Thanks for the Suggestions!

Okay, first, thank you for the suggestions I have received.

Gulp.. I bought a roast. I looked up cooking instructions in my Good Ole' Betty Crocker cookbook. I am hoping and praying it will work.

I am going to do crescent rolls from the tube. (I am confident on this part of the meal.) I will nuke a veggie... and bake some potatoes. (I figured baked pot. worked with a roast.) I will put some sort of salad together.. and YES, it will originate from a bag. The salad dressing has me a little perplexed.. but I am thinking Good Seasons in a carafe. I actually own a carafe. Who would have thought I would ever put it to use!?! I will open a can of olives and pour them into a bowl. (My Italian mother would be greatly disappointed if I didn't.) I found directions for a broccoli casserole thingy. It looks pretty easy, so I may tempt fate and go for it.

I have not figured out dessert yet, so keep those suggestions coming.

I am going to go troll the grocery store tomorrow and maybe come up with an idea or two. Heck, I may just stare in other people's grocery carts and see what they are buying. Isn't imitation the best form of flattery?

Does anyone know how to make Shirley Temples? I think my boys would think they are hot stuff if they had a fancy schmancy drink.

Shoot... I just realized I don't have a blender. Mine broke... ummm... making adult beverages. Do I need one? I am thinking that I may buy a bottle of wine. Any suggestions on this?

Okay.. so now you know my tentative dinner plans. I am getting down on my knees before bed each night and PRAYING this goes off without a hitch.

A girl can dream, right??

Christmas Dinner

Well, the countdown has begun to Christmas dinner. I am cooking for my parents, Moe and Nick and the 5 of us. To some of you this would be an intimate dinner. To me, this is HUGE! I am not a cook. Let me put this into perspective for you. My children think I have cooked a gourmet meal if I didn't use the microwave. (Remember that Mac & Cheese is not a microwave meal.) I have to come up with something to cook that will not kill my family.

Now, I am thinking some roast thingy will do, though I have no clue what or how to cook it. Is it acceptable to microwave veggies for Christmas dinner???? I am so out of my league. If you read my last post I mentioned cooking a big dinner two years ago. You see, I bought a ham. (They are precooked.. you just heat and serve.) I really want this meal to be edible. I am not asking for the moon here, just something that won't cost any of my family hospital co-pays. Is that too much to ask?

Now, the main course has me worried... but considering I really don't eat dessert type foods at all, that is also a problem. Can I serve frozen pies from the grocery store that I cook? Flour and I normally do NOT get along. So, really, baking a pie... not a chance in Hades. Do slice and bake Christmas sugar cookies count as a dessert?

You may think I am joking.. but ohhh noooooo I am far from joking. I am truly in waaaayyyy over my head on this whole dinner thing.

Any suggestions or if anyone is a chef who would like to cook for me and allow me to take full and complete credit, please leave a comment!

Holiday Season

I have always loved the holiday season. It has not typically been a time for sadness for me. The past few years have made me look at Christmas from the highest highs to the lowest lows. So, I think I have become more introspective than I once was. (That could also be age, but that is another story.)

Two years ago my grandmother died on Christmas morning. She was a religious woman to the core. She suffered a brain stem stroke 5 days before Christmas. There was no chance of recovery. That was the first Christmas in our new home. We had already planned on having Jerry's huge family over for dinner. His mother had passed away just weeks before. I had been cooking my heart out for days... well, for two days. (For those who know me, you know cooking is far from my strong suit. So having such a large gathering is very out of character for me.) This ended up being a blessing. I was able to add my parents and my aunt and uncle for dinner with ease. They needed to be surrounded by life. My mother and my aunt had been struggling with each other the days before my grandmother's death. We were all able to break bread together, while dealing with celebrating this important holiday for the first time after losing two very strong women. It was a day of mixed emotions. It was a day to lean on each other. The loss of my grandmother that morning gave Jerry's family a positive focus for the day. They turned their attention from their own mourning to help my parents... any my family through this very overwhelming day.

Last year on Christmas Eve Madeline was placed in my arms. Her adoption was finalized on Christmas Day. Talk about going from one extreme to the next. In a year's time we went from a death to a new life. Strange. We had no idea the year before that we would be spending Christmas in China... much less to have Madeline come to us on such a amazing day. The anniversary of my grandmother's death now became a day of celebration.

These two extremes make me really stop and think. Now, I am a God fearing woman... but I am also rather... hmm... sarcastic and some may say rough around the edges. I have a loud personality, off color sense of humor and well.. I am not the picture of feminity. I have found these diacotomies in my life to bring me a unique perspective on things.

I saw my grandmother's death as a very sad blessing. She suffered from Alzheimer's for several years. She had just gotten to the point where she no longer recognized people from the present. Dying on Christmas was probably the biggest gift she ever received in her life. Christmas is a day to celebrate life. She celebrated life each and every day. I believe when she saw the heavens open to let the Christ child down, she saw her chance to slide right in to heaven. I believe she needed to be in heaven in order to watch over Madeline for us until we could get to her.

Madeline's adoption day falling on Christmas is almost surreal. To add this beautiful, dynamic person into our family on this date... whew... intense.

This year I am anxiously awaiting Christmas. I have no idea what the day will hold for us. It seems like forever since we had a "normal" Christmas. I look forward to remembering my grandmother, celebrating Madeline's Gotcha and Adoption days and just being with my family. Maureen and Nick will arrive from Australia Christmas Eve. Sharon and the kids will arrive Christmas Day. I am sure the day will be just as rich as it has come to be for my family over these past few years.

Can't wait to tell you all about it.

A Friend

You know, sometimes it is hard to know how to be a friend. It is not easy to see things black and white. I am struggling with friendships right now. Struggling, not in having or making friends, but in being the friend I can be to others and allowing them to be a friend to me.

Kids make friends easily. They also move on from friend to friend in a more carefree manner. They run, play, laugh, disagree and squabble. They know when to take their toys and go home. They understand that sometimes you aren't friends with someone anymore. They may be sad when a friendship ends, but they openly make new friends.

I think if I decided to write a personal plan for improvement I would include a friend category. I am not a good friend maker. I have very few true friends in my life. I have written about friendship disappointments in the past here and that is not what this is about.

Currently in my life I feel like I have these little friendship circles. All of them interesting, but not much for me... just me... as a person. I go to activities like Bunco and Girl's Night Out. It is always fun. I have my one best friend from college, my sorority sister, whom I love with all my heart, though our lives are vastly different now. I have co-workers who I enjoy tremendously, laugh and goof with, but not connected with.

Maybe adult friendships, for me, are not the deep ones. I would LOVE to have a best friend. That may be the little girl in me coming through, but to have someone to giggle with, complain about my husband to, listen to, share glories and defeats with, would be nice. I think I would be in girlfriend heaven if that happened.

Currently, I have friends, but no a deep connection. I don't pick up the phone and chat about life with anyone. I look at friendships more from an outsiders perspective. I don't feel jealous or envious of other people's relationships because I am so glad they have found that connection with another person.


Maybe having a best friend is more of a childhood activity. Truly, my best friend is my husband, though having a woman's perspective to tap in to would be nice. I tell my husband just about everything. I love him to bits. He is kind, patient, loving, ornery, stubborn... all of the things I love in a man. He is my best friend on so many levels... but not what I am looking for in a girlfriend. I think the testosterone may get in the way of sharing pedicures and PMS talk.

Maybe I should take out a want ad.

Wanted
1-best friend

Qualifications:
quirky, patient listener who likes to laugh and share and is willing to make an effort to be a friend
No prior experience necessary
All interested applicants will be considered
Prefer non-smoker


PS Must be willing to pretend to laugh at my really bad jokes and not like the lemons to lemonade analogy! (HA!)

Thinking alot... Writing a little

It has been difficult for me to write here lately. I think life has taken so many twists and turns that sometimes I need to just stop. It isn't writers block because I sit for hours and "write" my thoughts in my head. It is just the need, perhaps, to control my surroundings for just a little time.

One of the things that has been in my mind is something that may seem odd. I am not sure where this thought process comes from, but it is prevalent, lately, all the time. Recently someone made the comment.."when given lemons, make lemonade". Normally, this would have seemed perfectly normal to me. Not anymore. Right now this saying bothers me. You see, to me, if you are given lemons, then you have lemons. Why the need to change them? I don't understand this. Maybe it is my current feeling that people are no longer content in life anymore. Sometimes what we have in life IS enough. Sometimes we need to go through the sour times and learn and grow from them. We don't have to think that we should pour a little sugar and add water to.. voila... our life is better. I guess I am at a place in my life right now where I know the difficult times, the lemon times, are necessary.

I know this may seem crazy to some people, but to me it is important. I think we need to appreciate everything in our lives for what they offer. We don't have to like everything, but accept that even the sour things have a place in this world.

If I was judged by my attitude at times... which can be very lemony... then people would always be trying to improve me to their liking... instead of understanding that I have many faces. I tend to see people as unique and special just as they are. Don't get me wrong, I know there are sickos out there... but when talking about lemons, we aren't usually talking about the worst of the worst. We are talking about the bumps along the way.

A few bumps, a few unexpected twists and turns just make life richer. I am better for the lemons in my life. I am stronger, more patient and accepting... I am more understanding and loving for understanding that even the lemons have their place in the fruit bowl.

Enough said.....