to·ma·to

Pronunciation: \tə-ˈmā-(ˌ)tō; chiefly British, eNewEng, neVirginia, and sometimes elsewhere in cultivated speech -ˈmä-; chiefly Northern -ˈma-\

Have you ever really craved something? I'm not talking about that trellis & rose purse that was in the Tai Pan Trading ad. Nor am I talking strange pregnancy cravings (although I suspect this is similar to what's been going on). I'm talking about waking up at 4:00 am and immediately thinking - "Ooh - that sounds delicious!"

My craving the past couple of weeks has been tomatoes. No amount of spaghetti sauce, soup, or sandwich fixings has appeased. Jon took me to Chili's last week for date night. The only thing I wanted was chips & salsa (I didn't even have the queso!) and a house salad with extra tomato. Over the weekend, we ate very well with all of the Easter and Hill family "Scone Sunday" events, but I still wanted tomatoes.

I picked up some grape tomatoes for salad and ended up eating a bunch of them as a mid morning snack yesterday. I also made a batch of salsa (~ 6 cups) on Sunday morning and have eaten more than half of it already.

I had my girl part check up last week, and found out that I was extremely low on one particular mineral. Based on my craving, can you guess what it is?

Potassium

I knew bananas were good sources of potassium, but I wasn't craving bananas (except the kind that come in an Arctic Circle banana cream pie milkshake - that is some seriously yumminess) - unless they come in red, have seeds, and you can eat the skins.

I haven't been able to grow tomatoes the past few years because we haven't had a dedicated garden spot that we can keep the dogs out of. I tried patio tomatoes, and Hilo dug them out. Sometimes I really dislike that animal. This year I'm thinking about one of those TopsyTurvy things - if I can just figure out where to hang it.

Frustrated with Frances

A friend of mine (OK - more of an acquaintance. She married a guy who was once a very good friend, so I adopted her - I don't know that she knows that... I got to sit next to her at my 20 year high school reunion, but she texted her next door neighbor most of the night... Doesn't bode well for our friendship, eh?) posted her March 2010 books today. One of them was A Bargain for Frances.

Can I just tell you that Frances is one of the most frustrating characters to make my acquaintance?!

When I was in 1st grade - can you see me? How about the kid to my left - that's Bart Cloward. I don't remember why, but I did not like Bart. I think you can tell that from my body language - see how I'm trying to lean away from him? Wouldn't you be so mad if your kid was the one turned around in the front row?! - we had a reading contest. We had caterpillars that were pinned to the cork strip at the top-of-the-chalk-board level all the way around the room. We got to lick & stick a star for each book that we read. Mrs. Brady said that whoever read the most books would win a prize.

Did you hear that?! A P-R-I-Z-E!!!!

At this point you know (if you know me very well at all - or did at the time this story happened) that there was never a doubt in my mind who was going to read the most books in my class. I'm fairly certain that I had a 4-5 caterpillar chain just to hold all of my lick & sticks.

So the day came when the winner was announced. Of course it was me, but this is where my story went horribly wrong.

When Mrs. Brady said there would be a prize, I knew that I would be the lucky recipient of an Easy Bake Oven. (Don't ask, that's just how my mind worked.)  I eventually went to the front of the room after I'm sure I harassed poor Mrs. Brady until she could stand it no longer. I was anticipating the weight of that box being placed in my arms. I remember walking over to the reading area with her - upset that more of the class wasn't paying attention. She flipped a flimsy paper back into my hands.

That's right folks

Certainly not an Easy Bake. And certainly not a book that I have ever read.

Adventures in Wildness

Griffin turned 6 yesterday, and we had a fabulous camping-themed birthday party! We had an incredible time, and I could not have done it without Carson, Evan, and my incredible neighbor McKenzie. Bday parties are so much easier when you've got older kids and willing teenagers to help!

Party activities included:

• T-shirt painting
• Snipe hunt (complete with sleeping like a bear - I'm not sure why laying on your back represents this - but I didn't have to run this activity to I am NOT complaining, slithering like snakes, crawling under branches, growling like a mountain lion)
• Feeding the Bear (tossed balls into the grizzlie's mouth - there's some pitching talent in this young gene pool!)
• Cups O'Fire (tossed balls into cups decorated like fire)
• Bug Hunt (hid bugs, snakes, lizards outside for party goers to find)
• Presents
• Dinner (hot dogs, chips, carrots, olives - all served in a metal pie plate - and bug juice)
• Marshmallow Roasting

• Cake (Of all the ones I've made, this is one of my favorites)

Whew! After the party Jon, the boys and I all went to a dollar movie. Even with help I was one tired mama! I slept until 11:30 today!

Each of my boys has had a party that I'm fond of. Carson - backyard water party. Evan - pirate party. Griffin - daytime camping fest.