Southern Domestic Goddess

TMI Thurs: A nice topic for Thanksgiving dinner

2009-12-10T06:14:00.001-05:00

A friend of mine told me about how wonderfully his Thanksgiving dinner went this year. He was having dinner with his very conservative family: his mom, his 9 year old sister, and his grandparents. His grandmother is our Sunday School teacher when we are home and his grandfather is a deacon. In fact his grandfather once tried to convince me that I needed to quit my teaching job, drop out of Grad school, and move home so that I could attend their church every single Sunday.

Anyway, his great great Aunt Bobbi Anne, who is 86, was also there. They were all dressed up in their Sunday best, everything was decorated perfectly, candles were lit, and a big dinner was on the table. It was like a scene out of a Norman Rockwell painting, I'm sure.

Then Bobbi Anne started talking.

"I really like that show The Doctors. I watch it all the time. But the other day they were talking about sex! So I had to turn it. Because I'm too old for all of that."

Of course she got blank stares from everyone at the table. They stuffed more food into their mouths as they tried to ignore her. But she continued.

"But they were showing these toys! Have you seen them? They have all kinds of things these days! They even had a rubber ducky. A rubber ducky! Like the ones you put in the bath tub with a kid! Now someone tell me where the hell you're supposed to put that!?"

Grandfather: "Bobbi Anne, don't you think we should talk about something a little more Christian at the dinner table?"

Bobbi Anne: "Oh please! Nowadays they are saying that masturbation is perfectly natural! Doctors are even saying its healthy. In fact, I'm thinking about changing my primary care physician."

*more blank stares*

Bobbi Anne: "But I had to turn the channel, or I was gonna have to order me one of them ducks! You know how I like to order stuff off the TV."

There's nothing like an 86 year old woman talking about masturbating with a vibrating rubber ducky to make you want to vomit up your pumpkin pie.

WW: The Grinch

2009-12-09T01:19:00.000-05:00

Merry SITSmas!

2009-12-08T07:42:00.002-05:00

Happy Holidays to all my SITSas and other bloggy buddies!!

This was our Christmas card from last year, when Jackson was only 6 months old. Hopefully I'll get his portraits from this year back soon and will be able to share them with you all.

Visit SITS for more Holiday cheer and to win some great prizes!

Tot School: Wintery activities

2009-12-04T15:36:00.006-05:00

Jackson is 17 months old.

We were ridiculously busy this week (I know, isn't everyone?). We had speech therapy two days and a play date at Pump It Up (bouncy place) one day. Jackson got his Christmas portraits taken and we had family portraits taken.

Our special books this week: Counting Christmas, Gingerbread Jimmi, and Mary Engelbreit's A Merry Little Christmas: Celebrate from A to Z

We sang Jingle Bells a lot. It's pretty much the only Christmas song that I can remember all of the words to. We're working on the sign for "all done."

We did a stamping activity with snowflakes and a snowman, but apparently the snowman offended Jackson somehow. He wanted nothing to do with him! But he loved the snowflakes!A few weeks ago, I found a kid's baking kit in Target's dollar section. It had a little rolling pin and several small cookie cutters in the shapes of a Christmas tree, snowflake, star, snowman, etc. We used this set with playdough.I found a Gingerbread Man puppet for a buck at Michaels, and I used him to sing songs and tell the Gingerbread Jimmi story to Jackson.

And since it has gotten pretty cold and windy here lately, we havent had a chance to go to the playground as much, so we have been playing a lot of indoor soccer instead :)
And he did silly things, like try to stack his rings on his dad's nose!

Jackson makes out with himself in the mirror

2009-12-04T06:45:00.003-05:00

Really NY?

2009-12-03T07:58:00.012-05:00

I rarely write controversial posts, because I'm not here for drama. But this is probably going to be one, so if you want to skip it, please do.

My best friend is a gay man. On the surface, it would appear that we have nothing in common. He lives in a big city, is in Law School, and has a side business selling beautiful jewelery. I'm a stay-at-home mom, changing diapers and wrestling a toddler all day, married to a ridiculously conservative military man. We haven't lived in the same city in 8 years now. We only see each other a few times a year.

And yet? We talk on the phone for at least an hour almost every single day. I talk to him more than I talk to almost any other friend that I have. I care about him more than anyone else outside my family. Scratch that-he IS family to me.

One day he is going to want to get married. I want to be there beside him-his matron of honor or best woman or whatever you want to call it. Hell, if his family doesn't want to be there, I will walk him down the aisle myself, and give him away to whatever ridiculously lucky man that he has found.

So I can't tell you how sad I am that the gay marriage bill failed in New York yesterday. There are only 5 states that allow same-sex marriage. And my question is: Why?

I've heard plenty of reasons for banning gay marriage, and I don't understand any of them. Maybe it's because I believe that you are born gay and because I don't think that there is anything wrong with it. I understand that everyone has different opinions and beliefs. I understand that many people believe that being gay is wrong or just think that it's gross. And that's your opinion, your belief. It's different than mine, but that shouldn't matter. I thought that in this country we weren't supposed to be able to impose our beliefs on others (through the law anyway)? That we aren't supposed to deny people rights because they are different. That all people are created equal. That there is a separation of church and state.

Who are we to tell gay couples that they can't get married?

I don't know how anyone can look at the situation and NOT see the unfairness of it. Anyone can get married as long as they are adults of the opposite sex. Why can't we just change that statement to "any 2 consenting adults"? People from different religions, different races, have a 30 year age gap, or whatever, can get married. We don't care. We did away with all of those restrictions years ago. When it comes to marriage, homosexuals are the only ones that we discriminate against anymore.

People keep saying that they are worried about "the sanctity of marriage" (i.e. the holiness of matrimony) but most straight people these days don't even treat marriage as a holy institution. The divorce rate is through the roof. People are free to get divorced and then remarried as many times as they wish. They don't have to have a religious ceremony, they don't even have to believe in God (yours or anyone else's). Hell, they don't even have to be sober during the ceremony! But no one is taking their marriage licenses away. No one is making them fill out a form to make sure they are good enough, religious enough, holy enough to get married. No one is making laws banning these things from happening in order to keep marriage a sacred act.

As long as they're heterosexual.

But if they're gay? Then the rest of us get to tell them "No, sorry. We don't care how much you love each other, it's against our religion for you to get married."

If gay people get married, does that really hurt your marriage at all? Does it somehow diminish the love that you feel for your husband? Unless you're married to a closeted gay person who is planning on divorcing you and marrying their secret lover, then I seriously doubt it.

When Proposition 8 was going on in California, it seemed like everyone wanted to know, "Do you want your children to think it's okay to be gay?" Yes, actually, I do. I want my son to know that I don't care who he is in love with. I don't care what race or religion or sex that person is. I don't want him to ever have to hide or lie about such a big part of himself. I want to experience true love. I want him to be happy. I want him to marry whoever he wants to marry.

Do you not want that for your children? Do you want them to hide the best parts of their lives from you? Would you want them to marry someone they don't really love because it is more socially acceptable? Would you disown them? Would you be hurtful or hateful to them?

I hope not. Because I have to tell you, it doesn't matter if you don't approve or if they have to lie to you or hide from you. It doesn't matter if you won't speak to them. It doesn't matter how many times you tell them they are wrong or gross or sinful. They will still be gay. and they will still be your child.

Just like banning gay marriage is not going to keep people from being gay.

I had several other points but I think this sums it up pretty nicely:

10 Reasons Why Gay Marriage is Wrong
1) Being gay is not natural. Real Americans always reject unnatural things like eyeglasses, polyester, and air conditioning.
2) Gay marriage will encourage people to be gay, in the same way that hanging around tall people will make you tall.
3) Legalizing gay marriage will open the door to all kinds of crazy behavior. People may even wish to marry their pets because a dog has legal standing and can sign a marriage contract.
4) Straight marriage has been around a long time and hasn't changed at all; women are still property, blacks still can't marry whites, and divorce is still illegal.
5) Straight marriage will be less meaningful if gay marriage were allowed; the sanctity of Brittany Spears' 55-hour just-for-fun marriage would be destroyed.
6) Straight marriages are valid because they produce children. Gay couples, infertile couples, and old people shouldn't be allowed to marry because our orphanages aren't full yet, and the world needs more children.
7) Obviously gay parents will raise gay children, since straight parents only raise straight children.
8) Gay marriage is not supported by religion. In a theocracy like ours, the values of one religion are imposed on the entire country. That's why we have only one religion in America.
9) Children can never succeed without a male and a female role model at home. That's why we as a society expressly forbid single parents to raise children.
10) Gay marriage will change the foundation of society; we could never adapt to new social norms. Just like we haven't adapted to cars, the service-sector economy, or longer life spans.
(text shamelessly stolen from Sean Dickson of UChicago)

I'm leaving the comments open because I honestly want to know if you have a (good) reason for thinking that gay marriage should be banned. Just please don't be hateful.

WW: It's Beginning to Look A Lot Like Christmas

2009-12-02T00:01:00.000-05:00

The one good picture that I got of Jackson in front of the tree:

and the outtakes:

12 layer chocolate cake recipe

2009-12-01T06:09:00.002-05:00

I love to make this cake. It is absolutely delicious because the layers are so thin that the chocolate just seeps through...yum! I made one for the Thanksgiving potluck for my husband's crew and it went over so well that I didn't even get a piece! It was gone so fast.

12 layer chocolate cake

BATTER:
1 cup peanut oil
2 cups sugar
6 eggs
1 cup milk
3 cups self-rising flour
2 tsp. vanilla

Mix ingredients. Put 1/2 cup of batter to a layer. Bake at 350 degrees for approximately 6 minutes.

I find that the exact amount of baking time depends on the oven you use but it is usually somewhere between 4-6 minutes. I use 4 cake pans to reduce the amount of time I spend standing in the kitchen :)

ICING:
3 cups sugar
3/4 cup evaporated milk
9 teaspoons cocoa
1.5 sticks butter/margarine

Mix ingredients (in a pot). Bring to a rolling boil at medium heat, then continue heating on low heat. Spread between layers and on top of cake.

TIP: The layers are so thin that they break really easily. Make sure you let the layers completely cool before attempting to take them out of the pan. BUT sometimes they still break. I like to turn this into what I call a cake bowl. I just put the broken layer into a bowl and pour some icing on top. It's delicious!

For more great recipes, check out:

“Homemaker Mondays”

“Mouth Watering Mondays”

“Tempt My Tummy Tuesday“,

“Tasty Tuesday”

“Tuesday at the Table”

Mom Trends, “Friday Feasts”

Designs by Gollum “Foodie Friday”

Our Krazy Kitchen, ‘What did you bake today”

“Ann Kroeker “Food on Fridays”

A Handmade Christmas

She's so funny

2009-11-30T02:38:00.000-05:00

A few weeks ago I was in Alabama visiting family. My grandmother and I were watching The Office. (She hates my shows, she prefers NCIS) Of course Michael Scott came on the screen.

Nanny: "Isn't that that old guy who's never had sex?"

I really can't believe my grandmother watched the 40 Year Old Virgin! While I was home, she also watched an episode of The Doctors where they discussed how to tell if you have syphilis until I made her turn the channel. *sigh* My life is so awkward sometimes.

WAR EAGLE!

2009-11-27T13:59:00.003-05:00

It's time for the Iron Bowl!

War Eagle!

WW: Cutie

2009-11-25T06:33:00.000-05:00

I am so blessed

2009-11-24T05:00:00.001-05:00

I am thankful for my husband, who works so damn hard, not only to provide for our family but to protect our country.

I am thankful for my son, who (even on his worst day) is the very best part of my life.

I am thankful for my grandmother, who raised me. I am thankful that she is recovering well from her surgery.

I am thankful that my sister has found a wonderful guy to marry.

I am thankful for my aunt who has always gone out of her way to make sure that my sister and I are happy.

I am thankful for my in-laws, who are wonderful people and fabulous grand- and great-grand parents.

I am thankful for my blog buddies, who always leave comments that brighten my day.

Making this list has helped me to see how truly blessed that I am. I love you all!

Go to ABCs and 123s to check out other Thanksgiving posts!

Fall/Thanksgiving Post Link-up!

2009-11-23T01:28:00.003-05:00

Thanksgiving is almost here! I wanted to host this Thanksgiving post round up so that we can all get some last minute ideas. So if you have posts with Thanksgiving or Fall related decor, crafts, kid's crafts, or recipes, link up below!

At our house we did some simple fall decorations...(click on the pictures to get to the original post)

Leaf crafts

Pumpkin activities and crafts

and turkey crafts!

Also, my sister is hosting a giveaway for a Rolled Canvas Print on her site This is Me; Consequently. It's easy to enter, and it doesn't have many entries yet so you have a great chance of winning! Please check it out!

And come back Tuesday, Dec 14th to link up any winter/Christmas related posts! (I'll have that linky open all through December so that you can add them as you post!)

Tot School: Thanksgiving edition

2009-11-22T04:29:00.003-05:00

*Tomorrow I will be hosting a link-up for all Fall/Thanksgiving themed posts. You can link up recipes, crafts, and any other Fall or Thanksgiving related posts that you want! So please come back tomorrow!

Also, my sister is hosting a giveaway for a Rolled Canvas Print on her site This is Me; Consequently. It's easy to enter, and it doesn't have many entries yet so you have a great chance of winning! Please check it out!

Jackson is 17 months old.

For the most part, we did a lot of the same things this week as we did last week. Most of our days are just spent playing, reading, and singing. When he wakes up from his nap though, I like to have a snack and a craft ready for him to do.

Our special books this week were 5 Silly Turkeys and Blue's Thanksgiving Feast.

I found these cute turkeys at Preschool Printables and used them with 5 Silly Turkeys.

I made Jackson a PB/banana sandwich shaped like a turkey. (Inspired by Family Fun)

And we made this handprint turkey craft from Oriental Trading.
(We made several of these to send to the grand/great-grandparents).He made this Indian corn craft after we read Blue's Thanksgiving Feast.

And we did this turkey rhyme a lot throughout the week.

I'm A Little Turkey

I'm a little turkey,
My name is Ted.
Here are my feathers
Here is my head
Gobble, gobble, gobble,
Is what I say,
Quick! Run! It's Thanksgiving Day!

I tried 2 different sensory activities with Jackson this week, and he didn't really like either one. One was just a bucket of leaves, small pumpkins, and other little Fall items. He did take the leaves out and play with them a little bit but that was about it. I think he has an aversion to the actual bucket.

The other one was his cars in a bucket with some "sand" (instant sweet potato mix: no one in our family liked these when I made them for dinner, and we had a packet leftover) I thought he might like to drive the cars through the "dirt" but he didn't care for that at all. On the other hand, Reese was very interested :)
He also learned how to put his basketball through the hoop. After about 20 minutes though, he found the button that makes the toy light up and make sounds so now he doesn't bother using the ball at all.

I have also started teaching Jackson a bit of sign language since he isn't speaking yet. This week he learned "more" and "milk."

We had a great week! I hope you did too. Don't forget to stop back by tomorrow and linkup your Fall/Thanksgiving posts!

Handmade Gifts: Personalized ABC Book

2009-11-20T05:22:00.001-05:00

Oriental Trading had these photo books for about $16/dozen. The cover is made of canvas, so you can personalize them any way that you want! I decided to use one of them to make an ABC book for Jackson. I painted the outside and then used Picnik to put the words on each picture. Every page has a picture of him doing something related to that letter.

"Jackson's ABC Book"

Create a free slideshow with Picnik!

Ok I just realized I forgot the "X". Any ideas for that one?

Thanksgiving Memories & Traditions

2009-11-19T05:49:00.000-05:00

We only have one week to go until Thanksgiving! I can hardly believe it. Time just seems to pass so quickly these days.

Since we have been married, Jason and I have always had Thanksgiving dinner at our own house. We never live close enough and Jason never gets enough time off to go home for Thanksgiving, and honestly, that is just fine with me. We have so much family that Christmas is always so hectic because we have to spend time at so many different places. So I like having one big holiday that we can just relax and enjoy. Plus I love having a reason to cook a big meal :) And it is fun when we are able to have our friends over.

But our Thanksgivings havent always been so traditional. The year before we were married, Jason was still in Chicago after boot camp, so my sister and I drove up there to visit him during our Thanksgiving break. We had Thanksgiving dinner in a pizzeria. The year before that, Jason and I were in Amsterdam visiting some friends. We spent Thanksgiving night watching Harry Potter (with Dutch subtitles, a week before it came out in America! ha) and ate dinner at a KFC. It was the closest we could come to a turkey dinner!

What are your best Thanksgiving memories or traditions?

WW: Playing in the backyard

2009-11-18T04:40:00.000-05:00

Give yourself a hand

2009-11-17T05:29:00.000-05:00

As I mentioned earlier this week, Jackson loves to cheer for himself. Here he is stacking his rings and then patting himself :)

He has also gotten much faster and less wobbly at this whole walking thing!

Tot School

2009-11-15T14:07:00.006-05:00

Jackson is 17 months old.

We are lucky to have a fenced in play area in our neighborhood, and we played there a lot this week. Jackson doesn't actually care for any of the toys, but he loves the open space to just run around in. We chased each other a lot because I just love to hear his shrieks and giggles when he is chasing me and then I turn to come after him!

For art we made a scarecrow. I cut everything out and put glue on the back and then Jackson helped me put everything where it was supposed to go. He needed a lot of help of course but I used it to talk about shapes and facial features.

We also made potato prints.

Jackson has finally learned how to stack his blocks instead of just throw them around the room. He is also showing more interest in his puzzles, even though he hasn't quite figured out how to do it yet.

Our new book this week was Panda Whispers. It's about animals putting their babies to bed. After we read it one day, we got out some of Jackson's animals and he read them one of his favorite stories.

And when we're all done playing, Jackson throws all of his toys into his playpen!

Handmade Toddler Christmas Gift: Quiet Book

2009-11-13T03:12:00.000-05:00

One thing I have wanted to make for Jackson for awhile is a quiet book. This is what I have so far. I haven't done the cover yet but these 6 pages are done. I will probably add more a little later. I got some ideas from Handmade by Jill (her quiet book is much cuter!). I found some of the felt animals on clearance at Hobby Lobby and I used cookie cutters to trace the others.

From left to right: velcro the leaves on the tree, a Christmas tree with red pompoms for ornaments (sensory), flowers that snap on (color matching), open the flaps for the dog house, lift the flap on the barn, zip/unzip the tent.

Looking for more homemade toddler gift ideas? Check out my post about ABC Bean Bags.

17 Months

2009-11-12T05:12:00.001-05:00

Jackson is 17 months old today!

He has gone from taking one tentative step at a time to practically running around the room! He doesn't slow down for a second. I swear it is exhausting just watching him!

This month he also....

started speech therapy
was a tiger for Halloween
finally started wearing shoes (without crying the whole time they are on)
started putting away his own toys
began patting himself on the chest when he does something good
and learned to twirl around!

WW: Peanut Festival

2009-11-11T01:51:00.001-05:00

The Peanut Festival was in Dothan last week.

We played games and won prizes...

had funny pictures taken...

and rode rides...

We had a great time.
Most importantly, I ate a fried snickers.
It was amazing.

How are you decorating your house this year?

2009-11-10T08:05:00.001-05:00

Like the one on the left or the right? LOL

Let's add this to my ever-growing list ...

2009-11-09T12:31:00.000-05:00

...of reasons I hate doctors.

Jackson and I have been in Alabama visiting my family for the last few weeks. While we were there, my grandmother (Nanny) had knee replacement surgery. She is doing well and was moved to the rehabilitation center today.

I would still be there with her, but we had to come home because Jackson has speech therapy. They insisted that if he didn't have an appointment for three weeks that they would take him out of the system and make us start over with the referrals and evaluations (which took about a month last time). So we made an appointment for today (and 6 more throughout November) and drove 5 hours back to Georgia yesterday afternoon.

This morning we got up, got ready, and drove the 45 minutes to our therapists office only to be told that Jackson no longer had an appointment there. Our speech therapist QUIT 2 weeks ago and was supposed to call and tell us that, but she obviously DIDN'T. They don't have a new therapist yet, but when they do, they'll call and let us schedule new appointments.

I was so mad when the receptionist told me this that I almost cried because I was trying to keep from screaming at her. I kept telling myself that it wasn't her fault that the therapist hadn't done her job, but really? It kind of was. I mean, when someone quits, you can't expect them to care that much about what they are leaving behind. Shouldn't someone from the practice have called the patients just in case?

She said she was sorry that she "inconvenienced" me, but it was a bit more than that (even though I know she couldn't have known all of the story). If it wasn't for this appointment that they insisted was so damn important, I would have been able to spend a few more days with Nanny while she was in the hospital.

I am so pissed right now that I could just scream!

Handmade Toddler Christmas Gift

2009-11-06T04:21:00.003-05:00

I am making a few handmade Christmas gifts for Jackson that I want to share with you. The first one that I did are Alphabet Bean Bags which I have seen people use for many activities in Tot School. These were super easy to make! All you need are some scraps of fabric, iron-on letters, and beans or rice.

Hopefully I will be posting some more ideas soon!
If you have any ideas to share, put a link in the comments and I will check it out!

I shared this post at Proverbs 31 Living.