Daylight Savings Time is Great

Damn does this feel like an extra long day. And it's not really. Tomorrow is. Daylight savings time. It's only 6:30pm on Saturday night. Halloween night. Not in this house though. We've already trick or treated and paraded until our masks and hats fell off and we made ourselves sick on Reese's peanut butter cups and an endless supply of lollipops.

Chad pointed out that daylight savings time is great because we get an extra hour of sleep. I guess I'm a wine glass half empty kind of girl. That may be the case if you don't have fucking kids that wake up at the same time no matter what. An extra hour of sleep? Nooooooooo. 7:30am becomes 6:30am which in turn becomes an extra hour of "Can I have something from my Halloween bag?" I hate Halloween.

When they were really little I could easily throw away the bulk of the candy and noone was the wiser. Now the little fuckers have everything sorted and cataloged like it's the end of the world.

Oh well, I have at least got them programmed to give me all of the Reese's peanut butter cups and peanut M&Ms. They know what's good for them.

Sunday morning update: 6:30am wake up became 5:30am. When I whispered to Lucy that it was a great day because it was daylight savings time and we get an extra hour of sleep she replied, "Remember when I threw up but I didn't throw up on Bunny??!!"

She was right. That was a great day.

Halloween is Great

Ok, so I really do love Halloween. I love both kids and adults dressing up. I love decorating my house inside and out. I love all the fun themed food. I love scaring the shit out of little people.

You know what I don't like. Parades. I hate parades. For ALL holidays. But if I have to endure one holiday parade it would be a Halloween one. I parked way far away from the elementary school carrying way too many cookies and a large camera. I stood for way too long to watch kindergarten through fifth grade parade their costumes. Really cute. Blah blah blah. Class parties with jacked up little people high on sugar. Great fun. Then I moved on to a preschool Halloween parade. Cuter. Shorter. The people and the parade.

Then I drove around town and saw the signs for the town parade tomorrow at 10:30am. I have done everything I can to discourage my children from marching in yet another inane parade. I shall bribe them with Halloween candy, television and toys. Whatever it takes. I will only pull out the "mommy is about to stick her head in the oven" at the very last minute.

Farewell Piggies

Yesterday, Lucy and I returned our three guinea pigs to Guinea Pig Rescue. I have been planting seeds in their little minds (Sam, Henry & Lucy's) for awhile to get them to agree to getting rid of the pigs. Pretty much any toy they desired was theirs for the asking. I was so tired of cleaning up guinea pig shit and urine soaked pine bedding. The ammonia stench after a few days was awful. And the pigs were in the laundry room so every time I walked up the stairs I felt the call of the laundry AND heard "wheeking" from the pigs who were standing up and waiting for me to make them happy. And they were easy to make happy. They wanted food and a clean cage. If it were only so easy to make every one else who needed me as happy. Unfortunately, or fortunately, everyone else won.

When I returned the guinea pigs I told Julene that she was a very special person to take care of all of these guinea pigs. She told me that she was the lucky one and that they were her therapy. Everyone has their thing. I love to care for and nurture the people and animals I love but there is a limit and I guess guinea pigs were my limit. I'm glad someone like Julene knows that caring for guinea pigs is her purpose. I'm actually not sure what my purpose is yet. At least she knows what hers is.

Progressive Dinner

Last night was the annual Progressive Dinner for a group I belong to. There were 100+ people attending. Everyone showed up at one Appetizer House for drinks and apps and then names were randomly drawn at 7pm for Dinner House assignments. Houses hosted between 8-14 people. I hosted an Entree House for 12 people. I spent all day prepping and cleaning. Thank goodness for Sherry who did the bulk of the cleaning while I got rid of my piles and got the food ready. Our house looked great! !

Aside from holidays, I've never made dinner for 12 people, much less people I don't know. It was different. Fun though. And I did end up knowing about half the people. The food turned out really well so I thought I'd share my menu. I wish I had taken pictures of everything but it was a little chaotic.

Roasted Pear and Roasted Beet Salad with Blue Cheese and red wine vinaigrette

What a pretty and interesting salad this was! I absolutely love roasted beets for their flavor and color. I roasted the beets earlier in the day. Pear slices were tossed in butter and sugar and roasted for about 20 minutes right before assembling the salad so they were still warm. I thought the pears were kind of a pain to roast but everyone seemed to really like the salad.

No Peek Chicken
Grease a big casserole dish

Mix together:
1 box Uncle Ben's Wild Rice w/seasoning packet
1 can cream of mushroom soup
1 can cream of celery soup
1 can cold water

Put mixture in casserole dish and top with bone-in, skin on chicken pieces
(I used all chicken breasts , 6 per casserole dish , which was tight because the breasts were enormous)

Sprinkle top of chicken with a packet of Lipton Onion soup mix and then seal tightly with foil and bake at 350 for 2.5 hours. No peeking!!

Although not part of the recipe I decided to soak the chicken in a brine for about 3 hours before assembling the casserole. I don't know how much of a difference it made since I hadn't made this dish before but the chicken was very flavorful and moist. The rice was really good too. Kind of like a wild rice risotto.

For the Brine:
Dissolve 1.5 cups sugar and 1.5 cups salt in a gallon of cold water. I used a big stock pot. Stir in 2 medium heads garlic, outer papery skins removed, cloves separated, unpeeled and crushed. Crumble in 6 bay leaves. Immerse chicken and refrigerate until fully seasoned. It smelled so good before even cooking it!!

While everyone was eating their salads I roasted asparagus, tossed in olive oil, salt & pepper, in a 400 degree oven. About 10 minutes. I finished it with fresh lemon juice before serving.

I also served warmed fresh garlic bread and fresh potato rosemary bread. And lots of wine, of course. So good!!

Easy peasy lemon squeezy as Sam would say!

My girlfriend, Kim, who was in charge of organizing the whole event and her husband were at my house because she and I were "co-hosting". Our boys all play hockey together. Another girlfriend was stag so Kim made sure she ended up at my house too since she was in charge of "randomly" choosing the names. My dining table only seats 8 so we three girls ate in the kitchen which was actually really nice because I didn't feel like I had to "entertain" anyone.

Everyone was kicked out at 9:30 so they could head to the Dessert portion of the night. It was held at this awesome barn that is perfect for parties. Cool things on the walls, couches, huge flat screen TV with the Penguins game on, a band, a little side room where people were smoking cigars. Dessert and more wine. I went for about an hour. I was pooped. Good times.

Obama Speech Update

For those who don't get it, the basic issue is that many feel Obama is using the opportunity (the school address) to promote a political agenda and is overstepping the boundaries of federal involvement in schools. The suggested material teachers were encouraged to use in conjunction with the speech was objectionable. Cultish. Fucked UUUUUUPPPPP! Yep.

I think the school district had quite an onslaught of emails regarding the airing of Obama's speech in school, probably for and against. I wish I could have seen how many and what people were saying. To be a fly. Why on earth Obama would think it was ok to give a speech to our children in school without any parental presence, participation or approval is beyond me. Way fucking beyond. He's an arrogant son of a bitch.

Anyway, our school district decided that K thru 3rd grade would not view the speech in school at all. Someone will record the speech on Tuesday and the 4th and 5th graders will have the opportunity to view the speech on Wednesday at school. If parents do not want their children to see it (having had the opportunity themselves to view it on Tuesday) they are to send a note and an alternate activity will be available.

I have friends with middle school children and these students will have the opportunity to view the speech live on Tuesday. If parents do not want their childrent to view the speech they may send in a note and an alternate activity will be provided. Neither the elementary nor middle school will use any of the lesson plans or other suggested material found on the internet.

I will record the speech and view it with my children on Tuesday evening. I don't expect it will be a big deal at all but I am glad they are watching it at home and not in the company of a bunch of liberal teachers : )

Obama Land

Ewwwww. I am so creeped out by Obama's (apparently long planned but I'm just now hearing about it) speech to our children on September 8th. I have not gotten a straight answer from the school yet about whether or not it will be shown in our classrooms but the vague responses I have received are leaning toward YES.

I will absolutely not, not, NOT be sending my children to school to listen to Obama's bullshit socialist propaganda. It is more than disturbing. Chilling. Nauseating. If I had more time I would look up more words in the online thesaurus.

And don't any of you liberals comment unless you can back up your shit. This is NOT just about telling our kids to work hard and get a good education. We don't need lesson plans from Obama for that. How 'bout after his speech we teach the kids a lesson on socialism by taking all the kid's who worked really hard to get A's and redistribute the good grades to all the kids who don't give a shit.

Hmmmmmm . . . how motivated will our children be to work hard now?

I am so ready to move to Costa fucking Rica.

Decoupage Project

This is my decoupage project that lasted all summer. Not because it was difficult but because I am either lazy and/or have ADD. These are paper mache letters, purchased at Jo Anne's, that I covered in tissue paper. I may do DRINK and BE MERRY in different sizes, some covered in tissue paper, others covered in fabric. As you can see, EAT is placed above the mantle in my dining room. The pictures are not great but you get the idea.

Henry asked why the A wasn't pretty.

Go Kendra

Ok, so given the choice, I would have named the guinea pigs Kendra, Bridget and Holly from The Girls Next Door show on E!. That was a great show!



Since that show ended I have been watching Kendra, one of the spin offs.









Tonight, I got totally caught up in watching Kendra and Hank's wedding. They truly love each other and it was just sooooooo sweet. Not to mention she is only the second person to be married at the Playboy Mansion. The first being Hef, of course. That's fucking huge!!!


I have so much more confidence in Hank and Kendra making it than I do Jill and Ed from the Bachelorette which is so so sad.

Guinea Pig Rescue

Who knew such a thing existed? And who knew I was such a sucker. Ok, well we all knew that. As if I didn't need more shit to clean up. Oh, well. The kids are super excited and they are pretty darn cute and sweet. The kids and the pigs.

These are three bonded female guinea pigs we got from a Guinea Pig Rescue (i.e. lady with a BUNCH of fucking guinea pigs in her basement) yesterday. They were classroom pigs so are used to kids which is perfect! We renamed them with each child choosing a pig of their own and respective name.

Lucy and Ruby


















Ruby is the smallest of the three and the mover and shaker of the bunch. She poops a whole whole whole hell of a lot.





Henry feeding Coco (Ruby is in the background)
Coco is my favorite. She is the chubbiest and definitely needs to lose a couple ounces. The lady we got them from said she thought she was the matriarch of the three. That's probably why she's the chubbiest; I think she's eating most of the food. She is the calmest of the three and makes the cutest little "happy sounds".

Henry really, really wanted to name her LaShawna but I put my foot down.


Sam and Buttercup

It was the funniest thing this morning when the kids were feeding the piggies red bell peppers and spring mix. Sam's pig had red pepper all over it's chin and was a mess - just like Sam! A perfect match. He came up with his name all by himself. "These things just pop in head! I don't know where they come from!" he said.










Coco

The Letter L

My second 40-Day letter is the Letter L.

When I chose this letter I was intending to choose a Letter of the Day. To choose your Letter of the Day you hold the cards in the palm of your left hand, place your right hand on top of the deck, and close your eyes. As you exhale, ask the simple question, "What attitude do I need to bring into my day today to help me grow in spirit?"



I found the capital L so difficult and awkward to write I decided it really must be a 40-day letter and not just a Letter of the Day. After all, "The degree of mastering a stroke change is directly proportional to the value it will have in your life. The greater the difficulty, the greater the value."

My usual capital L is two straight lines. If I were writing a cursive L I would make a loop at the top and bottom. The reason to not make that top loop is that "you are reversing energy." I'm willing to give it a try even though I don't think it's as pretty.


"The Letter L reflects the amount of attention we give to our spiritual growth. If you are driven to explore your spiritual nature - what makes you tick beyond your personality - and how to develop that part of yourself, this is the letter to practice. Day after day as you write the Letter L, you may notice that you are more open and more receptive to spiritual seeking than in the past and that your thirst to learn spiritual truths has intensified. You may experience "waves of knowing" that take you deep inside, beyond your personality, and settle you gently into a sense of Oneness with everything that is. That is the essence of the Letter L."

One thing I found interesting this morning as I practiced the Letter L (on Day 6 of my practice) is that today is the first time it occurred to me to write "Lucy". On Day 3 of writing the Letter H I wrote "Henry" several times and enjoyed it. Although awkward, writing the Letter H is not as awkward as writing the Letter L. I usually enjoy writing a cursive "Lucy", just not yet with this different L. Time will tell.

Day 1 - Letter L


















Day 6 - Letter L

The Letter H

My first 40 day letter is H. The letter H emits one of the most powerfully propelling energies in the entire alphabet.

Each Alphabet card shows the letter's Soul Quality on one side.


Vimala says if you practice the letter H daily and draw into your life as many of its aspects as you possibly can, get ready for the adventure of your life. The Letter H not only moves you forward, it invites you to learn necessary lessons from the blind alleys you encounter along the way and guides you through them with dynamic, not-for-sissies energy. If you want to put firm footing on your intended life path, this is the letter to adopt. Vimala has practiced this letter daily for more than 30 years!

The letter's Declaration of Intent is on the other side:

I love this Declaration!

I live my life path with the zeal of an evangelist and the wide-eyed innocence of a child.

I knew this was an important letter from listening to the CD but I chose it randomly from the deck (although I don't believe it was really random).

Each day, for each 40-Day letter and Letter of the Day, I write and say the Declaration, write the Soul Quality and then at least three lines, upper and lower case, of the letter. I fill the rest of the page with words than include the letter or thoughts about how to bring the particular qualities into my life that day.

Crucial points for the program: Write on unlined paper. Lines reflect "Stay in the box and play it safe" thinking. The paper is to be positioned in the landscape direction. The portrait direction is common; my dreams are not!

Day Three of Handwriting

I really like my handwriting and have never had a desire to change it. I do, however, have plenty of negative behavior patterns I would love to transform and this system seems to be speaking to me right now.

The first thing the program suggests is to write a page in your journal and then listen to the CDs. Vimala starts off by talking about the slant of your writing - left, vertical or right. I was feeling all proud because I am a vertical writer which "is ideal because it gives you a 360-degree view of what's going on.... encourages you to be the impartial observer". Then she goes on to talk about printing vs cursive. No printing, she says. WTF? I'm a printer. I love to print. It's so nice and neat. She says printers have usually been "betrayed" at some point. Printing is like putting up a wall. Hmmmmm. Very interesting. That was almost enough for me to say "fuck you" to the program. Cursive is stupid.

However, I am such a sucker for finding out more about myself. This is a challenge I can accept right now.

Vimala believes "each letter is not a mere shape, but rather a living entity, fully alive with aspects that serve as powerful cheerleaders in your day-to-day spiritual growth. As you implement the tools provided in this program to change your handwriting, you will gain a refreshing awareness of who you are, why you are here, and how to create - and step into - a life you love."

I do already LOVE, love, LoVe my life but there are definitely things I would like to change personally. I want to live more authentically. I want to live from a place of spirit and not ego. I want to live in the moment. I want take full responsibility for my choices and be proud of them.

The program speaks of The Five Noble Truths of Integral Handwriting. The one that really spoke to me was that "the degree of difficulty in mastering a stroke change is directly proportional to the value it will have in your life. The greater the difficulty, the greater the value."

That "Truth" helped me choose my "40 day letter" which was an unexpected choice. I think I'll talk about that in the next post.

Transform Your Life Through Handwriting

OK, so I have been a member of the One Spirit book club for a couple of years. There are "featured selections" each month that if you don't decline will be automatically sent to you. In general, I have been very good at declining the monthly selections. The handful of times I have forgotten to decline and received a surprise book in the mail I have believed it was "meant" to come my way.

I don't remember the last time I forgot to decline but, recently, a surprise package was delivered. My first instinct was, "Oh Crap!" But then I got excited because I remembered that in the past something very appropriate has appeared at just the right moment.

The book: Transform Your Life Through Handwriting by Vimala Rodgers. It includes: 2 CDs, Guidebook, blank journal and 26 alphabet cards.

I'm not sure I can explain it succinctly but, in a nutshell, you practice one letter for 40 days plus a "letter of the day". The focus of the book is "to guide persons in adopting handwriting patterns that bring out the best in themselves, with a specific emphasis on the transformational power of the letters of the Alphabet." (Imagine spooky music)

Vimala says that writing patterns are a graphic image of how your subconscious mind interprets the world and your place in it. As you adopt new letter shapes, you are telling your mind how to think and the subconscious may not be pleased!

She goes on to say, "Your handwriting is an intimate portrait of how you see yourself - a graphic representation of collective memories programmed by your subconscious mind from birth onward, reflecting both your strong points and those that have put a screeching halt to your inborn creativity. . . As you adopt self-affirming writing patterns, you are discarding outdated thought habits and acknowledging your authentic self at the highest possible level."

So I'm game! I listened to the first CD last night. This morning I got up at 6am while my minions were still snoozing. I chose 2 letters to practice for 40 days (she said you could do that) and then I'll add a "letter of the day" each day. More to come on all of that and a short analysis of my own handwriting in the next post!

People Magazine

Did you know that you can get a People magazine subscription MUCH cheaper if you subscribe as a business? I searched for the "cheapest subscription" and the lowest price I found was $116. However when I searched for a "professional" subscription I found it for $52 HERE!

It's not cheaper for other magazines, however. The few other mags I checked were cheaper ordered from the particular magazines' website. Interesting, no?

Speaking of People magazine, is anyone else tired of hearing about Michael Jackson and his fucked up life?

Summer Vacation Quote of the Day

Sam says to Mama, "You're cursing a lot today."

Quote of the Week

One of Lucy's favorite things to say to me or anyone who will listen is, "Daddy doesn't know much."

The first time she said this to me was after a night of me being out and Chad putting her to bed. The next morning I asked her if she had fun with Daddy. She responded with "Yes. But Daddy doesn't know much." She was referring to our normal bedtime routine.

Then, in NC a couple of weeks ago she busted out with this same nugget of info to some random people she had been chatting up on the beach. They thought it was sooooo funny. It makes me smile because Chad is THE smartest, most capable, most ambitious, most driven (I could go on and on) person I know. Obviously, the standards in Lucy's world are a little different.

The funniest so far was when I came home a few days ago from somewhere and she waggled a piece of cheese in my face and said, "Daddy gave me circle cheese because HE DOESN'T KNOW MUCH". She knew I would have said NO to this snack because she had reached her dairy limit for the day. She was soooo pleased with herself.

Flying Pig Half Marathon

The 12th Flying Pig Marathon is Sunday, May 2, 2010 6:30 a.m. in Cincinnati, OH.

I read about the 2009 event on the 37 Days blog and was inspired. I love that blog.

I have no interest (at this point) in running a half marathon but I would love to walk one. And I am going to do it. Registration is not open yet so I haven't officially signed up but I will.

Care to join me? Jessica & Juleah could run it together?? Mom? In any case, I am making a commitment to myself.