Bane!

The "I'm going to run away and check myself into a hotel" daydream has reached epic proportion. Tarnation, people, this weekend is bringing me down. I woke up wearing a headache vice so tight and horrid I felt sure that someone had strapped me into a Bane mask during the night. I microwaved my flipping lavender-infused neck wrap, donned it, popped two Advil, got some coffee and hunkered into a comfy chair with the paper. I felt pretty lame, truth be told. Like I should just put on some compression socks, insert a TMJ mouthguard and call it quits on cool.

Then the boys starting blowing up balloons and making them fart and whiz. Those stupid rubbers were zipping all around, and I just told them they better get their fannies downstairs pronto because this mama was NOT.IN.THE.MOOD. They looked skeptical, and I saw red. Seriously, do kids ever take their mothers seriously? Jesus h. T was disassociating on the couch - what an effing gift that man has - so after I finished my coffee, I decided to go to the farmers market. Jack said he'd come along, so I took it as an opportunity for a lovely date. Isn't that zen of me?

Other than spilling hot cider all over the information desk where we were donating to the awesome Thanksgiving Drive Fresh Farm Markets has going on (they are raising money to buy as many happy turkeys from market purveyors, at retail price, for DC families in need as possible), we did indeed have a fantastic time together. Jack ate precisely 9 apples while we shopped, and we met a cool watercolor artist who paints vivid pics of food and has just published a cookbook.

My head started pounding again so we returned home, and T took the boys to their fourth and final birthday party of the weekend. The birthday girl is the cutest little cha-cha, and I am said to miss seeing her as well as her terrific parents. Boo hiss stupid Bane mask.

There are so many things I want to cook today but what actually transpires is a different story. Here's hoping for more applesauce, some tomato jam, and a steak dinner to bid this loony weekend adieu!

Blurrrrrrrrr

Babysitter cancelled yesterday afternoon. Sad. Oliver ran pell-mell down a hill until he fell, face-first, into the sidewalk. Awful. Kids and I hung out. Made a big pot of gumbo. Awesome. Slept in basement. Also awesome. Cat dramatically mewed at door for lengthy session this morning. Less awesome. Drove kids to first birthday party. Went and picked them up. Drove one to another party. Dropped other off so he could catch ride to his second party. Picked first one up from party. Came home and informed husband he would be picking up second one and friend and carpooling them home. Raked one million bags of leaves. Encountered lots of Percy "treats." Was made to watch as one son repeatedly blew up balloon, inserted it into toys, one by one, and let the package go. Could it fly? No. Second one gets home. Two boys racing through house = trouble a'brewing. "We need a moment of silence" I implored. "Can we have the iPad?" was the response. "Absofrickinlutely" was mine. Ground almond biscotti for tart base. Tossed with butter and baked and swooned. Whisked egg yolks, flour and sugar in double boiler. Added hot milk, vanilla and almond extracts. Stirred ricotta into thick custard. Baked. Chilling. Ate salad left on Ol's plate from dinner. Took a shower. Addressed so many holiday cards. Loved every second. Tired. REAL tired. Going to bed with paper. Wondering how long I'll last. Tomorrow is not Monday.

Nasty night leads to better things

Y'all, last night was the absolute worst. A pox on that flu shot! I woke up at 2:00 am on the precipice of full-scale puke, feverishly chilly, shaking and sweating concurrently. For nearly two hours, I just huddled under my comforter, shivering and increasingly wet and trying not to bother T. I think my chills woke him up though because he offered to get Advil, and I said "yes, please." It helped some, and I got back to sleep for a couple hours. When I awoke, I felt as if I were on another planet, and good god almighty, you should have seen my hair. I looked like a wilting Medusa. Ugly!

A few hours later, a good pal came over so I could teach her how to make Nanny's cranberry sauce. It was so nice to spend time together in such a way, not least because we talked without being interrupted the whole time. After she left, I made my own batch and then boogied to school to help sketch the background set for the second grade play. My adobe buildings were better than my forest. Fortunately, my friend, C, was there too, and her pines were totally redemptive. At one point I looked at us, spread out on huge, bright blue, taped-together paper, and thought bemusedly, "we are two very well-educated women, and here we are on a floor, sketching a Native American backdrop at 2pm on a Thursday and kinda stressing about proportion and scale." You just never know where life will take you. It was fun frankly.

Back home, and Ol and I made vanilla fig scones for a breakfast I'm hosting tomorrow. I need to get on the cherry-spelt scone bandwagon too, but first there is the pasta (made the dough an hour ago) I need to roll out and the underlying nausea (still!) with which I must deal.

Who joins me in a shout-out to the Senate for passing the Employment Non-Discrimination Act today?? Finally, it is illegal to discriminate when hiring on the basis of gender identity or sexual orientation. And we've got marriage equality in IL! Yee-haw!

**PS- now taking orders for holiday-time Cranberry Sauce!