Author: Dre

Categories
Blogging Business

Winna Winna, Chicken Dinna!

The always fabulous and quite well-read Mama Neena correctly guessed our family’s favorite veggies in Saturday’s contest to win something COOL.

Her answers:

1.  Lima Beans – Jeremy
2.  Edamame – Andrea
3.  Crunchy Carrots – Alison
4.  Peas and Carrots – Blythe

Those are our favorites!  However, I must say that everyone in the house loves all of the above, except for Alison who doesn’t like lima beans.  If she didn’t look so much like me, that right there might cause us to wonder if she got switched as a baby and actually belongs with some other, non lima bean eating family.

The COOl PRIZE offered to Mama Neena is a bottle of Sparkling Pinot Grigio by Barefoot.  A glass (or two) (or three) of this champagne is one of the best ways I know to cool off when the temperatures are getting a bit too HOT.  

Thanks, everyone, for playing along!  Now go eat your veggies. 

Categories
Blogging Business Life in general

Increments of Five and a Contest

Lately, I have been feeling overwhelmed, chaotic, unfocused, and “blah”.  There are so many things I want to do, that I end up outright neglecting some areas of my life  and completely forgetting about others.  Life always seems more manageable with a plan though, right?

So today we had a little family meeting and I asked everyone to help me make a list of the five most important things I do (or can do) for them, the house, work and myself.  We all spoke for Blythe, because her answer to almost everything right now is, “Nemo”.

For a little extra fun, I’d love for you to tell me: What are your Top 5 Priorities, from any facet of your life?  THEN, to win something COOL, tell me who picked what as a favorite vegetable down below. 

————–

I’m going to make each of these important things a priority, so that I can be a better Mother, Wife, and Self.  Here we go.

Alison and Blythe:

1.  Read a bedtime story
2.  Play
3.  Talk nice / have patience
4.  Laugh
5.  Work so we can have money to buy stuff at Target

Jeremy:

1.  Let me know you appreciate what I do
2.  Spend time with me + LOVIN’
3.  Massages
4.  Make work a priority
5.  I like cold stuff to drink in the fridge

Me:

1.  Eat Healthy
2.  Exercise
3.  Get plenty of sleep
4.  Make time for the people I love
5.  Make time for myself to be creative

House:

1.  Laundry
2.  Food – groceries & cooking
3.  Dishes
4.  Picking up / controlling clutter
5.  Keep the floors clean (as clean as possible, anyway)

And then, because I’ve had to scrap pretty much every recipe I had accumulated over the last 15 years when we found out Blythe was allergic to corn and eggs, I asked everyone to tell me their favorite meal.  For a little while, each week day will have a corresponding meal and I’ll expand our menu from there.  On the weekends, we’ll wing it and/or have left overs. 

Dinners:

1.  Spaghetti
2.  Caesar Chicken with noodles, peas and carrots
3.  Chili with bread
4.  Chicken Pot Pie
5.  Stir fry with rice

Everyone named a favorite veggie:

1.  Lima beans
2.  Crunchy carrots
3.  Peas & carrots
4.  Edamame
5.  Broccoli

And a favorite fruit:

1.  Strawberries
2.  Cherries
3.  Grapes
4.  Melon (any)
5.  Apples

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* edited to make the rules less confusing *

For the Contest

Assign each person to a veggie:

Jeremy
Andrea 
Alison (4 1/2) 
Blythe (15 months) 

Veggies:
1.  Lima beans
2.  Crunchy carrots
3.  Peas & carrots
4.  Edamame

The first person to guess correctly wins the prize.  If no one gets the correct combination, I’ll award the COOL PRIZE to the person with the most correct answers.

And don’t forget to tell me your top 5 priorities, if you want – but it’s not necessary to win.

Categories
Entertainment Kids

Nemo, and Other Undesirables

With my first child, I was adamant that she wouldn’t watch TV or be overwhelmed with “character” stuff.  Through that first year, I was pretty successful.  She was blissfully ignorant of cartoons and their merchandise, and our house was a Disney-free zone.

Then we came upon Alison’s first birthday closely followed by Christmas, and were inundated by gifts covered in Disney Princesses, Dora the Explorer, and Thomas the Tank Engine.  Gifts which, incidentally, Alison loved passionately.

Fast forward a couple of years, and enter a new baby on the scene.  A baby who, at the tender age of 15 months, knows the names of a lot of cartoon characters.  Not necessarily because she watches THAT much TV (although, yes, I admit she comes running at the first notes of The Backyardigans theme song) but because she has inherited Alison’s STUFF.

Stuff in perfectly good condition, stuff that’s actually pretty well designed save for that cartoon character smiling up from its surface.  A necessary evil?  Perhaps.

I have come to appreciate the educational cartoons and characters for the learning tools they can be.  Alison is much more willing to learn Spanish because she hears it from Dora and Diego as well as from us.  If she’s forgetting her manners, all I have to do is call her, “Princess Cleotasha” and she’ll shape up faster than if I try reminding her to be polite.

And Blythe?  Well, she spotted some juice with Elmo on it at the store the other day and could not rest until said juice was resting comfortably in the cart next to her.  Who can turn down a little voice saying, “Emmoh, pease?  Peeeease, mama, Emmmmooooooh?” 

Say a little prayer for me, m’kay?

Categories
Blogging Business Entertainment Life in general

Audience of One

Years ago I read somewhere that to be successful at writing (or acting, or whatever your craft may be) you should think of your audience as you work.  Without your audience, “they” said, you would be less able to fully engage yourself. 

Originally, this blog was supposed to be a spin off of my childbirth education website.  But if you were to go back and read those first posts (and believe me, I’m not encouraging you to do that) you would see how dry and bo-ring they were.  I hardly ever posted back then, because even I didn’t have any interest in reading something so… stiff.

But then I decided to find my audience.  Who could I write to, and feel completely at home with myself?  That answer was easy: my best friend of 17 years, Rachel.  Not only has she encouraged me to continue writing in many ways over time, but I also know that no matter what I say, she’s not going to laugh at me.  Well, she might, but it’s in a totally nice, non-judgmental way.

Whenever I sit down here to write a post, I pretend like I’m writing to Rachel.  She gets my sense of humor, and she loves me despite my quirks.  I can just be.  It’s incredibly liberating.  Rachel is my audience of one – and the reason I’m able to get over my self-doubt enough to write things for all the world to see.

The difference between the dull posts of my first 5 or so months here, and everything after that, is plain to see: Rachel helps me to be a better me.

———–

Do you have an audience, or are you able to hone your skills for yourself alone?

Categories
Food Products and Reviews

Ode to a Turkey Pot Pie

Ode to a Turkey Pot Pie


*, **, ***

Oh what could be better
than a Turkey Pot Pie
for breakfast, lunch and dinner?

(Minus the pounds
it so lovingly deposits
on my hips.)

Elusive frozen pot pie
with your one hour bake times,
I avoided your siren call.

With my own two hands,
in half the time,
for years and years and years now.

But what did mine eyes see
in the frozen entrée aisle,
waiting for me?

Marie Callenders, with her fancy ways,
created a “poofy pocket”
for the microwave.

Pot Pie,
Pot Pie,
my Turkey Pot Pie.

I love how you sigh
when I poke your crust
with my fork.

For what could be more appetizing
than a delicious, flaky crust and
a creamy, veggie filling?

No trip to Mimi’s,
no dough on my hands.

Just a pop in the microwave
and a fork.

Heaven.

————

What’s YOUR heavenly food?

————

*     This fabulous plate is only $2.50 at Target!
**   But is not microwaveable.
*** And also serves as proof that children’s plates don’t have to be tacky.