Get your baseball fan the perfect gift

Searching for the ultimate in gifting for a baseball fan this fall? If he’s a fan of the Phillies or Angels, there is no better, nor more unique gift than a personalized baby baseball glove from Nokona. The glove can be personalized with up to 23 characters on the top, and a date below. The glove has always been one of Precious Personalities top baby gifts, but in October its a gift for making memories. Buy it for the fans for the holidays, a birthday, or a celebration of a great season. It makes a great coach’s gift and its a perfect host/hostess gift for the family that goes all-out with Playoff Parties this fall.

Currently, only red and pink are available. We’ve sold many to Yankees and Dodgers fans in the past, but both Navy Blue and Light Blue are on an undetermined backorder. Pink makes an ideal baby girl gift. And red has been a top pick for boys, especially fans of the Philadelphia Phillies and the LA Dodgers.

No need to personalize with a baby’s name and date, you can order the glove to say “COACH JOHN” or “SUPER SEASON”. Or celebrate a win with “WORLD SERIES CHAMPIONS.” Personalization options are nearly limitless.

Looking for something a little less red or pink? Precious Personalities also sells a Personalized Bat and Ball set, which we reviewed here.

Shrimp with Rice

First, I need to tell you that my kids LOVE Popcorn Shrimp. Which, you can pull off really easily at a lot of restaurants. Especially when you get Chinese (order Sweet & Sour Shrimp with sauce on the side.) So, tonight, I ventured out a little. I convinced them that Shrimp with out the popcorn is still Shrimp. And they’ll like it just as well.

Tonight’s dinner is a very big adaptation from Real Simple October 2009’s Creamy Rice with Roasted Shrimp. In fact, they may be annoyed that I’m linking to them. Because I made a lot of changes. Biggest adaptations: get rid of the Arborio rice because I just simply saw no point in spending $6+ on a fancy box of rice. And delete the garlic. Because I don’t cook with garlic. Of course, you can toss some in and cook with the onions if you want to. Oh, and the RS recipe calls for cooking the rice with white wine. I only have red in my house right now. (It was a fun weekend.)

Ingredients:

1.5 cups uncooked rice (I used Minute Brown Rice)
1/2 large Mayan onion
1.5 cups water
1 lb bag cooked, peeled, deveined frozen shrimp (thawed)
2 pts grape tomatoes
about 1 teaspoon each celery salt, basil
about 1/2 teaspoon salt, pepper
1 Tablespoons EVOO

Get Cookin’:

In a sauce pan:

• chop onion and saute in 1 Tablespoon oil (about 5 minutes)
• add water and bring to a boil
• stir in rice, then reboil. Simmer for approx. 5 minutes
• After cooked, the rice will be a little dry. I added about 1/4 to 1/2 cup of water, stirred and replaced the lid. If you want more flavor, add chicken or veggie broth instead of water.

In a large rimmed cookie sheet:

• toss (gently) tomatoes, shrimp, 1 tablespoon EVOO and seasonings. I eyeballed it and did a sniff test. (yes, sniff-testing works around here).
• Place in the oven for 20 minutes
• Serve over the rice.

Star power?   Upon smelling (about 10 minutes before dinner) Middle announced: “Yum! I’m gonna love this dinner!” (Gosh, I love this kid. He’s a miracle for my self esteem). The kids loved the shrimp. We’re talking 4th helpings. I probably should have used 2 pounds instead of 1. The tomatoes literally bombed with Middle. When they “exploded” in his mouth, his mouth opened. You can imagine. Big was cool with them. He only liked the ones that “explode in your mouth.” The rice, of course, was a hit. The huz and I liked dinner. The tomatoes and shrimped mixed nicely.  3.5 stars out of 5. (I couldn’t give it a 4 due to Middle’s response to the tomatoes.)

Note for next time: Add a few more shakes of the seasonings. And take the 20 minutes to go to the store for a bottle of cheap white wine.

Just Precious Starts Cookin’

See, I have plans for this blog. I love what I’ve started, and now its going to get bigger. For some time now I’ve been toying with an idea.

I love cooking. And, if you knew me when, you’re mouth might’ve just dropped. Creating a hole in the floor. Especially if you were my cooking partner in 7th grade Home Ec. Right Nikki and Mel? Because back then, Stir Fry was difficult for us. And a cream sauce. Oh. The cream sauce. That’s when I realized there’s a difference between 2 cups of salt and 2 tablespoons. Home Ec didn’t go well for me.

And in college, well, thankfully, the sorority houses at SMU include cooks. Several. Oh, how I loved Dorothy and Effie. So, yeah, I didn’t learn to cook in college. Unless you count the spiral pasta with ranch dressing Kris taught me to make in our kitchen on South Padre Island over Spring Break. That was about all we ate. The whole time. Could be because we were barfing up McD’s fries. You’ve been there, right?

But I digress. See. I became a mom. A mom who desperately wanted to cook healthy and creatively for her children. So, I subscribed to a few menu lists and started to learn. And in the past 5 years I’ve placed desperate phone calls to my mom asking where to find rice vinegar in the grocery store. Another time I called my college roommate and asked if I could substitute parsley for cilantro because WTH is cilantro? Yeah, that would have been a terrible salsa, right?

So, why start a cooking column? Because in 5 years I’ve learned more than the fact that cilantro is a necessity in salsa. I’ve learned to substitute, estimate and create. I’ve learned how to plan meals for a week. And I’ve learned how to create meals my kids will eat, some. I’m not using any fancy tactics a la Jessica Seinfeld or The Sneaky Chef.  My kids eat the meals I make them because, 5 years ago, and even today, there was, is, no choice. If its on your plate, you eat it. Period. And then you tell me if you like it.

That’s right. We (We? Who’s We?) I make one meal per night. That’s it. You eat it. Or you wait ‘til breakfast.

Okay, so the plan. Start looking for my new Just Precious Is Cookin’ posts. There will be several each week. Some will address organization. Others will talk about products and foods. But, mostly, they’ll feature recipes I’m using and how my kids, my husband and I like them. And how easy or hard it was to cook them.

Enjoy!

168 hours

 

168 hours. That’s 7 full days. Its also 10,080 minutes. 604,800 seconds. It’s a long time.

It’s how long you sit and grieve when you sit Shiva.

I’ve never sat Shiva.  I can’t imagine my family sitting Shiva. Is a family full of ADHD actually expected to sit that long? (A good question to ask Rabbi).

Sitting Shiva with my family would no doubt bring about arguements. It will start with stifled anger (that’s me.) I’ll be fuming on the inside over something one of my sisters will inevitably say. But I won’t be able to sit silently for long. No, it won’t take long for me to mumble something likely sarcastic under my breath. That comment will get a giggle and an eyeroll from one sister while the other will either hear and understand it and undoubtedly reply with an angry comment back or not “get it” and need to know what was said. Which will only spawn further anger until we are entering M-family War #7584. Which will last the remaining 164 hours of Shiva.  

I wonder, though, is this a part of the Plan? Should sitting Shiva distract you as your regular family relationships kick you out of your mournful state so that you realize, quite quickly, that life does go on as usual?

Because, the days when we someday sit Shiva or mourn a lost family member together, I don’t expect my family’s own culture to disappear just because we’re suddenly embracing our Judaism. Sure, Mom will expect us all to be on our “best behavior” but a week is a long time to smile fake smiles and endure strangers’ embraces. I’m certain that, just like Tropper’s characters did, my sisters and I will argue, push, pull and distance our selves. But a week of mourning will also force upon us a time of togetherness. Time that we’ll have to spend working together. Time where we’ll have to face our differences and previous angers of our youth. What else is there to do with 168 hours?

 

This post is written in response to Jonathan Tropper’s This Is Where I Leave You, the SVMom’s Blog Book Club selection, which members received for free to read and discuss on our blogs. Read more responses to the book at http://www.svmomsblog.com/.

phillies image – Bing Images

 

phillies image – Bing Images

A quick shout out: GO PHILLIES!!!!!

5 Things… to Do at a Preschool Fall Festival

So, I’m on the phone with Paula, a PTO mom who is running tomorrow’s Fall Festival at our preschool. Unfortunately, her son has strep, so while she is still running the Fall Festival, she won’t be there. Together, we brainstormed a simple few ideas:

1. Paint a Fall Festival Banner with apples
2. Pumpkin Patch in the sandbox
3. The Wonder Mini-Pumpkin (to the tune of The Wonderball)
4. Autumn Handprint Wreath
5. Face Painting

Precious Personalities BIG. SUPER. SALE.

6 different items on sale each week through fall: 25-40% off some of their hottest items.

This week’s specials: 

Mom Agenda Spirals: 35% off
Box of Silly Word Games:40% off
Our Baby’s Album: 40% off
Got Kids? Get Organized!: 30% off
School Years by MomAgenda: 25% off
‘Nspire Brag Book: 40% off

We all love a discount, right?

Doing Many Good Things

It had been another late night with the baby and I climbed into bed to read myself to sleep around 1 am. Grabbed whatever I could find off the nightstand: Debbie Tenzer’s Do One Nice Thing looked interesting. I began reading, becoming inspired. The next morning, while watching Good Morning America, I recognized the irony. I started reading Do One Nice Thing on September 11, 2009.

As our daily routine began, I asked the kids to look out for nice things we did today. And as the day progressed we pointed them out to each other. It was amazing: just how many simple, nice things we do in a day. Holding the door for someone else, sharing our snack, saying “please” and “thank you,” and getting off the swing so someone else could get on were just a few of the “nice” opportunities we found.

Do One Nice Thing asks us to do any one nice thing, every Monday. It starts your week of strong. It makes you and others feel good, putting smiles on faces all around. And just like Paying it Forward, doing one nice thing is contagious. The book provides categorized, detailed descriptions of nice things you can do and the Do One Nice Thing website offers daily nice things (even some as easy, and free, as clicking to give.)

Like my kids, I recognized not that I needed to do one nice thing, but that I already was doing nice things. Infact, I was doing many nice things. And not just on Monday. Everyday.  Volunteering with PTO, preparing meals for friends in need, helping to jump a stranger’s car, watching a friend’s children when she needs a break. I’m not asking for applause, doing nice things is something we likely all do, every day. But taking the time to recognize is refreshing; it feels good. As well, taking the time to recognize that someone else did something good, left us with a feeling of wanting to do more.

———————-

This post was inspired by Debbie Tenzer’s Do One Nice Thing, the September 2009 book club selection for the SVMoms Group.

5 Things… To Do When You’re Breastfeeding

With barely 2 hands its tough to multi-task and get much done. While it may be the point that you relax and do nothing, a mom-of-plenty knows that breastfeeding minutes can be minutes of stress when you think of things you can be doing.

1. upload pictures from your SD-card to your computer
2. surf the web, read your favorite blog, but don’t expect to be able to type
3. read a book… read lots of books
4. play Sudoku on your phone (or whatever game you have on there)
5. catch-up on celeb-gossip reading the tabloids
6. (true, its supposed to be 5-things but this one is important) Watch TV. Its premiere week!!

Conferencing with the Supermoms of ‘Accidentally on Purpose’

I made some new friends Tuesday night. Famous friends. Jealous? Don’t be. They’ll never consider me a friend.

See, I was on a call with actress Jenna Elfman, film critic Mary Pols and script writer Claudia Lonow. They’re the supermoms, and superminds, behind CBS’ new hysterical show, Accidentally on Purpose, scheduled to debut Monday night.

IRL, Pols, a film critic, wrote a memoir detailing her Accident: getting pregnant at 39 with a 29-year-old one-night-fling. Pols fling, Matt, opted to stay in the picture and support Pols and the baby, though he is unemployed. Prior to the book’s publishing, it was optioned and will finally be released as a sitcom, written by Lonow and starring Elfman.

Back to my point, I may feel like they are my new buddies, but they won’t know me from Adam. All 3 have children, and all three seem to be excellent, caring moms. Elfman shared that any time that she isn’t working  “every spare minute I have is for Story” (she tapes 3 weeks and then has off one and takes her son, Story, on set so that she can spend free time with him). But all three seemed to have moments of calm serenity to talk on the phone tonight. (Though Pols did share that she was making Puttenesca sauce while on our call.) Meanwhile, I was busy… breastfeeding and changing my baby’s diapers, scolding my 6 and 4 year olds for running downstairs to play with LEGOs and then repeatedly yelling “NO” to my 6 year old who kept asking whether he could read way past his bed time. I’m sorry kiddos, I’m attempting to work.

Working moms, I don’ t know how you juggle it. Really. If you work out of home and rush home to cuddle with your kids, I imagine you still have laundry piling up, dishes unwashed and lunches to make. Right? Single moms like Pols, who works as a film critic and is working on her next book, a novel, I hope to hear you either have a cleaning lady or you have many playful dust bunnies roaming under your new sofa. And Elfman and Lonow, please admit to me that you haven’t cooked a meal in weeks (Jenna did share on the on the call that she has never made Puttenesca.)  Here I am, a stay at home mom who dabbles in writing for no pay (and prays that will change), attempting my first conference call with laundry overflowing, a bed without sheets (they’re in the dryer), and a sleeping baby in my lap because that’s where she sleeps best. My husband? This week he’s traveling between NJ, NY, KY and OH with a possible stop in Indiana. I may not be a single, working mom, but I sure am learning to play the part.

So, while dinner for us tonight was paid for with money borrowed from my six-week-old’s bank account (because my wallet was too far down in my diaper bag for me to reach while breastfeeding her in the restaurant — if my grandmother hadn’t been creamated she would have just rolled over), I fretted because between PTO meetings, missed deadlines, football practice, a bus that can’t get my kid to school on time and stinky diapers, I completely forgot to prepare for my very first interview with someone famous.

Which is why they may be my friend, but I’m not their’s. I kept the call muted the entire 1 hour and 7 minutes I was on. I was actually scared the mute button wasn’t working–can you imagine?! Today, while talking to my son’s Kindergarten teacher, the baby was burping and pooping into the receiver.  Jenna, Mary and Claudia would remember me if that happened.

Who knows? It may be written into a future storyline on Accidentally on Purpose. The show’s storyline is based on Mary’s experience as written in the book, but Claudia has taken the concept and added sitcom-style humor, altered the characters (again, based on the book but very different), and is creating new storylines to play out the sitcom. The entire first season Elfman will portray a pregnant Billie, also a film critic (which is convenient since yesterday she shared with Julie Chen on TODAY that she [Jenna] is pregnant.) I have it on good authority that the baby (the fictional one) will be born at the end of the first season. The show isn’t just about Billie being pregnant. Its a show about woman who happens to be pregnant, but lives a real life (complete with work; a strenuous, likely sexy relationship with Grant Show’s character James; and the complicated relationship with the baby’s father, Zack (Jon Foster). 

Really, we would have been great buddies. We would have shared advice, like Jenna shared with me: “I really make sure that I grant him [Story] as much self determinism as possible at all times. I let him control his own motions; I consult his willingness, within reason. I appeal to his determinism a lot… I remember being really young and feeling like I couldn’t control things. He is a very confident, able kid and I think its been a successful tool.” 

We would trade stories, just as Mary explained her time losing her son in a film room, I would have shared losing my kids at the park.

We would crush on each other, just the way Jenna described Mary as “hot, stylish, funny and charming;” with Claudia chiming in “and pretty!” 

And our feelings, like when Claudia explained she’s excited about Monday night’s premiere to the point of panic. And that while she was nervous the script would never be picked up, she knew once the pilot was filmed Accidentally on Purpose was a hit.  The pilot was so fun and there’s such potential for a great comedy. Of course, I set my DVR last night to record the show.