Mom is Just a Nickname

So, tonight, Melanie delurked and commented and I am so thankful she did! I LIKE knowing someone is out there reading what I write! Even if you don’t like what I write, you keep coming back for some odd reason!

So, I’m declaring tomorrow, Wednesday, January 23rd, my blog’s delurk-make-a-comment day. Hell, I’ll make it a whole week Wednesday to Wednesday! Then if you do nothing else, you can wish my X-man a happy birthday next week, Wednesday. How’s that?

If you want to comment sooner, though, I’d love to hear what you had for dinner. Or lunch. Make me hungry. Make me salivate. I know you all are eating some delicious foods and not sharing with me! So…give. Whatcha eating?

Comments make the blog world spin. They make us bloggers feel loved. So, please, speak up. Show me some love.

[Is it bad that I hear Cuba Gooding and Tom Cruise shouting 'Show me the MONEY!' in my head when I type that?]

Ice cream was the first thing that came to my mind for ‘I’. I don’t really make anything with ice cream though. I just avoid buying it whenever possible because I will eat so much of it. My all time favorite ice cream is Breyer’s Natural Vanilla (NOT FRENCH VANILLA!!!)…What’s your favorite?

Italian foods came next to mind, but that’s such a broad topic and I have several Italian dishes I want to talk about later in the alphabet, so I’m going to skip this one too. Italian is one of my all time favorite types of food though. Is it one of yours?

I decided to go with Iced Tea. I’m living in the South now and there’s a huge culture for sweetened iced tea down here. Personally, I think the stuff is nasty. Mind you, I grew up with a Southern mother who drank sweetened iced tea. But she made her tea unsweetened and then used the artificial sweetener in a little pink packets to sweeten it. My sibs and I just drank the unsweet tea as it was! As a result, I have an intolerance for sweet tea.

I also like my tea fairly strong and loaded with ice. It’s not iced tea if it’s warm, barely flavored, lightly brown water! No, my tea should be DARK BROWN and the glass should be filled to the brim with ice Before the tea is poured in. Yes, this means it has to be refilled more often. That’s just the price I pay for having my tea at that perfect state of chilled. No, it doesn’t get watered down from all the ice! I can assure you, I don’t let it sit in the glass long enough for the ice to melt!

I’m not picky about brands for tea bags, so long as it makes a strong, dark brew. Tea bags for hot tea are another thing, though. I am picky about those.

Oh, and don’t give me flavored iced tea, please! Peach, mint, raspberry…none of it! It’s just another way of saying “SWEETENED!” and I don’t want sweetened tea! Blech.

I don’t want instant iced tea, canned iced tea, bottled iced tea or iced tea out of a soda spicket. I want fresh brewed iced tea.

Who knew I could rant about iced tea for so long, eh? I really didn’t realize I had such strong feelings about it! I think it’s gotten worse since I moved South and now have to specify that my tea should be UNsweetened at restaurants…and half the time, they don’t hear the “UN” so I end up with sweet tea and have to send it back. I get the funniest looks when the servers realize I don’t want sweet tea.

I’m not a fan of Sun Tea either. I’d far rather get hot water and brew my tea from that than to set it in the sun to brew. It doesn’t get strong enough there in the sun.

What can you do with tea in a recipe? My mom always poured some iced tea in with her crock-pot roast to tenderize the meat. I’ve tried that, but I think must put too much tea in because I ended up with tea-tasting meat and potatoes. Hers never came out that way. I’m still scratching my head over that.

For all that I love drinking UNsweetened iced tea, it’s rare I make it at home. It’s a treat I save for when I eat out. I guess I’m just too lazy. I like ice water just as well and it’s far less work!

The kids finished dropping dough on one tray and then went to play trains with Daddy and watch the Packers play. heh. Guess I’ll finish the cookies by myself.

I’ve heard this more than once in the last few days from J. Honestly, I’ve thought it myself a few times lately, and that’s usually when I got up and do some chores. It’s so frustrating to hear it from my kids though.

Why is it frustrating? Because they have the world at the tips of their hands. I’m not a restrictive parent, by any means. If there’s a project J wants to do, I’m all for it so long as she cleans up after herself. She also got a ton of craft projects for Christmas, so I’m not feeling much sympathy when she doesn’t know what to do. She could write thank you’s or her stories, she could read a book, she could play computer games or make use of the new wii. She could watch a tv show or a movie. She could play a game with X or send an email to her cousin. She could draw some pictures, or play with her hair, or just stare into space and daydream. These are all things I’d have done. But no, she’s bored. She wants me to micromanage her life, apparently. ugh.

I told her, I’m not your cruise director. Go find something to do for yourself! And she huffed off.

How can they get bored? They have so many options…or are there just too many?

I really think it does. I look at the pile beside me and wonder where it all came from. It’s mail, magazines, papers from school, notebooks I write in, index cards I make notes on, things I’ve printed up…and did I mention the mail?

I’m still trying to figure out how it all ends up on my desk though. The mail is supposed to go to my husband’s desk, where the bills get paid. The papers from school are supposed to get filed promptly in the school box or pitched. My notebooks have a home. My magazines have a home. And yet, they sit on my desk and apparently spend their days engaged in lurid moments of reproduction so that the paper pile is at least an inch higher every day!

I suppose I need to sift through it and seperate the randy sheets of paper. I’m tired of having to shove them out of the way when I’m looking for something. Time to shift some of the pile to hubby’s desk so that he can watch them multiply!

(Oh, I’m gonna catch it for that comment when he reads it. lol. Oh well. Love ya, honey!)