Where have all the babies gone?

You know you're from Louisiana if...
The Christmas decorations are barely packed away, your friends are talking about fitness goals for the New Year and you've got visions of King Cake dancing in your head. If you've never heard of King Cake, you can read about it here. Ask me what I miss most about Louisiana and a lot of things come to mind (aside from family-I'd miss them no matter where they were.) At the top of the list would be Tiger Stadium on a Saturday night when the Golden Band from Tigerland belts out those first few spine tingling notes

going barefoot in nice thick, lush grass that stays green year-round

and King Cake.

During our first Mardi Gras in GA Hubby wanted to bring a King Cake to the office to share with his co-workers. We couldn't find any around town so I made one...from scratch. I've always had a tormented relationship with yeast. Usually it does absolutely nothing. This go round it more than rose to the occasion and I ended up with a wad of dough about as long as a boa constrictor. I don't remember the details, but I think I ended up taping pieces of two moving boxes together to make a "platter" large enough to hold the cake. The following year, I learned from the underground network of displaced Cajuns that King Cakes could indeed be found in ATL. All I had to do was go to my neighborhood Publix and order one. Seems it was a closely guarded secret. They don't actually put them out on the shelves. You just have to KNOW. We ordered more than our fair share that year. The first went to work with Hubby. He called half-way through the day and informed me there was no baby in the cake. (If you're not familiar with King Cakes, you're probably really confused at this point.) We couldn't believe our luck. Out of all the King Cakes sold, they forgot to put the baby in OURS! The nerve! A few days later we picked up a cake for ourselves. Imagine our chagrin when once again, there was NO baby. We started to put 2 and 2 together:

Maybe they don't put babies in the cakes here.

What's the point of a King Cake with no baby?

Later in the week, I picked up a 3rd cake (told ya we went overboard) for a playgroup Mardi Gras party. I dug out my arsenal of king cake babies collected over the years and contemplated hiding one in the cake myself - trying to determine which would be the bigger faux pas...a king cake with no baby or a king cake with two babies. I took a chance and tucked a spare baby away in the cake at the last minute and am happy to report it was the only one.
We've ordered many cakes from Publix since that first year even though they're not quite the real thing. This year, Sport, Spice, and I were beside ourselves when we walked in Kroger and saw King Cakes out on the shelves. They even had a hole in the middle like the REAL thing. (I always had to carve the middle out of the Publix ones.) The Kroger cakes still weren't authentic. Even Sport said it was too sweet. Last year my parents shipped us an authentic cake and it was heavenly, but it cost an arm and two legs to ship, so we can't expect that every year right? (However, if anyone in our family is feeling especially generous and would like to ship one we'd be more than happy to accept.) So... you take what you can get. Kroger's cake also did not come with babies so once again I dug my dwindling arsenal of babies out from the back of the kitchen drawer. One of our dinner guests - a King Cake novice - was thrilled to find the baby in her piece of cake and of course wanted to keep it. Not a problem, we're more than happy to share our babies around here!

Not Me Monday

Welcome to Not Me! Monday! This blog carnival was created by MckMama. You can head over to her blog to read what she and everyone else have not been doing this week. As for me...

I did not scream, "STOP!!!" at Spice when I walked in the dining room and saw her cutting My Little Pony's hair then remember just as soon as the word left my mouth that I had given her pretend scissors just for that purpose about 5 minutes earlier.

I did not watch one of my dryer balls fall out of my dryer while doing laundry then turn around about 5 seconds later and see it lying on the floor and excitedly pick it up and throw it back in the dryer thinking it was the one that has been AWOL for the past few weeks. Since that never happened I was not disappointed just a few minutes later when I finished folding clothes and realized there was still only ONE lonely dryer ball in my dryer.

And finally, I'm so glad I did not go out and spend nearly $15 on junkie snacks to hand out after Sport's basketball game Saturday only to have the game canceled, leaving my family with a pile of nacho cheese flavored Combos and Kool-Aid drink pouches to consume. I would be so ticked if that happened. What a waste of money!

I Heart Books

Right before Christmas I went to the library and did something I haven't done in a long time...picked out a book for me to read JUST FOR FUN. I've always loved reading. While most expectant mothers worry about their child's health, I fretted that mine would not enjoy reading nearly as much as I do. (I'm happy to report they do.) We make a trip to the library at least once a week and I usually pick up something for myself, but it seems for the last year or so the titles have always been along the lines of "Homeschooling:The Early Years" or "How to Talk So Kids Will Listen and Listen So Kids Will Talk" or "Raising Your Spirited Child". I picked up Mary Kay Andrews' "Blue Christmas" just before the holidays on the recommendation of a friend and enjoyed reading again so much for the fun of it that I decided I would make a point to start reading for enjoyment again in 2009. So far I'm off to a pretty good start. I will keep a running tab of books read this year in my sidebar - mostly just so I can see how many I can knock out in a year and maybe something will catch someone else's eye and they'll be inspired to go check it out. I'm warning you though, I tend to lean toward biographies and non-fiction books, especially about history. Every now and then you may see a novel thrown in mainly because it was recommended by someone else. If you have any recommendations let me know!

Wasn't Me!

Welcome to Not Me! Monday! This blog carnival was created by MckMama. You can head over to her blog to read what she and everyone else have not been doing this week.


As for me, I did not go to BJ's (warehouse club) to purchase a large amount of Ovaltine for my chocolate milk obsessed family then panic upon learning BJ's does not sell Ovaltine and purchase a 3 pound barrel of Nesquik instead. Ovaltine is filled with vitamins and minerals and just a tad of sugar. Nesquik has about 47 grams of sugar per teaspoon and nary a vitamin or mineral. I would never serve something like that to my family, especially not first thing in the morning. What a start to the day that would be! After not purchasing the Nesquik, I also did NOT come home and find a can of Hershey's chocolate powder in my pantry that would have served our chocolate milk needs just fine for a day or two until I could get to a REAL grocery store to purchase Ovaltine.

I also most certainly did not jot down a cookie recipe that I came across while my son was attending a homeschool Spanish class at a nearby church and I used the church's wellness center to sneak in some exercise for the week. Even if I had copied down that recipe (at least it was lowfat) I would not come home and proceed to make said cookies that evening. Why that would have totally negated the 45 minutes I put in on the treadmill that morning when I discovered the recipe. Even if I had gone so far as to make the cookies I would not proceed to eat more than my fair share of them over the next day or two after deciding they weren't up to snuff. (I told you they were lowfat.)

I did not interrupt my son's homeschooling and come thisclose to using "unfriendly" language in front of my dear sweet children when we logged on to look up masterpieces by famous artists and this man's picture

came up on the Yahoo homepage under the headline "Nation's Top Recruiting Class" instead of this man's picture

Doing so would mean I value football over my child's education and besides, it's February. Football's done until August. What do you think I'm obsessed or something? That would also make it look like I hold a grudge against somebody and Tiger fans don't hold grudges. Never.

I also did not admit to being a Tim Tebow fan to a Florida Gator loving friend while telling her about this article someone from my homeschool group sent me. (He was homeschooled ya know?)

And finally, I did not fail to participate in Not Me Monday last week because I completely forgot what day it was even though I was so excited about participating for the first time. I did not sit around last Monday thinking of all the hilarious things I would write for Not Me Monday when Monday finally did roll around only to realize on TUESDAY that I had completely missed out. What do you think I'm scatter-brained or something?

Are You A Groovie Mom?

You might be a Groovie Mom IF..

A new song comes on over a store's sound system and within seconds your kids can accurately (and LOUDLY) identify the Beatles, Jack Johnson, or Michael Jackson as the artist.(Don't laugh at that Michael Jackson bit. You know you can't help but groove along when Beat It or Billie Jean comes on.)

You can rock along to ACDC's "You Shook Me All Night Long" with your kids in the car when they hear the song for the first time. When the song's over and they say how much they liked it you can nonchalantly proclaim to have the CD.

You promise your kids they can stay up and watch the ENTIRE game the next time LSU (insert your favorite collegiate team here) plays for the National Championship.

You promise your kids they can stay up ALL NIGHT when the Saints go to the Super Bowl! (This would make you an even groovier mom.)

You let them eat all the "cookie pancakes" they want for breakfast and sometimes even add sprinkles to the syrup. (You may or may not disclose that the secret ingredient is sweet potatoes.)

Your kids think a trip to the thrift store is the greatest thing since sliced bread.

Of course these aren't the only criteria for being a Groovie Mom. This is just what floats my kids' boats. What makes YOU a Groovie Mom?