mermaids

My boys are not perfect, but, some days, they come awfully close.  Today is my birthday.  Since we had a delayed opening for school, the boys made breakfast for me.  Cinnamon rolls.  No, not from scratch, but they were still awfully yummy.  They made their own lunches and cleaned up the kitchen. 

For some inane reason, I accepted a subbing assignment for today, 8th grade science.  They were beyond horrible.  Okay, not all of them, not even most of them.  During the last month of school, some 8th graders totally lose their minds.  Even though I went postal on almost every class, there were a couple of bright spots.  One girl gave me hug after class.  She said, “You look like you need one today.”  Another girl said, “Thanks for being such a good sub.  They really deserved being yelled at.”  I hate yelling, but sometimes it is the only thing that works. 

After school, the boys resumed treating my like royalty.  They listened to my tales of woe for the day.  They prepared snacks and cleaned up.  They started their homework without being asked.  We planned to go out for dinner, but homework got in the way.  J had a paper to finish up and a cooking project for Health class.  Tonight, going out to dinner seemed like more work than it was worth.  I would rather wait until the weekend when we can all relax and really enjoy it. 

The geeking out of my sewing room was a combined Mother’s Day and birthday gift.  However, this morning, the boys and Hubski promised to help me with a couple of intensive cleaning/organizing projects weekend.  Crossing some onerous items off my To Do List is the best gift of all. 

Is it wrong to eat sweetened condensed milk from the can while watching “The Biggest Loser”?  My fudge recipe takes not quite a whole can of condensed milk.  Since I am not a huge fudge fan, the left over condensed milk is my treat.  Typically, it stays in the fridge and take little nibbles from time to time.

After the last couple of days, I deserve some guilty pleasure time.  Don’t ask me why I watch “The Biggest Loser.”  It is really awful.  I cannot name any of the participants the way I can with Project Runway.  I don’t really know the rules, but every week, I tune in for the last half hour so I can see the weigh in.  Tonight, as I watch these people who have lost 40, 60, or more pounds, I shovel sweetened condensed milk in my mouth.  Gross, I know…but it is just what I need tonight.
Pardon me while I slip into a sugar coma….

An actual stitch has not been sewn yet, but I am getting closer.  I traced and started cutting out Design #4 from the 02/08 issue of Ottobre Woman.  I am stalling on the sleeves while I contemplate design choices.  Yes, I am deviating from the pattern. 

My original plan was to finish this top to wear to work tomorrow.  Instead, I spent most of the day with C.  He has to watch the movie Gandhi for a school project.  Yes, yet another school project suck up our whole weekend.  Yesterday, I had to drive to another town to find a copy of Gandhi.  That was after trying to recover J’s documents from the black hole of Connect2School. 

Fabulous movie.  Ben Kingsley was amazing.  Long movie, especially on DVD with all the extra stuff.  The boys and I curled with blankets and pillows for a large portion of the day.  Gandhi was a truly incredible human being.  Watching the movie together, prompted some great conversations.  As much as I adore squishy little babies, I would not trade today for anything.  C commented that we need another Gandhi to resolve the conflicts in the world.  Perhaps we need world leaders to curl up with blankets and pillows to watch Gandhi. 

There were so many great quotes in the movie, but two stood out.  He was talking about a song he sang in temple as a child.  Part of a verse said a good disciple “bows to all and despises none.”  We need to be more respectful of everyone around us and hate no one.  When discussing revenge, he said, “An eye for an eye until the whole world is blind.” 

Now, I am off to bed with a steamy mug of Mexican hot chocolate, my new favorite warm beverage.  Perhaps there will be sewing tomorrow.  We shall see how much energy I have after teaching art all day.

First the good news.  I sewed yesterday!  I ignored the phone when it rang with calls for subbing jobs.  I ignored the laundry that needed to be done and the floors that needed to be mopped.  I sewed and it felt good.  C now has a new sweatshirt.  There is no photo yet because he wore it to school today.  Now it needs to be washed before being photographed.  However, it was a success because he was quite pleased.

The next bit of news is a mix of good and bad.  On the positive side, the low carb diet has helped Hubski’s health issues.  He has also lost over 12 pounds.  Since it is working, he is going to continue with it.  That is sort of bad news for this carb lover.

The diet is contagious, which is the bad news.  Though I have still been eating carbs, I have cut back.  We use to eat lots of pasta.  I don’t bake nearly as often as I did before.  No more “pancakes for dinner.”  Now dinner is frequently chicken or steak, a salad, and another vegetable.  I noticed that I have keep pulling up my jeans because they are sliding off.  J has been complaining that I feel bony when he hugs me.  I seldom weigh myself, but thought perhaps it was time.  I have lost 5 pounds!  For me, that is bad news, very bad news.

This girl needs a doughnut….or a dozen.

We went out to dinner tonight.  The service was slow and they messed up everyone’s order.  Not horrible, but enough to be annoying.  As Hubski was trying to get the waiter’s attention to get the bill, I decided to track down the manager.  I related all the mishaps with our meal, including never being able to find our waiter when we needed him.  The manager said our dinner was on the house.  I did not have to sing for my supper, but apparently a well placed whine worked just as well.

How could you say “no” to such a sweet little muffin?  I certainly can’t.  Hubski is trying to.  He has decided to go “no carb” for health reasons.  Losing a few pounds would be nice, but the bigger goal is resolve some health issues.  If I were a good wife, I would agree to go on the diet with him.  It is sad to say, but I love my carbs too much.  Give up bread?  Seriously, that is like telling me to give up oxygen.  I will try to do my carb loading when he is not home.  Now the boys and I will be thrilled when he goes on a trip because it will mean I can bake cookies and we can have pizza. 

The problem is Hubki’s birthday is in less than a week.  I look forward to family birthdays because it means I get to eat cake.  I adore birthday cake.  I have been known to celebrate a friend’s birthday in absentia simply as way to sneak another birthday cake.  Since we shall not be having dense, chocolate cake with buttery, sugary icing for Hubski’s birthday, I feel the “good wife” thing to do would be to could come up with some yummy treat for his birthday.  (Trust me, there will be real cake for my birthday.  He can just sit there and gnaw on celery.  I’m having cake.) 

I know there are special flours and sugar substitutes.  However, those are not easily accessible in my little town.  Besides, I am no Martha Stewart, nor do I have any desire to be.  I need something made with regular ingredients that doesn’t take too long.  Splenda should be easy to find.  Gluten free flour has to be mail ordered.  I might be able to find carob if I get to the natural food store this week, but it is not likely that I will have the time.  Anyone have any suggestions?  Stick a candle in a hamburger patty? 

Every year, I buy a bag of Smarties as my back up Halloween candy. They are cheap, don’t go stale, and I secretly adore them. Last weekend, we discovered them while cleaning out a cupboard. As I was eating a pack, my secret Smarties eating ritual was observed. I sort them by color and eat them in a specific order. Green are first because they are my least favorite. Pink and purple are interchangeable. Orange is next. White and yellow are last because they are my favorites, especially the yellow. Hubski claims they all taste the same. As if! Clearly he has defective taste buds. Nonetheless, I keep finding little piles of yellow Smarties on my desk and bedside table. Everyone has been saving the yellow ones for me.

Yes, yes….I am thankful for the usual stuff…family, good health, friends, yada, yada.  Today, I am thankful that, for once, I was skilled in the kitchen.  Everything was ready at the exact right time.  Usually we are all standing around and waiting for something to be done long after everything else is ready to go on the table.  Tonight, it was precision clockwork like an expensive Swiss watch.

The cooking gods were really smiling down on me today because I also prepared just the right amount of food.  Typically, I prepare enough for a small, starving nation because I have an irrational fear of not having enough for everyone at the table.  We have some turkey leftover only because I could not find a smaller turkey breast.  (A few years ago, I decided we would only do a turkey breast because no one likes dark meat.  Why throw away all that turkey?)  My irrational fear of not having enough food battles with my hatred of leftovers.  I don’t even like leftovers of foods I really like, much less foods that are just okay.  Typical thanksgiving fare falls in the “just okay” category.   I am thrilled that my fridge is not overflowing with leftovers tonight.

If you haven’t already guessed, I am not big on traditions.  I get bored doing the same thing every year.  Why can’t one have tacos for thanksgiving if one likes tacos better than turkey?  We have had some very untraditional thanksgiving dinners - lasagna,  steak, and my personal favorite of “breakfast for dinner.”  Yes, one year we had a huge breakfast spread for our thanksgiving dinner.  It was delicious!  Just so my children don’t grow up totally warped, we do the typical spread every few years.

I am also thankful that I was able to spend some time in my sewing room today.  I started and finished a pair of flannel sleep pants that my neighbor asked me to make for her son.  She was shocked at the prices and poor selection for teen boys.  Chocolate mocha muffins were sent over to keep up my strength will sewing.  :)  While I have the pattern out, I should make some for my boys too.

Do you think I can come up with a different “Sew ____” for every day in November?  Is it annoying yet? 

Actually, today’s entry should be “Muy Delicioso!”  The boys had to do some cooking for their Spanish classes.  They chose to make a dessert because they are my sons and know dessert is the most important meal of the day.  They selected Mexican Mocha Cookies because “the recipe has chocolate in it and doesn’t look too hard.”  Yep, definitely my boys. In order to get credit, the boys had to do all the cooking.  My only job was to make sure they didn’t burn down the house or chop off a finger.  Emeril has nothing to worry about, but they did okay.  The house smells positively divine!  The recipe calls for coffee, lots of brown sugar and chocolate coating on top.  Naturally, we had to sample the cookies.  I think we have found a new family favorite recipe.  However, after spending the afternoon making several dozen, I don’t want to see another cookie for at least a day or two.  If anyone is interested, I will post the recipe.

On the sewing front, not much was accomplished.  I thought about the jacket quite a bit. I am still in a quandary about the sleeves.   There are several options, all of which would look good.  I need to just commit to something and move forward.  Holding true to my goal of physically moving the project forward each day, I did sew a couple more seams on the lining.  Tomorrow, Hubski will be at work, so I should be able to focus more on sewing.  He was distracting me today with looking at reviews for a new digital camera.  There are too many from which to choose.

Sorry for the less than cheery post yesterday.  Today was a better day.  Some friends came over to watch the Michigan-Wisconsin game.  I am not a sports fan in the least.  However, I am a fan of good snacks and good friends, even if it means giving up a Saturday afternoon of sewing.  We spent the morning preparing snacks - spice cake, fudge, guacamole, salsa, and chips.  I love the way the house smells when I bake spice cake.  The Wisconsin people brought yummy cheese and smoked sausage.  The general consensus was we all needed an afternoon of doing nothing more taxing than laying on the sofa and eating unhealthy, but tasty, food.

I exceeded my daily sewing goal by a healthy margin, which is more than I can say for the Michigan team and their relationship with the goal line.  My jacket is coming along nicely.  The sleeves are quite flared, so I am toying with a design change.  I need to try it on with something other than sweats to see if I really like the sleeves the way they are.  It definitely needs to be shortened.