Archives for July 2009

Linky Interwebby Awesomeness 07.14.09

14 July 2009 by

– This post by Melissa made me all teary-eyed and thankful. So much sweet truth in such a short amount of space.

– Lora Lynn found the beauty in the mud, and it made me smile. (p.s. – Lora Lynn wrote another great post last week called “Mommy Travel Hacks” – a must-read if you’re planning to travel with small children).

– You know how sometimes you’ll read someone’s idea and wonder why in the world you haven’t thought of that before? Well, that’s exactly what happened when I read about Robin and the water bottles. Oh-so-smart.

– Edited to add: I totally forgot to mention that Ree has an incredible new cooking site that’s up and running today. It’s called Tasty Kitchen, and it’s a blast. You can request friends (my username is boomama, just FYI), share recipes, keep an online recipe box and much, much more. You’re going to LURVE it.

Filed Under: Daily Awesome

Because I Want To Affirm You And Your Cream Cheese-Related Goals

14 July 2009 by

When Janie and I were trying to get our ducks in a row for this trip, my husband actually suggested that instead of fixing big meals at night, we could round up something for the boys and then have a little appetizer fest for the grown-ups. Janie and I thought this plan was sixty three kinds of brilliant because, well, YOU MAY HAVE NOTICED THAT WE ENJOY US SOME APPETIZERS.

So. I feel that it’s only right and fair for me to bring you up-to-speed on this trip’s Featured Appetizers.

(I just totally made up that whole “Featured Appetizers” business.)

(But sometimes I just like to pretend like I’m writing on the chalkboard at The Olive Garden.)

(After all, when you’re here, you’re family.)

Hot Bacon Swiss Dip

2 packages cream cheese, softened
1 cup Swiss cheese, shredded
3 green onions, chopped
1/2 sleeve Ritz crackers, crushed
5 pieces bacon, cooked and crumbled

In a mixing bowl, combine cream cheese, Swiss cheese and green onion. Spread mixture in a round Pyrex pie plate. Top with crackers and bacon, then bake at 350 until bubbly. Serve with your favorite chip.

*****

Chili Bean Dip

2 packages cream cheese, softened (ARE YOU NOTICING A PATTERN?)
1 can Hormel turkey chili
2 cups Mexican blend shredded cheese

Spread cream cheese on bottom of square baking dish. Top with chili, then cheese. Bake on 350 until cheese is melted and everything is nice and bubbly. Serve with Fritos.

*****

Paula’s Black Bean Salsa

PW’s Jalapeno Bacon Thingies

PW’s Chili Con Queso

PW’s Pico de Gallo & Guacamole

*****

So. That all ought to do nicely, don’t you think?

(Also: please know that we’re making these over the course of five nights. However, if you feel led to make these over the course of, say, one night, then please know that I completely support – and lo, even admire – your decision.)

And even though the boys haven’t partaken of our appetizers, they have enjoyed untold volumes of sliced turkey, Cheetos, chocolate chip cookies and Sprite. And cereal. OH SWEET MERCY at the cereal.

Finally, this:

There is not a doubt in my mind that he has made some of the happiest memories of his life in the last three days.

And this:

God pretty much showed out with the whole where-the-water-meets-the-sky thing, didn’t He?

Happy Tuesday, y’all.

Filed Under: Cooking, Family Fun

Beachy Keen

13 July 2009 by

This past Saturday morning the little man and I woke up early – reallllly early – so that we could head down to Florida with my sister-in-law and my nephews.

See how bright-eyed and alert they were? Those five hours of sleep they’d gotten the night before did them a world of good. However, they livened up as the day went on because by mid-afternoon, we were at the beach, doing our by-diggity best to give the Clampetts a run for the money.

Really, all we were missing was a big ole rope running around the car. And maybe a couple of hay bales strapped to the top.

Since we’ve been here we’ve spent almost all our time at the pool, and given last week’s run-in with the rebellious mole, that means I’ve spent the last two days wearing something akin to full-on body armor. The other vacationers have been kind enough to pretend that they don’t mind sharing the pool with someone who essentially looks like she’s ready for an ATF raid, and they’ve all been very gracious and welcoming when they haven’t been eyeing me suspiciously and avoiding me at all costs.

All Jokey McKidderson aside, we are having an absolute blast. A. and I have perfected a pool trick that we are currently calling “The Power T,” but the name may change tomorrow. Mainly because we may not remember the name tomorrow. But when we made up the name yesterday afternoon, we thought it was ROCKIN’ with a side of EXTRA AWESOME.

The boys have had so much fun together, and tonight, when Janie and I went in another room so that we could watch “The Next Food Network Star” in peace, JUST AS THE GOOD LORD INTENDED, I had just gotten settled under my comfy blanket when I remembered that my phone was in the kitchen. So I hopped up, walked back through the den and noticed that each boy had a can of warm Coke. For their burping contest. A. is apparently very dedicated about honing his burping skills because just this morning my precious, blessed child ran up to me, burped in my ear and then said, “Hold on, Mama. Gimme a second. I want to burp in your mouth.”

Sweet, sweet memories. Tender times.

And just in case you’re wondering if we’re doing any cooking, let me just assure you that when I call my sister-in-law The Queen of Appetizers, I have very, very good reasons.

On this trip I have eight reasons, in fact. Eight cream cheese-laden reasons.

Tonight Janie used some of that cream cheese to make a little something called Hot Bacon Swiss dip, which is essentially a pound of softened cream cheese mixed with a cup of Swiss cheese and a few chopped green onions, then topped with crushed Ritz crackers and baked until bubbly. At which point you top the whole concoction with crumbled, crispy bacon.

And then you give thanks to the Lord, who is good and worthy to be praised.

We also made this salsa, which, as Janie pointed out earlier, “totally counts as a vegetable.” So we’re eating extra healthy.

I don’t know exactly what’s on the agenda tomorrow, but I’m guessing it involves some combination of pool / turkey sandwiches / cream cheese / warm Coke / burping contest. With no small degree of sunscreen application and reapplication thrown in for good measure, because PLEASE REMEMBER THAT MAMA’S A WEE BIT PARANOID.

By the way, this afternoon I asked A. if he’d take a picture of the view from our balcony, so he did.

You’re welcome. I hope you enjoy, you know, up-close photos of screens.

Wish you were here.

Filed Under: Family Fun, Travel

Enjoying

9 July 2009 by

Here are a few random things that are bringing me much happiness this summer.

But first: I feel like I need to make a Martha-esque disclaimer: “I know you don’t love things! You don’t love things! You love God! And you love people! But you don’t love things!”

Also – just to be annoyingly clear – this is just stuff I really like. No one has asked me to blog about and/or recommend anything on this list. These are products I enjoy and hope you enjoy them, too, but by all means feel free to not enjoy them if that is what will make you happy. Because I am all about happiness.

Well, happiness and bacon. I am also all about bacon.

SO. ALL THAT BEING SAID.

1) A couple of years ago Melanie told me about this lotion, and I prefer it over every other brand. It’s thick, it smells fantastic and it doesn’t irritate my hyper-sensitive skin. And there’s even a travel tube now, which pretty much guarantees that any trip you take will be eleventy-seven kinds of lavender-y awesome.

2) Swim shirts are our friend this summer. Last week I found this one and this one on sale. UPF 50+. That’s a good thing.

I also ordered these swim trunks, which were also on sale and much-needed for a certain child whose legs won’t stop growing.

He’s approximately nine feet tall. Which is quite remarkable considering that he only recently turned six.

3) Okay. Final skin-related thing, I PROMISE. This sunscreen is the best I’ve ever used. Mainly because it doesn’t make my face feel like it’s on fire. And also because it works.

4) A few months ago our friends the FryDaddies gave us this game, and it is SO MUCH STINKIN’ FUN. Plus, it’s small enough that you can throw it in your suitcase and take it on vacation and start some sort of family word-building smackdown. What could be more delightful than that, I ask you?

5) This pizza dough recipe is oh-so-delicious. I’ve tried several other good recipes, but this one is our favorite by a mile.

A bready, carb-loaded mile.

And that’s the best kind of mile there is.

Amen.

Filed Under: Rambling

And Next Week, We’ll Talk About Sciatica!

8 July 2009 by

A couple of weeks ago when I went to the dermatologist for the Mystery Thing on my leg, the doctor took one look at my fair skin and said, “Oh, we need to do a complete skin check on you. When can you come back for that?” And while what I wanted to say is “Why, why would I do that, WHY, this is just one more opportunity for me to worry about whether or not I HAVE THE SKIN CANCER,” I did the grown-up thing and made an appointment and then stuck my fingers in my ears and sang “LA LA LA LA LA LA LA LA” while I waited for the office manager to fill out the appointment card.

Remember: maturity is critical when dealing with medical matters.

So Monday morning I went back to the dermatologist for my skin check, and much to my surprise, I really wasn’t that nervous. I hadn’t seen anything on my skin that struck me as a cause for alarm, and given that I can recite the warning signs for skin cancer from memory (A – Asymmetry! B – Irregular Borders! C – Change in Color! D – Diameter!), I felt like we’d eliminated the greatest threat when the doctor removed the keratosis / barnacle / let’s-never-speak-of-it-again thing back in June.

Well.

The nurse called me back to a room, asked me a few questions and told me the doctor would be in to see me in just a few minutes. I passed the time by reading a brochure for some new product that’s supposed to make your eyelashes grow longer. I guess that since everything is going just SWIMMINGLY in the world these days, somebody in a pharmaceutical lab thought it would be a great idea to cook up a formula to EXTEND PEOPLE’S EYELASHES.

Americans: Tackling The Real Problems. Like Our Eyelashes.

(And please know that in the midst of all my judge-y indignation about the eyelash extension product, I realized that if somebody sent me a free sample, I WOULD TOTALLY TRY IT, so maybe what I really needed to do was to hop off of my soapbox and look in the mirror and realize that on some level I’M PART OF THE PROBLEM, THANK YOU.)

Anyway, the doctor came in, looked at my leg to see how it’s healing, and as she answered a couple of my questions, she started looking at my legs and arms for any of the aforementioned ABCD warning signs. We were making small talk, having a fine time, and as she walked around me to check my back, she took a look at my left shoulder and I KID YOU NOT this is what she said:

“OH MY GOODNESS! THAT has to come off! You’ve got some crazy colors and irregular borders going on back here!”

And all I could do was scream inside my head: “SHE JUST MENTIONED TWO OF THE FOUR WARNING SIGNS! SHE JUST MENTIONED TWO OF THE FOUR WARNING SIGNS!”

By the time it was all said and done, she circled three places on my back (I felt like I was on an episode of Dr. 90210, only without the elective plastic surgery and the doctor wearing sleeveless scrubs), numbed them, then CUT THEM OFF AND PLACED THEM GENTLY ON A NAPKIN so that she could send them off for biopsy. She told me it would probably be the end of the week before they got the results, but in the meantime, just keep some antibiotic ointment on the places on your back! And call if you have any questions! And have a great week!

Clearly this sweet doctor isn’t yet my familiar with my ability to turn even the most routine medical procedure into a life-threatening illness. She’ll learn.

I won’t bore you with the part about how I drove home and was sick with worry and pretty much sat around for the rest of the day watching HGTV and trying not to think about all the what-ifs. I talked and texted with a few friends, and they were very sweet and encouraging and all-around wonderful. But still. You just worry, you know? You try not to. But you do.

Long story endless: yesterday afternoon the doctor’s office called. They got the results back sooner than they expected (thank you, Lord), and everything is fine. The place on my shoulder definitely needed to come off, though – it was dysplastic and didn’t need to hang around. I don’t think I would have ever noticed it if the doctor hadn’t found it. Which is to say: GET YOUR SKIN CHECKED, PEOPLE.

Also: Tuesday I went to the ENT and he fixed my ears and made ’em all happy-like and prescribed some ear drops for me to use for the next seven days.

BECAUSE I AM NINETY.

In conclusion comma I hope every single one of you will go to your doctor for a skin cancer screening because you’ll feel so much better once you do and you know for sure that everything is A-OK.

Even if if means you leave the doctor’s office with three Band-Aids on your back and your suspicious moles laying on a napkin.

Love,
Mamaw

Filed Under: Rambling

Daily Interwebby Awesomeness 07.06.09

6 July 2009 by

– Carolyn from Canada sent me a link that cracked me up. And in my head I’m calling the link “We’ll Give Thanks More Effectively If You Do Exactly What I Ask.” It’s a must-read.

– PHH left a comment on my most recent bacon post about a tomato pie she’d made, and I was so intrigued that I clicked over to her blog to see if she’d posted the recipe. Lo and behold, she had – and oh my word at the deliciousness. I mean, DO YOU SEE ALL THAT CHEESE? Not to mention that I saw about fourteen other recipes on her blog that I cannot wait to try.

– Amy emailed me last week and reminded me that the new “Glory Revealed” CD is coming out soon. If you’ve been around here awhile, you’ll remember that a couple of years ago I COULD NOT QUIT TALKING about the first “Glory Revealed” CD. I still love it so much. And you can actually listen to full-length samples of four songs on the new CD – just click on the “Listen Here” tab.

(I am now listening to “Wake Up Oh Sleeper” for the fourth time in a row.)

(DELIGHTFUL.)

Filed Under: Rambling
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