Suzanne Calling

As a kid, there were a few meals that came from a package or dining out that I loved.  Chef Boyardee Beef Ravioli is one (though I find that sauce nasty in anything else) and Pot Pies are the other. A long departed restaurant across from Lincoln Center served one of the best Chicken Pot Pies ever, and it is one of those items that if I find it on the menu, it'll be hard to talk me out of it.  More often, though, I'll pick up one out of the freezer at the supermarket and be quite content. I don't know why I never bothered to try to make them, considering that it's a meal that always satisfies, but today, when I was driving home from a friend's house, I'd suggested it as a dinner option to Ed and got an "oooooooooohhhhhhhh" that told me I had a very good idea. The thing is, I make a damn good chicken gravy (otherwise known as chicken a la king) and a great chicken soup, but the consistency of pot pie falls somewhere in the middle.  I ...

I've been in the process of reorganizing my bookshelves. Now that I'm using the iMac, the Ikea desk I bought last year is getting used regularly, so the bookshelf next to it is also getting a workout. Last week, I pulled out anything non-school related to stuff into my other bookshelf (we'll ignore the fact that there are about a dozen boxes full of books in the garage-I'm a girl in need of a library and no extra space in the house!). Anyway, the reorganizing placed stacks of notebooks, of folders, and of various journal articles between the shelves of books. There is also a space barely kitteh sized, and Scamp, not finding a flat space of at least 3" that he hasn't tried, decided he had a new perch when I'm studying. Well, he did until he shook the bookshelf too much, looked up and had a JavaScript pocket guide fall in front of him. That spooked him, he shook the bookshelf some more, and my painting of a mountain range fell from the top and landed on ...

Easily 50 gig on my hard drive is taken up by the pictures I've taken since late January, when I got my Nikon. The cataloging of these pictures hasn't been high on my list. Meanwhile, when I put the SD card into the Mac, it creates a new numbered folder, and there's no way to tell what is in each folder, so yesterday, I started organizing the 200+ folder, after which I realized that there were pictures I did not locate. Off to iPhoto, to find about another 10 gig of pictures. I guess I'll be cataloging some more tomorrow night, but for now, I found all the pictures of stuff I'll be putting up on eBay. This, of course, was the purpose of going through the albums in the first place. I love semester breaks, when I catch up on all manner of housekeeping!

When I asked Ed what he wanted for dinner, the answer I got was "not Chicken," which left the field wide open. Plans to visit Land and Sea Market while I was in Brandon this afternoon were scrubbed because the weekly specials didn't appeal. What to do? Well, the trip to the local supermarket came up with some thin cut 'spanish steaks' and visions of fajitas danced in my head. Now they can dance in yours This way works better, because Game Teen can have only cheese and meat, the rest of us can load up what we like. For instance, Chef will load up with cheese and Cholula and mine have a ton of onions. The best part is that there are plenty of leftovers.

At this time, I had just given birth to a 9 pound, 11 ounce baby boy. He has enjoyed celebrating his birthday today by picking out his own birthday presents, had one of his favorite meals for lunch (General Tsao's chicken) and a Carvel cake. It's amazing how quickly time flies, because it seems like only yesterday he was this little guy: and now he's this guy! Happy Birthday, Game Teen!

Ed and I have been sifting through lots of memories. One surprise was how many pictures Ed's Mom had of things we did not, like our wedding. When we'd venture up to New York, the cameras came out. When they came down here, more of the same. Sometimes, we got prints, but not of everything. As we were holding a grandson hostage 300 miles away, we appeased a doting grandmother by getting duplicates of every picture taken of 'wonderbaby', as Jane had dubbed Game Teen. Mom had them all saved in albums and boxes. On top of that, she appears to be the family keeper of the negatives-ALL the negatives for everyone. I wasn't sure what to do with those, but my niece told me there is a USB device that will scan and covert them to digital images. Now, we have some memories that have something more than the images in our brains. It'll be interesting to see what else we discover over the next few months. Game Teen is just over 2 months old here. It wasn't uncommo...

Tonight, I am proud to say I am the mother of TWO Boy Scouts. Chef's Cub Scout pack had their annual Blue and Gold dinner and Webelos Crossover ceremony. I prefer the combined festivities, because it's great to have family and friends witness the highest achievement in Cub Scouting. What's really cool is that this year is the 100th Anniversary of Scouting in the U.S. To recognize this milestone, there are special patches for various ranks. For instance, last month, Chef's Webelos badge had 2010-100 years of Scouting emblazoned on it. He earned his Arrow of Light, and he and the other boys got patches with "2010" in red. When I think back to that little kid that brought home a flyer 4 1/2 years ago and insisted he had to do it, it makes me feel good to know that he's gained so much from the experience. Congratulations, Chef. We're very proud of you.

Or, second trip to WDW in a week and I'll visit the same park again! The next couple of months, it seems like a lot of friends are making tracks for the Mouse's house. My former boss, Joyce and Tim, a blogging friend, a few YaYa sistahs and more. Today, I went over to meet my friends Liz and Greg. It was great to see them and make our way around the park. What I liked the best was that because they're coming down again in a few months, we enjoyed a relaxed pace today. They suggested doing one of their favorite activities, which I'd never seen before. Over the years, I'd heard about Miyuki, the artisan who crafts beautiful animals out of taffy at the Japan pavillion, but I'd never taken the time to watch her in action. It's one of Greg's favorites, so we hung around waiting for her next show time. It was impressive, and something I need to bring the boys to see. In a couple of minutes, talking the whole time, Miyuki takes a ball of hot candy and t...

...just about anything. But I didn't have a bad day at Epcot, I had a good one. Some pictures and few notes today. My apologies to those of you following along on Facebook today, some of these are duplicates. (If it doesn't take a dog's age to upload video, there might be some Soarin' video tomorrow, too). The morning started with rain. A LOT of rain. I almost canned the planned visit, but I thought that even with the rain, I'd have a good day. The reason Disney hates people like me. This is the only thing I purchased in the whole time I was in the park. Have Vitamin Water, will travel. The first ride I went on. In the line, I recognized someone from a message board and thanks to using the scooter, I experienced the standby line for the first time. With the walker, I end up in the alternate queue. Sitting in the scooter is better in some respects-I'll take the wait. Looking for Spanish wherever I can for my class. It was funny, I heard a couple talk ...

Long time readers will remember the Christmas of two years ago , the one in which Game Teen took all of his presents into his room and opened them before the rest of us had stirred for the day. He did it again, only this time, he took ALL the presents into his room. They weren't labeled, so he didn't know which were his and which were his brother's. Yes, it sucks. I'm disappointed and annoyed. Chef started the day on the couch, crying and saying he wished he had a normal brother. What do you say to that? Ed rapidly rewrapped Chef's presents and he opened them. Within the hour, he was happy-but kept apologizing to us for his brother's poor behavior. The nice thing about the PS3 coming out is that the PS2 and accompanying games are CHEAP. There's a boat load of racing games, too. That was this year's family gift, and I think that two of them will be racing against each other a lot. We kept some traditions, though it was kind of interesting each tim...

It's Christmas Eve. The tree isn't up, the presents aren't wrapped and the kids aren't sleeping. But it'll get done. Just like years ago, even with one knowing about Santa (and the older one unaware), they still get just as excited as when this picture was taken: As long as there are presents under the tree and monkey bread to eat in the morning, they'll be happy. And that's all that really matters. Merry Christmas, Everyone!