What we learn from others...

My mom had a childhood friend recently pass away. He was a radio sports jokey and I learned upon his death that he reported the news for several hours on 9/11. He didn't have to; he could have continued to report the sports. Instead he gave his listeners what they wanted and needed—the news of what was happening in the US. I learn from this that no matter who we are or what we do, sometimes we need to reach beyond this to give people what they need. Thank you, George, for teaching me this and being a true friend to my mom.

A beautiful weekend......

My daughter and I had a staycation using my aunt and uncle's apartment as home base. We walked the city, visited a museum, shopped and had high tea. It was an awesome belated Mother's Day gift to have this time my girl. Some days I feel she is growing up fast and it was just yesterday I was changing her diapers. Yet, she heads to middle school next fall. My mom and I had several mother/daughter trips that hold a special place in my heart. I hope this weekend will remain in my daughter's heart.

Banner Day....

Ok, so here is my banner day...
1. Great weekly networking meeting
2. Awesome meeting with my Life Insurance Broker—she aligned her company with a bigger outfit and the services she can offer are extraordinary. I can't wait to see her office next week.
3. Finally made it to the pottery studio to copy the plastic tray of my mom's, so she can have a ceramic version. It has a design to it, but since she reads my blog (thanks, mom), I will not share it now.
4. Got to work on my Personal Productivity workshop—with the aid of Google Docs and voice dictation.
5. Baked dessert for a dinner party Saturday night and made the dough for cookies for brunch on Saturday morning (I already made a batch of different cookies for the brunch).

Now you see why I call it a banner day. Was you day a banner day? If not, try and have one soon.

What's in a fortune?

Today my mom came over to help me do some cleaning and organizing—the cellar, my bedroom and the kitchen. In my bedroom, we removed everything from under the bed to be able to vacuum  (it was gross). In  a box full of memories, there were items of my dad's, my great-uncle's and even my childhood. In one little box belonging to my dad I found fortunes from fortune cookies. When I was in my 20's I used to save mine too, putting the date on them and taping them to my bedroom mirror. No matter how many times, I had rifled through the box, I had failed to notice the fortunes and just one more thing my dad and I had in common. Now everytime I get a fortune cookie, I will think of him.

An early's mother's day gift....

This morning at a local farmer's market, I pointed out the mother's day cookies at a bakery stall and my daughter said, "I would by you one, but I know you want to lose weight, so it wouldn't be good."

(Thanks, Sweetie.)

In the kitchen on Thursday: A Southern style cake

This recipe originally came from the Betty Crocker website.

Caramel Cake

Cake

1 moist yellow cake mix

1 C. Milk

1/3 Butter, melted and cooled

1 tsp. Vanilla extract

3 eggs

Caramel Frosting

1/2 C. Butter

1 C. Powdered Sugar

1/2 C. Cake batter (reserved)

1/2 C. Evaporated milk

1 tsp. Vanilla.

Preheat oven to 350. Mix all ingredients together for the cake. You can use an electric mixer on a low speed or a wooden spoon. When it is all combined, remove 1/2 C. of batter for the icing. Pour the batter into two greased 8" round pans. Bake for 35-40 minutes and allow to cool.

For icing, melt the butter in a 2 qt. saue pot. Add in the rest of the ingredients and cook for several  minutes until the mixture thickens and turns "caramel" colored. Remove from heat and cool slightly.

Remove a cake layer from its pan and place on a plate. Ice the top with caramel frosting. Place on top the next layer and ice the top and sides.

I made this from my mother's birthday (she is Southern) and it was gobbled up before I could take a picture. I can say it is really delicious.

Motherly advice

"Let your daughter know you are the parent and therefore in charge" which is easier said then done because I hated the phrase "because I am your mother and I said so," when I was my daughter's age.

Tuesday's Tip: Diaper Change

Use a plastic shopping bag to line a public changing table and then use the bag to discard the dirty diaper and wipes.

(P.S. I learned this by observing a mother in a public restroom.)

In the kitchen on Thursday: The Caterer

In anticipation of my wrist surgery, my mother hired her friend, a caterer to make some dinners so no one has to cook, while I am in the beginning stages of recovery and all I can say is "Thanks, Mom!"

Being adaptable

My mother's apartment sustained water damage due to a leak in the apartment above hers and when we had lunch yesterday, she said to me, "This has made me think about set in our daily routines we are." and she is right that when life throws a curve ball, we have to be able to adapt our schedules and our daily routines to be able to hit the ball out of the park.

A mother'w work is never done (I know a cliche, but.....)

Happy Mother's Day!

While my daughter and her friend that slept over made me waffles this morning, it is still a Sunday which means laundry, general house clean-up and grocery shopping and thankfully my husband cleaned up the kitchen (after two 9 year olds made waffles) and took them to the park, so the house is empty and I can clean as I want without feeling like I am rebelling against mother's day.

In the kitchen on Thursday: Making clouds

Coconut and Almond Meringue Bars

4 large egg whites
1/2 C. Sugar
1/4 tsp. salt
1/4 tsp. Cream of Tartar
1/2 C. ground coconut (or shredded)
1/2 C. sliced almonds

Preheat oven to 325. Add salt and cream of tartar to egg whites. Beat on high until frothy. Add sugar gradually and continue to beat until stiff peaks form. Stir in coconut and almonds. Line a 5" X 9" pan with parchment paper. Pour in egg white batter and spread out in pan. Bake for 25 minutes. Allow to cool. Cut each side in 4, making 16 bars. To store bars, simply cover pan in tinfoil.

(My daughter, mom and husband can vouch that these are sweet "clouds" that should not go to waste.)

In perspective...

This morning my daughter was looking at her new book, 101 Baby Animals and said to her father and I, "Do you know that male seahorses if they think their wife is ugly eat the young so they won't turn out ugly" and this put every martial spat we've had in perspective for me—I am lucky to be in a species that doesn't eat its young for any reason.

The ingredients: a kid, a parent and punishment

Over the weekend my daughter acted out and had to be punished and she said that I had hurt her feelings and betrayed her (I said I would do one thing and then read the situation and did another) and so she wanted to punish me and at first I resisted and then gave in thinking, heck, even parents need a to be put in line.

(P.S. I am still waiting for my punishment, while my daughter has lost "screens" for today and maybe tomorrow too.)

In the kitchen on Thursday: Potluck

(Containers of food for the potluck Thanksgiving dinner at my mon's place--Cranberry , Potato Pancakes, Roast Pecans, Cornbread Stuffing and Gingerbread Cookies)

Roast Pecans

2 lbs. Pecans

4 Tbsp Butter

2 Tbsp Brown sugar

2 Tbsp Worstershire sauce

Salt

Heat oven to 400. Melt butter with sugar and Worstershire and coat pecans. Roast for 1 hour. Toss with salt. Cool completely and store in an airtight container.

Happy Thanksgiving! I am thankful for my family, my home and my mon's pumpkin chiffon pie.

Tuesday's tip: Plan ahead mornings

This morning we woke up late, so I was glad I had packed my bag the night before and prepped lunches; this made getting out of the house on time for school more likely (and that I bought a cup of coffee rather than make one).

In the parenting tool kit....

I recently discovered writing as an affective tool-- my daughter and write out why she is upset, what can be done about it, them read them to each other and have a discussion which stops her incessant whining and my losing my temper in response (Thanks, mom for the idea).

My daughter's behavior....Am I looking in a mirror or not?

I am sitting here reflecting on some bad behavior on my daughter's part—hard wiring, environment or teen attitude in a tween and I realized it is all of the above since, I was stubborn as a kid and still am, so now I am reflecting whether I have myself to blame for my daughter's bad behavior and attitude and what I can do to steer her in the direction of team work and loving attitude.

All in the family....

I was at my mom's apartment the other day where I noticed that she already had Halloween cards for her grandchildren and her 2014 calendar (with a note to enter in birthdays) and I realized that my organization and planner skills (which I use in my new business), I got genetically from my mom and  my dad (he was organized and she is a planner).

Being nice goes a long way....

Today I had to make a customer service call and since I was nice, the gentleman was nice back and over the weekend my daughter dumped her father's mail pile on the floor in an attempt to make him clean through it and I realized that we need to do a better job teaching her that if you are nice, people are nice back (I tried explaining this to her, but she was in no mood to listen).

(Eventually I sorted my husbands mail to make going trough it easier and to get it off the floor and he was appreciative—take that dear daughter.)