Thirteen Good Things About March

 1.  Spring break

2.  Flowers begin to bloom - especially daffodils and jonquils.

3.  The weather gets warmer.

4.  It’s still possible to have a snow day from school.  It rarely happens, but there’s still that possibility to cling to.

5.  The trees start to fill out with leaves.

6.  I can wear sandals again.  Well some days are warm enough for sandals.   I LOVE wearing sandals.

7.  Daylight Savings time begins.  It’s wonderful having daylight last well into late afternoon/early evening.

8.  Lots of birds are around - busy building nests and visiting the bird feeders.

9.  It’s easier to grill outside.

10.  I know that summer break is getting closer.

11.  Stores stock summer clothes, and I enjoy shopping for summery clothing.

12.  Everything looks so new and fresh.

13.  The greens of the trees and bushes and flowers are just spectacular.  Green is my favorite color, and spring is bursting with all the varied shades of it.

According to this story, Katherin Heigl, may not return to Grey’s Anatomy. To me, her character is the least believable character on the show. Really - would it be possible to have a more unrealistic character? Plus, her whole attitude seems rather petulant.

Katherine Heigl has dropped out of contract talks with Grey’s Anatomy over salary, a well-placed source tells PEOPLE.

“Katie is disappointed and hurt that (producer) Touchstone doesn’t value her as much as her other costars, especially Sandra Oh and Isaiah Washington,” the source says.

Heigl plays Dr. Isobel “Izzie” Stevens on the ABC hit medical drama.

A rep for ABC Touchstone TV had no comment.

I sure won’t cry if she leaves the show. She seems to have an overblown sense of self-importance.

This quote is over at the Thursday Thirteen hub:

If you cannot get rid of the family skeleton, you may as well make it dance.

~George Bernard Shaw~

I love the quote although I really can’t think of any family skeletons that I need to make dance.  It’s a good thought, isn’t it?  Instead of worrying about whatever is “wrong” - use it to your advantage or get some enjoyment out of it. 

You may recall a couple weeks ago when I wrote about having strep.  I missed only one day of work, but I felt awful for several days.  I probably spread strep around at school before I knew I had it.

Well, this past Sunday morning, RT woke up and told me that he thought he might have strep because his throat was so sore.  Not wanting to spread it around at church if he did have it, we skipped church and went to a Minute Clinic to get a strep test.  Yep, he had it.  He said he thought he’d probably had it for at least a week because he had felt so tired and run down - but no sore throat until the weekend.

Stinkeroo (our daughter) called last night.  “Mom, did you or Dad have a fever when you had strep throat?”

“No, neither of us ran a fever.”

“I think Sweet Stuff might have strep.  She doesn’t have a fever, but she says her throat is hurting.”

So this morning, I checked email.  Stinkeroo was true to form.  Even though it was night, she wanted to know for sure.  At 10:30 last night Stinkeroo emailed me to tell me that she had taken Sweet Stuff to the Minute Clinic, and she did have strep.

So, in the last week, my precious Stinkeroo has been to the doctor with Sunshine who was diagnosed with croup.  I wrote about staying home with her last Thursday.  Then to the hospital with S when he had minor surgery.  Monday she had to take their dog, Bogey, to the veterinarian to get staples for a bad cut he got while jumping over some equipment for an irrigation system they’re putting in their yard, and now she had to take Sweet Stuff to the doctor for strep throat.

Here’s part of her email which I thought was funny:

I was telling S, I don’t think any of us had been to a doctor in a while and in the past week, I have been to the Dr with Sunshine for the Croup, S for a Hernia Surgery, Bogey to staple his leg, and now Sweet Stuff with Strep.   I guess I need to take vitamins to make sure I don’t catch anything, so I can take care of everyone.   I just really hope we don’t pass around Strep in the family.  The lady there thought it was funny Sweet Stuff caught strep from grandparents instead of the other way around.

Yep, PawPaw and Grandma Carol - the strep throat carriers.  Sadly, it’s true.

It’s time for another recipe.  I love posting recipes because I only post recipes that are really tried and true and delicious!  

This is my mother’s recipe for cucumber/cream cheese sandwiches.  She cuts these into circles or other shapes for special occasions - like a wedding reception, a luncheon, a bridal or baby shower.  Everytime I’ve made them, people have asked for the recipe.  They’re light-tasting and really REALLY good.

CUCUMBER & CREAM CHEESE SANDWICHES

2 (3 oz.) pkgs. cream cheese

2 Tablespoons grated onion

2 Tablespoons sour cream

2 medium cucumbers (peeled, grated and drained)

salt and white pepper to taste

bread slices

green food coloring (optional - just a drop or two to make the mixture a very pale green)

Combine all ingredients (except the bread slices) to make the filling.  Stir until smooth.  Cut thin slices of bread into the desired shapes and Spread with the filling and top with another slice of bread.  I usually spread the mixture on the bread first and make a sandwich - and then use a cookie cutter or knife to cut it into shapes.  Most of the time I cut off the crusts and then slice diagonally to make two triangles.  These sandwiches look very pretty, too.

The mix yields about two cups of filling.  How many sandwiches that makes depends on how much filling you put in each sandwich.

On the way to work this morning, I listened to the 7:30 broadcast of Paul Harvey.  In it he gave two stories that had me laughing.

In the first, a woman went to the hospital complaining of a stomach ache from unknown causes.  Turns out that in a moment of passion (?) she swallowed her partner’s false teeth!   All I can say is that the moment of passion must’ve been quite spectacular.  But what’s with the “unknown causes” thing?  You can’t swallow false teeth without knowing it!  Can you?

In the second story, a young man decided that he would rob his grandparents.  Really - to even think of doing that, he’d have to be fairly stupid.  He got a costume and mask so they wouldn’t recognize him.  He went into the house and demanded, “I want your money!”  Apparently, they weren’t fast enough because he followed his demand with, “I mean it, PaPaw!”

Sometimes teachers overhear some of the strangest comments.  It’s just a little past lunchtime, and I already have three doozies for today:

Scenario #1:

“I think I broke my nipple.”  (1st grade boy)  The child was sitting across the table from me.  So it wasn’t really an “overheard” comment.  He was commenting for the entire reading group.  I figured that I SURELY hadn’t heard correctly, so I HAD to ask, “You broke your what?” 

“My NIPPLE!” he clarified as he took his fingers and pinched his shirt over his left nipple to demonstrate what he was talking about.  The child next to him followed suit with both sides of his shirt to make sure I understood what he was talking about.  I briefly wondered what on earth someone would think if they walked into my classroom and saw children touching their nipples.  However, once the boys saw that I understood, they stopped.  The first boy continued, “When I leaned over the table, I banged it against the chair.”

“Oh, okay.  Well hope it feels all right now,” I said.  We continued with our reading lesson. Maybe 30 seconds from beginning to end of scenario.

Scenario #2

“I didn’t really fart.” (2nd grade boy)  I was walking past a second grade class that was lined up in the hall returning to class from the cafeteria.  Figuring that he probably HAD really farted or he wouldn’t have felt a need to say he hadn’t, I kept on walking.

Scenario #3 - Same 2nd grade boy as the previous scenario - along with a classmate - in the hall about 20 minutes later. “See I can do it!”  The other boy replied, “I can’t.”  The first boy stuck out his tongue and curled it up from the sides.  The other child just stuck out his tongue.  He couldn’t curl his.  I thought about stopping and telling them that the ability to curl one’s tongue like that is a genetic trait, but then when I started thinking about it, I wasn’t sure that was right.  So once again, I kept on walking.  I’ll have to look that up.

Oh Lord, Al Gore’s movie just won an Academy Award!  What a pompous idiot he is!  And all the Hollywood folks are just fawning over him.  Earlier in the show Leonardo DiCaprio practically started drooling over Gore and how “honored” he was to be on the same stage.  Yea, I’d say Gore is definitely running.  What a pompous idiot!  Oops!  Did I already say that?

The best line of the evening, though, came from RT who, when Gore was on stage with DiCaprio, commented, “He was vice president, wasn’t he?”  Yes, unfortunately, he was - but obviously very forgettably so.

And the rather sad thing is that he won for “Best Documentary.” While I completely agree that we MUST take care of our planet, I have read too much scientific evidence that disagrees with Gore’s findings to swallow his bleatings hook, line and sinker.  He’s a politician, and this is very politically driven.   And he’s found a very popular platform for his political ambitions.

It was humorous when they started talking about how “green” this year’s Academy Awards are. What a joke!  All the Hollywood types and Al Gore patting themselves on the back for being so environmentally conscious when they’re the most outrageous over-consumers imaginable.

Just a quick FYI - in case you’re interested.  The “charter” period for the SUNDAY SEVEN meme will be over at the end of February.  Click HERE to find out information about the meme and the benefits of being a charter member.

The Sunday Seven is a weekly meme for giving thanks and/or for noting important events in our lives.  It’s a way of ending one week and beginning the next week with thanks. 

I don’t believe I’ve ever seen an official definition of the word “meme.”  It’s one of those words that you see so often that you know the general meaning of it.  However, in the past twenty-four hours, I’ve heard the word pronounced two different ways:  “me-me”, and  “mim.”

So, I looked it up.  Both the pronunications I heard before were wrong.  The correct pronunciation rhymes with the word “theme.”  Long e in the middle - silent e at the end - “meem”.

The official definition is:

A unit of cultural information, such as a cultural practice or idea, that is transmitted verbally or by repeated action from one mind to another.

It comes from the Greek word “mimos” which means “mimic.”  And that really explains the use of the term “meme” in speaking of practices such as Thursday Thirteen, and Sunday Seven.  They’re definitely cultural information that is transmitted online repeatedly from one person to another.

Whew!  I always like to get things straight.