Hello on Thursday

Dear Friends,



My Wednesday started by me putting on Max’s diaper backwards. When Linda changed his diaper after breakfast there was a little leakage because of my mistake. Oh Darn!

I don’t know what it is with me and diapers. I did the same thing with Isabelle the last time that we were visiting in Kansas.



All the events that Linda had booked in have been cancelled so far. Her Tuesday Mah Jongg, yesterday’s BONCO session, and today’s Book Club dinner / meeting has been cancelled too. It must be sign that I have some baby sitting deficiencies. Like I said previously, I am good at entertaining grandchildren.

I am supposed to help out with a Pasta dinner this evening, but I already told a friend that I was not available. I think that I will stay home anyways, and help out taking care of Max.



The heavy wet snow did fall for most of the day on Wednesday. I had to go out side and do some snow removal a couple of times. I am so thankful that I have a plow guy for the driveway especially when the snow is wet and heavy. When I looked out the window just now, I see that I have a big bank of snow at the bottom of the driveway. I thought our guy came to do the driveway after the city plow came down the street, but it looks like the city guys must have made one more sweep. Oh Darn again!

I did take Max for a short ride in his toddler sled until it started to rain.



We are too warm to get an all day snow event today. The line of the latest snow storm is west of Albany, New York. Those areas are going to get all the snow. We are starting off with a little snow then all rain here in the Berkshires. The streets in Pittsfield will be one slushy mess before this storm is over. I am guessing that schools in our county should be open today.



The Chicken Cacciatore over spaghetti was wonderful. I used bone in legs and thighs which fell off of the bone by the time that we ate supper. I was going to invite a friend and his wife for supper, but it is kind of hectic when you have a 6 month old.

Actually we have it down to a routine for us when we eat supper. We feed the child first around 5:30 PM. About 30 or 40 minutes later, when we decide to eat, we put him in his booster chair, and he sits with us at the dinner table. Linda has some apple sauce, or a crushed banana, and she feeds him in between bites of her own meal. I usually eat quicker than Linda so that I clean up Max, and take him out of the booster chair so that Linda can finish her meal.



I don’t know how a single person can do what Linda and I have been doing for a couple of days. I know that they have youth on their side, but raising a child seems to require another set of hands.



I did get to watch the American Hockey team make it to the next round of the Olympics. It was on live during the mid afternoon on Wednesday.



My sister called from sunny Florida yesterday. She said that they are on a mini vacation, and that her husband is not on a business conference. They are staying with friends who rent a three bedroom house in Florida for the winter months. They are in the Ormand Beach area. She was sitting by the pool at the complex where they were staying. She said that it was so relaxing. She even said that many of her physical ailments weren’t bothering her at all. I have always said that when you relieve the stress the body responds almost miracle like. People and cars do last longer in Florida (or warmer climates)!



Kevin, and Kyla do miss their child, but they know that Max has the best baby sitters that he has ever had.

Kevin called yesterday, and said that he had mostly rain in East Boston while we were getting mostly snow.



Linda has booked in a flight to see our Isabelle in Kansas. It appears that we will be in Kansas for Easter.

This also means that we will be available to help Kevin and Kyla when they close on their house at the end of March, and when they make the move from East Boston to North Tewksbury. There is nothing but joy in the Curley home right now!



Supper Menu for this evening – I am not sure if I am going to fire up the crock pot or try cooking something in our electronic pressure cooker which we received for Christmas, but haven’t used yet. We purchased a cook book for electronic pressure cookers, and it arrived yesterday. The author is one of the guys who does do the demonstration of kitchen products on the “In the Kitchen with Dave” program which airs every Sunday from noon until 2 PM on QVC. I read through some of the recipes in his book yesterday when Max was napping. I am psyched for using the pressure cooker. What takes 8 to 10 hours in the crock pot, takes 60 or 70 minutes in the pressure cooker for the same results. For the vegetable portion of the meal, you take the meat out of the pressure cooker after its cooking cycle is over and cover in with foil. You then put the vegetables in the pressure cooker and then cook for 5 minutes.

The book is called “Slow Food Fast”, and the author is Bob Warden. I think that it is a “must” book for people who own this type of pressure cooker.



Teacher Firing in Rhode Island – Do you think that firing the whole staff in a school was a good decision? Every school has its “no so good” teachers, but could this school system find just one good teacher among the staff? Of course, you blame the school teachers for this failing school. I want to know the make of the students who entered that school. I want to know that when these students were born, was it into a loving family who worked with them from birth to school age and beyond. Did the parents read to them before they went off to bed most nights? Did the parents discipline their children when they, for example, threw their food on the floor from the high chair when they were done eating? Did the parents help them with their school work, school projects, or check to see if homework was completed? As the children got older did the parents direct their child into some physical activity, sport like fishing, hunting, camping trips, musical instrument, etc, instead of letting them play video games? Did the parents limit their children’s television viewing? Did the parents have an idea of who their children were socializing with? Did the parents monitor the time which they went out with friends as they got older?

Our whole circle of friends and family has done what I mentioned above, and their children have turned out quite well. They all might not have loved school, but they all eventually found their niche in life. As they begin to have their own children, I can see their newborns off to a great start. You wouldn’t have to fire the whole staff in a school if parents did what they are supposed to do when they bring a child into this world.



Well, I better get the newspaper, and have a second cup of coffee before the action begins.

Have a great day whether your weather is nice or foul!

Talk to you soon. The Curley Lad