Double Duty

Today I get to go to 2 of my favorite places. Not so much.

The dentist (I'd rather give birth four more times than have somebody messing with my teeth) and the airport to pick up my mom.

Happy happy joy joy.

Back to Reality

In spades.

Never go away and expect a buck wild 16 year old to do what he was supposed to do while you were gone.

You'll be disappointed.

Shopping Day

My bag is in Washington DC.  I have traveled around the world and never lost a bag--an this was a direct flight!  The bag was supposed to go on in ATL and get off in Maui!

If only they'd stop with the 3 oz liquids thing, I'd always carry on.  This time we needed more stuff because we have "meetings" and "dinners".

Never again will I forgo my mantra.

Pack light, pack light, pack light.

See you in a week!

I'm outta here....working on my savage tan!

Oh so close

I'm up at the crack of dawn today because I couldn't sleep.

First, still too much to do today to get packed up and ready to go to Maui tomorrow. I'm still stressing over the boys and their "care arrangements". Our driveway is still not finished, and the guy doing it has turned into a redneck jerk (duh, he was referred to us by a redneck jerk, so not sure why we were expecting something else).

Had a slight bit of "prom drama" last night. Definitely wasn't expecting that. DOTR gave J3 his amex to put gas in his car and get it detailed. J3 managed to lose it between the gas station and the detailing place. They spent an hour tearing his car apart to find it, but I still had to go to the detail place and pay for it. Then we told DOTR right before J3 had to leave for pictures and he went, frankly, ape shit. Remember, we are leaving for Maui tomorrow and no amex. I have one, but that didn't stop him from going nuts and getting everybody even more stressed out.

I was on my way over to the picture location, not sure exactly which house it was so I was distracted, then DOTR called me TWICE while I was driving still screaming at me (like it's my fault?) about "how can he be so stupid, the last place the card was used was exxon, not kroger so where was he really?" and on and on and on. So I was driving during all this and I ran a red light. Did not even see it....forgot they put a light there in front of the hospital, because I never drive on that little stretch of the road, I normally go through there from the back side. A car nearly t-boned me.... on my side. Totally my fault.

It still has me pretty freaked out, to the degree that I couldn't sleep anymore. Well, that and I wanted to see who was on the front page of the paper (remember last year, J3 made the cover). So I'm up, doing laundry at 4:00 am, feeling a little queasy in the stomach about that close call.

And my kids wonder why I worry about them when they're driving, talking, texting and not paying attention.

One More

Five proms down, four to go.

J3 is going to his second prom tonight. He has a cute little 15 year old girlfriend who was in J4's kindergarten class and lives around the corner. Her mom and I did the elementary school yearbook together way back when, so it's not too awkward amongst the parents. He's excited, he has a small group of just three couples going to dinner. We'll skip the picture extravaganza at the Garden Center (where the juniors typically meet) for the backyard of the historic home belonging to one of the girls in the dinner group.

The baseball game is away and has not been rescheduled. Per the principal, there should be no negative consequences taken against anyone who chooses the prom over baseball. Supposedly, J3 is the only one who is skipping the game, since the coach took care of the others who said they were going by picking on them until there was a big blowup and they quit. J3 has managed to ride it out without providing the drama that the coach desires. As have we...it's almost fun to watch DOTR ignore him and his antics when he's clearly looking for a fight. Did I mention I think he has some "issues"? Clearly. I'll go into that on another day.....today, the sun is shining and J3 has something good going on.

DOTR and I have been asked by the hostess of the photo shoot location to stay for cocktails, then I think we're going to Martinis and Music at the art museum on the Square for a little while.

Another lovely evening in our little town.

Whoops

Do you ever do this?

You get a letter from school letting you know that someone is failing math and the reasons they checked as to why all are then disputed one by one by the the person who is failing? (cue the teenage boy tears, screaming and utter frustration). You somewhat agree with the child, because the new math curriculum is whacked (no book, teacher is facilitator and you're supposed to learn from other students.....WTF?), child was unlucky enough not to get in a different math class for second semester and is stuck with this same terrible teacher, and frankly you wonder why the heck this is just now being brought to your attention with a mere 4 weeks or so left in the semester. Especially when said child has an IEP where the teacher is required BY LAW to communicate with home regularly, offer preferential seating and note taking assistance.

You fire off a somewhat snippy (okay....make that bitchy) letter to teacher and cc everybody you can think of and hit SEND.

You wake up the next morning and your inbox is full of responses you don't want to read. Don't want to hear all the edubabble jibber jabber, when basically the problem is: the curriculum sucks because there's no book, the teacher sucks because he is not teaching, and he's making up stuff to make it look like it is all your kid's fault when it's not. He never had problems with math until he became a member of the guinea pig class for the state's new curriculum. He did great at the Christmas math session when he had a decent teacher--one who teaches calculus and IB HL math as her day job. My kid gets the clueless dude for his day to day math. Seems like this isn't fair. Anyway, this tells me........the problem is the teacher. The administration always, always, always supports the teacher. I know this, my BIL is a lifer in school administration.

So I'm not going to open it. I'm not taking any more excuses. But right about now, I'm wishing I hadn't hit SEND. Because I am just not in the mood to deal with it. Too many other things on my plate.

Whoops.

Mission: Somewhat Accomplished

I finally got the invitations and guest lists squared away for the two parties I'm having in May. Party #1 is J1's graduation bash, Party #2 is a retirement party for our high school's athletic director/wrestling coach. We've been friends for about 20 years. I had high hopes for cute and inspired invites for both, but in the end went with the old straight forward text.....please join us blah blah blah. Could've done that a long time ago. Sigh.

Today is the due date for a scholarship application from our church, so I've been running around getting all the necessary stuff, like transcripts, pages notarized, recommendation letter, etc. Every year I download the application, read all the hoops one has to jump through for the pittance (one of my friends said her girls got $1,000) they give you and say "I don't need it that badly". DOTR always gets mad at me, but he's not the one who has to do all the work for it. So this year he's been on my back about it.....so we did it. It's all ready to be dropped off this morning, hours before the deadline. How unlike me is that?! If doing taxes were left up to me, we'd be running around today, too. Luckily it's not up to me and our return is long gone.

DOTR drug the big suitcases upstairs from the storage room last night because he is getting anxious to start packing for Hawaii. Between baseball drama, work, J4's pitiful math grade (which I have to deal with today), scheduling somebody to stay with the boys and/or finding places for them to go while we are gone........we're ready for a vacation from real life. If only there weren't so much to do between now and then, I could anticipate it with excitement rather than dread.

My mom informed me that she wanted to come for J1's graduation. Another sigh. She called me yesterday with her flight information--she's staying for a week. Bigger sigh. My mom is fine, it's just that I really, really don't need to have to babysit her for a week when I have a million things to do for two big parties. Yeah, she could "help" but you know what that's like. You waste more time telling her how to "help" than it would take to just do it yourself. Plus, we have to get her at the airport, tote her around all week along with moving J2 out of the sorority house....and I'm sure J2 is going to be thrilled to be home and sharing her room with Grandma for the week. Just not a good idea, but I'm stuck with it. I thought I was subtle enough with my lack of excitement when she proposed the idea that she would get the hint that it was not a good time to visit, but she did not catch on. So that should be some fun to deal with when I get home.

I guess sitting here laying it all out is not going to stop me from hyperventilating.....so I'm off.

I'm so excited

We're getting a new driveway today.

Just what I've always wanted......concrete.

Or not.

Observations on Easter

Dear Cranky Old Lady,

It really wasn't very nice of you to grab that bulletin out of the usher's hand as she smiled and passed it toward you. I know you've been a member here at First Methodist since dinosaurs roamed the earth, but we are sorry that other people got here and filled the sanctuary before you came at 11:10 on Easter Sunday. And we're really sorry that you stood there and scowled at everybody for another five minutes before you decided that you'd *sigh* go on up to the balcony. Which by that time was full, too. Then I'm really sorry that when you were told that you'd have to go downstairs to the overflow area you grabbed your husband's arm and left in a huff. Maybe next year you'll want to try the 8:00 service so you can sit where you want. Or try coming at 10:50 like everybody else who was sitting inside.

Just a thought,
Mom on the Run

******************************

Dear Lady in the Pew,

I apologize for getting too close to your purse when I slid toward the middle of the pew when everyone was asked to move in closer to make more room. I really had no intention of touching it, but I do so appreciate you whipping it away from me and telling the person next to you (who, by the way, had plenty of room next to her for your purse since you didn't slide over) that you didn't know what my problem was. Happy freakin' Easter to you, too. Thanks for visiting our church.

Easter Joy,
Mom on the Run

*****************************
Dear Lady in the Hallway,

Thank you for asking about the location of a Sunday School class. I showed you the flier, talked about a couple of classes and told you where to find them. I appreciated seeing you again after the last service when you told me that you really enjoyed our music today. I asked you if you found a class to visit, you thanked me and told me you enjoyed it very much. Then I told you that I was glad and I hoped we would see you again soon.

Thanks for making my day,
Mom on the Run

For those Midwest Farmers' Daughters

Prairie Home Cooking: 400 Recipes That Celebrate the Bountiful Harvests, Creative Cooks, and Comforting Foods of the American Heartland

by Judith M. Fertig

Prairie Home Cooking celebrates this glorious American regional cuisine and culture, from its diverse ethnic influences to the region's seasonal specialties, in 400 inspired recipes and innumerable sidebars. From Native American dishes to state fair blue-ribbon pies and preserves, from barbecue and cornbread to strudels, sausages, pierogis, and pastas, the Midwestern table is a harmonious blend of the best of America's many traditions and heritages. Midwestern cuisine is the flavor of America itself; a triumphant mixture of tradition and innovation, of comfort and creativity, of abundance and thrift. Prairie Home Cooking offers the best of the Midwest, in recipes like Heartland Smoked Chicken and Corn Chowder, Farmhouse Tomato Aspic with Herbed Buttermilk Dressing, Oma's Sauerkraut with White Beans and Pork, Comfort Food Chicken and Noodles, Blue Cheese Mashed Potatoes, Black Walnut Pound Cake, and Wild Raspberry Ice Cream. Prairie Home Cooking is a warm welcome to savor the earth's bounty in cold-weather comfort dishes and vibrant summer fare, in traditional American dishes and inspired new preparations of the heartland's harvest.

In my little corner of the blogworld (and real world for that matter) it's seems to be all about Southern Cooking, and I have a lot of Southern cookbooks to bring myself up to speed on it--I have been here almost 25 years. In loyalty to my own background, though, I bought this cookbook about 10 years ago, and every so often I get it out and more often than not end up getting sidetracked in the stories and it's too late to cook anything. It's so interesting to read about the traditions of the different areas of the Midwest and how who settled where influenced the food. When we go home to Nebraska, believe me, it is all about the food!

Neither of my grandmothers did any kind of handicrafts, but oh my goodness, could they cook! My maternal grandmother came from Germany when she was 8 years old and her mother died when she was 12, leaving her in charge. Our joke is that her secret ingredient for everything was "the potato water". Whatever, it works! My dad's stepmother (he was 18 months old when his mother died, so he never knew another mother) was Bohemian (Czech) and everything she touched was divine.....kolaches, poppy seed rolls, duck with sauerkraut and dumplings.....I can still taste it! It's much more ethnic than the food we eat here in the South, and it's also more meat, less veggies! (Although there is a good section on pickles and canning!)

The paperback version is available on Amazon and B&N's websites for a song. If you're interested in why they always have cinnamon rolls with chili in the Midwest, how to take the Chicken Dinner tour, or any of the other puzzling traditions of the flyover country (meatloaf dinner and street dance, anyone?), it's a great read.

And the recipes are pretty good, too.

Question

If you were going to sell your house, would you use a real estate agent that just called you out of the clear blue sky and told you he could get a buyer for you if you'd just let him come out and take a look and then list it?

Me neither.

I've had seven, count 'em, SEVEN calls already this morning and one was at the dot of 8:00 am. Our listing expired at midnight, and when our agent called to warn us we'd be getting a lot of calls, she said that she let the listing on her own house expire for a couple of days and she had a few people call her!

I say, if you're so sure you could get me a buyer, then where were you for the past six months?

Finished

The "For Sale" sign and the lockbox are going away. Today.

We're done.

Gourmet Dining

So, today is the last day of our empty nest (sniff). J3 comes back late tonight because he has baseball practice tomorrow. Last year, two of the seniors got lost driving home from Panama City and missed practice and they got kicked off the team. Yeah, this is the same coach who scheduled a game on Prom night and didn't see anything wrong with it. I'm thinking he has....issues? But I digress.

DOTR and I have enjoyed dinner at home every night since the boys left. It's been refrigerator/freezer clean out--I haven't made one trip to the grocery store--but it's been downright gourmet dining for this place.

Saturday night, DOTR grilled two Omaha Steaks filets from the box we received for Christmas. Delightful. I made a big salad and we drank a bottle of wine (pardon the repeat from an earlier post). Sunday, we ordered so much lunch at Carraba's that we ate the other half for dinner. And drank a bottle of wine. Monday night, I pulled out two pieces of salmon, drizzled honey and dijon mustard on top with a sprinkling of sea salt and fresh ground pepper, broiled it while I baked two small baguettes and made a....you guessed it, big salad. And a bottle of wine. Last night, we were getting down to the bottom of the barrel; the bread drawer is almost empty, the freezer is bare, and there's not much in the fridge to speak of. We were tempted to order pizza or chinese, but at the last minute I decided to grill two frozen burgers (with lots of Montreal steak seasoning), sauteed the remains of a sweet onion in butter, then I slapped some delicious Maille Old Style whole grained mustard on the last four slices of bread, found the last two slices of swiss cheese and assembled patty melts, which I then threw in my cast iron skillet for that delicious crunch. And a big salad......and a bottle of wine. Tonight I'm making refrigerator cleanout quiche. which is basically throwing any random veggies and little pieces of cheese together in the last pillsbury pie crust.

Then the party's over. J3 comes home late tonight. It will be corndogs at the ballpark again.

No bottle of wine.

Counting it down

May 2, 2009

Dear candidates for graduation,

All of your hard work and determination is about to pay off in a Georgia Tech degree. I offer you my heartfelt congratulations, and it will be my honor to shake your hand as you cross the stage to receive the recognition you deserve.

Graduation is a joyous ceremony and a time for family and friends to share in the pride of your accomplishments.

I look forward to seeing you at Commencement.

Sincerely,

G. P. "Bud" Peterson
President

The Empty Nest

The boys are gone, gone, gone and DOTR and I are fantasizing about what it would be like to be ALONE. On Saturday we got up way too early to drop the boys off, so I took advantage of being "up and at 'em" to make a shopping day out of it. I made my way over to a far away mall with the hopes of finding something that would inspire me for Easter, but it never happened. Everything in the stores is sooooo drab. Who wants to wear black and brown for Easter? Not me. I ended up buying some stuff at L'Occitane and picked up a casual dress at Ann Taylor Loft. I was home by 2:00. So much for power shopping. DOTR signed up for about 10 more fantasy baseball teams and spent the day messing around with that while watching games on the new MLB channel (we won't need the remote anymore, the tv will be tuned to this channel for all eternity).

We grilled steaks, I made a huge salad and we downed a bottle of wine for dinner. Ahhh, a lazy Saturday.

Sunday I sang in the choir for both services (it's spring break and the ranks were thin). We went to lunch after church, and I mentioned that I'd like to see "Carmina Burana" that afternoon. Our symphony and chorus were performing just down the road, and I knew there were still tickets available. Our choir director is the conductor of the symphony chorus and some of our choir members also sing with them. DOTR was game, so off we went to the symphony. No baseball games, no rushing back to drive somebody to youth group.....so that's what it's like to be footloose and fancy free. Wow. I think I like it.

Tonight we might just go to a movie (if I can get DOTR away from the opening day baseball games), tomorrow maybe we'll catch a show at the theatre on the square. I'll cook dinner, nobody will complain that it's "disgusting" or that they just went to McDonald's and will get something to eat at 10:30 after I've cleaned up the kitchen. The next day we could hike the mountain after work, or walk to the square and eat outside in front of one of the restaurants. Or we could listen to music and have a drink.

I could get used to this.

And off they go......

Here's J3 two years ago--he was a hit on the playground!

Packing it up

Today I am in laundry land, but I don't mind. Not one bit.

I'm packing up the boys for their mission trip to Arizona. They have to be at the church at 6:00 am tomorrow, leaving for the airport at 6:30 sharp.

J3 gets back late Wednesday night because he has baseball practice on Thursday. J4 and the rest of the group come home late Friday night.

Peace. Blessed peace and quiet. And nobody in the kitchen making random snacks at all hours of the night. And no nasty baseball clothes, stinky wet towels, or piles of dishes surrounding the xbox chair.

I love spring break.

The Big Day

Happy 15th Birthday to my baby boy! You were the missing piece that made us complete.

How did I get from here to there?

You know how it is, you start reading a blog on your blogroll, you're distracted by something on their blogroll so you click on it to see what it's all about, and you find something else, and so on and so on.

There's no way I could reconstruct how I found this (and I hope I can find a few of the fun blogs I was looking at on the way again), but it made me laugh. I have a couple of French friends who are married to Americans, so we've had conversation about some of these things.

Stuff Parisians Like by O Chateau

Enjoy, Francophiles.