Miscellaneous Monday Musings

Strictly random fluff in this post.

I can see from Sitemeter that I get quite a few hits per week from people who are searching this: “dog driving me crazy” or “puppy driving me crazy.” I just have to laugh when I see that, because I know it comes from me writing about my neurotic dog driving me crazy. Here’s a little hint for those looking for what to do about a puppy crying at night, though. We used to put one of Drew’s old shirts in Oliver’s crate at night when we first brought him home. It seemed to help him to feel a little more secure. We only used to put him in the crate at night or when we weren’t home until he was house trained, since then he is a free ranging dog. Hope that’s helpful if anyone else runs across my blog with that search query again.

We were shopping at our local grocery store the other day. I picked up the store brand animal crackers, which I really like, only to see a little sticker on the front that proudly proclaimed, “New Recipe!” I started grumbling, I am ashamed to say. I hate it when they change the recipe of a favorite snack. It’s not that the new recipe is bad. The cookies actually taste pretty good, as my son continuously informed me once I made the mistake of voicing my dismay aloud. But they don’t taste like they did, and I liked how they tasted before. Now they are okay, but not the same. Why do they always think they need to “improve” on an already good thing? Or why can’t they make some with the new flavor, but still make some with the old flavor for those of us who happened to like the old flavor and really don’t like change all that much anyway? Showing my age here, but I felt the same way about “New Coke.” Remember that fiasco? Hated New Coke. Many of us much preferred plain ol’ Coca-Cola. In fact, "New Coke" was such a failure they brought out Coke Classic and tried to convince us they'd heard our complaints and given us what we wanted. However, the stuff they call Coke Classic these days, I hate to inform them, is not the same as original Coca-Cola. It’s just not as good. If you're much younger than I am, you probably don't even know what I'm talking about, but, trust me, Coke Classic is not as good as Coca-Cola used to be. Not that I drink that sugary stuff anymore, mind you – it’s pretty much diet or no soda at all these days, but when I want a Coke, I really wish it was the old stuff. Anyhoo….

I have become a coffee drinker. I used to hate coffee. Now I love it. Well, I love it when it is more a dessert than a drink – I take with Splenda and creamer – preferably hazelnut flavored, but never black. Ugh. I discovered the other day that if you put in a drop of almond extract and chocolate or pralines n’ cream flavored creamer it is really, really tasty. When I first started drinking coffee, one cup would literally make my hands shake and my heart race. Apparently there’s a lot more caffeine in a cup of coffee than there is in a Diet Coke. It doesn’t bother me anymore. That’s probably not a good thing.

I discovered Sugar Free Kool Aid the other day. It’s not bad. Shhhhhhh……The kids don’t have to know it is sugar free.

A conundrum: Empty boxes in the fridge/pantry. How hard is it, when someone uses the last item in a box, to take the box and throw it away? Is that something only moms can do? It must be, because the other day I found an empty Poptart box in the pantry, and yesterday I found an empty popsicle box in the freezer. I suppose someone thought we needed a cold empty cardboard box for some reason. I also found a popsicle wrapper in the living room floor. There are two boys in my house who either are not physically capable of seeing trash, or have not yet been able to learn the purpose of the big trashcan in the pantry area. It is not for lack of being told. Trust me. They have been told. Repeatedly. We do not live in a barn, I say. I’ve even tried an experiment to see how many times they will walk by a piece of trash they have dropped on the floor before noticing it and picking it up on their own initiative. It doesn’t happen. I still have to tell them to throw it in the trash can. Every single time. Do you think they’ll figure out what the trash can’s purpose is before they reach adulthood or I pull out my hair in frustration? I hope so.

By the way, I thought of some more books I could have mentioned in the last post. I enjoyed some of Beverly Lewis’ books with characters set among the Amish and Mennonite communities and I’m interested in reading more of them, and the kids and I also really enjoyed The Best Christmas Pageant Ever by Barbara Robinson – lots of funny moments in the book and fun to read aloud with the boys. Oh, and the Junie B. Jones books are fun to read aloud, too.