Monday Monday

 woohoo I got it out!  A neighbor came home saw me and came over with some serious heave ho we got it.  I had actually been able to move it forward a bit but the one side was just so soft it just got stuck again.  I had dug it out put boards under it, then added blankets on the boards, dug some more.  Wow I have never been stuck before and that was exhausting and scary.  And I am mad as you know what at DH.  I tell him via online chat and he says I hope the yard isn't a mess?????????????? OK now even if he was Mr Lawn that would be a bad thing to say but he is not - as far away from - Mr Lawn as you could be so that made it even more insane and aggravating.

Anyway I have a client in 20 minutes - thank goodness for phone clients - and I am sitting here with mud in my hair, shaking and exhausted.  I cleaned off my car but need to let the inside dry first before attempting to get the mud from the carpet.  And I smooshed the clay/mud around so it won't have embedded tire tracks grrrrrrrrrr

at least I have a sweet puppy to come inside to   OK better prep now

Jewlieee

I don't know why but I am having a very hard time waking up in the morning these days. I must not be sleeping well. Its so bad that I nearly fall over when I try to get up. I would sleep till 10 if I could

You and me both. I think it must be because of the time change and the cold, but I'm having a terrible time getting up too. Even now, I could lay down on the floor of my office and take a long nap.

Karen - My husband would've asked the exact same thing about the lawn . I'm glad you've been freed though.

OK, Jackie.  If you SAY it's a compliment, I'll believe you!

Just finished those disguisting cranberries DH likes.   You know, the sickeningly sweet jelly ones.  I refuse to put the darned things that come out of a can on my table, so I make the darned things.  Even with Splenda, yuk! The sweetness level just way too high.

WE like the good kind!  Raw berries, a bit of fresh orange and just a dab of sugar........DH is clearly on product of his upbringing.  His mom hates to cook...always has, so if it came in a can or box she was all over it!

Karen, glad you got free!  Being stuck in the mud is def worse than stuck in the snow.

Hope Twister feels better soon.  Bummer.

Tina, our condolences to you and your foster mom. 

Stacer, I feel for you on the roaming dog front.  A neighbor back in NH used to let his senile elderly Lab roam around... and when you'd catch her and return her, he'd thank you, mumble something about her being deaf, point to her invisible fence collar (which dangled like a pendant around her neck, covered in duct tape, with no hope of making any contact to be of use.)  Meanwhile, the stoop where she was let out was surrounded in poop piles (no wonder she wanted to get away from it.)  He owned an antique store on his property, so he'd offer you a discount on his antiques as a reward for returning her.  I'd get so angry I'd call the police as often as possible for them to come return her, in hopes they would feel the inconvenience at least, and fine the guy... but as the ACO told me, since the guy owned an antiques shop and had buttloads of money, he'd just pay the $50 fine like it was nothing, and keep on keeping on, with no change in how he treated the dog.  Irritating.

Add me to the crowd that's having a tough time getting out of bed.  The last week and a half I've had intensely weird dreams.  The latest this morning involved my uncle who died a few months ago.  Only in my dream, it was him about 25 years ago, in a blue suit that was too tight.

This stupid tooth is aching.  I am in trouble, I know it.  My sister offered to buy me a filling for Christmas, but I fear this is going to be far more involved than a couple hundred dollars.  Argh.

Anybody know how to train a dog to, on command, go find and retrieve my keys, come and unlock the door and give them to me while Willa & I are waiting patiently? LOL. I locked us out this morning on the way to story time. I locked the door, then reached into my pocket to get my keys to start up the car. Oh crud! DH had them last and left them on the counter. Luckily, we have a spare outside, but it's kind of a pain to get to, especially with a toddler in tow. THEN we got to the library only to find out that story time was canceled. How annoying! Usually they call. So we played around a bit in the kid's area. Willa loves to look at the fish tank. There was another mother there with three dirty, loud, mean kids so we didn't stick around too long. She (the mother) kept wiping and picking her nose with her bare hands, then went right back to flipping through the books and videos.

So I've had kind of an annoying day, but surprisingly I'm not in a bad mood. I think it's because Willa ate a really good lunch and has been napping for about two hours now. 

janobonano

There was another mother there with three dirty, loud, mean kids so we didn't stick around too long. She (the mother) kept wiping and picking her nose with her bare hands, then went right back to flipping through the books and videos.

Why do I always stumble on this stuff right after I've eaten lunch? is right!! I'm glad Willa had a good lunch and you weren't locked out of the house for too long.

glenmar

DH is clearly on product of his upbringing.  His mom hates to cook...always has, so if it came in a can or box she was all over it!

Fiance is the same way...he won't eat the moist, juicy turkey I make because, if it isn't so dry you need 3 glasses of water to get it down, it isn't turkey...same goes with cookies...i make them soft and gooey, he likes them burnt...moral of the story, his mother, bless her heart, can't cook.. I can, well...but, i get the complaints.

To be honest, I feel sorry for my DIL.  She is an adequate cook, but her mom is one of those really anal folks who gets totally bent when she makes a meal and never allowed her daughter in the kitchen.  The mom measures EVERYTHING, and I do mean everything.  Not so much as a single extra grain of salt slips by her, or an extra flake of parsley.  I, on the other hand, cook by taste, texture and smell, and just kind of "do it".  I tend to toss meals together in a heartbeat, and it's no big deal for me to "mass" cook for the freezer.  DIL has no self confidence in the kitchen, and is very tenative in her cooking.  DS doesn't really "get" that not everyone can cook the way I do, without a plan or recipe and still make it good.  I'm honestly not boasting.  I think that the biggest difference is that I LOVE to cook, where she does not.  It's absolute agoney for me when someone wants a recipe.  Then I have to cook and MEASURE and that's just not me!

Honestly, it is intimidating to cook for someone who either a) knows how to cook and nothing anyone else makes ever competes or b) for someone who constantly compares your cooking to a parent's, former spouse's, etc.  Believe me, I lived with the control - "this isn't how I'd have done it" or "this isn't how Suzy-Q did it".  Fine, you cook or go back to Suzy-Q.

sharismom

Honestly, it is intimidating to cook for someone who either a) knows how to cook and nothing anyone else makes ever competes or b) for someone who constantly compares your cooking to a parent's, former spouse's, etc.  Believe me, I lived with the control - "this isn't how I'd have done it" or "this isn't how Suzy-Q did it".  Fine, you cook or go back to Suzy-Q.

I agree. My BFF is married to someone like that and she's become very insecure about making the simplest things and pretty much just lets her DH cook. My DH compliments his mom's cooking but is also very complimentary about anything I make. The guy just really loves food and is happy with a hot meal in front of him. His mom is a great cook but grew up on a farm using a lot of butter and sugar. It's yummy but DH knows I just can't make some of the stuff she does and is happy that I try to cook healthy. I agree that enjoying cooking makes a big difference but I probably wouldn't enjoy cooking if I didn't get the appreciation that I do.

 I am good cook, but I do follow a recipe...and I can almost taste it as I read the recipe.  All different kinds of cooks in this world!  My kids think I'm great, but my daughter does more like what Glenda does.  She does work though, and really has to throw things together sometimes.  I didn't work when they were growing up.

I was talking to my 87 yr Mom this morn...she is another good cook....and she mentioned that she just made a couple loaves of cheese bread, which comes from a very old recipe handed down.  I just vaguely remember it...my brother, not at all.  She said it is so good toasted for breakfast.  Mmm, I hope she remembers to send me the recipe!

 I think I really got comfortable cooking when living by myself - there's just sooooo much less pressure when you're only cooking for yourself. If you screw up, nobody cares! It just becomes a "learning experience," as it should be.

BF is a great audience - his mom is a great cook, too, but he's sweet and appreciative of (almost) everything I put in front of him - but I still get nervous sometimes trying to cook something I'm not comfortable with.

I really prefer to do "improv" cooking (a dash of this, a touch of that), but until I'm really familiar with the item/genre, I need recipes to teach me the basics. So I like to start with a recipe and improvise from there. I'm also not great at following recipes exactly, even when I want to, so tricky dishes like souffles can sometimes be too much for me.

Two of the best cooks I know are my dad and my cousin - my dad is a total improv guy, and almost never uses a recipe. My cousin almost never cooks WITHOUT a recipe (though she makes modifications sometimes). My dad is like a Jackson Pollack in the kitchen, and my cousin is like Martha Stewart. Very radically different cooking styles, but both very skilled, and very delicious outcomes :)

glenmar

DIL has no self confidence in the kitchen, and is very tenative in her cooking. 

I'm pretty lucky, I'm not a good cook at all lol I try things here and there, i like making stir fry (what we had for dinner tonight).

But I'm lucky because Derek is under the thought that if he didn't make, he has no right to complain :D  A staple in our house is weiners and beans and toast lol, thankfully Derek looooves that! hehe

I do bake a lot though, and I'm a good baker!!  But dinner? nope. Especially if I don't know what to make, it's awful. Derek and I sit on Sunday evenings and make a list of what's for dinner each day during the week, I like that because I go home knowing what I'm going to make and it's a lot less stressful!

Paige, I don't think that DIL's mom was hyper critical of her.  She simply was NOT allowed in the kitchen when the mom was cooking.  To this day, no one is, and this woman does NOT vary one spec from a recipe.

I'm not saying exactly that I "throw meals together", just that I can come up with ideas on short notice, and that I can create in the kitchen.  I'm creative in a number of other areas, so I guess it just extends to the kitchen.

When DIL lived with us, I was ultra careful to praise any kitchen efforts she made.  But, I honestly think she saw me as a "power woman", because I'd come home from work, shuck the business clothes and dive into the kitchen, and put a terrific dinner on the table in very short order.  I'm extremely organized in the kitchen.  I'm very DISorganized in my brain, ADHD, so I keep STUFF around me very well organized or I'd go nuts!  Just a coping mechanism.  Too, if I made a soup or a stew or sauce on a weeknight, I made enough to freeze for next time.  And weekends, I'd often go into a cooking/freezer stocking frenzy.  And I do stuff like canning, freezing, etc, that HAS to be intimidating to someone who barely knows the fridge from the oven.  She's often told DS that she is in awe of me.....not sure what that's all about.

I do know that DS is very careful not to make comparisons between my cooking and hers.  He was well trained growing up NOT to do so!  LOL!

As I said, I do feel sorry for the gal.  Guess I'm kind of a hard act to follow....and since she lived with us for almost 2 years, she knows exactly how I am in the kitchen from her own experience.

And, I do use recipes, as a starting point for something new.  I just kind of automatically adjust to what I know my family will like better.......