Summer is in full swing! I know this because 1) it is hot and sticky outside and 2) I spend a fair amount of my life wondering why I don't have more time now that school is out and DEAR GOD WHY AM I STILL PACKING LUNCHES?? Ahem. So some things have changed, and others remain maddeningly the same. In no particular order, here are some of the things our family now does: Update the calendar in the kitchen. Remember how summer is relaxed and easier? HAHAHAHAAAAAAA nope. My school-year routine is to take down the calendar on the first of the month and fill it in, but now that both of my children...
I mentioned that I've been making bread again, right? The thing about homemade bread is that... then you have a lot of bread lying around. Weird how that works. And my first few batches of homemade sourdough didn't rise quite as much as I wanted them to, plus they weren't terribly sour, which means they were excellent for things like toast but not so much for things like sandwiches. You know what else homemade, dense bread like that is great for? Overnight French toast. If you've never made this before, go make this overnight bananas foster French toast immediately. And look, I'm not gonna...
I feel like we are busy all the time and there are a million things happening at once AND YET I am also somehow getting nothing done. This is... probably not good. Some of it is under my control and some of it is genuinely not, but even the stuff I can control is often being replaced by other, perhaps less pressing, things. Because I'm a dumbass. EXAMPLE 1 Thought: "Oh, I should really work on revising my resume." Action: Revising my resume. Action: Spend a week cultivating my own sourdough starter, commence various baking experiments, throw away a few loaves, eventually produce decent...
I called my dad from the car today---both because my ridiculous new car makes it easy and because who has time for an actual phone call with words unless it's en route to someplace?---and he told me that he is really enjoying the Nerd Night posts, and thinking about which desserts he would like me to make for him. "Oh yeah?" I said. "Which one piqued your interest?" "I think maybe that fruit-covered cheesecake," he said. "Only, when you make it for me, could you maybe not drop it on the floor?" Yea, verily, I was offended. I explained with multiple huffs that I DID NOT DROP IT ON THE FLOOR,...
... I cannot remember if I have mentioned here or not that I'm going to be in The Vagina Monologues again this year. But in case I hadn't, before, there ya go. Now I have. This may not mean a thing to you (maybe you live very far away; maybe you are opposed to vaginas for some reason), but this morning I was on a local podcast along with one of our directors to talk about and promote the upcoming show. And you could listen to it, if you wanted to, to hear how much MORE awkward I am in real life (hard to believe, I know). Bear in mind that I got a phone call late last night asking me if I...
Well I, myself, need to talk about kale. Maybe you don't. But you're here and I do, so we're going to talk about kale. [Possible alternatives to talking about kale: Talking about the fact that I just got 10" of hair chopped off and now I have no idea how the hell to manage my hair, because even though I was tired of just putting it up in a massive bun every day, that doesn't mean I've figured out how to do an actual hairstyle ever in my life; talking about the fact that my kids are going on yet another school trip and this morning when I was trying to assist Monkey with his packing he got...
Hey, remember how my kid came down with something flu-ish on Christmas? Because of course she did? And then a week went by and figured it was just her, so on New Year's Eve Day when we were making vision boards and I wasn't feeling so hot, I figured it was no big deal... right up until it became clear that yes indeed, I was going to be ringing in the new year with a fever and a lot of grumpiness. Oh well. I don't know what sort of virus it is (was), but I finished up my board in bed, yesterday, and today I am up but moving kind of slow. That's fine. While I go drink a whole lotta water and...
How was your Christmas? Ours was lovely, just before the family scattered on their various journeys, and right now I am struggling to get back into "real life" mode while ALSO dealing with the fact that we're under a flash flood warning and our yard has turned into a river (thanks, Obama!). This means that the dogs are all manner of freaked out---Duncan likes to bark to let me know he heard thunder, which is SUPER USEFUL---and also because they are delicate flowers, they don't want to go outside in the rain and mud. And that's fine, if they want to learn how to use a toilet, but apparently...
I spent the bulk of the past weekend and this week baking cookies. Some doughs I make and freeze for later baking. Some cookies I went ahead and baked and froze when they were done. Some I baked this week and refrigerated. And then---like EVERY SINGLE YEAR as if I'm just new to this whole thing---on Thursday I of course discovered that the number of Cookie Gifting Vessels I owned vs. the List Of Teachers was a mismatch, and off I went to buy more containers. At least that trip to the store broke up my day of finishing baking and dividing up everything and packaging it nicely and printing...
