Dear Xanga Family,
Please forgive my neglect.
I have been all kinds of busy,
and it’s been giving me a taste of what life will be like starting this fall,
when my calendar will suddenly become busier than anything I’ve seen since my days as a college student playing in three orchestras plus gigs with 3-4 small ensembles ranging over a two state area.
And back then the only person I was scheduling was myself!
Over the course of last week there was naturally school each day,
plus the thrice weekly karate class.
In addition, Friday afternoon the youth group held a World Cup football party from noon to 5pm.
They were asked to bring a food from their favorite country competing for the championship…
and of course, since my children are completely football illiterate and wouldn’t know a goalie from a striker,
let alone which country they favored for the win,
we agreed they should bring a sampling from several countries.
The best place to get international food at a good price around here is Trader Joe’s,
so we made an excursion up to the nearest location,
several miles north of our house,
on Thursday morning.
We decided to get some Swiss and Brie,
some French bread,
some Turkish figs,
some California raisins,
Spanish Olives,
a few Toblerone bars,
and of course, some tortilla chips and salsa.
Nice international assortment.
I grabbed an extra Toblerone to pass out to the kids for the long hot drive home…
it didn’t quite divide up evenly,
so I dropped the wrapper with the remaining little chunk into my purse and took off….
only to find when we arrived home that it had melted all over everything.
I mean everything.
My glasses case,
my makeup bag,
my PHONE,
and all schmeary over the inside of my purse….
gahhhhh!
Never, never, never save the chocolate for later.
EAT IT!!!
Throw it out the window,
whatever,
just remember —
if you don’t have A/C,
NEVER SAVE THE CHOCOLATE!
Thursday night,
Megan wanted to make dinner.
It was a simple pasta with peasNcarrots type of affair,
and I left her to handle it.
Walking in to the kitchen a while later,
I looked in astonishment at the pot of boiling water on the stove,
o full of angel-hair noodles it looked like a pin-cushion,
and yelled “MEGANNNNNN!!! How many boxes did you use???”
Her voice came wafting to me from down the hallway
“Four… why?”
“Ahhhhhrg!!
Did you look at the servings per box??
Every box has 8 servings!!”
Oh my goodness.
We have been eating pasta ever since.
What a hoot!!
There’s been no end to the “Hey Megan! Think you cooked enough noodles?”
“Hey, Megan! Ya made too much pasta!”
“Hey Megan! What should we have for dinner? I know, how about noodles!”
To the point where someone says
“Hey Megan!”
and she says
“I know, I know, I made too much pasta!”
It was definitely a lesson in reading the directions.
In the future if I try to do a “cooking for a month” seminar with the girls,
I’ll definitely let Megan take charge of cooking the pasta. 
(But I’m giving her a much bigger pot!!)
~*~*~*~*~
Friday came around,
I did school in the a.m. with the kids,
then we prepped the food and I drove the girls over to the church for their afternoon of fun.
Paul decided to take Karate duty in the afternoon,
and it was on his way there that he discovered that the authorities are serious about the 25mph speed limit in the neighborhoods.
He was clocked at 43mph coming down a hill off of a bridge and thus earned for himself the singular delight of spending 4 hours online taking a defensive driving course so as to erase the ticket from his record and preserve his insurance rates.
~*~*~*~*~
Saturday morning I was on Shooting Practice duty,
and left the house at 7:15am.
It was a hot one,
and Geneva got worn out after two targets so she sat out the third.
Megan’s sights were completely off and everything she shot was high and to the left.
Fred’s deadpan comment, in his heavy Brooklynn accent, was
“Not bad for a shotgun.”
Good thing my girls are used to their father’s similar dry sense of humor.
On the way home we stopped at Wal-mart to try to find Geneva a swim suit.
Ok,
first of all,
Wal-mart on a Saturday is SUCH a bad idea.
And secondly, there is no good time to shop for swim suits.
That being said,
after a great deal of frustration with the skimpyness of the attire,
and even more frustration with trying to find a modest suit to fit her size 3 self,
we found something acceptable and were able to get out of dodge with our sanity barely intact.
I am furthermore determined that in the future,
I will spare no expense to make sure that swim suit needs are cared for in advance of the first day of swimming, and preferrably at Sports Authority were we can find quality competition style swimwear,
which at least covers everything that needs to be covered.
Back at home,
a quick bite of lunch while Paul finished up his class,
and then he took the kids to the pool with the slides.
While everyone else was swimming,
I heard from my bro,
and we arranged for him to come over for supper and the evening’s activities,
on the condition that I whip up a batch of my “ranch gourmet” spaghetti sauce
(to go with Megan’s leftover noodles).
He contributed the parmesan cheese, some sodas, and the entertainment –
in the form of season 4 of Stargate Atlantis.
****
In case anyone is interested in what might go into “Ranch Gourmet” —
it’s basically just a conglomeration of the ingredients I usually have on my ranch pantry shelf.
Fry up some hamburger,
add some onion,
corn,
black olives,
canned mushrooms,
canned beans (black are the best, but kidney or chili beans work too),
any kind of salsa you like,
diced canned tomatoes,
and season with whatever you like in your spaghetti sauce.
I added some white wine, s
ince I was at home and could do so,
and of course garlic,
oregano,
basil,
salt,
pepper,
a little soy sauce,
cooked it up and voila –
quick and hearty sauce to go over any kind of noodles you like.
Or with veggies, if you are sensitive to wheat products.
It’s fabulous over stir-fried broccoli or green beans.
And if you like to live dangerously,
add a few shakes of your favorite hot sauce.
Mine is Buffalo Chipotle.
Mmmmmmmm!
****
Everyone had a grand time at the pool,
although I had sent them off under the assumption that Jacob would keep his shirt on,
and thus his shoulders did not get any sun screen,
which meant that when they told him he couldn’t wear the shirt in the pool,
and he took it off,
and then spent the majority of his time climbing the ladder and sliding down the slide and climbing the ladder again and sliding down the slide,
that he ended up with a screaming sunburn.
I always feel like such a dolt of a mother when that happens…
Thanks be to God for Solarcaine with Aloe!
It really does “soothe on contact”!
~*~*~*~*~
Sunday was Father’s Day, and a fabulous day it was.
A magnificent morning worship service made extra special by a Pontifical High Mass,
the presence of the Knights of Columbus in full regalia,
and in addition to the usual outstanding musical contributions of the cathedral choir and organ,
trumpet fanfares and accompaniment to several of the hymns,
made for a truly glorious installation of the Fr. John Lankeit, new Rector of the Cathedral.
(If you are interested in seeing what it was like,
click here to watch the 90 minute service.)
After that, Paul’s choice for lunch was (of course) Del Taco. (Hey, it’s his day, his choice.
)
The afternoon was a relaxed affair,
including some water play…
Which was all kinds of good fun, and ended in the minivan getting washed
(finally got the root beer off the side from when somebody dumped their cup out on the way home from the ranch)
– which made this Mom very happy indeed.
Sunday evening we wound down with
(again, Paul’s choice)
Popcorn for supper.
Except there was only enough left for one batch, so he got most of that,
and the rest grazed off of
(you guessed it)
leftover pasta.
Easy meal planning for me this week, I’ll tell ya!
~*~*~*~*~
So that catches me up, for the most part.
(Note to self: Stay on top of the blogging or massive posts will result!)
