Musings

Dear blog,

I have started to write things several times this week and it’s been nothing but a big bother. The things that are interesting to me wouldn’t be interesting to anybody else—that’s the pitfall of blogging. I do much better when I, no offense those who read this, write stuff that I’m interested in instead of trying to appease some invisible audience.

So here’s what’s interesting to me lately…

·         I had a Sally fail today. I made a peanut butter cake with chocolate frosting (James’ request) and the cake was D-R-Y. And not even a little bit. I don’t think I overbaked it. I think the recipe was a bum. Peanut butter is one of those things that kind of dries your mouth out anyway—the batter was really thick and it’s way too crumbly. Blech. The frosting was pretty good (although, again Sally, I had to play around with your recipe to take some of the sickening sweetness out of it). Roy says average cake is better than no cake. I tend to agree, although it would be healthier if I didn’t.

·         I can’t remember a season where I’ve been less interested in the NFL than this. The Patriots are undefeated, Ben Roethlisberger has been injured, and the Bills are kind of disappointing. Little boys mean I can’t ever sit and watch an entire game, nor do I have many chances to catch sports radio in the mornings. I kind of miss it—I miss having the time to care. But it’s not bothering me as much as I thought it would.

·         I need some good book recommendations. I was on a reading kick for a while this fall, but the past month it’s kind of petered out. I’ve thought about rereading Harry Potter this holiday season, but most of our books are in literal pieces and that’s just not a very fun reading experience. I love memoirs and GOOD fiction. I do not love science or historical fiction. I’m afraid that these days a book has to be pretty accessible and not require 100% focus for me to make it through. If I tried to read Dickens or Dostoyevsky I would fall asleep within paragraphs.

·         Owen is getting daggone smart. Today he deliberately pulled the only George book off the downstairs kids' shelf and read it with me a dozen times. It went something like this:

“Curious George is going to the zoo today. There are so many things to touch, see, and do. Where’s George Owen?”

<points> “DAH!”

“Yes! Good job!”

“Here’s the penguin…where’s George?”
<points> “DAH!”

“Yay Owen! OK, here’s the flamingo. Where’s Geo…”

<points> “DAH!”

Etc.

Also this. He totally knows he’s not supposed to toss food off the tray. Or pull books off the shelf. Or gnaw on the toilet cap. Or try to descend the staircase by himself. And this is what he does.

He’s very pleased with himself.

·         Roy wants to go on a vacation. To someplace warm and expensive. Soon. Part of me says, “YES. LET’S DO THIS YESTERDAY.” More of me says, all matter-of-factly, “We could take that money and do so many things with it, including pay down some remaining debt.” Roy says that we are entering a season where I won’t be nursing and also not pregnant. This season will be when it’s concurrently cold and depressing where we live. And he has some time that he could make it happen with his work schedule. I am torn. Part of me reeeeeeeally wants to see the world and experience new places, sights, sounds, smells, tastes. And part of me finds it completely frivolous to spend hard-earned money on a trip when we have SO much compared to the vast majority of the world. Inner turmoil here.

Today’s 1%: Late night supper with Roy after kids were asleep. Salmon cakes and steamed broccoli. The salmon was so good. I love fish. Yet another one of those things I chose to dislike when I was little that has turned into a fav. Of course, Old Bay makes everything better.