Gifts That Inspire Love...

The title of today's blog was actually the subject line of an email advertisement I received from WalMart.com. When the email was opened it revealed ads for such things as heart shaped diamond pendants, teddy bears, diamond stud earings, chocolate gift sets wrapped in pink packaging, gift baskets, a crystal engraved heart shaped paperweight, and oh, I almost forgot... some lingerie.
So today I would like to talk about Valentine's Day. Let me tell you how I REALLY feel. Valentine's Day is probably my least favorite holiday, and one that really gets my hackles up. In the weeks leading up to it we are bombarded with emails, and radio ads (and if we watched TV I am sure we would also be bombarded by commercials) that are designed to urge men to do something great and special for their woman for Valentine's Day. Usually these suggestions are expensive such as diamond jewelry, dozens of roses, romantic dinners etc. I rarely hear commercials urging women to get gifts for their men, and if there is a gift for men mentioned it is almost always lingerie. (Most women I know wouldn't consider lingerie to be a gift for herself.) Does it seem like there is some kind of imbalance here? The man is supposed to give the woman expensive jewelry, flowers, chocolate, and dinner out...(Preferably all of these, right? or he will be seen as a schmuck who doesn't appreciate his woman) and in return she will (if he is lucky) get some new lingerie. Sounds like prostitution to me.
Valentine's Day tries to program men to spend money on material things to show their love. And it programs women to expect that, and to feel like their men are inferior if they don't do all the right things for that special day. I say, down with Valentines!
So I know you are all wanting to ask the question...do we celebrate Valentine's Day? Well, the kids get to buy their superhero or other types of valentines for their classes, and we usually get a simple box of candy for each of the boys. I think its fine to have a holiday to celebrate love, I just hate the way it has been twisted into a commercial guilt trip for the entire country. My idea of a great Valentine's Day is having a nice dinner at home. I might go out of my way to make something special that we will ALL enjoy, and we spend our evening together. That is it. We have had the discussion in years past about the evils of this holiday and the pressure it puts on men to do something that can often be out of character for them. My husband knows that I don't want flowers, or jewelry from him, and although chocolates are always welcome, I will happily forgo them on that day. Do I hate getting flowers? No, of course not! Although I will admit that they certainly don't last long. Flowers are beautiful, but I don't care if I NEVER get flowers for Valentine's Day. Do I hate jewelry? No, but I am a practical person, and I would rather see our money spent on practical things. Jewelry as an expression of love doesn't make much sense to me...because you can't take it with you when you go.
So all you ladies that have a man who seems unappreciative of you year round but showers you with gifts at Valentine's...maybe you shouldn't be so impressed with that. That is like having to be reminded to get your spouse an anniversary gift. Of course, if you are happy with your one day a year of being spoiled, then by all means, continue on.
And you ladies that have a man that shows you that he loves you on a regular basis, but perhaps falls a little short when it comes to the worldly expectations of a great Valentine, well I say, count your blessings. I don't care if I never get flowers, diamonds, or other showy gifts. I will take what I have any day, and that is a man that is truly my partner in every way.
I love you D!

Why do kids get to have all the fun?

I ask you! Why?! We all wait and wait to be grown ups so we can have all this fun we think we are missing out on as kids, and once we are there what do we end up with? Bills to pay, jobs to go to, diapers to change, food to cook, etc, etc, etc. Birthdays and Christmas become a stress and a drain on finances instead of something to be looked forward to and enjoyed. Going camping isn't just about sleeping out in a tent...Instead its about making sure all the tent poles are there, getting the tent set up and making sure there is enough food and other camping supplies to survive. The 4th of July becomes a race to find the best parking spot for the fireworks show, or the best spot along the parade route (lucky for us the parade comes right in front of our house, so securing our spot is relatively easy each year). Being a grown up is about making arrangements, thinking about and taking care of logistics, making the magic happen. The question is, are we trying to make it magic for our kids? Or ourselves?
Of course kids get excited about special toys, treats, trips and etc. But is giving them all those things what they need most? I have been watching my kids a lot lately. Observing some of their habits and quirks. If we go to the school or to a store that has multicolored tiles in the floor, then the world becomes a life sized game board to them. The game is one played by their own particular rules (which can change at any moment) and they spend their time hopping from color to color, or trying to stay on one color or line of tiles. Instead of walking a straight line they are suddenly skipping in every direction, having a great time! I can distinctly remember doing the same thing at the grocery store when I was a kid. I also spend a lot of time trying to think up spectacularly fun things to do with the kids. Then I run out of energy and most of my spectacular plans stay on paper and never happen. Do you know what my kids want most? Just time together. Watching a movie as a family, reading books together, baking cookies, going on walks, swinging at the park. Of course kids get excited about big vacations, but I honestly think that its the time we spend with them every day that they crave the most. I don't know when it suddenly became so hard to find that every day time. I think it has something to do with me forgetting how to have fun. I mean get down on your hands and knees and play kind of fun. When was the last time you had some fun? Think about it, and then go read a book with a kid. Once you let that chance slip by, you can't get it back. Maybe spending time with kids is the only way we will ever get that magic back.

Oreo Update...

A nice reader of this blog mailed me two packages of Oreos. I was pleasantly surprised to get them in the mail today. My husband got the mail (we have a P.O. Box) after the main Post Office was closed yesterday and there was a yellow slip in our box. He thought it was our licence plates for our new van, and I went in to pick up the package today. Imagine my surprise when the package was for me! And inside was a package of Dulce de Leche Oreos, and a package of my all time favorite double stufs! Thanks Heididodah!
I will say that I was a bit disappointed in the Dulce de Leche ones. They are touted as being filled with a caramel flavored filling, but the taste is distinctly butterscotch. I know some people have trouble distinguishing between the two, but I don't. Still, they aren't bad, they just weren't what I was expecting. The Double Stuf ones though, are just the way I like them.
On another Oreo note, I was browsing the Nabisco website in researching for my Oreo post, and looked at it some more after I was done with my blog that day. I even went so far as to email them there at Nabisco to ask them if they have thought about selling the cream filling by the tub. I haven't heard yet. I will let you know.

Family Review...Oreo Cookies...

Okay...I will admit that I am an Oreo cookie lover. There is such a thing as taking things too far! How many kinds are they going to come up with?!
Before I start my review...a few Oreo facts...Did you know that Oreo Cookies were first introduced back in 1912? That means that in just five short years it will be the 100th anniversary of Oreo cookies! I also didn't know that the Hydrox cookie that I always thought of as an inferior Oreo knockoff was actually introduced four years earlier...Oreo just did it better! Original Oreos were mound shaped, and came in cream or lemon meringue flavor. According to some sources the cookies as we know it today was devised around 1952. Now, as I found out to my horror, there are even more varieties than I thought there were! I am not going to review all of them...since I can't get all of them, and I am watching my weight right now, and would rather not watch it increase...In the interest of time and energy I will put a short blurb with my opinion next to each variety. Remember that I am a person that doesn't like a lot of change. I like things when they are good, to stay good...or at least familiar, so while I love certain oreos I am not that thrilled with the changes that new varieties bring.
Original Oreos: I loved these as a kid. I was a dipper back then, and loved the way the little black specks of cookie would freckle the surface of my milk. Unfortunately for this variety I woke up in high school one day and despised the taste of milk. And milk was what redeemed these cookies. Now, in a pinch I might try them dipped in chocolate milk, since I still like chocolate milk, but I will generally pass up original oreos if you offer one to me.
Mini Oreos: Sure you can eat these by the handful, but there is still the same kind of imbalance of cream to cookie ratio that you will experience with Original Oreos. Sorry, not my bag (and they do come in a bag)
Dulche de Leche (caramel cream filling available in select markets, but not my market): This is intriguing...I would try them if only I could find some, and if they were double stuf. (Before you put down my spelling of stuf...that is how Oreo spells it...they think that its original to misspell things rather than just dumb)
Chocolate Cream: Haven't tried them...
Golden Oreo Original: I was going to say that Oreo needed to have a vanilla version for those people out there that don't eat chocolate for whatever reason...imagine my surprise when I came across the description for these...they are the same as the original, but with a vanilla cookie. Yay for Oreo! But again...make it a double stuf, and make it available where I live and not just on the eastern half of the U.S. and I will try it!
Reduced Fat: That is just not right...
Fudge Covered: The only thing besides milk that can redeem an original oreo is covering the whole thing in fudge. I approve!
Fudge Mint Covered: I haven't tried these, but the cream filling wasn't made to go with mint...so I don't approve.
Uh Oh Oreos: Tried them...Didn't like them. The chocolate filling just wasn't the same. These cookies are the reason I don't think I would like chocolate filled oreos.
Double Delight mint and cream: Again, mint and vanilla cream don't go together.
Thin Crisps: What do you get when you cross a wheat thin and an oreo? Well-if there is no filling, then its not an oreo my friend.
Double Delight Peanut Butter and Chocolate: Haven't tried it...don't want to.
Double Delight Mocha and Chocolate: Ewwww. Haven't tried it...won't EVER.
Milk Chocolate Covered: Basically the same as the fudge covered, but there are actually fewer in the package...not right.
Milk Chocolate Mint Covered: Again, cream filling with mint is not my bag.
White Chocolate Covered: This is my second favorite kind, but unfortunately is only available around Christmas.
Double Stuf Peanut Butter: I love peanut butter, but peanut butter flavor with the texture of cream filling just seems unnatural, not that the usual filling seems natural. Now, it needs to be the same filling as Nutter Butters have...then I would be happy.
Double Stuf Mint: My sister Cornflake girl made me try this. Yuck, yuck YUCK! I didn't like it. She likes them, and she can KEEP them.
Last but not least Oreo Double Stuf: Okay...now we are talking! Double Stuf is my favorite! Only I think they still don't have enough filling, so my method of eating is to twist two cookies apart, eat the halves that don't have filling, and put the two filling covered halves together to form the ultimate Oreo... OREO QUADRUPLE! If Oreo would make Double Double Stuf then I would be in heaven. As a kid, I used to scrape the cream filling off with a knife, carefully keeping in in its pristine round shape, and eat it plain. If Oreo filling came by the tub, I would be first in line to buy it. I would eat it with a spoon, I would spread it on toast (okay...on second thought...eww). I would scoop it out with a melon baller and coat it in chocolate and eat it like a truffle. I know a few of you are thinking about my childhood love of eating crisco plain, (remember I stopped doing that years ago), but come on! Oreo filling! As it is I will have to stick with making my Oreo Quadruples, and wishing for a gallon sized container of just the filling. I wonder if they take special orders!
And I know there are many other varieties that have since disappeared. I would love to see the Oreo Big Stuf come back. It was basically a giant oreo...I would like to see that but I want it to look like an ice cream sandwich, only with Oreo filling instead of ice cream inside...Okay? Are you listening Nabisco?!?!
I did stumble across a disturbing recipe in my searches for oreo varieties...Apparently you can get deep fried oreos at fairs sometimes. If this thought intrigues you, you can learn to make your own deep fried oreos at home by checking out this website.
Now for any of you who are concerned for my health, you will be happy to find out that I haven't had an oreo in several months. But I am telling you, if they start selling the filling by itself, I am OFF the wagon!

Why I haven't blogged for almost a week.

I could call it writer's block...I could call it lack of motivation...I could call it laziness...But what it really sums up to is that I have been expanding the number of blogs I read, and I have found that there are several blogs out there that are just way better than mine. I know we shouldn't be comparing ourselves to others (hey there is a good blog topic right there!) but when reading, I just can't seem to help myself. My topics seem mundane, and my writing incoherent in comparison. Oh, there is an occasional gem of humor here and there, but I think that I just don't have it in me to be too serious, or too humorous for that matter in my writing. So I will not be writing as often. I am not quitting the blogging lifestyle by any means, I am just going to wait more often until I have a good reason to write. That is not to say I will never spout meaningless drivel, because I don't want to go weeks at a time without writing...I am just not going to try to write three times a week anymore. That was a lofty goal to start off! If I can make myself write once a week, then I will be satisfied. Of course, there may come a day when I feel like getting out of bed in the mornings, and when I actually get out of my pajamas before noon, and then I may feel more like writing. Right now, the thing I look forward to the most out of every day is the moment I get into bed, snuggle into the warmth of my nice comforter, and go to sleep. I keep wracking my brain trying to think of something I look forward to more than that, but there it is. How depressing is that? From the moment I crawl my way out of bed, all I look forward to is going back to bed that night. If I didn't have to get up to take care of the kids, I think I would just stay in bed all day, and I would love that. Hopefully in a couple of months, when winter is fading away to spring, I will wake up and feel excited again...Excited about the weather turning nicer, and green things starting to grow, and flowers and a lower heating bill. Then maybe my writing will thaw out with winter, and I will feel like myself again. Until then, well I will just try to plug away and make it through. I apologize if this blog lacks during that time.

Paranoia in children, is it natural? Or is it OUR fault

Our 4th son K just turned 5, and lately for some reason the last little while he has had a big streak of being paranoid. He has to sit on a certain side of the table in the kitchen, because he doesn't want to be in sight of the laundry room (which is dark unless we want to waste electricity by leaving the light on when we are not using it) because he fervently believes there are monsters in it.
Then the werewolf thing started. All of a sudden he started asking about the moon, and what would happen if it got full (see my second blog for more detail on that) and eventually we figured out that he was worried about werewolves. I was wracking my brain trying to figure out what we could have done to get him so worked up about werewolves (he asks daily now for a report on what the moon is doing and luckily we are able to tell him that its covered up by clouds-gotta love the Northwest). I finally pinned his obsession to his watching Wallace and Grommit, Curse of the WereRabbit on DVD. Now, we rented that movie when it first came out and none of the boys had a problem with it. I recently checked it out from the Library, and on this subsequent viewing, K is too scared of it to ever watch it again.
Last night I was taking a bath (no-I don't take one every day-I usually shower, but it was cold and I was sore, so I had a soak-and its true that I never get to take a bath in peace...again, see the werewolf post on my other blog) and again I had to hide behind the shower curtain so the boys could come and get their teeth brushed. K came in and asked me "Mommy, are earthquakes real?" I unthinkingly said yes. He started to hyperventilate (pretty close to it anyway). I tried to comfort him by telling him that earthquakes don't happen very often here, that they happen more in places like California. He freaked out worse. Then he started talking about big waves. "Do you mean tsunamis?" I asked. His eyes got bigger and he nodded. I proceeded to tell him about the tsunami evacuation plan, and where we would go if one happened. #3 was in brushing his teeth during this part...and when #4 asked why that was a safe place to go and I said because its higher up than our house, #3 turned around and said "What if its a really big flood?" This didn't help the situation. I sent #4 out to talk to his Dad. He came back a few minutes later (no rest for the weary) and asked what if the big wave came while we were asleep? I explained about sirens and warnings and etc...He said "But I can't wake up once I go to sleep!" I told him that Mommy and Daddy were used to being woken up and would wake up, go upstairs and bring the boys down and put them in the van so we could go somewhere safe. This took several minutes of explaining why it was easy for us to wake up when it was so hard for him. He also asked me if the water would get in our house. I tried to divert him (but that was unfortunately like trying to divert a tsunami). I thought I had succeeded when he said "What about all the cracks where the door is? Won't the water come in there?" I sent him back to his Dad. A little while later he came back in..."What if we are on a boat?" I told him we were not likely to be on a boat on the ocean anytime soon. He started crying (most of this conversation had been punctuated by tears and hyperventilation as well as several conversations about the comfort prayer can bring). He said something about seeing a picture where the waves were really high, and just the top of a boat was sticking out. I finally figured out that Daddy had been showing him pictures on the computer. They were not tsunami pictures but pictures of boats and waves on the Columbia River Bar. I am not sure how earthquakes got into the equation, but I think D might be to blame there somehow as well. So now in addition to his fears about laundry room ghouls and werewolves when the moon is full, we can add earthquakes, big waves, and riding on boats. Lovely.

High Speed Internet and other updates.

Our DSL modem arrived yesterday, and after D spent some time wrestling with the installation we are up and running. I am hoping that having high speed will cut down my time at the computer waiting for things to load. Hopefully I won't be found slumped in front of the computer screen with drool running down my chin trying to win some puzzle game.
The boys are excited of course because they don't have to wait for 20 minutes for a simple little game to load. We have already been barraged by the sometimes annoying music of Radio Disney, which is only an A.M. station that we can get when we are visiting the family in the Portland/Vancouver area, and which we were grateful to not have to endure here. I suppose I should be happy that the sound quality of the station over the internet is better than it is on A.M. radio.
I forgot to mention that we bought a new to us used van the day after Christmas. Our old Astro was in need of about $4000.00 in repairs, a new transmission and several other things needed. We shopped around for two months trying to find something that would fit our needs and our budget. We looked at smaller mini vans, but just didn't feel comfortable with them. We actually ended up buying the first Astro that we had looked at. Of course waiting two months to get it got us a better deal than we would have gotten if we had just bought it in the first place, and we got a little more mileage out of our old van. So now we are the happy yet somewhat nervous owners of a 2002 Chevy Astro. Happy to have a more dependable car with less (many MANY less) miles on it, but nervous in the usual ways about incurring more debt and all the what ifs that go along with owning any vehicle. We manage to make it with just one vehicle, and while it is inconvenient at times, I think that it would be a waste of money and resources to have two cars. One meets our basic needs.
The High Speed Internet and the van were our main news items. I have found myself kind of down after the Holidays, and have been in a bit of a slump. I am sure it will pass by the time strawberry season gets here (strawberries are my favorite) but please forgive me if I don't manage to make myself post to my blogs as often.

My other blog

I think I admitted to having a second blog back when I got tagged by my pal sans auto. That blog is called A Daily Dose of Mischief, and it is specifically for blogging about amusing, frustrating or otherwise memorable things that my five boys do. I don't update it every day, but when something stands out from the many other memorable things that go on here daily, I try to put it in. The blogs there are much shorter than the ones I put here.
Anyhow, for those of you interested in the quirky ways of my boys, or if you are just bored, you can check it out if you would like. Just click the link above or this one at A Daily Dose of Mischief. I am not promising that you will laugh so hard that milk or another beverage will shoot out your nose. I can't even guarantee that you will smile, but its there if you want to read it.