HAPPY THANKSGIVING!!!!

Thanksgiving is my favorite holiday. There's something about all those wonderful aromas wafting about and family members murmuring and laughing throughout.... We all gather simply to be together. No gifts, no real 'plan' or formula like you can tend to fall into as you celebrate birthdays and such..... just a day of relaxed, festive hanging out. There's a holiday feel to everything...you sense an effervesence tickling the conversations...and everyone is just plain happy. I ask you, does it get any better?

I'm wishing all of you a wonderfully warm, happy, filling and satifying Thanksgiving. I hope you surround yourself with the love of family and/or friends and if you can't be near them, give them a thought now and then as you can be sure they're thinking of you too.
HAPPY THANKSGIVING!!!

Hey!..or, Heeeeey...I was right!

No, this post isn't about Fonzie....but it IS about a big ol' thumbs up for me! My last post spoke of a certain mechanical baby and it's ill reporting of my daughter's treatment of it. Well....turns out the baby was the one who was ill! My daughter called me from school in the afternoon of the day she turned the baby in and told me she saw her teacher taking the baby out of the classroom in a cardboard box, telling my daughter as she passed by, "Your baby is going to the hospital!". Woohooo! I've never been so glad to hear someone was sick!
I late recieved an email from the teacher (in response to mine) in which she told me that she'd given the baby a diagnostic test and it had failed badly. So off to the baby hospital it went! She said my daughter would not have to take another baby home for another weekend (Yeah, um....I never had suggested that she should!). She did apologize that Malynn had such a difficult baby to deal with and added that she'd told the students that they could call her over the course of the weekend if they felt there was something wrong with their baby. Well...our baby ate, cried, slept and 'wet'......would you have thought something was wrong with it? The thought never crossed our minds. The only way we new something was up was after the print-out came back - and there was no denying that there was a major screw-up inside that little, plastic booboohead.
VICTORY!!! Yes, the feeling of big-headed victory over-took me....and it was sweeeeet!
Being right feels so good! Yes!
Okay - enough gloating....have a terrific day!

How Soon You Forget.....

This is my grandson Sean Henry......scared ya, huh?!?! ;-) This is actually one of those mechanical babies. My daughter brought it home for the weekend as part of her Family Health class. She chose the name by combining the name of one of her fave actors and the name of my grampa who she never had the pleasure to meet but has heard a lot about. I was tickled about that.
However...can I say that having our household tossed back into 'infant-land' for an entire weekend wasn't so 'tickel-ish?! WOW! it was tough...very tough.
Now, this project was my daughter's responsibility, but by 11:30 on that first night, when I went to her bedroom and saw tears in her eyes because the wailing infant was inconsolable, I wasn't about to abandon her. I mean, she's never even baby sat before let alone take care of a new born. So, my own baby and I bonded like never before, sharing the experience of taking care of her 'baby'...every single minute of it, all weekend long, day and night. It was exhausting but fun too.
I don't know if any you have had experince with one of these mechanical babies. They recognize their 'parent' via electronic chip sensor and they need feeding, consoling/rocking and their diaper changed, etc. These actions are noted within the baby and once the project is done, a print-out is extracted from the baby via the teacher's computer. This allows the teacher and student to see where the student may have not performed an action correctly or missed it altogether. However...my daughter brought this print-out home last night and the information seems to be anything but accurate. Among the misreportings, it seems to list many missed feedings - all of which were to have taken place when the baby was 'sleeping'. See, my daughter was required to keep a log of each and every action she took with the baby...and the records just don't match up. This was really unfortunate and made the experience 'less' all-around - worse yet, the inaccurate reporting left my daughter feeling like she was a bad mom and nothing could be further from the truth.
The teacher for her Family Health class will be welcomed by a lenthy email from me this morning as I checked every piece of 'baby-reported-info' and found error after error and made those facts known in my message to her last night. I know some parents defend their children to a fault these days....but this is not the case here. I've never been more proud of my daughter's performance...she was 100% attentive and never left that baby's side. Something about this project stinks as much as a baby's pooh-pooh diaper and I'm not gonna let this one slide. My daughter needs to take her lumps when necessary......but the only lumps here are the kinks in this baby's reporting mechanism. What a shame after a real learning and bonding weekend.
Anyhoo....all in all, tainted ending or not, we had a weekend to remember. It was exhausting and rewarding, it was fun and horrible, it went quickly yet lasted forever. My daughter learned a lot - most notably that she is in no way interested in having a baby for eons. And although I got a taste of 'gramma-ness' over the course of the weekend, I'm fine not tasting that again for well...eons.

One Day Late...

I meant to post this picture yesterday....
Pretty powerful, don't you think?
We had quite the Veteran's Day rememberances at work as we honored not only our employees who have served our country, but also any family members they wanted to mention. It was awesome. By the time the day was done, we had a list of 23 Veteran's honories - it was cool :-).
Those who serve have a quality about them that I lack - and I appreciate an admire them.
Hope your Veteran's Day was meaningful to you in it's own way.

Breakfast Love.....

Look at that egg....the top right one....is that a heart or is that a heart?! Nothing says 'love' like a heart and that is a heart! In our house, love is also a hot breakfast so today was a total double whammy!
Incidentally, the egg on the top left looks to be a fine rendering of the great USofA, no?! I believe it's rare enough to 'find' images in your food - although Mother Mary does seem to make several appearances each year all over the world - but two in one morning?! Aces!
Yes, hot breakfast is a constant in our house. Although lately my husband and daughter tend to lean towards eggs and toast, breakfast has been known to run the gammut - and I don't mind making the time to cook breakfast as it's the one meal I know my daughter will eat. She used to be a really good eater at every meal, willing to try new things and had lots of favorites from my arsenal of dishes, but she's fallen off as of late, so I'm glad she still wants to sit down with her dad and I to a hot meal in the morning.
I'll make just about anything that strikes my mood and will try to always serve some fruit (bananas, grapes, strawberries, grapefruit etc.) along with whatever ends up on the plate. Waffles are one of my daughter's faves.....but I'll also make her chocolate chip pancakes, french toast, pancake puffs (plain or with a little piece of sausage inside), omelets, and scrambled or fried eggs and/or egg whites. I try to change it up daily, but like I said, everyone seems to be stuck on the eggs/toast thing right now. My husband and I will also have oatmeal from time to time but for some reason, cold cereal has gone by the way-side....not sure how or why that happened...but after making hot breakfast every day, I've found that even offering a bowl of cold cereal will bring on looks that could kill!
Anyway...I just couldn't pass up sharing these 'eggs-straordinary' eggs! I hope your day got off to a tasty start!

Yes, we can.....

I can breathe again - last night at 8:02, I could finally breathe again. The channel I'd watched all evening with my husband and daughter suddenly declared Barack Obama, the 44th president of the United States. I know that may not sit well with some of you - but I wanted it so very badly.....I've never cared so much about an election. So, yes...today, I am feeling not only victorious - actually, not even victorious - but more, relieved and joyous. I have HOPE that positive change is on the way, HOPE that all, yes, really ALL people will be equal in the foreseeable future, and the HOPE I had for women being able to continue to have personal control over their own bodies has now been confirmed.
I see Barack Obama as someone who will lead us down a new path. A path to economic easing, less strife worldwide and new acceptance for all. One thing I don't see....a Black Man. It was so much the story last night...a huge step for Black America. Maybe I just don't get it.... All I see is a man...and HOPE, not color. Obama's victory is HOPE for all of us.....ALL of us.
I HOPE you can find your own HOPE and victory in this victory.

Mmmm....what smells so good?!

Ahhhhh....I got my house back. Halloween is fun and all - but I SO entirely love the day that all those witch figurines, paper skeletons and pumpkin candy dishes take solace in their tissue paper tombs and get stored away in their boxes till next year.
With fall being my favorite season, I like nothing better than to gather the pine cones and rocks and other natural elements I've collected over the years (my sister gave me some monster pinecones a couple of years ago that I adore!) and place them with candles and other items that help our house feel warm, cozy and dressed for the season. With all the candles aglow, I feel extra secure, safe and appreciative of the home we've made for our little family.
This kind of decor is totally 'me' and gets me in the mood for baking treats and cooking yummy dishes. One thing my daughter and I really love is simmering a pot of wonderful, seasonal scents on the stove. Just fill a small saucepan with water and add cloves, cinnamon (sticks or ground - whichever you have on hand), ginger and *orange peel (scrape off the white pithy part, then score the outside of the skin to really release the fresh orange scent). Bring the pot to a boil on your stove top, then set the pan's lid askew atop the pan to allow the sweet vapors to escape. Turn the heat to a very low simmer - soon, your house will be filled with a wonderful 'cider' smell and the aroma of fall and Thanksgiving. It's heaven! Warning...check the pot every so often and replace the water that has evaporated with hot tap water. You won't need to reboil the water as it will soon simmer once again on it's own.
*Each time you eat an orange or satsuma this season, save your peels in a plastic sandwich baggie in the fridge - that way you'll always have peels on hand for yourt simmer pot!
There's nothing better for making your home warm and cozy - give this a try soon!