B'Twixt and B'Tween

Catching Up

Well, mostly life has been rolling along fairly uneventfully. 

My car experienced a home improvement "hangover" when Husband discovered a roofing nail in my front tire.  Upside: a hissing noise alerted him to the problem. Downside: he was in the garage to empty the garbage just before going to bed last Sunday evening.  Instead, he put the spare tire on the car so that I could drive it to the tire store, and then he collapsed into slumber. Whatta guy. The tire was fixable, so I am only out the repair cost instead of needing to buy a new tire. 

Husband and I have been reading a parenting book, Have a New Kid by Friday.  Mostly, our "old" kid is loveable... however, we have run headlong into major attitude since arriving home from Vietnam and it has gown quite tiring. This book is reminding us about how to get back on track. So far, so good... although Big T did have his allowance docked today after we "paid" ourselves for setting the table after he didn't get it done. He's not too happy, but I'm thinking that perhaps we didn't hold back enough to make a lasting impression. We'll see if progress continues. Please send us positive vibes for sticking to the plan.

I am sticking (so far) to the Wii Fit plan.  No change in weight yet, but I am noticing a difference in how my clothes fit.  Plus, it is inspiring to hear that my "Wii Fit Age" is about 15 years younger than my actual age. Not to brag, or anything. So... I've been stepping onto the balance board and banking about 30 minutes of exercise time at lunchtime most days.  I think it helps clear my mind too, for a productive afternoon.  And so nice not to have to drive to an exercise class or take the extra time in the evenings or Saturdays.

And finally, we are joining the rest of America in "trading down" our meals.  Still having the occasional meal out, but trying to make our own pizzas or at heat a frozen pie instead of ordering out. Especially since Big T and his pals are still happy with a "kid's" cheap, cheese-only pizza. Husband and I "splurge" on a nicer brand of frozen pizza and dress it up with extra ingredients.  A nice margharita pizza and salad is fine for us. We'll save our mealtime outing for tomorrow afternoon, when we're planning to go out with Husband's parents, then return to our house for a Vietnam trip slide show.

So, what's up with you?

Why Do I Blog?

That's what Roomie asked during our Christmas luncheon.  If you make time to do something, it must be important to you, so why do you blog?

Made me stop and think.  Because it allows me to write more creatively than a business memo and more personally than an interview story, I said. Which is true.

But I think I've hit a wall.

Our travel blog from Vietnam was very fun and had many more readers than B'twixt and B'tween gets.  It seemed like it had a purpose and/or focus, while this one kind of depends on my mood, our family's activities, and my willingness.

I've been storing up a list of ideas for posts as well as some photos to run.  But I just can't seem to summon the energy to translate it all here. And some of it seems quite trivial, to be honest. Maybe I've lost my voice. Or maybe I'm searching for the one theme that will help answer Roomie's question.

Maybe I'm over-thinking it.

So I'll keep mulling it over.  Why do I blog? And should I continue?

Grumpy Young Men

Big T and his cousins from St. Louis had the quintessential "Up North" experience last weekend:  ice fishing.  Husband's aunt, uncle, cousin and the cousin's two sons visited the in-laws and rented an ice fishing house on Lake Mille Lac. It was just like the Grumpy Old Men movies -- complete with a plowed road leading 1.5 miles across the ice from the shoreline resort to the village of fishing houses.

To Big T's delight, he was invited to fish and spend the night in the fish house. Antics ensued. I, of course, elected to stay warm and dry at home shopping and watching chick flicks on the DVD.

Here are the photos that Big T and Husband brought back. Gotta admit, it is pretty:

 

 

 

And here's the catch (thanks, Grammie!):

 

Yum on a Budget

The doorbell rang fairly early yesterday for our grocery delivery (gotta love that free delivery offer!). Here's what's on our menu this week -- what's on yours?

Last night: a meal assembly recipe of Farmhouse Chicken (breasts cooked with a topping of chopped tomatoes, onions and lots of seasonings) with homemade potato chips (olive oil, rosemary and grated Parmesan), and salad.

Tonight: baked salmon with tomatoes, spinach and mushrooms, salad of grapefruit, oranges and kiwi with poppy seed dressing.

The rest of the week:

Tacos/taco salad with black beans, salad and fruit.

Dijon chicken with rosemary, rice with the drippings spooned over, Brussels sprouts (Husband just recently told me he likes them, and I don't generally include them -- so here's his chance!).

Orange roughy roasted with sliced onions, tomatoes and bell peppers (drizzle with olive oil and seasonings), salad, vegetable mixture including snap peas, edamame, carrot slices and black beans.

Pasta with bacon, peas and Parmesan, salad and fruit.

Grilled top round steak (marinated first in olive oil, soy sauce, Italian seasonings), twice baked potatoes.

Big T has a choir concert Thursday evening, so we'll call it drive-through night. And all told, the whole week will cost about what we pay for the three of us (and sometimes a fourth tweenage guest) to go out for dinner twice.

Valentine's Day Memories

Valentine's Day got me to thinking about the most romantic movies ever.  Or at least a newspaper article list got me to thinking about it.  My picks?

• Sleepless in Seattle (it's a tie with the next one on my list, and I can't help but think of these two together... you'll see why)

• When Harry Met Sally (I've actually asked Husband if this was part of his standard romance package; he brought Sleepless and Harry/Sally to my house while we were dating as a way of prolonging the evening -- and we actually watched both into the wee hours of the night after we returned from dinner... see why they're linked forever in my mind?)

• My Big Fat Greek Wedding (I actually asked Husband for this as a Valentine's Day gift one year!)

• The Way We Were (oh, that Robert Redford and the way that he and Barbra Streisand ended up together after starting out as such an unlikely couple; the walk on the beach; the romance of the anti-war protests... Even the song comes back so easily:  Memories...in the corners of my mind
  Misty water-colored memories
  Of the way we were
  Scattered pictures,
  Of the smiles we left behind
  Smiles we gave to one another
  For the way we were
  Can it be that it was all so simple then?
  Or has time re-written every line?
  If we had the chance to do it all again
  Tell me, would we? could we?...)

• Love Story (face it, if you're my age you know that love means never having to say you're sorry)

Of these, the Greek Wedding didn't make the newspaper list, but these did: Breakfast at Tiffany's, Harold & Maude, The Lake House, Roman Holiday and Doctor Zhivago.  What would be on your list?

As for Valentine's Day. Well. Big T and Husband took off in the morning for an overnight adventure in an ice fishing house Up North.  Cousins were visiting from St. Louis and the point of their trip was to experience ice fishing.  They rented a fish house and settled in for the weekend.  I packed off the two boys with snacks and warm clothes and sleeping bags, then had the house and the day to myself. A big shoe sale, a little browsing and then I capped the evening curled up with the Sex and the City movie DVD and some good snacks myself. (Extra points: Carrie has a copy of Love Story -- the book -- in her hand as she goes up the library steps.) The boys came back late the next morning, two cousins in tow. We delivered Big T to a waterpark hotel to finish the cousins' weekend with an overnight, and then took off for a real movie. In the theater.

We saw Milk. Which wasn't particularly romantic, but was still a very good movie.

Husband brought me a bunch of multicolored roses today, which is technically two days late for Valentine's Day, but I say it's just a great way to stretch the Hallmark holiday right through President's Day. Smooches all around.

Earning Half

I have invoked a rule from my own growing up: Mom and Dad will pay for half of that expensive item, but you need to save up to match their hard-earned pennies. You might recall that Big T got a Wii for Christmas; I have purchased the Wii Fit for myself, but he wanted Rock Band, a game that goes for up to $180 (depending on the version) and includes a drum set, guitar and voice track. He's been playing it every chance he gets -- at Vietnam Culture Camp, at his cousins' house, with friends. He's pretty good. But until last week, he had to settle for his own Guitar Hero on our PS2.

Cries of "I want" or "it's not fair" were met with the you pay half/we pay half rule.

So he started earning money by doing extra chores.  He has shoveled ice off the driveway on a warm, melty day; he vacuumed my car. And he got lots of lucky money at our Vietnamese New Year's party for Tet.  Lucky money is a tradition, given by adults to kids in crisp $1 bills packaged in fancy red envelopes. 

We started investigating the purchase, and found that the version he wanted was discontinued. The remaining stock has been "reinvented" in a reduced-price bundle, available mostly for other gaming systems. Seems the other Wii players snapped up the discounted bundles as fast as they hit the shelves. Big T and I spent more than an hour online, searching local inventory but coming up empty. After school, he decided to hit the stores in person, hoping to find one hidden away on a distant shelf. The helpful staff at the first store called every one of their outlets within 20 miles -- no luck. Similar stories in additional stores. Soon, we had visited eight retailers and were staving off the hunger pains for dinner.

The final hope was to go back to our very first stop and "settle" for the PS2 version. Big T's PS2 works fine, it just isn't the flashy new Wii. Faced with the choice of saving an additional $40 (to be matched by an additional $40 from Mom and Dad as well) for a version he didn't like (different songs) or "settling" for the PS2 version, he chose the latter.

He's been drumming ever since.

And I get Wii time for the Fit games.

Plus, I feel good about the idea that he's learning to research big purchases, make choices about saving money based on the game version, and earn his own way -- or at least his own half-way.

The Kitchen is Now Open (Again)

Now that the crush of jet lag recovery and home improvements is over (yes! peace and quiet! unless you count the sound of drumsticks from the Rock Band competition in our basement), I have gotten serious (again) about meal planning. I am a bit amused by all the blog chatter about home cooking... this is how I've operated for most of my married years. Refreshing to find others "discovering" the joys of meal planning, shopping to a list of needed ingredients, and actually using their kitchens! Guess I was frugal when frugal wasn't cool...

Along with the writers listed under "Food Stuff" links, here is a new blog discovery: Simple Mom offers lots of great posts, including a list of 18 kitchen "hacks."

My online grocer is back in business, and I took advantage of an offer for free delivery as often as I like until the end of March.  So I can do the shopping from my home desk in my jammies after Big T is in bed, if I like. The groceries come directly to my front door without any hassle.

I also reacquainted myself with clipping coupons this week, with a nice bounty of them in the Sunday newspaper.  I had given up the coupon shopping for a few years, though Husband is pretty faithful about using coupons for his "on the way home" grocery stops.

And I completed a session at our meal assembly spot.  We've gone through the first batch of each selection, with the second batch still at the ready in our freezer. (For our family size, I split each recipe so we get to try it twice.)

So I feel organized and ready to tackle the kitchen. 

Breakfasts don't change much at our house.  Even in the wake of the peanut butter scandals, we are reassured that the major brands remain safe. And it's a good thing, since Big T has been on a peanut-butter-whole-wheat-waffle kick all school year.  I have offered oatmeal, cold cereal, toast... he has accepted the occasional scrambled egg. But mostly, it's waffle time. 

Dinners are definitely a variety show. Belatedly, here is the week's plan:

Sunday:  Big T had pizza with the fourth, fifth and sixth graders at church; Husband and I had Thai-marinated flank steak (meal assembly recipe) with buttered sliced beets and Ceasar salad.

Monday: Turkey breast tenders slow cooked with wild rice stuffing (wild rice, craisins, apples, onions) plus green peas and orange sections.  Big T went with the poultry theme for baked chicken tenders.

Tuesday:  Cheeseburgers (still loving the countertop grill) with oven-baked sweet potato fries.  Husband is working late, so Big T and I will enjoy.

Wednesday: Stir-fried chicken with cabbage, water chestnuts, broccoli and carrots; brown rice; jello made with juice and fruit.

Thursday: This one's a puzzle; Big T has his Science Fair that evening so it may become a drive-through night.

The weekend is up in the air.  Cousins will be visiting from St. Louis and Husband needs to finalize the details on our get-togethers.

What's for dinner at your house?

Oh, for Reading Out Loud

I'm having a book club.  Sort of.

Big T and I are collapsed together on top of the leather chair, taking turns.  He reads the words characters "speak" in the quotations and I read the text that cobbles the quotes together.  "He said, patiently." "She muttered." Those are my parts. When the longer text paragraphs come up, I try to use inflection and am pleased that he's following the whole chapter, needing no prompting to know when to chime in with the actual quotes. Not sure this is what the teacher has in mind, but it passes the reading time with added interest.

Could it be that Big T has finally turned the corner on reading?  Although I try not to project my own interests onto him, I have been secretly disappointed that he doesn't seem to enjoy devouring books for fun. It is sometimes like pulling teeth to enforce a nightly reading routine.

Til we started the reading together, out loud, for his last English class selection, Alcatraz and the Evil Librarians by Brandon Sanderson.  After we turned the last page, he went directly to the computer and dictated to his typist/Mom a book report.  Having initially grumbled about the instructions to write at least five sentences, he poured out three pages worth of plot details plus a list of six characters and the points that made them important to the story.  He took his printed pages to school and reported afterward that the English teacher actually had to cut him off from his enthusiastic retelling -- it was too long!

Now, we're reading a Christmas gift, Go Long!by football greats Tiki and Ronde Barber with Paul Mantell.  It's a sequel to a book he really enjoyed last year, Kickoff! Again, he reads the quotes and I cobble them together with the "he said"s. Or we switch and he reads the prose. We started out with a goal of a chapter a night, but tonight he couldn't stop until reading three chapters.

Many of these books have reading guides. Big T doesn't even realize that I'm slipping the guide questions into dinner conversation.

I just hope I haven't jinxed the whole reading fixation by reporting it here.

When Big T goes to bed or moves on to other homework, I make the quick mental shift to my other reading materials and get to read whole pages without a subtle elbow to the ribs. A book about parenting tweenage boys (13 Is the New 18 by Beth J. Harpaz). A silly bestseller (Plum Lucky by Janet Evanovich). A food history/memoir/recipe book (The Surprising Story of Milk through the Ages by Anne Mendelson).

Then there's the "real" book club book, waiting for Big T, Husband and I all to tackle it: The Book Thief by Markus Zusak.  This is the selection for our community-wide book club, and it sounds like something Big T will be interested in; comparisons have been made to The Diary of Anne Frank. We'll see if the three of us can tackle this one together.

All's Quiet on the Home Front

And that's a good thing.

I am basking in the lack of pounding all around me.  For a couple of weeks, my coworkers have been asking, "aren't they done yet?" as they heard the roofers at work above me and the siding guys at work all around me.  On most days, pounding began about the time the school bus came and went til about noon. There was a break for an hour or two, then the pounding would resume until mid to late afternoon.  Depending on the temperature, I think, although it could have been any number of things that would cause the crew to pack up for the day.

They sure picked an interesting winter occupation. Temperatures have ranged from zero to the 20s during their work time here.  They sported fleece-lined hats with ear flaps and worker-guy coveralls and sturdy gloves and still steamed the air as they worked. They missed a few days, because it was too cold to bear, I assume.

Since I couldn't predict when the hammering would be happening, I continued to schedule conference calls.  I hope my mute button worked most of the time, but I know there must have been times it did not.  In fact, one time the foreman repeatedly rang our doorbell during a conference, assuming that since I was home I would be free to answer his question.  I thought I had quietly put the phone on speaker and used the mute button before flying down the stairs to answer the door -- dog barking frantically all the while.  Turns out, I wasn't that clever. My company's CEO asked everyone on the call who's dog was yapping so noisily. Of course, when I didn't speak up, it became obvious that the culprit was at my house.

The pace picked up considerably two days ago when more workers than usual surrounded the house. They finished the siding and started on all the last details -- caulking, restringing utility wires, hanging light fixtures and asking about house numbers and mailboxes. By noon today, the city inspector had come and gone, final pieces had been pounded into place and construction equipment was packed up. The dumpster should be hauled away tomorrow, and we'll have a fresh look by the weekend.

At one point this afternoon, I actually told my caller to listen while I held the phone receiver out to take in the quiet. Ahhh... All is quiet on the home front.

Why?

Big T:  Why can't I have a cell phone?

Me: Because you're 10.

'Nuff said.  At least for today.

Turns out the nonstop question, "why?" isn't just for two year olds.