Before I get to the update, please say a prayer or send out some good thoughts for ChaplainMom, whose Big A. is in the hospital after getting his adenoids removed last week. He has RSV, which is a fairly common virus in children but it’s wreaking havoc on his respiratory system. They’ve got him on steroids and IV antibiotics. This is the second time he has had RSV, the lucky little guy.
What I would have missed yesterday and today if I’d gone into labor:
• Sunday worship, in which only one or two people uttered the dreaded phrase. Everyone was on excellent behavior otherwise:
“You look great!”
“Hey! It’s good to see you!”
“Looking good… it’ll be soon!”
“Can’t wait to meet her!”
Senior pastor and I were almost late to the early service because we got to talking to the lay leader, who has six boys (two of them stepsons) and was positively giddy about how much she loved being pregnant. Her enthusiasm is infectious.
It was also Christmas Cantata Sunday and the choir did an outstanding job. One of the women brought me yummy snacks between services too.
And I’m getting a Christmas bonus of as-yet unknown size.
• C’s first deliberate, bald-faced lie, but I’ve already written about that. Cracked me right up, guaranteeing that she’ll do it again.
• Getting all of C’s old clothes separated into large bags and labeled with size AND season.
• Going through many of her old toys and pulling out stuff for Goodwill (while leaving plenty of stuff for the baby). Also realizing that, with four weeks of vacation a year and a spouse who will rarely be able to take that much, I really should take a week each year to do stuff like this.
• C has also picked up a Southern accent from God-knows-where.
“What’s thay-uht?” (trans: Pray, tell me what that is.)
and
“Where’s day-uh-dee?” (Where might my father be?)
• Making two batches of pecan pralines, a family tradition. I managed to get every single one of them perfect—sometimes I pour them too soon and get a couple of caramel glops, but these were all perfect amber beauties.
Reverendmother’s Nearly-Foolproof Buttermilk Pralines
1 cup brown sugar
2 cups granulated sugar
1 cup buttermilk (low fat is fine; we’ve never tried fat free and why should you?)
1 tsp baking soda
2 tsp vanilla extract
2 Tbsp butter
1 1/2 cup pecan halves
1. Line the counter with parchment paper, or wax paper with paper towels underneath (otherwise the pralines will melt the wax paper onto the counter, causing the pralines to break when you pry them up. Of course this causes all the calories to fall out, so do whatcha gotta do.)
2. Combine all ingredients except the pecans into a 6-qt saucepan using a wooden spoon. Cook to the softball stage (240 degrees), stirring constantly.
Note: the last ten degrees always seem to take the longest time. Sorta like the last few days of pregnancy. But I digress.
3. Remove from heat and stir in pecans. Keep stirring for a minute or so, then spoon candy onto parchment/wax paper in small puddles.
Honestly, the only tricky part of this recipe is knowing when to pour. Pour too soon and the first few will be sticky caramel. Pour too late and they sugar up in the pan (although they still taste delicious). You basically want to start when the mixture is juuuuuuuust starting to lose its glossy sheen.
Each recipe makes about 3-4 dozen, depending on how big you make ‘em.
25 Responses to “w.i.w.h.m. part 5”
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Asides
» I have been remiss in posting SBJ’s latest stats: 23 pounds and 27 inches at six months. Yes, I’ve got the big mama biceps.
» Aaaaaand little she-who-is lost another tooth this week!
» SBJ is four months old, 19 pounds 5 ounces, and 26 inches tall. GIGANTOR!
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Does C’s visiting grandmother have a southern accent, being from the south and all? And come to think of it, aren’t you from the south? Of course, I’m from the midwest, land where newscasters pretend to be from, so I think everyone has an accent.
pecan pralines sound impressive. I know better than to try. I’ll imagine them vicariously.
Yes, Mamala and I are both from Texas, but neither of us has an accent. Most people from the cities don’t have one, or much of one, although we use “y’all” with joy and abandon.
I’m adding buttermilk to my shopping list right now…
Mahn comes bay-uck every tahm I visit mah home commonway-ulth.
I always find that my Texas accent increases exponentially in relation to my distance from the state.
Just poking my head up from work stuff to say, the wee-morning contractions are back again. I get up, they go away, I’m wide awake. Bah.
I concur as one who has a relatively accentless voice…unless I’m tipsy or flirting, or both….and I still use y’all with joyful abandon as well…for no other phrase comes close in utility.
blessings
my blog is down, but I still get to read yours
God is good!
I will attest to the fact that RM doen’t have an accent. On the other hand, in our area, there are lots of folks who do (most seem to be from North Carolina).
I always claimed I didn’t have a New York accent (I grew up in a suburb of the city), but I find when I get in a cab in NYC, I revert to one, perhaps in self-defense, so I don’t get taken to midtown via the Bronx.
And yes, y’all is a word with great utility - we use it for seond person plural in our Greek translations so the teacher knows we’re talking plural…
Pralines. OMG. Pass the Glucophage.
As someone from the ’shallow south’ who reverts to the accent of my youth (a twangy-nasally faux southern) as soon as I cross the Marion County (IN) line, I continue to use y’all every day, even in the frozen north.
And yes, my proper Prep-Schooled and Ivy-Leagued New Englander Greek Professor extolled the virtue of “y’all” as the proper English translation for second person plural!
I think the Aussie equivelant to ‘y’all’ is ‘you’s’. As in “Come on, you’s guys!” It also suggests a plural situation. Now, I am well aware of my own very flat nasal ’strine’ accent but I have never been able to tolerate the use of ‘you’s’. I think it was drummed into me that only the poorest educated people used the term and as I was ‘brung up better than them’ I cannot bring myself to use it or tolerate it in any situation.
What do y’all think? Does it make me a snob?
I’m touchy about hearing my children use “southernisms” and we live in Mississippi…
Son bought daughter a t-shirt for Christmas with “redneck chick” on it. I could just crumple in shame. He says it’s good to be a redneck. I say it’s not a compliment.
lol St Cass…
I say there’s a world of difference between “y’all” and “redneck”. Where I come from, redneck is definitely not a good thing.
Don’t know if it makes you a snob Karen, but if you are I am, because every time I hear C say “what’s thay-uht” I bristle and imagine people dismissing her for being a hick–even though I know she’s just experimenting with the language.
Mamala says today’s the day. The shortest day of the year. Hopefully the labor would follow suit! But I’m not holding my breath.
snob comments made me think. I am a Londoner,I went to private school 400 miles away where any acent was literally beaten out of me
My husband is from this city here in Finland. They have a unique way of speaking and which both his parents (from other areas) didn’t appreciate much. It was beaten out of him.
In English it’s definitely a class thing. In Finland, it’s something else, though I’m not sure what. Most definitely subtly class based too.
The irony is I love accents. Hearing only BBC English is a travesy. I want to hear liverpudlians, Londerners, Manchunaiansa nd yeah why not Glasweigans too. Though I love the soft Northumbrian and highlands of Scotland’s lilts and different vocabulary.
For me that was part of the success of the HP movies. They didn’t all speak the same. Interesting what it’s like in Narnia - our whole family got a gift of tickets to that today - hopeing to go on 26th! Hubby should be booking seats as I write.
blessings Revmother - today is the shortest day, but when you are waiting it might seem the longest.
Lorna, I didn’t notice about the different accents in the HP movies, but in Narnia, they don’t all even have British accents! Which was a little startling at first, but actually worked well. Why WOULD they? all have British accents? Just because the humans who started the country came from Britain doesn’t mean the accents there would still be British. (That hasn’t happened in the US for example…)
In conversation about the Narnia movie, a friend objected to something about Aslan’s appearance and that it was hard to find him real. I replied that I knew every word he was going to say, and that the REAL Aslan was actually saying it in my head as the on-screen Aslan spoke; so I found no difficulty.
I didn’t have to willingly suspend disbelief. It was left at home weeks before the movie premiered.
And I say “y’all” every day. But I don’t think redneck is a nice thing to say at all.
Several things, RM … note that the 21st of the month has been lucky for me not once but twice, G, 9/21 and C, 7/21. And I have never made pralines, but my mom often did. I have been looking for a way to remember her this Christmas, and I think I am going to attempt a batch tonight after the kiddos go to bed. So thanks for planting that seed for me. Peace of God be upon you and the entire Reverendfamily today.
Mary Beth you made me even more excited.
I don’t mind american accents (hope it didn’t imply that I would ) just I hate the bland sameness of the BBC - we come from different regions etc and it’s great if that comes through
I love the variety!
Had my 40-week appointment today… the midwife (who bore a striking resemblance to Janeane Garofalo in appearance and tendency to crack wise) said “this cervix is ready to go.” The only question is when, but at least slow progress is being made.
Well, I was going to try the praline recipe last night, but by the time I got a moment to do such a thing, my ankles were swollen and well, I *had* to put my feet up, so maybe this weekend I’ll get to it. Sounds wonderful….
You can’t go wrong with a Janeane Garafalo mid-wife. In fact, that sounds like the start of a really great movie plot. Good luck!
Happy solstice, RM. Thinking of you and thinking expanding-cervix thoughts. C’mon, RB!
Hey RB, if you come on out right now, I’ll give you candy….yummm, yummy, yummy, candy….but you have to come OUT to get it. I know it’s warm in there, but we have blankets out here….and candy……
Hi Lorna. about accents - again. My g’parents were from Leeds, Yorkshire and whenever I hear that accent memories of them and my childhood come rushing back. I think it is the loveliest accent of all.
And I just screwed up a batch. Poured too soon. Stir for at least a couple of minutes.
Oh well.
Edit: Well, most of them are OK, just a little on the tacky (sticky) side.