Water On, Ringer Off: Secret Subject Swap

Welcome a Secret Subject Swap. This month 10 brave bloggers picked a secret subject for someone else and were assigned a secret subject to interpret in their own style. Today we are all simultaneously divulging our topics and submitting our posts. Read through mine and at the bottom you’ll find links to all of today’s other Secret Subject participants.

My subject is: You are in the shower and hear the phone ring, jumping out to answer . . . what happens next?
It was submitted by: Dawn of Cognitive Script.

What happens next? Well, that depends on a lot of things. Unless it's my younger son's name that's showing up on the caller ID, then I'll start to shake. He never calls for no reason or even just to check in. If it's just to inform me of something, or even if it's good news he'll text. But if he calls . . . the only good thing you know for sure is that he's both alive and conscious.

Here are a few scenarios. All some of them may have happened, but I will not confirm or deny at this time (although if you're a friend you may recognize a few of them). Not that I can't confirm or deny, just that it happens I do have some shame dignity after all.

1a) PurDude has called to tell me he's broken his leg. Wait, that can't possibly happen twice, can it?

OR

1b) PurDude has called to tell me he has not broken his leg. Would he do this? No, but a mama can hope for such a call. Daily (the hope, and the call).

  ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

2a) PurDude has a flat tire (and probably a bent rim too). This can and has happened at least twice . . . every year.

OR 

2b) PurDude just wanted me to know that he's successfully maneuvered the pothole minefields disguised as streets for a change, and made it home without a flat tire. Oh, but that pebble kicked up by another car did crack his windshield.

 ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

3a) I slip on the soapy water dripping off of my own body, fall and break my own leg trying to answer that telemarketer.

OR

3b) I don't fall and break my leg, but am rewarded for standing there cold and dripping by that kidnapper-sounding machine-generated telemarketer voice telling me that the IRS has a warrant out for my arrest. Do they take you in naked? Or can I at least dry off and put on some granny panties? 

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

4a) My oven is calling, I actually left that last batch of cookies in there before I went to take a quick shower and yeah, they're burning.

OR

4b) It isn't the oven calling at all, it's the fire department letting me know they're about to break down my front door.

Strawberry Cream Filled Chocolate Thumbprints

5a) I answer to hear that I've inherited a million dollars . . . if I can just provide my social security number and bank account.

OR

5b) Hubs, who buys my tickets for me, has called to say I won the lottery. Question is, did he put on his glasses before checking those numbers. And if he says "April fools", he's a dead man.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

 

6a) College Boy needs me to come open the door, he's lost his key. Again.

OR

6b) College Boy has called to say that he hasn't allowed yet another key to our house to be out there for burglars to find, for a change . . . but I locked the top lock (which I never do, and for which he doesn't have a key) and the garage keypad battery has died. Oops, my bad (on both counts).

 ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

7a) College Boy has called to tell me that it's his turn, he's broken his leg, and just as I'm about to crumble to the (wet) floor in tears, adds "April fools!!!".

OR

7b) My bank is calling about suspected fraud on my account (yes, again but not through someone hacking Amazon this time). Have I bought a couple of jet skis lately? In Uzbekistan?
Me (desperately): " Please say "April Fools", please say "April Fools".

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

The moral of the story: take showers seriously friends, turn your water on and your ringer off.

Here are links to all the sites now featuring Secret Subject Swap posts. Sit back, grab a cup, and check them all out. See you there:

Never Ever Give Up Hope
Wandering Web Designer 
Cognitive Script
The Bergham Chronicles   
The Crazy Mama Llama
Climaxed  
Southern Belle Charm 
Bookworm in the Kitchen
Stacy Sews and Schools 

Strawberry Cream Filled Chocolate Thumbprints

                                                              ©www.BakingInATornado.com

Printable Recipe


Ingredients:

2 eggs, room temperature
1 stick butter, softened
1 stick margarine, softened 
1/2 cup brown sugar
2 TBSP chocolate syrup
2 cups flour
2/3 cup baking cocoa

1/2 of a 7 oz jar of marshmallow creme
1/4 cup seedless strawberry jam
1/2 tsp strawberry extract

Directions:
*NOTE: We're only using the egg yolks in this recipe. With one more egg white you can make my Strawberry White Chocolate Chip Meringues.
*Separate the eggs and beat the egg yolks with the butter, margarine, brown sugar and chocolate syrup until smooth. Mix in flour and baking cocoa. Refrigerate the dough for at least an hour.
*Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Cover baking sheets with parchment paper. 
*Form the dough into approximately 1-inch balls and place on the baking sheets.
*Make an indentation into the center of each cookie, making sure you don't go all the way through.
*Bake for 12 minutes. Remove from oven and, using the bottom of a wooden spoon, press the centers gently to reform the indentation. Cool completely.
*Whisk together the marshmallow creme, strawberry jam and strawberry extract. Spoon about 1 tsp into the indentation of each cooled cookie.
  

Pomp and Circumstance: Use Your Words

Today’s post is a monthly writing challenge. If you’re new here, this is how it works: participating bloggers picked 4 – 6 words or short phrases for someone else to craft into a post. All words must be used at least once. All of the posts will be unique as each writer has received their own set of words. That’s the challenge, here’s a fun twist; no one who’s participating knows who got their words and in what direction the recipient will take them. Until now.

At the end of this post you’ll find links to the other blogs featuring this challenge. Check them all out, see what words they got and how they used them.
I'm using: aggravate ~ college ~ integrity ~ longitude ~ restaurant
They were submitted by Rena of The Blogging 911.

                          
Now I'm not saying that he's doing it just to aggravate me, but my youngest son graduates from college tonight. ★  

Granted I'm grateful to be finished with the huge bills we've been paying for the past four years, not just tuition and housing and food and books and spending money and gas money and frat dues, but airfare every time we brought him home. And let me just tell you, having a kid live in a latitude and longitude 10 hours from mine makes everything more difficult. Like when he broke his leg, when his frat brother/chef died unexpectedly, when he had a flat tire (3 in one year, actually) . . . I could go on but you get it.

So yes, the finances and the logistics have been a challenge. But what really has me annoyed, flabbergasted actually, is that I was just attending college myself about a blink of an eye ago, how can it possibly be that I'm old enough for my baby to be graduating himself? How? Really? I want to know.

Well, now that it seems inevitable, (both his graduation and my advanced age), we all enter the next phase of this journey. I am hoping that he will take a few months off before starting work, but the reality still is that my favorite (well, one of them) taste tester will no longer be spending 4 weeks in the winter and 10 weeks in the summer home with me.

Orange Sesame Thumbprint Cookies

Whichever job offer he accepts, we will set him up, make sure he has a place to live, furniture, a car and whatever else he needs. I will try, yet again, to make him understand that he needs to learn to cook a little. Fast food restaurants cannot be the source of his every meal like it has been this past year since he moved out of his frat.

But that is for tomorrow. Tonight is for reflection. Celebration. For Pomp and Circumstance and a tear or two.

It's been quite a ride, these past four years. It's been full of successes but also set-backs. It's been an eye opening experience for him, having to deal with so much on his own. And all while achieving over a 3.0 GPA with a BS in Computer Science and a Minor in Organizational Leadership Skills. Because in the end his integrity has been a beacon. We know, and he knows, that in good times and in bad (sometimes really, really bad), we have his back. But more importantly, we know that he stands firmly and solidly on his own two feet.

Congratulations, PurDude. So very proud to call you my son. ❤

Here are links to all the other Use Your Words posts:

On the Border
 The Bergham Chronicles
Southern Belle Charm
Cognitive Script 
Part-Time Working Hockey Mom 
My Brand of Crazy 
Climaxed

Orange Sesame Thumbprint Cookies

                                               ©www.BakingInATornado.com

Printable Recipe

Ingredients (makes about 30):

1 sticks butter, softened
1/2 cup brown sugar
2 eggs, room temperature
1/2 tsp almond extract
2 cups flour
1/2 tsp salt
2 oz sesame seeds

1/2 cup powdered sugar
1/2 cup orange jam
1 TBSP orange juice

Directions:
*Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Cover baking sheets with parchment paper. 
*Separate the eggs. Place the whites in a bowl and whisk lightly. Place the sesame seeds in another bowl.
*Beat the egg yolks with the butter, brown sugar, almond extract until smooth. Mix in flour and salt.
*Make approximately 3/4 inch balls with the dough. Dip them into the whisked egg whites, then press the tops into the sesame seeds. Place on the baking sheets.
*Make an indentation into the center of each cookie. Don't press all the way through.
*Bake for about 12 to 14 minutes or until light brown. Press the centers gently to reform the indentation. Cool completely.
*Whisk the powdered sugar, orange jam and the orange juice. Spoon about 1 tsp into the indentation of each cooled cookie. 

Secret Subject Swap: Straws and Balls and Weenies

Welcome to the March Secret Subject Swap. This month 14 brave bloggers picked a secret subject for someone else and were assigned a secret subject to interpret in their own style. Today we are all simultaneously divulging our topics and submitting our posts. Read through mine and at the bottom you’ll find links to all of today’s other Secret Subject participants.

My subject is: Think of eleven uses for a drinking straw - except drinking!
It was submitted by: Shannon of My Brain on Kids.

Now I love you Shannon, after all these years I think you know I do. And you also know I think you're one of the funniest writers in the blogosphere. I don't pretend to understand how your brain works, if I did I'd probably steal your thoughts and be better at it myself (did I really put that in writing?) but really? Eleven? What kind of a number is eleven? You really couldn't have a little sympathy and let me stop at ten?

And uses for a drinking straw? Who do you think I am? McGyver? Yeah, I've heard of McGyver. From my grandma . . .

OK, this is supposed to be a challenge and a challenge it is. So I'm going to come up with eleven uses for drinking straws if it kills me.

Well:

1) You could use them to poke your balls and weenies. You know, in case you're out of toothpicks.

 

Fruited BBQ Meatballs, Crockpot or Stove Top

2) We've all had them. Blogging emergencies. Inspiration hits, laptop is sitting there and open, but your nails are wet. Good thing you've got your trusty friend Mr. Straw.

3) Laundry is never fun. But admit it, there are certain items we sometimes don't even want to touch. Like the underwear that's been sitting under your kid's bed for who knows how long.

4) Don't cry over spilled milk. Quick, grab those straws and contain it.

5) Emergency. You're all out of chopsticks!

6) Men: having a hard time keeping that lovely {{gag}} man-bun in place? Straw to the rescue.

7) Women: want to gouge your eyes out after seeing yet another man bun? Straw to the rescue.

What? you thought I was going to show you a picture of that?

8) You could . . . no . . . that one might be illegal.

9) "Touch your candy? No, I did not lay a single finger on your candy. And honestly, I'm offended that you'd accuse me."

10) Sitting on the couch feeling guilty for skipping the gym this morning? No problem, you can make your own barbells.

11) And finally, since it's an election year, it doesn't make sense to leave out . . .

 . . . the straw pole. Get it? No? Well blame Shannon. Told you she should have put me out of my misery at ten.

Now that, my friends, was a challenge. What would you have come up with?

Here are links to all the sites now featuring Secret Subject Swap posts. Sit back, grab a cup and check them all out. See you there:

The Bergham Chronicles 

The Diary of an Alzheimer's Caregiver 

Dinosaur Superhero Mommy

 Southern Belle Charm
Not That Sarah Michelle
My Brain on Kids 
The Lieber Family Blog 
Never Ever Give Up Hope 
Someone Else's Genius 
Confessions of a part time working mom 
Spatulas on Parade 
The Angrivated Mom 
Climaxed 

Fruited BBQ Meatballs, Crockpot or Stove Top

                                                                          ©www.BakingInATornado.com

Printable Recipe 

NOTE: This recipe can be served as an appetizer or as a main course.
 
Ingredients (makes about 40):
1 1/2 cups apricot jam
1 (18 oz) bottle BBQ sauce
1/4 cup dried cranberries
1/4 cup dried apricots
2# lean ground beef
1 egg
3 TBSP dried minced onion
2 TBSP season salt

Directions:
*Chop the dried apricots and cranberries into very small pieces.
*In crockpot on high or in a pot on the stove on medium, mix the apricot jam and the BBQ sauce and allow the jam to melt into the sauce. Stir now and then.
*In a bowl, mix the ground beef, egg, minced onion, season salt and chopped fruits. It's best to mix with your hands and don't over mix.
*Form the meat mixture into approximately 1 inch balls. Gently drop the meatballs into the sauce. Reduce heat to low for crockpot or medium low for a pot on the stove.
*STOVE: allow meatballs to simmer in the sauce for 1/3 hour, then gently move the meatballs in the bottom of the pot to the top and those that were on the top to the bottom. Simmer another 1/2 hour or until all the meatballs are fully cooked.
*CROCKPOT: allow the meatballs to simmer for 2 hours, gently move them around in the crockpot so those on the bottom move to the top. Simmer 2 more hours, m,ove the meatballs around again, then simmer up to 2 more hours or until the meatballs are fully cooked.

April Fly on the Wall

Welcome to a Fly on the Wall group post. Today 12 bloggers are inviting you to catch a glimpse of what you’d see if you were a fly on the wall in our homes. Come on in and buzz around my house.

When you’re done, click on the links below for a peek into some other homes:
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
Tiny Steps Mommy 
Outsmarted Mommy
The Rowdy Baker  

This month’s Fly on the Wall post is about some of the things a fly might see if he were to watch me posting on Facebook:

I posted: Question: If you get burned taking a cookie off of the cookie sheet, you should immediately eat the offending cookie so it can’t hurt anyone else, right?
One response: I think it’s the law!
The consensus of opinion: Yes, that cookie needed to be punished

I posted: If absence really does make the heart grow fonder, I think my teenagers should go away for a while!

I posted: I know its been a while since I’ve been in school, but I’m having a bit of a problem with this math:
A pile of my son’s friends slept over in the basement last night. This morning I came downstairs and in the laundry room (where the kids all throw their shoes) there was one extra pair of shoes. In the basement there were 2 extra sleeping kids and in the driveway there were no extra cars. Somehow this does not all add up.
One friend answered: Maybe Marty McFly landed at the wrong house.
And I said: I wish he had left me his car!

I posted: PLEASE don’t let my teenagers come home while my tongue is stuck in this Vodka bottle.
Followed by: Looking for believable explanations for a swollen tongue. Quick. Help. Before the kids get home. . .
And then: Ooooh, someone doesn’t like my predicament tonight. Just lost a “like". OK, who left?

My Mai Tai

I posted: The sun’ll come out tomorrow. Ya gotta hang on ‘til tomorrow, come what may. Tomorrow. Tomorrow. I love ya, tomorrow! You’re always just a day away!

ANYONE WANT TO GUESS WHEN MY KIDS GO BACK TO SCHOOL?

One answer: when the sun comes out?

And another: Hmmmm. . . Always so cryptic. . . It seems like there must be a clue . . .

I posted: Bad: every time I want to know whether or not I’ve seen a movie, I have to ask my older son. Worse: he always knows.

An answer: Who Are you??!! Are we related? I thought I was the only one that had that same situation.

And I told her: Maybe we ARE related. I wonder if my son knows what movies you’ve seen too!

I posted: Good news/bad news. Good news: the snowblower started. Bad news: school’s already been canceled for tomorrow. That’s the end of MY life. Well, my Thursday anyway.

I posted: Anybody else hear this in their home? “Mom, my friends are coming over so you can make cookies if you want”.

 

I posted: Proof I have impulse control: My kids are still alive.

So that’s a peek at my Facebook page. Sound like fun? Join me (shameless plug) by clicking this link:

Baking In A Tornado Facebook Page

My Mai Tai
                                      ©www.BakingInATornado.com

Printable Recipe

 

Ingredients:
1/2 ounce Spiced Rum
1/2 ounce Coconut Rum
1 ounce Patron Citronge
2 ounces Orange Juice
2 ounces Pineapple Juice
1 dash Grenadine

Directions:
*Combine all ingredients. Serve over ice.
*Opt: Can embellish with fresh pineapple chunks, orange slices and/or maraschino cherry

Take 2 – April Secret Subject Swap

Welcome to another Secret Subject Swap (and my 100th blog post). This week, 11 brave bloggers picked a secret subject for someone else and were assigned a secret subject to interpret in their own style. Today we are all simultaneously divulging our topics and submitting our posts.

Here are links to all the sites now featuring Secret Subject Swap posts. Sit back, grab a cup, and check them all out. See you there:

Baking In A Tornado
Life on Peanut Layne
Menopausal Mother
The Sadder but Wiser Girl
Evil Joy Speaks 
Black Sheep Mom
Home on Deranged
Victory Rose
Dates 2 Diapers
Bad Word Mama 
My Life as Lucille  

My subject is: Survivor or Amazing Race? Which one would you be on (or not be on) and why? It was submitted by: Evil Joy Speaks

Here goes:
 Here’s something you may not know about me, I have already been on both shows. And lived to tell the tale. Just barely, but lived just the same. I was on Survivor many, many years ago, went on to Amazing Race, and just in the last few years ended up on Survivor All-Stars. Yes, I’m that good.

Years ago, as a result of my own production (actually two, a year apart) I found myself on Survivor – Infant Island.
Challenges included:
the How long can you keep your eyes open with no sleep when you’ve run out of coffee challenge.
the Buy new bottles vs. clean the ones you have challenge.
the Falling into bed covered in spit-up challenge.
the What you do when you’re out of diapers challenge.

followed by:
the Learning to jump out of the way when the Hyperactive Gag Reflex kicks in challenge.
the Making it through a shopping trip without a meltdown challenge.
the Waiting to dance in the streets until the youngest has already left for school challenge.
the Getting out of going on EVERY school field trip challenge.
the Finding foods they’ll eat challenge. Apparently just pouring sugar on everything is classified as cheating. Damn.

Brown Sugar Kugel

I was sure I’d never do another show like that again, but somehow found myself on The Amazing Race, Extracurricular Activity Edition.
The race took me to:
Tae Kwon Do testing where I had practiced so much with my son to prepare him that the instructor asked me if I wanted my belt as well.
Baseball games where my son stood too close to the practicing batter.
Soccer games where both boys’ games started at the same times but on different fields.
Football games where I had to answer my husband’s “who’s that player down on the field?” with “your son”.
Track meets where my son was too cool to tie his shoes.
Skateboarding obsession that ended in the Emergency Room.
Swimming on Cape Cod where my son got stung by a Jelly Fish.
Skiing in Colorado where I watched my son, on his second day, point his skis straight down a Black Diamond and go. . .

And now, because you just can’t turn down the honor of an All-Stars show, I find myself on Survivors yet again. And this one may kill me. Yes, I’m in the hell they call Survivor – Teen Island.
Challenges include:
the Not finishing off everything in your bar the first time they drive off in the car challenge.
the Keeping food in the house challenge.
the Getting them not to spend every penny the minute they make it challenge.
the Not ripping the mail out of the Mailman’s hands when college acceptance letters start to arrive challenge.
the No, you can’t drop all of your classes since you’ve already been accepted to college challenge.

And the one that just may send me packing:
the Getting out of bed and seeing what they’re going to do to you the next day challenge. Harder than you’d think, under the circumstances.

So there you have it: my Hollywood resume. Didn’t know I was a celebrity, did you?

Brown Sugar Kugel
                                  ©www.BakingInATornado.com

Printable Recipe

Ingredients:
1/2 stick butter, melted
1/2 cup brown sugar
1 lb. wide noodles
1/2 stick butter
1 tsp salt
3 eggs
1/4 cup brown sugar

Directions:
*Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
*Spray a 9X13 glass baking dish (for thinner, cripsier kugel pictured above) or 8X8 dish for thicker kugel with no-stick spray.
*Put the melted butter into the dish, and using a basting brush, brush the butter over the bottom of the dish and up the sides a little.
*Add the 1/2 cup of brown sugar and using the basting brush, spread it evenly over the bottom of the pan and a little bit up the sides. Set aside.
*Cook the noodles al dente. While still hot, add the 1/2 stick of butter and the salt and mix until the butter melts into the noodles. Set aside until the noodles cool a little and the eggs can be added without them cooking in the hot noodles, then mix the eggs in completely.
*Gently put 2/3 of the noodle mixture over the brown sugar mixture in the pan. You don’t want to move the brown sugar mixture around, but you do want the noodles evenly distributed on top.
*Sprinkle with 1/4 cup brown sugar and top with the rest of the noodles.
*Bake for 45 minutes
*Remove from oven and cut into squares. Let sit in the pan for 5 or ten minutes before removing.