Not too bad.

I spent 8 hours in the car yesterday driving/riding to our little getaway destination.  I ended up getting a little car sick and had a headache that lasted nearly til bed time.  After we arrived I had a late lunch, and laid down for about 3 hours. 

My birthday dinner consisted of a lovey cut of fish (don't ask me what kind) with either panko crust or some kind of crust on the outside, roasted broccoli and stringbeans, and home fries. I told Rocco to go find out what kind of cake I would be getting and he told me "It's a 5 layer cake!"  I got totally excited because for the last 2 years I didn't have much in the way of a cake on my birthday and now I was going to get this ultimate 5 layer carrot cake.  Soon after dinner and gifts , lights were dimmed and everyone began to sing "Happy Birthday".  Much to my surprise around the corner came a platter with a dozen carrot cake cupcakes, all with candles in each.  They were quite yummy.  Yet Rocco did fool me.  As far as I'm concerned, my special day is not over, I have to go birthday shopping and treat myself for being the special Big Momma that I am.

The Pending Event

This is the cake I made for Dolly for her 3rd birthday, last year, obviously she is a princess!

Yes the day is almost here. 2 days to be exact and I will be another year younger.  I have a lot to celebrate this year.  I have my health, and life, my children, a great arts & craft class that I teach, and a couple of opportunities brewing-more about that later.   So far the best early birthday gift was a  mega warehouse load of Starbucks via brew coffee packets with a case of Nonni Biscotti and  Linden Chocolate chip cookies to boot.  Now I must say that I usually go for decaf but in this case I was not picky.  I love mocha lattes so I had to concoct my own version and it was coffelicious if I must say so myself.  I did have to put the goods on lock down.  I have to have a little treat once in a while that's mine and only mine.  In other words, I don't feel compelled to share.

Dreams do come true!

This is the model that Noahkeem likes best.

Noahkeem has been talking about buying an RV when he is an adult and living next door to us.  I wouldn't dare tell him our association does not permit RVs to be parked in our neighborhood.  Nevertheless, he talks about his plans of proud RV ownership nearly everyday.

Yesterday we took him to an open house at a RV dealership.  He had the time of his little life.  The sales rep (who I met the day before) catered to him showed him some incredible RVs and pointed out their features.  We hopped on and off RVs and 5th wheels for a few hours. We bounced around on the queen sized beds, pretended to eat  in the breakfast nooks,  imagined that we were on a trip and played around with the stoves, full sized fridges, and admired the flat screened TVs.  Noahkeem was totally in his element.  Much to my surprise it's not just "old people" who buy these vehicles and go across country.  Even more unbelievable was the reasonable price of them.  Given the model that Noakeem wants, he would pay approximately $675 a month to own it.  (which is less than renting a 1 bedroom apartment in most places). 

The shocker for me was that some models come with fireplaces! Who knew?  After all of the exploring and asking tons of questions, the most important question of all we should have asked, we didn't ask.  "How much gas does it  take to run one of these babies.  Searching around a little I found out that they hold about 100 gallons of fuel.  Given that gas is about $3.34/gallon at my local warehouse club, and it's a 100 gallon tank , It would cost $334.00 to fill it up. Miles to gallon? Not sure. I'm still trying to process a full tank of gas.

The best thing I heard about dating relationships all day!

I knew I wasn't crazy!  Looking back on my life, and the lives of countless others, the teen years have proven to be some of the most trying.  As a Christian Mom, I have come to feel and believe over the years all the "normal stuff"  that teenagers go through are not "normal".  I have been socialized to believe that dating, heartbreak, rejections, "finding out who you are" and a whole lot of humanistic beliefs were "just a part of growing up" and is necessary for children to go through these things to be a well rounded individual.. I say its bull!  I  used to feel condemned by people who were anti-home school because they often accused me of "sheltering my children".  I now stand firm and know for a fact I'm just doing what my Father has taught me: to abide under His shadow and cover my children with my wings.  Quite often, we rush out from the protection and wisdom of the Almighty only to fall on our faces and ending up blaming God for all of the ill in our lives. Could someone tell me then why on earth I would teach my children that it is okay to jump in and out of relationships, break up, get together, experiment with sex and alternative lifestyles knowing that it will only breed a life full of regret and pain for years to come. Are you kidding me?  Voddie Baucham said it best in his book, "Family Driven Faith".

"Modern American dating is no more than glorified divorce practice. Young people are learning how to give themselves away in exclusive, romantic, highly committed (at times sexual) relationships, only to break up and do it all over again. God never intended for His kids to live like this. And instead of stepping in and doing something, many Christian parents simply view these types of relationships as a normal and necessary part of growing up. Unless your child is wiser than Solomon, stronger than Samson, and more godly than David (all of whom sinned sexually), they are susceptible to sexual sin, and these premature relationships serve as open invitations" --Voddie Baucham, "Family Driven Faith"

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Have a Coke and a Smile!

I hate to admit this but, for the first time in over 8 years I went and got food from McDonald's. The only reason why I went that time was because I was pregnant and was craving a filet-o-fish.  Which by the way are 2 for $3 right now.   As I drove into the parking lot, I said under my breath, "I can't believe I'm doing this".  Cookie of course asked why, and I told her because, I vowed I would never take my children to McDonald's.  Last year, when I went to my state's home school convention, I was shocked and appalled upon my return to discover that my kids were taken to McDonald's.   

The only reason why we went today was because my neighbor loaded us up with a lot of "free" treat coupons for my kids.  Today we used the free hamburger coupons, Wednesday we'll use the free ice cream cone coupon.  Yes, I did say Wednesday because, we are going back until all those coupons are used up. No use in wasting a good thing.   So I had kids burger too with fries and an orange drink.  After eating my  "meal" if you want to call it that,  I realized why people Super Size stuff. Do you want to know why?  Because its not enough. Or because of the greed factor.   I left feeling unsatisfied.  On the way out I refilled my LARGE drink.  The last time I was at McDonald's, there was not a self serve drink fountain.  Our little trip wasn't so bad although 2 out of the 4 kids were still hungry.

I have to say I have no shame.  It's not as if I go or my kids go there every week.  I don't think my cholesterol sky rocketed because of the "food"  I ate today.   If someone gave me free coupons again, I would be right there redeeming them with a big smile  on my face.  I might even ask them "Super Size Me.

Mommy, when is your birthday?

Okay, here is a picture of what my Nubian Knots look like at the moment.  I tend to unravel them and thus they are more like Nubian Waves. Getting on with the post at hand, I have been wondering, how many times will I hear the question: "Mommy, when is your birthday?".  I keep sending my little people to the calender to count the days til that infamous day. The other questions that keep circulating through out the day are: "what do you want for your birthday?" "What do you want to do for your birthday?" "Where do you want to eat on your birthday?"

I figured I would take these questions seriously, think about them and respond.  This is what I came up with so far:   -

• My birthday is in about 20 days.
• I want:  My kids to listen and obey right away on that day, I want a flag for my flag pole, a Wii, 1 Indian Cook Book, 1 Mexican Cook Book, Itunes gift card, Work out clothes, new sneakers, jewelry, anything relating to crafts or better yet a gift card to one of the major craft stores.
• I want to go: roller blading which I haven't done in 10+ years, make jewelry, go for a walk in a park, go to the movies, play a game of Taboo, go kayaking, play tennis or watch a lot of reality TV with chips and salsa  if its rainy out.
• I want to:  turn on the TV and not hear about Charlie Sheen, torrential rain, or who died, got robbed, got killed .  or whose house caught on fire.
• I want to eat: Mint chocolate chip ice cream, Fried fish, french fries, and hush puppies and a big fat glass of lemonade. I want a huge slice of carrot cake and a hot cup of decaf coffee to make my night complete.
• I want: my kids to tuck me in and tell me a bedtime story before putting themselves to bed.
•  I want to:  get up the next day and put my new sneakers on along with my new work out clothes and listen to my new songs I put on my Ipod thanks to my Itunes gift card I would have gotten on my birthday, and go for a walk around the neighborhood, in hopes that all the calories that I savored on my birthday would melt away by the time I make it around the block but, not after going to get a bagel with yummy cream cheese on it.

And that my friends is all I want for my birthday.

Curried Chicken

I found a fabulous recipe in Real Simple Magazine for curried chicken and I ripped it out today because of course, I was gonna make it.  Much to my dismay at 2 something in the afternoon I read through the recipe and it said that it was suppose to "simmer" in the crock pot for 7-8 hours.  What was I thinking?  When I first got this issue, I knew the recipe was intended for slow cookers.  But sometime between  art, reading and math, it slipped my mind.

  So I got my good ol' Better Homes &Garden's cookbook out  that I have had pre-kids, and found a recipe for curried chicken.  I am used to curried chicken having a little orange color to it mine was more on the yellow-green side.  I then compared the 2 recipes and found that  the recipe that I used did not call for tomato paste while the other one did (Thus the yellow-green hue).  Nevertheless everyone ate it.  Rocco had seconds, thirds and fourth but, I didn't care.  And from the look of his clean plate neither did he.

Is this the month of my birth?

My birthday is this month and I almost have to psych myself up so that I am comfortable with next age before it gets here.  Luckily, I don't look my age so friends are usually shocked when I break down and confess my true age. I have given up on getting the big ticket items on my birthday list and have resolved just to get those myself.  I guess what I really want this year is a carrot cake- with no nuts, or soggy pineapple.  Carrot cake is my absolute favorite.  My wedding cake was even carrot cake!  Besides a carrot cake, I would love to do something fun besides go out and eat like, play with clay or paint or even go somewhere and stare at the clouds.  And if it happens to rain, I would love to veg out and watch reality TV uninterrupted with a nice bowl of ice cream or maybe chips and salsa but, the  chances of that happening is very slim.  We'll see what happens.

Glazed Donuts, Coffee and more

At my moms meeting last week, someone brought a box of Krispy Kreme Donuts for the group.  I haven't had a donut  since last summer.  I cut one of the glazed donuts in half and left the other one in the box.  It was love after first bite.  It was soft and sweet!  Glazed donuts never tasted so good.  After about 3 cups of decaf w/ 1/3c of flavored cream in each, something clicked in my brain in the midst of relishing this sugar high.  For the first time I could see how one person could sit and eat up a whole box of donuts.  The half a donut I had tasted soooo good, I felt like I could go back and eat the whole box.  It would have been so easy to eat the whole box!   Then the analytical side of  me realized all that the body is craving is the smooth texture of the donut, and the sweetness of  the glaze, not to mention the comfort of the soft texture.  After the belly is full, the pleasure is all gone. Beyond that to eat more would make one sick.  So after this little analysis, I downed a couple more cups of coffee, getting my coffee fix but, now looking back in hindsight, I realize that I was really thirsty after all that sugar and my body was craving water not a sugar ladened beverage.  After the meeting was over and clean up was in process,  the sweet tooth reared its ugly head-again, and I got the other half to my glazed donut and savored every last  piece.   I think I'm good til next  summer.