Remember those puzzles where you had to get yourself and three animals across a river in a three-person boat? And if you left one animal - let's say a tiger - with either of the others, it would eat them?

That's the problem I have to solve every night when I give my kids baths. Not that my two-year-old would really eat my nine-month-old, but it certainly wouldn't be a safe situation. Of course, I also have the additional complication of it not being safe for them to be in the tub together, either...

One of these days, I'll find a solution that works - easily - and I'll write it down and do the same thing each time. Until I find the perfect solution, I'll continue to experiment with the different combinations and permutations

Here is a great contest for a brand new hardback copy of Yesterday's Magic by Pamela Service.

About the Book (From Amazon.com): "When Heather McKenna is kidnapped by the sorceress Morgan LeFay, it is up to Heather’s friend Welly and the wizard Merlin (yes, that Merlin) to rescue her. Set five hundred years in the future following a nuclear devastation, the technological world has ground to a halt but magic is beginning to take hold again, and the powerful icons of myth are starting to fight over control of the world. From the Russian witch Baba Yaga, to the Native American trickster god, Raven, the most ancient magical forces are beginning to awaken, and they have very different ideas about the future of the earth.

This riveting sequel to Tomorrow's Magic continues Merlin and Arthur’s quest to reunite the world. "

How to Enter: To enter the contest, simply leave a comment on this post. Yes, it really is that easy!

Here's a question for ya!

Do you think I've been horrible at blogging lately because:
A.) I've been spending "quality" time with my husband since he's returned from the desert;
B.) I've been trying to take care of a fussy, teething baby;
C.) I've rediscovered the joy (and obsession) of World of Warcraft;
or
D.) All of the above?


(Bonus question: why are multiple choice questions so much fun? If I ever become a teacher, my students will love me.)

Well, here we are in PA, visiting Joe's Grandma. The drive up actually went very well. We planned it so that we would drive two hours, then stop for one, etc etc. It's a 6 hour drive otherwise, so that stretched it out to an 8 hour trip, but it definitely helped the kids stay happy in the car.

I'm stealing a moment while nursing to post; I'd better get back downstairs, though. Hopefully our trip continues to go well!

Yeah, I haven't been on here AT ALL since I last posted.

I'm a horrible blogger! I shouldn't disappear from my blog/IM clients/forums just because my husband came home! It's not like I haven't seen him in a long time!

Oh wait...it's exactly like that. Hm.

Well, I apologize for being gone (even though I had a really good reason!). I'll try to start checking (and posting!) on my blogs and forums again. I'll even sign into my IMs from time to time. :)

Yay for gratuitous use of exclamation points!!!!

Joe just called me. He is in the US.

I pretty much almost started crying when his ringer went off on my phone.

OMG I can't wait to see him.

I don't really cry. Well, not much. And even when something is trying to make me cry, I fight it pretty hard. So, what does it take to make me cry during a music video? Not just any sort of oh-my-wife-left-me-and-my-dog-got-hit-by-a-car sad song will get me going.

It's gotta really hit me in a vulnerable spot in my emotions.

Teenager car crashes don't get me going, by themselves. (I have little sympathy for the utter stupidity of teenagers.) Dead animals really don't upset me to the point of tears, either. ( My emotional triggers and the reason why I'm telling you all this under the cut... )

I *was* stressed about getting the house clean before my husband gets home, but that was just a little stress. No big deal. I can handle it.

But now, I'm under much more stress because he's not home. I'm sure there's a really good reason to delay his GTFO of where he is...but that doesn't stop me from missing him SO MUCH MORE because I should be in his arms already...and he's still over there.

I hate the unknown. I hate plans changing. This is the one aspect of military life that will drive me crazy.

The baby's first tooth broke through today!

There was a post about 9/11 in another forum that I frequent, and one of the comments really bothered me. Somebody had posted that they were praying for our soldiers, and here was a response (copied directly - typos are not mine!):



Now, I understand the desire for world peace. But the attitude that our soldiers (etc) are just "poor young men" and women who are callously sent to their deaths as pawns in old men's disagreements...I find that very disrespectful. My husband is over there because somebody needs to be and he's brave enough to volunteer.

I'm not trying to make this about politics or whether we should be over there...but my husband isn't some poor, unfortunate fool. He signed up because he wanted to. In fact, he volunteered to go on this deployment. Granted, it's dangerous. Granted, it is a war dictated by our nation's leaders, not his personal beef with an Iraqi who stole his watch or something. But we're doing more over there than just sending our soldiers (etc) to die...and, regardless, the way that comment was phrased really rankled.

So I responded with one of my husband's favorite quotes:

"War is an ugly thing, but not the ugliest of things. The decayed and degraded state of moral and patriotic feeling which thinks that nothing is worth war is much worse. The person who has nothing for which he is willing to fight, nothing which is more important than his own personal safety, is a miserable creature and has no chance of being free unless made and kept so by the exertions of better men than himself. " - John Stuart Mill, English philosopher

My aunt came over last night to watch a movie - well, a few episodes from a tv show - with me. At one point, Michelangelo climbed up onto the couch to watch it with us. A couple leaned toward each other to kiss, but it was dark so you couldn't see that well.

And Michelangelo held his hands up to his face and made kissing noises! It was the most hilarious thing EVER. My aunt was cracking up.

May we never forget.

I found this - supposedly related by a celebrity's personal chef - and thought I'd share. Unfortunately these don't all work in normal cuisine situations, only high-class ones. ;)

( The Keys of Great Culinary Success... )
I bet that at least numbers two and three would backfire on my kids.

Double Chocolate Peanut Butter Pie

-Makes 1 pie.


Chocolate Crust:

4 oz (1/2 cup) semisweet chocolate chips
½ stick unsalted butter
8 oz (2 cups) graham cracker crumbs

 
Peanut Butter Filling:

8 oz (1 cup) cream cheese, softened
1 cup chunky peanut butter
½ cup sugar
2 tsp pure vanilla extract
1 cup well chilled heavy whipping cream
1 cup honey roasted peanuts
Kosher salt (pinch)


Chocolate Ganache Topping:
4 oz (1/2 cup) semisweet chocolate chips
½ cup heavy whipping cream
¼ cup honey roasted nuts


1. To make the crust:
Preheat oven to 375°. In a medium microwaveable bowl, combine the chocolate and butter and microwave on high for 20 second intervals until chocolate is melted. Stir well, then, stir in the graham cracker crumbs. Press the crumbs along the bottom of spring-form pan and press 1 ½ inches up the side. Bake the crust for 10 minutes or until set. The crust will continue to firm up as it cools.


2. To make the peanut butter filling:
In a large bowl, using a handheld electric mixer, beat the cream cheese with the peanut butter, sugar, and vanilla extract until blended.  In another large bowl (that has been chilled in the freezer for at least 10 minutes), using the same beaters, whip the chilled cream until firm (stiff peaks). Gently fold in 1/3 of the whipped cream into the peanut butter/cream cheese mixture to loosen it, then fold in the remaining the remaining whipped cream and 1 cup of honey roasted nuts. Spoon the filling into the crust, smoothing the surface. Sprinkle top with salt. Place in the refrigerator until set, about 3 hrs.

 
3. To make the chocolate ganache topping:
In a medium microwaveable bowl, combine chocolate chips with heavy cream. Microwave on high for 20 second intervals until chocolate is melted.  Stir completely and let cool until just barely warm. Pour over filled pie and place backing refrigerator until set, about 15 minutes.  Sprinkle the remaining ¼ cup of peanuts around the edge of the pie.


Pie can be refrigerated overnight, or frozen for up to 2 weeks. Serve at slightly cooler than room temperature.

I'm not really sure which of these aren't out on DVD yet, so I just kinda made one big list. If anybody has any of these on DVD and wants to loan them to me, that would be awesome! Also, if anybody has any suggestions for other movies you think we should watch...please, let me know! Each section is listed in order from most- to least-excited-to-watch. :)

( Here's the list... )
So...yeah! Yay for the list!</div>

Available or taken? Taken, and so in love...  :*

Best Friend? My husband, actually. Some people may think that's weird (or lame), but I think that's how it ought to be.

Cake or Pie? Pie! Toll House pie!!!!

Drink of choice? Water, especially lemon-flavored.

Essential item for every day use? Either my laptop or cell phone.

Favorite color? Green, but my husband thinks it's blue. ;)

Google? I Google everything!

Hometown? C-bus, in the heart of it all!

Indulgences? Right now it's yogurt. When money gets tight, it's milk.

January or February? I can't make that choice...I have a kid's birthday in each month!

Kudos to? My husband, for not being the whiny b@stard child of the fire department (inside joke!).

Life is incomplete without…? Love.

Marriage date? April 29th.

Number of pets? None!

Oranges or apples? Apples if they are cut up; otherwise, oranges.

Phobias and fears? Bees (wasps, etc) and sharks are my phobias.

Quote for the day? "The moon is orbitating around the earth, Mommy." - Leonardo, a couple of nights ago.

Reason to smile? My husband is coming home from Iraq soon!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Season? I love fall and spring, but my allergies bother me less in the fall. :)

TV show? I don't really watch tv, other than kid's shows. So, TMNT I guess?

Unknown fact about me? I am not brave at all.

Vegetable you hate? Lima beans. They're disgusting!!!!!

Worst habit? When I'm overwhelmed by a task, I just don't even bother trying.

X-rays you’ve had? Once I tripped over a guideline for a tent and fell on my wrist. It was just sprained, but they x-rayed it to be sure.

Your fave food? At the moment, it's orange chicken from panda express with fried rice. Mmmmm...

Zodiac sign? Leo, but I don't believe in that stuff.

~~~~~

If any of you are trying to come up with a post idea, but can't...feel free to do your own the "The ABC's of Me."  *coughJoecough*

We have this old Clifford toy. It's basically this fist-sized, plastic Clifford that twists its head around when you push the button. So, Michelangelo was digging through a toy bin and he found Clifford. He pulled it out and showed it to me, exclaiming, "Clifford!" Of course, that's not what it sounded like - even remotely - so I decided to make sure he knew who the dog was.

"Oh, you found Clifford!" I said. Wanting to make sure he recognized the name, I started singing the theme song. "Clifford needed Emily / So she chose him for her own / And her love made Clifford grow so big / That the Howards had to leave their home."

Michelangelo completely ignored me, but I was not discouraged! I continued, "Clifford's the best friend anyone could know / He's the greatest dog ever; I really think so / Clifford's so loyal, he's there when you call..." at this point in the song, Emily Elizabeth cups her hand beside her mouth and calls to Clifford, who comes running up and licks her. So I paused in singing and fake-called, "Cliiiford!" and then Michelangelo did the cutest thing. He licked Clifford! I stopped dead, astonished. "Oh, is that how a doggie kisses?" I said encouragingly, once I got my brain back. He didn't answer me, so I finished singing, "I love Clifford, the big red dog!" and then Michelangelo cupped his hand beside his mouth and called, "Cliiiford!" and then leaned forward and licked the dog again! Then he smiled at the dog and said "That's nice, kisses."

It was too cute! I'll have to get my camera ready, and then see if I can get him to do it again.  :)

We were driving home from Mass this morning, discussing the huge, dark clouds covering about a third of the sky. I taught Leonardo a new vocabulary word - ominous. (I love that word. :D ) Then Leo started urging me to hurry home.

"There might be a tornado!" he said.

"Oh don't worry," I reassured him, "if there was a tornado, the tornado sirens would be going off to warn everybody. But the sirens aren't on, so there must not be a tornado right now."

"But what if it's a ninja tornado?"

He then proceeded to explain. Apparently ninja tornadoes are NINJAS, and so nobody can see them or know that they are there! Except for birds, because you see birds are astronauts, so they can see the ninja tornadoes.

Yeah. Fascinating. :)

Michelangelo enjoys serving himself food. For example, he doesn't want you to take the banana out of its peel and hand it to him - he wants you to peel the banana and hold it out to him so that he can pluck it from its peel. He enjoys taking handfuls of pretzels/chips from the bag, rather than having them doled out to him by an adult.

With that in mind, I opened up the granola bar package and set it on Bubba's highchair so that he could take them out of the wrapper himself. He took them out, alright...then he picked up the wrapper and shook it out over his highchair tray. He checked the wrapper to make sure no crumbs were left behind, then he held it out to me proudly: "All gone!"

Le sigh. At least he was in his highchair and not sitting at the kitchen table for this meal.

"It'll be so great to have Daddy home, won't it, Leonardo?" I ask him casually. Leonardo is not emotionally demonstrative, but sometimes he'll admit to his emotions with a little prompting (assuming I am the only person around - he won't say anything in front of other grownups).

"Yeah...I miss Daddy's Smashed Potatoes!!!" he replied.

Emotions? ...close enough. :)