A grand year

So, today it's my birthday. I'm one of those people who are pretty neutral about birthdays--I certainly don't dread them, and I've never understood people who get depressed that it's their birthday. But I don't need a huge celebration, either. It is a good time to reflect, though, and my 34th year was a pretty good one:
* A few weeks after my birthday last year, I found out I was pregnant
*Lil' baby Z-man was born this summer
*We moved into our forever-home (or at least our "we have no plans to move out of home")

Add in the incredible N-man and B-man, and the amazing TK, and 34 treated me pretty well!

This year also marked an interesting milestone for TK and me. We started dating when I was 17 years old, so I've now officially been with him for more than half my life. That's kind of crazy! I'm so lucky to have met my perfect match.

TK and the boys got me a stand mixer for my birthday. Yippee! I've wanted one for years and I'm really excited. So if any of you have any nut-free cookie recipes you'd like to share, bring them on! Or any other recipes I can use my stand mixer for. I'm just in a holiday cookie making mood :)

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Green tip for the day: Use a travel container for your soap in the shower. Make sure you dump all the water out before you put the top back on and the soap will dry out between showers. Your soap will last MUCH longer this way, and therefore you won't need to buy as much soap.

In general, I'm a fan of bar soap over liquid soap since liquid soap comes in plastic bottles. But it's getting easier and easier to find natural, plant-based soap, both bars and liquids. I'm a big fan of the Method liquid soap, which is much easier for potty-training-kids to use to wash their hands well than a bar soap would be. I like Method since it's affordable, easy to find in regular grocery stores, and the refills are also relatively easy to find as well (I get them at Bed Bath and Beyond). Anyone have a favorite eco-friendly bar soap to recommend? I'm still searching...

Easter stories

Heard in the Card house yesterday: "What does a Peep taste like?"

The remarkable thing about that comment was that it wasn't asked by one of the children, but by TK. How do you make it to your mid-30's without ever having Peeps? Don't worry, I made sure he tried a Peep. Final call: Eh. I agree with that assessment, which is why we've never had Peeps in the house any previous Easter.

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Earlier in the week, the boys' preschool class had discussed what they hoped to get in their Easter baskets. B-man came home so excited about it! He actually didn't know what he hoped to get, but was amused to report that one of the boys in the class "wants an EYE-POD!" B-man kept saying it like that, with the I part really drawn out. Then he'd crack up like it was the funniest thing ever. I finally asked him after the fourth or fifth time he told the story if he even knew what an ipod is. We don't have one! He thought for a minute, then admitted he didn't. I'm guessing the teachers must have cracked up at this little 4 year old who hopes for an ipod for Easter. Hey, that would have been nice. I would have liked an ipod, too! The Apple Easter Bunny didn't make a stop at our house, though.

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We had a candy-free Easter (well, except the Peeps I bought for dessert) since it's so hard to find nut-free chocolate or jelly beans. It went over pretty well, I thought. But for the Easter eggs we hid, I was a little sad not to put those foil chocolate eggs inside. Instead, we put coins in each one. N-man loves change. Putting money in his piggy bank is one of his favorite things to do. Every time he found an egg, he'd run over to us and tell us excitedly, with a huge smile, "there's money in this one, too!" It was excellent, and so fun. Made me feel just fine about not having little treats in the eggs.

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Hope you all had a nice weekend!

Hanukkah races

I'm new to this whole Hanukkah thing; we've really only been lighting the menorah regularly in the past few years. Before that, we might remember a night or two, but never all eight nights.

So I just have to know: does everyone bet on which candle is going to win? I mean, how can you not?

And secondary question: how do you define "win"? Is it the candle that burns out first, or last? I contend that the candle that burns out first is the winner, while TK holds that the candle that burns longest is the winner.

My position is that I'm being far more positive: of course the candles are racing to the finish line (being burnt out). Just watch 'em and you'll see...they want to burn out! If they're trying to stay lit longest, well, it's a Pyrrhic victory at best as even the last burning will soon succumb to the extinguishing of its flame.

And how come it's not the center candle that burns out first every time? It's lit first, it should go out first. And then the other candles should burn out from right to left, in the order they were lit. Why doesn't it work out that way? Can I please get completely uniformly sized and shaped candles? Are drafts of air in the house responsible for the different burning times? Has anyone ever studied the order in which Hanukkah candles burn out?

Do I think too much about this?

Well, I hope all of you who celebrate had a very happy Hanukkah this year!

He doesn't understand...or perhaps he understands all too well!

We have a Christmas tradition of making a donation for the boys as one of their gifts. This year is the first time we thought they were old enough to be really involved in the process, so after opening our gifts and eating breakfast, we sat down to talk about giving to people who have less than us.

I said, "We give money to help people who need it."

B-man said, "Maybe we should give it to the bank."

Has he been listening to NPR while my back was turned???

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We ended up picking some ducks and some chickens to donate through World Vision. I thought something concrete would be easier for them to understand than just sending a check to March of Dimes or Red Cross or something. We were looking through all the things we could donate, talking about them and how they'd help people. When we picked the ducks, N-man said, "Wait, I have another duck!" Then he ran to the bathtub to get his rubber ducky.

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All in all, it was a fun experience. I can't wait for future years to see what kinds of charities they'll get interested in!

Merry Christmas, everyone!

Cauliflower Latkes

For the first night of Hanukkah this year, I made two kinds of latkes: traditional potato, and a cauliflower latke recipe I found in Bon Appetit.

I love potato pancakes. They're so delicious, and I make them all year. Why wait for Hanukkah? But I must admit, the cauliflower latkes were even better! Here's the recipe, if you're celebrating Hanukkah, or if you just want some really delicious food. The original recipe appears in the link above, but we made a few changes (my sister-in-law, a wonderful cook, pretty much made this one):

Ingredients:

2 medium head of cauliflower, broken into small florets
2 garlic cloves, minced
2 T. minced fresh parsley (or 1 tsp of dried parsley)
1/2 tsp dried dill
1/2 c. plus 2 T dried unseasoned breadcrumbs
1 1/2 tsp baking powder
3/4 tsp salt
1/2 tsp cayenne (or to taste...we used a lot less since my MIL doesn't like spicy food)
black pepper to taste
2 or 3 eggs
Oil for frying

Directions:

Steam the cauliflower until very tender. Add garlic and half the cauliflower to a food processor and process until smooth. Add the remaining cauliflower, parsley, and dill and process until slightly chunky.

Transfer to a large bowl and add the breadcrumbs, baking powder, salt, cayenne, and pepper. Beat 2 eggs and add to the batter. Stir well...if it's too dry, add a third egg.

Heat oil over medium high heat in a large skillet. Drop about 1 tablespoonful into the oil for each latke, flattening slightly. These will make very small latkes. For some reason, our were crumbly (I did add a third egg, but things still didn't hold together very well and we found it worked best not to flatten the batter).

Fry until bottom is browned, flip, and fry on the other side. Drain on paper towels.

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In the original recipe, they suggest a Za'atar aioli to serve on the side. Which would be great, except I don't have za'atar (a middle eastern spice mix, according to the recipe). So my sister-in-law whipped something vaguely similar up, that was such a yummy accompaniment!

Ingredients:

1 garlic clove, peeled
1 c. mayo
4 tsp lemon juice
1/4 c. olive oil
1 T. sesame seeds (or more to taste)
1T. Herbes de Provence (or more to taste)
Salt and pepper to taste

Directions:

Chop garlic finely in a food processor. Add sesame seeds, mayo, and lemon juice. With machine running, drizzle in the olive oil and blend until smooth.

Remove to a small bowl and whisk in the Herbes de Provence, salt, and pepper.

Let stand at least 30 minutes.

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We didn't take any pictures as it wasn't very pretty, but it was so delicious! Believe me, I won't be waiting until next Hanukkah to make these...we'll be eating them all year!

Merry SITSmas

What, you say it's only December 2nd and a little early to ALREADY be on to this? I know, I know, I don't set the date of SITSmas, it's just when it falls on the calendar. What's a girl to do?

Of course, my holiday season is nicely delayed this year. Hanukkah is relatively late, starting December 21. My inlaws are all coming up to visit for the holiday. And we're not doing Christmas until Martin Luther King Day. See, my idea of randomly changing the date of Thanksgiving is not without precedent.

But I'm in. I wish you all a very happy holiday season. May the lines be short for you, the traffic light, the prices on sale, and the cookies sweet. Oh, and all the "good will toward men" stuff, too :)

I'll leave you with this: my first experience torturing both my children and Santa. What's funnier: the looks on my boys' faces of sheer terror, or the look on Santa's face of sheer resignation? If my boys could have talked back then, I'm pretty sure they would have said, "We're half Jewish! Get us out of here!"



Happy Holidays, everyone! Merry Christmas, Happy Hanukkah, Happy whatever it is you celebrate! Have a safe, happy, wonderful December!

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Want to play along? Head on over to The Secret is in the Sauce. They're giving away a $200 Target gift card today, along with all the festivities...

The Famous Mashed Potato Bar

I know, you've all been waiting with bated breath to hear about the mashed potato bar. Don't worry, I have photographic evidence.



It was pretty awesome. Even better, the next morning, we made individual servings of scrambled eggs that people personalized with leftover potato bar toppings.

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Anyway, we're back from our Thanksgiving trip. The drive was suitably hellish, taking nearly 10 hours to get there (from Boston to NJ...usually about 5.5 hours), and 7 hours to get home. I hate Thanksgiving traffic. I swear, next year I'm petitioning the family to celebrate Canadian Thanksgiving. Or Columbus Day Thanksgiving. Or Veterans Day Thanksgiving. Anything that doesn't require me to be on the road the day before turkey day.

Other than the traffic, we had a great time. We had an awesome Thanksgiving. We went out to a fancy-schmancy lunch to celebrate my MIL's birthday. We played lots of games, like The Works and Super Munchkin. We were introduced to the TV show Big Bang Theory, which is ridiculously funny and I'm not sure how we've missed it. We hung out with family and generally had a good time.

I hope all of you also had a great holiday!

Happy Thanksgiving

I hope you're all enjoying Thanksgiving with friends or family today and having a wonderful, turkey-filled day.

In the spirit of the holiday, I just thought I'd mention how thankful I am for TK and the wonder-twins. My three favorite guys :)

I'm keeping this short...you're all probably too busy to read blogs today, or so stuffed with food that a long post will probably put you right to sleep!

Happy Birthday to my Mommy!

Sending out virtual Happy Birthday wishes to my mom. Happy Birthday, Mom!

I told the boys we'd call Grandma when they get home from school and I asked them what they were going to say. Here are their answers:

B-man: Happy Birthday!

N-man: Can we have cake?

I like the way N-man's brain works! We'll see what they actually end up saying.

She comments here as Jongirl, so I know she'll read the comments and would probably be amused by birthday wishes from virtual strangers :)

Ghosts and Bats, Oh MY!

Halloween was so fun! Last year, we tried to trick-or-treat, but the boys were too nervous...they hated to go to doors and, you know, actually see people. How horrid!

But that was 2.5 years old. This year, 3.5 years old: what a difference! They loved it! They loved seeing everyone's pumpkins and decorations. N-man would point at every single thing and say SPOOKY, except that when he says it, it sounds like FOOOOOKY, which for some reason cracks me up. B-man still didn't like to talk to strangers, but he happily followed N-man around, and waved at everyone since he didn't want to talk. N-man ran up to everyone and said Happy Halloween and Trick-or-treat and Thank you. He even ran right into a neighbors house he was so excited.

It was hilarious.

And now we have a massive pile of candy. That our kids aren't allowed to eat. I know, it's a tough life I have, having to eat tons of Reese's Peanutbutter cups and Snicker's bars.

Breaking my general rule of no pictures, here are my kids incognito enough for me:

N-man, our little boo:



B-man, our little bat-boy:



B-man technically wasn't supposed to have his face painted, but once he saw N-man's face, of course he needed face paint, too.

Is it just me, or do they look somewhat reminiscent of Johnny from Karate Kid? Maybe it's just because I know B-man was wearing a skeleton shirt under his bat costume.

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Current NaNo word count: Zero. Hey, it's only like 2 minutes into November. What do you want?

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!

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.

The big 1-9-0!

Today I'm celebrating my 190th post!

Just kidding!

I'm just searching for a cake excuse.

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 :)

I got proofed!

Excuse me for bragging for a minute, but I was at the liquor store yesterday and I got asked to see some ID! Okay, fine, I know they ask for ID from anyone who looks under 30, but hey, someone thought I look under 30! Woo Hoo!

Is there really anything else to say in this entirely narcissistic post?

Well, I can tell you about what I was buying. I got a 6 pack of Guinness. I'm not a big drinker, and I really don't like beer but I decided to try a new corned beef recipe that requires you to slow cook it all day in Guinness. Sounds interesting. I mean, I hate to let down my Irish heritage, but for once I wanted to try to a cooking style that doesn't involve boiling the crap out of everything. Shhh, don't tell my mom.

Random related thought: I'm a somewhat recent transplant to Massachusetts, and for the most part, I totally love it here. But does anyone else think it's ridiculous you can't buy alcohol in a supermarket? What a pain in the patootie, and I don't even drink very much. Why did I have to run a separate errand to buy some beer? Bunch of puritans :)

PS~~Happy St. Patrick's Day!

Bubbles and happy tears

Today is an exciting day. One of my friends is finalizing the adoption of her three year old son today.

I met J. over three years ago through a group of women who were all trying to get pregnant. The first time we met for lunch was only a few weeks before I found out I was pregnant with my twins. I've been lucky to get to experience many moments of celebration with this great group of women. Pregnancies, births, adoptions...thankfully the good tends to overshadow the bad. J. decided to go the foster-adopt route, and has been blessed with a wonderful and adorable little boy who has been with her and her husband since he was little. We've all been waiting with baited breath, hoping and waiting for this day to come.

Today is J.'s day, and this blog entry is to celebrate with her. Sometimes I wish I was a good fairy and could grant a wish for a perfect life, but instead, I'll recognize what you already have: all the ups and downs that come with parenting, a wonderful family, and the official recognition of what you already are...Mom.

Congratulations, J! I'm thinking of you all day and will be blowing bubbles at 12:30, sending them off full of happy thoughts to travel your way!