come in open minded, leave fair food satisfied

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On the last State Fair weekend in North Carolina (marking yet another year of slacker parenting by not taking our kids for this experience), I thought it would be perfect timing to share Nick’s musings on Fair food debates.  Enjoy.

Among the issues discussed:

3. Which type of food on a stick? – They have put every type of food except soup on a stick at the fair, and they’ll probably do that sometime soon, too.  It’s great fun to walk around and carry food on a stick, and you can even put the stick in your pocket or behind your ear to hold your food if you need.”

Top Five Fair Food Debates – nickclaussen.com

SoCS – our ’tis the season mindset

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‘Tis the season.  I hear this all over the place throughout December – ’tis the season! ’tis the season! – you honestly can’t get away from the sentiment.  Today’s prompt brought it to mind and, as often happens, one thing led to another and now my brain is all fired up about this:

What makes December the end all, be all of ’tis the season?  Yeah, yeah, it’s got Christmas (and Hanukkah and Kwanza, but I doubt the ’tis-the-season-ers are going on about those) so it’s not like I think it doesn’t deserve a ’tis the season.  I suppose I’m wondering why we don’t have more of it throughout the year.

‘Tis the season (mostly) inspires the best in us.  It encourages us to be our best selves, to help a little more, to judge a little less.  ‘Tis the season could mean sharing coats in January or helping plant a community garden in the spring.  It means watching out for the elderly when the temperatures fall and looking out for the home insecure all year ’round.  ‘Tis the season is a mindset, a way of life.

I, for one, think we could use a little more of it.

Linda’s stream of consciousness prompt drops in on Saturday’s.  This week’s prompt is “season.”

my bathroom swallowed the checkbook and other adventures in home ownership

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For those of you following the saga, our bathroom is still technically nonexistent.  Sharing a bathroom with T-man has gone relatively smoothly and, frankly, it’s far neater in there than the other option available so I’ll take it and count my blessings.  Still – and it’s not an insignificant “still” – juggling shower time with a 13-year-old (and BrightSide, too, ‘cuz fun times) is a delicate dance.

To say I’m looking forward to the day when I have both my own commode and shower is an understatement akin to “Gee, this water coming out of my kitchen faucet sure is handy.”

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Forever Family: leap of faith

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Everything about adoption screams leap of faith.

Believing with all your heart that this is the right path.  Accepting that the plan for your family includes a great deal of uncertainty.  Understanding that this ambiguity doesn’t dissolve when the adoption finalizes; rather, it will insert itself back into your lives at entirely unpredictable moments.

Holding faith that you will love your children into and through every storm.

Adoption demands the same leap of faith from children.

Believing they are deeply loved for the people they are, not for a perfect image they try to project, then working to strengthen that belief when it falters.  Finding safe space to talk about anxiety buried within, and asking for help instead of hiding fear away.

Holding faith that they are bright, beautiful souls in the world, worthy of love and respect by their very presence on this journey.

just remember, it’s a real person in there

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Certain things in life carry long term consequences.  Defrauding the government.  Murdering your ex-wife.  Maxing out then defaulting on six credit cards.

When it comes to kids, though, they’d argue that the name you hang around their neck affects them for life.  No pressure but, you know…tread gently.

“So without further a-doo-doo, here are a few baby names that maybe you shouldn’t name your newborn:

NEVAEH

When your baby won’t sleep more than 16 minutes straight and she’s sinking her piranha jaws into your calloused nips and you feel like you’ve entered a hell you never knew existed, suddenly it might dawn on you that naming your newborn “heaven” spelled backward was the opposite of brilliant.  Here’s an idea, maybe you should have named her lleh.”

A few baby names you probably shouldn’t choose, just sayin’ : Baby Sideburns

wcw – the desire for a noble country

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“I believe that there lives a burning desire in the most sequestered private heart of every American, a desire to belong to a great country.  I believe that every citizen wants to stand on the world stage and represent a noble country where the mighty do not always crush the weak and the dream of a democracy is not the sole possession of the strong.” 

– Maya Angelou

gratitude: heath toffee, strawberry, mint chocolate chip, and M&M

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I’ve waxed poetic on the ice cream sundae before – perfect scoops of rich, creamy ice cream covered in warm fudge, and topped with whipped cream and a cherry.  Ahhhh… 

You can do a lot of miraculous things with truly outstanding ice cream.

Like milkshakes.  Milkshakes inspire poets the world ’round.  Also teachers, writers, entrepreneurs, and parents.  Hell, milkshakes could probably power peace talks if folks would just give them a chance.

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