Rotten Eggs

Good morning (or afternoon, or evening!),

Today is my first day home alone after everyone is back to their "usual" schedules, and I'm not volunteering at the school. The day is mine! So far so good as far as getting things done goes, and it's just now 8 a.m. My original plan was going right back to bed after my daughter left at 7, but I fought that feeling. Between you and me, however, I am sure there's a nap in my future... my NEAR future!

As most of you probably know, there is a big salmonella scare related to eggs here in the U.S. As usual is the case with me, I will not pretend to understand it all, but since I've heard about it, I have had the WORST taste for eggs over easy (which is the WORST way to eat them naturally). Why is that always the case? I am pretty sure I even dreamed about dipping toast in a nice, fresh egg over easy. In fact if I still wasn't in my pajamas right now (meaning my ratty old sweats) I would be bookin' it to Cracker Barrel (how lucky am I to live FIVE MINUTES from one????).

Anyway, this egg thing led to a HUGE dilemma this morning... one like I had NEVER encountered before! Tragic, even! I was making a batch of Fiber One bran muffins (expensive, but worth it)... I eat one with a glass of Smart Balance milk each morning (don't give me too much credit on this one... it's my way of consoling myself that while I will most likely blow my diet the rest of the day, I had a GOOD breakfast, LOL). I was down to my last one, so time to make the muffins! All you need for the mix is vegetable oil, water and two eggs. Seemed harmless enough. I laid out my Transformer and SpongeBob muffin papers (OK, while I LOVE SpongeBob, the Transformer ones were nothing more than a value purchase at the party store) and began to mix. Lah dee dah, I'm mixing away. Then I start to spoon the mix into the muffin papers. My genetic makeup includes 25 percent Slob, which meant that the mix soon was all over my hands, the counter and since I was stirring it over a stack of cookie sheets, it was all over them, too (Martha Stewart would kick my butt to the curb in 5 seconds if we ever found ourselves in the kitchen together). Anyway, the logical thing to do would be to lick the mix off my fingers (and possibly the counter AND baking pans.... really!). Then it hit me like a Mack truck. I CAN'T! That's raw egg! I can't eat the batter! Stupid egg farmers! Thanks for ruining what could likely be the biggest culinary pleasure of my month! And I'm pretty sure I've used up what was left of my self-control for the week, too. On the upside, it's amazing how much bigger each muffin ended up without me eating the batter (I'm pretty sure this is one of those hidden diet sabotage things they talk about). The whole thing was very unnatural..... can you feel my pain??

Better get going. I need to freeze my muffins (LOL, that sounds kinda weird, doesn't it?). Have a great day!

Cindy

New addicitons

Happy Monday Friends!

In the last year, I have developed several addictions. None of them are bad, nor will any land me a reality TV show (MAYBE... I'll let you decide), but one, for whatever reason is particularly embarrassing — I am hooked on the soap opera "The Young and the Restless." It all started simply enough. There's a local (Chicago) news on from 11-11:30 a.m. Following that newscast is Y & R (are you following? I'm NOT typing The Young and the Restless EVERY time, my fingers aren't getting any younger). Naturally, I would be too lazy to change the channel on the remote (I truly believe this is the lowest form of laziness), so there it would be on my TV. Coincidentally, this is also the same way I came to watch Maury (you know, the 'Who's the Daddy' guy). While my Maury addiction only lasted three years (yes, ONLY), I have a feeling I am doomed to this Y & R addiction for a lot longer.

I'll admit, on both Maury and Y and R, you have to put the logical side of your brain to sleep for an hour, and you also will say out loud during both, "OH, that's SO unrealistic!!!!!!" Does anyone really need to test FIFTEEN guys to find out who the daddy is? Like I said, that's SO unrealistic! And on Y & R, where to begin? They never work, yet are all FILTHY rich (SIGN ME UP!) and best of all, they talk to themselves OUT LOUD, and the "wrong" person always hears it and uses it against them in some sick and twisted way. Uh, maybe FACE the door when you are doing that? Guess the blue bloods have zero street smarts, huh?

I did almost quit watching it ... ALMOST. There was a story line that was pushing it even by soap standards. The one gal, let's call her Ashley (because that's her name, LOL... gotcha!) lost her baby early in her pregnancy. She goes on to have a hysterical pregnancy (have you ever been pregnant? I have, and there's nothing hysterical about it) but yet delivers a baby! Yes, a REAL baby! Turns out she was knocked out and some creepy dude stole another baby and passed it off as hers. Let's assume that can actually happen. All right. Isn't there a little uh... soreness (aka flaming hot pain!) to let you know that you just delivered a little human? Not in Genoa City! Isn't it a great town!? And this is just one reason why I watch ... it fuels the "perfect world" part of my brain.....

Let me also give a shout-out to the hot guys on Y & R..... another two dozen reasons to watch... at least! It might be the dumbest bunch of people in the world, but they sure are easy on the eyes. Mama like!

I just hope in a moment of weakness next month I don't sign up for a subscription to Soap Opera Digest during my daughter's school's magazine drive. That truly would be a cry for help!

Time to run... I need to finish Friday's episode.

Have a great week....

Cindy

Here We Go Again

Hello Friends (all 13 of you!),

My sincerest apologies to each and everyone of you reading this .... contrary to what it might seem, I was not abducted by aliens or locked away in a convent. I strayed from my devotion to blogdom, but I am 99 percent sure THIS TIME I am here to stay. Thanks for sticking around. I hope that more will follow soon.... shouldn't all your friends (who am I kidding... I'll take your enemies, too) be allowed to benefit from my sarcastic (and sometimes) side-splitting look at life and all it throws at us?

So much has happened in the year since I've last written.... some of it good, some of it bad, but obviously it wasn't THAT bad because I am still alive and kickin' these keystrokes across the keyboard.

Let's see, what's what lately .... my son starts college officially on Monday. He's at a university 15 minutes away but still living on campus. It's a very odd dynamic so far, especially since he's adopted a Mr. Independent attitude (aka Mr. Not Returning Mom's Texts). So much to blog about on this topic alone! My daughter started eighth grade yesterday with a three-hour day. Make note of the date, August 20, 2010, because it was the WORST day of her life (and that is a direct quote). All it takes is an overcrowded school bus and a wishy-washy dress code (oh, much, much, MUCH more to blog about on this). The latter of her "bad day" issues found me on the phone with the superintendent. Suffice it to say, there is no consensus as to the definition of a crew neck. For fun, feel free to Google the phrase "what exactly is a crew neck shirt" (like I did) and let the confusion take hold. If you feel you have a good grasp on what a crew neck is, you probably won't want to do this because you won't know what one is when you get done. Since I wasn't expecting such a downer report, my initial response was, "It can only get better from here on out, right?" Even as I said it, I knew how ridiculous it sounded. Looks like my PASS (Parental Automatic Support System) is out of whack. Thankfully, a quick save was not far behind... "Wanna do lunch?" She's easily bought off... WHEW!

Anyway... thank you to those that stuck with me, hope to "see" you all around in the days to come. Lots to share....

Cindy

Entertainment Without Leaving the Kitchen

Happy Monday!

Sure, me doing pretty much any kind of cooking would indeed be good kitchen entertainment, but this was this was the sort of fun that you can only get from some low-level stalking out your back window .... watching the neighbors put in a large above-ground pool and all the hi-jinx that ensue. Let me first tell you, these are the kind of people that not even Jeff Foxworthy would would be able to categorize (just what IS three steps below the famed Redneck?) or own up to. I thought about getting out the video camera because you just KNEW this was going to be Funniest Home Video material. Then I thought better of it because if something bad did happen, I didn't want my camera to become Exhibit D in the court case.

They started with the little motorized digger do-hickey thing at the CRACK OF DAWN (all right, so it was 9 a.m., I can't help it the day breaks a little later for me on a Saturday!). I doubted they'd get the pool in that day, or even by the end of the month, with the smoke breaks every 10 minutes. Their progress did surprise me, but what caught my attention was their kids' contribution to the project -- the dire need to chop down the NEIGHBORS' tree. Why you ask? Who knows. One guess is that the long-dead 30-foot tree of unknown origin was a threat to their pool, but more likely the kids had already blown up or set fire to their own toys (Happy Meal freebies included), and were BORED and looking for bigger and better game to hunt. I have to tell you I have never chopped down a tree, but I've seen it done quite a few times. I can say, without hesitation, that I have NEVER seen a tree chopped down with the primary tool of choice being a tire iron. Really, a TIRE IRON! Well, to be exact, a tire iron AND fire crackers. You read it here first, folks .... it can be done! Who woulda thought?

If you're wondering where the parents were during this, your guess is as good as mine, but I could have sworn I heard someone yell, "You 'kin do it, son.... keep at it!"

Either way it was an excuse to park my backside on the counter for a few hours, armed with Oreos Double Stuf and a diet Coke and enjoy the show from the privacy of my own home (and yes, the diet Coke DOES negate the calories of the cookies.... complicated scientific formula I'm sure you wouldn't understand so I'll save myself the keystrokes trying to explain it).

All right. Until I figure out how to get the clothes in the washer to sprout legs and climb into the dryer, I better get to it.

Cindy

Berry Good

Hello!

Today was our annual summer trek to the local blueberry farm. Right now you're either jealous of all the exciting summer fun I have OR you are thinking, "GET A LIFE!!!!!" Today was the perfect day for it.... the clouds worked in our favor and the june bugs knew it was July (gotta love a bug-free day in the blueberry patch!), so off we were. I had to laugh, though. I spent 10 minutes before we left convincing my daughter that it was best to wear socks and shoes, not flip flops... safety, comfort, blah blah blah. And you KNOW what happened, right? The first family we saw (mom, dad and three young daughters) were all wearing flip flops, and to add to that, they were Amish. Boy, did my daughter give me a look! You can't win them all, I guess.

What's kind of cool, in an offbeat sort of way, is that this place is also a Christmas tree farm in the winter, which makes it neato to see the trees in their "teen" stage, ready for the holiday rush. Let's hope they get their looks in time for Santa's arrival because they were some of the sorriest trees I've ever seen! Oh how awkward those teen years can be (even for a tree)! :)

We netted just shy of 10 pounds of berries, most of which are still sitting on my counter. I've Googled a bazillion recipes.... jelly, jam, cobbler, coffee cake, smoothies, etc. Even as I drooled on my keyboard, I realized I wasn't fooling anyone, least of all myself.... they'll all go the old-fashioned way--rinsed and put in a bowl for quick snacking. I have lofty intentions for the tasty fruit, but first-grade baking skills, and that doesn't make for a good combination. But hand me a brownie box mix, some, oil, eggs and measuring utensils and I can have you halfway to chocolate heaven. Nothing to be ashamed of there!

Time to bag and freeze the berries.... viva la summer!

Cindy

Throwing It All Away/Joys of Summer Cleaning

Hello again,

Turns out I'm a season off... but what's new?! Spring cleaning slipped right by me (oh, darn!), now I pay .... SUMMER CLEANING HERE I COME! I realize from the get-go that I am hampered by my town's garbage ordinance.... only two bags outside of what will fit in the garbage tote, but they never said the lid actually had to close, so later on I'll be creating a curbside version of the "leaning tower" to get the most bag for my refuse buck.

I've been chipping away here and there around the house, largely avoiding the worst areas. I doubt any of you out there would blame me for that, right? After all, wouldn't want to get cleaning burnout on Day One, now would I? My favorite part was the bathroom closet. It's huge, and after about 10 years of living in this house and me shoving stuff in there and saying, "OK, I'll deal with that later" it turned into a true "hard hat" zone.... open the door at your own risk! I'm still trying to figure out why I had so many pillow cases and wash cloths. If you sewed all I had together, end to end, they'd circle the earth twice (don't you love when people say stuff like that? Anyway, I don't sew, so it's not happening). There were diaper rash ointment samples from when my daughter was a baby, and she's 12 now. I found THREE bath water thermometer gauges which are little doodads that are supposed to tell you when the water is "just right" for baby's sensitive butt (and assorted baby parts). It might tell you just what kind of mom I am when I let you in on this juicy little secret ... all three were still in their original wrappers! And somehow, she survived a babyhood full of baths without them. Amazing!!!

One shelf left to go... the shelf that has all the little hotel-sized giveaway things... conditioner, shampoo, lotion, soap, mouthwash, etc. I had to laugh at the shoe polishing cloth. Does any traveler really use that? Seems like nothing some spit and a few squares of toilet paper couldn't fix. Then again, I buy most of my shoes at Target and WalMart so what do I know? Maybe it's different for real leather, huh? I'll get to that at some point.... probably....

Anyway, time to water the plants..... catch y'all later....

Cindy

Road Trippin'?

Hello again,

Sorry about the disappearing act! Spring was not kind to us here, healthwise, but we weathered the storm with most of our limbs intact, and who can ask for more than that? My sense of humor has returned (strangely enough it coincides with my return to caffeinated beverages... coincidence? I think not!), so here I sit, sofa under butt, ready to blog.

For the most part, the only time of the year I can travel is the summer. I'm not one to take kids out of school, thanks to bad childhood memories of my grade school principal, Sr. Gertrude, scaring me three-quarters of the way to death over missing school for anything short of a true emergency. Too bad, too, because travel can be much cheaper in early October! Anyway, I've been auditioning trips we can take that don't involve air travel, though I still plan on charging the kids $10 for each bag they bring... gotta make the money where I can, times are tough! My problem is that it has been so long since I've done a "real" road trip, my mind is short circuiting on how I want to do it. If it's going to be five hours, do I pack a cooler full of sandwiches and drinks, then strap Depends on the kids and myself? Or do we stop every hour to enjoy every ball of twine and semi-historic birthplace, only to turn right back around once we get there because our week is up? I don't know. Thanks to Mr. Apple and the invention of iPods, the trip will be enjoyable for me either way because I can jam to Huey Lewis and Bananarama and no one in the car will care.... rock on Cindy's mix CD! LOL.... I digress. But truly, if half the fun is getting there, what the heck is the other half? That worries me ... a lot!

I suppose I'll find out soon enough... happy summer.... talk to you soon!

Cindy