Time shift

Every year, these two points of time when we move our clocks this way and that way really drag my patience to the end of time. Between having to change all the clocks in the house; waking up and not really knowing whether the clock I'm looking at shows the new time, the old time, or whether I'm just dreaming; now having to have the kids change their time clocks; and of course finding the end of my day mired in darkness and having to deal with the usual quagmire of bad drivers now all in the same rush hour, but driving around in the dark - I find this whole daylight savings thing to be just a royal pain in the ass.

To help navigate at least a couple of these thorns in my side in this year's "fall back" night - and mind you, it's falling back and gaining an hour for only those without children, and it's still the same schedule now shifted an hour earlier for the majority of those with children - I decided we'd do movie night Saturday night, and let the kids stay up later to push their clocks forward. We've had them stay up late before particularly when we have dinners and parties, and they have, luckily, slept in the next day - but each time is a crap shoot. There's always the chance that they'll shift to keeping their schedules and wake up at their usual time, despite our late schedule the night before, and wake up just plain old cranky because they haven't gotten enough sleep. But we figured, we'd take the chance, see what happens, and enjoy a Saturday family night of movies and popcorn.

To help enhance our movie experience, I popped up some popcorn, mixed it with butter and raisins, and sprinkled on a touch of salt. One of my best friends taught me, back in college, the beauty of adding spices like tumeric and chili powder to popcorn - which I didn't do this time around, but boy, it is REALLY good! Next time...

And when Hubby and I go to a movie, it is not without a big huge Slurpee. Not having made one before, I just gave it a shot in my blender. After successfully making 4 grape slushies from just organic sweetened grape juice and ice, I'm wondering to myself - WHAT THE HELL AM I PAYING $5 FOR AT THE THEATER?! Oy. Oy veh.

Slushies
Ice (measure just enough in volume for the servings you want to make)
Flavorant (juice, soda, maybe even liquor for the grown-ups)

1. Crush ice roughly.
2. Place ice in blender, and pulverize
3. Add enough flavorant through the opening in the blender lid such that the entire mixture starts to turn and mix thoroughly and smoothly. Make sure to give the mixture a stir with a spoon to ensure evenness of the mixture, between the just-icy parts and the just-juicy parts.
4. Serve.

I couldn't believe exactly how easy it was to make this. Everyone, including Baby2, enjoyed these little treats for our movie night, and we managed to keep them up until about 11. Next morning - they slept until 8:30. We lucked out, and they shifted their clocks pretty smoothly.