Special Announcement:
The Dana Files has been quarantined effective immediately until further notice. Germ Warfare has begun. The grandparents have been drafted to assist sick Danaa with sterilizing the entire house. Little Doodlebug has been a vomit/diarrhea vermin (that was especially thrown in for FaeryTale Dreams).
Please pray that we are well soon.
*End of Bulletin*
Something crazy has happened in our household. We’ve become addicted to the Food Network. Sometimes, we watch it all day and all night on the weekends. And after work, we make dinner while watching the various evening shows like 30-Minute Meals with Rachel Ray, Paula’s Home Cooking, Everyday Italian and Emeril Live. Emeril is my favorite. What can I say? I adore a man who can cook who’s handsome and has a sexy “Loo-see-anna” meets “New Yauka” accent. Doug is always enthralled by Good Eats and Unwrapped. We’ve probably watched every single episode and sometimes we sit through the repeats. It’s a crazy thing. Even little Dawson is addicted. He won’t move from the couch when Alton Brown comes on. Doug is ecstatic that his son will receive “a cooking education, mixed with science, that his Momma didn’t get”. Yes, I threw my shoe at his funny ass.
I also love Rachel Ray. She’s kind of silly-dorky-quirky. Uh huh. Just like yours truly. I can’t help it. I was born “dork-a-licious”, you know? I’ve been learning a lot of new recipes. And I’ve found millions of different ways to dress up the cucumbers, tomatoes and peppers in my garden so the Food Network rocks. Don’t get me started on how many times of day I’m on the website looking for recipes I missed!
Because of my obsession, my Aunt Kathy gave me a Rachel Ray: 365 No Repeats cookbook for my birthday. She knew I was obsessed before I did. I finally realized our family has a substance abuse problem when we were demanding to know if Alton’s Feasting on Asphalt was going to be on last night.
“Doug, is Alton’s new show on tonight?” I asked.
“It better be!” he said.
“What if it’s not? What if we have the wrong day?”
“Then I’m blaming YOU for now looking in the TV Guide.”
Another funny thing happened when we were making dinner last night. I had Emeril Live on the TV and Dawson was wandering around the living room with a plastic spork. He looked at the television and then yelled, “Em-a-ell! Bam! Bam! Bam!” as he pointed his spork at my favorite (handsome) chef. I wish I would have remembered to take a picture!
I’ve never laughed so hard in my life. My child wants to be a chef so he can kick things up a notch. Maybe he’ll go to French Culinary School and create his own Essence! Can you imagine! Perhaps I should start teaching him to cook now, at 2 years old, and I’ll never have to cook again!
On second thought, this may be a terrible idea. Toddlers using stoves and ovens is sure to get the Child Protective Services on my ass, don’t you think?
Alright, I must be going now because The Barefoot Contessa will be on soon.
Happy Cooking Everyone!
The following questions are from Miss Zoot’s Mommy Panel. If you’d like to answer them, please visit her fabulous blog!
1. Do your kids know about your blog? If they’re too young to know, do you plan to keep it open to them as they get older?
Dawson is only 23 months old, so he knows Mommy types on that keyboard thing a lot, but he doesn’t understand what a blog is. I think he thinks it’s fun to run past me and hit the ESC key simply because I told him “Don’t touch that button!” I do plan to let him know about my blogging as soon as he’s old enough to read. I think that will be age three considering how smart he is now. Maybe I can teach him to read now? What do you think? High expectations on my part?
2a. If so - do you worry they may get embarrassed later? What would you do if they asked you to stop writing about them? What would you do if they wanted you to take it down all together?
I don’t worry that Dawson will become embarrassed because I’m not writing anything that will damage his psyche or self-esteem in anyway. I’m positive he’ll see this blog as a reflection of my parenting. My frustrating moments as well as all the happy and positive moments. The good days are definitely astronomical compared to the bad. I think that’s normal. But normal is such a generic word. I think it’s common to share some off kilter moments.
3. Do you think our kids will appreciate the archive of their childhood? Do you wish your parents had done the same?
I think our parents archived the first-born child’s milestones more than their younger siblings. And they used baby books and often forgot to write in them or to take pictures. Not only has blogging become a big past time for me, but scrapbooking, too. I’m a camera nazi. I have albums galore for Dawson. I just have to make sure to document the lives of my other children, when I have them, of course.
4. Do you go back and re-read your past parenting milestones? Do you realize you forgot a lot?
I find myself re-reading my posts a lot. Simply because I’m always afraid I said something stupid or because I’ll find minor spelling or punctuation mistakes and my brain won’t rest until they are fixed. I don’t really forget too much. I’ve got a good memory for writing. It’s talking that makes me forget what to say.
5. What about your children’s friends/teachers/moms-of-friends? What if they found your blog? Do you tell your child not to tell anyone about it or are they free to talk about it? Do you worry their teachers or other parents will think it’s weird?
I don’t write anything that I will be ashamed of later. I usually use pseudonyms for people that I am unsure of when writing. I don’t want to offend, but I do want to be honest and write what I experience. It’s a fine line to cross I suppose and I’m sure I’ll cross it eventually. I try not to write anything that I wouldn’t tell someone face to face. I guess if I really needed to vent I’d have to open an anonymous venting blog. Hey! That’s a good idea!
Remember how I talk about my amazing company? Our company picnic is August 12th and we are having a “Pirates Theme”. Here is a copy of the header of the e-mailed invitation. The “pirate” is our CEO John Noel. To the right is our Sales Manager, Tom Zavadsky (with perfectly dyed hair, mind you) and the woman is some gal I don’t really know. Cute idea, no?
