The Stitch

Brian's birthday was yesterday. From the moment Ellybelly woke up, she kept pointing out the fact that there was a perfectly delicious, untouched chocolate cake sitting on the table, and should be not be eating it? IMMEDIATELY?

The kids and I let Brian sleep in until 9:30 and that's when Adam declared, "HEY! IT'S MY TURN FOR A NAP!" So the three of us snuck up the stairs and pounced on Daddy. Elizabeth said, "Happy birthday, Daddy! Let's go eat cake!"

Down the stairs Brian, Elizabeth and I hopped, leaving Adam to catch a few winks. Once we were down stairs, ELizabeth grabbed Brian by the hand and dragged him toward the kitchen table.

"LOOK, DADDY! A CAKE!"

So, once again, I earned my title of SUPER-AWESOMEST MOM OF THE YEAR and I fed my two-year old chocolate cake for breakfast. We lit candles, we sang the birthday song, and that's when Elizabeth stuck her pointer finger in the frosting and dragged it slowly across the length of the caketop.

Brian and I accomplished quite a lot yesterday. Brian stained and sealed half a dozen shelves I'm planning to hang in the playroom, and I finally refinished our coffee table. I sorted and packed away all the summer clothes and we pulled out and washed all the winter clothes. We've got a huge three-bag donation for the Rescue Mission.

For dinner Brian requested delmonico steaks, for which he made a delicious sweet hot pepper sauce.

Today we're heading out for a hike after naptime to collect autumn leaves, and then we'll be picking up a few movies at the video store including Ratatouille!

Happy Birthday to the most wonderful guy in the world, Brian Piper!

By request, for AJ!
Thank you, Kathy, for sharing this recipe with us!

Tomato Pie

1 1/4 cup flour
2 Teaspoons of baking powder
1/4 Teaspoon of crushed basil
1/2 Teaspoon of salt
1/2 Cup of solid shortening (I use butter Crisco)
1/2 Cup Sour Cream
5 large tomatoes peeled and sliced
3/4 - 1 cup of mayo
1 Tablespoon of chopped onions
1 Cup shredded white cheddar cheese (I think I'm a little more generous)
1/2 pound of Bacon fried and patted and cut into pieces

Combine flour, baking powder, salt and basil. Add in shortening. I use a pastry cutter and cut till it crumbly. Add sour cream and mix until dough is moist enough to hold together. Spread or pat dough into greased 9" pie pan (along bottom and sides) to form a crust. Place the sliced tomatoes on the crust. Sprinkle with salt and pepper. Put the bacon on top. Combine mayonnaise, cheese, onion and spoon over top. Spread to cover the tomatoes/bacon.

Bake at 355 degrees for 30-35 minutes until golden brown.

Can be served hot, cold, or room temperature.

I had another follow-up appointment this morning - and as I'd predicted, the thyroid was out of whack again, so they upped my meds by 25mcg. I also received my new cholesterol numbers! Last time my cholesterol was 295, which is dangerously high. We made a switch to a partial vegetarian diet, and now eat chicken or fish twice a week. The rest of our meals are entirely vegetarian. In just a couple of months my cholesterol dropped down to 180! I've also lost 20 pounds since then, too.

So, to celebrate, I came home and fried up two whole pounds of bacon so I can spend the next few evenings making a dozen or so tomato pies to freeze for the winter. Two pounds of uncooked, packaged bacon looks relatively harmless, but I have to admit, when you see a heaping plate of two pounds of fully cooked bacon, it's a utterly obscene.

I won't lie. I wanted to lean my face right into the plate, chow down and follow it with a fluffernutter chaser.

Overnight I have made the shift from being MOMMY to MOM. I have no idea how it happened, but Elizabeth has decided that "Mommy" is what BABIES call their mothers. She is NOT a baby. I figure it will pass, though. Two weeks ago she was calling me Heather and telling me she did not love me anymore because I scolded her for poking Adam's eyelids shut. ("But I'm BLINKING him, HEATHER!"). Today I'm her BFF because I feed her bacon and let her bring a blade of grass to nap with her.

*shrug* Whatever keeps her from crying or from beating on her brother. That's really all that matters.

This is just a quickie update since I'm in the midst of the annual Halloween chaos.

We're still working on figuring out the correct level of medication for the thyroid issues. I feel GREAT for about 3 weeks, then the energy level dips back down and everything else aches or itches. My doctor warned me that it would take a while to find a dosage that works for me, so I'm trying to be patient. And we ALL KNOW how patient I am. Right? RIGHT?????

Adam is crawling, has four teeth (with two more coming in) and has learned how to pull himself up. Elizabeth has been wonderful since he was born, putting up with an awful lot of "But Adam is just a baby." As he pulled himself up to the coffee table the other day and stood up proud and strong, Elizabeth looked at me and announced, "Mommy, he is NOT A BABY anymore. He is a BIG BOY."

So I guess we're officially done tolerating anything with a "baby" excuse attached to it.

Brian is back in jujitsu kicking some a$$ and getting his a$$ kicked. He's too cute for words, but don't tell him I said that because he'll say I'm blowing his macho-cool image. I've joined the SCA and am now a scribe. I'll be making scrolls using illuminated manuscripts as reference. I've wanted to do this for a long time and it gets me out of the house every few months. We attended our first SCA event over the weekend. I'll have pictures for you as soon as Brian uploads them.

And this. THIS is what I'm really looking forward to seeing. Yes, I know the costumes are not historically accurate, but you know what, this is a movie, and the designer is allowed to add a dramatic flair to the costuming. (Expect repros!)

Finally, how about a few recommendations?

Brian and I rented a great flick called "Little Children" with Kate Winslet.

Heidi Swanson has written one of the greatest vegetarian cookbooks I've ever found. We've tried several recipes and NONE are anything less than spectacular!

And, of course, my eco-friendly sister's blog. Chickie, you RAWK MY SAWKS.