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Author Archives: Mrs Marvel
Baking
I have been doing a lot of baking recently, not just for the Baking Gals organization, but for my new website Gram’s Recipe Box. Here’s a rundown on what we have been baking.
Operation Baking Gals (Give A Little Support)
4 doz cinnamon sugar cookies
1 pound cake
1 doz cranberry orange scones
These were all shipped to Bruce MacRitchie in Afghanistan, along with a bag of Jolly Ranchers, jelly beans, gum and mints. This round I think I learned that I need to bake less. It need to be less about the quantity and more about the quality. Next round I think I’m going to make cookies OR brownies, but not both.
Coffee Cake
Applesauce Cake
Chocolate Syrup
Coffee Cake (again)
The fun of these recipes is sometiimes figuring out exactly what she was thinking or how things were supposed to go together. I made one coffee cake that didn’t bake right because I put it in the wrong kind of pan. You might never think that the type of pan is just as important as what goes into it! The cake tasted very good, but I wish I had thought about that a little bit more.
Round 18 is open on Baking Gals, and I encourage you to join up if you can. This is the time of year they need us most, because the holiday season is past us and people are not in the “spread the love” sort of feeling. With Independence Day coming up in a few months, this is a great time to heat up your patriotic cookie recipes. :-)
Gram’s Recipe Box
This past weekend, my mom gave me a tremendous gift, although at the time I didn’t know it. I thought she was asking if I wanted a little box. It was white, showed years of use, and was clearly a recipe box. I didn’t know what to think at first, then I looked inside. Where I assumed it would be empty, it was in fact full of recipe cards. They were my grandmother’s recipe cards.
Since Grandma Pat – or Gram as we called her in later years – passed away in 1982, I have fallen out of practice at recalling her memory quickly. She used to do this funny little story called The Crooked Mouth Family and I would laugh every time she told it. She also would softly say “purr, purr” when something was particularly tasty or special, something I have said myself from time to time. How I could have forgotten these special memories is really a testament to time wearing away at our minds. I was a tender 14 years old when she passed and she had been very ill for quite some time. It wasn’t an exact shock, but it’s never easy. It was the first death I was really cognizant of, being as my grandfather had passed away a few years earlier and didn’t make as much of an impression on me.
As I looked at those recipe cards in that old wooden box, so many of those wonderful memories came flooding back over me. I remembered the funny little rhymes and ditties she taught me, and I was especially good at remembering them. I remembered the red mittens she had made me which I treasured for years after they no longer fit, and hardly wore in the first place because it doesn’t really get all that cold here in California. I could remember her smell and her smile, her funny sense of humor and her playing Blockhead with me at the kitchen counter. Grandmothers are truly one of the most wonderful things in the world.
So, later that night after my mom gave me the box, I was thinking about it and what to do with it. I didn’t want to put it in a drawer or cabinet to be forgotten. It seemed like something I wanted to share somehow. Being the digital age – and having access to decent equipment and a husband who can help when pressed into service – I realized I could start a blog about the recipe cards. My first idea was simple: post a scan of the recipe cards with minimal commentary, as often as possible, daily preferred. As I sat in the chair at the hair salon waiting for my color to set and my friend to finish with her other customer, I set up a new blog via my iPhone. (My goodness I am getting pretty geeky, aren’t i?)
Almost the most difficult part of this process has been settling on a color scheme and design! I wanted something that reflected Gram’s love of home, crafts, and family, while keeping it within the 21st century. Plus, WordPress.com, the host I use, has very few themes available that are not techie. I finally settled on one, posted the first few recipe cards, told a few friends, and hoped for the best!
I hope you will make some time to visit Gram’s Recipe Box. Since the site launched yesterday, I’ve gotten some great feedback from friends and family. Yes, I will be making as many of the recipes as possible and posting pictures and a blog post about my experience. My mother may be consulted often. My sister may be called into service. It’s a family treasure, after all. Hopefully, you will share the treasure with me!
USS Dewey (DDG 105) Commissioning
Some time ago I read in the paper that the United States Navy was planning on commissioning a new guided missile destroyer here in Seal Beach, the first commissioning at Seal Beach ever. I clicked the link for more info and sent in my name. I thought it would be really neat to take my Dad to see this piece of history, then I sort of forgot about it. Well, some time in January or early February, I got the official invitation and up to 6 RSVPs. Well, you know me, I sent in for all 6 tickets, called my family, and we made plans to go!
Fast forward to the week before the commissioning. John has been working like a dog lately and really wanted a day off – totally understandable. My sister thought her friend Dianna might enjoy it, so I invited her in John’s place. Our party would consist of Gramma and Papa, Auntie, Dianna, Mom and Melody. Gramma and Papa were staying with us that week and we made our plans in eager anticipation. Then the weather forecast predicted rain. Lots of rain. If it rained, not only would it be uncomfortable and unfortunate, my parents felt they could not go and sit in the rain. I can’t say as I blamed them. We watched the weather almost hourly and on Friday night they said if it wasn’t raining in the morning, they would go.
We all went and were prepared for a downpour with 5 umbrellas for the six of us and two of those umbrellas were large sized ones. There was a bit of rain, nothing heavier than a shower, which lasted on and off for about an hour. The Dewey was beautiful in her bunting and flags. The Navy band serenaded us when it wasn’t raining, and the crowd was robust in spite of the weather. Melody was fascinated with everything, from the flags they handed out to the big ship in front of us!
Right before the speeches started, at about 10:58, the sky cleared and there was no more rain for the rest of the day. We could not have asked for more! The various speakers were not long winded and in fact gave interesting and inspirational speeches. Most impressive was the moment the ship sponsor called the crew to “bring her to life” and take all operations on line. Seeming from out of no where, sharply dressed sailors in their black uniforms, white hats and gloves, ran past the audience and onto the ship. They lined the rails, outlined against the blue-gray sky, like sentinels guarding the castle. When they were called to attention, every man and woman snapped sharply to salute as one person. It was a display of military precision I had never before had the honor to witness, and I was proud to be present for it.
Of course, it occurred to me that any one of those sailors could one day be a recipient of one of my care packages. The most recent recipient was from DDG 93, and most people don’t know that many of the early forces in Afghanistan and Iraq were Navy men and women. The moment of commissioning was for me, a validation of all we are fighting for and all I do to let our troops know we wish them a safe and speedy return home.
There are photos in the gallery, courtesy of Auntie Kat, and here’s another little clip of Melody being cute.
You have a baby….in a bar!???
While browsing the news today, I discovered there is a big controversy that has reached a boiling point in New York City. People either want to include or exclude children from bars.
Wait, what?
How is this even a question? Last time I checked, the law limited the age of individuals who could enter bars to 21 and older, and I don’t think “under 21 night” is intended for 21 months and under. That’s the first thing that came to mind. As I read further into the article, I began to wonder if these are bar & grill type places, and then I regained my senses. Why are parents aggressively fighting for their right to drink with their children? Aren’t parents, by definition, supposed to be putting their children’s needs first? The arguement is that parents need to socialize with other adults and some parents want to bring along their children to the places they socialize, e.g. bars. And, by children, the article was specific, it’s the under 5 crowd.
Now, I’m all for being able to go out to dinner with your family and have a glass of wine or a beer with your dinner if that is your desire. A drink, or even two, with dinner is reasonable. Bellying up to the bar while Junior watches, a captive audience, in his stroller just smacks of irresponsible parenting. Am I wrong here?
Granted, there isn’t anything wrong with drinking responsibly while your children are present, and frankly there are plenty of parents who drink irresponsibly no matter who is present. I just keep getting stuck on the “fighting for their rights” aspect of this issue. Is it truly a matter of their rights or just that Mom or Dad doesn’t want to drop $50 on a babysitter/beg their parents to watch the wee ones. Or is it that they are among those parents who’s identity revolves around their child and they are unable to do anything without their kids?
On the “say no to kids in a bar” side, I just cannot imagine some of the nights I spent out with my friends, kicking up our heels and knocking back our shots, with a little kid sitting there staring at us. Going out to a bar for many, is their release, their time to let down their hair and get crazy, their escape from the pressures of work, family, kids.
I will remember, if I ever find myself in New York with a small child, that if I want to get smashed in a bar and said bar is prohibiting my child’s presence, I’ll just cry foul that my civil rights, nay, my inalienable right to intoxication, is being impinged!
I should start my own handyman business!
If you have ever seen any of my home repairs, you are laughing at the idea that I will start a handyman business. I’m capable of very minor repairs, but installing baby gates resulted in major damage to two walls and the newell post of our stairs. You could say I know just enough to be dangerous.
Unfortunately, the yahoo who built the additions on our house only knew a little bit more than me, it seems. My dad and I built shelves in Melody’s bedroom, but the recess is SO out of square we practically have trapezoid shaped shelves. I had a new bifold door installed on our linen closet with a similar reaction from the installer – it’s very out of square. While that is normal everything seems a bit more out of square in our house than any other house I’ve lived in. How hard is it to use a plumb bob and a level in construction? Everything seems to be a little more wonky that it ought to be. As another example, all the outlets were installed upside down and in different colors – black, beige and white. It was just lazy construction work I think.
Our upstairs bathroom was decked out in hideous simply gorgeous pink tile and oak accents, including the toilet. Very 80s. We have long thought that we would like to change out the wooden toilet seat, but it recently became a requirement as the toilet seat broke. Keep your snarky comments to yourself, people. Now I’m all for recreating the past, but splinters in my patoot just isn’t something I want to experience! My friend suggested these toilet seats that have a child seat that folds down onto the regular seat, so I went and got one. It eliminates the padded seat thingy for Melody. I’ve changed out the toilet seat on other toilets. I’m a capable woman. Piece of cake, right?
Please refer to paragraph two here. Oh, and just for those of you who don’t know, a toilet seat is attached to your toilet with a couple plastic or nylon nuts that screw up against the underside of the base of the bowl. Not too difficult.
These little buggers were screwed on so tightly the plastic had actually conformed to the shape of the bowl underside AND was sealed ad infenitum in perpetuity world without end with a dab of silicon caulk. I was afraid, very afraid, that I would have to run for the downstairs every morning if I could not get that seat off there. I even called my dad because of course the screws themselves were rusted to the fixture. What a mess.
Well, it took me two days of dogged determination, motivated by a desire not to sit down on the seatless bowl in the middle of the night, but I got that yucky old wooden toilet seat removed. I actually had to take a safety cutter, cut away the sides of the plastic nut, all while turned upside down with my head wedged between the bowl and the wall, and then using sheer will and brute force pull the screw/nut combo up through the hole.
My new toilet seat is lovely.
My baby is three!
It sounds so cliche, but I simply cannot believe that in a blink of an eye, Melody has turned three years old. Seems like just a while ago, she was this tiny little baby who was completely dependent on us for everything. Now she is very INdependent and probably wishes we’d leave her alone at times. Well, maybe not leave her alone, but tonight she did tell me “Mommy, I want you to be nice to me when I poop my pants.” Guess, I’ve been a bit stern about this whole “using the potty” concept.
To celebrate this milestone (seems as though TWO was a huge milestone and ONE was a huge milestone, do they every diminish in their importance??), last week I took Melody and some of her daycare buddies and Rhonda to the Santa Ana Zoo. It was really such a fun and relaxing day! How could I relax at the zoo with four under 4, you ask? It was so easy! Two were in strollers and Mark and Melody walked everywhere. Their enthusiasm for the emu, llamas, bald eagle, golden lion capuchin, and of course the blue tongued skink, all just carried me through on a wave of enjoyment. The little ones were so good, too. Little Kiana is only 19 months and her cute little “look at that!” at everything was so funny, I just had to laugh. The Santa Ana Zoo is perfect for this crowd because it’s over quickly but they feel like they have seen every kind of animal there is.
Saturday of course was Melody’s birthday and we had a party for her here at the house. We had a bounce house again, but surprisingly, Melody was not interested in it until Delaney got here and went into it. From that point until cake, we couldn’t really get her out of it. Caelen came over and bounced, and the three were fast friends. Once Danika and Geneva, Mark and Kadie joined in, the bounce house was full of laughing, tumbling, happy kids. Kudos go out to Diane B who created a sort of game of “throwing” the kids from the side of the bounce house into the middle. It’s hard to explain, but let me tell you, every one of them wanted Diane to grab their butts and throw them. Delaney is particularly aerodynamic and flew the farthest! My friend Melissa and her mom made the gorgeous Tinkerbell cake and it was delicious too. Amazing work, ladies!
Valentine’s Day we just puttered around the house as we were all three exhausted. Of course, that was after Melody and I spent about three hours over at Fort Knott’s for their Civil War encampment. In the past we tried to participate in this event, but since it will always fall on the weekend of Melody’s birthday and Valentine’s Day, I figured it was time to hang up my hoop skirts over President’s Day Weekend and instead be with my family. Didn’t stop me from visiting incognito, but we were able to leave, heh. I did find a beautiful toddler dress that someone had made and altered very poorly. I can only imagine they didn’t know what the heck they were doing since the armscye was only big enough for a doll’s arm to get through. Fortunately I happen to know what I’m doing and I can alter it much better and Melody will have a new dress with a corded petticoat that is simply adorable. It coincidentally perfectly matches the shawl Gramma Alice knitted for Melody’s birthday present.
Today Melody and I were home together and we did a few “fun” chores. We took the front off her crib and turned it into a big girl bed, gulp! She was very excited about it and fascinated with the Tinkerbell sheet set we put on the bed. Very clever, the top sheet has elastic on one end – like a bottom sheet – to keep it tucked in. Dad and I are a teeny tiny bit nervous about her getting out of bed in the middle of the night, but it’s got to happen eventually. Her third birthday is as good a time as any. She also happened to wear big girl panties all day today and didn’t have one accident.
Yes, my baby is growing up and turning into a little girl! Check out new albums in the photo gallery for more pictures.
Not a SkyWatch submission, but…
…I wanted to share it none the less. I don’t think my pictures are good enough yet for SkyWatch Friday, which is a global link-up every Friday featuring the skies of the world. If you like pretty skylines, check them out here.
Thursday last week, a storm was rolling in to bring us some more rain. As I drove home, the first clouds were making their way across Orange County, and the sun was obscured, yet still shining brightly. I took a couple photos with my phone – we were in the “stop” phase of stop-and-go traffic, don’t worry – and here is the best shot.
Week in review
Last week was eventful and the upcoming week is shaping up to be busy as well. It’s the way life speeds by that gets me every time!
In the last week, we celebrated Auntie’s birthday, she and I went to a Victorian tea (as the Victorians), we found out our dog is fat, John and Melody finished watching all the back episodes of Kimba, we finalized the details for Melody’s birthday party, I cooked a delicious Cheddar Chicken Soup, Nano had 3 teeth pulled, Melody is increasingly stubborn about potty training, John worked about a million hours, we cleaned the spare room enough that it will soon be a guest room, and I baked for our latest soldier through Baking Gals. Whew!
My company has announced a “get fit” program and a bunch of us at work have been walking during our lunch breaks. It’s great and I really felt it the days we didn’t walk due to rain. It’s also fortuitous for Nano because he needs to lose 2 pounds. He’s only 11 pounds but he should be 9. My little doggy is fat, lol. However, it’s more serious than that. He has heart disease and something called a collapsing trachea, which causes him to cough a lot. The doctor thinks that the extra fat around his neck is pressing on his trachea and causing breathing troubles. Nothing to joke about, the dog gets less food and more walks. On top of that, poor guy had to have three molars pulled. Ouchie!
Melody’s birthday is coming up next weekend, and pretty much every day, she asks “is it my birthday today!?” with such a look of excitement and eager joy that I almost want to tell her that it is her birthday, lol. I really can’t wait until Saturday to be able to tell her “yes, Melody, today is your birthday!” We are planning a bouce house (weather forecast is sunny), friends, food, and a Tinkerbell cake. Thursday I will be taking her and some of her daycare buddies to the Santa Ana Zoo, along with Rhonda our babysitter. I’m really looking forward to it!
This morning, she was tired and did not want to get out of bed. She lay there watching as I was gathering clothes for her. She then told me “Mommy, I have a headache. When someone has a headache they have to rest and stay in bed.” I am so not looking forward to her trying to get out of going to school! I can only conclude she got this idea of staying in bed from me, since a couple weekends ago I had a terrible migraine and stayed in bed half the day..
During some of our cleaning of our spare room, I was forced to deal with my old records. You remember those things…vinyl, big pictures on the jackets, lyrics on the inside sleeve? Yeah, so back in the late 80s and early 90s, I collected Depeche Mode records. Specifically I was addicted to British and West German imports. I’d play them once (maybe) to record the music onto a tape and then never play them again. The West German ones were all colored vinyl, beautiful royal blue, neon orange, lemon yellow. I carefully stored them in plastic sleeves to protect the jackets, and never stored them in a garage or attic. Well, this paid off – figuratively and hopefully literally! I was about to send them to Goodwill when I decided to Google “who buys Depeche Mode records” and found a dealer in England. They have made me an offer for some of these records, and that should help out a bit toward my trip to Tennessee in April.
Yowza, how could I have forgotten to mention that I booked our trip to Knoxville?? Melody and I will be visiting the Hall family at the end of April! It will be Melody’s first trip on an airplane; in fact, her first trip anywhere. John of course offered to pay to have Tara come here, but I really want to go there, ha ha. I will even get the chance to see a real Civil War battlefield, AND go to Dollywood! Melody tells me “Mommy, we are going to Hollywood with Cassidy!”
This past weekend we baked for our latest soldier, CPT Steven Wisniewski. CPT Wisniewski is an Army pilot flying Apache helicopters in northern Iraq. He’s young, having graduated from high school in 2001, where he participated in football, wrestling and track. He also loved the arts, participating in the school choir and drama group, National Honor Society, Latin and Spanish clubs. To balance that, he earned his Eagle Scout in Troop 101 in Ohio. CPT Wisniewski went on to Ohio State University where he earned his degree in Engineering with an emphasis on Industrial Design & Systems Engineering. Wow. For this very worthy soldier, we made Cinnabon cookies, merengues, and heart shaped oreos. I hope to get in one more batch of white chocolate chip cranberry cookies and ship this all before the weekend. It won’t reach him by Valentine’s Day, but I hope he will know we are thinking of him and wishing him and his buddies a safe and happy Valentine’s Day.
CPL Wisniewski reminds me a little bit of my cousin George. He has the same zest for life, a few of the same interests – choir, flying, sports – and was also from Ohio. Every part of my being asks that George watch out over this young soldier and keep him safe.
We have been doing a lot of cleaning, getting rid of, donating. One group that has gotten all of our gently used baby gear is a support group for the families of deployed Marines out of Camp Pendleton. I recently received a sweet thank you note from a young lady who took a bus from Corona to Irvine in order to collect my old Pack N Play and high chair. The families of our deployed military suffer so much, it makes my heart break. Having seen some of my friends go through the struggles of being wives of deployed military, I am happy to give up the things we don’t need to someone who needs them so much. The support group is like a Goodwill, but the family pays nothing. If you find it in your heart to make a donation to any organization that helps out like this, please consider it. It makes a big difference!
I’ll call this one "OC Reality vs TV Reality"
First let me preface this with “I am not writing about some so-called housewives who have a TV show and purport themselves to be real by any definition of the word.”
So, one of my new favorite TV shows is called Criminal Minds. Those of you who know me well will be surprised because I usually eschew “fake” crime shows. I’m more of a First 48 girl, myself, but this show is somehow enjoyable. I also used to love Profiler, which was basically the same premise. Criminal Minds is about a team of FBI Behavior Analisis Unit (BAU) profilers who save the day almost every episode. The writers are smart enough to have them win almost all the time, but still have room for humility. I record the show on our DVR and watch three or four in a row whenever I can.
During a recent marathon, one episode made me laugh right out loud for it’s complete lack of understanding of Orange County and just how we do things here. The storyline went like this “normal middle aged father of three completely loses his mind after the death of his child and starts shooting blond women driving luxury cars, at random locations on Orange County freeways.” Now, wanting to annihilate a snooty lady in her luxury car cutting me off on a freeway is something I can totally relate to, but here’s where it got really funny.
The guy would drive around looking for construction zones on the freeway, and drive through them repeatedly until someone meeting his requirements (snooty blonde in a luxury car), cut him off. He would then follow her and blast her with a sawed off through the window, resulting in her death. Anyone who has lived in Orange County for more than thirty seconds knows there are far too many snooty blonde women in luxury cars out there to necessitate driving through a construction zone repeatedly before one cuts you off. That’s just a result of the socio-economic make up of the OC. Secondly, have they seen the back-up created by these merged lanes? It would take him hours and hours to drive through repeadtedly and anyone in OC knows that is almost more annoying than getting cut off. Finally, in order to catch this guy, they closed down all the construction areas that required a lane merge except one. In all of OC. Really? Have they even noticed that construction in OC is occurring on almost every freeway and highway and major thoroughfare in existence in our fair county? AND, how could they have gotten CalTrans to respond in record time, pulling crews and rearranging traffic patterns in a matter of hours? Realizing this is just a TV show with fake FBI members and even with suspension of disbelief, I just cannot buy CalTrans doing anything in a matter of hours, as opposed to the standard matter of weeks.
As testimony to how messed up OC freeways are, the freeway chase scenes were actually shot in Long Beach. Obviously, LA County must have a better relationship with film makers, and also the ability to close down lanes of traffic quickly to facilitate filming, and aprehension of violent but normal looking serial freeway shooters.
However, I’ll grant that this scenario is more interesting than “normal middle aged father of three completely loses his mind driving in OC rush hour on the 405 creeping along at 10 mph” and yeah, that chase scene would be pretty boring, although I’d love to see some CHiPs running along side a car in rush hour to catch the bad guy. But that’s a story for Reno 911.
Notes from the Melody Maker 