. See, it had been a long day already. I was headed out to go to the hairdresser, probably my least favorite parenting task (even worse than taking them to the doctor or dentist). I was distracted. I put on my high heeled black leather boots.

I love my boots. I miss my boots all summer. I can hardly wait for fall, when I can once again wear my boots. They make me happy.

So I wore my boots. Great. Except post-haircuts, we were headed to the farm to pick up our CSA share. Going home was really far out of the way. I went to the farm in my high heeled boots. What do you think was the most ridiculous? Nearly tripping in the surprisingly long grass on the way to the pick up stand? Walking through the muddy dirt? Practically twisting an ankle in the pot-hole filled, dust and gravel parking lot? Just feeling like everyone was staring at my feet, wondering why I'd be wearing completely inappropriate footwear?

I was feeling pretty silly. Until I noticed the guy next to me. He had bare feet. In October. He walked through all that stuff, too.

I think we were about tied in our inappropriate footwear choices. What do you think? Who wins in the most ridiculous shoes (or lack there of) for CSA pickup?

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As a related aside, our CSA pick up was awesome this week: lettuce, broccoli, potatoes, acorn squash, etc. And brussels sprouts. I LOVE brussels sprouts. I mean, not an inappropriate love. Not like bare-foot-dude. He was so excited about them, he actually picked up a stalk and kissed it. So I guess I've been put to shame in the vegetable-loving department. And this entry just got a whole lot creepier. Oh, just go read Food on the Food, all you veggie perverts. Warning, her post contains naughty though hilarious language!

Hilarious children

As always, the boys have been saying some really funny things. So here are a few sillies for you to enjoy:

B-man has become very sure of himself, like he knows better than me. It's funny...I thought that wasn't supposed to start until he was a teenager! We were in the car and passed a house with a ghost decoration in their front yard. He excitedly pointed it out to me, and I asked him if it said boo. He answered, with a definite tone of "duh, mom", "Only REAL ghosts say boo. This was a pretend ghost."

N-man also has a little bit of that "I know better" going on. Whenever we correct him on a name of something, he tells us that he's just going to keep calling it whatever he wants. So, for example, our grocery store always has seagulls out front. He tells me every time, "Look, Mommy, EAGLES!" Me, wanting to prevent him from being pecked to death one day by insulted eagles, always tells him, "there are a lot of SEAGULLS." Then he says, "I'm going to call them EAGLES." Um, okay?

Well, the other day he saw an ad for one of those Halloween superstores. Right in the middle was a picture of a boy dressed up as Batman. So N-man said, "It's SUPERMAN!" So I told him, "that's BATMAN." And he answered, "No, I'm going to call him SUPERMAN. BLACK SUPERMAN. That's a good name." How do I argue with this?

Well, of course being the Halloween season, there have been far more pictures of Batman around than we would normally encounter, and N-man always announces loudly, "it's BLACK SUPERMAN." Oh dear.

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Replies to comments on Mortifying Monday:

American in Norway: You're right, it was kind of like 16 Candles, except with the ending that really should have happened.

Nancy: Yes, my physics teacher was really kind of a tool. I took AP Physics from him the next year, and he was a TERRIBLE teacher. It was his first time teaching it, and he pretty much just gave us a textbook and said "have at it!" I'm pretty sure he couldn't do the calculus needed for AP Physics...

And I am having trouble keeping on top of the replies to comments. I know I end up forgetting some on older posts...

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Replies to comments on Recipes:

I'm relieved to tell you all that Barb totally liked the cake. She agreed with my assessment that you really can't taste the zucchini at all, and was actually excited that she was eating some veggies :) So it all worked out!

LauraC: Oh, I've been wanting to read World War Z. I'll have to put it on my holiday wish list! And I'm not a big beet fan, either, though my husband likes them so I just keep trying them.

Jules: You had to mention the caramel sauce, didn't you! After reading your comment, I made some apple dumplings with caramel sauce. Yum!

Replies to comments on Another Meme:

Pink Ink: That's great, I think finishing a MS is better than starting new. My novel from last year is trash...I hate it, though I loved doing it, if that makes any sense. Good luck, and have fun!

Ronnica: Can't wait to see what you find!

ThreeUnderTwo: Thanks for playing along!

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Replies to comments on It's a SITS Blog-a-thon!:

Thank you to everyone who stopped by and commented. That was so fun! I'll be popping by to visit, if I haven't already!

It's a SITS Blog-a-thon!

Some of you may remember a few weeks ago when I was officially saucy. And some of you may have noticed my cool blog bling:



And hey, many of you I've met through the Secret is in the Sauce.

Well, today over at SITS, it's a blog-a-thon. Everyone is blogging about the fun-ness that is SITS...a great way to find new blogs! And today, win prizes! What has SITS done for me? Well, it's let me find a bunch of fun new blog. Every weekday, they feature a blogger and highlight three of their posts. It's such a neat way to find blog I probably never would have otherwise stumbled upon. Oh, and they made me saucy that one great week, when I got about 50 extra hits a day, some of whom even stuck around and became regular readers. Yay!! Hi new readers who stumbled upon my blog from SITS! It's a fun community, and since the focus is on leaving comments, it's a great way to really get and give some feedback. Comments are yummy.

So my assignment is to list five blogs I've found through SITS. Easy!

First, there's Ronnica's blog, Tale of a Kansas Girl. She's sweet, and funny, and an especially good writer. Thanks to her, and SITS, I'm now writing for her other blog, The Book Nook. I bring down the whole reading level of their blog by reviewing books like Brisingr and Cell, but get to read the reviews of so many other books that sound really interesting.

Melodie over at Me & My Girls is one of my very best commenters. She's a great SITSta! She has a fun blog filled with her beautiful daughters, lots of pictures, plenty of fun, oh, and a very disturbing picture of turtles gettin' busy. Yep, you read that right, and I *know* you're going to have to click that link. I think I may have a new leader in my "outclick" stats!

A Thorn Among Roses is one of my very first SITS finds. I was immediately captured and touched by an adoption post she had written, though she post about far more than that. Another lovely blog, filled with kindness and beautiful pictures.

American in Norway is such a HOOT! She's willing to share embarrassing stories about herself. What more do you need in a blog? Oh, she writes well, takes amazing photos, and is interesting. She was just the featured blogger on SITS about a week ago, so I'm pretty new to reading her blog, but am very much enjoying it.

And I'm going to throw in a bonus mention for Tracey at The Journey. She actually is a card...like, someone gave her that nickname. I had to give that nickname to myself. No one actually told me I was a card, I just announced it to the world. She also gave me some really great potty training advice...exactly what I needed to hear.

I know, that's six blogs instead of five, but I just couldn't help myself :) There are a lot of fun blogs and bloggers I've found through SITS. It really is kind of neat...check it out.

And if you've found me through SITS, THANK YOU!

Mortified Monday

Playing along with American in Norway, I'll present to you an embarrassing story from my past. Really, there are so many to chose from. I'm always doing something ditzy, or silly, or, well, embarrassing. Gotta keep my blog not-R rated, so that eliminates some of my stories. Plus, I know my mom is reading ;)

So, here it is, one of my many embarrassing moments:

Let me set the stage. I was in eleventh grade, kind of geeky, and sitting through Physics class. Our teacher was also the football coach. He got a phone call in the middle of class, and asked us, "Is anyone in [insert cute football star's name here]'s class next period?" Cute Football Star was...cute...a football star...and a senior.

What do I do, I mumble, in what I thought was under my breath, "I wish!"

Everyone heard it.

That's pretty embarrassing, right?

It gets worse.

My teacher thought it was so funny, he told Cute Football Star, and the rest of the football team who happened to be around, about it at practice that afternoon.

Yes, I got a little bit of teasing about that. And I blushed every time I saw Cute Football Star in the hall after that.

Okay, so that's not *too* mortifying, but it was pretty embarrassing at the time!

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Replies to comments:

What do you all think? Do you like the replies to comments section of my posts, or find it boring and distracting? Should I go back to replying to comments in the comment section? Looking for some feedback, y'all!

Recipes

I have the recipes up from my Pass the Plate meal over at The Veggie Project. Potato Pancakes, Apple Compote, and Chocolate Zucchini Brownie Cake.

Yes, the cat's now out of the bag: I made brownies out of zucchini for my friend who hates vegetables. I'm a little evil. But seriously, this is the BEST cake I've ever had. I mean, better than non-zucchini chocolate cake. You can't taste the zucchini at all. Seriously. It's just like a delicious, moist chocolate-y brownie-ish cake.

I have to find out what Barb thought of it. If she liked it, now I can say, "Well, you liked zucchini if I mix it with tons of chocolate and sugar, right?"

Another Meme

I rarely post on weekends. I know, don't fall over in shock that it's a Sunday and I'm posting. But I was tagged for a meme by Goddess in Progress, called Playing Tag with Memory Loss.

The instructions are these:

* Go to your Sixth Picture Folder then pick your Sixth Picture.

* Pray that you remember the details.

* Tag 5 others.

I wasn't going to play along since I am phenomenally paranoid and don't put recognizable pictures of my kids up on my blog. But I decided to take a look, and my 6th picture in my 6th folder actually doesn't show any faces! So here it is:

This picture is from February 2007 when the boys were 19 months old. It shows one of their favorite past times: pulling all the toys off the shelves. And then putting themselves on the shelves. That's B-man on the shelf. He has always liked to "put himself away" more than N-man does.

If you look closely, you can see N-man's little arm in the bottom left corner of the picture. He was causing trouble that day, too. And, toys strewn all over: that's a pretty typical family room look for us. The toys have changed as they've gotten older, but the "strewn all over the floor" remains the same.

I'm supposed to tag 5 people, but I just did a meme the other day and hardly anyone played along. So if you want to play, go wild. I'm tagging you all. Or none of you, depending on how you look at it :)

Replies to comments on Cooking for the Cure:

Snick: As I said on your blog, I almost told you Barb's husband was a plumber, but your blog entry said you'd already called someone. How funny that it was someone I know! And that's one of my favorite meals. I made it on Yom Kippur. TK was talking to his mom that night while I was cooking, and he told her what I was making. I had to own up to the fact that the whole Jewish holiday thing got me in the mindset of Jewish holiday food. I just couldn't wait for Hanukkah to bust out the latkes!

Sheri: I don't know why, but I just can't stand cucumbers. Ick! And I'll post the recipes over on The Veggie Project (I'll link it in here when I'm done).

Cooking for the Cure

Some of you may remember a few weeks ago that I was excited to have ordered a Pass The Plate platter to support breast cancer research. Well, I got the plate and today I've passed it!

I decided to give it to my friend Barb (I know she reads, but she NEVER comments. I love her anyway, though!). It's her birthday today, and it seemed like a good way to send happy birthday wishes. Don't worry, I'd already cleared it with her that she was up for getting something that she has to pass along!

Here's the weird thing about Barb: she doesn't eat vegetables. At all. Seriously. Can you believe we're friends? It's so confusing to me. I mean, vegetables are awesome. I can see not liking some of them (I mean, kohlrabi? Really? That stuff is horrid! And cucumbers...don't even get me going about how it's the most evil vegetable on earth, infecting any other food it touches with its disgusting flavor!) But all vegetables? I must drive her crazy, because I'm always asking her things like, "well what about roasted squash? You must like that. If it has a lot of butter and raisins and brown sugar? No? Well, what about green beans when they're just lightly steamed? No? Well, what about..." You get the idea.

I was planning to make cake for the plate, since it was Barb's birthday and all. But then I was talking to her last night while I was making dinner. I was making potato pancakes (as an aside, we're getting TONS of potatoes from our CSA. I feel a little like my Irish mom, serving potatoes at every meal. Hee, hi mom!) And do you know what Barb said? That she likes potato pancakes. Wait a minute: potatoes are a vegetable! I have a ton of them that I need to use up. I can make her a vegetarian meal! Holy macaroni, and I even have apples we picked earlier in the week so I made an apple compote to go with it.

So that's what I made for my pass the plate meal: potato pancakes with a side of apple compote. And some chocolate brownie cake. Breakfast of champions!




This was a lot of fun, and I can't wait to track the progress of the plate as it gets passed along. Head over to KitchenAid if you want to buy your own plate. It's $25, and they donate $5 every time someone passes the plate (and registers it online).




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Replies to comments on The Big 1-8-8:

Thanks, everyone, for playing along with me!
Gio: count again, you forgot your 2007 posts...we're very nearly tied :). I'll post more about NaNo and NaBlo as we get closer (gosh, we're pretty close already!) The reward for NaNo is that you've written a novel. For NaBlo, there are bloggers who donate prizes that are randomly awarded at the end of the month. But probably, your reward for NaBloPoMo is that you've posted every day for a month :)
Melodie: My, you're a prolific poster!
TracyP: Love to meet another Card!
Me: Who are you? You're not ME, are you? Wait, you're you, I know it!
Ronnica: I'm so not organized to prepost. I see you, and other people, scheduling posts at The Book Nook. I'm never that far ahead!

Replies to comments on Aha!:

Gio and Nancy: I'm so glad someone else knows and loves this. I was actually a ridiculous A-ha fan back in the day, with pictures of them up all over my room. I owned TWO of their albums. I know, most people don't even know there's more than just the one :)

Replies to comments on The Big 1-9-0:

Goddess in Progress: I do try to come up with excuses for cake. You know, like it's a day that ends in Y. And Y should I eat cake? Because, that's Y!

Nancy: I should have taken you up on that. We could have had a little cake picnic at preschool pickup :)

Reply to another comment on Brevity is the soul of...:

Amnesia: that's a great list...you should play along on your own blog!

The big 1-9-0!

Today I'm celebrating my 190th post!

Just kidding!

I'm just searching for a cake excuse.

Aha!

Here's some random silliness that my friend KK had forwarded to me. It's a song that tells the literal story of what's happening in A-ha's Take On Me Video. Very funny!

The big 1-8-8!

Today I'm celebrating the big 188th blog post! Wooo!

Okay, here's the thing:

• I see a lot of blogs where people celebrate their BIG posts (100, 200, etc)
• I think, boy, that would be fun
• I don't pay a lot of attention to my post number. In fact, by the time I thought to see if I'd reached 100 posts, I was at about 120.
• I'm coming up on my 200th post.
• I'm sure not to notice when I hit my 200th post.
• Then I'd have to wait until I hit 300 posts, which I'm also sure not to notice.
• Then I'd have to wait until I hit 400 posts, which really feels like a cheat and that I should wait until I hit 500 posts.
• And waiting until I hit 500 posts seems really far away.
  
• Plus, I feel like celebrating today. In fact, I feel like there may need to even be some chocolate cake.

So it's a celebration! 188 posts! Yay, me! Now here's what you have to do: nothing. Come on, it's 188 posts, not a *real* number worth celebrating. But if you really want to celebrate with me, leave me a comment! Oh yes, I'm comment whoring again today! And if you really, really, really want to celebrate, blog your own celebration of whatever post number you happen to be on. And then eat some chocolate cake. Believe me, I think I'm on to something here!

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Did you notice my new tricked out blog bling? Yep, I've signed on for NaNoWriMo 2008! Anyone else planning to participate? I'm considering NaBloPoMo as well, mostly as a quickie update on my novel progress and other short goodies. Not sure yet, though.

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Replies to comments on Brevity is the soul of...being brief:

Nancy: You totally caught me on why I love the grocery story.

Giovanna: Don't worry, I already finished the Stephen King book. I just started our book group book!

ThreeUnderTwo: Yes, my parents are buffaloes! I'm a wee buffalo-babe. Okay, you caught me. I was swayed by Nancy's answers, where she listed where her parents were from. I'm embarrassed, but also amused enough to let my answers stand :)

Melodie: There's always a catch, isn't there...awards, but work attached. Thanks for playing!

American in Norway: Oh, good! I hope you do have time to play along!

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Replies to comments on What's Your Tag Line?:

Dana, you rock! And now I feel like maybe I should watch Cocktail with such an awesome tagline!

Melodie, well, you'll just have to make up your own tagline then!

Maggie, I knew I could count on you! And I almost included the Spinal Tap tagline...we're on a wavelength :)

What's Your Tag Line?

I have a post up over on The Book Nook reviewing Cell by Stephen King. I try not to be entirely tangential over there, but here, well, all bets are off. So I'm going to own up to you all why I picked up Cell even though I haven't read any Stephen King in years. It was because of the tag line. Printed right across the front cover is:

YOUR NUMBER IS UP!
CELL

I mean, how genius is that? I love a good tag line. They crack me up and yet still pull me in.

Which brings me around to my favorite all time tag line. It's for the movie Popcorn. And here's the tag line: Buy a bag, go home in a box. You can just hear announcer guy announcing that in his announcer-y voice, can't you?

Have I ever seen the movie? No. Do I ever plan to see the movie? No. But am I *still* cracking up about that tag line over 15 years later? You betcha! So thank you, makers of Popcorn. Thank you, tag line writer of Cell. You keep me entertained.

What's your favorite tag line?

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Replies to comments on The Redemption of the Coffee Wench:

Thanks, Nancy! Hope this is another out-of-nowhere post for you!

Gio, I'll email you offline. Yes, I travel out of my way to go to a supermarket that has Caramel Macchiatos :)

Sheri, Splenda, say it ain't so! I can accept you voting for McCain, but please, using Splenda? :)

Melodie, yes, that was my issue, too, about the inherent undertext that maybe I should be drinking a low-cal beverage.

Bevity is the soul of...being brief?

Nancy over at The Zimmer Zoo tagged me for this meme, a fun one where all answers must only be one word long. This should be especially challenging for me, as in most of my writing, I'm generally of the opinion: why use 1 word when 10 would suffice? Yes, I can be rather...wordy. But today, I'll be one-word-y.

The rules are these: answer the following questions with one word answers, then pass the award on to seven others.

1. Where is your cell phone? Purse
2. Where is your significant other? Meeting
3. Your hair color? Blonde
4. Your mother? Buffalo
5. Your father? Buffalo
6. Your favorite thing? Family
7. Your dream last night? None
8. Your dream/goal? Writer
9. The room you're in? Family
10. Your hobby? Reading
11. Your fear? Zombies
12. Where do you want to be in six years? Here
13. Where were you last night? Home
14. What you’re not? Energetic
15. One of your wish list items? Time
16. Where you grew up? Buffalo
17. The last thing you did? Blog
18. What are you wearing? Clothes
19. Your TV? Working!
20. Your pet? Imaginary
21. Your computer? Computing
22. Your mood? Tired
23. Missing someone? Friends
24. Your car? Van
25. Something you’re not wearing? Makeup
26. Favorite store? Grocery
27. Your summer? Wonderful
28. Love someone? Many
29. Your favorite color? Black
30. When is the last time you laughed? Minutes
31. Last time you cried? Reading

I pass this along to:

1. Giovanna Diaries

2. Snickollet I know you don't do meme's, but this one is only 31 words. Oh heck, feel free to skip it! That goes for any of you who don't want to do it...I had to pick SEVEN people! Seven, I tell you!

3. Melodie at Me & My Girls

4. Three Under Two at Lit & Laundry

5. Two Moms and A Baby, though I only expect one of the moms to participate :)

6. LauraC at Laura's Mommy Journal

7. Mary Ellen at Snacks, Please!

Plus whoever wants to play along...I love all the blogs I read!

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Nancy, because she's really awesome, also gave me an award! Awww, she's so sweet! Thank you, Nancy, for passing this along to me!

The rules are:
- the winner can put the logo on his/her blog
- link to the person you received your award from
- nominate at least 7 other blogs
- put links to those blogs on yours
- leave a message on the blogs of the people you nominate

I'm nominating all of you from the meme above. You know, so long as you play along. Or not. You're brilliant, or brillante, anyway.

The Redemption of the Coffee Wench

Some of you may remember my story of the coffee wench, the terrible barista who tried to poison me by giving me Splenda. This may be surprising, but I still go to that coffee shop. Hey, what do you want, it's the one in my supermarket. It's either go there or shop without delicious coffee. But when the coffee wench is working, I just order a plain coffee, nothing special for her to make wrong or put Splenda in.

It's been a long time, though, and last time I was shopping, I really, really, really wanted the warm caramely goodness of a caramel macchiato. But The Coffee Wench was working. Oh, terrible conundrum...what to do??

I figured, it's been months. I'm hardly one to hold a grudge*. So I ordered my caramel macchiato. And you know what? It was PERFECT. Full of REAL sugar, and I think she even added extra caramel sauce on top.

Even better, I was buying those little Horizon milk boxes for my kids, and by mistake, I picked up one without a straw (oh, the humanity! There's no way a regular straw could ever be an acceptable substitute for my kids). Luckily, I noticed before we left, so I went back up to ask if I could exchange it for a milk with an attached straw. She said fine, then as I was leaving, she asked if I wanted the straw-free milk, since she'd otherwise just have to throw it away.

So not only did she give me a great coffee, she also gave me free milk. I think she's officially overcome her coffee wench title. Perhaps I'll even call her a barista now, though it still seems like a slight overstatement of the skills of a person working in a grocery story coffee shop...

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Replies to comments on Crazy fear:

Okay, now I'm paranoid. No one really called me out on it being a crazy fear. And no one else owned up to carrying a presidential curse. ThreeUnderTwo and Melodie, it seems like you two really would like me to vote for the opposite candidate you support. Oh dear, I am cursed, aren't I?

Melodie: that's so funny! Ah, the hanging chads. Gotta love it!

Jongirl: The money's not in the presidency, but in all those cushy post-presidential jobs... And the best thing about Buffalo would be you and dad. And for the record for all of you who haven't been to Buffalo, it really is a very nice town. It doesn't deserve the bad rap it gets in general.

Snick: How strange! Maybe Maddie and Riley are...gasp...REPUBLICANS! No, it could never be ;)

Sheri-CT: I highly doubt you and I are voting for the same candidate. But I love you anyway! And I'm so glad you figured out how to comment. HI!

Nancy: You're right, it is funny people are trying to sway me. Well, at least I can say with some conviction that my blog appeals to people of different political leanings!

American in Norway: Thanks for the comment! I hope you're enjoying your SITS day. I love the stories of the crazy things kids say to embarrass us. Here's another post of some silly things my boys said, though you may start to get the idea that my kids are a little obsessed with discussing boy and girl parts!

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*Okay, people who know me, feel free to burst into gales of laughter about this one. Fine, so I am one to hold a grudge. Just ask TGIF's Restaurants, who crossed me in, oh, about 1997 and I'm still annoyed. Or AT&T, who pissed me off in 2002 and I still hate them with a fiery passion. But it takes more than one coffee with Splenda to incur my eternal wrath. Six months was just the right amount of anger over that coffee.

Crazy fear

This is going to sound crazy, but I feel like I carry a presidential curse. See, I've never voted for a candidate who became president. To be fair, in the '96 election (my first when I was old enough to vote), I just couldn't bring myself to vote for either main candidate so I left the president vote blank. Had someone *forced* me to vote, I probably would have filled in that Clinton bubble. Weird, huh? I guess there's probably plenty of people in my general age range who meet this same criteria of never having voted for a winning candidate. Still, it feels like whomever I want to win never wins. I'm a total luck-sucker when it comes to presidents. Oh, that sounds vaguely perverted. I'm glad I already owned up to not voting for Clinton.

Of course I'm going to vote this year. But it still makes me a bit nervous, like maybe I should vote for the opposition. I won't though, don't worry. But I know I'll be sweating a little in that voting booth. You know, so long as B-man and N-man give me any time to think about anything. Which is fairly unlikely. I'll probably be more worried about them jumping into the voting booth next door. Which is almost sure to happen, as that's what happens every time I take them into a dressing room with me. But it's my civic duty to teach them about voting, right? They always come and vote with me, though it's been over a year since I voted (shame, shame, I know. I was really sick last November, and am not registered with a party so couldn't vote in the primaries. And just don't ask why I didn't vote in any local elections that seem to happen at random times. One more reason why I need to subscribe to a local paper, you know, besides the obvious of wanting to read the personals.)

We'll see what happens this November. I sure hope my losing streak is broken!

PS~~This is probably all the politics you'll see in my blog. I have little interest in trying to bring anyone around to my point of view, and doubt that people even pay much attention to opposing views. And quite honestly, I'm pretty sick of our two-party, rich candidate choices we get in every election, even down to a fairly local level...

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Replies to comments on How cute!:

LauraC: That sounds like an interesting idea for a book. I'm sorry to hear it wasn't well done. And I guess other parenting tasks, especially sleep issues, kicked my butt. I just expected that to be hard, while N-man's complete resistance to using a potty has caught me totally off-guard.

Melodie: I know, but I love that. I bet that woman is a real firecracker!

Nancy: I hate reading the real estate section. It's so depressing to me. I grew up in an area where houses are FAR less expensive. We could live in a gigantic mansion in Buffalo for what our normal-sized house goes for here! Or what we'd actually do, which is buy a normal-sized house for a fraction of the price. Of course, on the down side, we'd have to live in Buffalo (sorry, Mom! What can I say, Boston is wicked awesome.)
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Random unrelated thought, this just happened edition:

N-man just walked over with a piece of fabric folded in half. He told me it was his book. I asked him what it said, so he unfolded the fabric and said this:

Dinosaurs walk outside. And then all done.

His first book! I'm so glad I was typing to record that. Maybe I'll write it on some paper and let him illustrate it tomorrow.

He's totally ready to do NaNoWriMo with me this year!

How cute!

I was reading a local newspaper, and you know what I stumbled across? Personal Ads! Really. I know. I thought it was all done online now, too. But there they were! So curiosity captured me: I had to read to see who was placing these ads.

You know what the cutest ad was? Here it is, in part: SWF, 80, seeks SWM, 75-85, for possible LTR. Isn't that the sweetest? I hope she finds her fella for a LTR!

Another one cracked me up, this one placed by a guy. It read in part, SM, 58, seeks SF, 27-60. 27? How did you come up with that age? I bet he sat around thinking, should I seek a 25 year old? Or would that be too young for me? Hmmm. Yeah, 25 might be too young, but 27 should be okay. I'm less rooting for this guy.

Wow, I got a kick out of those ads. It's almost worth subscribing to the local newspaper just to have some personals to giggle about. And I didn't even recount the ads looking for gothic wiccans or tall women who wear black. Pretty specific, huh?

And yes, I have better things to do with my time than read personals ads. Heck, TK has better things to do than be interrupted near constantly for 10 minutes as I recounted the funniest ads to him. And now I've wasted all your time, too. Maybe I shouldn't subscribe to the newspaper!

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Bonus funny B-man story for those of you who were amused at the personal ads. Well, even for those of you who weren't be still stuck through the post anyway:

I picked the boys up from school on Monday and we were walking down the street to where I parked the car. B-man started taking off his coat, so I helped him. In doing so, I lifted up his shirt a little and, gasp, his whole BUM was hanging out! He went to the potty at school, but must have had trouble pulling his pants back up. While the front was pulled up properly, he didn't get the back pulled up. Who knows how long he walked around at school with his little fanny sticking out. His shirt was kind of long, so it wasn't really obvious. I just got such a giggle about this! Poor kid! I told him in the future he could ask one of the teachers if he couldn't get his pants back up. And you can be sure I'm checking to make sure his pants are up from now on after his bathroom visits!

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Replies to comments on It's Amazing How Different They Are:

Gio, I haven't even got the book group book yet. It's just not sounding exciting to me! I have to go to the library. Can't wait to see you, and hear the story!

Nancy, yes, he's sure proud! Aren't the differences one of the neat things about twins?

Melodie, I, too, have a little one who is much happier to pee anywhere besides the potty. Sometimes if he has on undies he begs for a diaper. Yuck. It's driving me crazy!

LauraC, not to scare you, but potty training is the first parenting thing that's really kicking my butt. I can't wait to be done with this! On the plus side, though, it was pretty easy with one of my boys. Maybe you'll luck out and have an easy go with both of your boys!

It's amazing how different they are

Two recent things have just made me marvel at how different B-man and N-man's brains process.

First, I gave N-man a penny, then handed him a second penny. He said proudly, "1 and 1 make 2!" So I answered, just as proudly, "You're right!". Then B-man piped up, "No. 1 and 1 make ELEVEN." "Yes," I replied, "You're kind of right, too."

Isn't it weird that one is learning math, adding two numbers, while the other is concentrating on reading skills, learning that 11 is eleven?

Then the other thing, when B-man was first starting to potty train, he somehow started in with saying that the characters on his undies were sad if he had an accident. He'd pee in his Diego underwear, and then tell me, "Mommy, Diego's sad." So I'd wash out Diego, hang him up to dry, and then he'd announce, "Diego is happy again."

Well, yesterday I had N-man, who is still not even remotely potty trained, in Thomas the Tank Engine undies. N-man peed in them, looked down, and said, "Thomas is still happy!" Then he went right on playing in his soaking wet underwear, standing in a huge puddle of pee, until I came over to change him. He insisted he didn't need to be changed, since Thomas wasn't bothered by being peed on.

As a bonus kid story, since I'm on the topic, last night at dinner N-man announced, a propos of nothing, "I like touching my pe,n^is." And with that statement, I think he just distilled one of the most defining elements of being a guy into a single sentence. And yes, I do plan on saving up this story to tell his future dates. Oh heck, I'm nice. I'll wait until he's engaged to tell it.

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Replies to comments on Join the Rebel Alliance!:

Ronnica: I've never understood the draw of Catcher in the Rye. I just didn't think it was that good. You're right, it would be interesting to reread Lord of the Flies when it's not a force-fed part of high school English.

Gio: Hmm, Memory Keeper's Daughter started getting more interesting again. Spoiler alert for anyone who hasn't read it...I'm up to the part where Norah is having a fling. You know me, throw some sex in a book, and I'm sure to read it!

Mary Ellen: Ooo, secret identity unmasked! My husband would also love a double oven, at least to hear me stop complaining about how small our oven is. Did you know I can't even fit a normal-sized cookie sheet in it? I had to buy all new small sized cookie trays when we moved here. Okay, complaining done.

Maggie: Yes, part of why I picked this up was because of Emlyn. And the twin thing. And just because it sounded interesting. But it's just not that good, besides the above referenced sex recapturing my attention ;)

Jules: You're definitely a rebel! I have so much trouble putting down a book and walking away. I feel compelled to finish them, even if it brings me no joy...

Rhonda: No matter how much I read, I never can stay up to date. Maybe I should pick more carefully and skip books like this one!

Join the Rebel Alliance!

Be a rebel and read a banned book. Did you know it's Banned Books Week? Well, I know Three Under Two knows!

Ronnica over at the Book Nook posted a link to a list of the most commonly banned books, and listed the ones she's read. I thought it was interesting, so I'm playing along, too. Here's a link to the list of the Top 100 most challenged books from 1990 to 2000. And here's what I've read, along with some brief comments:

1. Scary Stories (Series) by Alvin Schwartz (I remember reading one of these books when I was in Elementary school. I think I thought it was pretty silly, if I remember correctly.)

5. The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn by Mark Twain (Loved it!)

7. Harry Potter (Series) by J.K. Rowling (Really enjoyed these.)

8. Forever by Judy Blume (Really liked this book, and surprise, surprise, it didn't make me run out and have sex, which I assume is the normal reason for this to be banned. I do, however, remember when all of us gals were reading it in middle school and talking about it quite a bit!)

9. Bridge to Terabithia by Katherine Paterson (What a wonderful and sad book. I must have read it a thousand times when I was in 4th and 5th grade.)

13. The Catcher in the Rye by J.D. Salinger (Okay, don't really get what all the hoopla is about this book.)

14. The Giver by Lois Lowry (Absolutely loved this book!)

16. Goosebumps (Series) by R.L. Stine (I read a few of these when I was working with kids, and they just weren't good books. While I'd never ban a book for being poorly written, I'd be hard-pressed to actually recommend these to anyone. Maybe people I didn't like :)

22. A Wrinkle in Time by Madeleine L'Engle (Glorious book. So interesting, and one of the books that instilled a love of sci-fi in me.)

26. The Stupids (Series) by Harry Allard (Read some of these in one of my children's lit classes. Didn't really enjoy them.)

37. The Handmaid's Tale by Margaret Atwood (One of my all-time favorite books.)

39. The Bluest Eye by Toni Morrison (Great book. I actually read this on my honeymoon, if you care to hear a random fact about me.)

41. To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee (Okay, but didn't really capture me.)

42. Beloved by Toni Morrison (Good.)

43. The Outsiders by S.E. Hinton (Loved, loved, loved this book. I used to be able to quote from it I'd read it so many times. In fact, I still bust out with a "nothing gold can stay" from time to time. Okay, technically that's Robert Frost, but it so embodied the book for me. Now I want to reread this!)

47. Flowers for Algernon by Daniel Keyes (Another terrific book.)

51. A Light in the Attic by Shel Silverstein (Loved this as a kid, now I have it for my kids.)

52. Brave New World by Aldous Huxley (Another one of my favorite books.)

53. Sleeping Beauty Trilogy by A.N. Roquelaure (Anne Rice) (I'm kind of embarrassed I've read these. Hey, I'm an Anne Rice fan, what can I say? My problem with these books isn't that it's erotica, but that it's kind of boring, poorly written erotica.)

55. Cujo by Stephen King (Not one of his better novels, although I do have a ridiculous fear of rabies to this very day).

56. James and the Giant Peach by Roald Dahl (Good, but not one of my favorite kid's books.)

62. Are You There, God? It's Me, Margaret by Judy Blume (I was addicted to Judy Blume books as a 5th grader.)

69. Slaughterhouse-Five by Kurt Vonnegut (As stated in my post over at The Book Nook, this is one of my favorite novels by one of my favorite authors).

70. Lord of the Flies by William Golding (Okay. One of those read it for English class books that was okay but nothing really exciting.)

77. Carrie by Stephen King (Is there really anyone who *hasn't* read this book? Once again, good, but not his best.)

83. The Dead Zone by Stephen King (I liked this one better than Cujo or Carrie, but it still doesn't top my list of Stephen King books.)

84. The Adventures of Tom Sawyer by Mark Twain (Good, although I like Huck Finn better.)

85. Song of Solomon by Toni Morrison (Good.)

87. Private Parts by Howard Stern (Boy, this one is a little embarrassing to admit!)

88. Where's Waldo? by Martin Hanford (I remember searching for Waldo, and I didn't even know there was a topless lady to be found!)


Wow, only 31 of the top 100. So, what do you think? Any of the "banned" books that you've read and enjoyed? Or hated? Or want to ban? If you're feeling up to it, blog your own "banned books" list!

Speaking of reading, I'm trapped in The Memory Keeper's Daughter. It's just not capturing my attention, and I don't find myself wanting to read. Has anyone read this? Does it get better? I'm about 1/3 of the way through it...

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B-man wasn't feeling well today. Or, techincally, he hardly slept at all last night as his asthma/coughing kept waking him up. Since he was falling asleep at breakfast, and had a temperature of 100.2, we kept him home from preschool. N-man went to preschool. It was weird, having one and not the other. I think they both missed each other. B-man kept talking about N-man this morning.

B-man slept in my arms for an hour, and has been much better since then. Hopefully he'll be breathing easier tonight and will sleep well as I am TIRED from being up with him last night.

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Replies to comments on People Really Are Reading!:

Gio: No, I'm not a famous blogger by a long shot! I'd guess we have very similar readerships. I'd guess we have most of the same readers in fact :)

LauraC: It actually doesn't bother me if people don't comment, though I love the comments. Yes, I agree, sometimes I post and don't get a lot of comments and then start second guessing my post. Ah well...

Ronnica: I'm lucky to have a lot of real life friends who do comment. Hi all you real life friends!

Melodie: I agree, it's a little weird to get used to a rectangular screen. One day I'll be telling the grandkids, "Back in my day, our TVs were square, and we liked 'em that way!"

Daav: Oh, don't get me going about the ridiculous apartment-sized wall oven in our house. I wish we had the money to redo the oven as well as the counter-top stove!

Nancy: Psst! I read your blog, too!