Oh Brussel Tree, Oh Brussel Tree

When I was shopping a few weeks ago, I came across this in the produce section:

I swear I laughed out loud, because seriously!?  When was the last time you saw a Brussel Sprout tree?!?  Me?  Never.  I've never seen a little tree full of brussel sprouts.  Okay, technically it's not a tree.  The correct verbiage would be a brussel sprout stalk. Whatever you call it, I think it rocks.  The lady next to me thought it was hilarious that I was so infatuated by a vegetable.  I was trying to explain that it wasn't the vegetable per se, but the packaging that was so intriguing.  She just shook her head and walked away.  Whatever.  I know she was secretly just as amazed as I was by the funky sprout tree, she just didn't want to walk through the store with the thing sticking out of her cart.  

There were stacks of these stalks piled on top of each other and being the fun mom that I can sometimes be, I thought I had to buy one of the Brussel Sprout Trees for my kids. It did stick out of the cart.  But I think it made me the most interesting person in the store that day.  I definitely got lots of looks and the cashier was at a loss for how to bag it. Apparently I was the only person at that point of the midmorning to purchase the item ( Really?  Am I really the only person in Boise who found these things cool enough to purchase?) and no one had discussed the bagging options with the cashiers prior to placing the stalk out for sale.  I opted to skip the bag and carry it out in my hand, kind of like a marching band majorette.  It was a great day at the grocery store.

I know...I totally geeked out over brussel sprouts.  Obviously I need a more exciting life.  But back to the story.

I've eaten brussel sprouts before.  I like them.  But I've always purchased them already cut off the stalk,  so I never once wondered, as I was picking out my "baby cabbages", how the things grew.  How old am I now?  47?  And I just now found out how brussel sprouts grow.  It also never occurred to me that someone had to do the work to get them to the little basket in the produce section as individual brussel sprouts for people like me to buy and enjoy.

After the hubby and kids also geeked out over the small tree, we decided to have them for dinner.  Which brings me to my next discovery about Brussel Sprout Trees.  They are damn hard to cut through!!  Now I know why the produce clerk decided to just throw the whole stalks out onto the display instead of cutting off the brussel sprouts.  I swear I was ready to have Big Man whip out the circular saw or his camping machete!  Cutting through the stalk with my knife was seriouly, ridiculously labor intensive!  Yeah...don't let the cuteness of the baby cabbages attached to the tree thing suck you in.  Because it becomes way less cute after twenty minutes of cutting, sawing and pounding on the knife handle to remove the little buggers. Of course, it didn't help that my knife hasn't been sharpened since my grandma gave it to me in 1996.  I never remember to get it sharpened until after I have to struggle through something like this. 

ANYWAY...I was almost finished cutting when my very smart 10 year old suggested that I just hit them at a downward angle ("just karate chop them, Mom!") to knock them loose from the stalk.  I tried that.  It worked really well.  On the last eight brussel sprouts.  Who knew?  And where was he 18 minutes ago? 

Whe I was done, I was left with an almost naked brussel sprout stalk.  That looked like this: 

Am I weird or does this look like a beautiful piece of greenery that could somehow be incorporated into a floral arrangement?  Don't ask me how to do it, I'm not good at flower arrangements.  I'm just the idea person here.  I was just really struck by the lovely patterns that the left behind leaves made on the stalk.  It seems like one could throw some flowers and ribbon and other cool florist type stuff in there and make something really unique and beautiful to gaze upon.  Just sayin'. You know how people put out pine bough wreaths and centerpeices for Christmas?  Maybe a shucked brussel sprout stalk could be the centerpiece for Festivus.  It's the centerpiece for the rest of us.  

I can't believe I just wrote a whole post about brussel sprout stalks. 

BORING Family Update...Back to School!!

School starts next Monday. I KNOW!!! It's so early! The charter school we attend works off of an "extended calendar." Kind of like a year-round thing. We take longer Fall and Spring Breaks (2 weeks) and 3 weeks at Christmas. This is our second year there, I think I really like the schedule, other than the fact that it is so damn hot right now that the kids don't get outside recess because of heat advisories. Makes it hard for the first 3 weeks of school! Little Man loses his mind when he can't get his body moving!

Went shopping for school clothes, my boys are growing too fast and I can't keep up with them! I tried to buy big so they can grow into stuff and maybe make it til Christmas. They liked the backpacks, 'cept Big Brother says light blue is a girl color. We were going to take it back but after he messed with it for awhile he decided that it was okay. Funny, cause he wears light blue all of the time!

The school does uniforms, which is okay, I don't really put a whole lot of energy into worrying about whether or not it stifles their personalities...I don't think they really care that much either, as long as the clothes are comfortable. I get Old Navy stuff, it's reasonably priced and holds up better...in case you were dying to know! Bummer that O.N. did not pay me anything to say that, I could use the money after emptying their shelves!

Here The Boys are with new hair cuts, done by mom at home. Little Man has great hair and is really into his hair looking "cool!" Big Brother likes low maintenance. His hair is really thick and when I cut it, it stands straight up! It has to be really, really long to lay down. He doesn't like it really, really long. So we have to goop it up and paste it to his head for him to get the look he wants, kind of a military "high and tight" look. So we end up having to put a lot of effort into it for it to look the way he wants. I ask you...how is this low maintenance?

Anywhoo...I have to say, it was a pretty boring summer for us, so I am glad the kids are going back to school and I think they actually are too. We meet the teachers on Friday, hopefully we'll get some great ones and this year will be a happy year. Last year was a happy year that way - with teachers, I mean. Just a struggle because one of my kiddies has "focus" issues. It's maddening! It invades every part of our lives! It makes school in general a struggle. Hopefully his teacher this year will work with him like his last teacher. Otherwise the "homeschooling" question may rear its ugly head again and I'm just not sure I'm ready to take that on. Not 'cause I don't think it's great, I really do see some fantastic benefits with homeschooling. But because (and yes I know this is selfish) I'm seriously suffering from parent (or is it life?) burnout right now and the thought of taking on one more thing is just more than I can handle. So...if the need arises, I guess we'll think about it. Until then though, I am just praying for two fantabulistic rockin' teachers who really dig my kids. Hey...it can happen! They are actually pretty diggable!