Day 27: Post Your Favorite Recipe

It's impossible to say what my favorite recipe is, but I'll post one that I love, one of my comfort foods.

It comes from my friend Anne, whose family made Vermont Maple Cookies for Christmas when she was growing up.  I invited her to come make cookies with me in preparation for one of our Dutton Cookie Days and she brought this recipe with her.  We had Vermont Maple Cookies EVERYWHERE, because we decided to double the batch and hadn't really looked at how many the original made...4-5 dozen, depending on how big you make them.  Cookies on every surface.  And in the background, Veggie Tales with the classic (and never to be forgotten to Anne) "If It Doesn't Have A Tail, It's Not A Monkey" song.  I think we had to make something like 3 batches of frosting and by the time we were finished, we were hot, sticky and giggly from the effort...or maybe from the sugar high.

They were a BIG hit at Cookie Day!  Imagine, if you will, cookies that taste like itty-bitty maple bars.  Bite sized maple bars. Except better, because they're all maple-y and not deep fried.  

I'll give you a moment, here, to wipe the drool off your computer keyboard...

Rather than just type the recipe, I scanned the copy I have, complete with stains and splotches and notes.  

Day 26: An Old Picture Of You

Updates

I drove to Lewistown to get my hair done *ahem...FISH* and had some time to re-think some of the blog challenge posts from this month.

Day 4: I'm also afraid of small, tight places, especially around my head.

Day 5: Dearly love the song "Brave" by Sara Barreilles, too.

Day 7:  If I was honest, kinked up garden hoses and wet socks drive me nuts!

Day 16:  I'd be thrilled to drive a reasonably priced car around the track at Top Gear to embarrass the Stig.
Day 19:  I didn't intend to, but my friends are helping me collect flamingos, too.

Ivan and Jenny brought me this wine bottle stopper from Bonaire where they went diving this spring!

Day 24: Your Favorite Childhood Book

I was going to take a picture and tell you about it, but then changed my mind and decided to take the pictures and READ it to you....virtually, of course.

You MUST find a cozy place to sit, and if possible, grab or borrow a child to sit on your lap as you read this story.  I wish I could provide each of you with a little cup of tea with honey and gingersnaps to complete the experience, but I'm afraid that's impossible.

Now, then...

Miss Suzy by Miriam Young (Illustrated by Arnold Lobel before he became famous!  This is one of his first works.)

Day 23: The Best Thing To Happen This Year

(I didn't come up with the challenge...let's just get that clear, here and now.  It was one we found on the internet and I claim no responsibility whatsoever for the awkward phrasing of the daily post assignments.)

Now that we have that little disclaimer aside...
I don't have any idea what the best thing TO happen this year will be.  But, I can tell you the best thing that has happened to me this week.

Last night, in an unplanned slumber(less) party due to inclement weather during our board meeting, my friend and I stayed up all night having a couple beers, trying to kill mice with snow shovels.

In her house.

Because a broom just bounces them, it doesn't kill them.

We decided that a pregnant mouse must have gotten in the house and had babies while my friend was gone because we counted no less than 12 mice all the same size, about an inch long.  And they were FEARLESS.

AND....
I'm so proud to tell you...
WE were FEARLESS.

It was fun because we were so tired that it was funny, you know?  I can only imagine if someone had driven by the house at 2 a.m., saw the shadows of two women swinging shovels and yelling, "GET HIM!!!" what they might have thought.  Well, they sure wouldn't have slowed down, I can tell you that much....

I think we slept for about an hour and a half, both on the couch with heads on each end and no body parts sticking out, until at 4:30 I heard what I thought was a mouse in one of the traps.

Ha-HA!!!!

Turns out, it was many mice and it wasn't a trap as we had deliriously thought around 1 a.m....it was a box with very tasty bait that they could go in and out of like a club house, which they did happily, practically sticking their tongues out at us because snow shovels are all but useless between the refrigerator and the counter and they KNEW this.  

We finally gave up, sat on the couch with our feet up under us and talked about politics, religion and life while drinking instant coffee while watching those nasty scrabbly little things frequent The Bait Bar.

We got the number for an exterminator and are setting up a full-scale battle which WE won't be attending.

I HATE mice.
But I love my friend and we made funny, awful memories...still laughing and shuddering as I type this...

Day 22: What Is Your Dream Job?

Ooooooo!

THIS is sort of like my bucket list and lottery question all neatly wrapped into one topic!

The thing about dream jobs is that they seldom fit the life one is currently leading, so part of the scenario I'll describe would be if I didn't have to consider anyone else's well being or future.  That's why it's called a "dream" job.  

So....

I'd really love to be a photojournalist for National Geographic Travel magazine who is centrally stationed in the Caribbean on an island in a little hut where it doesn't matter if I track a little sand in and where I can make beach glass jewelry to sell to the wealthy (and gullible) tourists.  

See?  

What's YOUR dream job?

Or are you doing it right now?

Day 21: Your Ten Favorite Foods

Who came up with this list, anyway???

Obviously, it was someone with a neat purse, nearly empty (and spotlessly clean) refrigerator who glances in the mirror and says, "My smile is my best feature.  I must go, now, and use my lottery winnings to fulfill my bucket list...", proudly sweeping out of the room with her favorite song playing in the background.

Or something.  

How am I to narrow it down to just TEN???

And if I boldly clump all seafood together as one item, will I get kicked out of the challenge?  Because my list of seafood loves, alone, takes care of about six spots right there.

(You can stop reading at #10.  I might just keep listing...)

1. I'm going to do it.  I'm going to say "Seafood" in every form I've ever met.  Scallops, lobster, shrimp, crab, clams, geoduc (pronounced "goo-ee duck")...bring it on.  When I was on the east coast, I think I ate seafood at least twice a day for ten days.  Some days I ate it four or five times.  Or more.  
2. Bacon.  
3. Bread.  I know I should be more specific, but I can't be...it's like the seafood.  One of the most perfect foods in the world is clam fritters at Aunt Carrie's in Rhode Island; bread AND seafood!
4. Cheese.  Stinky cheese, soft cheese, hard-and-crumbly cheese, cream, curds.  *pausing a moment to wipe the drool off my keyboard*
5. Summer tomatoes still warm from the vine.  
6. Lemon ___________ (fill in the blank with anything, but bonus points if you said "Lemon Blueberry Cake")
7. Pasta. (See Bread, Cheese and Seafood)
8. Peanut butter!  Another one of the best meals is a Thai noodle dish with a spicy peanut sauce.  
9. Steak.  
10. Strawberries

My less specific, more honest list is like THIS:

1. Mexican
2. Chinese
3. Thai
4. Greek
5. Southern
6. Italian
7. French
8. Indian
9. German
10. Drive In

I must go prepare lunch, now...

Really!

Day 20: A Difficult Time In Your Life

So...

Before  I start this post, you MUST watch this video from the movie "Miss Congeniality".

Perfect Date

Now you have a frame of reference for my answer to this question.

:)

The most difficult time of my life has consistently been between 2 and 4 p.m.  

That's where I collapse.  

My brain shuts off.  Not "shuts down" but "shuts OFF".  

And it always has!  

I remember in grade school, that was when I was supposed to be learning history and social studies and science.  On Fridays, it was art and I could fumble through that, being all right-brained and creative.  

In high school, I was able to be in study hall, choir and home ec...all classes that I could sort of wade through without too much effort.  Weirdly, I got choral awards and home ec accolades all four years of high school.  Who says "auto-pilot" is pointless?!

In college, I loaded my mornings with classes and did my work study and off campus work in the afternoons.

At the arena, I hung on by the skin of my eyeteeth during those hours; apologies here and now for the teams I turned out and timed those years.  You probably had better times than the records reflect...my gate reflexes may have been impaired.  It doesn't help that I'd been wrapping steers until 10 p.m. the night before and watering driveways at 5 a.m....

As a mother, I prayed, prayed, PRAYED for long nap times in the afternoons. And by golly, my babies took naps come rain, snow, sleet, relatives, Superbowls...you name it.  Those babies were going DOWN by 1:30 and God save the person who accidentally woke them up early!  (I'm sorry, UPS and Schwan companies, for ignoring your knocks.  Ain't no ice cream worth 20 minutes early wake up of a baby in the afternoon...)

Now, I try to get as much done as I can before this slump.  Or, if I need to be doing something, it has to be brainless....like folding clothes or loading the dishwasher or something.  I take notes if there's a phone call because I honestly might not remember the details.  And I know better than to drive.  

A difficult time in my life is from 2-4 p.m. EVERY DAY.  

Now that you have that information, please be kind and work around it...

Token flower picture, just so you have something to look at....

Day 19: What Do You Collect?

Besides shoes and books?

Cookie cutters.
I have 87 that I use for cookies and another 12 that are play dough designated.

It all started with fish cookies, thanks to the Yost women, and now the cutters just seem to show up...from friends and family, from travels, from second hand stores.

Teapots and flags and states and dog bones and cactus and lips...
I only have two states...Montana and Texas.  What other states really count, anyway, right?  (*wink*)

 High heels and martini glasses, maple leaf and Santa and hearts....

The old fashioned cutters remind me of my grandma and Mom, of the cookies we cut out when we were kids...

There are moose and penguins and lions and flowers and helicopters....

Kitschy 1970's plastic cutters that don't really work all that great, but still make me smile because they're so....1970's, you know?

Kangaroos and bears and cowboys and fish and angels and snowmen and...
yes...
FISH!

A friend recently asked if I had anything musical, like a treble clef or quarter note, and I did not.  BIG gap in my collection!  I also don't have a lighthouse, sasquatch, dinosaur, baseball bat, football, wine bottle or yin-yang.  (So those go on my bucket list, right?)

I really wanted to show you my shoes, because I've added to the collection thanks to a two day half price sale at St. Vincent De Paul thrift store in Miles City.

SILVER SANDALS! 

We won't go near the book collection....

Happy Birthday, Boy-child!

You'd think that the first child would be the one who surprises you all the time, that by the time you get to the second one, you'd have the parenting thing sort of figured out and relax.  Well, let me tell you....Angus has been surprising me for 7 1/2 years.

That's right.
7 AND 1/2 years.

He was my turkey poisoning.
I was terribly sick over Thanksgiving, positive I'd eaten turkey that had been sitting out too long.  Never once thought I might be pregnant, because we'd had to take such heroic measures to get pregnant with Maggie.

He came early.
I was due in August, he decided to be born in July.  We didn't have the bassinet set up, I didn't have an outfit for the child to come home in, no newborn diapers...we still had a couple weeks to get all that stuff together, right?
Wrong!

He was colicky.
I didn't know what to do with a baby that cried 6 hours a day for 7 months!  Babies were supposed to sleep and eat!  I was counting on that, especially with a two year old to keep track of.
Yeah, well...this one is different.

After we got through with the colicky hell days and I got on some anti-depressants, things got better.

We discovered that he has the most tender, kind heart...his sister was stubborn and defiant, got lots of spankings.  The boy child, though, just needs talked to in a stern voice and glared at...he goes to pieces and will never do "it" (whatever got him in trouble) again.  He cries for other people, too.

He's always got a pet near or on him.  He's always busy building or destroying something.  I'd like to take a moment here and thank his paternal grandfather Vern Pluhar for giving him a little shovel to dig treasure holes all over my lawn and a hatchet to skin my carragana trees.  Also for cultivating a deep love for rocks, old metal things found around homesteads, and boxes.  I looked in Angus's underwear drawer the other day and it has been cleaned out to make room for his rock/coin/stuff collection.  I don't know where the underwear is.  I don't WANT to know where the underwear is.

He sings a lot.
Especially in public restrooms.

He can wear any hat with great style and look fabulous.

He's never really fully dressed without a tie, and I've found out that he MUST have collars on his shirts to feel comfortable.  (DESPAIR that I have a child who NEEDS polo shirts!)

He likes being tickled, loves being snuggled, still holds my hand when we walk across the parking lot at Walmart.

LEGOs.
He's absolutely passionate about LEGOs.

His favorite song is Bon Jovi's "It's My Life" or the Beatles' "Obladee-Obladah, Life Goes On"

Right now, he's building LEGOs in some sort of Star Wars manner, singing happily, telling me stories as I type.  This afternoon is Campapalooza, his birthday party that he's invited everyone he's seen or talked to for the last 4 months.  I have no idea what the head count will be, I just know he's taking all his guests on a hike, followed by rolling around in the tent in my yard, followed by cake and ice cream.  So, I'm going to wrap this up and go clean for the big event!

Happy birthday, little man!