Update: Engagement Chicken

After making this recipe dozens of times and loving every lemony second...........I cannot exactly remember how this happened. I must have run out of lemons and instead used limes......Oh my goodness, the difference is amazing. I'll never use lemon again...unless I run out of limes...hahah.

Another note: baby has a terrible cough...well maybe not terrible, but persistent. I'd been to the local CVS in search of some kind of relief....no such luck. When I woke up this morning I remembered a cough/sore throat remedy my grandma and mother mixed for me when I was little and made it for baby. I don't think her cough has magically disappeared but I haven't heard the sound I'd generally associate with old smokers cough for a while...

Cough Remedy

Paprika
Lime or Lemon Juice
Ginger Paste
Garlic Paste
Honey

As I almost never measure I'm not sure of the exact amounts. Basically any amount works...since it was for baby I used less ginger, garlic and paprika and more honey...to make sure it would stick to the spoon.

Other random updates: NO FACEBOOK Hoodiewho...I wonder how long I'll last without a social networking site..lol [immediately logs into blogger...because I just have sooo much to share.]

Engagement Chicken.......or Game Hen

A little while ago on facebook I came across a recipe for engagement chicken. Legend has it that every woman whose made this recipe for their lover has gotten married very soon after. After a bit of research because the origin of the recipe is disputed I made this. It was delicious...and yes it's true, I was married today!!!

Click to See Results (and Recipe)

No Photos = No Inspiration

It's cool. I'm dragging myself away from checking facebook every second to read status updates and hope someone has said something interesting to me...so far...not so much. I'm having much better luck in the real world, out with baby. I don't feel the need to blog I've noticed when I have actual real life plans. Ha! And yet, this is a journey that I'd been neglecting. Ach, but I have nothing to say. No enlightening words. No enchanting stories..

I'd been reading a lot lately and mean to keep reviewing...but at this point everything is brain candy it goes in and hours later the high is over and the book done...still searching for a really good book..the kind that changes me, my mind, my attitude, my life.....

Blah Entertainment Bore

I mean to talk about: love, marriage, cheating, polyamorism, happiness, worn in slippers, physical love, superficiality, hassle. (^.^) Whew.

Fruit Crisp or Crumble

A simple recipe for when unexpected guest show up for dinner.

Mix:

Oats
Flour
Brown Sugar
Cinnamon
Nutmeg
Soft Butter

The oats and brown sugar should be equal amounts and the flour should be equal to the oats and brown sugar...so like 1/4 cup oats, 1/4 cup br sugar..1/2 cup flour...sprinkle the cinnamon and nutmeg to taste and about a stick of butter, when its all mixed it should look...crumble-y..

Pat half the mixture into the bottom of your chosen baking dish..

Add: Frozen Berries, Fresh Berries, Apple, Nuts, anything really.....for me it's a great way to use baby's leftover fruit...

Sprinkle the leftover flour mixture on top. Bake at 400 until it you smell it. Enjoy..can be served with Ice
Cream!!!

Hungry Or Mostly Empty

Hungry, bored, meh! Waaahhh. Fucking Snow.

Young, old, geriatric understand real tasty!

A recipe not only good for you, but easy. I share this one with baby, in the mornings.

1 cup plain yougurt
1 spoonful of jam
1 spoonful of ground flaxseed

Optional: chopped banana, granola, strawberries, blueberries, anything really.

Honestly I wish I knew this one growing up, I would never have skipped breakfast!!

On another note........YAY!! I've got a camera again!! WO-HOO!! So soon I will resume, posting food, or just anything that interest me enough to pursue.

Must open Mind

I write extemporaneously but sometimes an idea, a picture or a flash of words appear. I'm forced to mull over the topic trying to figure out why might this particular thing comes so insistently to mind. Mother-daughter relationships....is nagging at me waiting to be pulled out of the wool and examined. This topic is weighing heavily on me mostly because my daughters first birthday is coming up...and because my sister and I were remembering the our lives...and  my relationship with my mother......

My mother, the woman who bore and born me is irreplaceable. Sometimes I love her beyond measure simply because with one glance she understands me. Yet sometimes I know that she doesn't really know me all. In this particular relationship I've made many rationalizations of why this is. I remember thinking before I knew my punkins sex that I hoped she was a boy. My main reason is that I didn't want to be like my mother was to me. It scared the !@#$ out of me. What if one day I just decided that I was ready to leave!? What if I couldn't be good to her?! Almost two years later this seems silly, I cannot even imagine not loving my child...

I watched her walking today in the sneakers we went hunting for, her first pair ever. Thinking back on that moment has my eyes brimming with tears, shes getting so big. I was shocked to discover all of a sudden, my little lady. I know somewhere in my mind that one day she's gonna break my heart, that shes going to have to deal with the sudden awareness of being alive and sentient, that I'm not always going to be able to soothe her with a distraction until shes better, that one day she'll have her first heartbreak...it's dismal to think of...I may have to come back to this.

Live On Very Empty

I've been gone for a bit, blog. Pretending you didn't exist. There were better things to do you see. Recently my birthday passed, the best one so far. I was busy, talking to people, shopping, sharing..living life. It also helped that gramma to baby for a week!! (and the camera) Baby is back..camera is not!! It seems such a shame...I was perfecting something. Anywho.......It's amazing, this transformation that happens anytime baby is not on hand. I become rejuvenated, take care of myself, care about my aesthetic presence. I'm lively, lovely, with intelligent and stimulating conversation......and I actually would take the time to have a conversation. My skin glows and I'm someone interesting...My skin is still glowing a week later....but the nail polish is chipped, I stopped combing my hair, I pull on whatever come to hand and I'm most likely too consumed to talk..though it is getting easier. I'm hoping by age three I will pull these two selves together. Or sooner. I had so much to write, I thought. Hmmn.

My education dire, I oughta cafefully resume earnestly!

Another year passing! I'm getting stagnant. I have the same woes I've always had. I don't always feel whole. I'm ineffectual. Cautious. I'll fight for what I believe in but earnestly my beliefs aren't overly controversial....more rational. I'm not making an impact on this world, but for my offspring how will I be remembered. Surely blogging isn't it...especially since I'm not yet proficient at that.....Alas, what will I do? 

Today Is Macabre

Yet it was beautiful. The perfect mix of warmth and moisture. The air smelled like moist earth, its almost time for this part of the world to shake off its winter coat and slip into bloom! Waking up I started to hear birds again. I cannot wait for summer.

Pretty Oblivious Or Pretty Er..Done

I'm fokkin tired! Gah!

Not One Single Yes

Baby and I have resumed our walks, she still has a stuffy nose and the weather isn't quite spring but I know it's good for us. I try to spend at least a half hour walking outside, sometimes there is a destination and more often we wander. Today I was feeling a bit tired so we meandered uphill both ways to Starbucks in search of a perk. As I sat down with my coffee and baby with her bottle I couldn't help overhearing the conversation of two people I soon learned were physicists. I don't know if they just happened upon each other or if it was a prearranged meeting but from their conversation and her body language I could tell they didn't know each other well. I let Persephone down so she could explore a bit as is her wont..and so I could take a few uninterrupted sips of my coffee. Under my ever vigilant watch my daughter wandered over to the two. They stopped and politely said their "Hi's" and "Wow, how old is she, she's so well behaved, etc." I politely answered and steered my little pumpkin back to her bottle. While I was doing this the two started down another train of conversation, this time the topic was children.

She asked him if he had kids, he said no he doesn't like them and went into the specifics of why he didn't like them. Persephone decided that this was an opportune time to play fetch...as a parent you may know this game..Child throws toy-->someone picks said toy/item up and this is repeated until one party decides the game has run its course. It's never the child! But to the topic at hand, this kind gent picks up her bottle and I thank him and put it down. The woman asks me, "Aren't you going to give it back?" I say, "No." She makes this sad puppy face (that was particularly unexceptional on her..middle aged mug) and says, "It's a game." At this point I tell her, "Baby dropped it because she's bored and does not want it."

From there it got a bit confusing, baby was wiggling, two women came in... who knew the one who was talking to me, and the man sat down very near to me. Basically they formed a circle around me and the little one. The two biddies that just arrived were exclaiming over baby, the woman physicist was tut tutting me, and trying to convey to me that baby doesn't know better and that the fetch game is a game...I started to feel attacked, reproved, like I was somehow doing something wrong. Also I felt judged by my physical appearance, age, color. She made comments like, "Well, when you're raising a child alone, you can start to feel like she's misbehaving on purpose."

Whoa! What? I managed to convey that I don't feel like she's misbehaving but that I'm not playing with her. I knew what the next action would be if I returned the bottle and I wasn't interested in playing this game so I would redirect her attention elsewhere. While the male completely understood what I was saying, the woman still seemed reproving.

I should have mentioned that I am not a single parent, that you cannot judge my economic standing by my style of dress..(I'll admit to running out of the house looking rather..ragged)..MOSTLY I REGRET not saying.. *Bitch, you don't know me!! Mind yer bumboclat business, Do you have kids? Have you raised anyone from the day they came out of your body? Is this why you're meeting men at Starbucks asking them if they want children? HAVE YOU SEEN YOUR FACE, or your juice box figure? I can make a snap assessment of your life based simply on outward appearances and boy it's not pleasant*...At that point the male took out a cookie and the women started talking amongst themselves. Mind you, this was in a matter of moments, they we're still saying, "Hello's." I didn't want Sephy to see the cookie (she believes all food is hers) so I excused myself and we left.

As we were walking home, I began to feel...well, upset. Mostly because, my child IS well behaved..and she didn't come out like that. It's a process! Sephy held and drank her bottle the whole way home...without tossing it!

To conclude, what I took from this is a bit of knowledge, everyone says it, but it bears repeating!!! I am the parent, I know whats best for MY child! Like any unwanted or even wanted advice it's best to listen to all and make up your own mind...and Stay Polite..out loud..

I must not be actually human.

Therefore I must not have actual human emotions. Thus no human reaction to human interaction. So I'm not actually hurting because that would be a human thing to do. I'm reflecting on the hurt. Dissecting injuries. Unease gnawing at my stomach, it could be anything.

Natural Hair

So for a while I'd been toying with the thought of not using chemicals in my life. Toying isn't quite the right way of describing this. It's been mounting and hopefully the product of my thoughts will be a happy wholesome lifestyle.

For now I've stopped using shampoo and conditioner. Since I'd cut my hair about a month ago I decided to stick to a vinegar conditioner and a baking soda shampoo....it has been a struggle! From what I've read the first three weeks are the hardest. That being the time where your hair and scalp are rebelling from the loss of the shampoo's chemicals that strip it of  natural oils and the replacement chemicals of so called conditioner. It's ugly, unmanageable and gross...but I'm sticking!!

Today to combat the dry coarse texture as well as my poor itchy dry scalp, I mixed the juice from half a lemon and an egg...as I write I am sitting in a sunny nook waiting for the twenty minutes to pass till my hair is nourished again..I may follow this up with some honey..

some useful articles on the topic..

Eight Hair Care Treatments You Can Do At Home

An Experiment In Giving Up Shampoo

Some Support

The Result:

It feels terrible, I could not comb through hair with fingers when wet. There were pieces of lemon stuck to strands of hair. Now that it's mostly dry it feels conditioned and smells pleasant. I will follow up with honey and perhaps some olive oil until the moisture is balanced again.

Under the Moons of Mars

Is a novel comprised of a series of short stories by E.R. Burroughs. I focckin loved it! It has everything, a hero, a love story, fantastic and outlandish characters, vivid descriptions of battle. I love finishing a book that I regret to put down. Oddly enough I had no idea who this author was until my lover informed he's the guy that wrote Tarzan! 

Other than this it's been the same ole' shit. 

We've been trying to get out of the house more since the seasons are changing and the weather is better...than baby and momma went and got sick so our walks took a hiatus. The monotony of my life is slowly dawning on me though for the life of me I could not tell you where the time went or even what we've been up to for the past few days. 

Of food.......I cannot honestly say that I've been inspired or particularly hungry for anything........though we did make doughnuts a few days ago..

 Alton Brown's Recipe was perfect.

http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/alton-brown/yeast-doughnuts-recipe/index.html

Cant forget the glaze!! http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/alton-brown/doughnut-glaze-recipe/index.html

It was a fun project. 

Odd Warlock Out

I've been putting off writing due to a series of maladies that amount up to... Unhappiness, discontent, boredom, actually being sick. Ah, yes, and a sudden change of weather that was too good to miss. I have been cooking.......curries mostly. I miss summer. I miss being outdoors and walking and visiting and all the little sweet things that make summer...well, and the sun...I could go on.....about fresh fruit...and being tanned/er...but I won't. I have no lofty topic thats been weighing on my conscience. I haven't been discussing anything worthwhile.   Ugh, but I have been playing scrabble........and whooping ass.

I finished reading Odd Warlock Out, it took me awhile, mostly because of the thees, thou's and prithees. While the language was archaic the book was set in the future..an interesting sci-fi tale.

Valentine Pasta, love for sure.

 Pretty Simple too!
Ingredients:

Half Onion
Some Garlic
A Tomato
Can of Stewed Tomato
Some Red Pepper
Some Thyme
Some Baby Spinach
Ground Turkey
Package of Tri-colored Pasta (this was filled with cheese)
Olive Oil
Salt & Pepper to taste

 Chop all chop-able ingredients..I did not chop the spinach.

 Brown the turkey in olive oil and add garlic and onion.

 When meat is brown add regular tomato and red bell pepper, stir.

 (It starts to stick) add can of stewed tomato, salt, pepper and fresh thyme..or your favorite herb/s.

 It should have just enough liquid to cook the pasta perfectly, finally, stir in fresh baby spinach.

Reflection

While reading over my last post, I realized something was missing. The whole of what I'd been trying to convey! Being a Mother, doing the grunt work, literally and figuratively is important. Perhaps more so than any other part of human life. This is what we're made for. So yeah, if you're the nurturer you get shafted for a while..but when you stick it out, sacrifice your time and energy, and your very being, the result is paramount, a human being. Hopefully one to make you proud.

Winter Doldrums..

Is not the best title for this post. I am not depressed nor stagnant. It's weird, my life. I sink into bed exhausted every night. I feel like I've accomplished something.  Upon reflection I realize it's busy-work, small things to pass the time, my days are being wasted on trivial things like cleaning my house, cooking dinner, scheduling appointments, keeping track of bills, our money, and watering the plants.

It's troublesome for me to try and put these thoughts in writing, except that I feel very strongly about them. I will try, but the meaning/root/what of I'm trying to convey may be lost to my poor skills of self expression.

What I'm trying to say, is a common argument in any womens studies course or to anyone talking of equality of the sexes..something about the importance of  (I cannot find a word) someone to mind the children and keep house and someone working. While these roles are varied between sexes, relationships, family structures-the most common is woman as a nurturer and caregiver while the man is provider. Are these roles equal?!
-Yes-
Fock no!! The home caregiver has the shit end of the stick for a while. There are small rewards, like when baby starts smiling, crawling, speaking, walking...but to be so selfless. To be necessary. To be needed. To be fockkin busy. To have no self time. You're whole life is now devoted to another entity. You're someones bitch and you chose that role. --You could neglect everything else and devote life entirely to baby..but that becomes hard when the crawling begins and now everything goes in the mouth..so if it's on the ground it's fair game. The house has to be clean. So now theres that to do. But somehow you must also make time to feed yourself and keep yourself healthy, especially if your still breastfeeding, so you cook and exercise. And if you're really dedicated you also must cook for baby. Then there is the little everyday things, appointments, calling here and there because somebodies wallet is missing or you were overcharged for oil or any trivial grievance that is no longer trivial because you have to be aware of money. How much you have, how much is coming in, how much you can save so your child won't be bogged down with loans, for the future, for any unforeseen circumstance.

If lucky, you have an understanding partner (notice the word.) An equal, someone you can share the burden with. Someone who takes over when you're just about to keel over. Someone who discerns your role as equal but also as equally demanding or even more exacting than a days paid work.

The ideal, to me at least, was common at a different time, and more so in other countries. What I'm talking about is simple. "It takes a village to raise a child" is the proverb, but more directly I believe in whole families raising children. Grandparents stay at home with the kids. Both parents work. Everyone has a logical place. The children learn respect, manners, and dutifulness from the elders. They are needed to do things that the elders aren't spry enough to do anymore. I don't know about you, but to my knowledge even when a grandparent/elderly person isn't up and about (some are still kickin' for awhile) they love to sit in that one comfy place and give direction..or boss people about..as they should! They've lived a whole life and raised their children to adulthood.

This, in my opinion, would solve many issues that have arisen in the past few decades. Practically, think of the cost  for nursing home/hospice/assisted living. Add to that the cost of childcare. Most importantly, think of what our children are missing! The wealth of knowledge wasted!

Ah, but in this I am conflicted as well. When I think of living with my parents or mother-in-law, my stomach churns. I love my freedom, I love rearing my child as I see fit, without unwanted opinions. It is a conundrum.

Time for a little rant.

No rave. 


I absolutely hate being caught unaware. Do you know what I mean? For instance, when informed that dinner starts at 7 but everyone meets up at 10, not usually an issue, but you were ready wayyy early.  Or when after a day spent laboriously cleaning everyone and their mom just shows up, hungry. Or when, (this is most problematic for me!) I have specific plans according to someone else's detail, and I rearrange my life to accommodate another's schedule only to find there was no actual plan and I still cannot participate as I expected! That happens often. I don't understand why. I dredge out every detail. I believe I am communicating properly as well as being receptive and open to all plans involved, and yet, the same thing always happens. 


I started out ranting about another, but now it has turned to my lover. In particular, with him this always happens. When we plan for each other and ourselves, the day starts out wonderful. We flutter here, we mingle there, and at some point one of us gets upset because things aren't going according to plan. I hate to say it, though I may not start out being upset, I easily become agitated when I know my lover is. And even when we've reasoned through and talked it out and he once again is in a wonderful mood, I cannot shake the feeling. So, we're out, we should be having fun, he is, but I'm fockking miserable! It has happened enough that I know it's not just some one time lapse. It is an unmistakable pattern. 


These errs would seem to be a series of mis-communications and yet...

My new hair cut.

Leaves much to be desired. I am going to cut it again. Till I'm bald. And when it grows. I'll begin anew.

Cross your fingers for me!

*(^-^)*

Did My Nails...

Avoiding Quilting.

I could probably use some lotion.... but heck.

This was meant for secrets and strangers.

WHOOPS. When I think about it, perhaps this is better. I read somewhere that to make friends you must show some vulnerability. Perhaps that is why I don't make friends, it's not in my nature to show weakness.

My heart, mi vida.

Purposefully cryptic.

Congee...

Ugh, reciently, aka this morning and perhaps a bit before, I was struck with a particular kind of melancholy. I'm not sure why. It could be a combination of lack of sleep, adult conversation, personal time, and last the upcoming changes to my home/hideout/lair/space.


With that said, to day I cut my hair..again..a lot. I find that my hair directly relates to my moods...not so good unless I accept all consequence for taking scissors, dye, clippers to it. I figure I have wigs and I could get a weave..but mostly that I am loved for who I am...that hair grows back, and wouldn't it be oppressive if I felt that I shouldn't do the things I want to because of anyone else's opinion?


New Hair.

In the past two days I've finished two books.

 The first, Snow Flower and the Secret Fan is a tale of a life-long friendship between two girls as they mature to women. I enjoyed the book..I put it in the category of brain candy...easy to read, interesting enough to finish but not life changing...those are few and far in-between.  That said, this book is not for the squeamish as it has graphic descriptions of foot-binding.

The second, An Artist of the Floating World, is a contemplation of an  old man's life. The book is set in post WWII Japan with flashbacks to his youth and career as an artist. His reputation has changed since the war ended, and he reflects on choices he made. I did not enjoy reading this. I'm not sure how to explain that the writing was circular... except that it was...I prefer narratives with beginning, middle, and end. *face palm* Sometimes.


Lately, my reading has been very specific in genre...historical fiction located Indochina-ish....I need new ideas though I have plenty books I've picked up and put back down because I'm not ready to read yet...




 http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Congee


So..what I came here to blog about..Congee, it's whats for dinner.


I started by putting some olive oil in the bottom of a Sauteuse Pan ( I had to look that one up). Than I finely chopped some garlic, onion and ginger root. 

Pretty simple right? When the onions turned transparent I added enough water to fill the pot 3/4 of the way up, a splash of fish sauce, a bullion cube and finally two pieces of lamb..

At this point it smells amazing but is not the most beautiful dish on the planet...yet. This can be an all day recipe depending on the kind of time you have on your hands...I have quite a bit, so I like to leave the meat uncut in the pan letting it soften and break apart as I do other stuff around the house.

While it may look like she's pulling out the clean dishes and putting them on the floor, she's actually helping me put them away.


After a few minutes...or a couple of tasks later I add about a cup full of rice. Stir. Keep on low. Two hours later, after a nap and half, I cut up some scallions and baby spinach. I stirred the spinach in, turned the stove off and let it sit for awhile. When I was ready to eat, I sprinkled scallions on top with freshly ground pepper. 

(^.^) YUM. 

A new kind of Super Hero...

"or just every competent Mom. Nothing compares to the feeling of sinking into bed, sheets freshly changed, and not even drifting to sleep..just falling into nothingness till the next cry, Mom...and I'll jump, literally..awake, aware, knowing what needs to be done. 

Those are the days I live for.  Everything just happens like its supposed to. Baby follows me as I clean, we chat about anything and everything. She wanders curiously...poking here, throwing a toy, making a ruckus. When it's time to vacuum...she freezes, looking up at me as I drag the beast out of the front hall closet. Eyes wide, mouth slightly agape...she's terrified. I plug it in. She starts to shake. When her lips begin to quiver I walk over and pick her up. Before turning on the machine, I try to introduce her, again. I want her to touch it. She wont. So I do, I poke at it, bite it, trying to show here there's nothing to be afraid of. To no avail. She wants no part. I can sweep or I can lug this trembling 20lbs. through the house as I vacuum and thats just what I do. Somehow the vacuum is not scary if Mommy is holding her. As soon as I turn it off she gets down. Shes' back to romping, standing a little, taking a couple steps, crawling away. Finally she chases me and when I stop she climbs my leg, looking up impatiently, she yowls "Mooom"......"Yes, Pumpkin?" "Up.."

Hello Mom!

Why, Hi Persephone, Good Morning!!!  I believe my daughter is now cognizant. Which is to say, I wonder if she practiced that...

Progress

I've finally made copious steps to finish my first quilt!! Last night while the boys were downstairs grunting and hem-hawing over a wet vac, dehumidifier and any other tool Home Depot told them would be useful in removing moisture from the basement. I resumed work on my quilt. As it was well after 9 baby was asleep. Peace at last...except the loud Russian coming from the basement. I finally drowned it out with some Ira Glass, which I find myself doing more and more lately...when I'm putting Sephy down for a nap almost every time I have ears but not hands and I'm not drowning in the sounds of Barney, Wonder Pets, and Blues Clues. I love This American Lifes' radio archive and as soon as I figure out how to add links to the side bar I will share all my little escapes..in list form.


The Quilt..

Lover cooking breakfast...

-I ate leftovers...It's just I am nearly never hungry enough to -eat his cooking..though he is getting WAY better at it.

And pumpkin is not only awake but also ready to start typing her own blog..oh yeah..she started walking...

Saturday...Maybe Lazy?

With Pumpkin sleeping (in my bed!!) a cup of yogurt& granola, and a second cup of coffee for fuel...here goes...........

With that written I have no idea where to begin. I did pick up the quilt and sew a bit, only to be utterly disappointed because I couldn't for the life of me figure out how to machine sew the back and the batting the how I wanted. All my work from yesterday was taken apart. Luckily, today with a fresh groggy, 2 cups of coffee later start, I believe I know how to finish my quilt. Previously when I'd thought of quilting, I thought of patchwork...you know, sewing all the little pieces together to make an eye pleasing arrangement. That is NOT quilting..that is just a beginning. Because of the previous statement you may wonder..well then, WHAT is quilting!? My response:  My friend..if I only knew...When I figure it out...I'll share.

So far...

After this little confusion came a huge walloping frustration. My lover called me during the day...around the same time I'm pulling out stitches one by one. He tells me our upstairs neighbor's pipes are busted..so, I'm here thinking, maybe we'll have a leak and I start looking at the ceilings...nothing. Several hours go by and Masha, the neighbors wife comes downstairs and asks me to run the faucet to see if there is something wrong with my water pressure..NOPE...baby and I are all set thank-you!....My sister and her lover visit....I'm excited to show them the basement which I have been decorating and arranging...It's a lovely basement, three bedrooms, a full bathroom, and a living-room, fully carpeted with several storage rooms as well......Can you see where this is going?? Huh? Huh? We traverse down the stairs, me feeling like Indiana Jones or something because instead of a torch I know where the light switch is...Juanita is just behind me with baby in arms and Dana last..down the stairs, around the corner to the hall way..and squish (I cannot possibly convey that feeling in type)...my socks are suddenly soaked...I freeze, tell them to stop......peel of my sodden socks and continue to the light switch...the hallway is obviously flooded...I walk back to the group...the little adventurers peel off their socks and follow. The extent of the flooding seems to be the hallway..so I throw my socks in the laundry room...and after showing them the rooms...we walk back upstairs...I hear what sounds like a waterfall on the way up so instead of taking the door leading to the house, I open the back door..Aha! We now have a water fountain under the back deck...I'm still not depressed about the situation. The little lovers create makeshift snowshoes and venture through the snowy backyard to see if they can tell whats up...With them outside, I call my lover......he's stuck in traffic...The little ones walk back in and tell me theres a HUGE gash in the outside pipe...OK....I ask the kids to watch the babe, and walk upstairs....Masha informs me her husband Serge has call our landlord HOURS ago...in what seems like moments later there's a knock on the back door...Tom the landlords' son asks me about the laundry on the floor of the laundry room....I pull on my sturdiest boots and follow him.......Oh my fockkin gosh! My laundry room is also flooded. He takes me to our storage.........its the worst..at least I had the gumption to put everything up on shelves...I'm organised like that..There is at least two inches of water on the ground......

In retrospect this situation shouldn't be frustrating. At the time I felt harangued, upset, and miserable. We'd just signed a contract to make the downstairs ours as well, now its flooded, we're supposed to have a friend of Serges move in on Tuesday!!! (It took me a while to get used to that idea) Everything seemed disconcerted and I didn't know what to do...to top that off, the plumber who came to fix the situation turned off all the water...no bubble bath for baby....so an integral part of our bedtime routine is flubbed! Today, everything is fine. A service will be called to remove the water and dry the basement, our water is on, baby is napping (^_^)

That is actually, most likely, the most interesting thing thats happened for weeks..I should be happy.

And finally, I just finished reading this book:

It took me about a day and a half. Its not life changing, but it is charming and well written.

Our Lunch.

This is rapidly becoming a food diary..better whip out the quilt..

Meatball Potato Soup

Three posts in one day...gosh, if I was this productive living my life I would have graduated college, finished my quilt and been my ideal weight by now... any-who...with tons of batter left from making spinach chicken nuggets for pumpkin earlier, I decided to make meatballs. As I added breadcrumbs to the moist batter from earlier, it occurred to me that I would love some soup. I rolled the batter into little balls and baked it at 350..For the soup..I came up with this.

Meatball Potato Soup..simple, filling and delicious..

All I did was cut up two large potatoes and a small onion. I barely covered them with water in a small soup pot, covered it and left it to boil..as I waited I made Sephy's dinner...

She had purple potatoes, two slices of beet, two carrots and two meatballs...she eats healthier than I do!!

When the potatoes are soft and falling apart...I added some milk..and a cube of chicken bullion. When the milk was heated, I added the meatballs and I was done..I topped it off with some green onion and slices of beet. Sephy ended up eating most of mine..and ended up with the bowl on her head...which led me to the conclusion: if I'm serious about this blogging thing I need a better camera..till next time.

Spinach Chicken Nuggets

After last Mondays appointment, Sephy's doctor informed me that my daughter is slightly anemic. After reassuring me that this is common and normal in children her age (9 mos.) he prescribed some iron drops. I dunno. I've decided that I will not pick up this prescription and just feed my daughter more leafy greens...so today endeavoring to do this, I made Spinach Chicken Nuggets...she loved them. I'm sure my lover will too.

I started by using a food chopper/processor to chop/grind the chicken. 

Then, I chopped some garlic, cilantro, green peppers, and spinach.

After that I added black pepper, oats, eggs, and some cornstarch.

and mixed...

The result is a moist fragrant batter, I spooned them into a frying pan filled with peanut oil..

ALL DONE!!

They were delicious.

And So I'l Begin Anew

Today I woke up feeling...unsettled. I need a change. I need to share. I want to and so I will. With that firm resoluteness it only took me until 1:41 to decide I should start writing a blog. My life is interesting. I live it. I know things. Why not? 

My daughter is sleeping. I cringe in my bedroom at her little sounds thinking this might be it, she might wake up, ready to play, ready to need me. I'm really terrible, huh? Heck, when everyone talks about the joys of motherhood they sure leave big gaps. Motherhood IS wonderful. Looking down and seeing the little person you created, theres just nothing like it. What they don't mention is the little things, stolen moments of self time....and moments over..back to Mommy mode.