Mama Loves Days Like This*

My girl card is about to be taken away.  To me, a date on the calendar to celebrate love (February 14) or mothers (the second Sunday in May) or birthdays (for me, August 6) is not necessarily an excuse to shower me with presents.  My family knows me so well.

Since today is Mother's Day, as with most holidays, we have a family traditional breakfast.  Mr. Gaelic and the girls prepare eggs Benedict, hash browns, fruit salad, LeConte sunrise, and coffee.  No gifts, no cards, only verbal wishes for a Happy Mother's Day.  Except this year Deirdre, who has trouble saying things to me sometimes, gave me a card that expressed her appreciation for all I have done for her.

The rest of the day was picture perfect.  An hour or so of working in my vegetable garden was followed by an extended manicure.  Coffee, naptime, and a trip to the dog park with Baby, all with Mr. G, felt luxurious on a lovely spring day.  When I retired to my boudoir with my laptop for some alone time, what was delivered to my room outdid everything else. 

About to text message Mr. G to see what he was up to, his footsteps were heard on the stairs.  Looking up as he opened the door, I noticed that he didn't have a load of laundry under his arm or a look of consternation on his brow from dealing with the kids alone.  Instead he carried an antique martini glass by the stem.  One bleu cheese-stuffed olive sat at the bottom of the clear liquid.  His gift of making me a dirty martini was almost too much.  My face lit up into the biggest smile possible and my profuse thanks delighted him. 

A perfect way to end a perfect day.

*Mama said click here.

VD Gone Viral

Happy Manufactured Day that Really Doesn’t Mean Anything Except to Extort Things from Men with the Threat of Withholding Sex If Women Don’t Get What They Want Which Most Often Is an Engagement Ring or a Promise of a Monogamous, Long-Term Relationship Complete with Children and a House in the Suburbs, Oh, and a Dozen Roses Delivered to Her Office to Make her Coworkers Envious that She has Such a Thoughtful Boyfriend Who Felt that He Had to Send Her Flowers Because of the Date on the Calendar!!!

And Many Happy Returns of the Day! Unless she has to return what your sorry ass messed up as “the perfect gift” in which case you won’t be getting any for a month. Or until you grovel in front of her and her friends.

[I'm not hating on Valentine's Day. I'm just wondering why there are so many expectations for one single day.]

Menu Plan: December 27 - January 2

Existentialists, hedonists, skeptics, stoics, epicureans!  Finola and Mr. Gaelic are talking philosophers as I'm thinking food.  Funny that one of my favorite foodie websites is Epicurious. 

Christmas Day is over, but the Christmas season has only just begun.  And already the planning is underway for two more holidays quick on Christmas's heels.  And just as with Christmas, both of the upcoming holidays have their own set Gaelic-family menu.  The holidays?  New Year's and Epiphany.

When the kids were young, I would cook a private restaurant-quality dinner for Mr. G and me to have after the kids went to bed.  Now teenagers, they stay up later than we do.  And get invited to New Year's Eve parties. 

• Monday
• Breakfast:  cream of wheat
• Supper:  pinto beans, okra, rice pilaf
• Tuesday
• Breakfast:  pancakes, sausage
• Supper:  pork chops, mashed potatoes, green beans
• Wednesday
• Breakfast:  soft boiled eggs, toast
• Supper:  vegetable soup, homemade bread
• Thursday
• Breakfast:  oatmeal
• Supper:  tacos, refried beans (use leftover pintos)
• Friday
• Breakfast:  cinnamon toast
• Supper:  dinner out at New Year's Eve party (family friends so our kids know their kids)
• Saturday
• Brunch:  friend's New Year's Day party
• Dinner:  neighbor's New Year's Day party
• Supper:  ham steak, black eyed peas, collards (traditional Southern New Year's Day feast)
• Sunday
• Breakfast:  bacon, eggs, grits, toast
• Dinner:  roast chicken, quinoa, pumpkin

Epiphany is next week.  Another week to plan.  Even though I already know what will be on the menu on the 6th.  You, on the other hand, will have to check back next week to find out.

Menu Plan: December 20 - December 26

This will be a busy week in the Gaelic household.  Finola returns from college late Tuesday night.  There is a party at a neighbor's house on Christmas Eve afternoon from 3:00 to 5:00 for kids and adults.  Deirdre and Maeve are acolyting at the 11:00 p.m. Christmas Eve service.  That means that Saturday is Christmas.

For as long as I can remember Christmas Eve supper was always spaghetti.  Probably because my mama didn't want to have to spend a whole lot of time in the kitchen if she was going to be cooking a big meal the next day.  That tradition is being instilled in my children.  There were exceptions to the spaghetti rule.  For a while we would alternate hosting Christmas Eve supper with friends.  Our years to host, I would give a nod to the wife's Italian heritage and make a pasta with seven types of seafood.  Still the pasta from my childhood, but the more traditional Italian Christmas Eve flavor.  On our off years, my donation would be a homemade panettone.

Here are this week's menus:

• Monday
• Breakfast: grapefruit, toast
• Supper: butternut squash soup (leftover from last week), fresh baked bread
• Tuesday
• Breakfast: cereal
• Supper: chili with assorted toppings, rice
• Wednesday
• Breakfast: bagels, creme cheese
• Supper: potluck (to clean out the fridge)
• Thursday
• Breakfast: oatmeal
• Supper: potluck (to finish cleaning out fridge) or delivered pizza
• Friday
• Breakfast: cinnamon toast
• Supper: spaghetti
• Saturday
• Breakfast: waffles, sausage links
• Dinner: standing rib roast, red wine sauce, horseradish sauce, Yorkshire pudding, mashed root vegetables, Brussels sprouts, congealed salad, steamed pudding with hard sauce
• Sunday
• Breakfast: cream of wheat
• Supper: shepherd's pie (use leftover root vegetables as topping)

 Christmas dinner may sound like a lot of work.  It's the same menu from year to year.  After 20 years of cooking holiday meals by myself, by this time I can do it in my sleep.  Sort of like every other holiday with their own constant but individual menus.

The (Holiday) Time Machine

When Mr. Gaelic and I bought our Christmas tree today, there was still snow on the branches from earlier this week.  Yes, it's only seven days until Christmas.  No, we weren't too busy to get one before now.  It was on purpose.  Waiting until Advent is over before we begin celebrating Christmas.  Advent ends tomorrow.

Next year, we'll be buying our tree from a cut-it-yourself tree farm.  The church where we usually buy our tree sold out yesterday.  The garden center where we purchased this year's tree only had a handful left.  The salesman at the garden center told us that they don't get fresh shipments during December; they get one shipment of trees just before Thanksgiving since people want to decorate after the turkey and leftovers are in the fridge.

If I had it to do over again, I would institute some changes in our house.  Santa would visit on December 6th, the feast of Saint Nicholas, Bishop of Myra.  He's the saint that "evolved" into Santa Claus.  December 25th would be a religious celebration of the Nativity of Our Lord and not a celebration of commercialization.  Adults would exchange gifts on New Year's Day as they did in Medieval and Renaissance times. 

I already buck one trend.  There is no Easter Bunny. 

During Lent, which begins on Ash Wednesday, everyone in the family gives up something.  During those 40 days, we put whatever we have given up in our Easter baskets.  Whether it is Starbucks, chocolate, or scotch, when we are tempted to partake during Lent, we put it in the basket.  For things like scotch or Starbucks, we put in either a new bottle of single malt or a gift card for lattes. 

When Easter rolls around, we can break our fast of what was given up.  But it's a more meaningful symbol of sacrifice if we can see it every day on the dining room table.  After all, that's part of the meaning of Easter -- sacrifice (Good Friday) and resurrection (Easter).

How did I get on Easter?  Oh, yeah, before we forsake Him on Good Friday we have to birth the Baby.  Now, if only I could just turn back the clock a few years and have the kids' stockings filled two weeks after Thanksgiving by that almost-forgotten bishop . . . 

How the Grinch Saved Christmas

My daddy told tales from his childhood of putting up the Christmas tree on Christmas Eve.  In the old Cary Grant-Loretta Young version of "The Bishop's Wife", they decorate the tree on Christmas Eve.  Donna Reed and kids are decorating the Christmas tree on Christmas Eve when Jimmy Stewart comes in with trouble from the bank examiner.  According to Anglican church tradition, Christmas decorations don't go up until after all four Sundays in Advent have been celebrated.

This year we're following suit. 

It seems that the Christmas creep gets earlier and earlier every year.  Stores were decorated this year even before Hallowe'en.  The week before Thanksgiving there were at least two houses in our neighborhood in full Christmas-light regalia.  Some of my high school friends asked on Facebook whether the day before Thanksgiving was too early to put up the tree.  And some of my close friends put theirs up on Black Friday.

Through the years, I've begun feeling that people seem to be hanging onto Christmas a bit too much.  They try to milk every last drop of party time out of December and leave up the lights on their houses until St. Valentine's Day.  I'm reminded of the Chip and Dale cartoon where they wished for Christmas to happen every day.  After a while it got old.

To appreciate the specialness of the season, it must be fleeting.  To appreciate the happiness of Christmas, we must remember Good Friday.  For to really understand and have a gauge for happiness one must understand grief and sadness.

[This is where my mind races off in tangents about non-Christians, especially those raised in the church who never darken the church door, adorning their living rooms with evergreen trees and giving presents to each other on December 25th.  But that's another rant, er, I mean, blog.]

So in these days of Advent, there is going out a decree from Mrs. Gaelic that all the Gaelic household shall observe Advent during Advent and Christmas during Christmas.  There will be no pop-guns, bikes, roller skates, or drums, no checkerboards, trikes, popcorn, or plums.  No presents, no ribbon, no wrappings.  No tags, no tinsel, no trimming, no trappings.  Not one little speck of the holiday season.  Not 'til the calendar says it's time for the Christmas season.

[Yeah, yeah, I know I'm mixing my allusions here.]

While everyone else in the world (so it seems) is decorating their trees, and mantles, and banisters, and front doors, we'll be lighting purple and pink candles.  And while everyone else in the world (so it seems from past years) will be flooding the stores for 75% off Christmas merchandise, we'll be just getting started with our celebration. 

I may sound like the Grinch with my stern decree.  But for twelve short days, my family will know that Christmas is here for only the briefest of moments before being swept away into the gift-giving season of Epiphany.

Menu Plan: November 29 - December 4

There was much in the media this past week about Thanksgiving and how the Pilgrims and Indians didn't overeat and then go shopping.  Apparently, during those times people were a bit more conservative with their stores of food, wanting to make the harvest last through the cold winter months.  So it's apropos that today is the first day of Advent.  A time to scale back in preparation for the Christmas season.

The first week after Thanksgiving is also a time to finish off the turkey.  When you order one from the meat co-op you order a weight range.  This year's turkey was on the upper end of the range.  Lots and lots of leftovers.

• Monday
• Breakfast:  cereal (Mr. Gaelic leaves for a business trip)
• Supper:  creamed spinach, corn pudding, pinto beans
• Tuesday
• Breakfast:  oatmeal
• Supper:  turkey pot pie
• Wednesday
• Breakfast:  cinnamon toast
• Supper:  turkey barley soup
• Thursday
• Breakfast:  cream of wheat
• Supper:  baked mac and cheese, broccoli, honeyed pumpkin
• Friday
• Breakfast:  soft-boiled eggs, toast
• Supper:  pizza for girls, Mr. Gaelic and I are headed to a scotch tasting with heavy hors d'oeuvres
• Saturday
• Breakfast:  waffles, bacon
• Supper:  tuna casserole, salad
• Sunday
• Breakfast:  sausage gravy, homemade biscuits
• Dinner:  hot turkey salad, potatoes, green beans

It cannot be December already.  Just where did the year go?  Time for another holiday soon.  Time to pull out the cookbooks and see what can be done ahead of time.  Maybe it's time to dust off my mama's fruitcake recipe.  Lots of planning and decisions coming up.  Stay tuned to see what it'll be.

The Squeaky Wheel Gets the Meat

A couple of weeks ago I kvetched about missing the deadline for the last meat co-op delivery.  You can't keep a good woman meatless.  Incensed about forgetting to hit the checkout button on my order, I emailed the farmer's wife to ask if there were any way to buy from a different delivery location.  However, driving all the way to the farm, about two hours away, was not my preferred pick-up destination.

If you've kept up with the organic, non-GMO, local, free-range debate in books and movies over the past few years, you would know the farmer.  The products he sells -- beef, pork, chicken, turkey, eggs, and sometimes rabbit, lamb, duck, and duck eggs -- are all free-range.  After seeing the farmer prominently in one of the food debate movies and discovering just how close the farm is, my research turned up several co-op delivery sites in my neck of the woods.

Meat products are as seasonal as vegetables and fruit.  Chicken lay more eggs when there's more sunlight in the summer before slacking off to almost none in the winter.  Cows and pigs and sheep give birth in the spring in the northern hemisphere.  If you want to have suckling pig or a leg of lamb for a spring holiday and expect to buy it a week before the holiday, chances are it's from Australia or New Zealand where it would be autumn and the piglet or lamb would be big enough for slaughter.  If you want local piglet or lamb, you'll need to freeze it until the spring.

The farmer's wife wrote back allowing me to pick up at a different delivery site.  Joy!  Elation!  And the delivery date isn't until the second week of December!  That means that the freezer will have been emptied a bit more with all the Thanksgiving dishes having been eaten yesterday.

Good thing.  Since this is the absolute last delivery until late spring next year, I'll need to stock up.  My order included:

1/4 cow (approximately 110 lbs. of meat)
1/2 pig (approximately 100 lbs. of meat)
plus,
2 Filet mignons
5 Delmonico steaks
10 lbs. ground beef

That 1/4 cow and 1/2 pig means a quarter of the cow and a half of the pig.  You can order a whole animal if you want, but we don't have that much freezer space.

My only regret is that the cuts won't include a standing rib roast for Christmas or a ham shank for New Year's.  He didn't have any lamb available either.  Maybe the other farmer who shows up at the farmers' market has a leg of lamb to stick in the freezer for Easter. 

The one thing about holidays from my childhood home that I never liked was back-to-back meals.  Mama served turkey for Thanksgiving and again for Christmas, and ham for New Year's Day and again for Easter.  In my house, the now tradition is turkey and dressing for Thanksgiving, beef rib roast and Yorkshire pudding for Christmas, ham, collards, and black-eyed peas for New Year's Day, and lamb and asparagus for Easter.  Oh, and pancakes on Shrove Tuesday which needs bacon or sausage as an accompaniment.

Darn it!  I didn't order any bacon or sausage.  Back to the order form!

Thanksgiving by the Presidents

Sure, the first official Thanksgivings in America were to give thanks for safe passage from England, good land to live on, and a fruitful harvest.  NOT for football, overeating, and sales.  But how did we come to celebrate the fourth Thursday of November as a day of Thanks and Praise?  By proclamation of the President and a bit of legislation to boot.  Check it out here.  (In the legislation, notice the other dates that are set forth as national holidays.)

Menu Plan: November 22 - November 28

No matter how much prep work has been done in the preceeding weeks, the three days before Thanksgiving always make me feel like the White Rabbit.  "I'm late, I'm late, for a very important date."

So today's blog will be short and to the point so that I can get back to the kitchen.

• Monday
• Breakfast:  bran muffins
• Supper:  vegetable soup (great way to use up what may still be lurking in the veggie crisper), homemade bread
• Tuesday
• Breakfast:  cereal (as usual on Tuesday)
• Supper:  baked ziti, salad
• Wednesday
• Breakfast:  bagels with cream cheese
• Supper:  eat out at Finola's favorite Indian restaurant (she returns from college Tuesday evening)
• Thursday/Thanksgiving
• Breakfast:  egg, cheese, sausage and grits casserole
• Dinner:  turkey, dressing (NOT stuffing since I was raised in the South), giblet gravy, cranberry relish, sweet potato casserole, Brussels sprouts, cherry congealed salad (because this is really 1950 after all), homemade dinner rolls, pumpkin cheesecake (It's listed as dinner not supper because it'll be served mid-afternoon.)
• Friday
• Breakfast:  coffee (gotta make the Black Friday sales)
• Supper:  hot turkey salad casserole (sounds odd but it's my mom's recipe), green salad
• Saturday
• Breakfast:  Krispy Kreme doughnuts (hot, now!)
• Supper:  leftovers from Thanksgiving
• Sunday
• Breakfast:  bacon, eggs, grits, toast
• Dinner:  chicken 'n' dumplin's, carrots, green beans

Back to the apron. 

Menu Plan: November 15 - November 21

If you've ever been to Five Guys Burgers & Fries, you know that they serve roasted peanuts from a box while you wait for your order.  I treated the kids to lunch recently at our local Five Guys.  We got a serving of peanuts to shell at the table.  After finishing our hamburgers, there were still some peanuts on our table.  Just scoop them into the bag with the leftover fries.

They're fun to snack on.  But it gave me a hankering for boiled peanuts.  Those slimy, squishy, good-when-hot-but-yuck-when-not snacks.  Most often they're found at roadside stands in the American rural South.  They are definitely an acquired taste.

Yes, it's an established fact that I'm weird.  Just deal with it.  In other foodie news, here's this week's menu plan.

• Monday
• Breakfast:  banana bread
• Supper:  take-out/delivery (afternoon teacher conferences + evening ballet class = no time to cook [slow cooker on the blink])
• Tuesday
• Breakfast:  cereal
• Supper:  meatloaf, mashed potatoes, carrots (save some potatoes for Friday)
• Wednesday
• Breakfast:  oatmeal
• Supper:  baked eggs, salad, homemade bread
• Thursday
• Breakfast:  blueberry muffins
• Supper:  baked mac and cheese, creamed spinach, beets in orange sauce
• Friday
• Breakfast:  soft-boiled eggs, toast
• Supper:  butternut squash soup, homemade potato bread (use left-over potatoes)
• Saturday
• Breakfast:  pancakes, sausage
• Supper: pizza for girls, Mr. Gaelic and I are headed to a party for our friends' daughter who is in graduate school in London and will be home for the holidays
• Sunday
• Breakfast:  bacon, eggs, grits, toast
• Dinner:  potluck (need to clean out the fridge and freezer in anticipation of Thanksgiving)

Thanksgiving?  Already?  That means that Christmas is 41 days from today!  Didn't we just celebrate Hallowe'en?  Ack! 

Please don't send me boiled peanuts for Christmas.  They're best eaten hot and fresh.  Just like Krispy Kreme glazed doughnuts.  But that's another blog entirely.

I've Got a Witch to Scratch

My very first time Trick-or-Treating was such a big deal.  My mama took me to Sears and Roebuck to pick out a costume.  (At least I think it was Sears.) 

This was back in the day when every costume came with a full-face plastic mask with a thin elastic string stapled onto each side near the ears.  There were cutouts for the eyes and the mouth.  (I think there was one for the mouth.)

But then somebody somewhere shoved a razor blade into an apple and handed it go some unsuspecting kid.  Soon the hospitals would let you bring your candy over to be x-rayed.  Thankfully, these events coincided with my becoming a teenager.

When we turned 13, we were cool.  We didn't want to do all that baby stuff like Trick-or-Treating.  We were middle schoolers.

Through the years things have changed a lot.  People don't make homemade goodies to hand out.  (One year I did but only to the kids I knew very well.) 

Children these days won't fondly remember their first Trick-or-Treating.  Not because they had a bad time, but because their parents insist on dressing babies up like little pea pods and going door-to-door.  (Are you going to save that candy until the kid is old enough to eat it?  I think not.)

And I wonder when children today will ever grow up.  At least the high schoolers who knocked on our door were wearing costumes.  One year we had a bunch that didn't even bother with costumes.  It seems there are as many adults in costume as there are kids.  And not just the college kids hanging out in the neighborhoods close to the local colleges.  I'm talking people with salaries, not just paychecks.

I've been watching too much "It's the Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown" and not enough "Girls Next Door".  I've been struck with nostalgia for a 1950's-style Halloween.  The kind where witches weren't sexy and a sheet could become a ghost.  Not a toga.

Menu Plan: November 1 - November 7

Hopefully everyone has enough candy that they won't run out tonight for Trick-or-Treating.  It seems like there are hundreds of kids stopping by our house on Halloween.

Several years ago our neighborhood tried to move Halloween to Saturday because it fell on a Sunday night and therefore a school night.  All the crunchy-granola earth mothers in the neighborhood claimed that the kids would be out late and wouldn't be productive the next day at school.  Oddly enough, it recently came to my attention that my small southern hometown has Halloween on Saturday night if the 31st falls on a Sunday because Sundays are church nights.  Yet again, here I am in the middle, neither in the Jesus freak camp nor the crunchy-granola earth mother camp. 

Believe it or not, there are some of us who attend church regularly, eat and grow organic food, and send our kids out in costumes soliciting the neighbors for HFCS-GMO-and-sugar-laden handouts even when Halloween falls on a Sunday.  Once they return with pillowcases full of candy, what to do with that ADHD-inducing booty?

Maybe I can find a way to use it in desserts.

• Monday
• Breakfast:  banana-nut muffins
• Supper:  corn pudding, creamed spinach, roasted pumpkin (it's MFM after all)
• Tuesday
• Breakfast:  cereal (as usual since Mr. Gaelic has early morning meetings every Tuesday)
• Supper:  chili, rice, and toppings of cheese, onions, jalapeños, sour cream
• Wednesday
• Breakfast:  sautéed apple slices, cinnamon bread
• Supper:  scalloped ham-and-potatoes, green beans, glazed carrots
• Thursday
• Breakfast:  bagels, cream cheese
• Supper:  veggie and alphabet-shaped pasta soup, homemade bread
• Friday
• Breakfast:  soft-boiled eggs, toast
• Supper:  shrimp étouffée, rice, salad
• Saturday
• Breakfast:  bacon, eggs, grits, toast
• Supper:  pizza for girls, Mr. Gaelic and I are headed to a Murder Mystery party and are to take a dessert (this might be where the extra Halloween candy gets used if a good recipe can be found)
• Sunday
• Breakfast:  pancakes, sausage
• Dinner:  chicken and dumplin's, kale, stewed tomatoes

Yep, not a lot of desserts served at chez Gaelic.  That's why the kids hoard their candy stashes.  But if the candy is not all eaten by Christmas, out it goes.  Yep, they actually make it last that long.

E Pluribus Divertere

How were the fireworks? Thunderous? Exciting? Moving? Did you hear the Declaration of Independence reread? Did you sing the National Anthem? What about other national songs? Did you pray?

Huh? Pray on Independence Day? What for? It’s a celebration of our defeat of tyranny. We should go out and make noise, not sit in church with our heads bowed quietly praying. Let the world know how proud we are.

Pride in one’s country is all good and fine. But what about the providence that helped bring about our freedom to shoot fireworks into the night sky?

The last time that my family ventured downtown for a concert on the 4th my father was in tow in his wheelchair. There’s a great photo of him and my husband with flags surrounding them whilst sitting at the top of the marble steps waiting for the Pops to begin and then the 1812 Overture with cannons and fireworks.

This year, I opted for something completely different than the hubbub of all the crowds and security checkpoints. Church beckoned, with the promise of organ fireworks and a dramatic reading of the Declaration. The way the organ master made the windows shake was better than fighting for blanket space on an overly crowded lawn. A lunch of hot dogs and all the trimmings finished out the morning. More celebration than worship. Any day that you can sing all four verses of “America, The Beautiful” in church, especially the fourth verse about “alabaster cities … undimmed by human tears”, surrounded by folks you know and love is good enough reason to celebrate.

I think this is the beginning of a beautiful tradition.

The Shots Heard 'Round the Family

The Americans began the battle with 910. The enemy had 1,075. At the end of the battle, the casualties were: American dead 29, American wounded 58, American missing/captured 0, enemy dead 244, enemy wounded 163, enemy missing/captured 668. Outcome? It was "the turn of the tide of success." So said Thomas Jefferson. The date was Saturday, October 7, 1780.

While Maj. Patrick Ferguson was en route to join Lt. Gen. Charles Cornwallis, he learned that a large group of Patriots was following him. He established his men in a defensive posture atop a ridge known locally as Kings Mountain in South Carolina. Ferguson was isolated on Kings Mountain without any chance for reinforcements. With everyone in place, he waited for the Patriots to come and attack him.

The combined Patriot militias of Cols. Issac Shelby, John Sevier, Joseph McDowell, and William Campbell came together in late September. They learned that Ferguson's Loyalist force was invading the Carolinas and threatening to hang them and burn their homes. Outraged by this, the Patriot force set out to destroy the Loyalists.

The Revolution turned families against each other. At Kings Mountain, one of my husband's direct ancestral lines had one American and three Loyalist brothers fighting. Family history states that the American brother shot his Loyalist brother at the same time that the Loyalist brother shot the American brother. The brothers knowingly killed each other, each for his own political ideology.

So as we celebrate the 233rd year of our Independence, it's good to know that the only thing we'll shoot is fireworks. And that we keep our political ideology in check and not let our emotions get the better of us when it comes to people whose views are different than our own.

Thank Heaven That I've Got Girls

Am I like the only person in America who hasn't seen this yet?

For T. and B. and Me

This is dedicated to T. and B. from me, well, because the three of us know what it's like to lose a mother, which makes this coming Sunday all the more poignant. So if you have a mother, or ever had one, whether biological or adopted, take a moment to watch the clip and pee in your pants with Ruth.

What's in Your Basket?

The Easter Bunny didn't stop at our house last night. My youngest agreed to give him this year off. Not that she doesn't believe in him, mind you. We just opted to fill our Easter baskets with something more meaningful this year.

Easter baskets? Meaningful?

Yep. A friend of a friend who is Eastern Orthodox told me of the tradition. Remember way back in February? Ash Wednesday? The beginning of Lent? Remember we all gave up something for Lent? Well, if Easter heralds their return to our lives, what better place for them to appear than in our Easter baskets?

My husband's Easter basket was filled with two different single malts. Mine had a Starbucks gift card. The eldest child's had Anime books. The second's had teenage fashion magazines. And the youngest's? Her basket was brimming with candy. All sorts. Runts, jelly beans, fudge, Air Heads, Starburst, SweeTarts, and chocolate!

It was very hard seeing those baskets sitting on the bookcase in the dining room just waiting for Easter. Knowing that our baskets would be individualized made Lent and the baskets themselves more meaningful to all of us. Even those of us who have been jaded about the Easter Bunny. I think that we'll give the Easter Bunny his gold watch. Our Lenten Easter baskets are here to stay.

Peep Show

OMG! Can you believe what some peeps are doing? What will they think of next? You've got to see THIS.

Agenda for Today

Hurry, hurry, hurry…

Before the next job…
Then there’s supper…

Why pancakes for supper? Because it’s…

Then home to…