So anyway... As we continue with Read Across America Week, in honor of Dr. Seuss' Birthday, you know I'm doing my part to celebrate! (What I've done so far this week HERE.) Because of a pop culture occurrence that happened very recently, I thought it would make a perfect Dr. Seuss-type story out of the insanity! So, I wrote my version of what I believe Theodore Geisel might have put down about the effects of the mayhem. Why? Because it's worthy of a Dr. Seuss story! Plus...I can now get my rhyming in!
**********
Art by Nathan Fairbairn
GREAT DRESS DEBATE MESS
by Erica Williams
WHITE and GOLD?
BLACK and BLUE?
The great debate
dividing a world into two!
Believe it or not,
the stripes which I speak
caused a big fight
lasting almost a week.
If you yelled,
“TEAM BLUE AND BLACK!”
It seemed to make
Team WHITE and GOLD want to crack.
Even Delmar the Donkey cried,
“Definitely BLACK with the BLUE!”
While Dolly the Donkey yelled,
“Oh! So very wrong are you!
This is ridiculous.
This is old.
How could you even be so bold?
Everyone knows it’s all WHITE and GOLD!”
Then Elliot the Elephant
had to report.
“It is completely of
the WHITE and GOLD sort!”
Then Ella the Elephant chimed in, too.
“All I see is the BLACK and the BLUE!”
The guy in the blue tie
yelled for the GOLD and WHITE.
The guy in the red tie,
with all of his might,
fought right back
for the BLUE and the BLACK.
What was so great
to cause this debate?
All of this mess
was caused by. . . .
the stripes of a dress!
WHITE dress.
BLUE dress.
BLACK dress.
GOLD dress.
The color of a dress
caused a world debate mess!
Oh my!
Oh! Yes!
All of this mess
was caused by how others
looked at a dress.
Half of the world
fought the
BLUE and BLACK fight.
The WHITE and GOLD half
fought the fight
with all of their might!
In the end,
one side won.
This kind of fight was all in fun. . . .
even though only one side won.
This whole mess,
the hullabaloo,
was caused by a dress
that was, indeed,
BLACK and BLUE!
So how did this fight
get so out of hand?
With all of its might,
dividing a land!
Turns out with the light
and the way it was posed
was clearly a case of
being overexposed.
**********
So there you have it. Hope it did Theo proud. But...amm-i-rite? Totally worthy of a Seussical book. For real!!
Now, it was done mostly tongue-in-cheek. But I did try to take his approach to a silly story.
I didn't get to do this yesterday since it was so crazy. I rhymed yesterday. You may not see any rhyme in this post. But no guarantees...
However, our day was turned a bit topsy-turvy with strange & frustrating scheduling of things. So didn't get to do everything as hoped. But it doesn't mean it won't happen.
As I planned out dinner & dessert, I still had to pick up a couple of things from the store. When we went grocery shopping, originally, I couldn't get everything then. Figures.
So, dressed for Dr. Seuss' birthday, I was excited to sport this outfit I'd been looking forward for quite sometime!
I worked the long sleeves for the morning. And it was fun how many times I was stopped at Walmart to tell me how great or adorable my outfit was, to find out why I was dressed this way, and even was asked if I was a teacher! I was also stopped to see if I worked at a daycare!!
Nope. Not anymore...
Now, it's just what I do. (more of my weird celebrations HERE)
There was even a precious little old lady who asked why I was dressed like this. I reminded her it was Dr. Seuss' birthday. Her eyes lit up as she said, "Well it is. Isn't it? Well, no matter what, I still think your outfit is adorable."
Awww!!
A couple asked if I always dressed like this. Bah-hahahaha!!! *ahem* ...often...
And...a Walmart employee (who also asked if I was a teacher) bragged on my outfit, walked over to the dressing room area & loudly announced, "CAT IN THE HAT IS IN THE HOUSE!!"
I did get back home to get cleaned up, and Seussical-inspired makeup on (as I imagined it) to get going with my day.
I kept up the Cat in the Hat inspiration as I went about my day.
Since we were having Who Hash for dinner (recipe HERE), I figured I'd better get some meat thawed so I could get it all started. I decided to fry up everything in a skillet, this time, before putting it in the lazy cooker. So, it took some time.
There was an idea in my head to try a bread recipe for the day...but just didn't get the time I needed to put into it. But I will be trying soon! I hope...
I did want to try a food item I have been smitten with. I put it on my Dr. Seuss Pinterest board, and was excited to try it!! I wanted to try almost an Egg in a Basket/Egg in a Hole kind of thing, but it's a bell pepper slice instead of bread! So adorable & fun...and seemed so Seussy...
...so I tried it!
It's OK...I have a thought on how to try it next time. Because...there WILL BE a next time! But...yeah...NAILED IT!
My sons weren't getting home until later, and my hubby was away at some meetings. Besides rhyming on Twitter & Facebook, I didn't want to waste this outfit! So I headed back out...and went to Target. Yes...looking like what you see, above.
I got several looks. Duh. But one gal did tell me how adorable I looked & shared that she probably loved Dr. Seuss more than her kids. We laughed & laughed...and then I realized that was probably me...
I made my way to the cash registers to get a couple of things I'd picked up. The cashier was TOTALLY digging my getup! I know this because she told me. Then, an older lady was behind me & got in on the conversation. She actually asked me if I was a librarian!! Apparently she used to be a librarian & would go all out on reading-type events. We talked a moment about food. She said she had made avocado deviled eggs. It is something I've pinned to my Dr. Seuss Pinterest board to try. Guess it's a sign I should actually do it!
I also took a stroll around the mall. I don't think anyone knew how to take me. That's OK. I hope they were entertained & maybe inspired.
Then, it was time to head back home to prepare to get the boys home. So after I got them back to the house, it was time to prepare for the meal that evening...
Much like Teen Girl taking over making our sweet coleslaw, Lil Guy is now our official Kool-aide maker! He made our Pink Ink! We decided we would just do Pink Lemonade this time. And he did a great job! This is while Teen Boy made up some of our daily semi-sweet tea.
While they did that, I was preparing the cheesy scrambled green eggs.
We also had a little bit of ham leftover from the previous night's meal...so I heated it up & made sure it was colored green.
Plus, I did end up making some Cat in the Hat skewers to serve with some Bar-ba-Loot mix for dessert!
So happy with how it all turned out! And, the following stories were covered:
* The Cat in the Hat (and any book the Cat in the Hat appears in)
* Green Eggs and Ham
* Scrambled Eggs Super!
* One Fish, Two Fish, Red Fish, Blue Fish (the Yink & the Pink Ink drink)
* The Lorax (the Bar-ba-Loots)
* How the Grinch Stole Christmas (where you'll find Who Hash)
I also sent sent rainbow Goldfish with Lil Guy for his snack at school. You know: One Fish, Two Fish, Red Fish, Blue Fish.
Even though we didn't get to enjoy them, I found this bag of apples:
OK. How many apples are in there?? Yes. There are 10! Straight from "Ten Apples Up on Top"...but instead, they were in that bag.
I usually try to work in "The Butter Battle Book," but, if you remember, I didn't have time to try the bread I'd hoped for. But...soon...
Oh...and by the way...the Who Hash really is good. Just incase you want to try it.
With my hubby getting home RIGHT at dinner time, and with a lot of outside influence on the time that was left, we didn't get to work in a Dr. Seuss movie.
However...with Dr. Seuss' birthday being celebrated by kicking off the annual National Read Across America Week...we have a few more days! So do you!
Lil Guy's school is doing their Dr. Seuss Family Reading Night tonight. You know I'm going all out for this, right? Believe me...I have something planned. My above outfit with additions...
Something like this?
Because...you know I would.
Oh...and believe me when I tell you there will be more celebrating...
Stay tuned...
God Bless, AM~Erica **********
UPDATE:
Went to Lil Guy's school for their Read Across America Read-In. So, I dressed for the occasion!
Ummm...I was the only one dressed like this. Weird.
We can have Mardi Gras, like this year. (read about it HERE)
Those are now checked off of the list for 2014...and now looking to plan for a crazy run of close-together holidays:
Pi Day is coming...and so is the Ides of March! (read about them HERE)
Then, even though it's not a weird holiday, per se, it does need to have it's celebrating looked at. St. Patrick's Day comes right after Pi Day (3/14) & the Ides of March (3/15). So, we gotta plan ahead to get it all in!
I already know that Pi Day will consist of eat of pie. Yes...it should be about math & other nerdicle things, but math really does hurt my head. So it will consist of at least pizza. Maybe some kind of pie for dessert. Other than that...not sure. But it would be awesome to host a Nerd Party on 3/14/15...so let's all think about this next year! Epicness might happen. Until then...the plan is pizza on Pi Day Friday (my hubby came up with that rhyme).
For the Ides of March, it will be Caesar Salad & a large Italian feast. And no visiting of government buildings with friends. Oh...and togas! Or something Roman-inspired to wear for the day.
Those are usually pretty well in place. But I like to keep thinking thru & then thinking thru some more about St. Patrick's Day.
If you remember...corned beef & cabbage is NOT an Irish dish! I'm not a fan of corned beef anyway...so that works for me! Last year, I made an adapted Dublin Coddle. (read about it HERE) I like it! Hubby is OK with it...the kiddos are still whiny! So...the search continues for an authentic meal we ALL will try & hopefully enjoy. Oh...and no pork since we have a non-pork eater. I have found a flavorful beef dish to try...a potato side, a cabbage side & will hope to go back to try tradition Irish soda bread. A couple of Irish-inspired desserts are being planned, too. Hoping to take in the KC parade & catch an Irish movie. We usually do "The Quiet Man" since it's my hubby's fave movie, anyway...but would like to work in "Darby O'Gill & the Little People" as a change. We shall see...
OK...off to some more planning & prep for the upcoming holidays. I've turned on some Irish music to get me focused!
Have I mentioned I love this time of year? Cuz I do...I really, Really, REALLY do!
OK, I couldn't finish this in my Seussy-style rhyme. I was trying to get this written by last night (starting with the above rhyming), and there were a lot of distractions of kiddos & things. It became extremely difficult to keep up my rhyming when I could hardly keep a thought straight!
As I was saying...
I started the night before with chopping up the veggies for dinner so it would be easier to pop things in the lazy cooker the next morning. And it had so much Seussical color!
Around that time, the weather was getting pretty nasty. Hubby was trying to figure out if our church should cancel any services. He did decide to cancel the first service & Sunday School...so we were just going to have an abbreviated late service. That meant we got to sleep in! (Maybe...unless we got the 4-10" of snow & we needed to cancel the late one, too.)
So we got up the following morning to not a whole lot of snow...just super cold! Not enough to justify canceling church completely...so...hubby & I were getting ready for the day!
I got the lovely veggies in the lazy cooker, seared a rump roast & put it in the lazy cooker, added the seasonings, cider & worchestershire, too, to get the Roast Beast Who Hash going for dinner that night.
Since we were going out...and it was Dr. Seuss' birthday...of course, I had to look as Seussical as I could! Just needed to be smart about it since we were going out in the cold & snow. So...I sported my Seuss-striped shirt over a ribbed turtleneck sweater. I added long red & white striped socks over black skinny jeans, then put on my black boots so the socks could just peek out over the tops. Then I added my head scarf with large red polka-dots, then added a fun flower with long skinny feathers to it. I put some blue in my hair. I then put on a long gray sweater vest & topped it off with a perfect blue knit scarf that looked reminiscent of a thneed in the way I had it wrapped.
My friend, Renae (the one who got me started drinking coffee...HERE), brought up about bringing Seuss rhyme into the liturgical part of our church service! BRILLIANT! Right? I was trying to convince my hubby to at least do the greeting & benediction in they rhyme form! He wasn't too keen on it...he wanted to keep it at a certain level of reverence. I understand that...but I tried to convince him that folks would REMEMBER it! He didn't think it would be for the right reason. *sigh*
However...
Because of the switcheroo of services & times...he did more of a devotion. To begin the devotion...he talked about it being Dr. Seuss' birthday & about it being the kick off to Read Across America! Since Theodore Geisel was an advocate to encourage reading...my hubby talked about how that tied into the ability for us to be able read the Bible. I was so proud! Then he gave a great devotion about it being Transfiguration Sunday & about mountaintop experiences. Then he touched on us going to Colorado this past summer. It was beautiful for all 35 of us at service yesterday.
Then we got home, hunkered down (since we got more snow WHILE in service), and tried to figure out the rest of the day. I did more dinner prep, I could hear weird movies on the TV (not of any Seussical sort), and we were discussing what we could do.
In the meantime, I attempted to make fried eggs that looked like the ones from 'Green Eggs & Ham'...
Not pretty...but you get it! Right? RIGHT?
Yeah...not bad...but certainly NOT great! It may have to stay as scrambled eggs...but if anyone knows where I can find eggs with green yolks, please let me know! That would be awesome!
I also did up some painted toast in Seussical stripes!
Colored milk red with food coloring, then used a wide brush to paint bread,
then popped it in the toaster to set it.
This is what I used as the butter-side-up & butter-side-down bread. I was pretty pleased with how cool this looked!
I also found an adorable dessert idea! It's supposed to be a kid snack of Bar-Ba-Loot mix! I just happen to have chocolate teddy grahams & marshmallows to mix! I came across it on Pinterest, but here's the link to it HERE!
Remember the adorable Bar-Ba-Loots from 'The Lorax'?
The adorable brown bear creatures that discovered they loved marshmallows?
Yes, them. And you can mix them all together! So good! So fun!
Since we didn't do Green Eggs & Hamburger (like I brought up, HERE, in my previous post of ideas), I still thought about purple ketchup...and then my friend, Princess Jules, had a genius idea! She brought up putting blue food coloring in red ketchup! DUH! So...I tried it...
...and then I added some more red...
...and then I tried to add a bit of purple...
Well...it looked more like mud, no matter what I did. So I called it "murple". Pretty Dr. Seuss-sounding, don-cha-think?
BEHOLD: Murple Ketchup
When I grew up, we would have hash & top it with a bit of ketchup. So I thought adding a dab of Murple Ketchup to the Who Hash would be quite fitting.
Then I buttered the bread & stacked it up...
And I got out some colorful bowls in a stack...
Bowls in perfect Seussical colors & stack form
And the hash browns were added to the Who Hash for about 30 minutes before serving it up...
And the Seussical Spread was pretty awesome to look at!
But I mustn't forget the drink! I had Lil Guy make our Pink Ink koolaide to top off this meal! It's a gallon of strawberry & pink lemonade.
And we were ready to eat like a Who & drink like the Yink!
And it was time to serve it up! Notice I love to serve it up on fun dishes? Yeah...I go all out!
Served with Butter-Side-Down
Served with Butter-Side-Up
Of course, I was hoping for a Seussical-themed Oscars...since it was being broadcast that night. (how I pictured it HERE) So, we watched some red carpet...no Seussical gowns. The closest outfit was probably Liza Minelli's look.
I was hoping Ellen DeGeneres would show up in a Cat in the Hat type tux...and it was close...
She was just missing the hat! So...a touch of Seuss...
I thought we could watch a Seuss movie/special after I watched Ellen's opening. We ended up watching all of the Oscars. And...I did get one more Suessical moment...when "Let it Go" from 'Frozen' won for best song! The acceptance speech was SO perfect in SO many ways! Just watch...
OK...I didn't get to read a book for Seuss, or watch a Seussical movie. However, I did get to get more Seussical trivia, and rhyme all over Twitter & Facebook.
I'm hoping to work in at least a movie, today, to help kick off Read Across America...and find books.
Since we had some Bar-Ba-Loot mix left, I did throw it in with some cereal this morning:
Bar-Ba-Loot mix in Fiber One Cereal...it's good for you!
Since we had 2 pieces of buttered Seussical bread left, I'm going to take the 1 leftover green egg, add cheese & ham to have a sandwich with some leftover Who Hash for lunch. I'm gonna make this last, people!
Leftover Roast Beast Who Hash with Seussical Green Egg & Ham Grilled Cheese
So...what did you do to celebrate Dr. Seuss' birthday? Keep it up for Read Across America, folks!
Oh yeah...in the meantime, we got a snow day. May be why it's taken me so long to finish this post! Let's see what the rest of the day brings...
Stay tuned...(Mardi Gras is coming...) God Bless, AM~Erica
I am getting ready to celebrate one of my favorite weird holidays.
It is getting close to time
for me to use some Seussical rhyme.
That's right, people...this weekend is Dr. Seuss' birthday!
Much like I have done with St. Patrick's Day (HERE) & Talk Like a Pirate Day (HERE), I am trying to get as many of you as possible to prepare to celebrate! And to get the focus on WHY there is the celebration.
The birthday of Theodore Geisel is no different! There has been a rise of celebration for Dr. Seuss' birthday in the last several years, and it has kicked off the Read Across America week in schools.
I want to continue to urge kids of all ages...ALL AGES...to read, but Theodore Geisel was a brilliant mind! He would have to be to create & illustrate the fantastic nonsense that made sense. Amm-i-rite?
His madness was, and still is, fantastic & so worth celebrating! And I mean celebrating to the hilt!
Wearing crazy stripes, stove pipe hats, sporting crazy hair, and out-there fashions just lead to thoughts of being a Who, or other character/creature, from Seussville.
Watching a movie from a Dr. Seuss book is highly encouraged! Even if it's a Christmas one. The only one I didn't like was "The Cat in the Hat", starring Mike Meyers & a very young Dakota Fanning. Which is sad since it was so perfectly cast. But that's my own opinion...however, you don't see it popping up on movie channels, or even on ABC Family. That says a lot!
Now then...the food...
We have done several things in the past few years. Plus there all kind of other ideas, too...but here's a few things I've forced my family to eat...which didn't turn out so bad & is totally & Seussically festive:
Who Hash
I've done this a couple of times within this past year. It started out on Dr. Seuss' Birthday...and we did fix it a few other times! It's a winner of dinner!
Pantry Who Hash (aka - Poor Man's Who Hash) recipe HERE
We have had green [scrambled] eggs & ham before. However, since then we have non-pork eater. However...I have a thought to include & put a twist on the beloved book, "Green Eggs & Ham", that would allow our non-pork eater to join in the fun...
Have you ever been to Red Robin & partaken in the Royal Red Robin? It's the burger that has a fried egg on it! If you've had it, you know it's REALLY good! If you haven't...it probably sounds weird, but you gotta give it a try (if you want to spend $10 on that burger). OK, I know it comes with bacon...but we would leave it off, fry up the egg & color it green...then pop it on top of the patty...because "green egg & ham[burger]"!
Doctored image from Williams-Sonoma
This would be SO awesome if it looked like this...
I'm not gonna lie...I do wish Heinz would bring back the crazy ketchup colors (remember those?) for Dr. Seuss' birthday. How awesome would it be to have that purple ketchup dripping from your green eggs & hamburger? Very Seussy, amm-i-rite??
Any-who...(see what I did there?)...you can do easier things like serving rainbow Goldfish crackers ("One Fish, Two Fish, Red Fish, Blue Fish")...
...and blue jello in clear small bowls with a Swedish fish in the jello ("Cat in the Hat").
We have also done bread & butter - half was butter-side-up, the other half was butter-side-down ("The Bitter Butter Battle"). I might do this again, and paint the bread with colored milk before toasting it! Seussical bread would be an amazing thought!
So fun! Amm-i-rite?
Painted Toast image via Spearmint Baby
We certainly could not have a meal with without a drink!
So we make Pink Ink to drink!
We drink Pink Ink, just like the Yink!
We drink the Pink Ink Yink drink!
OK...so it's so super easy! We make a gallon of Koolaide. Seriously. It's half pink lemonade & half strawberry. And it's delicious! You could do pink lemonade, too.
Our Dr. Seuss Feast 2011:
Green eggs & green ham, rainbow Goldfish, buttered bread,
"Who Hash" (which was really spoonable cornbread...I didn't know better then),
and Pink Ink
We also call it Hope Juice because Teen Girl says, "it tastes like hope feels." (quoting one of her favorite John Green books...which I'm pretty sure it's "The Fault in our Stars") But it's Pink Ink on Dr. Seuss' birthday.
I'm not one that does a lot of crafts. See...I'm what you would call "craft-challenged". I'm creative, but certainly NOT crafty! However, even though I'm not a game player, I will have some fun with some Seussy festivities! Actually, I did it a couple of years ago when I made a surprise trip back to St. Louis!
So...I obviously think you should look the part, too!
Here I am with Tim Ezell after the Seuss Olympics in 2012
Yep! Stripes, spots & blue scarf. I made the shirt to look like it was straight out of a Dr. Seuss book & I had the scarf in the perfect blue. I have that spotted scarf & I added a feather headband last year, along with some touches of blue hair.
You can also use "Mr. Brown Can Moo! Can You?" to make the craziest sounds. You might surprise yourself!
Using "The Foot Book" is perfect to discuss all of our differences & how it makes each of us unique & special!
Start planning ahead for Earth Day while you delve into "The Lorax".
With the Oscars being on Dr. Seuss' birthday this year, I have been imagining what it would look like if the whole thing was Seussical-themed! I have a crazy Pinterest board imagining what the fashion could look like! I'm entertained by the thought of these, for sure! (check it out HERE)
You can check out my other Dr. Seuss celebrations HERE, too.
There are so many other books of his you can use to celebrate with!
You can even start on a smaller scale. Wear a striped shirt &/or socks. Color some pasta or mashed potatoes green, blue, or purple. Read a few of the books & get inspired! It's really hard NOT to get inspired from these books!
