Beat the Clock

The first few days of this vacation were lovely in the laziest of ways.

I wore the same pajamas for 48 consecutive hours without shame.

I sat on the floor and played with the littles without ever feeling like there was something else I needed to be doing.

And when they slept I played with my own new toys.

Excuse the bedhead...I would love to wake up with Super Model hair, but there isn't an app for that ;)

Our holiday food traditions include shepard pie on Christmas Eve, egg casserole on Christmas morning and roasted pork and veggies for dinner. This leaves us with tons of reheatable leftovers making the need to cook for several days obsolete.

Lazy! Lazy! Lazy!

And then the leftovers ran out and my pajamas threatened to start walking on their own and I had to give up the lovely lazy ways and that's when the real holiday chaos started.

I mentioned that the tree came down on 12/26 and that the holidays always leave me feeling the need to declutter and reorganize.

And oh, how I've done just that.

I'm playing beat the clock.

As in...beat the trash truck on Thursday.

As in...beat the tax benefit deadline of 12/31 by donating 6 large boxes and counting.

As in...beat the arrival of my mom and dad on Friday so that my uber-organized and clutter-hating mother doesn't need to feel that she has failed me as a parent when she sees the content of every cupboard and closet sprawled about.

It turns out, Santa could have easily skipped landing on our roof because my son is thrilled to be entertaining himself with whatever I am finding in the nooks and crannies of our home.

And on that note, I probably should log off and continue to face the mess I've been making while "cleaning." I do this a few times a year and am truly baffled by the fact that there is more stuff to donate, trash or recycle.

It's Beginning to Look a Lot Like...

The OTHER 11 months of the year.

You know the "normal" months.

The months where you don't have access to an abundance of baked goods in the kitchen 24/7.

The months where there isn't a large tree in your living room.

The months where scented candles don't waft evergreen aromas throughout the downstairs.

The months where there are not boxes wrapped in mismatched festive paper cluttering the home.

That's right. I called it clutter.

Because as much as I like to hop on the holiday bandwagon early each year, I am also the first stop to get off.

The tree came down on December 26th. It's not as Grinchy as it sounds. It had been up since the week BEFORE Thanksgiving and it encompassed 50% of our cozy (read: small) living room.

Oh, it's not that the tree that is the problem. It's the fact that 2/3 of the wee ones who take residence here did their best to "undecorate" it daily and eat the needles and ornament hooks which resulted in us needing to fence our tree in with an expandable baby corral. It almost looked as if our tree was a pristine display that we wanted to showcase by the way it was confined to a "no humans allowed" cage.

I am really very festive.

I baked weekly.

I made reindeer food.

I hosted a gingerbread party for 12 kindergarteners.

I crafted.

I wrapped.

I sang Dominic the Donkey in the off key way that only my tone deaf self can do for the better part of December.

We attended gatherings and tree lightings and Polar Express rides and laser light shows set to holiday ditties.

But, come 12/26 I pull the plug.

I pull the plug on the lights and the music and the oven.

I package it all into it's red and green rubbermaid totes and stuff it into the back corner of the basement until next November when I'm feeling "merry" again.

Am I crazy? Does anyone else view the holiday hoopla as festive through 12/25 @ midnight and then view it as clutter and chaos and overload after that?

You know me. I love to organize any day of the year, but there is something about ringing in a New Year that makes me want to purge and clean like no other time.

I hope your holidays were filled with fabulous memories and like our Christmas card said..

Hey Good Lookin' What'cha Got Cookin'

If you are visiting for the first time, you're probably thinking, "oh look...a cooking blog."

Not even close.  In fact, I hate to cook.

As in loathe it.

I don't so much care for baking either.  But, with 4th of July weekend upon us I feel it is my civic duty to share with you THE BEST STRAWBERRY SHORTCAKE RECIPE EVER!!

Don't get too excited.  It's not like I'm about to whisper great gramma's secret recipe to you.  This is just something that I discovered by accident.

Here's what you need to do.

Get some strawberries.

Buy a box of Bisquick.

Follow the directions on the box for making Strawberry Shortcakes.

BUT,...

When the good people at Betty Crocker instruct you to put in 3TBS of sugar substitute that with 1/2 cup of sugar.

Yeah, I know that makes it even less healthy, but whatever.  I never claimed to be making organic health foods.

The recipe actually lists sugar twice.  It calls for 1/2 cup to be mixed in with the cut strawberries to create that juicy goodness that you pour on top.  It also calls for 3 TBS to be baked into the shortcakes.

Silly me mixed that up once.

And much like the accidental discovery of penicillin, the yummiest shortcakes in the world were created.

Another tip from me to you...roll the dough into little balls instead of plopping them onto the pan.

Maybe someday my great grandchildren will whisper my secret recipe to others.  For added Patriotic flair I suggest adding blueberries and one of those cute little paper flags.

Top O The Morning To Ya!

My fellow third grade teacher and I spent yesterday (St. Patrick's Day)  afternoon sorting through math questions and categorizing them by standards.  I pointed out that one benefit to getting old is that we won't need to spend March 18th teaching with a hangover.  

Just trying to stay positive.

There were a few shenanigans at my house though.

My son was giddier for St. Patrick's Day than he was for Christmas.  I was confused by his enthusiasm, but learned that he expected to see a real rainbow and find real gold.  He built a leprechaun trap all by himself.

He added something green and some gold (pennies) to lure the little fellow in.  Then he strategically placed a bit of double-sided tape inside so that the leprechaun would get stuck. Granted, this concept already exists as a rat trap, but he doesn't know that so I was impressed with his original idea.

He decided the front walkway was the ideal location for trapping his victim.  As he put on his shoes he stated, "I'm going to catch me a leprechaun...(insert thoughtful pause and a shrug)...or a cat."  The trap was put down and he then used sidewalk chalk to draw arrows, a rainbow and a leprechaun friend as additional enticement.  

And then he went to bed.

Because they only come when you are sleeping.

I think they have a contract similar to S. Claus.

When morning came he discovered that a leprechaun had in fact been in our house.  The pesky fellow turned his oatmeal and milk green.  He also made us a green cake with rainbow frosting and some gold coin pancakes.  He entertained himself by turning our toilet water green and playing with Camden's toys (only the green ones).  He even worked his magic on Cam's lunch by replacing the lunch I packed with rainbow grilled cheese and some green foods like cucumbers and a green apple.

Upon checking the trap we discovered that he had at one point been caught, but escaped.  His wee little sock was stuck on the tape.  Camden pointed out that he must have "wiggled free and hopped back to Ireland on one foot!"

It was a fun day.  After a l-o-n-g winter, followed by the recent "monsoon of the Northeast" we very much appreciated taking the twins for a walk downtown for a corned beef dinner at our favorite little family restaurant.  Afterwards we came home and enjoyed some green cake with green milk.  

Honestly, I don't care if I know it's only food coloring...I still need to close my eyes to stomach swallowing green milk.