Life On The Planet

Rationalization

(Los Presidentes of Mount Rushmore.)

I am great danger of dripping syrup on my keyboard. The C.F.O. made sweet potato pancakes.

Oh. Yeah.

We are  in the middle of a boys' room overhaul. We're almost finished, but the hallway is still full of their books and desk stuff. I stubbed my toe on it, and broke off half of my toe nail.

That was my justification for adding the chocolate chips to my pancakes.

Any reason works.

Crawfish!

 

It's what's for dinner!

Cracked Tooth

Only I could crack a tooth on a soft taco.

I hope the dentist is open today!

Girl's Weekend: Sweet Julia, Inspirations & Twilight

Julia is not doing well.

"Mama!" Butterfly called a couple of hours ago. "You'd better come here."

Julia had fallen over trying to drink. She was still down when I got there. After attempting to rise, she fell over again.

She hasn't gotten up since.

I phoned our Vet., who is a friend, and we are doing what we can to make her comfortable. We will have to see what the next few days bring. It doesn't look good.

Butterfly and I had been enjoying "Girl's Weekend." (The C.F.O. is working. Tiger and Sal are camping.) Prior to the Julia incident, we had been having a really great couple of days.

Yesterday we went to a lecture by Dr. Jane Goodall. She was quite awe-inspiring, and I am so glad that Butterfly had the opportunity to hear her speak. Dr. Goodall's telling of how her mother's encouragement and support enabled her to achieve her dreams reminded me of the awesome and wonderful responsibility I have as a mother.  It is more than a little daunting. Her schedule of 300 days per year traveling and speaking would bury me. That she is able to maintain that level of activity in what you might call the evening of her career is phenomenal.

To say I was impressed would be an understatement.

Last night was rehearsal for The Pied Piper.

This morning we quickly tidied the house, and then we picked up Twilight.

We watched it three times.

Copious amounts of popcorn and Thin Mints were involved.

*Edit: Upon reflection "Girl's Weekend" probably should have been "Girls' Weekend." I just thought of Butterfly, and forgot to count myself. I really need to work on the whole self-awareness thing.

It Could

After a disagreement between The C.F.O. and myself over some matter of great importance (It's always important, no matter how stupid and trivial.), he came home from the store with chocolate.

"You think you can give me chocolate and I'll cave?" I asked indignantly.

"Yes," he responded.

I'm ashamed to admit it, but it could work.

Waffles for Peace - It Could Happen!

I may not have gotten everything on yesterday's list done, but...

DOGGONE-IT, those waffles were GOOD!

Variations included: with regular syrup, with blueberry syrup, with powdered sugar, with homemade strawberry jam.

Butterfly prefers all of the variations at once. Ew. Well...

To each her own.

Waffles! If the warring nations of the world could sit down and enjoy waffles together, world peace might have a fighting chance.

"Blueberry syrup, Mr. Putin?"

"No thank you, President Saakashvili. I prefer jam. And we will be pulling our tanks out of your country as soon as I have another helping."

"Certainly, Mr. Putin. Take your time. Surely your troops are eating now as well, no?"

All I am saying is,"Give waffles a chance."

Blue & Gold

Saturday was Tiger's Blue & Gold Banquet. For those not familiar with scouting, a Blue & Gold is the big hoo-rah of the year for Cub Scouts. Awards are given. Food is consumed.

(Although, when we called Tiger's Godmother, Nana, yesterday to chat, she laughingly asked if there was food at our Blue & Gold Banquet. She said her sister had attended one this year where they didn't serve food, but forgot to change the name to Blue & Gold Ceremony. Sorry, to my mind Banquet = Food.)

Our Blue & Gold Banquet is a BIG DEAL. Door prizes. Father/Son Cake Bake. Food. Themes. Hoopla. This year's had the added spice of a SNOW STORM. Who could ask for more?

Sal snapped this shot on the way to the Blue & Gold. It got worse before it got better.

A big part of the Blue & Gold for Tiger is the Father/Son Cake Bake. He and The C.F.O. won last year, however this year his father had to work. (Insert tears here.)

Fortunately for Tiger, he has a tremendously AWESOME big brother who was more than willing to help him trash my kitchen bake a cake. It was a very delicious and aesthetically pleasing cake.

Here are a few of the other entries...



Pretty cool, eh?



I couldn't, I-just-couldn't, bring myself to eat any of this cake.

I heard it was tasty.



This beauty won the prize for Scout Favorite.

And now, we get to the portion of the post where I admit I don't have a photo of Tiger's cake! I thought I took one. I distinctly remember taking one. Honestly. However, we got home and NO PICTURE OF TIGER'S CAKE was in my camera. Go ahead. Schedule an appointment with a therapist for him. He has a BAD MOTHER.

Moving right along, Tiger earned his Arrow of Light, which is the highest award a Cub Scout can earn. He also earned all of the Webelos Merit Badges possible. This is the kid a neurologist once told us would need to be medicated and possibly institutionalized.

Moral of the story: Doctors, too, can be idiots.

It was a loverly evening. I admit to shedding a few tears. But the best part, for me, was after the Blue & Gold, when Tiger and Sal sat on my bed discussing what Tiger needed to start working on to achieve his first Boy Scout rank. (He is moving up to Sal's troop.) It was one of those moments that their mother wishes she could bottle up and keep forever.

(Sniff. No, I'm not bawling. Really. Sniff.)

All-righty then, that was our Blue & Gold.

I need to go and clean the kitchen.

Okay, NOW I'm bawling!

Thanksgiving Week: The Highlight Show

It's not much of a show, actually. I just liked the title. However, I can give you the highlights.

Last weekend: Boy Scout / Webelos joint camp-out. It got done to 23 degrees. Tiger got his polar bear patch. Woo-Hoo. Sal's troop held a flag retirement ceremony / campfire. They invited a troop from inner city Memphis to join them. It was fabulous. Freezing, but fabulous.

Monday: School work. "AAAHHGGG!" screamed the children as they ran in horror from the house. It had been a while since they had had to endure been treated to a full school day. (She chortles evilly as she types.) Sal came back from Scouts with a rough-housing induced black eye. Scratch Take-Christmas-Photos from week's to-do list. Boys.

Tuesday: More school work. Trying to get caught up in Greek. Will we ever get caught up in Greek?!? Speak to me, Oh Great and Omnipotent Mystical Eight Ball.

Wednesday: Whoever said peace on earth was a possibility obviously never shopped at my neighborhood Wal-Mart the night before Thanksgiving.

Peace. Ha! My Wal-Mart scoffs at your peace.

Thursday: Thanksgiving dinner with Aussie Kim, et al. Eat food. Drink tea. Swing on hammock. Eat food. Drink tea. Play board games. Eat food. Drink tea. Create massive bonfire in order to roast marshmallows. Eat marshmallows. Drink tea. Waddle home.

Friday: Shop. What else?

I hope your week has been as delightful as mine.

Tomorrow we put up the tree. And so it begins.

'Tis the Season...almost!

I haven't been feeling very festive this year. Usually by this point, the cards are addressed and stamped, the gifts are hidden and I'm backing cookies. This year...well, bah humbug. I'm tired. I'm sick. I'm sick and tired. Whine, whine, whine.

But today, ah today! I turned on the Christmas music and something magical happened.  I listened to Eartha Kitt sing Santa Baby! and suddenly I felt festive. Since then I have organized the Christmas lists, started the Christmas letter and spent quality time on American Girl dot com.

In the spirit of sharing the spirit, here are a few links to make you feel both warm and wintry.

No snow? Scribbit has plenty for all of us! Watch her power through a mile long sledding course. My kids are green - positively GREEN - with envy!

Once you're in from the cold you're sure to need some Candy Cane Cocoa! This sounds really good. (Not for the lactose intolerant!)

Looking for that unique gift item? Here's how to make a light-saber cozy...no joke. Somehow, to my way of thinking, light-saber and cozy just aren't words that should appear together in a sentence, but who am I to judge? It'll be slicing through the competition this holiday season.

Hope you enjoy the links. I don't know about the rest of you, but I've been an awfully good girl this year. So, Santa Baby, if you're reading this, the list is on the dresser. It's not too long.

Picking Apples, etc.

In all of the hoo-haw going on around here, I forgot to tell you about our visit to the apple orchard.

We visited an apple orchard.

What?!? You want more? All right. We picked apples and pears and are all looking forward to apple butter, pear butter, apple crisps, pear bread... We like picking our own. We especially like knowing where our food comes from. It appears we're not the only ones! Kerry, who I came to know through her homeschool blog, A Ten O'Clock Scholar, has another blog dedicated to eating local and eating in season. I've just started reading it, but I like what I've read so far...

Except for the squash thing. Yuck.