Worst Idea of the Week

Returning home from Mt. Pleasant via 526 at 5:30 in the afternoon. While I find almost any amount of traffic frustrating, it is nearly unbearable with two fussing children in the heart of the gangrene hour. What was I thinking? Luckily, we all made it home in one piece with no lasting effects on any of us.

It's Just So Good When It Hits Your Lips

Here is Reeves, drinking from my ginger ale bottle all by himself. I was pretty impressed that he doesn't try to put the entire mouth of the bottle into his mouth and dump, thereby causing himself to swallow too much, choke, drop the bottle, spilling its remaining contents, spit out all that he has in his mouth, and generally create quite a huge mess. Very impressed, actually (enough so, apparently, to grab the camera and take a picture). He very carefully put the bottle to his lips. Positioned it just like he had seen me do, and cautiously tilted the bottle until the liquid reached his lips, careful to be sure he held it with both hands at all times, with some gentle remiding from me.
I was so impressed by his consistency at not spilling anything that I decided to let him have a big boy cup of water with dinner the next night - right before we left for Preston's graduation. First sip - Careful Reeves showed up. Second sip - Throw-Caution-To-The-Wind Reeves took over. The whole cup, wisely only slightly filled and with only water, was dumped all over his outfit. I stripped him, tossed the outfit in the dryer, and continued the meal buck nekkid. Truth be told, I should have done this in the first place, but I was feeling all cocky and overconfident after his ginger ale showing. Oh well, live and learn and learn again. At least it was only water.

(Also learned to, in the future, give him my drink bottle only after I have had all I care to drink from it. FYI, always check the bottle's contents after the child has been drinking from it. It will invariably contain more than just the original liquid.)

Tomato Pie Update

So, since the flavor of the pie (I use the term loosely) was super rich, of course, we couldn't eat a lot of it. I had it for lunch the next day - pretty good heated up in the microwave. We had it for supper that night - really good reheated in the pie pan in the oven at 350 for, eh, like an hour of so, served with leftover ham. The ham went great with the pie. At this point, I could eat no more of this neverending pie, but there was one serving left. Let me tell you, this pie, which is at this point more of a sauce, made a delicious topper for to Bryant's burger last night. No bun, just the meat and the pie. Along with some garlic sauteed green beans, I counted myself quite the HollyHomemaker last night. Of course, I had yogurt. Some nights this baby just doesn't care for a full on dinner.
So tonight? Who knows. The dinner possibilities are endless, but I can assure you, there will be no cheese, mayonnaise, or tomatoes on either of our plates!

First Taste of Summer

So, I made a tomato pie last night. I had some cheese that needed to get eaten. I had bought tomatoes from Costco last week, and I had just two weeks ago thrown away rotten tomatoes from my last Costco run. Determined to learn from my mistakes and make better use of household finances, I decided not to let these go to waste. So anyway, since all I needed to buy was a pie crust, I thought a tomato pie would be a great idea. (Those of you who are right now pointing out that I probably did have flour and eggs and butter in the house, and most likely a pie plate, so why not just make the crust myself? Well, I may be good, but I ain't THAT good!) It is almost summer, and fresh tomatoes are one of the best things about summer.
I got home, got all my ingredients together, prepped everything, and assembled my pie. Just the sight of the unbaked pie was making my mouth water. When Bryant got home, he put it in the oven. Oh my, how delicious it made the house smell! We had our time with Reeves, put him down, and pulled out the pie. It looked even better than before. We were so excited! And then I cut (read: tried to cut) into it. I might have gone just a bit overboad with the cheese and mayo mixture. It was more like we were having tomato and cheese chowder, but WAY thicker. Luckily, neither B nor I are sticklers for a food's appearance, as long as we know what went into it. So we spooned out tomato mixture onto our plates. I chopped up some more tomatoes just to compensate for the massive amount of cheesy goodness.
In the end, it all worked out fine, but I am a bit disappointed in myself. I have never been a big "by the recipe" follower in the kitchen, but today, after looking over some tomato pie recipes, I realize that although my ingredients were spot on, my proportions were hopelessly out of whack. Well, that, and I now realize I was supposed to bake the pie crust before filling it. But I know now, and I'll just have to keep practicing. Shouldn't be hard as long as my tomato plants start producing soon. (Fingers crossed.)
One thing this did make me think of was, of course, Reeves. (Funny how almost anything can make you think of your children.) Bryant asked me if there was a way to make it so that Reeves could have it. I suppose I could try. I would have to use soy mayo and soy cheese, and it could work. But then aren't you taking away two of the three things that make this pie so delicious? If I were Reeves, I think I would rather just have a fresh tomato, thanks. I hope he grows out of this allergy thing. I can't imagine that he will go through his life without ever knowing the goodness that is tomato pie - even if his mother can't make a pie that actually cuts into pieces.

Now I Know

I bought this cute outfit for Reeves at Marshall's the other day. It was an 18 month, but when I looked at it, it looked pretty small, so I decided to bring it for Reeves to wear on Easter afternoon, after we took him out of his Sunday best. All went well. The outfit fit perfectly with a little room to grow. Also, it has two buttons at each shoulder, so it doesn't pull like outfits with only one at each. I was quite pleased with my purchase. Then I went to change his diaper. Apparently the reason I'd gotten it for such a steal was because the maker hadn't bothered to put any access between the legs for changing a diaper! Why waste time and money on snaps, just sew it together!! I had to completely disrobe the child to change his diaper. At this point, I am cursing the aforementioned buttons. Loved them when they only had to be dealt with once, not such a big fan now. Needless to say, this has taught me a valuable lesson - always check the crotches!