Step In The Trenches

Excellent Reads: The Distant Hours

2011-01-03T05:49:00.000-06:00

A letter posted in 1941 finally reaches its destination in 1992 with powerful repercussions for Edie Burchill, a London book editor, in this enthralling romantic thriller from Australian author Morton (The Forgotten Garden). At crumbling Milderhurst Castle live elderly twins Persephone and Seraphina and their younger half-sister, Juniper, the three eccentric spinster daughters of the late Raymond Blythe, author of The True History of the Mud Man, a children's classic Edie adores. Juniper addressed the letter to Meredith, Edie's mother, then a young teen evacuated to Milderhurst during the Blitz. Edie, who's later invited to write an introduction to a reprint of Raymond's masterpiece, visits the seedily alluring castle in search of answers. Why was her mother so shattered by the contents of a letter sent 51 years earlier? And what happened to soldier Thomas Cavill, Juniper's long-missing fiancé and Meredith's former teacher? Despite the many competing narratives, the answers will stun readers. ---Publishers Weekly review at Amazon.com

The Distant Hours by Kate Morton

Kate Morton is by far my favorite author of all time. I devoured her second work, The Forgotten Garden, and have since read it several times since. Each time I love it even more. It's my number one favorite book I've ever read.

So I was eagerly awaiting Ms. Morton's third work for the better part of a year. I ordered it and paid extra for shipping the day it came out! A castle, World War II, a longlost letter and a mysterious tale of tragedy among a set of sisters...who could resist?

I was NOT disappointed in this work. One of the best parts of Ms. Morton's works is how she makes her stories unfold: at over 500 pages each, it is a slow and achingly beautiful awakening to the real story every time. While I don't want to rush through the book I really, really want to know the end! And now that I can put it all together, I can't wait to read this again so I can "get" all the foreshadowings and intersections of characters and plot devices.

Ms. Morton is extremely talented not only at creating hauntingly beautiful stories, often achingly tragic, but she is also an extremely articulate writer. Her prose is stunning. Her word combinations are beautiful. I love, love, LOVE to read her writing. I hope she will have another book out soon! Until then I will be reading this one again. I can't recommend it highly enough (although I do still prefer The Forgotten Garden over this one). A must-read!

So-So Reads: The Particular Sadness of Lemon Cake

2011-01-02T17:16:00.000-06:00

From Amazon.com:
On the eve of her ninth birthday, unassuming Rose Edelstein, a girl at the periphery of schoolyard games and her distracted parents’ attention, bites into her mother’s homemade lemon-chocolate cake and discovers she has a magical gift: she can taste her mother’s emotions in the cake. She discovers this gift to her horror, for her mother—her cheerful, good-with-crafts, can-do mother—tastes of despair and desperation. Suddenly, and for the rest of her life, food becomes a peril and a threat to Rose. The curse her gift has bestowed is the secret knowledge all families keep hidden—her mother’s life outside the home, her father’s detachment, her brother’s clash with the world. Yet as Rose grows up she learns to harness her gift and becomes aware that there are secrets even her taste buds cannot discern...

The Particular Sadness of Lemon Cake by Aimee Bender

I kept seeing plugs for this very-well-promoted book, and found the premise extremely enchanting: a little girl who can taste the emotions of others in the food they prepare? Oh, the possibilities! I was thrilled to come across a copy of this at the library and immediately snatched it up. I read it in one day.

I will be blunt and say that I was indeed enchanted with the first half to two-thirds of this book, then it completely went off the deep end and lost me. I finished it simply to know the ending (which I'm still not sure I understand) but was left with a bitter aftertaste, indeed. About halfway through the book it takes a decidedly weird turn, and Rose loses all her previous delightful precociousness.

I totally get that in this genre of "magical realism" one must be able to suspend their beliefs in the world as we know it, and accept the fantastic as mundane. Rose's ability to taste emotions in food actually didn't seem that far-off or fantastic to me, given that I've been interested in the phenomena of synesthesia for a while now. Rarely, some people's senses seem to get "crossed", and they experience their senses in unusual ways: visual images may be strongly associated with smells or sounds, for example; letters and numbers may be colored in a particular way, or they may associate letters or words with musical sounds or even smells. Interesting stuff, and Rose's story held so many fascinating possibilities.

Therefore it is true to say I was very disappointed (and thoroughly confused) by the bizarre path this book began to wander down, about halfway through. I not only lost interest in the story but also any care and concern I might have had for the characters. Ultimately, I found this book a huge disappointment. It's a quick read, though I wouldn't necessarily call it an "easy" read. If you've got a lot of time to kill and want to read something very different, you might give it a try. I would definitely recommend checking it out free from a library; I'm so glad I didn't spend money on this.

I'd be very interested to hear from anyone reading this who has read the book. Anyone?

The Tiny Quilt Shop

2010-11-29T05:58:00.000-06:00

I'm so proud of the birthday present I made for my mom this year! She has a wonderful Christmas village, and since she owns a quilt shop, we've always looked for quilt shops she can add to her village. Well we've pretty much maxed out all the ceramic quilt shops for villages you can buy (all two of them, heh), so this year I decided to make her one!

This was so much fun! I went a little overboard (I made 40 tiny bolts of fabric only to discover they wouldn't all fit inside). I found the miniature quilts at a local dollhouse miniatures store--my mom even has one that is very similar to the yellow tulip! Bill helped by installing the light, and the kids helped by giving design suggestions and placing the fabric bolts inside.

My favorite part about it, of course, is Nellie. Nellie is the "shop dog", and everyone loves her. She's a wire-haired Jack Russell Terrorist (uh, I mean Terrier), and adorably, she has this tuft of white fur that sticks up right on the top of her head (she was my grandfather Do-Daddy's dog, and he had a matching tuft of white hair on the top of his head!). So, naturally, I had to glue a tuft of cotton to the top of "Nellie"'s head before she took her place on the bench. This was so fun!

The Ugliest Cake I Ever Did Make

2010-11-28T17:36:00.000-06:00

I love, love, LOVE to bake! Thanksgiving provides me with an especially exciting challenge: both of my inlaws are diabetic, and up until recently my dad required gluten-free. (True side story: the first time I ever met my future inlaws was a Thanksgiving meal, way before Bill and I were dating. He invited some friends who had nowhere to go to his parents'. My parents were in Louisiana that year and I was alone, so I went. Bill failed to inform me that his parents required sugar-free, and I ever so naively brought with me a huge batch of sugary pumpkin pie bread. My (future) mother in law was so kind about it, but I was mortified!).

But I digress. This year, Thanksgiving was special because it so happened my mom's birthday fell on Thursday, as it does every few years. I love Thanksgiving on her birthday because I am so very thankful for her. I decided I wanted to make a sugar-free red velvet cake for our Thanksgiving/birthday celebration.

I gotta tell you, I sampled the batter while mixing and I was really worried it was going to taste like plain old flour, only red. I was totally under-impressed with the batter. And the cake itself (with sugar-free frosting from scratch) turned out to be the flat-out UGLIEST cake I have ever had the fortune to create:

Interestingly, and not quite coincidentally, I'm sure, it was the very first cake I've ever made from scratch and not from a box...hmmm...I'm sure this cake could be prettied up with some sparkly red sugar decorating the top, but that would kind of defeat my sugar-free purpose.

My stepson summed it up correctly upon tasting it when he giddily proclaimed: "Wendy! That horrid cake you made tastes really good!". Hahaha, we all had a good laugh at that. And he was right: despite its terribly homely appearance and my fears over the bland batter, it ended up tasting pretty darn good. Not bad for my first try...

Incidentally, I also made a sugar-free pumpkin pie, and I want to share the recipe with you. Me, I can't stand pumpkin pie so I don't eat it, but Bill and everyone else says it tastes just like a "regular" pumpkin pie. So if you're looking for something sugar-free that tastes as good as the sugary version, this is your recipe!

Meet the Members of Our Zoo: Cloud

2010-11-23T05:58:00.011-06:00

Anyone who knows anything at all about me will recognize this sweet face as the canine love my life:

That's my baby, Cloud. She's a 10.5 year old Lab/Husky mix. She was a stray given to me back in 2000. This dog has been with me through thick and thin, good times and bad, through my divorce and single days and second marriage/stepmomhood. I can honestly say she's one of my best friends: I can tell her anything, I can be a total bitch around her, and she still loves me and goes "Weeeee weeeeeeeee" excitedly when I get home. She is precious and amazing. I love this dog so much sometimes I can hardly believe the depth and hugeness of how I feel about her. I would step in front of a train to save her, if it meant I got five more minutes of life with her. That sounds morbid but now that she's almost 11 and is obviously getting elderly, I think sometimes about life without her (can't even begin to imagine) and I know that my heart is going to shatter when it's her time to go, which is now sooner than it is later. All I can do is enjoy the time I have left with her (God willing at least a few more years, please) and treat her like the sweet princess she is. Yes, she's pretty much spoiled rotten. But she's so adorable!

Cloud is most expressive with her ears: I can tell just by the slant of her ears what's she's thinking. She has the "I Did Something Wrong" ears, the "I Want Something From You" ears and the "You Need to Pet Me" ears. Bill loves to play a game where he puts her ears down and says "Lab" and puts her ears up and says "Husky". Lab Husky. Lab Husky. Haha!

One of the things I love best is how vocal she is: because she's part Husky, pretty much every thought that crosses her mind, she feels compelled to share with everyone else. She can make some pretty freakin' adorable noises when she's excited! Sometimes, every now and then, she gets her Husky on and she howls:

She did this when Bill took Snowball for a run on the bike without her the other day! (Lest you feel sorry for her being left behind, he took Cloud first--you would have thought she'd have been too tired to howl like that, but she wasn't!).

We all know you're not supposed to have favorites but everyone in our house (including the animals) recognizes Cloud's position as Oh Favored One. She's such a good girl, she doesn't even abuse it. :) I love my Cloudybaby!

Worst Christmas Songs EVER

2010-11-22T15:12:00.001-06:00

Bah Humbug!

Okay, confession time: I've been listening to Christmas music on 103.7 since November 1st. What can I say, I love this time of year!

That said there are at least three (and probably more) holiday songs that put me in a decidedly un-festive mood. Now I know there are a lot of "worst Christmas songs" lists out there and a lot of people have already weighed in on this issue. But now it's my turn: for your consideration today are what I consider the top three WORST offenders.

3). Bruce Springsteen's "Santa Claus Is Coming To Town"

Now don't get me wrong, I love me some Boss (especially since he uses my name in "Born to Run"!), but this screechy, scratchy, yowling mess of a song has no business being played over and over and OVER again.

2). Speaking of over and over and over and over and over and over and OVER again:

Paul McCartney's "Wonderful Christmastime"

This song makes me want to stick a fork in my ear. I despise songs of any kind that repeat the same thing over and over. This is one of the worst offenders I've ever heard in that regard. This is one of the worst offenders I've ever heard in that regard. This is one of the worst offenders I've ever heard in that regard. This is one of the worst offenders I've ever heard in that regard. Does repeating it make my thoughts any more meaningful or relevant? No, Mr. McCartney, it doesn't. So stop, already.

1). Gloria Estefan's "This Christmas"
I'm sorry to be a hater, but I really can't stand anything by Gloria Estefan, and this one definitely tops the list. I'm not really even sure why I dislike her so much, for some reason I just find her voice to be whiney and annoying, like bloody ragged fingernails down a chalkboard. This song makes me want to jump over the balcony rails outside my office every time it comes on. Which, 103.7 The Christmas Station, if you're reading this, is entirely too often over the course of one day. Is there nothing else you can play?!

Bah Humbug.

What are YOUR top three worst songs?

And now just to prove that I did not post this with the sole purpose of leaving you with a daylong earworm of the above mentioned songs, for your viewing and listening pleasure, one of the best Christmas songs ever made. What can I say, it makes me happy!

Snoopy vs. The Red Baron

Meet the Members of Our Zoo: Snowball

2010-11-21T07:09:00.003-06:00

I talk about my pets all the time; I figured it's about time I gave each one of them a chance to shine in the spotlight. Today's introduction: Snowball.

Snowball is a beautiful, sweet, energetic 5 year old black Labrador. Bill thinks her name is hilarious.

This dog is in some ways the craziest dog I've ever known...she is pathologically mentally ill when it comes to food. I really believe she really believes she is going to starve if she doesn't take every chance she can get to snatch food whenever an opportunity presents itself to her. If we don't practice preventative maintenance, she will steal from the trash, off the counters, and occasionally straight out of the childrens' hands if they are not paying attention.

But even though she's crazy she's also pretty much one of the sweetest dogs I've ever known; she wouldn't even hurt a fly (not intentionally, anyway). I love it when her ears perk up like she's listening really hard, we call those The Cute Lab Ears. She has the prettiest brown eyes and when you look into them you can practically read her mind. She's also very, very smart. Much smarter than Cloud.

She's a black Lab but Bill and I are convinced she's got more than just Lab in her, maybe some Golden Retriever, because her fur is much softer than a typical Labrador's coarse fur. She is soooo soft.

Snowball also loves to play! Her favorite toy right now is a big rope with a knot on the end. She swings it around like a mace and growls at it. She really gets into it:

She cracks me up! The girl can drive me crazy sometimes with her antics, but I really do adore that dog.

School Zone Speeders and Report a Litterer

2010-11-20T06:01:00.000-06:00

Nothing, and I do mean quite possibly nothing, irks me more than people who speed in school zones. It really makes my blood boil! Typically, the people I see speeding in school zones, are the ones who are either pulling into or out of the school parking lot with a car full of kids. Now that really chaps my hide, because you know if someone else caused an accident speeding that parent would be the first to sue the pants off of them.

Unrelated to that. Texas has a program in place as part of the Don't Mess With Texas campaign, where you can report a litterer. If you witness someone littering, even so much as a cigarette butt, you can anonymously report their license plate number and the state will send them a trash bag and a letter reminding them that littering is wrong. I love this! I am totally outing myself as a goodie-goodie here but I report every single litterer I see. 99% of them are cigarette butts. I'm sure smokers don't even think twice (or likely consider this as littering), but if you've ever been in a heat wave in Texas in August during a drought you know how dangerous a carelessly tossed lit cigarette butt can be: we have grass fires on the highway medians all the time in the summer here. Not to mention it's just plain freaking RUDE to throw your trash around. ARGH!

So here's my brilliant idea: why don't we come up with a way to anonymously report school zone speeders, just like the littering program? They could get a letter reminding them that children die in pedestrian accidents near schools every year. The school zones remind people to slow down (and get off the phone/stop texting) for a reason!!

The only drawback I can see to a school zone speeder reporting program, is that folks like me might be so busy trying to write down license plate numbers that we ourselves might be less careful in a school zone than we should be. Talk about shooting ourselves in the foot...

Still, I will remain eternally hacked off every time I drive through a school zone and see somebody whip past me with their carload of kids. I think steam is coming out of my ears just thinking about it...

Cupcake Pies

2010-11-19T10:52:00.000-06:00

Check out my latest cupcake creation...blueberry and cherry pies! So fun (and very easy)!

I think I might be obsessed. :)

Good Reads: Twilight of Innocence: The Disappearance of Beverly Potts

2010-11-19T06:03:00.008-06:00

Being a self-confessed true crime junkie, it's no surprise that when I came across a website called The Charley Project a few years ago, I was hooked. It's a detailed catalog of people gone missing in the United States dating all the way back to 1910. There are almost 9,000 missing people profiled there: all of them tragic, some of them quite mysterious.

I've never found any of them to be quite so mysterious (or quite so haunting to me) as that of 10 year old Beverly Potts, who disappeared just yards from her home in a crowded park back in 1951. Beverly was a lovely, and by all accounts, extremely shy girl. She was minutes from home, having enjoyed a talent show in the park with thousands of her neighbors. There have been many hoaxes over the decades but no solid leads and no clear answer to what happened to her.

Recently I read Twilight of Innocence: The Disappearance of Beverly Potts by James Jessen Badal. A synopsis by Amazon reviewer MLPlayfair has this to say:

"Twilight of Innocence: The Disappearance of Beverly Potts" by James Jessen Badal is the spellbinding account of a community's search for a 10-year-old girl who vanished without a trace less than a block from her Cleveland home.

Born in 1941, Beverly Potts lived with her family in a quiet Cleveland suburb. On a summer evening in August 1951, she walked to a park just a few doors from home to see a local talent show with her best friend, Patsy. Her disappearance later that night led to what Badal calls "the largest manhunt in Cleveland history" and raised "the chilling possibility that she had been grabbed literally within sight of the family house."

Badal investigated the case by sifting through old newspapers and police files. He describes the dynamic interaction among the three vying newspapers in Cleveland -- an intriguing story in itself -- along with the city's political machinations. The author retraces the shy girl's activities just before she disappeared and provides an exacting timeline of events. He talks about the public's reaction to the crime: Many helped in the search while crowds gathered in front of the family home to get a glimpse of the "gloomy house where tragedy struck."

The authorities tracked down all known sex offenders, drained a pond, sent divers into Lake Erie, did flyovers in planes and led basement-to-attic searches. They followed up on cryptic messages and false leads and even took calls from psychics and extortionists. As Badal says, the hoaxes ranged "from the merely stupid to the heartlessly cruel."

Decades after the crime, police were still investigating, interviewing serial killers and molesters. Even today there are a lot more questions than answers. The ordeal was so horrendous for Beverly's mother that she "died, quite literally of grief, in 1956," says Badal.

We tend to think of the abduction of children as a modern phenomenon, forgetting that it's always been a terrifying fact of life.

MLPlayfair has written an excellent synopsis and I highly recommend this book for true-crime mystery junkies. The only thing I didn't like about this book is certainly not the author's fault: it doesn't solve the crime. We are left hanging, as folks have been for nearly 60 years now, as to Beverly's fate. How tragic.

Halloween At Cowboys Stadium

2010-11-18T06:02:00.002-06:00

Bill and I were so lucky to have tickets to watch the Cowgirls (um, I mean Cowboys) play at the new stadium on Halloween! Not only was it the first time for both of us to check it out, but it was also awesomely awesome to be there on Halloween and enjoy some of the most interesting people-watching such an event provides. I am an avid people-watcher to begin with (I love airports) and this was one of the best opportunities I've had in a while.

My favorite part was when they put pictures of people in costume up on the Jumbo-Tron! Check out just a few of the samplings. There was also a great halftime performance by the beloved Dallas Cowboy cheerleaders dressed "backwards", and being stalked by a large crowd of zombies (ultimately doing a fantastically choreographed dance together at the end). Fun stuff!

By far our favorite guy in costume was the one I'm going to show in the first two pictures: he started out with a Texas Rangers jersey on, which he then ripped open to show his Cowboys shirt...clever!

Zero the Hero

2010-11-17T06:14:00.002-06:00

Today I got to do something really cool at my stepson's school! The kindergarten teacher had put out a call at the beginning of school for volunteers to bring treats for "Zero the Hero", and I signed up for this week. This is a celebration they do every 10th day of school (up to 100) to teach about place value, counting by tens, etc. "Zero" mysteriously brings in a treat that is round, while the kids are not in the room. In the past, Zero has brought in pennies, balls, bracelets, and round candy.

I wanted to do something with a fall or Thanksgiving theme, and I wracked my brain for a long time trying to come up with something different and creative. Finally I thought of yo-yos (what kid doesn't love a yo-yo?) with autumn/fall stickers on them! Bill ever so graciously helped me peel off price stickers and put on pumpkins and leaves. Look how cute:

I hope the kids like this treat from "Zero"!

Loving Fall!

2010-11-16T05:49:00.001-06:00

Fall is absolutely my favorite season, and this past weekend Bill and I were so lucky to be blessed with beautiful weather, time alone together (hey that rhymes!), and a lovely nature preserve just five minutes away in which to enjoy God's gorgeous creations.

Now I know fall in Texas doesn't even begin to compare to the stunning leaf displays elsewhere in the country (especially since it's hard to call 75 degrees "fall"...as I am fond of saying, here in Texas we have two seasons: Hot and Not Hot). But nevertheless I think we saw some pretty awesomely beautiful leaf-changing!

I think you will appreciate the loveliness of these photos, so I am loathe to confess that while most of them were taken in the nature preserve, the final three in the series were taken, of all places, in the Kroger parking lot near our house. As a matter of fact Bill went inside Kroger to buy water while I was running all over the parking lot taking pictures...I actually had a cop pull up beside me and ask why I was taking pictures. I told him the trees were so pretty, and I just couldn't believe of all the gorgeous property on the nature preserve down the road, the prettiest trees in town are owned by Kroger! He laughed and drove off...fortunately I don't look much like a terrorist plotting to blow up a Kroger, I guess!

Enjoy!

Autumn Leaves

2010-11-15T06:01:00.003-06:00

I love fall! It's totally my favorite season. The only thing that irritates me about fall, is when retailers try to skip it altogether and rush us into Christmas. Case in point: last week I needed a fall-leaf cookie cutter to make this treat:

Peanut Butter Chocolate Autumn Leaves

It's basically a pie-crust "sandwich" filled with melted peanut butter and chocolate chips, brushed with a sugar dusting. Delicious, and oh so cute!

But I had to go to THREE different crafts stores to find a leaf-shaped cookie cutter. The guy at Joann's flat out laughed at me when I asked where the Thanksgiving/autumn stuff was...he said "we put that away a week ago to make room for Christmas!". Never mind this was on NOVEMBER 9th! Thanksgiving hasn't even happened yet and they've already put all the stuff away?! Unbelievable.

Fortunately the folks at Hobby Lobby are a little more level-headed and still have two whole rows of autumn/Thanksgiving stuff out. I found my cookie cutter, made my treats, and all was well in the world of Wendy. Yay!

Tiny Turkey Dinners

2010-11-14T18:07:00.000-06:00

I've been pretty proud of some of my kitchen accomplishments, but I gotta say I'm ridiculously proud of these: Tiny Turkey Dinner Cupcakes! Check out the turkey with gravy, peas, mashed potatoes with butter, and cranberry sauce:

Aaaaa!!! They're so cute I can hardly stand it! As I've said before, I am weirdly fascinated by food that unexpectedly resembles other food...if this doesn't fit the bill I don't know what does!

These were a lot easier and less complicated than they look, too, once I got started. In fact I was only planning to do a couple for pictures but I got on such a roll I looked down and had a dozen before I knew it!

Too bad the kids aren't here to enjoy them (or to have helped, as they love to do). :(

Still, these were so fun and easy, we just might have to do them again...

Not So Good Reads: The Profiler

2010-11-14T10:18:00.000-06:00

From Amazon.com:

Pat Brown is now one of the nation's few female criminal profilers--a sleuth who assists police departments and victims' families by analyzing both physical and behavioral evidence to make the most scientific determination possible about who committed a crime. Brown has analyzed many dozens of seemingly hopeless cases and brought new investigative avenues to light.

I would like to begin by confessing that I am a true-crime junkie, and I have read every single one of famous FBI-profiler John Douglas's books. You know the guy: Jody Foster's character Clarice Starling in Silence of the Lambs was partly modeled after him. I've read some of the works of Douglas's FBI-profiler peers, too, but never found any to be as articulate and well-written as his.

So when I saw this book about a female profiler in the library I couldn't resist.

Let me just say that this book is about the most worthless piece of drivel I have read in a long, long time. In fact I only made it to page 61 before I threw it down in disgust.

I have never in my life read something as self-aggrandizing, boastful, and oh-so-self-important as this jumble of words on a page. This woman purports to be a "nationally known profiler"...yet she has no experience or background in law enforcement, no specialized training with the FBI or anyone else for that matter. She is self-taught, and egotistically thus proclaims herself to be a "profiler". Based on her self-education through books and online classes! What a joke.

The turning point for me, where I laughed out loud and could hardly go any further, is a point early in the book when she suspects her boarder of murder, so she's going around "interviewing" people who know him and she goes to meet his father. The suspected-murderer's father says: "I've had a bunch of problems with him constantly lying, and one time he stole a bunch of quarters from me, I think it was a jar." ................... are you kidding me??? This is the "evidence" you are "profiling" ?!?!

Do not, I repeat, do not waste your time on this garbage. I can't believe this hoaxer found a publisher willing to pay her to write this drivel and spend money on binding it in a book. I also can't believe my very own beloved public library wasted $24.99 on the hardback version of it. What a crock!

The Truth About Cinderella: Part V

2010-11-13T05:57:00.001-06:00

The final note in my series. You might want to read previous entries Part I, Part II, Part III, and Part IV.

The last thing I would like to point out about this book that I did indeed find very interesting, and which Wednesday Martin expounds upon in her admirable work Stepmonster, is bookended at the front and back of this book:

"The cross-cultural ubiquity of Cinderella stories is revealing, for they would not persist where their themes had no resonance." (p. 5)

and

"Why are wicked stepmothers so much more numerous in folklore than wicked stepfathers?" (p. 61)

The authors propose two reasons, both of which I find compelling.

"A partial answer may be that stepmothers were not always so rare. Until this century, stepfamilies in Europe and America were more likely to be formed in the aftermath of death than a divorce, and the mothers of young children incurred substantial mortality in childbirth and from other causes. Widowers often, though by no means always, kept the children and tried to import a replacement for their mother.

Another possible reason why Cinderella and Snow White were beset by stepmothers rather than stepfathers has to do with the social purposes of story-tellers. If a tale is to persist through the ages, it must appeal not only to its audience but also to its performers. So who were the story-tellers who found these tales to be worthy of the telling, and who were their listeners?

If the primary audiences were small children, as they surely were for Cinderella and Snow White, the primary story-tellers were probably their mothers And it is easy to imagine why mothers might prefer stories whose subtext is 'remember, my dears, that the worst thing imaginable would be for me to disappear and for your father to replace me'.......over those that instead whispered 'should your father ever die or leave us, it would be a terrible thing for you if I were to remarry' " ..... (p. 61-62).

Indeed.

The Truth About Cinderella: Part IV

2010-11-12T06:33:00.001-06:00

If you haven't already, you'll want to read Part I, Part II, and Part III of this series.

The other major quibble I have with this book is the failure to differentiate between abuse by stepfathers versus stepmothers, until the very end, when the topic is briefly/haphazardly thrown out and not given nearly as much discussion or data to back it up.

Thinking logically, I would assume that more stepfathers would be abusers than stepmothers, just based on the fact that men tend to be not only physically bigger and stronger (thus more likely to inflict injury at the level that it would be reported to authorities), but also more physically aggressive, as males tend to be.

Their finding?
"Does this mean that it is really only stepfatherhood that is a threat to children? No, that is not the implication. Remember that stepmotherhood is itself rare, especially for the very youngest children. Indeed, stepmothers are so infrequent, both in the population-at-large and in the homicidal and abuse data archives, that we have been reluctant to compute per capita rates and odds ratios, because the estimates are so sensitive to the effects of one or a few cases. Nevertheless, it is clear that stepmothers as well as stepfathers are greatly over-represented in child maltreatment, and our best guess is that the hazards are roughly comparable." (p. 60)

Maybe I misunderstood something...but their best guess? Where is the data to back that up? And where are they getting that stepmotherhood is "itself rare"? Because it doesn't seem so rare to me. If the current popular saying that half of all marriages will end in divorce is true, you've got to assume that a large proportion of those failed first marriages will involve children, will result in second marriages, and they won't all be mother-stepfather remarriages. I have a really, really hard time believing stepmotherhood is so rare.

And didn't they pretty much admit in the middle sentence (Indeed, stepmothers are so infrequent, both in the population-at-large and in the homicidal and abuse data archives) that abuse by stepmothers is, to use their own word, INFREQUENT?

Maybe they mean custodial stepmoms, which I definitely concede are infrequent and possibly even rare. But I still don't see how they can "guess" that the risk of abuse is "roughly comparable" to that of stepfathers. In fact, the opening sentence to this chapter (7) says it all:

"In the Canadian and British homicide archives that we discussed in Chapter 4, there were dozens of children slain by stepfathers for every one killed by a stepmother. This imbalance is also conspicuous, if not quite so large, in the data archives of non-lethal child abuse." (p. 60)

Stay tuned for Part V tomorrow.

11 days and counting...

2010-11-11T23:57:00.000-06:00

Bill put this little battery-operated "candle" in our Mouse Motel on Halloween night and turned it on. We were shocked a couple of days later to find it still faithfully blinking. The pumpkin is long gone but the little light is still on, 11 days later...that's an impressive little battery!

The Truth About Cinderella: Part III

2010-11-11T06:13:00.004-06:00

If you haven't already, you'll want to read Part I and Part II of this series.

I found the hysterical, alarmist tone of the book distasteful. You can read right there on the jacket: "A child is one hundred times more likely to be abused or killed by a stepparent than a genetic parent" and yet when you get to the research that actually "proved" that theory, they admit that the study they got that data from was flawed:

"we were never entirely happy with our initial study, for several reasons. The population-at-large estimates were questionable; the 'abuse' criteria were not necessarily consistent from state to state; and the data were inadequate for testing additional 'confound' hypotheses other than poverty." (p. 29)

So they go on to complete a similar but better-controlled (and thus less-flawed) study in Canada, which ultimately shows only a forty-times greater rate of abuse among stepfamilies (p. 30).

Um, I have a math disorder so I could be wrong, but forty times more likely is not quite equal to one hundred times more likely, is it? So why the hysterical misleading on the cover? Oh, to sell books, that's right.

In any case, I don't dispute their overall point, that stepparents are more likely to hurt stepchildren than biological parents are. That makes a lot of sense to me, rationally and logically, as distasteful as I might find the concept.

Stay tuned for Part IV tomorrow.

The Truth About Cinderella: Part II

2010-11-10T05:58:00.001-06:00

If you haven't already, you'll want to read Part I of this series.

The first thing I'll say is that I had to wade through a lot of scientific jargon on evolution, Darwinism, natural selection, etc, which wasn't all that interesting to me. My eyes would glaze over in all the lengthy discussions of animal stepparent behavior...what can I say, infanticidal lions really aren't my thing.

I did find one interesting point on pages 18-19, which references an earlier work:

"Another [observation] was a paper published in Science in 1975 by ornithologist Harry Power, who maintained that one should not expect birds who become the replacement mates of widowed parents to help feed their predecessor's offspring. Power's presumption was that natural selection weeds out those who are willing to help raise others' young, because insofar as the basis of such 'altruism' is heritable, step-parental investment contributes to the replication and proliferation of the genes of rivals rather than the replication and proliferation of genes conducive to the development of the altruism."

Got that? In other words, stepmom birds who invest in their stepbirds (instead of focusing on having their own biological birdkids) are allowing other female birds to "win" because they procreate more, thus proliferating their own genes. So even though such a stepmom bird might be altruistic in her care of her stepbirds, she's not passing on an altruism gene by doing so, therefore (at least in terms of natural selection), her efforts are wasted.

If that's not a case of "damned if you do, damned if you don't", I don't know what is.

Stay tuned for Part III tomorrow.

The Truth About Cinderella: Part I

2010-11-09T06:33:00.003-06:00

I came across this nasty little book by accident the other day and immediately experienced a huff of outrage. This hit a nerve, so stick with me, folks. This is going to be a several-part series.

"A child is one hundred times more likely to be abused or killed by a step-parent than by a genetic parent, say two scientists in this startling book. Martin Daly and Margo Wilson show that the mistreatment to stepchildren, long a staple of folktales, has a solid basis in fact. Daly and Wilson apply the perspective of evolutionary psychology to investigate why step-parenthood is different from genetic parenthood and why step-relationships succeed or fail."

Oh, so as if the social stigma of being a stepmom wasn't bad enough, now I'm suspect as a potential child abuser too? Just because of the label my role happens to have?

I would first like to point out that my outrage wasn't just in defense of my own position as a stepmom. Anecdotally, my own childhood experience proves the opposite of the authors' supposition: I suffered abuse at the hands of a biological parent, and was subsequently adopted by a step-parent who has been the best father a girl could ask for, and would never think of abusing a child, his biologically or otherwise.

Then my outrage led me down this rabbit trail: for every stepmother/stepchild currently being featured by the media as a classic case of evil-stepmom-abuses/and or kills-poor-stepchild (Kyron Horman, Zahra Baker, Haleigh Cummings), I can think of an equally disturbing case of biological moms killing their own kids: Andrea Yates, Susan Smith, Darlie Routier. Heck, I can even name a pregnant stepmom murdered in cold blood by her soon-to-be stepson: Kenzie Houk.

But all that is neither here nor there. Setting my indignation aside, I decided to do my best to read this book with an open mind. Not an easy task, I promise you. I found so much of this book distasteful and I have so much to say about it that I'm going to break it into parts, otherwise this blog post might become a book in and of itself!

Stay tuned for Part II tomorrow...

I Can Be Anything...A Barbie Barf

2010-11-08T18:10:00.003-06:00

Despite the fact that I loved Barbies as a youngster, when I got older I realized how insidious her message of physical perfection really is. I am not a die-hard feminist but I do have mild leanings in that direction, and Barbie's impossibly unrealistic measurements and physical perfection just don't sit well with me. Real people have imperfections: crooked noses, weight problems, scars, moles, etc. I just really feel that the standard of "beauty" ought to be more than blonde-haired, blue-eyed, pneumatically-perfect-boobies, impossibly small waist, and permanently-arched feet.

Now I know Mattel has gone a long way towards inclusiveness when it comes to Barbies with other coloring features and even so much as a disabled Barbie in a wheelchair. But to me these seem like tokens of gratuitousness thrown to the masses rather than real efforts to normalize realistic imperfection (that's not to say I consider "other coloring features" as imperfect, by the way, I just realized it sounded that way when I read it). Suffice it to say, I've been disillusioned about Barbie for years.

Interestingly, during the previews for Megamind this weekend, we happened to see this little video:

As the video progressed I kept thinking "What a great message for girls!" and really enjoying what I was seeing and hearing...until the end when it became clear that the video was made and being promoted by, of all things, Barbie.

My initial reaction upon realizing that was "Barf...Are you kidding me?" She who promotes relentlessly unrealistic standards of beauty dares to try and tell little girls they can be anything? I'll believe that as soon as I see a Barbie being "anything" while also being slightly chunky, with frizzy hair, or a scar on her face. I couldn't decide whether to laugh, cry, or get angry.

But the best part was about a half a second later when my stepdaughter asked with all genuineness: "What does that have to do with Barbie?"

Atta girl! I can't really even articulate why, but that left a big smile on my face.

Grrrrr

2010-11-08T12:22:00.003-06:00

I often find myself feeling quite defensive and sometimes even paranoid about my role as a stepmom and how stepmoms are viewed/treated in society at large. Much to my surprise, I have experienced negative feedback upon identifying myself as a stepmom that I never expected to face...after all, I am a nice person, my stepkids like me, we get along just fine...so why should my being a stepmom automatically cause others to jump to conclusions about who I am or what my relationships with the kids are like?

Unfortunately, even beyond Cinderella et al, there's a lot of garbage out there that stepmoms still have to deal with. Case in point, the most recent object of my ire: a Things Remembered catalog. You know, that cheesy place in the mall where you can get stuff personalized.

Now let me be the first to say I kind of like Things Remembered, despite the cheese factor of some of their offerings. In fact we were thrilled with the place when it came to our wedding: I had decided to write and say vows to the kids along with my vows to Bill, and I wanted some sort of "token" of my vows to them, a special remembrance that they could keep. I wracked my brain for days before I remembered Things Remembered (haha). I chose a beautiful locket for my stepdaughter with the date and a small remembrance engraved, and a lovely pocketwatch with the same for my stepson. They of course were/are not old enough to appreciate the symbolic meaning behind either the vows I said or the tokens of such, but I hope in time as they are older that they will.

Meanwhile my purchase of said items apparently put us on their mailing list for catalogs as I received one last week. Imagine my surprise, and then rage, as I pleasantly perused their offerings, only to find the juxtaposition of these two pages, Favorite Things For Her, and Favorite Things For Him:

WHAT?!?! I thought my head was going to explode. You mean to tell me that a freaking BABYSITTER is worth putting gift options for in their catalog, and STEPDADS are deemed worthy, but stepmoms are just totally and completely ignored!??!!? You've got to be kidding me. I searched the catalog frontwards and backwards one more time to be sure I hadn't missed something. Nope, it's there, in all its neglectful glory: "special" women are identified as mom, friend, niece, teacher, grandma, sister, aunt, sweetheart, and babysitter. Apparently, despite the presence of MILLIONS of us in the lives of children and their fathers everywhere, we don't merit a mention. Harrumph.

I thought I'd check their website too, just to see if I'm seriously overreacting. This just serves to tick me off further. A search for the keyword "stepdad" presents six gift suggestions (although admittedly none of the six are specifically designed for stepdads, they're just generic items that can be personalized as such). Interestingly, a keyword search for "stepmom" produces ZERO gift suggestions. Big. Fat. Zero. As if even the "general" items geared towards females are too special to be marred by the--gasp!!--horrid label of "stepmom".

Seriously, I know this is a tempest in a teapot and I have my panties in a wad about nothing here...but is it really just nothing? With approximately half of first marriages ending in divorce these days, and a large percentage of those marriages involving kids, many of whose fathers will go on to remarry...it's not like there's not a lot of us out here. Why the seemingly deliberate under-representation (or rather, non-representation)? Does Things Remembered just believe kids or other people in their lives won't buy special gifts for their stepmoms? That just seems so sad to me.

Maybe I'm being too sensitive, but it just doesn't seem that hard to be inclusive to a huge segment of the population...a segment that already faces bias and stigma that have nothing to do with our own personal worth as a stepmom. It's like just one more slap in the face by Cinderella herself.

Before I make myself too crazy over-pondering this, I'm going to post the vows that I made to the children on our wedding day. Re-reading these helps me to feel better about situations like this. I'm in this for a reason, and this is why I do what I do, day in and day out, for these two children--despite the negativity I may encounter in both uninformed individuals and society at large.

These are the vows I made:

"Minister:

Today you join your lives together and begin a new family. The circle and substance of family is not made by blood alone but by love, respect, and commitment. Indeed, the circle of family made by choice can be as strong or stronger than that of blood. Wendy, as you have made promises to Bill, you also enter a covenant with M and L. Do you have tokens of this covenant to offer?

Wendy:

I do.

Minister:

Wendy, repeat after me:

I promise to always treat you with love and respect, and to always be there for you in any way I can. I promise to support your relationship with both your father and your mother, and I promise always to listen. I also promise to always treat your dad with love and respect, and to model for you a healthy and loving relationship with the belief that one day you too will find such happiness in love. I promise to cherish the times we have together, to respect your independence as you grow up, and to love you both unconditionally. Please accept this locket/pocketwatch as a promise of my friendship, love, and loyalty."

Knitting is Fun!

2010-11-08T11:33:00.000-06:00

I gave my stepdaughter this "knitting" machine a while back, and she loves that thing:

(photo from Amazon.com)

Unfortunately it just didn't do much besides tubes...before long we had more tube-shaped "scarves" of pretty thread than we knew what to do with. She loves sewing stuff and picked up embroidery so quickly that when I saw an ad for a kids' knitting class I knew she's be excited. So this weekend I took her to a knitting class, and managed to talk the teachers into teaching me along with her! My grandmother taught me how to crochet eons ago, but it's been so long since I tried I know next to nothing about how to do it.

As it happens, she's better at knitting than I am! Once again her nimble little fingers just moved right along, it would seem she's a natural. Her first project will eventually be a potholder. Her stitches look way better than mine! In fact I had to "un-knit" and start over several times. But check out her beautiful work! Way to go M!

Mom vs. Stepmom: Introducing "Danetta"

2010-11-08T07:16:00.001-06:00

"Danetta" is the last in the four-part series of moms on stepmoms.

Like "Wanda" in Part 2, I really liked "Danetta". She seems very down to earth, very realistic, and really quite cool. I found myself thinking that even though she raves about how wonderful stepmom "Shelly" is,"Danetta" sounds pretty darn wonderful herself, and I wish she had more confidence in herself. "Shelly" sounds a little manufactured, a little too good to be true.

I agreed with the interviewer that the kids are lucky to have three such adults in their lives...but I also agreed with "Danetta" that the whole set-up is "kind of weird"...yes, it is kind of weird.

And what an interesting little tidbit at the end of "Danetta"'s dilemma on whether or not to tell the stepmom that her ex had cheated on her? Interesting. I'm not sure what I would do, in her shoes.

Mom vs. Stepmom: Introducing "Valerie"

2010-11-07T06:12:00.001-06:00

Part Three in the series I've been reviewing. Meet "Valerie".

I laughed at "Ashley".

I applauded "Wanda".

"Valerie" has me wanting to hit my head against a wall, hard.

O.M.G.

Is this woman for real? I can only hope not, because that is just about the saddest thing I have read in a long, long time. This is so over-the-top-cartoonish that I really, really hope it's not real.

Ugh.

Mom vs. Stepmom: Introducing "Wanda"

2010-11-06T06:22:00.000-05:00

As I posted yesterday, the Sacramento Examiner is doing a series of interviews with mothers, about their feelings towards their kids' stepmom. Yesterday's Ashley was a trainwreck of delusion. I am delighted to introduce you to today's interviewee, "Wanda".

What a great interview! She sounds like a fabulous mom. Even though she doesn't personally like the stepmom, it's clear she's able to set that aside and fake it for the sake of the kids. It's also clear that she's able to admit that even though she doesn't like her, the stepmom is good to her kids. "Wanda" seems very realistic and has her eyes wide open, and more importantly, her eyes on the ball: what's best for her kids. Bravo "Wanda'!

I've enjoyed this series, I'm looking forward to the next two.

Mom vs. Stepmom: Introducing "Ashley"

2010-11-05T06:02:00.003-05:00

A stepmom friend of mine sent me an article relating this interview with mom "Ashley" regarding her feelings towards her childrens' stepmom with a little note that I would find it interesting. At first I was almost afraid to read it for fear it was going to make me mad...but after actually diving in, I decided I couldn't be mad, because I was too busy laughing so hard at this woman. Delusional, much?

Then I felt bad for laughing, because it's actually really so sad, I feel the most sorry for the children in that situation.

There are four moms interviewed for this series...stay tuned over the next three days for my reviews. Tomorrow, you'll meet "Wanda".

Adult Supervision Only

2010-11-04T13:37:00.000-05:00

This post could otherwise be titled "At Least I Can Laugh At Myself, Part 3,403"...

I should have known that my little friend karma was going to come back and bite me in the butt when I teased Bill for being a little boy a few posts ago.

In my crafts articles for StepMom Magazine I always advise adult supervision only when using tools such as hot glue guns. I found out the hard way that even adults make dumb mistakes if they're not careful...maybe I should have been teasing myself for acting like a little kid, because when I was using a hot glue gun the other day I somehow managed to slurp onto the inner part of my elbow a HUGE glob of hot glue (don't ask me how because I still don't know). Stupidly, in a frantic effort to remove said huge glob of hot glue, I managed to peel off several layers of my skin with it:

yaya OUCH!!!!! Um, oh, by the way, in case you don't know me, I am a HUGE baby about stuff like this...seriously, I think I crybabied my way through the entire shower I took right after that because the water stung so much.

Word to the wise, folks, just because you're an "adult" doesn't mean you don't need to "supervise" yourself every now and then! :) :) :)

This Little Piggy

2010-11-04T06:08:00.008-05:00

I rarely, if ever, watch TV...I'm just totally and completely uninterested and have better things to do with my time. I'm not even watching the Biggest Loser this season, which is a first in a couple of years.

My husband however often has sports programs on and I happen to see commercials and such. I almost died laughing the other day when I happened to see the Geico Little Piggy commercial, so much so that I had to go look it up on the internet to see it again. O.M.G...I don't think I've seen a funnier commercial in a really long time, if ever!!! Yes, I'm a dork.

If you haven't seen it, here's a link. Or even if you have, watch it for a pick-me-up giggle. Hilarious!!!

An Interesting Stepmom Twist

2010-11-03T14:03:00.001-05:00

I absolutely adore Washington Post advice columnist Carolyn Hax. I've been following her since she first started writing more than a decade ago. She is not only extremely wise, but also darn funny. Besides her newspaper advice column, she also does a live online chat every Friday where readers can write questions to her, she will answer them live, and other readers can weigh in, too.

I was interested in last week's chat that had the following stepmom question:

Rehoboth Beach, Del.:
Dear Carolyn,
Uh, are there any acceptable reasons as to why my father's wife actively avoids my brother and I? My dad remarried after my mom passed away; both my brother and I were happy. For the first year or so, my dad and his wife visited us once, but when we visited them, suddenly she had to be out of town. Fast forward four years, and I haven't physically laid eyes on the woman for 3 of them. My father - when he visits, which is rare - now visits alone. Planned visits to see them results in them cancelling plans an hour or two beforehand, and/or her being "too busy" to see us to say hello. They've just moved across the country (which more or less solves the problems of visits with me) and now ironically live within 30 minutes of my brother. He reports the same kind of behavior.

We've asked the point-blank question to my dad, and have received a rounding "Huh." from him about it. What gives? Shouldn't my brother and I have some passing relationship with our father's wife? (And, FTR, he is actively involved in her family/her children's/her grand children's lives; sure, we're jealous, but WTF?).

Carolyn Hax: If her reasons were acceptable, would it make a difference? Maybe she doesn't like you. Maybe she's insecure and jealous and sees you as competition for her husband's affections. Maybe you look like your late mother and she has some weird hangup about her and her life with your dad. Who knows.

And, in a way, who cares. When you get so far into a bad situation with absolutely no promise of its getting better or even being explained, that's something you need to train yourself to say.

Of course you're going to care that you're not seeing your dad as much or as naturally as you would if he married someone who embraced you, and of course you're going to care that your own father isn't telling her to grow up and face the fact that he has grown children who deserve a place in his life. That's not the kind of who-cares I'm talking about.

I'm talking about the whole notion of getting to the bottom of this problem. At this point, since you've gotten zero satisfaction in your quest for answers, the best thing you can do now is concentrate entirely on the logistics of maintaining a relationship with your dad under these adverse conditions. Your only job is to figure out what does and doesn't work. Even say it out loud to your dad: "I realize [wife] wants nothing to do with us, but I miss you and I'd like to plan a visit for" X day/Y holiday/whatever.
I'm sorry.

I thought this whole post was really interesting, in part because I have a friend who is an adult stepkid who complains mightily that she never gets to see her dad without her stepmom around. I hadn't thought it would be twisted around the other way.

My first thought when reading the question was that the adult stepkids had done or said something (unintentionally) hurtful to the stepmom. Maybe she overheard them say something say something snarky about her or something. But Carolyn proposes some interesting possibilities too.

I think Carolyn is right on the money (as usual) that whatever the reason is, it doesn't really matter. As my friend Kristina is fond of saying "It is what it is." You just have to learn who to deal with "what it is."

Another reader responded:
For woman asking about father's wife: I don't know if I help here or volunteer this as a chance to be told I'm wrong. I'm a step mother and we live in a different state from my late teen step-child. I spend time with him and try to show I like him so I'm not sure I'm like this woman... but, I do stay away sometimes. My husband goes to see him about 5 or 6 times a year. I don't go on one or two, in part to not miss so much work, but also in part because in my mind I think maybe sometimes my step-son wants time with just dad and I also think he'd never say that. Is that crazy?

Carolyn Hax: That doesn't sound crazy, it sounds thoughtful. What makes the difference is that you're there for 3 or 4 of the visits, which makes it clear the two you skip aren't because you're unwilling to be in the same room as your stepson. That's everything.

This is exactly why I choose to help out with childcare at my church on Wednesday evenings (a night we always have the kids). Bill and I both agreed a long time ago that it is really good for them to have consistent, scheduled Daddy-only time. Recently my stepdaughter decided she didn't like that arrangement (she thought Daddy was too stressed out dealing with everything when I wasn't around....which actually did happen once on a night we had my nephew over and things were indeed pretty crazy). I stopped for a while but I'm back at it now and I think it's really good for all of us.

Snippet From Stepmonster

2010-11-03T11:15:00.002-05:00

I've posted before about how enraptured I was with the articulate, astute writings of Wednesday Martin in her book Stepmonster. I've recently started to read it again, knowing how extremely helpful and comforting I found it the first time I read it. This book above all others has been the most meaningful to me of all the stepmom books I've read.

I thought I'd share a little snippet from the opening chapter that really struck me:

"One woman I know likened [becoming a stepmom] to being thrown into the ocean during a storm. "Everybody screams 'Swim!' and walks away from you," she said with a laugh."

Isn't that the truth?!

Fab Four, Then and Now

2010-11-03T06:18:00.000-05:00

We've been the Fab Four since fifth grade (say that three times fast!) approximately 25 or so years ago...check us out, then and now!

Fab Four, May 1995 (celebrating Mia's pregnancy with Alex)

Fab Four, October 2010 (celebrating Kristina's wedding)

I love my girls! I'm the luckiest girl in the world!

My Bestie

2010-11-02T06:04:00.000-05:00

This beautiful lady has been my best friend since 3rd grade, so about 27 something years! We grew up practically as sisters: we were constantly at each others' houses, and oftentimes at each others' throats. :) As kids we used to play, and fight about, Barbies--non-stop. It was all Barbies, all the time.

Looking back as an adult I am kinda surprised at some of the adult themes we used with our Barbies...I think this is because we both used to watch soap operas with our grandmothers at an early age. One of our favorite Barbie games was for one Barbie to be in a coma, and the other Barbie would be having an affair with Coma-Barbie's husband. Neither one of us had any idea what an "affair" was, and were only vaguely aware of what a "coma" was....the point of the game was just the drama that would ensue! Lots of screaming and gnashing of Barbie teeth in the Barbie Hospital...just like on the soap operas. Heh.

Speaking of drama more often than not our spats were about who got to name their Barbie the Favorite Name du Jour...as if there weren't enough lovely names in the universe, we always found one to argue about! I remember a particularly long stretch where we both loved the name Samantha, and fought hard over whose Barbie got to be Samantha. I'm pretty sure Kristina won most of those battles...

Beyond Barbies we had a lot of fun torturing my sister by keeping her up laaaaaaaaate at night with our screaming over the game Topple, and anything else we could think to scream about in the middle of the night just to drive my sister crazy. Man, she could be MEAN when she was mad and sleep-deprived! :)

But back to my bestie: how fortunate I am to call such a lovely woman "best friend". I watched her grow from a cute little strawberry blonde girl to a beautiful woman, inside and out. She is the most loyal person I know. People always say that about their friends, "oh, she's so loyal", but what does that really mean? What it means to me is that I know even when Kristina is mad enough to spit at me, if I needed her the anger would be gone in a heartbeat. I know that if I called her at 3 in the morning with a problem, any kind of problem big or small, she'd drop everything to be there. I know that no matter how much we have fought in the past or had misunderstandings or just flat out hurt each others' feelings, she's also the most forgiving person I know. Once it's done, it's truly done: there are no holding grudges with her. I am much more of a stew-on-my-grudge kind of person and she inspires me to be better.

God has blessed me with many wonderful people in my life, and she is one of my greatest blessings! Love you K, MWA!!! Oh, and CONGRATULATIONS MRS. M!!!!!!!

The Worms Go To School

2010-11-01T06:33:00.000-05:00

As I've posted before, we started a little experiment in vermicomposting over a year ago. Our little worm farm has been very successful, producing a big bucket of castings that nourished our garden plants. We still feed them our kitchen scraps.

My stepson's class is currently learning about farming, and we had the opportunity to take our worm farm into the school so that he could show it off to his classmates and teach them how worm composting works. It was so much fun!

Bill and L gave a little mini lesson, and then we passed around a jar of worm castings for the children to see and smell up close (sounds gross, but worm poop actually doesn't smell gross at all, it smells like good earthy clean dirt). The children also had a chance to see the worms up close and feed them some food scraps. Then L stood at the front of the class and answered questions. He was so cute! We could tell he really enjoyed being the center of his classmates' attention. The kids had really adorable questions (do worms make babies? Who was the very first worm that was ever born? Teehee).

What a fun time!

Cool Halloween Display

2010-10-31T07:16:00.010-05:00

Some people in our city go all out every year and put up a really cool Halloween display. It's synchronized to spooky Halloween music on a certain station that you tune into when you pull up. We took the kids by a few nights ago and really enjoyed it! I tried to take some video but because it was so dark, the lighting was very poor and the video didn't really turn out so well, but here goes anyway:

This was the part of the display I liked the best and thought they did an exceptionally spooky job with (you can see it better if you click the little "Full Screen" button-looks like 4 little arrows--on the bottom right of the video):

Bill is so into Halloween, I was kind of afraid of giving him ideas! I think we'll leave the massive display to this family, they are clearly very good at it!

Mouse Motel

2010-10-30T23:57:00.002-05:00

This is one of my all-time favorite things to do with a carved pumpkin...I don't know why but I just think it's so cute! And so easy too!

Good Reads: Queen Bee Moms and Kingpin Dads

2010-10-29T05:58:00.003-05:00

What happens to Queen Bees and Wannabes when they grow up?

Even the most well-adjusted moms and dads can experience peer pressure and conflicts with other adults that make them act like they’re back in seventh grade. In Queen Bee Moms & Kingpin Dads, Rosalind Wiseman gives us the tools to handle difficult situations involving teachers and other parents with grace. Reassuring, funny, and unfailingly honest, Wiseman reveals:

• Why PTA meetings and Back-to-School nights tap into parents’ deepest insecurities

• How to recognize the archetypal moms and dads—from Caveman Dad to Hovercraft Mom

• How and when to step in and step out of your child’s conflicts with other children, parents, teachers, or coaches

• How to interpret the code phrases other parents use to avoid (or provoke) confrontation

• Why too many well-meaning dads sit on the sidelines, and how vital it is that they step up to the plate

and more.... Find the book at Amazon.com

This is a follow-up to Wiseman's popular and astute Queen Bees and Wannabes: Helping Your Daughter Survive Cliques, Gossip, Boyfriends, and the New Realities of Girl World.

I read the first book a while back and found it to be amazingly on-target as to what I remember and experienced in Girl World myself from about 5th grade on up. Working in a school, I also see the dynamics that Ms. Wiseman portrayed in her first book at work in our hallways and classrooms every day. Girls can be MEAN!

This newest book applies the same categorizations and principles to pretty much all the adults involved in the lives of children: parents, friends' parents, teachers, administrators, coaches, and Scout leaders. I found it very, very interesting, and like her first book very astute.

I'm in a unique position reading this because I'm both a pseudo-parent-figure as well as an educator. Reading her work from both perspectives was very eye-opening to me! I've definitely seen my share of all the mom and dad categories listed in my work at a school. Interestingly, in my capacity as an admissions officer I encounter Kingpin Dads fairly regularly. Every year we have a handful of dads who come in to our office with a giant chip on the shoulder from the get-go (often being in great denial about the presence and extent of their child's learning disability), and he attempts to bluster and bully his way around. Ms. Wiseman gave some excellent tips in dealing with these types.

I also found her section on PTA volunteers to be very insightful. Bill and I are on the board of the PTO at the kids' school. I haven't encountered any of the personalities or difficulties Ms. Wiseman describes in her book as of yet, but I know how right she is based on what I've seen at my own school.

I found one of her descriptions of the different types of dads to be dead-on when it comes to Bill:

"The Maverick Dad: He doesn't buy in to the dictates of Perfect Parent World and is confident and interested enough to take a leadership role in his child's life (beyond athletic coaching). He can be a member of the PTA and he's comfortable working with women--even if he's the only man. Moms love him and most dads think he's okay--maybe a little weird for being so into the school, and maybe a little annoying because he makes them look bad." (p. 79)

Yep, pretty much! Bill is one of two men on the PTO board, and the moms definitely love him.

Back to the book: I highly recommend this for both parents and educators. I also would strongly recommend Ms. Wiseman's original book to anyone who parents or works with girls. Very, very good stuff.

First Fire of the Season!

2010-10-28T20:42:00.000-05:00

My in-laws have done an amazing amount of generous things for us over the years but this time of year I like to think one of the best gifts they've ever bestowed on us is the gas fireplace that I loooooove to light up on chilly nights! Tonight is the first time all fall it's finally been chilly enough and I couldn't wait to light that sucker up! Aaaaaaaaah fall, how I love thee...

Freaky Food and Monstow Teeth

2010-10-28T10:37:00.001-05:00

I absolutely LOVE this time of year: I get to combine two of my most favorite things, baking and weird food. Another plus is that my stepkids get a huge kick out of the crazy things coming out of our kitchen! Last night was monster/mummy night:

Monster Teeth

Pizza Mummies

Mummy Cupcakes

The monster teeth remind me of a funny story about my stepson L...about this time last year we had taken them to Going Bonkers, and in one of those claw-to-get-treats arcade games he won a pair of cheap plastic vampire fangs. He called them "monstow teeth", in his cute little speech impediment where his R's sound like W's. He thought those things were the BOMB...unfortunately he set them down on the table with a bunch of used napkins and I accidentally threw them away with the trash.

When we figured out what happened and I confessed he cried like his little heart was broken, and I felt like DIRT. He talked about the monstow teeth for days....he even started saying all he wanted for Christmas was monstow teeth. We were busy so couldn't replace them right away, but I felt so bad that I finally went out and found some replacements at a Halloween store and gave them to him...you would have thought I gave that kid a million bucks!! His eyes lit up like Christmas morning, and even though he didn't actually wear them very much, he carried those things around like a prized treasure for the longest time. He is such a funny little kid, he's so darn cute sometimes I can hardly stand it!

Back to the freaky food: these monster teeth and mummies are also so cute I can hardly stand it! Tasty, too!

Puppy Chow!

2010-10-28T06:27:00.000-05:00

As I've posted before, I kind of have a thing for food that unexpectedly resembles other food. For your consideration today is the deliciously addictive little treat known as Puppy Chow:

Mmmm, who can resist its chocolately-peanut buttery goodness (although Bill has declared I am not allowed to make it anymore as his inability to Just Say No interferes with his caveman diet)....and it's soooo easy to make, too! Here's the recipe. Yum yum!

I HATE SPIDERS

2010-10-27T06:01:00.006-05:00

In case I haven't said it before, I freaking hate hate hate hate HATE spiders. Despise them. With a huge purple passion. Not only are they scary and gross and vile, but my dad got very, very sick from a brown recluse bite several years ago. He was very, very lucky to have been in optimal health prior to the bite because it really knocked him for a loop, for several weeks.

Bill hates spiders a fraction of an inch as much as I do. But as I've posted before, he is ALL about Halloween, so a few days ago when I happened to see an almost comically fuzzy black-and-white spider near our fireplace, I thought for sure he was playing a Halloween trick on me...

UNTIL THE DADGUMMED THING MOVED. MOVED. It was real all right! I seriously thought he was going to have to peel me off the ceiling:

AAAAAAAAAAAA!!!!!!! And of course, because I was so busy screaming and running away, it got away and I had no idea which way it went.

As it happens, that spider is obviously one crayon short of a box, because it made an appearance while the kids were here. I wonder what our neighbors thought was going on over here with the sudden frightfest of screaming that was going on...I'll confess here and now that I'm pretty sure I was screaming louder than both the children combined. Fortunately Bill ever-so-gallantly stepped in and saved the day by vanquishing the thing. My hero *flutters eyelashes* :)

Cloud the Genius

2010-10-26T05:55:00.002-05:00

I think my dog might be a genius. Seriously, she learned something totally on her own that really and truly amazes me about the dog brain.

Background: a long time ago she used to have separation anxiety when I would leave the house, so I developed a routine that helped her anxiety. I would fill her Kong toy with treats and then smear peanut butter inside and give it to her. It would take her some time to eat the peanut butter, then she had to "play" with the Kong to get the treats out. One day after several months of this I happened to be home and heard a bunch of loud thumping down our wood-floored stairs: she was pitching the Kong down the stairs in order to get the treats out faster. How smart is that?

The other treat she really loves are these hard bones filled with some sort of squishy, doggie-enticing goo inside. Like these. We started noticing that she was pitching THOSE bones down the stairs too! I thought that was brilliant! Not only did she learn to use the stairs as a "tool" to help get the treats out of the Kong, but she transferred that knowledge to a totally different toy...genius!

Now we live in a house with no stairs at all...but we noticed recently that she has taken to throwing her bones up in the air, and doing this adorable little "jump"! She really is so cute. I love my dog!!!

Check her out:

The Scariest Little Video I Ever Did See

2010-10-25T16:31:00.003-05:00

I'm going to link to this video here, but I need to give a strong WARNING that the last minute of the video contains some extremely horrifying pictures of a true crime scene involving murdered young girls. Watch the video but if you're squeamish or delicate definitely turn it off before minute 18 begins.

I have vivid memories of being herded into a gym during 3rd grade at Belt Line Elementary (so, 1983, 1984?) and being shown this video. I found it absolutely terrifying. I didn't understand what the images at the end were, really, but the sight of that lone empty shoe floating in the creek was extremely frightening...I remember the other kids saying "there's a cut-off foot in the shoe!" I had nightmares for weeks. The sight of jelly beans still occasionally freaks me out and makes me think of this horrifying little piece. Now that I have tracked it down on the internet and watched it as an adult I would like to know who the HECK at Belt Line Elementary thought it was a good idea to show this to a bunch of 8 year olds?!

Now obviously being a product not only of the early 1960's but also of the Highway Safety Foundation, it has some very cheesy and quite laughable moments. And I do remember being confused as a kid watching this (even then it was two decades old!), that some of it was actually kind of funny when it was clearly supposed to be a very serious message.

Seeing it now, I can tell it was meant to be geared more towards educating parents than children. Again, I ask, WHAT were they THINKING, showing this to little kids?! I seriously think I am scarred for life. And as I've posted before, even though I know the threat of one of my stepkids being kidnapped by a stranger is a million to one chance, the thought never leaves my mind when I have them out somewhere by myself. I am paranoid and I hope I'm not scarring them for life in a whole other way by never letting them get even out of my reach (luckily that's not often, as Bill is usually with us and I'm not quite such a quivering scaredy-cat mess when he's in charge) :)

Back to this horrid video....another quibble I have is when it talks about educating children about "molesters" not once does it say that children can be and are molested by people they know and trust! In fact they're much more likely to experience that than they are a stranger abduction. Maybe it's a sign of the times that we know so much more now, that we know to teach them about good touches and bad touches even from people who are not strangers....was 1964 still the dark ages about this stuff? 1984? Unbelievable.

Oh and the last little thing I found terrifying about this video: the inner feminist in me screeched in horror when the narrator says the little girls are arguing about "whether it's better to be a nurse or a schoolteacher"...they just had to squeeze that in there, didn't they? Even though this is supposedly a video about protecting children from danger and NOT a video about reinforcing archaic gender roles. UGH!

Scary indeed.

My Husband is a Little Boy

2010-10-25T05:49:00.005-05:00

I wish I could have captured in a picture or better yet on video the look on Bill's face, then the little please-please-puhleeeze dance he did, when he discovered Halloween shirts for dogs at PetSmart recently. I was against putting my dog into the shame of a Halloween shirt but he begged and pleaded and looked so cute just like a little boy that I couldn't resist.

Poor dogs, I had to buy them new tasty bones to assuage my conscience :)

I did draw the line at taking them on their nightly walk in "costume"...I would not have poor Cloud suffer the indignity! Really, though, they are so cute...the 5 year old husband included! :)

Kitty Nail Caps

2010-10-24T06:33:00.004-05:00

Bill and I almost peed our pants laughing when we saw this at PetSmart the other day:

The thought of putting those on Mr. M (the only one of our cats that tends to scratch furniture) had us both in hysterics...we were tempted for half a second, but then wisdom took hold and we realized that Mr. M already spends most of his days plotting our untimely demises in our sleep (based on the look on his face, that is, and how totally and completely unaffectionate he tends to be)...were we to suffer him this indignity, we'd probably never see the light of another day. Hahaha! Still, it was tempting...can you imagine?!

Daughters of The Republic of Texas

2010-10-23T07:27:00.004-05:00

Most of my local readers are already aware that Texas is the only state in the nation that was once its own independent country (1836-1846). I'm a proud native Texan by birth, and by lineage I am also a fiercely proud Daughter of the Republic of Texas. What does that mean, you ask?

Any woman having attained her sixteenth birthday is eligible for DRT membership, provided she is personally acceptable to The DRT and is a lineal descendant of a man or woman who rendered loyal service for Texas prior to the consummation of the Annexation Agreement of the Republic of Texas with the United States of America on the nineteenth day of February, eighteen hundred forty-six (19 February 1846).

As a colonist with Austin's Old Three Hundred, or any colonies authorized under the Spanish or Mexican governments before the Texas Revolution or those authorized by the Congress of the Republic of Texas.
As an officer or private in the service of the Colonies or of the Republic of Texas.
As a loyal resident, male or female, regardless of age, who established residence in Texas prior to the nineteenth day of February, eighteen hundred forty-six (19 February 1846). ("Loyal" shall be interpreted to mean that he or she had not been proved disloyal. A loyal resident, regardless of age, gave the service of residing in Texas and aiding in its settlement. "Service" shall be interpreted to mean "resident" or "military.")
As a recipient of a land grant authorized by the Provisional Government of the Republic of Texas. Those grants include "Toby Scrips;" head rights, first, second, third, and fourth class; preemption grants; land scrips; colony contracts; bounty certificates; and donation certificates.

Through my Papaw (paternal grandfather)'s side, I am a direct descendant of William Albright, who met the qualifications for c). above.

For one thing, I'm so glad to know I have been deemed "personally acceptable" to the fine Daughters! :) I became a member along with my mom years ago in college, and for a time was active in the chapter at College Station. Young adulthood intervened and I haven't been involved in years, but recently I became interested again, and re-instated my membership into a local chapter here in my area.

Interestingly, my mom has also done genealogy work that came thisclose to our being eligible for Daughters of the American Revolution, probably the most prestigious historical ladies society of this kind. My mother-in-law is a proud DAR. My mom has done all the research and has proven our eligibility down to one tiny date, that we know from family history is correct, but she hasn't been able to prove it to the stringent standards that DAR holds. Or rather, I should say she hasn't really TRIED to prove it--she can, she just doesn't want to, because then she'd have all her DAR friends hounding her to be a fully active member, and she just simply hasn't got the time right now....maybe someday I can talk her into it... :) are you reading this, Mom? :)

Good Reads: Whistling In the Dark

2010-10-22T06:39:00.000-05:00

The loss of innocence can be as dramatic as the loss of a parent or the discovery that what's perceived to be truth can actually be a big fat lie, as shown in Kagen's compassionate debut, a coming-of-age thriller set in Milwaukee during the summer of 1959. Ten-year-old Sally O'Malley fears that a child predator who has already murdered two girls, Junie Piaskowski and Sara Heinemann, will target her or her little sister, Troo, next. Sally's mom is in the hospital, while her big sister, Nell, is distracted by love and her stepdad, Hall, by the bottle, so who can save her if the killer is, as she suspects, her neighbor, David Rasmussen, a popular cop who has a photo of Junie hanging in his house? .

And now for one of my Favorite Books of All Time! This book amazed me with some hysterically funny parts, some truly chilling scary parts, some sober dramatic parts....it is every element you could want in a story, all wrapped in one!

I literally could not put this down. Sally O'Malley is one of the most engaging characters I have come across in a long time, and Mrs. Kagen has a wonderful way with dialogue. I loved the setting of this, having a nostalgic yearning for a decade I never lived in, and the plot was certainly roller-coaster. This is definitely in my Top Five Favorites list...read it, read it, read it!

Tricks and Treats, Part Two: Chocolate Mice

2010-10-21T23:37:00.002-05:00

So in keeping with the Halloween theme, today my stepkids and I made these freakishly adorable chocolate mice:

Aaaaaa!! They're so freaking cute I can hardly stand it! And tasty, too. Another huge plus: super easy-peasy to make...now that's a win in my book!

You can find the recipe here.

Nacho Vs. The Ghost

2010-10-21T06:27:00.005-05:00

We have this cute little Halloween ghostie in our living room:

Which has recently become Nacho's favorite toy:

In more ways than one (after he "conquered" it, that is)!

Yep, that's his favorite place to hang out these days...I think what he likes best about it (besides that it's probably nice and toasty for his tiny little body inside) is hiding in the ghost, them jumping out at every animal or person that happens to walk by, spritzing out his tiny tail, then running back in...he's so stinkin' cute!!!

Good Reads: The Tale of Halcyon Crane

2010-10-20T06:18:00.002-05:00

When a mysterious letter lands in Hallie James’s mailbox, her life is upended. Hallie was raised by her loving father, having been told her mother died in a fire decades earlier. But it turns out that her mother, Madlyn, was alive until very recently. Why would Hallie’s father have taken her away from Madlyn? What really happened to her family thirty years ago? In search of answers, Hallie travels to the place where her mother lived, a remote island in the middle of the Great Lakes. The stiff islanders fix her first with icy stares and then unabashed amazement as they recognize why she looks so familiar, and Hallie quickly realizes her family’s dark secrets are enmeshed in the history of this strange place...

If you're in the mood for a deliciously creepy ghost story, then this is the book for you! I just happened across this in the library and loved every word of it. If the image of a sinister little girl ghost singing this familiar tune doesn't give you the willies I don't know what will...

Say say oh playmate
Come out and play with me
And bring your dollies three
Climb up my apple tree
Shout down my rain barrel
Slide down my cellar door
And we'll be jolly friends
Forever more more more more

This is author Wendy Webb's debut novel, and I'll definitely be hoping for more from her!

We Love Halloween!

2010-10-20T01:08:00.000-05:00

As I've posted before, Bill and I both llloooovvvveeee Halloween...maybe a little too much!
Check out our decorations:

Barbie's Litter Box

2010-10-19T07:01:00.003-05:00

I am always impressed with my stepkids' creativity and the interesting ways their minds work...here's a great example of the many ways they never fail to amuse me!

We recently added a new kitten to our family, and for now we have turned the kids' playroom into Nacho's Room, until he gets adjusted and everyone is used to him. He has his own food and water and tiny litter box in the corner of the playroom. The kids rarely spend time in there anyway, it's really just a storage place for all their crap...um, I mean toys, so it works out well.

My stepdaughter has a fabulous modern-glam Barbie dollhouse with all sorts of accoutrements and fine furnishings. Imagine my surprise the other day to be cleaning things up and find this:

Yes, folks, that is Barbie's toilet filled with kitty litter, for the little pet to use. Bwahahahaha! After I got done snorting and giggling, we had to have a talk about kids NEVER touching litter (she swore she did it the first day we had Nacho, before he ever used the box, that it was clean, but stillllll....that is nasty!).

But I still get a giggle every time I think about it. The connections their little brains make are just so interesting!

Fall at the Arboretum

2010-10-18T11:23:00.000-05:00

Bill and I had a fantabulous "date day" at the Dallas Arboretum this weekend! It's always beautiful there, but this weekend was especially nice. The weather was perfect, the fall decorations were gorgeous, it wasn't too crowded, and we really, really enjoyed just hanging out on the grass together. All in all a perfect day!

I love pumpkins!

And now for the most gorgeous thing at the entire Arboretum:

Nacho's Nightlight

2010-10-18T06:09:00.003-05:00

While Bill and I were busy carving pumpkin flames a few days ago, my stepkids were busy "carving" some pumpkins of their own...they weren't interested in carving (with adult help of course) the giant pumpkins I bought for them, rather as soon as they saw the tiny little pumpkins I bought on a whim their eyes lit up and they immediately had lots of creative ideas for them. I thought it was so cute that they ended up making a "nightlight" for Nacho, the newest addition to our family, otherwise known as Cutest Kitten In The World!

Nacho's Nightlight:

Tricks and Treats!

2010-10-17T06:42:00.000-05:00

Halloween is one of my favorite holidays of the year, and Bill says it IS his favorite...between the two of us we have more Halloween decorations than any other holiday, and as I often say it looks like Halloween threw up in our house (which has been decorated since the middle of September, practically). We always have lots of fun though, and as you can imagine I had a lot of fun preparing my crafts for this year's October edition of StepMom Magazine.

First entry: Kitty Litter Cake!
It is disgustingly realistic-looking and always gets lots of laughs! My stepkids especially enjoyed eating the Tootsie Rolls!

If you actually dare to eat it...it is pretty darn tasty, too!

Next up: these adorable Ghosties, which I made from cheesecloth and laundry starch...so easy and so cute! We made so many last year we gave them out as favors at our Halloween party:

and last but not least, these super easy-peasy and monstrous Mummies:

I hope you enjoy Halloween as much we do!

Good Reads: Deeper Than The Dead

2010-10-16T05:48:00.000-05:00

One fall day in 1985 in Oak Knoll, Calif., fifth-grader Tommy Crane and his sidekick, Wendy Morgan, are fleeing the class bully, Dennis Farman, through a local park when Tommy stumbles over the head of a dead woman buried up to her neck. Two hours from Los Angeles, Oak Knoll is not the sort of town where major crime is a problem, but a serial killer is on the loose who's already murdered and tortured several women and has another on deck in his secret lair. Fifth-grade teacher Anne Navarre, who counsels Tommy and Wendy, is soon at the center of the investigation being led by a hunky FBI agent, Vince Leone. --Publishers Weekly

I have read nearly all of Tami Hoag's mysteries and her talent really shines in this one! It is a thoroughly unique story for her as it is set in 1985, before the use of many of today's modern forensic techniques. I love the setting and its incorporation of four 5th graders as major characters, because I myself was a 5th grader in 1985. The children think and behave much as I did way back then and their characterizations rang really true to me.

Beyond that, what I enjoy most about this book is the character of Vince Leone, who is at the forefront of profiling in criminal investigations. I have read and enjoyed all of John Douglas's nonfiction works on his years as an FBI profiler, and I was extremely pleased to see Mr. Douglas as a character in this book, along with a few of the other legends who made profiling what it is today. Ms. Hoag has masterfully converged fiction and nonfiction in this story.

As usual for Ms. Hoag the mystery is gripping, the suspense is chilling, the killer is terrifying, and I couldn't wait to find out who he was! Mystery fans will love this book and longtime fans of Ms. Hoag will be especially thrilled with this!

Fun With Ice Cream Cones!

2010-10-15T16:19:00.000-05:00

My mom bought me this adorable gum "ice cream cone" (thanks Mom!)--look how cute!

It reminded me that I've never posted pictures of the favors we gave out at our wedding, of which I was particularly proud of both our creativity and how cute they turned out. My family has a secret hot-chocolate-from-scratch recipe and every year we make large batches of it and give it away in cute containers as Christmas gifts...since we had a January wedding (almost two years ago! Time flies!!) I thought it would be fun to give out some of our famous hot chocolate in "ice cream cones"...see how adorable?!:

It gives me so many more ideas for cute things to do with these...the sky is the limit! By the way, you can buy the triangle bags at craft stores like Michael's, in the cake decorating section.

Pumpkin Flames

2010-10-15T11:41:00.003-05:00

We have this weird little space next to our fireplace, it's a totally empty "box". I guess it's supposed to be a place to stack wood but we have a gas fireplace so that's kind of moot...the kids like to use for a "hideout" and oftentimes in the summer I'll find Snowball curled up inside (I think she likes the cool bricks).

I came across this stunning picture in a magazine and decided it would be the perfect display for that space:

(Original picture and article found here)

Bill and I aren't quite so ambitious as to do that many pumpkins, so I thought we'd start with three. It took quite a bit of patience and more than a few swear words!

Our end result didn't turn out quite as gorgeous as the magazine (of course), but I still think it looks great!

Good Reads: The Year of Fog

2010-08-23T06:42:00.000-05:00

"Here is the the truth, this is what I know: there is a girl, her name is Emma. We were walking on the beach, it was cold and very foggy. She let go of my hand; I looked away to take a photograph. Seconds passed. When I looked back, Emma was gone."

This passage is the haunting refrain echoed again and again in this memorable book. The story is of a young soon-to-be-stepmother, Abby, whose fiance's six year old daughter disappears on her watch. The first time I read this book, Bill and I were merely dating. The synopsis of the book pretty much sounded like my worst nightmare, and who doesn't love a good safe trip down "What If" lane, when you know it's all fiction anyway? Or so I thought.

And indeed, it is a nightmare-inducing kind of book, for anyone who has seen the Missing Child posters or heard on the news of a kidnapped child and felt a twinge of "thank God it's not my kid/niece/best friend's child". The story is beautifully written, haunting, captivating, heartbreaking, a trifle wordy, and in a strange way, uplifting all in one. It was as if Abby, in many ways, was myself, in this indescribably unspeakable situation (I think the author has captured the agony well, and I truly wouldn't wish it on my worst enemy). The story captivated me so strongly that I have since dreamed several times about the characters, as if they were real people whom I know. I even wrote to the author and received the nicest response from her.

Back to the book: dipping my toes into my worst nightmare, through Abby, knowing I would have similar feelings as she, should such a horrible thing befall me, was both terrifying and mesmerizing. I loved every word of this book, and I have since read it three more times. Even though I know the ending, it never fails to bring me chills and even tears.

Many of the reviewers on Amazon have panned the long discussions about memory, and I will admit that those did at first bore me, but I think they have a very important role to play in Abby's incremental awakening. I am glad the author included them.

I could not put this book down; I had to know what happened to Emma. I won't spoil any secrets but I will say you DO get an answer. I highly recommend this book!

And as an aside, whenever I am out alone with my stepkids, I never fail to think of Abby and Emma. I can hardly let them get two feet away from me. Goosebumps...

Excellent Reads: The Forgotten Garden

2010-08-22T06:04:00.003-05:00

Like Frances Hodgson Burnett's beloved classic The Secret Garden, Kate Morton's The Forgotten Garden takes root in your imagination and grows into something enchanting--from a little girl with no memories left alone on a ship to Australia, to a fog-soaked London river bend where orphans comfort themselves with stories of Jack the Ripper, to a Cornish sea heaving against wind-whipped cliffs, crowned by an airless manor house where an overgrown hedge maze ends in the walled garden of a cottage left to rot. This hidden bit of earth revives barren hearts, while the mysterious Authoress's fairy tales (every bit as magical and sinister as Grimm's) whisper truths and ignite the imaginary lives of children... --Mari Malcolm, Amazon.com

This absolutely ranks as one of the very best books I've ever read. I enjoyed it so much I've read it three times and loved it even more with each read.

I adored Frances Hodgson Burnett's classic The Secret Garden as a child, and this book is a clever re-imagining from an adult perspective. Ms. Burnett even makes a cameo appearance!

I'll be honest: the first couple of times I picked this up I failed to "get into it"...the length alone was daunting. But my mother was persistently persuasive for me to keep at it, and I'm so glad she was! About a 1/4 of the way through the book I simply couldn't put it down, and spent many nights reading way later than I should have!

The characters in this story have stayed with me and I often find myself thinking about them. Their tale is simply haunting! Ms. Morton has a beautiful way of writing, and I am eagerly anticipating her next project. I have recommended this book to everyone I know who enjoys a wonderful story. You will not be disappointed!

Good Reads: Stepmonster

2010-08-21T17:05:00.000-05:00

Since Bill and I are kind of sick of creative juicing we're taking a little break in that for a bit, but don't worry, "Adventures in Juicing" will be back soon!

I thought I'd take a chance to review some of my favorite and not-so-favorite books. Those of you old-timers who were on my old blog a few years ago may recognize some repeats, but those are so good I think they're worth repeating.

I'm blessed that I have been a voracious reader since a very young age. I started reading Nancy Drew in the second grade and reading has always been one of my greatest pleasures. I'm fortunate that I'm also a very fast reader. My local public library must also be glad of my reading speed as I nearly always have multiple books checked out at once: my current count is 12!

I like to read a variety of both fiction and non-fiction. My tastes can be rather...eclectic. I hope my blog readers will enjoy the variety as I post reviews!

To start with, my very favorite stepparenting book: Stepmonster, by Wednesday Martin.

I have read pretty much every single stepmom/stepparenting book on the market. This is far and away hands down THE BEST of them all. Wednesday Martin absolutely nails every aspect, every thought, every feeling I've had as a stepmom but somehow couldn't articulate. She puts into words, and so eloquently, stuff I haven't been able to even wrap my brain around much less talk about.

This is not your typical rah-rah cheerleader stepmom book where they say if you'll just do this, everything will be fine. This is not even an advice book. It's fascinating not only from a personal level of being in the trenches (I often felt as though Wednesday had been in my head), but it's also fascinating from a bigger picture historical and cultural context as well. She has done an amazing job of amalgamating a large body of research into a concise, interesting, and relevant read. She talks a lot about the stereotypically evil fairy-tale stepmothers in literature: their origins, their sociological myths, and what information we can glean from their presence.

As I read this, I underlined parts that are particularly relevant to me and my feelings about being a stepmom. Bill was eager to read it when I was through. I'll be honest: Stepmonster dares to reveal uncomfortable truths about stepfamilies that no other book I've read had the guts to talk about. Although sometimes our conversations about what we read were kind of painful, this book opened the doors to excellent, deep, important communication about being a blended family. Bill and I are both better members of our stepfamily for having read and talked about it together.

I cannot recommend this book highly enough---if you are thinking of being, or are a stepmom, if you are married to a stepmom, have kids that have a stepmom, or are a stepchild yourself, READ THIS BOOK. If you read no other book about stepparenting or stepfamilies, make sure it's this one!

Adventures in Juicing: The Reviver

2010-08-19T06:13:00.000-05:00

Today's juice is "The Reviver." This is made with Galia melon (hybrid of a cantaloupe and honeydew), celery, and blackberries. Our author describes it as:

"Refreshing and rehydrating, cleansing and calming, and rich in vitamin C to boost the body's resistance, this juice is a perfect reviver after a hard day at the office."*

Bill didn't get a chance to try this one, so I was the lone ranger tester. I liked this a lot: it was very sweet, but at the same time also slightly tangy. Just like a blackberry but with a twist. For once this was a juice containing a melon that didn't taste overwhelmingly "melony" to me. Fabulous.

I gave it a 7.

*Super Juicer by Christine France (Love Food/Parragon Books), 2009

Adventures in Juicing: One For the Girls

2010-08-18T07:16:00.000-05:00

Featured today is "One For The Girls." This juice is made of apples, carrots, celery, and fennel bulb. I had never known what a fennel bulb was before I made this! Here is what the author of our juice recipe book has to say:

"This super juice promotes female hormone balance and is a great treatment for PMS. It also has a calming effect on digestion, and is good for reducing bloating and flatulence."*

First of all, Bill would never have touched this if I had read the name or description to him first...oopsie, tee hee. I absolutely loathed this, I thought it was disgusting. I didn't know this, but fennel bulb is similar in taste and smell to black licorice, and and this tasted to me like carroty black licorice. Yuck. Bill didn't think it was as bad I did, but he wasn't overly impressed either. He'll probably be less impressed when he reads this. Heh. :)

I gave it a 1, Bill gave it a 5.

*Super Juicer by Christine France (Love Food/Parragon Books), 2009

Adventures in Juicing: Green Goddess

2010-08-17T06:09:00.000-05:00

Featured today is "Green Goddess"--what an interesting name! This juice calls for Galia melon (hybrid of cantaloupe and honeydew), spinach, mint, and parsley. The author of our fancy juice recipe books says:

"A cooling, cleansing drink, good for liver and kidney function, that helps lower cholesterol and relieves tension and insomnia. It's high in iron and in chlorophyll, which is good for the eyes and for maintaining healthy blood vessels."*

Bill and I both found this to be very sweet and very "melony". Similar to Wake Up Juice, lovers of cantaloupe should really enjoy this. I think it would taste a lot better if the mint were increased, or possibly less of the melon.

Bill gives this a 5 and I give it a 6.

*Super Juicer by Christine France (Love Food/Parragon Books), 2009

Adventures in Juicing: Bright Eyes

2010-08-16T05:58:00.000-05:00

Today's juice is called "Bright Eyes." For this we used green tea, carrots, apples, and parsley. The author of our fancy juice recipe books writes:

"The carrots and parsley in this are packed with carotenoids to brighten the eyes and skin and help cleanse the liver. It's also full of antioxidants, which regulate blood pressure, lower cholesterol, and fight heart disease and cancer."*

I thought this tasted light, refreshing, and not too sweet, in a good way. I definitely tasted the tea, which I liked. It didn't taste "carroty" at all to me, which I had kind of expected. I liked this one quite a bit, Bill's only comment was "it wasn't bad." Heh.

He gives it a 4, I give it a 7.

*Super Juicer by Christine France (Love Food/Parragon Books), 2009

Adventures in Juicing: Cucumber Cooler

2010-08-15T06:09:00.000-05:00

Today's juice is called "Cucumber Cooler." It is made of cucumber, apples, and cilantro. The author describes it thus:

"Cucumber is high in water content so it's great for rehydrating and refreshing the system, and is a very good diuretic. Apples contain natural sugars for an energy lift. Cilantro promotes good digestion and can remove toxins. It also helps the circulation and is good for healthy eyesight."*

Bill and I have wildly differing opinions about this, probably due to the cilantro. I love the way cilantro smells but it just doesn't taste good to me; Bill on the other hand adores it. This juice is Bill's favorite so far, and probably my least favorite.

I give it a 3 out of 10, Bill gives it an 8.

*Super Juicer by Christine France (Love Food/Parragon Books), 2009

Adventures in Juicing: Rapid Recharge

2010-08-14T06:04:00.001-05:00

The next juice on our to-try list is called "Rapid Recharge." It has zucchini, celery, baby spinach, alfalfa sprouts, and apples. Here is the author's description:

"This is a treasure trove of B vitamins, iron, healing phytochemicals, calcium, and protein, plus fruit sugars for a quick energy boost. It regulates blood pressure, reduces fluid retention, and helps to strengthen tissues and bones."*

This one was definitely...interesting. It tasted strongly of alfalfa sprouts to me. Now I really like alfalfa sprouts on my salads, but drinking it? Eh, I wasn't all that impressed. It had a slight sweetness to it as well, I guess from the apples. Bill thought it was really good; he mentioned it had a refreshing aftertaste. He definitely wants to make it again.

I gave this one a 4 out of 10 and he gave it a 7.

*Super Juicer by Christine France (Love Food/Parragon Books), 2009

Adventures in Juicing: Wake Up Juice

2010-08-13T05:48:00.000-05:00

So the first fancy juice that Bill and I decided to try from our fancy juicing recipe book is called "Wake Up Juice". It contains oranges, cantaloupe, and mint. Here is the author's description:

"A light and refreshing drink for a fresh start after a late night, packed with vitamin C. Melon juice is diuretic and rich in healing beta-carotene. The aromatic oils in mint aid and soothe the digestion and help to calm the nerves, while at the same time refreshing the breath."*

This was very good if you really like cantaloupe. I thought it was refreshing, sweet, and tasty, but I quickly tired of the strong cantaloupe flavor. I like cantaloupe alright but it's not my favorite fruit. I think I would have liked this more if I had used more mint or oranges.

One a 1-10 rating scale we both give it a 5.

*Super Juicer by Christine France (Love Food/Parragon Books), 2009

Adventures in Juicing: The Beginning

2010-08-12T05:55:00.002-05:00

Hooboy, it's been a while! We've been so darn busy lately I haven't had a chance to update. But I came across something so fun I had to share. Bill and I have for many months now been making a concerted effort to eat much healthier than we had been, and to give more thought to the kinds of foods we are putting into our own bodies and providing the children. We're all eating a lot better and I can say for myself feeling a lot better for it too!

A few weeks ago I came across this fun book about juicing, Super Juicer by Christine France. The pictures were so lovely and the juices so enticing that we decided to buy a juicer and give it a try. At the very least we'd be getting more fruits and vegetables, right? There are 37 juice recipes in her book, and Bill and I agreed to challenge each other to try each one, no matter how weird or gross it might sound.

So here we are, the beginning of our adventure in juicing! We decided to start easy with plain old orange juice:

Man, was it amazing! So much sweeter than store-bought orange juice, and it really wasn't all that much work to peel the oranges and throw them in the juicer. We've been making it regularly ever since. I love the fact that it's not loaded with preservatives and sugar like store-bought.

The next one we tried was apple juice:

Before we started it, the kids thought it would be fun to save the leftover pulp and make applesauce out of it. Well that sounded really good but didn't quite work out...the pulp was nothing like "applesauce", looked extremely gross, and none of us would touch it, including me. I am sure there are lots of little Suzy Homemakers out there who know exactly how to turn apple pulp into wonderfully smooth and delicious applesauce, but I'm not one of them.

As for the juice, it wasn't exactly a hit either: it was thick, pretty pulpy, and very dark. Bill and I gave it a try and didn't care for it at all; quite naturally the children wouldn't even try it. First big miss.

Next we did blueberry juice from blueberries we'd picked fresh off the bushes and then frozen:

YUMMY! The only complaint I have about this is that it took a LOT of blueberries to make not-very-much juice, but boy is it worth it! This is the favorite of all. It's super sweet and absolutely delicious! Recently I happened upon huge tubs of gigantic blueberries for $5 at Sam's...I was so excited until I got home and started washing them and realized a lot of them were crushed inside the tub. Oh well, we just made a ton of blueberry juice out of them: bliss!

Next up: some of the fancy recipes in the book I found...stay tuned!

July 4th Goodies

2010-07-16T06:12:00.001-05:00

We had such a wonderful July 4th and I've been meaning to post pictures but I took so many that it's taken me some time to download them all! I have a lot of fun things to share but I thought I'd start with our goodie bags.

My parents live in a small town that has a parade right down their street every year, and it has long been our tradition to have a huge parade-watching party with a cookout afterwards. There are always tons of kids and of course they love the parade! We always fill up hundreds of water balloons and throw a few fun sprinklers on the lawn for them to enjoy while lunch is cooking. A few years back I started a tradition of providing goodie bags for all the kiddoes. I prefer to personalize them with each child's name but a lot of times we don't know who is going to show up!

The last couple of years it's been fun to have my stepkids help pick out the goodies for the bags. I think I have as much fun planning and putting it all together as the kids do ripping them apart to find their treasures!

This year my stepdaughter chose tie-dye fabric bags to put the goodies in...at first I would have preferred them to be exclusively in July 4th colors, but these actually turned out really cute! I painted the names that we knew on some of the bags and left the rest blank.

The goodies inside this year included:

sparkly pompom (chosen by my stepson)
bubbles
star ring
two necklaces
2 tattoos
small inflatable ball
colorful sunglasses

My sister added a bunch of glow-in-the-dark bracelets as well.

What a hit! Sadly the threat of rain kept several families away, and our favorite-large-family-of-many-boys (hi Mrs. B.!) were away on vacation, so we didn't have as many kids as usual. We had several bags left over...but as always my motto is better too many than not enough!

We all had so much fun, and I'll be posting soon about some of the other party events!

Cynthia Ann Parker

2010-07-15T11:30:00.000-05:00

I think I might be the only girl in the world who would buy an Indian history book and a People magazine at the same time...the checkout clerk at Barnes and Noble looked at me like I was crazy. Quite possibly I am.

My destiny as a nerdy history major began long ago when I was a little girl and first heard the story of Cynthia Ann Parker. She was a white girl kidnapped at the age of nine by the Comanches in 1836. She grew up with the Comanches, fell in love with their chief as an adult, and became the mother of the last (and most famous) Comanche war chief, Quanah Parker. She was tragically recaptured by the white people 24 years after her initial kidnapping, and forced against her will to return to white society. Her two year old daughter, Prairie Flower, died of influenza at the age of six and a few years later Cynthia Ann died as well (some say of a broken heart), having never seen her two sons again.

I've always found her tragic story fascinating, particularly because it's long been family legend that we are distantly related to her on my mother's side. Though we certainly have Parker blood my mother's genealogy research in the 1990's was never able to establish a clear connection to Cynthia Ann. She was able to establish a definite connection (by marriage) to Rachel Parker Plummer, who was also kidnapped by the Comanches along with Cynthia Ann.

Rachel's story is much darker than Cynthia Ann's: she was 17 at the time and had a two year old son with her. Rachel was also four months pregnant. She spent 13 brutal months in captivity as a slave, terribly mistreated, and her toddler son was taken away (he was later ransomed, but she never saw him again). The baby she later bore was brutally murdered by the Indians. Rachel was eventually ransomed and returned to her husband, who by all accounts had not done much to look for her and was not all that thrilled at her return. Rachel died in childbirth less than a year later at the age of 21.

I've long been fascinated with the Parker story and with Texas history in general. My college senior thesis was on the subject of female captivity by various Indian tribes, particularly the fearsome Comanches. By the grace of genetics and my mother's research I am a proven descendant of one of the first families to settle in Texas with Stephen F. Austin, and a member of the Daughters of the Republic of Texas. Though I consider it a glorious heritage it is not without its dark moments in history.

Recently I heard the author of the new book Empire of the Summer Moon speaking on NPR and I couldn't wait to read the book! I'm about a hundred pages in and it's enthralling. Grim, but absorbing. I highly recommend it.

Oh, and the People magazine was good, too. :)

Blueberry Cookies

2010-07-15T05:59:00.001-05:00

Not to turn this completely into a food blog, but I just have to share these wonders. Blueberry cookies may sound kind of weird, but trust me, these are some of the most delicious cookies you will ever eat! I think it's the combination almond flavor and sweet fresh blueberries that make them so good. This recipe isn't exactly nutritious (egads, shortening? ewwww), but if you can forget about that intellectually, your mouth will thank you! As my stepdaughter says, taking a bite is like taking a little walk in heaven!

Here's the recipe. (I always skip the lemon zest, and I add a teaspoon of vanilla because I like it).

More Pickin'!

2010-07-14T06:09:00.005-05:00

Have I mentioned lately how much I looooooove blueberries? Seriously, I eat them every day. I would eat them with every meal if I could. I love them any way you prepare them. Thank goodness they are so healthy because otherwise I'd be in big trouble!

I'm so lucky to have a husband who not only puts up with my blueberry obsession (and resulting kitchen experiments, some of which don't go so well) but who also willingly and somewhat eagerly agrees several times each summer to go blueberry picking with me. We go to several local farms, including Blueberry Hill Farms in Edom and Baileys' Berry Patch in Sadler.

Last weekend was the best picking we've ever experienced! The berries were so sweet and ripe; the bushes were bursting so full that you could easily grab an entire handful of berries at once. It hardly took us any time at all to fill up two huge baskets. The weather was nice: cloudy, not too hot, and we had a nice breeze. We laughed at how lucky we were that literally the minute we closed the car doors to drive away, it started to pour buckets of rain. What luck!

Alas, our good luck didn't hold as we ended up stuck in 2 hours of diversion traffic through small east Texas towns due to a semi turning over on the highway. That was quite the frustrating adventure!

But look at the oodles and oodles of yummy blueberries we have! We've all been eating them like candy. I made some delicious blueberry cookies. I can't wait to try more recipes!

Green Sesame Salad

2010-07-13T13:36:00.000-05:00

Lately I've been into making unique "salads" that go farther than simple lettuce with the usual toppings. We've been experimenting with all sorts of yummy veggies; I must say I love summer fruit and vegetable season! One of our favorites is Healthy Garden Salad.

We tried a wonderful new one the other day: Green Sesame Salad. I found the recipe in a cookbook and modified it somewhat to our tastes. This was quite possibly one of the most delicious salads I've ever tasted! It might look a little funny and sound a little weird, but if you're trying to get in more healthful foods I highly recommend giving this a try! I think next time I am going to add some edamame.

Green Sesame Salad

4.5 oz fresh bean sprouts
6 celery sticks
1 large green bell pepper, de-seeded and chopped
1.5 tablespoons chopped fresh cilantro
3 tablespoons fresh lime juice
1/2 teaspoon chili powder
1 teaspoon sugar
1/2 teaspoon salt
2 tablespoons toasted sesame seeds

Chop pepper, cilantro, and celery. Rinse and drain bean sprouts thoroughly. Place sprouts, pepper, and celery into a large bowl and mix thoroughly. Toast the sesame seeds lightly in a toaster oven or on a cookie sheet under the oven broiler.

To make the dressing, combine lime juice, chili powder, sugar, salt, and cilantro in a small bowl and whisk together thoroughly. Pour the dressing over the salad and toss/stir well to mix. Garnish with toasted sesame seeds. Enjoy!

July Crafts

2010-07-12T09:36:00.000-05:00

I've been so busy with traveling and general summer fun I haven't had much time to post lately! I'll be updating more soon (I hope) but in the meantime, here are pictures of my July crafts for StepMom Magazine. These are so fun and easy! I say this nearly every month, but these are my new favorites...

Baggie Ice Cream
(homemade in Ziploc baggies...did I mention delicious, too?)

Carton Boat

(yes, it floats!)

Vacation Map Frame

Goin' Pickin'

2010-06-22T23:43:00.000-05:00

Last weekend we took the kids on a pick-your-own adventure! We are so lucky that there are a plethora of unique pick-your-own farms within driving distance from here. We've been strawberry picking earlier this spring; this time we went for lavender and blueberries!

So we started the day with a visit to Lavender Ridge Farms in Gainesville, TX. They were having "Family Day" with a bounce house and "petting zoo"...unfortunately the advertised petting zoo wasn't much of one, they had a few cute goats (have I mentioned lately how much I love goats?! They are so cute!!!), some rabbits, and some chickens running loose. The kids had a grand old time chasing the chickens. I kind of felt sorry for the poor little things (the chickens, that is) bok-bok-bokking and running into the underbrush!

Then we got down to business and started picking lavender. The kids loved it, and they were really good at it too! I'm not sure yet exactly what I'll do with the lavender, but I'll think of something. It smells sooooo good! We gave a bundle to each of their grandmothers on our side.

After we finished picking we refreshed ourselves with the lavender lemonade they were serving...the kids surprised me by actually liking it! I thought they would hate it or refuse to even try it. I think it tastes great, personally...very different, but very good. Lavender Ridge Farms also has a little cafe where they serve all sorts of goodies!

Then it was time for a break, re-sunscreen and cool off in the car for a short 20 minute trip down the road to Bailey's Berry Patch. Bill and I have been to Bailey's before to pick blueberries, and it's among our favorites. They have deliciously yummy blueberries, blackberries, a small lake next to which you can have a picnic, live music, and lots of good times.

Here the kids each got their own picking bucket (which they got to keep). Many of the blueberries were not yet ripe (did you know blueberries are a lovely shade of pink just before they turn ripe?) so it was kind of a "treasure hunt" to find the big fat juicy ripe blue ones. M and L both were really good at finding excellent blueberres!

By this time it was stinkin' hot outside so none of us lasted too terribly long, which we had anticipated. Bailey's also had a bounce house which the kids enjoyed while we had our berries cleaned and paid for them. Then it was time to cool off in the car again, and long naps for all of us once we got home!

It was hot outside but we all had so much fun! If you live around here and are interested in picking I highly recommend both these places. Bill and I are going blueberry picking again on our own next weekend, we haven't decided yet if we're going back to Bailey's or another of our favorites, Blueberry Hill Farm near Canton. Have I mentioned lately how much I love blueberries???? Soon I will have to start posting pictures of all the yummy ways we eat them!

Garden Volunteers

2010-06-22T11:18:00.000-05:00

As an amateur gardener I've always heard about "volunteers", plants that volunteer themselves without you having had the intention to plant them where they bloom. Last year I was pleasantly surprised to find a very large dill plant "volunteering" beside our house. I had no idea where it came from but it was gorgeous! It produced so many dill pods that I even planned to get some pickling cucumbers and try my hand at making pickles, but I got busy and lost track of time.

Also last year, we planted watermelon and cantaloupe seedlings in a section of our back yard that doesn't have really good soil and doesn't grow much...we didn't figure they would grow but thought it was worth a shot. We had torrential rain about two days after putting the baby plants in and they drowned, they never got bigger than having simple cotyledons before dying off. Since that time we've successfully planted rosemary and a rose bush in that area.

Imagine my surprise the other day to see volunteers in the area in between the rose and rosemary! I am not sure which it is (maybe both, or possibly neither) but these appear to be watermelon and/or cantaloupe plants! And they are beautiful and healthy! I could hardly believe my eyes.

I can't wait until we can figure out which it is...I only hope these don't die off!

Nancy Drew Quilt

2010-06-19T17:12:00.000-05:00

Recently I posted about how much I loved Nancy Drew mystery stories growing up, and still collect vintage books in the series (although I much preferred Trixie Belden). Several years ago my mom, who is a master quilter with her own shop, was telling me about a quilting method that interested me: making quilt blocks by tracing pictures on fabric and "coloring" them in with crayon, melting the crayon with an iron, and then embroidering around the edges of the picture. With this method the sky is the limit on your creativity in what pictures you draw or theme you use!

I was excited because I had long been thinking on how to put together a Nancy Drew or Trixie Belden quilt. I ended up deciding to go with Nancy because many of the books in her series have a particular "object" that is the main focus of the story, making it easy to choose pictures for the blocks. I chose my 14 favorite Nancy Drew books and found clip art that I could trace onto fabric and color for the drawings. Then came the hard part: embroidering each of the drawings. I was a novice embroiderer (I would say I still am!), so many of my stitches aren't perfect, and I often became impatient with the tediousness of it all and gave up for months at a time. I think it took me over a year to finish this thing.

But the end product was exactly what I had envisioned! I chose blue for the main color because everyone knows blue is Nancy's favorite. For the center, I used the famous very old-style orange and blue silhouette of Nancy with a magnifying glass. This was her emblem long before the yellow hardbacks that I collect began to be printed: beginning in the 1930's Nancy books were printed in blue hardbacks with orange lettering and the famous Nancy silhouette always on the front.

This is by far the one craft item I have ever done of which I am the most proud! Allow me to show off ever-so-briefly:

The Moonstone Castle Mystery:

The Secret of the Wooden Lady:

The Secret of Shadow Ranch:

The Clue of the Broken Locket:

The Secret of the Old Clock:

The Scarlet Slipper Mystery:

The Ghost of Blackwood Hall:

The Mystery of the Tolling Bell:

The Clue in the Diary:

The Clue of the Velvet Mask:

The Mystery of the Brass Bound Trunk:

The Sign of the Twisted Candles:

The Clue of the Dancing Puppet:

The Password to Larkspur Lane:

And last but not least, the old-style Nancy silhouette:

The only sad thing about this quilt is that in the house I live in now I no longer have a wall big enough to hang it on for display! That and with two small kids and four furry animals around I just don't quite trust that it won't get something spilled on it or scratched by a cat. So it sits neatly folded up in my closet. Hopefully one day it will have a prominent place for display again!

Embroidery Lessons

2010-06-18T09:38:00.000-05:00

Recently I taught my stepdaughter how to embroider. I'm no expert myself but thanks to the tutelage of my mom, who is a master quilter and owns a quilt shop, I can do a few things. I was amazed at how quickly M picked it up, and her tiny fingers aren't nearly as clumsy as my thick adult ones! I got her one of those needle-threaders and she can even pretty much thread her own needle now.

A while back she did a sampler of her name...I won't post it since it's her full name but it's REALLY cute. She did each letter in a different color, then I zigzagged each edge of the rectangle in a bright color. While she was sewing I was telling her that back in the 1700s and 1800s little girls made samplers with their names and usually a motto or a Bible verse, and now those antique samplers are very rare and very expensive. She was so cute, she said "you mean in a hundred years this will be worth a million dollars?!?!" Teehee.

She did this recently which turned out so cute too. Her stitches are very good! After she finished I helped her cut it into a heart shape then zigzagged the edges on the sewing machine. I know my mom is proud to have another young protege!!

My next post will be about my biggest embroidery project ever...my Nancy Drew quilt. Stay tuned!

Build-A-Bear

2010-06-15T06:03:00.012-05:00

I've been so fortunate the last two years in a row that my stepdaughter's last day of school had early release, and also happened to be on the days we had the kids. We've kind of made it a "tradition" that I pick her up and we spend the afternoon together just-girls celebrating the end of the schoolyear and beginning of summer. Last year we got our toenails painted and went to see a movie together that she'd been wanting to see. This year we did Build-a-Bear. Later in the weekend we all went back to Build-a-Bear as a family so that my stepson could have one too, I didn't want him to feel left out!

I'd seen those places and knew what they were about, but had never actually stepped inside one before...what a fun experience! The way they have it set up is absolutely adorable.

First, the child (or child-at-heart) picks out an animal from a wide variety of choices. My stepdaughter chose a bunny and my stepson chose a parrot.

Then you take it to the stuffing machine, where you pick out a heart to put inside and the worker has the child do all sorts of cute things with the heart like make a wish on it. Then you stuff your animal.

The child gets to help stuff it by pressing the foot pedal:

My stepkids have a lot of practice with this because I let them press the foot pedal on my sewing machine when I am sewing!

Once the animal is stuffed and sewn up (by the worker) you take it to the bear laundromat and give it a "shower" (air blown by pressing another foot pedal) and brush it:

Next comes the fun (and potentially very expensive) part: picking clothing and accessories! They have a HUGE variety of cute tiny clothes and accessory items, and "dressing areas" where you can try outfits on your animal. Sooooo cute! We giggled so hard at the tiny pink bear-panties!

(One word of caution: those adorable sequined clothes and sparkly shoes and surfboards and backpacks do add up! If you're not careful you could spend way more money here than you meant).

Once you have your outfits picked out you head to the computers to create your animal's birth certificate. This is where you get to pick its name. Once you input all the information (in a very easy-for-kids-to-use way), it will print an official birth certificate on thick paper. Then you take your animal to the register, pay for your stuff, and they box it all up in this cute little cardboard box that is exactly like you get when you adopt an animal at the pound. Sooo cute!

We all had a fabulous time with this, and the kids sure love their animals! M's bunny is named Violet and L's parrot is named Flowers. My favorite part of this is that the kids got to exercise total creativity/individual personality in their choices. No pressure or suggestions or anything about what kind of animal they chose or things to for it to wear....seeing what their own little individual tastes and personalities produced is priceless:

June Crafts

2010-06-14T06:23:00.001-05:00

And now for your viewing pleasure, the crafts that appeared in the June edition of StepMom Magazine.

I can't wait to showcase July's! They were some of my most fun yet!

Cookout Cookies

Bouncy July 4th Hat

Foam Fans

May Crafts

2010-06-13T22:25:00.001-05:00

I've been negligent in posting pictures of my crafts projects for StepMom Magazine! If you're a subscriber you saw these in the May edition. If you're a stepmom and not a subscriber you're really missing out---each edition is FULL of good stuff!

Memorial Day Bead Pin

Memorial Day Star Wreath

Pretend Stained Glass

Whimsical Spring Windsock

8-Ball Squash

2010-06-13T10:19:00.000-05:00

Last week I saw these very interesting squash at the Farmer's Market:

They are called 8-Ball Squash, and they taste just like regular squash/zucchini. The vendor was also offering simple recipes for stuffing the squash, so I picked up some squash and a recipe and decided to experiment. I took one of their recipe suggestions and added a few things to make it my own and came up with this delicious dinner. We LOVED it! And very healthy too!

I used ground turkey for Bill's, but since I am a vegetarian I used fake-meat crumbles from Morning Star for my own. Also the tomatoes I used were fresh from our garden, even still warm from the sun. Yummy!

We did have a TON of the stuffing left over, so others may want to halve the ingredients. We were glad to have extra stuffing to use in tomatoes and peppers for other meals, though!

Wendy's Stuffed 8-Ball Squash
6 squash
1 lb ground turkey
1 onion, chopped
1 tablespoon butter
1 red bell pepper, chopped
3 medium tomatoes, chopped
1 cup grated cheddar cheese

Cut off the top of the stem of each squash. Put them cut-side down in a pan of about 1/2 inch of water. Simmer, covered, for about 10 minutes or until tender. When they are cool enough to handle scoop out the middle of each squash and reserve it for the recipe.

Brown the turkey or hamburger meat, then drain the grease. I also sauteed the chopped onion in butter until soft and translucent. Mix the meat, onions, chopped pepper, chopped tomatoes, and most of the cheese together in a bowl. Chop the reserves from the middle of the squash and blend into your mix. Stuff the squash with the mixture, then top with a little bit more cheese. Place the squash on a baking sheet and stick in a pre-heated oven (I used about 350) for 5-10 minutes until the cheese melts and the squash are warm. Enjoy!!!

The Dyslexic Comedian

2010-06-08T14:31:00.002-05:00

Some of you reading this might not know it, but my sweet husband is as dyslexic as they come. I knew it the first time he ever emailed me, bless his kind heart. His favorite joke is "Dyslexics of the world: UNTIE!"

So today I was emailing Bill about yet another article on Doc that came in the mail today. This is by far my best find EVER: it's a 21 page article, written in 1953 by a young circus horse groom who became such good friends with Doc that they called him "Higgins Jr.". I was emailing him direct quotes from the article, some real gems, such as:

"Suzann Higgins insisted that I take her for a piggy back ride around the back yard while we were relaxing after supper of roast chicken, cornbread, and apple pie. When I finished being her horse we joined Heinz and Roberts and watched a prop hand demonstrate his tap dancing skills on the big top..."

"Otto Griebling and Emmett Kelly hit and chased golf balls around the backyard before the matinee, they were fully made up in the tramp costumes and one would think that two tramps had just jumped off a freight train with their golf clubs. They were funny guys indeed. Ma Higgins and Doc were handing out laundry after she came back from the Bendix. Suzann and Joyce played tag with Chuck and I after supper and then we all went into the big top to watch an old clown Walter Guice work with some of the riding act girls helping them improve their riding act."

"Before lunch Frank told us to go up and report to the immigration tent. I fell in line with Priscilla, the Bearded Lady and her husband Emmett, the Alligator Boy, and Ted Evans the giant. When the officials gave us the okay they rubber-stamped our arms. Doc Higgins kidded me about my circus tattoo."

and a few others mentioning Doc and Suzann. I'm nearly hyperventilating with excitement over this article, I can hardly stand it!

What is Bill's first response to my pure excitement over these wonderful quotes???

"So was there a picture of Alligator Boy?"

Just. Like. Him. But it gets better....when I responded no, he immediately replied with:

"What about the breaded lady?"

hahahaha....yes, you're reading that right, he wrote BREADED lady!! Reminds me of the time he was trying to tell me how bad his allergies were and he wrote "My allegories are really bad today". Bless his sweet little dyslexic heart! I'm used to translating (every now and then he leaves out a very crucial "NOT" which completely changes the meaning of his sentences) so I usually know what he means...but I LOVE it when he comes up with gems like this! I don't know which is better, the awesomeness of the article I received today, or the awesomeness of his response!!!

I love you B!

"Nancy Drew's" Clues to Doc Higgins

2010-06-07T13:29:00.007-05:00

I don't think anyone is as interested in this project as I am, with the possible exception of Bill and my mom, but I'm so deep in this I don't really care! For your reading pleasure, the fruits of my detective labor: here is a list of all the things I have found on Doc in my research. Along with three pictures that a kind man from the Circus History Message Board sent to me.

I hope to be able to add to this list after my trip to Atlanta with my mom later this month!

Doc operating the gristmill at the Atlanta Zoo Children's Barn:

Doc on the left, assisted by a City Prisoner and the contract Vet, while they all did a necropsy to determine the cause of death (other than age) of an Asian Elephant at the Altanta Zoo in 1968 (image edited by me to remove the sad dead elephant):

Doc guarding the three elephants at the Altanta Zoo in 1968, while others are removing the body of the fourth elephant who died:

This one is my absolute favorite, I just love the way he's standing looking at the elephants!

Thank you, Mr. Roth, for those wonderful pictures!!

Other gems I have been able to unearth, in chronological order (except where noted, I actually have physical copies and/or originals of all these items):

June 1934
Journal of the American Veterinary Medical Association
Volume 38
A list of graduates with a DVM from Cornell University

1937
Modern Veterinary Practice
Volume 18, p. 53
Mention that Dr. Higgins of Flemington NJ spoke to the FFA…
I know this article exists, but have been unable to locate a copy of it

June 9, 1945
Narragansett Park Official Racing Charts
Doc is listed as Owner of two racing horses: “Bill’s Sister” and “After Time”

June 28, 1952
Billboard Magazine
An article titled “Under the Marquee” discusses Doc succeeding Dr. Henderson

January 31, 1953
Billboard Magazine
Mention of Doc along with Dr. Henderson as Ringling veterinarians

September 19, 1953
Billboard Magazine
An article titled “Dressing Room Gossip” mentions Doc, Mrs. Higgins, and Suzann

February 1954
Journal of the American Veterinary Medical Association
Volume 124 p. 165
Doc discussed “A Veterinarian’s Life in the Circus” with fellow JAVMA members at meetings of the Oklahoma chapter

February 20, 1954
Billboard Magazine
An article about the brain surgery of Toto a gorilla titled “Toto II Recuperating After Much Publicized Operation”

March 15, 1954
LIFE Magazine
“Gorilla Brain Surgery” features an article and two pictures in which Doc appears, including a close-up of Doc with Toto

October 23, 1954
Billboard Magazine
Mention of Doc in article “20 New Additions Bring Ringling Elephant Herd to 50”

1955
Ringling Brothers and Barnum & Bailey Circus Program
p. 21
“Menagerie Medics” has a mention of Doc and a photo of him treating a bear with the help of Dr. Henderson

February 12, 1955
Billboard Magazine
Mention of Doc in brief article “Ringling Giraffe Dies in Quarters”

February 26, 1956
Sarasota Herald-Tribune
“News of Interest from Aloha Trailer City” mentions Doc, Mrs. Higgins, and Suzann

July 17, 1956
Sarasota Journal
Among other articles about the circus, a photo of Doc in front of a tiger cage

1957
Bandwagon May-June 1957
p. 6
An article titled “The Circus Doctor Talks About His Odd Patients” by L. M. White

1958
Wild Tigers and Tame Fleas by Bill Ballantine
p. 266
Quote from the book: “Hell, even Doc Higgins”—Smokey referred to the circus’s number 2 veterinarian—“and there ain’t a kinder man livin’—he changed his mind about havin’ to wap elephants once in a while.”

Spring 1961
Bandwagon March-April 1964
p. 24-25
“Ringling Bros Circus Spring 1961” by Douglas Lyon
Features a photo of the circus arena, and listed among the performers is Doc, Selma (Geneva), and Suzann Higgins

1966
Circus Historians
Robert Brisendine…according to his bio on the Circus History website, “In 1966 (Brisendine) found William Y. Higgins working at the Atlanta Zoo. That led to the recording of Doc’s circus menagerie memoirs.” (cross your fingers we find something good at Emory University, where Mr. Brisendine's collection is stored!)

1967
Bandwagon July-August 1967
Mentions of Doc in “Further Notes About Ringling Hippos 1938-1965” by Richard J. Reynolds III

1968
Bandwagon March-April 1968
p. 10
Doc mentioned in “Circus Zebras” by Richard J. Reynolds III

July 15, 1972
Tuscaloosa News
A picture of Doc with Frasier the lion and accompanying article “Frazier (sic), National Sex Symbol, Dies”

July 1972
Modern Veterinary Practice
Volume 53, Issue 7, p. 40
Co-authored “Pyothorax in a Lion Cub”
I have been unable to locate a copy of this article

1974-75
Zoos and Aquariums In the Americas
Listed as a Fellow

June 1979
Westways Magazine (by Automobile Club of Southern California)
Volume 71, #6
p. 43-45, 80
Wonderful, hilarious mentions of Doc in “Zoolu” about the Wildlife Safari in Oregon

1982
Veterinary Pathology
Volume 19, p. 215
Co-authored “Osteolipomatous Metaplasia in the Liver of Cameloids”

1987
Bandwagon March-April 1987
p. 21
Mentioned in “The Only Circus Okapis” by Richard J. Reynolds III

2003
Bandwagon September-October 2003
Unknown article and photo (waiting on this to come in the mail)

2004
Bandwagon September-October 2004
p. 32
Doc mentioned in “Lotus: Grand Dame of Circus Hippos” by Richard J. Reynolds III

2008
Bandwagon July –August 2008
p. 4-5
Mention of Doc, Mrs. Higgins, and Suzann in “On the Road With The Big Show in 1953-1954” by Bill Taggert
Accompanying photo of Doc with the bear and Dr. Henderson

2009
Bandwagon September-October 2009
p. 17, 19
Mention in “The 1954 Fall Tour of The Greatest Show on Earth” by Bill Taggert

First Garden Harvest!

2010-06-01T23:08:00.001-05:00

I posted recently about our garden, and today I'm proud to present the first fruits of our labor:

A handful of yummy blueberries (have I mentioned lately how much I LOOOOOVE blueberries?!?! Best invention God ever had!!! I could eat blueberries at every meal, any way you serve them. Can't wait for pick-your-own farms to open this month!!! But I digress)

And, four bell peppers and two delicious tomatoes! Except for blueberries there's pretty much nothing better on the face of the earth than a ripe summer tomato. Mmmm!!!

Paging Nancy Drew!

2010-06-01T10:17:00.001-05:00

Growing up, I loved Nancy Drew, Trixie Belden, and Hardy Boys mystery stories. Nancy and Trixie were my favorites, although I vastly preferred Trixie over perfect Nancy, who never did anything wrong and was always the best at everything she tried. Trixie was so much more realistic: she fought with her brothers, had problems with math, and was occasionally impulsive, things to which I could certainly relate!

Even now as an adult I still re-read these stories, and I have a somewhat impressive collection of vintage copies of both Nancy and Trixies:

These are my go-to for comfort; whenever I am sick, I want my mommy, a Trixie or a Nancy, and a bowl of tomato-rice soup, in that order.

I've never had a chance to play detective myself until now: what fun it has been recently in my continuing project to find information about Doc Higgins! I get a huge adrenaline rush thrill with every new clue, and I have come across some real gems! I have spent a significant chunk of my life the last few weeks totally immersed in my research: on the internet, at several libraries, and trolling used bookstores. I've been to every Half Price Books in about a 50-mile radius over the last few days! I've found a TON of good things, some of which I'll post later. My mom and I are going to Atlanta in a few weeks to go through the Brisendine Collection at Emory, and we just might hit a real jackpot there. I can hardly wait!

But there are still at least three parts to this mystery that I have not been able to wrap up, and it's practically driving me nuts. Finding those pieces to my puzzle is all I can think about: I'm even dreaming about Doc and missing pieces! When my mom was immersed in her genealogy research a few years ago she used to tell me that she would lay awake at night thinking of her mysteries, and then dream about the people she was researching. Yep, that must run in the family!

How Does Your Garden Grow?

2010-05-25T11:05:00.000-05:00

All of my gardening skills, such as they are, I got from my Papaw. He was a lifelong gardener and I have lovely memories of his backyard garden in Irving. It seemed huge to me then, but now as an adult I realize it must not have been all that big, after all. I remember long hours on his back porch shucking corn, snapping beans, and shelling peas, all the while listening to the adults talk about this that and the other. My cousin Adam used to help Papaw till the back and mow the front...one of my favorite memories of Adam is sitting on the riding lawnmower singing the theme song to "Green Acres" at the top of his lungs. Adam always was a huge ham!

I'm sure my memory is just hitting the tip of the iceberg, but I know Papaw always grew tomatoes, corn, peas, green beans, potatoes, blackberries, strawberries, watermelon, cantaloupe, and probably a whole bunch more I'm forgetting. Nothing tastes as good as home-grown fruits and vegetables!

I've been pleased that Bill was bitten by the gardening bug, too! He built our Square Foot Gardens from scratch, and to be totally honest he actually puts a lot more grunt work into the garden than I do. He's usually the one out there watering almost every evening in the summertime!

This year we're growing tomatoes, bell peppers, jalapenos, blueberries, strawberries, purple onions, yellow onions, broccoli, red potatoes, yellow potatoes, carrots, rosemary, dill, cilantro, basil, and corn. We're even trying our hand for the first time at having a grapevine. We're starting to get some babies on some of the plants and I'm so excited!

Did you know that if you don't pick the broccoli when it's ready that it will flower? I had no idea. My stepson noticed the other day and said "my broccoli isn't broccoli anymore!" Check it out, that bunch of flowers that you see was actually a head of broccoli a few days ago:

Looks like we have some little buggies feasting on the leaves, too. :)

Here are a few more pictures of our gardening delights!

Human Paper Dolls

2010-05-21T09:37:00.001-05:00

The last few weeks I've been hard at work making pillowcases as appreciation gifts for the teachers who were willing victims in our pie-throwing contest. My sewing stuff is all over the place, including a laundry basket full of fabric scraps. Last night I was laying on the floor stretching my back out when my stepkids got the brilliant idea to "dress" me up in the fabric scraps. We had some serious Project Runway going on! Bill made the mistake of joining me on the floor and of course the kids immediately descended upon him too. This hilarity entertained us all for a good 45 minutes. L has the most contagious laugh I've ever heard, he cracks himself up, which in turns cracks the rest of us up too!

My husband is a saint:

Photo Booth Fun

2010-05-20T09:45:00.000-05:00

My sweet friend Robin had the most awesome 50th birthday party last weekend! We had so much fun. I can't believe Robin is actually 50 (she doesn't look a day older than 32!). She is one of the funniest people I know.

In keeping with her hilarious personality, at her party she had a photo booth where guests could take silly pictures. There were even costumes like crazy hats and feather boas. They printed all the pictures for a scrapbook for Robin, which I thought was a fabulous idea!

Needless to say Bill and I took advantage of the opportunity to take some hysterical pictures! I even managed to talk my dad into taking some with me, too. Check us out!

Fake Hamsters

2010-05-19T11:57:00.001-05:00

I vaguely remember hearing about the Zhu Zhu pet craze around Christmastime, although I didn't pay much attention to it at the time. I remember my sister mentioning that the little $9 fake hamsters were in such popular demand that some folks were paying upwards of $300 on ebay to have one in time for Christmas. That is insane! Thank goodness the craze has died down and they are now available all over the place. A few weeks ago a commercial came on for them and I heard my stepdaughter mention that she wanted one for her birthday.

Naturally when I saw an adorable pink and white one randomly one day I knew that's what I'd be getting her for her birthday! I also got her some of the accessories. I really didn't know much about Zhu Zhu pets prior to actually seeing one at CVS that day....they are little robot hamsters that are actually downright cute. They squeak and make adorable noises, and they move seemingly on their own. It's actually really interesting.

They also have their own little playthings, which are much like real hamsters have. I bought her the exercise wheel and couldn't wait to see what it did...would you believe those little suckers actually run on the wheel, just like real hamsters do?!? It's really pretty freakin' cute.

M loves her pink one, and with birthday gift certificates to Toys 'R Us she bought herself another brown one. I felt kinda sorry for poor L, so the day after her birthday I surprised him with one of his own, the black one. We set up their little activity village and those tiny things just went to town (the hamsters, I mean), playing, running on the wheel, sliding down the slide, squeaking and giggling and being all sorts of cute. We...umm I mean the kids, were enthralled.

I found myself doing a little bit of robot hamster surgery on the brown one...when he came to us he was squeaking and giggling but not doing much else. He wouldn't move the way he was supposed to. We tried changing the battery but that didn't work. We had just about given him up as defective when I had the brilliant idea to Google "my Zhu Zhu pet won't move"....lo and behold I found easy simple instructions for opening him up, twisting around one tiny miniscule little screw, and closing him back up. It worked! Success! Mr. Brown Zhu Zhu is up and running again and Wendy gets lots of props for fixing him, woohoo!

I loved having real hamsters myself growing up, they really are so cute! But alas we already have about 4 animals too many in our house now, and I'm not about to add another (until we can find an orange kitten with extra toes, that is, to replace beloved Ernie...but that's a whole other blog post!). For now we'll all be content with the cute little robotic fake hamsters.

Check out their play area! And this was before we added the accessories that my sister gave M for her birthday!

Doc Higgins

2010-05-18T11:52:00.001-05:00

I'm so glad my mother-in-law is not yet on Facebook, because I'm so excited about a surprise that I'm getting ready for her that I can't even keep it to myself one second longer!!!

Her father, Bill's grandfather, was a veterinarian for the Ringling Brothers circus in the 1950's and 1960's. He passed years ago so I never met him, but I have heard many wonderful stories about Doc Higgins! Suzann, my MIL, has so many interesting memories of growing up in the circus.

A few months ago on a whim I googled his name, and found a circus history message board where some of his old circus friends were trying to get in touch with him. I have corresponded with a couple of people, and one of them was kind enough to send this amazing picture:

That's Doc on the left.

Bill and I printed out that picture and had it framed for Suzann for Mother's Day, and I thought she was going to cry all day, she was so happy to see a picture of her daddy!

This has led me to an exciting new project: I've been researching all over the interwebs to try and find more pictures and articles and mentions of Doc Higgins. I've been so fortunate to find a few gems, and I'm working on a scrapbook for Suzann's birthday this summer. It's been so fun and exciting finding all this information and I can't wait to share it with her!

The possibility for even more exciting things exists in a collection housed at Emory University. A man named Robert Brisendine did massive amounts of research on circus history over a span of several decades. I have an article that states he collected Doc's circus memoirs in 1966. Some of the memoirs Mr. Brisendine collected are in written form, and some of them are on audio. I am waiting to hear back from the people at Emory to find out exactly what there might be in Mr. Brisendine's collection relating to Doc, and whether or not I can access any of it electronically. If not we will definitely be heading to Atlanta this summer to check out what they have! Apparently this collection is massively huge with hundreds of articles, memorabilia, pictures, and audio tapes. I can't even begin to imagine how Suzann would react if she were to hear her daddy's voice on audio! I hope the Emory people get in touch with me soon so I can have a better understanding of what they have.

In the meantime, here are a couple of the gems I have come across through the magic of Google!

Doc with a lion named Frasier:

A very fuzzy picture of Doc in front of a tiger cage (on the left):

And several other articles mentioning Doc. I am not sure if readers will be able to actually read them or not (they might be too fuzzy), but I have printed nice copies for the scrapbook.

One of my favorite stories about Doc is this...he was trained to be a small animal veterinarian (dogs and cats). When he first started working for the circus, apparently he was a little bit nervous the first time he had to sedate a lion, being concerned it wouldn't stay asleep through the minor procedure. Well he sure did a great job because according to family lore that lion stayed asleep for about 4 days!

He must have been an immensely interesting man; I so wish I could have met him! Putting together this project has been so entertaining for me and I can't wait to see Suzann's face!!!!

Bye bye Old Mosby

2010-05-17T21:00:00.000-05:00

A big welcome to the newest member of our family:

Whee!!! It's so fun having a new car (new to us anyway)...but I was a tiny bit sad to give up my little old PT Cruiser. I've been driving that car for 9 years, and it's been reliably with me through a lot. I had that car almost as long as I've had my dog! It was definitely showing its wear and tear, and the time came for it to be replaced. We sure love the new Murano!

Funny Food

2010-05-14T15:04:00.002-05:00

Recently I have developed a fascination with food that unexpectedly resembles other food. Case in point: I came across a recipe for these adorable hamburger cookies a few years ago:

They are so cute, and so easy to make! Ever year I make a big batch for my parents' annual July 4th party, and they always get rave reviews. Not only are they adorable, but also pretty tasty too! By the way, these will be featured in my article for the June edition of StepMom Magazine.

Last weekend my mom got the kids some stinkin' cute cupcakes, then my sister came across the website where they were originally featured: http://myfoodlooksfunny.com/. Those cupcakes were such a hit and so fantastically cute that this week when I had an opportunity to provide goodies for the teacher appreciation potluck at my stepson's school, I just knew I had to make them. Check out Peas and Carrots Cupcakes:

Aaaaa!! These are so cute I can hardly stand it!! Those are Skittles and Starburst candies you see on top. I have already requested our library's copy of the wonderful cupcake book that I think the idea originally came from. I can't wait to try some more!

Lest you feel sorry for the poor teachers for getting "veggie" cupcakes, we also made Healthy Garden Salad for them. This is one of the most delicious salads I've ever tasted!

Babies!

2010-05-13T09:18:00.000-05:00

On Wednesday nights my church has a marriage ministry for couples to work on their marriages. I help out with childcare, and I always have the 13-24 month-olds. They are so cuuuuute and I love spending time with them!

One of the best parts is that we typically have regulars who are there every week, so we really get to know the kids and their parents. I love watching how they grow and change over the months. I used to be scared of babies, and I am still kind of scared of the teeny-tiny ones, but I really enjoy this age! They are pretty mobile, they like to play with toys, and some of them are starting to develop language. As an educator I know how important early language skills are, and it's so interesting to watch this development in action.

Last night one of my favorite little guys saw his big brother on the playground out the window, and he kept saying "That's my big bubby!" over and over again...a few months ago this little boy didn't have any words at all! It was so adorable. It seemed like all our little ones were in especially good moods last night which makes it even more fun.

It doesn't matter what kind of stressful day I've had, hugging on those sweet babies is always a treat and puts me in a good mood. What is it about babies and the way they smile and the way they smell (unless they're poopy, ew), that just warms the heart?!

Top 'O the Mornin' to Ya

2010-05-13T06:01:00.002-05:00

I just realized that I posted pictures of my February and April crafts from StepMom Magazine, but I forgot all about March! What can I say, it was a busy month!

St. Patrick's Day Barrettes...these are sooo easy!

Lucky Heart Pins (you can't see from the picture, but there is a pin glued on the back):

Miniature Blarney Stones...Legend holds that kissing the famous Blarney Stone in Ireland bestows upon one the gift of eloquence.

And last but not least, a miniature Pot of Gold magnet:

Funny story about the "pot" of gold...the first time my stepson saw it he said "oooh, look, a tiny purse!" haha. About half an hour later Bill came in the kitchen, saw it on the fridge, and said, "What's with the purse on the fridge?". I guess maybe it doesn't look as much like a pot of gold as I had intended it to...teehee.

The Case of the Sneezing Cat

2010-05-12T07:03:00.001-05:00

I posted before about my cat Callie's episode of marathon sneezing, that cost us a few thousand dollars and her a few bad teeth. We were told that taking the bad teeth out would reduce the noncancerous tumor the vet thought was in her nasal passage and end the pitiful sneezing. It was pathetic, really, hearing her sneeze painfully 30 or 40 times or more in a row.

Imagine our surprise when a few weeks after the surgery the sneezing started up again. This time Bill refused to take her back to the specialist who took out the teeth. It's kind of a long boring story but basically he felt we'd been taken advantage of, let's just say that the way that clinic handled things could have been different. And obviously it didn't work, since the sneezing came back.

So this time he wanted to take her to the same vet his parents use, which is quite a drive from us but he and my inlaws speak highly of her and trust her. Coincidentally, my inlaws have a a cat named Callie...let me tell you, hilarity ensued when the vet clinic got us mixed up, as their Callie is much older than mine and a completely different color!

In any case. This vet, the third we've seen for this problem by now, diagnosed an infection in the sinus passage. She gave Callie a shot and sent us home with antibiotic drops. All for a whopping $55. And guess what, it's been several weeks now and she hasn't sneezed one single time. After all that money to take out teeth, who have have though that a simple $55 worth round of antibiotics would cure the cat?! Unbelievable!

I am glad she's back to feeling better though. Silly girl.

Strawberry Pickin'

2010-05-11T13:02:00.000-05:00

A few weekends ago brought glorious weather. This being strawberry season, we decided to take the kids to a pick-your-own strawberry farm nearby. Normally Bill and I do this sans kids but we figured they're old enough and would enjoy it.

Unfortunately we didn't pay any attention to the torrential rains the night before, so when we got there the strawberries looked good but they were awash in a muddy field. Truly it was muddy:

We still managed to have a great time and pick some delicious strawberries. Honestly, I think the kids had more fun in the mud and catching ladybugs than they did actually picking berries!

They had a cute little "ladybug house" near the rutabaga plants with hundreds of thousands of ladybugs flying around. The kids spent a long time catching them and ooohing and aaahing at ladybugs crawling all over us. We'll definitely be going back...but maybe not after a rainfall next time!