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Archive for the ‘pie!’ Category

15 Oct

Autumnal

Posted by freshhell in autumn, cars, damn traffic, Dusty, field trips, food, nature, pie!, Red, School. 7 comments

It’s gonna be a busy week. Today Dusty goes to what I hope will be one of her final orthodontic appointments. She can already taste the popcorn and gooey candy she’s had to avoid for 18 months. Tomorrow evening, I will spend hours at the middle school learning about the G&T program and the various high school options she’ll have – the AP/IB program at the high school next door and the offerings at the Governor’s school that serves our district. Its focus is International Studies which isn’t something Dusty’s particularly interested in. The Governor’s school that focuses on arts is out of our zone and too far away to consider. So, chances are that she’ll be in the AP/IB program. Which works for me. Dusty will do well wherever she goes. Wednesday will be spent in a professional organization meeting. Luckily, it’s in town. As much as I love driving Little Edie, I could stand to do less of it.

Speaking of Little Edie, she’s at the detailer’s this week. The mechanic wanted to fix all the scrapes and dings (on his dime) before we considered the deal closed. So, I’ll be driving the Passat for a couple days. Then, I can finally bring him home and begin to clean him up, inside and out, and put him up for sale.

The weekend went by in a blink and a flash. It was warm and dry and the leaves on the trees are slowly beginning to change. It’s looking pretty out there – in places. Cold at night, warm during the day…it’s making Pokey (and me) a little crazy. He wants to be OUT! No, IN! No, OUT! No….ARGH! Out it is! Don’t let the door hit you in the tail, cat!

On Saturday, I took the kids to get flu shots at a pharmacy mini-clinic. It should not have taken all afternoon but it did. We arrived at 1:00pm to discover the practioner was at lunch. We went off to the costume store for Halloween supplies, had some frozen yogurt, and then went back. Signed in and the people in front of us were in there for AN HOUR. Probably spreading some dread disease that *cough* we’re sure to *hack* succumb to any minute now. *COUGH*

Dusty had a friend spend the night and I took all three kids up to the mountains yesterday to pick apples at an orchard that apparently can be seen from Monticello. The two properties abut. I was expecting something much different than what I found (having never done this kind of thing before). The place was PACKED and it took us half an hour to drive up the winding road to the farm due to ungodly traffic. I really hate it when all of humanity has the same idea as me. Pisses me off. Not that I care about originality. It’s just…surely there are other things these people could be doing! Come on!

Red was already complaining before we got out of the car. She didn’t WANT to pick apples! She HATED apple pie (and still does)! When were we gonna get DONUTS! Oh, woe! I pulled her up a row of apple-free trees (they were all on the ground having been thoroughly picked over already) and we poked around the ground and chose perfectly good ground apples. Within a half an hour, we had all we could carry. I bought two dozen freshly-made donuts and sent the children to eat and sit under a tree while I went to the bathrom and visited the wine shop. Yes, the farm had a vinyard and winery on the premises. Bought two bottles of their pinot grigio and came back to discover that we were down to one dozen donuts. Well, they can’t say I didn’t feed them lunch, right?

The drive was pretty, though. I took back roads most of the way which took us through a place called Apple Grove. It was five beautiful old farm houses surrounded by mature shade trees and a sign that read “Apple Grove”. I want to move there immediately. I would love to have “Apple Grove, VA” as my next address.

After dropping the friend off, we came home and Red ran to the tv. Oh, TV, how she missed you! All that being-in-nature stuff is for a hardier person than Red! She is a delicate flower with a spine of steel. She should not be traipsing down muddy ruts between acres of apple trees, dodging bees and other people’s babies! No, she should be ensconced in front of the Disney Channel while the leaves silently drop off the trees and the wind does not disturb her locks. (She did go out and play later, lest you think all she does is watch tv.) Then she spent some time pants-less because she was hot.

I made an apple pie after resting up a bit. Made dinner. Cleaned the pig cage with Dusty’s help. Tidied up the hastily-read Sunday paper and….

And then….the weekend was over. Just like that.

4 May

We’ll Always Have Vegetables

Posted by freshhell in Dusty, food, gardening, guinea pigs, pie!, Red, spring, Uncategorized. 2 comments

Merely a smiling visitant here to share the love (:, btw outstanding style and design

Let’s see. I’ve been avoiding writing this week. Instead, I’ve been walking in the “woods” and running errands and getting new lenses put in my glasses and finding other things to do with myself during my lunch hours. I feel sneaky, though, like I’m cheating on a lover. I’m having an affair with my life and leaving my novel behind and ignorant in the giant bag I haul to work each day. My laptop comes with me too but it’s also abandoned mid-day as I find other things to do.

Yesterday, I dropped my glasses off for the lenses, adjusted to a really, really old pair of non-progressive glasses that I keep around for just this reason, and went to Target. Bought a new yoga mat because the old one was cheap and now is too gross and brittle to take to this class in a few weeks. I went to the grocery store..

[Speaking of food, if I might digress here: the woman in the office next to mine is eating potato chips or some similarly crunchy food at 9:41am which seems….all kinds of wrong. Like people who can drink soda in the morning? I do not understand this. Yuck. I am having a difficult time listening to it and I can’t help thinking ‘you really shouldn’t be eating chips period much less first thing in the morning’ and then I scold myself because really, it’s none of my business. Except she’s just made it my business because I have to listen to it. I hate listening to people eat food. I know. This is my own problem. But still. Really. Cut it out!]

…and because I was seriously in need of a slice of coconut cake, I went in search of one. I didn’t find cake but I found a slice of coconut cream pie which….while not exactly what I wanted….was close enough. And I bought a small bag of salt and vinegar chips (IRONY ALERT) which I downed in seconds and then felt horrendously guilty about because a) I rarely eat chips because they are not really the best thing to be eating and b) while I’m not officially on WW anymore, my brain still calculates points and after the pie AND the chips….I could feel the bar graph explode out of my head. That Thursday bar turned red and shot up into the stratosphere. A week’s worth of points used within 10 minutes. I don’t know. Do I have food issues? Maybe.

Anyway, I got over myself and limited what I ate for dinner and went out to the garden. I’d picked up some plants along with local strawberries and greens at the co-op on my way home and they needed to be planted. Zinnias. I planted two zinnias. The Kiss-Me-Over-The-Garden-Gate, a flowering annual that apparently grows nine feet tall, needs a bit more research and thought before I plant it. Where will it go? How much space will it hog up?

I watered everything (and OF COURSE we had a thunderstorm later in the night which woke up Red who ended up in my bed – and I snuck out at 1:30am and slept in hers), and Dusty helped me pull radishes. Lots and lots of radishes. I have a hummus and radish sandwich waiting for me at lunch. Yum.

Red usually loves to help me pull radishes but she was too busy in her imaginary world so Dusty came to the rescue. The pigs were by the swings eating clover in their pen. They are much like the children in that they express displeasure when they have to come back inside. I feel their pain but I really can’t leave them outside unattended in the open topped pen. A hawk might swoop down and carry them away. It could happen. Birds are really big out here.

No plans for the weekend. Dusty’s got a sleepover party tonight that will take her out of town to some time-share resort with multiple swimming pools so I won’t see her til late afternoon tomorrow. Red and I will just hang out which means she’ll sit in the hammock or ride her bike around in her imaginary world cloud and I will garden.

I was invited to a party in the city that, if it were closer, I’d attend but I think by Sunday I’ll be in total sloth mode (yes, I’ve become that annoying friend who rsvps ‘maybe’ and then doesn’t show up) and will choose instead to weed the front flower bed which I’ve been neglecting. It’s mostly an herb garden now as thyme has taken over one end and oregano the other. But I need to put in some flowers. Hell, I need to plant my marigold seeds before its too late!

Next week, for sure, I’ll get back to that stupid novel that is nothing but all kinds of wrong. Sigh. At least I’ll always have the vegetables. Which is like having Paris only without the passport.

26 Aug

Cat Whisperer

Posted by freshhell in books, cats, pie!, summer. 5 comments

I’d hoped to have a photograph right HERE of Red talking gently to the cats on the porch yesterday morning but it appears I brought the wrong camera cord with me to work this morning. My Polaroid refuses to play nice with the Kodak cord of Dusty’s. Why can’t cameras of all nations get along? Maybe when I’m home later, I’ll scrounge up the right one.

Yesterday, in which I put 81 miles on my car AFTER I drove to work, I met a colleague, my former boss who switched to a different job in our division, for coffee. Iced tea, really. Because it is summer and because it is the South. We talked and I vented. We are on the same page and find the same people absolutely infuriating. She came up with a good idea for moving departments around (to my benefit, natch) and will bring it to the VP. I do not hold out any hopes that this idea will bear fruit, as people say, but it was nice to at least touch the seeds. It helps to know that it’s not ME that’s the problem. It’s them. Others have the same issues I’m having with the Annoying People.

I then went back and got some work done, drove home to relieve the babysitter (who Red and I both like a lot), got Red in the car, drove back into town to pick up the co-op food, took Red to a birthday party (a pool party in which, due to the thunderstorm that rolled in behind me, was more party than pool), came home and made dinner (plugging it all diligently in the WW website and discovering that yes, I can have that small piece of blueberry pie!), and, with both kids at the party, found myself with hours of child-free time.

Nobody was home on the internets so I plopped myself down on the sofa and read while the rain fell. Pokey was distressed by the storm. He really really really wanted to go outside but equally really really really didn’t want to get wet. Well, maybe he did. No, he didn’t. He drove me crazy because usually when I get on the sofa, he’s all over me. This time he had zero interest in snuggling up. He was in his Wild Beast mode and was desperate to join his friends. It was sad and hilarious to see him in such a state. I finally just threw him out into the storm. He was back inside within five minutes and yet he couldn’t settle.

The book I was reading, which I HIGHLY recommend, is Tracy Kidder’s Mountains Beyond Mountains. About Dr. Paul Farmer and Partners in Health. It’s not a subject that I’d normally be drawn to, and I don’t read a lot of non-fiction, but Kidder’s writing makes any subject fascinating. I am having trouble putting the book down. I’ve read a number of his books and each time I’m just in awe at his ability to make a subject – any subject – compelling to anyone and everyone. I think I’m going to have to buy a number of copies of this book as Xmas gifts this year. That’s how much I love it.

So, as the earthquake and its many aftershocks die down (I hope), we are preparing for a hurricane. Luckily, I live a couple hours inland so the impact will be much less than what the coast is in store for. That said, there’s a very good chance we’ll lose power. The last big hurricane (Isabel?) hit in September 2003. We’d just moved out here. Dusty was 2 1/2. We lost power for three days and were utterly unprepared to live without not only electricity but water. Water and ice were almost impossible to find. Keeping a small child clean in such circumstances requires some imagination and a lot of baby wipes. The good thing about these hurricanes is that they occur in warm weather so keeping warm will not be an issue. Keeping food cold, on the other hand, is a whole ‘nother ball of wax.

I’ve rented a movie for the kids. We have no agenda for the weekend, always nice and very rare, so we’ll just hunker down and make the best of it. See you on the flip side.

5 Jul

Under the Spreading Walnut Tree

Posted by freshhell in Dusty, Fear, gardening, movies, nature, pie!, storm damage, summer. 7 comments

Lemme see. We started the weekend off with a walnut tree. We ended it with the tree asserting its independence by falling over and killing itself.

Here it is:

It’s nothing if not dramatic.

But I’m getting ahead of myself.

On Saturday, I took the cats (in the form of Red and Dusty) to the grocery store and they managed to push and pull the cart in a way that obstructed every person pushing every cart in every aisle. Why a straight line is so difficult, I do not know but it is. Why Dusty can’t just leave the cart where it is so that I don’t turn around and drop whatever’s in my hand to the floor, I can’t begin to figure out. But, the cart has wings in their hands. It feels the need to move closer to the cookies I refuse to buy. It gets stuck by the 24-pack of cheese sticks. Weirdest thing.

Then, I dumped them and the groceries at home and had a great lunch with my writers group. They allowed me and my novel to take over most of the conversation and helped me figure out what the story’s about, it’s theme, what the protagonist wants. All the important things I knew at some level but hadn’t managed to dredge out of the recesses of my brain. And now, I have a lot of work to do. A lot. But I know where I’m going so it’s all good.

On Sunday, I cleaned and a new wonderful babysitter came so that the grownups could go see the new Woody Allen movie. Which was not only wonderful but gave me even more insight into my novel. The longing for the past and a better, more exciting time in which to live resonated. It was also just a terrific movie. I am so in love with Adrian Brody right now, I can barely…..

Yes. And then a storm came that knocked out the satellite so I missed the second half of Poirot (don’t tell me who did it; I’m hoping to catch a rerun soon on the alternate PBS station). During the night, the second wave of the storm came through and while we never lost power, the sound and ferocity of the wind was frightening. I”m rarely frightened during storms but this sounded like a hurricane, like the end of the world. The rain fell sideways up against the windows so when I pulled back the curtains, I couldn’t see anything. Just grey blobs. As if I’d forgotten to put my glasses on but I had and that was doubly disconcerting. I waited for the house to fall apart. I looked in on Red who was dead to the world. How was she sleeping through this? I listened to things fly through the air for an hour and wondered if I shouldn’t wake everyone up and make them sit in the interior bathroom’s tub. Just in case.

In the morning, we discovered that the tree had fallen. It fell in such a way that nothing was smashed but the electrical pole that carried the wires to the barn. I’d had the electricity cut off to the barn years ago. But, the old lines were snaked across the yard and apparently connected to the neighbor’s barn where they DO need the electricity. Horses get hot in the summer and need fans.

I lost half my sunflowers and all my corn. Flattened by the storm. Luckily, that was the extent of the damage. The power guys came out and ran new lines. They had to drive through the pastures from the neighbor’s side. Our other neighbors came by, after cutting up the trees they’d lost, and offered to saw up ours when we were ready. I hadn’t seen them in ages and we briefly caught up. Her oldest daughter – who babysat for Dusty when we first moved out here – is getting married this month and moving to Japan. Her middle daughter is in Texas working. I offered Dusty’s free equestrian services. She asked if we could feed her cats at the end of the month. We get free use of the pool. Done and done. I like my neighbors. We were fortunate all around.

I took the kids to the annual 4th parade which we ended up skipping in lieu of a trip to the book sale and slurpees and then we took a peach pie (I felt badly about the pie I’d planned to make and decided to make two real peach pies with an oatmeal/honey top instead) to the annual 4th party hosted by Dusty’s BFF’s parents. I drank and laughed with one of Red’s BFF’s moms. In normal circumstances, we would not be friends, having very little in common (she’s married to a sheriff after all) but since our daughters (she has three kids and Red’s friend is her youngest) are cut from the same cloth, we had a lot to talk about. This is the same woman who gave Red a copy of The Muppet Movie for her birthday so perhaps we have more in common than you’d think at first glance. So, I ended up being way more social than usual and having way more fun sitting and gabbing and drinking than I usually do.

So despite some ups and downs, it was much more of a weekend than I’d anticipated. Of course, one doesn’t normally plan for storm damage and toppling trees. Eventually the tree will be gone and a huge mud hole will be left behind. Dusty thought the hole would make a good swimming pool. “We just need some cement,” she said, already planning in her head how things would work. Um, no. No we don’t. We need a truck filled with topsoil is what we’re gonna need. One day. If the stump doesn’t become a permanent fixture.

PS – Dusty has finished her vintage napkin pillows and will hopefully begin sewing her critters this week. Progress, slow progress, is being made on the sewing front.

1 Jul

A Weekend of Days

Posted by freshhell in family, pie!, summer, writing. 6 comments

I left for work this morning while the kids were still asleep. They don’t have camp on Fridays which, while that’s a hard nut for working parents, is a decent summer compromise for kids. Three day weekends as far as the eye can see! Of course this weekend will be a four-day one. My weekend is shaping up thusly:

1. Tomorrow, after errands, I’ll meet my writer’s group for lunch. I’m hoping they can help me figure out what the hell to do with my novel. I made an attempt to jump start the rewriting this week and even after I was struck with AN IDEA last night before bed, I’m still stuck in a slump. And the writers conference is a couple of months away. I will have nothing to present to an agent. Nothing. Oh well. Better to try next year than to waste an agent’s time with a half-formed product. Argh. I’ve fallen deep into my summer doldrums. It’s a completely internal thing. Don’t mind me. Nothing to see here. Move along.

2. Sunday. There’s a rumor floating that a babysitter might show up and allow the adults to see the new Woody Allen movie.

3. The annual town parade and book sale on Monday. Then, the annual pool party at 4:00pm hosted by Dusty’s BFF’s family. It’s a nice low-key combination of activities with some lying around and possibly napping between the two. I’ll be making a pie for the party. That sounds grander than the reality which is pie filling between two pre-made crusts. Shhh, don’t tell. I have a reputation to uphold.

The big news is that next weekend, the whole family, excluding myself, is leaving for the mountains to visit the other grandparents. My husband’s attending a memorial party for a deceased high school friend. I wasn’t invited but I’m not complaining. It’s a long drive (and you know how I feel about that) and I’d much rather bask in the glory of an empty house for 48 hours. What will I do with myself?

One thing that will happen will be the delivery of Red’s new dresser. I finally broke down and bought the nice old maple dresser (with a mirror attached) I’ve had my eye on for more than a month at my favorite antique/junk store. It should arrive next Saturday. So, I’ll be able to set her bedroom to rights without any interference.

What do you do when you find yourself alone for extended periods of time? I’m out of practice.

23 Dec

Sad-Eyed Puppies and Swirling Rainbows

Posted by freshhell in Dusty, pie!, winter. 4 comments

Well, the holiday has begun. Yesterday, Red and I made those peanut cookies with the kisses in them. Dusty’s job was unwrapping the kisses because she was the only child in the house that I could trust to unwrap but not eat them. Red rolled the dough balls in sugar and placed them on the cookie sheet. She brushed off her fingers on her pants after each ball so by the time the cookies went into the oven, the floor was crunchy with sugar granules. I did sweep afterwards but I haven’t mopped yet. Might do that tomorrow after all the cooking’s done.

We had guests over in the afternoon: a friend and her sons, who also came with a yummy selection of cookies, and Dusty and Red sat and watched them build things with Legos like they were an interesting science museum exhibit. “Here we see the typical American boy in his natural habitat.” Until, that is, we kicked all the children outside for awhile and drank beer in relative peace. Actually, all the kids were very good and got along well. We pulled out the nature bins for them to go through but Red’s hexbug was the star of the show.

I’ve just made a sweet potato pie with a pecan/rolled oats crust. It’s cooling on the stove. First time I’ve made it so I’m not sure how good it’ll be. There was enough filling left over to fill four custard cups and Red’s already rejected hers. She’d prefer a few cookies, please. Forget it kid. Forget it.

Later, I’ll get some crickets for the anoles, pick up my co-op food and some regular groceries at the Food Monger. Tomorrow I’ll make a chickpea salad for the Xmas Eve party at my sister’s and some monkey pull-apart bread for Xmas morning. Dusty insisted and since it’s becoming our own family tradition (as opposed to my mother’s candied fruit bread), I’ll all for it. Thank goodness for frozen yeast rolls. Because this is a vacation for me as well and the less time I spend slaving away in the kitchen, the more time I have to simply hang out with the kids, read, and help Dusty earn her printmaking badge.

Xmas dinner will be pizza: english muffin pizza for the kids and feta/spinach pizza for the adults. Easy cooking but still homemade.

This is the time of year that I clean out my purse (which I do more than once a year, I’ll have you know) and change daily calendars. I copy over addresses, passwords, email addresses from one to another, scratching through people I no longer need to be in contact with, and adding new names and contact information, and yesterday I realized it’s time to get a new address book. Something with a section of plastic pockets to store business cards in. I’ve accumulated a collection of them and they’ve gotten unruly. Rather than copy down all the information for my hair cutter’s business, the massage therapist, the yoga studio, etc., it would be more efficient to just file away the card which also has the website and hours of operation info on it as well.

In cleaning out the address book, I found some scribblings of descriptions from a visit to the intake woman’s office in the hospital’s mammogram “suite” back in ’09. I needed to write down what I saw so I wouldn’t forget it. You never know when it’s going to come in handy. Here’s what I wrote:

“Angels and bible quotes scotchtaped to the particle board computer station.”

“Calendar with pastel rainbow swirls, stars and kites.”

“Calendar with sad-eyed puppies leaning over the back of a white wicker chair.”

Doesn’t that sound like your dream office? I thought so. Now you know what to look for when you upgrade your work surroundings. Consider it my gift to you.

6 Jul

Pootin’ and Tootin’

Posted by freshhell in food, gardening, movies, pie!, Red, summer, Uncategorized. 5 comments

We had a lovely long weekend at Casa FreshHell. On Saturday, Red had a friend come over to play. A kid just as bossy as Red who seemed to take more of a shine to Dusty than Red, at times, which meant I had to coax a sad and crying Red out of a corner and back into the ring more than once. It was an interesting dynamic but, all in all, they had fun.

I bought more ice cream when we went grocery shopping later so the kids could make ice cream “sundaes” – ice cream with chocolate syrup and sprinkles. It was so blisteringly hot, we spent the afternoon just lolling around. I finally had the final Steig Larsson book in my hands so I turned the computer to R & D so I could read on the couch. With a beer. And maybe a snack or two. There’s not much I like better than that, frankly.

I got all my cooking done early while the kids played: fruit snack bars for the party on the 4th, a blueberry pie I’d promised Dusty since she’d missed out on most of my birthday cherry pie, coleslaw. I had a bounty of vegetables due to the garden and the co-op. There were a couple of small cabbages that came in my “best of the garden” bag I ordered (as close to a real CSA as it gets), which is not my favorite vegetable. But I made a slaw with a mayo-free dressing and….it’s okay. It’s not the world’s best coleslaw. Like I say, cabbage is not something I choose to eat but I’ll eat coleslaw. And, I hate to waste food. It’s not that I have anything against cabbage, it’s just not the first thing I think of when I think of a delicious vegetable dish.

What was much better was the stir fried green beans in a peanut/ginger dressing (of sorts). I’ll post that recipe in my recipe page. It was more hot oil cooking than I like to do (esp since I end up with oil spattered glasses and esp when it’s so hot out) but the dish was worth it. Made some pepper quesadillas, too, last night. And now the vegetable cupboard is nearly bare. Bags of salad greens for sandwiches, etc., and the daily allotment of tomatoes.

Did a little bit of gardening. Dusty and I pulled up all the flattened cornstalks and the expired green beans (we’ll plant new seeds this week), watered (because apparently it’s never going to rain again), picked (tomatoes and peppers, mostly) and weeded a bit. The new tarps are doing a fabulous job of keeping the weeds down so I’ll need to redo the rest of the walkway area in the fall. I discovered a strange vine growing voluptuously in the strawberry patch. Thought it might be morning glory so I left it alone. Hell, I didn’t care what it was. I was curious to see what it would end up being. Turns out it is morning glory with a pink flower. It is cascading over one corner of the bed and I’m happy to have it. I love a garden surprise.

I’m also happy that the bees are back and buzzing around the sunflowers. Most of them are living on the monarda in the bed around the side of the house but they seem to have gotten the memo about the sunflowers. There are at least 3 or 4 kinds of bees so welcome back bees! Good to see you.

On Sunday, we went to the parade (shortest parade ever, all of 15 minutes) and the book sale. Brought home lots of good books for $3. Went home to collapse and then on to the annual 4th party we’ve attended for a couple of years now. For the first time, I didn’t have to get in the pool with Red. She had an inflatable ring, stayed in the shallow end and had a blast. I sat by the pool the whole time and kept watch over the kids. It was a smaller crowd this year than in the past but there was beer and good food and it wasn’t so hot that evening. There were firecrackers and Red was brave enough to sit on the front walkway and watch them alongside the bigger kids. We all slept well that night.

On Monday, it was already 100 degrees by 11am. I took the girls to see Shrek 3 (an enjoyable movie with no bizarre freak dads yelling at me) and then we went to Targ3t so Red could use her birthday gift card from her aunt. She got another webkinzz kitty. Then to B&N so I could use my cards. I never, ever find what I’m looking for at B&N, not even in the music section. I do not have esoteric tastes, really. B&N just has a lousy selection. I did find two interesting memoirs and Dusty got the third Percy Jackson book (she is completely obsessed with this series right now). We stopped off for cinnamon buns as big as our heads at Pan3ra (nothing says Suburban Shopping Area like Pan3ra) and drove home. Collapsed.

On our way to the movie, I put on my Best of ABBA cd. Red contributed some new lyrics to “One of Us” that go thusly: “One of us is pootin’, one of us is tootin”!”

This is the same child who, later, as we were headed into the Target, got all Miss Manners with me:

Me: I have to pee before we start to shop.
Red: Mommy! Don’t say that!
Me: What? What am I supposed to say? I have to pee.
Red: You say, “I have to go to the bathroom.”
Me: Uh, huh. If you say so.
Red: I say so.
Me: Okay. I have to go to the bathroom. Satisfied?
Red: Yes.

Then I made the stir fry green beans and quesadillas for dinner. There was some vacuuming and general cleaning in there somewhere which is too boring to write about. It was a good, lazy weekend with just the right ratio of things to do vs time to chill. Hope you had a nice weekend as well and that your brain didn’t fry.

19 Jun

Endings, Beginnings

Posted by freshhell in cake!, Dusty, family, Fear, Mom, pain and woe, pie!, Red, School. 4 comments

Let’s see. I meant to post yesterday but I ran out of time. I had to pick up Dusty just as the final half day of school was ending to take her for a pre-op doctor’s appt. I’d hoped to time my arrival to miss the busses and the farewells. I get very sad at the end of each school year. School has been such a positive experience for Dusty, and Red had a great year, and Dusty’s rotating off from a wonderful teacher. It’s all very sad, this ending.

So, of course, I arrived as the teachers were waving good bye and the busses were pulling away from the school. And a copious amount of silly string was in evidence. Of course. I started to cry. I had to sit in the car a few minutes so I could pull myself together. Dusty’s teacher was there on the curb and we hugged. She was still red-eyed from reading a book the students had put together for her. They wrote about what her new students needed to know about her and they made her read it out loud. She said she started crying and couldn’t stop and they got very concerned. She said she didn’t think they’d seen many adults cry before. Then, there were Dusty and Red in the office waiting for me, and Dusty’s K-1 teacher was there so more hugs, more tears. I am tearing up just writing about it. I never felt this way about school when I was a kid. I feel fortunate that my kids, so far, are having a much better experience.

I dropped Red off at home and Dusty and I went to the doctor’s. We got her main doctor (who we rarely actually see), the one I picked almost 10 years ago based on the recommendation of a writer acquaintance whose retired doctor husband had sold his business to her. It’s all women pediatricians now. I love them, too. Dusty passed with flying colors. The doctor checked her various parts and mentioned breasts. They weren’t there yet but there was…something under her skin, waiting. That made me sad. Dusty’s childhood is quickly disappearing. Much too quickly.

We stopped off at Tar-get afterwards for this and that and then bought celebratory donuts at Krispy Kreme for everyone. Dusty and I ate ours in the car.

It occured to me the other day that Dusty’s school year began with Lyme disease and ends with a tonsilectomy/adenoidectomy. Let’s hope next year is less fraught with health scares.

This weekend, we chill. Tomorrow we’ll celebrate Father’s Day in the morning, go see ToyStory3, and then celebrate my birthday in the evening so Dusty can eat pie with us. I’ve stocked up on numerous things for her to “eat” during her recovery: Ensure drinks, gatorade, pudding, popsicles, ice cream, stuff for smoothies, creamy peanut butter, gum, baby food, applesauce, juice.

I’m making my packing list for my conference. I wish I could enjoy my single dorm room a little more. But, I’m nervous for Dusty. I know she’ll be fine but it’s easier to know for sure when I’m present. And I won’t be. So, I have to just trust that all will be well. Dusty and I have to be at the hospital at 7am. I’ve been trying to fend off my mother all week who keeps asking when and where as if she’s planning to show up which is the absolute last thing I need. I’ve had to start ignoring her emails because I can’t find a new way to say no. I want to be left alone to read or worry or whatever while Dusty’s operated on and then recovers. I want no interference when I take her home. I don’t want to talk to anyone, least of all my mother who turns every conversation back to her.

Gah. Here are a couple of photos you might enjoy. Below is Red’s birthday cake. Dusty did the cat. Well, I did the outline because that thick icing always malfunctions. I recommended that Dusty keep things simple as I have icing issues but Dusty replied, “I can’t do simple if I’m drawing a cat.” Okay, Dusty, you’re the artist, go crazy! And of course, he still ended up fairly minimalist. The second photo needs no explanation.

22 Dec

Bumbles Bounce!

Posted by freshhell in Damn People!, damn snow, food, pie!, winter. 3 comments

Hi! Still alive here! Time is different when I’m home. I have so little internet time and really, can’t do more than string a sentence or two together when I am at the computer. Lemme see….

Sunday, after an extraordinary tag-team shovelling effort, I managed to escape and bought a billion dollars worth of groceries at Food Monger. The regular stuff plus ingredients for holiday baking projects. Me and my VW managed the partially-plowed roads just dandy (I actually kissed the steering wheel at one point when I had to turn around on my road, due to an accident involving an SUV and a piece of farm machinery, and go down a completely different set of country roads to get home).

Then, Red caught Dusty’s disease and….let’s just say I need to do some carpet stain removal work today and leave it at that. She’s finally much, much better and the Nutcracker performance has been rescheduled for tonight. So, we’ll drive the kids downtown to the theatre, drop them off with my dad, and go see a movie.

Pies are currently in the oven and all is well.

Dusty and I took a trip to the Goodwill yesterday to drop off a trunk load of stuff and then drove over to Target so we could get a couple of things including socks for her next sock creature project. Neglected to buy sock creature stuffing, though. Oh well. Too bad he can’t be stuffed with snow ’cause we still got mountains of the damn stuff.

The cats have finally voyaged out of the barn and were fed on the porch this morning for the first time since Friday. The children are getting along and behaving themselves and all is well. Later today I’ll probably make the sweet potato/apple dish for Xmas Eve. Tomorrow, I have plans in town and then – omg – Santa arrives.

It’s only Tuesday but I feel like I’ve been home for a month. Which, I’m not sure whether that’s good or bad yet. I’ll let you know when I figure it out.

Haven’t gotten any mail since Friday either. The paper’s being delivered again but the mail? Funny how their number’s not in the phone book anymore. I found them on the internet but it’s been busy all morning. I think the whole burg has had enough of its refusal to deliver the mail. I may have to actually drive to the P.O. today and pick it up. Which….makes me crazy. It just shouldn’t be that difficult, you know?

10 Jun

Pie and Underwear

Posted by freshhell in love, pie!, Red. 6 comments

A very large THANK YOU is in order to the lovely Nurse Hannah who surprised me by sending me a cherry apple pie from this pie store. OMG!! I cannot wait to have a slice (once the children are in bed so I don’t have to share). Hannah, you rule. But, since you take my pleas literally, maybe I should have asked for Pierce Brosnan in a convertible with a picnic basket. I always aim so low! Anyhow, you are awesome!!

Red’s graduation was short and sweet. When Dusty graduated from preschool, they wore bright blue robes, sang songs, and came up one by one to receive their diplomas. Last night, the ceremony was held outside. It had been hot as all shit all day – up in the 90’s – but a storm was moving in (I could see a wedge of black clouds above the roof) and it was cool and breezy.

Red sat in front while we waited for the other kids to arrive.

preschool1

They lined up eventually and sang a couple songs. There are some serious hams in her class. Esp the little blonde guy.

preschool2

preschool3

Then, we all went in for cake and chips. The children got bags with diplomas, bottles of bubbles, a “class of 2009” bracelet, a pin wheel and a balsam airplane.

Yep, my baby’s growing up. *sniff!*

underwear