What is it about teenagers, thinking that their parents were practically born in the Stone Age? It is an unfortunate set of circumstances that led me to have to write, for the second time this week, about another instance in which I am accused of being older than the hills. To make it worse, the accuser wasn’t even one of my own children. Close, though: it was the younger boy’s best friend. I was driving the two of them home from scouts on Monday night, and I decided to stop for Shamrock Shakes for the three of us (plus Jim and the older boy), to celebrate the grand news we…
-
-
Wicked Awesome, #1
I had a great day on Saturday; I spent about six hours in the city with Mags, who lives in Boston and has never visited Chicago before! Let’s do the math: Me + 6 hours + a blog friend + showing off my favorite spots in Chicago = A BLAST! Mags is a kindred spirit: she is an explorer, and was happy to be busy for just about every free moment she had in the Windy City. I love that: if you’re going to travel, why not experience as much as you can?? You can sleep when you get home. Anyway, I’ll tell you about my time with her, and…
-
C Is For Super Funny
I’m taking a break from getting ready for this Sunday’s Eagle Scout Court of Honor (made GREAT progress on the scrapbook last night: Woo!) to report that, for the first time since before Halloween, we brought home a box of sugar cereal from the store, at the younger boy’s request. And you know what that means… The younger boy went first, and once we stopped laughing, we wondered just how he’s gone as far as he has in his education, since he obviously hasn’t mastered the alphabet: He continued to tag the box like a professional graffiti artist, claiming that the cereal is “Not Father’s” (as in Jim, not as…
-
Hanukkah Fun, Minus One
A few months ago, Julesie bought the boys tickets to see “Young Frankenstein: The Musical” for Hanukkah, and Jim and I bought tickets for ourselves so we could tag along. Yesterday was the day, and the plan was to go to the city for the musical and then head back to our house for latkes and blintzes and more Hanukkah fun. The best laid plans… Unfortunately, Julesie came down with a little case of food poisoning, and couldn’t go. It was a huge bummer, not only because this was her gift to the boys, but because we love us a little Fab Five Fun. Did I mention what a big…
-
For A Rockin’ Bat Mitzvah
My latest rainbow cake creation is one of my favorites, ever. I made it for a special girl, the daughter of a good friend of mine who is becoming a Bat Mitzvah today. Mazel Tov, Allie!
-
Happily, Some Things Never Change.
It’s been nearly a year since we had it in the house, and it was practically World War III. Well, sort of. Jim stopped at the store on the way home tonight and picked some up, just for giggles… …and we found out that some things never change. But it was funny. If you have no idea what I’m talking about, get the full story here.
-
Sometimes the First Bite Is Also the Last.
Most parents have a strategy for getting their young children to eat foods that they don’t want any part of. If we never pushed our kids to try new foods, they’d grow up on Gerber applesauce and pureed carrots, after all. Some parents make their kids eat one bite of the new food for every year of their age. Some parents make their kids try just one bite. Some parents make their kids clear their plates, and some parents avoid the issue entirely by making an alternate meal for their finicky kids. I am fairly certain that, growing up, I just had to have a taste of the foreign foods…
-
Jeremy Piven Did NOT Jump Out of My Sister’s Birthday Cake.
We invited Julesie over today for a late birthday celebration, which meant one thing: Rainbow Cake! I make rainbow cake for all of our special family occasions; it’s a family tradition that our mom started when we were little ones. One of the most memorable cakes our mom ever made was for Julesie’s third (we think) birthday: it was Cookie Monster. The reason we (and some of our relatives) still talk about that cake today is because all of that dark blue icing made the entire insides of our mouths, our tongues, and our lips blue for the rest of the day. It was quite comical. I have made Julesie…
-
Sweet Tooth?
My girl Mags from Ms. Maggie Moo Talks 2 U needs some assistance and I am getting started on helping her by donating this post to the cause. Besides being a totally smart, savvy, caring, friendly, and all-around lovely person, unfortunately Mags is one of the many Americans who has been deeply affected by the economy. If you’re looking for one of those good deeds that will not only really help someone else but also make your tummy happy, check these out: That’s right, Mags is a chef. She is currently running a special “Blogger Sale” in her etsy shop, and for a limited time you can get 20% off…
-
Saturday Night Special
Busy weekend! I’m just popping in because I wanted to show you what one of our dinner components was; if you make this all the time then please just humor me and tell me what a cooking genius I am anyway… Tonight I made marinated London broil, twice-baked potatoes, and this. It’s an iceberg wedge salad, which I had for the first time at one of our favorite steakhouses a couple of years ago, and it changed my life. Okay, that’s exaggerating a little bit. Sue me. Anyway, if you’re interested in making this, I’m going to tell you how I did it. Core and wash a head of iceberg…