Vacation Is Over....

It has been months since my last post. Shame on me.

The kids are home. Summer is here and slipping away quickly already!

I went to a conference this Saturday and it was wonderful. I can't wait to sit down and write about it!

But of course I have deadlines for work and the phone is ringing constantly.

I don't know who called these months the "Lazy Days of Summer", there is nothing lazy about it!

Heaven in a Pot of German Dumplings...

My Grandma Shanahan used to make the best German Potato Dumplings.

God rest her soul, she was a good cook.

My sister requested a special dinner for her birthday: Pork roast and German Potato dumplings.

Doh! My heart sank. Since I was diagnosed with Celiac Disease (Gluten Intolerance=No wheat, oats, barley, etc.) I have had to give up many of my favorite foods.

However, I refused to watch my family licking their lips and digging into dumplings the size of softballs, covered with gravy and served with tender pork! So I took matter in my own hands.

With my trusted Sous Chef (my husband), we change my Great-Grandma Miller's recipe substituting wheat products for gluten-free products.

The end result? Absolute heaven!

I will try not to eat them all before our special dinner tomorrow.

Granted they aren't 100% like Grandma Shanahan's.

No one cooked like her. No one can duplicate her leaning on the cupboard stirring a pot, chatting endlessly with us. The smell of caraway seeds rose to your nose as soon as your cut open these delicious potato, bread and flour morsels. We would sit at the kitchen table devouring our meal and Grandma would bring out a hot bowl of fresh dumplings. No one could duplicate the lighthearted banter between Grandma and Grampa during a meal. "Sit down Jeanne!" "Can you get (insert item here) Jeanne?" "For God's sake Jeanne, sit down!" "Jeanne, we need more gravy". "Jeanne, could you sit down and eat already?" They were a hoot!

You may be able to substitute the wheat products but you can't substitute the love and history that Grandma put in her food.

Job Interview Don’ts…

I went to the mall today to pick something up for my sister. I bought a sweater for my niece, as per her request, and stopped at the mall Starbucks for a quick cup of “Joe”.

Sitting at a table, belonging to Starbucks, were two young ladies. One was maybe 21 and the other was maybe the same age or slightly younger.

I couldn’t help noticing the two of them. One had her hair pulled back neatly in a pony tail. She wore a light blue button down shirt and a pair of khakis. She held the job application in one hand, the other hand a pen. She was obviously a part of the hiring team for whichever mall store she was employed at.

The other female at the table was a stark contrast to the one running the interview. She sat in the chair across from her interviewer sitting cross-legged, or as we call it in our home “criss-cross applesauce”. She looked like she would have been more comfortable on her couch at home or maybe yoga class. She was eating a bag of chips, loudly from where I stood, and with her mouth open. Could this person be seeking a job interview with this behavior? To say it was unprofessional would be an understatement.

I was trying to wrap my mind around this scene. It was obviously a job interview but I must have been missing something.

My question is this: Do some young adults have so little respect for future employers that they present themselves in the same fashion as when around their friends? When I was a teenager I curled my hair, wore my dressy outfit and planned out my interview in my mind. Sit up straight. Don’t laugh nervously. Look my interviewer in the eye and present a firm but friendly handshake.

I called my sisters and told them about what I saw. One replied “Why do you care so much?” All I could think about was: “These are the same people managers are hiring to take care of me in the stores”.

These are the same “employees” that talk on their cell phones with friends while I have to wait to ask a question. These are the same people who wear inappropriate clothing or use language fit for a sailor, when they think a customer is not near. They talk about their nights out with their friends and proudly declare how “trashed” they got. They are the same people who complain that they have to work a 6 hour shift.

Maybe the Miss who was being interviewed was having an “off” day. One has to give others the benefit of the doubt. But nonetheless, I couldn’t believe what I saw at the mall today. It was a definite job interview “Don’t”.

My Prayers for Today...

Dear God,

Please allow my 2 year old son to stop licking the kitchen floor, or at least wait until I wash it.

Please help me to remember to move the kid’s trains from the top of the stairs...for obvious reasons.

Please help me to put in a new roll of toilet paper before I go to bed so I am not "stuck" at 2AM.

Please help not to drop my stack of mail in the snow slush again tomorrow.

Please provide some adult conversation so I don't have "The Wiggles" theme song in my head for the majority of the day.

Please help my daughter learn that cleaning her room does not consist of throwing items behind furniture.

Please guide family members that slushy boots should not be thrown on my good black pumps.

Please help my children understand that shoving small Lego pieces in my snow boots is not funny.

Please help the drug companies understand that “child-safe” caps are not funny for many of us adults.

Please help me to remember not to leave my glasses anywhere near a tube of petroleum jelly with children around.


If all else fails, please grace me with patience, love, understanding and great fortitude.

Amen

STUPID PEANUT BUTTER....

Okay, if you haven't heard, there is a recall on Peter Pan Peanut Butter with product codes starting with 2111.
Link to story

My son is at the doctor right now because:

1. We have that particular lot number on our jar.
2. He has been the sole eater of this PB the last week and a half
3. He has been sick with Diarrhea and vomiting for the last 5 days, since we opened the jar.

So, what we thought may be a stomach bug may be Salmonella which I pray he does not have.

If you have this peanut butter take it back to the store. If your child is sick and has eaten this, please go to the doctor right away.

Will I ever buy this brand again? Probably not. The sight of my 2 year old this sick will always remind me of Peter Pan brand. Whether he has salmonella or not, I would rather never risk it again.

STUPID PEANUT BUTTER....

Okay, if you haven't heard, there is a recall on Peter Pan Peanut Butter with product codes starting with 2111.

My son is at the doctor right now because:

1. We have that particular lot number on our jar.
2. He has been the sole eater of this PB the last week and a half
3. He has been sick with Diarrhea and vomiting for the last 5 days, since we opened the jar.

So, what we thought may be a stomach bug may be Salmonella which I pray he does not have.

If you have this peanut butter take it back to the store. If your child is sick and has eaten this, please go to the doctor right away.

Will I ever buy this brand again? Probably not. The sight of my 2 year old this sick will always remind me of Peter Pan brand. Whether he has salmonella or not, I would rather never risk it again.

Happy Valentine's Day...

Well, it is the day of love.

It is also the day in which flower, jewelry and candy companies make an absolute fortune from men who are terrified of letting down their wives, girlfriends, etc. down. I swear I saw men breaking into a cold sweat at the grocery store trying to find the perfect card, from the selection which was left. And it did not seem like there was much left. A couple of sexually suggestive, borderline perverted, cards adorned the shelves next to the scattered "puppy and kitty sharing a valentine moment" cards. Yikes!

Bitter? No, truly I am not. My hubby and I quietly acknowledge the holiday with a little card and maybe some chocolates. But then again, I like chocolate anyday of the year and have gained 20 pounds since college to prove it!

But, I digress.

I think it is a lot of pressure though for people who may not have a romantic "Valentine", don't you think? Think of all the wonderful, single people out there who have to have it shoved in their faces that no one is bringing them a heart shaped box filled with 100 grams of fat!

So, to all of the single Valentines out there today... Happy Valentine's Day.

I have a positive thought for you today...

Would you have really wanted someone to bring you a stuffed panda bear holding a satin heart (hanging on by a thread) which reads "I love you beary much!"? Of course not. But then again, who am I to say?

Regardless, enjoy the day knowing that your family and friends love you very much!

I'm still here...

Boy, the days just slip by don't they?

I was ready to go to bed and I thought "Hey, I haven't written on my blog in a while!"

It is almost 1:00AM and I should be in bed. The smart thing would be to go to bed. But here I am.

I just got done washing my floor and cleaning the downstairs. I wish I could find time during the day to do that but it is hard when you have two monkeys leaving trails of toys, cheerios and sippy cups behind them.

There is something peaceful about cleaning late at night. Despite being exhausted from the late night, I usually wake up feeling good that I am starting a new day with a sparkling downstairs. Of course, it will last through the first half of Blues Clues. Sigh...

I can not complain though. All in all I have got it pretty darn good. The holidays were wonderful and we made some fantastic memories as a family. It was a Christmas I will never forget. We are now in the midst of a "cold snap", which is an understatement, and we have had to be creative because the kids just can't play when it feels like -15 degrees outside. Isabella has a "snow" day tomorrow. Really it is just because of dangerous wind chills.

I should rest up. Something tells me I will have a very busy day when I awake.

So, I will end my long day thanking God for my family and friends. I have no idea what tomorrow will hold. But as long as I wake with a happy family and a clean kitchen floor, I think the day will turn out just fine.