Torture

I'm not sure how I did it, but I managed to marry a man (or should I say boy since we were barely 22??) whose birthday is on Christmas Eve.  He claims that the date has always been great for him.  As the baby of 5 children, with the others quite a bit older, he loved a birthday near Christmas since his sisters and brothers always made it home to celebrate with him.  However, as his wife and the mother of 4, I find his birthday overwhelming.  In fact, I vow every year to celebrate his day in June.  His "halvy birthday" if you will, just to give myself a break as I try to rack my brain for the perfect gift.  

This year Tim assured me that he really didn't need anything.  He'd just made a few major purchases and I didn't need to give him much.  I was really going along with the whole plan, until December 23rd when the Guilt began to come over me.  He is the ultimate gift giver and he manages to surprise me in some fashion every darn year.  Are you beginning to get an idea of the pressure I endure at Christmastime? I manage gifts for the kids AND I really need to find some sort of treat for my man, as well.  I decided to trek over to Knoxville for one last gift for Reed and while listening to the radio, I had a brainstorm.  We needed Satellite Radio.  I've attempted to give it to him before, but he always nips the idea before it has time to fully blossom in my mind.  This year, however, I hadn't mentioned it.  Therefore, the gift was really right there among my (not) lengthy list of gift choices.

He opened the carefully wrapped brochures and produced his wonderfully warm smile.  I really think he liked it!  I was thrilled that I had come up with yet another last minute surprise for him.  Well, a few weeks later, our satellite is hooked up and working and we are loving the variety it adds to our MANY car rides to Knoxville.  In fact, on our trip home from dinner the other night, all 6 of us sang "Livin' On A Prayer" in unison.  Thanks to Guitar Hero, our children know the lyrics, and Tim and I remember them from 20 years ago.

Variety, sing-alongs, laughs, and torture.  Yep.  That is what satellite radio really brings to this mama.  I have 2 children who are now old enough to join me in the front seat.  Caroline and I have very similar tastes in music.  She seems to be pretty agreeable to any choice I make and it's the same for me.  The torture rears it's ugly head when 11 year old Brooks is my passenger.  First of all, he likes to surf.  He finds a song he likes and continues to search for the next best choice.  Fiddling is distracting and annoying for this almost 40 year old.  Plus, he has a few friends who like what I consider to be "heavy rock"; therefore, Brooks is fully entranced with the sounds of the drums and yelling rather than singing. 

My patience is thin.  My ears are sensitive.  My heart is light.  I don't need head-banging in my life.  Tonight I reached my limit.  Some song was on that was popular when I was in high school came on the station he picked.  I didn't like it then and I certainly don't like it now.  I just had to tell it like it was... we are NOT listening to Boneyard while I am driving.  In fact, it was all I could do to refrain from switching right over to the elevator channel.  After all, that's what my parents did when I was a teenager.  They pretended to like elevator music everytime I was in the car.  I remember asking my dad if he really liked it or if he was just trying to make me suffer.  He said he did, but I suspect that my parents just needed the smooth tunes to keep their sanity.  Saving sanity... now that's a subject I am just beginning to understand.  Maybe Satellite has a channel that can help me save mine.

Doing the Math

This is a big year for us.  Well, I guess you could consider Tim's big year as 2008, if we focus on the year he turned 40.  It hasn't been long, though.  Today he is 40 years, 1 month, and 3 days.  Our kids like to count their ages down to the minute - especially Reed, our numbers boy.

January, February, and the first 12 days of March are my favorites.  These are the few days when I am noticeably younger than my husband.  I tend to rub it in as his days continue to add up.  However, as we get closer to my birthday, my gloating subsides and I prepare myself for age equality.  Yes, my 40th is looming and my list is not yet finished.  I still have quite a lot of running to do.  I am not optimistic that all will be completed.  I am optimistic; however, that I will hit the big 40 very soon - God willing!

The other day Cole was eating lunch while I was cleaning the kitchen.  He was rambling on and on about various topics and I was polishing the cabinets (I don't usually clean this diligently, but I am about to put the house on the market).  Somehow his conversation topic turned to math and he wanted me to listen to his addition facts!  He had come to the realization that all 6 of us are really 40.  Cole added all of the kids' ages and came up with an amazing fact.  Add Caroline's 12 years to Brooks' 11 years, plus Reed's 10 years and Cole's 7 - guess what!?!  They are 40!  and so is Tim. He was lumping me in to the "40" crowd....

Ha ha ha!!!  I'm not 40 yet!  I still have 45 days.  I'd better head to the gym.  I promised 40 miles this year and I think I've only run 5.  Yikes!  Surely I can check this off before I do hit the grand old age of my husband!

Pizza Stuff

Here's a recipe for you to try.  It is fairly easy to prepare... you just have to plan ahead.  Pizza Stuff is Reed's all-time favorite dinner.  I make it for our monthly church lunch, too, and it disappears in no time.  One of our friends calls it Pizza Sandwich.  It really doesn't matter what you call it - but you'd better make a double batch - or you might not get any!

2 loaves of Rhodes frozen bread

1 pkg. shredded mozzarella cheese

15 slices hard salami

1 pound ground hot sausage, cooked

banana peppers

Pizza Sauce

Remove frozen bread and place on 2 cookie sheets.  Rub each loaf with butter and lay waxed paper on top.  Leave the bread to thaw for several hours.  Ideally, the bread will be thawed and not too cold when you begin to work with it.  If you leave it out all day, it will work, but it will begin to rise and you will have to punch it down before rolling.

Once thawed, roll the bread out with a rolling pin to the size of the cookie sheet.  Do the same with the second loaf.  Cover one rolled loaf with salami.  You can overlap the pieces, or spread them out, depending on how much you want.  Next spread the sausage on top of the salami.  Spread 1/3 of the cheese on top of the sausage to hold the inside together, then top with banana peppers.  Spread the remaining cheese on top.   Take the other rolled loaf and fold it in half.  Lift it off of the cookie sheet and place on top of the other loaf and filling.  Unfold and pull the entire top layer to cover the bottom layer.  Pinch the edges all the way around.

Bake at 350° until the top is brown (approximately 20 minutes). I move it to the bottom rack for the last 7 minutes to ensure that the bottom crust is crispy.  Cut it with a pizza cutter and serve with pizza sauce for dipping!

Other options:  I occasionally add fresh mushrooms, jalapeno peppers for the adults!

By the way, the above pictures show a batch that was cooked a little too long.  It should be light brown on top to avoid dryness!