Thy Chocolate, Thy Self

Dad: "Emily, do you like your chocolate truffle?"

Emily: "Yes Daddy- it's yuuuuuuummy!"

Emily to Eric: "ERIC! Are you CHEWING your CHOCOLATE??"

Eric: "Yep."

Emily: "Don't you remember what Daddy said? You must RESPECT the chocolate! No chewing allowed!"

And I thought *I* was bad...

The Mom Badge

10:20 AM Doorbell rings. Smiling, cold Girl Scout at my door to sell us some cookies. Note that said Girl Scout is not from our neighborhood, and her mom has the fire of a post-Thanksgiving-Day-shopper-looking-for-a-deal in her eyes.

10:21 AM Politely turn down Girl Scout, explaining that MY Girl Scout is getting ready to go selling herself. Note van running in our driveway. Comment to husband- "Can you believe they are driving from house to house?" Husband responds- "Yes, and they are getting our whole neighborhood as we speak."

10:24 AM Realize that if my Girl Scout is going to meet her cookie goal, we'd better get out and defend our territory or find a new battleground. Blood pressure rises.

10:29 AM Husband: Did you look which way they went?
Me: No. Lost 'em. How dare they...

10:30 AM Look in the kitchen at *my* Girl Scout happily slurping up her Cheerios in her pajamas.

10:31 AM Girl Scout figures out the program, and madly rushes upstairs to get dressed. Ready in 2 minutes flat. Mother and Father's jaws hang open- this is 28 minutes faster than normal.

10:40 AM Girl Scout and her reluctant mother head out into the 7 degree morning to peddle cookies... to strangers... in another neighborhood (after scouting early bird and her mother finishing out our turf).

12:00 PM Extremely proud (though entirely numb) Girl Scout rushes into the kitchen to boast of her sales- 17 boxes of cookies.

12:15 PM Teeth chattering mother checks the price list to see what 17 boxes of cookies would have cost... but then decides it was MAYBE the right thing to do anyway.

12:20 PM Big hug from Girl Scout for still-freezing mother. Yep, it was the right thing to do. Mission accomplished.

Snow is a Magical Thing

Combine the last day of Christmas vacation with about 3 wet inches of sparkling white snow....



Add 2 kids with about 9 months of pent-up sledding urges...



Allow to freely circulate for oh, 6.5 hours or so...



Then top with hot cocoa- Chocolate after all is the perfect end to ANY day.




Note the unopened tube of caulk in the foreground... some projects DIDN'T happen as planned due to high priority sledding recipe. Who needs a sealed kitchen sink anyway??