Life in the Slow Lane

Christmas was two days ago. To me it is now officially over. The presents were all put away yesterday, and the ornaments came off the tree last night. A few more things to do around here and it will look like Christmas never even happened. Except, there's one person, with one toy here, that is going to make it very difficult to forget about Santa. Part of who my little Alex is makes him have a new obsession every few weeks or months. He will get 'stuck' on a topic, and then eat, sleep, play, and dream it. Usually they last 4-6 weeks, so we always look ahead and know something different will come soon enough. BUT, in our house, it has been Christmas since mid-October. Somewhere along the way Alex saw something santa/reindeer related and he had his mind set one what he wanted to do for the next few months. Me being the nice mom I am, and being happy that he chose something to actually play with, I scoured the internet for a great santa toy. I was sick of creating sleighs

It's no secret, I love to bake. I mean, I REALLY love to bake. I dream about new recipes and making amazing things that I know people will be talking about days after they try it. But, I don't love to cook. All the ingredients, recipes, dishes to wash as you go, veggies to cut, all just way too time consuming if you ask me. I used to cook more elaborate meals when the kids were too small to eat with us, but now that they eat 'normal' food and don't enjoy grown up yummies , I have to cook 2 to 3 meals each night. No fun at all. These days alot of the dishes I make include grilling or baking, but nothing is better than the almighty crock pot. I mastered the use of mine about 5 years ago and couldn't be happier with most of the results I've gotten over the years. Chicken Enchiladas, Stew, Soups, Dips, Roaster Chicken(yes, a whole chicken!), and so much more. It's amazing what little effort is needed for a delicious meal. I want to share today my all-ti

Dear Michael Kors, Thank you for making the prettiest thing I could ask for this Christmas:)

Many people look at the photo to the left and see absolutely nothing of importance. Just a half of a walnut with some cotton and thin rope. I look at the photo and see part of my childhood gone, part of who I am sadly missing. My grandfather has been the most important person in my life. Of course I have a kind husband and great kids, but their importance is different. My grandpa taught me many things about life, love, and everything in between, even if I wasn't really paying attention at the time. Of course because of him I can fry the perfect egg and change my own spark plugs, but I also have a greater understanding of what true love between two people is really like, and how to give unselfishly to my family. I'm digressing from my walnut. Grandpa loved working with his hands, a trait I undoubtedly received from him. He was a big, burly man, but could work on intricate things as if he had the hands of a thin woman. One thing he made that has brought a smile to my f

Of course working with 5th-8th graders every day, I was intrigued when I noticed almost all of the girls reading Twilight at one point or another. So skeptically I decided it was time to see what all the noise was about. It started like any other Friday for me, I went to a few stores before picking up my son from school, and hit Borders last and grabbed the first book in the series, Twilight. As I waited in the school parking lot for him to come out, I scanned chapter one and thought to myself, 'eh, take it or leave it, same as any other gooey, girly, junior high book.' But then, then something wonderful happened...Edward Cullen and Bella Swan met. From that point on I could not put the book down. Dishes? Laundry? Dinner? Who cares. I had important reading to do, as if my life depended on it. And that was the beginning of the end for me. Every free moment I could steal was spent pouring over the book. When it was done I felt a little empty, incomplete. I rushed out to Tar

What happened to the huge family gatherings that would last until almost midnight? Filled with food, lots of wine, and the unbuttoning of many pairs of pants around the table. In our family those wonderful times are long gone. Why? Because everyone already has their eye on the brass ring of Christmas. And more importantly, they are all overly concerned today with the sales of tomorrow. What time does that store open? 4am? 6am? Midnight? May as well just stay open 24 hours at that point. Can't we all just be content for one day, to sit back, enjoy the day, and be thankful for what we have? I can hit a good sale any day of the year if I try hard enough. But not tomorrow.