Monday Miscellanea

My niece writes Friday Fragments, but I can't steal that title since today is Monday. Miscellanea will have to do.

A MOM NEVER STOPS FEELING GUILTY NOR PROUD

Guilty: Today David defended his Master's thesis and invited us to witness his presentation. I was unable to attend, David said that was not a problem, but I felt guilty nonetheless.

Proud: Today David defended his Master's thesis! According to Ken, he did himself very proud, speaking articulately about his research for an hour and a half.

Who knew that all the searching for Goldbug in Richard Scarry's, "Cars and Trucks and Things that Go" would someday lead to an advanced degree in Civil Engineering!

COMPARISONS

I didn't go to David's thesis defense because I attended a foreign language seminar given by another presenter from the same company I represent. I wanted to sit in a participant's chair and observe the day from that point of view, hoping to get some new insights on both content and presentation. I walked away with a few of both...but mostly walked away feeling very good about my presentations and all the preparation time I've spent tweaking hundreds of details. That was a good feeling.

The bad feeling was that this presenter had a HUGE audience....164 people! I know it is because her topic directly relates to one of the major "No Child Left Behind" goals, meaning that administrators would be eager to send teachers to this event. Nonetheless, I know I'll feel let down if/when my numbers are the usual 40-50 when I go out later in the month. Too bad they don't pay us based on our evaluation scores rather than on how many people attend!

SMALL WORLD

When I arrived at the seminar this morning, I put my things on a table and went to the washroom. When I returned, I found my god-daughter sitting in the next chair! With 164 people in the room, it's possible that Liz and I would not have even known the other was present. Instead, she and her colleagues just happened to sit at my table and she was my "partner" for all the paired activities we did during the day.

I take no credit for Liz becoming a Spanish teacher, but relish the fact that she is a very gifted educator. Liz is the daughter of dear friends who have been in my life for over 50 years. When she and her sister were very young, her parents left them with me for a weekend while they enjoyed a brief get-away. At the time Ken and I had been dating for just a short time and I was overjoyed that he was totally open to entertaining two little girls during that weekend.

Ken, incidentally, says he married me for my furniture and my sense of humor. The two things that convinced me that Ken was "the one" were his willingness to spend a weekend at the playground with toddler Liz and her sister and his volunteering to help me wallpaper my bedroom. Pretty darn good reasons in retrospect!

As part of our "partner activities" today, Liz and I did a little reading to each other. Now colleagues, I was remembering reading picture books to Liz over 30 years ago. She's now a mom of one and told me today that child number two is on the way.

Clichés are clichés because they are so totally true. As I witness David, Kevin, Liz and many other young adults I've known since infancy, I'm just amazed and delighted at the wonderful adults they have become. I'm bombarded with clichés such as "Time Marches On" and "Apples Don't Fall Far From Trees", but they are great clichés!

EATING MY WORDS

On a totally different topic, I did something last week that I have often mocked others for doing. I got up at 5:15 last Friday to go shopping at Carsons!

Now, it wasn't my fault.

My brother and sister-in-law were with us to celebrate Thanksgiving. They planned to leave here mid-morning Friday for their drive back to Colorado. Judy loves to shop and also is a new slinky size and thus needs new clothes. Carsons doesn't exist in Colorado and Judy loves Carson's selections. So, of course, it's all Judy's fault.

In spite of the early hour and driving in the pitch black darkness, it seemed quite normal to be shopping once we entered the store. Bargains were purchased and we were home by 8:30 and I was ready for a nap by 10:00.

I might actually consider doing this again next year...but need Judy as my excuse :-)

NOT EATING MUCH OF THANKSGIVING DINNER

Finally, Thanksgiving at the Kosnik house means TRADITION! Tevya of Fiddler on the Roof Fame doesn't sing about the Kosnik Thanksgiving menu...but there really should be a verse about it in that famous song.

Tradition means....

....making the dressing that Ken's mom always made. This recipe involves toasting white bread in the oven at 200º for several hours on Wednesday. The bread must then be dried and turned over repeatedly, also for several hours. Then this meticulously toasted and dried bread gets covered with boiling water and, finally, the now soggy toasted bread gets squeezed by hand to remove all the water. To this bread mixture gets added all sorts of other ingredients, including unmentionable inner body turkey parts.

....rutabagas. The first year we were married I searched the produce department for this strange Swedish vegetable. Fortunately, they now have signs identifying this round, waxy, hard croquet ball of a vegetable. Rutabagas actually are just an excuse to eat lots of brown sugar and butter. I believe the ratio is one cup boiled rutabaga to one full stick of butter and a cup or more of brown sugar.

...gravy. There is actually nothing terribly original about the gravy, but I always think of my in-laws as the gravy is being made. They used to stand together at the stove bickering about every little aspect of the grand gravy sacrament. Their bickering was actually quite a beautiful witness to their togetherness. Now Ken and Judy made the gravy...and I haven't seen them bicker yet.

....cranberry. jellied. from the can. No fancy cranberry relish recipes for us! We do have a very fancy cut glass cranberry dish that gets used only on Thanksgiving. I suspect this fancy dish was originally designed for something else, but I can't imagine using it for anything but cranberry. jellied. from the can.

...sweet potatoes. This year, they were simply baked. If you hear that the marshmellow industry is suffering, that's why.

Of course, I don't eat any organ meats (such as those in the dressing), gravy, rutabagas or sweet potatoes. But I'm happy with my white meat, white potatoes, and whatever fresh vegetable I can sneak into the starchy traditions.

Mostly I'm happy to have family around the table!