Baking In A Tornado
Just a Little Nutty
Follow me home . . .
Stacy Sews and Schools
The Sadder But Wiser Girl
Menopausal Mother
Moore Organized Mayhem
The Insomniac's Dream
The Momisodes
Spatulas on Parade
The Rowdy Baker
Evil Joy Speaks
Today’s Fly on the Wall post has a theme. It’s “concrete and literal”. I love my younger son. Truth be told, I love both my sons, but this post is about my younger one. This kid is fun, extremely intelligent and very interesting. But he is left brained, making him very concrete and literal. Over the years I’ve had to teach him to read cues, interpret facial expressions, extrapolate unspoken meaning . . . It’s been very difficult for someone like me with a sarcastic sense of humor to have a child who is literal to a fault, but he gets me now, and I love it.
So here are some things a Fly on the Wall would have seen in my home, as we went through the process of trying to get these concepts understood:
Me: Do you want to run out and get the mail for me?
Son: No.
Me: Will you please go get the mail for me?
Son: Sure.
Me: Did you wash the counter after eating?
Son: Yes.
Me: Today?
Me: Can you help me?
Son: Help you do what?
Me: (sarcastically) well, I’m folding the laundry, so why don’t you help me put it back in the washing machine? I’ll rewash all these clean clothes.
In retrospect, that probably wasn’t the smartest thing to say to this particular son.
Me: How many times do I have to tell you to stop that?
Son: Seven
Me: Please go pick up your room.
I’m fairly certain he won’t be able to lift it, so that ought to keep him busy for a while . . .
Me: How many cookies have you had? That package is half empty. Go ahead, eat a 12th one, I dare you . . .
Son reaches for a 12th cookie . . .
Me: Oh shoot, I missed the baseball game, I forgot it was on TV. Is it over?
Son: No.
Me: Yay, I can watch.
I turn on the TV. It’s 10 – 1 in the bottom of the 9th with 2 out. That’s as “over” as a game gets in my book.
Son: No.
Me: Do you know where he is?
Son: Yes.
Me: Can you help me out a little here?
Son: Sure Mom, what do you need help with?
Me: Don’t you have any socks?
Son: Yes.
Me: Then why aren’t you wearing any?
Son: They’re all in the wash.
Me: Will you watch this pot of water on the stove while I run upstairs for a minute.
Son: Sure.
You know how this ends, right?
Patriotic Cookies
Patriotic Cookies
©www.BakingInATornado.com
©www.BakingInATornado.com
Ingredients:
1 stick butter, softened
1 stick margarine, softened
3/4 cups sugar
1 egg
1 tsp vanilla
2 1/4 cups flour
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/4 tsp salt
Red colored sugar
Blue colored sugar
Directions:
*Cream butter, margarine and sugar.
*Beat in egg and vanilla.
*Mix in flour, baking soda and salt.
*Divide the dough in half. Wrap separately in plastic wrap and refrigerate for 1 hour.
*Roll each half between sheets of wax paper to about a 10 X 8 inch rectangle.
*Sprinkle
(it’s easiest just to put colored sugar into your hand and sprinkle by
hand) a line of red colored sugar along one long edge of the cookie
dough rectangle. Leave a 1/2 inch space, then sprinkle a blue line of
colored sugar. Leave a 1/2 inch space, then red again. Repeat to the end
of the dough.
*Roll up, starting with one long side and roll all the way to the other. Wrap in plastic wrap and refrigerate one hour.
*Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Line cookie sheet with parchment paper.
*Slice cookies into approximately 1/4 inch rounds.
*Place on cookie sheet and bake for about 10 minutes. Watch them and don’t let them turn brown.
*Cool 2 to 3 minutes on the cookie sheet before removing.
ROFLMBO!!! I know EXACTLY what that's like!! I have 2 sons like that!! Makes things VERY interesting!
ReplyDeleteI don't know what I'd do with 2 like that, I barely survived one!
DeleteGotta love that kid! I think mine were all right brained, so this would have been a refreshing change. I particularly loved the "pick up his room" snippet.
ReplyDeleteYou got me smiling, and it's only 7:05 am (with just one cup of coffee down the hatch) here.
So glad to have gotten you smiling, makes this whole blogging thing worthwhile!
DeleteYou already know why I love this one... ;-) I love my concrete and literal son too (the donut hole thing I put in my fly post this month especially cracked me up!)
ReplyDeleteYes, I bet your son is a lot like my younger son. But I have to tell you, as difficult as the whole concrete and literal thing has been, he's grown up to be an amazing kid.
DeleteLove this, Karen. My favorite (shockingly) was reaching for the twelfth cookie. You know how this would go at my house. "Pick up your shoe. Now the other one. Walk up the steps. Take the shoes with you...." One task at a time. It's a lot of hard work, but SO worth it. I know how much you love your boys. The cookies look delicious. Would you happen to have a dozen or so on hand? I'm throwing a birthday party this weekend. Come on over!
ReplyDeleteSorry, don't have any cookies on hand but I AM working on developing something new. Not sure how it's going to turn out, am I still invited?
DeleteOf course!
DeleteI've got a literal one too and it drives me bananas.
ReplyDeleteMmm... those cookies look like they might have to attend a few functions with me this summer. :)
The cookies are great for functions because you can make them up in logs ahead of time and then just slice and bake when you're ready.
DeleteOh you KNOW I can relate to this one! Gotta love how these teenage boys eat 11 out of 12 cookies--hey, they're sharing, right? He left you one....
ReplyDeleteLOL, I love your positive point of view. Was he really leaving me one? Or was he saving one for himself for later?
DeleteOh boy!!! This was funny, I'm sure not too funny to you at the moment but in retrospect funny as all heck! Loved the post Karen and the cookies too! Have a blast this weekend!...<-----well...don't tell this to your son now, Hugs, Lizy
ReplyDeleteHa ha, especially with 4th of July coming up and fireworks being legal here . . .
DeleteLOL are you sure you didn't take my youngest son? I swear when that kid was younger...takes after his dad ;)
ReplyDeleteOur oldest is famous for sarcasm as well.
Sounds like we got some fairly similar kids. I'll take comfort in the fact that yours turned out so well.
DeleteKids are too funny at times. He sounds like a riot. Bet he will be a comedian.
ReplyDeleteOh, he's a riot alright. And as for what he'll be when he grows up, I hope I live that long . . .
DeleteAh yes, a wise ass. Perhaps that's why you adore me like you do, because I, too, am a wise ass. When I was younger, if my mom asked me to do something like, say, turn on a light.....yea, I would walk over to it and stroke it lovingly and whisper sweet nothings. Evidently, this trait is inherited from the men, because my Dad is the same way!
ReplyDeleteYou've written a little here and there about your teenage years. I pity your Mom. You have a lot of making up to do.
DeleteI'm laughing. I'm not sure if I'm laughing at you, with you, or because I relate. Literal people are so hard to deal with when you're sarcastic or funny. I don't know how we cope, Karen.
ReplyDelete-The Insomniacs Dream
It's a challenge. There are days when I'd like to bang my head up against a wall cause I know it'll be less painful. But we love them so we cope.
DeleteOh he must be the cause of so much laughter as well as face palming. You gotta stay on your toes with that boy. Too funny :)
ReplyDeleteFace palming then. Laughter now. All is better in retrospect!
DeleteI have a 14 ye old daughter like that. Thanks for sharing!
ReplyDeleteMy son has gotten so much better. It's taken years but most of the time he really does "get" me.
DeleteI've had to stop asking my little girl if she wants to do something, because the answer is always no. Especially if it's something like visit her father or take a shower. These days I just tell her what we will be doing today. It saves a whole lot of fights.
ReplyDeleteYes, that works too . . . for a while, LOL.
DeleteI love reading conversations that people have with their kids. My own kids keep me entertained all day long, too! Very cute!
ReplyDeleteYes they keep me laughing. And crying. And pulling my hair out. . .
DeleteHa... Gotta love it!!! lol
ReplyDeleteMaybe once you get past it, but it was more than frustrating for an awful lot of years. But he's a really good kid so it was all well worth it.
DeleteBWAHAHAHAHAHA....your boys crack me up.... I love it...just as I liked each one, the next one was even better.
ReplyDeleteIt's funny looking back at it, but not so much fun when you're meticulously trying to explain your own sarcasm. . .
DeleteOhmigerd... those cookies are awesome! I hate that I didn't know about them before I wrote my post, or I would have linked to your recipe!
ReplyDeleteHA. Don't think you'd want to link to my post, my pic is horrible compared to yours.
Delete