On Second Thought

Brooks: "Wait - did that guy just say, 'for time and all eternity'?"

So Far So Good

Brooks says this reminds him of me in the kitchen (I'm thinking it's more the hair than the attitude...)



See more at www.bentobjects.blogspot.com.

OK, my week at a glance:

Thumbs Down

• Inversions
• Sore throat
• Ringworm at clinic (first client of the day!)
  
• Baby carrots
• Lingering casino-like smell throughout house
• Cold toes
• Catching wrong train, missing right one
• Road construction on 700 E
• Dreadlocks and Velcro
• Boxed Christmas decor still in front room
• Bathroom at a standstill
• Missing mittens
• Bike in hibernation

Thumbs Up

• Gregory Peck as Atticus Finch
• Unexpected visit from bosom friend (see www.suerichardson.blogspot.com)
• Sweet potato salad with Beligian endive
• Shiatsu
• Clean boys' bedroom (with sleeping children)!

• New red paint in said bedroom
• Fresh tulips indoors
• Gregory Peck as Atticus Finch
• 3:00 naps
• Pho with friends
• Seed catalogs from postman
• Church at 1:00
• Fencing lessons for Oliver
• Sharing a Subway with Brahm
• Gregory Peck as Atticus Finch

Fire and Ice

Some say the world will end in fire,
Some say in ice.
From what I've tasted of desire
I hold with those who favor fire.
But if it had to perish twice,
I think I know enough of hate
To say that for destruction ice
Is also great
And would suffice.

-Robert Frost

Mexican Soup

This recipe comes from my dear friend Colleen and is dedicated to another dear friend Elisa. There can't be anything easier in the world to cook up but you would never know by the way it tastes - delish!

1 can refried beans (don't skip this - trust me)
1 can corn
1 can garbanzo beans
1 can pinto or kidney beans (I like pinto)
I can diced tomatoes
I cup salsa
1 cup chicken broth
1 Tbs cilantro, chopped
Ground cumin to taste

Combine all ingredients in a large pot. Cook over medium heat or until warmed through. Serve with shredded cheese, sour cream and tortilla chips. Yum!

I bet you can also make this in a crock pot, combining all the ingredients and cooking on low for 2-4 hrs depending. We like adding fresh cilantro and a squeeze of lime before serving (chopped avocado is good, too). Perfect for a winter evening...

Out With the Old...

Last year we started a New Year's tradition. On the morning of January 1st we sat down after breakfast (crepes!) and wrote down things from the previous year we would like to forget (mistakes, bad memories, etc.). We then burn the pieces of paper in a bowl and proceed to write down things we wish to accomplish for the coming year. I dislike the term "New Year's resolution" because it sounds so daunting. A year is a long time and personally, my resolve to do anything often changes and morphs over time anyway.

Since this was the second year we have done this, we were able to pull out last year's wishes and share them with each other. The best part was reading aloud #1 on my list ("Find alternatives to yelling at my children") right after I yelled at Oliver for being rude and disruptive. Sigh. See what I mean about "resolutions"? But the truth is I actually did better this last year at finding alternatives - I didn't say I was going to yell at them less or stop doing so altogether, right?








Hercules is recruited into the celebration...

Found when uploading photos from the camera (courtesy of Brahm):

And When I'm Eighty?

Here's the non-related visual interest for this entry. I got dreadlocks a few weeks ago (still haven't washed 'em, Mark). Brooks posted his status update on Facebook as such: "Have a Christmas as big as my wife's hair". I obliged him with a photo (guest-starring my sister Lindsey).



What I really want to write about is how Brooks, the boys and I left the house today to go shopping. We returned three hours later to discover that I had forgot to turn the gas burner off on the stove and nuked an entire pot of split pea soup. The house was filled with smoke, of course, and stinks so bad that at this writing I am wearing a respirator mask to keep from getting a headache. And its been nine hours since we came home.

I'm mad. I'm mad because I've been working on that soup for days now, starting it from the bone of the Christmas ham. I'm mad because I thought I was ahead of the game, adding the remaining vegetables this morning so supper would already be taken care of. I'm mad because there goes a perfectly good pot. I'm mad because I'm only thirty-five and this kind of forgetfulness shouldn't be happening so soon.

Admittedly, I was trying to juggle a lot today. Now that the tile was done, I had been making a big push to finish the rest of the bathroom before the holiday break is over. The plumber was due any minute to set the toilet and I still had to finish cleaning the tile around it. I knew the boys would be getting hungry any minute (see how the soup would have been so handy?) so I dashed upstairs to cook up some cottage fries. Not about to make the same mistake, I ran back to spray the tile saying, "Don't forget the potatoes. Don't forget the potatoes." Well, I didn't forget the potatoes. But while I was downstairs, a dishtowel next to the stove caught on fire and in addition it set aflame a wooden spoon I had left on top of it. (Incidentally, why is it that I can't get a campfire going to save my life but can make a nice little marshmallow-roaster on my kitchen counter without even being present?)

"@#$%&!," I say softly as I come on to the scene.

"Mom, did you just say the @#&%&! word?" Brahm wants to know. He's in the next room playing a computer game.

"Yes," I concede, "but that's because the kitchen is on fire."

Oliver is next. "Just because the kitchen is on fire doesn't make it OK to say that word, Mom."

?!

OK, so maybe I should take a lesson from my mother. She is known to leave written reminders to herself scattered about her home so as to stay on track. This image (swiped from my sister Mindy's blog) serves to illustrate my point:



After today, here's what I'm thinking mine should look like: