Life with Dylan

Category: Family

  • Grandma’s Oatmeal Raisin Cookies

    Some people have childhood memories of warm chocolate cookies and a glass of milk – for me it’s oatmeal raisin cookies. My grandma made the best oatmeal raisin cookies and I remember helping her make them just like it was yesterday. I would kneel on the chair so that I could reach the counter and help her measure the ingredients. When she wasn’t looking I would sneak some of the cookie dough – a taste for each phase. First the sugar and butter, then when the flour was added, and finally when the oats were mixed in.

    Rainy days are always the best days for baking, so yesterday I decided to make a batch of my grandma’s oatmeal raisin cookies. Oh, the memories it brought back. I tasted the dough at each phase of the mixing just like I did when I was a child more than 30 years ago.

    And when the cookies came out of the oven …

    I ate one. OK, so I ate two. Still warm with all the chewy goodness melting in my mouth.
    When was the last time you made cookies?

    Do you have a favorite cookie from your childhood that you make?

  • Five on Friday – Thanksgiving

    This week I have decided to combine my Five on Friday with Thanksgiving. Thanksgiving is a time to reflect on what we are thankful for and for some reason, possible the same reason most people are more loving and joyous in December, we don’t think about these things throughout the year. Why is that?

    Did someone write it in stone that we are only allowed to be thankful during the month of November? Is it written that we can only be loving and joyous during the month of December?

    Well, I guess that is for another day and another post.

    In no particular order, here are 5 things I am thankful for …

    Family – Can’t live with them and can’t live without them. That seems to be the summation of most families and my family is no different. Family gives support and picks us up when we are down. Family gives us a reason to celebrate and a reason to rush home to the comforts and confines of our own home. Family has stories to tell that have passed down from generation to generation. Family is home.

    Work – I don’t know how many people can honestly say that they 100% love their job, but I do know that most of us (including myself) are simply thankful to have a job. I happen to be lucky, as least I think so, because I have a job that I love. I get to write. This job is not my full-time job, but just having the opportunity to work with a wonderful team of writers at OC Moms is a blessing.

    Nature – Now this may seem strange, but I truly am thankful for the beautiful world we live in. I can drive less than 10 minutes and sit for hours watching the waves crash against the shore. Contemplating life and the mysteries of the vast oceans. I can travel to places where there is not a single sound of traffic. Where nothing can be heard but the birds chirping, the squirrels collecting acorns, and the deer eating corn that has been thrown out for them. Nature is the best way to connect with what is important in my life.

    Health – I have been lucky and thank God every day that my family is happy and healthy. Sure we get the occasional cold like everyone else, but it goes away in a few days with rest and sometimes medicine. I have no serious health conditions that would make a simple cold a matter of life and death. I have no allergies that require me to carry an epi-pen, and I have the ability to get medicine when I need it. This is something that so many people take for granted and we need to be thankful that we have healthy families … and give aid to those that are not as fortunate.

    Dylan – Bob Dylan, Dylan Thomas, and Dylan McKay (yes, from 90210) … without these men, I would not have a son named Dylan. The best thing that God has ever given me – and although I have listed this last – the one thing in my life that I most thankful for. My son gives me joy and hope. He makes me laugh and he makes me cry. He is so much like me and in some ways, he is everything that I always wanted to be.

  • Wordless Wednesday – The Dark Side Meets The Blue Fairy

    The picture came out a little fuzzy (not sure why) … but it’s still a classic.

  • Tough Decisions

    Sometimes in life we come to a fork in the road. We may only have to choose to go right or left, but sometimes we have another option – to continue going straight ahead. The hard part is deciding which way to go.

    (C) by http://www.martin-liebermann.de

    I have come to yet another fork in the road and something is telling me to go right instead of continuing on the path I have been going. The path that I have known. The path that is straight in front of me. This path is comfortable, I know it … but I’m not getting what I want or need.

    Letting things go that we love can be difficult. Sometimes downright painful. Letting go of something that I have put so much time and energy into is not an easy decision to make. However, other paths have presented themselves to me and I want to see what lies beyond the bend in the road. I want to see the forest through the trees and all the beauty it has to offer. For so long I have only seen the trees.

    I have not failed, because to fail at something means that I didn’t try. Didn’t try to do my best. My focus needs to change now and that scares me, but as with everything I have done in my life, I have no regrets.

    I believe I will take the path to the right and free up some space. Remove some of the trees that are keeping me from seeing the forest.

  • Family Halloween Traditions

    Every now and then I find myself lost in time as I look through old pictures of my son. Where did the time go and how did he get so big, so fast? Holidays are one of the best times to reminisce for me because we have some family traditions that are fun to see in pictures.

    During the month of October we visit Disneyland and pumpkin patches. And on Halloween we always take a picture of Dylan in front of the pumpkin statue at Grandma’s house. It’s fun to see how he has grown.

    We also have many family Halloween traditions that we do at home. Decorating, baking, making crafts, and of course carving a pumpkin! Be sure to read about our family traditions over at OC Moms in my recent article and leave a comment after the article sharing your family Halloween traditions!

     

  • Grandma’s 90th Birthday!

    Last week was my Grandma’s 90th birthday and the entire family got together on Sunday to celebrate this milestone in her life … Italian style! The family took over a back room at Lascari’s Restaurant in Whittier. We may be a wacky bunch, but we know how to eat and laugh and we know the meaning of family!

    The food was amazing, but I would expect nothing less!

    gnocchi with brown butter and garlic

    lasagna, just like Grandma makes

    cheese ravioli

    Aside from the food, we were here to celebrate a birthday. The woman who raised me because my mom worked full-time and was a single mother … much like me now … has spent 90 years on this planet. Ironic how history repeats itself. I hope Dylan has a bond as strong as I do with my Grandma with my Mom when he is older.

    (more…)

  • Finally Some Clarity In My Life

    I’m not sure exactly when it happened, but sometime over the past two days I got clarity on what I want from my life … what I want to portray through this blog … and what I will and won’t do.

    I will continue to talk about brands that I like, that I use, and products that I hope your family will try based on an honest review that I give. Maybe you will try a recipe that I post and maybe you won’t. That’s ok. This blog is for me. I write about what I want to write about with hopes that you will enjoy reading it.

    I now have clarity on what is important to me. My son and the happiness of my family comes first. I will continue to put everything I have into my business because I believe that Shel Comsetics deserves nothing less. Writing for OC Moms is enjoyable and I love the team of writers that I work with. They are real people with real lives that I can relate to.

    You will see some changes over the next few weeks to Life with Dylan and I hope that you like them as much as I will. This blog is about my Life with Dylan … what we do and places we go … how I survive motherhood and juggle multiple jobs. It’s about time I got back to writing about these things the way I intended to when I first started this blog!

  • Home Cookin’ Made Easy

    I have been spending some lazy days by the pool and trying to catch up on my magazine reading over the summer. I recently read a poll in an issue of Redbook Magazine and was a little shocked at the results.

    The poll asked How many nights a week do you cook a meal from scratch?

    Photobucket Image courtesy of mareesme

    The results were as follows:

    • 6 or 7 nights – 10%
    • 4 or 5 nights – 44%
    • 1 to 3 nights – 20%
    • Never – 26%
    Am  I the only one shocked by this? I realize that schedules can be hectic and so many options are available to make cooking a convenience, but what happened to the Joy of Cooking? (no pun intended) I’m not saying that every night you need to make homemade biscuits and soup or a four-course meal, but does everything we serve our family need to be pre-packaged?
    Salad in a bag, spaghetti sauce in a jar, frozen lasagna, pizza delivery, and the list goes on. 
    Take the time to cook with your family and make cooking fun. It doesn’t take much time and it’s easy!

    Grate the cheese from a block of cheddar. Chop the lettuce from a full head of lettuce. Cook the chicken and shred it in a pan with some seasonings or taco sauce. Place all the fixings for some wonderful tacos on a sectioned platter and you have a home cooked meal that was easy to make.

    This entire meal only took me 30 minutes to make! Each person got to pick what they wanted on their taco and because we prepared the ingredients and cooked dinner together (rather than buy it pre-made) dinner became fun. I knew exactly what I was feeding my child … No hidden ingredients that I couldn’t pronounce.
    How many nights do you cook from scratch?

  • Dylan’s Lego Birthday – Part 2

    One birthday party down and another to one to go. Well, this wasn’t really a party … more of a celebration.

    Ever since Dylan received a certificate from his school for a free kids meal at Joe’s Crab Shack he has been asking to go there for dinner. What better time to go than for his birthday?

    Nothing fancy. Just Grandma, Grandpa, Aunt Steph and us.

    I was amazed at the amount of food this 8 year old could put away! Give him some fresh seafood and he is in heaven.  Calamari, shrimp, and of course crab!

    The best part of the birthday celebration was when it was time for the staff of Joe’s Crab Shack to embarrass, or should I say recognize, the birthday boy! The announcement was made to everyone that someone was having a birthday and this is what happened next.

    Huge foam cowboy hat about 5 sizes too big!

    Must stand on his chair.

    Staff singing him the “short” birthday song

    And he loved every minute of it!

    Once dinner was finished we headed off to Grandma and Grandpa’s house for presents and ice cream cake.

    What? Another LEGO?

    … and a LEGO watch?

    I still can’t believe my little boy is 8 years old. Where does the time go?