10/29/2007
10/25/2007
Guts
Do I have what it takes to do or say what is right? Sometimes, I am not so sure. I often wonder if I would be like Peter and deny Christ if threatened. Or would I have the courage of the teenage girl(Cassie Bernall) shot and killed at Columbine for saying that she believed in God (perhaps an urban legend, but it still makes me think).
I was confronted with this question again when reading The Kite Runner. Young Amir finds his friend being tortured and abused by 3 bullies and hides, watching in the shadows while biting his hand to keep himself from screaming. If he had confronted the bullies what would have happened? He was just a weak little boy and they were bigger, stronger and out-numbered him. Sadly, I may have done the same thing, hidden in fear. But I hope that my reaction to my friend afterwards would have been better than his. He just dropped his friend because of his own shame. Pathetic.
What would you do? Sometimes we need a guts check.
I was confronted with this question again when reading The Kite Runner. Young Amir finds his friend being tortured and abused by 3 bullies and hides, watching in the shadows while biting his hand to keep himself from screaming. If he had confronted the bullies what would have happened? He was just a weak little boy and they were bigger, stronger and out-numbered him. Sadly, I may have done the same thing, hidden in fear. But I hope that my reaction to my friend afterwards would have been better than his. He just dropped his friend because of his own shame. Pathetic.
What would you do? Sometimes we need a guts check.
10/22/2007
A Good Read
Lately, I have been taking the kids to the library every few weeks to pick out new books and videos for them.
I love to read, but with so little spare time, I rarely allow myself the opportunity to do so. Plus when I am in the middle of a good book, my life becomes all consumed with finishing it. Finding out what happens. I spend all of my breaks/nap times reading and stay up way too late in the evenings with my nose glued to the quickly turning pages. For example, I finished the new Harry Potter this summer in less than a week, I think.
Well, it's been a some months since I reached the end of Harry (no pun intended), so a couple weeks ago, I actually picked up some much craved for fictional material for myself for a change.
One was a total junk read, but just what I wanted at the time. A book that I could blow through in a day. A Janet Evonovich, Stephanie Plum Novel called Twelve Sharp. It was ok. Just the same as all of the other ones, though. Funny, dim-witted, and frustrating. Stephanie is this moron of a bounty hunter in Jersey who is afraid of her own shadow and keeps going back and forth between the two men in her life. I just want her to settle down with the cute Italian cop already!
The other, The Kite Runner by Khaled Hosseini, was just as my sister Katie had described it....Aaaaamazing!! It was a beautiful story set in war-torn Afghanistan about two boyhood playmates, one with an undying loyalty, the other full of cowardice, a betrayal, and finally a hope for redemption. I loved the line that was spoken to Amir, the main character near the end of the book:There is a way to be good again. These words really resonated with me and I was so grateful that the character had a newfound hope instilled in him. A way to make things right.
It is a must read in my book (HA) !! In fact, I saw it on display for sale at Starbucks where it said that it is coming out as a movie. I am sure that the film will be awesome, too, but they are rarely able to capture the entire essence of the novel.
I love to read, but with so little spare time, I rarely allow myself the opportunity to do so. Plus when I am in the middle of a good book, my life becomes all consumed with finishing it. Finding out what happens. I spend all of my breaks/nap times reading and stay up way too late in the evenings with my nose glued to the quickly turning pages. For example, I finished the new Harry Potter this summer in less than a week, I think.
Well, it's been a some months since I reached the end of Harry (no pun intended), so a couple weeks ago, I actually picked up some much craved for fictional material for myself for a change.
One was a total junk read, but just what I wanted at the time. A book that I could blow through in a day. A Janet Evonovich, Stephanie Plum Novel called Twelve Sharp. It was ok. Just the same as all of the other ones, though. Funny, dim-witted, and frustrating. Stephanie is this moron of a bounty hunter in Jersey who is afraid of her own shadow and keeps going back and forth between the two men in her life. I just want her to settle down with the cute Italian cop already!
The other, The Kite Runner by Khaled Hosseini, was just as my sister Katie had described it....Aaaaamazing!! It was a beautiful story set in war-torn Afghanistan about two boyhood playmates, one with an undying loyalty, the other full of cowardice, a betrayal, and finally a hope for redemption. I loved the line that was spoken to Amir, the main character near the end of the book:There is a way to be good again. These words really resonated with me and I was so grateful that the character had a newfound hope instilled in him. A way to make things right.
It is a must read in my book (HA) !! In fact, I saw it on display for sale at Starbucks where it said that it is coming out as a movie. I am sure that the film will be awesome, too, but they are rarely able to capture the entire essence of the novel.
10/12/2007
Seasonal Squares
Fall has got to be one of my favorite times of year. I had no idea what fall was like in Florida as the leaves didn't really change and we had maybe a week of cooler, nicer weather until the heat and humidity kicked it into full gear again.
Out here it is gorgeous. Leaves started turning reds, browns, yellows and oranges at the end of September. Doesn't that seem early? The weather has been cool and crisp and today is cloudy. I love overcast days for a change as we see sunshine and only sunshine for the whole summer. No afternoon thundershowers out here.
Anyway, to celebrate the arrival of this awesome season, I made pumpkin squares yesterday afternoon. They turned out delicious so I decided to share the recipe with you.
PUMPKIN SQUARES
Yield 16 squares
1 3/4 C all purpose flour
1/3 C granulated sugar
1/3 C packed brown sugar
1 C cold butter, cut into small pieces
1 15 oz can of pumpkin
1 14 oz can of sweetened condensed milk
2 eggs
2 tsp ground cinnamon
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 tsp ground allspice
1/3 C chopped pecans (optional)-1/3 C seemed scant. I will add more next time!!
1. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. In a large bowl, stir together flour, granulated sugar and brown sugar. Using a pastry blender, cut in butter until mixture resembles coarse crumbs. Set aside 1 cup of crumb mixture.
2. Press remaining crumb mixture onto the bottom and halfway up sides of ungreased 2-quart rectangular baking dish.
3. In another large bowl, stir together pumpkin, sweetened condensed milk, eggs, cinnamon, salt and allspice. Pour into crust-lined baking dish.
4. Stir pecans into reserved crumb mixture. Sprinkle the pecan mixture over the pumpkin mixture.
5. Bake 50-55 minutes or until knife inserted near center comes out clean. Cool in pan on wire rack. Chill in refrigerator within 2 hours. Cover for longer storage in refrigerator.
ENJOY!!
Out here it is gorgeous. Leaves started turning reds, browns, yellows and oranges at the end of September. Doesn't that seem early? The weather has been cool and crisp and today is cloudy. I love overcast days for a change as we see sunshine and only sunshine for the whole summer. No afternoon thundershowers out here.
Anyway, to celebrate the arrival of this awesome season, I made pumpkin squares yesterday afternoon. They turned out delicious so I decided to share the recipe with you.
PUMPKIN SQUARES
Yield 16 squares
1 3/4 C all purpose flour
1/3 C granulated sugar
1/3 C packed brown sugar
1 C cold butter, cut into small pieces
1 15 oz can of pumpkin
1 14 oz can of sweetened condensed milk
2 eggs
2 tsp ground cinnamon
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 tsp ground allspice
1/3 C chopped pecans (optional)-1/3 C seemed scant. I will add more next time!!
1. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. In a large bowl, stir together flour, granulated sugar and brown sugar. Using a pastry blender, cut in butter until mixture resembles coarse crumbs. Set aside 1 cup of crumb mixture.
2. Press remaining crumb mixture onto the bottom and halfway up sides of ungreased 2-quart rectangular baking dish.
3. In another large bowl, stir together pumpkin, sweetened condensed milk, eggs, cinnamon, salt and allspice. Pour into crust-lined baking dish.
4. Stir pecans into reserved crumb mixture. Sprinkle the pecan mixture over the pumpkin mixture.
5. Bake 50-55 minutes or until knife inserted near center comes out clean. Cool in pan on wire rack. Chill in refrigerator within 2 hours. Cover for longer storage in refrigerator.
ENJOY!!
10/11/2007
Washed Up
This week I decided to throw in the towel for now with my marathon training. I need to see a doctor before I can continue about my messed up left knee. It has never been the same since I injured it in the marathon three years ago.
I never did anything about it back then, just stopped running for a year or so due to recovery time and then pregnancy.
I did a 10 mile long run a couple weeks ago and that same dadgum knee was in immense pain that evening whenever I stepped on the leg. It hurt me for days. I scaled back with my long run the following week and didn't really notice any pain after 6 miles.
But then I bumped the knee early this week, merely brushed it on a bookcase when crawling around with the kids and saw red. Since my injury, my knee has turned into something worse than a funny bone. I gimped around again for days and I have this huge purple bruise. All because I bumped my knee.
I never did anything about it back then, just stopped running for a year or so due to recovery time and then pregnancy.
I did a 10 mile long run a couple weeks ago and that same dadgum knee was in immense pain that evening whenever I stepped on the leg. It hurt me for days. I scaled back with my long run the following week and didn't really notice any pain after 6 miles.
But then I bumped the knee early this week, merely brushed it on a bookcase when crawling around with the kids and saw red. Since my injury, my knee has turned into something worse than a funny bone. I gimped around again for days and I have this huge purple bruise. All because I bumped my knee.
Actually She's A Girl
I've found myself needing to tell people this lately. I could just let it go when they say what a cute little son I have (when referring to Emily), but dang it...I don't want to.
But, I have actually done the same thing before, guessed a baby's gender wrong based on what they were wearing (c'mon moms, don't dress your infant girls in all blue). Ok, so I have done that, too. In fact, Emily was in blue pajamas on her first night in the hospital. I was saving the pink girly ones for the "coming home outfit." Numerous hospital staff complimented me on my handsome new son.
Being that I am not much of a girly girl myself, I typically go for comfort rather than fashion in how I dress her. Dresses are only worn to church and parties or special occasions. Most of the time now that the weather is colder, (sorry to all of you still sweaty Floridians) she is in pants and a long sleeved onsie. And I try to shy away from pink, though she still wears it quite a bit.
Anyway, after having her called a boy 3 times in one weekend (and she was in lavender two of those times), I went out and bought her a collection of hair clips.
Now if someone dares to make that same mistake again, I am going to tell them to look at her frickin' hair clip. Now I better understand why some people/cultures pierce their baby girl's ears. Not that I would do that but...
I realized today why her gender identity is so important to me. Why it is not ok for people to think that she is a boy. Funny, this is something that I had almost forgotten about until now. I had short hair from age 5-10. Not a cute sassy bob, mind you, but really short, boy hair. Hideous. I remember being called "sonny boy" by an old man in the grocery store. And I did not like that one little bit. I may have been a tomboy with short hair, but I was NOT A BOY.
Neither is my little Emily. She's a girl and she is beautiful.
But, I have actually done the same thing before, guessed a baby's gender wrong based on what they were wearing (c'mon moms, don't dress your infant girls in all blue). Ok, so I have done that, too. In fact, Emily was in blue pajamas on her first night in the hospital. I was saving the pink girly ones for the "coming home outfit." Numerous hospital staff complimented me on my handsome new son.
Being that I am not much of a girly girl myself, I typically go for comfort rather than fashion in how I dress her. Dresses are only worn to church and parties or special occasions. Most of the time now that the weather is colder, (sorry to all of you still sweaty Floridians) she is in pants and a long sleeved onsie. And I try to shy away from pink, though she still wears it quite a bit.
Anyway, after having her called a boy 3 times in one weekend (and she was in lavender two of those times), I went out and bought her a collection of hair clips.
Now if someone dares to make that same mistake again, I am going to tell them to look at her frickin' hair clip. Now I better understand why some people/cultures pierce their baby girl's ears. Not that I would do that but...
I realized today why her gender identity is so important to me. Why it is not ok for people to think that she is a boy. Funny, this is something that I had almost forgotten about until now. I had short hair from age 5-10. Not a cute sassy bob, mind you, but really short, boy hair. Hideous. I remember being called "sonny boy" by an old man in the grocery store. And I did not like that one little bit. I may have been a tomboy with short hair, but I was NOT A BOY.
Neither is my little Emily. She's a girl and she is beautiful.
10/04/2007
Blackmail Material
I got an incriminating photo of my son last night. One that I will show to future girlfriends or at least his future wife.
I bought him some cowboy boots to complete his cute cowboy Halloween costume. He is super into them. As soon as he got out of the tub and I toweled him off, he ran straight into his room, pulled them on and started dancing around, singing and clapping his hands.
Naked in his cowboy boots. Quite a funny sight for sure.
And on a similar note, the word that we taught our kids for their bottom is "dupa." It's Polish and meant behind as far as we knew. Well, it turns out that it is the more obscene form of behind, a Polish curse word. Come to think of it, I think that Mike learned it from his mother. She used to call him a "pain in the dupa." Hmmmm. So if you are Polish or know Polish and hear our kids talking about their asses, please know that we didn't mean to teach them to cuss. Whoops!
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