Four Days of Reporting in one FAST post!

You may have heard or maybe not - my parents came in on Wednesday for the holiday. Can we say hyper, loved up children? Spoiled? Absolutely not! My mom was better at disciplining Captain Attitude (aka Rhino) this weekend than I was! My folks are good that way!

But on with the tales! Thursday was MY holiday. I was up at 7 and leisurely cooked all day. My turkey came out perfectly; my mom made the pies for me and they were fabulous; the stuffing didn't survive the meal; I got my fair share of the potatoes and here on Sunday almost ALL of the leftovers are gone. An ideal Thanksgiving!

As we all know I skipped out on the shopping on Friday - well, except for that trip to Home Depot for the supplies for the BIG Christmas surprise for the kids (which Poppie got fully assembled this weekend!). We took the kids to the park and just pretty much lounged all day.

Saturday was a quick trip out to WalMart, JoAnn's and Target for some sewing supplies and new sneaks for Rhino and Marmoset (Thank you Grammy!). And then.....Cookie Bake 08! I don't think you guys really understand the level of my passion for baking. I look forward to this day all year. I plan, strategize, and maneuver like the rest of you manage your shopping.

Wanna see what I did? Ok! Since you asked so nicely!

Yes! That IS four trays of sugary homemade goodness. I think (and this is just an estimate) there are about 12-15 dozen cookies there. And guess what? They are all gone! I gave every last one of them away! Yay me! (And yay for my butt!)

There's a more detailed version for you. Clockwise from 1 o'clock: Snickerdoodles, Chocolate Chip Cookies, Lemon Cookies, Peanut Butter Cookies, Peanut Butter Blossoms, and Mantecaditos. (Thank you Erin for the Mantecaditos! Wow! Yummy!) There in the center is a nice little mound of Chocolate Covered Pretzels.

And I'll probably do that again somethime before Christmas - parties and all you know. And of course I'll have to make the cherries for the Christmas Eve party (I've already been told). Let's hope my behind can make it through the holidays.

I hope all of you had a wonderful weekend! Make sure you check back later for the first installment of Christmas Around the World! Want to visit any country in particular? Drop me a line at ineedthezoo(at)yahoo(dot)com!

The First Ask the Zookeeper!

So I asked some of my friends to help me out and pose some "Ask the Zookeeper" questions. Did I say they were my friends? Because looking at the list of questions I got I'm beginning to wonder! So here we go!

Cooking and baking are a passion of yours and I know that you refer to them as your "therapy." How did you discover that love? And what is your favorite thing about it?

When I started staying home with the exhibits 18 months ago (wow!), I had to fill the time. I went from working 60+ hours a week to being home all day, every day. There is only so much cleaning and decluttering you can do before you are scrubbing paint off the walls. So I started to look for recipes and meals that I could make to make more of our budget and to break up the monotony of beef, chicken, fish sticks! Playing with recipes and subbing things out quickly became a challenge to meet.

What do I love about it? The smell! You know you have a recipe right when you can come in from being outside and get hit with a smell that makes your tummy rumble. Do I eat what I bake? Actually not very much. I eat my meals and I have a cookie or two but I love to give them away or share with the neighbors.

The magic babysitter fairy has taken your kids on a trip to LaLa Land for the day and you have all day to yourself to do whatever you want. What are you going to do?

Sleep in. Take a shower without someone banging on the door or pulling back the curtain. Read a book. Watch one movie from beginning to end. Do my yoga without someone hanging off of Warrior 3. Take another shower in peace just because I can. Eat a grown up meal (no chicken nuggets, corndogs, bologna, or PB&J) without someone asking for a bite. Write a while. Sew a while.

Miss them like crazy!

Where do you see yourself in 5 years? (This friend must have missed my rant about what a bogus question this is!)

Mo will be 10, Tuck will be 8, Munch will be 6. Hmmm. I will probably be going back to work finally! Something part time so I can still be with them after school but enough to keep my brain busy during the day. We will probably also be getting ready to move out of this house because we will be bursting at the seams!

Where will you be sitting when Mo graduates high school, near the exit to make a dash bc you're bawling your eyes out or on the isle standing proud and telling Tuck to behave that's his sister or front row screaming when Mo's name is called.

I'll be somewhere in the middle sniffing into a tissue hoping no one sees me. Tuck will be a surly teenager getting ready to graduate the following year so he won't be much trouble. But I don't think I could bring myself to be the screaming parent. I'm just not THAT outspoken!

What will life be like when the zoo closes in 18 or so years?

I'm scared to even think! It will be just me and the grumpy old Lion and the security dog of the day. I hope it will be a fun time for both of us. I hope we will be that couple who will still have dinner on the deck with neighbors and go to concerts and who can still spend time together and apart without freaking out.

What would it be like if you had a 4th permanent exhibit?

Bwaaaaah Ha Ha Ha! Huggy jacket time for this Zookeeper! The Lion has campaigned in the past for extra exhibits and one night in mid migraine I told him that if finances allowed I would possibly reconsider. Not so much! I am quite happy with this little Zoo I have and sometimes I even feel like I might be in control. That being said, if another surprise came along, I would have an adjustment and the Zoo might get a little angry and cranky for a while but I would eventually come around. I love children and I know that I can rise to any challenge. I'd just like a different one for once!

So there you have it! Round 1 of "Ask the Zookeeper!" If you have a question for the Zookeeper you can send it to ineedthezoo(at)yahoo(dot)com.

Motherhood Means...Creative!

It was cold so what better way to warm up the house than by baking!