About 17 years ago my brother, my mom and myself went out for some ice cream. My mom wanted us to share because (like now) I very rarely finish a whole ice cream blizzard myself. Well I wanted a Snickers blizzard and my brother wanted Cookies and Cream. My mom, knowing I love(d) any kind of ice cream “asked” me to consent. Well, I swore up and down that I HATED Cookies and Cream.

So my mom bought me a Snickers and my brother a Cookies and Cream. And we each ate half. And I hadn’t eaten Cookies and Cream for 17 years because I wanted to prove that I didn’t like it.

Until now. I just had a bowl and fell madly in love. So on my to do list for tomorrow: must call mom and apologize for the last 17 years of stubbornness. Only now do I realize $2 to her was 17 years of never really finding happiness for myself. 🙂

Zach and I had a 5 minute debate on which part is best…Cookies or Cream. I say cookies, he says the marinade of cookies in cream. The man is a genius. And so is whoever created cookies and cream.

So it’s my sister-in-law, Leslie’s birthday today.

I know it’s been said a lot here at hotflawedmama but that sister of mine is one amazing woman. In her 30 years (7 of which I’ve been honored to know her) she has accomplished quite a bit. I know without a shadow of a doubt that my life would have been completely different if 30 years ago her mom (Hi, Mary!) wouldn’t have had her.

To my locovore sister. The woman who has taught me the simple pleasures of farm fresh eggs and tomatoes. A lingering glass of wine and 2-hour coffees. The mother who does everything right and the woman who dances when no one is looking. She’s a conservative (in some ways), sexy sister of mine who also happens to be one of my very best friends.

Much love this beautiful lady today! I look forward to our next 70 years as sisters!

(And this was the only picture I have of the both of us on my computer right now!)

Must apologize. I reread my last post after Jessica asked if I was pregnant. I AM NOT PREGNANT. I’m just still blaming my two previous pregnancies for lasting effects on the body. I see how you could’ve read it that way but must be very sure to let you all know it’s not happening. Especially after I watched the video last night and saw how my face alone was 10lbs heavier as a pregnant woman. And then the labor part. No thanks!

I’m not as young as I used to be. This sounds funny coming from a young buck like myself but this young buck taught 3 classes today and can hardly move. Ice packs on the knees, Bengay on the joints, this is not how I pictured life just a few short years ago. I bet Lolo Jones doesn’t have to put up with this crap. I’m blaming pregnancy, pregnancy gets the blame for a lot of things going on with my body. Just another reason people should adopt.

Moving on…do you ever miss someone you never really knew? My paternal grandpa died when I was really young. I have pseudo memories of him; ones I imagine come from pictures and stories. I see the picture or hear the story and weave in my own tall tale. I’m missing him tonight. I hear he was a story teller (which, I’m guessing, is where I get this nasty habit). That what my grandma lacked in kindness he more than made up for. He was a hard worker and a retired Navy guy. Had a limp lasting his whole life because of shrapnel in his leg when a kamakaze hit his ship in WWII (See again, I might have made that whole thing up, but I think it’s fairly close).

What I miss most about him tonight is how he felt about his sons (all 4 of them!) and how he would’ve surely been proud of the way they kept his grandkids and great grandkids as the best of friends. I’m really wishing he was here tonight so we could stay up late telling crazy stories (granted, he’d be something like 97 and probably wouldn’t remember but this is my dream and I get to dream it like I want to).

And Zach just put in the “Here comes Trysten” tape. I think this is reason #2 in a single blog for adoption. Good, God!

I have pictures, lots of pictures but they’re in the car and it’s dark outside so they’re not coming. I just wanted to write and remind you all that Plumpy’nut and the children of Ethiopia still need you! Jody (finally) blogged about it on her uuber popular blog so I’m going to paste her post below this (I know there are some of you out there like me who are really bad at following links, ahem, mom). So dig in the pockets, in the heart, in the head, whatever it would take!

Here is Jody’s blog. She writes it a lot better than I do.

plumpy nut.
This is a post a long time coming.
It’s been mulling around in my head for over a month now.
It’s a project taken on by our small group at church that we are trying to evolve into a kind of orphan ministry. Right now it is comprised of mostly adoptive and foster care moms. But as we wrestled with the issues in our lives due to our role as adoptive and foster care mothers, we understood that there is a much bigger picture. That adoption is a tiny, tiny piece. A small, small band-aid on a huge crisis. And our ultimate desire being a world where adoption is no longer necessary.
And thus, we began to dream and explore how we could always keep that in front of us. That we would never forget the places our children came from, the circumstances that brought them to us, the injustices suffered, and the millions left behind. And the mandate God gives us to care for the poor and the widow and and the orphan.
Shane Clairborne says, “Sometimes we speak to change the world, sometimes we speak to keep the world from changing us.”
And that’s how i see these new projects we are going to take on. I am really excited about them. Because I know you guys. And I think as a collective force of mommy bloggers and precious friends and family, we can make a huge dent. I will feature them on the blog about once a month. Giving you—IF you want it–an opportunity to look outside of ourselves. Outside of our own homes. And into the reality of millions of children.
So our first project was Plumpynut. If you haven’t read about it, you need to. Look here. Basically it’s a ready-to-eat, vitaman rich mixture that is saving lives around the world. I believe it looks much like peanut butter and has a two year shelf life and it is literally keeping children alive in parts of the world where drought and famine are making it impossible for moms and dads to feed their children. Ethiopia in particular right now is in a crisis famine. The above article tells the story of herds of mothers emerging from the field, having walked miles and miles through the night to bring their sick children to a malnutrition clinic and hopefully be able to return with a jar of Plumpynut. A miracle to them…they have watched dying children recover with it. Yet there is only enough to give the most severe cases. And many are turned away. If you need visuals, go here.
We understand that $77 buys enough Plumpy nut packets to feed 50 children a day.
77 dollars keeps 50 children alive today.
So as a group we just said, let’s see how much Plumpy Nut we can buy in the next month. Go, talk, collect, save and we’ll bring the money back next month and make a big donation to UNICEF for Plumpy Nut (we did tax record checks and they will allow us to make the donation straight to Plumpy Nut. I know some people are not crazy about UNICEF…but for this one, we thought it was our best option). Ready, Set, Go.
I’ve been hearing stories about the money raised by some of my friends. And I can’t believe I let them get ahead of me here.
So this is what I’m doing: All month I have been grocery shopping. And then right before check-out, I have been putting 5 things back. It’s so stupid really how pathetic it is with a cart full of groceries. But it kept me thinking. I went without some silly snack things and have completely given up drinking soda at home. And the money saved has gone to a little account for the end of the month donation.
I am also going to throw some things in a Garage Sale this week-end and hopefully set up a Lemonade Stand with the kids there…all money going to Plumpynut. (If you want to come buy a really expensive glass of lemonade, email me and I’ll give you our location.)
And I am giving you the opportunity to join us if you want. I am going to put up the donate button again on the sidebar for the time being. If you trust me, you can donate there. It goes to my personal paypal account, but all money collected there in the next week will go to Plumpynut. If you want to mail a donation, make the check to UNICEF, and send it to me (again, email if you need an address).
So there you go. Just an opportunity to do something. To keep the world from changing you.
There will be another project soon. I can’t wait to tell you about them. Some people think I am crazy, but I keep telling them–You don’t know these girls. These moms. These grandmas. These blog readers. These friends of mine. They get it.
Thanks much.