Resourceful

Buddy is so resourceful, crafty and very clever. This past weekend he decided to make a pair of glasses. Out of paper clips and tape. He was very pleased with himself! Perhaps I should have commissioned him to make me a new pair of glasses rather than the (cough cough) expensive pair I purchased yesterday. That's a secret...not sure how I am going to explain that one to my husband!

The Dog and I joke that if we gave Buddy a box of paper clips and a roll of tape for his birthday he would be happy. In addition to being resourceful and clever he is very low maintenance. He happily wears his brother's hand me downs, doesn't care a bit about labels and matching is completely optional.

Since this has turned in to a little post about Buddy I'll continue. He has a very compassionate heart and always chooses first to help the underdog. He is a favorite amongst the teachers at his school because of the kindness he shows to challenged students that have been mainstreamed at his school.

Tonight he will be joining a friend and several teachers for a special birthday dinner at a steakhouse. The birthday boy has been particularly challenging in the classroom this year and has been supported unfailingly by Buddy.

In fact, Buddy has been considerably more compassionate than his mother! After many reports at the end of the day of this boy using unspeakable language in the classroom, I could tell the boy's behavior was affecting Buddy's in the classroom. I was encouraging Buddy to distance himself and he refused. He continued to play on the playground and befriend this boy. Buddy was selected to eat lunch with the boy (and an aide) in a conference room. It was Buddy that helped this boy, who is frequently surrounded mostly by adults, to have a chance just to be a boy!

When the call came for Buddy to join the boy's family for dinner at the steakhouse. I had a mild panic. I don't know the parents and I was nervous. One other friend was asked and I conferred with his mother. We heard the school secretary will be going and my comfort level grew. So tonight, riding as the date of the school secretary, Buddy will join the birthday boy, his parents, and teaching aide for dinner at a Steakhouse.

We have reviewed the menu online and decided that a hamburger would be delicious!

Scaly Skin

This time of year does mean things to our skin. We are bumpy, itchy, scaly and scratchy. I think you get the picture. Our favorite fix, and currently the only thing that helps, is Gentle Natural's Baby Eczema Cream. Yes...I am 29 (ahem!) and using a baby cream. And it has Pooh and Piglet on it...it must be good, yes?

An adult friend with Eczema gave this to me a few years ago. Recently, my daughter's frequently washed in cold water with antibacterial soap hands are so dry and red that I needed to get busy with something strong that didn't burn. You know where I am going.

We have worked our way through the tube and I had to go looking for a replacement this weekend. It wasn't easy to find and I panicked a little. Never fear. There is a huge list of stores that carry their products. I highly recommend this to you...for little hands, your hands, and even the heels of your adult feet!

The link to their website is here.

Silver Palate's Outrageous Granola

I am a bit of a granola snob. I adore granola but especially one that is made without oil and chock full of only the healthiest ingredients. I wish my granola palate (read: PICKINESS) would carry over to the rest of my diet! I have absolutely no problem eating Oreo's even though I probably can't pronounce all of the ingredients. I just ran to the kitchen and checked...I can't!

My book club friend Julie is a great cook and appreciates a good recipe. At lunch, after our visit to the Ronald McDonald House, she brought up Granola. She mentioned her latest recipe find, Outrageous Granola, on the back of the Silver Palate Oatmeal box and we were all ears. I happened upon Silver Palate's Oatmeal at Wegman's this week and just made the Granola. It is oustanding.

There is no oil in the recipe....yeah! Main ingredients are oatmeal, maple syrup, and brown sugar. A good start, right? This recipe was worth making for the smell alone. I don't think I have ever made anything as wonderfully fragrant. And now that it has cooled, it did not disappoint. It's wonderful and my newest favorite! All thumbs up from this family.

Here's the recipe...

Silver Palate Outrageous Granola
3 cups Silver Palate Thick and Rough Oatmeal
1 cup chopped almonds, pecans or any combination of your favorite (I added sliced almonds to mine)
1 cup or any combo dried fruit (cranberries, golden raisins, apricots, dates, cherries, blueberries)
1 Tablespoon Vanilla
1 Tablespoon Cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/3 cup packed Brown Sugar
1 cup Pure Maple Syrup

Mix together in a large bowl. Transfer onto a large baking sheet sprayed with non-stick butter flavored spray. Bake at 325 degree F for 35-45 minutes stirring once in-between. Allow to cool completely on tray. Store in airtight jars or containers.

This makes a great gift idea for the holidays!

One More

One more bed to change. One more bathroom and bucket to clean. One, or two, more loads of laundry....and hopefully our last! My poor husband, back from last week's trip to London, has succumbed to the virus that has plagued our house.

We were headed out to Outback for dinner to celebrate Australia Day when he called to break the news on the way home from the train. Apparently the station will never be the same. Outback wasn't the same without our resident Aussie. Let's look at the bright side... I didn't have to cook!

For anyone wondering, Australia Day is a national holiday marking the landing of the British First Fleet at Port Jackson, now Sydney Harbor, in 1788

A Little Escape

My February issue of Coastal Living arrived yesterday and, with it, I went on a little vacation. My vacation was as comfy as an easy chair and as inexpensive as staying home. I wonder why?


The first photo is so eye catching, isn't it? An open air villa in Jamaica designed by NY designer Meg Braff. I love the pink umbrella and faux bamboo lounge chairs. Hmmm...the blue waters in the background don't hurt either!



Sun too much? Escape under cover to the outdoor Living Room.

This photo is designer Meg Braff looking gorgeous in her Lilly Pulitzer caftan. You are never going to believe this....I sold this gorgeous silky caftan trimmed in the most beautiful gold beading on ebay. Do you think she was my buyer?

I am sort of kicking myself for selling it although I think she pulls it off more easily on the island of Jamaica than I would in suburbia with my LL Bean Boat & Tote and 3 children trailing behind. In fact, I might get laughed off the pool deck if I came in with it on. What do you think?

Gorgeous....no?

Will I have to wait until the next issue of Coastal Living arrives for my next vacation?

PS...PE, thanks for sharing your free subscription with me!

Favors

This week in numbers (give or take):

25 loads of laundry
3 beds changed, some more than once
20 bucket washes
breat, toast, coke and ginger ale served on demand
6 movies watched
5 nights of interrupted sleep
and 1 husband out of the country for the week

What's all this add up to....a week I hope not to repeat. Thankfully, we are at the end...of the week and the virus. We are down to our last and littlest.

I also must not forget the countless favors I have asked. Covering kids, canceling breakfast, canceling lunch, canceling babysitters, canceling dinner plans, pick up for basketball, drop off from basketball, rides to and from ice skating, and the list goes on. It's a swift reminder of why I am very happy to do favors for others. This parenting thing isn't easy!

Holding Court - Part 2

Well the week hasn't quite gone as expected as I now have 2 boys home throwing up. I am not feeling inspired to do anything as I am low on sleep and perhaps feeling a little housebound. This too shall pass! I decided it was time to get to work on Part 2 of Holding Court.



If you missed it, click here for part 1.



Part 1 left off with me scrambling to verify my family history after my sister told my boys they were related to Benjamin Franklin. As children do, they ran off to school to announce this latest piece of news and I was hoping, for their sake and reputation, it was true.



My mother arrived for Christmas bearing gifts and a 38 page untitled family history written by my father. I don't recall much at all about his work on this project and don't remember discussing it with him. Shame on me. However, in my defense, I haven't lived at home, or in the same state as my parents since I was 18 and left for college. In fact, most of that time post high school was spent on opposite coasts or continents.



My forefathers were a family of printers who arrived from Somerset, England, in 1627 to settle the colony of Massachusetts. Jonas Green, the great grandson of the original arrivals, was born in Boston in 1712 and was the cousin and printer's apprentice to Benjamin Franklin. Phew...my children aren't spreading false rumors!



Jonas moved to Philadelphia in 1735 where he was employed as a printer and was married to Anne Catherine. In 1738 they moved to Annapolis, MD where he became the public printer for Maryland. They had fourteen children of which eight died while infants.



Jonas Green died in 1767 and instead of ending the story, it gets slightly more interesting especially considering the role of women in the 1700's.



"After his death his widow, Anne Catharine Green, continued his work with the assistance of her sons, William, Frederick, and Samuel. Anne Catharine Green is one of the extraordinary figures in American printing history. At the age of 45, and after giving birth to fourteen children (of which only six survived), she successfully took over her husband's profession, serving as provincial printer as well as continuing the Maryland Gazette. She worked in partnership with her sons until her death in 1775". (http://www.lib.umd.edu/RARE/Exhibits/Mdprinting/Green.html)



Historian Wroth, author of The Colonial Printer, wrote this about Anne Catherine Green:


Throughout the life of her husband, Mrs. Anne Catharine Green, the widow of Jonas, was heard of only incidentally, but after his death in 1767, she showed the sturdy stuff that was in her by assuming the direction of the Green establishment and the responsibility for its completion of the government work then in hand. At this time she must have been about forty-five years of age; she had borne fourteen children and buried eight of them; she had nursed her household through a smallpox epidemic and through the infinitude of small ailments which must have beset so large a family. At a time when a less aggressive woman would have been content to seek the chimney corner, she undertook the support of her children and the accomplishment of important tasks in the public service. "

This painting of Anne Catharine Green was painted by Charles Willson Peale in 1769 and today hangs in the National Portrait Gallery in Washington, DC. The National Portrait Gallery offers a school program for grades 5 - 12 titled, Great American Women.

The program profiles American women who have faced many challenges in their attempts to make their voices heard. Students will trace these challenges and celebrates the accomplishments of American women from the past, as well as women still living and working today. Who do you think is included? Yes, Anne Catharine Green along with Hilary Rodham Clinton.

Isn't it fun to think that Jonas Green, my great great great great grandfather, was intended to be the interesting figure in our family and instead he was just a part of it. The bigger part belonged to his wife, my great great great great grandmother, and the legacy she left for her family. I love a good twist!

If you are still with me, thanks for following along. If you visit Annapolis, Jonas and Anne Catharine Green's home is currently a B & B there. Click here for the link.

Buddy

Buddy was home sick yesterday. Anything that went down came back up, if you know what I mean! Amazing how being home with a sick one leaves a mother getting nothing done. However, everything was easily canceled or rearranged and I was happy to spend the day with him.

Thankfully, he is feeling better this morning. He went to bed hungry which is always a good sign. I sort of promised I would wake him up for a snack. Really, I just wanted to be sure he could go through the night sleeping soundly. As he came down the stairs this morning,

"Mom, you didn't wake me up for that snack!"

I told him I just couldn't wake him up from such a sound sleep. He went on to say,

"Mom, it was fun staying home yesterday. The throw ups and not feeling good were the only bad part. I liked talking to each other. I liked watching movies together. I really liked talking to each other.

Takes me to Kim's post on "Ordinary Days" (click to link). It's the ordinary days that can be the most blessed and the most rewarding. There is so much to jam pack in to a day...love, understanding, security, comfort, and a load of laundry or 8!

I was quick to remind Buddy that it doesn't take being sick to spend time talking to each other and that I am here always. Oh how I love my Buddy!

Choir Ladies

My Mom has been a member of her church for as long as I can remember. Her membership probably dates back to when I was 8. It was the year we moved in to the house that was the original church dating back to the 1700's. It was a gorgeous home complete with coffin door and graveyard in the back woods. It was a fascinating place to grow up!

Yesterday, while my mother sang in her church choir in the sanctuary upstairs, her wallet was stolen from the locked closet in the choir room downstairs. Every women in the choir had their wallets stolen from their purses. Needless to say, it was quite a blow!

Several different people saw a female face they didn't recognize circulating through the church. It's a small church so a new face really stands out. Don't you wonder how desperate this women's plight must be that she would rob a choir while they sing praise to and worship God?

My mother had $600 in her wallet, a bad habit dating back to who knows where. She always has a stash of cash for the "just in case". I think it's just her era. Several people commented to my mother that if someone had approached her in need she would have been one of the first to give her money. And really, it's not the money. It's the terrible inconvenience...driver's license, credit cards, social security, medicare, and the list goes on.

So, if you or someone you love sings in the choir, remind them that church is no longer off limits to the unsavory who steal and to lock up their valuables!

Holding Court - Part 1

The Jonas Green house in Annapolis, Md.

As an adult, at family get togethers, I would comment that my father was "holding" court. He would sit in one place, usually in the living room in front of the fire, and wait for family members to wait their turn to sit and talk with him. At our recent Christmas family gathering I still saw him sitting there in front of the fire even though he has been gone for several years now.



When Dad was "holding court" he would often discuss his latest aches and pains but inevitably the conversation would lead back to some sort of discussion on various generations of our family. He was one of six children and the last one to die. I guess this, as well as years of research, entitled him to the position of chief historian.



As an aside, my mother is the only person left out of my father's siblings and their spouses. To say she is spry is an understatement. She certainly isn't one to hold court, she would rather feed the court!


So back to the family historian. I always knew there was history there but couldn't really be bothered to explore or understand it. I heard often that I was named for Matilda Bowie. Something about that stopped me in my tracks and left me feeling utterly grateful that they dropped the Matilda. I didn't really care who Matilda was or what the Bowie meant.

Truth be known, Matilda was one in a long list of relatives that spanned back many years. My father took it upon himself to write down our heritage and until Christmas 2009 at 44 years old, I never read it. I never cared to read it. It meant nothing to me. Growing up in Baltimore I had gone to school with and encountered way too many people who cared more about their lineage than in how they treated others. If that's what understanding one's lineage meant, I wasn't interested.



My older sister was always interested in Dad's stories and would feed me snippets every once in a while. Thankfully, she was a follower of our family history and has been a natural successor to my father's work. She and my father often discussed the details and he took her to visit one of our ancestor's historic homes in Annapolis as a deterrent while we prepped for her surprise 40th birthday party. I'm not sure what she enjoyed more, the day with Dad or the surprise party! Eleven years later I venture to guess it was the day with Dad.


So, back to the 38 photocopied pages of our family history and a teaser. This fall my sister told my children that they were related to Benjamin Franklin. Great. I am sure you can guess what an extroverted eight year old known here as Buddy does that with bit of information. He ran right to school with it and I had nothing to back it up. In fact, I was afraid it was completely wrong and they were making fools of themselves sharing falsified family secrets with their teachers and friends at school.

If I wasn't interested before, I was now.
If you are still with me...look for more in part 2.

Ronald McDonald's House

Today I am off with my book club to serve breakfast at our local Ronald McDonald House. One of our members uncovered this great oppotunity and we have had it on our calendars for months.

We are a club of eight and have been together many years. So many, in fact, that I can hardly remember the actual date of origin. As with many things, I measure it by the ages of my children. They were young. Perhaps only numbered two at the time. In fact, I think Buddy was just a baby when we first met.

I have never been a good reader but have always been a faithful attendee. I have mentioned before that most of the women in the book club are not women I see frequently. We have children in various schools but many in the same ages and stages of life. It is a wonderful and authentic group that would be hard to replicate.

Some of us are republicans and some democrats. Some are divorced and most are still on their first marriage. Some work and some do not. Some are religious and others are not. In all of that, we are the first to arrange meals when new babies were born or a loved one falls ill. We prepare flowers and attend funerals. We stay back to set up for receptions after funerals because no one else is a close enough friend to stumble through your kitchen but need not attend the funeral.

We have had members leave for Singapore and London and we include them regularly with invitations to join us for this or that. We know they can't be there with us but want them there in spirit if not in body. When we are feeling very clever and technical, we skype them in. Unfortunately, only one member has the technology for those adventures.

We have never served together and all were amazingly free for this Saturday in January, 2010. I will start the carpool at 7am, and make 4 stops on our way to our final destination in the city. I even got my minivan cleaned and emptied the back of the African children's notebooks and crayons just for this occasion. Can you believe I have carried them around all of this time?

Today's opportunity couldn't have been more timely. The book club email came as I followed the caringbridge page of a first grade girl from my children's school. We didn't know her but she lived in our community, went to our school and could have been one of ours. She spent the late summer and early fall staying at Houston's Ronald McDonald house during a very specialized treatment for brain cancer.

We are bringing breakfast. The menu will be hot breakfast casseroles, fresh fruit, muffins, scones and a box of pop tarts for anyone who can't be enticed with the latter. My contribution, other than the case of pop tarts, will be Ina's Oatmeal Maple Scones. As we say in our family, "they are so yum"!

Ode to my daughter...

Sweetie, your dream pillow is so beautiful and I loved being there with you (and the 8000 other moms and dads) to iron your pillowcase. I promise to do my best to wash your pillowcase on cold and not put it in the dryer. I can't promise a miracle but I promise I will try.

p.s. I also promise to do something about my roots. The call is in to my hairdresser!

Fallen off the horse

I think that when I fall off the "regular posts on my blog" horse I have a hard time getting back on. I continue to read and enjoy your blogs. I just can't seem to deem anything in my life significant enough to write about. Meanwhile, thoughts muddle around and will eventually make their way out. That's the beauty of the blog, right?

I'll start small. I'll start now. I'll start with my morning. My sweet (she's not always sweet but let's just think of the good times for now!) Kindergartener is studying the solar system in the month of January. Today her class made dream pillows. They drew pictures with Crayola fabric crayons that we ironed on to pillowcases. I still have the boys pillowcases and they still use them. Unfortunately, their pictures didn't last. Something about "wash in cold" and "hang to dry" doesn't work with sheets in this house.

It was a fun morning with lots of helpers and a chance for some fun chatting amongst the parents. It's amazing what can be accomplished in the short span of time - brownie troop created, private tennis lesson arranged, play dates planned, walking partners discovered and more! It was a great investment of time and a wonderful way to start the day!

I had to post something...I couldn't stand the thought of my readers seeing my double chin and sagging neck skin one more day. Thanks for all of your sweet comments regarding my reversible vest. Many of you had me laughing out loud!

Unfortunately, I don't have much to say. The new year is off to a great start of exercise every day (my body aches), healthy eating (my kids are miserable), and the slow process of undecorating. The trees must be out by tomorrow because it is pick up day. I love a deadline!

School was delayed two hours today because of a dusting of snow. I love the phone ringing at 5:38 am to tell us that we can all sleep later! It was a welcome rest for my little lovelies.

More tomorrow...

Caution...it's reversible!

My cute new CAbi reversible vest...side 1...as I purchased it and planned to wear it this way on New Year's Eve.

My new vest...nice and furry side 2...hurredly switched from side 1 to side 2 on the way out the door on New Year's Eve.

Tag that is intended to be removed before wearing reversible vest on side 2. Of course, I forgot to remove said tag before exiting my home on New Year's Eve and my husband certainly didn't watch my back on this one. About an hour in to the party one of the ladies said to me, "Hmmm...is that cute vest reversible?" I was so happy to respond yes.

Until she quickly told me that I had a tag on my back.!

UGH! My husband, full of regret, said that he thought it was supposed to be there because after all his shirt had a Barbour tag on it. I quickly explained that he didn't have an XL tag hanging from his pocket and that no, my tag was not meant to be displayed.

I was in such a hurry leaving the house, decided to switch sides of the vest at the last minute, and completely forgot about the tag on my back.

Thank goodness that was so 2009. I'm moving on....I think!