Confessions of a Dietitian's Wife and other bits of Randomness

Okay, here goes, I have to admit it. I love white pasta. A lot. And as I dug it out of the back of the pasta section (yes it has a section) of my pantry I realized that I'm a closet white pasta eater. The first step is admitting it, right? So I took a picture of the box after I started cooking the portion I am now eating. When my family is eating pasta I serve I get the healthy stuff. You know, either whole wheat or Barilla brand that is better for you than the "Enriched Spaghetti Product". I don't eat "Pastuerized Processed Cheese Food" but I love white pasta. I suppose this probably wouldn't be really good material for the writers of Desperate Housewives, but in our family this could be considered scandalous! Maybe I should tell Kevin before he reads this post......

Other bits of randomness: Conversations with a Four Year Old

Conversation #1

The other day Laura was disgruntled because I had either given her something she didn't want in the food department or I didn't give her what she wanted. Both happen so often I don't know which it was. Anyway, here is the dialogue to follow:

Kara: "I'm sorry this isn't your favorite, but it is what is good for you and you need/don't need to eat it." (depending on situation listed above)

Laura (now laying in the floor in the living room very dissatisfied with her lot in life): "I don't want to be in my world anymore."

Kara: "Oh really?"

Laura: "No, I want to be in Susan's world. I like it better there."

Kara: No response but laughing out loud. A lot.

Conversation #2

Laura: "When God was a little boy where did he poop?" (excuse the graphic nature of the questions but it is life with a four year old.)

Kara: "Um, well, when Jesus was a little boy I'm sure they had places for pooping.

Laura: "No, not Jesus, I mean God. Where did he poop?"

Kara: "I don't know if God really needs to poop. I'm not sure if He eats or not."

Laura: "If he doesn't eat, how can he live?" "Do you think He likes cheese toast?"

Kara (deciding not to get into theology way over both our heads): "I'll bet that if He eats, I'm sure He'd like cheese toast."

Laura: "Where are the bathrooms in heaven?"

Kara: "I don't think we'll need bathrooms in heaven."

Laura (alarmed): "If there are no bathrooms there where will I go potty?"

Kara (again deciding to take the easy, sensible route): "I'm sure that God will be able to tell you where you can go potty."

Laura: "Okay, what's for lunch?"

What a sweet life we live. So blessed we are to share it with you......

Fall, Already.....

As summer has blended into fall, I thought I'd put up some of the photos from our trips to Texas and New Jersey. I can't believe it is already autumn. It really crept up on me this year!

Here is Laura playing on the beach in Ocean City, NJ, where I played when I was her age.











On the boardwalk with Daddy.
I rode the same rides on the boardwalk when I was little!

Lindy took a good nap under the umbrella. That's a good life!






Dabby is giving some history on our Liberty Bell. Laura was very impressed to see it!

Shopping for Dummies

Well, I tried a not so fun game today I'd like to call, "Shopping for Dummies", in which I am the dummy! I decided that today would be a GREAT day to go to Sears and Target to try on shoes and look at fall dresses and clothes for Laura. Sears went pretty well, actually, except when Laura ran away from me in the Misses' section and decided she wasn't going to leave when it was time to leave. Thankfully there were only like five people in Sears at the time, so we didn't disturb anyone. When we left Sears, which happens to be right across from our house, I thought we might as well go to Target since we are already out and everyone is relatively happy. WRONG! Bad plan, Kara. The first thing Laura wanted to do was carry her favorite stuffed animal, Biscuit, into the store. Dummy Tip #1: NEVER allow a four year old to carry her favorite toy in the store and expect her to keep up with it! I decided to put Lindy in the stroller rather than using a shopping cart because she tends to do better that way. And normally Laura asks to walk rather than being put in the shopping cart. Well, the second we walked in the store Laura announced to me that she was sooooo tired and needed to get in a cart and lie down. Dummy Tip #2: When told this by the four year old, turn around a leave because your Target shopping experience is going to be less than happy. I told her simply that we were going to get the things on the list and that she would be just fine and could sleep in the car on the way home. So she moaned and groaned and tried to climb in the stroller with Lindy as we walked in. I had promised her Sonic as a treat for lunch, so I threatened to take that away if she didn't act like a big girl. Dummy Tip #3: When taking away a treat or privilege, don't threaten to take away something that will be a treat for you, too. The first bit of shopping, other than the moaning from Laura, wasn't actually all that bad. We looked at shoes and found a few of the things I needed to get. It was when we got to the grocery aisle things turned south. I needed some Instant Breakfast and as I reached for it I heard a crash, and this from Laura: "Wow! It's like dominoes!" Dummy Tip #4: Leave. Leave now! Don't get the rest of the stuff on your list. Leave. I turned around and saw about six cereal boxes on the floor that we set up again without too much trouble. But I was determined to get the stuff on my list and it was now a battle between the smart Kara and the Dummy. The Dummy won. And all I could think about was rewarding myself with Sonic once all this was over. By this time, which was only about 25 minutes from entering the store, Lindy was screaming. So I picked her up and Laura climbed in the stroller straightaway. Okay, at least they are both contained. But Laura has quite a range of reaching from a moving stroller. Hadn't thought about that. After knocking over several cheese graters and a salt shaker, I decided it was prudent to go ahead and go. But I'd forgotten the milk. We went back to get that and got to the car successfully. I got Lindy in the car seat and buckled and Laura says, "Where's Biscuit?" You remember Biscuit, right? The stuffed cat from Dummy Tip #1? Yeah. She's missing in action. So we all get back out of the car, Lindy screaming in the car seat, and go back in Target. We walked all over the store to the places we'd visited. No Biscuit. Lindy was asleep, though, nice timing huh? In the end we couldn't find Biscuit, but I did leave my information with the girl at the customer service desk, who was very friendly and sympathetic, and if Biscuit is found, she'll call me. This is going to be a good life lesson for Laura, I think. As much as I hate for her to have lost Biscuit, I think this will help emphasize my point when I don't give in and let her take things inside stores that are a bazillion square feet and have at least that many items to choose from. Places little stuffed kitties can get lost and overlooked so easily. Anyway, she fell asleep in the car on the way to Sonic and the milk was still good by the time we got back to the car. And all is well. I must say that was the best Sonic hamburger I think I've ever had! :) I should have gotten myself an ice cream. Oh well. Tomorrow starts a huge consignment sale at a school near our church down the street from my house. I have a different plan for shopping there: Call Grandma! Happy Thursday!

Added Thursday night: We got the call from Target. Biscuit was indeed found and will be waiting my arrival at Target in the morning. Yay!

Ike update

Update posted Monday night at 10:00 central....my mother emailed to say that they were back online and have power after only 70 hours without it. Really that is pretty good! All are well and only my uncle's home sustained minor damage in the form of a broken storm window. What a blessing it is to know they are safe. Thanks to all who checked in about them!

I just wanted to take a minute to give an update on my family and friends in Texas. As you can see from this image, Hurricane Ike was as big as the state of Texas. Thankfully it wasn't as devastating as they thought it might be, but it still created quite a mess in my home town of Houston. My family lives in the northern suburb of Houston, about 75 miles inland, so they had mostly high winds and lots and lots of rain. They lost their power at around 10 Friday night, and as of Sunday night are still without it. We are grateful that all is okay as far as our family is concerned. We are praying for those who are still in harm's way.

My friend Cindy asked on her blog recently what our pet peeves are and I'll tell you one of mine. People who stubbornly refuse to follow warnings and mandatory evacuation orders when staring a storm the size of Texas in the face. They are not only really, really stupid for doing that to themselves, but for putting others in harm's way.

That's my story and I'm sticking to it! We're just grateful the storm is gone now.

Best Friends!

I have lots of pictures from our recent travels to post but I just had to share this one first. This is Laura and her Grandpa, Kevin's dad. They are the best playmates ever! You see the doll who looks like a princess? That is Blondie. Yes, Blondie. I think Grandpa gave her that name. Blondie is very much a part of our family. When they play, Laura is Blondie's mom and Grandpa is Blondie's dad. So that makes me her grandmother and her sister-in-law? A bit too much like "Deliverance" for me. Anyway, there is someone else missing from the picture....Laura's imaginary friend, Aaron. He was at his Grandma's house. His Grandma is our Aunt Betty. When Laura and Grandpa play, they do whatever her imagination says to do, and she has a vivid imagination. They play outside and inside and can go all day long. Grandpa said to me once that he hoped Laura was having as much fun as he was. I'd say she is.

What a tremendous blessing it is to live close to Grandma and Grandpa. I am so grateful that our children will have the benefit of growing up with their grandparents. They help us out with childcare and they feed us regularly, and in general are just wonderful. We love them dearly and thank them for all they do for us.

Happy Friday! I'll put up some of our vacation pictures in the next post.

Tea Time with Dadada

I wanted to post this video, which happens to be my favorite part of our trip to Houston. We were there for a week and dodged the bullet of Gustav. Yesterday we got some cloud cover, an occasional gust of wind, and a little bit of rain. That's my kind of hurricane. :) This video is of Laura and my grandfather, who I call Dadada (His name is Wayne Hemingway, but I named him Dadada when I was a year old) having a cup of tea. Pardon Laura's lack of clothes, but those who know her well will know that her favorite way to be is in her skivvies (sp?). My grandmother, aka Mamama, is seen in the background working on her checkbook.

For those who don't know, my grandparents are 87 & 89 and have been married 66 years. They are two of the most precious and important people in my life, and words can't say how thankful I am to still have them. He still teaches school two days a week. What a treasure this video clip is to me!

We had a wonderful visit with family and friends while we were in Houston. I am so grateful we got to go down. Lord willing, we'll go down as an entire family at Christmas time.

We are excited to be planning to go to New Jersey to see my dad and stepmom on Friday. Speaking of hurricanes, Hanna is supposed to be visiting the eastern seaboard and to New Jersey by Saturday. And we flew to Houston as Faye was visiting Middle Tennessee last week. It is certainly a busy year for storms!

Happy Tuesday from rain-free Middle Tennessee!