premium!

a post in which I waste your time talking about nonsense and referencing an obscure movie where El!jah Wood does not have hairy feet.


Last Tuesday night, as we sat on the runaway in Atlanta on our way back to the Lunchroom,

the pilot got on the PA system to give a little pilot-y information and update.

As he spoke, he had a slight accent. A slight Russian accent.

Ok. Maybe not slight.

Perhaps it would really be considered quite strong.

PB&J started laughing.

He looked at me and asked "Can this guy be for real?"

He sounded just like the Russian guy in this movie:

(it's a short clip. I promise. -- like 46 seconds -- but you have to wait til the end to hear the Russian.)


And the rest of the flight, whenever the pilot spoke, you could also hear PB&J laughing.

It was premium.

trading treats tuesday

In a very unoriginal post, this Trading Treats Tuesday,

I am celebrating:

Thanksgiving Feast Favorites!!!!

That's my treat. I love all the traditional foods you get to eat at Thanksgiving. And I can't pick just one thing. Everything we're having is my favorite. Well, maybe turkey's not really my favorite, but it's Tradition!

(say it with me and Tevya:

Tradition!)

And that happy, too-full, dying to take a nap and ignore the kitchen full of dirty dishes feeling!

Hurray for Thanksgiving!!!!

This Trading Treats Tuesday, tell me what one food you are looking forward to the most.


One of my friends confessed that her favorite was her dad's made from scratch fake mashed potatoes.


Love it!


So, what's your favorite Thanksgiving food/treat?

"full" picture by itsthinking

gotta get me some cranberry sauce

For a little Thanksgiving Fun, click here.

fruit elixir water

After returning from our trip to Florida I was a little hesitant to see what effect vacationing had had on my waistline.

With great reluctance I forced myself on the scale.

And the scale, bless its little heart, met my request with equal reluctance.

"Umm . . . ," the scale began,

"Well, . . . yah . . . " it hemmed and hawed

"Hey! It's great to see you! Did you have a good trip?" it said, stalling, trying to delay revealing it's secret.

But I pressed on,

That's right. It said "Err, ummmm, we-ell, if you insist. . ."

And then it became obvious that the Disney Walk Your Feet To Bloody Stumps Exercise Plan was not enough to combat the Theme-Park Food and High-Carb Continental Breakfast Diet Plan.

So this Good Food Friday I am going to share a fabulous diet recipe with you. I call it

I Can't Believe It's Water! Magical Fruit Elixir Water

Sliced fruit:

oranges

lemons

limes

apples

pomegranates

cherries

peaches

strawberries

pineapple

mango

whole mint leaves

Water (or if you're feeling fancy, mineral water)

Place any combination or even just a single selection of sliced fruit in a pitcher, cover with water and ice. Let stand to diffuse the essence of fruit throughout the water.

Enjoy.

And repeat.

Several of the hotels we've stayed at in the past year have had different combinations of this fruit elixir water out for consumption by their guests. And I have to say, I'm a fan! I especially like the name elixir. It sounds so fancy and exotic.

If you're feeling really adventuresome, try some sliced vegetable in water -- like cucumber.

But I'd probably suggest you stay away from the broccoli. Broccoli Elixir Water just couldn't be good. No matter how much you tried.

what's up?

After having spent every second of the last 5 days running around like a crazed madwoman intent on eking every last bit of fun out of our trip, I finally arrived home to my bed sweet bed this morning at 12:48 (which is 2:48 EASTERN, people).

this morning I feel like my brain is floating above my body in a balloon.

It’s a smallish balloon.

Pink.

Helium.

(Too bad my voice doesn't sound funny.)

I hope this wears off quickly.

balloon picture originally uploaded by Matt White

trading treats tuesday . . .

my treat today:

home sweet home

with MY pillow

and non-public restrooms!

what's your treat today?

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Sent from my Verizon Wireless mobile phone

did I tell you we are in Florida?

I would post a recipe for good food friday, but we bought tickets for the happiest place on earth and can no longer afford to buy food.

happy friday!

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Sent from my Verizon Wireless mobile phone

out of the blue, the Oldest Carrotstick just said "that's ok cause your clothes deflate after you wear them."

she was thinking about how she was going to squeeze souvenirs into her packed full bag. She was totally shocked that she said it out loud.

so funny on so many levels.

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Sent from my Verizon Wireless mobile phone

trading treats tuesday

I had it all planned.

I was going to celebrate teaching your kids Life Skills. 'Cause yesterday I made the Oldest Carrotstick fold her mountain of laundry -- much to her chagrin. So I didn't feel all cranky and cross when I went into her room this morning and saw all her freshly washed a folded clothes like this:

instead of nice and neat in her drawers. I wasn't at all irritated, because she had only wasted her time and not mine, on laundry day.

And I was also going to celebrate the good doctor's pronouncement that the Middle Carrotstick does not require surgery.

But when I checked my Google Reader today, I found this,

And then I knew I had to celebrate Good Friends instead on this Trading Treats Tuesday.

I was going to wax all poetic and say something about how great it is to have good friends. Something really awesomely profound.

Good Friends are a special Treat.

Finding them can be a Feat.

And holding on can be impossible

Especially when they go buy a new house and move away.

Then I realistically thought of the chances I had of writing a really good poem, thought better of it, and wrote a bad poem on purpose.

But, just so you know, the badness of the poem is not an indication of my extremely high regard for Good Friends -- and for all Friends (not just those who've moved away!)

Cheers!

What's your treat today?

bread and butter pudding

This post today is dedicated to: Motherhood.

Because I am such a stinkin' good Mom.

I am such a good mom, that, when the Middle Carrotstick came home from school 4 weeks ago, complaining that his middle finger got hurt in a game of football, I told him "it's just jammed. It will feel better soon."

And because I'm such a good mom, the next morning I made him "Practice (piano) Through the Pain! We must suffer for our art!"

And then, because, you know, I'm such a good mom, I just ignored his finger for the next 27 days.

Finally, this week, he insisted that his finger wasn't any better, that it was still red and swollen and now the skin was peeling off, and wouldn't I please get him a doctor's appointment? And because I'm such a good mom (and because I thought: "hmmm, 4 weeks really is a long time, it should be getting better by now") I took him to see the pediatrician. Just so he would feel better. 'Cause I'm a good mom like that.

And then I only complained a little bit to myself about how much a "just to make sure it's not broken" x-ray was going to cost.

And now, because I'm such a good mom, I feel really really bad that the growth plate in his fingertip is actually BROKEN and that he might have to have SURGERY because we've let it go so long that it is healing CROOKED.

Yah. I'm good like that.

So, if in the future, you see the Middle Carrotstick and it looks like he is giving you:

Just realize it's a sign that he has a really really good mom who's always looking out for him. At least he can still play in his piano recital on Saturday. I made sure I found out.

I think I need to make today's Good Food Friday recipe:

Drowning My Guilt in Whiskey-Free Bread Pudding with Vanilla Sauce

10-12 slices white bread (should be a dense bread)
1 c milk
1 c whipping cream, unwhipped
1/3 c butter
½ tsp salt
5 eggs
2/3 c sugar
1 Tblsp vanilla
1 tsp cinnamon with 1 Tblsp sugar, (optional)

Cut crusts from bread and cut into small cubes. Arrange in a greased 9"x13" pan and let dry out overnight.
Bring milk, cream, butter and salt to boil. Mix eggs, sugar and vanilla. Stir small amount of hot milk into eggs, then stir eggs into hot milk mixture. Should be very smooth. Pour mixture evenly over bread cubes.
Place dish with pudding in a roasting pan. Fill the roasting pan 1/3 full of water. Carefully place both pans in 350 degree oven for 35-45 minutes, until pudding is golden brown. Sprinkle with cinnamon sugar.

Vanilla Sauce
1/4 c butter, melted
½ c sugar
1 c cream or half’n half or milk
1 Tblsp cornstarch
1 Tblsp vanilla

Melt butter and stir remaining ingredients into it. Bring to a simmer for 1 minute or until thickened. Whip to blend. Dribble sauce over pudding.
Surprisingly good with a dollop of whipped cream on top.

This is a holiday favorite in the Lunchroom. And one of my friends even told me it was the best non-chocolate dessert she has ever had.

I might just make and eat the whole thing by myself. Then I can add guilt over Bread Pudding with it's abundance of cream and butter to my list of things to feel guilty about.

Betsy Case and I were joking the other day that our motto might just be:

"We believe in guilt, we have endured much guilt, and hope to be able to endure all guilt. If there is anything else to feel guilty about, we seek after these things."

Just kidding. (But sometimes it feels true.)

Enjoy!

bird picture originally uploaded by John Charlton

trading treats tuesday

Election time gets our blood a-pumping here in the lunchroom.

Being down in the OC this last weekend, my heart was warmed by all the Yes on 8 signs lining the highways and byways. We only saw one group of protestors.

For weeks now the kids have been singing various jingles:

"B@r@ck Ob@m@, he smells like llama"

or

"Use your brain, vote McC@in"

The Oldest Carrotstick said she wrote in Mitt Romney's name at their school mock-lection.

And the kids are begging me to let them stay up to see who wins. (that's a big NO.)

It is very much akin to the 2004 presidential election.

Back then, to my chagrin, my kids knew all the words to JibJab's version of "This Land is My Land" and they sang it with gusto.


And the Littlest Carrotstick, even though he was only 2, for some reason known only to his own bad toddler self, was a staunch J*hn Kerry supporter, in a family of Republicans.

I kid you not. Go figure.

It's 7:36. You still have time! Go vote!

Oh, by the way, that's my treat today: Democracy.

What's yours???

welcome home

We are back.

This picture of our hotel room number plate says it all. We had a great time, and now I am coming off my vacation high. I am blaming my sloth and idolence today on a vicious mixture of jet lag, time zones, and daylight savings. Too bad it's not really a very valid excuse, since we only went to CA.

These guys are now coming off their sugar high.

The Littlest Carrotstick was a nerd. He had me and PB&J in hysterics. Unfortunately in this picture, his shorts aren't up quite as high as he likes, and the effect is more geeky kid from the nineteenth century than Steve Erkel. But he really was funny. And I am now officially swearing off tie-dying. The Middle Carrotsticks shirt is my third attempt at it, and I'm still terrible.

Anyway, all that unnecessary information aside, I'm hoping we'll all be back to normal soon.

Let's talk more tomorrow.