Second Blooming

I Am Job

That's Job. With a long "o". Like the guy from the bible with all the troubles. Not a job. With a short"o". Like something you do for money. Though a job with a short "o" is involved. And I might be being slightly melodramatic. My trials and suffering over the last few days aren't actually biblical in proportion. Nobody is sick or dying, nobody's wife turned into salt. No wait...that was Lot. Now I'm getting my old testament analogies confused. Suffice it to say that the last few days have been a series of trials and tribulations. But I might just be whining.

The week started out pretty good. After a lovely Easter, we decided to take a two day car trip up the California coast to Cambria, a sweet little coastal town with an amazing coastline. We chose to take Jude's friend A.J. along with us, both so Jude would have more fun and so we would have more fun not having to entertain the 11-year old. 

Then...Jimmy's back went out. This happens periodically. He'll bend wrong or twist wrong and BAM, he's flat on his back with an icepack for a week. It's sad.

But that was workable. I could drive the boys myself. Just the three of us. I figured they'd hang out on the beach and try to make friends with sea lions, and I could do a little work on the computer.

Here's where the job with a short "o" comes in. I have this once-a-year job line producing a health fair. Glamorous, I know. Basically, I organize and assign and communicate with about 100 volunteers and 40 exhibitors. It's mostly a lot of emailing. Like...really a LOT of emailing. During this last week, I was getting upwards of 30 emails a day about this stuff. And the event was just a few days later, on Saturday. But I didn't think it would be a problem. The motel had wi-fi, and I could just hang out at night after the boys had gone to sleep and do my endless emailing.

So we drove the what the hotel said would be a three hour drive, which I assumed would be more like a four hour drive, but turned out to be like a five hour drive. Because it rained. It never rains in Southern California. Seriously, we're in the worst drought in history. So the rain is a good thing, but damn it, not when I'm driving two whining tweens on a road trip by myself. 

I feel that at this point I should point out an interesting new social phenomenon. Since the dawn of the automobile,  "Are we there yet???" has been the bane of every car tripping parent's existence. But now, with the dawn of GPS, they no longer ask "Are we there yet?". They look it up on their phones, then say things like "Dude! It's still twooooooooo more hours!" I can't decide if this is a good thing or a bad thing. But I digress...

We got to Moonstone Beach in Cambria and it's lovely. Really. 

And after I got the boys interested in nature...

...I went back to the motel to bang out a little work and damn if their wi-fi wasn't out. Well, not completely out. I could perch on the edge of the bed and lean out the window and get a bit. But it kept cutting out right in the middle of sending emails. After a while, I finally took my computer and wandered around the parking lot and found one spot where the connection was strong, then parked the car in that spot and managed to get some stuff done. But not much. So...I was concerned about the amount of work I had to do when I got home. This becomes more important as this rather long story goes on.

We had fun. Really. We toured Hearst Castle, which I highly recommend.

The boys were hearteningly interested in the history and architecture.

We watched a sunset.

Which the boys deemed "cool". Which is about as much excitement about nature as a tweenage boy can come up with. 

We looked at molting elephant seals.

Which was better than mating elephant seals, which apparently we would have seen if we'd arrived two weeks early. So that's a good thing.

And then we started the drive home. Which the motel said would be a three hour drive, but I figured would be more like a four hour drive and turned out to be...brace yourself...a seven hour drive. With the whiny tweens. This horror was caused by five things...

1. Traffic sucks.

2. Whiny tweens insist on stopping at every In-N-Out on the way.

3. I had to stop and make a phone call. Not just any phone call, but a ONE HOUR business conference call for the job with a short "o". I'd known about this call when I planned the trip, but had figured that I could take it while Jimmy was driving. But alas... So after loading the boys up with In-N-Out and plugging them into their electronic devices, I pulled off the highway into a small town, parked under a tree next to a cow pasture, fired up a personal hotspot on my phone, connected my computer and made my call. 

4. After finishing the call, I decided to use my GPS to get back to the freeway, and it took me FIFTEEN miles in the wrong direction before instructing me to "turn left" and then "turn left" which was essentially a U-turn and then it led me back to where I needed to be. So...about thirty minutes of wandering aimlessly on a small country road.

5. Traffic sucks.

By the time we dropped A.J. off and got home it was 8:00 pm. Oh my. 

Kindly, Jimmy had managed to order take out for us for dinner. However, in a very Jimmylike move, he had ordered me what he wanted for dinner, linguini with clam sauce, which I wasn't in the mood for at all, but I ate anyway, because it wasn't from In-N-Out.

I then tried to bang out some more emails, but was so tired that I kind of collapsed.

I woke up the next morning...with food poisoning. Clam sauce food poisoning. I know. You just went into a full body "ewwww" clench. I spent the entire day Friday communing with the toilet. Oh dear God.

But I had SO MUCH WORK I had to do, that I sat there on the floor of the bathroom with my computer next to me...sending emails to volunteers. Many, many emails. And drawing a diagram of the exhibitor table layout. Please feel sorry for me.

During all this, Jude was preparing to leave for a Boy Scout campout. He managed to pack himself (I say this but truly I don't have a clue what he put in that bag. It looked a little empty to me. I doubt very much that he had underwear. Or a toothbrush. Whatever.) A kind scout dad picked him up and whisked him off to his camp.

About three hours later, I got a panicked phone call from Jude. Somehow, I had failed to print out and send with him the medical release form he had to have in order to be allowed to stay at Boy Scout camp. That's right, without these forms...he had to GO HOME. Which meant I would have to drive to pick him up - three hours each way. Because I had by now stopped vomiting, but Jimmy's back was still so twisted that he couldn't sit in a car. I started to cry. Luckily...the wonderful scout dad who was with Jude talked the powers that be into allowing me to scan the medical form and email it to the director. But of course...I had failed to even fill out the medical form, much less have a doctor sign it. But after a hysterical thirty minutes spent filling in the lengthy form and having it signed by Dr. Gretchen's Left Hand, the boy was saved from leaving camp, and I was saved the drive.

I continued emailing, then went to sleep.

Saturday morning, I woke up at 6:30 am, took a shower, ate some saltines and drank water (the only sustenance I'd had for 24 hours, and started packing up the car for my big event for the job with a short "o". I could do it. I was weak and shaky, but I could do it. I am, after all, from hearty farm stock, people who traveled across America in a covered wagon. I could deal with car trips, and tweens, and lack of wi-fi, and traffic, and vomiting, and failed medical forms. 

I reached down and picked up a box of donated snacks I was hauling to my health fair and BANG. My back. Electric pain up and around my back. I dropped the box and froze. 

NO! NO! NO! I actually, really truly threw my arms up to heaven in a dramatic gesture and shouted (seriously, I fear my neighbors heard me) "NO GOD! I DO. NOT. HAVE. TIME. FOR. THIS!" Which was my version of a Job (with a long "o") moment. I took a deep breath, dragged that damned box to the car, drove to my event, and spent the next eight hours working my ass off.

The event went very well.

Is anybody still here? Because this is the longest damned post I have every written. "Helloooo?"

I went home after my event and collapsed. In bed. Icing my back and drinking Gatorade. And wine.

So...how was your week?

 

 

RTT: Wig, Olivia, and Mountain Man

Yes it's true! A Random Tuesday Thoughts!

 

It's been AGES since I've done a good ole' RTT! Let's see what kind of randomness I have rattling around inside my world...

ENOUGH ALREADY! I'M READY FOR THE NEW FALL TV SEASON TO FINALLY START, DANG IT! I feel like I've been waiting forever. I've been doing my Netflix binging of quality television, but I've I'm ready for some good old network tv. Scandal finally returns this week, can't wait. And the NEW Shonda Rhimes show, How to Get Away with Murder premieres the same night and looks juicy.

 

Shonda R + Viola Davis MUST be worth watching!

 

Nashville is back on Wednesday, and Once Upon a Time on Sunday. And yes, they're both silly, but I don't care. And the old warhorses NCIS and Bones are back this week too. I think of them both as...cozy tv. You know, they're the entertainment equivalent of a Snuggie and a bowl of mashed potatoes. The Blacklist came back last night, which I love because James Spader is just so creepy, but hate because the lead woman wears that silly wig. I can't watch her without getting completely distracted by the thing. Why does she wear it? Does this bother anybody but me?

 

SO a wig!

I think I'm also going to give Madame Secretary a try because it has a good cast and the clothes look really good. And I must watch Gracepoint because David Tennant is on it and that's the only reason I need...

Oh, and Anna Gunn's in it too, and she's good and all, but who cares, I'm in it for my David T.

What shows are you looking forward to watching?

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And speaking of Scandal and good clothes (I was speaking of that, wasn't I?)...

Did y'all hear about the new Scandal line at The Limited? It's true! Kerry Washington has paired up with the show's designer and The Limited, and they're debuting a line of affordable women's wear based on the clothes on the show. Now you can look just like Olivia Pope! Except without the perfect hair and makeup, flawless skin, dazzling smile and size 0 body. Heh...

 

Look just like Olivia. Only with your body in the clothes.

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So it's a new era here at Second Blooming. After 5 years of Cub Scouts, Jude has officially bridged up to Boy Scouts. Which is a whole nother deal, people. And now, after all of my endless whining and griping about having to go on every damned Cub Scout camping trip with a bunch of smelly boys and snoring men, and trudging up and down hills in the dirt and heat and cold and hiking and swimming and bad cots and even more smelly boys and snoring men, I am now...a little sad. YES. Sad. Because this next weekend, Jude has his first Boy Scout campout, and he's going solo. Yep, no mamas wanted here. Jude will be heading to a Boy Scout Reservation with 30 other boys and a handful of adult men for something called a Mountain Man Thunder campout - an 1830's frontier-themed outing at which they will be enjoying tomahawk throwing, shooting black powder rifles, archery, making fire using flint, and campfire skits. So yes, the first time I send the boy into the wild without me, every single activity planned for the entire weekend involves either weapons or fire. Sigh...

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Really? Really??

Third Boob Woman

Please discuss...

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So that's this week's Random Tuesday Thoughts. It's nice to be back! PLEASE go visit Stacy and the others to make up for the fact I've been gone for so long!

 

 

 

 

 

Spin Cycle: Winter Things I've Been Thinking About

Let' see...

Winter

I guess it seems redundant that I've been thinking about winter during winter. But this is the first year in memory that we've actually HAD a winter here in Southern California. Usually, we just go straight from fire season to rainy season to June gloom to...summer. But this year it's been nippy! TWO mornings this week it was 37 degrees when I drove Jude to school. That's WINTER, y'all! I've been wearing my big puffy coat and snuggly boots. I'm loving it! Of course, now the Santa Ana winds have blown in and it's heating up, but I'll take what I can get.

The flu

We have been living dangerously out here, tempting fate by not getting flu shots. My mother-in-law, Mommy, has been nagging me constantly, because she sits and watches cable news all day, and all those tv doctors have her scared to death. This week, Jimmy and I have been taking turns feeling achy and headachy. The other night, I was sure he had finally succumbed, but the next morning, he woke up and felt fine. So I decided not to risk it anymore, and made us all flu shot appointments. Actually, when I took Jude into his pediatrician for the mist thingy, they let me get the shot at the same time. So anyway, I'm determined that we will NOT give in to the flu monster! Have all of you received your flu shots? Did it do any good?

Wicked nail polish

Perfect winter toes

I was a big Essie "Wicked" fan about 10 years ago, and then went brighter. But suddenly good old Wicked called my name and damn if my toes don't look cute.

Les Miserables

Sigh. I finally saw it. Boo hoooooo. It left me feeling tres miserable (pronounced the French way). Yes, I cried like a fool. It's all I can think about. I even bought the soundtrack, and have been obsessively listening to it. Last night, I was making dinner, listening to the soundtrack, singing along and sobbing. Jude walked in, looked at me and sighed. First he said, and this is a direct quote "I'm afraid you are listening to music that Dad and I don't really appreciate." Then he patted me sweetly and said "Mom, you should probably stop listening to this music so you can stop embarrassing yourself." Hah!  I thought that both Hugh Jackman and Anne Hathaway were FABULOUS. This is difficult stuff, people, this singing and acting at the same time. And I'm afraid that Russell Crowe, who has always been a fave of mine, just didn't have the chops for it - he's a wonderful actor, and has an okay singing voice, but he just lacks the ability to express emotion through his singing. It's a different muscle. And that scene when Hathaway sings Fantine's big "I Dreamed a Dream" song? Oh my God! Killed me. Please notice that it's all shot in one take. Of course, an actor performing it on stage does it in one take 8 times a week! But it's basically unheard of in a film. I'm hoping Oscar is in her future.

Winter camp

For the first time in 4 years, we've actually had SNOW for Jude's Cub Scout Winter Camp. The camp takes place every year up in the mountains in Lake Arrowhead, CA, where there should technically be snow, but we seem to always miss it. But this year...

LA kids in snow.

Jude became a tobogganing fool! He's such a daredevil! It's actually a relief that we don't live closer to the mountains, because he'd become one of those extreme sports/Shawn White kind of kids. But I must admit, it was crazy fun! He finally lured me onto his toboggan with him, and WOOHOO! Here is video, shot by Jude as we careened down the hill together. Please forgive our mutual "woohoo"ing and"yeah"ing.

 

 

Bacon and Leek Risotto with Poached Eggs

This is so crazy good I can't stand it. It's the ultimate wintry comfort food - like breakfast for dinner.

5 cups low-salt chicken broth

1 tablespoon olive oil

6 slices thick-cut bacon

2 cups thinly sliced leeks (white and pale green parts only; about 2 large)

1 1/2 cups Arborio rice 

3/4 cup dry white wine

3 tablespoons finely chopped fresh Italian parsley

1 tablespoon butter

 1/4 cup finely grated Parmesan cheese

eggs

Bring broth to simmer in medium saucepan, cover to keep warm. Heat the oil in a large, heavy saucepan over medium heat. Add the bacon, and cook until crisp. Drain on paper towels and then crumble. Add leeks to bacon drippings in the pan, and cook until soft, stirring often, about 4 to 5 minutes. Add rice to pan; stir 1 to 2 minutes. Add wine; stir until absorbed, about 2 minutes. Add 1⁄2 cup warm broth to saucepan; stir until broth is absorbed. Repeat adding broth and stirring until rice is tender but still firm to bite and sauce is creamy, stirring almost constantly, about 23 minutes total. Add bacon, chopped parsley, butter, and 2 tablespoons cheese. Season to taste with salt and freshly ground black pepper.

In a small skillet, heat water to a simmer. Crack an egg into a small saucer, then slide egg into the simmering water. Cook eggs until whites are cooked through but yolks are still runny, 3 to 4 minutes. Do this with as many eggs as people you are serving.

Dish a mound of the risotto into each dish, then, using a slotted spoon, gently place poached egg on top of risotto.

The recipe claims that this serves 6, but in our house it serves 3ish.

I did not take this picture! I totally stole it off the Bon Appetit website.

My new fuzzy sweater

I bought myself a new fuzzy sweater the other day. Here it is...

 

Really horrible picture.

You will notice that it is neither attractive nor stylish. But I don't care. It's all I want to wear lately. Num, num, num, num.

Irish Coffee

Nothing warms your bones like a nice hot cup of coffee laced with booze!

1 cup freshly brewed coffee

1 tbsp. brown sugar

1 jigger Irish whiskey (1 1/2 ounces)

heavy cream, lightly whipped

Pour coffee into cup (a footed glass cup is traditional). Stir in the sugar, then the whiskey. Top with a couple of tablespoons of cream.

Aaaaah!

Illume Red Cedar candle

LOVE this! Warm and cozy and woodsy and wintry, without smelling like Christmas.

I think that's about it. What winter things have you been thinking about lately?

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Don't you dare skate away without checking out this week's Winter Spinners...

Vandy J at The Testosterone Three and Me

SuziCate at The Water Witch's Daughter

Nain at View From Down Here

Mimi at Magical Mystical Mimi - NEW to the SPIN CYCLE!

Ginny Marie at Lemon Drop Pie - NEW on FRIDAY!

Kendra at Life in the slow lane -NEW

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Next week on The Spin Cycle...

Clean

Hmmm...another wide open subject.

Clean living, clean heart, clean linens, clean air, clean water, clean and jerk, cleanliness is next to godliness, cleansing diet, cleansing breath.

House cleaning, spring cleaning, dental cleaning.

As always, don't be afraid to think out of the box!

Write your spin on "clean". Post it. Let me know. I'll link it here!

Let me know if you'd like to be added to the Spin Cycle weekly topic email!

Share your spin!
Highlight the code.
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RTT: Sweet Tea, Tits and Angel

Hot enough for ya? My sincere sympathies to all of you Mid-Atlantic folk. I keep hearing about extreme temperatures and power outages - yikes. I'm afraid I've been complaining out here, and we've had highs in the upper 70's/low 80's. I know you hate me. But you must remember that we don't have an air conditioner in our house. And dang it, we're used to weather perfection, so we're spoiled rotten and have become wimps. But anyway, I'll try to keep things nice and cool around here for everybody.

This is my new summer beverage! It is OUTRAGEOUSLY GOOD!

...and lemonade. SO good it's crazy. It's like...an Arnold Palmer with vodka. Incredibly refreshing.

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Jimmy has, at long last, joined the 21st Century. I have purchased him...an iPhone. His old phone was so archaic, that AT&T upgraded him to an iPhone 3GS for only $1! Now I'm trying to teach him how to text. The following was our first text exchange. I think it neatly defines our marriage...

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And while I'm talking iPhone...

I have a new game obsession. Drop 7.

I can't stop playing it! I find myself playing it while I'm driving! Jude keeps yelling at me. It's a strategy/puzzle game that totally sucks you in. Try it!

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Font Wars

 

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Have y'all seen Brave yet? Jude and I went on Sunday, and we both really enjoyed it. In truth, it's not the best of the Pixar films. It doesn't have any truly memorable characters, or songs that you leave the theater humming, but it was really sweet and it's nice to see a mother/daughter storyline. You never see that, do you? And I appreciated that Disney finally has a princess who has no prince!

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Okay, this is all pretty lame stuff. I guess I'm not really in a good writing-funny-stuff mood. Today we had the memorial for Jude's little friend Gus, who died last week from cancer. It was a beautiful, heartbreaking, joyous service - really a celebration of Gus's life. Jude participated with the Cub Scouts. They all marched in in their uniforms and lined the aisle, then the Boy Scout color guard came in with the flags. It was amazingly powerful, seeing all these little guys, so serious in their uniforms. It was sort of the Cub Scout version of a military funeral, seeing off their fallen comrade. So sweet. But there was one thing that I kept staring at through the entire service. After the Boy/Cub Scouts presented the flags, the flag from the Los Angeles Boy Scouts, which was placed right behind Gus's picture, fell in such a way that this is all we could read...

 

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Go visit Stacy.

Camp Mama 2012 Week Three: Contradictions

 

This week, Camp Mama began with Cub Scout Day Camp, a week of boy activities at the headquarters of the Boy Scouts of America in Los Angeles, an organization known for their open discrimination against "open or avowed" homosexuals, and ended with...a gay wedding. Because that's the way we roll here at Second Blooming.

Jude hadn't been totally sold on attending Cub Scout Day Camp this year, as he had attended it two years ago and deemed it "boring". But their theme this year was "The Olympics", so of course my track and field/swimming obsessed child was convinced. I must admit that I pressed the matter a bit for two reasons - 1. Camp was M - F from 8:00 am to 4:00 pm! 2. All of this alone time for Mama only cost $75!

But I'm afraid Jude ended up deeply disappointed by the whole thing. The "Olympic" sports they played were baseball, soccer and basketball, which I guess are events in the Olympics, but which Jude deemed "lame". And on Friday they were scheduled to go down to the LA Colosseum, and do track events on the actual Olympic track, but they ended up not able to get in. Sigh. And they were supposed to then go swimming in the real Olympic pool from the 1984 Olympics, but the pool was closed because of a sewage leak! They did, however, get to do some events at the USC track. Jude managed to win a Gold Medal in the long jump! And a Silver Medal in the 50 meter dash. So that was some consolation.

The gay wedding, was really a Domestic Partnership Celebration (still no legal gay marriage in California, don't get me started) for my ex-choir director, Rodger, and his partner Tye.

In dealing with this whole gay marriage thing with Jude, I realized that I was perhaps a bit of a hypocrite. Despite all of my support for gay marriage and gay rights, I have never really dealt with explaining it all to Jude. I mean, he knows what gay is, that some people fall in love with, and want to spend their lives with someone of the same sex, as opposed to the way Mama and Daddy are.

And a while back we had a talk because his friends were saying things like "That is so gay!" or "He's so gay!". And we talked about how that is a wrong thing to say for several reasons. For one thing, kids at their age are too young to know whether or not they are gay (though I think that this is really the age where people start to figure it out), and that if someone is gay that it's nothing wrong, that it's just the way God made them, and that on top of everything, it is a ridiculous name to call someone because it's simply a descriptive word - it would be like saying "He is so blond!" or "He is so tall!" Which he seemed to understand. And I told him that we had lots of friends who were gay. But he never asked me who, and so I didn't tell him. I have a rule of thumb that when it comes to things about sex, I only answer the questions he wants to know the answers to.

So when this Domestic Partnership Celebration came up, I was a little unsure how to proceed. I tried to be casual...

"Jude, we've been invited to a party on Saturday which is going to be really fun! You remember Rodger, don't you?"

Of course he remembers Rodger, he's one of his very favorite people.

"Did I ever mention that Rodger is gay?"

I had not.

"Well, Rodger and his partner, Tye, have decided that they want to make a commitment to each other to stay together always and forever, just the way Mama and Daddy did!"

I then got into a brief and probably boring political lecture about the legality of gay marriage, which I will spare you all.

"And lots of the people from my choir will be there, and it will mean so much to Rodger for you to share the day with him, and Julianna and Isabella will be there, so you'll have other kids to play with! [Julianna and Isabella are the oft-mentioned daughters of my friends Lynn and Darren, mentioned at length HERE] So how does that sound to you?"

At this point, I looked at Jude, and he had a decidedly "ICK" look on his face.

"Oh no!" I thought "My child is a homophobe!"

But then Jude said "Are they going to talk the whole time?!"

He wasn't thinking "Ick" about the gay marriage, he was thinking "Ick" about hanging out with the girls all that time, and worried that they'd drive him crazy!

In fact, the entire gay marriage thing didn't phase him for an instant. Even all the traditional wedding stuff like cake cutting, and posing for sweet couple pictures. We had a great time, and he and the girls got along fabulously (I'm sorry, I had to work in the word fabulous at least once in a piece about a gay wedding). As we left, he hugged Rodger and Tye and told them "Congratulations."

So that's the week at Camp Mama. Boy Scouts of America/Gay Men. I happen to love contradictions.

Best of Camp Mama: How I Survived Summer Camp

To kick-off our summer, Jude and I have once again headed into the woods for our annual Moms/Kids camping trip. Just moms and kids. Ah, so civilized.

So, since I am off in the wilderness sans wifi, I am posting a rerun. This was my Camp Mama post from last year after returning from camping with a whole buttload of men. Believe me, it is VERY different from camping with the moms. Not so civilized.

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Camp Mama 2011 Week Seven: How I Survived Summer Camp

I have survived Cub Scout Camp. In the car, on the way home on Saturday, I became convinced that a spider had laid her eggs in my hair. But upon further inspection, I don't believe this to be true. I am, therefore, mostly unscathed...

I trudged. And trudged and trudged and trudged. We estimated that the distance from our campsite to the mess hall was about a mile. Uphill. So that means that we trudged a minimum of six miles a day. And that's not counting the endless trudging to all the activities. I think I've lost a little weight. Despite the fact that...

I ate a tremendous amount of extremely mediocre food. Though I would rate the food in the mess hall slightly below your average elementary school cafeteria, I managed to gorge myself at every meal.  I feel that this was due to all the trudging. And maybe all the fresh mountain air.

I made our little tent as homey as possible.

 

And yes, that is a blowup mattress, sheets, comforter and 4 pillows. And yes, that is a throw rug. Don't judge me. One of the dads said all I needed was a hand-cranked Victrola, and I'd be like Meryl Streep in "Out of Africa". A girl's gotta do what a girl's gotta do. And believe me, all those little boys were crazy jealous of Jude's cushy quarters, and kept trying to wheedle their way in there with us.

I seem to have gotten a tan. I didn't know this for the entire week we were camping, as there are no mirrors in Cub Scout bathrooms. Which is a very good thing. Occasionally, I would catch a glimpse of a reflection of myself in a random window, and would shudder with horror. It is no wonder the dads now consider me one of the guys. And along those lines...

I got dirty. I would say that the phrase "Stink, stank, stunk." applied to me. I was dirty for two reasons. The first would be...

 

Dirt. It's everywhere at this place. And if you happen to be trudging behind a pack of trudging Cub Scouts,  great clouds of it is thrown up in their wake, and it settles in your hair and your eyes and your ears and your nostrils. By the end of the day, it would work itself between my toes, despite the fact that I was wearing sneakers and socks. The other reason I was dirty is that I didn't take a bath. Well, that's not entirely true. I took exactly 2 showers in the entire week. Jude? Nada. No bath, no shower. Nice.                                                     

I managed to get some stuff done. The first day, after much finagling, I convinced the strange man who runs the camp commissary into letting me use his WiFi. Unfortunately, in order to use it, I had to follow him to his "private quarters" in a small metal corner room of the large metal commissary. Creepy. After that, I decided to just head into town to the local McDonalds. This ended up being a good choice for two reasons - 1. I got a large, nonfat, iced vanilla latte every day. And 2. I got to use the restroom there. You see, the closest bathroom to our tent was a fair distance. And not particularly private. And usually had a puddle of small boy urine around it's base. And I'm afraid I tend to be a bit...how do I put this delicately...shit shy. So I found it much more pleasant to do my business at the McDonalds. When one finds the public bathroom at the McDonalds to be the height of cleanliness and privacy, it's clear that the axis of ones world has shifted slightly.

I got to know some kind nurses. I'm afraid that in the middle of our second night at camp, Jude developed a terrible fever, and ended up in the camp infirmary for a day and a half. Poor little man. His nurses, Shotzy and Hawkeye (everybody in the place has a "camp name"), both retired RNs who work there every summer, were really lovely, and let me hang out there with him the whole time. In the metal folding chair. They set Jude up in an old Army hospital bed, that I'm sure was leftover from WWII, and let him watch most of Shotzy's DVD collection. While burning up with a mysterious viruslike fever for a day, the kid managed to watch - "Transformers", "The Spy Next Door", "Diary of a Wimpy Kid", "The Goonies", "Tron: Legacy", "Harry Potter and the Sorcerers Stone", "Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire" and "Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part I". Whew.

 

At noon on the second day, the fever suddenly lifted, and Shotzy and Hawkeye declared him healed, and sent him back to the fun.

I endured a certain amount of whining. Jude, I'm afraid, vacillated back and forth the entire time about whether he was enjoying himself or not. I think that a whole week is a bit long for a little guy - these boys are kept REALLY busy. And it was hot and exhausting. When he was enjoying himself, he was having a BLAST. But then he'd kind of crash, and want to go home. I have no doubt that the virus floating around inside him contributed to this whininess. I feel that on the whole, he had a positive time because...

I got to do a ton of cool boy stuff. Canoeing...

 

BMX biking...

 

Bouldering...

 

Whittling...

 

The cutest little Color Guard you've ever seen...

 

And best of all?...

 

 

A genuine-D Red Ryder bb gun, y'all. And they let moms shoot too...

 

Yep, that's a bullseye, baby. Please excuse the terrible iPhone photograph, but take note of the horrifying state of filth that is my thumbnail.

I experienced Dude Nirvana. On the way home, the dads convinced me to stop with them at something called the Bass Pro Shop Outdoor World, a sporting goods store roughly the size of the Astrodome. Inside it we found ATVs and boats...

 
 

 ...and every kind of man/boy thing you would EVER want to find. I did find something intriguing in the camping department. Something that would solve many of my camping problems...

 

But the dads teased me out of purchasing it. I have discovered, however, that it is available online...

I enjoyed me some boys. ALL of the little boys in our pack are absolutely darling. Really sweet, lovely little boys, each with their own special charms. And ALL of the staff/counselors were wonderful as well. Especially after Jude was sick. Energy, Mumbles and Twinkie all took time during their rest periods to get Jude caught up on all his beltloops and pins. A great bunch of teenagers who really cared for the littler boys.

 

I enjoyed me some dads. All 4 of the dads from our pack are truly wonderful men. Solid, easy-going, funny, wonderful fathers, tremendous integrity. A pleasure to be with. I adore them all. If they are an example of the men that scouting produces, I believe I have Jude in the right place. Oh, and they shared their contraband liquor.

I got a cup. 

 

They were handed out as a thank you to all the adult Camp Leaders (again, apologies for the bad iPhone picture). Now, as the dads kept reminding me, I'm not really a true Camp Leader until I commit to...dum, dum, dum, duuuum...a uniform. Unfortunately, the uniforms are ugly. No, let me define them more clearly. Butt ugly. Here, judge for yourself...

 

 

 

EEEEK! Horrors! I'm sorry, but no woman could look even mildly attractive in high-wasted, belted trousers with the shirt tucked in, unless they have a 20 inch waist. Which I...do not. And knee socks? Mmmm...I think not. Maybe if I cut the culottes off into a little mini skirt, and wore the shirt pulled out, unbuttoned and belted on the outside, with a cute tank top underneath? I fear this would not be considered regulation.

I got the best compliment I've ever received in my life. On our last morning, as Jude and I were lugging our big plastic bin filled with camping equipment to the car, Jude said to me "You're a strong woman, Mom." "Thank you sweetie." "You're strong and kind and generous and pretty and all sorts of other things." "Thank you baby." Sniff.

Doesn't that make it all worth it?

I'll Take Where I Can Get It

You know...this 9-years old thing is kind of freaking me out. All of a sudden, Jude is so...independent and...big. And I'm afraid I have mixed emotions about it. Because while his new-found independence gives me a certain amount of independence, which I enjoy, it also means...that he no longer needs his Mama. Which is sad. Sigh...

This weekend we went Cub Scout camping on Catalina Island yet again. This is our third year to make the trip. We love these little camping expeditions, and the Catalina trips are particularly cool. A 2 hour nausea-inducing ferry ride to the island, ocean swimming, kayaking, hiking, a place called Pirate's Cove, terrible food in the mess hall, lots of good stuff. And in the past, we did absolutely everything together, he was my little shadow, he wanted his Mama with him for everything. But this year...

It started when we arrived down in Long Beach where we catch the dreaded ferry. Los Angeles traffic on a Friday afternoon is deadly, so we headed out early to beat the traffic. This meant that we got down there with about an hour to kill before the ferry left. Luckily, several other boys and their dads had already arrived, so we all decided to head over and explore the Queen Mary, which is docked there.

When we all got aboard the beautiful, historic ship, Jude told me he wanted to go off with his friends and explore. Without me. I was stunned. But then the dads suggested that we go up to the Lido Deck, or whatever, and have a lovely cocktail...

Which was rather pleasant.

When we finally got on the ferry and headed over to Catalina, I think the kid actually checked in with me twice, in two hours. TWICE. The rest of the time he was running around with a pack of boys wreaking havoc. Without me. I was stunned. But then I got to read my book for TWO hours. Which was rather pleasant.

On Saturday, when we all had to take the hideous ocean swim test, which qualifies you to be able to kayak, Jude decided that instead of taking the "beginner" swim test, which most of the boys take, he wanted to take the full "swimmer" test, which meant he could pilot his own one-man kayak. We all plunged into the FREEZING ocean water, and swam the four laps from the dock to shore...

...and then, Jude opted to swim the extra lap back to shore with one of the dads. Without me. I was stunned. But then I realized that I didn't have to swim that extra lap in the arctic water with him. Which was rather pleasant.

After a morning of kayaking in our separate one-man kayaks, Jude suddenly announced that he and his pals wanted to go off and "explore by ourselves". Without me. I was stunned. But then I decided to go back in the water and kayak BY MYSELF for an hour. All alone. SO peaceful and relaxing. Which was rather pleasant.

But then that night, after a day of being the super independent 9-year old, we did climb into our bed in our little tent, and he was snuggled up close. All night. With me. Which was rather pleasant.

And the next morning, he decided that he wanted to take me on a hike, and show me what he and his pals had discovered the day before. With me. Just me. I was stunned. We hiked up, up, up and around, around, around. He showed me all the cool sites he had discovered without me the day before...

...which was rather pleasant.

RTT: Rockets, Geeks and Peniss

Sigh...

Cub Scout camping. Again. This time rockets...

Could there be a more phallic boy activity than building/shooting off rockets?

Rockets = Fun

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Mmmm...okay.

 

I truly can't decide if this is cute or creepy.

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 I love this geek t-shirt website! They have an amazing array of funny t-shirts for every geek subject I love!

Dr. Who humor tees...

Downton Abbey humor tees...

Zombie humor tees...

Star Wars humor tees...

Pi humor tees...

and a surprising number of Jesus humor tees...

If anybody is thinking of getting me a belated birthday present, I'd love a Medium in one of these...

Gotta love bacon as element. Or this...

Or the best of all...

...which neatly combines choir geek humor with zombie geek humor. Gotta have it!

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I got this new face goo I'm trying out, that I got with a Groupon. It's this Pure Collagen stuff, which is called "Instant Face-lift Serum". Yeah, right. I've had it for three days now, and so far so good. I can't say it actually looks like I've had a face-lift, but I'm an optimist. The only problem is that it stinks. It really does. I keep devotedly applying it in "circular motions" twice a day, but it's starting to get to me. My face smells like...hmm, how to describe it. Kind of  a mixture of cow hoof and manure. This smell led me to some internet investigation about where cosmetic collagen comes from and lo and behold...cow parts. True. And it's on my face. Twice a day. The things we do for vanity.

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I am FINALLY getting to go see The Hunger Games today - I wanted to go on opening day, but I was involved in the aforementioned Rocket Camp. Grrr...the things we sacrifice for our children. But in the meantime, I have found a couple of excellent Hunger Games items to share with you...

Katniss Everdeen's Pinterest Page...

If it's too small for you to read, you can check it out HERE.

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Very good. See Stacy. Read others. Return next week for more Random Tuesday Thoughts.

WWTK Wednesday - Fog

Oh no.

Do you remember back two years ago, when I spent two weeks on the sofa with stinking, fracking vertigo? Well, I did. And now I fear that it's BACK.

It's not as bad as before - I don't actually feel like I'm on a boat. I just have a head full of cotton, a complete inability to think straight, and I'm about half deaf. I'm guessing it's the same inflammation of the inner ear thing as before. I really don't NEED this.

I seem to be unable to concentrate, or come up with any ideas. But luckily, Mamarazzi has provided a bit of inspiration, so I'm diving into WWTK Wednesday once again...

1. What is for dinner tonight (bonus for sharing the recipe)?

We have been crazy for veggies around here lately, because I've started getting organic produce DELIVERED to our home, which is a little bit of brilliance. I have a whole post planned about this, so the details will be forthcoming as soon as the cotton clears out of my brain. Anyway, we have been eating lots of excellent produce. And since the thought of grocery shopping makes me slightly queasy, this delivery thing is excellent. Tonight I'm pulling some chicken/apple sausage out of the freezer and serving it with Jan's Pan-Fried Fingerling Potatoes and some fresh spinach, which I'm just going to saute with a little olive oil and garlic. Now here's my question...do I still get the bonus if I'm only providing a link to the recipe? And what is this bonus anyway? Ooo, I hope it's money.

2) Share something you are currently looking forward to.

I am determined to get to Austin this summer! My old college gang is planning another reunion, and I am going to do everything I can to make it a nice long trip so I can see all my girlfriends and my cousins. PLEASE God makes this work! I need me a Texas fix!

3) What are your thoughts on re-gifting?

I would say that it depends entirely on the thoughtfulness behind the re-gifting. If someone gives you something and you're not sure if you'll ever actually use it, but when you look at it you think "That's SO perfect for..." whoever, then giving it to whoever is fine and dandy. If someone gives you something that you don't want and you give it away just to get rid of it and because you're too lazy to go and shop for somebody, then it's just plain tacky.

4) How often do you rearrange your furniture?

Never. I'm stuck in a rut. 

5) Share a picture from your cellphone or camera.

Oh well now, isn't this handy! Jude and I spent a pleasant but mostly uneventful weekend at Cub Scout Winter Camp in Lake Arrowhead, and I was wondering how I was going to work in the pictures! I went a little crazy with the Hipstamatic...

And a fun time was had by all.

Please visit Mamarazzi, Crazy Mama and Queso for more WWTK participants.

 

RTT: The Christmas Recap

Oh hello there.

You thought I'd forgotten about you, didn't you? But no, I have just been in a seafood induced stupor, which I am just barely coming out of. Ergh. I just ended a sentence with a preposition, but I'm just too damned worn out to try to fix it.

The Feast of the Seven Fishes was a success. Much booze, much fun, much children excited for Santa, much good friends and much fishes.

Here is the menu, which I promised you last week, and am just now getting around to sharing...

Cocktails-

Lemon Martinis/Martinis/Wine/Good beer

Appetizers-

Fish #1- Salmon Tartar

Fish #2 - Mussels & Basil Bread Crumbs

Salad Course-

Octopus Salad (what Mommy calls the Pulpu)

Scallops with Basil Stuffing on a Bed of Greens with Lemon Vinaigrette

Primi-

Linguine Frutti di Mare (Linguini with Seafood Sauce)

Secondi -

Baccala Alla Vesuviana (Salt Cod With Tomatoes and Capers)

Roasted Shrimp with Feta

Dessert-

Tiramisu

Whew. I really have to say, it all turned out very well. I'm afraid that the roasted shrimp was a tad underroasted. And by underroasted, I mean raw. This was due, I hate to say, to the fact that by the time we reached this point of the meal, yours truly may have imbibed one too many Lemon Martini, and wasn't paying good attention. Oops. But otherwise, it all came out very well. Particularly the scallops, which got raves, and honestly should have been stinking excellent, considering I could have paid the gas bill with the amount of cash I coughed up for them. Here is the really SIMPLE recipe...

Scallops with Basil Stuffing

1/2 cup fresh basil leaves

1 clove garlic, peeled

1 tsp. salt

1/4 tsp. freshly ground pepper

1/3 cup plus 2 tbsp. olive oil

1 1/2 lbs. scallops (the really good, fat ones, the ones that you ask the fish man for, not really looking at the price per pound, and then when he rings it up, you stare at the price and start to hyperventilate)

Mince the basil, garlic, salt and pepper together until very fine. I used the old fashioned mortar and pestle that Mommy gave me. Mix in a small bowl, or cup with 2 tbsp. olive oil.

Make a deep horizontal slit in the side of each scallop, but don't cut all the way through. Fill each scallop with about 1 tsp. of the basil mixture; close. Pour the remaining oil onto a plate or pan, and turn each scallop in it, then place on a broiler pan.

Broil the scallops for 2 to 3 minutes per side, no more. (Or grill them, which would have been excellent, but I was too damned lazy to go stand outside grilling while all the fun was being had inside.)

I served them on a bed of arugula and endive (which I insist on pronouncing ahn-deeve, just because I can) with a Lemon Vinaigrette - 1 part lemon juice, 2 parts olive oil, salt, pepper.

Serves 4. You may do the math re: how many pounds I had to buy to feed 11!

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I will only brag on my sweet boy once here. I swear.

On Christmas Eve morning, before he ran in to play video games, Jude sat down at his little desk and made...a birthday card for Jesus. Couldn't you just die.

 

I fear he is just not an artist. But I particularly like the little "You" with an arrow to the baby. He put the card under the tree next to the nativity scene. Very dear.

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No one gave me a Snuggie. It's sad. I keep asking. Nobody gives me one. I can't decide if people just think that I'm joking or if they think I'm too good for one. It must be something like that, or surely somebody would give me one by now. Come to think of it, nobody's ever given me a Chia Pet either. Always wanted one of them too.

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Jimmy did, however, give me that scarf I've been dying for (I actually got the card from the store, and wrote the name of the scarf with the color I wanted on it, and handed it to the man - sometimes you've just got to take care of yourself.), a gift certificate for a massage (which I NEED) and a gift certificate for Barnes and Noble, which I'm looking forward to using. My sister-in-law gave me a fabulous cookbook from Cook's Magazine. And my friend and Christmas Eve guest Laura gave me this cool trio of kitchen products- hand soap, dish soap and counter cleaner in a little holder thing, which I'm strangely excited about - I keep finding reasons to clean the kitchen counter. She reads this blog, so I'm going to count this as her thank you note. And my friends and other Christmas Eve guests, Scott and Melissa, always bring me a new bottle of special bourbon every year. This year's treat is Black Maple Hill...

 

DELICIOUS!

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We spent Christmas Day at our friends Pat and Debra's house. They always do a fabulous meal, and their home in the Hollywood Hills is lovely and warm. And I'm always so stinking exhausted that I love that I can just sit there and do NOTHING. Pat (Patsy) is an amazing Italian chef, who also does outstanding meats, and Debra handles all the "American" food and the desserts. Jude blew me away by eating a gigantic plate of gnocchi with sauce and prime rib. He loves Uncle Pat's cooking! I've posted Pat's videos before, but here's his take on a simple tomato sauce...

 

 

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Patsy also made me what I think may become my new favorite cocktail, a Negroni. It's a really old-fashioned cocktail, that's kind of bitter and strange. An acquired taste, but then pretty addicting. Mmmm...

Negroni

1 part gin

1 part Campari

1 part Sweet Vermouth

Shake in a cocktail shaker with ice, and serve straight up in a martini glass. Garnish with a curl of orange peel.

I think I'll need to buy some Campari tomorrow!

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A couple of years ago, we started this sweet/silly tradition in our little family. On holiday nights, we let Jude sleep in bed with us. So that makes FOUR bodies in the same bed, because our little dog Fancy always sleeps on my feet. But I'm afraid that this is gonna have to come to a stop soon. On Christmas night, we all snuggled in and watched the Marx Brothers Duck Soup, then went to sleep. I swear, Jude must have rolled over and hit me in the head 4 times during the night, Jimmy was snoring like mad, and the dog wouldn't get off my feet. And on top of that, I woke up a couple of times with my hormonal night sweats. NOT a festive night.

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Last night, after an absolutely BRILLIANTLY lazy day, Jude and I ventured to downtown LA, and went ice skating with his Cub Scout pack. And by "Jude and I" went ice skating, I mean Jude went ice skating. I stood on the side of the rink and waved in support. Middle-aged Texas Woman = NOT ice skater. However, Little Californian Boy = Pretty decent and scrappy ice skater. No points for form, but he manages to stay on his feet and have a lot of fun. I'm thinking we might head down there again later in the week. Anybody else in?

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 Remember those 15 pounds that I lost with Weight Watchers? Well, about 5 of them have come home again, thanks to all this feasting. January 2? Back on the WW. Damn.

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That's it for now. Damn, I wish I had some of that Campari. Sounds so good...

Y'all head on over to visit Stacy for the usual Tuesday randomness.