The Dog Days of April...

We were teased this weekend with ridiculously warm weather.  

Such joy!  

Of course, next week will be cold enough to wipe away our audacity to wear shorts and sandals... 

Back to coats and socks, you fools!  

But this weekend.....so delicious!  

I have been longing to get dirt under my nails, 

to attempt to repair the disaster that is my yard. 

(defunct yard heater, headed to the alley...)

Two years ago, my front and back yards were, dare I say, lush?  

Hydrangeas, hostas, roses, daisies, ferns, impatiens, 

forget-me-knots, poppies and carpets of grass....  

Now look at it...dirt, rocks, piles of hardened concrete...so depressing. 

I thought perhaps a sepia tint to the carnage might give it a historical look,

like all this mess is in the past...  

I crack myself up...

It looks crappy today! 

I wish one of those HGTV fix it shows would miraculously arrive 

 and create the landscape of my dreams....

 Back to reality...

Notice the huge rusty nail, sticking out of our house, in the gangway...

It's just waiting to stab a kid running by...

Hello, tetanus!

I finally got my dear husband to bend it to a safe angle until he will remove it altogether...

The contractor promised he would return on Monday to finish the job and he'd better show...

I might send a posse of sleep deprived, sugar enhanced children for him otherwise.....  

So this weekend, armed with a rake, compost and determination, 

I cleared the rest of the flotsam from the front and back yards, 

hand tilled the front and back gardens, seasoning them with compost, 

planted beans, lettuce, lilies, tulips, daffodils and hyacinths, 

cleaned out the garage 

and did all the weekend chores like laundry, dishes, 

cleaning up after everyone, etc.  

One thing is clearly apparent:  

I do not have the body of a twenty-something anymore.  

OMG....

I need ibuprophen at two hour intervals....

Only my eyelashes do not hurt.  

My mom always said, "Hire a kid, you get a kid"  

and it couldn't be truer... 

The kids were all about helping mommy dig and plant for, oh about 15 minutes.  

Then their short term attention spans took off for water fights and general outdoor mayhem.  

Trust me, I prefer it this way....

Let them tire themselves out while I get some real work done.  

Later, when their meters ran out, the kids  first decided 

camping in the living room was a cool idea.  

That was Friday night and amazingly, they slept in the tent all night.  

Today, after a particularly boisterous water fight, they lolled in front of the TV.  

These pics look like perhaps they were mesmerized for hours, 

but these position changes were over a ten minute period.  

If Kate's feet were any blacker I'd have her checked for ringworm....  

Storms are headed this way, I hope.  

The ground needs a good soaking so my little baby seeds and bulbs can take root.  

Spring is 'a comin' and I can't wait to turn armageddon back into an oasis...

Making it All Better....

 

Kate has a cold....

The kind with the faucet nose and chesty cough....  

She is a trouper and doesn't complain, 

however she has been waking me up at night lately with her own stuffy insomnia... 

We are both tired... 

Spring break is a week away and this girl needs to get better!  

Ask and you shall receive, I say...  

As I surfed my On Demand selections the other night, I came across a favorite:  

LSQ.... 

Mad Hungry is a cooking show hosted by one of Martha's long devoted talents, 

Lucinda Scala Quinn.  

I like her show because she seems down to earth and approachable... 

Actually, I can vouch for that since she personally responded to a question I had about a recipe once...  

And she was nice, too!  

Lucinda has three grown sons, so she can relate to all that mom stuff...

especially to the daily panic of what to feed said kids... 

Anyway, she recently aired an episode of home remedies, 

which was so perfectly timed for sick little Kate. 

Lucinda made a chicken broth "elixir", tortilla soup, soft boiled eggs and ginger tea.  

Wednesday was yet another no school day for CPS and I had to work... 

I begged my mom to watch the kids and make the elixir according to Lucinda's directions.  

Bossy, ain't I?   

Mom's broth turned out to be so incredibly tasty that the kids were actually fighting over it... 

Some people live to eat and others eat to live... 

I am the former, but the rest of my family are the latter... 

You'd think I'd have some converts given the effort I make into cooking, 

but that "elixir" struck a nerve... 

Once I added the ingredients to make the tortilla soup, eyes rolled into heads in a heavenly reaction...  

I loved it...  

The last time my kids were that excited about food 

was when they saw the cotton candy vendor walk by at Wrigley last summer....  

This morning I decided to try the soft boiled egg instruction...  

It's simply soft boiling the eggs and opening them over broken pieces of buttered toast... 

Salt and pepper, toss and that's it...  

My kids love soft boiled eggs...  

They usually steal mine as they are a staple on my perpetual low-carb diet... 

Anyway, this version is just as cozy as it appears on the show... 

The kids snarfed the eggs up... 

Kate seems to be peaking today with this cold thing, 

so I decided to give her the ginger tea at bathtime, (which is in five minutes...gotta hurry!)  

We will see if the curative powers have an effect... 

It tastes a little tingly, and it's good,  

but I think the curative powers of this Bud Light will suit me just as well....

 

Here are the wonderful recipes from Mad Hungry....

Chicken Broth Elixir

This broth is chock-full of ingredients to drive impurities out of the body; garlic has antibiotic properties, onions are an expectorant, and chiles and ginger wake up the senses while delivering a good dose of vitamin C. From the book "Mad Hungry," by Lucinda Scala Quinn (Artisan Books).  Makes 1 quart 

Ingredients

• 2 chicken backs, necks, and wing tips, cut from whole chickens used for other recipes
• 6 chicken thighs
• 1 large yellow onion, quartered
• 4 garlic cloves, smashed
• 2 celery stalks, coarsely chopped
• 1 tablespoon coarse salt

Directions

1. Place all ingredients in a stockpot and barely cover with water. Bring to a boil, reduce the heat, simmer, partially covered, for 1 hour. Skim and discard any foam as it rises to the surface. Strain the broth. (The cooked chicken can be used for chicken salad.) Return the broth to the heat and simmer to reduce it to 1 1/2 quarts. To store, place in plastic freezable containers, cool, and seal.
   
   
   
   
   
   

   Tortilla Soup

   Fresh ingredients and a make-ahead broth are the keys to this low-fuss meal; serve with your favorite tortilla chips over top.
   Mad Hungry, April 2011

   • Yield Serves 4

   Ingredients

   • 1 recipe Chicken Broth Elixir, cooked chicken meat removed from bones and shredded
   • 1 avocado, thinly sliced
   • 2 radishes, thinly sliced
   • Fresh cilantro leaves, from about 4 sprigs
   • 1 lime, cut into wedges
   • Tortilla chips

   Directions

   1. Divide chicken broth between 4 bowls and top each with some shredded chicken, a few slices of avocado and radish, and a few cilantro leaves. Squeeze lime juice over soup, add a few tortilla chips, and serve hot.
      
      
      
      
      
      

      Soft-Boiled Eggs with Toast

      This filling, protein-packed meal takes just minutes to prepare.
      Mad Hungry, April 2011

      • Yield Makes 1 serving
      
      

      Ingredients

      • 2 large eggs
      • 2 slices bread, well-toasted
      • 2 teaspoons unsalted butter
      • Salt and freshly ground black pepper

      Directions

      1. Boil a saucepan of water. Slowly lower the eggs into the pan on a slotted spoon (to not crack on the bottom). Cook for 4 minutes. Remove and place in cold water. Meanwhile toast the bread and spread with butter.
         
      2. Scoop the eggs into a small bowl. Break the bread into pieces and add to the bowl. Sprinkle with salt and pepper. Stir the eggs and toast together into the toast is coated with yolk.
         
         
         
      
       
      

      Fresh Ginger Tea

      This tea can be served with an Asian meal, hot, or poured over ice.
      Mad Hungry, April 2011

      • Yield Makes 4 cups
      
      

      Ingredients

      • 1/4 cup grated fresh ginger
      • 4 cups boiling water
      • 4 teaspoons honey

      Directions

      1. Put the grated ginger into a teapot and pour in the boiling water. Allow the mixture to steep for 4 minutes. Strain and serve the tea with a teaspoon of honey in each cup. Stir and serve.
         
   
   

A Day of Chocolates and Intrigue....

It was a hometown getaway...

 

My BFF and I took a road trip to Moline to see another

BFF perform in a community theater musical...

  

We hit Interstate 88 early on Saturday morning and arrived

(breaking land speed records) 

into town with hours to spare before show time...

  

First of all, we Chicago folks know that smaller towns have the better Targets, 

Walmarts and other discounters than the 312 branches...

  

The shelves in the city are picked over, but in Moline, they are bursting with all the good stuff... 

We hit Gordman's for some good basic kids clothes, 

Walmart for more kid's duds and then the dollar store for reading glasses.

  

Ya can't beat a dollar a pair to aid this old lady's peepers!

  But best of all, we stopped at Lagomarcino's for the Easter haul. 

Since 1908, this gem of a soda fountain/chocolate shop has pleased folks for miles around 

with their home made chocolates, ice cream and tasty lunch offerings...

They even won a James Beard award in 2006...  

And Paula Deen has a write up about Lago's in her April 2011 magazine....

But what I remember were the famous Lagomarcino eggs. 

These were giant, hollow chocolate eggs, filled with easter jelly beans and other treats...

.  

The chocolate was hand spun into the egg shape and was at least 1/2 inch thick...

  

So fabulous and not cheap....

  

We knew the Easter Bunny had some serious bank if a Lago's Egg was in our basket...

  

As a kid, my dad ran his architectural firm from the top (10th) floor of the First National Bank building,

where Lago's resides.  

If we were EXTRA good, Mom would take us to lunch at Lago's...

  

If we sat nicely during lunch, perhaps a chocolate treat could be had...

  

Such a special place, and it was jammed when we were there.....

  

When you go home, isn't it customary to eat at all your favorite places?

  

Well, it is for us and we lunched at the Hungry Hobo, 

land of the best subs known to man and where we hung out after the football games as teens...

.  

Next on the gustatory trail was Whitey's Ice Cream for a Reese's Peanut Butter Cup shake

and where I had my first job....

  

$2.65/ hour....Now that was livin' large!

  

To finish off our eating through memory lane, we ordered a Taco Pizza from the one and only Happy Joe's....

home of my second high school job, as the ice cream girl....

  

Seems I couldn't stop being typecast in the ice cream role.....

I was hot in my white nurse uniform and red and white striped apron....

Not so much...

So on to the intriguing part of the evening..... 

My BFF, her aunt and I headed to the community theater for the night's entertainment and we stopped by the local HY-VEE grocery store for a quick bouquet of flowers to hand to the star of the show.  

Now I just couldn't grab a sad quartet of limp carnations....

I had to put together something a little nicer.  

Full, white chrysanthemums, encircled by a dozen full daffodils did the trick and we were on our way.  

Before show time we chatted in the lobby with other friends and I ran into my actor friend's mom.  

She also had a bouquet for her daughter and 

suggested I leave my flowers at the concession stand to pick up at intermission.

  

When the show was half over I trotted over to concessions to get the blooms but they were gone.

  

One of the nice ladies who sold soda and popcorn said one of my "relatives" took the flowers...

  

Huh?

  None of my kin was at the show...

We were mystified. 

After the show ended and it was awesome, by the way, we met our talented friend and hugged our congratulations, with one eye open, scanning the crowd... 

And then, sure enough, an older woman strode across the lobby 

and handed MY flowers to another cast member. 

WHAT?!

  It was in slow motion as we watched in disbelief.... 

Well, my BFF's aunt bee-lined right over to the woman and asked where she found such beautiful flowers.

  "My friend BOUGHT them at the concession stand...

 HUH???

  They sell popcorn there, NOT flowers...

  I chimed in....  "Um, excuse me, but I bought those same flowers at the HY-VEE 

and had them specially arranged for my friend, OVER THERE...."

  Of course I said this in the nicest way....

  By this time that bouquet was firmly under the armpit of the back up singer.  

What were we to do?

  I mean, we are in a local community theater filled with a bunch of senior citizens and parents...

This was not exactly a biker bar.... 

Nice, honest people come here, or so I thought....

  I was so taken aback that my BFF's uncle had to give me a can of Budweiser to cool me down.  

PS...The next morning, my talented, gracious actor friend called to say that 

the back up singer heard what went down and gave back the flowers.  

So it ended as hoped, but there is seriously something rotten in Moline,
I mean Denmark......

I still feel good about the place where I grew up, we could ride our bikes all over creation,
enjoy the old fashioned goodness of places like Lagomarcino's, the corner grocery (Fritz's)
and the Belgian Village.

Many friends and family still live there and one old bat who lack a little in the honesty department
is not going to ruin it for me!

I'll be back soon and this time it will be tacos from Rudy's, or maybe a Harris pizza......

Spring?

"Why is it still so cold around here?!"  

It's a complaint that has become a conversation starter in Chicago....  

"Can you believe it's still 15 degrees below normal?!"  

I have lived here long enough to know 

that it doesn't really warm up until mid June 

and some years it stays cool all summer, too.  

It's really a rude characteristic of the Upper Midwest.....  

I am so longing to get outside and try to breathe life 

into the Beirut that is my yard... 

Two years of harsh construction erased years of careful cultivation... 

Piles of gravel, rusty nails and bits of wood 

replaced the clouds of impatiens, 

hydrangea bushes and bursts of petunias...  

My rutted yard has more hills than the Mississippi River Valley 

and Death Valley has more grass... 

I wanna get out there with rakes, rototillers, shovels and compost, but it's either cold or raining... 

So, to curb my gardenly cravings, I have set up Operation Green Thumb in the kitchen.  

Armed with seed starters, water and lots of hope, Kate and I planted radishes, carrots, broccoli, nasturtiums, echinacea, cosmos, thyme, Italian parsley, oregano and basil.  

They are spindly little adolescents now, but here's hoping by mid May, they will be ready to hit the dirt.  

Meanwhile, I am still cooking winter food... 

Dinner was meatloaf, mashed spuds, corn on the cob and carrots...  

Paul Deen makes a mean meatloaf, and here is her recipe:  

Old-Fashioned Meat Loaf- A.K.A 'Basic' Meat Loaf

Ingredients

• 1 pound ground beef
• 1 1/4 teaspoons salt
• 1/4 teaspoon ground black pepper
• 1/2 cup chopped onion
• 1/2 cup chopped bell pepper
• 1 egg, lightly beaten
• 8 ounces canned diced tomatoes with juice
• 1/2 cup quick-cooking oats

Topping:

• 1/3 cup ketchup
• 2 tablespoons brown sugar
• 1 tablespoon prepared mustard

Directions

Preheat oven to 375 degrees F.
Mix all meatloaf ingredients well and place in a baking dish. Shape into a loaf.

Topping:

Mix ingredients for topping and spread on loaf. Bake for 1 hour. 

The Bickerson's

I have named my children the Bickerson's...  

They are constantly at each other's throats, finding the most miniscule reason to pick a fight...  

Kate: "Mommy, it's cold outside today...."  

Jack:  "Actually, Kate, it's not that cold out.  I'd say it's pretty warm..."  

(it is 35 degrees)  

Kate: "NO, it's NOT, JACK!  It's cold!"  

Jack:  "I think it's warm!"  

Kate: (now screaming) "IT IS COLD!!!"  

Jack: "Warm..."  

And so it continues.  

Oh, about 50 times a day...

Does this happen in your house?  

Please say yes, because if I am the only bad parent 

who cannot seem to make my kids like each other I might drink bleach... 

Last night they were at it again and Tom pulled up this strangely appropriate clip from the Simpson's.  

 

I was mentioning that the only thing that might get their attention from fighting would be a little zap.....

just kidding....  

no need to call DCFS....  

I get this parenting newsletter for some reason that focuses on babies and toddlers... 

For the reasons above, combined with my seriously advancing age, 

oh, and the proverbial snip years ago, more kids are a non starter...  

Anyway, I generally delete the newsletter before taking a look, 

but this one's heading was

"Discipline, Five Top Ways to Keep Your Kid in Check!"  

I am open to any ideas, since mine generally don't work... 

Fooled again, most of the ideas I have either tried or I KNOW they don't work...  

Such as:  1. Divert Their Attention...  

Um yeah....I get about 30% success rate with that one.  

Jack's mind is singular, like a charging herd of water buffalo... 

He will not be distracted from the mission of getting another $5.00 app for his IPod, out of his father, at all costs.  Mentioning that an ice cream truck, two circus clowns and a fire in the house across the street are happening out the window will have zero effect.  

2. Whisper.  

When the kids are screaming loud enough to be heard in the next county, 

you can bet my whisper will not register even the slightest glance.  

3.  Use Humor.  

This sometimes works if the kid is not too upset, however, 

I am not very good at pulling any Carrot Top moves when Jr. is pushing my buttons...  

4. Take a Grown Up Time Out... 

Trust me, if I could disappear upstairs with a good book and a glass of Pinot Grigio, 

Mommy would feel a whole lot better...  

Those dang kids find me, though, and there goes a good long Mommy time out... 

5.  This one is my favorite:  "Create a Mantra, such as "He's just a kid.."  

I could think of so many mantras that go through my mind 

when the kids are creating mayhem, and mine are not very PC... 

Although, if I say them in my mind and don't spit them out, it might work......

"I might run away....I might run away.....I might run away....."     

To be fair, the kids do play well together once in a while, 

like when the new moon rises closer to Earth than usual, 

So we have that going for us....