Can of worms, ripped open
Life has been a little nutty ’round here, lately.
Um, not the “ZOMG Y’ALL I AM SO BUSY” kind of nutty. For one thing, I sort of hate that assertion on general principle, because isn’t EVERYONE busy? I mean, usually? When I have a lot of stuff to do, any spare moments I have for reflective thought tend to take the shape of “Did I remember to eat today?” and “Do I have any clean clothes to wear?” or even “Why do these children keep talking at me and expecting me to feed them?” Even if I had time, it would never occur to me to be convinced that I was eversomuchmorebusier than anyone else. Life is busy for 99.99999% of the population.
No, it’s been nutty more in the MANY FEELINGS and CHANGE IS HAAAARD and HOW DO I MAKE THE THINGS THAT NEED TO HAPPEN ACTUALLY HAPPEN kinds of ways. And while that last item falls, I guess, into the general “busy-ness” category, the other two are much more matters of “May I please be excused? My brain is full.” Only no one ever explained to me as a kid that adults are never excused no matter the fullness of their brains. So unfair. read more…
Just a little older and a lot wiser than me
Today is Otto’s birthday. I wish he had more than one each year, because Otto is the kind of man who is content to tend to everyone else and put his own needs on the back burner to make sure that everyone else is okay. He deserves way more than 24 hours of being the Man Of Honor.
Of course, we kicked off his birthday week early with the gift of mucus. HAPPY BIRTHDAY! Remember how, before you lived with kids, you never got sick? No? Me neither. Here, I got you a box of decongestant. The GOOD kind, the kind I had to hand my first-born over to the pharmacist for. I’m sort of going to miss Chickie, but as she’s the one who brought this plague home, it seemed only fair. (Also, the pharmacist looked kind of scared.)
Anyway. Where was I going with this? (Woooo, I may have opened the decongestant box already. Good stuff, man. MY DESK IS SPROUTING FEATHERS.) Ah, yes. The point is that Otto is incredible and we don’t celebrate him nearly often enough. So today for his birthday I get to embarrass him. read more…
The holidays ate me and all you got was this post
First the kids were off school for a week and then I was cooking for days and then it was Thanksgiving and then it was a million other things AND the first miserable cold of the season which we passed around to everyone in the house AND a bunch of work and school stuff AND one of those “now we must reevaluate our life choices and make everything more complicated!” revelations that I like to have when I’m sick and busy AND did I mention that the new dog’s favorite pastime is slurping up an entire bowl of water and then horking it right back up onto the kitchen floor? Because it is. (He’s cute, but not very bright.)
There’s more to tell, of course, but for right now, I’ll leave you with my latest at Alpha Mom, because it’s beginning to feel a lot like Christmas, and if I think about it too much, I have MANY MANY FEELS. What a difference a year makes, sometimes.
Happy post-Thanksgiving!
Black Friday is my day to get up wayyyyy too early and dish out the deals all day long over at Want Not. Just picture me in a long, flowing cape (I mean, I’m wearing my polka-dotted robe, and that’s practically the same thing…), bravely saving humanity from having to go out into the world to join the shopping madness, today. It’s a public service, really.
Our Thanksgiving was lovely. We had good friends, good food, and I was curious to see how Duncan would do with a houseful of people. As it was, we ate in the dining room while both dogs paced around the table, ever vigilant and hopeful. It was rather like being stalked by two small, furry sharks. Only more adorable and less terrifying.
While I’m busy shopping, you could head over to Alpha Mom to see what you should be doing with your Thanksgiving leftovers. I have an ulterior motive, really; I want some new recipes, and I suspect that will cause at least a few of you to offer up some goodies. Come lay it on me.
I can barely hear myself think…
… but that’s okay, because having a houseful of kids means I’m content, if slightly headache-y.
This is a busy work week for me, and the kids are off school. The deal is basically that as long as everyone stays out of my office, everyone is welcome to have friends over. This meant I was able to work most of today with only the dogs bugging me. By the time I was ready to get off the computer, it was time to figure out dinner (anyone else feel like they shouldn’t be obligated to feed anyone this week except on Thursday? … just me?) and dish up some semblance of a balanced meal to a table full of bottomless teens. (God bless Costco and the trillion-pound bag of frozen tortellini.)
The secret to surviving the noise is not such a secret—I love it when we’re the hang-out house. This week, especially. Come on over to Alpha Mom to find out why.
After this I’ll stop (maybe) (probably not)
The Great Doggie Integration Experiment of 2013 continues apace. Licorice continues to endure, while Duncan continues to try to figure out what in the world is happening. It turns out that his former owners weren’t kidding when they said he was “very food motivated,” so with liberal application of treats, we’re making good progress with him.
We’ve completely gone to the dogs
I know, I know. I was all LOOKA MY NEW SMUSHY PUPPY and then I disappeared. Almost like I had a life, or something. Except no, I totally don’t, I just have this here newish dog who is a complete mess. Needless to say, this both confirmed my belief that he’s totally part of our family AND has kind of been keeping me busy.
Anyway, we had to go see the vet.
The good news is that the vet was all “I have an open appointment right after you pick up your kid! Come on in!” The bad news is that THEN two dogs who ate rat poison came in, so we had to wait for an hour. Neither Duncan nor Monkey were pleased. (Monkey busied himself with taking pictures, then playing every game on my phone, and later he was allowed to visit an owl they had in the back who escaped his enclosure and drank the vet’s coffee. So I think maybe I’ve been forgiven because OWL DRINKING COFFEE.) read more…
The course of true puppy love…
… never did run smooth, right?
Our first night with Duncan was a little rough. Today is better, and tomorrow will be better still. We’ll get there. In the meantime, it’s possible that my latest at Alpha Mom will cure you of wanting a second dog, just in case you’d been thinking that was a good idea.
On the other hand…
… Duncan just figured out how to use the doggie door out on the porch, and he was pretty proud of himself. So there’s that.
Let’s make life more complicated!
So, uh, remember how I was all, “What we really need while everything is going wrong and ending up more expensive than we planned is another dog?” That was dumb, right? I mean, who DOES that?
Even Licorice knew it was stupid, and she’s cute, but not exactly a MENSA candidate or anything.
Dumbest idea I ever had. Yep. read more…
Cook something yummy while I’m gone
There’s big doings afoot here today—maybe—well, it’s complicated, and I hope that tomorrow it will make a good story, but today I have to go do other things for a little bit. Plus I think it’s a D&D day, which means soon my house will be filled with nerdlings and dice and lots of words I don’t understand.
While I’m away, why not make your family a big pot of chili? I’m pretty sure I’ve linked to all of these recipes here before, but now you can go over to Alpha Mom and find all of my favorites in one handy spot, just in case you’re not sure what to have for dinner. We’re having Karen‘s turkey chili tonight, in fact. (Well, the meat-eaters are. Chickadee will have to find some leftover veggie chili in the freezer, or just whine loudly about how I clearly don’t love her. That’s always fun.)