Super Hero's really do exist

Yesterday I played Little Sally Homemaker, in Grateful Dead jammy pants and a T-shirt. OK, so it was more like Little Hippie Homemaker. Either way I made some damn fine stuff.
A loaf of honey-wheat bread, 2 quarts of vanilla ice cream and a cherry & raspberry pie. De-pitting cherries by hand sucks. Its a good thing my shirt was already red.
I also spent the day trying to keep Gryffin occupied while our Direct TV system was installed. He kept 'supervising' the installer dude and saying, "Hey Guy! I think you forgot sumfing". We played Memory (the super hero edition), we played with Play-Doh (aka, squishy), we read book upon book upon book- and then read them a few more times, I broke out the VTech and let him play video games designed for kids his age. What has this world come to!?! I convinced him that the TV would be fixed if he took a nap and after reading a couple more books he napped for a whopping hour. Luckily, installer dude was finished by then.
Mike's Pa (grandpa) has been in the hospital all week. He is recovering nicely. Mike has been spending the evenings with him and last night I really struggled with missing him. He is doing what needs to be done. He is an awesome, caring person. I/we will get our time with him again soon. But I've really come to realize how much I need him. I am not cut out to be a single parent. By the time he made it home last night I was so tired I could barely talk. All I wanted to do was spend a few moments with him but we were both too exhausted to even entertain the idea much less each other. But he still took time to play with Gryffin, which was the most important.
He exhausts himself taking care of others only to let his own needs fall by the wayside. He is a remarkable person. I love him with all my heart and soul. If anyone is a Super Hero- it's him.

Always expect the unexpected

Too much. That is what has been going on this week. Things have popped up that no one expected and every one/thing is back on the road to normalcy.
Today I have to come up with a menu for the next 7 days. I need to bake another loaf of bread. I'm going to bake a loaf and freeze the dough for another loaf. I just can't stomach paying $3+ for a loaf of bread when I can make my own for a third of that.
Last night our friend Brian was kind enough to bring us our Fair Shares food. It was chocked full of goodies: aged cheddar, squash, zucchini, cucumbers, endive, herbs, cabbage, cherries, raspberries, beef, salsa, toffee peanut butter, a green pepper, a banana pepper, whole grain rolls and beets. Beets? What the heck do I do with those?
The last time I had beets they were from a can and I was in elementary school. This may require some culinary research.

The Wonderful Weekend That Was

This weekend was nice. We stuck close to home and finished up some long awaited projects, cleared out the clutter for a yard sale next weekend and ate some really good food. What more could a girl ask for?
This week is dedicated to more decluttering and procrastinated project busting. My sewing room is an avalanche waiting to happen and since we cleared out the garage I have a major shredding session in store, amazing the papers that accumulate.

Pickles & Ice Cream

We are ice cream prudes. A couple years ago a quaint little ice cream shop opened up just around the corner from us. They had all fresh, home made ice cream and got as many of the ingredients as possible locally. This year when they opened up for the season it was under new ownership. Now they sell, gasp, Edy's.
If I wanted that crap I would walk across the street to the market. Its cheaper there too! But I cannot stomach the stuff. It tastes like chemicals rather than cream, sugar and milk.
Home ice cream makers have come a long way, baby. I found one at Sam's (aka- Satan's) Yes, I know. They are a horrid, terrible, evil axis of bulk but they sell appliances, underwear AND meat! Sometimes in the same isle. The box said it could make ice cream in 20-30 minutes. Sure. It did. Granted it wasn't hard ice cream like we like it but soft serve.
An afternoon in the deep freeze fixed that and last night we enjoyed bowls of fresh, home made, I know everything that's in it, ice cream. It was so good my eyes rolled back in my head and I heard angels singing. I would love to share pictures of the finished product with you but I couldn't put my spoon down long enough to snap the picture.
I also made pickles yesterday. Bread and Butter refrigerator pickles even. I used my Dad's recipe and it couldn't be easier. In fact, the hardest part of the recipe is finding pickling cucumbers. These babies are sweet and tart and crunchy. I've been known to sit down with a bowl of them and a fork and call it dinner. I ended up with six jars of them, five of which made the neighborhood rounds. The last one I'm cherishing like Grandma's china. The best part about this recipe is that you can just keep adding veggies to the brine so you never run out.

Post preview...

All I can really say right now is that it will be the Pickles and Ice Cream edition. Hint, hint, hint.

Happy Anniversary to US!

Yesterday was our 7th wedding anniversary. Mike surprised me and came home early with four bottles of my favorite wine and two dozen roses. He then promptly announced that he was taking us out to dinner. My man is awesome!
It hardly seems that seven years ago he and I were surrounded by family and friends taking our vows. Time flies when you're having fun.

Happy Father's Day!

Happy Dad's Day to all the wonderful Dads in my life. Pop, Mike, you are both wonderful. Thank you.

2nd verse same as the first

Another night of painful sleeplessness. But as a wise man once told me, 'The pain reminds me I'm still alive".

Nip/Tuck

I had a little nip and tuck done at the doctor's office yesterday. Unfortunately, it wasn't the kind that prettified. I had what the doctor thinks is a fatty tumor hacked out from under my left arm. All I can say is that its a good thing I'm right handed. It hurts like hell. Last night I told Mike that I wanted ice cream, not to eat but to put that small, round container of frozen goodness in my arm pit. You know I'm in bad shape when I want to desecrate ice cream.
Even though I stole a Darvocet from Mike, I still didn't get much sleep or pain relief. Thank goodness Day Out is today... I'm napping.

One man's trash is my treasure

Yesterday Beqi and I took the day off. Day Out is back in session so we had five hours of kidless freedom. We usually spend this time handcuffed to our sewing machines working so it was a real treat. We scouted a new coffee shop, which turned out to be totally awesome except that they hadn't gotten any food in. Oh well, we will be back I'm sure. Then we hit the junk shops downtown. I picked up an old leather suitcase with a blue velvet interior for a dollar. It will be an end table with toy storage. I also got the most awesome vintage cardigan. Its ivory with white beading.
Beqi scored big with housewares and a pair of shoes that I might just have to shoejack from her.
We also stopped by the local spice shop where I picked up our custom blend of Highlander Grogg and Death By Chocolate coffee beans, as well as some file (FEE-lay) and some creole seasoning. Hmm, wonder if some gumbo is in our future?

Goodwill Hunting

Last night after stopping at the toy store to let Gryffin pick out a toy we stopped at Goodwill. I love Goodwill. For less than $40 I scored 2 CD's, 4 shirts, 3 skirts and a pair of shorts. Most still had the tags on them! Cool. I would've bought an awesome pair of electric blue, patent leather wedges but they were too similar to a pair Beqi has. In fact, I think they were the exact same.
I almost bought a huge T-shirt that said, "I got Crabs... in Maryland". For some reason I just found that hilarious but you all know my sense of humor is a bit distorted.
Oh and just so you know, Gryffin for once didn't pick out a super hero toy. He chose action figures of 'those meddling kids' and a Mystery Machine. So far he has insisted on having Daphne with him at all times. I'm a little flattered since she and I have the same hair. I'm the prettier, smarter one though.

Monday, Monday

What do you do when storms are in the forecast, you wake up with a monster headache and almost every piece of clothing your family owns is dirty? Dumb question, huh?
Yup, I'm relegated to staying in. I'm hoping the medicine I took will kill the headache but even if it doesn't it won't ruin my enjoyment of doing laundry. I hate it regardless.
There are hints of a trip to the toy store tonight to reward Gryffin for such wonderful behavior this weekend. He was such a blessing to have around (as always). Mike wasn't feeling too well and Gryffin was loving and gentle. How did I end up with such a great kid?
Tomorrow I'm taking a play day and hitting downtown B'ville. I'm in search of some awesome junk. Not anything specific, except maybe some chairs to replace a couple the neighbor broke during a rousing game of drunken Yahtzee a couple weeks ago. Good thing the chairs weren't my style anyway.
Off to tame the laundry monster, wish me luck!

Happy Birthday, Pop!

Happy Birthday to the best Dad a girl could hope for.

Yup, I still remember how to b*tch

I don't know why but the past few days I've been really agitated. I had a glass of wine and a bubble bath the other night to think about it. I do my best thinking with a glass of wine in hand. All I really came up with was a slight feeling of rejection from someone. Not a big deal, probably unjustified and something that I will get over soon. It wasn't enough to justify the snappy, crabby, pessimistic bitty I had become. Its not even close to Demon Week, so that's not it. It could be that Day Out has been closed for it's two week Spring Vacation, but Gryffin and I have had fun together so I doubt it. I can't figure it out so I will just chalk it up to a chemical imbalance and maybe this hot, muggy weather. Or I could blame it on the old egg-donor for old time's sake.

Lets see if I still remember how to do this.

I know, I know, I've neglected all of my three faithful readers. Sorry, I've either been too busy or too tired. Things have settled down to a more tolerable speed so I'm back.
Gypsy Caravan went well. Other than the morning weather. Nothing brings three women closer than a 10x10 tent chocked full of crafty wares and a thunderstorm. A couple hours in and the rain cleared, the people came and my wallet filled. I actually made enough to cover two weeks worth of bills and expenses! Yippee!
This past Saturday night we decided to have a party. It was a lot of fun, a rousing game of Yahtzee and our neighbor breaking two (yes, two) of our dining room chairs. Unintentionally, of course. I wasn't heart broken, I hate the set and its only rarely used. But it does make me lament not buying the set at Gypsy Caravan I fell in love with. Cafeteria chairs from the sixties in metal and yellow melamine. Oh well.
We closed on the house next door without any issues. The current owners stopped by Saturday for a little bit and left after not making the best impression. Some were a little taken aback when the new owner made a comment comparing the color I used to have her new/my old living room painted and a brothel. She's young and seems to think she's from 'The Big City' of St Louis. Maybe it was only nervousness, I'll give her the benefit of the doubt and not hold it against her. Can't say the same for the other neighbors that were aghast at her comment though.