I’m sitting here in Steamboat Springs, CO looking out the window of our condo watching the snow and listening to my kids watch television. We don’t have cable at home (by choice, read about it here) so they think they are in Disney World at this very moment. My head is ringing with the annoying voices of The Cartoon Channel and I’m thinking that the world would be a better place if kids didn’t have this crap broadcast to them. Let’s teach our kids to be rude and idiotic with nasally high pitched voices. I have no idea what exactly this particular program is but one of the characters is bringing a “repto-slicer” to school for “homeless pet day”.

Impressive.

I’m sure I’ll pay for the indulgence later and as I watch them all gaping at the TV, hypnotized by lunacy, all I can think of is that my kids would be reading books, playing dominoes, or coloring right now if the “Gawk Box” (my mother’s term, by the way) hadn’t enticed me with the promise of a few quiet moments to shower and wash my hair.

Frankly, I’d trade a quiet shower any day for the knowledge that my kids weren’t watching this high pitched collection of drivel.

I’m sitting here in Steamboat Springs, CO looking out the window of our condo watching the snow and listening to my kids watch television. We don’t have cable at home (by choice, read about it here) so they think they are in Disney World at this very moment. My head is ringing with the annoying voices of The Cartoon Channel and I’m thinking that the world would be a better place if kids didn’t have this crap broadcast to them. Let’s teach our kids to be rude and idiotic with nasally high pitched voices. I have no idea what exactly this particular program is but one of the characters is bringing a “repto-slicer” to school for “homeless pet day”.

Impressive.

I’m sure I’ll pay for the indulgence later and as I watch them all gaping at the TV, hypnotized by lunacy, all I can think of is that my kids would be reading books, playing dominoes, or coloring right now if the “Gawk Box” (my mother’s term, by the way) hadn’t enticed me with the promise of a few quiet moments to shower and wash my hair.

Frankly, I’d trade a quiet shower any day for the knowledge that my kids weren’t watching this high pitched collection of drivel.

I’m fairly certain that my mother has seen me at my worst-many times-but as an adult I definitely don’t want her to see me as a lazy unmotivated slob. My mom rocks, she’s totally laid back and that makes it even easier for me to go into vacation mode when she’s around. We always have big plans but somehow we sleep in and sloth around a bit and then the day is mostly over. I love these visits but I wonder if she loves them as much as I do?

I just spend the last four or five days cooking, eating, and napping. I’m done with the food part of that cycle. My body is rebelling and I honestly think I could fast for a week and not feel the least bit hungry. Why do we overeat on the holidays?

We had lots of sloth-ish family time while my 9 week old baby nephew was here and I think my sister-in-law enjoyed it just as much as I did. I’m a little bit of a freakishly excited new aunt but my nephew loves me mucho. I’m good with babies, really good. I think it might be partially due to the squishy comfort they find in my arms-let’s not mince words, my boobs make me a very comfortable place to hang out. Mostly, I think babies can smell love and I love this baby, he’s adorable and has such a great temperament. We’re going to be buds, of this I am sure!

What do you do when family is in town? Do you go into “tourist” mode and entertain or are you like me and just let your hair down?

Fresh Ingredients + Child’s Creativity and Imagination = Ten Awesome Burgers!

This morning, I was honored to serve as a judge for the 5th Annual Red Robin Kids’ Cook-Off. The panel of judges included actress Anna Sophia Robb (17-year-old star of upcoming film “Soul Surfer” with Dennis Quaid and Helen Hunt), Tom Giesen (executive producer of the Food Network’s Unwrapped)  my new BFF the fabulously effervescent Nancy McBride (National Safety Director for National Center for Missing and Exploited Children), Eric Houseman, President and COO, Red Robin Gourmet Burgers, and fun Frances Hill (THANK YOU for the tips on what water does to burger buns in your belly).

The finalists were chosen from thousands of entries around the country. Each contestant “built” and then presented their gourmet creations for judging. This was hard! We tasted every burger and had to judge on things like creativity, presentation, taste…. and they were all quite amazing!

The winning Burgermeister was the charming 12-year-old Donovan Duggins from Wichita, Kansas. His “Mt. Vesuvius Burger” will be sold in all U.S. Red Robin® restaurants in summer 2011. Donovan’s “Lava Sauce” (made from sweet BBQ sauce, hot sauce, garlic powder and paprika) was the perfect combination of “sweet, with a kick”. The sauce,crumbled blue cheese, bacon, and provolone cheese, topped a beef patty and was served on a sesame seed bun. This burger was tasty and creative, with a name (chosen because Donovan loves geography… hello, little lesson in a burger!) that will likely have had the marketing team jumping out of their seats ready to get the “Lava” flowing tomorrow. Oh, what I would do to be part of that!

Next summer, when you order the “Mt. Vesuvius Burger” at all Red Robin restaurants, 50 cents of your purchase will support the National Center for Missing & Exploited Children’s (NCMEC) child safety efforts. To date Red Robin has raised $400,000 in partnership with NCMEC , and 50% of that figure is attributed specifically to the the annual kid’s cook-off. I love that this competition gave kids an opportunity to be creative, to hone their presentations kills, and benefits an amazing organization at the same time.

The top 10 kid finalists were:

• Zack Caison, Amarillo, TX: “Jalapeno Blue Ranch Bacon Burger”
• Gavin Belliveau, Kingston, MA: “The Meatball Burger”
• Malia Grant, Fresno, CA: “Tropical Hawaiian Turkey Burger”
• Isabel Honzay, Chandler, AZ: “Southwest Cobb Burger”
• Megan Casteel, Mesa, AZ: “Gorgonzola Goodness Burger”
• Emily Whitaker, Tualatin, OR: “The Bacon Dill Delight Burger”
• Angela Feltz, Portland, OR: “The Bangin’ Spicy Chicken Artichoke Burger”
• Dominic Staiti, Citrus Heights, CA: “Jalapeno Cornbread Chili Burger”
• Jake Tucker, Chesterfield, MO: “Campfire Burger”
• Donovan Duggins, Wichita, KS: “The Mt. Vesuvius Burger”

I was really impressed by Red Robin’s embrace of social media in this event. I love that they engaged blogger/social media correspondents in each of the finalists’ cities and streamed a live webcast of the entire competition. The tweets, dm’s, messages, questions and comments that came my way this morning were fun and a very cool example of how powerful word of mouth is.

Are you a burger lover? What are your favorite ingredients?

I am thankful for many things this year……

I am thankful that my car has stalled half in and half out of my garage. It is dead. I will be getting a new car. I am thankful.

I am thankful that nobody decided to visit us this Thanksgiving. Sometimes it is nice to just be with my kidlets and hubby.

I am thankful for the game Apples to Apples – we had a rowdy and fun time bonding this evening. I am thankful for my kids’ education and the fact that Kat is learning to read without fear or hesitation. We championed her as she sounded out each letter and was able to play and win quite a few hands on her own! I am so thankful for my family.

I am thankful for the people who read my blog, the social media gang that keep me in line and the clients who believe in me every day.

I am thankful for the carpet steamer that is getting much use as our doggy ages and somehow things peeing inside is more fun.

I am thankful for Whole Foods… my traditional “Ride n’ Slide” trip means I will be left only to roast a turkey, make a pie, and whip up my famous yummy potato dish that has no name. The rest was lovingly made by the Whole Foods elves and slid into my shopping cart

I am thankful for my hair stylist who gave me low-lights yesterday and brought my hair into “fall blonde” mode.

I am thankful for the hearing aid gods who have given my Daddy his ears back, it was nice to talk to him yesterday. I am thankful that he seemed to be quite cheery about it.

I am thankful for the snow, which seems to be blessing the mountains early this year.

I am thankful for so many things…. Happy Thanksgiving ya big turkeys!

My husband is an amazing man. I have proof.  For almost 15 years (holy crap, that is a freaking long time) he has not only tolerated me but loved me unconditionally in a way that I never imagined possible. Even more incredible is the fact that he had known me for 4 or 5 years before that and still married me.

He’s that guy everybody loves. He’s not afraid to express feelings and oozes passion when he talks about the things he loves, chicks did that. He’s that guy you want to make babies with. You choose him because he is going to be the Dad everyone wishes they had.

We have three little people. All of them will tell you that Dad is the fun one. I may be the not so fun one, but I am also the only reason they have all learned the virtue face washing.

Parenting is a journey that will take you from the highest peaks of bliss to the heart wrenching pits of hell. You never know if the decisions you make, or the things you say will some day end up as a case study in the form of a 2015 Psychiatric Analysis of  Top 10 Ways to Jack Up Your Kid.

The other night I was sitting on the bottom bunk with my 10 year old. We were lying with our feet up, looking at the underside of the top bunk. This is our “having a deep conversation” position.

We were talking about learning from our mistakes. We categorized the types of mistakes people make and I must have said something to the effect of, “There are some mistakes that have dangerous or life changing consequences.”

Suddenly, my child sat up and looked at me with great conviction and a fire in his eye, and said, “Dad says the two biggest mistakes are 1. doing drugs and 2. getting a girl pregnant. Those are two mistakes you really don’t want to have to learn from, right mom?”

Well then!

I suppose our job is done here…..