Family « deeples

August 15, 2008

It was a solid 34 minutes of fun.

Filed under: Around Town,Family — Tags: 7th inning, flailing, late for game, liriano, minnesota twins, nachos, screaming, skybox — denise @ 4:10 pm

In some families, a day at the ballpark would be scrupulously planned.

Especially if the tickets were $50 a pop spiffy skybox seats.

Especially if the Twins were only a half game out of 1st place.

ESPECIALLY if it was the pitching return of prodigal son Francisco Liriano.

In some families, everyone would have risen early and only used baseball metaphors and wittisims throughout the day in their fervor and excitement. Children and parents would be cleaned and dressed. The vehicle would be packed with essential items. Promptly. Tickets would be checked and counted.

TICKETS WOULD BE CHECKED.

I wish I could explain why I thought the game started at 2:55. I don’t know where I got that time. I don’t know why it was lodged so thoroughly and completely in my mind that I felt no need to check the tickets. I actually kind of wish I knew what DID start at 2:55 because I must have thought it was pretty important. More important than… say…. going to a really great game… with my kids and husband… that I paid $150 to see. So, it’s probably the exact moment that an asteroid was supposed to smash into the earth.

Around 2pm I decide I’d better get the troops moving. Because, you know, I like to THINK AHEAD. The Baby was finishing her nap and the rest of us lollygagged around (the infield) the house and took showers and lollygagged (around the outfield) and got dressed and brushed our hair, got a few toys together for The Baby and I’m hanging around surfing the ‘nets and I see a box score….

FOR WHAT APPEARS TO BE THE VERY GAME WE ARE SUPPOSED TO GO TO THAT ISN’T SUPPOSED TO START UNTIL 2:55 OR SO MY BRAIN HAS LED ME TO BELIEVE.

So, I freak out, like you do….

Kory runs over and we check the site and realize the game is playing and I run over and grab the tickets and it says 1:10pm ALL OVER THE TICKETS.

1:10 1:10 1:10

WHAT INNING IS IT?, I yell.

TOP OF THE 6th!, Kory yells back.

GRAB THE BABY!!!, we both yell.

And we grab her and The Teen and run screaming and flailing our arms to the car… and we arrive to the Metrodome in the 7th inning, just in time to eat a few dogs and have some nachos and fruit.

And then… it was over.

Because THAT’s how we roll in my house, darlings. Planning-schmanning.

It’s just not a family outing for us if there are no screaming, flailing and nachos.

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August 10, 2008

Kory’s 08-08-08 party + The Power of Sangria

Filed under: Family — Tags: 08-080-08, birthday, catchphrase, cupcakes, Kory, make a sign, party, sangria, we are the world, wuollets, zantigo, zengria — denise @ 8:23 pm

Well, the party was KILLER. If you were invited and didn’t go, you should feel riotously bummed at the moment. The food was awesome (Zantigo) and the sangria was a major hit. Or should I say SANGRIAS because I made FOUR OF THEM. (Can I get a “Wut? Wut?”) Usually when I made something with a lot of ingredients or multiple batches of something with different flavors, I put up little cards that say what is in each one. This party, I was reminded why I did that because I explained what was in each one approximately 47 million times.

Since it was not only Kory’s 35th birthday, but also 08-08-08, we had giant “8” balloons on our deck that were 4 feet high… and candles and paper lanterns…

Have you been to our house? Or sat on our deck?

If you have this will blow your mind:

We had 31 people in our house/on our deck AT THE EXACT SAME TIME.

And I didn’t even bend time. There were a few moments when everyone was gathering their food from our taco bar that I considered recommending that everyone just keep their hands on their hips and just eat face down in their plates, because elbow room was at a premium…but people have a natural inclination to spread out and find space… and if people were eating in our bed and in The Baby’s crib, so be it. WE HAD FUN.

I busted out the Wuollet’s Bakery cupcakes in Fudge Mocha, Cherry Chocolate and White Rum and everyone was happy, happy, happy…. hmmm… and everyone was several large cups of sangria into the party at that point. I could have busted out Twinkies and Zingers and it probably would have been a similar reaction, but I like to tell myself that it was our extraordinary good taste that did it.

We saw old friends, made new friends, met good friends IRL* for the first time. We played CatchPhrase. We laughed. We joked. We sang both “Happy Birthday” AND “We Are The World” for Kory…

It was totally and completely awesome and the cops didn’t even come and I guarandamntee you, that’s a first.

As a gesture of love and friendship, I will share with everyone the recipe for the sangria that was the OVERWHELMING favorite by everyone there:

Zengria

4 bottles Japanese plum wine

1 bottle citrus/honey cold green tea (like you’d buy at a convenience store)

1 large can mandarin oranges (and the juice)

1 large can lychee (and the juice — this is hard to find. Rainbow didn’t have it, but Cub did)

3 large negtarines, sliced

20-30 fresh cherries, pitted and sliced in half

Mix the whole shebang in a big bowl. Make a damn sign with the ingredients so you don’t have to repeat all of that LOVINGLY… LOVINGLY… all night long.

*in real life

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July 23, 2008

Strawberry fields forever

Filed under: Around Town,Family — Tags: berry picking, happy jam, jam, ninja jam, raspberries, strawberries, The Baby, the teen — denise @ 10:50 pm

Dude.

We TOTALLY went berry picking.

Because, frankly, I’m like that sometimes. Sometimes, I stop being exausted and lazy and the shunner of all things Minnesotan and fucking step up to that Martha Stewart plate and I knock one out of the park. Or I grounder to first, but what I’m saying is I am occasionally MOVED BY THE SPIRIT and I make some goddamned jam.

So…. here’s the picking:

And probably I shouldn’t mention that the girlie that took us out to our “place of pickin'” asked me several questions like:

“Um, does he, like, GO to Duke?”

and I was all…

“Um, no. He’s like totally going to be a Junior in high school.”

and she was all…

“OMG! What school does he go to?”

and I was all…

“He totally went to Roseville last year, but now he’s moved to Hell. I mean, Iowa. And he’ll be really, REALLY famous there.”

and she was all…

“Bummer.”

and I was all, “Yeah.”

We also ATE some berries.

and by “we”.. I guess we mean “The Females Of the Family”…

and then a bug totally ate ME and I was really upset about it….

and then The Baby was all..

“I’ll kick your POOPIE PANTS if you bite my Mommy!”

and then The Teen, who thus far had been able to ignore all the berries patches and the ridiculous picking… and eating.. and picking… finally got tired of texting people and actually started plucking berries.

and in the end… we got quite a few even though we picked on THE LAST DAY OF BERRY PICKING POSSIBLE because, you know… I’m all about planning ahead.

And when faced with a giant trough of strawberries, I did what nobody anyone would do.

But it was SO HOT… and I was close to passing out in a strawberry field, which is AWKWARD… so Kory asked me to at least come up for air.

And The Baby was all…

“Gawd. Get a GRIP.”

And so I went home and we made jam.

The Baby’s new word is “happy”. And she says it when she thinks something is rockin’.

And she says it like this… ” HA…..PEEEEEEE!”

So, out of the strawberries and raspberries we picked at the farm, along with the ferosh red currants from my bush in the front yard, we made Happy Jam.

FEROSH RED CURRANTS:

Then, at the request of my husband, we made a second batch that is exactly the same except we added a big, fat, orange Habanero pepper to it. And it made the made amazing jam that is sweet and layered and has no bite at all until you swallow it and then it’s as if the sun came out and shined beautific berryicious rays of delicate warmth on your tongue. Yes, SERIOUSLY.

We call that one Ninja Jam.

We call it that because in an effort to get The Teen to buy in to the whole berry picking thing, I told him that basically, it’s just picking berries except there are ninjas that patrole the rows and they randomly attack people. So, probably, The Baby and I would have to stand on the sidelines and cheer him and Kory on while they picked/defended themselves using mixed martial arts techniques.

And for like 7 seconds, he almost bought it because he TOTALLY WANTED IT TO BE TRUE.

And for some of our group, it was more like, “Holy kitties! This stuff randomly comes from the ground?!”

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