I can do it, promise mom.

Once upon a time there was a little girl named Boo. She was the bravest in the land. This brave soul has the honor of being the only child at home with mom while big brother and sisters are in school. Being that mom has to work in her office and the rest of the house is big and scary and spooky, Brave Boo must cower stay right by mom's side to protect her from anything that might come to get them. One of her favorite activities to do while mom works is to talk. Talk, talk, talk, talk and talk. She was even so cute as to talk about this one day while sitting next to mom in her kid-sized rocking chair:

BB: "Mom, if you and Sharon ever need to go anywhere, I can tend Ammon-Sam-Zeki-and-Ben all by myself. Really. I would not. even. be. scared. "

Now if you know the brother duo x2, Ammon, Sam, Zeki and Ben, you would know this is not an easy feat for anyone, especially Brave Boo.

M: "Now Brave Boo, are you sure you could do all that and not be scared?"

BB: "Oh, yes mom. If a monster knocked on the door, I would just kick him far out the door."

M: "Well then yes, I guess you are right. You could do all that and not be scared."

While the words were still fresh from her lips she informs mom that she needs to scoot her chair closer to her.

BB: "...and here, let me put my arm on yours too."

M: "Why?" (Mom just had to ask.)

BB: "I heard something upstairs."

Out of the mouth and into the archives #3

Teacher shared Alexis's journal entry:

I am so grateful that my mom works so hard so we don't have to live in a box.

* Ingrain-into-my-kid's-heads-that-I-am-working
-for-one-reason-only -- check.

Cheecken a' La Accidante...

...or in other words, how to make the most divine chicken and mashed potatoes evah! by mistake.

1. Be desperate enough to want something different and start looking for chicken recipes in any recipe book you can find.
2. See that there are recipes for Parmesan chicken and chicken with mushrooms and chicken with apples on them, and as tempting as they may sound, just ignore them.
3. Stop on the page that says fried chicken even though you have never been successful at making your own fried chicken.
4. Get yourself ready for the challenge as you will be attempting fried chicken AGAIN. Remember the saying? When at first you don't succeed...yes that is it. Try, try again! and again! and again! etc.
5. Notice that this recipe is a bit different than any you have tried before as it uses instant potato flakes as the coating. Hmmm. This could actually work!
6. Prepare your 7 boneless chicken breasts by cutting them into strips, getting any loose fat off of them and setting them aside.
7. Get a large bowel and poor some potato flakes in, about yea much. That is it. Decide that you want to add your own personal touch and put some Parmesan cheese in, some garlic powder in, part of a ranch packet in and some salt and pepper. Mix together well and set aside.
8. Pour some oil in the bottom of the frying pan, about 1/2 inch deep and heat. Start coating the chicken in the potato flakes and add to heated oil.
9. Realize after you have added about 10 strips to the pan it is already full and you really don't have all night to sit and fry up the other 50 strips. Finish coating them all and add them all at the same time.
10. Start stirring the strips around and wonder why the coating is falling off and turning into mashed potatoes.
11. Try not to panic as there is no time left to figure something else out for dinner. Giggle at the sure-to-come looks of disgust and protests from not only your kids but your spouse.
12. Don't be afraid to let the mashed potatoes brown up a bit on the bottom and scrape this off every once in a while so that more will get brown. This will start looking like just what it sounds like. Chicken mixed into mashed potatoes.
13. Finish cooking the chicken a la accident and carry it gracefully over to the table with head held high and set it among the curious faces.
14. Tell them it is a special dish that only the most elite have ever eaten.
15. Make them swear to secrecy that they will never divulge the secret recipe (as if they will ever know it!) before you give them some. Even the pickiest of eaters will be begging by now.
16. Serve, sit back and watch the shear amounts of pleasure as they fight for every last piece!, but even more than that, relish the requests for this to become a frequent fryer at your house.