Puzzle Time!

One of my fondest memories as a little girl was sitting by my Pappaw in the living room. He had this large brown recliner that had "crackly" skin. The chair, not Pappaw. Anyway, he always was working on a jigsaw puzzle. He had cut down an old piece of paneling that he used for a board, and laid it across both arms of the chair. His Pepsi cola (glass bottles only) was on the side table within easy reach.

Pappaw always had a puzzle going in the fall and winter months. Spring and summer days were spent working in the garden, yard and flower beds. Sometimes he'd be in the basement (which he had dug out by hand!) working on some sort of project. But when the darkness came early, he brought up that panel board and started working on a Big Ben puzzle.

I was taught early on the proper way to work a puzzle. First, you lay out all the pieces, making sure that they are all face up. As you lay them out, you start to separate the edge pieces from the inside pieces. If you found two pieces (or more) stuck together, you were honor-bound to detach them. Cheating was a no-no.

Once you had all the pieces laid out and separated, you could begin on the perimeter. Corners were always a good starting place. In time, you worked your way into the middle to the last piece, hopefully not having lost any pieces.

Time goes on, but a good family tradition still remains. Hubby, Miss Scarlett and I revel in searching out really fun puzzles to work each fall and winter. We bought our first puzzles of the season just the other night: One Hundred Cats and a Fish and One Hundred Chickens and a Worm. We are still on the lookout for One Hundred Dogs and a Cat.

We don't have a big piece of paneling that we set our puzzles on. We instead use a folding table in what used to be our dining room. We drag kitchen chairs in, make a batch of homemade cookies to nibble and start working our puzzle - making sure all the while that we are laying them face up and separating the edges from the inners!

If you have a favorite family pastime or tradition, I'd love to hear about it!

Food for Thought

So I just finished reading Julie/Julia. You know, about how Julie Powell went through Julia Child's cookbook, "Mastering the Art of French Cooking". Anyway, being the repressed foodie that I am, I admit that I was enthralled with the notion of cooking one's way through ANY type of cookbook, even if it is a French one. (Why couldn't it have been Italian?).

It got me thinking. What is it that is so intriguing, inspiring, and (dare I say) almost sensual about cooking? You use all of your senses. (I can hear you say, "Yeah, but not sound! You don't use sound for cooking! Wrong! You always listen for the popcorn to stop popping. So there!) Touch, smell, sight and taste all play into preparing food - not matter how simple or advanced the recipe.

I started dragging out a bunch of our cookbooks last night and started reading the recipes. So far, I have not felt the desire to begin cooking my way through any of them. But I am considering trying my hand at some of the more challenging dishes.

And they will probably be Italian.

Keeping Sane with Swine 'Flu

The Swine Flu has finally made it to our home. Miss Scarlett was diagnosed today with it. She is running a fever and has a nasty congested-sounding cough. All I can say is thank goodness and the Good Lord that she doesn't have the stomach problems that usually go along with the 'flu.

So, the problem is how to keep a sick five-year old entertained when she can't go anywhere. Here are some of our activities today:

• Playing go Fish
• Watching cartoons
• Going to the doctor (ok, so this wasn't all that fun)
• Taking a nap (fun for me!)
• Farming on the virtual farm with Facebook
• Reading books
• Playing Crazy Eights
• Making a fort in the den

We plan on piling up on the couch this evening to watch Dancing with the Stars. This is one of our family's favorite shows. Can't wait to see who Scarlett picks this season as her favorite.

Trying to make the best of a bad situation.

A Good Day

Today was a good day. I spent all day with Miss Scarlett - mostly just the two of us. We started the morning off doing laundry. I never knew how exciting laundry was. Scarlett loved helping sort clothes, spray stains, and toss in the washer. And getting to put in the detergent, well, let me just say that she was almost as giddy as she is when she gets Chinese Potstickers.

We decided to grab a quick lunch at McDonald's. (Those Happy Meals tend to make her happy.) Then we took off for a birthday party of a little friend from church. There was a Hello Kitty, Hannah Montana theme going there. Too funny. I highly recommend partying at a children's museum. Great idea!

Hubby's alma mater had a win today. That always makes for a happy hubby. He came home from the football game glowing - both figuratively and literally, as he was sunburned. I doused him with white vinegar, and he was a happy man. Smelly, but happy.

We took Scarlett to Party City to let her peruse the Halloween costumes. So far, she will not commit. I see another Mulan Halloween in our future. Or maybe Dora the Explorer.

Today was not an exciting day, but it was fun. Sometimes it's the little things that make for memorable times.

It's Friday (Thank goodness!)

• I am so glad that this week is over! It has been a particularly stressful week at work and at home. Not bad, but just stressful.
• Did I just figure out how to do these bullets? I've tried FOREVER to get this to work. It's working!!
• Phineas and Ferb are on right now. I am thinking a platypus would make a cool pet. You know, they don't do much.
• Farmville is more fun when Miss Scarlett plays it with me.
• UT Football starts tomorrow. Although I am not a huge fan of football, I do enjoy all the hoop-la and pageantry.

Let the weekend begin!

Halfway through (Thank goodness!)

• Today marks "hump day" for the work week. As weeks go, I am glad this one is on the downhill slope.
• One of Miss Scarlett's classmate fell and broke his arm yesterday - just the second day of class! Poor little fellow was back today sporting a black cast.
• I worked with our young miss on her writing skills today. Not too bad, but definitely need to continue practicing her letters.
• Grandparents kept Miss Scarlett yesterday afternoon. She came home with freshly manicured nails and a haircut. Nana and Poppie RULE in this child's mind.
• I received a phone call from a neighbor today. She wanted to know if she could put things in our yard sale if she gave us half the income from it. As much as I didn't want to fool with another person's stuff, I told her "sure" and that she could keep all of her proceeds. How do I get into these things?
• Decided I needed another moniker for Miss Scarlett besides Miss Scarlett. Getting too long to type. A friend named her girls Lightening and Thunder. I need something easy like that.
• Considering "possum" for her moniker. What do you think?
• Still wanting to forgo the yard sale this weekend and just haul everything to Goodwill, but hubby won't let me. BIG sigh.

Random thoughts for the day...

• I am glad today is over!
• Decided we needed more family devotion time, so I bought the Family Devotions book by Josh McDowell. It's excellent.
• Wondering why all the sudden that Miss Scarlett is afraid to be out of our sight.
• Learned that her daycare teacher told her about vampires! Vampires! We will have to have a little talk with said teacher.
• Floor tile is not as easy to pick out as you would think.
• Neither are tennis shoes for five year old girls who think they are Stacy London.
• I am hoping that I can figure out how to keep the left justification with bullets on the blog. May have to get with my friend M. on this.
• Made copies of photos from a recent trip to Georgia and sent to our friends. Gosh, how we miss them!
• Wishing that we were able to get together with some folks from our China group more often. Some we have not seen since China.
• Thankful for the internet so that I can stay in touch with friends and family that are far away.
• Ordered a chocolate malt from Sonic and it was not chocolate or malty. Went home and added Ovaltine Chocolate Malt powder and was happier.
• Thankful for family that gives us hand-me-down clothes for our girl. Older cousins ROCK!