Merry Christmas

our yearly nativity scene picture (taken at our church Christmas play: Every Man Heart Lay Down)

Unhappy with recent posts that I have written, then left unpublished, I will close out the year with an old standby of photos and frank quotes.  I hope you have a very Merry Christmas and can't wait to see so many of you so very soon!"

-"i don't think that i want to grow up very fast.  i don't want to get speeding tickets."

-"what's that on your face?"
 just some red lipstick
 "its beauuutiful."

-do you want to play drums?
"no.  i want to play peenano."

"mama, i weally, really, wreally think that santa claus is going to give God a present for Christmas."

"I have been to lots of countries. and I am going to go to more: Kansas, Oklahoma, South Arabia, Africa, Russia, Hawaii, Arkansas, Germany, and Texas."

days of the week:  "monday, wednesday, tursday, friday, saturday, and churchday"

Ford is one.  Ford is walking - like a drunkard, but walking nonetheless.  He is snotty and cutting teeth, learning to dislike foods and how to throw his sippy cup.  I'd say he is right on target.

 

 

and here was our shooting star, (photos taken in sequence prior to the Christmas play):

 

 

 

Impetigo or Acne?

So i have these little tiny, almost cute dots around the corners of my mouth.  They are not actually cute, but I don't want to gross you out and say that I have little pimples around my mouth, but in fact, that is what they are. 

Or are they?  You see, last week my beautiful eldest son developed a spotty face rash himself.  On his smooth, creamy skin it was clearly a rash.  For a while i thought it was our old friend, eczema, coming to rear his itchy, ugly head.  So I went back to my hypervigilent ways of slathering my son in a thick shiny layer of vaseline day and night.  but the rash didn't go away - it just moved up his face and onto his thumb.  So, at the encouragement of GoGo and for fear that sweet face would still have spots at Christmas, I took him to the doctor. 

Diagnosis: impetigo.  Eeew.  Isn't that something that dirty kids get?  oh wait, that's right, i have a dirty kid.  he crawls on the floor of the church and parking lots and then sucks his thumb.  of course he has impetigo. 

I have spent this last week obsessed with the spread of impetigo and how to stop it.  The slightest bump or skin irritation on Ford gets immediately covered in Bactroban.  I saw spots on his cheek while we were at Target and I got nervous.  moments later i noticed matching spots on the opposite cheek.  I then began to think about leaving immediately to get home to our tube of salve.  I was all ready to call CPS on myself for allowing my baby to get this yucky rash, when michael pointed out that he had been kissing Ford with his itchy beard.  phew. 

But then what about me?  i have a problem.  I don't know my diagnosis, you see I ran out of my night cream at the same time as the impetigo was healing in our home.  Knowing I couldn't get an order from Avon in time, i went ahead and bought some cheap night cream at Target - we go there a lot.  So...are the strange little dots around my mouth impetigo or acne related to changing night creams?  any good scientist knows, there are too many variables at work here.  So, i have been putting bactroban on my skin at night before applying the night cream, because I just cannot sleep without some night cream.  it is like some people's white noise and other's earplugs.  i gotta have the night cream.  and each morning i wake up with a few new little spots.

and now, as the car talk dudes say, you have just wasted a perfectly good few minutes reading this post.  hope your day gets better than this. 

the foot goes down

No longer able to tolerate the incessant flow of verbage that fills my ears from the moment i turn off cartoons in the morning until the moment i send michael to put frank to bed at night, today i said, "Frank.  Listen here, buddy, you cannot talk all the time.  You must practice being quiet some of the time.  I love you and love to listen to you, but my brain cannot listen all day long.  My brain needs rest."

to this, i got no response. does that mean he was listening to me, or offended?  i am not sure, but we had a solid minute of quiet today. 

in case you are wondering where the birthday and Christmas play photos are...i have not forgotten about you...we'll get there....

Papa says, "make sure and give this recipe to Rose."

I planned on not giving out this recipe.  I love it so much that I feel like I own it - even though I don't.  Yet sometimes I develop these weird habits of wanting to protect recipes so that I and I alone will be the master of _______ (whatever recipe it is).  The truth is, I will never be a master at any recipe because without fail, whenever I try to recreate something really excellent that I made "that one time" it always falls flat on the second and third try.

Except for this recipe.  It seems to be fool-proof.  I have made these cookies 4 times and they are always perfect and earn me the greatest of compliments.  This builds my self-esteem.  When I make them I feel pretty.  In the spirit of giving and sharing for the holidays, I want you to get compliments and feel pretty, too.  (disclaimer: if you eat more than 5 cookies in one sitting - you will cease to feel pretty)

So here is the Iced Meyer Lemon Cookie recipe that will brighten your winter days. 

final note: you must use meyer lemons - regular lemons in these proportions are too tart

prison and poison

I sent Jerry and Rose to the prison tonight - to sing Christmas songs and hand out soap and cookies to the prisoners.  I sent them to the prison and was expecting them back by now...

in the meantime, Ford put his hand in some sort of camphor inhalant that goes on top of the vaporizer, then proceeded to put that sweet chubby hand in his mouth before I could stop him.  Poison control asked if I had left it out on purpose for him to get into.  What kind of mother do you think I am?  If I left it out on purpose, would I be calling poison control???  I am negligent perhaps, but not malevolent.

frank said, "i want to go to prison with daddy and GoGo and PaPa!  Why can't I go to prison?"  ...this has led to all kinds of fascinating discussions today.  

for the record: camphor is very dangerous for children and can cause seizures, but in this particular substance it is in a tiny amount and may just cause some diarrhea.  thank the Lord, I can handle that sort of crap any day.

the shooting star

During the last song, of the last night of the Christmas play, all the cast was on stage singing and dancing.  Frank was being silly but doing a surprisingly good job at the movements and singing. 

Then it happened...the sneeze.  It was a big sneeze, producing approximately a 6 inch long strand of snot out of his nose, which he caught on his little white glove that the stars all were wearing.  This caused his PaPa and Mama to burst out laughing, which caused Frank to look at his shiny white glove which was now saturated with snot, which caused Frank to start to cry, and cry loud, and then louder until the director behind him told him it was okay to go off the stage, which led to him running off the front of the stage into my arms. 

Later as I explained what happened to a friend that evening; i was still laughing.  She commented it that it must be fun as a parent to laugh at your child's pain.  I stopped to wonder if it is wrong to laugh at something that made my son so upset, but then i just re-envisioned that long string of snot that projected from his nose and I start laughing all over again.

Things that I am into: 3rd installment

My new niece, Sloane Elizabeth, who appears practically perfect in every way

Jerry and Rose coming to visit...stupid snow, they would be here now if they didn't close the airport!

Seeing Ford as the giant, toddler-sized baby Jesus in the church Christmas play practice.  It made me cry. 

Seeing Frank as a dancing star in the church Christmas play practice.  This made me cry for an entirely different reason.  I actually heard Michael laugh out loud during the practice, while watching him.  When all the other stars squat down, frank stands up.  when they face forwards, he faces backwards.  He is so silly and adorable, no one even tries to correct him.

Advent.  Each day brings a new story from the Bible, and a few new pieces to the Playmobile nativity set

Cowboy boots in every shape and style - they are so cool

Borcato hair products.  The heating/styling product that protects your hair when you blowdry is amazing.

Eggnog...especially the boozy kind

The red Christmas tree

it got a touch up this year.

The Woody Guthrie Children's Album: Songs to Grow on For Mother and Child.  I cannot say in words how much fun frank and I have had listening to this. 

and of course...these guys in the kitchen

Snow

It is snowing.  In Houston.  Snowing in Houston for over five hours now.  It isn't really sticking and is much too wet to capture and shape the snow.  Chances are slim that there will be any snowmen or sledding going on.  But it is a marvel nonetheless.  A city like Houston practically shuts down for inclimate weather.  People here just cannot cope.  Perhaps it is because we all have been victim to hours of weather related traffic in this town - that in my opinion, never should have been settled all those many years ago.  Who was it that saw a flat, hot, humid, mosquito invested swamp land and said, "let's make this home!"

Regardless of the origins of the city, it is snowing today.  All that frank can do is open his mouth and eat the snow falling on his tongue.  He spent some time sweeping snow off my car and dancing over the slush.  I so wish for him to be able to really play in the snow.

 

Some of the greatest moments of my childhood revolve around snow.  If i think back hard enough, i can see my pink, burning wrists where the snow always slipped into my heavy mittens.  I can taste Mrs. Behrens' special chicken noodle soup after a morning of sledding down the hill in Kristen's backyard.  All she really did was add extra noodles to the Campbell's soup, but to me it was extra special.

We used to go sledding at Rosehill Park.  You would take your sled or innertube down the hill and come so close to the creek, i was always afraid with glee.  And I can remember how much it sucked to drag your sled back up the hill to do it all over again, with the snow starting to sneak into the cracks of your snowsuit at your ankles and your wrists, and heaven forbid if your glove came off in the snow... then you were just screwed for the rest of the day with that wet, cold glove that you never could get dry again. 

I love snow angels and snowmen, though i was never skilled in the latter.  I much preferred to watch my dad making the snow creatures from safe inside the house where it was warm.  And that man has some skills.  There was a bunny once, and a giant Snoopy.  Nothing makes a girl prouder than to have the coolest snow creatures of the neighborhood in your own front yard.  

I look at my sweet boys today and so very much hope that they get enough time in the snow while they are still young and silly enough to enjoy it. 

a picture of this week

yesterday, i took a big bite of hot lasagna.  about halfway down my throat, a tomato emerged from its pasta encasement and seared the back of my throat.  i quickly spit it out as fast as i could.  it landed on the floor and angus ate it.  I now have a burn in the back of my throat.  it feels like i am all choked up...all the time. 

the other day I hit "reply all" with a personal prayer request to an email that I thought only included my best college girlfriends.  turns out it was an email to quite a few other people i might not have shared my personal prayers with.

according to michael, frank was "shooting" everyone at Christmas play practice last night with his fingers shaped as guns.  Including the adult directors and teachers.  i threw all the guns away when they came home.  michael dug one out of the trash.

the dog is afraid of a little Melissa and Doug puzzle that we have.  It makes barnyard animal sounds when you put the pieces in.  He hasn't move away from my leg since the boys started playing with it.... yesterday.

sorry it has been so long

i couldn't find the camera until today.  it was in the pocket of my coat which i haven't worn since arkansas.

here were some of my favorite shots from our trip. 

 

 

 

 

we are ending a week long stretch of ford being sick.  at least we are hoping that it is ending soon, just in time for his birthday and debut as big baby Jesus in the african Christmas play at church next weekend.  will write more soon.  i promise.  the thoughts are brewin in my head.

a week's worth of stories

Me: "Frank, do you know why the garage doors are open?"

Frank: "no I don't.  But daddy did say that he saw a wroach in there.  It was a dead roach.  That's the kind of wwroach that you like, isn't it, mama?  The dead kind, that's the kind you like."

Me: "that's right, buddy."

*****

Family enrichment has been a great week.  I have loved having the television off.   Frank has done great without cartoons in the morning, and has instead spent every morning outside watching the men prepare to repave our street.  The actual repaving of the street took about 30 minutes, but the preparation took over 2 days and about 15 men who mostly stand around their big machines and talk to each other.  Frank stands on our sidewalk in front of the house putting on various "shows,"  i.e: acting like a super hero, singing songs, reciting, "Little Boy Blue" at the top of his lungs over and over again, and sneaking secret touches of the equipment when he thinks no one is looking.  I have thoroughly enjoyed watching him do this from secret viewing spots inside the house.

*****

Scene: Walking down the candy aisle at target (why were we there?  I don't even remember) Frank is walking slowly, with his hand tracing the bags of candy as he meanders down the aisle. Then he exclaims: 

"mama, LOOK AT THIS: GUM-GUMS AND ENIMENS!!!!"


He was referring to bags of Dum-Dums and M&M's that were next to each other.  I never correct him on his pronunciation of his two favorite candies because i like his version of their names better.

*****

Another family enrichment activity was watching the movie "UP" with frank.  Can I just tell you how much I loved that movie?  The elderly man, a cute boy, talking dogs and a pretty bird, it was awesome, I felt like someone made that movie just for me.  There were some pretty adult themes, but frank loved it, too.  At one point in the movie, Mr. Fredrickson is looking through a photo album of his life, and I start having some sort of cathartic cry while sandwiched on the couch between two of the men in my life.  Embarrassed and not wanting the boys to see me, I wipe my eyes and say something to frank, who looks at me with a sweet sentimental tear running down his cheek.  then I look at michael, and he had some wetness in his eyes, too.  that was a great moment in my week.  

*****

And I don't want to leave Ford out of this week's news.  He just rocks.  He is nothing but joy.    Now don't take this as sacrilegious, but sometimes I wonder if this is a little what Jesus was like as a little baby.  He is that sweet.  He is still not walking.  i am beginning to doubt the validity of Miss Ethel's claims.  His balance reminds me of someone who is on a small boat at sea.  He is also struggling with holding a spoon and putting it to his mouth, he just doesn't get the concept.  Yesterday, when I put the oatmeal on the tip of the spoon and set it on the tray in front of him, instead of picking it up and putting it to his mouth, he would lay his head on the tray and try to put his mouth around the spoon.  maybe he is special.  but I like special people. 

the week ahead

last week we focused on manners and healthy eating.  this week's focus is on family enrichment by not turning on the television.
except to watch a netflix or two...or three.  surprising how my netflix viewing increases when there is no more television.

any suggestions for family enrichment between now and thursday? 
sometimes i wish that i had an education degree instead of those gerontology and nursing degrees....they just aren't doing much for me these days.

a note on the stinkhorns:
amazing, some critter attacked them on that first night, and they are disintegrating almost as fast as they appeared... they remind me of gremlins.

Random facts

On November 12, 2009:

Ford took his first two steps!....at the YMCA....in the childcare room...with Miss Ethel...while mama was in pilates...what a turkey this boy is.  He knows i have been waiting for this...well, maybe he doesn't, but he is still a turkey.

This morning I was wearing a nightgown that I had purchased at a vintage store for the Mad Men photo.  It was yellow and fluffy with ruffles and a rose.

Frank said, "Mama, you look like a dancer."
I said, "thank you frank, I wore this because I thought it was pretty."
then he leaned his head on my shoulder and said, without even a hint of manipulation in his voice,"YOU are pretty." 

I wish I could keep them these ages forever.

This evening i made one of the best meals that I have made in a very long time.  lots of flavor and deliciousness.  I'm even proud of how well the meat went with the vegetable. (i usually struggle with food pairings, i.e.: things turn out monochromatic, or the side dish has all the same flavors as the main course. Top Chef I am not. )

Here are the recipes that made the dinner.  I so recommend them.  I think i am even taking the squash to thanksgiving - and if you do make it, you must make the sauce that goes with it.  As slow as I have been to liking cilantro, and believe me - i have been a hater - this sauce was really good.

chicken meatballs and curry roasted butternut squash and chickpeas.

On November 13, 2009:

I took the boys to the science museum.  ford crawled around on the floor of the entomology exhibit that has undoubtedly been heavily trafficked by hundreds of school children, and frank carried the butterfly chart around the butterfly house identifying all the ones he could find.  I was reprimanded by an elderly volunteer who told me my son should not step on the rocks or wave the big plastic chart around in the air because he could kill the butterflies.  then we had a picnic at the Sam Houston statue.  Later, we had a lovely time at a new park with some friends.  It was a good day.....DA DA DUM...until we found this:

and then we saw this:

who, you ask, put crab claws in the garden next to the sandbox?  That is precisely what I was wondering.  Until I realized that they were growing, and spreading, and coming up out of strange white eggs on the ground.  What the #&@*!?

And can you see the gross brown slime coming off the tops?  Now I am all about nature and beauty in strange things.  but these "plants" literally made my stomach turn.  I poked them with a stick and was afraid they would attack me.  After a little internet research, I found that they are a fungus known as the, "Stinkhorn."  Oh, that is right, i forgot to mention that they smell bad, too.  What the *&%@?!  How did this get in my backyard?

If you have a spare minute to look at this website on the stinkhorn, i think that you will not be disappointed.  I am thankful to have an opportunity to learn about freaks of nature in my very own backyard.  you can also check out the stinkhorn hall of fame, here, if you are a nerd like me.

Marilynn Jackson

Yesterday, a light that has brightened my days rose up to heaven.
Marilynn Jackson was 91 years young when she went to meet her savior.

I did not have the privilege of knowing Moo-Moo, as my husband introduced me to her, for long enough.  But in just a few short years - 13 to be exact - she made quite an impression.

Before I even met her, I had heard about her.  and not from michael, but from my brother-in-law who told me that Michael Calloway had a cool grandmother named "Moo-Moo."  And i thought, someone who goes by the name Moo-Moo does have to be pretty cool.


On my first visit to michael's parents' house, I had the opportunity to meet her.  And while I cannot remember the exact details of the encounter, here is what I felt and thought at that meeting and at all others like it, "Wow, she is beautiful... And she makes me feel beautiful just by talking to me."  I think I noticed that she was in a wheelchair for about 30 seconds, and then I never noticed it again.  She could make a wheelchair just seem to disappear.  The same was true even with my sons, who easily might have felt intimated or shy around that hardware that was unfamiliar to them.  Nope, instead they would just launch themselves right into her arms whenever they saw their "Mi-Mi," as she was known to them.


Marilynn was beautiful.  Her voice was beautiful when she spoke, and I have heard that it was even more beautiful when she sang.  With her smile, her mischievous eyes, and her sparkly sweater sets, she would literally light up the room.  She used words and phrases that I have never heard before, and I am afraid might die with her generation of southern ladies.  She said things like, "My stars above" and "Great land o' Goshen!"  It is expressions like these and her beautiful accent that likely led to her many on-air appearances on QVC.  Who wouldn't want to hear her on tv?

Marilynn was strong.  Her life was not easy, but she made it look that way to me.  In the years that I knew her, she always carried herself with dignity, even through the hardships of a body that was aging but a mind that was sharp as trap.  She would get knocked down physically, but her determination would push her to always rise back up again.  Her strength against adversity was inspirational.

She loved black licorice and olives.  She wrapped beautiful presents.  She had fine taste.  She loved her immense Santy Claus collection.  She was a great painter and appreciated the art work of others.  She was an encourager to her friends.  She smelled good.  She made delicious cornbread dressing, cheese straws, and date nut loaf at the holidays.  She was funny and not afraid to laugh at herself.  She was fun to sit next to.

I only got to her see her a few times a year, and I so wish it had been more.  There will never be another like her, and I am blessed to have been a part of her family for the last decade.

We love you, Moo-Moo.