Ever After
  • Archives
  • January29th

    “Can I help?”  

    Almost every time I am in the kitchen preparing a meal, Vivi rushes in and asks that sweet question.  This morning I was simply heating up a can of split pea & ham soup in the microwave for breakfast (yes, breakfast), so there really wasn’t much she could do to help.  Instead, I promised her that we’d make a treat together later.

    When I said, “later,” I was thinking maybe 5 hours later.  Well, 5 hours must seem like an eternity to a 2 3/4 year old.  

    SIDE NOTE: The sentence above got me curious, so I did a little math to put things in perspective.  According to my calculations, 5 hours to 2 3/4 year-old Vivi is actually a whopping .02% of her life thus far.  That’s 1000% more than what the same 5 hours represents for me.  So, it’s reasonable to assume that 5 hours “feels” 1000% longer to her than to me.  Hmm . . . 

    Anyway, back to the story.  Even though it was 8 in the morning and only 10 minutes since I promised Vivi that we would bake something “later,” her little internal clock chimed that later had long since come and gone, and she was getting agitated.

    Setting my uneaten pea soup aside, I hoisted Vivi up on the counter, and we proceeded to spend the most delightful thirty minutes together making ‘ooey gooey cake.”  And as absolutely wonderful as the time was for me, I have a sneaking suspicion that it was 1000% more enjoyable for her.

    Vivi Ooey Gooey Cake 

    Ooey Gooey Cake (Eva Tolbert)

    1 yellow cake mix

    1 stick butter, melted

    1 egg

    1 cup chopped pecans

    MIX ingredients until moist and press into a greased 9 x 13 pan.

    1 block cream cheese, softened

    2 eggs

    1 box powdered sugar

    Cream together until smooth and pour over crust.  Bake for 35 minutes at 325 degrees.  The cream cheese layer will still be gooey (not brown), but the cake is done.

  • January29th

    24 x 6

    Posted in: Uncategorized

    What happens when two individuals with compulsive tendencies become obsessed with prior seasons of the best television series ever?

    250px-24_Intertitle

    24 x 6!

    BT and I polished off 24 episodes of Season Two in six days!  Seasons Three and Four took us a few more days than that . . . but we really do hunker down nearly every evening (except Sunday) and watch a few more episodes.  And believe me, if I had my way, we’d have 24 x 7, but BT won’t let us.

    Unlike Jack Bauer, our three DVD players have not survived the terrorist attacks inflicted upon them; our bedroom is a graveyard of malfunctioning electronics. So, as we dug out the 7″ portable DVD player and huddled around the tiny screen, we chuckled at our Tolbert “frugality” and “envied” some of our friends with their decked out media rooms.

    A waste of time?  You know, I don’t even feel a bit guilty, which is simply not like me–I can usually find a way to feel guilty about just about everything.  24 x 6 is pure BLT (Bryan Lori TIme) which, in my book, is time well spent.

  • January29th

    The stomach flu followed by a nasty bout of mastitis had me thinking about this adage I learned from my Grandma Hess many years ago.  Oh, how I miss her!  And oh, how I’m thankful to be feeling quite a bit better this morning!