This is a re-publish. I noticed a lot of bloggers are re-posting some of their older posts and I had thought about that for awhile. This one came to mind because Middlest wanted to use the quote involved for her senior quote in the yearbook and wasn't allowed to. Which is a shame because it would have been perfect. Some things have changed since I told the story but the sentiment remains the same!
This post was originally published in January 2010.
In her sophomore year, which was her 1st at the local high school Middlest began reading a book called Heavy Metal and You by Chris Krovatin. She was enjoying the book about a guy who is in to heavy metal but falls in love with a "preppy" girl, and on page 22 she found the following lines that really spoke to her because of something that happened at her school. It was his response to the girl agreeing to go on a date with him.
"Do you know what I did there? Do you? Well?
You're Damn Right I Danced!"
She loved it and declared it was her new favorite quote!
I was still trying to get past the decisions she had made the previous year. This girl is so intelligent and a really beautiful girl. I'm not saying that because I'm her Mom, it's true. I don't know where she came from. But the fact is she is odd and socially awkward. They began using the words "marches to the beat of her own drummer" in pre-school. Yesterday she came in to me with all of her hair hid in a beanie, wearing a big shirt, jeans and converse and asked if I would mind if she walked around the neighborhood dressed as a guy. She has done this before. She has a terrific figure so I think it amuses her to be so opposite and also to fool people. All of our girls seem to enjoy getting a reaction from the neighbors, which include families with girls the same age who began to shun them in elementary school. This may have been due to Biggest but wasn't fair to the younger ones. Anyway, I didn't say anything when she put leaves in her hair and a palm frond on her jeans and skipped around the front yard saying she was a pony or found her reciting/singing the entire musical Rent in the backyard at 10 PM. I don't really mind but I felt like saying no. I'm not fond of most of my neighbors, the ones I am fond of accept us as we are, (yeah, the weird people), but sometimes I just long to be normal and not the Mom everyone seems to pity or give strange looks .
Sending Middlest to a school for the Arts worked out well through middle school. In most cases the kids were more likely to accept each other as individuals and quirks are an asset. When we discussed her leaving Middlest told me, "Mom, I was the biggest weirdo in a school full of weirdos'."
When she bombed her 1st year in the Arts high school I couldn't believe it. She may have been burnt out. It had been 4 years of getting up at 5AM and not getting home till 4:30 PM and a grueling workload. Also the school was for intensive training in one area. She wanted to write but wanted to paint as well and didn't like the competitive atmosphere. She was in a contradiction. She didn't like the pressure of having to be special and at the same time it is hard to get credit for being special while surrounded by other special people. She gets more confirmation of her talents in the local high school. She told me she just wanted to be a regular kid for awhile.
I can get that. Regular. You mean you want to dress cute and talk about clothes and makeup. You want to join some fun clubs and go to football games. Normal. OK!
It didn't work out that way. Though I warned her that a regular high school was a whole different world than what she was accustomed to and that she needed to concentrate on her studies while slowly familiarizing herself with this new social system, I watched in dismay as she quickly wandered from the group her one "normal " friend introduced her to and into the Goonies. ( I'm not picking on them. They embrace this title.) That's the schools name for them. They are the kids who are most accepting of differences. The problem is that some of them tend to give confirmation to each other that succeeding and having goals is not important. Most share a certain level of immaturity. The underachievers. The bad attitudes. Kids who are dealing with real problems in their homes and are acting out. And good kids who just enjoy behaving oddly because they think it "bothers" the more conventional kids. I have told mine, "maybe they are stuck up but they really do just think there is something wrong with you, so what are you accomplishing?" Sensing the danger and watching her grades begin to fall, I asked her to please keep her options open and try not to identify herself with just one group until she had been at the school for awhile. And to remember her future, she is too bright to mess up her academics.
A short time later she became excited because she met a new boy. A regular one. Involved with sports, etc.
I was a happy for her to be learning how to just be a teenager and not be stuck in a group the whole school looked down on. A couple weeks later on a rainy day I picked her up and she was totally drenched. Soaked thru.
"What on earth happened to you?" I asked.
"I was dancing in the courtyard while it was pouring down. It was great! Everyone was watching from the windows and pointing, some were taking pictures with their phones. It was so fun!"
I felt some dread."Were you hanging out with that bunch again?"
"No, I was by myself."
As the realization of social suicide soaked me like a rainstorm I actually felt my stomach fall like I was on one of those swinging ship rides, they make me sick. Or like an axe swinging.
This is my dilemma. I love how imaginative and individual my kids are. I have fostered that. When I am with them I am delighted by their freedom of expression and refusal to stay in the box and conform. At the same time it hurts to see people who don't get it look down on them. To see them labeled and hurt by others who can't accept someone who won't follow what they feel is the "right" way to act. And I admit that I am sometimes hurt by other parents attitudes towards me because of my children. That judgment. Especially from the ones who really don't know anything about us at all. And though I hate to say it there are times I have felt embarrassed by my children. It might go something like this:
"Hi, I haven't seen you in awhile, not since the kids were in gifted class/softball/scouts together. My Kid is starring on the soccer team, on the honor roll at the college prep, and getting scholarship offers already in Sophomore year. How's Yours?"
"Umm. Oh Great! She flunked out of her Art School, joined a club called the Rock A Holics and is dating a boy who thinks he's a vampire! Yeah, we are moving right along."
So as I thought it through, what should my reaction be? Should I tell her, That "Normal Boy" would never call again. (He didn't, what a jerk). Why would you do something to call so much attention to yourself? (It will be on YouTube before the end of the day.)**it wasn't. People are going to talk about you. (They do anyway)
When Littlest is whining about listening to my music in the car, I change it to the the disco station, turn it up really loud, open the windows, and when we come to a red light, dance in my seat. My mother used to tap dance and sing WW2 songs in the kitchen while cooking dinner. And I may be mistaken but I bet a particular brother of mine is not immune to public antics either.
So....In the end what did I really think about this....? What attitude should I take toward her free spirit?
Do you know what I thought next?
Do you? .....Well?.....
You're Damn Right She Danced!
© 2010 All Rights Reserved
Quote excerpted from:
Heavy Metal and You
Christopher Krovatin
Copyright 2005 Scholastic/Push
Saturday, January 29, 2011
Tuesday, January 25, 2011
Tuesday in January, 9:00 AM
I am clinging to the storm clouds. Pulling them closer with sheer will. 6:30 has stayed for the day. I can't say I'm not pleased. I am grasping the moments with my sweaters. Counting down the days I can layer myself in soft warmth. Glad for excuses to stay inside. 90% of the lines in my face an etching carved by squinting in the sun. It is a relief to relax my face and peer out without light glancing off the world and piercing my pupils. Behind the mist a cold breeze to warm my soul. I am hoarding winter like gold. Waiting for the bizarre twist of fall in February. Because before long it will be creeping up on me. It has already started. This beauty is almost magical in it's arrival. A fairy gift amid the crunch of tardy foliage. But it is the signal.
Time..time...time swings a sickle to harvest the frost and plant the spring indelibly in my yard.
This photo of a camellia was taken on a run of the mill digital camera with no thought for composition, light, or angle. It may be blurry because I was stomping around the yard in a rain shower wearing my pajama's and fake Uggs and I can't see a darn thing on that stupid screen. I used no Photo Shop software to clear it, crop it, or adjust; color, contrast and depth because I didn't have time for that. I had to work on quarterly reports and then I pulled all the furniture out in my bedroom and vacuumed behind it and under my bed. Yes I did. And I don't have Photo Shop.
ENJOY!
Now I'm going to take a shower, eat Sweet Sixteen Little White Donuts for lunch and take a nap.
Yes I am.
© 2010 All Rights Reserved
Time..time...time swings a sickle to harvest the frost and plant the spring indelibly in my yard.
This photo of a camellia was taken on a run of the mill digital camera with no thought for composition, light, or angle. It may be blurry because I was stomping around the yard in a rain shower wearing my pajama's and fake Uggs and I can't see a darn thing on that stupid screen. I used no Photo Shop software to clear it, crop it, or adjust; color, contrast and depth because I didn't have time for that. I had to work on quarterly reports and then I pulled all the furniture out in my bedroom and vacuumed behind it and under my bed. Yes I did. And I don't have Photo Shop.
ENJOY!
Now I'm going to take a shower, eat Sweet Sixteen Little White Donuts for lunch and take a nap.
Yes I am.
© 2010 All Rights Reserved
Wednesday, January 19, 2011
ch ch ch Changes....
Overheard in the kitchen
Mid: If I ever have a shed I'm so gonna paint it blue.
Lit: I know, right.
Now I admit for a few moments I was puzzled. Then it dawned on me.
100 wizard of weirdness points for an explanation.
There is a hint later in this post.
Yesterday morning when I woke up Lit I was confused because her entire room had been changed around. And her light bulbs were missing. So I turned on her bathroom light which started the fan. A little while later I went to make sure she was up and heard her in the bathroom so I moved on. At 6:45 I gave her a warning knock and called out that it was getting late. At 6:55, which is when we leave for the bus stop, I opened her door and she was in the shower. I freaked and called out, "what are you doing? It's time to go!" She said, "What! you just woke me up a few minutes ago." So I had to make the 45 minute drive to her school. Now, she did not wake up properly because the lamp next to her bed was not turned on. Being half asleep myself, I forgot about the bathroom light/fan and thought I heard her in the bathroom. Then I learned that, though I slept through it myself, she was changing her room around at midnight and crashing things around which woke up her Dad who gave her two warnings to go to bed before he took her light bulbs away. So....
Whose fault is it that she missed her bus?
We noticed our cable bill was OUTRAGEOUS and decided to cut back some. Now I don't watch TV a whole lot but after the change I realized I won't be watching it much at all because I lost almost everything I actually watch. TCM; IFC; ID; Science Ch and LOGO....which means my beloved Buffy is no more.....
I still have History International so this was not as bad for me as it was for Littlest who nearly curled into a ball and died because she lost...
the Military Channel and BBC America.....uh oh.....Luckily we didn't have to call 911 because I grabbed the remote and feverishly flipped to On Demand and Thank God....Dr. Who was there...at least for now. Not so the Military Channel so I think she compensated for that by telling me that she is seriously considering joining the Marines after high school.....I guess if you don't have good cable real life is the next best thing.... And hey, oh joy. somehow, we still get Smoking Gun's Worlds Dumbest.. and MTV....
Speaking of cable and changes.
Biggest and DecentGuy are on a very tight budget so they have the most basic cable of all. As a result these two, who listen to bands like, The Adicts and watch movies like Zombie Strippers, have become addicted to......
OPRAH.
Both Of Them.
Now I spent some time watching Oprah back in 1987 when I didn't have cable at all and she came on right at nursing time for this particular child but over the years I lost track of it, what with having choices like History Detectives and Buffy of course. Now she calls me several times a week to ask, "Did you watch Oprah?" To which I usually say no but it doesn't matter if I missed it because I'm getting ready to hear the entire episode. The last time they were over she was describing a show and DecentGuy said, "oh yeah, that was a good one and started to talk about it to. ?. She even cried when she watched the Tribute show with Naomi and Wynonna Judd singing along to still photo's, which by chance I did happen to catch because I was flipping through channels and was mesmermized by Wynonna's face which always fascinates me because I think she's a robot.........huh....oh...i'm back. I find it hysterical that these two Former Rebels were enthralled with Oprah and Gails camping trip. They really like Gail by the way. They think she's cool.
Anyway,
Recently I wrote about my parenting rules and Middlest's boyfriend who I felt was too old for her but he was alright and I was starting to resign myself to him even though I thought she was resigning herself to him too and then she dumped him. What happy dance? Am not....anyway. Now that she has 5 whole months of high school left she has finally found some friends who aren't creepy and is dating someone she has known since 3rd grade that she has a lot in common with and she is having a wonderful time being a regular teenager. Which means that she stopped coming home at 9: 30 like she did when dating the older guy and now calls me at ten to eleven every weekend and asks if she can stay out later. She is doing her school work..mostly...she is working...she seems to be truly happy for the first time since she started high school...and it's almost over. But I think she has turned a page. She is becoming stronger and more confident in some ways. Interesting to see what other changes this year will bring. Maybe she will even start picking her underwear up off the bathroom floor.
Littlest is in the midst of a serious decision. She goes to an award winning high school that you must audition for. She loves being a part of the creative writing department there and the prestige and opportunities being one of their students gives her. At the same time she has decided that in general she doesn't really love the school any more. She doesn't have friends there that she feel closely connected to. She is tired...very tired...of the rigorous curriculum and amount of time it takes to be a part of the school. It is a huge commitment. A couple weeks ago she refused to get out of bed one morning. She had writing assignments that weren't finished and she was having a meltdown. She said she loves to write but sometimes she "just can't." I think many of us could identify with that. She can't take the pressure of being required to create for a grade. She refuses to do sub-standard just to get by. All of her grades are falling. I let Mid leave this school after 9th grade because she was not committed. She was wasting their time. Littlest has been committed and worked really hard. She doesn't want to anymore. She says she has no life. That she doesn't think she's going to be a writer. She wants to join the Marines and be a psychologist. In the middle of all this one of her pieces was chosen to be in a reading performance that the department does once each quarter. It it isn't easy to get in. Some kids never do. I wondered if this was a sign. A message to her to hang in there. By coincidence Peryl at Parenting Ad Absurdum just did a post called Daughters of Mothers Who Roar relating to this article -Why Chinese Mothers Are Superior by Amy Chua.... about pushing our kids. Whether we are hard enough on them. Sometimes I Roar for a few minutes but then my throat gets raw and I just make a cup of tea and read a book instead. Part of me wants to tell her not to blow this gift she was lucky enough to live near. Stick it out and do what you need to do! Why would you throw away this opportunity that many kids would give anything for? Are you crazy? Well, maybe. When she is crying and having meltdowns and her grades are all falling and she is re arranging her room in the middle of the night because she can't rest. I decided to let her make the decision on her own. I'd be lying if I said I would miss dealing with her frustration and the long hours. I also know this. The school requires you to devote yourself to an art area. Like her sister, Littlest can draw. She also has a unique and lovely singing voice and is interested in musical theatre. At our local high school she can try all of these things. Not in a state of the art award winning facility but decently all the same.
What would you suggest as a parent? Insist she get up, get over it and work? Or, it's been 5 years of this. No harm in two years of regular high school to round her out? Don't be afraid to answer a life altering question for a teenager. Apparently one mom isn't enough. She said to ask for input. The decision she makes will be entirely her own .....Believe Me!
Other than that things around her are about the same. This week they all have PMS. Everyone has cried at least once. But this morning when they came in the kitchen they did some Ninja poses followed by a full scale song and dance performance of Little Bunny Fu Fu, hugged each other violently as a grand finale and still made it out the door on time. So as I look around I realize, Ah, of course.
Moon Music
© 2010 All Rights Reserved
Mid: If I ever have a shed I'm so gonna paint it blue.
Lit: I know, right.
Now I admit for a few moments I was puzzled. Then it dawned on me.
100 wizard of weirdness points for an explanation.
There is a hint later in this post.
Yesterday morning when I woke up Lit I was confused because her entire room had been changed around. And her light bulbs were missing. So I turned on her bathroom light which started the fan. A little while later I went to make sure she was up and heard her in the bathroom so I moved on. At 6:45 I gave her a warning knock and called out that it was getting late. At 6:55, which is when we leave for the bus stop, I opened her door and she was in the shower. I freaked and called out, "what are you doing? It's time to go!" She said, "What! you just woke me up a few minutes ago." So I had to make the 45 minute drive to her school. Now, she did not wake up properly because the lamp next to her bed was not turned on. Being half asleep myself, I forgot about the bathroom light/fan and thought I heard her in the bathroom. Then I learned that, though I slept through it myself, she was changing her room around at midnight and crashing things around which woke up her Dad who gave her two warnings to go to bed before he took her light bulbs away. So....
Whose fault is it that she missed her bus?
We noticed our cable bill was OUTRAGEOUS and decided to cut back some. Now I don't watch TV a whole lot but after the change I realized I won't be watching it much at all because I lost almost everything I actually watch. TCM; IFC; ID; Science Ch and LOGO....which means my beloved Buffy is no more.....
I still have History International so this was not as bad for me as it was for Littlest who nearly curled into a ball and died because she lost...
the Military Channel and BBC America.....uh oh.....Luckily we didn't have to call 911 because I grabbed the remote and feverishly flipped to On Demand and Thank God....Dr. Who was there...at least for now. Not so the Military Channel so I think she compensated for that by telling me that she is seriously considering joining the Marines after high school.....I guess if you don't have good cable real life is the next best thing.... And hey, oh joy. somehow, we still get Smoking Gun's Worlds Dumbest.. and MTV....
Speaking of cable and changes.
Biggest and DecentGuy are on a very tight budget so they have the most basic cable of all. As a result these two, who listen to bands like, The Adicts and watch movies like Zombie Strippers, have become addicted to......
OPRAH.
Both Of Them.
Now I spent some time watching Oprah back in 1987 when I didn't have cable at all and she came on right at nursing time for this particular child but over the years I lost track of it, what with having choices like History Detectives and Buffy of course. Now she calls me several times a week to ask, "Did you watch Oprah?" To which I usually say no but it doesn't matter if I missed it because I'm getting ready to hear the entire episode. The last time they were over she was describing a show and DecentGuy said, "oh yeah, that was a good one and started to talk about it to. ?. She even cried when she watched the Tribute show with Naomi and Wynonna Judd singing along to still photo's, which by chance I did happen to catch because I was flipping through channels and was mesmermized by Wynonna's face which always fascinates me because I think she's a robot.........huh....oh...i'm back. I find it hysterical that these two Former Rebels were enthralled with Oprah and Gails camping trip. They really like Gail by the way. They think she's cool.
Anyway,
Recently I wrote about my parenting rules and Middlest's boyfriend who I felt was too old for her but he was alright and I was starting to resign myself to him even though I thought she was resigning herself to him too and then she dumped him. What happy dance? Am not....anyway. Now that she has 5 whole months of high school left she has finally found some friends who aren't creepy and is dating someone she has known since 3rd grade that she has a lot in common with and she is having a wonderful time being a regular teenager. Which means that she stopped coming home at 9: 30 like she did when dating the older guy and now calls me at ten to eleven every weekend and asks if she can stay out later. She is doing her school work..mostly...she is working...she seems to be truly happy for the first time since she started high school...and it's almost over. But I think she has turned a page. She is becoming stronger and more confident in some ways. Interesting to see what other changes this year will bring. Maybe she will even start picking her underwear up off the bathroom floor.
Littlest is in the midst of a serious decision. She goes to an award winning high school that you must audition for. She loves being a part of the creative writing department there and the prestige and opportunities being one of their students gives her. At the same time she has decided that in general she doesn't really love the school any more. She doesn't have friends there that she feel closely connected to. She is tired...very tired...of the rigorous curriculum and amount of time it takes to be a part of the school. It is a huge commitment. A couple weeks ago she refused to get out of bed one morning. She had writing assignments that weren't finished and she was having a meltdown. She said she loves to write but sometimes she "just can't." I think many of us could identify with that. She can't take the pressure of being required to create for a grade. She refuses to do sub-standard just to get by. All of her grades are falling. I let Mid leave this school after 9th grade because she was not committed. She was wasting their time. Littlest has been committed and worked really hard. She doesn't want to anymore. She says she has no life. That she doesn't think she's going to be a writer. She wants to join the Marines and be a psychologist. In the middle of all this one of her pieces was chosen to be in a reading performance that the department does once each quarter. It it isn't easy to get in. Some kids never do. I wondered if this was a sign. A message to her to hang in there. By coincidence Peryl at Parenting Ad Absurdum just did a post called Daughters of Mothers Who Roar relating to this article -Why Chinese Mothers Are Superior by Amy Chua.... about pushing our kids. Whether we are hard enough on them. Sometimes I Roar for a few minutes but then my throat gets raw and I just make a cup of tea and read a book instead. Part of me wants to tell her not to blow this gift she was lucky enough to live near. Stick it out and do what you need to do! Why would you throw away this opportunity that many kids would give anything for? Are you crazy? Well, maybe. When she is crying and having meltdowns and her grades are all falling and she is re arranging her room in the middle of the night because she can't rest. I decided to let her make the decision on her own. I'd be lying if I said I would miss dealing with her frustration and the long hours. I also know this. The school requires you to devote yourself to an art area. Like her sister, Littlest can draw. She also has a unique and lovely singing voice and is interested in musical theatre. At our local high school she can try all of these things. Not in a state of the art award winning facility but decently all the same.
What would you suggest as a parent? Insist she get up, get over it and work? Or, it's been 5 years of this. No harm in two years of regular high school to round her out? Don't be afraid to answer a life altering question for a teenager. Apparently one mom isn't enough. She said to ask for input. The decision she makes will be entirely her own .....Believe Me!
Other than that things around her are about the same. This week they all have PMS. Everyone has cried at least once. But this morning when they came in the kitchen they did some Ninja poses followed by a full scale song and dance performance of Little Bunny Fu Fu, hugged each other violently as a grand finale and still made it out the door on time. So as I look around I realize, Ah, of course.
Moon Music
© 2010 All Rights Reserved
Friday, January 14, 2011
Yes, Way.....
This part is an addendum to my "don't try this at home" post previous to my neurotic post.
When I went to the store this week I turned down the aisle actually in search of the Empress's matzoh ball mix dumpling solution. I thought that sounded interesting. As I stuck my nose in the air to waltz with disdain past the noodles I glanced down to give them a dirty look and .....
Sitting all alone on an otherwise empty shelf several feet from the egg noodles was.....
1 BAG of Mueller's Old Fashioned Dumpling's. No Kidding. I almost fainted. I wish I had a camera phone to prove it but I'm a dinosaur. I thought I was having hallucinations and stood in front of it for at least 3 minutes before I swooped it up LMAO. All alone in the grocery store laughing to myself...out loud. I kept breaking into giggles as I finished my shopping and then I noticed that the store employee's were grinning at me as I passed and they all asked how I was today and I said I was Fine! I'm so fine because this is Awesome! Now my blog is anonymous so after a few minutes of greetings from managers and stockers I started to get paranoid. Why are they so happy? Do they know something? Did Mueller's track my IP address and report to the stores in my area that they should put out 1 bag of dumplings as bait and wait for the woman who grabbed them up laughing hysterically so they could call me out and blow my blog cover on the Internet? Did my favorite check out lady accidentally come across my blog and put together the fact that I live in a warm climate, the story about Littlest shouting the F word in the middle of the department store ( which I told her), and my depression at the lack of dumplings? I'm sure it had nothing to do with the fact that there was a woman wandering around the store.....laughing and talking to herself......they were probably speaking to each other over tiny microphones giving directions like: She coming around due East and headed for dairy, keep your eyes peeled , we have a live one. So, anyway...I escaped with my 1 bag of dumplings and so far haven't been taken away to a place where they would spoon feed me strained dumplings while my arms and legs are restrained and electroshocked me until I agreed to use egg noodles like everyone else.
Some other observations.
1. Spell check always wants me to capitalize the word "internet." I don't want to, I'm not that impressed with it.
2. It also says "electroshocked is not a real word". But I don't care.
3. I've spent a good amount of time piddling around on my own blog this morning but Do you know what I'm supposed to be doing? I'm supposed to be getting tax stuff together so we can get the ball rolling because we need to fill out Middlest's FAFSA for college in case she decides to pass German and gets tired of being The Lord of the Lobby at work. She's nothing like her mother of course. Why, she is Working Hard on an essay in her literature class right this minute. I know because she just sent me a text that says..."I think Mrs. W mighta been really gorgeous when she was young. u can tell if u really look at her....
Ok, I will get back to work in a minute because there is something else I haven't finished.
I would like to Thank Mrs. Tuna at Working Womans Guide To Dinner for thinking of me for this Stylish Blogger Award. Even though I am wearing my pajama's, a ten year old fleece jacket and fake uggs from Kmart, which are my slippers that I can drive the kids to school in as well as tramp around the yard if I feel like it.
Anyway, these are the rules:
a) Thank and link back to the person who awarded you this award.
b) Share 7 things about yourself
c) Award 15 recently discovered bloggers
d) Contact these bloggers and tell them about the award
The only problem is I have to admit I haven't recently discovered 15 bloggers.
However, if I ever get around to it I will be saving this for them.
If you have not met Mrs. Tuna yet you NEED to go say hi because I think you will like her. I certainly do! She is FUNNY! And! She Really Does Recipes! Good Ones!
So quit wasting time here and head on over! I need to get back to work because my boss...also known as my husband just got home. I don't get special treatment, he'll Dock My Pay and I can't survive without my chocolate chip cookies. ; )
© 2010 All Rights Reserved
When I went to the store this week I turned down the aisle actually in search of the Empress's matzoh ball mix dumpling solution. I thought that sounded interesting. As I stuck my nose in the air to waltz with disdain past the noodles I glanced down to give them a dirty look and .....
Sitting all alone on an otherwise empty shelf several feet from the egg noodles was.....
1 BAG of Mueller's Old Fashioned Dumpling's. No Kidding. I almost fainted. I wish I had a camera phone to prove it but I'm a dinosaur. I thought I was having hallucinations and stood in front of it for at least 3 minutes before I swooped it up LMAO. All alone in the grocery store laughing to myself...out loud. I kept breaking into giggles as I finished my shopping and then I noticed that the store employee's were grinning at me as I passed and they all asked how I was today and I said I was Fine! I'm so fine because this is Awesome! Now my blog is anonymous so after a few minutes of greetings from managers and stockers I started to get paranoid. Why are they so happy? Do they know something? Did Mueller's track my IP address and report to the stores in my area that they should put out 1 bag of dumplings as bait and wait for the woman who grabbed them up laughing hysterically so they could call me out and blow my blog cover on the Internet? Did my favorite check out lady accidentally come across my blog and put together the fact that I live in a warm climate, the story about Littlest shouting the F word in the middle of the department store ( which I told her), and my depression at the lack of dumplings? I'm sure it had nothing to do with the fact that there was a woman wandering around the store.....laughing and talking to herself......they were probably speaking to each other over tiny microphones giving directions like: She coming around due East and headed for dairy, keep your eyes peeled , we have a live one. So, anyway...I escaped with my 1 bag of dumplings and so far haven't been taken away to a place where they would spoon feed me strained dumplings while my arms and legs are restrained and electroshocked me until I agreed to use egg noodles like everyone else.
Some other observations.
1. Spell check always wants me to capitalize the word "internet." I don't want to, I'm not that impressed with it.
2. It also says "electroshocked is not a real word". But I don't care.
3. I've spent a good amount of time piddling around on my own blog this morning but Do you know what I'm supposed to be doing? I'm supposed to be getting tax stuff together so we can get the ball rolling because we need to fill out Middlest's FAFSA for college in case she decides to pass German and gets tired of being The Lord of the Lobby at work. She's nothing like her mother of course. Why, she is Working Hard on an essay in her literature class right this minute. I know because she just sent me a text that says..."I think Mrs. W mighta been really gorgeous when she was young. u can tell if u really look at her....
Ok, I will get back to work in a minute because there is something else I haven't finished.
I would like to Thank Mrs. Tuna at Working Womans Guide To Dinner for thinking of me for this Stylish Blogger Award. Even though I am wearing my pajama's, a ten year old fleece jacket and fake uggs from Kmart, which are my slippers that I can drive the kids to school in as well as tramp around the yard if I feel like it.
Anyway, these are the rules:
a) Thank and link back to the person who awarded you this award.
b) Share 7 things about yourself
c) Award 15 recently discovered bloggers
d) Contact these bloggers and tell them about the award
The only problem is I have to admit I haven't recently discovered 15 bloggers.
However, if I ever get around to it I will be saving this for them.
If you have not met Mrs. Tuna yet you NEED to go say hi because I think you will like her. I certainly do! She is FUNNY! And! She Really Does Recipes! Good Ones!
So quit wasting time here and head on over! I need to get back to work because my boss...also known as my husband just got home. I don't get special treatment, he'll Dock My Pay and I can't survive without my chocolate chip cookies. ; )
© 2010 All Rights Reserved
Thursday, January 13, 2011
This is what you call a chicken out.
Nevermind.
Ok, BlueViolet asked for an explanation for the post above so I'm editing again and this part is added.
This is the explanation for mypanic attack decision to remove the post ; )
I actually meant to send it back to draft but forgot. I deleted the contents because the beginning still showed up in the reader.
It was a post I wrote with a prompt from a writing blog. When I went back to link it up I re-read the blog owners post and some of the others and seriously felt that it was...well...a little too serious. However. I feel the post was important and I think I may be reworking my extra ( Error 503) blog, that I've just been playing around in, into a place where I put some of the posts that I'm not sure everyone would want to read but are things I need to write. If I have time I will work on that today and I already have 3 posts that I feel would belong there. I'm thinking about it. : )
Ok, BlueViolet asked for an explanation for the post above so I'm editing again and this part is added.
This is the explanation for my
I actually meant to send it back to draft but forgot. I deleted the contents because the beginning still showed up in the reader.
It was a post I wrote with a prompt from a writing blog. When I went back to link it up I re-read the blog owners post and some of the others and seriously felt that it was...well...a little too serious. However. I feel the post was important and I think I may be reworking my extra ( Error 503) blog, that I've just been playing around in, into a place where I put some of the posts that I'm not sure everyone would want to read but are things I need to write. If I have time I will work on that today and I already have 3 posts that I feel would belong there. I'm thinking about it. : )
Thursday, January 6, 2011
Don't Try This At Home
Or why I don't do recipes on my blog.
I used to cook more homemade food than I do now. I had a small but tasty repertoire of giant pots of stuff my mother taught me to make for an army. I used to make homemade spaghetti. I still do a great stew or pot roast and I used to know how to make chicken and dumplings. Lovingly known as golf balls.
I used to know how to make my Grandmothers chicken and drop dumplings from scratch. Or, my mother knew and I never bothered to write it down because when I felt like making it I could call mom and she would tell me how to do it...again. Now, though I found them delicious, my husband and Biggest used to laugh at my dumplings. They tasted fine. They were just kind of...big...and chewy. They didn't like it that much but I loved it and continued to make it. Of course, as some as you know my mother developed Alzheimer's...and there went my recipe. Until one day when I was in the store. I saw a package. It said Mueller's Old Fashioned Dumplings. Hmm. I think I'll try them. And low and behold they were darn good. And nothing like golf balls, so the family was pleased too. I admit it was nice for me too because I'm a messy cook and these required no mess.
I've been happily pouring my Mueller's Dumplings into my homemade soup for years and still declaring it "homemade" because I boiled the chicken and such...so close enough. This winter, when the first really cold days hit, my mind turned to big pots of stuff to cook for an army. My first thoughts were, chili-(Carrol Shelby's, it's Delicious and even my father who loved to cook, dumped his homemade chili in favor of it years ago)- and Yay! Chicken and Dumplings. So I go to the store and put a nice big chicken in my cart, and some celery, which I don't buy for anything else, and carrots and spices and wheel my cart to the pasta section because,,,I'm Gonna Make Some Chicken and Dumplings, oh yeah, I'm practically dancing down the aisle in happiness, gonna feed my family some real wholesome food, cause I'm such an awesome mom, and the pot is big enough to use for "eat what you find night" for at least 2 extra days...Oh Boy!...
oh...boy.
They are out of Mueller's Dumplings. The whole area is a noodle wasteland. Someone obviously had a desperate need for dumplings. But they could have left behind one bag...gosh. Could Everyone else really have had the same idea as me...well maybe...but darn. Maybe they took them to make a big meal for the homeless or something...All they had left was NoYolks dumplings and I can't trust those! I think that when they take the bad stuff out it it's not worth eating. I'm not gonna waste money on something that may be yucky. No thank you, I will wait on my cholesterol till later. I sadly shuffled back to the meat department and dropped the chicken back off because I didn't want it taking up space in my freezer. It's a sad fact that once something hits my freezer it's likely to be there for eternity. It was too far to walk back to produce so I kept the celery. It would last till next week when the dumplings came in again.
Except the dumplings never came in again. Week after week I would march with purpose to the pasta department only to find a gaping hole in the Mueller's Dumpling section. I started to take it a little personally. What is up with this store? Why are they withholding the dumplings. I know they see me on camera checking each week. I stand in front of the shelf for long moments scanning the products for alternatives. I read every box in the pasta section in case I missed something. I huff and puff and look pissed off. I know they can see it! I consider leaving a Post It reminding them, HEY, You Need More Mueller's Dumplings! Finally, one day as I'm checking out, when my favorite check out lady asked if I found everything alright, I sullenly replied, "No, they are out of Dumplings," and looked pitiful. "Oh really", she replied, and kept on ringing up. "Yes, I replied. All they have are NoYolks". "Oh, we wouldn't want that," she answered in a sympathetic tone. "No, we don't", I told her, "they're yucky." But I was hopeful. I had an inside contact now. Maybe she would pass on the dumpling debacle and they would straighten up. The next week as I hit the pasta aisle my spirit soared! The empty spaces were filled. The whole shelf was packed to the top. Stacked row upon row without a niche to be seen with......Egg Noodles.
Not only that. They were now out of Carroll Shelby's chili mix too. That's it. I was fed up.
I made a life altering decision. I would go to the Other Grocery Store. This took planning. I don't like change. I don't like the other store. It's "popular". It's brightly lit. It's bigger and carries more variety. It's packed with tons of options that make my head spin. It's crowded. I equate it to grocery shopping at Disney World. I don't know where anything is. But this called for Drastic Measures. I got in my car and I Drove Around The Block. I scouted for cars I recognized. Yep, there was one of my neighbors vans. I would have to be on the look out to avoid a social situation as well as find my way around. Nothing is more traumatizing to me than making small talk in a bright cheerful environment. Anyway... I entered keeping my eyes peeled in case I had to duck down an aisle suddenly and looked thru 2 aisles of ethnic foods until I found the chili. I was confused for a moment because my regular store keeps it in the baking aisle, next to gravy. Then I was off to pasta. As I turned the corner I heard a choir of angels and saw rays of light falling on the blue and white bags. Along with the gourmet brands, I found rows and rows and rows of Mueller's spaghetti, fancy pasta's, macaroni and .....and...
Egg Noodles.
Apparently dumplings are out of favor in my area. There was not a Mueller's dumpling to be found. The celery in the veggie drawer of the fridge was limp and wilting. I tried to pass it off on the girls, "don't you want some celery with peanut butter? You used to like that." "No, we had enough of that mom. 8 years of lukewarm celery and smeared peanut butter smooshed in our lunch box kind of got us over it." Oh yeah, that's right. I used the carrots for stew.
I started to worry about the Dumplings. Was there a recall? I googled it. Nothing. I began to panic. Oh My God, has Mueller's stopped making Dumplings?! I looked up their site. The Dumplings were there. What a relief! I searched the site for stores in my area. My stores came up. Um, no, sorry Mueller's...those stores do not have Dumplings. I thought about emailing them and letting them know that my local stores were ditching the dumplings and that it was a disaster but came to my senses.
I googled "homemade chicken and dumplings".
TA DA! It was a windfall. Of dumplings. But then I noticed another problem. There seemed to be two schools of dumpling making. Which one was right?
Recipe 1
■1 teaspoon salt
■1/2 cup oil
■3/4 cup water
■2 small eggs
■3 unsifted cups flour
OR
Recipe 2
•1 1/2 to 2 tsp salt
•2 sifted cups flour
•2 teaspoons baking powder
•1 teaspoon salt
•1/3 cup shortening
•1/2 cup milk
I wracked my brain trying to remember what I used to do. The problem is that I seem to recall sifting, for something I made. But I vaguely remember having shortening around that I used for only one thing all those years ago. Was it this?
And I also seem to recall using eggs, but maybe milk too? I don't know.
So, I bit the bullet and I made the 1st recipe.
It looked beautiful. It smelled incredible.
We were all starving and we sat down excited to try it. The younger girls do not remember my homemade dumplings at all and were interested to see how it was. One at a time we each ate a dumpling.
Mid: "um mom, these are really bad"
SeaMonkey: Ha ha, I told you that the homemade ones weren't very good." Then he ate one.
Lit: Yeah mom, I'm sorry but these really are bad.
Me: I refused to believe it. They were just being jerks. I lifted my spoon and took a big bite out of a big old
PlayDough Dumpling.
Yes, I had successfully made Chicken and Playdough.
The Seamonkey and Middlest got up and made themselves salad.
Littlest and I love the soup the most and we each persevered in taking a bite out of each dumpling in our bowl hoping for a good one before we gave up and drank the broth.
I'm not sure if it's the recipe or something I did wrong. I thought maybe it hadn't cooked long enough and simmered it longer. But no it just became chewier playdough. I didn't want to waste all of that soup and I wasn't sure what to do. Then I remembered something the next day. Whenever I had made it before there were always just a a few too many Dumplings, about 3/4 of a cup, in the Mueller's bag and I would save it in a Tupperware container and then forget about it. I climbed up on a chair and looked at the back of the top shelf in my pantry and Sure Enough, there they were! 5 almost empty bags of Mueller's Dumplings sealed inside. And how lucky! 3 of them had only expired in November!
I asked the family for general opinions on food poisoning and no one had one so I scooped the playdough balls out of the soup and threw in my old dumplings. And they were delicious. And now they are gone.
So, I need some opinions.
I'm afraid to try the other recipe because I don't want to take a chance on wasting 6 bucks on another chicken, plus shortening I never use and more baking powder because I found that was expired too since I never use it either.
Does anyone know a Truly Good Drop Dumpling recipe or tip on what may have gone wrong?
Otherwise I will be forced to bulk buy Muellers Dumplings for $38.00 from the only other place I could find them, here http://www.premiumproductsllc.com/store/Mueller-s-Dumplings.html This seems a little excessive for something I make about 4 or 5 times a year.
However if anyone else is missing their dumplings this place has 997 in stock.
© 2010 All Rights Reserved
I used to cook more homemade food than I do now. I had a small but tasty repertoire of giant pots of stuff my mother taught me to make for an army. I used to make homemade spaghetti. I still do a great stew or pot roast and I used to know how to make chicken and dumplings. Lovingly known as golf balls.
I used to know how to make my Grandmothers chicken and drop dumplings from scratch. Or, my mother knew and I never bothered to write it down because when I felt like making it I could call mom and she would tell me how to do it...again. Now, though I found them delicious, my husband and Biggest used to laugh at my dumplings. They tasted fine. They were just kind of...big...and chewy. They didn't like it that much but I loved it and continued to make it. Of course, as some as you know my mother developed Alzheimer's...and there went my recipe. Until one day when I was in the store. I saw a package. It said Mueller's Old Fashioned Dumplings. Hmm. I think I'll try them. And low and behold they were darn good. And nothing like golf balls, so the family was pleased too. I admit it was nice for me too because I'm a messy cook and these required no mess.
I've been happily pouring my Mueller's Dumplings into my homemade soup for years and still declaring it "homemade" because I boiled the chicken and such...so close enough. This winter, when the first really cold days hit, my mind turned to big pots of stuff to cook for an army. My first thoughts were, chili-(Carrol Shelby's, it's Delicious and even my father who loved to cook, dumped his homemade chili in favor of it years ago)- and Yay! Chicken and Dumplings. So I go to the store and put a nice big chicken in my cart, and some celery, which I don't buy for anything else, and carrots and spices and wheel my cart to the pasta section because,,,I'm Gonna Make Some Chicken and Dumplings, oh yeah, I'm practically dancing down the aisle in happiness, gonna feed my family some real wholesome food, cause I'm such an awesome mom, and the pot is big enough to use for "eat what you find night" for at least 2 extra days...Oh Boy!...
oh...boy.
They are out of Mueller's Dumplings. The whole area is a noodle wasteland. Someone obviously had a desperate need for dumplings. But they could have left behind one bag...gosh. Could Everyone else really have had the same idea as me...well maybe...but darn. Maybe they took them to make a big meal for the homeless or something...All they had left was NoYolks dumplings and I can't trust those! I think that when they take the bad stuff out it it's not worth eating. I'm not gonna waste money on something that may be yucky. No thank you, I will wait on my cholesterol till later. I sadly shuffled back to the meat department and dropped the chicken back off because I didn't want it taking up space in my freezer. It's a sad fact that once something hits my freezer it's likely to be there for eternity. It was too far to walk back to produce so I kept the celery. It would last till next week when the dumplings came in again.
Except the dumplings never came in again. Week after week I would march with purpose to the pasta department only to find a gaping hole in the Mueller's Dumpling section. I started to take it a little personally. What is up with this store? Why are they withholding the dumplings. I know they see me on camera checking each week. I stand in front of the shelf for long moments scanning the products for alternatives. I read every box in the pasta section in case I missed something. I huff and puff and look pissed off. I know they can see it! I consider leaving a Post It reminding them, HEY, You Need More Mueller's Dumplings! Finally, one day as I'm checking out, when my favorite check out lady asked if I found everything alright, I sullenly replied, "No, they are out of Dumplings," and looked pitiful. "Oh really", she replied, and kept on ringing up. "Yes, I replied. All they have are NoYolks". "Oh, we wouldn't want that," she answered in a sympathetic tone. "No, we don't", I told her, "they're yucky." But I was hopeful. I had an inside contact now. Maybe she would pass on the dumpling debacle and they would straighten up. The next week as I hit the pasta aisle my spirit soared! The empty spaces were filled. The whole shelf was packed to the top. Stacked row upon row without a niche to be seen with......Egg Noodles.
Not only that. They were now out of Carroll Shelby's chili mix too. That's it. I was fed up.
I made a life altering decision. I would go to the Other Grocery Store. This took planning. I don't like change. I don't like the other store. It's "popular". It's brightly lit. It's bigger and carries more variety. It's packed with tons of options that make my head spin. It's crowded. I equate it to grocery shopping at Disney World. I don't know where anything is. But this called for Drastic Measures. I got in my car and I Drove Around The Block. I scouted for cars I recognized. Yep, there was one of my neighbors vans. I would have to be on the look out to avoid a social situation as well as find my way around. Nothing is more traumatizing to me than making small talk in a bright cheerful environment. Anyway... I entered keeping my eyes peeled in case I had to duck down an aisle suddenly and looked thru 2 aisles of ethnic foods until I found the chili. I was confused for a moment because my regular store keeps it in the baking aisle, next to gravy. Then I was off to pasta. As I turned the corner I heard a choir of angels and saw rays of light falling on the blue and white bags. Along with the gourmet brands, I found rows and rows and rows of Mueller's spaghetti, fancy pasta's, macaroni and .....and...
Egg Noodles.
Apparently dumplings are out of favor in my area. There was not a Mueller's dumpling to be found. The celery in the veggie drawer of the fridge was limp and wilting. I tried to pass it off on the girls, "don't you want some celery with peanut butter? You used to like that." "No, we had enough of that mom. 8 years of lukewarm celery and smeared peanut butter smooshed in our lunch box kind of got us over it." Oh yeah, that's right. I used the carrots for stew.
I started to worry about the Dumplings. Was there a recall? I googled it. Nothing. I began to panic. Oh My God, has Mueller's stopped making Dumplings?! I looked up their site. The Dumplings were there. What a relief! I searched the site for stores in my area. My stores came up. Um, no, sorry Mueller's...those stores do not have Dumplings. I thought about emailing them and letting them know that my local stores were ditching the dumplings and that it was a disaster but came to my senses.
I googled "homemade chicken and dumplings".
TA DA! It was a windfall. Of dumplings. But then I noticed another problem. There seemed to be two schools of dumpling making. Which one was right?
Recipe 1
■1 teaspoon salt
■1/2 cup oil
■3/4 cup water
■2 small eggs
■3 unsifted cups flour
OR
Recipe 2
•1 1/2 to 2 tsp salt
•2 sifted cups flour
•2 teaspoons baking powder
•1 teaspoon salt
•1/3 cup shortening
•1/2 cup milk
I wracked my brain trying to remember what I used to do. The problem is that I seem to recall sifting, for something I made. But I vaguely remember having shortening around that I used for only one thing all those years ago. Was it this?
And I also seem to recall using eggs, but maybe milk too? I don't know.
So, I bit the bullet and I made the 1st recipe.
It looked beautiful. It smelled incredible.
We were all starving and we sat down excited to try it. The younger girls do not remember my homemade dumplings at all and were interested to see how it was. One at a time we each ate a dumpling.
Mid: "um mom, these are really bad"
SeaMonkey: Ha ha, I told you that the homemade ones weren't very good." Then he ate one.
Lit: Yeah mom, I'm sorry but these really are bad.
Me: I refused to believe it. They were just being jerks. I lifted my spoon and took a big bite out of a big old
PlayDough Dumpling.
Yes, I had successfully made Chicken and Playdough.
The Seamonkey and Middlest got up and made themselves salad.
Littlest and I love the soup the most and we each persevered in taking a bite out of each dumpling in our bowl hoping for a good one before we gave up and drank the broth.
I'm not sure if it's the recipe or something I did wrong. I thought maybe it hadn't cooked long enough and simmered it longer. But no it just became chewier playdough. I didn't want to waste all of that soup and I wasn't sure what to do. Then I remembered something the next day. Whenever I had made it before there were always just a a few too many Dumplings, about 3/4 of a cup, in the Mueller's bag and I would save it in a Tupperware container and then forget about it. I climbed up on a chair and looked at the back of the top shelf in my pantry and Sure Enough, there they were! 5 almost empty bags of Mueller's Dumplings sealed inside. And how lucky! 3 of them had only expired in November!
I asked the family for general opinions on food poisoning and no one had one so I scooped the playdough balls out of the soup and threw in my old dumplings. And they were delicious. And now they are gone.
So, I need some opinions.
I'm afraid to try the other recipe because I don't want to take a chance on wasting 6 bucks on another chicken, plus shortening I never use and more baking powder because I found that was expired too since I never use it either.
Does anyone know a Truly Good Drop Dumpling recipe or tip on what may have gone wrong?
Otherwise I will be forced to bulk buy Muellers Dumplings for $38.00 from the only other place I could find them, here http://www.premiumproductsllc.com/store/Mueller-s-Dumplings.html This seems a little excessive for something I make about 4 or 5 times a year.
However if anyone else is missing their dumplings this place has 997 in stock.
© 2010 All Rights Reserved
Saturday, January 1, 2011
Time Travel
For what is a New Year?
Is it here we begin?
Not really a first, more
Starting over again.
We pull from the past
Another year through
We carry the love
And gifts good and true
The heartaches we faced
Let us leave to last year
I lay down these burdens
I haven't shared here
There is always healing
Working its way
Filling the potholes
We met on the way
Still intact we move forward
A family entwined
Lifts us out of our stumbles
Leaving no one behind
There is no map to guide us
The terrain is unknown
We step firm into time
Claim each moment our own
For, B & Me and also N & K. And most of all for my K and my C and especially my O.
© 2010 All Rights Reserved
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