life:: adventures in babysitting
Small children have no filter.
I tend to forget that.
We have a quiet home. We have an only child and since he is 15 years-old, I have forgotten about the constant, unfiltered monologue that spews from the mouths of babes.
We hosted our great-niece and -nephew over a recent weekend. I say hosted because it’s not really babysitting when they are 8 and 11 respectively. We gave their parents a free pass to enjoy the weekend.
They sooo owe us.
Within the first 15 minutes, the boy dug out my son’s BB-gun from the back of his closet and threatened to shoot his sister. Really? It had to start off that badly? He’s 11 – are they learning any common sense? Thankfully, we only have rubber BBs. In the boy’s defense, he already knew the BB-gun was hidden there because he was allowed to watch our son target practice last summer on soda cans. We have always thought that knowledge aided in prevention. At least it worked with our son. So even though he had been warned repeatedly to never touch that BB-gun without adult supervision, it was the first thing he went for when no one was looking. He got one helluva scolding from his uncle.
Needless to say, we immediately had to implement segregation. Boys got the living room, girls got the she-cave.
With that done, I had to change up the game plan for the whole day.
After answering approximately 10-15 questions about my hobby room, yarn, crochet, why boys are gross, who was my 3rd grade teacher, and many many others…
enter Pinterest.
Somewhere in all that she mentioned how much she LOVES dresses and jewelry and all things girly.
Oh yes, it was time to introduce her to Pinterest. I had to get some quiet.
She love love loved it.
Alas, I still did not experience silence.
The monologue morphed into oohs and aaahs, and you have to see this one Aunt Lisa, and these boots are divine! Guilty as charged:: she gets the whole divine thing from me.
Fast forward to after dinner, OMG what I am going to do to keep these children separated and occupied? Aha moment! Let’s go shopping. To a girly store. With so much stuff in it that she will be left speechless. The boys are on their own.
Enter Charming Charlie.
Lord, thank you for Charming Charlie.
It’s all accessories, all the time, and color-coordinated to mimic a fabulous glamorous closet.
Lord, please help me get through the 20 minute ride there.
The monologue began again. This time I counted. And then I stopped counting because I thought my head might explode. In the first 10 minutes of that 20 minute ride I heard the words, “And guess what?” start NO LESS THAN 19 SENTENCES. You can see why I stopped counting.
and guess what
and guess what
and guess what
And I could no longer guess. Goodness gracious!
It reminded me of a time when my own child was about 5 and inserted ummm between nearly every word he said. At one point, to teach him to think before he spoke we made a game of interrupting him and saying ‘purple-plaid’ every time he uttered an ummm. He would laugh so hard and it ended up taking only a couple of weeks to break him of the habit.
Charming Charlie did the trick! She was wide-eyed and amazed and delighted and it was the perfect girl’s night out for this munchkin. We spent more than an hour and she must have tried on 15 hats, and 100 bracelets and 50 rings and necklaces and scarves and she love love loved it. She posed and preened and laughed and smiled and giggled and darted from display to display. And I didn’t hear ‘and guess what?’ a single time. She was just being and enjoying it.
Finally, she went through all of the maybes in the basket that I had been toting around. After much deliberation, she decided on a hair clip and a bracelet. Then she said, “Please get me out of here before I change my mind”. Spoken like a TRUE shopaholic!
And on the ride home, I did not hear a single ‘and guess what’.
Thank you God for that reprieve.
And when we got home she took a bubble bath, and put on her pink jammies and her bracelet and got all tucked in and slept. In the morning, she told me that she loved coming to visit me and spending time doing girly things and that it was the most beautiful bracelet ever and she would love it for always.
And guess what?
My entire post containing way too many run on sentences was done to merely illustrate a small tidbit of the monologue of that wonderful child.
Thanks for stopping by.
photography:: the one hour snow storm
This wasn’t in today’s forecast.
…at least on the channel I watched before I left for work in the morning…
~the reflection of the sky on the pond was worth stopping for~
~and I could not resist trying out my newest camera purchase~
I adore getting a new toy once in awhile. ‘Specially if it involves cameras or yarn…
Thanks for stopping by 
crochet:: sky scarf friday 1.3
crochet:: wool-eater wednesday week 5, 6, & 7…
Yep ~ still running behind schedule. But truly enjoying the results.
My guys still like how the back looks better than the front. Go figure. What do boys know anyway?
food:: beef & noodles
A couple of weeks ago, my sweetie made me some homemade pasta.
Then, a few days later he made more. Like A LOT more. Like several batches more. I have a pasta-making-machine at my house right now. He’s made noodles repeatedly, he’s made pierogi, he’s made ravioli. I think he has a hankering for pasta and I must not be cooking it enough.
This is the resulting bounty that I have frozen because MY GAWD we can’t eat all this as he is making it…
How adorable is that???? Be still my dough-heart…
Seriously, I have a freezer full of these…
And this was all before the ravioli fest weekend.
So, this is the Frankie recipe for homemade beef & noodles circa 1982::
I swear…it turns out perfect…every time.
Thanks for stopping by!
food:: martini appreciation night…woof.
~Martha’s Bar & Grill~
We recently had a reason to throw a party.
After 24 years in the Air Force, Martha’s husband is finally done serving our country. He didn’t want a big deal made on base, (he’s the no-nonesense type) and didn’t want a ceremony. So we threw a surprise party at my pad.
~taco & nacho bar~
~and lots of Martha’s martinis~
depending on the size of your crowd (and your martini shaker) these can all be doubled or tripled as needed
Martha’s Martini Recipes
raspberry chocolate dessert martini::
2 parts double chocolate vodka
2 parts irish cream liquor
1 part raspberry liquor
sugared rim
lemondrop martini::
1part each ~ citrus vodka, simple syrup, lemon juice (fresh squeezed or organic bottled are best)
sugared rim
pink lemonade martini::
1 part each ~ pink lemonade vodka, simple syrup, lemon juice
splash grenadine
sugared rim
blue citrus martini::
1 part each ~ blue curaco, citrus vodka, simple syrup
sugared rim
french martini::
1 part vodka
1 part raspberry liquor
2 parts pineapple juice
1 part grenadine
sugared rim
And that friends is how to get schnockered, Bond style.
life:: my new sink is pimp
…at least that what my teenager said when he checked in after school today…
because this crapola is what we replaced today::
…totally fugly…and that’s what it looks like after I bleach it like crazy…
If you know me in real life, you also know that living in the country with well water, I have issues.
My plumber has told me that the water in my well is the worst he has ever seen. I really don’t like being at the top of that list. What it translates to is that I have him on speed dial and we hang out together at the local bar occasionally. His wife is a lovely girl I might add…but I digress…
My mechanical room is the dream room of the Mario Brothers…freakin’ pipes and purification machines everywhere.
So this is the new one that was installed today::
Not real exciting, but if you are a world-reknowned chef like me ~ it ROCKS, heehee.
Since I have spent the past few days dealing with my issues (read ~ water leaking everywhere and OCD cleaning to keep my ceiling in the basement from leaking), I haven’t been able to do anything that resembles fun (read ~ crochet and other crap).
But I did have an awesome weekend of chef-ery that I enjoyed…(pre-sink-leak).
Check out the Great Ravioli Fest of 2012 that we accomplished:
THREE messy cooks in my kitchen…you can bet your ass that involved lots of laughs.
A quadruple batch later…DELISH.
AND several gallon bags full of ravioli goodness in the freezer, and a couple of gallon bags of pierogi too…
w00ty~w00t!
Oh, and I also need to document my Valentines’s Day gifts too::
just because they were so sweet…
~day one~
~day two~
w00ty freakin’ w00t!
Those were some yummy chocolate covered stawberries!
(Yup ~ had to eat a couple before I remembered to take a photo)
So, if you really want the ravioli secrets – check out Martha Stewart’s website because I stole all my recipes from her ~ and the rest ~ well, as usual I winged it)
Have a ridiculously amazing day ~ and thanks for stopping by
crochet:: wool eater wednesday week 4
Finally…adding a new color. Yay!
Realized that I need more yarn because this project lives up to it’s name. Found that my LYS very recently stopped carrying the brand. Yikes. My lunch hours will be filled with yarn-treasure-hunting for the foreseeable future. Keeps me out of trouble…
Thanks for stopping by
crochet:: sky scarf 1.2
Sky-scarf Friday progress report…
I am finding myself really happy about this project…mostly it’s the heart-warming feeling it creates by stopping every day to notice the color of the sky. It’s like a reflective moment of the day to remind me that I should be thankful that I can even see the sky at all. Which then leads me to being thankful for something else, or someone in my life. Every day it seems to remind me of a good part of my day. It’s a nice little progression…
I would have never thought that a little scarfy-yarny project would have such a profoundly lovely impact on my day-to-day world.
crochet:: wool eater wednesday week 3
Yep ~ it’s official. I am totally off the schedule.
Week 3 just ended and I haven’t caught up with week 2 yet.
Yep ~ it’s too dark here to take decent photos too.
And because of my color choice, the backside looks better than the front. Meh, it’s gotta get better from here.
So instead, here is a sneak peek of the other non-yarny-type project I’m working on right now that looks a little more cheery.
I’ve been collecting all kinds of metal and glass pieces and parts, and telling my friends to give me any nail polish that they want to throw out…now I just need to get it all put together…
Thanks for stopping by!
