Eat, Read, and Be Mommy

My friend Britt has been receiving books to review on her blog (http://bookhabitue.blogspot.com/) for quite some time; I finally asked her how to go about making that happen for myself, and I am pleased as punch to present my very first review of a book sent to me for precisely that purpose.  Wahoo!

The premise of You Look Yummy amused me from the get-go.  What’s not to love about a baby herbivore who hears a Tyrannosaurus say “You look Yummy!” and assumes that he’s his daddy, calling him by name?  The surprised ‘father figure’ (that phrase will ALWAYS make me think of George Michael) finds himself in an unexpected role; he steps up, however, and like any good parent, puts his “child’s” needs ahead of his own.  (Warning:  Parents might shed a tear or two at the ending.)  Tatsuya Miyanishi’s Tyrannosaurus series is wildly popular in Japan, and Museyon, an independent publisher, is releasing You Look Yummy this November.  The art is simple and bold–Bob Shea comes to mind, although that’s not quite it–and the text is straightforward in a way that allows the reader to fill in the Tyrannosaurus’s emotions for herself.  Or himself.  If you have a dinosaur lover at home, don’t miss this.

Despite all of the vomit–four of us were throwing up last night, and I completely lost count of how many bowls I emptied, including my own–I did manage to finish William Shakespeare’s The Jedi Doth Return, and it was a satisfying end to a fabulous trilogy.  I actually found it a little harder to concentrate on the words in this one, but that’s because I’ve seen “Jedi” more than I’ve seen the other films, so the actual lines were floating in my head more, and they sometimes collided with their Shakespearan counterparts.  The bantering action scenes were delightful (think Jabba’s palace, the speed bikes, and the scene where they’re trying to open the door of the bunker), Luke’s reaction to Leia’s metal bikini made me giggle, and I rather appreciated the asides that gave insights into the characters’ thoughts.  I wouldn’t choose to read anything like this with so much sickness in the house again, but that was a concentration issue, because oh, the lack of sleep!  (And I didn’t know how much sickness there was going to be when I started it.)

My last word?  There is a perfect bonding opportunity for ‘Star Wars’ fans and English majors in this world, and it is Ian Doescher’s William Shakespeare’s Star Wars Trilogy.

After taking the baby in on Friday and getting Amoxicillin for her ear infection (they tried a breathing treatment for the wheezing from her bronchiolitis, but it didn’t change anything), I really thought the sick was winding down at our house.  The boy still coughs a gunky cough from time to time, but he’s mostly better, and baby girl is sleeping again.

Then came the throwing up.

My oldest ran upstairs this morning, calling for “Mom!” in a tone of voice that didn’t bode well; her sister was throwing up on the steps leading up to her loft bed.  As far as cleanup, it was actually pretty simple; her stomach was apparently empty to start with.  Unfortunately, the emptiness didn’t seem to deter her stomach from its efforts.  She threw up phlegm and bile every 10-20 minutes–for SIX HOURS.

By that point, I’d gotten hold of the on call doctor at our pediatrician’s office, who told me to get ahead and take her in.  Thankfully, the hospital with the children’s wing is close enough that I just went there (she told me I could choose between instacare and the ER, but instacare wouldn’t do an iv if she needed it).  It was completely empty, and they took good care of us; half a Zofran dissolved under her tongue, two teaspoons of liquid every 5 minutes for an hour and a half, and home we went.  (By way of an open pharmacy, that is–for more Zofran, just to be on the safe side.)  She ate one waffle and drank more water at home, and now ALL the kids are asleep–including her older sister, who is either getting sick or very tired and anxious about the possibility of getting sick.

Sigh.

I have at least two recipes to blog about, and at least one book to review, but all I can think about are my poor sick kiddos and how badly I need sleep.  It is what it is.

Goodnight, folks.

Last Friday, when I ran to the grocery store for ingredients to make the Cinnamon Roll Cookie Bars, I was stopped in my tracks in the middle of the produce section.  And I wasn’t the only one, either.  I have a tendency to think out loud, and my “Strawberries for $.88 a pound–in SEPTEMBER?” elicited similar observations from the nearest customer.  Not only were we floored by the price (because really, you JUST DON’T SEE THAT), but we were impressed by the quality.  They weren’t perfect, but they were awfully impressive for September strawberries in Utah.  I bought some, of course, and while some are still in the fridge, and some went to a baptism on Saturday, the rest starred in these Strawberry Lemonade Bars, which I was psyched to try.

Let me start out by saying that the recipe isn’t kidding around about the cooling time required–two hours is really not enough unless you’ve got a plate, fork, and napkin.  Luckily, I did follow the recipe (surprise!) and so I didn’t even try to cut them any earlier.  As for how they were….hmmm.

My parents tried them and enjoyed them.  My son nibbled and then bailed (he’s an ‘eat off the frosting’ kind of kid), my oldest seemed to like them, my second girlie was ambivalent, my husband’s reaction was predictable (they weren’t so much his thing) and I–was ambivalent, too.  Here’s the thing–the shortbread crust was lovely, and it combined very nicely with the fruity tang.  The combination of strawberry and lemon, however, was a bit odd in these.  My carpooling friend said they were very different, and mentioned that the strawberry seeds were not so desirable if you’re looking for the smoothness of a typical lemon bar.  I just didn’t love the flavor combo, I guess–I’d rather have a lemon bar with the crust and filling, maybe, and a strawberry cream cheese bar on a different day. Unfortunately, while I’m still ambivalent, I’m also a sucker for home-baked treats, acidity, and shortbread.  The bars are gone.

Yeah…I don’t really want to talk about it.  Let’s just say that the next time I make a treat that I know the rest of my household will NOT enjoy as much as I do, I’m making up plates to share with neighborhood friends before I break out the fork and open the container holding the leftovers.  I’m already having eater’s remorse.  Learn from my mistakes, friends.

Someone has to.

I couldn’t resist trying the SunGold kiwis I found at Costco the other day (because really, my need to try things is only intensifying with age!).  Have you?  If your tastes run a bit sweeter, you may prefer them; I love acidity, however, and so I’ll probably stick with the green in the future.  They’re good, you understand.  Just not as tangy.  (Speaking of green, I did try an emerald plum once upon a time, and it was tasty.)

Interestingly, I’ve only just learned that yellow watermelons exist as well–which leaves me wondering how many other fruit variations I’ve been missing out on all this time.  What’s out there?  What should I try?  Anyone?

I’m not wanting to wish away this period of life, mind you, but the sick littles are miserable and I never do well when I’m up in the night too many nights in a row.  My 7-month-old has a nightmarish cough and my 3-year-old spends all day melting down over, well, everything.  (“I want to go to the store and get a golden delicious melon!”)

Surely I’m not the only parent to want to fast forward to whenever the virus of the moment has run its course, right?

(The bright spot for the day?  We found pants for the girlies to wear to school tomorrow, since the weather’s changing.  AND they fit. AND they’re both thrilled with them!)

Normally I’m feeling chatty about a successful new recipe, but my littles are both sick, and the lack of sleep is kind of putting a damper on coherent thought.  Be that as it may, however, these Cinnamon Roll Cookie Bars were AMAZING.  I had to bring dessert to a thing on Friday night AND today, and I was intending to try two different new recipes, but again with the sick littles (my poor kiddos!).  I settled for making these on Friday and only sending a couple of platefuls with my hubby and the girlies; the rest came to the family baptism today, although there were so many desserts that I still took some home.

Here’s the best thing.  Other than a quick run to the corner grocery store because I don’t normally stock cook and serve pudding, these were INCREDIBLY easy.  They’re a cake mix bar, and you just dump the ingredients in a bowl (including the lovely two tablespoons of cinnamon), stir, and spread the batter in the pan. The only change I made was to add vanilla to the cream cheese frosting, because who wouldn’t want vanilla in the frosting for this recipe?  (Speaking of the frosting, there was PLENTY.  I didn’t actually use all that I made.)

These are buttery, cinnamon-y, cream cheese frosting-y, and altogether lovely.  I’d spend more time convincing you to make them, but really, those adjectives say it all–and why should I keep typing when I could be eating one more of what I brought home today?

Mmmmmm.

Has anyone seen the 2015 Reading Challenge put out by Popsugar?  A friend of mine from RI shared it on FB at the beginning of the year, and I’ve been trying to work through it–even though having a baby in February pretty much ensures that I won’t be able to finish.  My friend Britt found Anna Elizabeth Bennett’s Little Witch for me when I was looking for a book by an author with my initials, and I finished it last night.  And it is, indeed, odd–but cute.

Part of the oddness comes from being a bit dated; it was published in 1953, and life was just a tad different then (not to mention children’s literature and fantasy in general).  It also, however, sacrificed some character consistency in favor of a cute ending.  I doubt anyone in its target audience will care, but I had an ‘alrighty then!’ kind of moment when I finished it.

Still, the premise is cute and the story is fun.  Minikin is a 9-year-old witch’s child who wants desperately to make friends, go to school, and live a normal life.  Instead, her witch mother is mean to her and turns people from the town into flowerpots that sit on her windowsill.  Minikin–Minx, for short–finally gets up the courage to go to school, however, and that starts a chain reaction with surprising (and satisfactory!) results.

If you don’t read that much children’s literature and are only interested in the very best, I don’t know that you need to pick up this one.  If you enjoy children’s literature, on the other hand, this is a fun, fast-paced, fairly short read.  Keep it in mind as Halloween approaches!

In no particular order…

1.  It looks like we’re getting a new bathtub for Christmas…3 months early.
2. My baby’s ears looked good at the pediatrician’s today.  It’s not that that’s a bad thing, it’s just that it means her symptoms are likely teething, and may thus go on FOREVER.
3. I’m liking the Limited Edition Caramel Apple Oreos.  They’d be bizarre if they weren’t golden Oreos, though.
4. Monday holidays completely destroy my sense of what day it is for the rest of the week.
5. I went for a walk in the neighborhood tonight, just to drop something by a neighbor’s house, and fall is in the evening air.  The sheer wonder of it thrilled me!
6. AND I’m looking forward, rather desperately, to winter as well.  Between the pregnancy and last year’s non-winter in Utah, I feel like I’ve been hot for a year and a half.

I’ve clicked through more than one series of ‘Reasons my kid is crying’ pictures on FB; chances are, if you’re a parent and ON FB, you have, too.  After all, moments like my own son’s microburst of tears at the breakfast table yesterday–because we wouldn’t let him lick the butter out of the container–are easier when we remember that all kids have such moments.  I was, therefore, kind of excited when I saw on my library website that Greg Pembroke, who created Reasons My Son is Crying, had a book out, so on hold it went.

If you haven’t seen any of the picture collections, or the website, or the book, well, the premise is pretty simple.  People (especially Pembroke) post pictures of their toddlers during their tantrums, along with the catalysts for said tantrums.  (I was going to say reasons, but really, sometimes the reason is that your child is overtired.  Or in a bad mood.  Or, you know, TWO.)  The book gave me lots of reasons to giggle, with pictures of tears over everything from spills to terribly unreasonable rules, (like ‘you can’t eat an entire tube of diaper rash cream’); Pembroke also included occasional anecdotes better served by words rather than pictures.  All in all, if you’ve seen several of the FB lists, half the pictures may not be new to you, but they’re still good for a laugh.

Check it out someday when you need just that.