Don't Waffle on Pizza

It doesn't matter if they ate it yesterday and tomorrow is a birthday party so they know they'll get it again. If the calendar reflects Rebecca Black's favorite day of the week, it's supposed to be pizza for dinner.

I learned this while summoning the will to make waffles. 

I thought I'd picked a surefire winner because usually waffles earn me a chorus of gratitude and joyful sticky faces.  Not on the day of the week that honors Freya, Norse goddess of love, fertility and war.

"But it's Friday..." one trailed off sadly, whispering to another who walked into the kitchen to ask "What's for dinner?"  "It's not pizza." You would have thought he was breaking the news of a dearly departed gently to someone who had just discovered her true love. 

It was like I flunked motherhood.

So I took out the strawberries in the fridge.  Slicing them and arranging them like pepperoni with melted butter and syrup for the cheese and sauce, I thought I'd triumphed.  "Lookie! Mom made a breakfast pizza. Isn't it cool?" It worked for two seconds.  Then reality set in.

"But sausage pizza is soooooooo yummy."
"And I love cheese."
"And no dishes." an older one piped up.

I looked at the batter and the plate of waffles six stacked high.  "You're getting waffles."

Another kid came in and I'm not sure it was not entirely planned..."Hey Mom? I have a gift certificate...could we call and order..." I stopped the question dead at that point.  "The next person who complains about waffles gets to do the dishes."

Silence.

I muttered to myself in irritation.  "I burnt one. Darn it.  I hate burnt waffles."

"MOM! You complained about the waffles. You HAVE TO DO THE DISHES!"  Suddenly dinner was eaten with great glee...at my expense. 

As I did the dishes that evening, I allowed myself one more mutter....I should have ordered pizza.

7 Quick Takes Friday

1. My Most Patient Son

Yesterday, I was stressed out.  We had taxes pending.  We had a party to plan for Friday night.  There were eight loads of laundry sitting on my couch and a host of chores that would eventually demand more attention than I wanted to give.  My seven year old son asked me to listen to him read.  I didn't want to.  I wanted to go down and just sit and stop.  I gave a feeble excuse. "I need to clean up and get ready for your party tomorrow." He gave a soft smile.  "That's okay Mom.  Can I read to you Saturday night?"  and I thought about how it came to be that he is so used to my "having things to do," that he is scheduling a date for showing me and sharing with me his love of a book.  It was hard not to cry, part gratitude for his seemingly endless eagerness and part sadness that I so often put off the greater portion of what is offered in favor of those that keep me anxious.  You can guess what I intend to do this Saturday Evening.

2.  Prom

My son is going to prom.  I'm happy and excited for him. Tomorrow we pick up the tux and flowers.   On the National Catholic Register, there was an article asking about the virtue/vice in letting one's kid go to this American high school ritual.  Concerns ran the gamut from risque dress and illegal/immoral behavior to inappropriate music and peer pressure.  Admittedly, I hadn't felt any of these concerns and wondered if it was a case of me being asleep at the switch about the moral development of my teenager(s). I remember prom and the music and have to think, somehow they, like their parents before them, will survive youth; souls intact even if they have to face the lyrics of Lady Gaga. 

3.  Parties

We have just finished our last cake for the string of birthdays that required a home and friend party.  What a relief.  I'm especially proud of the homemade quality of the past two parties.  Pizza, cake and games.  It struck me that kids these days rarely get to have a pick up game of hide and seek or freeze tag or dodgeball, even at birthdays as most are now "event" parties.  I admit, I've done the bowling, Shadowlands, soccer camp, mini-golf and swimming parties, but being able to let six boys hopped up on cake explode outside into games of duck duck goose and a scavenger hunt was fun to watch.  

4.  The Anchoress and New Advent

Both linked to the piece I wrote here and submitted to Catholicmom.com, the Very Necessariness of Everyone.  I'm honored and psyched to have been noticed. 

5.  Helen Sighted Daily

In an attempt to get back into writing more seriously, I've taken to opening Helen daily to look at it, even if it is just to tweak a paragraph.  It is helping me to see better how I need to keep her at the front and center, she is always there.  Part of writing Helen has been to better understand how beauty is a virtue; because it is necessary on some level and feeds part of us that hungers beyond mere basics.   It speaks to the heart, body and mind to be in the presence of beauty, a sunset, the ocean, a baby's whole smile, a perfect rose, the familiar weight and feel of a spouse's hand in yours; beauty always draws us in, hopefully always draws us deeper. 

6.  The Hobbit

Saw a video posted by Peter Jackson from the set.  The original cast includes returns from LOTR.  I am beyond geeked out and psyched.  I want the movie done now. Now. Now. Now.  I need my fix and even watching back to back to back with commentary what I've already seen won't do the job.  Just saying I'm really ready for this movie, so I can go feast on his film making in a story I have loved since I first heard it/read it.  (Dad introduced it to me). 

7.  Huggies

My daughter upon giving up Huggies and being potty trained has decided that every ten minutes or so, she needs hugs.  The other day, we were at Target getting party supplies and a woman rode by on one of those motorized carts.  She stopped by our aisle as there was another person pushing carts the opposite direction.  My four year old decided that meant she needed a hug.  The woman's face lit up at getting this unsolicited tenderness.   It was a sweet moment.  

Seven Takes Friday

1.

First, hello to all the new people who have decided to follow my blog. Leave a comment, introduce yourselves. I hope my stories, rantings, ravings and musings bring you a smile, if not an outright laugh.

2.

This Lent, I've been focusing on my personal Gritch.(My personification of the original sin version of me). Some days it's easy. Some days, it's not.

One of the things Lent does is call us not simply to reform/repent, but to begin to consider what it is that brings us to the point of making the wrong choices; if you think of sin as the alcohol, think of the sinner as the addicted soul who deliberately choses to drive to the bar in the first place. I'm trying to work on not getting into the car to go somewhere away from God in the first place.

"Lead us not into temptation," isn't simply a plea for God to rearrange our world so we never struggle, it's also a request for the grace to deliberately embrace obedience; to NOT lead ourselves to those places we fail most often.

3.

I have lost my keys.  It is now day five. Given the last post, this might be God's way of assisting me, but I live in perpetual fear that I'm going to go out somewhere, lose the half a set I have now and wind up with a vehicle that can go nowhere and the kids in the back saying, "We need a snack." If you have good connections with Saint Anthony of Padua, please petition him. I have but I also pester the poor man daily for kids shoes, time, inspiration, patience and any number of things that I find I have in short supply.

4.

Yesterday, I tried to impose the 7 to 7 rule about going on the internet. I didn't make it. I checked three times for emails but didn't look at any news sites I normally haunt; and the thing was, by 6:45, I was jonesing for a break and I could hear the words, "Could I not stay." with the kids who were chattering and playing and asking to help make the birthday cake. We made the cake. Two kids wrapped the presents. My oldest daughter decorated. Then we took a break and it was 7:30; the kids were watching shows and I went to the computer. After ten minutes, I was bored and went back to being with people.

So we'll try it again today; but I've already messed up because I started writing and it's now 8:16 and I do have to do some writing work for a grant so I won't be able to be computer free; so it feels like I've driven to the bar but I'll just order a diet coke.

5.

Printing up the grant so I can make the edits in pencil so I will keep to my promise as much as possible. I'll just drive to the place but I won't go in; yeah. I'll bring my diet coke with me so I won't be thirsty.

6.

New York State is thinking of banning salt; granted it would be for restaurants and bakeries but this sort of ruling has unintended consequences. To anyone who cooks or bakes, they understand that salt is necessary. Such a ban would eliminate almost every baked good there is in existence except for the Eucharist. Hey wait.

7.

My daughter felt very proud of her gift to her brother for his birthday. It was fun, it was inexpensive and she thought of it herself. Water balloons.

I may have to institute a pre-approved and no-fly list for birthday gifts in the future. Oy.

Quick Takes Friday

1.

Six More Weeks of Winter

I'd be fine with the ground hog's prediction if I could sleep for 42 more days.  If I were the critter, I'm not sure why I'd ever predict anything else. As it so happens, Phil did see his shadow and we are under a BIG SNOW alert.  We are expecting 2-3 feet of the stuff.  It will start around 10 a.m. today and go until 10 p.m. tomorrow.  Then there will be more snow Monday and another storm Friday.  Personally, I'm praying for just a smidge of global warming and in the meatime, I'm off to Home Depot in search of a snow blower and more shovels.

2.

Can I take My Toys and Go Home?

I am very tired of political parties declaring that the other guys are the worst thing since original sin. There is plenty of blame to go around for Republicans, Democrats and Independents.  The deficit is insane. It's scary.  I don't see anyone actually engaged in fiscal restraint or even slightly less exhuberance towards spending.

3.

Hold Please, I'm Mad Libbing

I'm giving up multi-tasking.  I was on the phone and trying to switch the laundry and I couldn't figure out how to spell the name of the town I live in giving those A as in apple, T as in Tom type aids.  Got stuck on R, used "Not" for N and had an unnatural pause before adding the final "G."

4.

Placebo Parenting

With the youngers, citing an outside authority often allows me to enforce order when my own status is insufficient.  The age old "Wait until Dad gets home" works, but for swifter results, I talk about how maybe this situation  (whatever it is) might be the inspiration for a blog.

5.

Maybe It was Bad Then Too

Why does the fact that my middle daughter found and fell in love with 8o's rock (which as a teen I adored), disturb me?

6.

You Could Read a Lot More if You Weren't So Picky

After a steady diet of children's books, my brain feels fried and flat.  My daughter only reads fantasy and I've given her all the good ones I can think of, and am trying to broaden her literary tastes. It's a bit of a problem because I too get into funks where I'm just not excited by the literature around our house. Then of course, there are the crazy ambitious moments when I hoarde titles like a squirrel preparing for winter. 

They stack up and I weed through them until I find the really one I want to read and the rest gather dust until the next manic literary craze hits.  Having finished a book last week, I'm still in the reading zone and thus I'm really pining for a good book.  After rejecting my latest offerings, my daughter suggested I write her one.  Maybe I need to write the book I want to read too.    

7.

But There Is No Chocolate

My husband went shopping for the big snow. He bought chips and ice cream and milk and paper products, diapers and bread and beef, in other words, Man Food!  Now with the Super Bowl in two days, man food is required stuff, but really!  We're going to be snowed in for a few days.  How am I supposed to survive?

P.S.

Husband just called, he's taken care of his omission.  I will now go and purchase a snow blower to make this bearable.  Sorry it took so long to put this up but there were more than the average number of interruptions to writing this morning. This was fun, but getting to seven was hard work!