The weather has been absolutely dreamy here.
Perfect for flip-flops and sundresses, early morning runs and walks through the woods.
While the weather is still wonderful, we’ve been also partaking in lunchtime picnics with Daddy,
meandering through the Gasparilla Festival of the Arts,
soaking in sunsets in the cool evenings,
and driving around while the windows are rolled down.
Visit Amanda, Xmas Dolly and Hairbows & Guitar Picks for more Music Monday fun.
The elementary teacher in me cannot let Dr. Suess’s Birthday slip by without celebrating it somehow. But it also could be the party planner person in me looking for any reason to celebrate something. Either way, Dr. Suess’s body of work and contribution to children’s literature and literacy should be recognized. So with a little research and some creativity, I found a fun Suess Supper to serve my family this week for Dr. Suess’s Birthday and this week’s Friday Food Fight.
Do you like Green Eggs and Ham? Would you like them here or there? Would like them in a house? Would you like them with a mouse? (from Dr. Suess’ Green Eggs and Ham)
Well, don’t feel bad, because my kids wouldn’t eat them either. Funny enough, they’ll eat green cupcakes and candy, but they won’t touch green eggs. Honestly, the eggs (and the photo) didn’t turn out quite as well as I had hoped. I followed these instructions and tried really hard not to break the yolk, but I don’t think my cage-free organic eggs were fresh enough to cooperate. (Real mature, Denise. Blame it on the eggs.) With each failed attempt, I just kept scrambling the eggs. The “ham”, on the other hand, was easy to make green. Using a dinner plate, I added two drops of green food coloring to about a Tbsp of water and soaked the “ham” (which is really tofu bologna because family won’t eat ham, green or not) in the solution. Then, I fried the ham in a pan lightly sprayed with cooking spray.
When my family wouldn’t eat the green eggs and ham (which is probably a good thing because there’s enough dye in that food to kill a horse make even the Grinch green with envy), I let my creative juices flow. I knew they would devour Eggie Middles (others call this dish a Nest Egg). Instead of a circular cookie cutter, I used a star shaped cookie cutter to cut a hole in the center of each slice of 5-Grain Italian bread. Unfortunately, the eggs wouldn’t cooperate once again and did not retain an egg shape once cooking in the pan. But at least the star shaped toast looks nice, so the slices could have stars upon thars (The Sneetches and Other Stories).
After finding an adorable Cat in the Hat inspired cupcake, dessert was simple, but finding all the materials necessary to make the cupcakes was not. Thanks to Felicia of Go Graham, Go, I located blue cotton candy at our local Dollar General. But then, I couldn’t find red cupcake liners! Not even the silicone kind! So, I cut red large beverage cups and used the bottom portion of the cups to hide the plain white cupcake liners. Then, I downloaded Suess font and created Thing 1 and Thing 2 tags on white cardstock. (Pay no attention to my poor cutting skills.)
You will see something new. Two things. And I call them Thing One and Thing Two. (from Dr. Suess’ The Cat in the Hat)
On a side note, cotton candy does not do well in humidity. Therefore if you live in a humid climate like me, add the cotton candy to the cupcakes right before you serve them.
If a cupcake loaded with icing and blue cotton candy isn’t your cup of tea, then perhaps Ten Apples Up on Top (or just three) is a healthier option for you and your family. May I suggest one of our favorite apples, such as a Jazz, Pink Lady or Gala?
So there you have it: A Suess inspired supper with some healthier options too! Happy Birthday, Dr. Suess!
Now link up and see what If I Could Escape and Gone Bananas are serving for this week’s Friday Food Fight.
*Also submitted to*
Alternate titles for this post:
It’s a Dog’s Life
Random Acts of Kindness Not So Kind
While in my car on the way to pick my girls from school the other day, I nearly squashed a small tumbleweed of fluff in the road. Since the petite pooch seemed lost and confused, I pulled over to save her from being roadkill or an alligator’s supper.
We nervously approached each other, but once sitting in the passenger seat a smile grew from ear to ear on her small, feminine fox-like face. “Daisy” appeared grateful to hitch a ride home. Only I didn’t know where home was.
When the girls piled into the car, they immediately noticed the passenger sitting in the front seat. “What is that? Where did she come from? Are we keeping it?” They couldn’t contain the excitement of a new pet in their voices.
“I found her in the road. I need to call the number on her collar to locate her owner. So, she’s not ours to keep,” I said firmly as to not send mixed signals with my heroic act for the day.
But my stern words didn’t stop Allana and Emmalynn from falling in loving with her. They tried to play fetch with her, but Daisy wasn’t interested. Apparently she loves to play dress-up, but then what girl doesn’t love to be a princess and wear tiaras?
All the phone numbers listed on her tag were a dead end and her owners were no longer living at the last listed address associated with her tag and microchip. So, it seemed Daisy would be staying with us for a little while longer and that night, she settled in like she had been here forever.
The next morning, I loaded Daisy and Little Lion Man into the swagger wagon for a trip to our local pet supermarket. If Daisy was going to be staying with us, she would need all the essentials to make her stay more enjoyable. So there I was shopping with a baby and a dog sitting in a shopping cart. Daisy had transformed me into a social deb.
After hearing from the neighbors that we rescued her dog, Daisy’s owner stopped by to claim her. It’s was a bittersweet reunion. How would I explain this to my girls? I anticipated complete devastation once the girls realized they weren’t able to say good-bye to their new friend. Understanding that this could be upsetting for the Allana and Emmalynn, Daisy’s owner suggested I bring the girls around to visit her some time and I took her up on that offer immediately after school.
Unfortunately, our brief visit with Daisy didn’t patch their broken hearts. I tried to explain to the girls that I understood how sad it was for them, but Daisy’s owner felt even worse when her dog had been missing. Daisy wasn’t ours to keep. We were just keeping her safe until we found her family.
The words offered no comfort and at bedtime, the girls sobbed themselves to sleep.
My random act of kindness caused a lot of sorrow in such a short time. Prior to our day with Daisy, I was under the impression that doing good deeds felt good. My friends mentioned that good karma comes your way when you rescue a dog. So why did doing a good deed hurt so badly?
Never wanting pets due to allergies and overwhelming responsibilities when caring for a pet, Allan and I found ourselves second guessing our decision to be a pet-free home.
This morning, I found a note from Allana.
She makes a strong case and I’m easily swayed by money. So, it looks like we may need to find a pooch to ease my girls’ pain.
Parenthood is a dog’s life.
*This post was inspired by and submited to Mama Kat’s World Pretty Much World Famous Writer’s Workshop.*
“Perform a random act of service. And then tell us about it.”
Every time I see these fire hydrants around town, they remind me of Thing One and Thing Two from The Cat in the Hat.
One night while we were hanging out with our friends John and Erika, I mentioned that I would be running 3 half marathons before my 40th birthday. John was quick to point out that the three do not quite equal 40 miles (39.3 to be exact). I thought it was close enough, but I also took John’s words as a challenge to squeeze in another half marathon.
I had already planned to run the Pasco Challenge Half Marathon on March 12, Iron Girl Half Marathon on April 10, but now thanks to John’s prodding, I may also add the Florida Beach Halfathon on March 20. I haven’t decided about the Florida Beach Halfathon because 1) It’s $70, 2) It’s in Fort Desoto which is quite a drive from here and I don’t know anyone else running the race to carpool with and 3) I don’t want to injure myself by running several half marathons in such a short amount of time. The Pasco Challenge and the Florida Beach Halfathon are a week apart.
Later this year, I would like to run another marathon, like the Space Coast Marathon, but I also applied for the New York City Marathon lottery. If I get selected to run the NYC Marathon, then I won’t do the Space Coast Marathon. My confirmation email stated that the race organizers would be making their selections mid-March. Not much longer now! To amuse myself while I wait, I’ve been singing lines from A Chorus Line.
God, I hope I get it.
I hope I get it.
How many people does NYC need?
How many people does NYC need?
God, I hope I get it.
I hope I get it.
How many boys, how many girls?
How many boys, how many…?
You get the idea.
When I train for races, I take it all very serious. I cut back on all the drinking and junk food, because I worry about dehydration and shitting myself loose bowels during a race. With having a baby, it takes a toll on your body and things just aren’t the same in the lower end department if your know what I mean, so my fear of loose bowels is quite possible.
But more importantly, with being pregnant and having a baby, it had been a while since I was serious about training and I guess my girlfriends forgot how disciplined I become when I’m training. A few times when we were all hanging out, I hadn’t been binge drinking with the rest of them and they all thought I was pregnant! BITE YOUR TONGUE! Not that I wouldn’t love another child, but that would really put a damper on all my plans to celebrate turning 40 this summer. I’d like to do so without a hiccup, unless it’s an alcohol induced hiccup.
Speaking of hiccups, my friends and I celebrated our Gasparilla race achievements by throwing back a few beers at our local watering hole. I completed the Gasparilla Half Marathon at my goal of 2 hours, 30 minutes and burned 1, 349 calories in the process. I definitely earned my beer! (You can read more about the race and look at pretty pictures here.)
And on the topic of calories, I lost another pound last week which is a total of 21 pounds since January 1! After burning over 1300 calories on Sunday, I can’t wait to see what I lost this week. I hope I didn’t undo it all with the beer I put away.
Proudly submitted at The Un Mom’s Random Tuesday Thoughts, because when I blog about my runs, it’s usually pretty random.
