The One About Thanksgiving Dinner

Now that the leftovers are finally gone, I'll commemorate this year's (mostly) paleo Thanksgiving menu in pictures.

First, the stuffed turkey breast. I managed to take a couple of pictures while I was putting it together. Let me just say that taking the bones out was an enormous pain, and next time I'll probably have a butcher do it.

Here's what it looked like after I took the bones out, butterflied it, put on a layer of prosciutto, and then added wilted spinach with butter, scallions, and garlic. It was a six pound breast, so it was pretty ginormous.

In the past, I've used just plain sage or sprigs of rosemary in the middle, and that's worked out well, too. Before we rolled it up, I sprinkled sea salt and black pepper over the spinach mixture.

There it is, all rolled up and snug in the pan, tied up with string on both ends. We couldn't remember if we generally tied the string on before the layer of pancetta, or after. I don't think it matters as long as you remember that it IS tied up with something before you start cutting it open. One year, we lacked string and held the thing together with bamboo skewers. It looked FREAKY--but it worked!

Next, the layer of pancetta, which usually opens up into strips like bacon. But this year, they wanted to stay together in circles, so it looks a little crazy.

I added a little black pepper to the top and then put it in the oven, for about 90 minutes at 375 (I think). We used a meat thermometer to tell us when it was done.

Here's what it looked like after we cut it open:

YUMMY YUMMY YUMMY!

Our side dishes were sweet potatoes ala LB and SB and prosciutto-wrapped asparagus ala Paleo Comfort Foods and sausage stuffing ala me.

Our sweet potato hash browns were actually more like sweet potato home fries (we did that on purpose):

Just coconut oil and cinnamon on them. I've been eating the leftovers as post-CrossFit snacks the whole week.

The asparagus disappeared quickly:

This was my best batch of sausage stuffing yet:

This time, we slow-roasted the potatoes and fennel with olive oil and balsamic vinegar first. Then added the browned sausage and mushrooms sauteed in butter. A bonus this time--chunks of bacon and a huge spoonful or two of bacon grease. The flavors blended well and I got lots of compliments from our guest who had never tried it before. Next time we'll lose the potatoes since we all agreed they don't add too much except extra carbage. I'll make up the volume with another pound of sausage!

And here's the whole thing put together, with one of my grandmother's rolls made from scratch (so, mostly paleo, not truly paleo!):

Beautiful gorgeous Thanksgiving dinner and really good leftovers, too!

The One About Thanksgiving

Well I just had a splendid birthday/Thanksgiving week!

I really did run in a 5K on Thanksgiving morning, despite the fact that the morning started out at about 38 degrees and I really dislike, you know, running. It was a huge race, lots of fun things going on in Marietta Square, tons of people, etc. I did it--slowly--but I did it.

I have to say that the songs that came up in shuffle mode on my iPod were so awesome because they generally mirrored how I was feeling during each phase of the race. So I'm going to write them down for posterity:

• Crazy--Gnarls Barkley (Started before the gun went off and played during that first shuffle-through-the-start phase, and it made me laugh because I felt really crazy for even doing this race.)

• Freewill--Rush (And of course I was doing this out of my own free will, so I had no one to blame but myself...)

• Holding out for a Hero--Bonnie Tyler (But I AM the hero of my own life, so look at me, doing something difficult and productive and maybe even a little heroic!)

• All These Things That I've Done--The Killers (And I've not only done this race, but others, and oh yeah, I recently deadlifted 195 pounds five times so that's an accomplishment, too! Go me! I'm badass!)

• This Too Shall Pass--OK Go (But here's the part where the race is sucking and I'm hating myself--though this part happened past mile 2 instead before I was halfway done, so maybe I'm growing as a person here--and it's good to remind myself that I might actually live through it.)

• F*** You--Cee Lo Green (Pretty much sums up my feelings toward everything in the universe at this point...)

• La Villa Strangiato--Rush (Started almost at the end, and it was definitely time for an instrumental because I thought I was going to go crazy if I had to listen to someone else sing the words in my subconscious.)

I think I might have missed a song in there--maybe something by Queen? But you get the idea. It was as if the shuffle mode had a link to my brain. Probably the other people thought I was a little strange because I know I laughed a couple of times.

I did not beat my last time--I came in about 45 seconds slower--but I'm good with that. This course was a lot hillier than the last one, so I figured that evens things out a bit. Also, I finished, which I'm not sure if I mentioned, and really that's the most important part.

After the race, I came home to find my wonderful family already working on dinner! So I showered up and helped them out.

The dinner turned out wonderfully (I'll put up a separate post with pictures today or tomorrow). We had just a few friends over and hung out, drank wine, ate chocolate pie and bonus Nutella treats that one of my friends brought over, and watched Elf with the kids. You have never heard such hysterical laughter, I promise. We'll be seeing that a few hundred more times in the next month, I think.

Our Thanksgiving was marred only by a bout of Pukinson's Disease (Sean) which began after midnight and kept us both awake until the wee sma's. We think this is only the second or third time Sean has ever thrown up, and you forget what it's like for a small child, to have your body behave this way. It's rather terrifying. He did not suffer in silence and I'm amazed that anyone else in the house was able to sleep through it! He was fine the next day and nobody else got it, so I guess it was one of those Little Kid Things, or maybe he ate something that didn't sit well with his system.

We had a lovely weekend full of knitting and cleaning up and social activities and this week will be crazy, too! On Thursday, Ryan and I are leaving for Phoenix to attend my cousin's wedding. Brendan will be hanging here with Morgan and Sean and I'm certain all kinds of adventures will be had. So probably blogging will be pretty light until next week--but I do plan to put up pictures of our yummy Thanksgiving dinner.

I hope you had a wonderful holiday weekend, too!

The One About My Birthday

When I was 8 years old, I made up a little song that I sang to myself the entire year. Here are the lyrics:

"I'm eight! And I'm great!"

That pretty much summed up how I felt about myself, the world, life, the universe, everything. I definitely woke up full of awesome most days when I was 8. I was a little sad to turn 9, because "I'm nine! And I'm fine!" just didn't have the same feeling to it. I mean, would you rather be great or fine? I thought so. So I gave up my age-related theme songs.

There have been long stretches of time in my life where I definitely did not wake up full of awesome, but I am happy to say that the last decade or so has not included too many of those non-awesome stretches.

And I'm pleased to report that this past year has been the most chock full of awesome yet. I made amazing progress on all fronts--professional (yes, I do have a non-Mommy professional life!) and personal (mental and physical). I have a wonderful husband, wonderful kids, wonderful productive values to pursue at my Mommy and non-Mommy jobs.

Almost every single day of 40, I woke up full of awesome. And I pretty much plan to continue doing more of the same now that I'm 41. I mean, why change a good thing?

And I've decided to reinstate the theme song. So sing it with me, sing it loud:

"I'm 41! And I'm great!"

(Feel free to adapt the lyrics to your own life--but change only the number. Stay GREAT. Always.)

Objectivist Round Up #227

Welcome to the November 17, 2011 edition of the Objectivist Round Up.

This time I'm sharing a quotation simply because I am developing a MONSTER peeve about people who claim that what we have now, in this country, is laissez-faire capitalism. (If only.)

When I say “capitalism,” I mean a full, pure, uncontrolled, unregulated laissez-faire capitalism—with a separation of state and economics, in the same way and for the same reasons as the separation of state and church.

--Ayn Rand, “The Objectivist Ethics,” The Virtue of Selfishness, 33 (via the online Ayn Rand Lexicon)

We have never had a complete separation of economics and state in this country, so to blame capitalism for the fact that some businesses choose to use the power of the government as a means to their ends is completely wrong.

And now, on to something a bit less gripey--the Round Up!


David C Lewis, RFA presents Insurance Rate Regulation: Why Your Insurance Premiums Are So High (And What Will Cause Them To Go Down) posted at A Revolution In Financial Planning, saying, "Does insurance rate regulation help or hurt you?"



Jared Rhoads presents Americans and big-government health policy posted at The Center for Objective Health Policy, saying, "A recent survey claims that Americans want bigger government providing more healthcare services. Is that true?"



Tod presents What Passion Looks Like posted at Tod.FM, saying, "Living without passion hurts more than sleeping on the floor every night."



Ari Armstrong presents Wall Street Occupiers Depend on Capitalism posted at Free Colorado, saying, "Occupy Wall Street protesters advocate socialism while others celebrate capitalism across the street in McDonald's."



Jason Stotts presents Objectivist Blog Traffic posted at Erosophia, saying, "I want to know what the reach of the Objectivist blog community is, so I'm going to be compiling the traffic counts for Objectivist blogs. Want to be included?"



David Baucom presents Gary Johnson on Democracy vs. Republic posted at The Objective Standard Blog, saying, "A quick Q & A with Gary Johnson on democracy vs. republic (NOT part of my TOS interview with him)."



Diana Hsieh presents Video: What's the Difference Between Evasion, Rationalization, and Context-Dropping? posted at NoodleFood, saying, "In Sunday's webcast, I answered a question on the difference between evasion, rationalization, and context-dropping, particularly discussing marital infidelity and the anti-abortion "personhood" movement as examples."



C.W. presents A Chance to Have Input for a Book posted at Krazy Economy, saying, "Our chance to have some imput for a book about job creation. The author does seem to recognize that only private enterprise creates jobs and that government does not."



Atul Kapur presents Slide-to-Unlock --> When Geniuses Apply for Patents posted at Wit Lab, saying, "Two remarkable stories from history that might make you lean in favor of patent protection for trivial features on your smartphone"



Jenn Casey presents Five Things about The Holidays (dun-dun-DUN!) at Rational Jenn, saying, "Keeping the focus on my values for the holiday season makes it less stressful and more enjoyable."



Jenn Casey presents On Self-Invention posted at Rational Jenn, saying, "Something my 6 year old daughter said to us last week became an opportunity for talking about Ayn Rand's statement 'A man is a being of self-made soul.' It was pretty awesome!"



That concludes this week's edition. Next week is Thanksgiving, and Erosophia will be hosting. Submit your blog article to the next edition of the Objectivist Round Up using our carnival submission form.

Past posts and future hosts can be found on our blog carnival index page.

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On Self-Invention

Morgan said the most interesting thing to us the other day. It was something like this:

"There are three people who can invent me--you two [pointing at me and Brendan] and ME!"

That statement led to a fascinating conversation about how, yes, we created her, but she is primarily responsible for inventing herself.

Because she is. We gave her the raw materials, but she must learn and figure things out and integrate concepts and make decisions, all things which will shape her mind and sense of self and sense of life--each of which will in turn affect future decisions and her thinking (and even the decision to think).

I've been thinking about that statement ever since, and our response to it. And I hope she has been thinking about it, too (and I hope Ryan, who witnessed the conversation, is thinking about it, too).

This idea of self-invention relates to my parenting principles in that I deliberately try to stay out of their self-invention as much as possible. And when I must interfere with their decisions (because they are doing something that violates or will likely violate rights), I do so deliberately and openly and with the minimal amount of interference/force necessary. It's important to be clear and completely honest and open about why I need to get involved (no "Because I said so!") so that they have a chance to learn from what happened, that they will then take that experience and use it for more (hopefully rational) self-invention.

One thing I wish I'd mentioned the other day, and will certainly mention the next time the topic comes up, is that self-invention isn't just the business of childhood--it's something we do all of our lives. Each day, with each decision. It's kind of a fun adventure, really, this self-invention. I'm rather enjoying the process myself. :)

There never was such a perfect set up for talking to our kids about this idea:

"Man is a being of self-made soul." Ayn Rand

Five Things about The Holidays (dun-dun-DUN!)

Over the weekend, one of my friends posted a status to Facebook that, well, reminded me of me. She seemed to be feeling overwhelmed by the idea of The Holidays (dun-dun-DUN!) and the rush that goes along with it, and the feeling of needing to get everything done. I'm paraphrasing, and I hope not misunderstanding what she wrote, but reading her status made me wonder if she was somehow inside my head. :D

Years ago, I used to let myself get overwhelmed and stressed by The Holidays (capitalization is a must here; the dun-dun-DUN! is optional, but silly, and I'm generally pro-silly so I'm keeping it in), to the point where I wanted to avoid the whole thing completely and be a big Scrooge.

One of the things that helped me get over myself was just chilling out some (a phenomenon that seems to be correlated with age/wisdom/parenthood in general). Another was reading a book called Unplug the Christmas Machine: A Complete Guide to Putting Love and Joy Back into the Season.

It's been years since I read this book, and some of the details are fuzzy. (I thought I still had it around somewhere, but I think it might have gone into my last donation box/garage sale. So I can't refer to it directly for this post.) But one of the main things I remember from it was making a list of my holiday priorities. The idea is to list the top five things you LOVE about The Holidays (dun-dun-DUN!), to determine which events/activites define Holiday sine qua non-ness (I just made that up, can you tell?) for YOU. Maybe it was three things, or seven things, I honestly can't really remember. But the list was definitely short on purpose.

I love this exercise and after thinking about MY priorities for The Holidays (dun-dun-DUN!), I came up with a list of Must-Dos. And then I let everything else go. That first Thanksgiving/Christmas after I read this book was enjoyable. I had liberated myself from feeling overwhelmed by unrealistic expectations of activities and events that, upon reflection, weren't really fun to me anyway.

Some examples of things I've let go of in past years:

• The need to decorate every inch of my house inside and out. Sometimes we do it, and sometimes not. But I no longer feel guilty if I never get around to it.

• The need to make every single kind of special holiday treat I ever had as a child. Sure, Christmas cookies are yummy, and who doesn't like to decorate a gingerbread house? But there are only so many baking hours in me (and that was even before I turned away from the grain-train), and so cookies and candy are not a priority.

• Breaking our budget to buy gifts for one and all. This sounds stingy, but it's not borne out of stinginess--it's simply a recognition of the fact that our money is finite. For years we spent way too much at Christmas and then struggled for the first few months of the year. Then, a few years ago, we decided to stop exchanging gifts with the other adults in our extended families. It was a difficult decision for some of our family to accept, but I think they do understand. And I'm glad we did it. That leaves us with a reasonable budget to buy for the kids and do something special for our whole family, too (usually a big item, like the year we got a Wii). And it cuts down on the amount of things we have in our home, and since I'm in decluttering mode, this is a good thing. Our families get gifts for the children, so the kids are not deprived at all.

The Facebook conversation this weekend got me re-evaluating my priorities again. Because I think they've changed. And someone else on the thread mentioned asking her family for THEIR priorities. Which I think I'll do at our next Family Conference.

My Top 5 Things (this year) are:

1. Go to the mall with the kids early in the season (this is a must, as I hate holiday crowds) to get gifts for Brendan and look at the decorations. We'll go to Starbucks and drink hot chocolates (I'll treat myself to a peppermint mocha because that tastes like Christmas) and watch the kids waiting to see Santa. I'm really looking forward to this.
2. Put up our new little Christmas village. It's not as badass as Spooky Town, but it's cute.
3. Watch How the Grinch Stole Christmas (Boris Karloff version, always always always) as many times as possible with the fam.
4. Listen to the Christmas carol radio station as much as the kids can stand it.
5. Get fun and creative stocking stuffers for everyone (the bacon band aids were such a hit last year).

If only those five things get done (besides the usual stuff like getting presents for the kids and making a yummy Christmas dinner), I will be happy and enjoy my holiday season! Everything else is GRAVY. And I can't wait to find out what the kids come up with for their Top 5 lists. (We might have to pare this down to Top 3.)

My list is different this year. Christmas cards used to be on my Top 5 list, but I'm not really feeling that they are NECESSARY this year. I will probably do them, but it's not such a priority this year (sorry, friends and fam). I'm not exactly sure why this is, but I'm pretty certain that I won't feel too sad if I skip a year. So Christmas cards are not on the Gravy list.

Other Gravy list items:

• Decorating the outside of the house

• Driving around to see Christmas lights on other houses

• Finding cute matching clothing/pajamas for the kids and forcing cajoling begging them to sit still and not irritate each other for 2 minutes for a photo shoot (which is part of why the cards are lower down this year).

• I might bake cookies--the good thing about older kids is that they are competent to do this somewhat independently, so I might pass along this responsibility to those who will be the ones eating all the cookies anyway. 

What's on your Top 5 list? What's on your Gravy list? And, probably more importantly, why?

I highly recommend this exercise, especially if you are prone to getting overwhelmed by The Holidays (dun-dun-DUN!) like I was. Identify your top values and go after those first. Make happiness a priority (your own happiness, as well as the happiness of the potential innocent victims of your holiday madness the people you care about the most). Because the whole point of this time of year is to experience Joy and Goodwill Toward Men and all that good stuff.

And it is MUCH easier to do that when you don't want to simply kill everyone who stands in the way of your holiday goals. No, really!

Thinking about Thanksgiving

Last year, I shared my Mostly Paleo Thanksgiving Menu, and boy am I ever glad I did, because I'm thinking about Thanksgiving again (2 weeks from today!) and that post gave me some good ideas.

See? This is the real reason I started blogging in the first place--to help me remember my own awesome ideas.

This year, it'll just be us, the nuclear family. It will be so fun, though it's nice to have friends and family over, too. Maybe next year. But Just Us means fewer dishes and less pressure to make a huge Thanksgiving spread. That's all kinds of YAY.

So here's what I'm thinking about for this year:

• Prosciutto turkey roll (more on this in a bit)

• Sausage stuffing because Brendan really really likes this, and I really like it, too (I know that it's supposed to be called dressing if you don't stuff it into a turkey, but we call it stuffing anyway and if you don't like it, you can . . . stuff it. :P)

• Prosciutto-wrapped asparagus (from Paleo Comfort Foods, and also, because I like prosciutto)

• Some kind of sweet potato dish, likely either baked, or slices slow-roasted in coconut oil, or the sweet potato hash browns that LB recently wrote about

• Maybe the Rolls, I haven't decided. I think I will make them this year, because I'm pretty sure I can resist the urge to eat a million of them--bread isn't something I typically crave and when I do eat an occasional piece of bread I have no trouble eating just one piece and stopping. Also, I kind of want to make them with my kids and tell them stories about my grandmother and teach them how to make bread from scratch because it's fun.

• Pumpkin Pie even though I have always disliked anything pumpkin, I make this for everyone else because I'm a nice person and want people to be happy. :) Also, there is something necessary about the smell of pumpkin pie during Thanksgiving week. Even though I don't eat it, I like the smell.

• Maybe Key Lime Pie, I haven't decided. It sort of depends on if I make something for my birthday, which is the Monday before Thanksgiving. If I make something for my birthday, then I'll probably only have pumpkin pie at Thanksgiving. If not, maybe I'll make something else. And it also depends on if I decide to run a 5K Thanksgiving morning. I'll definitely feel better about eating pie if I've run 5K that day! Key Lime pie is my usual Thanksgiving preference, but I could go for something chocolate or cheesecake-ish.

YUM. I probably shouldn't be writing this post before lunch, because now all I can think about is EATING LUNCH NOW.

Anyway, about the prosciutto-turkey breast thing. My sister gave me this recipe years ago, and I make this every few Thanksgivings or so. I don't have an actual recipe to share with you, but I'll briefly describe what it is to the best of my memory (I could probably put together an actual, you know, recipe, but only after I remember how to do it--which won't happen until Thanksgiving).

You take a boneless turkey breast and butterfly it, which as far as I can remember means make the turkey breast into one big flat piece. Then salt and pepper the inside if you want. Next, lay slices of prosciutto over the entire slab o'turkey.

This is the fun part. You can add lots of different things on top of the prosciutto. In past years, I've tried just sage, just bunches of rosemary, and maybe thyme. I've also sauteed some green onions in butter until they're a little translucent, and then added in some spinach, and then put the spinach-green onion mixture on top of the prosciutto. Basically, add something green and flavorful--it doesn't really matter.

Then, roll up the turkey breast and tie it up with kitchen string. This is the part where it's helpful to have a helper because the turkey breast, as I recall, dislikes being rolled up with all of that stuff inside it, so having one person roll it tight and another tie it up makes everything behave.

THEN THEN THEN, OMG THEN: cover the entire outside of the rolled up turkey with, get this . . . wait for it . . . pancetta! You can use bacon if you'd prefer, but in my opinion, the pancetta is totally worth the price.

Then cook it! Oh look, here's a similar recipe I found thanks to the magic of Google and the Internets. There's no pancetta outer layer in this recipe, so it's clearly inferior to my sister's, but you get a picture of what my turkey breast roll usually looks like, and some helpful cooking hints, too.

Now I will confess that I generally prefer the dark meat on turkeys and chickens, but this turkey breast turns out moist and flavorful every time (thanks to the prosciutto and pancetta!) and it doesn't require the same amount of cooking time that a whole bird does. Which makes it a good Thanksgiving option when it's just the five of us.

Okay, now I'm REALLY hungry. And looking forward to Thanksgiving. But first--lunch!

(PS: What are you having for Thanksgiving?)

Watching the Wheels

Most of you didn't know me in my pre-homeschooling-mommy life. I am pretty much the same as I was, though a lot more chill and able to cope with unexpected surprises (thanks, kids!). What I mean is, my temperament hasn't changed, but my ability to manage the more challenging aspects of being Me has vastly improved.

The thing is, I used to be Ms. Future VP of Corporate America. I excelled in my jobs (though I know I made lots of mistakes and am confident I'd be so much better a manager now than I was in my 20s). But I mean, I excelled. Kicked ass. Okay, so that part isn't much different since I am pretty kick-ass these days, too.

I was well on my way toward that goal, too--grad degree, good contacts in the local business world, recommendations from my professors, made decent money at a job that gave me relevant experience in my chosen field.

And then I switched careers and joined the Mommy Team. It surprised some people--hey, it even surprised me a bit. :D

There are two main reasons I switched careers. I loved my work, it was good stuff, but GAH! I worked all the freaking time. I mean, I work all the freaking time now, of course, but I worked too much before, and expended my time and energy on stuff that really didn't matter, and got too good at playing the Job Politics game. I rarely had time for myself or Brendan outside of work stuff. It consumed my life.

The other reason is that I hate doing things halfway, and couldn't figure out how I would be able to manage working at the level of excellence I expected of myself at a regular job and the Mommy job. Some people can pull this off probably, but I knew enough about myself to understand that I was not such a person and I would be miserable. So I chose between the two.

My job today consumes my life, too, but in a way that makes me happy. That is the difference, and I suppose it's not really accurate to say my job consumes my life. Rather, I consciously and willingly invest my time and energy on activities and with people in productive endeavors that I enjoy and that make me happy. It's not mere consumption of my time and energy--it's an investment.

I am a zillion times happier today than when I was 28 and working 70 hours a week and going to grad school at night and managing people who were sometimes difficult (and often older than me--that's really awkward). I am a zillion times healthier, both physically and mentally. I spend my work days with people I really really like and enjoy, and I work on businesses (the cabin, ATLOS, Cultivating the Virtues) that I really really like and enjoy. Even when I have a crappy day at work, which happens at any job, I don't dread the next day that's coming. I don't sit in my car in the parking lot, holding back tears, trying to summon the strength to walk in the door.

This is why my career change was not a sacrifice, even though I make a lot less money than I used to. I am happier happier happier now. And I'm always thinking ahead to what I'll do as I get more time to devote to non-kid activities. I have many things to add to my resume and I have a much better idea of the kinds of work and work environments that I will enjoy.

Anyway, that was way more than I meant to write. I really just wanted to share this song, "Watching the Wheels" by John Lennon. It was on the last album he ever produced, and it came out after he died.

I heard it on the radio the other day and I remembered how I used to listen to this quite a bit after I quit my last "real" job. Pretty exactly relevant.

The lyrics:

People say I'm crazy doing what I'm doing

Well they give me all kinds of warnings to save me from ruin

When I say that I'm o.k. well they look at me kind of strange

Surely you're not happy now you no longer play the game

People say I'm lazy dreaming my life away

Well they give me all kinds of advice designed to enlighten me

When I tell them that I'm doing fine watching shadows on the wall

Don't you miss the big time boy you're no longer on the ball

I'm just sitting here watching the wheels go round and round

I really love to watch them roll

No longer riding on the merry-go-round

I just had to let it go

Ah, people asking questions lost in confusion

Well I tell them there's no problem, only solutions

Well they shake their heads and they look at me as if I've lost my mind

I tell them there's no hurry

I'm just sitting here doing time

I'm just sitting here watching the wheels go round and round

I really love to watch them roll

No longer riding on the merry-go-round

I just had to let it go

I just had to let it go

I just had to let it go

I found this demo version of the song on YouTube. I've never heard this version before and I really like it.







Sigh. Good stuff.

And that was me--I just had to let it go. And I don't regret it for a second.

Sean the Contrarian

Ah, Three! You are such fun in so many ways. You are energetic and independent and funny and interested in doing everything. You sing songs and make up stories and spend a lot of time pretending you are a black kitty cat. You still think I am the best person ever put on the planet.

But you also are just a wee bit argumentative. And bossy. And, to be completely honest, a bit of a know-it-all. You are especially prone to BATTLING TO THE DEATH (or the pain) over the craziest things.

To offer a few recent examples from real life:

• You screamed at me for cleaning the dirty windshield on the car with the windshield wipers because evidently I am not supposed to use the wipers when it's not raining.

• You complained that two kids were doing cartwheels in the field next to the gymnastics building because you are only supposed to do cartwheels inside the gym.

• On the day after Halloween, you fussed at me for the fact that Spooky Town is still up. You continue to remind me of this serious breech of holiday etiquette on an hourly basis. Yes, it's still up. (And yes, my friend S. will love this!)

• When I announced that we're leaving the house in about 30 minutes, you shouted: "NO! We are leaving in 21 MINUTES!" with a glare, daring me to contradict you.

I've lost count of the arguments you've had with your siblings, one of whom is somewhat of a Professional Contrarian himself. And to be truthful, you do occasionally have legitimate gripes and complaints that must be addressed.

Just yesterday, you had your first real-live temper tantrum (took you a while!). Tantrums I can deal with, no problem.

The arguing? The pointless, pointless arguing, especially with your brother which necessitates that I must stop what I am doing and go involve myself? Well, that might be what does me in.

It's a good thing you are really stinking cute. :D

Lovely Weekend

I had a GREAT weekend. So great, as it happens, that I'm still kind of having it. What I mean is that it's taking me a longer time than usual to get back into my regular routine and level of productivity. I'm mostly sure this is a Good Thing.

Last weekend, we went to a Halloween party with homeschool friends on Friday night. It was so much chaos fun and I'm so grateful our family was included. I really hope my friend didn't have too much trouble recovering from the mess in her house--I think I counted around 16-18 kids between the ages of 2 and 13. That's quite a lot of kids.

As if that wasn't fun enough, my sister arrived for the weekend on Saturday. She immediately announced that she wanted me to teach her to knit! I was so excited (though a bit doubtful about my ability to teach it to her). We had a quick lesson and then sat and practiced a bit before carving pumpkins and roasting seeds with the kids. We had so much fun doing that that I completely forgot all about the Spooky Trail put on by our neighbors. Oh well, next year!

The best part about having an extra adult on hand for pumpkin carving is the fact that I don't have to stick my hands in the pumpkins and pull out the guts. It's not just that I hate doing that--I do--but it also causes like a weird itching on my skin. A mild allergy/intolerance? Might explain why I've never liked anything with pumpkin in it. So my nice, nice sister pulled out all of the guts and I rinsed and roasted seeds. Pumpkin seeds are a once-a-year treat for us, since I can never seem to find any peanut-safe ones at the stores.

On Sunday, we ate at a Brazilian restaurant (the perfect post-CrossFit snack!) and then went to JoAnn Fabrics in search of yarn and needles for my sister! (By the way, did you know that JoAnn will give the 15% educators discount to homeschoolers? Just bring in your DOI and fill out the form and that's it!) We came home and knitted the afternoon away. And I can't even remember what we did that evening. Hung out and played with the kids and generally being leisurely.

Monday was Halloween, and even though Brendan had to go to work, it felt like a day off for me somehow. I had an eye doctor appointment and my sister got to argue with Ryan hang out with the kids for me while I did that. We met Kelly and Livy for lunch and then we all headed back here for Halloween crafts and more pumpkin seed roasting and fun.

We didn't have our big bash this year, and while I missed it in a way, I'm mostly glad we kept our group small this year--just my kids and their bestest, Livy, who has literally spent every Halloween of her life at my house. My sister passed candy out to the neighborhood kids and so I got to go out with the kids. Sean knew just what to do and meowed his "trick-or-treats" in a very enthusiastic way. Morgan brandished her battle axe and stake with frightening authenticity, considering she's only ever seen one episode of Buffy. And Ryan marshaled the troops effectively and generally bossed everyone about which path to take. (You can see pictures on my FB page.) They got tons of candy, most of which I sent home with their friend because it was all peanutty. I exchanged the poison peanut candy for safe candy and toys.

And then my sister left for home and while I did manage to get caught up on laundry (I KNOW!) and some cabin business and errands and bill paying and book reading, I still can't shake the feeling that time has somehow slowed and things are pleasant and easy and maybe it's okay if I just knit another row or two before I take care of dinner.

I kind of like this feeling, and I hope it doesn't go away soon! I wish all weekends and holidays could be this stress-free and pleasant.