This morning, my son-in-law left with a pal of his to go pick up a motor -or some such automotive item. The stepgranddaughter has been at her mother's place for the weekend and the two middle stepgrandhildren, who were supposed to be here today, ended up spending the entire weekend with their mother.
That left Mandy, the two little ones and me to do whatever struck our fancy today so we decided since the older daughter had invited us down to her house for dinner, to take her up on the offer.
It was, I must say, a very good meal she had prepared too - roast beef surrounded by chunks of potatoes and carrots in a nice gravy. Very well cooked, very tasty meal! Thanks again, Carrie for all your hard work.
My older grandson was with his mother (my older daughter) today so that made the visit doubly enjoyable as we don't get that many opportunities to see Alex since it is roughly close to an hour's drive to their place. He's such a gem! This evening, before we left, his Mom made him get out his trumpet and do his daily practice, figuring since Aunt Mandy and Grammy J were there, it would give us an opportunity too in which to observe how well he is doing with his lessons and practice. Sure, he's got a long way to go before he'll be soloist material but it is more than obvious how much effort he is putting into learning the ins and outs and what not to playing a trumpet. The first song of his repertoire got little Maya's attention immediately since it was the melody to one of the nursery rhymes she knows AND sings too! She went running out to the dining room and stood as close to Alex as she could, just watching him so rapt up in his playing a song she knew. Even began to sing the words (Twinkle, Twinkle) when he was almost through with his rendition.
Carrie and her fiance, Robert, have quite a menagerie at their house - four dogs (two are purebred cocker spanials - Jed and Emma; one is a purebred Golden Retriever - Cedar; and the fourth, still basically a puppie is my absolute favorite though - Ollie. Ollie is a mixed breed, black and white, chubby pretty little thing who just loves being around people.) In addition to the four dogs, they have a cat, Anna - that they allowed Alex to "adopt" last summer and who is supposed to be an "outdoor" cat but since she gave birth about four weeks ago to a litter of four kittens, all females no less, she is a "garage" cat now as they moved her inside shortly before the kittens arrived. The other cat they have is kind of our "family" cat as she was my son, Clayton's cat before he took this job driving tractor trailer. Since he is often away from his house for four-five days at a clip, there was no way he could keep the cat (Zoey) and his beloved Shepherd/Akita mix, Andrei, so Carrie and Robert adopted both of those animals. And, if you've been reading along in my blog over the past 4-5 months, you may remember that Andrei tragically died only two days after Carrie and Robert had adopted him.
Maya has a field day at Carrie and Robert's though with all the dogs and cats. Just loves them to pieces. Ollie, the puppy, is probably her favorite of all the dogs too but that is most likely because frequently when Carrie and Robert come up home for a day or for the evening, they like to bring Ollie along and Maya just loves to rip and tear around the house with her.
We took Maya's "big wheel" tricycle type bike along with us today since Carrie and Robert's driveway is paved, figuring she would enjoy riding her bike on that surface and be able to be outdoors. She isn't outside to play here very often because at her age, you can't just turn her loose to play out in the yard - it's not enclosed or gated or anything and she pays no attention to what instructions one might try to give her and has to have someone with her, paying close attention at all times to whatever she might be getting into.
She did enjoy riding the bike on the paved surface - for sure but she also discovered something else too. Part of their driveway slopes downhill and intersects then with the road in front of their house. Granted it's a country road and not heavily trafficked but it gets its fair share of vehicles going back and forth. Well, Maya soon realized if she rode the trike on that part of the drive, it would give the little bike a good bit of speed. Yes, we have a three-year-old with no fear and a lead foot apparently on the pedals! They had to curtail her bike riding because she was determined she was going to ride it down the drive as fast as she could go and none of the grown-ups would have been able to keep up with her to stop her from flying right out into the highway!
I know I have mentioned before that Maya has had a speech therapist working with her for close to two years now, along with a behavior/play therapist too. I've also stated before that although she has not yet had a full evaluation to determine if she is autistic or not, she has many markers that lead us to believe the diagnosis will end up being autism. One of the traits I've been told and read about pertaining to autism is that those children frequently "echo" what has been said to them. And boy, after dinner today, that really became quite evident too. Maya was not in an "eating" mood apparently because the only thing on her plate she paid any attention to at all was the ketchup Mandy had put there for her to dip her potatoes and meat into - using it as an enticement to try to get her to eat her dinner you know.
And, apparently several of us must have repeated the phrase "Try it, you try it." to her quite a few times because after dinner, while she was playing around in the living room, all of a sudden she just started saying "Try it. You try it." in response to just about any question we put to her! Apparently, that was the "phrase du jour" for Maya!
It was more than obvious how hard she had played today too when she was out like a light within five minutes after we left Carrie and Robert's house. And, when we got home and her Daddy came out to get her out of the car, she came in with no fussing, quickly -and fairly quietly too - allowed Mandy to get her ready for bed and by 9:30, she was upstairs, in her bed and all has been quiet on that front ever since! Ah, PEACE!
And now, I'm about ready to call it a day too. Since Clate is got home from his latest run late this afternoon but hasn't shown up down here this evening, I'm assuming he is off making his rounds, probably over in Clearfield and we won't see him till in the morning some time when he'll show up here to have coffee with me and recap a bit about his trip and other things in his life. So I'll close this with the Bushism for the day for Monday, April 30, 2007.
"The woman who knew that I had dyslexia --I never interviewed her." - Orange, California; September 15, 2000.
Hmmm - Dyslexia? Never heard that one about him before, did you?
Showing posts with label Family dinner. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Family dinner. Show all posts
Monday, April 30, 2007
Thursday, January 11, 2007
Company Coming!
Well, tonight I have some really nice, very pleasant, even exciting news. It's that way to me, why shouldn't it be that way to you?
We - my family here and I - will be having company for dinner next Wednesday evening! Some daring souls will venture forth into this den of iniquity and also, sometimes experimental kitchen, to dine with my daughter, her husband, the step-granddaughter, Miss Maya Muffett, little Kurtis and me! Ok, so little Kurtis won't exactly be dining with us since his diet is still pretty limited to formula in a bottle and some occasional flings with a couple select Gerber baby food products in a jar.
Now who would these visitors be that has me beginning to think - and yes, worry - almost a week in advance of what to serve for supper?
We'll be entertaining a cousin, his wife and four of their five children. The cousin, "Little Eric" as most of my extended family calls him, is not really "little." Well, don't get me wrong - he's not fat either, as he is well-built, still shows the stance of the military training he received 20 years ago - very muscular. His wife, my girls and I have met twice but none of us has ever met any of the four children who will be with them.
Eric's grandmother and my mother were first cousins. His great-grandfather lived about six doors down the street from us when I was a child so I knew his ancestors there very well and his great-aunts and uncles as well as his dad and his dad's two cousins on this side of the family and my extended family were always very close.
Eric's grandparents went to Pittsburgh to work back in the 20's and stayed there. That's where Eric's dad was born and grew up. When I was a kid, "Little Eric" is what this Eric's father was called because he was named for his grandfather - hence, "little Eric." But years later, when this guy came along and was named after his father -and great-grandfather, he got the moniker of "little Eric" and his dad became "big Eric" - which really was a misnomer because "Big Eric" was never very big in stature. As a matter of fact, "Little Eric" is a good bit taller, much broader across the shoulders than his Dad ever hoped to be in his wildest dreams.
When Eric (Jr) graduated from high school, he immediately enlisted in the military and when he completed his tour of duty, he was stationed somewhere around the Houston, Texas area and decided to remain there. He met his wife, Kathy, there and the have four children of their own plus, when Eric's sister died seven years ago this coming June, Eric and Kathy adopted his sister's son, Stefan, into their family.
Eric and his family normally reside in Texas but for the past year or a little over a year perhaps now, they have been living in Florida because of some big work project Eric of which Eric is responsible to oversee the construction adheres to all standards, etc. The older boy, Stefan, though decided this past fall that he missed his friends and school in the Houston area and is living this year with his grandmother (Eric's mother) in Houston, so we will miss getting to see him again. But, it will be exciting to meet Eric and Kathy's four other children all the same.
They are coming up from Florida for a short stay in the Poconos, then planning to go to Hershey, PA for a day and end their winter "vacation" with a visit here so the children can see what their Dad calls the "old homestead." He said the kids are really excited about the trip and are especially hoping they will get to see some snow too! I think I can vaguely remember being excited about snow when I was a child too, so for their sake, I hope they do get to experience it. Although, as far as I am concerned, I hope it stays far, far away from us!
Now comes my "dilemma," if you will. I've been trying to think - yeah, that's probably what it was you could smell burning - I was trying to think - what to fix for supper for these six people in addition to the family here and add to that, my other daughter and her fiance - probably her nine-year-old son too - who will be here for supper. Since our table doesn't seat that many people at once, we can't really have a big family "sit-down" dinner so what would work the best with that many people?
I'm putting these questions out here on my blog folks for a reason, I hope you know that. I've already determined we will have to do this as a kind of buffet-type setting where I will put whatever it is I cook for our meal out on the "island" in the kitchen, let folks serve themselves and then meander to sit where ever they can find a place to sit - at the kitchen counter, at the table which can squeeze eight in there, tightly though, so that takes care of 8 to 10 folks and leaves only 3 to 5 looking for a spot to squat! How's that for some terminology?
The big question here though as you know this is coming is about what to fix. So I'm putting this out to anyone who cares to offer any suggestions and those suggestions better come with recipes too, I might add.
Right now, I am kind of leaning towards cooking a turkey. I just happen to have one in the freezer plus I can usually do a half-decent job on roasting turkey too. A bonus right there, you know.
My quandry really then is what to serve with the turkey -besides the obvious mashed potatoes and gravy and making up a pan of stuffing too. So please, put on those chef's cooking hats, mull this around in your mind a bit and tell me what you would suggest for vegetables, salad too maybe (with turkey, I lean towards coleslaw but recipes for any salad type dish would be appreciated too). Dessert - not sure there either although Carrie, the older girl, did mention maybe she would make a cheesecake which would be terrific if she did that because she makes a cheesecake that has Bailey's Irish Creme in it and it kicks butt! Very, very good, it is! But dessert suggestions are welcome too, so don't let the cheesecake being mentioned there put you off from inserting a dessert suggestion here and there too!
Face it folks, I am open to any and all ideas right now! The only thing I ask, if you do zap a recipe in here for me, is that it not be a gourmet type thing. Always think of one word that applies highly to me in the kitchen - EASY!
I'm not a bad cook, most of the time the meals I fix are pretty decent, but I am far from a fancy cook too! Therefore, my reason for saying recipes must be "EASY."
I'm not out to impress them with a big feast exactly, but I do want to have a good meal to put out for the company coming. Don't want them to leave hungry you know.
I'm looking forward now to reading suggestions from my readers here now!
I know I posted this comment before from my little calendar of "Bushisms" - but it is really kind of appropriate right now to repost it today - especially since it is actually the post for January 12th in the calendar and also, because of the post itself. So here it is now:
"And I am an optimistic person. I guess if you want to try to find something to be pessimistic about you can find it, no matter how hard you look, you know." (Washington, D.C.; June 15, 2004)
And that is me right now - an optimistic person, who is trying to remain that way as I mull over recipe and/or menu suggestions.
We - my family here and I - will be having company for dinner next Wednesday evening! Some daring souls will venture forth into this den of iniquity and also, sometimes experimental kitchen, to dine with my daughter, her husband, the step-granddaughter, Miss Maya Muffett, little Kurtis and me! Ok, so little Kurtis won't exactly be dining with us since his diet is still pretty limited to formula in a bottle and some occasional flings with a couple select Gerber baby food products in a jar.
Now who would these visitors be that has me beginning to think - and yes, worry - almost a week in advance of what to serve for supper?
We'll be entertaining a cousin, his wife and four of their five children. The cousin, "Little Eric" as most of my extended family calls him, is not really "little." Well, don't get me wrong - he's not fat either, as he is well-built, still shows the stance of the military training he received 20 years ago - very muscular. His wife, my girls and I have met twice but none of us has ever met any of the four children who will be with them.
Eric's grandmother and my mother were first cousins. His great-grandfather lived about six doors down the street from us when I was a child so I knew his ancestors there very well and his great-aunts and uncles as well as his dad and his dad's two cousins on this side of the family and my extended family were always very close.
Eric's grandparents went to Pittsburgh to work back in the 20's and stayed there. That's where Eric's dad was born and grew up. When I was a kid, "Little Eric" is what this Eric's father was called because he was named for his grandfather - hence, "little Eric." But years later, when this guy came along and was named after his father -and great-grandfather, he got the moniker of "little Eric" and his dad became "big Eric" - which really was a misnomer because "Big Eric" was never very big in stature. As a matter of fact, "Little Eric" is a good bit taller, much broader across the shoulders than his Dad ever hoped to be in his wildest dreams.
When Eric (Jr) graduated from high school, he immediately enlisted in the military and when he completed his tour of duty, he was stationed somewhere around the Houston, Texas area and decided to remain there. He met his wife, Kathy, there and the have four children of their own plus, when Eric's sister died seven years ago this coming June, Eric and Kathy adopted his sister's son, Stefan, into their family.
Eric and his family normally reside in Texas but for the past year or a little over a year perhaps now, they have been living in Florida because of some big work project Eric of which Eric is responsible to oversee the construction adheres to all standards, etc. The older boy, Stefan, though decided this past fall that he missed his friends and school in the Houston area and is living this year with his grandmother (Eric's mother) in Houston, so we will miss getting to see him again. But, it will be exciting to meet Eric and Kathy's four other children all the same.
They are coming up from Florida for a short stay in the Poconos, then planning to go to Hershey, PA for a day and end their winter "vacation" with a visit here so the children can see what their Dad calls the "old homestead." He said the kids are really excited about the trip and are especially hoping they will get to see some snow too! I think I can vaguely remember being excited about snow when I was a child too, so for their sake, I hope they do get to experience it. Although, as far as I am concerned, I hope it stays far, far away from us!
Now comes my "dilemma," if you will. I've been trying to think - yeah, that's probably what it was you could smell burning - I was trying to think - what to fix for supper for these six people in addition to the family here and add to that, my other daughter and her fiance - probably her nine-year-old son too - who will be here for supper. Since our table doesn't seat that many people at once, we can't really have a big family "sit-down" dinner so what would work the best with that many people?
I'm putting these questions out here on my blog folks for a reason, I hope you know that. I've already determined we will have to do this as a kind of buffet-type setting where I will put whatever it is I cook for our meal out on the "island" in the kitchen, let folks serve themselves and then meander to sit where ever they can find a place to sit - at the kitchen counter, at the table which can squeeze eight in there, tightly though, so that takes care of 8 to 10 folks and leaves only 3 to 5 looking for a spot to squat! How's that for some terminology?
The big question here though as you know this is coming is about what to fix. So I'm putting this out to anyone who cares to offer any suggestions and those suggestions better come with recipes too, I might add.
Right now, I am kind of leaning towards cooking a turkey. I just happen to have one in the freezer plus I can usually do a half-decent job on roasting turkey too. A bonus right there, you know.
My quandry really then is what to serve with the turkey -besides the obvious mashed potatoes and gravy and making up a pan of stuffing too. So please, put on those chef's cooking hats, mull this around in your mind a bit and tell me what you would suggest for vegetables, salad too maybe (with turkey, I lean towards coleslaw but recipes for any salad type dish would be appreciated too). Dessert - not sure there either although Carrie, the older girl, did mention maybe she would make a cheesecake which would be terrific if she did that because she makes a cheesecake that has Bailey's Irish Creme in it and it kicks butt! Very, very good, it is! But dessert suggestions are welcome too, so don't let the cheesecake being mentioned there put you off from inserting a dessert suggestion here and there too!
Face it folks, I am open to any and all ideas right now! The only thing I ask, if you do zap a recipe in here for me, is that it not be a gourmet type thing. Always think of one word that applies highly to me in the kitchen - EASY!
I'm not a bad cook, most of the time the meals I fix are pretty decent, but I am far from a fancy cook too! Therefore, my reason for saying recipes must be "EASY."
I'm not out to impress them with a big feast exactly, but I do want to have a good meal to put out for the company coming. Don't want them to leave hungry you know.
I'm looking forward now to reading suggestions from my readers here now!
I know I posted this comment before from my little calendar of "Bushisms" - but it is really kind of appropriate right now to repost it today - especially since it is actually the post for January 12th in the calendar and also, because of the post itself. So here it is now:
"And I am an optimistic person. I guess if you want to try to find something to be pessimistic about you can find it, no matter how hard you look, you know." (Washington, D.C.; June 15, 2004)
And that is me right now - an optimistic person, who is trying to remain that way as I mull over recipe and/or menu suggestions.
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