10 On Tuesday

These are my favorite type of questions. Totally random.
If you have a chance, stop by Roots and Rings to check out this week's 10...

1. If you work, do you drive to work or take public transportation?
Well, I like think of a stay-at-home-mom as a "worker" in her own right, but I don't have to drive to get to my office. As a stay-at-home-mom, I live in my office. And in my car, now that I think about it.
I am a fan of public transportation, too. If I lived and worked where it existed, I might take it.

2. How often do you get your hair cut? Do you go to the same person every time?
Since I have short hair, I have to get it cut more often than my wallet would like. Every 5 weeks if I want it to look halfway decent and not cause me anxiety. I have enough things to worry about... I don't need an uncooperative hairdo making me want to jump off a bridge.
And yes, same girl. I say "girl" because she was born the year I graduated from high school. My goodness.

3. Do you read the newspaper? If so, a hard copy or the online version?
I like the Sunday paper in hard copy. Every other day, it's online news.

4. What is the best book you have read this year?
"The Hole in Our Gospel" by Richard Stearns

5. What is the best movie you have seen this year?
Hmmm... that's tough. We see a lot of movies, but most of them are with the boy, so they're geared towards the 12 year-old set. (Is it embarrassing to say I liked "Diary of a Wimpy Kid 2?") I've seen some good movies, but nothing life changing.
I am, however, REALLY looking forward to some movies coming up. Harry Potter and Pirates 4 to be exact. Wait... maybe I am a 12 year-old boy.

6. Do you tend to crave sweet or salty foods?
All foods. I crave eating.
No, seriously. Salty.

7. Do you eat breakfast every day? If so, what do you have?
I try to eat something or I'll get a headache. I usually eat whatever I've made for the boy... cereal, oatmeal, eggs, waffle, bagel. We are not picky breakfast people.

8. If you celebrate Easter, what Easter treat/candy are you most looking forward to?
I do love a Peep. Have you ever tried the microwaved Peep? I hear it's to die for. I equally love a Reese's Egg.

9. How late is “sleeping in” to you?
9-ish. It was a lot later when I was younger, but a small person living in our house changed all that. Now we get up with the chickens.

10. Where are you going on your next vacation?
There may not be much of a vacation for us this year. With a move coming up, we might try to squeeze in some family visits. There's a chance we'll go to Disney in the winter (woo hoo!), but I am trying not to get too excited. Yet.

Pictures From Home

I am too tired to post pictures and too pooped to blog about my "40th Birthday Girlfriends' Getaway" this past weekend. Is that a sign of a good time? Or a sign of the age we were celebrating?

I will fill you all in when my strength returns, but I can tell you it was a great trip.

Meanwhile, back at the homestead, all manner of man-fun was occurring.
The boy and Dan/Daddy managed to make it to a birthday party, attend a parent-teacher conference, and still have time for pizza, movies, football, and fishing.

These are the picture texts I received while I was gone...


Oh. That. Face.
After 3 unsuccessful years of fishing here in NC, the guys finally found a place to fish where you catch something. Is it just me or does he look a tiny bit happy?

And the text that come with this photo said...
"Dinner"


You think this worries me? It doesn't. I cannot condemn the eating of doughnuts. Ever. Even in place of normal food.

The only thing that did concern me about being away all weekend was coming home to find that the cat had been bathed.
I think we are all better off not knowing why.

Where Exactly Did The Last 12 Years Go?

If anyone knows what happened to my chubby-cheeked and chunky-thigh baby, please tell me.
Because I woke up this morning to a 12 year-old.




Before I break into a weepy version of "Time in a Bottle" by Jim Croce...
Let me just say "Happy Happy Happy Happy Birthday" to the best boy ever.

I tried to keep you 3 forever, and that didn't work.
I tried to hold you still at 7, but that was a waste of energy.
I considered the "brick on the head" trick at 11, but here we are today...

Wishing you a happy 12th birthday.
I wouldn't trade a single second of the last 12 years for anything.

Take it away Jim...

If I could make days last forever
If words could make wishes come true
I'd save every day like a treasure and then,
Again, I would spend them with you.

Field Trip Woes

Mercy.
Yesterday was a day for the record books.
I went as a chaperone on the boy's Field Trip to the aquarium.
Sounds innocent enough, right?

I'll summarize by saying that...
1. Several WRONG turns were involved.
2. 210 5th graders is a lot of pretween-y people.
3. Seven buses is a lot of buses to keep up with when making MANY wrong turns.
4. Maybe buses weren't meant to make tight u-turns?
5. Tow trucks were involved.
6. 2 out of 7 buses stuck in mud at the beach/aquarium means dropping off 160 kids at the aquarium and going back to get the 70 kids out of the mud.
7. Going to a "Reptile Show" means a snake will be involved.

And that was just all in the first half of the day.
Because of all the poor navigational choices getting to the aquarium, the bus I was on (with the teacher "in charge") decided to lead the way.
But.
No one followed.
Yep... the 6 buses behind us all agreed to follow our new GPS-guided route and our driver's suggestions to get home before 2013. But then they didn't follow.

We were all supposed to be back at the school by 5:30 pm. The principal, who was fully aware of our situations, had been trying to keep the waiting parents updated.

Guess how many parents were happy to see only ONE bus drive back up to the school? At 6:20 pm.
Guess how many unhappy parents were waiting about 34 more minutes for the rest of the buses?
Do the math: 210 kids + 7 buses = ___ ticked off parents' cars jamming the parking lot?

Oh, and it was raining.

I think we may have had our April Fool's Day a little early. Except I was there and it wasn't a joke.

Other than being tired of being on the buses, the kids were great sports about the whole ordeal.



And, they had a great time in the aquarium.





So we made it home about 8:30 last night, and I hit the ground running.
That cutie-patootie in the picture above is turning (gulp) 12 tomorrow.

In between my tears about having a 12 year-old, I have to make cupcakes, pick up a bouncy house thing, clean my house, and get ready for family to arrive.

Oh... And, I may not volunteer for a Field Trip for a while.
Wait. I forgot. There's another one next week.

Call the Loony Bin and reserve a spot for me, please.

This 10 Made Me Hungry

It doesn't take much at all to make me hungry. The mere whiff of something cooking. A commercial. Getting stuck in traffic behind a Krispy Kreme truck.

So it goes without saying that today's 10 on Tuesday got my tummy growling.


1. What is a food that you never thought you would try, but then tried and liked?
Probably goat cheese. The thought of it always freaked me out, but it's yummo.

2. Do you subscribe to any foodie publications? If so, which ones?
Does Martha Stewart's "Living" count as a "foodie" publication? What if I don't really subscribe to it? (It was a freebie with expiring air miles.)

3. What ingredient do you find yourself reaching for the most when you cook?
Garlic, I think.

4. Are there any foods that you hated as a child, but then learned to like as an adult?
Spinach. But I do not like it cooked half-to-death until it's slimy. Then the 8 year-old in me will start gagging again. Oh... and asparagus. When I was little, I hated it. Now I love it.

5. What do you like to eat that others may consider weird?
The ends of the bread are my favorite. The part that most people toss out or dig past... I LOVE. And the harder and crustier bread is, the more I like it.

6. What is the weirdest ingredient you’ve ever cooked with?
Venison. It's not weird where I grew up, and it's not weird in most of the places I've lived. But, I'm sure it's odd to some folks. I just can't think about it too much when cooking or eating. If I think too much, I start seeing Disney's Bambi in my mind. And poor little baby Bambi's momma. Ugh.

7. Do you have any major food allergies?
Thank the Lord, no.

8. Is there an ingredient that you would like to cook with, but are intimidated to try?
There's not a specific ingredient, but there are some dishes I would like to try. I am a scaredy-cat when it comes to some things... I tend to make the same stuff over and over.

9. Do you bake?
I wish. I mean, I bake the occasional cake or pie or goodies, but I am not one of those serious baking types. My sis-in-law? She is a baker. I am jealous.

10. If you could go on any “foodie” show to compete, which one would it be, and why?
"Throw-Down" with Bobby Flay. I don't have a darn thing to compete with, but I love Mr. Flay. Maybe we could have a Pop Tart throw down? His style of cooking is my love language.

If I could just go on any show, it would be triple D. That's "Diners, Drive-Ins, and Dives" with Guy Fieri. That show actually makes my mouth water. He knows good food and he has rockin' hair.

Brrrr.

Well just when we thought Spring-ity-Spring-Spring was upon us...

Old Man Winter decided to have one last hurrah. Our high temps were in the low 40's this weekend. Gracious.
It wouldn't have been so bad except for the fact that it went from 80ish to 39ish in about 4 days. Gracious.

We basically hibernated this weekend. We only ventured out to see a movie (Diary of a Wimpy Kid 2... cute flick.) and to eat. Why do we eat so much when it's cold?

We also had the privilege of having Dan/Daddy home from his school all last week.
I made some observations while he was here:
1. When he's home, I get nothing done.
2. When he's home, we have no groceries.

He offered to "run out and grab us a bite" last night for dinner.
Awww... that's so kind, I thought. And then he said,
"There's not really anything to eat in this house."
He was right. But he had a lot to do with that fact.

So the week that lies ahead promises to get a teensy bit warmer. (60 would feel like a heat wave at this point.)
And the week ahead promises to be nuts.
It's a short week at school for the boy, there's a field trip to the aquarium I get to go on, we have family coming into town, I think I have approximately 97 errands to run, there's a PTO meeting, we have plans with friends, and...

There are only 5 more days until a certain cutie patootie someone turns 12.

It's a good thing I'm busy this week. I won't have too much time to mourn and lament the aging of my baby and the fading of my youth.

7 Days, 7 Things

In the week that's passed since I blogged last...
1. I finished our taxes. Yep. Me. Not us. Just me. Go me.

2. I saw a car with a ginormous Playboy Bunny emblem painted on the hood. How long did they contemplate that? Is it a big sticker? Weird.

3. I am one week closer to being the mother of a 12 year-old. Gulp.

4. The tree man working at my parents' house cut their phone line. My sis-in-law and I spent 2 whole days wondering and guessing what was happening because we couldn't get in touch with them. "Why not just call their cell phones?" you ask. Oh. Wait. They don't HAVE cell phones. On purpose.
That, my friends, is a whole other blog post.

5. I realized that sometime between Christmas and Valentine's Day, I stopped making a "To Do" list. Something may be seriously wrong with me. I LIVE by and LOVE a list... if only for the scratching off of items. I don't know what's going on. I think it's my way of avoiding things. If they are not written down, they must not need to be done.

6. I have ENTIRELY too much to do to stop making lists.

7. My friend from back home, a.k.a. "The Person Who's Known Me Since Kindergarten," Facebooked (Don't you love that verb? "facebooked") me to tell me she had tickets to see Prince. Hello 1987. She says she wishes I lived closer so we could go together. Yes, T, I do too. Two grown women re-living their Junior Year of high school. Prince wouldn't know what hit him.

I hope and pray you all are well.
That green monster we call Pollen has taken over around here, but his friend Nice Weather came by, too. Fair trade, I suppose.