Old Dover Days

THe First Weekend in May is Old Dover Days in Dover, Delaware. This year the festival celebrated its 75th year. It's a festival which celebrates Colonial Times. Maypoles are erected on "The Green" (Center of Town), and several school children do maypole dances. When I was about three, I danced with my preschool! Lots of people dress in period costumes...and it's just a fun fun day. Last year Jecilyn's school (St. John's Early Learning Center)was in the parade. They participated again this year. I helped with the float and the costumes for the boys. It was fun. Jecilyn and I needed dresses. Of course, I don't sew. So, I called my mother's best friend and asked her to help. Aunt Cathy did a super job on our dresses. I took a lot of pictures and am working on a slideshow...but I wanted to get these up ASAP so Aunt Cath could see them! THANKS! (And thanks to Mom Mom Ginny for putting the finishing touches on them!)

Fun Food Friday

I know it's been a long time since I've done one of these. My creative juices have no been flowing. Or, perhaps they've been flowing in the wrong direction.... Last night we had Octopus and Seaweed for dinner. Sounds Yummy, huh? Well, it must've been because both kids scarfed it up!

The octopussies (octopi?!?!? What is the plural of anyway?)are hot dogs. I used Trader Joe's all beef hotdogs which contain no preservatives or nasty nitrates. Before dropping them in the pot, I sliced them halfway up to make legs. When you boil them, they curl.

I started by dumping a bunch of parsley in a pot of water. I also added broccoli, carrots, califlower, and a few string beans. I would have liked to use spinach, but I didn't have any--so I made do with what I had. I stuck the veggies in, boiled the water, added the pasta (I used Quinoa which is gluten free!), and the hot dogs and let it boil for a few minutes. Place the veggies and pasta on the plate--top with the hot dog...and VOILA! You've got Octopus and Seaweed! Cute, huh?

(PS: Octopuses is the correct plural!)

Happy May Day!

It's May First! That's May Day! Now, unless you have gone to Washington College in Chestertown, Maryland, that probably doesn't mean much to you. I am a proud graduate of Washington (Often pronounced WAR-SHIN-TIN)College. And, maybe not so proudly, a four year participant in their May Day Festivities. My level of participation increased each year, and by my senior year, I was..well, totally free.
So, what, you ask is May Day at Washington College? Let's see...WIKIPEDIA describes it as such:

It is a Washington College tradition to celebrate May Day (May 1) by liberating oneself from one's restrictive and oppressive clothing and partying desnudo with fellow students mostly by the flagpole

Yeah...Naked. I was naked. Geez.

As a freshman at Washington College...I wasn't quite sure if this was something that was true...or if it was akin to the lies that you hear upper classmen tell freshmen all the time. You know, telling some poor schmuck, "Oh, yes. I'll help you...Go right down that hall. Make a left at the pool and then head up the stair. First room on your left." When the one story school has no pool.... I thought maybe it was like that....

I had an English Paper due on May 2nd. I was assiduously (Pun intended!) working on my paper...and I was irritated because I'd waited too long to do it...and even more irritated that it was for Professor Bennett Lamond--who, legend had it, had started all this May Day nonsense to begin with. I heard some noise in the hallway. Then it came...a knock on my door. "Um...come in?" The door opened. And, there were Five Naked Theta Chis. Steve "Hutty" Huetner and William "Ice" Halagarda were two of them. I cannot seem to remember who else was there though...Gimme a break...it was 19 years ago!

Anyway...I decided to go and explore the activities! And, oh what fun!

I did end up finishing that paper. Well, kind of. I didn't exactly do the assignment. We were supposed to write a paper on this stupid book called Palefire (I think). Professor Lamond was good at giving us completely vague paper topics. And, when you asked him, "How long does the paper have to be?" his response was always the same..."Write until you have exhausted all possibilities and then begin to write." What kind of crazy answer was this?!?!?

Anyway, we had two choices of topics for this paper. We could either write about the homosexuality in the book or the heterosexuality of the book. I decided NOT to write the paper at all. In my defiance, I wrote--maybe eight pages--about how I wasn't writing this stupid paper about this stupid book. That this professor that assigned it was nuts to expect a class of freshmen to turn in a paper the day after this crazy tradition which he had started. And, that the book, really, was all about that stupid tradition anyway. And, I proved it...

Good ole Bennett loved it. I got an A+. In fact, I think I got As on all the papers I wrote for him. Oh, no, once, I got a B+. It was a paper on The Postman Always Rings Twice. The paper began, "I refuse to write a paper about The Postman Always Rings Twice because...."I think it was maybe three pages double spaced in 14 point font with inch and a half margins. Benny wrote, "You could have refused to write even more."

I probably still have those old college papers around here somewhere. If I can find some of them, I'll post them here. They were fun!

Here's a link to an article about May Day.

And here's a picture of Professor Bennett Lamond.
He's the one on the left. Have a great day! Go get naked.

Play Ball!

Today was Jecilyn's first day of Tball...and being the loser mom that I am...I didn't have my camera. The battery was dead. At least I remembered it this time! UGH! At least I had my phone!

I signed her up through Kent County Parks and Recreation. We were really excited about the whole thing...but it was a bit of a disappointment. I had expected to receive a phone call or something telling us what team she was on and what time to arrive. No one called. We showed up at the ball park at 9:00 a.m. I figured perhaps they didn't choose teams until the first day. I was wrong. All the other kids had received calls from their coach. Hmmm. Oh well. Good news, she is on The Phillies. Uncle Chris will be pleased. Bad news...they have no coach. Are you kidding me? How can you have a team without a coach? Apparently, they were hoping for a parent to volunteer...but no one did. Hopefully, some one will...

Anyway, she had a lot of fun. Here is her first at bat! Sorry about the quality...and I don't know what happened to the sound!

Mommy, Who is This?

Jecilyn loves to play with money. She's always collecting change from around the house. She puts it in her piggy bank, in her purse, or in her pocket. We are working on the names of the coins and how much each is worth. Today she was playing with her most recent find. Two dimes and a very very dirty penny. She was pushing them around on the coffee table today. She stopped and called me over to her. She said, "Mommy, who is this?" A momentary panic came over me. I thought, "Geez, the kid is FOUR and already she's stumping me." Try as I might, I couldn't figure out who it was...Do you know?

Let me think....Um...Washington--Quarter. Jefferson--Nickel. Lincoln--Penny. Who the hell is on the dime!?!? Roosevelt? Eisenhower? $100 Bill....Ben Franklin. That I can remember...But who is this guy on this dime?

It turns out, it doesn't matter who the guy is (but if you must know, it's FDR)....Because when two dimes and a very very dirty penny are placed in this formation...it is, of course Mickey Mouse. Boy, did I feel stupid...

I surveyed several of my friends...Most gave me a presidential answer. Jeff said Mickey Mouse. So did a few others: Uncle Bobby and Tammie. There's gotta be some kind of psychological evaluation for this one! Ha ha!

My thought is this: It sucks when we get old and we loose our imagination. If only we could stay young forever and find a little Mickey Mouse everywhere. Chris always talks about the KISS Method. Keep It Simple, Stupid. This is a good example of that. Take time to notice the little things. Don't get so caught up in the hustle and bustle of life that you miss out on Mickey!!!!

Or perhaps the lesson here is: GROW UP! Who knows! Leave a comment and let me know what your answer was! Have a great day?

Semi Thumbs Up!

For some reason, Jecilyn LOVES Applebees. It's not like she gets some super meal there...it's the same thing EVERY SINGLE TIME....Mac & Cheese. And, not to toot my own horn, but MY Mac & Cheese is WAY better than Applebees. Mine is usually homemade...and usually organic. It is not the stuff that comes in a blue and yellow package and is likely PROCESSED just around the corner at Kraft. Although it claims to be the "cheesist," I'm pretty sure what it really is a whole lot of chemicals colored and flavored with petroleum to taste like cheese. In fact, the label reads as follows:

ENRICHED MACARONI PRODUCT (DURUM WHEAT FLOUR, WHEAT FLOUR, NIACIN, FERROUS SULFATE, THIAMIN MONONITRATE [VITAMIN B1], RIBOFLAVIN [VITAMIN B2], FOLIC ACID), CHEESE SAUCE MIX (WHEY, MILKFAT, MILK PROTEIN CONCENTRATE, SALT, CALCIUM CARBONATE, SODIUM TRIPOLYPHOSPHATE, CONTAINS LESS THAN 2% OF CITRC ACID, SODIUM PHOSPHATE, LACTIC ACID, MILK, YELLOW 5, YELLOW 6, ENZYMES, CHEESE CULTURE).

My mac & cheese consists of organic pasta (made from 100% Durum Semolina), organic milk, and cheese. One would think that Kraft may be accused of false advertising, since, clearly, my Mac & Cheese contains more cheese than theirs. However, I actually looked up the definition of "Cheesiest." According to Merriam-Webster, the definition is as follows:

Main Entry: cheesy
Pronunciation: \ˈchē-zē\
Function: adjective
Inflected Form(s): chees·i·er; chees·i·est
Date: 14th century
1 a: resembling or suggesting cheese especially in consistency or odor b: containing cheese
2: shabby 3c, cheap < cheesy movie>
— chees·i·ness noun

So, although my homemade Mac & Cheese does contain more cheese, by definition, I suppose Kraft's is the "cheesiest." Or, at least cheesier than mine...but I digress...

The point--and I had one when I started this post--was to tell you about our trip to Applebees yesterday. Nettie suggested I take pictures...but, I couldn't find the camera in the pit that is my car....so, you'll just have to settle for the story. Jecilyn, of course, ordered the aforementioned cheesiest mac & cheese. For Treavor, I ordered two mini hamburgers--no roll, no butter, no cheese, and applesauce not fries. Treavor, being Treavor, decided to throw a tantrum while we waited for our food. The waitress came over and asked if she could bring over some crackers for him. I told her that he couldn't have crackers. She replied, "Oh, yeah, that's right...you said he's allergic to bread...so I guess that means no crackers too." I thanked her, and she returned to the kitchen. A few minutes later she returned. Treavor had calmed down by this point (or perhaps I had just tuned him out!). She asked if he could have fruit. Then, she returned with a whole plate of fruit from the bar...pineapple, strawberry, orange slices, apples balls (looked like they used a melon baller--is that what it's called?--to scoop them out), and cherries. How cool!!! Treavor loved it! Jecilyn was jealous!

So, even though I'm pretty sure this incident was situational--a good waitress who wanted to shut up my snot nosed kid so he wouldn't disturb other guests--I'm still giving Applebees a Thumbs Up!

Wheat Free Wednesday

My friend Amy gave me this recipe. I believe it is her mother's recipe. It was VERY easy...and VERY Tasty. Here it is:

2 lbs ground meat (Amy says she uses turkey and beef. I just used beef!)
16 oz of Salsa (Amy recommends fresh salsa...I used Archer Farms Organic Medium Salsa from Target)
1 1/2 cups Oatmeal

Mix it together...make a loaf, and bake. I think I baked it at 350 for a little more than an hour. It was fabulous! I recommend serving it with Mashed Potatos and Corn! I also put cheese on mine and Jecilyn's! Yummy! It was a little on the spicy side...but we enjoyed it! Thanks Amy!