A Tale of Two Cheeses

The frenzy of cooking for thanksgiving is over. I don't know if I can have one more glass of wine-mulled or otherwise, another bowl of popcorn that went with every family movie we watched, or cook anything for a few days. Like Karen mentioned on facebook, jammies and sweat pants are looking good right now and I have one more day before I need to get into a pair of dress pants. Sigh.

Even worse is hubby is in a cooking frenzy of trying new recipes. Don't get me wrong this a great thing, any help in the kitchen is wonderful. The difficult part comes with hubby's recipe choices vs. mine. While I pour over cooking light and Jillian recipes he pulls out the one Food Network magazine I have and chooses a bobby flay mac and cheese-I can safely say you will not find this mac and cheese in a calorie counting cookbook. This recipe also comes with four different cheeses that-for those of from Rapid might jknow-are hard to find here. He sends me to the grocery store list in hand-first I can't find fontina.

Second he needs Irish cheddar-well-ok I find some English Cheddar-he doesn't look impressed when I bring it home and tell him, well they are right across the channel from each other. Thank goodness I did find some Irish Cheese-not sure if it is cheddar but hey at least we are on the same island now.

He is disturbed that I didn't bring home American Cheddar, now I must draw the line. American cheddar is orange, we don't need it to say american, we all know cheddar is cheddar in america and it is orange. He is not convinced.

He moves on to his homemade vegetable stock that he is going to use for guess what?? RAMEN NOODLE SOUP. Yes you read correctly, perfectly good homemade veggie stock to be mixed with packaged ramen noodles. Need I say more...I am going to need bigger pants or more wine!

The letter

I received a letter the other day from a "frequent flyer friend" (those kids I tend to see a little too often in the office if you know what I mean). I had written her a note, about 4 sentences, telling her what a great year she was having etc. I had been wanting to do it for awhile and finally had made the time. I recieved this (down below) the next day-hand delivered with a big hug. The teacher told me it would have been a day earlier but she had asked the teacher to proofread it so it could be perfect:

Dear Mrs. Daniel
Thank you for writing me a letter I really appreciate you doing that. That was nice of you and you are right I am working hard, being respectful, working better in my classroom. Everywhere I go but on 11-18-10 I was in in gym playing soccer. Manney evidently kicked me because he was trying to get the soccer ball. I have a question for you. How are you these days? I hope you are having lots of fun and I hope you are happy for me because I haven't been in your office this year excpet for the Ashly thing. I hope you are having good days. By Mrs. Daniel again have a nice day.
Sincerly
MC

You know what MC-Today was an AWESOME DAY and I am happier for you more than you will ever know!

it is a sad day

Dear Mrs. Daniel
Thank you for contacting Sahalie with your order concern.
Item 46335, black boots, size 6.5 are no longer available and we were not able to fulfill your order, and your card was not charged.
We apologize for any inconvenience

Facing your fears

At work I often talk about change with teachers, trying something new, learning in new ways and to quote Eleanor Roosevelt-"Do something each day that scares you". They quote it back to me often. Now, I don't think being scared every day is a good thing but I do try to model to my kids that facing fears can be done. When Carey wrote about surfing and sharks I laughed and made reference to Shark Week. Most of you like me grew up with JAWS and since then my fear of deep water or any water in general is always there. My small fry has never had that fear-he snorkeled like crazy 3 years ago and was excited to do it all again. UNTIL he A) Remembered shark week and B) Hubby saw a big fish with some kind of fin sticking up our first morning and jockingly said shark. Well this was all it took. The first time we went to snorkel, small fry made it about 2 feet into deep water and turned back and refused to go out. This posed a problem as we had just reserved an ALL day snorkeling trip out in deeper waters. He adamantly said "I am not going, no way". We cajoled, convinced him the turtles would be there and reassured etc, he wasn't budging. I finally told him that deep water scared the heck out of me and that he was the one who 3 years ago got me out of the boat. That we would never do something we thought wasn't safe. The whole way in the shuttle he was saying, "Well I'll think about it". We get to the lagoon, he sees the first beautiful blue fish from above and says "I'll do it, I'm scared but I am going to go for it-mom will you hold my hand" You betcha buddy-Will you hold mine?

A little risk is a good thing, you can't enjoy the ride if you don't get the heck on!

photo essay part 2

They wouldn't all fit

To answer Karen's Question: Been there and Back baby!

Here is a large photo essay. If you are looking for a get away this is the PLACE! It rocked!
I tried to get a picture of the lounge door, of a familar friends name. It is a little blurry because everytime I went to take a pic, small fry stepped on the sensor and it slid open! Photos say it better than words, but I do have a few stories to share:)

Checking it off

Well the necessary "stuff" for the trip is in the basket waiting to be dumped in the suitcase
The few lbs I would have liked to lose before we left didn't happen-well who cares anyway
Small fry-the calculated number man has to have the agenda and timeline repeated every day, his mind races a million miles with all the questions:
What time are we leaving, when does the plane leave Rapid? How early do we need to get up? I am getting up at 3 (I quickly say I am NOT).
Can I bring my beyblades? No never mind they won't make it through the metal detector
What time are we coming back?
I need to see if I have make-up work
We are swimming in caves mom-you can't be scared you just have to
Will we see turtles-we are snorkeling right?
Did you look up the weather-no hurricanes right?
Where are my goggles..
and so on and so on
ARE WE THERE YET

The new friend

I am leaving you with a few must write posts before I go:)
Big Fry has been talking about this new friend-this is good because Big Fry is a very selective friend maker and it isn't always easy. Middle school friends make me nervous. I don't know who they are, who their parents are, is this kid a "nice" kid and so on, all the nosy important stuff I need to know. As we wait at conferences Big Fry says there he is my friend____. I see the new friend with his mom and dad. Skinny, slight kid, mussy hair and glasses. And as he turns you can see some facial scarring and a slight disfigurement. You can just tell he is a "fringe" kid. I walk up and say " Wow am I glad to meet you, Big Fry talks about you all the time." I introduce myself to his mom and dad. There is it is, my son-probably a fringe kid to. Not part of the cool table, not part of the starting line up, doesn't have 200 friends on facebook-heck we don't even let him on. But he is a kid who looks beyond the person and sees a friend for who they really are. Will they be friends all year? Who knows, middle school is fickle. Are they grasping at each other because they are on the outer circle. Maybe. Would I have it any other way? Nope.

Today's verification word is crudd

How appropriate-not that the day started that way. We went to big fry's conferences they were all good. Middle school teachers either A) Don't think my child has quirks because all tweeners have quirks, B)Don't care about son's quirks as previous teacher's did, because they have too may flippin kids, or C) Don't sweat the small stuff if the grades are good. I think it is a combo of A and C. We come home feeling pretty good. Elder son is loaded with his "future" work to finish so he won't be behind after our trip (did I mention we will be in Mexico soon? I think I have once or twice). The only downside is the first 3 assignments for the new quarter for two teachers are F's because "AHEM" they are not handed in AND he has to look at the teacher and ask "What was that again?". I will admit the good grades of the first nine weeks lulled us into complacency. We hadn't been checking the planner as diligently as we were and the online homework help didn't show anything. So he missed 3 things due last Friday, WHICH we then had to cram tonight-on top of a science test he can take early tomorrow. Needless to say we didn't touch the "future" work. AND someone had a not very nice adult hissy fit about said child's rude tone and following comments-the parenthesis comments are the ones I wanted to say and didn't:
"You are invading my privacy, I don't need to show you my work!" (After gaining 40+ lbs to bear you, you have no privacy)
"I only have one headphone in, I can still hear you and do my homework-and I bought it with my money" (Sorry buddy at this point there is no money you get that is yours)
"Fine, don't help me then, I will just get an F and go to summer school" (If my ego could take it I would)
I am going to chalk up his mood to A)Hormones, B) the time change and/or C) short timer syndrome before our trip
I need to think more like a middle school teacher-if most of it is good don't sweat the small stuff ,and some of the ego has gotta go. Sometimes they gotta fall flat on their face to know how to get the heck up.

hunting trip #2

Bird wise we faired a little better than trip one. Big Fry took down his first bird-I wish I had the camera with me when he came over the rise of the hill holding it up in the air triumphantly. We also fulfilled our promise of letting him drive the car in the field. Now that was an adventure. The day ended with us hot and sweaty after changing a blown tire. Hubby drove over some nasty piece of old farming equipment, thank goodness it wasn't me:)

Must resist...

My new favorite catalog is having a 25% off sale on everything.....I must resist....Oh they have the boots that go perfectly with my wrap dress!

Today's laugh out loud moment

We went and got flu shots today (before Mexico)
First of all Big Fry was able to get the mist and Small Fry was not, to which Big Fry offered to take the "needle" when we thought they were out of mist. He thought this was a way to support little brother. Come to find out they have some left. The funny part is we get in the car and Big Fry says, "How does the mist or shot work when it just comes out the other end?" Apparently to an 11 year old everything that goes in your body must also come out.

Did I mention we got flu shots BEFORE Mexico? 7

Scientist turned writer?

Maybe...here is what scientific big fry wrote for his family metaphor poem:

Books on a Shelf
My family lives inside a library:
My dad is like a history book that holds all the records. He keeps everything on track so things don't become exaggerated.
My mom is like a fantasy book. Like a painter out in the open painting a grassy green meadow and always creates happy endings.
Quinn is an adventure book. He goes wandering off into the big blue ocean. He is constantly swimming underneath the waves.
I am a non-fiction book that shares all the true and interesting facts of our family.

*sniff and smile