Hot Dog Winners

We won a hot dog cooking contest this weekend! Scott's combination of recipes was dynamite.


The toppings on the Displaced Wall Street Executive Dog are:
* High-on-the-Hog Bacon (2 slices)
* Prime Rib Chili
* Ski-Weekend-in-Vermont Cheddar
* Mexican-Riviera Cream Sauce
* In-the-Red Onion Relish

These are the 2 we made for my friend Maritza; for the record, she not only raved about them but also knew we would win even before tasting them.

I'll get the recipes, which are on the web, plus our modifications, up on our food blog asap, I promise. UPDATE: Recipes (thanks, Blue Bear!) But right now, while DuckyBoy is still at camp this morning, I have to go buy some new clothes for BlogHer this weekend!

BTW, DB did great with a sitter all day Saturday while we were at the contest. He had a better Saturday than he would have had with us, probably, since he got to get a Transformers sticker book at the bookstore (and I understand he was helping a littler kid read an Amelia Bedelia book!), plus pizza, plus the playground, plus a ride on the little duck ride-on outside the stationery store.

It was fun to be able to concentrate on the contest with Husband. I'm not sure when I've worked that hard! 5 toppings on 100 dogs in 45 minutes. Whew!

I'll Miss My Grocery Cart Passenger

I see it coming, but I don't want it to happen.

DuckyBoy is getting almost too big to fit into the seat of the grocery cart ... and almost too big for me to lift him in.

I know, I got longer than many people -- he's 6-and-a-half, for Pete's sake -- but I love that we can be eye-to-eye and talk while we get the groceries. It's not going to be nearly as fun for him to have to walk around the store. And he can't comfortably sit and snack, which buys me some shopping time without having to be talking with him.

He's at the same stage with the hard bucket swings at the playgrounds. A couple of months ago when we had a warm spell, I stuffed him and several of his friends into the bucket swings on the school playground, much to the chagrin of the other moms and babysitters who had to extricate their first- (and one second-) grader. (I would have done it, I swear! I have a trick! They just have to push off of your leg!)

DB and I can still make it work, but the writing is on the wall. Those long legs, the appetite. I'm delighted he's growing as he should, but still...

I'm going to miss some things about my little guy.

Funny thing is that he's not tall for his age, but for years people meeting him for the first time regularly comment, "Oh, a tall guy, I thought he was [add a couple of years to his age]." I don't know if it's because he's slim, or because he speaks so maturely. One of those ponder-them-in-my-heart things, I guess.

Zoo Haiku

Great day at the zoo,
Two days in a row no less,
I so love this kid.

I had another haiku that had lemurs in it that we made up yesterday...hmmm... this isn't it but at least it can represent.

Lemurs in New York,
Taking over the whole place...
please come visit Queens!

DuckyBoy and I had such a good day, yesterday and today, at the Bronx Zoo. The last time we were there he spent more time looking at one specific fire hydrant than at any of the animals. This time, he loved the Children's Zoo and the Madagascar exhibit.

Another Blessing of No Car

We had a wonderful Saturday yesterday, we walked all over. The weather was beautiful and so we went for bagels, to a far-away playground, and even ran an errand at our accountant's office. What a nice way for the three 3 of us to spend the afternoon.

The sermon today was about resting on the Sabbath -- looking back, it felt like yesterday was that kind of day for us.

Today did not feel like that kind of day. We schlepped on the subway to the Brooklyn church because we had an obligation; my favorite part was seeing 2 young men enjoy DuckyBoy's sheer joy and boundless energy on the subway. It clearly brightened their day to watch a little boy having so much fun. One even asked him, "Could I have half your energy?" It was really cute.

Now I have to face up to some trust issues in my relationship that I've put off for a long time. Although, does it count as putting it off if you didn't know what it was until yesterday?

Blessed by Bumming Rides

As you'd probably guess from this post title, our car is in the shop.

But yesterday is the day I drive DB to school and spend the day there helping in the library. I could have put him on the school bus, but I still needed to find a way there. (Anyway, the bus would get him there almost an hour early since on Fridays his school has a later start time, but the buses don't adjust for that.) I knew I could call a car service, but wanted to minimize that expensive if possible, on the parts of the trip when I knew other people would be driving our way.

Blessing 1
So, I called my friend M, who graciously agreed to pick us up. She was practically apologetic about having to go early (since she has to get to work) -- but I was overjoyed to have a ride with a friend. It was good to see what happens when the kids arrive early, in case I ever do need to send DB on the bus on Friday.

We had a nice chat on the way, and since DB loves her minivan best among all the vehicles in the universe, he enjoyed it as well. He and M's daughter even chatted in the backseat-- which is a big deal for both of them.

Blessing 2
Thursday night as I set up the ride, I also spoke to my friend J. We spent a few minutes catching up in a way we never can at pickup time. (At least, not until it gets warmer and the kids can play at the playground.)

Blessing 3
Once we were at school, I figured I'd wing it about getting to gymnastics. Two other families go from school to the gym Friday afternoons, and I know D can squeeze extras into her minivan. Except ... yesterday, she wasn't going since she had 2 kids at home and only 1 came to school. But guess what, she offered to give us a ride anyway. (It's sorta-kinda on the way to their house, so I didn't feel too bad accepting.)

We had the nicest chat in the car! She even planted a seed about a career change idea for me, hmm. And DB got to practice sharing -- I'd bought some Twizzlers as an afterschool snack.

Blessing 4
At gymnastics, I figured I'd simply call a car service to get home. I'd already called Thursday to get the price, $18, not too bad. But somehow during the conversation I mentioned the car troubles to my friend E, and she insisted on driving us home! Which is waaay out of her way. And we had a nice chat too, and more socialization practice for DB.

DB got to ride in 3 minivans, and I got to have some time with 3 wonderful ladies. (4 when you count my phone chat Thursday night.) Who'da thunk it?

Blessed by Overtipping

Yesterday by accident I put $2 (or it might have even been $3) in the tip jar at Dunkin Donuts. I love this particular DD so much I even thought of tipping, which usually I don't. But the bills stuck together and whoops! There it was, a small wad of bills in place of the single I planned on putting in. Was it even all singles? What if that was a $5 bill inside there?

The counterperson had moved on to taking someone else's order so I had a few seconds.What to do?? I wanted to get it back, simply because it was a mistake! We're not so rich we can tip like THAT! We're on a tight weekend budget, and all of Sunday stretched out before us!

I put my finger back towards the bills but they were folded together tight. I'd have had to remove my gloves, then remove the entire wad and unfold it and peel $1 off to put back in.

I didn't know how I was going to explain what I was doing if the counterperson happened to glance over! No, I'm not helping myself to the money in your tip jar!

So I left whatever it was.

And we ended the weekend with $95. Out of $100. The coffee and three donuts cost more than $5...not even counting the amount of the Unknown Tip! Figure that one out.

This post is my contribution to Bossy's Daily Poverty Party.