Pop Pop Jiffy Pop

Last night we made Jiffy Pop. Leah actually made it. It's a wonder our parents let us do this. You hold that flimsy metal handle and shake the foil-topped pan on top of the red hot burner. And I remember doing this unsupervised.

To tell you the truth, I couldn't even enjoy it. I thought Leah was going to burn her arm. Whenever I reminded her to be careful, she'd turn around and scowl at me which only raised her chances of getting burned. Never take your eyes off the stove!

And for anyone who is concerned, that is a temporary tat on Leah's arm.

A Little Taste of the Hamptons

I went to a fabulous dinner party last Saturday. My friend Donna had a group of girlfriends over to celebrate Summer. She has a knack for tablescapes and menus and whimsical parties.*

She swears she is not a good cook and that she just repackages things. I don't think it matters if you cook or not. I think the important thing is that your guests feel special and I always do when I'm at her house.

You must understand that Tempe, Arizona in July is about as refreshing as... well...hell. Yet when I walked into her house I felt like I was in the Hamptons or Cape Cod. Her bright and cheery family room was so inviting and the white coffee table with the appetizers were casually chic. Serving barbecue potato chips in a beach pail was a stroke of genius. (Why didn't I think of that?)

Here's a peek at her "bar". Various beer and soda pop with brightly colored candies. (Those are plastic orange crush candies.)

And the dinner was down-home, sophistication. Sliders, corn on the cob, salad and french fries. Don't miss the delicate chocolate milkshakes. It was a wonder that she got the deep fryer and the blender put away before we arrived. (wink, wink)

Here is Jana demonstrating how to dip French fries into ice cream. Perhaps a treat indigenous to Southern California????

Pam couldn't resist the Root Beer Floats for dessert.

I love the nautical candleholders. Are we on Hyannis Port? Is that Ted Kennedy helping himself to another Samuel Adams?

It was a wonderful evening. Full of lively conversation; tales of midwestern travels, the anticipation of seeing a new granddaughter and many many laughs. (Is there an accent that Laurie can't imitate?)

I look forward to our next event. Martha Stewart has nothing on my talented friends.

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*Disclaimer: All of my friends are great hostesses and I admire all of their talents. I would write about everyone but this event just happened and I have the week off which gives me time to write. LV your parties are great with the perfect food and dishes and no one decorates for a holiday the way you do. Mrs. Perfect, your salads are incomparable and I still dream of the margarita pizzas that you made about TEN years ago. Yummy! JB: I love going to your house. You are the BEST cook and I always have so much fun. The custom omelettes you had for Liz's brunch were wonderful. Didi: You are also a fabulous hostess. I believe it's in your genes. You are the best cook (red velvet cake, grilled veggies, salads, I could go on and on.) Xmas has become a great tradition not only for the food but for the decorating touches that are wonderfully simple yet oh so chic.

Cable Conundrum

So far, so good with the one paycheck family. We've cut way back and we're doing okay. I feel that if we had just a little more money, we could go on like this forever.

In fact, if we got rid of our $143/month cable bill that would make things bearable. (This includes cable, Internet and landline.) So I called Cox yesterday to see what we could do. I was willing to just have a few -- what I consider basic -- cable channels like BRAVO, TNT, Lifetime and of course ESPN. Well Cox has a different definition of basic cable. To quote "basic cable is channels 2 through 22." Two through 22????? Wow, that means ABC, NBC, CBS, C-Span plus WB, Fox and a couple of spanish channels. The thought of a life with basic cable (and without the Kardashians)gave me a headache.

So then I decided to go the other route and see what we can do about some of the phone add-ons. We pay $29.90 for a package that includes caller-id, voice mail and call waiting. We could buy a $20 answering machine (then we could screen calls anyway).

I can never find the call waiting button because I have to pull it away from my ear and then I have to hold it at arm's length to see the keyboard. I rarely do this because I can't hear what the caller is saying and unless it's my mom, it could be something I haven't heard before.

As to caller-id, I think we could go back to the old fashioned element of surprise. So I thought I had saved us $29.90 and I told Dave the cable operator to remove that package. He said he could but then we'd lose our $32.43 monthly discount because we have everything packaged together and it includes those add-ons. So instead of saving $29.90, we'd spend an extra $2.53. Hmmmm. This is harder than I thought.

The DVR costs another $18/month but I'd rather walk to work than lose that. Besides the DVR makes my tv watching much more efficient so I'm saving time and time is money, right?

Does anyone have any money saving ideas that won't interupt my lifestyle? Something that has to do with cutting back on exercising or cleaning? We haven't been to church in weeks so we've saved a little there...

Bad Mom or Natural Sommelier?

Leah and I were at Trader Joe's yesterday. I needed a bottle of wine to take to a dinner party at Donna's. I asked Leah to help me pick out the right wine based on how much we liked the label.

Our criteria was that Donna loves the color pink.

Leah found this bottle (I wrapped a tea towel around it.) The delightfully feminine label caught our eye and the bright pink cap sealed the deal.

Was I wrong to include Leah in this activity?

Dog Days Part Deux

Last night fell asleep at midnight. Very restless night waking up to Roxie suspiciously roaming around the family room.

At 3:10 a.m., woke up to the unmistakable sound of Daisy in her kennel throwing up. Got her outside in time for the second wave. Cleaned and disinfected her kennel in the middle of the night. Let her back inside because even at 3:00 it is just too hot outside.

Finally fell asleep long enough to be roused by the same familiar cough at 6:15 a.m. Daisy again. Same routine.

Got up bleery eyed at 8:40. Her stomach problems seem to be over.

Honestly, this is worse than Leah's infancy. At least I could contain her explosions. With her we could just throw things in the washing machine and start over. I never had to get down on my hands and knees by the light of the moon and disinfect any furniture. And I'm confident that someday she'll return the favor and take care of me. What's the payback with these puppies?

Dog Days

Got up at 5:00 to take someone to the airport. This is after lying awake all night worrying that I wouldn't wake up in time.

Drove back home nearly missing construction all over the city. Closed freeway ramps and blocked off lanes. Happened to glance at the gas gauge which was flirting with EMPTY. Pulled into gas station just in time.

Got home from the airport run at 6:15 and found that Daisy had diarrhea all over her kennel.

Put Daisy outside. Hosed off the kennel. Disinfected the kennel. Finally sat down at 7:30.

At least by getting up before the sun, it gives me an entire day to recoup and recover.

I will not let this poopy day color my attitude.

When Did TV Become X Rated?

It's become quite difficult to watch tv with Leah. Between the viagra commercials and the news, I'm on constant alert.



So far she hasn't asked me about those embarassing KY Jelly ads. You know the ones where the couple is on the bed talking about which type works best for them.



Tonight we made the mistake of watching a movie on the ION network. I've never watched anything on that channel before. All the ads are for medical things. Some sort of insurance ad where the woman is complaining about having to reuse her catheters -- she has to boil them. So I switched to a mainstream channel. NBC was airing a special about Michael Jackson. They showed clips from when he started "touching himself." Oh, the questions about that. She said she did NOT like it (I hear ya sister.)



And some of the basic cable channels don't bleep out the bad words. You can hear "shit" (she doesn't know what that word means -- she doesn't even know it's a bad word!) or "goddamn" (she knows it's a grown up word.)



I've become an expert at changing the channel when I realize a sexual situation is about to happen. I get her talking to me while I covertly start pressing buttons.

So far she hasn't questioned the viagra commercials. I will make up something. I always do.