LL, and yes ROW

Lessons Learned

• Apples and almonds are good for memory. Note to self: remember to buy more apples and almonds.
• I am not a good nurse, especially to someone who has been out of town for three weeks, only to come home and get sick and do nothing but sleep and watch movies for three days. I'm working on it.
• No matter how hard I try to get used to having dinner without Brian, there is no mistaking that family dinners are just more fun with him around. This is how dinner usually goes when he is not around:

"How was your day?"

"Fine."

"Anything exciting hap--Paris, can you sit down and eat?"

"Where is the milk?"

"I forgot to put it on the table, can you go get it?"

"Tritan set the table, he's supposed to get it."

"Hurry and eat, you have to get bathed tonight."

"I took a shower 2 days ago."

"Well, you need another one, you stink."

"I don't like this."

"It's chicken. Everyone likes chicken."

"I don't like this chicken."

"Fine. Whatever. Just don't come running to me when you're hungry...And take A BATH!" As they run from the table as fast as possible from the detritus.

This is how dinner goes when Brian is around:

"Remember that time Dad when I was in the garage helping you with the lawn mower and I drank the gas?"

"What?! You never drank gas!"

"Yes. You were busy with the lawnmower and I was just a little kid and I thought there was apple juice in the red bucket and I took the hose and I drank it--glug glug glug glug--and then you turned around and were about to put gas in the lawnmower and you picked up the can and said 'WHAT?! I just filled this up!' and I just sat and laughed and laughed." Paris tells us this story while completely pantomiming the whole thing, complete with scratching his head when he quotes Dad and holding his ribs while telling us how much he laughed.

"Paris, that did not happen."

"Yeah, well I told my friend Ryan and he thought it was hilarious."

"Paris, you can't drink gas. You would die." We overemphasize this fact so that he won't actually think this is a feasible trick.

"Yeah, you would explode." Tritan interjects his vast knowledge picked up on Wickipedia.

"Well, you wouldn't explode. But you would die." We try not sugarcoat anything in our house.

Paris shrugs his shoulders. "Well, Ryan will be in high school before he figures that out."

Recipe of the Week

Speaking of dinner, I finally found a good crock pot recipe. It is Knife and Fork Barbecued Brisket Sandwiches. Everyone loved them. I substituted apple juice for the beer and only added one tablespoon brown sugar to offset the sweetness of the juice.