The Mystery of the Missing Frying Pan

A story from last summer's heat wave...
Each night for the past week I kept looking for my medium size frying pan.

I have been looking every where.

I checked with my mother, I scoured the cupboards, I started to believe I was loosing my mind. Where could it be?

Several nights I would end up cooking one item in the large frying pan then transferring the food, followed by washing the pan and cooking the next item in the same pan.

HELP

Fast forward to Friday night, I finally get around to asking my two guys about it. They quickly respond " oh yeah .. it's outside by the truck on the lid of the trashcan." My son continues "I was doing an experiment to see if I could cook an egg in the pan on the hood of the truck in the high heat and it cooked most of the way!"

Mystery solved and I am relieved I am not loosing my mind, at least not this week. Why both family members of the male persuasion thought it was perfectly acceptable to leave the pan outside by the garbage is beyond me.

My own version of Design on a Dime

Last weekend, I felt as if I was the star in my own design on a dime special.

My Bookworm is turning ten and we are redoing her room for her birthday.

I unloaded the contents of my daughters room into the hallway and got ready for my very talented friend to come over and paint.

Meanwhile the phone rings and this same friend was at a special antique show that had come to town. She encouraged me to come check out a vanity she thought would work in the room. Our plan was to ditch the dresser, put more clothes in her closet, and refinish an old armoire. My love and I both wanted to add a vanity to the furniture, but hadn't found one yet.

My friend's find was awesome, so I bargained a little and got a very good price and purchased it. We ran to her house, got her truck, loaded it up and headed home. I went in to town for dinner and paint supplies. While in town, I dashed in Ross to look for a small seat, but found a black wire dress form instead. After a little stewing and some phone calls for advice, I went back and bought it. I had already purchased the black wire Eiffel Tower. Still more to do, but the room is well on it's way.

Now the rest of the house doesn't look so hot. Of course I have done no laundry and very few dishes. My son is running out of clean clothes and the piles are piling up. I will get caught up somehow, after the flurry of creativity dies down.

Paint 24.99... Wire Mannequin 34.99.....Antique Vanity...125.00... Eiffel Tower 19.99

The look on my daughter's face...... priceless.

Thin Mints in My Glass

So I have written more than one blog post about strange things in strange places. I have written about rocks in my dryer and mud in my hallway. But this is a whole new experience, you can imagine my shock when I placed my glass up to the ice dispenser and out came pieces of thin mints in addition to ice.

My kids had been putting thin mints in the freezer since the girl scout cookies came home, how they got into the ice maker is a mystery.

Drama Mama

I have been neglecting my blog and wine sales, while helping out with my son's school play.

Kudos to all you Soccer Moms and Dance Moms. I have done the Karate Mom thing and now my daughter is in gymnastics, but nothing has been as consuming as this Drama Mama gig. Since I don't sew, I signed up for program duty. I was blessed with a wonderful hard working mom, who is helping me.

My duties include; selling ads for the programs, collecting ads and money, and developing flyers for all of the above. I was also in charge of taking pics of the kids for the program. I took a group shot of the; principals (9), daughters (14) , police (17) and pirates (twenty something). Thank goodness for digital photography! Out of 15 shots of each group I had one or two where I actually had every kid looking at me with eyes open. I also helped out with tracking down feathers for the costumes.

I am so proud of my son, he is doing well with all the rehearsals and memorization of lines. I loved my high school drama teacher and am so excited that one of my children is dabbling in one of my passions. It is a production of the Pirates of Penzance.

Twelve Days of Christmas

I continue to have a love/hate relationship with Christmas letters.
I love getting letters from others, I hate trying to write one for our family.

This year I came up with a way to let people know what we have been up to while giving a nod to the familiar 12 days of Christmas song. I had to change some numbers to reflect the real frequency of things in our lives.

In the year 2008 my true life gave to me …

1000+ ground squirrels in the vineyard
106 gymnastic classes
88 karate lessons
25 cases of wine
21 play rehearsals
12 beach days with boogie boarders
10 bins of fruit at harvest
8 diving classes
5 furry kitties that make sure there are …
NO MORE MICE
4 wine events
3 school calendars
2 sets of keys locked in the truck
And 1 black belt for my true love

See You Soon

Contrary to what I like to believe, I can't do it all!

I have to focus on my day job, selling wine, and my family.

I am taking a blogging break for a few weeks.

Most of the world's wine is sold between October and December.

See ya in a couple weeks.

Mud Anyone?

How about some pond scum?

Ah yes, the joy of living in the dirt country.

I am playing wordless Wednesday at five minutes for mom.

Golden Nuggets, Caution Slips and The Free Market Economy of the Fourth Grade

Last night at dinner, my bookworm made a surprising announcement.

"I am buying a blank caution slip from my friend for four golden nuggets."


(Caution slips are given to children when they are in big trouble and usually involves a trip to the principal's office)

She proceeded to explain how a friend of hers was given a blank caution slip and now apparently the fourth graders in room 12 decided it was a very valuable commodity. The bidding began, with one student offering to loan the child a favorite pen while others offered favors. With many children attempting to gain possession of the slip, the bidding switched to a more specific currency, golden nuggets. Golden nuggets are a paper ticket given out for good behavior to be used at the class store for prizes. My daughter informed me that she had won the auction and she and her friend shook on it.

I was still shocked and feeling like I should reprimand my child. I was thinking of warning her that she could get in big trouble, but her uncle and father beat me to the punch. They proceeded to shower her with praise and encouragement for this recent endeavor.

Before giving my lecture, I decided to dig deeper and ask her why she wanted the caution slip. Her eyes lit up as she explained how she wanted to have it so she could give it out to some ill behaved student if needed. The glint in her eye revealed how she relished the power she would wield as the possessor of the blank caution slip. I could barely keep a straight face as the look in her eye reminded me of the power the ring had over Frodo in Tolkien's recent cinematic tale.

Ah the desire for power, so intoxicating and undeniably strong, perhaps this is what happened on Wall Street. One too many souls getting that glazed over look and letting power and greed take the wheel. Quick grab a blank caution slip.

"The Best Ham Steak Ever"

These were the words of my love, pontificating about his own cooking talents.

My family and I are all really into the food network. My son actually likes to cook and will often try his hand at new recipes.

My love, on the other hand can usually only handle frozen pizza, or one left over recipe from his college days. He has never been the one to cook in our house.

One fateful day in May when school projects were at their peak, after work was really crazy. I had things going on with the vineyard, was on and off the phone with a winemaker, two kids with stressful projects, and a household that was dying a slow and painful death. This was on the heels of my longest day at work.

When my husband arrived home, I announced he was cooking dinner. It was already seven o clock. He looked disappointed and said he could make a quesadilla. I corrected him to explain he had to cook dinner for all of us because we had not eaten yet. The look on his face, as I started barking orders for him to get out a ham steak and some frozen veggies. I gave him instructions, while typing on my laptop about vineyard business and helping my son with his project. I also informed him after dinner he had to help our daughter with her project, while I continued to assist my son with typing.

It was one of those days that I really questioned the sanity of all we try to do. My husband surprised himself and all of us with an excellent dinner. The only trouble was we had to listen to him expound about what an awesome job he had done.

"It has a great texture, and flavor. This might be the best ham steak I have ever eaten."

He was like a judge on Iron Chef narrating the perfect balance of the meal. He was so proud of his basting combination of black pepper, brown sugar and butter.

Thanks to teamwork we all got everything done that night. The added benefit is that now my love is willing and eager to cook "the best ham steak ever" for dinner once a week or so.

I'm so glad it is summer and we all get a little rest from those crazy over scheduled nights.

13 Going on 30

The other day, while channel surfing I found Jennifer Garner portraying the wide eyed thirteen year old in a thirty year old body. I thought she did it justice, but no one can touch Tom Hanks performance in Big.

My thirteen year old has shown me the many sides of a tweener. He is starting to seem a little more like a grown up than a kid, but still so young at heart.

It was the last day of seventh grade and my son had gone home with a friend until I could get out of work. I stopped by the school to pick up his eye drops and the beloved secretary shared her observations of my changing boy, "you know now he is insisting on doing his own eye drops." She mentioned how grown up he seems, and I agreed.

When I picked up my son, we decided his friend should come home with us and hang out. Upon arriving home, the two boys announced they were going to clean up my kitchen. They worked together to straighten papers and return toys to their resting spots throughout the house. They even did a few dishes.

Next,they proclaimed they would cook dinner for the family. They proceeded to cut up potatoes and an onion, defrost some chicken and make some peas. They were so proud and pleased with themselves when they called us all to dinner. I supervised a little just to make sure we had reached safe cooking temps.

After dinner, I told them to go play outside while I cleaned up. Near the end of the dishes, I heard the noise of high powered hoses. Not a good sound where I live, lots of dirt. There they were having a high powered water fight complete with hoses and boogie board shields, a muddy mess!

I smiled before, barking at them to turn off the water. I threw beach towels out the door and told them they had to figure out how to get to the shower with out getting mud on my floor.

I reflected on the magical age of thirteen, old enough to be competent at cleaning and cooking and still childlike enough to enjoy the mud like a five year old.

Yes, thirteen is a difficult age in some ways, full of attitude and adjustments. It is also a magical time, watching your child on the brink of his journey to become an adult. I hope I can remember to enjoy the journey with all it's glory from junior chefs in my kitchen to the mud in the hallway.

Wine ... whine ...whine

Selling and farming requires much art and finesse. We thought we had all our fruit sold, until there was a problem with a detail. Now we are looking at another buyer who is interested, but of course there are questions, on both sides. Sometimes the winemaker's needs do not fit the weather patterns and the realities of farming.

Meanwhile, I am on the phone with one of my blogging buddies who is having similar issues working out her children's school schedules. Will meeting the bus for her 5 year old boy, make her late to take her 3 year old girl to preschool? How can she be at two places at once?

Sounds unique and unrelated to my issues with farming, buying and selling, but as I listen it feels so familiar. Timing and setting it all up, it is the same process. Reminds me of a quote that has always made me smile.

"Whenever God Closes One Door He Always Opens Another, Even Though Sometimes It's Hell in the Hallway"- Unknown

The Chicken Pox? But We had the Shot!

These were the words, I was telling my doctor on Tuesday afternoon.

Yes, my Bookworm has the chicken pox and yes she was vaccinated.

I hadn't even considered this when she had a fever Monday and woke up with many bug bites spots in the night.

I became convinced we had a flea infestation from our cats and dog. I proceeded to evacuate the house and set off flea bombs in our living space. My behavior was a little nuts, because our pets are not indoor pets.

My doctor explained that she is not giving the booster shot as much any more because she is questioning the outcome of this vaccination series. I love my pediatrician and totally respect her judgement. I found research regarding breakthrough cases, outbreaks in highly immunized school children between the ages of nine and eleven, and questions about long term effectiveness. While my brain fully appreciated her reasoning, my heart was so mad at her, as I watched my child writhe in pain and cry all night long.

Now, she is much better and she slept though the night. She is still sleeping and we weathered the storm. My son the artist was immunized twice, so hopefully he will not fall prey to the pox at this point. Oh, and as an added bonus we are protected from fleas, that we didn't have.

I will end this post with a quote from my bookworm, " Well one thing mom, having the chicken pox and going through something like that makes you feel like being comfortable is a privilege. It makes you more thankful."

From the mouth of babes. It is so true, I always have a skip in my step the few days following an illness, a temporary appreciation for the feeling of well being.

The Mystery of Missing Clothes

Mid week, my daughter is suddenly down to one pair of jeans. How can this be? Where could two pairs of jeans disapear to? After checking the hamper, the clean clothes bin, the bookworm's room, the cars, they are no where. It is not like she comes home from school some days with no pants on! I don't get it, where could they be? Thursday night, my son announces he has no socks. Not just miss matched socks, but absolutely no socks anywhere! Well, I guess they ran off with the pants. I am sure I will find them when they no longer fit my children.

Crazy Saturday - stop this merry-go-round I want to get off.

OK this SATURDAY ... went like this

Woke up in the morning inspired to write a really touching entry on my new blog... but then ...

1. Need to get girls ready and in the car, so I could deliver one girl home and pick up my son and his friend.

2. Drop off clothes we had borrowed at a friends. Hurry home so all kids could do some vineyard work.

3. Son having allergy attack, shower and medication administered.

4. Kids got itchy after chasing deer that had some how got into the vineyard.....This is not good!

5. Made lunch for everyone , started to clean up kitchen, oops time was running out to get to the dump....My Dad was calling on the phone "aren't we going to load up the trash?"

6. Loaded up trash, did a few more dishes, changed the laundry, rushed the kids into the car to head to the dump.

7. Husband calls from the tractor to request I stop at the farm store to purchase a part.

8. Go to the dump, drop off recycling, return son's friend, get the part from the farm store.

9. Pick up stuff for science project for son. Son now starving, stop and feed him some food.

10. Return home , do a few dishes, supervise both children with big homework projects.

11. Start to make dinner ....except meat is out of date - or is it? ..sell by date... what exactly does that mean?

11. Quick jump on the Internet to see if meat is really OK ? NO. Throw it in the trash, continue to make dinner with a few recipe adjustments.

12. All sit down to dinner, myself being disappointed with the dinner decided to have ice cream bar... not part of the meal plan.

13. During dinner daughter has toothache situation followed by a refusal to eat followed by water picking and flossing.

14. Again start the dishes while husband and son go down to check on watering. Daughter becomes upset about her project, starts to melt down probably due to lack of food and toothache.

15. Abandon house work and sit with daughter and comfort her.

At the end of the day.... House looks terrible and dinner was a disappointment, the kids are tired, allergenic and cranky, and the deer is still in the vineyard.

Oh well there is always tomorrow.