Archives for October 2011

Soup For You!

10 October 2011 by

As long as I can remember, I’ve had a really annoying habit of being completely gung-ho about a certain food and then cooking / serving it so frequently that my people burn out on it and never want to see it again. In any form. BECAUSE I’VE RURNT IT FOREVER.

This pattern hit full force when D and I were newlyweds. I kept about five things in constant rotation and proceeded to WEAR THEM SLAP OUT: chicken marinated and baked in Worcestershire sauce, chicken & broccoli casserole, shrimp & wild rice casserole, chicken spaghetti, and Martha’s chicken pie.

You should know that the fall-out from the constant repetition of these dishes was deep and long-lasting. I haven’t cooked Worcestershire chicken in over twelve years. I made chicken & broccoli casserole for the first time in a sweet forever about two years ago, and my husband experienced flashbacks so severe that he was unable to finish his meal. Same for chicken spaghetti and chicken pie. I have managed to gradually work shrimp & wild rice casserole back into our holiday meals as a side dish, but please know that this was only possible after a lengthy season of professional counseling as well as a fresh work of the Holy Spirit.

He is able, y’all. He is able.

The only up side to my food obsessions is that I can pretty much associate any year of our marriage with whatever meals happened to be in rotation at the time. 2000? Ground beef & noodle casserole. 2001? My friend NK’s recipe for tortilla soup. 2002? Taco soup. 2003? Chicken & wild rice casserole. 2004? Spaghetti & spinach casserole.

I’ll spare you the last six years, but suffice it to say that old habits die hard. And also: after the last ten months, I’ll be totally surprised if anyone in this family is still eating roasted asparagus in 2012.

Last night I was trying to figure out what to fix for supper, and after a quick inventory of my refrigerator and pantry, it dawned on me that I had everything I needed for one of my old stand-bys – a stand-by that I haven’t made in a long time. Once I weighed all my options and decided that my marriage could withstand an appearance by this particular food friend from our past, I quickly assembled all the ingredients and turned on the stove. After about five minutes I couldn’t help but smile when a still-familiar smell started to fill up the kitchen.

And at that point I walked to the den, looked at my husband and said, “Tonight’s supper is brought to you by 2002. TACO SOUP.”

Y’all, I kid you not. He looked like he wanted to cry.

He recovered quickly, though, and tried to muster up as much enthusiasm as he could manage. Then he half-heartedly said, “Oh, good. We haven’t had that in, um, A WHILE.”

I explained that I happened to have all the stuff for taco soup on hand, and since there was a hint of a chill in the air, I thought it might be tasty – especially since I don’t think I’ve fixed it in the almost five years that we’ve lived in this house. D said that sounded like a fine idea to him, and at that point I thought it would be best to leave well enough alone. I figured he needed a few minutes of solitude to work through his very complex taco soup-related feelings. I didn’t encourage him to pray about it or anything like that, but I’m pretty sure that when I walked back by the den a few minutes later I heard him whispering The Lord’s Prayer and then begging God for strength.

When it was time for supper, D bravely fixed his bowl of soup, and as he got ready to sit down, he grinned really big and said, “Alex? Do you know that before you were born your mama and I used to eat taco soup all the time? ALL THE TIME? And do you know that there were lots of Saturdays in the fall when your mama would make a big pot of taco soup, and we would eat it on Saturday? And Sunday? And Monday, too? Because we ate A LOT OF TACO SOUP?”

Alex started to giggle, and I said, “I know. I know. Is it too much for me to expect you to eat it again? Are you having flashbacks?”

“I’m really not,” D answered. “You know, taco soup is actually one of my favorite soups – and I like it more when I’m not eating it every single weekend.”

So see? As far as I’m concerned, he totally gave me permission to re-introduce it to the suppertime line-up. TACO SOUP IS BACK, Y’ALL. Fall 2011 is gonna be the best one ever.

What about you? Have you burned out your people on any particular food / casserole / soup? Anything that might make them shudder if they saw it on the dinner table one more time? Understand that I’ll absolutely be making my next grocery list from your comments. That’s what you call EFFICIENT MEALTIME PLANNING, my friends.

Happy Monday, y’all.

Filed Under: Cooking, Family Fun

Today & I Have Had Just About Enough Of Each Other

6 October 2011 by

Today was one of those days where I woke up with high hopes for balancing all the normal weekday responsibilities, but by 7:02 in the AM I’d already flat-out blown it. The day didn’t get much better from that point on – I lost my patience not once, not twice, but THREE times before the clock struck noon, and I spent the rest of the afternoon with that sick feeling you get when you know that you’ve reacted in ways you shouldn’t react and basically gotten so sick and tired of your own dadgum self that you’d fire yourself from being yourself if you could.

BANNER DAY.

However, this afternoon when the little man got out of school, he greeted me with the news that he aced his math facts test. I was so tickled for him because it can’t easy to be eight years-old and have your BRIDGE TO FUN shut down for the better part of two days, but by diggity he hunkered down with that math and got ‘er done. So needless to say, the BRIDGE TO FUN has officially re-opened. As well it should have.

Anyway, in the aftermath of a crazy, not-so-good day that I’m honestly sort of eager to put behind me, I thought I’d share a few things that have made me smile lately. A turn-that-frown-upside-down sort of thing, you understand. And by the way, if you’re reading this and happen to be the mystery person/people who left balloons and a sweet card on my mailbox this past Monday night, THANK YOU. It made me happy then, but it made even happier today when I thought about it again. So, so sweet.

Okay. HAPPY FUN TIMES. Here we go.

1) Project Runway

Despite the fact that the runway music has a tendency to lull me to sleep, I have loved this season of the show. And I think this season’s top five contestants may be my favorite mix of personalities so far (not to mention that they’re all crazy talented). I just noticed that a new After the Runway show started tonight, so I have the DVR fired up and ready to go the next time it comes on.

2) The Strange Case of Origami Yoda & Darth Paper Strikes Back

Last weekend I was looking for some new books for Alex, and Melanie suggested a couple of books by Tom Angleberger. Alex got such a kick out of both books, and I got such a kick out of hearing him laugh out loud while he read.

3) Sister Schubert’s Soft Dinner Rolls

I bought these for the first time yesterday. They seemed like a nice alternative to the Sister Schubert yeast rolls and Parker House rolls that I normally buy. And I have to say: THEY ARE SO TASTY. They remind me of the rolls that Mama used to serve for Sunday lunch, only they’re even better than that. They’re well worth a try if you’re looking to change up your normal roll routine. I think it’s good to keep the roll routine interesting, don’t you?

4) A Pinterest find

I ran across this Bible verse art on Pinterest earlier today, and it did my heart good, oh yes it did.

5) A blog reader named Brenda sent me this picture yesterday. She said she’d seen it on Facebook and decided I needed to see it, too.

I couldn’t agree more.

Truer words have never been spoken, my friends.

If I knew how to do any sort of activity that requires a needle, I’d put that little slogan on a pillow in a heartbeat.

But as it stands I’ll just stare at the picture. Because it makes me laugh.

Have a great weekend, y’all!

Filed Under: Rambling

Playing Catch-Up

4 October 2011 by

– Okay. If you haven’t read the comments on yesterday’s post, GO. They are HILARIOUS. I clapped and hooted when I read them, and quite frankly I don’t know how we’ll ever pick a winner.

– Yesterday I was so busy shutting down the bridge to fun that I forgot to tell you about the most wonderful thing that happened this past Sunday. I have listened to and loved Daniel Renstrom‘s music for several years, so you can imagine my joy when I discovered that he was leading worship at our church this past Sunday. OH, THE HAPPINESS. It was such a treat to hear him sing in person, and sweet mercy at the thoughtfulness and intention with which he leads. So, so good.

– Jennifer’s posts always make me think about how I can be a better, more intentional mama, and this post – which focuses on helping kids decide who they want to be – is no exception.

– Also: this post of Angie’s? Yes ma’am.

– I found the recipe for these Chubby Hubby Bars on Pinterest, and they may be my undoing. Because chocolate? And pretzels? And sea salt? And caramel? IN THE SAME RECIPE? Why, I believe I will.

Filed Under: Daily Awesome

I Was Previously Unaware That Such A Bridge Even Existed

3 October 2011 by

Well, today is my birthday, and I am 27 years old. IN MY MIND, AT LEAST.

Birthday delusions aside, I’m happy to tell you that Mamaw’s sciatica subsided over the weekend, though I seem to have added a sinus infection to the mix. Later in the week I plan to wrestle with a bout of bursitis and then maybe deal with an angina flare-up. So needless to say I am SASSY AS EVER.

As far as birthdays go, today has been a good ‘un. My fellas sent me some beautiful flowers, and since pedicures are in fact my love language, they gave me a gift certificate to my favorite nail salon. I rarely get manicures because I can’t stand it if my nails are longer than two centimeters, but the last time I got a pedicure (OPI Suzi Takes The Wheel – can’t recommend it enough), I totally caved and got a manicure, too. OH, I DID ENJOY IT. I loved having polish on my fingernails for, no kidding, the first time in approximately eleven-ish years, and I felt very hip and with it and now for the five whole days that the manicure lasted.

So I’m thinking that the whole manicure thing may wind up being more of an annual treat than a regular habit.

Tonight we went to Chuy’s for supper (SHOCKING, I KNOW), and it was delicious, as always. We came home and enjoyed some birthday cupcakes, followed by an extensive discussion about an upcoming math test. The eight year-old in this house is typically super self-motivated when it comes to school, but he’s concerned about a timed math test that’s coming up later this week. His daddy and I explained that we’ll just practice until the timed part doesn’t even feel like a factor, but the little man expressed some concern that practicing math isn’t quite as fun as other after-school activities.

And y’all, I don’t know what came over me, but I suddenly found myself dropping every single cliche’ about Why School Is Important. At one point I actually said – I ACTUALLY SAID – “Well, what you need to understand is that until you are totally prepared for this timed test, the bridge to after-school fun is SHUT DOWN. But when you take your test and do well on your test, the bridge to fun will re-open.”

Seriously. THE BRIDGE TO FUN. Who says that? Besides A CRAZY PERSON, I mean?

Eventually I realized that I didn’t need to run the risk of implying that A might wind up living in a van down by the river if he doesn’t do well on his timed math facts quiz, so D and I tried to lighten the mood with some silliness. All was happy and well within a few minutes, and we ended up having a sweet little prayer time that pulled the whole issue back into perspective. However, I have to say: for about ten minutes there I barely recognized myself. I’d had three glasses of unsweetened iced tea at the Chuy’s, gotten all amped up on caffeine, and before I knew what hit me I was wearing my academic police cap, mapping out a strategy for Math Success and SHUTTING DOWN THE BRIDGE TO FUN.

Sweet times. Precious memories.

So, to make my birthday joy complete, I would love it if some of y’all would jump in and share some parenting words of wisdom that you can’t believe you actually said. Maybe you threatened to turn the car around RIGHT THIS SECOND because CLEARLY WE DON’T UNDERSTAND HOW TO HAVE FUN IN THIS FAMILY, or maybe you gave an excellent lecture on how failing to plan is planning to fail and THERE WILL BE NO PLANS FOR FAILURE IN THIS HOUSE. And if you’re not a parent, don’t let that stop you from participating, because I bet you’ve offered some mighty fine words of wisdom to your nieces, nephews, siblings or godchildren.

I guess the bottom line is that if you’ve ever had an Oh my word I cannot believe I actually just said that teachable moment with someone who was under your care and supervision, now is your chance to share the joy of that moment with the internet. And we will laugh with you. Because even though the whole caring-for-children thing is hard sometimes, it can also be endlessly entertaining.

I’ll round up a few bloggy people to vote for the funniest comment in a couple of days, and just to make everything all official and fancy, the prize will be a $50 gift certificate from Amazon or iTunes (winner’s choice).

And listen. If that doesn’t re-open THE BRIDGE TO FUN, then I don’t know what will.

Fire away, my friends.

Filed Under: Rambling
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