beanbag extravaganza!

I promised the boys a beanbag toss game if they played nicely together while I cooked...little did I know what a festival of dishes awaited me! We had about 30 bowls lined up throughout the living room and "library" (2 chairs and a bookshelf), and--look closely--we even had a bonus round.

faux black and white cookies

Remember that Seinfeld episode that featured the black and white cookie? Like the Chinese restaurant and parking lot episodes, it takes place mostly in one setting on one evening. I actually hate those episodes (so frustrating to watch). So it wasn't really in honor of that episode that I made these cookies; they just sounded good. The recipe is completely "cheater cheater Pumpkin eater" as my boys would say, but it works, especially in a time crunch.

You'll need:
1 box white or yellow cake mix
1 box chocolate cake mix
To each box (in separate bowls) add:
1/2 cup oil
2 eggs

Mix well. Take 1 tsp of each kind of dough and make a half-moon shape. Press together. Bake at 350 for 10 minutes on ungreased baking sheets. Makes about 36.
p.s. Don't use "butter recipe" mixes; they are too greasy.

sewing FRENZY!

I'm a bit dismayed as I look at these photos of my little breakfast nook (nook--is that a real word?) window seat cushions. They look so unassuming and kind of bland, masking the 8 HOURS of sewing that their construction required, including all 4 disks of Season One of Frasier and an entire can of honey roasted peanuts. This picture does not show the corner where the two cushions meet like puzzle pieces, nor does it show the many inches of hand sewing that had to happen once I forced the foam pad into each casing. (Did I mention the handmade piping?) Anyway, they're done, hallelujah! I wanted color in the kitchen, and I got it. I had to put the picture up here after putting in so much time on this project.

18 more days

Happy, happy day! I just checked the Innocence Mission's website and their new album is due out in March (13th to be exact). And if you love beauty, gentleness, and music with a moral (but not preachy), or if you love pretty voices and folksy guitar, then you will adore this band. You can see their very nice site here and listen to clips of the album here .

Workin for the Weekend

Here's something funny... you know that Loverboy song, "Everybody's Workin' for the Weekend"? Believe it or not, stay at home drones are also workin' for the weekend. There's something about Saturday that is just a relief to me. No one has to be fed and out the door at 8:00; we can wear pajamas until noon if we want.


That said, tomorrow is Buy the Materials to Make Bunkbeds Day. We have a grand plan to save tons of money by building bunkbeds for the boys. They will look nothing like the image above. I really hope they work out... If not, we might be having a Sell Random Pieces of Wood Day.

Air Bud tragedy

Well, another "kids" movie has proven problematic for our family. The last one was Zathura, which the kids LOVE, but has a particularly nasty word near the beginning, which leads to a mad dash to the DVD remote just in time to skip it and to hear... "MOOOMMMMM!"
In the case of Air Bud, there actually were a few objectionable words, but nothing too serious. It was the scene near the end where young Josh, the nerdy-new-kid turned basketball hero has to drop his dog/mentor Air Bud off in the wilderness due to the fact that a semi-insane clown is after the dog. (Long story...you'll have to rent the movie/buy it at the dollar store to get the full context.) Anyway, Josh delivers these intense, emotional lines like "Bud, it's time for you to go...(sob!) I don't want you anymore! (hiccup) Just leave! Go!!"
I tried to explain to the boys the reason for Josh's betrayal (see aforementioned insane clown), but when I looked over at them, they were both breaking down, sobbing. I felt like SUCH a jerk for letting them watch this painful scene, and FF-ed the tape until we got to another basketball scene where Josh, along with last-minute substitute Air Bud, wins the state championship for his team.
I guess the lesson is to preview each and every movie before showing it to your kids. Or just avoid animal athlete films altogether.

One Art

Are you a loser? I am. As in, I lose my keys and lock myself out of the house, lose bits of paper with Very Important Lists on them, lose the names of people in the dusty cabinets of my brain and lose the ability to answer even one more curious question from a very verbal 4-year-old... If you're a loser, too, you might like this poem by Elizabeth Bishop, titled One Art. I'd put it all here but I think it's not yet in the public domain, and librarians are supposed to protect copyright, etc., etc...
I should mention that the scope of the poem extends beyond lost keys and might make you a bit sad at the end. And while you're sad, go ahead and read this one (The Embrace) by Mark Doty. It describes a dream in which a deceased loved one returns, alive and well, to visit the author. It's beautiful.

I mean, really!

Will my life ever return to the normal rhythm of get Flash off to school, Super Q to preschool, volunteer at school library, grocery store, make dinner, ride exercise bike, sleep, repeat? I was called to be the Primary president ( in charge of roughly 120 kids between the ages of 2 and 12) at church about 2 weeks ago and, man, am I reeling! Between phone calls and finding substitutes and meetings and issues with teachers and now Cub Scouts, I feel like I'm being stretched to my limits. My body has responded in typical stress-out mode: nausea, migraine, twitchy eye. As Flash would say, in his inimitable way, "I mean, really!"

I'm thinking a tattoo of all of the prophets across my back will help me remember to follow their example as I serve the kids in my ward. Or maybe just a green CTR shield on my ankle?

suggestions for filling down time

Fun things to do when you're faced with a rainy Saturday, a napping 4 year old, and no desire whatsoever to clean your house:

Google Image Search on your own name. I found several "Rebecca Marshalls" (one pictured here--she looks a bit like my Dad's somewhat unstable cousin), both in the UK. And a few men who came up under that search (?)

Research Windows Vista. Get excited about it. Price it. Decide against it.

Listen to majority of The Shins' new album. Wonder why you were, at one point, desperately in love with this band. Shift allegiance to Iron & Wine.

an ad like no other

It's a gray day outside--I know you need this link as much as I do. It's for the Sony Bravia TV: 2 ads that celebrate color. My favorite is here,, the superball ad. The paint cannon ad is also really cool -- it can be found here.

distractions of late

freezer paper hand towels , detail of shoe organizer


<--freezer paper/embroidered tooth fairy pillow shoe organizer for baby Chloe--->

telegrams and anger

Last week we found out that a good friend of our family, Miss Binns (at left) has an inoperable brain tumor. She starts radiation this week, and her oncologist has given her a 12-18 week prognosis.

We've known Miss Binns since she was a baby; she's two days older than Super Q. Her mom is one of my dear friends. We're all reeling at the news, as you might imagine. I can't seem to wrap my mind around the possibility of a life only 4 years long.

I've been thinking the past few days about one of my favorite books, Howard's End, by E.M. Forster. Among other things, its theme is the overarching importance of personal relationships in our lives. Indeed, you might say that little else matters except for connecting with (loving) others. In the book, two sisters, the Miss Schlegels, encounter death, love, and loss with grace and sensitivity informed by their motto: "Only Connect!" They consider themselves quite different from other people--they don't care much for (as they put it) "telegrams and anger." In other words, they try to see beyond the minutiae that can cloud our perspective and take time away from the people we love the most.
"Only Connect!" Words to live by, I think.

wait, am I embracing the 80s now?

Not 24 hours since my last " I just can't get on board with this 80s revival" proclamation (made while perusing racks and racks and racks of long stretchy sweaters with cinch belts at the waist) I have to semi-retract my statement. Why? Because of these people: Grand National. I'm no good at describing or categorizing music; I remember reading about bands with a "garage sound" or "jangly guitars" or whatever, but I could never be that precise. ANYWAY, I'm in love with this band Grand National and, much to my surprise, everything I read about them puts them in the retro-80s category. I guess I'm returning to my oversized tunic-teased bangs roots, as it were. All the same, I recommend them heartily, esp. a song called "Talk Amongst Yourselves". You'll have to, uh, buy the mp3 because I guess the cd is only an import now.


I really wanted to post a picture but, wow, there are so many incredible 80s pictures out there. Just Google Image Search "lisa lisa cult jam" (the "and" operator is unnecessary, don'tcha know) and enjoy the bounty there, including a photo of CHARO!

trustworthy

Yesterday dh told me about this gift card scam . Add it to the list of nefarious ways that screwed-up people are trying to take advantage of others. It made me so angry as I thought about it today while driving in ugly nighttime traffic(on the way home from Taco Bell, of all places. That's a recipe for angst, is it not?)

A thought I've often had returned to my mind: despite nefarious plots, selfish motives, and simple disregard for others, we trust each other out of necessity. Every time we go through a green light, we trust the other drivers to stop on the red light. Despite the many random shootings that occur practically daily, we move around in our world; working, going to school, going to the ATM at midnight. I know, what are we going to do, live like hermits? Yet the idea of that tacit collective agreement is touching, somehow. Despite the differences between us, we can trust each other a little.

Flash and Super Q heart Jimmy Eat World

Oh, dear, I think I've started a problem here. My boys, both younger than 8, are turning into fans of "rock songs". The other night they were SO loud and SO argumentative in the back of the car (which car, you ask? see below... VW wagon, name of Chaz, once beloved by me, now a source of pain every time I remember the c*r*a*s*h ... also mentioned below) ...anyway, I finally said, "OK, if you'll be quiet, you can listen to ROCK MUSIC! (Cheers). I put on a mix CD from a friend. "The Middle" by Jimmy Eat World came on, and, well... my boys are now huge fans of skate rock or however you'd categorize it. And now they sing the song all day long. I don't mind too much; it has a Nice Message and all. Better than "My Humps" or something. It's oft requested in the car and we turn it up loud and dance and play instruments. Flash is on electric guitar and he put Super Q on "the other guitar." As usual, I'm relegated to keyboards. Geez.

good/bad

good:

crock pot roast beef w/gravy and crispy french bread
watching 4 year olds play soccer
hot bath+recent copy of wired magazine
news of new innocence mission cd in the works
catching up on favorite blogs and email

bad:

diet hansen's creamy rootbeer (neither creamy nor very much like root beer)
mosquito clouds obscuring view of 4 year olds playing soccer
realizing that wired has too many bad words in it and needs to go now that Flash is reading everything
waiting for innocence mission cd to actually be released
not catching up on balacing the checkbook or scrubbing the shower

cure for the common cold (or is it the flu? or bronchitis?)

In the past 3 days, I've undergone a transformation that some may argue was already in the works: I've become a Geriatric Nuisance. It's all due to this mystery virus that I get every year, and this year it struck early. The usual symptoms include: head cold, sore throat, and, eventually, a killer cough that starts in the chest. This year I've mixed it up a bit and added a fever and shallow breathing. That last bit is all the evidence you need of my new status of Geriatric Nuisance. All I can talk about is my Health Problems.

In addition, I lie around all day (or as much of the day as possible), I have partaken of way too much daytime television, I'm drinking peppermint tea almost exclusively (soft foods are also on the menu), and I'm reading a fairly banal Christian Literature book about (no lie) a woman in her 80s who reconnects with her granddaughter. (It includes many sort of funny lines, including one where the witchy controlling mother receives a message from Jesus that goes, "What's it to you if Sam's part of my plan for your daughter?" I just love the idea of Jesus pulling the ol' "whats it to ya" comeback.)


In honor of the occasion, I made this for dinner last night:
--------------------------------------------------------
Cure for the Common Cold Chicken Soup

6 T chicken base (I like Better than Boullion brand)
2 1/2 quarts water
2 medium carrots, peeled and sliced
2 stalks celery, sliced
1/2 small onion, chopped or 1 tsp dried onion

2 cups chopped cooked chicken
2 cups uncooked noodles
6 mushrooms, sliced
1 T fresh rosemary, chopped

Combine first 5 ingredients. Heat to boiling; simmer, covered 15 minutes or until carrots are tender. Stir in remaining ingredients. Return to boil; simmer uncovered 7-10 minutes or until noodles are tender.

5K/smash-up day

I'm beginning to think that me+running=catastrophe. First I fall off the treadmill at the gym at prime time for fancy-moms to be there (10:00, right after aerobics or some such class), then I actually get a migraine in the middle of running, now I'm freaked out about the treadmill in general and can't seem to run on it without getting dizzy.

So last Saturday I ran the Houston Race for the Cure 5K. I know, totally small potatoes, but for me it was something of a victory. It was very hot that morning and the idea of (sort of) training for it and then actually finishing it was an important one for me. So anyway, my sister the *real* runner and I complete the race and eventually find our car. And then I smash it in the parking garage! And it's a beautiful car... was a beautiful car. I've never been into any car like I was into that one. As a person who tries to live by the old hippie adage "use things and love people, don't love things and use people" (usually expressed more eloquently than that), I should just be able to shrug this little accident off. And I will, it's just the combination of the cost of the repair and my new suburban shut-in status that are combining to make this something of a challenge.

ways to avoid updating your blog

a sampling from my Firefox Bookmarks, which frequently distract me from writing here:

black and white herbs
Hassle Free Clip Art.com: Black and White Clip Art » RetroClipMart | Free Clip Art | Clip Art BooksFree Dog Stencils to Print and Cut Out
Resene Paints - Kids Stencils
The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints
the innocence mission -
welcomeRadical Librarian: Uh oh: New Orleans mayor gets "racial"
Print Business Cards - Custom Rubber Stamps - Online Business Card Printing
my shore
Watch Out for Mama
Hill Cumorah Pageant
on newspapers and mothering
League Detail
Newspapermom: The News about Janet’s Life
truckin' in the galaxy
projectors
Cypress-Fairbanks ISD Home Page
MakeZine.comAmazon.com: ReadyMade [MAGAZINE SUBSCRIPTION]: Magazines
Frugal For LifeReadyMade: Instructions for Everyday Life
whipup.netThriftcraft
Houston eCoupons
arty borders
Don Peris -
WelcomeFlickr: Photos from beckbot
LocalHarvest - CSA D
etailsvirus-731867.jpg (JPEG Image, 800x600 pixels)
REPRODEPOTFABRICS.COM - vintage reproduction fabrics and retro fabrics plus retro and vintage themed buttons, ribbons, t shirts and gifts!
MoMA.org | E-Cards | View E-Card
angry chicken
Baby Kimonos
Tone arms up best exercise for toning flabby arms fast
Steinlen Art Posters
The Scoop
HoorayforHeadbands.pdf (application/pdf Object)
yw instruction
Japanese Kamon Clip Art and Wallpapers
Air Conditioning [Archive] - DoItYourself.com Community Forums
A Brief History of Junk
T h e Barter B l o g » Fun stuff
Delicious Hawaiian style recipes to create an authentic Hawaiian luau ANYWHERE!
Komen Houston Race for the Cure® : Sponsors
SouleMama: I'm in love....
Komen Houston Race for the Cure® :
From WBEZ in Chicago | This American Life
Flu Wiki - Consequences - Preparedness Guides
5 Inch Tapered Bun Foot - From the Bun Feet Line

catching up

Why have I been neglecting this blog so horribly? I've been asking myself this and just realized that SCHOOL STARTED since I last wrote. So there you go. In the mean time, my sister Camus visited and, boy did we enjoy some tasty homecooked gourmet-ish food: pesto, black bean tacos, and a trip to Carraba's to dip that wonderful bread in that wonderful seasoned oil over and over. We both love cooking, when it's not under duress (e.g. microwaving Spaghettios while the lads chant/whine "I'm hungry! I want gum!" in unison. Why is gum a food in their world? I don't know.) We also spent us some disposable income on some highly disposable sunglasses, headbands, and the like in a shopping "district" here called Harwin St. I could have also availed myself of many, many Paris Hiltonesque belts, bags, necklaces, and shoes, but chose to stick with the aforementioned t-shirt/jeans/flip-flops uniform for now.

Read some cool books, including Early Bird , about a youngish man who moves to Florida and retires there for about a year. Pretty insightful and enjoyable, I thought, although it does get annoying how these McSweeney's types are always the quoted ones on the back of each other's books. Oh, and the author keeps on referring to his "friend Nick" (Nick Hornby)... it gets tedious.

Speaking of name-dropping, you may want to avoid Friendship: an expose by Joseph Epstein. I have so enjoyed his essays in the past and looked forward to reading this book, but the personal anecdotes, while interesting, got to be too much. They also really exposed Epstein's snobby side... all those tedious references to his 3-year friendship with Saul Bellow. If you're going to drop a name, you've got to include enough gruesome detail to hold a reader's interest. Otherwise, it's just another paragraph to plow through (or skip).