Make Fun of Me!

After fourteen years of marriage, and seven years of dating, one thing I have learned is that my husband, the delightful Hub, takes great pleasure in making fun of me. That's right, clowns me. Believe it or not, it is very endearing. And don't you fret, he doesn't reserve that constant joy for just me; there aren't too many people close to him that don't get to be a part of his fun.

One of his favorite areas of target is anything to do with the way I was raised. You know, things like making a gift list so you can properly write thank you notes, actually writing thank you notes, opening one present at a time on Christmas, pickle and swiss cheese sandwiches (don't ask), letter pancakes (not sure you want to ask about this one either!), and the list goes on. There seems to be an endless field of funny stuff. Since we've known each other since I was 15 and he was 18, we have grown up together. This translates to my life being material for his stand-up comedy.

This weekend I added more material to his répertoire. Youngest and I gutted a pumpkin. Yes, this too was an annual tradition in my home growing up. Who doesn't do that? The Hub apparently. There were no pumpkins gutted for him.

So Youngest and I took care of that bad boy. Youngest wasn't too keen on all the gooey mess that exists in there, and was quite puzzled trying to figure out how it got inside when there is no opening. We pulled out all the pumpkin seeds and I told him we would be roasting them. "For what?" he wondered. Well, duh! To eat. Who doesn't do that? We cleaned them, dried them and baked them. I found this wonderful recipe here: http://allrecipes.com/recipe/roasted-pumpkin-seeds/detail.aspx We had a wonderful time melting some butter, adding a pinch of salt. I did say a pinch, but not sure Youngest's skill set includes a "pinch" of anything. We had a great time.

And then The Hub came in. Wondering what in the world we were doing, we explained we were roasting seeds. Friends, I wish you could have seen the eyes a'rollin and the sideways glance looking at us like we were crazy. "Where do they do that at?" is what I'm sure he was thinking. Nevertheless, we would not be deterred. We roasted them for about 40 minutes and when they were finished, we sampled. Everyone except Bball Girl. She's a funny one. She said they smelled funny and they didn't look quite right. This is one time advertising doesn't lie. Our pumpkin seeds looks just like the ones on the recipe. In my gung-ho-ness I even forgot to turn them while baking, like the recipe told me to. Yet, they were a beautiful golden-brown, sweet from the butter and the salt was, um...not lacking.

As we are scooping up handfuls of them, crunching away, I wondered why we only bought one pumpkin. The Hub decides to sample them. It became immediately clear that this fella would clown me and my kid-friendly activity WHILE he eats the seeds. The man has no shame. Now I ask you, where do they do that at? No matter. It's all in good fun and if The Hub didn't tease and make fun of us we would know something is wrong. Everyone should have that person in their life that brings joy and happiness and knows how to have a good time. You can't have The Hub but I hope you have, or find, someone like him. Maybe that someone is you! Learn to love, live and most of all, ENJOY life. The Lord knows we have been through some serious roller coasters over the past few years, but we have never stopped laughing. And we have never lost our joy. Even if it comes with the price tag of being clowned.

Have you ever tried roasted pumpkin seeds? Do it! So simple, and such a delightful treat. What a fun way to spend a few moments with the kiddos. And they taste amazing. Youngest reflected, "wouldn't it be wonderful if we could make a pumpkin pie from all that inside orange-y stuff?" Listen buddy, don't push it.