what more?

"there are some days when i think i'm going to die from an overdose of satisfaction." - salvador dali                                                                                   

beautiful in theory

my kids have started something new.

instead of coming into our room first thing in the morning and demanding breakfast, 

they just go help themselves to whatever they can reach.

i'm not sure whether i love this development or should put a stop to it immediately. 

- this is a perfect example of what separates me from the moms with super clean houses.

bo usually goes for the chocolate chips or the taco chips...

notice a theme.

char, on the other hand prefers the savory side of the breakfast spectrum.

this morning she went for the boiled eggs.

unfortunately, temptation got the best of her.

she just couldn't help herself -

she had to make a nest for one of those boiled eggs.
she has an egg thing - always has.
i can't really blame her.  i think it's kind of beautiful in it's way
 and it appeals to the nurturing-baby-egg side of my heart.
and might i add,
who wouldn't love to cozy up with snapped peas and...
what is that?  shell?
yeah it's shell.  i know 'cause the egg that was in that shell was all over the kitchen floor.

supper time

yep.  this is how we eat a meal around here.

it's real cozy.
i wish i would have taken a picture of the empty side of the table.

because i like to share

i'm almost done reading a great book, "A Homemade Life" by Mollly Wizenberg. the title is a little misleading. it reads like a weird haircut -  memoir on top, cookbook in the back... and i absolutely do recommend!  her style is comfortable and humorous.  it keeps you coming back for more.  i have but a few little chapters left and i'm trying hard to savor them a sip at a time. 

i'm not sure why, but the following is one of my favorite sections:
Where food was concerned, my father was equal-opportunity guy.  There was little that he wouldn't try and even less that he didn't like.  He loved chicken livers and scrapple, fat and gristle and escargots, and sardines straight from the can, all manner of things questionable and daunting.  He even loved prunes.  No one loves prunes.  In the English language, there are just a handful of words that come with their own built-in laugh track, and prune is one of them. He didn't care.  I am most definitely his daughter because I don't either.
In recent years, marketers have tried to spiff up the public image of the prune, calling it a dried plum and fitting it with cheery new packaging.  I like plums...but in all honesty, I like prunes better,  I think of them as plums that have been improved by hardship, made finer by old age and wizening.  They're the dark horse of dried fruits.  Their concentrated flavor has more depth than a dried apricot, but without the shrill tang of raisins or the sticky sweetness of dates.  And unlike their precursor, the fresh plum, the're available year-round always at the ready.  They may not be pretty, but they make up for them in other ways. p 47.


i also loved this:
...No one ever got laid because they wrote it into their day planner.
Which, I guess, brings me to a larger, more serious point: that it's hard to love someone, I found, when you're preoccupied with holding your entire world firmly in place. p 254.


dear molly wizenberg,
have you any clue how poignant this is?  as a mother of three young children, i sometimes lie in bed at night and realize i have spent my entire day just trying to keep my world (house, sanity, toilet paper) in place and not loving my kids or "being pulled along" as you put it.   why do i do this?  i don't know?  i'm gonna keep working on it though.  
so, thanks for your gems, mo, and thanks  for your recipes.  we especially enjoyed your fennel, asian pair and parmesan salad this evening. 

oh... and my kids are eating kiwi now.

praise the lord!

dear life:

i love you.

jane-z's new hairdo

i'd be lying if i said i wasn't a little heart broken.

crazy list:

- making pancakes with my kids. can you say three ikea pine chairs in the kitchen? i almost have no say. the term "clean as you go" has it's own laugh track in my world and the word "kibosh" keeps coming to mind.

- gary and i still can't manage to fall asleep before midnight. his words: "i've been off coffee for a week and i've never been more alert in my life."

- yesterday*

- this morning my beautiful 4 year old came into me and asked, "is there a healthy thing i could have for breakfast?" i replied, in a one-eye-open kind of way, "toast." six and a half minutes later i hopped out of bed with the smell of toasting bread, which is not far off from burning bread. once in the kitchen, i was totally relieved because char was totally in control. her toast was on a plate on the counter she was getting butter out of the fridge (using one of those ikea pine chairs again). she had used a serrated butter knife to off the the top of the bread bag (note to self: give little lesson on those bread clip thing-ies). i was about to turn around and head back to bed but then she said, "see mom, the toast was really hot so i used this" and she held up an oven mitt. man i love that girl!

- i keep forgetting to take photos where it matters*

** i'm not sure what is more crazy, yesterday charlee played basement barber shop and gave free hair cuts to her brother and sister and then she gave herself a cut just for the fun of it or the only photos i really have of the afternoon are these:

ok...

there might be a few more.

but not really.

sorry momma!

pillow talk

for some reason,

after coming off a weekend of stomach flu, gary and i are having difficulty falling asleep at night.

this has really never happened before.

the following took place over about 3 hours

...

we headed to bed around 9:30, after an episode of...

um...

"Jackass" (it was research, ok).

we got comfortable, pulled out our books

and that's when our late nite comedy show began.

oh man, even as i write this i wonder if it's funny at all.

maybe it's just evidence that what we really needed was a good round of human-carwash.

...

gary: what is this (as he opens his book)?

me:(i look over) oh. i dog-eared your page. i'm a dog-earer...

gary: yeah, you must be, you dog-eared half the page.

...

gary: wow! the bacon was a bad idea!

i can't sleep! my hair is too long!

how do you sleep with long hair?

me: i'll make you an appointment tomorrow.

email me right now so i don't forget.

gary: that's ridiculous, i'll make my own appointment.

me: email me! right now!

...

me: you know, i'm pretty sure it was the guys from glee in my super-hero dream

(yes, i had a super-hero dream. it happened to be the same night gary was flu-ing).

[smirk]

gary: of course they were! good look'n, singing, dancing guys -

they are every cougar's dream.

(that's when i fell off the bed, laughing hysterically.)

me: i cannot believe you just said that.

i have to write that down. give me your pen! give me your pen!

(he pulls out his blackberry (finally) and begins typing and laughing.)

me: ok, read me what you got.

(he does.)

me: gary davey, that is not what you said. you cannot remember a quote to save your life.

(it's so true)

gary: (taking complete offense) unbelievable!

(he decides to stop talking to me and sends the email.)

...

me: did you also remember to remind me about the haircut?

gary: yeah (placing his blackberry on his night stand, proud of the whitty quip he included)

i said...

i said...

it was like....

i can't remember!

and that is when we both fell off the bed

and the kids woke up.
of course.

jane-z for now

here are a few cute photos for the g'ma's and pa's.

also.

i.

hate.

flu.

in order to blog...

i made charlee the

head lifeguard

and asked her to give bo and jane a swimming lesson.

happy new-blog!

so,
i'm on blogspot!
i know! big change! right?
it has been pretty involved the last couple of days,
(almost crazy)
which explains my recent silence... of the blog.
also you should see my house, or should i say, my abode of neglect.
...
i wasn't really planning a change.
earlier this week i was trying to upload photos from our visit with gary's parents and new years
but wordpress had had enough and was wanting to charge me money
to upload any more photos.
um, no thank you.
after looking into my options, i decided to come here.
...
so here's to a new year
and a new crazy
and a new spot on the web for my blog.