That's Total Bull...Frog

Who says chivalry is dead? I was in the shower and heard a lot of commotion outside the bathroom door. "Are you naked?" came the yell from the boys. "Yes!!" I answered. Then there were sounds of disappointment. Why is it that every time I get naked someone is disappointed? Anyway, then I heard Jeff's voice and he said, "Keep that thing away from your mother." Lots of giggling. I became nervous. "What thing?" I asked. "What thing???" I exited the shower in fear. When I emerged from the bathroom THIS was plunged in front of my face. They had been planning on attacking me with it but I was saved by my nakedness. I would say I was saved by Jeff but I must admit that his "Keep that thing away from your mother," was uttered without much conviction and I heard a grin in it, too.

I swear this thing weighed five pounds. He was waiting in the splashy pool. He couldn't get out. The small pond behind our house has dried up, so the kids walked him all the way to the lower pasture and set him free in that pond. He swam off quite happily. Jeff says he had some good looking legs on him....yuck. I have never eaten a frog leg - but my boys ordered them once in a restaurant in Louisiana and consumed them with gusto, of course. Jeff used to eat them as a kid; probably ate some of this guy's cousins.

Yesterday morning Jules began complaining that his ear hurt. Normally, I wouldn't let this bother me. But ever since the whole brain tumor thing, I tend to not ignore Jules when he complains about stuff. I learned that the hard way. So I wanted to take him to the pedi - but first I had to do something about his hair. Yes, brain tumors are one thing but bad hair is another - so I called Jocelyn and found out she was on vacation. Oh no! His hair was so bad that I couldn't possibly take him to the doctor looking the way he looked. So we went to Fantastic Sam's at the strip mall, where I had to repeatedly tell people that his father had cut his hair on a whim at the beach with some very dull shears of some kind....Anyway, he looks very handsome :).

So then we headed to the pediatrician's office, a full hour and a zillion dollars worth of gas away. And guess what? Nothing wrong with the kid. No ear infection, no fever, no sore throat, nada. I suspect that with all of the salt water he was floundering in all day - he just had some water in his ear. Since he is totally deaf in that ear he might have had some sensations or "sounds" that were unfamiliar to him and it was expressed to me as "pain". Anyway, he is fine now and hasn't complained since. I rarely take the kids to the doctor, with the exception of Jules. Jules often is sick in the winter and fall - ends up with respiratory infections and asthma symptoms. Plus I am just plain paranoid where he is concerned. He was born very tiny and has just always seemed my frail child. (Although he isn't really frail at ALL).

When he was five years old he would occasionally say he couldn't hear out of his ear. I took him to the doctor a few times and he always had fluid behind his ear drum - it would be treated and he wouldn't say anything more about his ear for several more months....it was kind of a cycle. When he was seven he began complaining more often about his hearing. He finally had a hearing test and that was when we discovered he has a brain tumor and is completely deaf in his right ear. It is benign and hasn't grown in the three years we've been monitoring it. It is operable but as long as it isn't growing, it is going to be left alone. We take him to Los Angeles to a doctor who specializes in this type of tumor. You can look back to the beginning of the blog to see pics of him with his doctor at the House Clinic...getting the thumbs up sign for another year! Anyway, so this explains my hair trigger reaction of taking Jules to the doctor for any little complaint. Joel, on the other hand, has only seen our pediatrician ONE TIME. And it was for a tetanus shot :). He never ever ever gets sick. And when he does get sick, he tends to do it very quietly so as not to disturb anyone. My kind of kid.

Last night we had a wonderful dinner here at home with my dad and our friend, Miss Joyce, who was in from Louisiana. Joyce used to live in New Orleans. Her home was one of the ones close to the break in the levy. She lost everything. Absolutely everything. She now has a home in Franklinton. We were talking last night about how important it is not to let your identity get attached to things you own, or things you do. The catalyst for this conversation was Ellie's piano playing, which led to talking about the Olympic athletes....we were discussing how so much work goes into one shot at a performance or competition or contest...and how often athletes or musicians or competitors fall flat on their faces and miss their one bit shot, but that some recover and go on and others don't seem to. The same holds true for those who lose everything in disasters. Some recover and others seem to never truly regain a sense of self. It all goes back to whether or not you identify "self" with "things" or "accomplishments".

Here is the recipe for the Cashew Alfredo sauce I made last night. Delicious! And you will not believe that there is no cream in this stuff! Not even any milk!

3/4 cup cashews

1 3/4 cup water

3 cloves of garlic

3/4 cup of grated Parmesan

1 tsp salt

1/2 tsp pepper

1/4 cup sun dried tomatoes

whole wheat penne

Place the cashews in a blender and blend on high for about 2 minutes. The cashews will be a fine powder. Add water and blend for another two minutes. Meanwhile, saute the garlic in a little olive oil. Then add the blended cashews/water and stir over medium high heat. This will thicken beautifully and look like a lovely cream sauce. Add salt and pepper. Drain pasta, mix with Parmesan, and add to the cream sauce. Stir in some sun dried tomatoes (you can reconstitute them first in some warm water for about 1/2 hour) and garnish with fresh basil leaves. I served with a fresh green salad and steamed carrots.

Well, I need to knock out a couple of columns. I also need to prepare for the workshop I'm giving at the upcoming HERO Roundup. I'll be talking about unschooling. Lots to do....

Sardine Mama