Who to hit up?

This is a call for help...or just a call for ideas if not help. I'm organizing a silent auction to raise money for a charity and I'm looking for ideas of places that might be good to ask to contribute something to the auction.

The auction will be at a national convention, which means since the majority of people will be from out of the area, local-specific items are out (e.g., gift certificates to local restaurants won't go over well). Also, since many people will be flying, larger items that won't fit in luggage probably won't be too popular.

So do you have any good ideas of types of products or companies I should try asking? Oh, it'll be all mom and dad (of twins specifically) attending.

Random unrelated thought, of interest to bloggers only edition: There was an interesting article in the June 08 Scientific American about the therapeutic benefits of blogging. It doesn't mention snickollet, so it's no cnn article. But I do have to appreciate an article that focuses on the neurobiology of why blogging feels good. Mmmm, yummy dopamine!

My awesome bad luck

I was having a rough afternoon yesterday. I've been sick, and while I'm recovering, I feel pretty low on energy. The boys were in a grumpy mood, and probably would have napped except a thunderstorm rolled through right as they were falling asleep. So I had two grumpy, overtired, scared boys while I was feeling pretty crappy myself.

I brought the boys downstairs, and N-man played quietly while I held B-man, trying to console him from the scare of the thunder. Of course B-man fell asleep in my arms. So I was trapped on the couch. Luckily, the computer was close by so I started browsing. I decided to look for a wii fit. Of course, it was nowhere to be found. Until I happened across one local store that as of closing the night before, had a "limited stock" available. Well, I figured that was a long shot if I ever heard of one as it was already afternoon. So I kind of put it out of my head.

Then N-man peed out of his diaper, and I had to put B-man down. B-man woke up, and started having a crying fit. I'm busy cleaning up pee and changing all of N-man's wet clothes and B-man is working himself up to a full-blown tantrum. I know, you're all jealous of my super-glamorous life. Luckily, I think the vast majority of my readers are all moms so I know you all have had days like this. It's not just me, is it??

I get N-man all cleaned up, then work on calming B-man down. I finally turn on a short TV show (god, I love on-demand. They have a huge selection of free children's programs, including a few really short animated versions of story books. A perfect 5 minute calm-down activity!) It helped a little, but things were still on the verge of falling apart. Oh, and TK wasn't coming home until bedtime since he was at band practice. I was all on my own.

So, a change of venue was in order. But where to go at 5pm? Of course, on a quest to get a wii fit! I load the boys into the car. And get going. And get stuck in traffic. Because it's rush hour. And not only that, but the road I was taking was torn apart. Shouldn't they give me updates if they're going to start construction on a road I want to take? Geez! (And yes, I'm also now running into dinner time. Luckily, since my boys don't eat, this is never a big problem with them).

I get to the store, get the boys back to the electronics section, and...no wii fits. Of course. But I didn't go all that way to give up without even asking. I wait in line, and ask the people who work there. Nope, no wii fits. Another woman comes up to ask the same thing, and we all start chatting about how many people have been in to look for wii fits and how annoying it is that there are never enough wii things to go around. I was laughing, talking about how on the way over I was teaching the boys about a "long shot". Well, along comes a manager, listens for a minute, then asks, "Are you looking for a wii fit?" Yes, answered the other woman and I. "Well, I have a few I just got in."

Really?

So the manager went to get the boxes, opened them, and we bought our wii fit! It was that easy. And if I hadn't had the bad luck to have N-man's pee accident, B-man's tantrum, rush hour traffic, road construction, and just generally being in a bad mood and having to get out of the house, I would have been there too early and they wouldn't have had any wii fits.

It's amazing, sometimes all kinds of bad stuff can happen that come together for something good.

Random related thought: I'm completely uncoordinated and a lot of the wii fit games rely on balance. Of which I don't possess any. At one point, the game actually heckled me and asked if I tripped a lot while I walk. Sadly, the answer is yes. My play was further impaired by having the boys playing with me. I'd let one get on to the balance board with me and we'd play together.

When TK got home, the boys excitedly told him all about playing the games. N-man happily reported, "We played the falling off the building game!" Yeah, it was a tightrope walking game. Although mostly we did just immediately fall off the tightrope and down between the buildings. Kids are so easily entertained. I love that he was just as happy with the thought that the goal of the game was to fall off the tightrope as to stay on it!

Laura Ingalls Better Watch Out!

Have you ever wanted to make butter? Well, here's your chance. It's surprisingly easy and while not exactly quick, is far quicker than I originally feared. My almost three year old twins aren't overly impressed with making butter, but adults find it incredibly interesting. We made it twice while my parents were visiting, and they've been making it with all their friends now! So I suspect this one will be a big hit with the adults even more than the kids. Without further ado, here's the recipe:

Ingredients:

Heavy Cream
Salt (optional)
Minced Garlic (optional)
Fresh Rosemary (optional)
Fresh Parsley (optional)
Fresh Chives (optional)
Or, whatever mix ins you'd like...or no mix ins at all.

Directions:

Find a small wide-mouthed container with a tight fitting top. We used an old Avent bottle with a non-nipple top. I've heard the glass stage 3 baby food jars would be a good size as well if you still have some sitting around.

Fill the container about half full of heavy cream.

Shake. Then shake some more. Then keep shaking. It takes a while. We just kept passing the bottle around and giving it a shake. At first, TK's comment was "the cream is going to spoil before it turns into butter!" Nothing happens for a little while. Then, it starts to turn into whipped cream. Then, after it's been whipped cream for a while and you keep shaking, it suddenly "breaks". The butter solidifies and the excess liquid (buttermilk) all comes out. It takes about 10 minutes or so total.

Pour off the buttermilk, and now you have butter! You can eat it straight, or mix in whatever you'd like. We tend to do lots of herbs from the garden, but you could also mix in some cinnamon and sugar and use it to make cinnamon toast, or just a little salt to make it slightly salted. I put the minced herbs in a little bowl, and then let the kids sprinkle them into the butter and stir it all up.

As you stir in the mix-ins, more excess liquid will come out...just pour it out.

Eat the butter! You can store it for a day or two in the fridge. We never make enough that this is really an issue, though.

A Taste of Spring

My girlfriend Jules was lamenting the fact that she couldn't find any fiddleheads yet. It got me to feeling guilty: I've seen them pretty much every time I go to the store, but haven't gotten any yet as they're not my favorite vegetable. So, after all the talk, when I saw a big pile of them yesterday, I bought a bunch.

Since I don't love fiddleheads, I decided to try something new and add all my favorite ingredients: butter, lots of garlic, and some mushrooms. They were okay. Still not my favorite. But in good news, FINALLY there was some local asparagus at the farm so that's what we're having tonight. If I can wait that long. I might be having it for lunch. Or a midmorning snack now that it's on my mind...

Random related thought: I haven't been posting much about eating locally because frankly, once I started doing it, I've found it's pretty easy to eat local on a small scale. Certainly not 100%, and probably not even 50%, but once I started focusing on local brands and products, my pantry and fridge became stocked with local choices and I didn't have to think so much about it. One night I even made a 100% local salad for dinner...without even meaning to! We were half way through eating it when I realized that everything, from the greens and veggies to the croutons to the dressing to the cheese were local (at least locally produced if not made from local crops).

I'm sure as the summer progresses, you'll be subjected to more of our eat local adventures, but for now, I'm just making local choices when I can!

Crazy freakin' clown!

I'm not the kind of person who is especially scared of clowns. I mean, I don't always find them particularly amusing, but so long as they don't hop out of the pages of It, I remain relatively coulrophobia-free.

But the other day, I was walking through the aisles at a local discount store (you know the type, with stuff piled up high leaving little visibility). As I pushed the cart with both of my boys in it out of the aisle, AHHHH, a clown popped out. I'm not sure if he was trying to rock the hungover-hobo-clown look, or if he was, you know, a hungover clown in a threadbare costume. He offered to make balloon animals for the boys. His offer, and I quote,

I can make swords, guns...

Um, can you make anything a little less disturbing? So I asked if he could make them dogs. Sure. I was just hoping they wouldn't be killer attack dogs. He made the first one and gave it to me and explained that he had to give it to me instead of the kids for liability reasons and that I had to take the responsibility of giving it to my kids.

Huh? What the heck is in this balloon? Does he fill them with laughing gas? Does he buy special discount balloons that advertises "Exrta Lead in evry baloon"?

He then proceed to inform me that he's available to do parties. Anyone looking for a slightly disturbing clown able to shape balloons into any weapon you'd like? Because boy do I have a recommendation for you!

Random unrelated thoughts: I love the age my boys are at now (almost 3 years). Their personalities are really starting to shine through and they're so much fun. Last night before bath time, I said to them, "Guess what we're going to go do in the bathroom?" B-man pipes right up "Take a bath!" while N-man simultaneously happily guesses, "Fix the toilet!"

This captures them so perfectly. We always take a bath at that time of night. B-man loves schedules and knowing what happens when. N-man, however, believes that anything is possible. The toilet wasn't broken, nor has it been broken recently. However, about two months ago when it wasn't flushing right, N-man got to see the toilet being fixed. He hasn't mentioned it since, but apparently it left an impression. He was very disappointed we were doing something as run-of-the-mill as taking a bath.

Get used to it, kids! That's life!

Every once in a while, I'm taken aback by a children's toy. It's happened once again. My grandmother gave the boys a large set of matchbox-type cars, trucks, and related stuff. It was some cheap off-brand I'd never heard of, not particularly well made, but my boys are absolutely loving it. And while it's turned my house into a giant disaster of tiny little toy pieces, I can see that it is a lot of fun so I'm not overly disturbed by these toys.

My problem, however, is with one of the small toys included. It's a barrel. Okay, that kind of makes sense. There are a lot of construction-themed pieces of the set (pylons, cones, etc.). What would you think the barrels contain? If you guessed "toxic waste", you'd be correct. Yes, you heard me: toxic waste. I've got to give you photographic proof:



Look closely: that's a picture of a person's hand being dissolved by a drop of what I assume is some kind of acid.

I wish I had been at the meeting at this toy company. I imagine it went something like this:

"How about we include some barrels in the set? That would be fun for kids."

"Great idea! What should be in the barrel?"

"Monkeys?"

"No, that's already been done."

"Rainwater?"

"What does that have to do with construction?"

"Um, those barrels that keep cars from being destroyed when they miss the exit and ram into the concrete?"

"Doesn't that seem a little dark for a kid's toy set?"

"Oh! I've got it! How about some toxic waste?"

"Yeah. I can see that!"

"What a great idea!"

"Kids love toxic waste! Just look at the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles!"

"And what parent doesn't want their kid to play with toxic waste?"

"Okay, it's a go."


Of course I'm letting them play with the barrels. Hey, kids, that's just the kind of world we live in. Filled with toxic waste. Sorry guys, get used to it!

Random unrelated thought: We bought the boys twin beds this weekend. They'll be delivered in about a month. Oh my, how did this happen??

Chocolate covered pretzels

I wrote an article for my Mother of Twins newsletter about cooking with kids (that phrasing still sounds all wrong to me!), so I've decided to use my blog to be a little more organized about cooking projects that have gone well with the boys. Or failed miserably. That would be fun, too. I figure it'll help me to keep all my "recipes" in one place, and maybe it'll help a few of you, too.

So here's a recipe we made a few weeks ago for chocolate covered pretzels. I use the term "recipe" loosely. I've found with three year old twins, recipes that need precise measurements are a set up for failure!

Ingredients:

Pretzels (any kind you want, just make sure they're big enough for your kids to hold part of it and dip the other part)
Chocolate chips (let's say 2/3 cup)
Sprinkles (I don't know, I just kept dumping more into their bowls as they ran out)

Directions:

Cover a cookie sheet with waxed paper. Set aside. Fill a small bowl for each child with pretzels, and another small bowl for each child with sprinkles. Set aside. Don't even think about making them share bowls, because that's just setting yourself up for fights :)

Put the chocolate chips in a microwave safe bowl. Microwave 20 seconds at a time, stirring well after each 20 seconds, until they are melted. The chocolate will be hot, but if you take it out JUST as the chocolate has melted, it shouldn't burn your kids. At least it didn't burn mine, but as always, test it yourself before giving it to your kids.

Set the bowl of melted chocolate where each child can easily reach it. Give them their bowls of pretzels and sprinkles. Show them how to dip half of each pretzel in chocolate, then dip it in sprinkles. Set them on the waxed paper to cool and harden. Or eat them right away. Whichever.

___________

This recipe worked really well for us, and as you may imagine, was a big hit with the kids. Of course. Pretzels, chocolate, and sprinkles. Those are things I've never had trouble getting my picky boys to eat. On the messiness scale (from 1 to 10, with 10 being a complete disaster), I'd give it an 8. Chocolate got all over them (especially their faces), and sprinkles ended up all over the place. It was a pretty quick clean up, though, as the chocolate wiped off things easily and the sprinkles could just be vacuumed up.

It was a very quick recipe: quick set up, quick to make, quick to eat.

Overall rating: 7 out of 10. Unhealthy, messy, but quick, delicious, and so much fun for the boys. I'll be honest: we'll definitely make this one again, despite the fact that it's not exactly health food!


Food allergy note: nut-safe chocolate chips can be a challenge as all the major brands carry a potential nut-contamination warning. I've found two brands, though, that are safe for nut allergies: the BJ's store brand (Berkley and Jensen, I think), and the Roche Bros. store brand. Neither have a nut allergy warning on the bag, and I've given both to my son who has peanut and tree nut allergies.