Get a grip, people.

It's  getting to be that time of the year again.

Fall is coming and people are anticipating cooler weather, and for whatever reason it seems that people just have to equate that with one thing.

Pumpkin.

Pumpkin everything.

Pumpkin all the things.

Personally, I despise the stuff. I think that the taste and texture of pumpkin is nasty, and yes, I've tried to eat it numerous times, and no, I don't give a crap how YOU make it - I don't like it.

Pumpkins are good for 3 things: jack-o-lanterns, roasting the seeds after making said jack-o-lanterns, and then smashing the aforementioned pumpkin after Halloween is over. That's it. Nothing else.

But yet, there are people who worship the almighty pumpkin. As soon as there is a hint of fall weather (or even before), their eyes glaze over, drool runs down their chins, and all they can think about is adding pumpkin to everything edible and/or drinkable.

They act as though they can only get their beloved squash for a limited time each year - which for the most part is true - if they're going to wait for one to ripen on a vine in their garden. However, with the dozens of people I know who are afflicted with pumpkinitis every year, not a single one of them stands in their garden, guarding the plant, watering it, weeding it, talking to it, waiting patiently for it to ripen so that it can be harvested and cut open and gutted for its (supposedly) delicious flesh. Instead, they do what most people do.

They go to the store and they buy a can of it.

See that? I bought that can of pumpkin last year specifically to make a point. It's been sitting on the shelf in my pantry for close to a year so that on the off chance I decided that I wanted a pumpkin pie in June, I could make it.

Want a pumpkin roll in February? Well, by golly, whip that can of pumpkin off of the shelf and make it!

You want pumpkin cupcakes in May? Crack that can open.

Got a hankerin' for some pumpkin pancakes for a delicious brunch in December? Guess what? YOU CAN MAKE THEM ANY TIME YOU WANT THEM.

You don't know how to cook/bake, or you don't want to? I bet you can find another pumpkinitis victim who would gladly do it.

Oh, but then there are the people who think that their coffee needs to be laced with the crap too. Pumpkin spiced lattes and cappucinos and whatever - well guess what? Some of them DON'T EVEN CONTAIN PUMPKIN!!! They contain "pumpkin spice" which is usually a combination of cinnamon, nutmeg, cloves, ginger, and allspice (all of which are available at any grocery store *GASP* year round). If you don't want to make your own "pumpkin spice" mixture - you can buy it already made and sprinkle it in your drinks until your little heart is content.

Now from what I understand, some of these places that sell these grossly overpriced fluffy coffee drinks are now adding 'real' pumpkin to them - but a quick google search brought up about eleventy bajillion recipes for drinks with pumpkin in them - so if I had the desire to ruin a perfectly good drink, I could do it myself for a lot less money. And you can too!

Of course it doesn't stop there. Corporations feed into the pumpkinitis epidemic by adding the crap (or some imitation of it) to everything that is prepackaged whether we want it or not - Oreos and M&Ms and peeps and salsa and candles and soap and pudding and bagels and marshmallows and air freshener and cookies and soda and toothpaste and ice cream and it just. keeps. going. on.

I even found an image for pumpkin spice flavored condoms - which I found are NOT a real product. But I wouldn't be surprised to see them on the shelf at the local drugstore any time now because people will somehow feel that they just can't live without them.

How long until we have pumpkin scented toilet paper?

Seriously people. You can buy pumpkin year round. If you love the food that much, make it whenever you want to make it. SEIZE THE FREAKING DAY and make a pumpkin pie in March if it will make you happy. If you love the candles so much and they're not available at your favorite candle store year round, then stock up on them in October when they are on the shelves. Burn them whenever you want to BECAUSE YOU CAN. All of this prepackaged food has the shelf life of Twinkies anyway, so if you love the Oreos that much, buy a case of them and stash them in the cupboard to enjoy year round.

Stop acting like you can only get the crap for 2.5 seconds out of the year.

Oh look - I still have over
15 months to use it.

Snippets

The Dude watched the kids while I worked for a few hours today.

I taught Alex how to sew a button back onto his shirt. Maybe I should teach him how to patch his knees next.

Alex, Daniel, and I went to Scouts. Daniel got his book tonight, so he's an official Scout now. He's ecstatic.

We came home, and found The Dude in the kitchen, cooking.

He cooked, so I did dishes.

We picked out some movies, and he went out in the rain to get them from the closest Redbox.

We all had dessert, and the boys got ready for bed. Hugs and kisses all around for everyone.

And now, The Dude has challenged me to stay awake for an entire movie. I think I can this time. I'll sew to keep myself focused.

Seriously. I don't know what I did to deserve this kind of life. It's days like this that remind me of how wonderful it really is.

Using it to my advantage...

So Alex is in Scouts. And part of being in Scouts is doing all sorts of little activities in order to move up the ranks.

I admit that we've been pretty lax in getting things done. Life is crazy, and it's hard to remember to do things like this all of the time. But I went through his book earlier today and discovered that two of the electives that he could do at home could definitely be used to my advantage.

One was helping in the kitchen, and one was helping to make a snack.

Can't have too much cheese....keep adding!

I knew that this could either be a good thing, or be a disaster. Patience and listening are not two of this kid's strongest qualities. But, we gave it a shot tonight.

If you were to ask him, he would say that he made supper all by himself. He'd be close to right. He did pretty much all of the work, with me telling him what to do and only helping him when he needed it.

After we got supper made, he helped me to make some banana bread too. Of course that was more fun because that involved smashing things and breaking eggs.

Smashing bananas.

He actually had a good time helping, and did better with it than I really thought that he would. Like I said, he's not the type of kid who will sit and listen and follow directions, so I thought that he would get distracted after a few minutes and want to go and do something else, but he stuck with it.

And he didn't get into quite as much trouble as he usually does.

Maybe I've found something that will actually keep this kid occupied. All I know is that if it works, he will be my permanent helper in the kitchen.

Breaking eggs - and not getting into trouble for it.

Making brownies for his birthday
treats for school tomorrow.

 So now I get to go finish a couple more loads of laundry, get lunches packed for tomorrow, package up the brownies to go to Alex's class in the morning, and maybe get some sleep. Tomorrow involves getting the kids to school, going to a geography bee, getting The Flu-Ridden Dude to the doctor, and about a million other things, as usual. Yay.

A delay and an ooops...

The delay...

So I've been hinting around for a few days about something really big and important that I was supposed to do today.

Yeah, well, the best laid plans....blah blah blah.

I went to do it as scheduled, and there was apparently a big breakdown in the communication, and it actually wasn't scheduled. So it's now scheduled for Friday morning. But, that's actually a good thing - because between now and then I'm going to have someone else who has done the same thing help me to write the post about it. And it's going to be really really awesome.

No, I'm not going to tell you what it is yet - because this is something really big and it's a really important message that needs to get "out there" - so I want everyone to be anxiously awaiting it. Evil of me? Maybe. Hopefully it's effective as well. I'm not usually the type of person who says "oh look at me,  I'm going to post something fabulous" but I really believe in this and I really want to get the word out there - and so does the person who is helping me.

So Friday - it'll be posted. I promise.

Now for the ooops....

The other day, I posted pictures from our Thanksgiving feast. And then a day or two later, when I was going through other pictures, I realized that I didn't post any of the pictures from the preparations for the feast - and some of those are classics. So.... here are some of them. Just because.

Now THAT's an onion!

The infamous peanut butter pie.

Potatoes with a little bit of garlic.

Prepped and ready to go.

That moment when you realize that your brilliant idea of covering your
23.5 pound turkey with the lid to the roaster overnight just
isn't going to work.

"Snap one more picture of me, and I'll wrap this lid around your face.
Darling."

All of it just sitting there, ready to be cooked.

"Mom! When's the turkey going to be ready???"

It was a feast...

It took lots of work, but we had ourselves an awesome feast yesterday! We ended up having 8 adults and 7 children here, and had to do some slight rearranging of furniture to make enough room for everyone, but it was so worth it.

Hey, wait! Where's my table?!?!?

Why, of course....it's in the living room.

I have to admit - probably one of the best turkeys that
I've ever made.

What's not to love about a guy willing to don a
Santa apron and get to work in the kitchen?

Let the feast begin!

Carnage in the kids' area.

Help doing the dishes.

Getting my 'baby fix'.

I got to relax a bit afterwards (notice the socks?) and watch the
Redskins beat the Cowgirlsboys.
Loved. that. game. LOVED.

We had a great time. It was pretty low-key - just lots of food and talking and playing with the kids. And lots of dishes. And - better yet -  lots of leftovers.

The Dude stayed here the night before and last night so that he could help me get everything ready and then help clean, and this morning he stayed here and hung out with the kids while Alex and I went downtown to help his Scout troop get their Christmas tree lot up and running.

The strangest part about the entire holiday so far? Yesterday - Thanksgiving Day - we had the windows open in the house all day long. We had the heat turned off - and it wasn't just because the oven was going non-stop, but it was because it was a warm and gorgeous day. Then I woke up at 7am today, and it was 60 degrees inside the house, and (I think) only in the high 30s or low 40s outside. We were freezing at the tree lot! Talk about a difference.....

As for being thankful? I can't even begin to list everything. I have an amazing life. I might not have money for a bunch of extra stuff, and I might not have a big fancy house or a new vehicle, but I have some pretty cool kids and an amazing man who loves me (in spite of me) and life is just good. Period. The Dude and I were talking about how this is our "last first holiday" together - but I'll go into that more in a few days.....

Right now - I think I *might* attempt to go to bed early. I do not have to get up for anything in the morning - so maybe, just maybe, I can actually get a little bit of sleep tonight.

Ha. Right.



(Oh, I hinted around on my facebook page about a lot of stuff coming up in the next few days. Some of it is goofy, some of it is sappy, and some of it is really important. And that's all that you're going to get for hints. You'll just have to wait and see. So there.)

So, uh, yeah....about last night....

Wow. That's the first word that comes to mind at this point.

When I sat down to write my post about judgmental people and food stamps last night, I had NO IDEA what was going to happen. None. I figured it would get a decent amount of hits, probably a few more comments than usual, and that would be it.

Almost from the moment I hit "publish" - it went crazy. For real.

Just to give you guys an idea of what I'm talking about....on any given day, my blog usually gets about 150 views. Some days, if I don't post anything, it's as low as 30-40 views. On a good day, it's around 200. Until today, my most popular post ever had a total of 1191 views - and it's been posted since July.

This morning, about 14 hours after I posted that post, it moved into the top position, and surpassed an entry that's been up for 4 months. As of right now, it has over 6200 views and is still climbing. There are well over 50 comments from people (that I still have to go back and respond to - give me time!) and the comments are still coming as well.

Those numbers aren't huge to "big bloggers" but to me - and my little tiny baby blog - it's totally overwhelming. My phone - which controls my internet access - has been lit up all. day. long.

I want everyone to know that I have read every single comment - on the blog, on my facebook page, in my inbox, on my personal profile, on twitter - I've read them all. I just simply haven't had time to respond to everyone yet.

But I would like to clear up a few things really quick while I'm thinking about it...and I'm going to include some links that tell more of the "backstory" for the new people here....

I am NOT currently receiving food stamps. Financially, yes, I am eligible to do so. Honestly, I would love to get them at this point - however, because of some *ahem* hiccups in the system and the refusal of certain individuals to send me paperwork that I requested from them several times, my kids and I can not receive that type of assistance any longer.

I do not currently work. My second ex-husband passed away shortly after our divorce. Because of this, my youngest son and I receive Social Security. We get enough to live on and to put some aside every month. We don't live in the lap of luxury, and some months are really really tight - but we make it work. I think after everything that my kids and I have been through in the past few years, they deserve to have me 100% of the time. I will get a job when the time is right. Until then, I do a lot of crafty type stuff to make a little bit of extra money here and there.

For the most part, my life is an open book on this blog. There are a few taboo subjects -

• We do not talk about exactly where we live. We're in Kansas, and that's all that you need to know. If you recognize our location from the pictures, please don't say anything publicly about it. Had I known when I started that there were going to be so many people reading this, I never would have used pictures of my kids. So don't reveal our location.
• For the love of chocolate, do not use our last names! Do not use anyone's last names! That one should be a no-brainer.
• Don't use the name of the kids' schools if you happen to know them. Again, duh.
• I don't do politics. I leave that up to The Dude. If you don't know who he is, you'll figure it out sooner or later.
• Pretty much everything else that you might want to know is found in the "About Me" tab at the top of this page. Or just ask me. I don't bite.....hard.

Now that we got all of that out of the way...........

The rest of the day was spent doing the usual. Tons of laundry, lots of cleaning, bathroom scrubbing (*gag*), and general running around trying to get ready for the impending holiday. Yep, it was a total purple bandana kind of a day. I finally got my grocery list ready so that I can go to the store tomorrow morning (hopefully before it gets swamped) and get the last few things that we need for dinner on Thursday and then I get to clean some more, start some of the cooking and baking, and wait for the older 3 kids to come home so that we can *gasp* celebrate Sarah's 13th birthday.

Yikes. It's after midnight. I'm officially the mother of a teenager.

OK, I'm going to go cry now.

How to make stromboli - NSM style

Stromboli is one of the few meals that I can make for my kids, and they don't complain about it. But people always ask me about it and want to know what it is or how to make it.

A real stromboli actually comes from Your Place restaurants in Pennsylvania. The version that I make does NOT even begin to compare to theirs - but I'm ok with that. That way when I go home, I can get the real thing and thoroughly enjoy it.

The #1 rule when making a 'boli is easy:

There are no rules. You can put anything in it that you want to put in it. But, the pictures below are  how I typically make mine.

 I start off with a loaf of frozen bread dough - the kind that you buy at the grocery store. Grease a bread pan and stick the frozen loaf in it and let it thaw and rise until it's...well, thawed. And risen.

I use the frozen stuff because it's easy. But you can make your own crust by using a pizza dough recipe or whatever kind you like. You can even make a whole wheat crust. Whatever you want. But for me, this is easier.

Oh, and I made 2 'bolis tonight - one for supper and one to freeze. So just pretend that second loaf isn't even there, ok? Good.

 We put sausage in ours. You don't have to. And when the kids weren't looking I chopped up some onion and a whole bunch of garlic and dumped some Italian seasoning in there too. What they don't know won't hurt them.

Besides, you can never have too much garlic.

 Ham is good too. I use this stuff when it's on sale (I prefer the diced stuff though - it's smaller chunks) or I get regular sliced ham - like lunchmeat. Or I've been known to use leftover ham from holidays.

 Toss your thawed loaf of bread out on to a flat surface.

Roll it out flat and as rectangular as you can get it.

I had issues with this one. It didn't want to be a rectangle. And as you will see at the end, it led to some very interesting results.

 Drain the sausage. The less grease, the better (hard to do with sausage though).

See that beautiful orange colander? That's one of the ancient Tupperware Rubbermaid ones. Funny, I always thought that it was Tupperware, until just now when I went and looked at it. Anyway, that's the colander that my mother used when I was *cough* younger. I think she gave me half of her kitchen when I moved out just as an excuse for her to get new stuff. I'm not complaining though. I love my ugly colander.

 I drain the ham too in order to get all of the extra water off of it. I actually bought this colander specifically to make stromboli - it's the only time that I ever need two of them. And I bought it from one of the kids' school fundraisers. Two birds, one stone, and all that jazz.

 Start layering your stuffings on the rolled out dough. Tonight, I started with pepperoni (the little mini pepperonis work great too)...

 Then the ham....

Sausage....

(Why is it that every time I hear or see the word "sausage" I think of that annoying Snausages commercial from years ago?!?!)

Cheese. Lots and lots of mozzarella cheese.

Like garlic, you can never have too much cheese.

Depending on my mood, sometimes I put a little bit of sauce in it. You can use pizza sauce, or make your own sauce, or cheat like I did and just use some cheap spaghetti sauce because you forgot to put pizza sauce on the list and you didn't feel like running back to the store just to get it.

The tricky part is sealing it up so that it doesn't leak. In all of the years that I've made 'bolis, I think only one has not leaked all over the place. Anyway, bring the long edges of the dough up over the fillings and overlap them, then bring up the ends and fold them over.

Pick up the whole blob - carefully - and put it on a cookie sheet. Oh, spray it with cooking spray first. The cookie sheet, not the 'boli. Spray the cookie sheet. I flip the 'boli over so that the seams are on the bottom - I've found that helps to keep it from exploding.

Make sure that your cookie sheet has edges to catch the leaks. You do not want this stuff to ooze onto the bottom of your oven because it's really hard to clean up afterwards. 

I'm sorry. I know that the shape of this is.....uhh....
rather suggestive. No matter what angle I held it and/or
the camera, I just couldn't get away from it.
This is what happens when the dough refuses to
be rolled out into a nice neat rectangle.

Stick it in the oven at 350 degrees for about 30 minutes or so - until the crust is done.

Slice it up and serve it with more sauce - you can pour it on top or have it on the side to dip - either way works.

When I make one of these, I usually use one pound of sausage, whatever that package of ham is - I think it's 12 ounces, a package of pepperoni, and an 8 ounce bag of cheese. You can adjust the amounts or use totally different ingredients. We pretty much stick with the meat in ours and occasionally throw in mushrooms (if the kids aren't looking) - but I've made them before with veggies too. Like I said before, there are no rules.

Just make sure that you get the crust rolled out into a rectangle, unless you prefer to end up with obscene looking food!