Eat!

I was planning on working on the couch today, but...didn't really make it out of the kitchen.  I'm going to my favorite party of the year soon (pics tomorrow) and today was just a hodgepodge of preparation.

Sugar snaps from the garden. I'm going to see how they juice later.

Pasta salad for the party.

 Vegan banana muffins with peanut butter chips.  Both kids are having friends over for sleepovers and I figured they would want breakfast.

Ryan has a huge project at work and is working tonight instead of going to the party.  And he's a clean eater who won't eat any of the other stuff I made today.  So, for his dinner, quinoa and edamame stuffed bells.

Obviously for the party...this cake violates all that is good in the world of nutrition.  I could have made a nice vegan cake, with unprocessed ingredients, but it isn't that kind of party.

10 Years in a Blink

The day has come where I have set my last foot into Maryvale Elementary.  My first foot went in 10 years ago.  What is it they say?  Something about the days are long, but the years are short?

Here's the problem with the second kid:  You already know what is going to happen.  They leave out of elementary and you can't even blink before they are in high school.  Almost all of his elementary friends will part ways tomorrow and that will be that.  I didn't know all that with the first one and therefore I was all put together for Alicia's elementary ceremony.  For Jac's?  I was a freakin' mess. 

There isn't much else to say about that.

Any Given Sunday

Get ready for it.  The most eclectic (probably not, actually) assortment of commentary I've come up with yet.

 If you win two championship tournament games within the course of a couple of weeks, does that really mean you are the champions?  P.S.  It takes all day (sometimes, like this weekend, all day two days in a row) to win a lacrosse championship.  Totally worth it if you win that last game.  If you lose that last game, on a 100 degree day, after investing an entire weekend, I'm guessing not so much.

It's been a good run for them this year.  Still, I was glad to turn that jersey in for the season.  Lacrosse is intense and takes up a lot of time.

 I rewarded myself with a virgin(ish) daiquiri for weathering through.  I do realize "weathering" meant I was sitting off in the shade watching while the kids were actually running up and down the field in the heat in full pads.  Does that mean I should not get a reward?

Nothing much to say here except that Ryan bought these chips and I DO NOT LIKE THEM.  In case you had plans to buy me snacks.  



If you know about lacrosse tournaments, you know there are hours to kill in between games.  Especially when said tournaments happen too far away from home to just come home in between.  So...killing 4ish hours twice over a two day period when it is hot means everybody goes to the mall.  Because there is AC in there.  And real bathrooms.  That's another thing you know about if you know about lacrosse...the lack of real bathrooms.

They had a Yankee store there.  Now, what I should say is that Yankee and I have a relationship which has proven to be somewhat toxic (i.e...I lack self control in there) and therefore I have to make a concentrated effort to stay away.  However, I did have 4 hours to kill and Ryan and Jac were in some video game store-a place I can't tolerate long enough to make it through the door.  And Yankee was having a sale.  Which sort of makes it o.k.  Sort of. 

I had totally forgotten about the news coverage of their new line "Mandles" (Man Candles), but the display lured me in.  Who wouldn't be curious?  Before I go on, let's be real.  In case any men are reading this, let me assure you that when most women are buying candles, it is for the purpose of covering up the real scents of life.  And sometimes, (sorry men), you fall into that category.  But, I do realize these candles are marketed to you men under the premise you all enjoy the smell of "manly" endeavors and dream of bringing the smells of the lumber yard and the lawn shed into your homes.  Evidently.

Here's where I get confused:  I've actually never seen a man in Yankee without a woman.  I'm sure there are man candle buyers, I just don't know any.  Do men who love cutting grass and wood really dream of their homes smelling like such?  Or, could this whole phenomenon of candle buying be compared to women who buy "apple pie" scent under the guise they actually bake?  So, maybe if I come to your house and smell cut grass or wood, I'll think you have been hard at work doing manly things (in your living rooms) when really maybe you are just trying to cover up the smell of your baking?  Really, this whole thing is just one example of somebody figuring out how to perplex me.  But I digress...

The cut grass and wood candles...they don't smell so great.  But this "Man Town" number...it smells to me like freshly showered man.  (It actually reminds me of that day in basic training when we put on our blues and were allowed to wear perfume and cologne-which meant everyone did-and I wandered around in the fog of good smelling men, but that's a whole other post, maybe.)  And who doesn't like the smell of a freshly showered man?  Obviously, I had to have it. (Which is not saying the man around here doesn't shower.  The boy has issues, but my man does shower.  Just throwing that in there so there is no confusion.)

I added it to my "candles in waiting".  I don't have too many material obsessions, but I'll admit to this one.  I burn them when I am pretending to clean.

P.S.  There is no dinner picture, because I didn't make dinner.  Again.  Because I didn't feel like it.  Yes, I did hear the "But I've been making my own dinner all week." from the fifteen year old who doesn't like anything I cook anyway.  I followed that up with "I've been making my own dinner for 40 years..."  To which she reminded me of two things:  1.  I am not 40 yet.  and 2. I grew up in an age where people didn't care about their kids.  Of course, if you have a fifteen year old girl, you know you could make that conversation go on and on, but I chose to just leave it alone.  Sorry mom.



Progress

Week 1 Progress Report?

I'm trying to do a little bit each day.  Because all the places on the internet keep telling me a chair will take 2 months.  This project is way bigger than a chair and I don't have 2 months.  Well, I suppose I do.  I just know that anything that drags on like that historically loses my interest.  Losing interest would be bad.

So, this is where I am right now.  There are many errors.  Some fixable, some (probably fixable) I'm not going to mess with.  Because, well...my standards are low enough to be able to live with them.  I stapled the back cushion too tight in that spot and will loosen it later.

The arm is not attached to the rest of the couch.  Actually, the finished portion of the arm is barely attached to the arm.  The arm was hard.  I ripped the same seams multiple times.  It's not perfect, but yeah...it is what it is.  I'm kind of wishing there was not another arm.  It will be higher when it attaches (if  you are wondering why you are seeing light between the arm and the back).

I do feel like I should say that I'm on my 4th spool of thread.  All of those internet sites say it's mostly a stapling job.  Not this couch.  Sewing, sewing, sewing...

I've made 2 other pillows.  I know my zigs and zags could have been matched up at the seams....I just didn't feel like bothering with them.  And I was trying to conserve fabric for something else.

Did I cook anything this week?  I feel like I haven't made dinner in a long time.  For some reason, I'm just not interested in dinner lately.  Which means we've mostly been eating junk for a week.  I skipped out on lacrosse today, so figured I should have dinner together for Ryan who had to be out there ALL day.  We'll be out there all day again tomorrow...just sayin' I was appreciative he took care of all that today and let me stay home to lounge about and whatnot.

Curried chickpeas and tofu with cucumbers and brown rice

Cupcakes and a Naked Couch

So this is pretty much what a naked couch looks like.  I'm finding myself kind of flabbergasted furniture people have somehow pulled off selling couches for thousands of dollars when this is all that they are made from.  (Of course, I've yet to pull of covering it, so maybe that is what one is paying for.)  I'm thinking I could totally build our next one.

The little bit of fabric on it is the new.  It's only tacked in place.  I suck at using the staple gun in tight places (Remember I insisted leaving that bed in?), so I'm going to put Ryan on that.  I'm kind of wishing I would have bought a length of roping to put along the bottom.  I may still unless I decide that would be too much.

Cupcakes from yesterday.  I didn't post them then, because I was only home long enough to make them.  It was one of those days where I left before the sun was up and didn't come back in until almost midnight.  I love making cupcakes.

Snapshot of Reality

I'm semi-sensitive to the fact I may be creating some sort of illusion which does not necessarily reflect reality.  At least reality beyond the edges of the camera frame.  I'm all for being real.  Because it annoys me when people paint an illusion of themselves (or whatever) that couldn't be further from the truth and then I somehow have to discover that truth after I've already formed my opinion.

Someone asked me today "What is the theme of your blog?"  Ummm....there is no theme.  It's all random, all the time.  More like a little journal for my grandmothers to check in to see what we've been up to.  They like that sort of thing.  It makes me happy knowing they can feel somewhat connected to our daily minutia, because they live far away and don't get to witness it firsthand.

On the other hand, since I'm being real today, secondhand may be better.  Just sayin'.

I meant to take pictures of Constitution Hall today.  It was graduation day.  It's probably unprofessional for me to say graduation day is boring.  In most regards, it is.  Really, really boring.  It's all day getting there, waiting around, sitting through the ceremony and coming back home.  But, just as I had settled into my previously prepared for boredom, I started seeing all of these kids I had forgotten about.  My school is huge and I get most of them when they are freshmen.  By the time they are graduating, I've already been through hundreds of other students.  At any rate, it was sort of fascinating to see all these 18 year old faces I hadn't seen since they were 14 or 15.  And suddenly I wasn't bored.  I might have gotten a little weepy, because I forgot someone was graduating and then there he was.   And then the whole thing was over.  And then I remembered I am where I am supposed to be.  For now, anyway.  I kind of forgot that a lot this year.  And now I'm a little sorry for it.  Oh.  The pictures.  There aren't any, because I forgot my camera.  Maybe next year.  It's so beautiful in there, I'll have to remember.


The awesome thing about graduation day is I ALWAYS get sushi on the way home.  Always.  Today, I walked in with my sushi and delusions of a nap.  In theory, the conditions were perfect.  Home alone.  Chilly and perfect sleeping temperature air.  Didn't have to be anywhere for two hours.  Reality?  A freakin' dog that wouldn't quit barking (for whatever reason) and the phone wouldn't stop ringing.  So, no nap.

I didn't cook dinner.  Didn't feel like it tonight.  I don't know what anybody ate.  Don't care, actually.

Was trying to do homework (which I just finished...2 hours before the due date).  First they reported a dead bird in the sink.  Remember...I'm giving you a picture of my real life today.  Of course, nobody moved it and later it was reported to be in the toilet.  (Did I mention it's beautiful outside, we have all the doors propped open and a cat that wanders in and out with evidently enough skills to capture birds?)  Somewhere in there, there was a chicken emergency (What kind of chicken figures out how to get its leg caught under the pen?  How does that even happen?), the neighbor cussing because his water scarecrow was spraying him (repeatedly) and then Jac dancing around and singing "Rumor has it...".

Then the internet went out.

Then I could smell someone in my kitchen.  The kitchen that was just cleaned up.

Turns out, we need an orange zesting thingie.  "Twas the time of night where all I could do was take a look at what was going down and turn around.  Because, at some point in the night, I invariably enter the "whatever" stage.  I was there.  Because I still had homework and there was that dead bird in the toilet and Jac was still singing Adele's greatest hits and yeah...whatever.

Good times.

Everything always works out in the end.  Homework is done.  Dead bird has been taken care of.  Chicken emergency hopefully fixed.  Neighbor seems to have figured out his scarecrow.  Jac has moved on to some other activity (which I will have to investigate in a second).  And all that orange zest turned into orange/white chocolate chip muffins.

I'm not a purist vegan (like Ryan is) and therefore I could eat one.  I'm not a fan of white chocolate (which isn't even chocolate) and these taste more like cake than muffins.  But who doesn't like cake?

After the "whatever stage" comes the "I just have to laugh at the reality of my life" stage.  I'm there.  Tonight I'd rather have what I have then some picture perfect, fake affair.  Even if it means I'm going to have to fish a dead bird out of the toilet every now and again.

Painted Rooster

I had this whole story mapped out in my mind. I was going to share it, because it came upon me suddenly and contained an analogy that makes total sense. I'm not going to, though, because the main characters are me and the dog and perhaps it isn't all that smart to start comparing myself to the dog on a public blog. I think that pretty much illustrates how ready for summer I really am.

Only a few days of school left...



If I said we had rice and beans for dinner (because all vegans must, at some point, eat rice and beans, right?), it doesn't sound all that exciting, does it? What if I said we had Painted Rooster? The Nicaraguans got that one right. :-) The presentation is a little unconventional, but it is what it is....Painted Rooster. The rice is a mix of brown and black rices, because that is what we had.

Despite the fun name, the kids hated it. Surprise.