Eat, Read, and Be Mommy

If you have a learning-to-reader, you really need to check out Houndsley and Catina (and its sequels). (How’s that for hopping straight into the subject matter?  Can you tell I’ve got a lot to do in the next 48 hours?)  It was an impulse book at the library; I saw the author, thought hey, that’s the Bunnicula guy!, and figured it was worth a try.

It was.

Its three chapters give us a peek into the comfortable friendship between–you guessed it!–a dog and a cat.  Houndsley likes to cook and is very considerate of his feline friend’s preferences (she’s a vegetarian), while Catina aspires to be a famous writer and asks for her friend’s opinion of her work.  The honesty and kindness in their friendship is delightful, and Howe manages to be both moving and amusing in his storytelling.  In a few months I suspect my almost-six-year-old will be reading this series by herself; for now, it’s perfect for reading aloud to her.  Don’t miss it!

I was due for a post yesterday, I know, but my niece was moving out of her summer dorm and needed a place to stash her stuff for a couple of weeks.  I got to go down to Provo, feed her and her poor roommate (the roommate was having a bad day already, and that thing she was sadly consuming looked like an abomination, not a pizza), and drive back with a stuffed panda half the size of Texas in my car…all the while remembering my aunt, who died of cancer just before I got married, doing the same thing for me. I still miss her–you’d be surprised at how much–but getting to be a little like her for an evening was a beautiful thing.

(I also missed some projectile vomiting at home.  Sorry, honey.  At least it was only formula…)

I went to Wal-Mart today with the kiddos–we were a one-family circus, with my son running every which way no matter what I said, the little stinker–and I was brutally attacked by a bag of the newest ‘special edition’ variety of Oreo.  (Have I mentioned that ever since my third pregnancy–the Oreo pregnancy–I have not been able to resist trying Oreo flavors?)  I’d like to say I feel guilty about this–I really would–but seriously.  They were Brownie Batter Oreos.  Tell me you would have passed them by. (If you had, it would have been a mistake, by the way.  Those things are TASTY.)

Unfortunately, I failed in my quest to find more funky-flavored Lays.  I tried three of last year’s four contestants (I don’t drink coffee, so I skipped the cappuccino), but I’ve only found two of this year’s thus far, and I’ve yet to open the Truffle Fries bag.  (I was disappointed in the kettle-cooked Greektown Gyros; I wanted to taste feta and tzatziki, but they’re meaty and herbal.)  My old boss alerted me to the existence of New York Reuben chips, which I tried and failed to find at Wal-Mart today.  (Believe you me, I’ll keep looking for those.)  The Southern Biscuits and Gravy isn’t so much a draw for me, as I’m weirdly sensitive to black pepper, but I’d probably buy a bag out of sheer curiosity.

I also (briefly) considered trying the sloppy joe-flavored potato chips put out by Herr’s (I think), but passed, since the Fire-Roasted Sweet Corn ones by the same people were just–strange.  I still remember the Late Night Cheeseburger Doritos from a few years ago (they tasted freakishly like a McDonald’s cheeseburger.)

What funky flavors have YOU tried?

I was looking for a taquito recipe to try the other week, and when I saw these Slow Cooker Cream Cheese Chicken Taquitos I thought–hey!  That means I don’t have to cook the chicken and then mix up the filling!  I am ALL OVER that!  I made them for dinner the next night thinking they would go over okay with everyone but #2 (the one that doesn’t like Mexican food)…yeah.

Not so much.

Here’s the kicker.  My hubby thought they were fine, but #1 didn’t like them much better than #2 did. Which is kind of baffling, because I thought she’d be fine with them.  (The boy, by the way, ate 2 with gusto.  He likes Mexican food.)  I enjoyed them, I have to say.  Not in a “these are so amazing!” kind of way, but in a “this was a beautifully easy recipe that’s pleasant to eat” kind of way.  We need those in our lives, right?  They were creamy and flavorful, although the flavors involved weren’t terribly complex.  I actually followed the recipe except for the amount of chicken.  It called for two chicken breasts; I used four plus a can of Costco brand chicken when I shredded the cooked meat and saw that it was still pretty saucy.  If you have the Dolly Parton style chicken breasts, two might work; if they’re smaller, definitely use more.  (By the way, I only made enough taquitos to feed the family the first night, so I used the rest of the filling up in quesadillas.  It worked nicely.)  We served them with salsa because that’s what we had, but more toppings would certainly be enjoyable.  (Olives rolled up inside the taquitos would have been nice.)

As far as dessert goes, I have a disclaimer; I didn’t actually make these Oatmeal Cookie S’Mores Gooey Bars.  My hubby did.  He made them with three-year-old help, actually, and admittedly stale marshmallows, and so I can’t swear that they won’t turn out for you.  For us, however, the mixture didn’t really bake together, and while it certainly didn’t taste bad, it didn’t actually turn into bars.  (I called it dessert granola.)  We brought it to a family reunion and it was too crumbly for people to eat.  Perhaps soft marshmallows and a lack of preschool help would make a difference, perhaps not.

I’ll leave you to decide.

It’s probably fairly obvious that I don’t read a lot of church books, since I review all of the books that I read on this blog; it isn’t that I’m not religious, but reading is a relaxing hobby for me (it’s my downtime!), and doctrinal books require a level of concentration that is, by definition, not relaxing. Recently, however, my mother-in-law gave me Sheri Dew’s Amazed by Grace.  It’s incredibly short, and so when I decided to revive an old habit of reading a more faith-related book on Sundays to help set the day apart, it seemed like a good place to start.

Grace, Sister Dew points out, is an infrequently discussed concept in our faith.  (We believe that it is ‘by grace we are saved, after all that we can do,’ and we tend to focus on the doing because that’s more obviously our responsibility.)  The book, therefore, discusses what grace is, as well as how we can receive it and apply it in our lives.  It’s not the easiest book to read, perhaps–she is pithy, and I really did have to concentrate–but I found it incredibly rewarding.  I even highlighted a few passages, and that’s not something I do terribly often.  It is, ultimately, a denominational book, but I think anyone interested in the topic would find it worth his or her time.

When I was little, I read all of the Thornton W. Burgess animal books that we had.  Oddly, I never looked for more at the library, but maybe that was because even then I knew they were old; I grew up in the 80s, and the books in questions had been gifts to my father as a child.  When my parents moved out of the house I grew up in, my father asked if I wanted those same books, and I jumped at the chance.  They’ve been sitting on my shelves for a year or two, and today I finished reading Happy Jack to my 2nd girlie.  (I picked it for her first Burgess book because I remembered re-reading it as a child.)

Happy Jack is a grey squirrel who stores nuts for the winter and hides from Shadow the Weasel, the one predator who can climb as well as he can AND fit into similarly small spaces.  On paper, I suppose, it doesn’t look that interesting, but I still enjoyed it at 36; Burgess has a folksy, grandfatherly sort of tone, and I learned quite a few random facts about wildlife from reading his books.  My girlie enjoyed it, despite our stop-and-go progress (it’s been a busy summer), and says she wants to read more.  I love reading to her and I’m excited for her to enjoy books I remember enjoying, but I confess–there’s something extra special about reading a book to my daughter with this inscription on the inside cover:

Stanford from Daddy and Mommy

Jan. 23, 1949

That’s my dad, and on January 23, 1949, he turned 7.  His health isn’t what it used to be, now, nor his memory, but he still snuggles with and reads to my children, and it makes my heart happy to hold such a book in my hand and read it to my daughter.

Such are the simple joys of parenthood.

One of my friends from college is a middle school librarian in Texas now, and while I don’t have the time to read ALL of the books she recommends on her blog, I do try and hit a few.  (She introduced me to Harry Potter back in the day, a few months before Goblet of Fire came out.  I trust her book judgement!) After reading her review of Maya Van Wagenen’s Popular:  Vintage Wisdom for a Modern Geek, I put it on hold at the library; I’ve renewed it multiple times since then, but it finally worked its way to the top of my list.

The premise is impressive, really.  Maya Van Wagenen was living in Texas when she discovered a teen popularity guide from the 1950s hanging around her house.  She decides to try its advice for a year, recording the results.  (Since this meant–among other things–following fashion advice from the 50s, it took considerable courage.)  Maya has both highs and lows, but she sticks with it, and the result is a book that in NO way screams “written by a 15-year-old.”  I found myself comparing it to middle grade novels told in the first person, actually.

That fact that it’s a good book, however, is not the reason I wish I’d read this in junior high. Instead, it’s the conclusion she ultimately draws about the nature of popularity that would have benefited me.  Her findings surprise her, but she has the maturity to take the lesson she learns and apply it in a fabulous way, making the conclusion of her experiment a delightful one.  I wish I had known at 11 what she discovered while wearing pearls to school; if I had had the courage to act on it, I think my experiences in junior high and high school would have been a bit different than they were.

Sadly, my kitchen computer isn’t.  Yet.  My hubby very sweetly set me up with a laptop, but laptop keyboards are not so much my friends, which is why I haven’t been posting.  On the other hand, I do hate to return a book to the library before I get my review done, and Jim Gaffigan’s Dad Is Fat is due this week and not renewable.  And so I brave the laptop keyboard!

Dad Is Fat was actually a book club pick, and I’m glad–I didn’t actually know it existed, but I would be sorry to have missed it.  In it, Jim Gaffigan captures the ridiculous aspect of parenting; what makes me happy is that even as he does it, his love for his children and for his role as a father comes through.  Gaffigan jokes about being a clueless dad, but any man who takes all five of his (YOUNG) kids to the park by himself has mastered the basics.  (And let me be clear–that statement holds just as true for women.)  He loves his family and loves spending time with them, which is what makes his humor so enjoyable.  It’s not negative–it’s wry.  I about died at his bit about keeping toddlers awake once they reach the no-napping stage.  And the bit about the sunscreen (although most of my children have avoided my redhead skin).  And the–okay, you really ought to just read the book yourself.

Bottom line?  Jim Gaffigan isn’t perfect, but he’s funny as all get out–and the world needs more dads like him.

Not only did we not have power for over 5 hours today–which wreaked serious havoc with my laundry schedule–but when the power came back ON, my kitchen computer did not.  Which means, sadly, that my review of the Oreo meltaways is going to have to wait until it’s back, because prolonged typing on a laptop keyboard (my hubby set me up so I could cover the basics) is not my favorite thing.  Stay tuned for a progress report!

(By the way, I am beyond all grateful that this outage happened on such a randomly cool July day.  Sometimes the simple blessings are the ones we most desperately need.)