pink nostalgia

how to: resurrect leftover thanksgiving mashed potatoes

I made Ree's mashed potatoes for Thanksgiving again this year.  A few days later, I converted them into my steak-and-potatoes potatoes.

I added two big pinches of shaved parmesan instead of a few shakes of the canned grated parm.  Survey says: ahhh-mazing.  And J who claims he doesn't like parm couldn't tell it was in there.  They made the potatoes nutty and tangy and rich.

And I introduced J to my favorite cut of steak - porterhouses.  I got the steak plate* and he got the bone.  There was no talking - just moaning.

*the steak plate (th uh steyk pleyt): the regular dinner plate that the griller uses to bring in the meat.  It collects all of the steak juice perfect for sopping or sipping.  If it came down to be given the steak plate or flowers, well...I'd take the steak plate 4 out of 5 times.  But it should be noted that that means I'd take flowers every once in a while.  Math.  : )

this is how we tent

Since we went in March, the boys have been itching to go back to Mom & George's property.

Since we've been watching Naked and Afraid, they have convinced themselves that they can survive in the wild with only flint and a pocket knife.

Ergo, camping at the property.

Does this look like a girl who wants to go camping?

No.  No it does not.

I thought I clenched it with, "But Babe!  You won't have your fan!  How will you sleep??"  J replied, "I won't!  We'll be awake and miserable until 3 in the morning until we're finally too exhausted, we'll sleep horrrrrrribly, we'll have some good stories, and then we'll never have to do it again!"

Ahhhhhh.  Therrrrrre it is.

I liked the "we'll never have to do it again" part, but more than that, it clicked for me - the boys will love it.  It will be one of those experiences that we relive 20 years from now.  The boys won't remember it the same way we do (spoiler alert - they fell asleep at 9:30).  Our miserable is their magical, and it all creates memories.

It was really cute - the boys went shopping last week for all things camping.  They kept it all on the kitchen table to show me when I got home from work: hiking boots, glow sticks, a fire starter, water-proof matches, a satchel, ammo, knives, etc.

It wasn't so much camping as it was just sleeping in a tent.  Well, and we all "used" the woods.  Yes, even me.  And J and I brushed our teeth using a water bottle.

The boys went into the tent around 9 p.m. for the coolness factor.  There was lots of rustling around and giggling, then silence by 9:30.  J and I turned in around 10 since I was already nodding off at the campfire.

The first thing we see when we open the tent is Ethen asleep in his sleeping bag and Alex completely splayed out over his, J's, and my sleeping bags.  You would think since he's little that it wouldn't be possible...

J resituates Alex, and we crawl in.  As soon as we get settled, J whispers, "It smells fuuuuuunky in here!"

Well, I started giggling.  The kind of giggling that you do at slumber parties when you know you're not supposed to be laughing and you're trying to be quiet so Staci's mom doesn't come back out to yell at you.

Fast-forward Slow-motion through restless sleep and lots of badger noises.  J and Ethen both wake up to use the woods.  When J comes back in, he says, "It's only midnight."  Are you kidding me?!?!  Longest night ever!  Well, yes, he WAS kidding.  It was really around 4 a.m.  Then there was this exchange:

J: Man, it stinks in here!

E: It's Alex's breath.  (And poor Al, not even awake to defend himself.)

J: It's everyone's breath!  ...Except for Angela's.

me: [slumber-party-giggling]

J and I got up around 6:00 to a beautiful sky.

Here's the sunrise through the pine forest.  It looks like like the woods are on fire.

For a second, I thought the Gamemakers were trying to push me towards the other Tributes.

So yeah.  That was the last time we go camping.  : )

a wheat wreath

Say that five times fast.

A wheat wreath.

A reat wreath.

A re reath.

A wheat weath.

A we weath.

Moving on.

I had seen this wreath years ago way back when people got crafty ideas from magazines instead of Pinterest.  I'm talking college days.  I would say this magazine clipping survived 6 moves (the Village to Marlo's to the crap-partment to Mike's to the house to the single apartment to the current house).

Special thanks to Lauren Conrad for that lovely ribbon which was wrapped around her bedspread that I bought from Kohl's last summer.

Of course, as I was taking photos and standing on a step-stool, the FedEx guy delivered one of J's gifts and said, "I've never seen THAT before!"  I said, "What, a wreath??"

one of these things is not like the others

I imagine that my life now as a step-parent-counterpart is weird to a lot of people, but it feels really natural to me.

In fact, it's a privilege. 

I took Alex to a parent-teacher orientation a while back.  It was just the two of us.  We were waiting outside for the school doors to open, and I was looking around at the parents.  Several were looking at their phones or scowling or both.  None of them looked excited to be there.

I was downright giddy, and it seemed odd to me that no one else was visibly excited.  Maybe once you've seen one, you've seen them all, or maybe it loses its luster on the second child, or maybe a person gets jaded after being a parent 24 hours a day for 8 years and running, or maybe I'm a rare breed who geeks out over seeing the classroom and putting the teacher's handshake with the stories.

But.

It was SO COOL to be involved that little bit of Alex's educational career.  I don't get to decide on his summer reading camps or go to parent-teacher conferences.  But I got to take him to his school (nailed the parking), walk down the hall with him, hear the classroom rules, sign up for text reminders, and walk back out with him.  Well, I walked; he skipped.

Then we picked J up and went to E's football game where Alex shared his sour pickle with me, unprompted.

It was awesome.

thirty-two

I've been very scrappy lately.  I have so many projects running through my mind and not enough time what with work, cooking, reading with Al, algebra-ing with E, watching Friday Night Lights with J, and general merryment-ing.

I'm so in love with this striped paper.  I had no idea what to do with it, but I knew I had to have it.  Then I saw Ashley Horton's page and thought, "Yep!  That's what I'm doing!"  I already had the photos from a really good hair day + my favorite shirt + J's favorite aviators.

I like doing these annual pages to kind of recap my emotional state of being.  You can find the other years here: 27, 28, 29, 30. 

The 31 page is in process as we speak.  I might be able to finish it if Jason would ever stop pestering me.  : )