My kids were Band Geeks. At one point I think we owned  9 different musical instruments, and yes, they were all played and played well! I like to think they got their musical talent from me, but if you ever heard me play the flute in high school…well…let’s just say they did NOT get it from me, thank goodness!

They’ve been out of school for many years now…finding their way with careers and relationships. But they have come full circle with their love of music!

No longer are my sons on the field performing in marching band or drum corp. The Students have become the Masters! On staff with a local High School, they have put all those years of learning to good use. They were the ones on the sidelines in the jackets and ties , watching THEIR students at this past weekends State Competition.

How did they do? For the first time in decades the High School Band placed in the top 5 Bands at semi-finals, which allowed them to compete that evening at Tropicana Field. Final Results? 4th Place in their Division. FABULOUS!

As a past Band Parent, I know all too well the excitement that those students and their families experienced this past weekend.

I’ve watched my children earn National Titles with their organizations in front of 100’s of thousands of spectators. I saw both of my son’s perform on stage at Carnegie Hall during Concert Band exhibitions.

But nothing prepared me for the heart-swelling pride I felt as I watched both of my little boys become respected adults and instructors in the eye’s of their own students.

This is one of those moments that catches you off guard…and one you know you will NEVER forget.

Congratulations to Countryside High School for your fabulous performances Saturday! And thank you for allowing me to see my boys in a whole new light!

Can’t wait to see what you will all do in 2011!!!

29 Years ago on July 25, 1981, I married a wonderful man…a very special man…a patient man…and definitely a man with a sense of humor. As you will see by this post, he has to be all of those things… to put up with a woman like me all these years.

At the time we married, a honeymoon was not an option. But 3 years later we made that dream come true. We decided to celebrate each day with a small gift…a token of our love for each other. The budget was close to ZERO! After all, we were on a ski trip…what more did we need to spend?  While most of those well thought out gifts consisted of some sort of candy bar ( we still have that in common), on our last day I presented “Our Story” to my husband.

While I may someday transport this into the digital world, I still enjoy it  in it’s original state…

handwritten with the old, pasted photos that didn’t know what “Photoshop” was.

This is the story of “Handsome and Gretchen”…

A Fairy Tale ablaze with the adventure of “Hansel and Gretel” and the passion of “Snow White and all those Little Men”!

Enjoy!

January 20th is National Cheese Lovers Day! I could write a long dissertation on the merits of Cheese, I could entertain you with a selection of Cheese jokes, I could impress you with my knowledge of how Cheese is made (if I really knew how). But I think the best thing I can do to celebrate National Cheese Lover’s Day is to pass along something useful for all the true Cheese Lover’s out there!

I don’t consider myself a great cook, but I have collected a few good recipes over the years. So in honor of this special day I would like to share one of my favorites…and if you like Beer as well, you should LOVE this!  Enjoy!

Ingredients:

1lb grated sharp cheddar cheese

1lb grated mild cheese/american works well

2-3 garlic pods, minced

3/4  of 12oz bottle of beer/any type depending on your taste

3 TBS Worchestershire Sauce

1tsp salt

1tsp powdered mustard

dash of tobasco or cayenne pepper

Mix both grated cheeses with garlic, then add Worchestershire, salt, mustard and tobasco. Slowly add beer-enough to make the cheese smooth and pasty. This can be done by hand or using a blender or mixer. Chill.   This mixture will keep indefinitely as long as stored in a sealed container in the fridge.  (I never figured out quite how long “indefinitely” was though…it never lasted long enough in my house to find out!)

Makes great sauteed sandwiches as well.

NOTE: This recipe was given to me by a dear friend about 23 years ago. I have no idea where it originated.  I wish I could give credit where credit is due! The best I can do is say “Thanks Jeanne”!

The second Monday of each new year is National Clean Off Your Desk Day. This year it falls on January 12th!

I was really kind of hoping that there was a National Clean Off Your Desk WEEK! You see, I am a bit of a Pack Rat….I don’t think ONE DAY would do it! In my defense however, I am an ORGANIZED Pack Rat!

My entire office is a maze of piles of folders, baskets of things to file,  stacks of  ”things to look at again”.  Behind my external drives are the business cards that need to be entered into my data system. Next to them are the scraps of paper with important notes written on them to be sorted and acted upon at a later date.  

What is frightening to some, but comforting to me, is that I do know what is in each stack…I can put my hands on just about anything I need (give me 10 minutes and I’ve got it… I promise).  As a matter of fact, I think most of those stacks have been there since LAST year’s National Clean Off Your Desk Day. If my memory serves, me, I got sidetracked on that Monday and … well … just never got back to it.

So the bigger question is not if I “WILL” celebrate National Clean Off Your Desk Day, but rather if I “SHOULD”? How many times do we file something away for the sole purpose of making sure we have put it in a safe place so we don’t lose it..only to forget where we have put it and ultimately DO lose it!!!

I HATE WHEN THAT HAPPENS!!

So, I think I will have to take the stance that Cleaning Off My Desk this coming Monday might just be a waste of time for me…or that it will result in lots of lost time for me in the future. I can live with my messy desk. I am comfortable with my messy desk. And I have to say, I LIKE my messy desk.

I admit that several times a year I WILL address the lack of filing and pile of things to go thru. And you needn’t worry that I neglect important things. I don’t. 

BUT, my messy desk is ME! People would wonder what was wrong if they walked into my office and actually COULD see the desk top…”Not busy Gretchen? Too bad! Maybe business will pick up soon for you!” I wouldn’t be able to stand the sympathy!

So, this coming Monday while the rest of the world is Cleaning Off Their Desks, I plan on taking a long lunch and relaxing. If someday I find myself bothered by my messy desk, I’ll deal with it then. Otherwise, don’t worry about me…I’ll be fine! I’m surrounded by my “STUFF” and that’s a good thing!

By the way, for those of you who are “neat-niks” and won’t spend your day cleaning, and for those of you who prefer your organized chaos, as I do…the invitation stands…where should we meet for lunch?  For the rest of you, I’ll have a second dessert in your honor!

Now, where did I put that cat???

First off, just as a reminder…I am a Christmas Person! You don’t mess with Christmas Tradition!

Growing up, I never got to decorate my own Christmas Tree. It was always put up in the stand about a week before Christmas, but that’s as far as it got.  On Christmas Eve, my sister and I were allowed to hang 6 star shaped ornaments on the tree…and then were rushed off to bed.

There were lots of years when I just couldn’t get to sleep. Not only because of the excitement of Christmas morning, but also the uncertainty of it.  What if Santa didn’t actually get to our house? He had one heck of a lot of work to do…he’d better not be late!

Then I would remember…we were on Santa’s Special List. (Probably because I was such a perfect child!) He didn’t just come to my house, drop off gifts and bolt…he hung around for awhile.  He decorated our Christmas Tree, arranged the Nativity on the fireplace mantel, hung a couple of wreaths, ate a plate full of homemade cookies, drank a pitcher of milk…oh yea…our house was the place to be for Santa on Christmas Eve!  He’d show!

What was always so odd however was the fact that my parents were ZOMBIES on Christmas Day. I mean really out of it! It wasn’t until years later that I learned that yes, our house WAS the place to be after midnight on Christmas Eve…but not for Santa and his Elves.

Sometime after midnight both sets of my Grandparents would arrive at our house and spend almost the entire night helping to decorate and wrap packages. There was never any evidence of the drinking and eating that took place during these late hours, so I guess my Mom must have stayed up after they all left to clean the mess up.  That’s Dedication!

But I’m pretty sure she realized it was worth

it when she saw our faces…Christmas morning was magical in my house! There are some memories that always put a smile on MY face!

Of course, there was that one year when I was about 14. By then we were decorating the tree ourselves. I got used to the change in tradition and actually learned to love decorating my own tree. And by 14 years of age I realized that “Santa” had to have some help.  Anyways, that year I woke up Christmas morning to find …nothing under the tree!  WTF!!!!! Seems Mom and Dad fell asleep a bit early (my Grandparents had given up the overnight party by then).  My sister and I had to help bring bags of wrapped packages out of the attic and down to the living room.

I’m pretty sure my Mom remembers the look on my face THAT Christmas morning too.  I remind her periodically…when I need to make a point!

There are some memories that can still piss you off…you know? Bah Humbug!

First off, I hope you all had a very Happy thanksgiving and made some new memories to look back on years from now.

As a matter of fact, in talking about past Thanksgivings, I got into a discussion about frozen vs. fresh turkeys and which was better. I really don’t know which are better, but I do know that some fresh turkeys are fresher than others!

In my former life, I taught 3rd grade. I was 24 years old and in the second year of teaching when I had my fresh turkey experience. Let’s start by saying that my turkey cooking experience was limited.  So when the parent of one of my students asked me if I would like a fresh turkey as their gift to me, I said SURE! 

“David” and his family lived only about a mile from my house. They had cows and chickens and pigs…and turkeys!   “David” was one of my students that will always hold a dear place in my heart.

Anyways, I was told to stop by on my way home from school on the Wednesday before Thanksgiving and they would give me my turkey.  I had hit the jackpot! Cleaned up my classroom and bolted to get my gift.

Got to “David’s” house and after a short visit, they led me out the back door and headed towards the barn. We were chatting and I wasn’t paying too much attention to be honest.  As we rounded the back of the barn, “David’s” mom pointed to the turkeys running around and said “How big a turkey do you need? Which one would you like?”

I’m from New Jersey. We didn’t have turkeys running around in our yards. My limited experience with turkeys was picking them out from the frozen food section in the grocery store and then wondering how long it would take to thaw.

Needless to say, once I made eye contact with a couple of the unsuspecting turkeys in “David’s” yard, there was no way I was choosing which one of them was going to the chopping block for me. What to do now????  I think I announced something like “I hear my mother calling me” (all the way from New Jersey) and as I ran to my car hollered back that any one of them would be fine and I’d be back around 7pm to pick it up. When I returned at 7pm my turkey was nicely wrapped…just like a turkey should be!

The turkey that year was very tasty. Better than a frozen one? I really don’t remember. But I do remember that was the year that I became very thankful that I didn’t have to decide which turkeys would get the ax for my Thanksgiving dinners in the future. 

I can’t say that I was damaged enough to never eat meat again.  I like steaks and pork chops and chicken and yes, even still turkey. But as long as I don’t have to look them in the eye while they are still running around a field, then I’m good.

I hadn’t thought about “David” and my turkey experience in years. I hope he and his family had a fabulous Thanksgiving.  I know they sold the farm years ago…hopefully their turkey was yummy this year…even if it was a frozen one!

Lots of things come to mind when I think of Thanksgiving…shopping early enough to get the biggest turkey I can find, deciding just how much wine is ENOUGH wine and “Where is everyone going to sit???” 

Sitting is an issue!  It especially was an issue as I was growing up.  Thanksgiving dinner included 8-10 adults and 12-18 kids…depending on which families showed up  for Grandma’s Feast! And it WAS a FEAST! I’ve yet to make a turkey taste like my Grandma did…same with apple pies…how did she do that?

Sorry, I got sidetracked by remembering the smell of her kitchen. Anyways, back to seating.

I never was old enough to eat at the “Adult” table, the big round table in the dining room where all the family secrets were told.  Instead, my cousins and I were banished to the “kids” tables…card tables set up in the living room.  We were told each year… “You aren’t old enough to eat at the big table”…and we would feel bad for about…6 seconds!

Actually eating at the “Kids” table wasn’t a bad deal at all. No one yelled at us about our manners…we could laugh an giggle and put our elbows on the table. Grandma was always thoughtful enough that each card table had it’s own salt, pepper, gravy and even butter so we didn’t have to keep getting up. I remember a couple years we each had little turkey candles at our seats which were very cool and made us seem almost grown up…after all, she was trusting us with fire at our own table! And we kids had plenty of our own secrets that we told at those tables.  No, I can’t repeat those secrets…if I told you I’d have to kill you…Sorry…Family Rules!

The  Thanksgivings that my children have experienced have been very different than what I experienced.  For one thing, my mashed potatoes are lumpy! No relatives close by, so no need for the”Adult” table and the “Kids” table. But Traditions are very funny things. I often think they missed out on a lot!  But from their perspective our family Thanksgiving’s were perfect!

They kind of freaked out a few years ago when we decided to combine Thanksgiving dinner with our best friends’.  HUH?  WHY? Who knew that MY lumpy mashed potatoes were that important?  What if they don’t put sausage in their stuffing?What about the gravy????  MOM HOW COULD YOU DO THIS TO US???

No need to be concerned about the potential emotional abuse I almost inflicted on my family. The kids in the other family freaked too!  So it was very easy to fix.  We EACH made our own turkey, stuffing, mashed potatoes, biscuits, veggies and even pies.  The kids had a great time deciding who made the best…whatever…! It shouldn’t surprise you to know it was a tie…my kids voted for my turkey, stuffing, mashed potatoes, biscuits, veggies and pies…and those other bratty kids voted for their own mom’s stuff….as it should be!

We joked at that Thanksgiving dinner about making the “kids” eat in the kitchen so that the adults could enjoy a quiet meal in the dining room.  I had a major flashback!  Told them the story of how we did it at their Great-Grandma’s house when I was growing up. Maybe the kids would love the idea, like we did as children? Then it hit me… I didn’t want them eating in the kitchen, they were supposed to be sitting right there with me…bumping elbows and commenting on my lumpy potatoes. Luckily, they hated the idea as well.

I guess I will NEVER be old enough to eat at the “Adult” table.

Traditions are funny things.  They do change over the years.

IT’S HERE!   National Chocolate Day! October 28, 2009!

Of course Chocolate deserves quite a bit of attention from a site that devotes itself to celebrating special memories. Chocolate is capable of taking a normal afternoon and turning it into an event all by itself.

Ghirardelli, Dove, Hershey, Nestle, Lindt, Godiva, Milk, Dark, Semi-sweet, White Bittersweet, Unsweetened, Cocoa …chocolate cake, chocolate ice cream, chocolate chip cookies, chocolate fondue, chocolate covered raisins, chocolate syrup, chocolate easter bunnies, chocolate frosting, chocolate truffles, chocolate liquor, chocolate brownies, chocolate covered cherries, chocolate sauce, chocolate martini’s, chocolate mousse, chocolate eclairs, chocolate donuts, Count Chocula, Cocoa Crispies, chocolate fudge, chocolate pudding, chocolate kisses, hot chocolate, chocolate mint …chocolate edible undies! 

Chocolate..once called The Nectar of the Gods!

In looking for the origin of National Chocolate Day, it quickly became obvious that there is more than one National Chocolate Day.  In fact, I found 3 separate dates, in 3 different months in the first 3 minutes of looking. It led me to one conclusion…Chocolate is worth celebrating more than once a year.  

Chocolate is an essential part our lives. We come up with all sort so excuses why we crave it…”I lost my car keys, if I only had some chocolate”…”I’m so nervous about my doctor’s appointment, I’ll just have a quick bag of chocolate covered pretzels”… My hair looks horrible today, GIVE ME THAT CHOCOLATE BAR!”  Let’s be honest…how many of us bought Halloween candy at the beginning of the month under the pretense that we were just shopping early…only to open it, devour  it, and now have to go buy a big bag for the actual trick-or-treaters that will show up at our doors on Saturday night?

In reality, we don’t need an excuse to eat Chocolate.  Did you know that… it is a myth that chocolate aggravates Acne. 10% of the recommended daily allowance of iron is found in one ounce of chocolate or cocoa. You would have to eat more than 12 Hershey Bars to equal the caffeine in 1 cup of coffee. And a single chocolate chip provides enough energy for an adult to walk 150 feet,therefore only 875,000 chips to walk around the world!

So eat up folks. Buy Chocolate today…boost our economy and keep Americans working. I think the importance of chocolate is the one thing that might bring this country together…we can all agree that Chocolate is Life!

Just in case you want more Chocolate holidays to celebrate,  here’s a short list of some SPECIFIC Chocolate days that we won’t want to miss either:

American Chocolate Week–March 14-20

National Milk Chocolate Day–July 28

National Bittersweet Chocolate with Almonds Day–November 7

National Chocolate Mint Day–February 19

National Chocolate Chip Day–May 15

National Chocolate Eclair Day–June 22

National Chocolate Covered Anything Day–December 16

National Chocolate Covered Raisins Day–March 24

National Chocolate Custard Month–May 1-31

National Chocolate Pudding Day–June 26

National Chocolate Ice Cream Day–June 7

National Chocolate Milkshake Day–September 12

There are some days that should be celebrated…well…just because you have nothing better to do? That’s National Mole Day! How surprised was I to learn that if had nothing to do with the furry little creatures that we all hope we never actually come across!

The “Mole” in question is a number, specifically  Avogadro’s Number (6.02 x 10^23), which is a basic measuring unit in chemistry.  That’s the only explanation I’m going to give you. If you really want to get the facts, check out the National Mole Day Foundation for more info. I read it all. I’m sorry to say I don’t understand it.  But I’m always up for a good reason to have a party.

Mole Day was created as a way to foster interest in chemistry. Supposedly schools all over the world celebrate Mole Day.  Again, I don’t remember it from when I was in school. I DID take Chemistry, and I DID pass it.  I swear! Must have skipped class on Mole Day.  Just one more reason to tell my kids that they could miss the good stuff if they skip out of classes.

October 23 from 6:02 a.m. to 6:02 p.m.! That’s the time to celebrate Moles! WooHoo!

If you are a Chemist, I thank you from the bottom of my heart for things like plastic, deodorant, and ant killer. Also perfume, Sweet n’low, fabric softener and Neosporin. And now Moles.  

Guess I never paid much attention to Moles before. Though the furry little moles are the bane of many lawn owners, they do make a significant contribution to the health of your lawn. Their extensive tunneling and mound building mixes soil nutrients and improves soil aeration and drainage. Moles also eat many lawn and garden pests, including cranefly larvae and slugs.

Well, now I have a new appreciation for both the number and the animal. I wonder if I can convince anyone in my family that National Mole Day requires gift giving.  Wish me luck!

As a child I loved when it was time to carve the pumpkin! Nothing quite like getting elbow deep in slimey, gooey pumpkin guts!  We always saved the seed too! Dried them out on wax paper, and saved them to be planted in the back yard the next spring.  It was like we were always in preparation and anticipation of Halloween.  What wonderful memories!

I carved many a pumpkin in my day with my 3 “just-about-grown” kids, but with the hot, Florida weather, within less than 48 hours, our creative Jack-o-lanterns were always a pile of MUSH!

I miss having my kids at home to celebrate all the fun holidays.  But don’t worry, I’ve found plenty of things to keep me busy. And I’ve found a great way to make creative pumpkins that won’t  rot overnight!

This year???  Pumpkin Faces of my dearest friends!

What you’ll need:

*Any size pumpkin will do, but I found that a smaller one seems to be good. You can use a real or fake pumpkin. Of course, the fake pumpkins can be used year after year!

*8X10 photo of your friend or family member. Doesn’t have to be printed on photo paper. If you have your photos on your computer, just print on a sheet of white paper.

*Scissors

*Hot glue

Step 1: Print our your photo.

Step 2: Cut out the individual features of your friend…eyes, nose, mouth, hair, ears, etc.

Step 3: Hot glue the face pieces to your pumpkin to re-create the face.

It’s as simple as that! These are so much fun to give as gifts. Can also be made on small pumpkins or gourds and used as place cards on your Halloween dinner table.

Have fun this Halloween!  Stay Safe!  BOO!