Thanksgiving Cooking Kid Style

Make a request to begin the Turkey Day fun...

Start with these...

Add some heat and hear the pretty popping sound...

Wait for the bubble bath to finish...

TA DAAAA!!!

Take one of these...

Make some of this stuffing stuff...

Put the stuffing stuff in there...

Get one of these ready..
(and remind your mom you REALLY need a haircut)

And put this in it when it is ready. Then wait.

At this point, go play. Tell your mom and dad to make the pie and get the potatoes ready. After all, you're a mere seven years old and can only do so much. ;)

Enjoy!!
Remind your parents that you could do this more than once a year.
Remind your parents that you REALLY need a haircut...

When you look at it from the viewpoint of a seven-year old, it's really pretty simple, isn't it?


Kristin

Happy Thanksgiving!

A greeting from our house to yours.
Happy Thanksgiving everyone!

Love to All!
John, Kristin and Taylor

P.S. Mom, I'm praying very hard for your oven to perform like a well-cleaned, Easy-Offed, turkey roasting machine! I'll miss you all like crazy--have a piece of Eunice's amazing pineapple pie for me. xoxo

The Mother Letter Project

One of my favorite bloggers recently posted information about a cool Christmas project called The Mother Letter Project. After reading about the idea, I'm all for joining in and hope some of you are too. It's simple.

Go here.

Read all about it.

Do it.

Even if you don't think you're a great writer, do it. Even if you think it's all been said about motherhood before, do it. Even if you think you're too busy or too tired, do it. At least consider it.

I know I'm trying to find the words and am more than interested in what mothers everywhere have to say about motherhood--especially those who are honest enough to tell the real truth about it. I'd love to hear what all of you have to say. I'll let you see mine when I'm done.

Kristin

Miscellania and Etceteria

Bonnie Bunny Buns is all cuddled up in Taylor's baby blanket--the one
she started using her first week of life and still snuggles up with
every night at bedtime.

I sent Taylor off to school today and came home to find her snuggle buddy all swaddled up and napping in her bunny nest. Too cute! When I asked her about it later, she reported a wild tale of Bonnie Bunny Buns being up all night and requiring a sleeping pill and the use of her blanket to sleep during the daytime. ;)

************************************************************************************

A week or so before Halloween, John came home after a night's work to tell Taylor and I how he single-handedly caught a robber at work. Taylor and I both said the same thing simultaneously:

"WHAT?!?"

John told us that he went outside just before midnight to take one of his 15 minute breaks. About halfway through, he heard the sound of breaking glass. With little effort, he eye-spied a young man breaking out the windows of cars parked in the PVH parking lot. Once the windows were broken, the guy proceeded to take whatever he thought was valuable. John watched him for a couple of minutes, then called 9-1-1 and told the operator what was happening. Three police cars arrived within minutes, with lights off, and used the directions John provided over the phone to catch the guy and take him away in cuffs.

John filled out an eyewitness report and talked to the police for a little bit. The guy had managed to take cell phones, cameras, car stereo equipment, CD's, etc. out of several different cars in just a matter of minutes. Apparently he had a long record of such crimes and knew what he was doing. Now he's looking at some serious jail time.

Wow! All in a day's work, huh? We've been wondering if John will be called on to provide anything other than his original statement. Haven't heard hide nor hair of the event since it happened. The guy apparently realized he was caught red-handed guilty, or it takes quite a while to get these things through the system. Either way, John gave Taylor a cool story to tell at school!

************************************************************************************

I bought a new curling iron the other day. Mine was a complete disaster, with the spring hinge practically falling off, the thumb press off and a permanent spiral twist in the cord. Taylor spied a really cool looking hot pink number, complete with LED lights to show when the iron is heated up. When I took it out of its package, I was greeted with this friendly warning:

Thank God this warning was included in the package!
A lifetime of blindness was narrowly
averted by such progressive thinking on the part of the manufacturer!

Seriously people! What grotesque comedy of errors (and litigation) was required to prompt the manufacturer to put this warning on their product? Good grief. I want to meet the person that was able to burn their eyeballs with a curling iron. It truly deserves some kind of award. Perhaps someone who lost their eyelids as a child?

I've burned many things with my own curling iron, including a narrow miss with very tender areas (don't use your curling iron when naked), but I can't imagine how anyone could do this, no matter how hard they tried. Wouldn't you blink? Burned eyelids, maybe. Eyeballs? I don't think so.

Even funnier? The "do-not-use-this-product-near-water/risk-of-electric-shock" warning was nowhere to be found. Huh.

************************************************************************************

Taylor is busy practicing the first 9 moves of her new orange belt form. They're pretty cool-looking, if I do say so myself. Here's a picture of her doing a double outer forearm block.

Taylor tries for a perfect block. Harder than it looks!
I was practicing with her the other day and was disturbed to find out
how fast a 7 year old can be. :)

***********************************************************************************************

My neighbor was kind enough to provide me with a spur-of-the-moment "Make Your Own Chai" tutorial last week. Most people who know me fairly well know that I'm something of a tea junkie. I absolutely love hot chai tea, but find most of the commercial blends way too sweet. Hence the desire to make my own. In less than an hour, my neighbor had explained everything and I was all set to try my first pot.

Sweet success! Well, in my case, not-so-sweet success. And that's just how I like it!

************************************************************************************

Have a great week everyone!

Kristin

Easy Off My A$$

I have a confession to make.

After 2+ years of living in this house, I have finally, finally cleaned the oven. As with all past oven cleaning efforts, I feel it was way too late and way too soon. Anyone with me on this?

No?

Well, the way too late part is easy. Two Thanksgivings, two birthday cakes, four baked macaroni mishaps, pan roasted vegetables up the wazoo and countless spills putting food in the oven left the bottom of my oven looking like, well, like this:

If you ever get to the point where you question yourself as to the whereabouts of the fire extinguisher while preheating your oven, well, there's your sign. I thought about conducting an informal poll on this blog to find out just how many applications of Easy Off (a misnomer if I've ever heard one, but I'll get to that in a minute) Oven Cleaner you think I needed to use to actually see the bottom of my oven. But I'll put the three of you out of your misery. It took 4 liberal doses of the napalm known as Easy Off to find out what color my oven is. And that's just starting the cleaning effort way too late.

The way too soon part? Well, that's a little trickier to explain. But it goes a long way toward understanding why I wait too long to clean my oven. I think I have PTSD when it comes to Easy Off. I have flashbacks about donning body armor (complete with a gas mask) and holding my breath longer than Houdini to apply the Easy Off. Even with the oven door only open the width of my wrist, I choke and gag during the application process, like someone has thrown a canister of tear gas into my kitchen. I'm in a panic for days after the cleaning, thinking the oven is permanently contaminated and my food will be too. And 4 applications? Come on! Easy Off my a$$.

Granted, no one responsible for developing Easy Off ever considered the notion that people might actually allow lava spills to develop in their ovens.

Whatever! I'm glad the chore-that-makes-me-wish-myself-dead is over. Mission accomplished. And if any of you have a better suggestion on how to clean lava spills out of an oven, let me know. I'm all ears. :)

Kristin

Orange It Is!

Orange it is! Taylor was awarded her orange belt in class today. She was beaming from ear to ear, as were the other kids who moved up with her. This is the only good picture I have of her with her new bright orange belt. Somehow, our digital camera was dropped and now has trouble focusing correctly and staying in movie mode. I'm going to have to figure out what to do....
Considering we've reached our 10,000th picture with this camera in just shy of 3 years, I guess I can see getting a new one.

Taylor also achieved a feat this week that I never came close to accomplishing at any age, let alone at 7 years old. She achieved the full center splits position (is anyone wincing with me?) which earned her an ice cream date with Mr. Kenny, her instructor. The girl is like Gumby, I tell ya.

Kristin

How About Orange?

Tonight was the big night!

Taylor spent the last week practicing her forms, one-step sparring moves and self-defense moves in preparation for tonight's testing session at her Tae Kwon Do school. I spent the last week attempting to help her remember everything (sketchy at best to rely on your un-martial arts mom for advice) and figuring out how to sew the patches on her uniform. The patches proved to be the source of much personal angst on my part, which ended with me sewing them on mere hours before actual testing was to begin at the school. I believe that the air over our house was exceptionally blue in color and that my husband now has several valid reasons to request a divorce. :)

Still, the patches did get sewn on and our ninja girl did great at testing. We won't know until sometime next week if she was deemed worthy of advancing to orange belt level, but we're fairly confident of her achievement.

Here's the almost-orange belt warrior moments after testing was finished.
If you have any comments about the patches
or their placement, keep them to yourself! :)

HUH! Must be in the FRONT row! If Taylor was nervous,
she hid it very well. I, on the other hand, did not hide it well at all!

After her testing was completed, Taylor had the best seat in the house.
She joined her classmates in cheering on the more advanced kids
during the sparring sessions.

After all testing was complete, the participants lined up for a group photo.
Taylor is in the front row with some of her white belt buddies.

Taylor gets her 18-step form correct...with a little help
from Mr. Kenny. :)

Taylor had oh-so-much fun at testing tonight. Actually, we all did. John was able to show up for work a little later than usual, so he was able to watch Taylor from start to finish. After I got over the patches debacle, I was able to enjoy watching her do her thing too! We'll let you know if our favorite color is orange sometime next week.

Kristin

I Couldn't Agree More...

No matter what slant you put on the phrase, I couldn't agree more. :)

Kristin

10 Things Not to Do When You're Mildly Depressed

1. Eat potato chips for breakfast.
2. Learn (feebly attempt) how to knit/crochet/do anything with needles.
3. Sew patches on a uniform.
4. Read books about still born babies.
5. Manage (feebly attempt) your finances.
6. Sit by the bucket of Halloween candy.
   
7. Get on the bathroom scale.
   
8. Watch the CMA Awards.
9. Walk by a mirror when naked.
10. Become part of a large crowd in a small space.

I have done all of the above things this past week in the midst of a mild depression. No worries, I know it will get better.

Some of the things on the list really are no-brainers. As in you should really just NEVER do them, no matter what the situation (can I get a shout out for #1 and #6 anyone? Oh, and what the hell, let's throw #9 in there too, K?).

As for the rest, well, what can I say? Some things you must do in order to live your life. But they might be just a tad easier with a large amount of Prozac on board.

Kristin

Ready to Test!

Taylor 'takes a knee' at class. Her attention span has grown by
leaps and bounds since beginning Tae Kwon Do training.

After almost 3 months of intense ninja girl effort, Taylor has earned her third white belt achievement stripe and is eligible to test for her orange belt! Taylor was beaming from ear to ear all during class today. She is soooooooooo excited to go to her first formal testing session at ATA Family Tae Kwon Do she can't really talk about anything else! Testing will be next Thursday, so stay tuned for some video footage and a few candids of her efforts. That is, if this mother's heart can bear to watch. Silly, I know, but I get all teary-eyed and emotional. Silly Mom!

Kristin