Well, Jenny from Mommin’ it Up got real today. She showed us the conditions in which she lives (which aren’t really that bad, IMHO) but whatever. You wanna see bad?

The moving boxes were stacked under the window for one reason. So the cat could still see out. Yes, a pathetic life we live, catering to the cat. Mike is on his Apple. He says he’s working on Pediacast, but I think he’s actually following Gustav and Hannah on the National Hurricane Center’s site. And there’s KT….still writing her book. And not writing blog posts. I know she’s not because she hasn’t asked me, “What should I write about today?”

Another view of the squalor….

The pile of clothes are what the kids weeded out of their drawers yesterday. What’s that? The weather channel on TV? Can we watch any more hurricane coverage? Oh, and yeah, that’s the only TV we have left in the house. We gave all the others away. And no, it was not much fun to watch the Olympics on that TV. There were times we couldn’t even tell which teams were competing!

And a final shot……

Mike set these boxes up this way. Please note that the cat is NOT allowed up on the mantel. It’s the one place I can safely burn candles and have glass objects. So what did Mike do? In essence he made a staircase for the cat right up to the mantel. Sheesh. Men

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….I said.

To which he replied, “Yeah, but I have a podcast.”

(Gulp)

Guess you’re all going to find out about the stupid stupid thing I did tonight.

But you’re going to have to wait until Mike gets around to recording a show. And I fully intend to keep him very very busy from now until….

however long it takes.

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It’s been a busy day! It started out crazy from the get go and it’s just now settling down a bit. KT and Nick have been at Tina’s all day. I’m sure they’re having a great time with Carly and Brandon! I’m kicking myself for not sending the camera along with KT. So Tina, if you’re reading, can you shoot some pictures of the kids for me? Thanks.

Ok, so I’ve been busy….and when I’m busy, it seems like my posts turn towards food! Probably because #1 I still have to eat no matter how busy I am, and #2 it’s an easy post.

So today’s post is about Cauliflower. I grew up on it. My parents grew it in the garden so we had it a good bit. Nothing wrong with cauliflower. It’s alright. Especially dipped in ranch dip. Or smothered in cheese sauce. But how healthy are those two things for you?

So as I grew up, I turned my back on cauliflower. Life is too short to eat bland veggies. And I’ll admit to laziness so cheese sauce never really got made around here.

And then…..an Everyday Food magazine arrived! Ya’ll know how much I love them.

In it was a recipe for the most yummy cauliflower I’ve ever had. And to top it off, it was stinkin’ easy to make! So now, I share….

Well, kinda. See….I packed my Everyday Food magazines. So the last time I made it I couldn’t remember the recipe exactly. I threw together what I thought was in it. And then popped it in the oven. It seemed to be taking forever to cook so I did a google search for “Everyday Food Roasted Paprika Cauliflower.”

Ding ding ding! We have a winner. I found the exact recipe right here. I realized I had all of the ingredients correct, but had the wrong oven temperature. So I jacked up the heat and 15 minutes later, out came this…..

Want to see that a little closer?


Extreme close up that fogged up the camera lens….


Pictured is an entire head of cauliflower which, for not so pleasant gastric reasons, I’d encourage you not to eat in one sitting. Please don’t ask me how I know this! Let’s just say 3/4 of a head of cauliflower is my limit!

’nuff said. Now go eat your veggies!

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Jennifer over at The House of Jones tagged me for a meme.

And since I’ve hung on her every blogged word for the past several months (she decluttered her house, sold it in record time, and moved into a rental while she was building her house) I thought I’d take a few minutes to play along with my blog-buddy twin!
So this is the Four, four, four, four meme…..

1. Four places I go over and over: Does crazy count? Ok, how about to the theater, to Walt Disney World, to the grocery store, are you sure I can’t use “Crazy?” I go there a lot!

2. Four people who email me regularly: My mom, my dad, my sister, and Mike (often times when he’s sitting right next to me)

3. Four of my favorite places to eat: Longhorn, Red Robin, Parrot Cay, and LaRosas.

4. Four places I’d rather be right now: At the movies, in a library, at a bookstore, at the zoo (or anywhere where I don’t have to think!)

5. Four TV shows I watch: The Office (although I need to catch up on last season), 24 (but not until it comes to DVD), LOST, and Survivor.

6. Four people I will tag: Christy, AwesomeMom, Jen, Momof3Girls

Yeah, don’t ask me why their are 6 categories in a meme dedicated to the number 4. I don’t make up the memes, I just play along.

edited to add: What was I thinking? I also tag KT at BaggaChips!

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Boys. Especially pre-teen boys. What can we do with them? I feel like all I can do with Nick at this point is to wait until he notices girls. Because once he thinks girls are cute, he’ll change his ways.

And his underwear.

So last Friday I met my parents in Mansfield to drop the kids with them. Nick and KT continue on to their house where they stay until Monday afternoon. At which point we meet again in Mansfield and make the switch back to me.

But let’s backtrack a bit….to Sunday.

My phone rings and it’s my dad. He wants to know if Nick needs to take a shower.

“Does he need one?” I ask.

Affirmative.

So I tell my dad “Yes, Nick needs to take a shower.”

My dad replies, “Nick says you said he doesn’t have to take one.”

“Who’s the adult, Dad? He’s at your house. If you say he needs a shower, he has to take a shower.”

My dad knows better than this!

My dad then proceeds to tell me they want to go play miniature golf, but Nick won’t shower.

(sigh) Is my dad getting soft?

I firmly say, “Nick cannot go play miniature golf unless he takes a shower.”

My dad says (away from the phone), “Nick, you can’t play golf until you take a shower.”

(pause)

Nick is now on the phone. “Did you say I couldn’t play golf until I took a shower or did Grandpa just make that up?”

“I said it. Do it. Listen to your grandpa!”

I hear a “Hmpf” as Nick walks away from the phone. I’m the adult. I win.

So now we can go back to the pick up day in Mansfield. I pull into our normal meeting place and am greeted by two happy kids. Ah, it’s good to see them (and smell that Nick is clean) My dad unloads the suitcase from his trunk along with other goodies they’ve collected. And then he hands me a small Ziploc baggie containing one pair of dirty socks. Nick socks. My dad says, “Here is Nick’s dirty laundry. All of it.”

Yes, dear readers, this is all of Nick’s dirty laundry after a 72 hour trip to Grandpa and Grandma’s house…..

I took the picture with a pair of headphones so you can see clearly this isn’t a large bag of socks. No, most definitely it is a small snack sized baggie.

And Nick was very proud of this small baggie. KT, on the other hand, voiced disgust that after his shower, Nick put his dirty underwear back on.

Nick says it’s normal for boys to do this. It’s…… (and I totally, honestly, positively quote him)…..”It’s MAN STINK.”

Yeah, you get two posts today. This one was just too good to save until tomorrow.

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