Trinkets of Thought

PARTAY!

October 16, 2008 by Maren Leave a Comment

Took pics this weekend for a little friend’s party. Happy birthday!

The constant children’s argument: Who’s taller? Who’s older? Who’s bigger? Who’s fatter…okay maybe not that one, but you get the point.

The party was at a gymnastics, UBER fun kid’s place–the kind of place where you think, “Why didn’t I think of that? I’d be rich.” But then you remember all the work that would have to go into it and it’s okay that you didn’t think of it first. Fun times.

This was a giant, long trampoline down to a foam pit! WHOOHOO!

The kid in me often wishes I was four again–where jumping into a pit of foam is the only concern you have about your afternoon….or which dress-up princess costume you will receive as a present, or if you should you blow out your birthday candle right after its lit or after they sing “Happy Birthday.”

One more day to weekend, but who’s counting? ME ME ME ME ME!

Blind, Deaf, and Dumb

October 9, 2008 by Maren 4 Comments

My dog is deaf so I have hand motions I use to let him know when he can go “bye-bye” with us or if it is time for him to simply doo his “doo-ty”. Problem is that I use the same signals when he’s outside dooing business and should come back in or when it’s time for us to leave or when it’s time to eat. I don’t think he quite gets it. I just spent the last 10 minutes figuring that our poor neighbors probably wonder if I’m practicing to be a tarmac airport employee directing a plane down the runway. I know I look odd. But, as I became introspective about these hand signals, I had a funny thought. Zippy spends a majority of time ignoring my desperate attempts to motion him back inside. The hand motions DO NOT work–and an outsider would guess that he is not only deaf, but blind too. Maybe my dog just likes to play with my mind and act oblivious to my most obvious gestures. I guess it wouldn’t surprise me, also, to know that everyone else, including my dog and neighbors, know better and they’ve probably already accurately assessed that I’m just motioning myself to the loony bin. And after even further introspection, I had to come to grips with an even more convicting thought: If the hand signals don’t work (except to go bye-bye), why on earth do I continue to look like a fool? Sigh.

MMMMMMMMMMMMMM…

October 1, 2008 by Maren 8 Comments

A few weeks ago, I purposed to make apple butter. Here’s the picture documentary…

Oops. Pardon, that was the stuffing my face part.

Now this is where the picture documentary stops. What I did NOT anticipate with this recipe was moving it to the fridge, only to have the electricity shut off for 4 days. That’s why you don’t see the crock-potted apples, nor the the food processor part, nor the eating the final product part. Oh, well. Use your imagination a little.

Apple Butter is W.O.N.D.E.R.F.U.L! It takes a full day to make, but is well worth the experience. Try it. I guarantee that you won’t be disappointed….unless you do what my dad once did. He slathered his toast up with apple butter, took a ginormous bite and was rudely awakened by the BARBEQUE sauce he had mistakenly spread all over his toast. Teeeheee. Happy Wednesday & Happy Apple Butter-ing!

Children of the Corn….errrr…Cat of the Carrots.

September 30, 2008 by Maren 6 Comments

~~Children of the Corn~~ Err…..my Cat of Carrots.

Two Sundays ago, I decided to make a personal favorite–split pea soup. I have a terrific crock pot recipe that makes this favorite dish so easy to create. One ingredient that goes in the soup is carrots, and it just so happens that we grew carrots in our garden this spring. I traipsed out to our little garden area, and pulled some carrots for the soup. I took them back inside where I proceeded to cut off the leaves and peel the carrots. The smell of the carrot plant itself really intrigued my cat. I think if he wasn’t as fat as he is, he’d have tried to jump up on the cabinet. Thankfully, he really has never tried because he’s about the size of 12 Zippys. Instead, He put his paws to the near top of the cabinet and tried to sniff the leaves. I figured that if it was that interesting to him, I’d humor him a little and throw the plants on the ground and let him sniff away. You know the saying, “Throw the Dog a bone?” In this case, it’s been revised to “Give the cat a carrot…”

Here’s my cat of the carrots.

I went about my business and chopped all the carrots up & threw them in the crockpot. I started cleaning up my mess, when I stopped dead in my track with this little wonder eating on carrot peels on the ledge of my sink. My mind instantly reverted to a joke I would tell as a kid: Question: What is worse than finding a worm in your apple? Answer: Finding half a worm. This is exactly how I felt. Had I chopped up its brother and put it in my soup?

Eww. I scooped him up along with all of the carrot plant leaves, and in disgust, whisked this little critter back outside to his proper home. While on my way, I saw 2 other of these little guys on the leaves itself. So, I just assumed that they fed on the plant leaves, not on the carrots and forgot about the what ifs. I truly don’t think I chopped up one of these suckers, because I would think I would have seen it as I chopped. However if I did, I suppose a little protein never hurt anyone–maybe that’s why my soup tasted a little funny. KIDDING.

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