Life Lessons Month of December: Blog 3- Letters from Mom & Mimi

Hi Ellie!

Well, after reading your Mom’s blog last week, it seemed only apropos to piggyback off it with a few recipe blunders of my own!  Like mother; like daughter… you will see that the apple did not fall far from the tree in our yard!  I think that is good news for you El as ‘perfection’ in our two kitchens is not even on the grid!  So for my blog this week let’s go with:

Life Lesson Learned #42:  After 50 years, practice still doesn’t make perfect!

I will be the first to honestly admit that I am not chef material in any category El.  My recipe blunders come freely in the comfort of my very own kitchen!  You might be surprised by this admission, but if you have ever seen the cupboard above my stove you would think I was a Julia Child wanna-be!  Up till recently I have had it stocked with thousands of magazine recipes such as main entrees, soups, side dishes, salads and of course desserts all of which I have had every intention of someday creating.  You see El, I read recipes like romance novels… their words are a seduction to my palette.  And each time I find one that I fall in love with, well…. I carefully cut it out and store it in a place that is easily accessible to retrieve for all the times I plan on pretending to be a kitchen guru.  Well, Julia Child’s I am not, and those so called ‘times’ I thought would come never have as of this date.  In fact, not one of those numerous recipes have ever seen a mixing bowl, a baking dish, my stove or refrigerator, not even my kitchen counters and I can say with 99.99 percent accuracy that they probably never will!  And I am sure you are now thinking, “So why collect them?”  And the answer to that Ellie is, “I don’t have the slightest idea!” I would like to believe that with all the recipe reading I do, my kitchen skills would improve over time.  It hasn’t happened yet, but I am an eternal optimist!

Until then, the best I can do at the moment is add to your Mommy’s list of a few cooking tips that I have learned of what not to do in the kitchen:

1.)   Don’t try to double your great-grandfather Bud’s fudge recipe.  That’s what I did Ellie, and the reason I did it was to cut down on time (my first mistake)… and it backfired on me big time.  I had two big pots going full boil on the stove, one hand stirring the right pot clockwise and the other hand stirring the left pot counter-clockwise.  My arms got tired quickly so I upped the heat (my second mistake)… Don’t do that.  Make sure to use the candy thermometer properly (my third mistake).  Don’t round up.  And after pouring the fudge into a pan and refrigerating it for the proper time frame… don’t be so surprised when you take it out and it’s still ‘soup’ consistency.  My fifth mistake came when I asked your Great-Gram Bubbles what I should do.  Her answer was to pour the fudge into a jar, refrigerate it, and use as an ice-cream topping.   Sounds like a perfectly great idea right?  Wrong!  When we tried serving it this way, the ice-cream tasted as though it had a gritty sandpaper burnt chocolate taste drizzled all over the top of it.  At that moment, four pounds of fudge went right into the trash.

2.)   When making a turkey for dinner, check the bird’s cavity to see if there are little paper bags filled with the bird’s organs and remove them before placing the turkey in the oven.  All I will say is … Ooooops, your turkey may have a livery taste to it… not horrible, but not yummy delicious either!

3.)   If a recipe calls for 4 or 5 cloves of garlic, don’t add a ‘0’ to the end of either number just because the original recipe doesn’t look like it called for enough of them.  Apparently garlic does not have to be seen in a dish to give off a wonderful presentation (who knew???).  After serving your Poppy spaghetti and clams with 40 cloves… well, let’s just say it creates a 2 day upset stomach.  Knowing that I felt kind of bad for his illness, your Poppy found a perk to eating this revised dish.  He commented afterwards that if there were such a thing as vampires, he would be exempt from their bite in at least a 40-mile radius.  Leave it to Poppy to find words of kindness! 

4.)   When making Cajun fish, don’t ‘Cajun it to death.’  Your Poppy said I lit his butt on fire.

5.)   And lastly, when cooking, don’t train your family that the smoke alarm is the ‘call bell’ for “Dinner is Ready!”

So I guess the lesson I have learned Ellie is that mastering a recipe is definitely possible, but be ready for another mouth-watering challenge to take its place.  Remember, “Practice doesn’t always make perfect.”  It’s more like, “Practice paves the way to evolving.”  Like your Mommy said, “Kitchens are a great place for friends and family to congregate.  After all, food brings people together.”  So “blunder” away my little Ellie Crocker… and do it with love.  If you cook, people will come.

Love you bunches Ellie-bean,

Mimi

Life Lessons Month of December: Blog 2- Letters from Mom & Mimi

Hi My Sweet Girl,

I find this lesson to be particularly important during the holiday season.

Life Lessoned Learned #41:  Food brings people together.

Food preparation is not as easy as it may seem but it’s worth the effort.  Good food encourages company to stay and come back again.  It makes your house warm and smell delicious.  Don’t be afraid to try new things and practice.  However, I can save you some time with five tips I learned first-hand.     

1.     Don’t substitute summer sausage for regular sausage.  I don’t like to cook meat (nor eat much of it) so I didn’t realize that they have completely different tastes and can change the flavor of a dish in a not-so-yummy way.

2.     Be careful when you try to make a butterfly out of waffles and bananas.  You and I were making this scrumptious and beautiful creation when your Dad pointed out with quite the smirk that ours didn’t look like a butterfly.  You didn’t notice and gobbled it up!

3.     Just because you like an ingredient doesn’t mean you should put more than what the recipe asks for.  Your Dad calls my meatloaf an onion loaf (I used 3x the amount of onion).  And for a chicken bake I tried recently, I added extra cans of fire roasted tomatoes, which just made the whole casserole soggy.

4.     Definitely tear the minute rice bag to vent.  There was a terribly loud popping noise before rice exploded all over the microwave.

5.     Make sure you add water to the Kraft microwave mac n’ cheese.  The smell of burnt noodles and plastic along with some smoke stayed a few hours that afternoon.  Unfortunately, it was during a play date with some of your friends.  I can only imagine what the other mom must have thought!

6.     Have the local pizza delivery restaurant on speed dial.

Based on what I just wrote, it’s obvious that I don’t like to cook (your Aunt Samantha and Mimi should be your guides in that area).   However, I do love to bake.  And I’m sharing my passion for that with you.  You help me make all kinds of truffles (the latest being nutella flavored), chocolate covered pretzels, many varieties of cookies, and a range of different muffin types.

Kitchens are natural places for people to congregate.  Don’t ever feel like you need to spend a lot of money either.  Recipes that are made with love are the best.  Put dishes out when people come to visit.  Oh and offer hot tea, and when you are old enough, make sure you always have a bottle of wine on hand.  When bellies are full, people are happy. 

I love you my little chef!

Mom

XOXO 

Life Lessons Month of December: Blog 1- Letters from Mom & Mimi

 Hi Ellie!

The other day I went rooting through every room of this house in search of your 0 to 12 month age appropriate toys.  Poppy and I wanted to bring them out for Will to play with when he is ready.  But for the life of me, I was having a difficult time finding their hiding place.  At one point I ended up in the small storage room in back of the garage.  It was there that I found two very old large brown barrels that we had brought to State College from Philadelphia 25 years ago.  Curious as to what was in them, I immediately forgot what I had originally set out in search for and instead got a screwdriver and pried the lids off of the barrels.  To my surprise one of them was loaded with oodles of your Poppy’s old baseball shirts, a hanging tiffany lamp, a few toddler holiday outfits that belonged to your Mommy and Uncle Ryan, and an ankle length coat.  (Whatever was I thinking when I packed that barrel?)  Anyway believe it or not it was the ankle length coat that caught my attention!  Ellie, it was plum purple, filled with lots of goose feathers and enough seams to make me look like the Michelin Tire Man!   As I stood there in awe (and a bit stinky because those ‘stuffed quackers’ had been sitting idle for over 2 dozen years), it was at that moment that I knew what my blog was going to be about!  Ready?

Life Lessoned Learned #40:  There is something wonderful to say about nostalgia.

El, first let me explain the meaning of nostalgia: a sentimental longing or wistful affection for the past, typically for a period or place with happy personal associations.  With that being said, ‘nostalgia’ was all around me this past week.  The ‘coat’ was just the beginning.  As I held my breath in 30-second increments (remember I said the coat smelled), I couldn’t help but go in search of a mirror.  And upon finding one, it wasn’t the Fruit of the Loom Grape man that kind-of stared back at me (that came later), but rather an image from 30 years ago when your Aunt Phyllis and I would spend an early December day at a huge and extremely fun outdoor flea-market called Englishtown.  I wore that purple coat to keep warm as we trudged up and down aisle after aisle in chilly weather looking for great bargains in what would become Christmas gifts for family and friends.  Now I know I only had that coat on for a few minutes, but it seemed a lot longer as I reminisced.  And for whatever reason, unbeknownst to even me, I took that coat to the dry-cleaner in hopes of it becoming clean and fresh.  Will I eventually wear it?  You’ll know the answer to that question if a picture of it shows up in a future blog!  Anyway, on to more nostalgia.  On Friday as I decorated our Christmas tree I came across a few special handmade ornaments given to me by your Mommy and Uncle Ryan.  The first one I picked up was a royal blue tin heart with x’s and o’s etched into it along with To Mom From Ryan.  I believe he was in second grade when he created that one-of-a-kind masterpiece that this very Mom fell in love with.  The next original creation came from your Mommy.  It was a 4 inch baked plaster candy-cane painted red and white with a K. R. on its backside.  In another bin I found 2 small plastic Christmas trees obviously colored by small hands with crayons.  On the front of each tree were a picture of your mom at age 7 ½ and your Uncle Ryan at age 5.  As I stared at those precious photos, they took me back to the days when Wheeler Street was our life.  It was a wonderful time Ellie where everyone watched out for each other.  It was a street like no other… always filled with excitement, stories and laughter.  Ahhhhh… those were the days.  There was another nostalgic moment on Wednesday Thanksgiving Eve.  You helped your Mommy make your Great-Grandmom Bubbles’ stuffing recipe that she had been making for the past 60 years.  You know El, every time I bite into a spoonful of that delicious dressing; it brings back happy memories of so many Thanksgivings gone by.   

Oooooo… I just remembered another nostalgic moment.  On Saturday morning Poppy asked me if I would like to go to the State Theater, and of course I said yes.  He wanted to take you, but you had a prior commitment with your family.  The theater was showing an hour of Looney Toon cartoons for free.  We watched Bugs Bunny, Porky Pig, and the Roadrunner all of which I think were made in the 1940’s.  Ellie they were hilarious and corny.  I think I most enjoyed the Roadrunner because that was my Dad’s favorite cartoon.  It brought back memories from when I was a child.  Faithfully every Saturday morning when we awoke, my dad would be watching the TV in his recliner and laughing as the scheming coyote with his bag of Acme equipment could never catch nor outsmart the crafty roadrunner!   Remembering my dad during a nostalgic moment sometimes brings tears El.  And yes, they are tears with a bit of sadness because I would love to still have him here.  You see my dad was a gentle soul and when he laughed even his eyes smiled.  But those tears are also tears of gratefulness for at least I have some wonderful memories of him.  You know Ellie, if I really took the time; I think I could walk from room to room in this house and pick up something nostalgic in each one.  I know there are oodles of nostalgia in the photo albums downstairs, and I’m sure I can find some utensils in the kitchen drawers that hold a family memory too.  And a guaranteed place to find something nostalgic would certainly be the closet.   But what you need to remember is this; it is not so much the item itself that is important; it is what memory the item brings with it.  And it is because of those memories, the ones with great sentimental value, that make us want to create new ones for those we love (maybe yours and possibly Will’s nostalgic moments Ellie will come many years from now when you pick up an old faded Disguised Turkey from a new tradition that we started at your home this very Thanksgiving!).

So Ellie, I guess the lesson I have learned this week is that we all need nostalgia in our lives.    And when a nostalgic moment comes upon us, we should give thanks for those memories past and take great care in shaping future memories for those who come after us.

I love you Merry-little-one!

Mimi

Life Lessons Month of November: Blog 5- Letters from Mom & Mimi

Hi Ellie,

Happy Thanksgiving!  You have a very privileged life, my love, and I don’t ever want you to take that for granted.  Appreciate what you have and keep in mind those who are less fortunate.

Life Lessoned Learned #39: Always remember to give thanks.

Even though we acknowledge what we are thankful for in our daily nighttime prayers, I wanted to spend some more time with you making a big list in honor of this special holiday.  Here are your top 23 things you are thankful for as you quoted them to me today:

1.     My family

2.     Snow

3.     Santa Clause

4.     Bunnies

5.     Christmas time

6.     Christmas trees

7.     A pink mouse (???)

8.     The elephant on the Disney safari ride that I would like to name Ellie

9.     My blanket

10. Disney World

11. Plies in ballet

12. Pictures that I draw

13. Cameras

14. Carrots

15. Stripes (I think you got sidetracked on my striped shirt here)

16. Soft Pants

17. Our couch

18. Flowers

19. Jumping

20. Railings on the stairs

21. Songs

22. Burp cloths for Will

23. The Goldilocks and the Three Bears book

I love how you think Ellie.  Even the smallest treasures don’t go unnoticed by you, my observant girl.  And I particularly adore your #1… you already understand that relationships are one of the most important things in this world!  Enjoy this wonderful holiday and be grateful everyday for your blessings.

I thank God everyday for you, your brother Will, and of course Kyle too.

Love you,

Mom

Life Lessons Month of November: Blog 4- Letters from Mom & Mimi

Hi Ellie-bean!

Life Lessoned Learned #38: Apparently a ‘crack’ has more than one definition!

El, my blog this week stems from a comment you made to me recently while we were playing dolls.

“Mimi, why do you have a crack on your face?”

“Is it food?” I questioned.

“Nope,” you stated matter-of-factly.

“Is it my make-up?” I asked next.

“Nope,” you said all knowingly.

“Is it a scratch?” I inquired.

“Nope… it’s just a crack,” you sighed, obviously already bored with the interrogation.

Completely perplexed by what could possibly be on my face and having no mirror to look into, I had to ask your mommy.

With a giggle she replied, “Oh, that crack is just a wrinkle!”

Now I know I am old, but for a moment I was dumbfounded!  “A wrinkle?”

“Yeah,” your mommy answered and then turned to you and explained that it was actually a laugh-line.

“A laugh-line?” I voiced as I forced the muscles in my right cheek to rise upward.

Now it was my turn to let out a giggle.  Like a said, I know I am old and I know that with ‘oldness’ comes wrinkles, but I guess this was the first time that someone actually brought attention to my being the actual ‘old one!’

And then wouldn’t you know the very next day at school I was double whammied!

While working with a group of children one of the little girls (I’ll refer to her as Sally) said that she was going to be a teacher when she grew up.  I told her that I thought she would make a wonderful teacher.  Sally then asked me if I would still be working at the school when she got her first job.  I answered with a bit of hesitation, “Welllllllllllllllllllllllll, I’m not sure.” 

“Yeah, you’ll probably be retired by then,” Sally concluded quite endearingly.

And without missing a beat a little boy sitting next to her (Ill refer to him as Jimmy) looked up from his work and blurted out, “No she won’t.  Mrs. Russell will be dead by then.  She is old.”  Jimmy said this, not to hurt me, but more like he was stating hard-facts from a World Book Encyclopedia! 

Oooooops.  I guess my reference of World Book just backed-up his statement…. I should have said Wikipedia or Snopes!

No matter Ellie… the children at school gave me a fit of the giggles just like you did!

And that one obvious crack that you brought attention too, or laugh-line, or wrinkle (which is actually one of my many) or whatever you want to call it got me thinking.

That crack took many years to form, and it has weathered many facets of life.  El, there are world-renowned photographers that have been quite successful in capturing the day-to-day lives of the elderly.  And their success came from zooming in and capturing the depth, the emotion and the grit that has gone into each of those cracks.  I would like to think mine hold some wisdom, or at least some learned knowledge that I can pass on.  Although I slightly fear my many blunders over the years might trump them.  I guess I will never really know, but I can certainly hope. 

So I guess the lesson I have learned Ellie is that for every ‘crack’ I bore, I have truly earned.  They have been formed from love, hard work, tears, compassion, faith, joy and so much more.  There is an old saying: “Beauty is only skin deep.”  Not true.  El, those cracks have great beauty for their beginnings go well beyond the surface.  Those cracks hold the history of each individual.  They tell ones story in great depth.  And the awesome thing is, just like snowflakes, there are no two cracks exactly alike!  God planned each of our “beginnings and ends” to be unique.  And even though ‘cracks’ hint at ones loss of youth, I am a firm believer of that age-old saying: You’re only as young as you feel.  And Ellie with you and Will around, I shall never get old!

I love you my little playmate!

Mimi

Life Lessons Month of November: Blog 3- Letters from Mom & Mimi

Dear Ellie,

Now I am by no means claiming any sort of creative title here but I do have some decorating advice for you, as we definitely had our fun remodeling our new house.  Despite being very pregnant when we moved in, I really enjoyed making the house our home.  Thankfully, I also got a lot of ideas and recommendations from your Dad, Mimi, and Aunt Joanne.   So here’s what I learned:  

Life Lessoned Learned #37: Making a house a home doesn’t have to be expensive and should reflect who you and your family are.

1.     Get artwork from family and friends.  Not only will those pieces become keepsakes, they give character and uniqueness to spaces.

2.     Frame a bulletin board.  It beautifully organizes a mess of all things that are important to you.  You and your brother are actually getting them in your room soon as well.  This way, you can save tickets, photos, and your schoolwork.  It’s constantly a changing piece of art and you can keep it current.

3.     Pick paint colors that look good with your skin tone and colors that you actually like (and would wear as clothes).  After all, it’s you who is going to spend the most time in your house and you want to feel good in it!  You know how I love all colors Ellie so our house is a rainbow… we have a purple room, blue room, green room, pink room, yellow room… but predominantly, our house is a sea blue and it’s so calming. 

4.     For your brother’s room, we went with the theme Goodnight, Gorilla (my favorite children’s book, which happens to be a picture book).  We bought a large hard-back copy, tore out the frame, and pasted it to different colors of backing (to which my Mom secured hooks so we could hang our favorite pages that tell most of the story).

5.     When I was looking for curtains that would go in the front of my house, I couldn’t find any I loved.  On the way out of one of the many stores I scoured, I walked by the bath section and I fell in love with a cloth shower curtain.  So I bought several of them, took them to my seamstress who secured the top for the rod and hung them in the dining room and your playroom.  Now I realize that the trend is to have long curtains to give the affect of higher ceilings but for the money I saved, I feel ok with going against that fashion.

6.     Finally, do what feels right for you.  Your Dad and I felt we needed to represent Kyle so we painted our guest room a bright green color and displayed some of our 5k memorabilia.  We both know he’s not really in there but it makes us feel good to know that he’s still a part of our family in spirit.

But most of all Ellie, what makes a house a home is love and we have a lot of that!  Now I’m sure your Dad could write a book on house projects involving refinishing, landscaping, and tools so for any of those projects, seek him out! 

I love you Bean!

Mom     

Life Lessons Month of November: Blog 2- Letters from Mom & Mimi

Hi Bean-sprout!

Because of your brother Will’s baptism, it has been a very busy past 2 weeks!  

Your amazing and wonderful great-grandparents came for the blessed event!  Grandmom Bubbles time of stay was the whole week before while Gigi’s and Pop’s was the whole week after!  

And each made sure to give you equal attention time with Will.  Honestly El, I think they really prefer to just sit and watch you in action because your creative originality is just that… unique!  This week my blog idea came when Miss Trixie McAllister the waitress (aka- you), your Mommy, Gram Bubbles, Will, Violet the doll, and I played restaurant.  Gram Bubbles, who couldn’t stop laughing, made a comment afterwards that our playtime should be on a video.  Ellie, she stated quite accurately that your imagination is definitely way outside of the box!  

So here is my life lesson learned for this week:

Life Lessoned Learned #36:  Playing the “If You Let” game with you my dear granddaughter, one must have patience and also an open-mind!

You have so lovingly entertained me with our game.  Here are some examples Ellie!

1.) If you let your granddaughter have free reign to whatever is on the church pew during the Mass before Will’s christening, be prepared that she will pick up his knitted baby christening cap and wear it on her own head… backwards… and casually go on about her business as though all is normal!

2.) If you let your granddaughter play in your jewelry box, be prepared that not only will she take the grandest and yes the gaudiest pieces to possibly play with, but she will leave the rest in massive knots (the last time you did this El; I had a thought…  It was that I should just send the whole jewelry mess to the game company that creates Challenging Puzzles for the Brain … because my brain has great difficulty getting past the untangling of the first knot!).

3.) If you let your granddaughter do your dishes (a more accurate statement would be … playing in a sink full of sudsy soap water) then be prepared for a tidal wave, or two, or three to occur and a man-made lake to replace your tile floor!

4.) If you let your granddaughter wear multiple velour clothes, be prepared that she will transform into a cat and you had better pet her!

5.) If you let your granddaughter create her own ice-cream cup at Sweet Frog, be prepared that she will choose at least a dozen (ex: gummy bears, pretzel bits, tropical poppers, fresh cherries, chopped snickers, banana slices, and M&M’s to name a few) of the 4 dozen toppings available and fill her cup with them!  And proudly eat every last spoonful (Oh, did I forget to mention that there is probably only a teaspoon of ice-cream underneath all that sugar substance?)!

6.) If you let your granddaughter play with your green, copper and shimmering gold eye-shadow, be prepared that a major uni-brow will take over her forehead. And you had better be prepared to follow up with acknowledging to her that she is a very talented make-up artist!

7.) If you let your granddaughter choose any board games to play, be prepared and fully understand that she controls the rules of how the game is actually played.  One example: The Sock Monkey Game: cast aside all the clue cards and play only with the half dozen that say “Go Look For It”!

8.) If you let your granddaughter apply her own lotion after a bath, be prepared in advance by purchasing stock in the lotion company, as she may make you quite wealthy but the amount she slathers all over herself and the number of bottles you will go through in her lifetime!

9.) If you let your granddaughter apply Elmer’s glue to the crafts you create, again be prepared in advance by purchasing stock in the glue factory!

10.) If you let your granddaughter snuggle on your lap while chatting with her Mommy or Poppy, be prepared that your tea will disappear as fast as she can gulp it down with that irresistible twinkle in her eye always upon you!

11.) If you let your granddaughter choose “1” toy item to take to Sunday mass, be prepared to have octopus arms that are capable of carrying multiple oversized “items” along with one arm free to carry her as well!

Ellie, I really could go on and on as I am having so much fun with this list!  I just wish I had more time!   Even though the “If You Let” game isn’t really a game, I love watching you play it because I find that it allows you that little bit of extra freedom you seem to seek out...possibly strengthening the right-side of your brain.  After all, that is the side which controls one’s creativity.  And no one can deny that you have been creating originality since birth!  So I guess my lesson learned this week El, along with your mom and dad, is to continue allowing you the freedom to explore not just the parameters, but the whole area in an around your ‘Box.’  All ready at the age of 3, you are learning how to redefine yourself daily.  My guess is that by the time you are age 99, your mirror will have seen many, many faces and your closets will have held an infinite number of hats!  Don’t ever change sweetheart, yet continue to change, shape and mold the inner you! You are truly entertaining Ellie and a joy to be around.

Love you Miss Trixie McAllister!

Mimi