Am I a celebrity? I've been interviewed!

Its Monday, and I am procrastinating. I volunteered to play along with an interview meme with my friend, el-e-e...

Here are the rules as posted by Miss el-e-e: Leave me a comment (you, yes you) saying “Interview me.” I will respond by emailing you or leaving a comment with five questions. I get to pick the questions. If you don’t have a valid email address on your blog, please provide one. You will update your blog with a post containing your answers to the questions. You will include this explanation and an offer to interview someone else in the same post. When others comment asking to be interviewed, you will ask them five questions. Here are my questions and answers:


Do you remember your wedding cake? What flavor/color/decorations was it and were you pleased with the results?

Do I remember a detail of an event (my wedding) that involves food??? Of course!! My wedding cake was three tiers. Each tier was a different flavor. The bottom, biggest layer was amaretto cream cheese cake with apricot filling and almond butter cream frosting. This one was my favorite! The middle layer was dark chocolate cake with raspberry mousse filling and the same almond butter cream. The top layer was the same cream cheese amaretto cake as the bottom layer with strawberry mousse and the same butter cream. Our anniversary layer, which was not on the cake, was chocolate Kahlua cake with cappuccino butter cream filling and frosting. The frosting "design" on each layer was the same. The top surface of the cakes were frosted in a basket weave pattern with pearl dragees at each intersection. This was to duplicate the bodice of my dress. the sides of my cake had a draped ribbon and bows (inspired by the sleeves of my dress). The top of my cake was covered with ivory roses and then a vine of leaves and ivory rosebuds trailed down the cake. I thought my cake was beautiful, and it was scrumptious. It was so tasty that I was rather ticked off when there was none leftover when I returned from my three day honeymoon. My anniversary layer was eaten after only four months instead of one year because when it started to thaw for the second time in two months during the second hurricane induced power outage in two months, we decided it would not survive much longer. So, we had our friends from upstairs come down for a little cake by candlelight. Who says you can't have fun without electricity?

If you had the time and money to take ONE enrichment class this fall, what would it be? Basket weaving? Tennis? Elizabethan literature? something else?

hmmm, this is a tough one. There are so many things that interest me. There are lots of different cooking classes I would like to take. I think that ultimately, though, I would choose tennis. I am becoming a tennis widow around here. It would be really fun if I could catch on and then tennis would really be a great way to spend some quality family time. And, I love wearing tennis skirts!

Tell us about one funny memory you have from your college years.

Well, I am going to really show my nerdy colors with this one! At my university, as a chem major, you were given a key to the chem building your junior year and also a desk. There was also a cot in one of the rooms that held several of our desks. (this is a sign, by the way, that you have picked the wrong major!) Obviously, we all spent way too much time in that building and often did not have much time for fun. We made our own fun when we all needed a break. The dry ice maker make the dry ice in these neat little disc shapes that were like oversized hockey pucks. So, we all had some cheap hockey sticks. After all the normal people with lives had gone home and the janitorial staff was done with the floors, we would make some dry-ice "pucks." Then we would play hockey with them down the long, freshly waxed hallways. It was really fun because since the dry ice was sublimating, it would almost hover like a puck on an air-hockey table. I recently had some dry ice in the house and introduced this fun game to the boys. They were cracking up!

Who is your favorite character on Grey's Anatomy and why? Least favorite?

Favorite = Alex. His character is interesting and is more than meets the eye. He also doesn't whine constantly. However, lets face it, the real reason he is my favorite probably boils down to lust. The boy is, well, hot doesn't do him justice. He is absolutely delicious! And, did you know that in real life he is a devoted husband with five kids??? Oh, I love, love, love him!

Least Favorite = Christina. For a smart girl, she can be so DUMB!

What's one meal that you will make this week/weekend? I want to know everything, down to the drinks and condiments.

You aren't going to believe this, but I actually only made one real meal this weekend. We were too busy having fun. Sunday night finally required me to actually feed my children a real meal. It was not gourmet let me tell ya'! I made what we call 'round here, "Aunt Lara's Pink Pasta." It is Barilla Plus penne (because it is so much better for you than regular and it tastes GREAT!) with Knorr parma-rosa sauce from a mix. Then, I usually add in peas, but I didn't have any. So we just topped each serving off with some crushed black pepper and some really good Parmesan reggiano. I was far too lazy to steam any veggies, so I made each of us a cute fruit bowl with sliced bananas, sliced strawberries, raspberries, and blackberries. The boys drank grape juice and I had ice water followed by a diet coke. For dessert, we had Cappuccino Brownies leftover from our Saturday tailgating.

The munchkin goes to school!

He LOVES it! He cries on Tuesdays, Thursdays, and Saturdays that he can't go to school.

Is that not the cutest Thomas shaped lunch box ever?

It is a little hard on Mom to see this view each time!

Football Time

Unfortunately, it may be football time, but there is sure as heck no football weather! Seriously, football was meant to be watched under a big team-colored blanket shivering with your friends and drinking hot chocolate. We had a fabulous time tailgating and cheering on the Horned Frogs, but it was H-O-T. Apparently, my 12 year old thought something was hot besides the weather. Here is a picture I found while downloading my pictures today...

I gave Rich a hard time about it until Jamie chimed in that, actually, he had taken it. Heaven help me, here we go. Thank God he didn't notice the girls several rows up from us whose shirt backs read, "TCU - where the beer is cold, the girls are hot, and everyone is horny."

Seriously, though, a great was had by all and we plan to be back again and again. We will be tailgating even if we don't have tickets. If this is going to be our home, we might as well cheer for the home team. (Especially since they keep winning) And, it is the first time Rich or the boys have willingly worn purple.

Go Frogs!

AAARRRGH!

How do you know when you are over your head and drowning in Fall Festival planning?

When you order quiche, strawberries romanoff, and pinot gris for lunch while still in your workout clothes.

As I brought my tray back to our table, my friend, Heidi, took one look at the carafe and glass on the tray and said, "Dear God! What have they done to you?"

She is fully aware that I barely even drink alcohol at night with dinner anymore, much less at lunch. Not even a fancy-schmancy girls' lunch - just lunch after the gym! She followed up with, "Did Rich leave you or something? OMG, its that damn Fall Festival isn't it?"

I stared at her blankly and silently, and then poured a glass from the lovely carafe.

Festivals should be banned! Or, if someone is your freaking co-chair, then they should at least check their email or call you once in a while! OR just tell me I don't have a co-chair so that I can just accept the fact that I am on my own.

The best advice I have gotten so far is to make sure I do a really crappy job so that noone ever asks me to do it ever again.

Lost in translation...

that is unless you have me to help you out.

My dear, dear friend SusannaBanana very recently moved to the tiny town of Enid, OK. She has never lived in the region I now call home. She called me this afternoon to tell me about an invitation she found to be strange.

A very nice lady invited Susan and her husband to join a supper club she is starting. They exchanged some pleasantries about being thankful to be asked and how it is nice to make "native" friends in addition to military friends, blah, blah, blah....It was during this exchange that the supper club lady quietly mentioned, "and, by the way, we are all Catholic. Not that it matters, of course."

Susan was a bit taken aback by this somewhat odd comment and wondered if this was some kind of cultish, we-only-associate-with-other-Catholics discrimination. I had to explain to her that she now lives in Texas/Oklahoma land. I had to translate for her:

"we're all Catholic..."

translates to...

"We all drink. There will be wine with dinner, and all of our kids are allowed to read Harry Potter."

Laughter is the Best Medicine

This funny gal has managed to condense an entire day of my life into one minute!

You may have to listen 2 or 3 times to catch all the words as it goes by very quickly!

If you are a mom to children over the age of 2 and you do not laugh when you see this, we probably do not have much in common.





And, I assure you that it is most certainly their father's DNA. I am simply perfect and always have been. Just ask my mother. She never said any such things to moi' !

But, on the upside...

I did make these for my 12-year old tennis fanatic to take to school for his birthday.

In Which She Rambles...

I know I complained a few days ago about the homework goings-on around here. I guess we are all trying to make that transition back to the world of schedules, practices, alarm clocks, and yes, homework. It is a far cry from the lazy hazy days of summer. Especially this year. Connor is in the 4th grade and has the same teacher that Jamie had 2 years ago (well, of course he does there is only one class of each grade at their school!). Well, she is the queen of homework. Luckily, she also happens to be one of those teachers that every child deserves to have at least once in their lives. She is FABULOUS, but it is a huge adjustment to be in her class. Then, in her talk to the 4th grade parents she explains to them what a huge transition this is for 4th graders and how it is a transition second only (in this school) to the one made in 6th grade. At which point she looked back at me and mouthed a pitiful "sorry" because she knows Jamie just started 6th grade.
So, what does this all mean? Well, obviously everyone around here has been a bit overwhelmed and cranky. It also means, though, that they are really blessed to be in a fabulous school with teachers who genuinely care deeply about them as people and as students. They are learning, thriving, and growing mentally, physically, and spiritually. So, why one earth would a mother be melancholy? Simply put it would be because they are growing up. It is however, more complicated than that.
This reality of a new school year is always a glaring reality check that they are growing up. And, the return of the hectic schedules is a time ripe with regrets. Why didn't I take better advantage of their, our, free time in the summer? Are there a million moments that I could have made special that I let slip away so that I could have a cleaner bathroom or more organized refrigerator? Did I leave them with any memories? Did I ask them to quiet down when I should have been laughing with, or at, them instead? Will they only remember how I was forever nagging them and their friends to not just drop the water bottles/cups wherever they finished them? At the close of every summer I pledge to to do better next year. But, when do the "next years" run out? For heaven's sake, Paige was posting high school graduation pictures of her son that I remember (not that long ago) as a charming boy younger than Jamie is now! I suppose that all parents have these doubts and quandaries, but when I am the one having them I can't help thinking that everyone else is constantly making these "postcards of the heart" moments while I am busy making beds and trudging through the inevitable day-to-day.
So, once again I promise myself, and all else who have read this far, that I will make more of an effort. I will work harder to make my own "postcards of the heart" before the innocence of childhood has given way to the demands of adolescence and adulthood.