Toadally Gross

I think I mentioned in an earlier post that Charles had gotten a very large toad at the funeral on Monday night. This morning the toad escaped in the laundry room. Thankfully, it was making noises and Caroline found it and returned it to the cage. This afternoon, Charles decided that he should give the toad to Mrs. Street, Jonathan's Science teacher. He felt that the toad would be happy there with all the other toads in Mrs. Street's care.

And so it was that Charles held the toad carefully in his lap on the way to Mrs. Street's. However, somehow the toad escaped, something I realized when it came hopping into the front seat to join me. I yelled in a surprised manner, as this is a very helpful way of dealing with unexpected animals in the car. I was not interested in squished frog on the brake or gas pedal, so I immediately pulled the car over and walked around to the passenger side. I cautiously opened the door not wanting the toad to jump out, and trying to be prepared for anything. I was imagining the family piling out to search the forest with Charles wailing at me in the background, and Oliver reproaching me for losing Charles' bestest frog.

I opened the door and there the frog was clinging to the side of it for dear life, all stretched out. Were I not so worried about it jumping away, I would have enjoyed seeing how long it was capable of holding that position. As it was, I quickly grasped it, and a REPULSIVE shudder ran through my entire body. My first reaction was to throw the thing from me, but then I had some presence of mind and remembered that we would be back where we started, a loose toad in the car. So I remained calm, toad in hand, and handed it to Charles.

As I climbed back into the drivers seat, I reflected on what mothers do for their sons. Charles had a very pleased grin- I think he was also worried I might lose the toad forever in the woods on the side of the road, and we delivered it to Mrs. Street. Actually her son took custody of it. Charles remarked that the toad looked to be losing weight and was in desperate need of some crickets. He was assured that his toad would be feed promptly and well cared for.

On a very happy note, the toad will be visited by Charles on Tuesday mornings, and I won't have a toad living in my laundry room or Suburban, for that matter.

One dish meals by default

My days are not just very full, they are insanely full. I attempt to do in a day, what I used to do in a week. So by the time I need to start preparing dinner, I occasionally stop short of the mark.

Case in point, Tuesday night this week i began mentally putting the meal together as I looked for ingredients. Rice, butter beans, yellow squash and salmon fillets (my brother brought these over a couple weeks ago and put them in the freezer). In short order the rice was cooking, and then I diced an onion, got it sauteing, cracked open the two cans of butter beans, and then drifted over to my computer. I was immediately and entirely absorbed in shooting off email replies, and quite frankly forgot I was wife and mother, much less in the midst of dinner prep.

Somehow through the fog of business I heard Jon's truck rumble into the driveway, and glanced up. Uh, oh. Dinner. I raced to the stove, dumped the butter beans into the pan of onions, checked the rice, and decided who needs salmon. I called everyone to the table, put the rice and beans on, and in walked Jon.

Honestly, I thought Jon was going to say something in the way of complaint. Even I felt like a farmer's wife post civil war, spooning out starvation rations of butter beans and rice. On the bright side, just looking at the food gave one less of an appetite. Much to my shock Jon made absolutely no comment about dinner, and then asked for seconds!

I was puzzled. But the man looked exhausted, and quite frankly, I couldn't even remember the last time we got more than 6 hours sleep, so I decided he wasn't fully conscious of what he was eating.

The next day when everyone sat down to dinner, Jon looked the meal over and said, "At least it isn't butter beans and rice." I laughed and laughed. Last night's dinner was really a winner. Noodles, chunks of chicken, broccoli and cheese in a savory sauce. No salad or rolls on the side, but as Jon said,"Not only is this not butter beans and rice, it's actually yummy!"