she's just saying...

Let me be perfectly clear

Have you ever played that team-building game where you have to give someone verbal instructions on how to do something to see if you're communicating each step clearly? Oh. Well, I have. The reason never became so clear to me as earlier this fall when Henry wanted to go to a fair in town.

He was planning to bike there to meet his friends and needed cash for the games and junk food. I only had a twenty dollar bill so gave it to him with these words:

"OK, you can go, but first go down to the corner store and get change."

Twenty minutes later and no Henry, I started to get concerned. I went outside and asked another neighborhood kid if he had seen Henry. "Yeah, he went to the store and then rode down to the Fall Fair."

With my twenty dollars in carefully counted change, which he then spent, treating his friends to all the cotton candy they could stand.

I couldn't even get mad at him - he did exactly what I told him to do.

Cranberries Go Tex-Mex

Yes this is a repeat. So sue me.

This is my all-time favorite cranberry sauce. I bring it to every Thanksgiving gathering, mostly for me. It adds a surprising and welcome contrast to the typical Tgiving menu, and goes great on cold turkey sandwiches as well. Warn the children, however - it's spicy.

TEX-MEX CRANBERRY SAUCE

INGREDIENTS: (approximate)
1 bag of cranberries
cup of sugar
cup of water
up to 1 chopped jalapeno, or about 1/4 cup canned, chopped
1-2 scallions, sliced
1+ tablespoon cilantro
1+ teaspoon cumin
2+ teaspoons lime juice

DIRECTIONS:
Combine water and sugar in a medium saucepan. Bring to boil; add cranberries, return to boil. Reduce heat and boil gently for 10 minutes, stirring occasionally. Remove from heat, gently stir in all the other ingredients and modify heat to your taste. This keeps forever in the fridge.

Top Ten Tues. Dislikes

I said I was starting up this blog again. I'm trying. So here's a post.

10 fairly innocuous things that I have a really strong negative reaction to:

1. vanilla candles
2. Celtic music
3. when someone runs their fingers along the edge of a piece of paper
4. raindrops falling on my head
5. cheesecake
6. the sound of studded tires
7. dirt in my sandals
8. bell peppers
9. playing volleyball
10. anything with a laugh track

OK, kind of makes me sound like a crank. What are yours?

Don't do it, for the love of god!

 

phraseology

 Happy Monday. Feels like a good time for a grammar rant.

Here's a few new favorite phrases I've been collecting:

"Personal Watermelon" - as promoted by my local Safeway. 'Cause I don't share my watermelon with nobody.

"Artisan Cocktails" - from an ad for a bar in (of course) Portland, Oregon, though I hear it's a national trend. This is what those medieval craftsmen were aiming for, ultimately: artfully hand-crafted alcoholic beverages.

"Glamping" - this is not a medical emergency; it's a portmanteau of "glamour" and "camping." Seriously. Check this out.

 

And some words that I wish people would look up before they use them to sound edumacated:

Blase - this does not mean "blah." Look it up.

Penultimate - the second to highest, most, best; not the highest most best itself.

Mute point - it's moot, not mute. MOOT.

 

Okay, got that off my mind. What are yours?

 

Fri. frylet: where to post your status

This chart has been making the rounds and you know I love flowcharts so had to share. Click on the image to embiggen it.

Status conscious? Check out this social media flowchart.

Clever thoughts bubble up constantly, but what’s the right venue for all of them? Now you can consult this handy graphic to help make those hard choices among Google+, Foursquare, LinkedIn, Facebook and Twitter. Dilemma solved!

This is all from the breakingcopy copywriting blog. Check it out.

 

Flipping out

This is what Henry has been obsessed with lately:

 

Flipping through the air. On a trampoline, off electrical boxes, into the foam pit. I've been driving him to gyms (and paying fees) several times a week so he can do this over and over.

I've been struggling with this. First, that he's going to break his neck or other body part. He just sprained his ankle trying to land and it's been a pain in the butt. Mostly because I have to walk the dog morning AND evening and take out the garbage and bring him tea while he rests on the couch. It's all I do. But I digress...

The other reason I am not wild about flipping is more complicated. I don't understand the point of it. He doesn't want to take gymnastics (too structured) and he's not interested in diving. He hasn't learned to land except a simple back flip from a platform, and that turned into an accident. So where are we going with this?

"I just like to fly through the air!" he says, and I try to be okay with that. Life should really be that simple.