Random Fodder

I've been saving up some blog fodder for you that, on its own, is not really enough for a full blog post. So tonight I have decided to just stop holding the fodder back and unleash it all in one post.

Hold on to your Twinkies, people, here we go.

First -- on Friday last week, Mace was supposed to go dressed as a farmer to preschool and this was the best we could do:

I couldn't talk the boy into wearing blue jeans and that's a jungle hat from Homosassa Springs Wildlife Park. It was a pathetic showing for agricultural attire. His teachers apparently agreed with me -- when I picked him up, one of them had taken the brim of his jungle hat and flipped it up so that his hat looked more like a cowboy hat.

Grandma and I have also been experimenting with some Thanksgiving recipes. Grandma tried out this mashed potato pie:

It was good, but she forgot to put in a certain spice and I think it would have been better with the spice included. Or gravy. Anything is better with gravy. So this dish may or may not make an appearance on our table at Thanksgiving, but if it does, it will most certainly be with gravy.

I also made pumpkin cream cheese pastry thingamabobs. Grandma brought home pumpkin turnovers a few weeks ago and after we polished the four of those off in half a day, I thought I might try to make some myself. So I bought the ingredients and didn't get around to making them until last week. Lately I only show you my cooking failures, but today we have an exception:

These turned out fine. Grandma and I ate them. The end.

In other news, my 7 year old decided to make a random list in the car last week, not at all related to anything I happened to be doing in the car; really, I have no idea where he gets his material, no idea at all.

It's really dangerous for 7 year old passengers to write in the car, so there's a new rule in our family: no 7 year olds are allowed to write in the car. It would be tragic if we went over a bump and the pencil flew out of his hand and poked him in the eye. Better to be safe than sorry.

And now, allow me to introduce you to Origami Yoda:

(Please ignore the chemical process represented by the green and black spots on that nearly-new bathroom fixture -- the Flamingo water is evil and eats metal) Casey bought Origami Yoda, the book, at the school book fair last week. He thought it was hilarious -- when he wasn't making random lists in the car, he was reading his new book and falling over laughing. On Tuesday of this week, he asked me to help him make an origami Yoda (the instructions are in the back of the book) and I said I would have to do it later, I was too busy, couldn't he see I was texting and driving? So after the kids had gone to bed and I was watching the election returns come in, I decided to try making the origami Yoda. It took me a couple of attempts to get Yoda's ears to stick out to the side like that, but once I got it, I was on a roll and made several. Then I hid them around the house so Casey would find them the next morning. I put one on his alarm clock, the stairs, his toothbrush, in the flower arrangement, on the TV remote, in his lunchbox, and in his school communication folder. And although there were three sitting in plain view on his way downstairs from his room to the couch on Wednesday morning, he didn't see any of them until he put his hand on the remote and crushed the Jedi master. But that's okay, because I can now make an origami Yoda in 15 seconds flat, so I can just make another.

Last but not least, YaYa and PopPop came for a visit today and brought a new toy with them for the boys:

The kids played with it all afternoon and then argued over who was going to sleep with the engine and cars. The next time you see me, you can tell me how impressed you are with my Mega Blocks rendering of London Bridge.