"Life, Love, and the Pursuit of Writing Well"
And I’m tired of talking.
It’s your turn.
I’ll ask a question, the first person to comment answers my question.
That first commenter then asks his/her question, the next commenter answers the question and then asks a question of his/her own and so on.
Clear as mud?
Here’s my question:
Spring is coming – what Easter candy are you excited to see back on store shelves?
More from Write From Karen
Want to fool your family on April Fool’s Day? Here’s a sneaky way to do that, at the dinner table.
(All of these recipes can be found at Family Fun. No, this is not a sponsored post).
Pile your dinner plates with a meal fit for April Fools’ Day. Just be sure to eat dinner first.
Ingredients
* Store-bought cupcake or poundcake
* Store-bought buttercream frosting
* Strawberry ice cream sauce
* Butter knife
* Chocolate malt balls
* Blanched walnuts or almonds
* Coconut
* Shallow baking pan
* Blender
* Green sprinkles
* White chocolate
* Double broiler or microwave
* Spoon
* Lady fingers
Instructions
1. Place a half of cupcake (top or bottom) or a half a slice of pound cake in the center of a plate.
2. Spoon the buttercream frosting into a decorating tube fitted with a large, circular tip and pipe it in a looping fashion around the sides of the biscuit or cake – do not frost the top.
3. Spoon strawberry ice cream sauce on top of the muffin or cake to cover. Drizzle a little over portions of the spaghetti as well.
4. For the meatballs, use a butter knife to rough up the surface of two or three chocolate covered malt balls. Place them on top of the “sauce.”
5. For the Parmesan cheese, crush a handful of blanched almonds or walnuts in a blender and then sprinkle the pieces over the sauce and “meatballs.”
6. For the garlic bread, toast some coconut (for garlic) in a shallow baking pan at 350º, stirring often, for 8 to 10 minutes or until golden. For butter, melt 1/4 cup of white chocolate chips in a double broiler or heat them in a microwave for about 1and 1/2 minutes at half power and stir until smooth. Spread the melted white chocolate on the toasted lady fingers. Top with the toasted coconut and green sprinkles for parsley.
This April Fools’ Day, pull a fast one (or better yet, a fast-food one!) on your kids by replacing a classic salty snack with a little something sweet: sugary fake fries.
Ingredients
* 1 package of plain, prepared breadstick dough
* Kitchen scissors
* Sugar
* White envelope
* Seedless strawberry jam
Instructions
1. Begin by unrolling the dough and separating the breadsticks. Use kitchen scissors to cut them into 1/4-inch-wide sticks.
2. Roll all the sticks in sugar, then bake them on a cookie sheet according to the package directions or until golden brown (ours took about 8 minutes). Leave them on the tray until they’re cool.
3. Make this mix-up even more fun by putting the fries in a fast-food fry sleeve (the cutoff end of a sealed envelope; ours was 2 1/2 inches deep) and serving them with a side of “ketchup” (jam whisked with a fork to a smooth consistency).
On April Fools’ Day, trick your family with a tiny breakfast that’s really a cleverly disguised dessert.
Ingredients
* FOR THE EGGS:
* 3 tablespoons white chocolate chips
* 12 yellow M&MS
* FOR THE FAKIN’:
* 1 square caramel
* 1 Tootsie Roll Midgee
Instructions
1. For the eggs: Melt the white chocolate chips according to the package directions. Transfer the melted chocolate to a ziplock bag and snip off a corner.
2. Squeeze nickel-size portions of the chocolate onto a sheet of waxed paper, then gently press a yellow M&M, letter side down, into the center of each. Let the candies cool. Makes 12 eggs.
3. For the fakin’: Remove the wrapping from a square caramel and a Tootsie Roll Midgee. Microwave the candies for 4 seconds to make them soft. Use your thumb and forefinger to slightly flatten each candy piece, then press them together.
4. Halve the candy, then stack and press the pieces into alternating layers.
5. Slice a 1/4-inch-wide piece from the stack. Pinch and stretch the piece lengthwise into a flat bacon strip, then cut it in half. Add ripples to each half by gently bending the edges. Makes 3 strips (6 pieces).
At first glance, a slice of this pie appears to offer something sweet: chocolate filling topped with strawberry whipped cream. But unsuspecting diners are in for a surprise…. It’s really a shepherd’s pie in disguise! Cocoa, molasses, and barbecue sauce give the meat its chocolaty color, while whipped potatoes infused with beet juice complete the deception. The best part of the prank is that you’re also making dinner!
Ingredients
* “CHOCOLATE” MEAT LOAF FILLING
* 1/3 cup barbecue sauce
* 1/4 cup milk
* 1 tablespoon dark, unsulfured molasses
* 1 teaspoon unsweetened cocoa
* 1/2 teaspoon chili powder
* 1 small onion, finely chopped
* 1 tablespoon canola oil
* 1/2 teaspoon salt
* 1/2 teaspoon celery salt
* 1/4 teaspoon pepper
* 2/3 cup bread crumbs
* 1 1/4 pounds lean ground beef
* 1 egg, lightly beaten
* “STRAWBERRY” POTATO TOPPING
* 2 pounds baking potatoes, peeled and cubed
* Salt
* 1/2 cup canned sliced beets (not pickled)
* 1/4 cup (or more) warm milk
* 4 tablespoons unsalted butter, cut into pieces
Instructions
1. Heat the oven to 350º. In a small saucepan, combine the barbecue sauce, milk, molasses, cocoa, and chili powder. Set the pan over medium heat and whisk the mixture until it is lukewarm and the cocoa is completely dissolved. Set it aside to cool.
2. Sauté the onions in the tablespoon of canola oil until they are transparent, about 7 minutes.
3. In a large bowl, whisk together the salt, celery salt, pepper, and bread crumbs. Then add the beef, egg, sauce mixture, and onion. Thoroughly mix the ingredients using your hands or a wooden spoon.
4. Remove the pie shell from the freezer. (We placed ours in a Pyrex dish to help ensure that the pie would bake evenly.) Transfer the meat to the shell, spreading it evenly with a spoon. Bake it until the meat is cooked through, about 60 minutes.
5. While the pie is baking, prepare the mashed potato topping. Place the potatoes in a large saucepan and add enough water to completely submerge them. Salt the water lightly, cover the pot, and bring it to a boil. Reduce the heat slightly and cook the potatoes at a low boil until they are tender, about 12 minutes.
6. While the potatoes cook, puree the beets and 1/4 cup warm milk in a blender until only small bits of beet are left in the mixture. Set aside.
7. Drain the potatoes and transfer them to a large mixing bowl. Add the butter and pureed beets and, using an electric mixer, whip the mixture until it’s smooth and fluffy. Add more milk if needed and salt to taste.
8. Spread the whipped potatoes over the top of the cooked meat pie with a spatula, as you would whipped cream, mounding it slightly in the center. Slice and serve the pie while the potatoes are still hot. Makes 8 servings.
This nutty mix of veggie impostors is guaranteed to cause a stir!
Ingredients
* Fruit Roll-Ups, 2 to 3 green rolls and 1 red roll
* 1 1/2 teaspoons hulled sunflower seeds
* 1 1/2 cups dried apple rings
* 3/4 cup dried pineapple chunks
* 1/2 cup cashews
Instructions
1. First, make a bunch of pea pods. For each one, cut a 2 1/4-inch square from a green fruit roll. Arrange five or six sunflower seeds (for peas) on the strip in a vertical row, just off center. Fold the strip in half over the seeds and press the edges together to seal them. Use a butter knife or kitchen scissors to trim the sealed edges into a rounded pod shape.
2. Next, cut the red fruit roll into thin pepper strips and the apple rings into bite-size chicken pieces. For the full effect, combine the pea pods, pepper strips, chicken pieces, pineapple chunks, and cashews in a frying pan. Or serve the mix on plates with chopsticks. Makes three cups
Bon Appétit and have fun!
Aloha! Kailani is the brain-child behind this fun Friday meme. If you feel inclined to answer my question, please post your answer in the comment section. Sound fun? Of course it does! Want to answer more questions? Hop over to An Island Life and play along!
(Please feel free to answer the question below, even if you’re not playing Aloha Friday!)
My question:
Share three things you do every day without fail.
My answers:
1. Drink coffee
2. Get on the Internet
3. Tell my guys that I love them.
You?
More from Write From Karen
Parental Punishments (What you Endured, Hated, But Would Use Now!)
This post is in no way meant to spark a debate or incite anger, it’s simply an informative post to let you know what I did, and how I handle, disciplining my children. I’m not suggesting that my way is best for YOUR family – everyone is different. All I’m saying is that it worked for OUR family and considering our boys are pretty decent, respectful human beings and have stayed out of trouble thus far (knock on wood), I’d like to think our discipline methods have been successful.
Either that, or I’m completely delusional and my boys have in fact, completely and totally pulled the wool over my eyes.
I’ll stick to my version – ignorance is bliss, yaddayaddayadda.
I grew up with the “spare the rod, spoil the child” mentality. My mom used a fly swatter on us when we misbehaved. My dad didn’t have to do anything, I was terrified of him. All he had to do was raise his voice and that caught my attention.
Kevin said his mom used a coat hanger on him (ouch! I bet that hurt), and his dad used a belt.
Neither one of us really remember getting spanked very often when we were kids. (Which is really weird for me, considering what a brat I was. Seriously. It’s amazing my folks didn’t ship me off to Antarctica. I would have. They probably WISHED they had).
We used a wooden spoon on our boys. I remember reading, in one of the HUNDREDS of parenting books that I devoured in the boys’ early years, that using an instrument, other than your hand, would help make the discipline a little less … personal? I’m not sure that’s the word I want, but it seems right.
Whenever I had to get the wooden spoon out, I would only give them one or two swats on the leg, not the diaper (it was like swatting a pillow, they didn’t feel it) and that’s all it took to get their attention to show them that I meant business.
I always gave them one warning. And if they continued with the behavior after that warning, I simply got the spoon out and swatted them.
I was consistent. And I think that’s CRUCIAL when you’re disciplining your children. Kids are smart little buggers. And they will push your buttons and see how far they can push you – it’s human nature to stretch boundaries like that.
I honestly don’t remember having to swat them very often. Again, I was consistent with them, so they knew I meant business and I wouldn’t hesitate to take out the wooden spoon. I didn’t put up with nonsense – period. They knew the rules. They knew what was expected of them. Period.
It’s so important to make sure kids KNOW what the rules are to begin with. You would be surprised how many parents I’ve observed that didn’t tell/teach their children what the boundaries were to begin with and just sort of dived into a disciplinary action. (Speaking about my experience with play groups.)
“Tommy. If you leave the yard, you will get into trouble.” And then walk little Tommy around the yard and SHOW him where the boundaries were so he would know what constituted punishment if he didn’t comply.
I also made very sure that my boys understood WHY they got into trouble. After they calmed down (and I calmed down), I sat them down and asked them why they got into trouble. I was shocked that there were times when they didn’t know. We would then talk about why they got into trouble and what they could have done differently to avoid getting into trouble in the future.
I think, all too often, parents (myself included), just assumed the kids knew what they did wrong. That wasn’t always the case.
When the boys started school, and were too old to be swatted (I knew this by the smirk on their faces, which only served to make me even more angry – and they knew that), I started sending them to their rooms. I know experts say you really shouldn’t do that because then they associate their rooms with punishment, but I had to get them out of my sight. I have a pretty hot temper, and I found the best thing for both of us, was separation. Out of sight, out of the crosshairs.
They found something in their rooms to calm them down and I had the silence needed to get myself under control. Again, after we both calmed down, I would talk with them about what made me angry and what they did to get into trouble.
Sometimes (and more often than I would like to admit), it was a misunderstanding on MY part. I jumped to conclusions and jumped down their throats when they didn’t deserve it. When those times happened, I owned up and apologized. I think it was important for them to see that I was human and made mistakes, too. I also learned to cool my jets and not jump to conclusions.
Too often.
When they reached middle school, (and even now), the most effective way to get their attention was to take their computers / video games away from them. They have both put that punishment to the test.
And it wasn’t because they misbehaved, per se, but rather because they started blowing off school.
School, in our household, is number one priority with us. It’s their job. And we fully expect them to give 110% of their attention and efforts into doing the best they can. (Which I’ve learned, the hard way, doesn’t necessarily mean straight A’s. Some subjects … well, we can’t all be experts at everything, right?)
When they started middle school, they blew off assignments. This lowered their grade. And because they blew off their assignments, they didn’t know enough to do well on the tests, so they flunked tests and that made their overall grades go down even further.
They tried to use the whole, “but my teacher stinks at his/her job!” and various other excuses and though that may have been the case (in fact, it was a few times), it was no excuse. There would be times when they would be forced to work with someone who didn’t explain it well enough. Or wasn’t knowledgeable enough or … whatever. They had a brain, they could figure it out on their own. They just had to take the initiative and do it. AND ask for help when needed.
“Life is hard. Get used to it, kid. No one is going to hold your hand through this stuff.”
Harsh? Perhaps. But it’s reality. And we’re nothing if not realistic.
Dude’s grades got so bad, that simply banning him from playing wasn’t enough. I suspected he was sneaking onto his computer at night, so Kevin and I removed his computer from his room. We took the whole thing out.
He was without a computer and wasn’t allowed to play video games, (he wasn’t even allowed to watch TV, our rationale being, now he had plenty of time to study and bring his grades up) for eight weeks. That’s the amount of time it took him to get his grades back to an acceptable level.
And that was the ONLY time we’ve had to physically take his stuff away from him. He’s been grounded from the computer and video games a few times since then, but not very often. That eight weeks were HELL for him – he’s been an excellent student ever since.
We’ve had to ground Jazz from the computer and video games a few times, but he saw what Dude went through and didn’t want the same thing to happen to him, so he never allowed himself to reach that level.
But again. We were consistent. The computer and video games were meant to be entertainment – NOT their life. They were more than welcome to use them when their real life work was done.
And we still hold true to that mantra now.
One last bit of advice – watch the yelling. When you yell all the time, the kids simply ignore you. Try and keep your voice at an easy, normal level (I know, easier said than done) so that when you do yell at them, it really gets their attention. It also shows that you mean business.
Again. All of this is meant to inform you. I’m not suggesting you do what I did, I’m simply saying these methods have worked for us. Children are different; kids respond to different tactics. The challenge, of course, as a parent, is to find the method that works for you, and your child.
Good luck.
And the ceiling fan is finally in.
It took a while. Not because Kevin had trouble putting the fan up, but because when he took our old light out, some of the ceiling crumbled with it. And then he discovered that the ceiling fan was too heavy for the area, so he had to crawl into the attic and reinforce it with a piece of 2×4.
He had to nail in some mesh to reinforce the section that had crumbled away, and then using some sheet rock putty (mud?), he filled it in. After that dried, he then sprayed some of the popcorn ceiling paint on (hush, we like our popcorn ceiling) and when that dried, he painted it to blend in with the rest of the ceiling.
(Tip: paint your ceiling with a semi-gloss finish. It really makes it shine and look nice!)
That took three days. After all of that was done, he was finally able to put in the ceiling fan – which he finished last night.
It looks a bit space-agey. We opted for the black fan blades and the base is a brushed nickel, which will tie nicely in with our faucet (which we don’t have installed … yet).
It’s also a remote controlled fan. Which is really cool and the boys had fun playing with that last night. (And when I say “boys”, I’m lumping Kevin in, too. *grin*)
We thought it might hang too low at first. But it’s not hanging any lower than the rest of the ceiling fans in the house so as long as our visitors aren’t taller than we are, we’ll be good. Otherwise, it might be like walking across a helicopter pad, with the blades going – they’ll have to duck or get their heads knocked off.
Nothing spoils a party more than getting part of your skull chopped off.
Anyway, we like it. And I’m looking forward to using the fan whenever I slave over the hot stove.
(*pause* ….. bwhahahaha … like that’s going to happen any time soon).
It’s been over one week since the counter top guy came out and made a template. Kevin called Lowe’s yesterday to find out what the dealio was.
They’re scheduled to come out next Wednesday at 10:00.
Do you realize what this means??
I will finally have counter tops in one week!!
I have been without a sink for one month now and OH MY GOSH, I’m so ready to have our counter tops AND our sink back. This whole kitchen remodel novelty thing has worn off and now I’m just sick to death of the whole thing. I want my kitchen back! (Which is something I never thought I’d say in my lifetime).
After the counter tops have been installed, Kevin and I will begin thinking about the back splash. We might have the tile guy come back out and do it for us, but we haven’t decided yet. That’s something Kevin and I can easily do so we might just save the money and do it.
Especially now since …………
Kevin is home, full time.
He had moved some stuff around at the office and accidentally severed his Internet connection. No matter what he tried, or how many hoops he jumped through, he couldn’t get the stupid thing back up.
He called his IT guy, he came out, scratched his head and couldn’t figure out what was going on. Kevin called his Internet service provider, they scratched their heads and couldn’t figure it out.
Short of buying all new equipment, which would have been costly and a waste of time, given they were scheduled to move out of the office, permanently, next week, Kevin and his boss decided to just close up shop one week early and start working from home.
So Kevin moved his file cabinets and his computer to his home office last night and now he’s helping his boss get his home office set up.
I have mixed feelings about Kevin working from home.
On one hand … he’s working from home!
On the other hand … he’s working from home!
I have a feeling this arrangement will be cool for exactly two weeks before he starts getting on my nerves (or I start getting on HIS nerves).
We’ve worked together before. In fact, that’s how we met. And though we had a good time working together and we got along just fine, we sort of drove each other crazy.
We’re both very … pig-headed when it comes to work. Kevin likes things to be done HIS way, I like things done MY way.
You can see the problem.
And I’ve always said (half jokingly, half serious) that I would never work with him again.
And here we are. Both at home. And though we both have things to do, I have a feeling …. it’s going to get old fast.
As far as job prospects …
I really hope Kevin takes a few months off. He deserves it. He needs it, quite frankly. We’re okay bills and money wise, but I know Kevin. He isn’t the sort of person who can just sit around and take it easy. He always has to have an agenda. He always has to have something to do. If he doesn’t, then he finds something to do and that almost always means trouble – and money.
Which we really can’t afford to throw away at this point. I mean, we budgeted for this kitchen, we budgeted for our family vacation, and we budgeted to replace the carpets in the living/dining room with hardwood, but that’s it. We can’t afford to take on any new projects until he/we get a job.
So, the prospect of Kevin having time on his hands makes me nervous.
In fact, we were at Panera Bread yesterday, and I saw this cute older couple at the table next to us talking to some friends they ran into. They were all RVers and they were catching up on their travel adventures.
I loved listening to them talk (yes, I’m a blatant eavesdropper – people interest me). And after they left l told Kevin that I would love to be like that couple some day. Just sort of traveling across the country at our leisure, taking every day in stride – you know, relaxed and carefree.
He laughed.
“I don’t think I could ever do that,” he said. “There’s too much to do.”
I sadly shook my head. “That’s too bad,” I said. “Life is meant to be enjoyed at some point.”
I think it gave him food for thought. I hope it did, at any rate.
Anyway, he’s home now. We’re both keeping our options open, but neither one of us plans on actively looking for jobs until we get back from our vacation in July. But of course, now that I’ve said that, something will come along.
And that’s okay. We’ll just ride the tide, wherever that happens to take us.
Isn’t it funny how something you haven’t actively been thinking about, something you put on the back burner of your mind, just sort of pops up out of nowhere and when you least expect it?
I’ve been thinking about Dude’s graduation trip on and off now for several months. He’ll graduate next May. And I wanted to do a last family hurrah before he got too busy with his new life, new schedule – whatever that happens to be.
We’ve had some pretty awesome family vacations. We went to Florida several years, camped in the Rockies, flew to Washington D.C. and have taken a cruise to the Western Caribbean. And though we’ve had had a blast and have taken some pretty fun memories from those trips, Dude has hated the flying parts.
H.A.T.E.D them. He does not like to fly.
So, I’ve been wracking my brain trying to think of something fun we could do that wouldn’t require flying.
And suddenly, I thought of something yesterday. I don’t even know what sparked it, I was doing something else and without warning a huge word flashed across my mind.
AMTRAK.
Of course! The train! Dude would love that. One, he wouldn’t have to fly. And two, he was OBSESSED with trains when he was little though has never ridden one (well, except for theme park trains).
I was pretty much on the Amtrak website all day yesterday. I checked out the routes and the prices and though it’s a bit more than I expected, I don’t think it would end up being more than the whole flying/cruise thing.
I still have a lot of research to do and granted, this wouldn’t happen until next year (though judging by how many “sold outs” I saw on the website, I’m going to have to book this trip early), but I ran a tentative schedule by Kevin.
We would drive up to St. Louis and take the train up to Chicago. From Chicago, we would hop another train to our destination. And there are plenty of destinations to choose from.
When I ran these destinations by Kevin, he mentioned he would like to go to Seattle (we’ll let Dude pick the final destination of course, this trip will be his part of his graduation gift from us, after all).
So, I ran the route. We’d be on the train two days TO Seattle and then on the train two MORE days BACK to Chicago. That’s a lot of days on the train. And I have no idea what there is to do on the train. I mean, I don’t have a problem sitting around, taking pictures of the passing scenery, reading, playing games, eating and napping for two days. But Kevin?
I don’t see it happening for him.
But it sure would be fun to travel through the Montana mountains and sticking around Seattle for a few days? How fun would that be??
Anyway, it’s an idea. I ran it by Dude and he really perked up at the idea. I knew he’d love it. I just hope I can make it happen for him.
I’m going to work really hard at making Dude’s senior year something special.
He’s such an awesome young man. He totally deserves it.
Because sometimes? You just have to take a moment breathe …
Breathe in.
Breathe out.
Feel better? Great. You may resume your day now.
We’re looking for something we can put above our kitchen sink (which hasn’t arrived yet, by the way). Here’s one idea:
If you know of a wall stencil place, please let me know! I’d like a product that would easily come off without damaging the cabinet.
Write From Karen 