SOMETHING TO BLOG ABOUT (BESIDES POLITICS!)

Woo hoo!

On Friday, my parents and sister and Damon left for Moab to go camping.  We were up in the air about whether or not to go and mom had worked until 7:00 at night almost every day last week, so she came over to visit Friday morning before leaving for Moab.  While I got Cecilia down for a nap, mom and Francesca went to run a couple of errands.  Cecilia slept and I worked on the puppets I'm making for her birthday puppet show.  I have less than two weeks left, so I think I'm on track.  If I can finish the puppets this week then I can do a practice run sometime next week.  But I digress . . . so mom and Francesca never came back.  When Cecilia woke up, I called mom and she had taken Francesca up to the house, so Cecilia and I jumped in the car and went up to the house.  

There was lots of commotion with everyone getting ready to go and it was obvious that Francesca thought she was going.  I took her away from the last minute action and broke the news to her that we would be leaving for Moab the following day.  She burst into tears and screamed and hollered until my mom came over.  Long story short, Francesca decided she could take a night away with no mommy or daddy and loaded herself into her car seat in Grandpa's truck.  My dad was nervous and kept asking me, "Are you SURE she'll be okay?" and I assured him she would, as long as he stopped saying stuff like that (so as not to place doubt in her little head.)

I thought Cecilia would miss Francesca and be asking constantly where she was, but she knew, "Chacka camping in MO-AB."  Cecilia had a blast being the only child.  She actually got to talk (she had a chance to get a word in edgewise.)  It makes me realize how much Francesca talks non-stop.  

When we finally made it to Moab on Saturday, Francesca was glowing.  She had been outside all day and she looked so happy.  She had been baking cakes and cookies and soups in the sand with her cardboard 12-pack boxes set up as ovens with sand toys and kitchen spoons.  At one point, Damon dumped one of her bowls out and she said, "Damon!  You're wasting my batter." She slept in Granny and Grandpa's camper, in between them and said that "Grandpa is like sleeping with a big teddy bear."  We really, really, really need to do that about every other weekend.  We say that every time we go camping, then we just get bogged down in the everyday humdrum, but we really need to make the effort to get away more often.  

Our friend John came, too.  John rolls his own American Spirit cigarettes and Francesca was curious about what he was doing.  John took his time and explained about cigarettes and addiction and Francesca listened intently.  When he was finished talking about it, Francesca said frankly, "I think I'm addicted to toys."  My dad said he about split a gut laughing.

So - whens the next camping trip?  Anyone up for next weekend???  It wasn't too cold at night and the days were so nice and warm.  I had on shorts and tank top both days.  It was gorgeous.  We camp out Mineral Bottom Road and there isn't really anyone out there.  Next time, we want to spend more time at Slickrock, but I think we'll still camp in the same area.  It just feels very remote.  If we go next weekend, we just have to be back before 4pm on Sunday because I've finally promised to volunteer for Obama.  Argh.  Hopefully I can twist some friends' arms to go with me?  Peeps?  Peeps?  I have hope for a Nov. 4th win, but with McCain's recent statement "guaranteeing a win on election day," and his unprecedented plans for a very private election night party consisting only of his staff and some volunteers, planning to make his victory speech via satellite . . . I'm afraid the fix is in.  Something is rotten in McNasty Town.

MCCAIN'S BASE

So, I don't like putting icky stuff out there, but this is just too crazy to not tell someone.  

Andrew is a delivery driver for UPS and so he walks into all sorts of businesses and hears all sorts of things, everyday.  Usually, he will come home and tell me some kooky thing that he heard while walking into a business that is listening to Rush Limbaugh, but the other day, he walked into a business and the secretary lady was talking on the phone.  This is what she said,

"Well, I was wondering, if he gets elected, why can't a bunch of people just get a bunch of guns and go and stage a coupe?  I asked my dad about it and he said that its the military's job to defend the president, no matter who they are, so he said we couldn't do that.  He said the military would shoot you down."  I say - WHAAAAT?  This is the McCain Base.  I told him he should've called the police or something!  That's just nutty!  If I publish this post, is someone going to knock on my door and question me about it?  If so - don't waste your time.  He overheard this conversation at Fireplace West.  Go get her! 

Sarah Palin

Behold, Rolling Stone's article on Sarah Palin.  I only wish I had written it.

http://www.rollingstone.com/politics/story/23318329/mad_dog_palin

And don't miss the article on McCain, too:

www.rollingstone.com/news/coverstory/make_believe_maverick_the_real_john_mccain

Palin was in GJ today . . . barf!

Debates '08

I tortured my children (and sister and Damon) by going to mom's tonight to watch a smidgen of the debates.  We don't have a TV at home and so whenever I'm around one, I turn into a zombie and ignore my children and they in turn, turn into hyper children, begging for my attention or anyone else's attention, creating an impossible atmosphere or watching the debates.  From what I could watch and listen to on the radio, my synapses is:

Obama:  Positive, intelligent, thoughtful, honest, future forward thinking, organized thought and speech, open minded, empathetic, clarified every attack from McCain w/o savaging in response, "work with me, I listen" vibe.

McCain: Evasive, aggressive, edgy, negative, condescending, arrogant, 72 year old face and neck skin stretched tighter than mine, stinkin' old and goitery, "Grumpy, hothead channeling John Goodman in The Big Labowski" vibe. 

Pumpkins . . . Sweet, Sweet Pumpkins

For whatever reason, I love pumpkins.  On Friday, we drove all the way to Fruita to visit the Jouflas pumpkin patch and corn maze.  We spent $30 on pumpkins and so far I've cooked 1 1/2 of them.  This morning I made pumpkin currant muffins.  For afternoon snack, we had mac and cheese with a  bit of pumpkin puree snuck in there with pumpkin smoothies.  Sick of pumpkin yet?  For dinner I made pumpkin mushroom lasagna.  Pumpkins are considered a super food so they're just insanely good for you.  Here is my favorite lasagna recipe for your eating pleasure (shout out to all my foodies out there!)

Pumpkin smoothies:  Vanilla or Maple Brown Cow yogurt with pureed pumpkin, sprinkle in some cinnamon, top with whipped creme and watch as your children eat only the whipped creme!

Pumpkin Mushroom Lasagna:  I've made this so many times that I know it by heart:  

Saute 4 cups finely chopped onion for about 5 minutes

Add 6 cups finely shopped mushrooms (nobody ever said lasagna was cheap.)  Saute

Add 2 TBSP dried sage (the sage makes it . . . it will be your  new favorite spice.)

1/2 tsp salt

1 Cup chicken broth

Set aside

Mix together (this is my altered version because the recipe calls for ingredients that I can't find:)

29 oz can of pumpkin or 3 1/2 cups pureed pumpkin

1 tub of ricotta

Almost 1 tub of cottage cheese

2 eggs

1/2 c grated Parmesan or Romano  

1/2 tsp nutmeg

1/2 tsp salt

Key:  RICE PASTA LASAGNA NOODLES!  You don't have to pre-cook them!!!  Just throw them in the pan.

Additional Romano/Parmesan for sprinkling on top and/or in between layers.

Scoop about 1/2 cup of the broth from the mushroom mixture into the bottom of your lasagna dish.  Lay down noodles, then smear on pumpkin/cheese mixture, then scoop on mushroom mixture.  Repeat.  Finish with noodles and then mushroom mixture on top.  Top with Parmesan and/or Romano cheese.  Cook covered at 375 for 50 minutes, uncover for 10 minutes.  Yummy!

My Peeps Read My Blog?

Who knew?  I thought I was typing for therapy or just to keep a record of the daily doings . . . like today, when I actually heard myself say, "Girls, sit down and eat your fries and your ice cream."  It was so funny to hear, that I had to repeat myself a few times.  "Come on girls, lets eat your fries and your ice cream.  Don't just eat your ice cream, eat your fries, too."  In my defense, they had already eaten a delicious home made veggie beef stew and then went for a little after dinner walk.  I had meant to serve the fries with the soup, but they took longer than I expected, so I served them with the ice cream that I had promised, in order that they would eat the stew!  I hate using bribery, but it totally works when it comes to food for ice cream.  Will Eat Food For Ice Cream - that's what the sign should say on Cecilia.  She will do anything for ice cream.  I've never met anyone with such a sweet tooth, except for my cousin Hayley.  That kid has always had a sweet tooth.  

I went to the Sweet Tooth/Meat Tooth wedding of the century over the weekend.  Hayley and Doug tied the knot in an awesome boathouse in Wash Park.  It was a really nice crowd.  Everyone wore black, and looked totally awesome.  Hayley was beautiful, inside and out, as usual and lots of sweet family were there.  It was good to see everyone, although I never feel like I get enough.  When I'm always chasing after Francesca and Cecilia, I never feel like I get to finish a conversation or train of thought, but I guess such is life with wee ones.  At one point, Cecilia was standing at the balcony, watching some kids feed the ducks below.  She watched them for awhile and then I turned for about 5 seconds to talk to someone and she was gone.  I thought, "No, way would that little sh*t be able to figure out how to go out the stairs and around the building to the lake . . . "  I made it down the stairs, and there she was, milling around, trying to find her way to the ducks.  She's not afraid of getting too far from me.  I missed the band at the wedding.  I heard that Reverend Dead Eye was great.  Since I didn't get to hear him play, I must say, love the doo.  And the drum decor was cool, too.  OH and the food was totally fab.  When I was young, it used to really bug me when people went somewhere and came back and just yacked about the food.  I was like, "You went to Greece and all you can talk about was the food?"  But being older and wiser and hungrier, I know that if you go somewhere, like a foreign country or a foreign town or a party and the food is bad or there's not enough food, then that pretty much means that you have a bad time.  My friend Olivia went to Cuba and tried all the food there was to try . . . and got deathly ill from some too raw goat sandwich and it ruined a bit of the trip, but I do recall that she said, "that was a f*ckin' good sandwich."  So the food was super yummy and the cake was super yummy, the peeps were super yummy and so the time was super yummy.  Since I left the party early, I daydreamed a toast in my head that would have gone something like this, "Hayley and Doug - like your friend that married you said, it is hard to separate the two of you.  You've been together since High School.  I remember when Kathie was telling us that Hayley's boyfriend was Mr. Ft. Collins or something, at their high school.  He had won a talent contest as an Elvis impersonator or something?  Did he have a job as an Elvis impersonator?  I can't recall, but the point is that I really admire your individuality AND your togetherness.  I admire your sweet and kind natures.  You always greet people with a smile and a warm and loving heart and I love that about you, both.  You just ooze this genuine goodness and it flows from you and warms my heart.  Keep rockin' and I hope to see more of you in the future . . . like a baby . . . that would be more of you."  Ha!  Ha!  I can't help it . . . I'm a breeder and all we breeders care about is our offspring and telling everyone else to have some offspring.  So I must get to bed, before I launch into a full on assault about the awesomeness of parenting, like when Uncle Damon, Auntie Desi and Cecilia and I were sitting outside enjoying a snack today when, Francesca suddenly bolted to the tree, jerking down her pants but not in the nick of time, and then tried to stop the pee with her hand, spraying pee everywhere, while we just sat there in shock, unable to react quickly enough to save her from the ordeal . . . that's just not the type of thing you can really enjoy if you're only hanging out with adults.  If one of your friends did that . . . it would lack a certain hilarity.  No?  But when a kid does it . . . oh man . . . magic . . . pure magic.  (Hey, she's only three.)  And she's so awesome, that after I stripped off her clothes and told her to run inside for some dry pants, she made a pitstop at the hose, to hose herself off in the freezing cold water.  Pure magic.