Happy Heritage: Pork Shoulder Butt

Stuck. It didn't stop his explorations though.
Over the next couple days he got stuck again
underneath the end table's shelf, on the
shelf, and on the top of the table.

My older daughters watched me prepare a pork shoulder butt for our dinner. "That's not pork, that's a lamb leg!" No, I explained, it was pork, it just was nearly the same shape as the lamb we had eaten recently. I pointed out the label "proving" my point. "Pork Butt!!" Actually, it's from the shoulder. I don't know why it's called the butt. "Phew! Who'd ever want to eat a pig's butt??" I then explained where ham is taken from. Surprised, my daughters immediately declared their willingness to eat a pig's rear end any day, at any opportunity.
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Maria declared that she wishes we had a summer house in Europe. Or a winter house. Or any house. So I asked where in Europe. First she chose France, then London, England. Reese's eyes lit up and she eagerly asked where the candy shops are located in Europe. "Switzerland." I told her. So that's where she wants her extra house to be located.
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I've learned the best way to teach children how to spell: 1. Bring a toddler into the home. 2. Since the toddler will quickly learn to understand the word "candy", tell the older children that they will not be allowed a sweet treat after meals if they use said word too early. They will therefore have to spell it out, "C-A-N-D-Y" when requesting their after-dinner treat. 3. Wait up to a month (depending on the age of the toddler) for the younger child to realize that those letters mean the same things as "candy". 4. Tell children they will have to spell "D-E-S-S-E-R-T" so the toddler will not stop her meal as soon as she hears them spell out the earlier, easier word. 4. Repeat steps 3 and 4, increasing the difficult of the words spelled. Suggestions for those more challenging words: confectionery, sweet treat,
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I was recently nominated the castle gardener. "Because queens don't weed strawberry patches and we are princesses, so..." Grade school logic: They are princesses and princesses live in castles, and the gardens of those castles are cared for by official gardeners. If I am tending the garden, then I am obviously not eligible to be their mother, the queen; I must be the gardener.
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My slider phone spontaneously decided to stop working. I can receive calls but the keypads don't work properly so I cannot make any phone calls, read any text messages, look up any phone numbers, or shut off my morning alarm. Neither my husband nor I was surprised at my phone's death, though it was sudden. We knew it was coming. We had already decided that when it occurred, we would upgrade me to a "smart" phone, but would continue using the slider until it truly died. The biggest advantage I am hoping for from my new phone is the ability to take pictures with it. The last two years I have been at a clear disadvantage, not having my camera always handy and finding it inconvenient to physically attach the camera to a computer in order to do anything with the pictures I take. Hopefully the change will be a positive one for our family's annual photo album and for this blog, since it should be easier to take more photos and to upload them more quickly when and where I choose to.