Shortly after KT came home from school today, she mentioned the Open House at her school tonight.  She had just assumed that I was going to go.    I had planned on going…before I managed to forget all about it! (After all, I had gone to Mimi’s Open House last week, so that should count for something, shouldn’t it?)

I had to do a little mad wiggling to work everything out so that I was able to go, but I made it.  KT drew me a rather detailed map with little arrows pointing to each classroom and very specific written instructions so that I wouldn’t get lost (What a kid!) .

It was all the same general stuff they do year after year…only this time it was at the high school.  The teachers had high expectations and were very aware that they were grooming most of these kids for college.  Almost all of them praised our kids up and down, commenting that they were just really nice kids.  This is always good to hear, but it does make one wonder what the other classes have been like.  (either really nice too, or little horrors) Of course it does help that all of KT’s classes are Honors Classes and all of the kids in them wanted to be there. 

The one thing that shocked me about this particular Open House was how old most of the parents were.  Seriously, there was a lot of gray hair and wrinkles! (Not me of course).  These older parents stood out in sharp contrast to how young most of the teachers seemed to be.  

I can’t help but wonder if this means that I’m getting old….Nah!

A couple weeks ago, Laane tagged me with this meme.  I’ve been um…a little slow responding to it.  So, as this is supposed to be cooking week (and I’m just barely getting a post in today) I’m going to try to relate me middle name to cooking.  Let’s see if I can do it…this should be interesting!

The Rules:

1. You have to post the rules before you give the facts.
2. You must list one fact that is relevant to your life for each letter in your middle name. If you don’t have a middle name than use a name that you like.
3. When you are tagged you must write a post containing your own middle name game facts.
4. At the end of your post you must tag one person for each letter in your middle name.. Don’t forget to comment them telling that they are tagged and to read your post to get the rules.

M~ Mom knows best. Everything I learned about cooking came from her.  Well, I did take a semester of Home Economics in 7th grade.  The only thing I really remember about that was being laughed at because I was using the pan scrubber to scrub the carrots…just the way my mother did!

A~Anchovies.  Shaun once went on an anchovies kick.  He decided that they belonged on every Caesar salad, every pizza and every cracker he came across.  Then he decided that the entire family should love them too.  So every time he had anchovies he would pester and implore us to try one. He even resorted to offering a hundred dollars to anyone that would sample just one tiny anchovy. Finally, sick of listening to him, I popped it in my mouth.  Shaun’s look of astonishment was worth every moment of salty slime in my mouth.  Come to think of it…I never collected my money…

R~(I can bake) Really good cookies.  One time, on a cold rainy day out selling Girl Scout Cookies with my troop, my co-leader just shook her head at all the “no thanks” we were getting for our product.  Her theory was that everyone bought cookies, so they should just buy from our girls.  I just looked at her in puzzlement…it never occurred to me that people really bought cookies…I always make them and couldn’t see why folks would want to buy them!

I~Inattentive.  I think my biggest problem in the kitchen is that I’m so easily distracted.  I don’t really take the time to measure things well.  I don’t always remember to set the timer.  (and if I do, I don’t always respond as quickly as I should) Cooking just seems like a lot of work, for very short lived result.  I might as well just feed everyone PB&J…it gets the job done.

E~Eggs. One of favorite way to cook eggs (not for the vegan in the house) is boiled omelets.  In a quart size freezer Ziploc break two eggs and add your favorite goodies.  Boil for 13 minutes (I had to look up the real time as I tend to wing it) and you have created a perfect omelet!

OK, it may not all be about cooking, but it’s got some sort of food in each letter! Now, I’m supposed to tag some folks.  Um…I hate this part.  Let’s see…I pick YOU!!!

Tomorrow we’ll talk about my issues with rice. (what you don’t have issues???)

Lisa at The Food Snob wants to know what our favorite recipe is and why we like it so much.  Hmmm….does this imply that we actually are supposed to cook it? (And cook it well?)  Let’s see…I can cook a mean pot of beans that people go crazy for.  I can bake and decorate some really pretty cakes.  Ummm…oatmeal, I’m pretty good at oatmeal. 

Sadly, the gourmet cooking gene doesn’t seem to run very strong in my family.  I used to think I was a pretty good cook. (After all, my mother taught me everything I know) That was until I started cooking for Shaun. When we were first married he told me how wonderful everything I prepared was and wolfed it all down appreciatively. (And I have to admit that sometimes it was so bad that even I couldn’t manage to choke it down) I knew the honeymoon was over when he gently told me how he really felt about my cooking…

Over the years, I’ve managed to come up with some meals that everybody loved.  They usually centered around some sort of meat, usually chicken.  Then, about two years ago, my children decided that they were going to be vegetarians.  Being the supportive mother that I am, I slowly adapted to non-meat meals. 

A few months ago, my oldest decided that she would take her commitment to not eat other creatures a step further.  She became vegan.  My child’s food choices have forced me to really look at what we are eating.  Sigh…do you have any idea at all of what they put in our prepared foods?  I may learn to cook yet!

So…instead of giving you a recipe for “Tofu Delight”, I present you with this highly acclaimed vegan banana bread recipe.  Technically, I can’t tell you how awesome it is, because…well…I haven’t actually made it yet.  I’ll let you know!

I’m hereby declaring this “Cooking with Susie” week.   I will post something everyday about cooking.  Unless of course I get sidetracked….or forget.  (I can pretty much promise you it’s not going to be about mouth watering recipes!)

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Bit O Life

Our little Ninja Warrior.  (photo by Shaun)

This has been an interesting three weeks.  Having Shaun home all the time has been a bit of an adjustment.  I’m happy to say that I’ve once again learned to deal with him full time and most likely will not end up throttling him.  (If you happen to know Shaun in “real life” you will understand exactly what I mean.  I can’t even begin to tell you of all the people that have me pegged as the Susan, Patron Saint of Patience.)

We’ve actually been having fun spending time going off and doing things together while the girls are in school.   The other day, we decided that we were going to go for lunch (Yummy garlicky gyros!) and then go see a movie.  Knowing that the girls would come home to an empty house (something I try to avoid doing) I wrote them a note to let them know where we were and left orders for them not to call us. 

When the movie was over, I got out my cell phone to check on the girls.  I was astounded to see how many messages there were.  They started out with KT cheerfully telling me that the after school club she had planned to join wasn’t actually going to be held after school.  Then she went on to tell me that she was going to French Club.  (French Club? She’s a German-Irish girl taking Spanish!)

The next few messages were telling me that French Club was over and that my little girl was ready to be picked up.  I could hear her panic level rising with one of them being merely a wail of despair asking where I was.  The last message was a very reproachful “Mom, don’t worry, Miss Rebecca has graciously offered to take me home.”

Oops.

Of course, KT tried to be angry at me for having forgotten her.  The only problem is that this has become one of those things that is just too funny to be tragic.  After I had apologized profusely, I told KT to make sure she thanked Miss R for me and to let her know that I would happily take her daughter home for her if she ever happened to forget about her.  KT just looked at me and snidely remarked that Miss R would never forget her daughter.  “That’s right”, I remembered ” Miss R only has one kid.  We don’t have to be quite as careful as we have an emergency backup child”.

Later that evening,  as I was heading out of Target, I got a phone call from KT.  She had gotten out of martial arts a few minutes early and was wondering if I had forgotten her yet again.   I was torn between feigning forgetfulness or explaining about the really slow checker. 

In the end, I blamed it on her father.  He was home and had flipped my entire routine topsy turvy by his mere presence.  It was all his fault. 

Yeah…nobody in this house was buying it either.  Sigh…

The other day I picked up a couple loafs of garlic bread on a whim.  They looked and smelled so heavenly that I just couldn’t resist.  Now these weren’t your typical french bread with butter and garlic smeared on them so you can throw them in the oven and eat with pasta loafs.  No, these were heavenly loaves with garlic cloves freshly baked into them. 

The girls and I ate one loaf with our broccoli soup one night, and the other with our mushroom soup the next night. We mostly gnawed on the bread and ignored the soap as the bread was THAT good. 

It never occurred to any of us that there could be any sort of a problem with eating that divine bread until Shaun came home from his Walkabout.  As he leaned in to hug us, he suddenly recoiled back in horror.  Apparently, we all reeked of garlic. 

We managed to do fairly well for the first day or so.  Shaun just kept his distance and made sure to place himself upwind from each of us.  Then we decided to get out of the house and go on a little adventure.  As we all piled into the Jeep we could see Shaun starting to get agitated and turn just the palest shade of green.  It was cold and rainy day so we really needed to keep the top up.  (He keeps the top down as much as he possibly can)  When we were all settled, Shaun pulled out of the driveway, then all of a sudden he returned to the  driveway and dashed back into the house. 

We waited patiently until he came back out explaining that he had needed to get something. Then my silly husband opened his mouth to reveal a clove of garlic that he was sucking on.  His thought was to neutralize our…stench…um…aroma.  It worked like a charm and we all happily drove along in our cloud of garlic vapor.

After a while we decided to stop at the grocery store to get some drink sand snacks for our adventure of the day.  We walked through the store together and watched with amusement as the other shoppers quickly moved away from us.   (As tempting as it was, we didn’t linger too long) After we had made our selections, we all headed up to the front to pay for our purchases. 

For no particular reason, the cashier started telling Shaun what a horrible cold she had and that it was driving her nuts that she couldn’t smell a thing. (He gets into the strangest conversations with people) Shaun let out an audible  sigh of relief as he started telling the her the whole story of how his entire family stunk so much that he had to stink himself up too.  He then went on to tell her  that it must have been fate that he came up to the one person who couldn’t smell him. 

The rest of our day was fairly uneventful.  Even if Shaun refused to take us out to anywhere that people were gathered.  He kept muttering something about it not being fair to the rest of civilization.   And the he even made us promise not to have anymore of that wonderful bread again.  Sigh…I really don’t see what the big deal was, I couldn’t smell anything. 

Next time I get some of that bread, I’ll just have to make sure that we share it with him…

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Hosted by the fabulous Tink.  This week’s words are color and change.  

Look at the beautiful color on these African Violets.  (although the photo really doesn’t  do them justice) They were given to me as a teacher gift a year and a half ago.  For a change they’ve managed to survive my brown thumb.  They just started blooming for no reason.  Maybe they just really thrive on garlic vapors…

I just realized that it noon and I haven’t blogged anything.  Not that I have to blog with any regularity or anything like that.  It’s just that if I’ve committed to Fun Monday, so I really should do that.

ANYWAYS,  today’s hostess, Sayre wants to see our art work.  Actually she wants to see what every member in the family chooses as their favorite piece…and photos don’t count.  Since nobody is here right now, I’m going to decide their favorites for them! (Isn’t that nice of me?)

Looking around in KT’s room, I see sea life and Disney Princesses.  I’m sure this wouldn’t be considered her very favorite, but I think it sums up her.   

Mimi likes to create her own artwork.  So, I’m going to guess that her favorites are (or maybe they are my favorites) this hand painted sun

and her abstract flower

Shaun’s office has all sorts of wonderful delights to choose from. I choose this brass unicorn that he’s had since before I met him. 

And this…um…thing.  (I think it may be a turkey?)

As for me…well, I don’t think I’m allowed to choose for myself!!!

Last night I woke up from a horrible nightmare.  I had dreamt that Shaun had been off-roading and had lost control of the Big Orange Jeep.  I watched as he rolled over and over and then perished in a blaze of glory.  I awoke with tears streaming down my face and reached over to Shaun’s side of the bed to comfort myself.  

As he licked the side of my face, I realized that I was actually hugging our dog Shelly.  Then I remembered that I was all alone.  Although technically, finding a kid, two dogs and at least three cats in your bed isn’t really alone.  Still, the one warm body that I wanted, no that I needed in my bed, wasn’t there.   

I grew up in a Navy family.  It seemed as though my dad was overseas more then he was home.  Because of this, I learned that as a woman, you need to be self-reliant.  If something needs doing, an emergency occurs, the trash needs to be taken out…anything, you need to be able to do it yourself.  As a result of watching my mom just deal with things, I am a fiercely independent woman.  I can do anything I set my mind to.  (OK, maybe I can’t clean off the roof, but I can hire someone to do it for me) 

Part of that strength is what makes Shaun and I work so well as a team.   As Andrea said yesterday “we’re pillars, working together to hold up our world, but independent of one another”.   She phrased this so well, because that’s exactly how we are.  We have been together for nearly twenty years now and our lives are interwoven.  It has become second nature to share each and every moment with each other. (No matter how mundane it may be).

This Walkabout is a good thing for Shaun.  He is having a wonderful time, just being alone, thinking and recharging his batteries.  Yet, still…I miss him.  I didn’t really want to be alone for this long.

In another day or two, or whenever he is done exploring, Shaun will come home.  Thank goodness we live in the era of cell phones and computers so we can stay in contact and so that I can hear the sound of his voice.

In the meantime, I’ll have a herd of critters invade my bed so I don’t have to sleep alone….

EDIT TO ADD:  Shaun came home this afternoon!!!  I’m not sure where he’s planning on sleeping as the critters have already staked out his spot!

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Bit O Life

Shaun has put some of his favorite Walkabout photos on his website.  Go see them!

Shaun has been having a bit of a hard time on this “vacation” of his.   He’s been so busy working, that the concept of relaxing for more then a weekend has been alien to him.   So, I told him that he should just go on a Walkabout…only in his beloved Jeep. 

It took him a few days to wrap his brain around the idea of just taking off by himself.  Despite constantly asserting that he is a very asocial creature, Shaun needs people.  He loves to share and explore with someone…and boy does he love to talk!

Yesterday, he came bounding up the stairs to tell me goodbye.  I assumed he was going to the library, until he  told me that he thought he might head to the Grand Coulee Dam.  I had to work hard at not laughing out loud at him as he danced around singing “Freedom!” It had just occurred to him that he could do whatever he wanted.  So like the true nerd he is, he grabbed his camera and his laptop before heeding the call of the open road.  (He figured he could find non-essentials such as a toothbrush and clean underwear along the road, just as the true aborigines do)

Just about time I settled down to relax, Shaun called me.  He wanted to share the experience of the Open Road right along with me.  Sigh…we need to work on this concept of a Walkabout just a little bit more… 

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Bit O Life

Mimi went to the Mariners Game last night and brought along my Baby.  Here’s some of the important things she tookblurry pictures of:

Mimi and her friend A

This is a beautiful sunset. (Just ignore those things in the middle of the picture)

Friends A and E

The stands

All three girls

There’s a game going on? Really? Huh.

Last week, I got a call from Shaun asking me to guess where he was.  (Am I the only one in the world that can’t stand that game?)  After several half-hearted guesses such as Texas, the moon and the North Pole, my Beloved impatiently informed me that he was about an hour away getting a CB Radio installed.  Oh joy.

He had been talking about getting one for a while.  Shaun has been certain that someday he would be off-roading and would somehow manage to get himself into a tight spot requiring assistance.  He scoffed at my suggestion of simply using his cell phone as there often isn’t service in the far off places he liked to go to.   (And people with CBs hang out in these remote areas?)

While Shaun day dreamed and did research to find his perfect CB, I thought back to the days when my dad decided he needed a CB radio.  I can still remember the day he came home with a huge ugly black antenna jutting out from the middle of our gold Pinto’s roof.   As if that was bad enough, my teenage self nearly died with embarrassment when Dad started talking to truckers on the interstate using the “Trucker Jargon” he had memorized from the little booklet that came with his CB.  Yes, there is a good possiblity that I have been scared for life.

On Sunday afternoon, we went for a little family drive in the Jeep.  We were actually headed down to the Point Defiance Zoo when traffic all of a sudden came to a halt. Shaun beamed at the opportunity to find out what was going on with his new CB.  He searched for a certain channel and held the mike in his hand.  Despite the urgings of our children, (They are getting pretty imune to embarrassment) he was still not quite ready to actually talk to anyone yet.  So we listened to a lot  of chatter about the mess on the freeway with someone speculating that there was a fatality.  (Thankfully, there wasn’t)  Then we got to hear two RV-ers chat about where they would stay for the night.  Then, for a very special treat, someone, in his boredom started cleaning off his dashboard and telling about everything he found on it.  (Now that’s entertainment!)

It wasn’t until we got home later that evening that I was able to find out about the three accidents that had closed down the freeway for hours.  (Thankfully we missed most of that).   Shaun’s new Pride and Joy may not have been the wealth of information that he we thought it would be, but it certainly did keep us entertained. 

I just hope Shaun doesn’t manage to find the little booklet about trucker jargon booklet that I may have hidden from him accidentaly misplaced…

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Bit O Life

It had gotten to late to go to the zoo, but a Logger Museum was still open.  Logs and Trains? Of course we had to go!

Mr. Conductor (photo by Shaun) was quite the character. Nature is taking back the logging machinery.  It was pretty amazing to see all about the logging industry that drove the PNW.

Nikki at  Antics of a Crazy Mom has asked to go out and do some good deeds and then tell everyone what you did.  This is a great idea for those who rarely do good deeds, but I’m always doing good deeds.  That’s just the way I am, I think it must be in my blood.  Why this morning alone I put out a fire while the firemen were busy rescuing a kitten, saved yet some more fools that got stuck up on Mt Rainier,  helped a little old lady cross the street and chased away the pack of Boy Scouts that was trying to drag her the other direction. 

So I’m sure you can understand why I don’t really care to brag about what I have done to be helpful in the world.  Although…there is one Good Deed that I am particularly proud of.  This week, I did not throttle my husband. Aren’t you proud of me too?

Last week, Shaun finished up the project he was working on and found that he could take some unexpected vacation time.  Because he has been working so much for the past few years, he has lots of time piled up.  So, the week that the girls went back to school, Shaun started his three week vacation.  (Of course I’m ecstatic to have him home, under my feet right after I shoo off the girls.  I’m ecstatic. Three. Whole. Weeks.

Now don’t get me wrong, Shaun and I love each other deeply, but we are very independent people.  We each are at our best when we have had some “alone time”.   At the very beginning of his vacation, Shaun made it a point to gently stress that he didn’t want to spend all of his time doing stuff with me.  (The girls would be in school so that wasn’t really an option)  He told me he loved me but he just needed to unwind and be by himself.  I heard this over and over until I finally had to break down and tell him that maybe, it might possibly, not have been quite true that I was ecstatic that when he told me he would be staying home.  

Last week actually quite nice.  We each did our own thing.  Only Shaun would get lonely and come find me to talk.  I’d like to consider this sweet and considerate, but the reality is that he was annoying me.  And he knew it.  In fact, he has been doing it on purpose.   He thinks pestering me  is great fun.  I think that he should go jump in the Big Orange Jeep and go have a different type of fun.

That way, I won’t be forced to throttle him and have my Good Deed taken away from me…

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Bit O Life

I was going to write about trains, but one interruption too many changed my mind!