Baby Tad was asleep.

Vivi was asleep.

BT, Ariana and I ate in peace.

As we engaged in pleasant chit chat during our soothing Sunday dinner, BT and Ariana both agreed that it was time for me to have another baby. Clearly, in an effort to restore sanity and reason to my dear husband and eldest child who had taken leave of their senses, I should have rushed upstairs to rouse our two slumbering pills.

But, instead, I did the “redirect” trick that BT is so masterful at. When he is asked a question he doesn’t want to answer or is presented with a situation to which there is no easy solution (or at least not one that is to his advantage), he subtly changes the subject. And suddenly, you can’t remember what you’d asked him about. Very sneaky.

Anyway, I asked Ariana if she knew where babies come from. “Sure,” she said, and then she proceeded to describe the process using some very technical terms and even included an explanation of why Dads don’t have babies.

Because I have a sneaking suspicion that she will enjoy re-reading her ingenious explanation someday, I asked her to write it down:

I’m definitely going to keep my mouth shut while I sleep!

A very dear friend asked me to take some pictures of her family earlier today.  Her young boys … 4 of them … were as cooperative as little boys who would rather be splashing in the muddy pond could be.

But when we let them climb a tree, the smiles and enthusiasm bubbled to the surface.  I’ll definitely remember that trick the next time I am fortunate enough to photograph little boys.

As the work and school week grind to a close, a heightened sense of excitement pervades our home as we gear up for our favorite Friday night tradition.

TGIFMN!

(Thank Goodness It’s Family Movie Night!)

Preparations for the weekly event begin with the girls brainstorming on a dinner theme for the evening.  One of our recent Friday night celebrations was a spooktacular Halloween bash after which we watched “The Cat from Outer Space.”

Other favorites include …

• Nachofest
• Homemade Make-Your-Own Pizzas
• Crepes
• Salad Bar
• Soup and Bread Bowls
• Fondue
• Baked Potato Bar
• Milkshakes
• Breakfast for Dinner
• Homemade hamburgers

After assembling a plate of food for each of us, we gather in our state-of-the-art media room and watch a new release on our HD BIG screen …

Ok. Not really.

We picnic on old blanket on the family room floor where we huddle around our faithful “vintage” 25″ Sony Trinitron and, while Baby Tad provides Dolby-like hi-fi surround sound, watch an old movie that we’ve DVR’ed during the week … or if BT’s feeling munificent, we may even splurge and rent a movie from Red Box.

True.  Our technology is so last-century. Some of the movies we watch aren’t even in color.  (In fact, we LOVE to watch Fred Astair dance on the ceiling in the black and white classic “The Royal Wedding”). But honestly, this simple, budget-friendly Friday night tradition is the highlight of our week.

Thank goodness it’s Friday!

Yes. My personality is prone to OCD-like extremes …

One week, I am obsessed with sterilizing every possible surface in our home with my steam cleaner.

The next week, a closet may get an overhaul, including labels produced by my wonderful p-touch label maker.

The next week, I may go on a laminating kick and seal anything within arm’s reach in protective plastic.

And lately, the craft room has been the object of my compulsion. It has traditionally been the catch-all room where things get thrown when guests are coming and we have to frantically clean the house so that it doesn’t look like we belong to the swine species. Little by little, so much junk had accumulated that I didn’t want to even open the door let alone spend time in there undergoing craft therapy.

But little by little, I’ve dejunked my oasis, purging the mismatched socks, broken kiddy meal toys, empty Amazon boxes, etc. etc. And armed with a lot of rags and elbow grease, a few cans of $0.99 black spray paint, several hours in Photoshop creating 200+ one-of-a-kind labels from digital fabric swatches (no two are alike), and a roll of magnet tape, I transformed a couple of our Craigslist finds into craft room organizers.

Oh, you sweet little plastic drawers. You dear little metal bins that were once rusting to death in someone’s abandoned plumbing supply warehouse.

Aaah! Sometimes when things get crazy in the rest of the household,  I’ll go into my newly organized room and just stand there, basking in the order of it all.

I’m not 100% done … some labels need to be made, I still have little drawers to run through the dishwasher, and I need to mount my ribbon holder (aka old curtain rod) on the wall … but just yesterday I actually FINISHED an apron, and I am gearing up to complete some Christmas presents that I’ve been meaning to do for years.

A place for everything … and everything in its place.  My craft room.  My little piece of heaven on earth.

Watch out, pantry and master bedroom! You’re next!

keeps the doctor away???

Some apples may be healthy, but the ones at the Tolbert house that have been transformed from a normal Granny Smith apple to a caramel-covered delight with nuts and chocolate chips galore, aren’t so healthy.

But they sure are good! 🙂

And here’s the recipe, if you want to make one of your own caramel apple delights:

1 c. brown sugar

1 c. sugar

1 can sweetened condensed milk

1 c. karo syrup

1/2 c. butter

Place all these ingredients in a heavy saucepan.  Stirring constantly to avoid burning (like my mom usually does with the first batch), cook over medium heat until the mixture comes to a full boil.  Continue cooking until caramel reaches the “soft ball” stage (10-12 minutes).  Remove from heat and cool 5 minutes.

Spoon caramel over chilled apples.  Place on buttered cookie sheet to set up.

Options: After spooning caramel over apple, set bottom of apple in some chopped nuts or crushed Oreos.  This prevents the bottom from sticking to the cookie sheet.  Drizzle melted chocolate over apple.  Yum!  Shake seasonal sprinkles over the warm caramel apple for a fun decoration.

Enjoy!