Is it Friday yet?

 

When school starts up, the first weeks are always LONG.  As in, "I'm so tired I can barely move" long and my head hurts and I'm feeling all "blah" and can't determine whether or not I'm hungry or just tired or both or what.  So there.  Right now. 

 

But...what the heck....who cares?....it will pass.  It's not like I'm out there doing manual labor all day; so...really? 

 

Still.  Can it just be Friday already?  This week...sigh...so much.

 

Yesterday was big stuff.  I didn't really tell anybody.  Because...well...1. I only knew about it myself the day prior.  2.  I didn't want to think about it, because I did not feel prepared and said lack of preparation was my own fault.  3.  I just did not feel like talking about it with anyone, because what would there have been to say? 

I don't really feel like talking about it now.  But, I feel it's worthy of a mention considering it probably contributed to my current state of malaise. (Just being dramatic.  I'm actually feeling good...beyond the tired part.)

What I will say is: "I have defended it." 

I think it's over and I can now throw stacks and stacks of paper away.  (I think.  Surely people don't keep this stuff forever, right?) 

Maybe I should keep it until my diploma shows up?  Hmm...

For the two who did know...a huge thank you.  One for keeping kids quiet and the other for having my back in prayer.

Perhaps a million other things went down between Monday morning and now.  One of them is uber-worthy of sharing.  It will get its own post.  In about two weeks.  Because it's just that crazy and I'm still chewing on its reality in my life.  For those of you close to me...you already know.  I realize most of you are asking for photographic proof...that will come.  ;-)

Random fluff about me (as if this whole blog isn't "random fluff"), not only do I make whatever I want for dinner without regard to what anyone else might be desiring (Because they could cook if they really were so inclined, right?), I plate their food according to how hungry I am.  Was evidently starving today and made everyone eat a ginormous salad with fake chicken.  Princess D got me hooked on raspberry vinegarette.

Back to Reality

I realize I should have "First Day of School" pictures.  I leave before everyone else, so I'm not in charge of that.  I looked for them yesterday and was told "I'm going to look cuter tomorrow, so we are taking them tomorrow."  O.K...whatever.  I'll just say the pictures taken on the 2nd day really happened on the 1st day. 

There are no 2nd day pictures either.  In the grand scheme of life...meh.  Maybe I'll care more about it later on down the road than I do now?  I hope not.  Because...there are none.

Back to reality and all the associated chaos of me not being able to do whatever I feel like all day.  The schedule is predictable; get up, go to work, come home, feed people, go to bed.  Insert about a dozen other activities in there, because I've become "social" (With "in real life" people...How did that happen?) and hit repeat.

1.  I'm doing crazy stuff these days.  Took a giant step out of my comfort zone.  Stay tuned.

2.  I'm doing scary stuff tomorrow.  Big stuff.  That is supposed to be important.  Stay tuned.

3.  Dinner was black bean/pumpkin/tofu enchildas with fake cheese that was surprisingly not disgusting.  Keep in mind, that assessment is coming from someone who doesn't really like cheese all that much.  Still...compared to the real, most fake versions are...ick...can't get past the smell.

4.  I won the nightly bananagram game.  Duh.  I always win.  ;-)

Saturday Night with Grammy and Granddad

Ryan's parents.

Just a casual dinner....because they came kind of last minute.  I told you we would be eating that tian again really soon. :-)

'Tis a lazy weekend for me.  Listening to music, piddling around, sleeping in the middle of the day...off in my own world.  I love it.

Random picture of Luna.  Because it makes Alicia and me laugh.

Party on a School Night

FUSE Back to School Bonfire:

1.  I know most of you roll your eyes and figure I'm exaggerating when I insert randomly in stories the events at my church are typically "bring your own gun".  Truth is...sometimes it's only "bring your own ammo" (like tonight).

2.  "Bring your own gun" churches would never have a dinky bonfire.  Never.

3.  Marshmallows are not optional.  Ever.

Progressive Dinner-Dessert

I should have titled this "Party on a School Night".  Because, while it is still summer for them, it's a school night for me.  And I'm sleepy.

But, I love a good party.  And cute food.  And that my kid is part of a small group that does cool things like going to get their nails done together and then getting all dressed up for a progressive dinner.  If you don't know, a progressive dinner is one of those things where you eat an appetizer at one house, move to another for the entree and so on.  Our house was the last stop.  Dessert.

Tomorrow = Another party on a school night.  :-)  At someone else's house and with a fire, though. 

Remember that couch?

Remember that couch?  The one I started trying to fix a gazillion years (or 3ish months) ago and
never touched it after the first week?  It's sort of finished.  I still have to put the back cover thingie on, but I'm out of staples.  (Which means maybe I'll get to it in another 3ish months.)

I am mourning the loss of summer.  Dramatically.   Usually, at this time, I'm sort of ready (or at least not hating the idea) of going back to work.  Structure, you know.  Typically, without structure being forced upon me, things tend to go a little awry after awhile.  To the point where I know outside intervention must occur.  Outside intervention = Forced Structure.

This year is different.  Nothing is awry.  Everything is sort of perfect.  The illogical side of me wants to stay in this spot forever.  Must keep moving forward...otherwise things will no longer be perfect.  (See?  I can be logical.)

Nonetheless...deep mourning of the loss of summer has been occurring for a few days.  It manifested itself in denial (and if I can just stay busy and try to not think about it, that means times won't pass and it won't happen, right?).  Staying busy for me means starting a million projects that generally create substantially more mess than what I already have going.  If you've been to my house this past spring/summer, you know I didn't need to create anymore of a mess. 

I was too busy "being still" to be bothered with cleaning all summer. 

A "million projects" for me is generally going to involve paint and it's always a surprise what I might decide needs painted.  (Should I mention painting must send up a giant flag to everyone in this house and they all kind of walk around on eggshells wondering when I'm going to implode..well...maybe explode?  Case in point: I unknowingly had the same Jason Upton song on repeat for over 2 hours and nobody said anything about it.  Surely they noticed?  Even if I didn't...which is a whole other conversation.)

At any rate, the point of all of that is work is happening tomorrow and I don't want to go.  So, I spent the last 3 days sewing and painting stuff.  (Mostly furniture, because it was not unified and looked like it came from the side of the road or something.)

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This blue chair...it came from the side of the road.  It's now black.



This lovely thing...I got it from a yardsale awhile back for $2.  I was going to put it on the side of the road, but then I decided to paint it black.

3 a.m. one night.  Most of this is part of a chess table.  One of the few pieces of furniture we have that didn't come from the side of the road, some yardsale, a discount store where you bring it home in pieces and then have to assemble and finish it yourself or something I built compliments of Ana White.  It's a real piece of furniture built by my grandpa who is a legit carpenter.  It was red oak (probably from a tree on his farm).  I will say, even though it didn't match anything we have, painting it was kind of a stretch for me.  The kids were not that helpful about it.  "Did you ask Dad if you could paint it?"  Umm...it's black now.  This might have occurred on the aforementioned "Jason Upton" night.

If you scroll up, you will see this bench was yellow.  Not anymore... :-)  Oh yeah...my walls aren't green anymore either.  Well...most of them.

Truth be told, I liked all those happy colors, but Alicia told me I was grown and should pick something a little more traditional.  She also said she was tired of looking at green.

The above picture is probably more representative of the color.  I took it yesterday when it wasn't raining.

Today, it is raining.  ;-)  That mirror...got it from a yard sale for $1.  Pretty sure I'm going to paint it black.  And the couch...it has issues.  Because I've never reupholstered anything and was kind of hellbent on doing it for the least amount of money possible.  Because I have animals and kids and whatnot.  I only need it to last for a little while until I can buy new furniture.  I decided if people have nothing more to do than inspect my couch closely...whatever. :-)

There is still the other couch (which is actually 2 recliners).  Umm...maybe I'll just put it out on the road?  Thinking about starting that project is not a pleasant thought.

 The other side of the living room...  You can see that phone chair thingie over there.  In the other corner is that chess table and the black chair (and my clarinet/music stand should I decide to figure that out one of these days).

That table in the middle makes me laugh.  It's from IKEA.  We only bought it for the kids to have a place to set up their Playmobil stuff a gazillion years ago.  And then they got too big for Playmobil and I tried to give the table to my friend Nell who didn't take it and it never moved past this space.  I was going to paint it black, but Ryan said "Really?  It's the only piece of real furniture we have."  Which makes me roll my eyes...IKEA, lol.  Leaving it as is for the moment...at least until I bring out that black paint again.

A Day in the Life

I used to do this thing with some friends where we would record a "day in the life" in pictures to share with each other.  Haven't done one of those in awhile.

Previous "Day in the Life's":

June 2007

June 2009

I actually wasn't planning on doing one today.  Who knew I was going to be all productive?  Certainly not me, because I haven't done anything productive (in the physical sense) all summer.  So, yeah...huge surprise. ;-)

I didn't take tons and tons of pictures.  For one, it was halfway to noon when I realized I wasn't going to sloth around all day.  For two, one of my kids is not really into being photographed at every turn these days.

It is what it is.  :-)  Humor me.

Pretty much how every day this summer has started...except this day started before noon.  :-)  It's always 7-11 (half hot chocolate, half French vanilla coffee) and ALWAYS the largest size.

For once, I knew what we were having for dinner before it was time for dinner.  Black bean soup.  It was requested yesterday, by Ryan (who seems to not have an issue with paying $9 for a container of it at Whole Foods...highway robbery, I tell you), but we didn't have any black beans.  I went and bought some this morning.  No picture of that transaction, because who knew I was actually going to follow through with cooking? 

No shame.  Well, there is shame, but pretty much everyone I care about has already seen my house in its glory this summer.  For those of you who don't know, cleaning is not my thing.  I'd like to say that it's hard to get everything done when one works full-time and goes to school full-time and has kids and a husband and blah, blah, blah..., but that would be a cop-out.  The real reason is I only have so much time to be domestic and I like to take the areas of domesticity (Is that a word?) I'm amicable towards to the extreme.  Cleaning isn't on that list.

How it generally happens is I occasionally have a little breakdown over the main floor (usually inspired by someone who has decided to visit) and I go on a little tirade where I make everyone "pick-up".  But, we don't have anywhere to put anything and I just tell them "Take it downstairs and I'll deal with it later."  Historically, "later" only comes about once every 3 years.  It has been 3 years.

So, I ran out of trashbags and also decided I needed peppermint soap.  Not that we don't have a zillion bottles of other cleaner, I'm just a "cleaner snob" and when I clean I feel like I need a new bottle.  Usually, I have to go smell all of them to figure out what I want.  At least I saved time by knowing I wanted the peppermint this time?

And the boy needed shoes for school.  So, decided to quickly get that out of the way before next week when everywhere will be a madhouse with back-to-school shoppers.



Ummm...a pair of shoes and a whole lot of other stuff later....

At least I saved us a ton of money?  That's my story, anyway.  You know all of that is a scam, right?

We don't really do back-to-school shopping, because I'm not patient like that.  But, since we were out, I decided to do it.  A ton of money later...I have bought all I am going to buy.  (Haircut is on the agenda for a day soon.)

Treated the kids to a fancy lunch.  I made them eat it in the car, because I had stuff to do.

Came home to good mail.  This week's reading.  Left=Alicia's, Right=mine  I did not get distracted.  Not getting distracted is something for me to brag about.

The aforementioned peppermint soap.  I used to not be able to get this locally.  Now, they try to trip me up by having more than one scent option available at Target.  Who knew I was going to go for peppermint and end up all sidetracked wondering if it was the lavender I was really wanting.  I didn't dare smell the almond...I was already in a quandry.  In the end, I decided to stick with the peppermint.

Look!  This may not look like much, but believe me...it took most of the day.  The "before" picture was from the least incriminating angle possible. 

Once I get that Master's defended, I can throw away a bunch more stuff.  (I actually thought I was going to be doing that this week, but it got postponed.  Loving that....)

My black bean soup.  I was trying to make it like Whole Foods makes it.  The problem with that is I have issues spending $9 on soup and therefore have only tasted it once (from Ryan's container).  I found some recipe and added cocoa and orange juice.  The recipe said to use 1/8 cup of adobo sauce.  It seemed like a lot, but I threw it in.  Let me just tell you...it has a kick.  Now, I love spice.  (As in the last time I went to the Jamaican joint with my friend and ordered the jerk pork, they asked me if I wanted the "hot".  When I said "yes", the whole place stopped and looked at me.  And then my belly burned for 2 days until I did it again.)  But, Ryan...his idea of spice is a whole lot less.  He ate it, but was evidently sweating while doing so.  When I came home, he said "That soup is awesome, but too spicy."  Yeah...I already knew that, because I've already eaten 3 bowls of it.

Those are pita chips on top.  Pita chips are a food group in this house.

Ended the day with my small group "Yada Girls and 1 Guy".  I love this group.

New Favorite Dinner

I think I could eat this every night for the rest of my life.  Ryan said "I'm going to take a short break." and then five minutes later he was back for the next plate. 

He has been brainwashed to believe potatoes are bad for you, though, and suggested sweet potatoes next time.  (Sweet potatoes would be really bad in this dish, I think.)  Which led to a giant discussion on the merits of potatoes.  Nobody will ever be able to convince me they aren't good in their natural form.

The tian is pretty much a copy of this.  Basically, roasted tomatoes, red potatoes and zucchini on a bed of caramelized onions and garlic with thyme.  I'm imagining it with some crusty bread with a white bean and rosemary spread...which means that's probably what we'll be eating sometime later this week.

The asparagus was not planned, but Alicia was all "Oh...look...tiny asparagus...I love tiny asparagus."  Who am I to deny my child asparagus (or the hot dogs that somehow ended up in my cart)?

The Last Monday of Summer

Trying so hard to hold onto summer...but it's slipping away anyway.  Next Monday I have to go back to work.  Trying not to think about that, but it's not working.  I don't want to go back to work.  This summer has been unlike any others and I just want to stay in it forever.  Sigh...maybe tomorrow I'll be able to come to grips with reality.

Made a list of stuff that needs to get done.  Mostly, because while I had some ideas of what was going to happen this summer, I can't remember what they were.  My own plans...evidently they were not so important.

I did put that couch on my list.  Remember the couch? I haven't touched it since before school let out.  Pretty sure everyone is just assuming I'm never going to get it done.  I'm going to get it done.  This week.

Soup for dinner.  Ryan requested black bean soup (like Whole Foods makes), but we only have canned black beans.  We have some dried limas I was going to cook, but I frittered away the day lamenting the end of summer and then it was too late.  I decided on white bean and tomato soup.  But, after I had committed, I discovered we only had 1 can of white beans.  So...yeah.  Soup.  Bean (white and pinto) with tomatoes, quinoa, carrots and a couple of handfuls of herbs from the garden.  I topped it with broken pita chips (because there always seems to be so many leftover at the bottom of the bag).

Alicia- "This soup is so good.  (As she was on her second bowl.)  Wait.  This is vegan?  Ewww...."

This is typical.

Ryan- "You made this from scratch?  (?????  Umm...of course?)  I mean, I always like your soup, but this one tastes really good."

Jac just ate his and didn't say anything...except that the quinoa reminded him a little bit of chicken food.

They are so weird.  But, I'm slowly turning them into foodies.