Look mom, I made you a recipe

Every time I hear my son say those words, I have a flashback to when I was little and concocting my own creations for my mother.

During my nonraw childhood, I used to combine all the junk food I could get my hands on in a big bowl and call it "my recipe" (my son does the same thing now). Most of it came from my grandfather, who lived next door to us at the time. He loved to spoil us with sugary treats (I probably get my sweet tooth from him, although the majority of my family has one).

I vividly recall an incident where my friend Stacey and I wandered over to his house and ran off with the entire contents of his candy bowl. We came back to my house with pockets full of Snickers bars, Milky Ways, M&Ms, Peppermint Patties, Junior Mints, etc. We unwrapped every last piece, put it all into a large bowl and mashed it up into a big gooey mess. We were so proud of our "recipe."

My mom's reaction was not filled with our glee. I believe we had to apologize to my grandfather after spending some time on the couch, where we were supposed to think about what we had done.

Sitting on the couch was like my mom's version of time out. She used to set a timer, so you would know exactly how long you had to sit there. It was such torture to watch the other kids she babysat play, while the timer ticked away.

One of her timers over the years was shaped like a chicken, which lead to the phrase, "go sit with the chicken." I can still hear my sister saying, "no, not the chicken," as if it were the worst thing imaginable. We still joke about it at our family Sunday dinners.

As you may have noticed, family means a lot to me and I value these special moments. I've really enjoyed posting about them during this blogging experience, but I feel I need to slow down for a little bit in order to create more of these memories.

Don't worry; I'll still post occasionally, but not to the extent that I had been. As I said in my latest We Like It Raw post, I need a little vacation from blogging. I hope you're not disappointed.