The Quotable Beasties

Eli, holding a large, sharp stick -

"Eyes are for poking."

Conversation in the car -

Me: "Now when we get to tap class, I want you guys to listen to your teacher and not horse around... Deal?"

Finn: "..... Ummm, Mom, I'm going to have to stop making so many deals with you all the time. We have so many deals my head is going to 'splode."

Eli (without hesitation): "Then we'll have to get you a robot head."

Finn: "Oh. Well. OK!"

Finn, to his dance teacher -

"My mom said if we do something hard or if I get tired I can sit down and watch."

(I so did not say that.)

Finn, at least 3 times a week -

"This is the most awesome day EVER!"

Both -

"When can we spend the night with Nana/Papa/Grandmother/Grandaddy/Abby/Anna Grace/Kieran-and-Connery???"

Eli, after watching Finn's tooth fall out -

"I'm not going to get big teeth in my mouth. I'll just keep these little teeth. And all my blood."

Not a quote but an awfully good piece of art -

The boys have spent part of the summer ganging up on me during my morning computer time. They are the warriors and I am the evil monster. Specifically, Medusa with the snake hair and the gaze that turns men to stone.

Portrait of Mom by Finn.

LOVELY.

Winds of Change

I did something pretty big a few weeks ago. I quit my job.

You know, that Job That Defined Me.

In a nutshell, the situation just wasn't working out anymore - not for me, not for them, not for our budget, and especially not for my family. But I'm proud of the work that I did there, and a part of me will miss it.

So that puts me squarely in a place I never anticipated being - CDG of The Hotwheel Hacienda, SAHMomdom. And DUDE... I am tired. It's only been one little week and I fall into bed and sleep like a dead rock. This new position is about twelve times more physical than my previous one, probably because this is a sample of what we do at 8:00 AM:

I'm not kidding about 8:00 AM...


I'm embracing this new job. There are gardens to tend, a house to organize, pools to swim, cookies to bake, books to read, games to play, skinned knees to smooch, and tears to dry. They are only this little once, and soon enough they will push us away, struggle from our embrace, and retreat to other people and places.

I will stay sane thanks to my husband, my friends, and my derby sisters.

I would be lying if I said I wasn't a bit scared. I've NEVER not been employed, at least not in the past 17 years. I'm banking on staying busy so I can stay out of trouble.

Bring it on.

Summer Planning

Summer is on its way and the Hotwheel Hacienda's residents are making their plans. Finn finishes preschool and we've got him registered for Kindergarden this Fall, while we took a chance and signed Eli up for the local public preschool lottery. We probably won't get in, but will know for sure soon.

We've got a beach trip planned in the next few weeks, swimming lessons, Fantasy Playhouse summer theater classes, and soccer camp. That's in-between trips to the botanical gardens and the usual day-to-day activities, such as taking care of our veggie garden at home. I'm hoping it will be a full summer - since it's the last one before Finn becomes a real student!

In other news, I survived my first roller derby bout as Bettie PageTurner...

Love child of Melville Dewey and Bettie Page, BPT abandoned her kitten heels for roller skates...

She now employs her generous backside via knocking girls down on the track!

The boys were excited to watch my first game.

What do you have going on this summer?

Parumpapumpum... in March

It's been a while since the last post, and I found a half-finished one from the holidays in my edit box so I'm including it here at the end for prosperity's sake.

In the meantime, here's a bulleted list of what's been happening at the HH the past 3 months:

• Finn: registered for Kindergarten (!!!!), obsessed with robots and mad scientists, learning to write ABC's and counting pretty well. Loves to "invent" things. We've been on a Wizard of Oz kick there for a while, but not the movie version. Finn prefers the more grisly version where the Tin Man slings an axe around.

• Eli: slowly coming out of the Terrible Three's. Getting less moody and much more talkative. Has a toy sword collection. Loves any and all kinds of super heroes. Eli can be a bit of a brute when it comes to his brother, very much The Heavy. He went to the dentist for the first time in February and loved it because he got to choose a ninja sword out of the toy chest.

• Hotwheel Hubs: Poor guy... working hard to keep his head above water. We went to NOLA a few weeks ago for a long weekend without the Beastie Boys and it was great. Thank goodness for Grandparents!

• BookMama: Also working during the day, still trying to get scrimmage eligible at roller derby practice, doing various and sundry volunteer work in her (infinite) amount of spare time.

This post started sometime in mid-December...

We've been listening to a lot Christmas music in the mornings on the way to school in hopes of Finn & Eli learning their songs for the school play next week. I threw in some other fun songs to help mix it up, and I think we've heard to this one about 3,429,016 times:

This year, Eli is a Drummer Boy, and Finn is one of the Wise Men, specifically the one with the gold. (He is NOT the one with the "frankenstein".) The only version of Little Drummer Boy we had was the Bowie/Bing version and it always makes me weepy and nostalgic for some reason that I'm not quite sure about, except that I get weepy and nostalgic about just about everything lately.

Finn has really nailed "Away in the Manger" and, unlike his parents, he has a pretty good singing voice. He would much rather be singing "I Don't Want a Hippoptamus for Christmas". Over and over and over.

An Oldie but Goodie

(I initially posted this last November, but the house is currently filled with the smell of cornbread, and the dressing process is well underway. I hope you take some time to count your blessings this weekend - I know I am.)

The Story of Papa Loyd's Famous Cornbread Dressing

Thanksgiving is one of my favorite holidays. I've always loved to cook and see family. We're the kind that stays, eats some more, and stays, naps a little, and stays, talk a lot, watch some football, stays a bit longer, and eventually waddle our way back to our cars with heaping plates of leftovers for the next day.

I thought I would share with you the killer cornbread dressing recipe from my Grandfather. I love to make it every year in his memory, in the very big silver "dressing bowl" he taught me to prepare it in.

The year before Papa Loyd died he was still stubbornly insisting on hosting Christmas Day dinner at his house like we always did. I went over to help with the preparations and brought my video camera to try and capture the infamous dressing recipe on tape. I let him boss me around and call all the shots - watching that video makes me laugh as I cry.

Me & Papa Loyd circa 1979

Papa Loyd's Holiday Dressing & Giblet Gravy

Note: no shortcuts allowed. No broth instead of homemade stock. No store bought cornbread. I've tried the shortcuts and they just. don't. work. It's not the same.

1 hen (not chicken)

2-3 onions, finely chopped

4 stalks celery, finely chopped

1 green bell pepper, finely chopped

2 large pones cornbread (if you don't know what a pone is you have no business making this recipe)

1/4 butter

2 TBS yellow mustard

2 TBS ketchup

2 TBS Italian seasoning

1/2 to 2/3 cup fresh sage, finely chopped (reduce amount if dried)

3 slices bread, torn up into small pieces

1 (8 oz.) can oysters, drained & chopped

3 TBS jarred pimento, finely chopped

salt & pepper to taste

The day before: cook cornbread & cool completely. Crumble both pones.

Day of Thanksgiving:

Remove giblets from hen and set aside.

Rinse hen and place in stockpot & cover with water, about 8 cups. Simmer covered until done, reserving broth. De-bone hen & reserve meat.

Preheat oven 350 degrees

In large saucepan melt butter & add onion, celery, and bell pepper. Add all the broth from hen, cover and simmer 10 minutes.

In BIG ("dressing") bowl, combine crumbled cornbread, torn bread pieces, & the broth mix until it reaches spaghetti sauce consistency. If mix is too soupy, add more bread pieces.

Add all the remaining ingredients & mix well.

Pour mixture into a large roasting pan. Bake 1 hour until golden.

Serve hot with giblet gravy & hen meat on the side.

GIBLET GRAVY:

Finely chop hen giblets.

Simmer 3 cups chicken broth on stovetop. Add flour a little at a time, stirring constantly until a smooth, thin rue is formed. Add chopped giblets, blend well, and simmer.

Salt, pepper, and otherwise season to taste, can add one or two sliced boiled eggs to gravy if you want to be extra-Southern.

Yields: enough for a crowd of at least 10-15.

Eliot Loyd is Papa Loyd's namesake.
I see his spirit in that boy every day.

Hot Wheel Hacienda indeed...

... here's a bit about my latest venture.

I know, I know. I haven't posted since September, and now I'm like that boy that dumped you in middle school who was slobbering all over you one minute and snubbing you the next (Jerk.)

I suck.

But work was killing me and I had the Huge Event and Finn was having a rough time at school and we were worried and I would just come home and collapse in a heap from exhaustion and frustration. And the dog ate my homework. And I had car trouble. Satisfied?

Somewhere in between all that we all went to the beach with my parents, Hotwheel Hubs went back to school, I started up with the local roller derby team, Finn played a whole soccer season, we celebrated our 10th anniversary in NYC, I got swine flu, Finn evened out at school, and Halloween happened:

Eli was Samurai Jack and Finn was a Robot. Best. Halloween. EVAH!

That should catch you up with me, but I've missed YOU! I hope to catch up visiting your worlds and trying to catch up.

... AND I wanted to show an email my Dad just sent me... I couldn't believe it and have never been more thankful that I don't have a bayou running through my backyard.

From: Uncle Mike
Sent: Monday, November 16, 2009 7:31 AM
To: The Fam
Subject: Hog Gator

I thought you all would like to see the size of this gator. I would not want to be in any soccer field with a gator like this!
1000lb + GATOR Shot in Houma, La. The larger female got away but was seen crossing Field 4...

AAAHHHHHHHHH!

You know those Cajuns... putting him in the cooler to make some awesome gator soup. Many, many bowls.

Check out that pinky finger and those nails!

The craziest part is THE FEMALE GOT AWAY. Eeeek!!