TWB 26 – B is for Be Honest

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Monday Heather had MOPS so we kind of rushed the at home time. We are trying an advent style book this year. (Unwrapping the Greatest Gift: A Family Celebration of Christmas.) We read a short story each night starting Dec 1st and lasting through Christmas. There are suggested discussions listed after each two page reading, but I’m not holding my breath on getting to those. At the end of the day Gideon picked Frosty the Snowman and we didn’t ask for a wait.
With Heather gone the kids got to each pick one which we read in Mom and Dad’s room all together instead of separately in their rooms as is the norm. Gideon picked All By Myself from the Critter Collection while Cecilia picked her Princess Pets book.

Tuesday Heather woke up sick. Obviously that colored the day somewhat. Dinner and Huisinga’s coming over changed. Luckily the kids weren’t expecting them this time. I made a Costco stop and didn’t get the kids home early at all. Running back out to get soup for Heather made dinner late. Cecilia picked Jake and the Neverland Pirates which we watched before our family story time.
After family story both kids had me read them one from The Little Critter compilation we have.

Wednesday Heather was feeling a little better but still down for the day. I took the kids to the community center after work and Heather was able to make a wonderful meal for us. After dinner we had our family reading time before the Gideon picked a Christmas show. The only one we had ready was Yes Virginia.
Gideon got a new class book in, so of course Heather and I read that to him.
Heather also read the class book to Cecilia. I read her Gideon’s library book, Fly Guy and the Frankenfly.

Thursday things were back to normal. After school we did clean-up as a family. There was the promise of being to play on electronics if all went fairly well, and it did. Gideon still struggles to be done when his turn is over, but it’s getting better. Cecilia picked Handy Manny for a show.
Gideon had both of us read to him from his Big Book of Airplanes.
I’m not sure what Heather read to Cecilia, but I read her the story of Jesus birth from her first bible.

Friday Gideon picked Handy Manny.
Cecilia had me read her the Little Critter Grandma and Me after Heather read her a different book.
Gideon had us both read more from his big book of airplanes.

Saturday the kids made cookies with Heather. I was around in a supporting role, but this one is really her thing. Our other big event for the day was going to see the lights at Lake Phalen after church. At first the kids started to throw a fit when our second surprise stop wasn’t going to some kind of indoor playing place. (The first was Sonic) Once we started seeing the lights that changed quickly. Our show was the end of Rio in the car after an emergency restroom stop.
Cecilia had Heather read her Jingle Bells while I read her Grandma and Me again.
Gideon had us both continue in his big book of airplanes.

Sunday we had a pretty low-key day at home. It was nice, and we only had one episode of “I want to go somewhere fun.” We watched some more Amazing Race. I think we’re on episode 4. We just finished seeing the first elimination round for the year. It was Cecilia’s turn to pick and she choose Little Einsteins.
Cecilia had Heather read her Gideon Battle from her second Bible. I read her the hat parade story from her Pinkalicious collection.
Gideon had us continue in his big book of planes. We only have the last one left.

PAD “dinner time” #theidearoom – Preperation

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It starts with an organized work-space. Not necessarily a completely clean kitchen, but a cleared space to make a meal. It helps if there is at least a base for the main dish picked out as well. Once these two things are in place the fun part can start.

There will be a primary flavor that inspires the meal. Maybe sweet, maybe tart. It could be more specific than that even. I’ve had it be lime or garlic for instance. Ideally the flavor will be something easy to incorporate to the main dish. For instance, having sweet as an inspiration for fish is something I haven’t dealt with before. Of course as I write this I think of maple and salmon and I need to focus back at this moment instead.

This inspiration can come from anywhere. Often it’s a matter of thinking about what has worked with the main dish base in the past, what is in the house, and what you have time to pull off. It can also be inspired by the time of year, weather, or just about anything else. The combination of flavor and time will drive the cooking method.

Of course one of the best ways to infuse a flavor in meat is a marinade. This takes time though. Often in the preparation I do the time for a marinade is just not an option. Luckily it’s not required for a good meal with a solid flavor palate. Using some type of sauce while pan coking works well. Also baking will infuse some level of flavor in most food. As a final measure a sauce smothered over cooked food or for dipping will also provide flavor.

Once a base food item, flavor, and cooking method are decided the magic happens. Cutting, pounding, measuring, stirring. One of the most important parts is smelling though. Taste and smell are very closely linked.

Spices to add to the base flavor are a single cupboard away. Oregano and basil for that Italian feel, cinnamon and cloves for that late fall warmth. The combinations are just begging to be used. If you don’t know them use your nose. Try mixing a little in a spoon or measuring cup and smell them. Maybe mix them and give a taste. Try a search on Google for your main flavor.

The hard part here is to remember your side dishes. Get the veggies on in a moment of downtime on the main dish. Baked potatoes needed to be started before anything else. The goal is for everything to be done around the same time.

Try to clean dishes as you go. This is more difficult if you didn’t start with a clean kitchen, and more important.

I’m a little lazy and like to serve either from the cookware or with an eye on storing leftovers. The fewer dishes that get dirty the fewer that need to be cleaned up after.

At the end of prep and cooking it’s dinner time. Relax and enjoy. Hopefully people like what you’ve made. It’s dinner time.

PAD “sparkly” #theidearoom – Two Things

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Sparkly reminds me of two things. New and twinkling.

New things sparkle and shine, and this is the season to give new things out. New things seem to have more sparkle when they are gifts from a loved one then when they are bought from the store for oneself. Houses have more shine during the holidays when everyone cleans up to get ready for family visits.

The classic twinkling during the holidays is the twinkle in Santa’s eyes.
The twinkle of lights on trees and stars in the sky.
Twinkling we see in a baby’s smile.
Twinkling helps us go the extra mile.

Try to catch the twinkle in the eyes of the children as they unwrap their shiny new toys in the sparkly light of the Christmas tree this year. It will be worth the effort.

PAD “ornament” #theidearoom – Memories

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A bit of painted plastic. Some wire or fishing line. Glitter and cloth. It seems so simple on the surface.

This one is from the first family trip I remember. We were so happy then. It was so weird, a Christmas store in the desert, in July. Looking back now it sounds kind of cheesy. I mean, “Christmas in July” right?

They tell me that one is from my first Christmas. I don’t remember it at all. It’s probably for the best. Who wants to remember being poopy and helpless all the time? I don’t remember the aunt it came from either. I’m told my Dad and her were inseparable as kids though.

I haven’t seen these in a long time. The year we found out Mom was sick we got them as a family. It was an act of defiance. We weren’t going to let that ruin our time together. That year was the best Christmas ever.

I’ll get that one. She made it for me the year she died. Dad tried to decorate the tree like always that year. It looked so bad. I remember my sister yelling at him and storming out. He just kind of stood there looking at the tree after she left.

Christmas was different after that year. We still decorated. There were a lot of happy times too. We never brought this box out though. I think we needed to be together, free of the past.

It’s time now. We aren’t always together anymore. Time and distance has tempered the pain and enhanced the joy. We should remember now. He should remember now.

Much of the writing I do here is “real life.” This is not. I have no sister. My parents are both alive. Stories not grounded in reality may be common for the PAD series. Then again, they may not. If you are ever curious if one is “real” or not feel free to ask.

PAD “silver” #theidearoom – The Quest

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My initial inspiration here is for a short story that I can’t do justice in such a short time. Here’s a bit of a look at what part of it may look like if I actually try writing it. (I created an initial draft idea.)

He didn’t realize it but he was on his own now. He hadn’t even noticed when they got separated. It didn’t take long in these tunnels. His problem wasn’t one of pausing though, his was one of movement.

He had kept going when the others paused. Heading forward unseen by the rest until it was too late. The twists, turns, dips and rises in were much to numerous and confusing for there to be any hope of finding him. He was more likely to stumble upon them on accident due to the crisscrossing that defied all attempts at maintaining a single direction.

He wouldn’t care when he finally did notice though. He had one thing on his mind. Metal. All indications were that one of the rarest and most precious metals was to be found deep in these tunnels. This is why they came. This is why he came.

PAD “candle” #theidearoom – Cats, Kids, and Candles

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#theidearoom

I miss candles.

Before getting married I had a cat. I decided to rethink candle usage one day when the cat wanted to join me at the computer desk and stood over the top of a candle. It took only moments to notice, and I noticed first. Thankfully. Imagine if the cat had noticed first. Likely after his fur had lit. In a bachelor pad basement with old furniture and carpeting. Not having the time or patience to train the cat (or he would’ve learned to use the toilet) I eliminated candle usage.

After getting married the cat stayed behind. 🙁  Heather and I did use candles a decent amount though. Then we had kids. It doesn’t take much thought to realize that candles and preschool kids are not the best of matches.

Now Gideon is in Kindergarten and Cecilia is not far behind. Maybe we can look at bringing candles back in the near future…

Photo-a-day, Repurposed

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Yesterday at some point while scanning my Facebook feed I came across a photo linked to a photo a day challenge. Not really being one for photography this type of thing would usually pass me by with little notice. In fact, they have before.

This time was different. It occurred to me that I could grab the photo theme instead of capturing it with pictures, do it with words. I won’t try to make it to 1,000 for each one though, that’s just too much.

Anyhow, the challenge is at The Idea Room and you can check it out if you want. I forgot to follow-up last night. I think I’ll take the “start again” answer to skipped/missed/forgotten days. That means the initial “red & white” that inspired me will forever be lost to the mists of time. Today’s “errand” might be as well since I took my spare writing time to do this post and I may not have time to add another. My purpose is simply writing practice. I created a new category called “Post a Day” for these that should make them easy to filter out if you so desire. I’ll also title them with “PAD {theme} – {title}” for anyone that uses RSS or Facebook instead of visiting.

TWB 25 – Go Bloncos Go

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Monday Heather and the kids played a little bit of Dance Dance Revolution on the Wii after school.  Gideon picked Gaspard and Lisa for a show after a late dinner.
Cecilia and Gideon both got two stories, but for the life of me I can’t remember what they were.

Tuesday the Huisinga family was scheduled to join us for dinner. Unfortunately someone crossed the streams and that didn’t happen. With Matt and Lydia unavailable the rest of them came over about the time we would normally be done eating. After playing for a while Julia picked Mickey Mouse Clubhouse causing Cecilia much angst.
No stories due to the late night of hanging out with the kids and watching a couple shows.

Wednesday we had to high-tail it to Elk River for Gideon’s doctors appointment. Truth is we got there a little late. Despite this the kids did pretty well and we got to eat at a restaurant on the way home. We ended up at Texas Roadhouse, a little noisier than we might normally pick, but the food was good and the wait was non-existent since we had a call ahead number ready from when we lived in Coon Rapids. Cecilia picked Handy Manny.
Cecilia had Heather read the Zara Zebra books while I read her Little Critters When I get Bigger.
Gideon had both Heather and I read his new library book, Fly Guy and the Frankenfly.

Thursday was Thanksgiving of course. This year we did a brunch at Rush Creek Golf Course courtesy of my parents. This did have a bit of an advantage in prep and cleanup considering they just moved. The kids weren’t too into the parade while we were home in the morning. The rest of the day was pretty low-key and relaxed. Gideon picked How It’s Made. (Cecilia wasn’t happy with that, but stayed to watch it.)
Cecilia had me read R is for Robot while Heather read to her from the Richard Scarry collection after she first asked for the robot one.
Gideon had us both read from the pinkalicious book.

Friday there was an open bounce period at Pump It Up the kids got to play during. I tried to do some writing, but that didn’t work out the best. The evening found Cecilia picking Doc McStuffins.
Cecilia had Heather read something, but it went south at some point and it sounded like she didn’t get to have her whole story. I read her Jake and the Neverland Pirates Halloween.
Gideon had both Heather and I read him Jake and the Neverland Pirates Halloween.

Saturday we tracked down a new sled at Fleet Farm after Walmart and Target had previously failed us. Apparently Fleet Farm had tons of them. This is of course sled number 2 so the kids don’t have as much waiting for sledding time. Heather now wants to get number 3 so she can slide down the hills with the kids. After trying out the new sled we had a pretty normal Saturday afternoon with a rest time movie and church. Gideon picked Octonauts for bedtime.
Gideon had his latest class book for us both to read him.
Cecilia had Heather read her Gideon’s class book and I read her Olivia.

Sunday was a down day. The kids were bouncing off the walls so an attempt to get them to the community center was made. It took a lot of convincing, but they finally did decide to make the trip. At the end of the day we managed to watch a little bit of the 2nd and 3rd episodes of this season’s Amazing Race followed by Cecilia picking a new Chuggington for the evening show.
Cecilia had me read her the Zara Zebra books and Heather got to read her Gideon’s class book again.
Gideon had us both read him his class book again.

TWB 24 – Don’t say couple, just say two.

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Monday we tried to get a booster for Gideon in the Mini which would allow for more options when it comes to child transportation. Currently there is only one child seat in the Mini and it’s getting tight for Gideon. They didn’t have the color he wanted, so it’ll be picked up from somewhere else later. During a late dinner Gideon chose to watch Sophia the First.
Cecilia had Heather read the Foot Book and me read the sleepover from Pinkalicious.
Gideon had Heather and I both read him stories from his bibles, Heather from the newer one and me from the older one.

Gideon regularly asks us to pick him up late. This ended up happening, unplanned, on Tuesday. He complained that they didn’t get picked up in time to go the indoor park. There is no winning here. Cecilia picked Mickey Mouse Clubhouse at the end of the evening.
Gideon had us both read 5-Minute Marvel Stories.
Cecilia had Heather read The Foot Book and me read Creepy Carrots.

Wednesday the kids got to go to the indoor park at Shoreview Community Center after school. In an effort to get Cecilia to stop spending every night attempting to raid Gideon’s room for books Heather dropped Gideon off after and brought Cecilia to the library to pick out her own story, like Gideon gets to do at school every week. For a show Gideon picked Sopiha the First.
Cecilia had Heather read her library book, R is for Robot, and I read her Gideon’s latest class book.
Gideon had me read a story from his library book and Heather read him his class book.

Thursday we had Cecilia’s conference at Love to Grow On. (They are a non-profit in case you have some extra donation money available this year. I might be able to make a whole new post about them even.) Of course I forgot it was happening and got there late. When we got home the kids had to help with all the pick-up and then they were allowed to play games on the Nintendo for a bit. At the end of the night Cecilia picked Sophia the First.
Gideon had us both read his library book.
Cecilia had us both read her library book.

Friday the Huisinga’s got to watch the kids while Heather and I went out. We are blissfully unaware of the details concerning the evenings activities.

Saturday was family picture day. Heather found, through Renee I believe, someone offering quick little mini-sessions from her home studio at an affordable rate. This idea suited us, so off we went to Elk River. Afterwords we spent some time sledding at Lion’s Park in Elk River, the oil changed at Cornerstone Auto, and barely made it to the 5:00 church service. Gideon picked Spongebob Square Pants for an evening show. I’m not sure we’ll watch it again soon, it was really strange.
Cecilia had us both read Zara Zebra, two books.
Gideon had us both read his library book.

Sunday we had a little more low-key of a day. I took the kids to the community center while Heather went shopping and she took them to play outside while I rested later on. (After her and the kids had rest-time.) A little Amazing Race rounded out the day with Cecilia asking about the girl with the broken arm. She then picked Spongebob. I tried. Luckily there’s only one or two more available before they will have seen them all.
Cecilia had Heather read When You Give a Dog a Doughnut while I read When You Give a Moose a Muffin.
Gideon had both us read from the 5 Minute Marvel Stories book again.

TWB 23 – Cheeseburger with only the cheese.

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Monday was our first big snow of the year. This time around it came without the huge drive it would have in the past for Heather, and without the rushing home to clear the driveway it had me doing. The driveway here was quite icy though, so we may need to supplement a little with ice melt and/or light shoveling. After a thrown together dinner Cecilia picked a Mickey Mouse Clubhouse for our evening enjoyment.
Cecilia and Gideon had Heather read Gideon’s latest school book to them. Gideon had me read it to him a second time.
Cecilia had me read her Oliver and Hope’s Adventure Under the Stars.

Tuesday we went up to Elk River for dinner with the Huisinga’s. The kids weren’t really playing together the best this time around. Cecilia was doing mostly her own thing, Isaiah got tired of playing with Gideon after just a bit, and Gideon didn’t want to play with Lydia. In all it was a bit of a chaotic night. The kids watched the beginning of Frozen on the way there, and on the way back they watched Elsa’s castle building scene 4 times before fast-forwarding to the end. (Gideon got hold of the remote while I was getting ready to go to the van.) I let them finish the last ten minutes after we were all home.

With Heather having forgotten her phone at home Wednesday wasn’t supposed to be anything special. (Otherwise she might have taken the kids to the Shoreview Community Center for indoor playground time.) Gideon ended up having a bit of a rough night and losing his show privileges, so Cecilia picked Dora to watch on her own.
While Cecilia watched Dora Gideon and I read Otis and the Scarecrow and There’s No Place Like Space. We took our time reading and talked about the books some since we had the time to take while the show was on for Cecilia. heather started to read him the Otis book, but he decided he was tired and didn’t want to finish.
I read Cecilia The Robot Book and Heather read her Otis and the Scarecrow.

Thursday the kids did get to go play at the indoor park. This was after Gideon had a rough day at school including two notes home and a phone call. I talked with him about it at night and it felt like we made some progress. Time will tell.  After a honey mustard chicken stir fry the kids usually love Gideon got to pick Mickey Mouse Clubhouse.
Gideon had me read him The Robot Book, and I think Heather as well as Gideon was reading most of the book on his own and likely wanted to show her.
Cecilia had Heather read Ho Ho Tucker. She really wanted a Christmas book for some reason. I got to read her the Palace Pets again.

Friday we had big ambitions in mind, but reality set in quickly. Our stop at home to get Heather was slowed down by bathroom beaks. We did still manage to get haircuts for the kids though. They also got to play at the Burger King play place nearby for a bit to run off energy. After a night that went far to late for what it was we came home to a show but no stories. Cecilia didn’t make it down in time to pick, so Heather put on a new Doc McStuffin’s for them. Cecilia proceeded to stay awake for another hour or hour and a half after that.

Saturday started out being a bit of a low-key day at home. The kids just didn’t want to go anywhere after breakfast. They were doing well playing with each other and it seemed like a bad idea to try forcing them to behave in a store. Heather likely got the shopping done faster as a result, so there’s that. After church we brought the kids to the community center for some indoor playground time. Gideon wanted to go out to eat after we were done. To his credit he said we should do Applebee’s and not McDonald’s  because we had gone to Burger King the day before. We did end up going to Panino’s due to a lack of thawed out foods for dinner. And Red Robin having a 45 minute wait just to be seated. (Immediate seating at Panino’s.) Since our night was extended a little later than planned due to back-tracking to find a restaurant and leaving the indoor playground later than planned the kids got to watch another new Doc McStuffins and have no stories.

Sunday we had our first day at the pool part of the community center planned. It was also the last day of the family movie series which allowed us to watch How To Train A Dragon 2. As per usual Gideon liked it more than Cecilia. After a successful 1.5 hours at the pool we headed home for a low-key evening. We let Cecilia pick Mickey Mouse Clubhouse as a kind of reset, and Gideon will start the week with his choice on Monday.
Gideon had both of us read Otis and the Scarecrow.
Cecilia has Heather read Baby Dear while I read Color Kittens, both from the Little Golden Book Collection: Sleepytime Tales.