Cheese!

The kids got school pictures and wouldn't you know, the year I was cheap and just bought one sheet, they had wonderful pics! So I scanned them so you all can see the kids.

I will add them to the post in a minute, but here's a little bit about what's going on lately. Um, same stuff, different day. Steve goes to work, the kids go tot school, and I stay home and rule the roost. My days entail laundry, washing dishes, working on the 15 million craft projects I have promised people for Christmas, trying to fid something new and yummy to fix for dinner so the family does not get bored eating the same food over & over, and using the treadmill. I see my neighbor Meghan every day and she holds me accountable, asking me if I have done the treadmill for today? I bug her as well.

That's about it. Yeah, I'm boring. OK here are the kids:

Odds and ends

So. Here's a little update of the past few days.

We went to the Khaki Ball, which is a fancy term for "all the guys dress up in work clothes and the wives just dress nice. Then you eat, and there's no dancing."

The no-dancing part was fine by me. I do a lovely imitation of a frog-in-a-blender, and you all have not lived til you see Steve's imintation of a pizza boy--o wait! Everyone at the KB *did* get to see that! SO FUNNY!

The dinner choices were prime rib, or sliced, stuffed chicken breast, or a giant slab of yummy salmon (guess which one I had?). They all came with baked potato. The starter was clam chowder and dessert was cheesecake. Yum. And we got to know a lot of Chiefs and their spouses, and had a good time & laughed a lot.

Who remembers my last post about my teacher? Update: I sent an email to an address that I thought might possibly be his, and it was! How cool is that? So I was able to tell him that I thought he was a good teacher. Yay!

So. I have pot roast simmering in the crock pot for dinner tonight, and I did the maintenance cleaning of the house today. After I post this, I am going to start knitting a scarf for my little nephew, for Christmas. He is a fan of Thomas the Tank Engine and so I got bright red, blue and yellow, like the colors in the Thomas stories/merchandise, and I am going to make him a little stripey scarf. I am making a scarf for my little niece, in a varigated pink/purple/sparkly colors too. And for my twin nieces, I am crocheting them some blankets. I have chosen two different colors of yarn, since though theyare twins, they are separate people. And Mary if you are reading this, shhh, don't say anything! Christmas presents are supposed to be a surprise!

Well that's about it for today.

Calling Mr. Michael Petko

Recently I have been looking online for a Mr. Michael Petko who taught middle school in Florida in the early 90s. If you have Googled yourself and found my blog, Mr. Petko, read on. Everyone else, humor me.

Back then I was Jennifer Presley. I was a student of Mr. Petko's for 2 years--sixth and seventh grade. We had quite the personality clash. I would have sworn that he moved up to teach 7th grade that second year I had him *just* to irk me.

One time he threw me out of class. Another time, though he called me to the front of the room. He used to teach at a podium. And I stood there and he quietly asked if I hated him? This was toward the end of seventh grade, and I was taken aback. I had becomes used to Mr. Petko by then and he had shifted from being a demon in my eyes to a "cool" teacher. It was on the tip of my tongue to say,"You're a hard teacher to hate, Mr P."

But I didn't say it. Some experiences from his class have stuck with me through the years longer than say, any ones I had in Math class. (Sorry Mrs. Swope). I do remember being quite terrified of my English teacher, but that's another story.

I remember watching the news in class when we were at war and had just gone over to Kuwait. I also remember something that made me laugh, and still does to this day. I remembered it again recently and told my husband about it.

We were in class and Mr. Petko mentioned Muslims. I was confused. "Muslims?" I asked, "Isn't that what you make sheets of?"

Now it was Mr. Petko's turn to look confused. I referred to one of the Little House on the Prairie books, where the character said the made bed sheets of "muslim.' You have to hand it to Mr. Petko--he didn't laugh at me. I would have laughed at me. He simply said "muslin," kind of shook his head, and continued with the lesson.

So, that's about it. I have been wanting to find Mr. Petko and tell him, if he even remembers me, that I was a snarky little brat in his class. I deserved to get sent out of class that day, and I didn't hate him. I had fun in his class. I also remember making those little 3-D paper globes. I think he was were a good teacher.

I tried to find him at the school but he is no longer listed on the staff. I just wanted him to know.
I know I complained numerous times to friends and family about him, and him asking me if I hated him was thought-provoking. I simply said no and sat down.

I hope he sees this and the knowledge that I, a student he might not even recall after teaching thousands, (or worse yet, someone he recalls to this day as the bane of his existence) think he
was a good teacher, and that it brightens his day.

Jenn, walking down memory lane.

Around the house

Here are a few more pics for today. Again, out of order, but oh well. If you click on any of the pictures in any of the posts, they will enlarge so you can see them better.

The kids are on top, fresh off the bus from the first day of school.

Second, a shot of our house. Has anyone seen it yet? I thought that I took a picture with my cell phone and passed it along, but in case y'all haven't seen it, there you go. See the giant yard? Fun to mow, just ask my dad. We put our visiting guests to work, you know? LOL!

And everyone knows we own the smallest car on the planet, well it just looks dwarfed by the house.

Finally, the obscene mushrooms. They are called stink horns, and yes, they smell terrible. I took this picture and then thenext day, two more clusters had popped up. They look vulgar and smell nasty. There's your giggle for the day.

So, now for a real post. Steve is at work and the kids are at school. Time to start eht maintenace cleaning. First the bathroom. I am trying to do Flylady and she says always keep your bathroom company ready. What do I see? A discarded towel. *hangs it up* Toothpaste globs in the sink. *Swishes out sink* Paper towels that have jumped ship from the trash can. *Picks them up*

Onto the kitchen. Cereal runches underfoot. Tanks kids! Oh well, at least there isn't a milk puddle today, though the empty carton is on the counter instead of in the trash can, and so is the empty box of cereal. *throws them away and sweeps floor* But the sink is empty. Where are the dishes? Yay, dish hunting, one of my favorite household sports. Right up there with laundry stalking.

*Refolds blankets in the living room* Oooh the phone!

CONGRATULATIONS to Julie and Jeremy, proud parents of twin boys, born at 2:31 and 2:32 this morning, Friday, September 22, 2006. Noah James, a little redhead, was born first, weighing 6 pounds 2 ounces, and measuring 18 inches. Baby B, whose name is still being decided as we speak, was born second, weighing 6 pounds 9 ounces, and also measuring 18 inches. He is in the regular nursery and doing fine, and Noah will be in the NICU for a day or 2, because there is a little fluid in his lungs. When babies are born, fluid is squeezed from their lungs as they travel the birth canal. But Julie's babies were C-section, so no squeezing, and a little fluid is still in the lungs. But a day is not so bad, and they will probably all go home together in a few days. They were born at 35 weeks, 1 day, and are huge for their age! But Julie makes big babies. Yay for jumbo shrimp!

I swear there are twins everywhere around me. Some friends from CA had B/G twins named Isabella Joy and Christian Michael. They are about 9 weeks old now. Then my SIL had hers, that I already posted about, both girls and so beautiful. They will be two weeks old in a few days. Now Julie has her two boys! Yay for babies! Yay for healthy babies! Yay for Julie having a healthy heart! She had PPCM with her last pregnancy and was very closely monitored during this one but her echo yesterday shows normal heart function. She will still be monitored for 6 months, though. I am just so happy for her!

OK I am going to go paint Katie's dresser now. Adios y'all.

More pinning pics

OK so the pictures are out of order, but oh well. These two are of my dad and the kids in front of a little "play" boat. They had a few models that the kids could climb on right by the USS Massahchusetts where the ceremony was held. I, ever the camera freak, snapped a shot of them in front of one. The kids killed time waiting for the ceremony to start by climbing on the models, and managed not to get dirty. I was impressed. But all that climbing, and insisting that Paw Paw come too? My poor dad's knees!

Next is a shot my dad took of me & the kids with the USS Mass in the background. Cheese, y'all.

Apple picking

So after Steve woke up from his post-initiation coma, we took my dad and the kids apple picking. There is an orchard nearby. The first pic is my dad and the kids standing in the shade, waiting for the tractor to come and pull us out to the apple trees. The next pic is of Katie and my dad on a rock. I like this picture because the tree in the background shows how the leaves are turning. It was a nice cool fall day. And then a family shot taken by my dad of us munching apples. They were sun-warmed, sweet and crisp, fresh off the tree. Yum!

The new Chief

Here are a few pics of Steve, from first class to Chief. He was never so happy as the last day he wore his whites! See him cheesin'? Then the next pic is him going through the line of sideboys after he had been pinned. I got that shot right as he walked by. I love that pic!

The third pic was taken either by Steve's mom or sister Mary, I cant remember which. But it was after the ceremony. We were both so happy, and Steve was just exhausted. It was a lovely ceremony, and the kids, MIL and I pinned Steve's anchors on. My dad flew in as a surprise to attend the pinning as well. After we got home, Steve slept for 14 hours!

How much is too much?

In terms of pictures, I mean. I have a whole roll. Here are two more. I clicked on the "large" setting for my previous post but they came out the same size as before. And now this post too!Hmmm.

The top picture is me feeding Alyssa. I thought that when my son Jonathan was born, his hospital bottles were small, but wow, these were just tiny, and with red nipples. Hee hee! Steve is standing in the background, watching MacKenzie in her bed under her grow-bulb.

The bottom picture is of MacKenzie, really mad! She was mid-yowl when I took the picture.
Even crying, I think she is beautiful. I just love babies. That's all for now.

more

The top picture is of me holding MacKenzie. The middle pic is me holding Alyssa. The bottom pic is Steve comparing his hand size with Alyssa's. We each held each baby and I fed Alyssa and burped her. They are just perfect. They are lovely. How can they be so small, yet still appear big? They are strong. They both peeped their bitty eyes at us, and we got to hear their little newborn noises--those grunts and squeaks, as well as their cries when they were hungry. They made little poops too, and I swear I never saw such small bottoms in my life.

I know I must sound like a blabbering idiot but I am smitten. Enchanted at tiny ears, and fingers. Awed at perfection in such a small package. Amazed at their strength.

And heartbroken at the situation. Yeserday when we went there, MIL asked SIL if she was going to stay the whole hour for both girls' feedings, and SIL said, "Yeah, it makes me look good if I stay for both."

MIL saw the storm cloud that was my face and tried to backpedal, trailing after SIL, asking, "And it's nice to be able to hold both babies, right?" No response from SIL. I died a little inside. She only goes to the hospital to keep up appearances?

Later, MIL tells me she can't wait until htey babies com home, because she is goingot take 2 weeks off work to "play dolls." What the hell? What is with these people? These are babies, real human beings who require constant care, not playthings to be propped, posed and used as attention grabbers. They are not a novelty. They are not toys. They are innocent babies who need love and attention, not to be used as showpieces.

It makes me so frustrated. And I have to it back and watch the trainwreck unfold. Call me bitter but I think that on about night 3 of sleeplessness, the novelty of playing dolls will wear off as MIL realizes that it is not a game. I don't know what, if any, help SIL will be. She will be getting weaned off her methadone, and so she will be itching to go get high, and this usually involves stealing MIL's car in the middle of the night. Finally, there are 2 more children involved to think about--they are 3 and 2. SIL's other kids. Now she doesn't have custody of them but all of them live in the same house.

Their needs still have to be met. They are too young for much independence or autonomy. I think all 4 kids will suffer. And it makes me sad that the adults involved cannot see beyond the novelty and the cuteness factor and think of what is in the best interest of the children.

Well I put the pics to medium so they wouldn't be huge. I guess I should have set it to large?

Here are the twins. These are pics that MIL took. Steve was promoted this weekend, and MIL came to the pinning ceremony and gave me these prints. So I came home & scanned them for your viewing pleasure. Alyssa, the second born and bigger of the two, is on top. Her mother decided to change her name from Alyssa Ann to Alyssa Mary. On the bottom is the firstborn and slightly smaller MacKenzie Rose. Don't they look so cute under the sunlamp and in their "shades"?

This is just a quick post since we are leaving within an hour to go to see the babies in person, at which point I will post more pictures. --j.

The twins were born last night

They were born by C-section about 7 weeks early, at 33w 3d. MacKenzie Rose was born at 6:01 PM, weighing 3 pounds, 2.6 ounces and measuring 15 3/4 inches long. Her sister Alyssa Ann was born at 6:02, weighing 4 pounds, 1 ounce and measuring 17 inches long. Alyssa is on a CPAP for apnea and both babies are expected to stay in the hospital for the next two weeks. During that time they will undergo detox. They were born high due to their mother's drug addiction.

These are my nieces. I haven't seen them yet, but when I do I will post pictures. We hope to make the trip to CT to see them this weekend. It will be bittersweet for me to see these sweet babies but oh well. I love them and their older brother and sister MaKayla and Anthony even though I do not like their mother or her life choices. All four children are innocent and did not ask to be born, so they will get smothered in love from Auntie Jenn.

The inchworm story

A few of you have heard this, but it bears repeating for those who haven't. Plus it saves me a million repetitions. :-)

Steve and I have been trying for a baby. Recently, I found out (like I do every month) that I was not pregnant. Disappointment ensued. I was talking to Steve and I said that I have not felt or sensed G-d's presence lately, and it was disturbing to me. I have felt empty and ignored. Not fun.

Pause this story. To understand the rest of this story, first you have to hear another one.

I was doing a Bible study in CA. One of the questions we were asked was, where do you see G-d in your everyday life? One woman answered by saying she sees G-d in the vastness of the ocean, or in large things like the Grand Canyon.

For me I see G-d in small things, like ladybugs, or even tiny spiders. I don't like spiders but sometimes you see ones that are so small, you can't smush them. They are no threat and are not scary. But you see this tiny little life that eats, breathes, lives, and you can barely see it. It has a tiny heart that beats, and I can't see that without a microscoope. I can't recreate that. To me, these tiny beings, that's G-d.

Ok, now un-pause the other story. Two days after I had the discussion with Steve where I felt ignored by G-d, I was outside with Katie and we were going down the little path towards the driveway. There, on the path, its bright yellow color in stark contrast to the black asphalt, was a tiny inchworm.

There he was, inching along. His body was making the curve of the letter C with every movement. And Katie was briefly diverted, but quickly lost interest. There are bugs all over around our house. Walking sticks, butterflies, moths, etc. And animals like bunny rabbits. And snakes and frogs, and bears (that we haven't seen yet) and horses. Yeah. Steve tried to get crushed by one in our car, as it ran out of its driveway. Apparently horses don't have turn signals. You all know how small our car is. But anyway.

The inchworm. I was mesmerized because to me, that was G-d saying "I'm still here." And that made my day, because I didn't feel ignored any more.

So that's the inchworm story.

It's been a while!

School starts on Tuesday and I cannot wait to get these kids out the door! My house, which I have been trying to clean, can stay clean. Food will stay in my cupboards longer than 3 days after payday. I tell you they get so bored and want to eat all day!

So what's been up at my house? Steve is almost done with Chief's initiation. I have been incorporating Flylady's principles and ideas at my house. It is a slow going but the site says it can take up to a month to form new habits.

New habits, well here's one. I stopped drinking soda. Thats to my benefit. Lots of empty calories. But I am sure that Julie, Michelle, Diane and Cynthia miss me burping like a piggy on the phone.

My friend Netanya had her baby, a sweet, beautiful girl whom she named Eliana, meaning G-d has answered. I am sure He has certainly answered her prayers and I am so happy for her and Gil! Congrats you guys!

Hey everyone, here is a link to sign up for free chocolate from Nestle. Have at it!

http://nestlechocolatier.fanitorium.com/?C1853_556008

Reflections from a recruiter's wife

Sounds poetic, doesn't it? Ha! Reflections is just another word for bitching & moaning, but I'm not really doing that.

I never doubted the word of all the wives who "did their time" before me. I just had no clue what it would be like. It is kind of like a woman preparing for the birth of her firstborn-she kinda knows what's coming but on the whole, has no clue what's in store. Then after the fact, she thinks, "Oh, so this is what those other women meant."

I dunno. I am so used to the regular Navy, the "real" Navy. Not to say this is skate duty or anything. I am just used to a large command, and being in a military community and I think that has been a difficult adjustment. I am used to Steve having 36 hour duty every 8 days, and I am used to underways of all sorts of duration. I am used to being surrounded by other military wives. And kids.

So where do I find myself? Primarily, alone. Steve works six days out of seven, and long hours. That is not a complaint, it is just how it is. It has, however, taken three months to stop being a complaint. There was definitely a period of adjustment. At first I would stare at the few wives I have met (count 'em, two) who say that they are grateful to have them home each night, no matter how late.

Heh. I would prefer he had duty every 8 days. Even with the fact that he would be gone during those 36 hours, there was a predictablility to his work routine, and I knew he would be home by 6 each night.

But now, I usually see him by 9 PM. But some nights he gets home by 7 or soand scares me. Our door is really quiet and the other night I had fed the kids and was just pulling chocolate chip cookie bars out of the oven. And the kitchen door opens, but of course I don't hear it and I turn around and there he was just looking at us. Scared the crap out of me.

I have really learned over the past few months that the needs of the Navy do come first, now more than ever. There is a joke among Navy wives that if the Navy wanted your Sailor to have a family, they would have issued him one with his seabag. In other words, the Navy owns your Sailor and don't complain about anything because they supercede you.

I thought I had learned that lesson many time over in the past 8 years, like when my husband was still made to stand duty when I was losing our baby. I had to have one neighbor take care of my kids, and another drive me to the ER.

Then there was the time that I had weird symptoms all day and evening, but (gotta love Tricare) I could not get a same day appointment. So I called the nurse line that evening and told her my symptoms, and got a stern lecture for not being seen that day. Hello, no appointments available? I told her the same symptoms that I told three other Tricare people that day, and she was the only one alarmed by them. She told me to get to the ER. It seems she thought I was having a stroke.

So again, with the neighbors for childcare and transportation, because Steve was on duty. And I called the quarterdeck, which was a feat in itself. Steve told me never ever to call unless it was life & death. I figured that the Tricare lady thought I was going to die, well, he deserved to know about it.

After some runaround with the yahoo at the quarterdeck claiming she could not find my husband (he is on duty you idiot, look at the duty roster, he is the only one on the ship with our last name, etc) I ended up getting a message to him. And I made the yahoo cry. Hello Seaman Stumpf! I'm talking to you! Stupid cow.

Well Steve was frantic but still, no matter, he could not get relieved of duty. As it turns out, I did not have a stroke, but still the lesson was learned. No medical emergencies on duty days, because the Navy wants my husband planted firmly on the ship. OhhhhhhK.

Yeah. Back to recruiting. Life for a recruiter *is* the office. And nothing at home matters if they aren't making their quota. And bitching isn't going to bring home home any sooner the next night.

If you have had a day where the kids have been in your hair all day and your husband comes home, beat like a bad dog from a bad day & evening of work, you both need to blow off steam. Well his steam probably beats yours.

I mean, if the kids messed up 3 sets of clothes each and you have been doing wash all day and they spilled potting soil on the kitchen floor and before you could rejoice that it was only on the kitchen floor so you could easily sweep it up, the dog tracks it onto the carpet so now you have to vaccuum (again, since you already vaccuumed that day), and the kids are whiny because they, having spent 5 minutes using all 15 couch pillows to build a fort, are now bored, so you send them outside and they come in (hysterical) because they saw a snake ouside and are scared...well suck it up because you have a washer so it solves your laundry problem. And you havea broom and a vaccuum. And just pick up the couch pillows. Yeah it's more work but you know what? You don't have to worry about making goal, or potential recruits that lie about stupid stuff that disqualifies them from service and he has invested (and wasted) so much ime on them, and so on.

Like the needs of the Navy, the bitching of the Navy supercedes your bitching.

Two things to say: one, how sad is it that when my kids or my dog make a mess, I am happy if they do it on a surface that is easily cleanable? On the one hand I think it makes me look laid-back and willing to accept that kids make messes and not some uptight freak like Bree VandeKamp. On the other hand, Ithink it means I need a Mommy's day out of lunch & shopping or sightseeing. I need to get out of this house! (insert maniacal laughter at that prospect.)

And two, I don't want you all thinking that Steve tells me his venting outweighs mine, or that my days aren't hard. It is not a contest, to see who has had a lousier day. I don't get that vibe from him. These are just my observations as a Navy wife. I just can't wait til we are back in the regular Navy and then I can complain about silly 3-day underways.

What else? Anything new on our home front? Max is methodically chewing through the kids' toys. Heh. Less for me to pick up or trip over. I have also taught him how to "talk." I howl at him, he howls at me.

Jonathan and Katie start school in 3 weeks. Yay!!! Gee, I think I should call and enroll them...
I used to joke to Steve that he moved me to the Arctic tundra, because normally when we were living elsewhere we would go visit his parents and it would be freezing. So we move here and proceed to have the hottest summer I have ever endured in my 27 years. Yeah. Except now it is very chilly after sundown and in the morning. It is a nice relief but I told him this morning as I was seeing him off to work (love those working Saturdays) that he *had* moved me to the Arctic tundra. Cold in August? Sheesh!

I have gotten re-interested in scrapbooking, and that takes up some of my free time (and money). I am still cross stitching, crocheting and knitting. Yeah. I'm old. But when I am up to my knees in snow, I can stay inside and those activities will eat up the winter hours.

So that's about it for now.

The results are in...

STEVE MADE CHIEF! We just found out 5 minutes ago. I had to post real quick. Now, off to do some celebrating!!!

Hello from the new house

Yeah. You read right. We did get the new house that we were supposed to move into. I am sitting in the office/4th bedroom right now. Not that we have any use for it as a bedroom right now. Sigh.

So anyway, 4 bedrooms, 2 full baths, eat-in kitchen big enough to house my big table that was too big for my previous two houses, and the kitchen has an island that is electrified. All the lower cabinets have these little roll-out shelves so storage space is doubled. No garbage disposal, which is odd, and electric stove, which I have to get used to using again. The sink does have a sprayer hose. I love those things.

What else? No AC but we have 3 window units and 6 fans, you think that'll do? We finally have our cable, internet and phone back again. Email me if you need my new info.

If you come in the front door it is a split level, you can go up to the main floor or down to the basement. On the main floor are two bedrooms, and if you go upstairs from there, there are the other 2 bedrooms, and the 2nd bath. So the kids are upstairs by themselves. Going upstairs to the upper floor, the stairs have a huge landing that is electrified and is ready for internet hookup as well. So in the event that we ever hear the pitter patter of more little feet and need to use the 4th bedroom for more than an office, we can just move all the office-y stuff to the landing.

The living room has a giant window made of three panels. The panels on either end open up for air circulation but the middle one is just for viewing. It has a lovely view of the huge front yard. Max the dog likes it to watch for bunny rabbits.

Downstairs to the basement and you find the laundry room, and a couple of storage areas, and a bit of semi-finished basement. It is carpeted with curtains on the 2 windows. I am going to put my treadmill and exercise bike in there. Any random crap that is left in boxes will go into the storage areas. Any spillover from that (shouldn't be much) will go out into the 2-car garage. Since we ony have one car , we are not pressed to find a place to put extra boxees.

This is the biggest house I have ever lived in. There are huge front and back yard and a long driveway. The backyard has a little deck that leads to our sliding glass door off the ktichen. There is a fire pit the size of a kiddie wading pool and a stone to sit on and watch a fire burn. Theere is also a fort of sorts for the kids to climb on. About 4 feet off the ground, it's a platform with a ladder. They think it is wonderful.

So that's about it for the new house, which is still mostly packed up because I am on the internet. I took a pic with my cell phone but I cannot load it up here so when I unpack the digital camera I will take a few pics and post them so you all can see the place.

<>

Add in some head thumps against my desk and pull out some hair in clumps. Yeah. That's my life right now.

If I were my friends, I would be tired of hearing from me.

So. We are not moving to the nice new house that we were so enthused about. The move fell through on the day that we were supposed to pick up the keys. We had already forwarded the mail and I had to arm-wrestle two postmasters at two separate post offices to get my mail re-routed back to my house.

We have a phone-cable-internet trio. We arranged for services to be transferred, and then we had to catch them before they were actually transferred. We thought that the move was just delayed at that point, so we delayed the transfer by a week. Well they cut off our phone service, and gee, didn't get around to hooking it up for the next 11 days. It did not matter how many times we called, we were at the mercy of the cable company.

A week goes by and they cut off our cable and internet. They did this a whole day early, before we could even tell them that the move had been cancelled and we wouldn't need to transfer services after all. They did not just transfer services, but actually came out to the house (we were not home) and unhooked the wires on the little box that's attached to our building. We called them for 3 1/2 days, and each day, someone would lie to us and swear that we were going to have a tech show up and reconnect us. Liars, all.

We finally get our services reconnected and now life is trying to settle back down to normal. Whatever that is.

I rode my exercise bike today.Did I tell you we got an exercise bike? So that me & Steve don't get bored with just using the treadmill. So I rode it today, folded a mountain of laundry and washed the dishes so that I could cook dinner.

I am working on crocheting some blankets for pregnant friends of mine. One friend of mine is due soon, and we don't know if she is having a boy or a girl, so since I love to crochet blankets for my friends' babies, I made one of each. So no matter what she has, I can send it to her in the mail. Then another friend of mine will soon have 4 young children, and the older ones are still young enough to appreciate blankets, so I am making 4 for her. Another friend of mine is having a boy and I have already sent her blanket for him. Also, another friend who feels quite left out by everyone else getting blankets has kinda-requested one for her 1 year old son. If my still-pregnant friend has a girl, I will send the boy blanket to the mother of the one year old. If not, I will make another. No big deal.
I like to make blankets for my friends.

So that's about it.

Food!

When I was younger, I thought that Kid Cuisines and going to McDonald's was top cuisine. I also loved "make your own dinner" night at our house, when Momma didn't feel like cooking. Bring on the ramen noodles!

When I became a mother, it was a cross between balanced food and convenience foods. Prepackaged this or that, like juiceboxes or fruit snacks. Whatever was portable was king.

After my second child was born I had a pretty set menu of meals in my repertoire, few of which required much cooking. Still a lot of prepackaged cooking.

Then came the Food Network, and I think it can be divided into 2 time frames. At first, it was exotic food that no one would want to eat, like Suid Ink ice cream a la Iron Chef, or meals that look pretty and the chef can make, but when you try it's a horrible flop.

The second time frame was more realistic food, easier to cook, with fewer ingredients that are unfamiliar to the average cook. Or else they just made us more familiar with seemingly odd ingredients. That carries on now.

I became more aware of the food we were eating and how we were expecting garbage to fuel our bodies. Juice boxes usually contain only a percentage of real juice. They are mostly sugar. Fruit snacks are glorified candy.

Just eat fruit. I tried to implement this after the birth of my second child, and she eats fruit more readily as a snack than her brother does. But she is more familiar with the concept of fruit as a snack than her brohter is. I got her brainwashed young, ha ha. Jonathan is more recalcitrant. He might eat the occasional apple or grapes and he claims to love bananas. But every day at 10 and 3 when the kids say they're hungry for a snack, I offer fruit and Katie pounces on it while Jonathan balks.

So food has been a journey lately. I have replaced white rice with brown and am currently phasing out white pasta for wheat pasta. It has a nice flavor.

I frequently go looking for vegetarian recipes to introduce us to new vegetables and to show the kids that you don't have to eat meat every night.

I also feed the kids 30 minutes later on "new food" nights. Hunger makes anything taste good.

I made tacos recently and I cooked up some firm tofu with the taco meat. Everyone ate them, no one noticed anyting, but still my husband gagged when I told him about the tofu. I was hesitant myself to try tofu. It just seems synonymous with the word "yuck." When raw, it does smell like stinky feet, but the flavor is, well it has no flavor. It truly does taste like whatever you cook it with. I tried it raw and cooked. But it wasn't bad, it caused no digestive ills either, and so I will probably try it again in another dish.

I am not saying we can't eat some good old fashioned crap every once in a while. I get the urge to hit the drive through, or to eat a donut, mmm refined flour and sugar and no nutritive value whatsoever. The kids also come grocery shopping with me and get to pick out their own snacks, subject to approval. Right now they like YoGos, and I think letting them eat a little bit of measured-out junk food will make it seem less like taboo or forbidden fruit.

This food odyssey has caused no small amount of ill will from my friend Cynthia. She threatens me with reports to CPS. My poor kids, she says, having to eat the slop I feed them. Well tonight's dinner would have set her off. The reason I even made the recipe is because I could not say the name of the recipe without laughing.

Brown rice, Broccoli and Walnut Surprise. It reminds me of cafeteria food, where the word "surprise" would be randomly tacked on to jazz up the menu. I decided to make it to see if it was any good.

Fresh broccoli, steamed in my new steamer basket, brown rice, baked in the oven to prevent scorching since it takes so long to cook, and walnuts, 1/2 cup, toasted in the microwave. A few herbs & spices, top with cheese, and yum, a simple savory meal. Katie had 3rds, and Jonathan currently is still working on his broccoli. Sigh. He looked me straight in the face when I was dishing up and informed me that he would not be eating the broccoli. This is fresh broccoli, steamed, nice and tender-crisp, not soggy, and he has maybe 8 bite-sized florets. No tree trunks or anything. Give me a break.

I need to close for now, but one more thing: my own mom says I am cruel to make my family eat lima beans. This from the woman who made my brother eat a whole can of peas because he said he wouldn't eat them, or didn't like them, or something. I remember Ernie scooping spoonfuls in his mouth and swallowing them whole like pills, with a big glass of water. He didn't like the mush.

Anyway. That's it for now, about food.

On again, off again, on again, now it's off again.

So we found out last Thursday that the birth mother was having twins. And we were excited, only to have our hopes dashed. The birth mother has decided that twins are a novelty, something cute, and all of a sudden she can support two lives.

Pardon the bitterness but when it was "just" one baby, she asked us to care for the child because she could not. She has no job, no home of her own, no car. But now she has decided that she can raise two poor innocent babies. I am sickened and disheartened. She just wants the attention that she will get from having twins.

I would like to apologize to the residents of the state of CT, where the birth mother lives, since she is going to be scamming off the state to receive benefits that legally, she shouldn't receive. She will be raising those babies on *your* tax dollars. So Congrats, state of CT! It's twin girls!

End rant.