The Sandwich Life

Random Notes on Halloween

1.  Excitement is at an extremely high level at our house.  Trick or Treating is from 6-8 p.m. and Leo would like the family ready to go at the door by 5:59.

2.  This is the first year we haven't gotten together with Ann, Bob and Sophie for dinner before trick or treating.  It was always a nice chance to see Ann's family too.  I'll miss that but the boys want to go in our neighborhood this year which I understand of course.  Oh well.  We'll have to start another tradition.

3.  Our friend Becca lent us some ties to choose from for Leo's conductor outfit.  Leo has been practicing being a conductor and wearing it and I think Owen was jealous.....so today he requested to wear a tie to school.  Of course he did this about five minutes AFTER they should have left so it was a hurried affair but here he is.....he went off to school quite proudly.....

4.  Math Night was a rousing success.  Owen was a bit sad that his teacher wasn't there but he dealt with it well.  We went to the kindergarten room and Owen showed us some of the math activities they did while Leo vacillated between being the voice of experience and saying 'this is boring.'  I am TRYING to wipe that word out of their vocabulary but no luck yet.  Then we went to the second grade room which WASN'T Leo's  classroom as he kept pointing out but luckily his teacher was there and we spent a lot of time with him and watching Leo play a pretty cool math card game.  I liked his teacher a lot.  He does seem frighteningly young but then again I found myself relating to a lot of the grandparents that were there.  HONEST!

5. The low point of the night was when we headed to the cafeteria/gym for refreshments and found nothing left but apples.  Ohhhhhhhh......the bitterness.....I promised them an ice cream cone when they got home and we escaped with only a little drama (Owen dropping his head to the table in abject misery as another child grabbed the last bag of popcorn in front of him).

6.  Leo is very pleased with his conductor hat and I must say I am rather proud of our efforts.  I'm almost as excited about Halloween as the boys!

7.  Happy Birthday Don!

An Anniversary Addendum....

Ernie sent me beautiful flowers at work yesterday.  He said as he was on the phone with the florist he gave them the message for the card saying "Eighteen years.  Imagine that."  (It was a song reference that I totally missed....)  Anyway----as he was saying that, from the background came Leo's voice saying "DaAAAD, it's NINETEEN years."

My sweet peas.

19 years later....

Hard to believe that 19 years ago yesterday we were getting married.  It really doesn't seem that long ago.....honest!  Last night we celebrated by staying out past 7:30 p.m. as promised but not by much!  So what did we do for our anniversary?  Well, we started by going to Target.  Yup....I know, I know... but we needed to get some things so after buying exciting things like Halloween candy for my parents' homecare worker's kids, jeans for the boys, lightbulbs and bread we went out for a drink.  It was so novel being out after dark.  "Look at all the lights Ernie!"  but we decided we really felt like cooking dinner for ourselves so we bought some expensive shrimp (you do get what you pay for sometimes) and tumbled home.  The boys were busy practicing trick or treating and we brought the pumpkins out, lit them up and put a fire in our firepit.  Owen told scary stories and Ricky and our neighbor Dave came over.  It was a beautiful night.  Eventually we got the boys into bed and we cooked our shrimp with olive oil, orange peel, garlic and smoked paprika. Semi-based on a Mark Bittman recipe----pretty wonderful.  Then we pulled out our wedding pictures (we don't have any formal ones) and giggled over them. I am so, so blessed by having my husband in my life for so long.  It's a funny thing, falling in love so early and being with that person for so long.  In many ways we've grown up together and we've influenced each other so that we are different people than we would have been without one another. We are very fortunate.

I don't think of Ernie as having aged much (I KNOW I have) but looking at these pictures....oh my gosh we were young, huh?

Here's our cake, complete with the bride and groom from my parents' wedding cake.

Opening presents with a bearded Pat Dailey in the background.

My mom and me.

My Dad.

Eileen wearing some of the ribbons from a wedding present.  It WAS the 80's.

Sasha, looking almost exactly like she does now...how does she do that?

 

Judi, looking great despite the 80's perm and glasses, and me!!

Ernie and the inimitable David Conroyd.

Me.  This is my favorite picture of me that day because it shows exactly how I felt.

Happy start of the 20th year Ern.......

Random Notes from A Sandwich Weekend

1.  O.K.....I am SO over Curtis Orchards.  Never again.  I didn't feel like going all the way to the Great Pumpkin Patch but I should have.  Yes, I liked the apple doughnuts and yes, we got some nice pumpkins from the field but most of it looked like this:

And the whole Wizard of Oz theme irritates me for some reason.  Not a single mum to be had or any pumpkins other than the classic orange.  Even Schnuck's had some nice white ones for god's sake.....

2.  Grumbles aside, and Owen's temper tantrum when the candy crane stupid machine only gave him loser candy, the boys were very happy with their pumpkins.  Owen has a whole pumpkin family---the father is named Joe, the mother Sally and the son Owen of course.  He bought two additional pumpkins so Owen pumpkin could have pumpkin brothers.  Leo was delighted that he pulled in the biggest pumpkin of course.

3.  Saturday morning Owen told me that he loved me so much that he might explode.

4.  I thought I was making Leo such a cheap costume until I finished my shopping at the crafts store.  I do not do well in those places.  I am just not a crafty mom and Ernie just gets giggly, which is simultaneously amusing and irritating.  We got what we needed though and I do think Leo will be an AMAZING train conductor.

5. Word to the wise:  Don't ever buy your kid a ringpop BEFORE trying to get cute-kid-in-a-pumpkin-field pictures.

6. Managed to squeeze in a visit from Dawn Dohl when she was in town this weekend.  It was great to see her, sit around our firepit, drink wine and talk about days gone by (even though I forgot to get a picture).  As we tried to figure out exactly what memories we had of each other she wondered if I'd been the one kissing Matt Brandabur the night of the infamous party of Pete's where the porch collapsed. That question has amused me ever since and I think it will continue to amuse me.  I'm flattered, but while I was there, I wasn't the one kissing Matt.  I wasn't even kissing Ernie at that point.  I think he was there that night but not when I was and reportedly he was with the person we now refer to as "the old act."  I wasn't kissing anyone.  Well, that's not true but not anyone I'd admit to kissing these days.  That WAS a great party Pete---and the legend lives on.....

7.  Yesterday afternoon we wondered where Owen had gone off to and Ernie peered out the front door to see Owen calmly sitting in the front yard by himself listening to his MP3 player----or the O-Pod as we call it.

8.  I took my Dad to church today for the first time in a month since between being away, work and exhaustion I haven't been able to.  Not seeing him out for a month made me realize that he has gone further downhill.  I guess the other day he asked my mother where all three of us sisters live, what we did and if we were married.  When she answered she said, "of course Cindy is married, she has Leo and Owen."  He looked at her puzzled and said, "have I ever met them?"  It breaks my heart.  Today however all he could talk about was how wonderful Owen was and how great it was to have him come to church with us. (I agree---Owen is a tiny little saint sometimes...SOMETIMES).  He was also convinced his car is in South Carolina even though we were driving in it. So it comes and goes.  On a bright note we finally got a wheelchair ramp up at the house for my mother----the boys should love it.

9. Rounded out my weekend with a neighborhood party.  Wonderful weather, some people I like more and more and more all the time and lots of food.  I've got some kind of allergy/sinus thing bugging me though so Leo and I went home before the two blondes.....

10.  Tomorrow is our NINETEENTH wedding anniversary if you can believe that.  With everything going on we both kind of forgot about and have done the whole "I don't have anything for you....REALLY" thing.  Hopefully he's telling the truth as I sure am.  However at the last minute he rounded up our beloved babysitter Hayley and as he told her, "hey, we might stay out til 7:30 p.m.!!!!"

Weird Things People Have Said to My Sister

Since Judi's diagnosis and surgery, people have been incredibly kind to her---and to me.  Many people have expressed their willingness to help whenever necessary, to keep her in their thoughts, prayers and practices, and to be there as support for her.  But then there are the people that just say weird things....

1.  "Don't you feel like you won the unlucky person lottery?"

2.  "Aren't you terrified?" (before going to Emory for surgery)

3.  then there was one about hospitals making mistakes but I can't quite remember it.

I know all these people were trying to be kind...but geesh.....

Vertebrats hit network tv

O.K., so The Leonards' version of Left in the Dark can't compete with the original, but it was still great to hear it.....

Random Notes from the Sandwich Life

1.  Don't forget....tonight is the night a Vertebrats song, performed by the Leonards, will air on the show Ugly Betty.  Why am I going to watch?  Just because.

2.  I've been sick the last couple of days...missed a day of work and went home early yesterday. I seem to be better this morning.  I think I was probably kind of run down at this point so I'm not surprised.

3.  Halloween plans changed suddenly and Leo decided he wanted to be a Union Pacific train conductor and Owen wanted to be a motorcycle racer.  So I don't need to spend the weekend making a train engine and a firetruck.  Ernie and I went to Dallas and picked up a train conductor's hat.  I looked at the costumes you could buy---there were some uniforms I thought I could change into a conductor's uniform but they were awfully cheesy.  So we went to a children's consignment store and got a little black suit and dress shoes to go with it, along with a couple of sweaters that were on sale---all for less than the cost of the costume.  Now I just have to come up with a tie and the badges, etc. and he will carry a ticket punch and some tickets.  Here is he trying his jacket on:

I didn't get a picture of Owen in his motorcyle racer outfit but that won't be a problem as he's wearing it constantly.  It IS one of the cheesy costumes but I wasn't feeling up to making a racing jumpsuit thingy. It was marked 7-10---don't know if that's size or age but either way I figured it should be plenty big enough for a 5 year old. 

Just.  Barely. 

The only thing that fits under it is his pajamas---he may freeze on Halloween.  Owen is huge. Huge.  He is so happy when he wears it though.  You can just see the pride emanating from him.....  My sweet peas.

4.  I've got to convince my mother to let me take over her bills---she's being a bit resistant (and oh is she good at that) but the other day the water company came out to shut off their water.  sigh.

5.  The last few evenings have been chilly but we've spent them sitting outside around our firepit.  The best thing about it is that it's a neighbor magnet too....very fun.....

it's fall in my yard....

cast iron, tomatoes and fall.....

I haven't posted any recipes or cooking adventures in quite some time....in fact I have felt distinctly uninspired.  Ernie did some great grilling over the summer but I haven't felt up to par.  It FINALLY feels like fall though and since Owen loves red sauce I pulled out my latest Cooking Light magazine to try their marinara recipe.  It makes a big batch and they then give multiple recipes for using it------chickpea and chicken stew, mussels marinara, vegetable lasagna, etc., etc.  It is a simple recipe that takes just a few minutes and I must say I was delighted with it.  We used most of it the first time for pizzas when we had some friends over a few weeks ago.  I made another batch yesterday and although we'll probably make pizzas tonight I figure I'll use it for some other recipes throughout the week.

In other---but related--news I am the proud owner of a cast iron dutch oven.  I've been wanting one as I'm jealous of my friend Ann who not only has one, but has one that was her grandmother's!  So on the drive to Atlanta, while going through west Tennessee there were billboards for a Lodge cast iron outlet.  On the way home I decided to stop as I thought that might be a good treat to buy myself.  I got in there though and the prices seemed suspiciously high for an outlet.....those things aren't that expensive to begin with....so I got back in my van and trundled home and forgot about it.  When I got home that night I could smell something wonderful in the kitchen.  I went in and saw a beautiful old cast iron dutch oven----filled with a marvelous red wine and beef stew.  Have I mentioned that I love my husband?  He and the boys had hit an antique show in a little town near here and although they didn't buy anything we could sell, both boys got a toy and Ernie bought the wonderful covered Griswold dutch oven for me.  I did mention that I love my husband, right?  Anyway----it was great fun to cook up my batch of marinara in it.....

Basic Marinara Sauce (Cooking Light November 2007)   

3 tablespoons olive oil
3 cups chopped yellow onion (about 3 medium)
1 tablespoon sugar
3 tablespoons minced garlic (about 6 cloves)
2 teaspoons salt
2 teaspoons dried basil
1 1/2 teaspoons dried oregano
1 teaspoon dried thyme
1 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
1/2 teaspoon fennel seeds, crushed
2 tablespoons balsamic vinegar
2 cups fat-free, less-sodium chicken broth
3 (28-ounce) cans no-salt-added crushed tomatoes           

Heat oil in a large Dutch oven over medium heat. Add onion to pan; cook 4 minutes, stirring frequently. Add sugar and next 7 ingredients (through fennel seeds); cook 1 minute, stirring constantly. Stir in vinegar; cook 30 seconds. Add broth and tomatoes; bring to a simmer. Cook over low heat for 55 minutes or until sauce thickens, stirring occasionally.

About 12 cups

Now I must note that I misread the recipe the first time and used 1 1/2 teaspoons of fennel seed instead of 1/2 teaspoon.  However I love the taste of fennel and so stuck with that the second time as well.

It felt wonderful to be cooking and simmering something on the stove....particularly in my new dutch oven.....

Selfishness....

I am being selfish today.  I told my parents that I couldn't take Dad to church today, instead someone from the church will come out on Tuesday to give him communion.  I told them next week we would get back on track but after this week, and then working Friday night and all day Saturday, I just really needed a day to myself.  It has felt luxurious....I slept in, got up to find Ernie making his renowned biscuits which he served topped with a little grilled pork and mustard (butter only for Leo and sadly, Owen does not share the rest of the family's taste for Ernie's baked goods).  Then I read the Sunday paper on Sunday morning....ahhhhhhhh.

I just splurged and ordered a bunch of spices from Penzey's and now I find myself sitting here at the computer after 10:00 in the morning still wearing my pajamas and with absolutely no plans for the day.  Bliss.

In Judi news, she is sounding much better.  Her old college roommate visited her yesterday and took her outside in a wheelchair---between that and getting to take a shower she is feeling good.....lousy of course, but better if you know what I mean.  If she can keep some food down she will get to go home in a day or two.  My sister Debbie is getting there today to stay with her so that makes me feel better since Eileen had to go back home.  Silver linings aren't really enough in these situations but just the same the outpouring of love that Judi---and I---have felt has been amazing.....