Not Swept Off My Feet Over This Ad

Take a look at this ad on the right side of this magazine and tell me if you are floored (not swept):




This is in People magazine. I'm just glad I'm not on a plane reading it next to a man. The ad reads..."Goddess of Swept Off My Feet". That doesn't even make sense. Then it mentions how this razor has 5 blades "completely surrounded by a ribbon of moisture. It's our closest shave for your closest moments." Um, yeah, they are pretty close.

Now, I am no prude and I wasn't born yesterday (a few years ago I saw an old friend at a mutual friend's wedding and she told me how she'll never forget how at age 15 I'd read Cosmo magazine articles to my friends--she told me she learned a lot actually).

But what is with this position? I see it everywhere. Well, what I mean is I see it on TV all the time. Well, I definitely see this jumping up and leg straddling action at least three times on every episode of the Bachelor and the Bachelorette show. Every time the Bachelorette is happy to see her guy, they run to each other and assume this position. I keep waiting for the guy to drop the gal.

Anyway this photo has to be Photoshopped. You can't even see the guy's right arm. Anyway, just thought I'd share and see if I was getting too old and crotchety (I swear that word just came out with no pun intended!).

Too Many Banana Peppers--Need Your Suggestions

Before we get to the peppers, I want to share a couple of dishes that I make just for myself. I have a small vegetable garden and my two cucumber plants make just enough for salad here and there and my favorite simple dish of chopped cucumbers, onion, salt, maybe garlic if you want and dill. My herbs are really, really happy in this 95 degree weather and I put my dill in a paper towel in the refrigerator and a few days later it's easy to crumble onto this tsatziki that I make. Just add plain yogurt (the Greek kind, yum) or sour cream:

This year I've been making dinner using shrimp. I pick up a 24 oz or so bag of frozen, cooked, deveined shrimp whenever I see it go on sale for about $10 (I get two dinners out of it--just use what I need and keep the rest in freezer). Two dinner faves are making quesadillas --I use a quesadilla maker and put sauteed shrimp, peppers, onions and cumin onto a flour tortilla and sprinkle cheese on top, add the other tortilla, and when done use a pizza cutter to cut into wedges. Or just spoon it into tortillas for a wrap or in place of beef for tacos. Or I make shrimp alfredo the easy way by sauteeing the shrimp and adding a jar of alfredo sauce and then I "homemake it up" by adding my own half &' half, mushrooms, parmesan, onions, and peas.

But for a salad that is just for me, I make this shrimp and tortellini pasta salad:
Cook the tortellini (1/2 a bag), drain, it, defrost the cooked shrimp, add chopped green pepper, any kind of onion, salt & pepper, sprinkle of parmesan, and enough creamy caesar dressing to coat it. Put it on salad greens. I add fresh basil from my happy herb garden.

I am growing a couple of different kinds of peppers in the garden. I have the perfect amount of bell peppers, and one jalapeno pepper plant that is suiting me just fine. BTW, I cut up a couple of jalapenos on the 4th of July to add to a black bean/corn/cilantro/onion/cucumber/tomato salad and used my bare hands while cutting and transferring them to the bowl. Big mistake. My hands were on fire for hours. It was worse than that time years ago when I was in Florida on a girl only getaway getting ready to go out with a good friend and I picked up the curling iron by the hot barrel. I had to hold a cold beer bottle in my hand all night to take away the pain. But for the jalapeno burn (on both hands!) I put my hands in a dish of cold milk (not as fun).

OK, so on to my overabundance of banana peppers. Here they are:

I planted six of these plants (and I didn't even lose that one that had its leaves all eaten by the ginormous hornworm -- I'll spare you the photo again -- but yes, all the leaves have grown back and it's producing lots of peppers. With horns. Just kidding).

Hubs loves these on his sandwiches and what I have done with plenty of them so far is chop the peppers into rings and put them into a jar of pickles that still has all the pickle juice (but no pickles), and keep in the fridge. But that will still leave me with too many. Do they freeze? What would you do?

And the only reason I have any time to make the Greek tzatziti salad for me and the girlish shrimp salad for me is because the boys have left for the beach again for the last hurrah before school starts. Tell me, what would you do if you had a weekend all to yourself??

(I'm missing them but want to make the most of it because my world will rock in a few weeks with three boys in three different schools for the first time--with 3 different wake up times for high, middle and elem school, and three boys on three sports teams again).

The Sleepwear Department

Last week I decided to clean out my underwear drawer since earlier in the summer I took 25 items from my closet and went to Goodwill. Not that there is anything in my underwear drawer I would take to Goodwill.. But I did manage to put about 25 pairs of underwear in a heap on the floor that are too tiny and small for me now.

Speaking of too tiny and small, look at what I found in the bottom of the drawer:
Twenty-two years of marriage and several apartment and house moves later, I have still hung on to this. Does anyone remember when they were called a teddy?? There are other teddies that have come and gone from my drawer, but this one, although small enough to fit a 110 lb, size 2 person who doesn’t mind scratchy lace all over and a wedgie, has not been tossed out.
I realized I have kept it because it was given to me by someone at a bridal shower—it was a “Round-the-clock shower and this guest had received the bewitching hour assigned to her of 10:00 p.m. So I was given this teddy and a bottle of aspirin. Everyone hooted and hollered—it was fun.

But I started thinking about bedtime attire when I was at a store with Hubs not too long ago and we passed the sleepwear/lingerie area and I walked on by as usual. But I did touch a cute “nightie” because it looked really soft. I said, “Should I get something like this?” And he said, “Are you supposed to sleep in it?”
You can’t blame him for asking because for all these years I just wear a big shirt in the summer and those flannel lounge pants and shirt in the winter. (don’t even get me started on how much I love that outfit and it is the best thing about winter because as soon as I get home from work/done with kids’ sports I am into these clothes and have lots of them). In fact Hubs once gave me some white Jockey undershirts that he didn’t like and they sure are soft to sleep in.

But it got me thinking—uh-oh. Am I letting myself go? Should I be “caring” more about looking “better” in my sleepwear options? Is Hubs disappointed that he figured out long ago that he will get big smiles when I open a gift of striped lounge pants and soft shirt, as opposed to “tap pants and a cami” (hee-hee can’t believe I remember that term).

So I asked him. “Should I be paying more attention to what I wear at night?” He laughed. He was probably stalling trying to figure out where this was going. He reminded me that I like to be comfortable. And then he said if I wore something like I saw in the stores it probably wouldn’t stay on very long. I think that summed up that he knows I don’t like spending money on something unless it will get used—and also his way of saying we don’t need something extra. At least that’s my take on it. I’m still thinking about it. Your experience is welcome.

The full moon is coming Sunday night. It is the Full Buck Moon—named for the time of year when those young, growing male deer grow their velvety-soft horns. And it probably won't matter what is worn in the sleepwear department.

Maybe Some Kids Need This Reading Program But Mine Do Not

Me to 12 year old son last week: “Do you want to go to the library for some books?”

Son: “Reading books in the summer is not fun”.

Well. He is an active boy. With more on his mind than reading books. Skateboard magazines--yes. And getting ready to hit the beach again. So his attitude these days could be for these reasons. But I know there’s another reason.

When he started 5^th grade two years ago, his teacher instructed they needed to read certain books and then take computerized tests on them (10 questions) to prove the book was read. This program is called Accelerated Reader—it is expensive and used by over 50,000 schools in the U.S. as a supplementary or primary reading program. Its philosophy is that students are motivated to read more and better books. I say it does not instill a life long love of reading. In fact, it has ruined my son’s enjoyment of reading.

Initially an Accelerated Reader (AR) test is taken to determine a reading level and then based on the results, the student is told what kind of books (designated by a number) s/he should read to be challenged. Savvy students have realized they should not do as well as capable on this initial test—thereby achieving a lower goal of points needed—thereby reaching his or her goal each quarter—thereby “succeeding.” Those who reach their goal are awarded prizes at school such as pizza parties, prizes and award ceremonies. I believe that rewards only affect short term behavior. I say that if a behavior is rewarded, that task was not so desirable. Some teachers get really competitive and many principals are huge fans (the program is expensive, therefore the school system needs to promote it).

So in 5^th grade this rule-follower son began reading the Lemony Snickett books…one..after…the…other..until about book #13. Maybe a few other kinds of books in between. He had read 17 books by January and I was amazed. But it turns out he was really tired of those books and was reading them just because he knew they were his level of AR books. For Christmas gifts he’d received a couple magazine subscriptions and in January was reading them. Plus he read the latest Diary of a Wimpy Kid--which was not AR. We've always expressed quite clearly to our sons that we don’t care what you read—just read.

One day I found out that the teacher kept him inside from recess because he wasn’t reading AR books. I was upset and emailed the teacher. She stated that “she hated to punish him” but he didn’t seem to be reading much and had that latest Lemony Snickett book out for weeks and weeks. My son didn’t speak up and tell her or write her exactly what he had been reading. And I wrote to her that I had been amazed at how his appetite for reading was so huge and that he reads every night so I was quite surprised at this situation. She backed off and said she wished she knew some of the details I had provided that he had at least read something.

So then he goes into middle school (6^th grade). We’ve been through this same path with our oldest son, but wanted to tell my middle son’s story because he is the one who was formerly a voracious reader. In 6^th grade reading AR books and achieving the designated number of points from the tests counts as 5% toward the grade. The first week of school a letter is sent home from the Language Arts teacher explaining this and requiring a parent’s signature. Our son had to return the form with my husband’s scrawl, “I am not signing as I don’t believe in AR.” (poor kid!!) Every week when I spend time with each son checking in on what are the class happenings, I reiterate that I do not care what they read—just find something they enjoy reading. They know we parents are tough on them in so many areas but when I/Hubs feel something is not right at school I will back you up.

Last year we found some good books at the public library and they were not AR. But the school’s media specialist had a budget to purchase tests so if the school does not have a test they will order it. My son had to explain to me (with disdain) that any book could be an AR book, as long as there is a test for it. In fact the media specialist at the elem school actually told me that if I had read the book I could write a 10-question test and give it to the teacher and that would work (I swear many teachers actually teach parents to get too involved). I declined.

This past spring in 6^th grade my son had not yet achieved his AR goal for the quarter. Despite the teacher making it perfectly clear about the 5% of the grade, and our position that it is completely up to Middle Son if he wants to read certain books and take the tests--she still got involved. She told my son and a couple others one day that at lunchtime they are to eat in a classroom with her and read. It was one of the few times my son was buying so he had to carry his tray out of the cafeteria and down the hall and into her classroom. BTW it is a "gifted" class. You would think that if a child tested (on all those standardized tests) as in the high percentage of Language Arts that all this extra emphasis on reading books for points would not be necessary.

And it really depends on the teacher. Because of these tests and this reward system I feel many teachers are missing teachable moments. Others take a stand. There is a 5^th grade teacher across the hall from the one my son had—this teacher tells the kids, “There is an AR program and you get points and prizes. If you want to do it, knock yourself out. If not, pick a book and read. And we will have class sets of books to read and discuss together. And I will read a book to you in the afternoon many days.”

And now one more son is being affected. Last year my youngest son was in 3^rd grade. He is not a fan of fiction, unless I am reading with him. But he checks out non-fiction galore. I have read more than I can imagine on WWI and WWII fighter planes. But toward the end of this school year he was in the media center and his teacher told him to go pick out an AR fiction book. He’d never been directed to certain shelves in the library before. He picked out a book. And felt like he had done something wrong. This kid’s thirst for knowledge and grades are top notch. But he felt like he was being corrected.

My boxing gloves are taking a rest right now during the months of June and July but soon they’ll get polished up again.

What a Difference a Week Makes

Things are getting back to normal over here. It took about one long week for Hubs to feel like he was getting better and then had a really good follow up visit with the surgeon, who greeted us by saying, "What do you think of just the one incision in the belly button?" (He was the recipient of one super small incision type of laparoscopy). The doctor was wonderful by the way. Anyway I always seem to be burning the candle at both ends but I really was for those few days before the 4th of July and few days after.

It is eerie how the timing worked out for his appendicitis. I never mentioned this but after winter we were planning on taking a family road trip out West for this summer. Last summer we road tripped to CO and So. Dakota and St. Louis and the kids asked if we would go to Calif the next summer and we said Sure! So we started researching what we'd so in NM, AZ, Calif, when I would fly back, and what they'd do after I flew back. But it didn't feel right, it was too much planning, and would cost too much money. So we decided to spend a lot of time all over Florida instead.

Good move. I would have been back home, Hubs would have been in the middle of Utah or something with three boys and appendicitis. Instead we were back at home after their 22 day Florida trip and we had no plans for the 4th of July (only had to cancel a camping trip for the next weekend). And it is his summer break, which works out--he hates missing work.

When we drove back from Florida it was Father's Day and this new reclining outdoor chair (gift from me) was waiting for him, to be used for camping, or on the porch. It has now been moved inside the house, in front of the TV.
On the 4th of July I got up at the crack of dawn and watched my oldest son run the Peachtree Road Race with 55,000 other people. Youth. All he needed was a new pair of shoes and a friend to run with--no running practice at all. Here he is petting his friend's dog when we saw him mid-race.
Here are some of the other 55,000 people approaching:

And we still got to do our big-gun-bad-boy fireworks on the 4th. I went to a neighbor's party by myself and everyone came to our part of the 'hood for the big ones I bought in Alabama. My husband has some good stories and memories of his dad shooting off fireworks and my boys will have good stories of their mom buying the fireworks, and dad shooting them off.

So let's review. Hubs got in his 22 day vacation beginning the day that his 9 week summer began. His appendix is out, meaning he never, ever has to worry now about being in the middle of a deserted exotic island and having it burst. He recuperated with two batches of homemade chicken soup, bran muffins and smoothies. He is heading back to FL for another surfin safari so that he and the ocean can become one again. And he has lost 7 to 10 pounds.

Maybe I'll have cake again and this time put frosting on it.

More Poses, Ten Years Later

On our trip to the Gulf coast of Florida a couple of weeks ago, I remembered one trip we had taken to there 10 years ago exactly. I drove by myself 10 hours with the two boys and I was 5 months pregnant with my Youngest. I loved these photos of the boys and on our recent trip the two oldest boys indulged me in "recreating" the past photos in the same exact spots. Here is my oldest when he was just about to turn four.
And here he is 10 years later. I see they replaced these benches.



And here is my middle son when he was 2.5 years old:



And here he is 10 years later:


And here are the two of them on this same trip at the park. There was a "pirate ship" with port holes and they peeked out at me and it was sunset. Guess what? Being good sports had its limits as I did not re-create this same pose 10 years later. They maybe would have if no one else was at the park. So glad I have this:


I have lots of pictures of the two oldest boys running together on all vacations. They are 20 months apart. Compete much?
They had fund re-creating this one. They ran in slow motion like they imagined they did back when they were 4 and 2.5 years old.....

Here is oldest on a palm tree that grew parallel to the ground:

And here are the three of them now (youngest is not giving me the finger--it is the peace sign)


(will update with some more later....have to go check on the patient who is not happy that he is still very sore, uncomfortable and way over feeling awful on this 4th day after surgery, wake up two out of three boys as it is after 11:00 a.m., give them their list of chores and instructions for the day, and go into work for a little bit).
Update: We are on day 6 post-surgery and it has not been easy for anyone. Much pain, and a patient who is not happy that he does not feel better significantly each day and gets major, gripping, belly pain. It would help if the surgeon's office would call back after a couple days of calling and asking to talk to the doc or a nurse.

If I'm Posting Two Days in a Row, You Know It's an Emergency

And you know you are addicted to coffee if when you are driving your husband to the emergency room in the morning, you seriously consider hitting the drive-thru at Chick-Fil-A for a coffee.

My Hubs kindly kept his stomach pains to himself all night and woke me up early about his pain on right side of stomach that started near the belly button but moved to the appendix area. After Googling, he woke me up at 6:00 a.m. and I Googled too.

After a couple hours at the ER and a Ct scan, it is indeed appendicitis.

And the surgeon will get to him at 3:00 p.m. (there is no rupture, luckily).

I headed home, told the boys, and they are fine since I drove to the grocery store and came home with Frosted Flakes, BBQ chips, Pop Tarts, 2 gallons of ice cream, Fig Newtons and Vanilla Wafers and Gatorade, Coke, root beer, OJ and milk. I was in a frenzy. I bought myself the latest People so I can read about that publicity-Hound, Jake and why he dumped Vienna.

I asked the boys to just be sure and eat a piece of fruit too and not kill each other as they stay inside and play their war games on the PS3.

I swear I did not punch or push the Hubs as a result of any frustration over the empty toilet paper situation!

Stay tuned. I'm told he may have to stay overnight.

(I'm old fashioned and have no laptop, iphone or blackberry but will update tonight)