You never know what I might turn my lens on some days. (Although you can be sure the four-legged critters are on that list often.) I bought the wine at a very cool wine shop when I was in the more northerly regions of the city the other day. I’d been wanting to stop by because the place is owned by our former neighbors. (I was very sad when Betsy moved away…she has spunk!) I liked that it’s organic, I liked the price and I really liked the label too. Maggie I always like. So there ya go.
We went through the “hiding from the camera” phase when he was a toddler. Then he got through that and we’ve cruised along for a while. Lately, though, he’s been holding up his hands when I point the lens his way. Or turning the back of his head toward me. Or hiding under the table. (This last one should give me a hint that he’s just not that into it.) But when I decided to snap a self-portrait tonight, while waiting for Scott to serve up his famous sub sandwiches, he giggled and ran around behind me. Then he asked me to take another. And this is what we got.
I’m not sure what I was thinking today when I moved from one kitchen project to the next. When I decided to bake up the oatmeal for breakfast, I figured dinner would be the only other thing I’d tackle. The only reason I opted for the oatmeal is that I’d parked my laptop at the dining room table and the kitchen seemed to be taunting me. Eat something, Lori. Eat something. Yeah, OK.
But when it was time for lunch, I spied a few leftover things that needed to be used up, so I thought pizza would be simple enough. And it was. A couple of tortillas topped with all sorts of toppings. But there was some chopping and such involved in that. So it wasn’t as quick as slapping together sandwiches for myself and Dev and calling it done. He was happy with his pizza, though, so it was worth it.
And then came the brownies. I’d wanted to bake them this weekend. I try to find baking-together projects for the two of us. I figured the allure of chocolate would seal the deal on this one. I was right, ya know. And the results were ever so good. (Darn me for skipping Cooking Light for this project, too…those are some rich, tempting brownies that I need to get out of my house. Now!)
Then we had to shovel. So that got me out of the kitchen for a bit. (And made me feel slightly better for eating more than one brownie.)
The shoveling and the tromping through the un-shoveled sidewalks with the dog kind of flattened me, but I felt the need to do something for dinner. Turkey burgers, to be exact. Nothing gourmet (and no photos because they weren’t pretty or anything). Paired them with ABC tater tots to please the child. Again, easy enough. But again, standing in the kitchen. On the hard tile floor. Plus, the need to wash dishes after each of these events.
Can I go to work tomorrow? Please?
I sent the boys off to a baseball card show and what did they bring home? A heck of a lot of baseball cards. And? Pokemon cards. Hockey cards. Basketball cards. Batman cards. Nascar cards. Lots and lots and lots of cards.
Ever since he’s been home, the kid’s been counting, stacking and organizing the cards.
I usually take pictures of more upscale dining fare, but I had a date with a certain 6-year-old at McDonald’s today and we were sitting by a window…so, you know.
Really, the Southwestern Chicken Salad is quite good. The tortilla strips make it all crunchy, and the chicken is tender. I paired it with one of the caramel mochas, which I was surprised to find are pretty darn tasty. Plus there was the fun of helping the little fingers put stickers on the new Tonka truck. Gotta love those Happy Meals!
When I came in the house this afternoon lugging bags of groceries, all three of my pets tried to squeeze themselves into our tiny kitchen to investigate. Not only do they nose around in my bags, they tend to get in the way when I’m trying to cram things into the refrigerator and cupboards. If you count the five bags of groceries, the three pets and myself in that very small area today, you can imagine how crowded it might have been.
And once I had all five grocery bags folded up, Lucy plopped her kitty but right on top of them.
We took Juliette for a walk this afternoon. Thankfully the majority of our neighbors had shoveled or snowblowed their walks. And thankfully there were many snowbanks for Devin to frolic in.
But you should have seen how big his eyes got when he spied the enormous snowbank in the church parking lot.
Of course I had to let him climb it. And of course I had to get my camera to document the event!
Blizzards aren’t typical events. The last snow dump of this magnitude we had was when Scott and I were living in Chicago in January 1999. We didn’t have a kid back then. (Instead, I played the child-like part, ooohing and aaahing as the snow poured down outside our window.) Kids add a new dimension to blizzards. You get to share with them the awe of Mother Nature and you also get to share with them a Snow Day.
Of course, this Snow Day was also a Work Day for me, so the sharing part was slightly limited. But we found some time this afternoon to make a batch of pretzels together (after also shoveling together and playing a little Wii together — don’t tell my boss about that last part). He played lead designer, requesting a Star Wars theme. You know. S-T-A-R W-A-R-S spelled out in pretzel dough. What could be more fun?
And because things weren’t as rush-rush tonight as with our normal pick-up-from-school-and-get-dinner-on-the-table evenings, he requested some extra story time. I love reading to him. But now that Dev’s in first grade (gasp!), we encourage him to read to us too. It had been a few weeks, though, since I’d last remembered to have him grab a book to share with me.
Tonight’s selection was, of course, Star Wars-related. It was also amazing. Because seriously? He can read. In just a few weeks’ time, the difference is just so striking. He’s faster, more confident and really good at figuring out challenging words. Wasn’t it just yesterday, or at least last week, when he was learning his ABCs? I really do love watching him grow and master things.
They run around pretending they’re gladiators.
Or they chase girls who are wearing boas.
They don’t actually dance unless you bribe them.
And then they’re likely to just stand still while you try very hard to get them to groove to the beat.
I’m not sure sometimes. I think fondly of this site, but I don’t seem to find the time to give it love lately. With the dreary grey coldness of January in Michigan, though, I need to push myself to focus on my creativity. That was fairly easy to do when presented with a lovely window seat at The Green Well today and a scrumptious bowl of mac ‘n cheese. Couldn’t resist a photo in that case. Now I shall have to think up some photo ops over the weekend.
I don’t get emails from my friends anymore. We went from one new technology to another one so quickly. Now everyone seems to be on Facebook or some other social meeting spot. Including me, of course. But now I’m starting to feel the communication shifting in a negative direction. Sound bytes are thrown around and things are “liked”…but where is the connection exactly? I giggle at some of the posts I read, I get a great new song recommendation, I see a video that makes me laugh out loud, I get a glimpse into people’s lives through photos. Yet I still don’t feel like I’m really connecting anymore.
And it’s not like I’m really longing for email, either. I’d actually prefer more of the in-person stuff, ya know. It’s not possible with all relationships, certainly, but if I live just miles from someone, why not? I’d much prefer having a cup of coffee or a glass of wine with a friend than sharing a few sentences online that just don’t feel as meaningful.
I got a little bit of that in the month of December, and it was nice. I guess if I’m going to look forward to 2011 and make a resolution, which I tend to steer clear of, I’d resolve to try to make more time for the people in my life. People managed to make connections before the computer, even before telephones. So I know it’s possible. And for the friends who aren’t nearby — or even those I’ve actually met online — I’ll simply try to reach out more to them. I may even send them an email…gasp!
Ah, a chance to blog. And I’ve no words to spew forth. Simply due to the tiredness that comes from baking and decorating 40 sugar cookies. Yes, making cookies is tiring. There’s the rolling and chilling and cookie cutting and more rolling and more cooking cutting and baking and checking that the cookies are just right and filling up another pan and baking again and then for a third time and letting them cool and cleaning up and getting dinner ready because the cookies took longer to make than anticipated and making the frosting and then, you know, decorating them. I was in the kitchen for four hours tonight and my back is yelling at me.
But it was fun.
Devin had a blast. And Scott even joined in. It was lovely. Sore back withstanding.
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