Slip-On Sneakers: The After Photo

This photo is for Cathy, so we have the before-and-after of these sneakers.



DuckyBoy doesn't know how to tie shoes either, but it's not just a spectrum issue. My friend whose 9-year-old son is totally typical (well, by New York city kid standards anyway, haha) said he asked her to tie his new basketball shoes ... and until he asked her, she hadn't realized that he hadn't learned yet! It's just so easy to buy the slip-on and Velcro shoes now.

DB got into the habit of walking on the heels of these shoes, and also we had to switch from slip-ons back to Velco-closures for school, because he'd also fiddle with his shoes while siting at his desk. Darn near drove his kindergarten teacher crazy! So these were his summer '08 shoes, I think. When I saw Cathy's post about Ethan's new shoes back in November I dug these out ... and this is how long it took me to upload it!

Christmas Haiku

Breathe in scent of pine
Dots of color show the way
to fun this morning

A helicopter
hovers proudly atop it
not really that strange ...

We do pick something
that flies in the air: angel,
reindeer, star or ... this!

Stocking is open
by seven thirty a.m.
Now on to big stuff!

Fresh coffee has brewed,
the parents are awake now,
let's see Santa's loot!

Merry Christmas to those who celebrate, including me! (I can still celebrate Christmas on my own blog, right?)

Would you like to haiku today? To participate in Haiku Friday, just follow these steps:

1. Write your own haiku on your blog. You can do one or many, all following a theme or just random. It or they can be part or all of your post, but your post must include a haiku. What's a haiku, you ask? Hint: 3 lines, and count syllables, 5-7-5. The best haiku evoke a feeling of place or emotion. (Unlike mine which are often factual.) More info: Click here. Or here.

2. Sign the Mister Linky below with your name and the link to your haiku post (the specific post URL, not your main blog URL). Don't sign unless you have a haiku this week. If you need help with this, please let me know.

3. Please leave a comment after linking, thanks! (Eventually the Mr Linky links go away, I think, so they only way we'll find you in the future is via your comment.)

4. if you'd like, pick up a Haiku Friday button to display on the post or in your sidebar by clicking the button at the top of this post.

REMEMBER: Do not post your link unless you have a haiku this week.

Arguments Still Surprise Me: Haiku Friday

Cloud of angry words
dissipates slowly with time
the storm is over...

the hist'ry to blame
still lurks on the horizon
love's winds can't blow it

far enough away
to keep squalls from popping up
out of sunny skies ...

I'm never prepared,
need a better predictor --
Accu-Argument?

I'm just not always good at knowing what I do that will make Husband upset. Or when his reaction to something DB does (or, in this case, doesn't do, as in listen to us) will escalate to full-blown yelling. (I guess that just makes me human. But Husband is a systematizer by nature, finding ways to do things better, learning from every mistake ... so he expects me to improve the process every time!!)

All the work DB's teachers do to teach him voice levels, to modulate himself when he's angry, and what does he live with: a "level 5" voice.

Would you like to haiku today? To participate in Haiku Friday, just follow these steps:

1. Write your own haiku on your blog. You can do one or many, all following a theme or just random. It or they can be part or all of your post, but your post must include a haiku. What's a haiku, you ask? Hint: 3 lines, and count syllables, 5-7-5. The best haiku evoke a feeling of place or emotion. (Unlike mine which are often factual.) More info: Click here. Or here.

2. Sign the Mister Linky below with your name and the link to your haiku post (the specific post URL, not your main blog URL). Don't sign unless you have a haiku this week. If you need help with this, please let me know.

3. Please leave a comment after linking, thanks! (Eventually the Mr Linky links go away, I think, so they only way we'll find you in the future is via your comment.)

4. if you'd like, pick up a Haiku Friday button to display on the post or in your sidebar by clicking the button at the top of this post.

REMEMBER: Do not post your link unless you have a haiku this week.

Chicken and Sweet Potatoes: Delicious Recipe

I found this recipe on the back of a carton of Swanson Chicken Broth. It appealed to me primarily because I had most of the ingredients -- a couple of sweet potatoes that needed to be used, part of a carton of broth, and the spices. I never cook meat on the stovetop -- I either Foreman-Grill it or bake it -- but this sounded too good not to try. And it was soooo good!

I altered the amounts a little bit based on what I had and it was fine.

Chicken & Sweet Potatoes

• 1 TB oil
• 4-5 chicken pieces*
• 1 c broth (using more will give you a nice little broth to pour over the meat)
• 1 TB garlic, chopped
• 1/2 tsp. rosemary
• 1/4 tsp. thyme
• 1 or 2 sweet potatoes, cut in half-inch pieces
• 1 or 2 cups green beans, cut into 1-inch pieces (leave whole if you prefer)

1. Heat oil in 12-inch skillet over medium-high heat. Add chicken and cook 10 mins or until it's well-browned on both sides. Remove chicken and set aside.

2. Increase heat to high. Stir broth, garlic, romsemary, thyme, potatoes, and green beans into skillet. Heat to a boil and cook 5 mins.

3. Return chicken to skillet and reduce heat to low. Cover and cook 12 mins or until chicken is cooked through and potatoes are tender.


* I used 5 bone-in thighs; the original called for 4 boneless breasts. I also used pieces with the skin on, and the skin stuck to the bottom of the pan and came away from the meat, so the top of my meat wasn't browned. But we had some awesome cracklins for an appetizer!!

September 11 Poem

I wrote this shortly after the towers fell. I just found it in my old Franklin-Covey planner and thought I'd better type it up before I lost it.


Nine Eleven

I sat in those chairs
held onto the handrail of the escalator
thumbed through the books
rode the elevator to the top.

I remember spending an afternoon
in awe at the vistas
looked out the windows from the top
waiting for sunset
so I could see the night view too.

Walked the tiles.
My DNA lingered thedre.
When the towers came down,
I felt the loss immediately.

What of the suicide pilots?
Their ashes also mingle
with the victims'...
and have become part of American soil.

Lonely Haiku Friday

Where are the 'ku-ers
to fill up Mister Linky
with five-sev'n-five verse?

Onto Mount Haiku
the lonely hostess doth climb,
out of breath at top,

taking but a glance
at the reams of prose 'round her,
she seeks the rare 'ku

that can make her laugh
or quite take her breath away
with subtle beauty

Would you like to haiku today? To participate in Haiku Friday, just follow these steps:

1. Write your own haiku on your blog. You can do one or many, all following a theme or just random. It or they can be part or all of your post, but your post must include a haiku. What's a haiku, you ask? Hint: 3 lines, and count syllables, 5-7-5. The best haiku evoke a feeling of place or emotion. (Unlike mine which are often factual.) More info: Click here. Or here.

2. Sign the Mister Linky below with your name and the link to your haiku post (the specific post URL, not your main blog URL). Don't sign unless you have a haiku this week. If you need help with this, please let me know.

3. Please leave a comment after linking, thanks! (Eventually the Mr Linky links go away, I think, so they only way we'll find you in the future is via your comment.)

4. if you'd like, pick up a Haiku Friday button to display on the post or in your sidebar by clicking the button at the top of this post.

REMEMBER: Do not post your link unless you have a haiku this week.

About Me: Six Easy Questions (OK, 5)

My friend Nancy sent me this cute fill-in email chain. I liked it because it's not too long. Especially since I didn't bother to answer one of them about who would answer it if I forwarded it, since I decided not to forward it (but I did send it back to her).

Six names you go by:
1. Janice
2. Jan
3. janny226
4. Babe
5. Mommy
6. Mrs. H

Three things you are wearing right now:
1. Blood:Water Mission bracelet
2. My "Beer Helps" t-shirt that I scissor-ripped just to try the process and my friend told me, "That's so 80s!" but I wore it out in public anyway 'cause I kinda like it even though people gave me dirty looks in Stop & Shop for wearing it while having too much fun with my kid
3. A grey t-shirt under the other one because it's cold outside!

Two things you want very badly at the moment:
1. To eat more chocolate pretzels
2. To weigh 30 pounds less

Three things you did last night:
1. Wrote a "task card" for the school library craft project
2. Cut out penguin beaks and feet for the school library craft project
3. HAD THE WHOLE BED TO MYSELF (Husband's at a conference)

Two things you ate today:
1. Peanut butter on toast
2. Mozzarella sticks that DuckyBoy said are "just like the ones at school!" (They're his favorite school lunch.)

Two people you last talked to on the phone:
1. Husband
2. DuckyBoy's friend's mom

Two things you are going to do tomorrow:
1. Talk on the phone
2. Edit the workbook for this week's class on writing a business website

Your favorite beverages:
1. Coke from a glass bottle
2. Tequila

BlogHer NYC Holiday Party: Haiku Review

BlogHer holiday
NY party -- with Jory! --
was a nice event.

A mix of bloggers
and sponsors, it seemed to me,
and int'rested folks ...

Washington Square Park,
Great Neck's Motherhood Later,
Gympressions and Curves ...

Snacks rocked @ Pranna,
chutney, sliders, shrimp, and naan ...
fusion like the crowd!

Proud I went alone,
wish I'd remembered my cards,
but still glad I went.

Would you like to haiku today? To participate in Haiku Friday, just follow these steps:

1. Write your own haiku on your blog. You can do one or many, all following a theme or just random. It or they can be part or all of your post, but your post must include a haiku. What's a haiku, you ask? Hint: 3 lines, and count syllables, 5-7-5. The best haiku evoke a feeling of place or emotion. (Unlike mine which are often factual.) More info: Click here. Or here.

2. Sign the Mister Linky below with your name and the link to your haiku post (the specific post URL, not your main blog URL). Don't sign unless you have a haiku this week. If you need help with this, please let me know.

3. Please leave a comment after linking, thanks! (Eventually the Mr Linky links go away, I think, so they only way we'll find you in the future is via your comment.)

4. if you'd like, pick up a Haiku Friday button to display on the post or in your sidebar by clicking the button at the top of this post.

REMEMBER: Do not post your link unless you have a haiku this week.