Take Flight: Poetry Monday

 

 

 

Poetry Monday's once a week.

I bet you know which day.

I don't participate every time,

But today I've come out to play.

My friends assign each week a theme,

Butterflies is what they chose.

Now it's up to all of us,

to put our thoughts into prose.

 

 

Take Flight

Time with her little toddler,

is something Beth held dear,

looking for fun things to do,

with an educational flare.

When there was opening,

of a live butterfly display,

right in their home town even,

planned to go on the very first day.

"Mommy has something special,

a new place for us to try,

together we're going to learn,

all about the butterfly." 

"When we get up in the morning, 

I'll make a yummy pie,

refrigerate it while we're gone, 

then come home and try." 

 

French Vanilla Cheesecake (no bake)

But headstrong little children, 

like to learn in their own way.

Not always with the best results,

Beth found out the next day.

Stopped cold as in her kitchen,

there was such a shocking mess.

Yellow splotches everywhere.

What happened? Couldn't guess.

 

Covered in grease, her daughter,

tears running from each eye:

"I think that ours is broken, Mom,

this butter will not fly." 

 

 

 

Wait!

Read more poetry, 

you're not through.

Some talented writers

are in this crew:

 

On the Border

Messymimi's Meanderings 

Mother Owl 

 

French Vanilla Cheesecake (no bake)       

                                                                                      ©www.BakingInATornado.com

Printable Recipe

Ingredients:
1 1/2 cups vanilla wafer cookie crumbs (about 36 cookies)

5 TBSP melted butter

12 oz cream cheese, softened

1 box (3.4 oz) French vanilla instant pudding mix

1 1/4 cup vanilla yogurt

2 TBSP powdered sugar

2 TBSP French vanilla coffee creamer

1/4 cup multicolored nonpareils, divided

OPT: additional cookies, nonpareils, and/or 1 TBSP caramel sauce for topping

Directions:
*Lightly grease a 9 inch pie dish. Mix the cookie crumbs and the melted butter. Press firmly into the bottom and up the sides of the pie plate. Refrigerate for 10 minutes.

*Beat the cream cheese, pudding mix, yogurt, powdered sugar, and coffee creamer together. Gently mix in 2 TBSP of the nonpareils. Spread evenly into the prepared crust.

*OPT: decorate with vanilla wafers, nonpareils, and or drizzle with caramel sauce, if desired.

*Refrigerate for at least 1/2 hour. 

The Pavlov Twitch

 

 I twitch whenever my younger son calls. There's an involuntary little tic, just below my right eye. Not exactly the reaction you'd expect when hearing from your grown son living far away, but in my defense, it's a classic case of conditioning, learned through years of association. 

Ask Pavlov. Well, I suppose you can't, since he died in Russia in the 1930s, but I'm willing to guess you know his work. His theories, no longer theories, were proven and consistently confirmed. And I'd be willing to bet you've seen the proof of his theories yourself.  

 

Pavlov was most renowned for theories of learned response and conditioning. I don't have to tell you that they are proven, most parents often find ourselves relying on them. One of our most successful tools is the use of classical conditioning to elicit desired behaviors in our children.

And we've also seen the learned behavior, even when it's in a situation where we're not trying to teach anything.

 

Just like Pavlov's dogs, my kids (actually, all kids in the vicinity, not just my own) would come running when they started to smell chocolate baking in my oven. Well, not exactly like Pavlov's dogs, far more discriminating. They didn't come running in quite the same way, or often at all, when they smelled dinner cooking {{sigh}}.

 

 

 

 

Dark Chocolate Cheesecake with Strawberry Glaze

 

 

When I see that name pop up on my cell phone, I don't salivate like the dogs, or come running like the kids, I twitch. 

 

As I said, it's a learned response. 

 

PurDude lives 8 hours away. We check in with each other daily, by text. He's a man of few words anyway, and texts are convenient. He checks in and asks how I'm doing, I respond and let him know what's going on around here, if I'm lucky he may let me know a thing or two that he's doing, and we always end with "love you."

Now that he's in Colorado, just like when he was in school in Indiana, and before that when he was in high school and not at home, if something's wrong, a situation he knows I need to be aware of or if he needs help, he calls.

 

There was the time:

 

PurDude, a brand new driver, was in the turn lane, traffic on either side of him, and a state trooper came roaring up his lane. PurDude had nowhere to go and the trooper continued to accelerate. At the last minute, traffic on one side of PurDude opened up and he was able to jerk to the left just in time.

 

And the called to tell me he'd broken his leg. I'm so traumatized about how it happened, I still can't talk about it.

 

He was heartbroken when he called to say that his frat's chef died.

 

There was time he hit his head and went to the hospital in an ambulance.

 

And the Sunday he was stopped by the police and questioned about a series of breaking and entering crimes (in a building, closed on Sunday, whose parking lot PurDude had picked to turn into when he needed to turn around). 

 

And let's not forget the time he was on the highway, fortunately with his brother was in the car. A piece of cardboard flew up from the road, hit (and broke) PurDude's grill, and plastered itself to his windshield, covering it completely. College Boy had to stick his head out the window and talk PurDude, completely blinded, over to the side of the road.

 

 

Yes, he calls to talk at other times, but I often know he's going to. And even then, it doesn't matter. My response is ingrained. {{twitch, twitch}}.

 

Just a few weeks ago, my cell rang at about 2 in the afternoon. Up popped PurDude's name {{twitch, twitch}}. We'd texted that morning, he goes into the office a few days a week and I knew he was there and busy {{twitch, twitch}}. 

 

I answered as quickly as I could, just needing to hear his voice and know he's OK. I have forced myself, over the years to actually answer with "hello," valiantly fighting the urge to start with "what's wrong."

 

I could hear highway noise. As soon as he said "mom," and I knew he was OK, my instinctual (you could even say Pavlovian) compulsion won over: "what's wrong?"

Of course, something was. He'd gone home for lunch, was doing about 65 mph on the highway back to work and there was a thick piece of metal in his lane. He couldn't merge over, there was traffic in the next lane. Woman in front of him hit it and went off the road with a flat. Woman behind him hit it and went off the road with a flat. With no safe option for him either, PurDude hit it head on and ended up with 2 flat low profile tires, and 2 bent wheels. $3500 in damage, and that's if he's lucky and nothing happened to his suspension system.

I know it could have been worse. I know it could have been better. And I know that I am proof that Pavlov's theory is alive and kicking. 

I mean twitching.

Dark Chocolate Cheesecake with Strawberry Glaze        

                                                                                      ©www.BakingInATornado.com

Printable Recipe

Ingredients:
1 1/2 cups chocolate graham cracker crumbs

1 TBSP brown sugar

5 TBSP butter, melted

1 1/2 bars (20 oz total) cream cheese, room temperature

1/2 cup sugar

1/2 cup brown sugar

3/4 cup dark chocolate chips, finely crushed

2 TBSP baking cocoa

1/4 cup heavy cream, room temperature

1/4 cup sour cream, room temperature

1 TBSP brewed coffee, cooled

1 TBSP dark chocolate syrup

3 eggs, room temperature

8 oz fresh strawberries

2 TBSP strawberry jam

Directions:
*Lightly grease a springform pan and wrap the bottom with tin foil. Preheat oven to 325 degrees.

*Mix together the graham cracker crumbs, 1 TBSP brown sugar, and melted butter. Press into the bottom and partially up the sides of the pan.

*Beat together the cream cheese, sugar, the remaining brown sugar, crushed dark chocolate chips, and cocoa. Once the mixture is smooth, beat in the heavy cream, sour cream, coffee, and chocolate syrup. Last, beat in the eggs, one at a time.

*Pour into the prepared crust and bake for 70 - 85 minutes, until the center is just set. Allow to cool to room temperature. Refrigerate for at least an hour before releasing the sides of the pan. Return the cheesecake to the refrigerator.

*Hull and slice the strawberries. Whisk the strawberry jam to loosen. Mix in the strawberries and allow to sit, stirring now and then, for 1/2 hour. Pour over the fully cooled cheesecake, or serve on the side.

*Store, covered, in the refrigerator.

 

Bathroom Inspiration: 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:  bologna ~ wallpaper ~ hitch ~ reward ~ razor
They were submitted by Diane of On the Border.

 

Today's post was inspired by the bathroom. I know you're thinking I'm full of bullsh!t bologna, that bathrooms aren't exactly the place people go for inspiration, but this particular bathroom speaks to me.

 

Yes, speaks to me. Despite the fact that I started out hating it.

There's a back story. Of course there is. 

 

It goes all the way back to when we bought this house. It was not only bigger than our first house, but the guy who bought our first house bought most of the furniture too. Starting from scratch is fun, it's hectic, and most of all, it's expensive. 

My family owned an Ethan Allen store, so some of the furnishings were bought at cost, but my taste is more contemporary, as is this house, so although Ethan Allen is well represented, it's not the majority of the furnishings I bought. And although my mom advised not doing everything at once, I knew I'd have a hard time telling my boys (in 2nd and 3rd grade), that maybe they'd have a bed to sleep on next month.

The point is, that although the previous owner's decoration choices were not at all mine, I made the decision to leave the carpet and tile and wallpaper and paint colors and just work with them. For the time being, anyway.

 

In some rooms there were quick fixes, like throwing out the kitchen curtains or topping a wallpaper border with another one, but mostly I concentrated on furniture, rugs, and art. 

 

The bathroom off the back hall, though. I had a hard time living with that. The former owner was a golf pro, and the bathroom was all golfed out. The top of the wallpaper is golf sayings, the border through the middle is old timey looking golf pictures, and the bottom is plaid. Not my taste. Not even in the same stratosphere as my taste. I was dying to rip that paper down. The reward would be obvious, but the hitch was the time, energy, and money, none of which I had to spare.

So, as I said, I went with it. I tried to add a little whimsy to each room, so I found this guy and put him on the floor under the pedestal sink:

OK, that helps, at least the little guy makes me smile.

 

 

But with time, that bathroom wallpaper started to make me smile too. Those sayings on the top half of the wall? They were . . . well . . . supportive. Hey, any port in a storm when you're the mother of young rambunctious boys.

 

It didn't start with supportive, it actually started kind of mocking:

 

 

 

A good walk? Really? I've got a house full of kids, dinner to make, and a cheesecake I'd promised to make for a friend's party. The only walk I have time for is from the kitchen to this bathroom. 

 

Peanut Butter Candy Cheesecake

But from there the tone changed. And I started to get the message. There are parallels, it seems, between parenting and golf:

 

Yeah, so is parenting, my friend, so is parenting.

And:

Confirmation that the little white lies you have to tell now and then (like that McDonald's is closed on Tuesdays) are OK, they're just what you need to do to get through.

 

Then there are the sayings that boost my parental self esteem:

 

Jeez, I must be a great parent, I'm hitting nobody.

 

And one final bit of confirmation:

 

 

You know, I don't have a cart to fall out of, but it's true that I've yet to fall off of the toilet. And let me tell you, there were days when a good concussion sounded awful tempting.

 

All these years later that wallpaper remains. I wonder if the future owners of this house will take a razor to it, or find inspiration in it. I guess I'll never know.

 

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

On the Border

The Diary of an Alzheimer’s Caregiver

Part-time Working Hockey Mom

Climaxed

Peanut Butter Candy Cheesecake

                                               ©www.BakingInATornado.com

Printable Recipe

Ingredients:

1 1/2 cups chocolate graham cracker crumbs

1 TBSP brown sugar

4 TBSP melted butter

 

1/4 cup mini Reese's cups (about 15 minis)

2 1/2 bars (20 oz total) cream cheese, room temperature

1/4 cup heavy cream, room temperature

1/4 cup sour cream, room temperature

1/2 cup brown sugar

1/2 cup sugar

1 TBSP brewed coffee, room temperature

3 eggs, room temperature 

1/2 cup Butterfingers bars, chopped

1 mini Hershey's chocolate bar

Directions:
*Preheat oven to 325 degrees. Lightly grease a springform pan. Wrap the bottom of the pan with tin foil.

*Mix together the graham cracker crumbs, 1 TBSP brown sugar, and the melted butter until it holds together when pressed. Press into the bottom and partially up the sides of the prepared pan.

*Melt the mini Reese's cups in the microwave for about 1 minute, until smooth when stirred. Set aside.

*Beat together the cream cheese, heavy cream, sour cream, 1/2 cup brown sugar, sugar, and coffee until smooth. Beat in the melted Reese's cups and then the eggs, one at a time. Mix in the chopped Butterfingers bars.

*Pour into the prepared crust and bake for 70 - 85 minutes, until the center is just set. Allow to cool to room temperature. Refrigerate for at least one hour before releasing from the pan.

*With a grater or peeler, shred the Hershey's bar onto the top of the cheesecake.

*Store, covered, in the refrigerator. 

Side Effects: 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:  fall ~ depression ~ sneeze ~ tiny trash can ~ pen needles
They were submitted by Sarah of What TF Sarah.

                          

Last month I used my Use Your Words prompts for a fun challenge to my readers that I called Speculation. I wrote a story studded with hints and asked that you guess the character's profession. There were 16 guesses in total, and 2 people got it right. I have to admit that I had a lot of fun with that post.

If you didn't read it, or my addendum to the post in which I divulge her profession, please click on that link in the paragraph above ↑ and check it out. It's a really short post, but sort of a prequel to today's piece, where I give you a glimpse into that character's life:

 

As much as she loved her job, the diversity and the autonomy, she also had to admit that it had profoundly jaded her, permanently skewed the way she thought. She wasn't just skeptical of the people around her, it was much more than that, her mind could turn any mundane daily experience into a conspiracy. It was a side effect of the job, plain and simple. And it was a job she'd not just chosen, but honed, one that had provided her with a home, car, any needed equipment, and a lifestyle of comfort. Comfort, yes. Relaxation, never.

 

 

 

Because, although she rarely took dangerous assignments, it's nonetheless a fact that any job she agreed to take could become dangerous. You don't always see that component coming, but you'd also be naive to not be on high alert whenever working. Call it a side effect, so to speak, of the job. Danger could insert itself when you least expect it.

 

And that high alert bleeds into everyday life. Vigilance, hyper vigilance in her case, cannot easily just be turned on and off as if there's a switch in her brain. She found that her safety, on rare occasions even her life, could depend on her not turning it off when in what could easily be perceived as a non-threatening situation. It had become second nature, even when she wasn't working, even when she was in the most benign of everyday situations. She found that she no longer had the option of taking that heightened alert mindset and chucking it into a tiny trash can in her brain. 

This morning, for instance, when stopping for a snack on the way to her appointment, she couldn't help but study that Blackberry Cheesecake Bar she'd ordered. That glassy looking top with little depressions, was she sure no one had doused it with Rohypnol?

Blackberry Cheesecake Bars

 

She continued putting herself in these situations, quite deliberately. The alternative, never going to a coffee shop, or a bar or restaurant, could make her not just vigilant, but unable to function on a personal level. She needed to have a life, do errands, enjoy time out with friends, go on dates. So she went to that coffee shop, and she thoroughly enjoyed her treat.

On to the next stop, her appointment. Despite not being on the job, on any job at the moment thanks to falling and twisting her ankle on her last job, she carefully, stealthily, catalogued the room she sat in and the people in it. Hearing a sneeze, she turned, knowing that could easily be a diversion method, or a signal to a co-conspirator. 

 

No reason to be alarmed, the sneeze came from a baby. 

 

Turning her head back towards the front of the room, she heard a crash, another of her diversion triggers. Had she not been turning that way already, she wouldn't have caught a glimpse of the cause of the noise. Back behind the desk someone had tripped, sending a tray clanging to the floor. Her view obstructed by the desk, she couldn't see what had fallen off of that tray, but in the split second before the fall, she was sure she'd seen pen needles! In her line of work, just like conventional weapons or stun guns, needles signaled imminent danger.

Fight or flight, it was a life saving instinct, and hers was well developed. Despite the swelling in her ankle, she jumped up, ready to leave. It was just then that she heard her name called out from the front of the room.

"Come on in," the nurse said, "the doctor will see you now."

 

 

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

On the Border 

Wandering Web Designer 

Climaxed

What TF Sarah 

Part-time Working Hockey Mom 

 

Blackberry Cheesecake Bars

                                               ©www.BakingInATornado.com

Printable Recipe

Ingredients:

1 1/2 sticks butter, room temperature

1 tsp vanilla

1/2 tsp almond extract

3/4 cup powdered sugar

1 1/2 cups flour

1/2 cup blackberry jam

12 oz cream cheese, softened

3/4 cup vanilla yogurt

1/2 tsp vanilla

1/2cup sugar

2 eggs

6 oz blackberries, halved

OPT: 3 TBSP blue sanding sugar

Directions:
*Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Grease a 9 X 13 baking pan.

*Cream the butter, 1 tsp vanilla, and almond extract. Mix in the powdered sugar and flour to form a dough. Press the dough into and just a little bit up the sides of the prepared pan. Refrigerate.

*Beat the cream cheese, yogurt, remaining vanilla, and sugar. Beat in the eggs, then gently mix in the blackberries.

*Remove the crust from the refrigerator and spread the jam evenly onto the crust. Add the cheesecake filling over the jam and spread evenly. Sprinkle with the sanding sugar.

*Bake for 35 minutes. Remove from the oven to cool completely. Refrigerate for 1/2 hour to set before slicing. Store leftovers in the refrigerator.