An Active Listener

Chuck has a special knack for ignoring me. I don't think he does it maliciously, I truly believe he really can only do one thing at a time. For instance, he can't chew a tasty pork chop and think "Yum, this chop is delicious." and hear me say, "Chuck, Sharkey's eating your mashed potatoes."

But last night he surprised me. Chuck is getting ready for an interview and brushing up on some possible questions. One question asked "What makes someone a good communicator?" With only a few seconds of thought, Chuck said, "Really a good communicator is probably an active listener - someone who allows the other person to speak without interrupting and then reiterates that person's comments in their own words to ensure understanding."

What?! Where did you read that? I didn't even know Chuck knew "Active Listeners" existed let alone knew what it takes to be one. As I listened to this, I fired off the accusations: Who gave you that answer? Do you do all your listening at work and then you're all tuckered out when I get home? Are you the same person who snoozes on the couch ever Sunday and can't hear me say, "Chuck, would you like chili or tacos?" but pops up at the first "TOUCHDOWN!" from the commentator?

While Chuck is great at ignoring me - he seriously can't turn left and hear me say, "This isn't our turn." He'll complete the turn and ask, "What?" - talking to him is generally like playing a word association game. I'll say something like, "Would you like grape jelly on your toast?" and if I'm lucky he'll say peanut butter. If I'm not so lucky, he'll sing and dance to Bootylicious. Why Chuck knows all the words to every Destiny's Child song is beyond me, but that's probably another post.

When Sharkey Met Gary

We continue to add to our family and there is some confusion regarding our latest additions. We adopted a kitten...



...and couldn't settle on a name. We tried Leon, Miles, Linc and lots of others, but nothing fit. While we were trying to name him, we discovered he's the worst kitten ever. He spent most of his waking hours biting me, Brandy, Ben and Chuck in that order.

So, we finally named him Sharkey and he's truly like his final namesake. He's a skilled predator - a vicious killer - and we're all scared of him.



Discouraged by the biting, I asked my mom what to do and she said, "Your kitten needs a kitten." So, I brought home a beautiful yellow tabby my brother caught outside his house. Chuck is absolutely against a two-cat household so I told him we were just fostering the yellow kitty until my brother was ready to take him.



Well, things started going badly right from the beginning. Sharkey started spraying near the litter boxes. Yellow kitty had coccidia making his poop really smelly. Chuck pretty much wanted to divorce me and probably would have had he known things like our savings account number and our lawyer's name.

I ended up coming clean with Chuck who said, "I'm glad you decided to tell me the truth, but I'm disappointed that you lied." What?! That's totally out of character. Chuck likes the yellow kitty and Sharkey really did need a kitten - the biting has subsided substantially! He still bites me, but at least he's not biting Ben.

We decided to name the yellow kitty Gary after Spongebob's pet snail. So now we have Sharkey and Gary and they're mostly best friends, although they spend most of their waking hours attacking each other or planning their next attacks.



Please look forward to The Adventures of Sharkey and Gary as they come along.

Garden Update

It's almost October and I'm pretty sure everyone else has prepared their garden for the winter. We don't know how to do that so our sad little garden is still plugging along.

We've harvested several zucchinis, four green bell peppers and one tomato. Truly, that was the best tomato I've ever eaten - it was juicy and fresh and had the very best flavor! I think I'm ruined for all other tomatoes.

I've been finding new recipes for our zucchinis. Since the first zucchini was hard and tasteless, Chuck's been asking, "Is this from our garden?" and sniffing it suspiciously. Chuck always smells his food before he eats it. I don't know how that helps, but I guess he's done it since he was little. I've been around him so much now, I can hear him do it even if I'm not looking at him. It's always the same routine:

Chuck: "What is this?"
Jackie: "It's mashed sweet potatoes."
Chuck: "Is it good?"
Jackie: "I think so."
Chuck: "Sniiiffff....(bite and chewing)....humm....."

Here are two delicious zucchini recipes.

End of Summer Chili by Rachael Ray
http://www.rachaelray.com/recipe.php?recipe_id=2857

Although Chuck firmly believes all chili should consist of meat and beans only, he still ate this. There are lots of veggies and it's really good for you.

Mini Meatball Stoup by Rachael Ray
I don't have a recipe for this, it's not on her Web site, but I saw DeAmbra make it so I tried to replicate and mine came out more like Italian Jambalaya.

Basically you saute any veggies you have on hand (I used carrots, onion, zucchini, green pepper, celery, and three cloves of garlic) in olive oil. Add about two quarts of chicken stock and Italian seasonings (I used thyme and oregano- about two teaspoons). Make mini meatballs and drop them into the boiling soup and then add a cup of small pasta. I didn't have any small pasta on hand so I added orzo (rice-shaped pasta) and it soaked up all the broth and my meal really did look like jambalaya with meatballs instead of sausage.

Jason, our brother-in-law, said, "Wow, this is delicious. I don't know what it is, but it's good." I don't know what it is either.

Give it a try and send me your suggestions. I think this meal has potential.

Ben is a Puppy

We've always joked about Ben being more like a puppy than a baby. Coming from a family immersed in veterinary medicine it seemed like an advantage. But now Ben's proven he's more canine than human.

Yesterday, I was combing his hair and I found a flea! I was horrified and screamed for Chuck to hold the wiggling baby (Chuck didn't find this to be near the emergency I did)I caught and killed that little parasite and a half hour later all the pets had a healthy dose of Frontline! Dad said, "Please don't use this on your baby. It's for dogs and cats only."

Later, we were freeding Brandy her dinner and Ben crawled right over to her bowl, took out his pacifier, picked up a piece of dog between his tiny little thumb and methodically brought it to his open mouth. He looked like a Carp at the lake.

I barely intercepted the food. He only has two bottom teeth and I didn't want him choking on dog food. To her credit, Brandy didn't make a sound. She didn't growl, bristle or even stop eating.

And this morning. Ben needed his diaper changed so I called him and called him. Just like most little boys (and big boys) he ignored me. So I got out a can of Gerber Puffs and shook the can calling, "Come here Baby. Come get a cookie." He and Brandy both came over at top speed and sat expectantly in front of me.

Looking at my dog and my baby, I realized the similarities. Pretty soon were going to teach Ben to roll over and play dead.