I Playin' with Mr the King, Mom

There are so many things I love about this picture...

1. The "what are you doin' mom?" look on Rorys face
2. The supertight long sleeved bodysuit he is wearing. He is over 2 and this is probably the end of bodysuits for my little baby. There is something about really tight PJs and bodysuits on little boys and girls that I love, especially on little boys. Maybe it's because it makes him look longer and leaner and more like a little boy than a toddler. Maybe it's because it makes his cute little redhead look a little bobbly on his body. Who knows, but I can't get enough of those 2 piece long sleeve PJ separates.
3. Overalls. I think this is the end of overalls for him as well and I just love them on him. These are a size too small and have definite high waters, but we're staying home today and I just love them. One more time before I pack them away :)

Movies: Michael Clayton and Once

Michael Clayton
We both really liked this movie. Tilda Swinton won the Oscar for best supporting actress. We've now seen 3 out of 5 of the movies in this category (American Gangster, Gone Baby Gone, and Michael Clayton). TS was really good in this movie, but I think I'd still give it to Amy Ryan from Gone Baby Gone. I digress. Clooney was awesome - intense, pained, struggling. Tom Wilkinson did crazy well. Good story, progressed well. Overall a good drama.

Once
This movie was amazing. I had already been listening to the music which is beyond beautiful. The plot is very simple...guy meets girl and girl inspires guy to reengage in his life. The development of their friendship is slow and steady and deep. However, it isn't predictable. It is a simple and touching movie. I won't give it away. I did cry several times...though that doesn't really mean anything b/c I've been known to cry during commercials. It was great to see the music paired with the film and the 2 "making of" extras were really interesting as well. Highly recommended!

Rejiggering the Home Theater System

We finally installed our A/V shelving on the wall thanks to Joe and my brother in law. Followed by having successfully given away the huge A/V Shelving unit that took up the whole corner of our living room. Unfortunately, this meant we actually had to unplug and figure out how to reinstall the whole home theater system. Normally this would scare the shit out of me, but, happily, when we originally set it up I mapped the whole mess with color-coding in Microsoft Visio (my tech-geek side is coming out now, I realize). There was a little part of me that was kind of excited to unplug everything and then plug it all back in correctly. We all have to get our jollies somehow!

Other than the frustration of getting the cords all weaved within the hiding spot for cords (we have a million cords and really thick Monster cables at that) and of Joe and I manuevering on a ladder and step stool respectively with a headlamp, a flashlight, and contorted necks and arms while the kids were yelling for the Peanuts Easter Beagle movie (seriously), all went fine with some minor bickering and 1 major exception. No sound for the DVD player. Disaster of all disasters...how on earth would we feed our Netflix habit WITHOUT SOUND! We wisely pushed a chair in front of the horror that was the cord pile and hoped the kids wouldn't play on the ladder and gave up for 2 days.

I'm happy to report that after reviewing the setup section in the receiver manual and talking with my friend at work who just bought the same brand receiver, we moved 1 plug back there and TA-DA! SOUND! We celebrated by watching 2 movies across Tuesday night and Wednesday night. See next post for details. I will update this with a picture of the cord nightmare just b/c it's ridiculous and needs to be shared.

UPDATE: Here's the picture of the cords...ridiculous.

Coco Key Outing with the Kids

I'm officially stir crazy and cannot wait until Spring weather appears. Today I took the kids to CocoKey, which is an indoor water park that just opened North of Boston. I was hesitant to go b/c 1) it's not cheap and 2) it just reopened from being closed due to overchlorination. I guess that's not too bad - better overchlorination than excess bacteria or something like that. Then again, some kids got chemical burns from the chlorine so you can't take it too lightly. My kids have REALLY sensitive, rashy skin too so if anyone would have a reaction it would be my little Caspers.

Anyway, it's 1/2 price on weekday mornings and we went with another family that we do outings with on Wednesdays sometimes. The kids had a blast! The playing structures and slides in the pools were just like the ones we played on at Atlantis in the Bahamas this past December. Slides, waterfalls, lazy river ride in floats, and zero-entry pools...what a great time. It was really clean and didn't smell like a stinky indoor pool at all. We'll definitely head back this Spring one more time before our pool opens at the end of May.

Meal Planning wk of 3/22

I've been slacking off and cooking my standbys a lot lately. I really need to plan better or else I'm stressing about what to make the kids every night while driving home. Not that it matters since Rory has hijacked dinner as a whole meal.

Friday - Shrimp, Snow Peas, & Pasta - Joe wanted fish for Good Friday, so I picked up some shrimp and whipped this up randomly. Sauteed the snow peas, added the shrimp, added some garlic and broth, added the pasta and a bit of the pasta water for more sauce. Came out great and even got Shelagh to try a shrimp. She didn't like it, but I gave her a few M&Ms for trying something new.
Saturday - Roast Beef, Rice w/ onions & mushrooms, pureed squash - Also picked up a nice sirloin roast for a Roast beef dinner. I season it with just salt, pepper, and paprika (flashback to childhood - thank you, mom) and roasted it at 450 for a 1/2 hr or so, then dropped it to 375 for another 20 minutes. Came out pretty good. I still like the Tri-Tip as a roast beef the best, but this was a good alternative. Shelagh loves squash pureed with some butter and brown sugar so I made that with my normal rice mixed with sauteed chopped onions and mushrooms. Used Jasmine white rice instead of Sushi rice. Rory ate the roast beef! Although, he wouldn't eat his...only mine was good enough. That's okay...as long as he ate something!
Sunday - Easter dinner at my Sister in Laws (yummy) - She had a huge ham, rack of lamb, creamed spinach (which was awesome), salad with a super good raspberry vinagrette, and roasted potatoes. The kids ate first (or didn't eat in Rory's case), so it was a nice relaxing dinner for the grown ups!
Monday - Pork Chops, Escarole sauteed w/ garlic, sweet potato ravioli (I made these a couple of months ago and they were ok, but I should finish them); Kids: leftover ham, rice, peas
Tuesday - Shrimp, Pasta, & Spinach if it's still good; Kids: leftover pork chop, sweet potato ravioli, peas again
Wednesday - Osso Bucco, roasted Brussel Sprouts, roasted potatoes(?) - My mom brought up the Osso Bucco the last time she was up - I'm home on Wednesdays, so I think I'll braise them slow while the kids nap; Kids: leftover ham again probably - we have a ton from Easter
Thursday - Chicken Thighs, Roasted Cauliflower, Baked Beans - The bean recipe is from one of my cooking magazines and involves soaking dried beans overnight first. I've not cooked from dried beans before, so I'll give this a whirl. Joe doesn't really like chicken thighs, so I may try to slow cook them on Wednesday and then shred them. Kids: Annies Mac & Cheese

I also have stuff to make a lasagna, which I haven't made all winter, so I'll at least make the sauce and saute the sausage on Wednesday while I'm home. Monday and Tuesday meals are easy, but Wednesday will be a good cooking day.

Interesting Intellectual Question in Regards to Puke

This has been paraphrased from a great email from my friend B, who is letting me steal her thoughts...

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So Sunday night my son throws up in his bed, on himself, on his comforter, on his sheets, on his rug and then of course leaves a trail to the bathroom. Imagine a full plate of rice pilaf with some milk to make it nice and thick and frothy. Ew. .

Then of course there is the 2-3 loads of laundry, showering him, re-dressing him, opening windows, re-making his bed, showering myself, throwing towels all around his rug to soak up the carnage, lining his bed with new towels, getting him a bowl for future pukes, doing another load of laundry (we can forget the mattress pad or stuffed animals who became targets in the attack) .

The next day I actually found myself in the basement on my fourth load wondering how, for a person that is half my size, his throwing up could be such a monumental, show stopping, catastrophic clean up. Whereas in college, for a grown woman like myself, it was a 5 minute ordeal...where is the logic?
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Back to me...
This is an excellent question! I am a smallish person of 5 feet or so who has never been known to hold her alcohol well. I have experienced this first hand and agree that this is a quandry and should be contemplated further...

Explaining Death to a 3 1/2 Year Old

"Lightning, Mr the King...look, Tractor died! Who wants to bring him up to heaven? I do, I do!"

So says my 3 1/2 year old to her brothers Cars cars this afternoon. Somehow the subject of my grandmother having died a couple of years ago came up. There is a picture of pregnant me, Nannee, and 16 month old Shelagh on our frig from our visit out to Las Vegas to see her and I think that's what started the conversation. Of course she keeps asking why she can't talk to Nannee and why she can't visit. After all, Nannee gave her some of her very cool pocketbooks and was my grandmother. I don't really know exactly what I believe, but it's not much and it was hard to come up with a simple answer. I told her Nannee lived a long life and it was time for her to leave and move to Heaven where she could watch over us. I told her we couldn't really talk to her anymore, but we could look at pictures and think about her. It seemed to work and obviously the gravity of death does not seem to be weighing on Shelagh too much.

Cannellini Beans, Pancetta, & Sage

This wasn't even a full recipe from Everyday Food. It was just one of those "if you are in a rush on a weekday" kind of meals. It was really tasty! I sauteed some pancetta (or bacon would be fine) in some olive oil and then removed it. I then sauteed some garlic (2 cloves) and chopped fresh sage (maybe a tsp?), add a can of Goya Cannellini beans with the liquid and cooked it over medium heat for 5 minutes or so. I stirred in the pancetta and dinner was served. Shelagh loved it, Rory ignored it, and Joe and I ate it with some of the leftover corned beef and cabbage from yesterday. Not bad for a last minute deal. Sorry...forgot to take a picture.

Chocolate Honey Tart

Yesterday, Shelagh and I made the Chocolate Honey Tart from the current issue of Bon Appetit (April?). It was so easy and came out really good. Very rich and sweet. The crust was just chocolate graham crackers, butter, and honey baked for 10 minutes. The filling was semi-sweet chocolate chips melted with warmed whipping cream and combined with butter, cocoa and I added a bit of honey here that wasn't called for in the recipe. You put it in the frig for an hour or two and ta-da...a very non-Irish dessert that does not go with Corned Beef and Cabbage but tastes great and looks awesome smeared all over your kids faces. Or, 1 kids face since the other little bugger didn't eat a bite of dinner AGAIN!

Movies: American Gangster, Assassination of Jesse James, Juno

Crazy movie weekend...1 Friday night at home, 1 Saturday night at home, and 1 Sunday at the actual movie theater! You can tell we are the parents of young children with virtually no social life. I was actually looking forward to movies this weekend - from Netflix, we had American Gangster, Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford, and Michael Clayton. Two out of three of those movies were 2 hours 40 mins long and the 3rd was 2 hours long. Usually, I'm out cold by 10ish, but for some reason I haven't been able to fall asleep lately. I still nod off during a TV show or a movie, but then I lay in bed and don't sleep. Miraculously, I made it through both.


American Gangster
This was a solid movie. You were drawn to both Denzel and Russell Crowe equally...good/bad guy distinction didn't matter. A couple of catch-you-off-guard blood scenes. A bit too long, but good all around.


Assassination of Jesse James
This movie was way too long, but it had it's good points. Casey Affleck redefined "uncomfortable". I was wiggling around in my seat just watching him. He played an awkward, unsure guy and although I don't think he should have won (and he didn't), I was glad to see him nomimated for an Oscar. Brad Pitt is a really great actor too...I don't think this particular character was as meaty as some others he's played, but he's still fun to watch!


Today, my mother in law came down to have breakfast with us and then stayed to watch the kids so we could go to the movies and Home Depot (window blinds shopping). I also squeezed in a quick trip to Target to get a few things for the kids Easter baskets. Yes, I am a Jew shopping for Easter basket stuff and LOVING IT! Joe was with me or else I would have bought my own separate bag of Peanut butter cups and a plethora of Creme Eggs. I restrained myself purely out of embarrassment.


Juno
I loved this movie and was so glad to have finally seen it. It was perfectly cast...Ellen Page, Michael Cera, LOVED the Rainn Wilson cameo - he is so snarky, her parents, the couple, her best friend, everyone. The cartoony intro totally made me think of the part in Reality Bites when Ben Stiller has sold out and MTV'd Winona Ryders film and put her friends pictures on a revolving pizza pie. Cracks me up. There were 2 things that bothered me about the movie that I feel I have to mention.

1. Juno was just too precocious. I love the witty writing, but it's really becoming hip to make the teenaged character smarter than anyone you know. Who talks like that?
2. The tangent with Juno and Mark where he is set to leave his wife and hints at Juno being part of the reason or that she might be interested in his doing that really skeeved me out. I liked watching the 2 characters find common ground and even inspire each other, but it never felt sexual to me and I don't think the inappropriateness of this worked on any level. They still could have had Juno represent what he didn't have and wanted in his marriage without it crossing the line and it would have worked just as well.

I swear I'm working on getting a life! We have a babysitter one night this week to go out to dinner with friends.

An Old Cake Disaster Story

It is with a great deal of embarrassment that I share this cake disaster story. While discussing homemade birthday cakes with a friend today and having read an awesome "make-your-own-creative-cake" story over at the Cole Mine blog, I recalled the biggest disaster of my cooking/baking life. The 3D Firetruck cake I attempted for Rory's 1st birthday was nothing short of a disgusting mess.


I clearly know that I am a cook and not a baker. Really, I should have used cake mix from a box and not tried for the 3D. But, I let my mom convince me that I could just as easily "whip something up" from scratch. I easily used 2 bottles of red dye to attempt to get the icing fire engine red. The house was hot, the icing was melting, I was completely nauseous from having inhaled WAY too much confectioners sugar, and it was taking a REALLY long time. But, I finished it.

And, it was terrible. It didn't just look like melting puke. It tasted like sugary cardboard. I could tell from my sampling that it wasn't going to work out. The next morning, I secretly bought a cake and after horrifying my family and frightening them into thinking that this was dessert, I took a few pics for posterity and then brought out the much better store cake.

Without further adieu...

Movie: The Business of Being Born & My Kids Births

I watched this movie the last night Joe was gone on his annual guys ski trip. Ricki Lake produced it with her friend Abby Epstein and Abby's boyfriend, who are filmmakers and happened to be expecting their first baby during the process. The general theme of the movie was the dramatic shift that maternity care has taken in this country compared to other developed countries and just over the last century. They are supporting the idea of home birth with midwives, where possible, as opposed to hospital birth and planned delivery (induction, non-essential c-section, etc). This documentary was really interesting and there are 2 major statistics that stick in my mind:

1. Midwives attend around 80% of births in European nations whereas they attend less than 1% of births in the US.
2. At the current time, 1 in 4 births is a c-section in the US.

I should note for the record that both of my kids births occured from induction and resulted in vaginal births. And both were done out of convenience to me. My doctor didn't talk me into it and I felt like I had the control to make the decision myself; but it was given to me as a viable, non-harmful option. It's a little embarrassing saying it out loud actually; but, as with other things in my life, I like having a plan and being in control. At the time, I felt a little guilty about not going into labor naturally with Shelagh. I think it was just the excitement of having our first baby and wanting her to just arrive already that made my decision. If I had to do it again, I would have let her come naturally. There was no physical reason not to and it didn't really add any convenience in for us where we had no other kids to worry about. When Rory came along, the doctor offered it again and it just seemed the easiest option where Shelagh was concerned - she was only 19 months old at the time and we didn't really have a good "what if this happens in the middle of the night" option for her. She was not great with transitions then and she was my primary concern.

With Shelagh, it turned out that I was already in labor and didn't realize it before they gave me the Pitocin. The contractions were about 6 minutes apart, she was very low, and I was dilating. They gave me the Pitocin, I labored for several hours, my water broke on it's own and I then got the epidural at around 6-7 cm after first trying a lighter pain med. I always had planned to ask for an epidural - I have a VERY LOW pain threshold and just assumed it was the best course of action for me. I was really proud of myself for making it as long as I did without the drugs though. I don't know why I didn't think I could handle it, but I didn't and I suppose it was mostly fear. I labored a total of 15 hours with Shelagh and pushed for about 1.5 hours of that. That part was the really painful part b/c, ironically, after wanting the epidural and getting it as planned, it ended up wearing off before the important part anyway. When I hit 10 cm they told me they had to turn off the epidural so that I could feel enough to push. They did and then they didn't come back in for awhile. By the time I was pushing, I could feel it all and going from no pain to crazy pain without any transition SUCKED! Obviously, I eventually did it, but it was shocking to go from 0 to 60 and took A LOT of encouragement from the awesome nurse I had (who stayed after her shift to see my birth through) and Joe to get her out. Shelagh was purple and triangular when she came out from all the half-assed initial pushes I could muster. By the next day, her round head came back and she was strong and beautiful and perfect AND a red head (which we secretly were hoping for)!

The induction wasn't as cut and dry with Rory. I was induced first thing in the morning a few days before my due date and by late morning I knew it wasn't going to be successful. The contractions never advanced and I just knew he wasn't coming. We were sent home late afternoon. A week later, at my next appointment, my doctor offered to try again since I was more physically ready and we did induce the next day. After only 7 hours of labor, Rory arrived! This time I wouldn't let them turn off the epidural and we were actually talking and joking while I pushed him out. It was a breeze and I didn't feel a thing. We didn't know the sex of baby #2 like we did with Shelagh, but everyone thought I was carrying a boy (I don't think 1 person thought it was a girl) and I guess I wasn't that surprised when a boy came out even though I didn't have a feeling about the gender one way or the other (it's always weird to me when women say they just "know" and then it comes out the other sex and they are in no way prepared that that possibility might occur). He was also just perfect and adorable with white blonde hair. Within a couple of months he was a red head too and has been a sweet and mellow baby the whole time. I think the situation with Rory and the inductions, while the delivery was less dramatic and easier on me physically, gave me enough pause that I regret having done it with him the 1st and 2nd times and I know I wouldn't do it again if we were to have subsequent children.

With all that said, I still don't know if I could do a full natural birth and I know I wouldn't want a home birth. I do think that if we were blessed to have another baby, I would

1. Definitely let the labor come on its own
2. Have the strength to labor at home for awhile before I felt the need to go in to the hospital
3. Try to go as long as I could to the epidural deadline before deciding if I really need it or not. If I do, then I do. If I don't, then maybe I'd go for it.
4. Look to see if there was a birthing center option other than the hospital where I delivered my first 2 so that there is more focus on the laboring mom and more options for how to labor during that time. I don't know if I'd do it elsewhere, but I would at least research it further.

The main reason I wouldn't do the home birth option would be that I think it's really important to have those 1st few days focused completely on the new baby. To not have that isolated time (ie to be at home with my other kids simultaneously) would be against what I have treasured with my first 2 and the time I need to myself to process the change from being pregnant to breastfeeding and caring for that tiny new baby and for general physical recovery. I think it would be neat to have a midwife, but I'm not sure how and if that fits in with a hospital birth and I don't really like all that touchy-feely crap that sometimes come with the more "natural" approach. I don't need the full cheerleading squad, but some encouragement from someone with a breadth of experience in childbirth, who is also a woman and understands what I'd be going through, and who would have alternatives to dealing with the pain of laboring would be pretty cool.

Anyway, I'm so glad I watched the film. Even though I don't necessarily subscribe to everything they were focused on, it made me feel like I could more brave than I have been.

Trying to Refresh my iPod

I went through the dusty box of CDs last night to find something to add to my iPod and to see what we actually have before I go hogwild on iTunes. Lots of classic rock, folk rock (me), some punk type stuff (Joe), R & B/Disco, soundtracks, some alternative. Not much new music, folks.

I downloaded a couple of individual songs that I could work out to, but not much. Mostly some disco...Earth, Wind & Fire; Commodores; Bee Gees; a couple of individual songs from some soundtracks. I downloaded a few new songs such as that song from the movie Once that won the Best Song Oscar. It's not exactly a good workout song, but it is a beautiful song and does give me goosebumps which might be motivating in its own way. They totally deserved the win for that song.

I think I want another iPod. Is that totally ridiculous? The mini I have only holds 1 playlist and what I want to work out to and what I want to listen to at work are totally different. Then again, my ears hurt from listening to my iPod all day at work today. Yes, I'm sort of still getting stuff done while I listen to music. Sort of.

You are drinking your crap

The top headline at CNN.com this morning was Pharmaceuticals Found in US Drinking Water. From the article: "People take pills. Their bodies absorb some of the medication, but the rest of it passes through and is flushed down the toilet. The wastewater is treated before it is discharged into reservoirs, rivers or lakes. Then, some of the water is cleansed again at drinking water treatment plants and piped to consumers. But most treatments do not remove all drug residue."

Okay, I'm not dumb. I knew that toilet and sink water went to treatment plants and was treated and returned to the water supply. Now that I've read that though it seems so ridiculous and so completely gross. And, I'm wondering what exactly the filter I have installed on my sink actually filters for - I assume not shit and drugs. Hmmm. I've been really trying to move back towards filtered tap water (with my new reusable water cup that I won from Greenstyle Moms contest with SIGG bottles) and away from plastic water bottles. I guess it doesn't matter, b/c a lot of the bottled water is also treated tap water and no one is treating water for trace amounts of drugs anyway.

Sidebar...I'm also thinking about the time we took a trip with some friends in an RV and had to stop at one of those treatment plants. There is NOTHING more disgusting and simultaneously hilarious than being completely hungover, pulling into a shit factory (literally), having it be 90+ degrees, seeing a shit monitor guy riding his bike around the pools and wheels of shit, and watching 2 of your friends emptying the bathroom tank and dry-heave at the same time. Probably one of the funniest experiences of my life - we still crack up about it to this day. And throw up a little in our mouths.

Back to the topic at hand...it seems to reason that you shouldn't flush or throw out your old medications - RX or OTC. I was curious what you should do so I googled how to dispose of medication. The white house says to separate drugs from their original containers, render them unusable (some other sites also suggest to crush pills, mix w/ glue, mix w/ kitty litter) and throw them in the trash, except for a list of specific drugs which should be flushed like Oxycodone, Percocet, Morphine (seriously?). Another site called Ecocycle cited this same policy officially; but they also answered an inquiry with the suggestion that you might not want to flush them rather to try to take them back to the pharmacy for "proper disposal" (whatever that means). I guess only certain pharmacies will accept unfinished/expired meds, so you'd have to find one and who knows if they'd take an RX that wasn't dispensed by them originally. Plus, then someone other than you would know that you didn't actually finish all 10 days of that antibiotic (do you ever?). There are apparantly some programs that will recycle medications to third world countries and all that, but my problem is usually expired medication and not unused ones.

Happy Birthday, my Sweet 6-yr old Nephew

I cannot believe my nephew is 6 today. It seems like yesterday that I was sitting up all night holding him so my sister and brother-in-law could get a good nights sleep only 2 weeks or so after he was born. I didn't have to stay up all night, but I could not take my eyes off of him, nor could I bear to put him down. I just stared at him all night long and touched his little fingers and toes and lips. Never has a child looked so exactly like his parent (my BIL) and what a sweet angel baby he was. No matter how long it has been since I've seen him or how far apart I have lived from him, he has always greeted me like we saw each other everyday.

My sister is younger than me; but she was married before me and became a mother before me. At that time I remember never having felt as much pride and awe as when I watched her holding her son for the first time. We don't see eye to eye some of the time, but all of that melted away when she became a mother and I saw her in a whole new light.

I remember being pregnant with Shelagh and actually wondering if I would love my baby as much as I loved my nephew, who was 2 when Shelagh was born. I hadn't really had any babies in my life since my youngest sister was born. I think at the time, as an adult, I was so surprised about this whole other category of love that I hadn't experienced before. I was blown away and actually didn't know if it was possible to feel more. Of course, when Shelagh was born it was an overwhelming and amazing love that you feel when you become a mother that is indescribable and my doubt disappeared. But, there is always a place in my heart for my nephew who opened up this secret supply of love that I didn't know I had. Happy Birthday, J!

Movie: Margot at the Wedding

My friend visiting me and I watched Margot at the Wedding last night with a nice bottle of red wine. I really loved this movie. Nicole Kidman and Jennifer Jason Leigh play sisters with a complicated relationship coming together after a long period of not having seen each other. Nicole Kidman is the older sister who is more rigid, thinks things should be a certain way, is more judgemental, and more standoffish. JJL is the younger sister who is more carefree and looks up to her sister yet also slightly resents her and feels sorry for her. It was a fascinating depiction of the complexity and subtle intricacy that is the connection between sisters. It reminded me a bit of the movie Hilary and Jackie, another great movie about the sister bond. This movie just really got at the raw nerves that sisters can aggravate in each other; yet simultaneously, there is no one in the world that understands what you've come from like that person. Anyway, it was intense, but also light (thank you, Jack Black) and I thoroughly enjoyed it.

Pocohantas

I just watched this with Shelagh and cried. I'm ridiculous. She said "Mommy, are you happy crying?" She didn't even blink an eye and I was blubbering. Then I had to handle the slew of questions concerning John Smith and Pocohantas and who was hurt and why John Smith had to go back to "English" (meaning England) and all that. I finally told her I'd answer her questions tomorrow and she reiterated saying we could talk about the whole movie and all the parts tomorrow. I should have paid closer attention to the details instead of reading People magazine b/c who knows what silliness I'll have to make up now to answer her endless curiosities.

Good Day & Devasted Crying Child

I got a lot accomplished today. I have a friend coming up this weekend with her son, who is a few months younger than Rory. It motivated me to clean and despite the fact that Shelagh boycotted nap today, she did a great job occupying herself and I finished what I needed to for the most part: 4 loads of laundry (none left overnight in the washer inadvertantly which is huge), vacuuming, wiped down both bathrooms, and cleaned the frig and kitchen.

It's just me and the kids tonight for dinner. I'm going to eat with them and watch Rory NOT eat a lovely pork chop dinner with chopped broccoli and whole wheat angel hair pasta with pesto. He's actually done ok the last couple of days after having gone 4 nights in a row without a bite of dinner. He ate mac & cheese last night; ate sweet potato fries the night before unknowingly of course; asked to try a mushroom today while I was unpacking groceries; and asked to try a cherry tomato. He didn't like either, but at least he asked!

Okay, I spoke too soon. He is bawling his eyes out right now with his head on his hands at the table saying "I NOT A BUMMER". Shelagh said she thought he was a bummer b/c he had naughty behavior today. I wish I had the camera to get this on film, but Joe has it. What am I going to do with this kid.

Movie: Candy

I'm embarrassed to report that I spent over an hour on Facebook last night. Doing what? Who knows. There is not much do on there, yet once again I looked up and too much time had gone by. Answering messages, writing on walls, poking, looking at pictures, and - my favorite - taking silly and random movie quizzes.

Then I watched Candy, a movie Heath Ledger made after Brokeback Mountain. It was about a couple who are heroin addicts and just completely come apart. It was an intense and really well done movie. It reminded me a bit of Rush (another great couple-stuck-in-addiction drug movie), but with less drama. Both Heath Ledger and Abbie Cornish did a superb job...It was really more about their relationship while falling into and being stuck in addiction. I hadn't heard of her before, other than hearing she might have been involved with Ryan Phillippe when he and Reese Witherspoon broke up. She's coming out with some films soon too, so I look forward to seeing her more. Anyway, I recommend it although I think it's on Long Wait on Netflix right now due to the untimely death of HL.

Homemade Cinnamon Rolls

After talking with a friend the other day about cinnamon rolls, I decided to try the Homemade Cinnamon Roll recipe that Molly wrote about over at Orangette a few weeks ago. The recipe was actually posted in Bon Appetit March 2008 issue and her article about it was great - I had clipped it out and bought the ingredients for it, but hadn't made it yet. It focused on being afraid of baking with yeast which is completely my problem. I am so bad at dealing with dough. As a result, I don't bake bread, I don't make pizza dough, I don't make my own pie crust. I also don't have a standing mixer, but rather only a food processor and a hand mixer. It's probably ridiculous and not difficult at all. So, I decided to give it a whirl. I used the plastic blade on my food processor and it wasn't hard to make the dough. My confidence is rising (no pun intended, but I'm pretty pleased I just came up with that).

I wrote the above after the dough was finished while it was rising. Here's how it ACTUALLY panned out

Looking back, it did take significantly less time to work it into a smooth dough than I expected. I probably added too much flour on the counter while I was kneading it. Red Flag #1. I set it out to rise with rapid rise yeast and it should have doubled in 1 1/2 to 2 hours. At 3 hours it hadn't done much at all. Red Flag #2. I panicked and called my mom "What the hell do I do???? The dough hasn't risen and I even put it on top of a warm stove to help it along. I swear I measured everything out the way you're supposed to...spoon the dry ingredients in and use a knife to smooth out the top. I knew I'd f* up the dough. THIS is why I don't make things requiring dough. DAMMIT." Yes, dough really stresses me out. I think it's b/c I'm a math/science type of person and the fact that I can't figure this out pisses me off. In all fairness, I've mostly given up and not tried it again though, so I'll have to work at it more I guess. Cooking is just easier for me than baking.

Anyway, Shelagh helped me roll it out, put the filling in, roll it up and get it into the baking dishes. Once again, it didn't rise after 1 1/2 hours. DAMMIT. Red Flag #3. I just said "screw it" and baked them. They came out with good color and the frosting was perfect (I love cream cheese frosting), so I slathered the extra frosting on top to make up for what was bound to not be a good roll. Final result...they weren't too bad, but not what I was going for. The roll was too bready...more of a tough texture than a moist, wet type of texture that I like. Either way, they went over fine at home (Shelagh will eat anything with sugar in it and love it. Joe liked them too, but agreed with me on the texture) and went over fine at work this morning. Here's a picture of 1 roll. As you can see, I compensated for the roll with the frosting. If I made them again, I would also increase the brown sugar/cinnamon/ butter filling. I like them a bit more gooey too.

Superstar Crazy Princess

No point to this post really. I just think Shelagh looks funny with her crazy red hair, big sunglasses, and snow white costume.


She had a dentist appointment this morning and did okay. She cried through the whole thing, but at least she lay there still and let the hygenist clean and floss her teeth. The pediatric dentist she goes to is just a bit creepy. Nice enough guy, but reminds me of Goofy. I suppose you have to talk through everything you do and in a kind of weird voice in that profession. But, it's still strange. She does a good job brushing and flossing...Rory actually needs his teeth cleaned, but I'm going to wait until September when Shelagh goes back. I dread that day.

Jingly Hats

Okay, don't laugh, but my mom knit the kids these jester hats with bells at the bottom. The kids put them on this weekend and ran around the playroom with the "jingly hats" dancing and making music. Here are my little nuts...

And just for good measure...Rory playing basketball and Shelagh just looking so tall. I can't believe she's coming up on 4. She's like a little lady!

Top 10 Lost Comments on Pop Candy

Whitney has posted the Top 10 Lost comments on her blog. Fantastic insight. I love reading other peoples theories about Lost. I'm WAY to lazy to have many original thoughts of my own...too much thinking and I tend to veg out while watching. It makes me realize how little of my education I've retained...History, literature, religion. I need one of those all-inclusive "from the beginning of time to now" books to get a clue.

Lemon Garlic Chicken w/ Escarole & Orzo

I made a super-easy dinner last night from an Everyday Food recipe from this past months issue, I think...I'd have to double-check. I would change a couple of things, but it was pretty good, fast, and easy. The chicken was a whole cut up chicken spread out on a cookie sheet with some cut up lemons and smashed garlic cloves. Drizzle on a little olive oil, oregano, salt and pepper and roast at 450 for a 1/2 hour. The orzo had a teaspoon of olive oil and some dried dill and the escarole was sauteed with garlic. The only thing that was a bit of a pain was cutting up the chicken, but you can always buy a pre-cut chicken and there is a part of me that enjoys using really sharp poultry scissors to just hack up a whole bird. I did overcook the chicken a bit, which I always do with chicken, and I would reduce the amount of lemon. I've never been much for lemon in recipes, but it's starting to grow on me.

It's Going to be a Great Day!!

It is amazing what some sunshine and a 50 degree morning brings out in me. What a fantastic morning I've had so far...everything has gone well and I can't remember the last time I felt so great starting out my day. I'm generally mostly on the sarcastic side with a splash of negative :)

The kids went to bed late so they both slept in a bit this morning (of course on a work/school day). I actually got through my whole shower and getting ready for work BY MYSELF! What a pleasure. Shelagh woke up smiling and actually put her clothes on by herself while we were making breakfast WITHOUT BEING TOLD and was happy with what I put out for her and said so - "Mommy, I LOVE this shirt. How did you know I LOVED it?" After she got dressed, she came running into the kitchen and said "Did I surprise you, Mommy?" While she was eating, she specifically requested her "Party Hair" which is 2 pigtails and is my favorite on her. Throughout breakfast she was singing that Maroon 5 song "She Will be Loved", but with her own special words which totally crack me up..."I don't mind spending the day. Out on the corner in the Donut Rain". Here she is showing me how happy she was this morning. And, Rory too, b/c if Shelagh is saying cheese and showing me her teeth, then he wants to also...

CCCHHHHHEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEESE!!!!!

Add on to a great "No Yelling" morning the following:

1. I'm having a good hair day (there aren't many left since I have a huge mop of curly hair and the warm weather is coming. it's time to stock up on gel.)
2. I'm loving the new necklace and bracelet set I got that I'm wearing today
3. I didn't have to wear a coat but rather a nice light vest b/c
4. I walked outside and it was WARM! It registered at 50 degrees in my car this morning and most of the snow from this weekend is gone already. This was shorts weather in Vermont when I was in college. Around April, we'd get 1 or 2 of these days and it was shorts from then to the end of school. Nice little flashback to college days to perk me up. If I only I could throw a frisbee.

Sturbridge Girl Time

I met my cousin in Sturbridge, MA yesterday for lunch and hang out time. She lives in CT and this was the mid-point. We stumbled across this beautiful store filled with homemade jewelry, house accessories, bags, and other miscellaneous items. We spent a good hour and a half in there browsing, buying, talking...it was really great. The jewelry was so pretty and unique and not expensive at all. I was thankful I hadn't splurged at any of those Lia Sophia parties people have been having lately. I got a green, bronze, antiquey necklace and earring set and a pretty multi-color beaded necklace and bracelet set with lots of browns and pinks. I got a super cute silver necklace with a pink butterfly for Shelaghs 4th bday in May and a mothers day gift for my mother-in-law too. I also stumbled upon a really lovely beaded hanging thing that had the exact colors of my living room, so I bought that too with a soft beige wall bracket to hang it from...everything was on sale too! The store is called Sadie Greens and they do sell stuff online apparantly. I'll definintely be back there for more if I need anything.

My cousin and I had a nice 2 hour lunch afterwards just talking and catching up. It's nice to have the one-on-one time outside of our big family gatherings where we can just talk and get to know each other more as adults. I think and hope we'll do it again soon both with and without the kids. I relaxed and laughed listening to Howard Stern for the hour long trip there and back. It was a sunny crisp day out. The kids got some alone time with Joe before he heads out on his annual ski trip. It was a relaxing and nice slow day all around.

Could the Recital Costume be any worse?

Shelagh had her dance class on Saturday morning and did a great job "doing her moves" at the end of class when the parents can come in and watch the last 5 minutes. They put a picture up of the million-dollar costumes they will be wearing for the recital in May and, damn, they are hideous. I'm not generally a ruffly, poofy sleeves, taffetta and lace kind of girly girl so big poofy dresses and costumes are tough for me to swallow anyway. But, this lavendar monstrosity is under the category of child beauty pageant costumes. It's completely JonBenet (okay, that is kind of mean, but isn't she just the poster child for the pimped up kid pageant scene?). It's got a zillion skirt layers, has ruffles EVERYWHERE, is satiny purple and white with some sparkles and glitter, has huge poofy sleeves a la 80's prom dresses, and a hair thingy that is just weird. And it was $66. I do think tutu's are cute, so here's a pic of Shelagh in her tutu leotard that my aunties got her for Christmas this past year. She loves it and will rarely wear anything else to class.