The most amazing, wonderful, and exciting thing happened this past Saturday - my bestest, darlingest, dearest, sweetest, and most importantly SMELLIEST friend ever had her second child at 3 in the afternoon or so. I got a call around 8, with a voicemail that *I* got at about 9.30: "Door, it's me, I know it's really early but my blood pressure was too high, so we're having the baby at 10.30. BYE". That's how she is, all the big details that beg elaboration - such as, "I'm totally fine and so is baby, we're just being cautious because I have the shittiest pregnancies known to humankind" - and I got to have a giant stone of freaked in my belly all day. Normally I wouldn't, but BFFFF has the worst luck with health and preggo-ness. For instance, last month? She passed two kidney stones. While pregnant. The size of pencil erasers. GOOD TIMES.
Anyhow, everyone gets to come home tomorrow, and I get to watch my cutiepatootie little almost-niece, Sassypants while baby gets settled in (and mama and Dad get a nap, one hopes). I've got chocolate chips and cookie makings, a Tinkerbell movie for Sassy and Sae, and 35 different kinds of nail polish. I'm excited! A fun girl's day, hopefully she will be excited to do cool big girl stuff and be jazzed on her new job as Big Sister. I love little Sassypants mucho, and have really sucked about seeing her (and her dear mama) lately.
Tonight, I am returning the meal-making favor BFFFF bestowed on me Post-BusyBee birth. She brought me all kinds of stuff, made sure to take pics because I'm miserable at it, and kept me company and thus sane.
I've made a Southwestern sort of casserole with corn tortillas, beef, bell peppers, tomato, corn, and mild chili sauce. It's topped with cheese, homemade cornbread, and a smidge more cheese :) I <3 cheese. I've also made two pumpkin bread loaves - one with chocolate chips, and one without because some ladies are big weirdos who hate chocolate but they just had a ridiculously cute baby, so I will indulge them in their deranged tastes. I'm also making a bolognese bake, but I'm most excited to make BFFFF her long-awaited chicken carbonara. She had to be really good on a really strict diet during her pregnancy, and she asked me to make my version of America's Test Kitchen's "lite" (bahahahaaaaaaaa) chicken carbonara as soon as she could cut loose a little! I love cooking for people a ridiculously huge amount.
I thought I would post a tiny bit - I'm so busy I haven't even painted much, but I need to focus on writing at least! I need an outlet! Even if it is to squee and talk about food and happy junk. Nice for a change of pace for this poor old blog!
Showing posts with label domesticity. Show all posts
Showing posts with label domesticity. Show all posts
Monday, June 13, 2011
Wednesday, May 25, 2011
All About the Ol FamDamnily
So bear with me, I am at a loss for really interesting or sparklingly witty quippy bitchiness to post today, but I am (trying to be) very up on posting regularly - hopefully every day, just to get my chops... um... up to chopage? Sure! There might be some self-indulgent stuff or things that are really only interesting to me, but I think that's okay. So let's start with...
This is my family. Well, when I say my family, I mean just the four of us, plus three dogs and a cat who thinks he is the lord of the dogs, nay, a canine ninja...
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| The Dudes and Little Boss dying eggs. She supervises. |
There is my lovely, gorgeously long haired, delightfully goofy and all-around wonderful Husbandman. He is also known as Manwife and Professor Husbandman around here. He's not a professor, he just tells terrible jokes like a 70 year old math prof and it makes me cry.
Well, no, I just groan. But it sounds like I'm dying, it's awful all around.
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| I mean, he gardens. And bakes! Happily. I can forgive a lot of bad puns for that sort of thing. |
I've already done an entire post on the wonders of his awesome awesomeness that is awe-inspiring here, so we'll let you get caught up and then move onto...
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| Hikin'! Next year we try Squidge out on snowshoeing, yay :) |
The two little pixies gnomes! Squidge/Sweetbean/Tatopie on the right. Saderator/Little Boss/Jellybean (known as Bumblebee in her fetal stages) is the small lady there, looking very burglar chic. Squidge is 7, and has recently lost his two bottom front teeth and learned to read - it's been a big year! I still see him as a tiny carrot infant in the hospital billirubin bed, squalling and being a hellion, or as a poofy, Michellan Man lookin' little toddly man, yelling at the stove and running around nakey butted. Sigh. I do like that he can wipe his own ass now, though. I'm a big fan of that. I like that he can read now, he's always loved books, but now he has this look in his eyes like, "AHA! The mystery, she untangles. Excellent" and it really is. Very excellent.
Little Boss there has just turned two (I know, it's been a while, blogland, I apologize) and has been acting it for months now. She's wonderfully willful and independent, which can be a struggle but ultimately worth it. She's going to be an ass-kicking wonder woman of immesurable strength, I can tell... now if only I can get her to come and get dressed when I ask... and to stop licking the dog. I mean. Really.
Little Boss there has just turned two (I know, it's been a while, blogland, I apologize) and has been acting it for months now. She's wonderfully willful and independent, which can be a struggle but ultimately worth it. She's going to be an ass-kicking wonder woman of immesurable strength, I can tell... now if only I can get her to come and get dressed when I ask... and to stop licking the dog. I mean. Really.
They're both a little odd, but that's pretty great too.
This is my family. Well, when I say my family, I mean just the four of us, plus three dogs and a cat who thinks he is the lord of the dogs, nay, a canine ninja...
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| Abbot and Costello (yes, seriously) |
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| Jett! She's 17 and a lot like Big Edie. |
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| James Kitty! |
I've never been much of a cat person, and still don't consider myself one (though I've met some nice kitties here and there), but James Kittyman there is pretty much the coolest dude ever. I think I like him so much because he's got such a good personality. He's social and friendly without being smothery or gross, and he is one useful damn cat - dude catches about three mice a day, that I see, anyhow, at the height of summer mousieness. It's amazing and well worth the deworming bills. My favorite part of his Jamesness is that he thinks he's one of the dogs.
No lie. He even wrestles with Costello (cute tiny black and tan Chiweenie/Puggle on the far right).
Jett, the old lady on the far right, is my first dog I've ever had in my family. I got her when I was 10! She's never been the friendliest pup, but she is definitely the Doggiest of Dogs, especially in her energetic youth. She used to go camping, hiking, and wandering around the Cascades with my mother and me. I have a lot of excellent memories of feeding her ice cream cones after a long day hiking at the Nooksack River. Now that Jett is almost 17, she mostly hangs out on her special rug by the fire, or in a sun beam, and eating lots of table scraps (yeah, I'm awful, whatever). I'm pretty sure her big joy in life is being the grouchy old lady, yelling at the much younger Abbot and Costello to get off of her lawn.
Abbot is our giant Lab mix, he's about 1 1/2, but he's already about 90lbs. My husband always tells me, "Just wait til he fills out a little" while I look at both of them in horror. I got him thinking Labs were a bit smaller than that, but... well... he's a lumox and my best buddy. He's a sweetheart and a total mama's boy. He tries to sit in peoples laps and knocks things (and children) over with his gargantuan beaver tail. Abbot was the runt, and the fattest puppy in his litter (What's fatter than a friar? His Abbot. HAHA get it? no? that's ok it's silly), I guess I thought he'd stay smallish and fat, but I like having an energetic hike and walk partner. He's also the gentlest dog I've met, he and the tiny 12lb Costello play for hours and lay all over each other and even play tug of war! I've seen Abbot stop and adjust his grip softer, or his jumping lower, or slow down for Costello. It's amazing to see two dog buddies who are the best of friends and really hilarious looking together to boot!
Costello was an impulse addition - my parents had bought his sister (Cujo, who is half his size but lives up to her name) from a neighbor and we had to get one of her siblings. We were lucky, Costello was the last puppy left! He is a snugglebutt, with all of the gawky clumsy goofiness of a kid aged dog. He loves to battle James and annoy Jett. His new favorite hobby is climbing up on the dining table and "cleaning" it. Sigh. Yeah. He's definitely Husbandman's dog, haha!
I may spend the rest of my life chasing animals, cleaning up shedded fur and occasionally eating it, picking legos out of my heel and vaccum, yelling at kids to get their asses outside and stop pestering me, and listening to terrible, godawful puns for the rest of my life, but I think the life we have made for ourselves in the little yellow bungalow in the foothills is a pretty damned good one. In my youth, I was a pisspot and fancied an adult life with no children, no spouse and no permanent residence to tie me down. Shit happened, things shifted, I rode the waves and here we are. I'm happy with how things shook out and glad that I trusted the ride.
No lie. He even wrestles with Costello (cute tiny black and tan Chiweenie/Puggle on the far right).
Jett, the old lady on the far right, is my first dog I've ever had in my family. I got her when I was 10! She's never been the friendliest pup, but she is definitely the Doggiest of Dogs, especially in her energetic youth. She used to go camping, hiking, and wandering around the Cascades with my mother and me. I have a lot of excellent memories of feeding her ice cream cones after a long day hiking at the Nooksack River. Now that Jett is almost 17, she mostly hangs out on her special rug by the fire, or in a sun beam, and eating lots of table scraps (yeah, I'm awful, whatever). I'm pretty sure her big joy in life is being the grouchy old lady, yelling at the much younger Abbot and Costello to get off of her lawn.
Abbot is our giant Lab mix, he's about 1 1/2, but he's already about 90lbs. My husband always tells me, "Just wait til he fills out a little" while I look at both of them in horror. I got him thinking Labs were a bit smaller than that, but... well... he's a lumox and my best buddy. He's a sweetheart and a total mama's boy. He tries to sit in peoples laps and knocks things (and children) over with his gargantuan beaver tail. Abbot was the runt, and the fattest puppy in his litter (What's fatter than a friar? His Abbot. HAHA get it? no? that's ok it's silly), I guess I thought he'd stay smallish and fat, but I like having an energetic hike and walk partner. He's also the gentlest dog I've met, he and the tiny 12lb Costello play for hours and lay all over each other and even play tug of war! I've seen Abbot stop and adjust his grip softer, or his jumping lower, or slow down for Costello. It's amazing to see two dog buddies who are the best of friends and really hilarious looking together to boot!
Costello was an impulse addition - my parents had bought his sister (Cujo, who is half his size but lives up to her name) from a neighbor and we had to get one of her siblings. We were lucky, Costello was the last puppy left! He is a snugglebutt, with all of the gawky clumsy goofiness of a kid aged dog. He loves to battle James and annoy Jett. His new favorite hobby is climbing up on the dining table and "cleaning" it. Sigh. Yeah. He's definitely Husbandman's dog, haha!
I may spend the rest of my life chasing animals, cleaning up shedded fur and occasionally eating it, picking legos out of my heel and vaccum, yelling at kids to get their asses outside and stop pestering me, and listening to terrible, godawful puns for the rest of my life, but I think the life we have made for ourselves in the little yellow bungalow in the foothills is a pretty damned good one. In my youth, I was a pisspot and fancied an adult life with no children, no spouse and no permanent residence to tie me down. Shit happened, things shifted, I rode the waves and here we are. I'm happy with how things shook out and glad that I trusted the ride.
Wednesday, January 9, 2008
blog-o numer-o un-o (of 2008-o)
Ok, so I have been harassed for updates. See, I was going to, but then I was fucking around on the intarwubs - mostly looking for embarrassing pictures of people I know - and found...a thing. This thing was an adoptee-seeking-birthmama/dad thing. And it was this dude, born when my mom had her first kid, in Oregon, looking FOR my mama. AMAZING. I hyperventilated. I cried and got shaky and felt like my chest was going to swing open. So I did the logical thing and called Ma, flapping and squeeing and crying and freaking. I think I scared her.
So, she and I both shoot off emails to the address the site had provided. I am a horrifically impatient person, so I search myspace, friendster, facebook, your mom's house and tibet for this guy. Nooooo luck. Ok, well, still pretty neat. I stay up late playing Neverwinternights and bashing goblins until I stop shaking enough to go to bed ( I am sure four cups of coffee helped there... ).
Next morning, I am back on line, looking up phone numbers and people searches and gps locations. I get crazy impatient. Example: If Manwife misses calling me on his walk home, I cry into his voice mail about how I think hobos have flayed him and are wearing pretty Manwife suits around downtown. Then he comes home and eyes me oddly while beating me away from him to go hide for a while. I have a wild imagination. With hobos. And buffalo bill.
where was I?
oh, ok. so I get the bright idea to type in the email address i had into myspace's email finder thing. I figure, dude is pretty much in my generation, he MUST have something. I mean, come on.
And he does.
Well, his wifelady does. I feel a little voyeuristic, and peek in her pictures. OMFG. Dude has my mom's eyes, nose, chin, smile, WOW. No question. I see they have three kids, and omg, their daughter has the same pretty hazel almond shaped eyes as Ma and Bro. Amazing and wonderful.
I tap out a tentative and polite email asking if I could please get a hold of the guy. Pretty quickly, my sister-in-law (oh that is so cool to say!) replies and says, oh wow, we were trying to get a hold of you but gmail doesn't like verizon mail and keeps spitting the letters we send out! Agh, technology. Well, ok. Shortly thereafter I get an email from my big brother and I am still beyond the moon. I think he and Ma have talked more, but I have talked a good deal with SIL, who is so lovely and sweet. They both are, and I really am very relieved. I think everyone will get along nicely, which is kind of secondary...or tertiary...or entirely besides the point at the moment..! What an amazing couple of days!
Otherwise, I am still married, still hanging out at home - collaging, cooking, teaching Squidge to draw shapes and letters - still being a pain in the ass. Manwife and I have been playing NWN online with our buddy Joop (I am brynito, hit me up if you play and wanna go kill some shit and quest). It's a lot of fun, better than sitting around arguing with Squidge or having Manwife play one game while I'm on another. We are having intarweb issues, we see each other as offline when we play at the same time, which is hella lame. I say lots of cusses about it. Trying to figure out how to do a network connection or something. This may be easier if I get a laptop and do wireless networking, mayhap. My antiquated piece of shit has issues keeping up with the boys, que bummer.
Let's see...not much else to report, just connecting with old friends who are nice and not mean drunks to me, and others that are misguided but still nice, and doing brunch. I DO BRUNCH, it's a kick in the pants. Of course, we brunch at the crunchiest place around - local eggs and bacon and snausages and tatoes and java, mostly nice organic stuff and tahini and home fries with black beans and tarragon and salsa. Yum! And the local coffee roasters around here can't be beat - go find moka joe's and buy some!!
I am mostly just hanging out being flabbergasted and elated and grateful. I think if anyone deserved the cosmos aligning in their favor and heaping karmic rewards on them, it is my mother. I mean, the nice life with YB and having Squidge/Gooneybird around is great, and having a new son-in-law who is awesome and loved by all is nice too, but I was always worried this would never come to any sort of...resolution...?...I don't know the right word. But whatever it is, it's turned out in the best, most joyful and fabulous way possible. If I could meet my brother's adopted mom and dad, I would kiss them right on the mouth for keeping him safe and happy and letting him know my mom was out there and she loved him still. I really could.
The world is very strange and wonderful, I think you just have to look for it and choose it to be so.
So, she and I both shoot off emails to the address the site had provided. I am a horrifically impatient person, so I search myspace, friendster, facebook, your mom's house and tibet for this guy. Nooooo luck. Ok, well, still pretty neat. I stay up late playing Neverwinternights and bashing goblins until I stop shaking enough to go to bed ( I am sure four cups of coffee helped there... ).
Next morning, I am back on line, looking up phone numbers and people searches and gps locations. I get crazy impatient. Example: If Manwife misses calling me on his walk home, I cry into his voice mail about how I think hobos have flayed him and are wearing pretty Manwife suits around downtown. Then he comes home and eyes me oddly while beating me away from him to go hide for a while. I have a wild imagination. With hobos. And buffalo bill.
where was I?
oh, ok. so I get the bright idea to type in the email address i had into myspace's email finder thing. I figure, dude is pretty much in my generation, he MUST have something. I mean, come on.
And he does.
Well, his wifelady does. I feel a little voyeuristic, and peek in her pictures. OMFG. Dude has my mom's eyes, nose, chin, smile, WOW. No question. I see they have three kids, and omg, their daughter has the same pretty hazel almond shaped eyes as Ma and Bro. Amazing and wonderful.
I tap out a tentative and polite email asking if I could please get a hold of the guy. Pretty quickly, my sister-in-law (oh that is so cool to say!) replies and says, oh wow, we were trying to get a hold of you but gmail doesn't like verizon mail and keeps spitting the letters we send out! Agh, technology. Well, ok. Shortly thereafter I get an email from my big brother and I am still beyond the moon. I think he and Ma have talked more, but I have talked a good deal with SIL, who is so lovely and sweet. They both are, and I really am very relieved. I think everyone will get along nicely, which is kind of secondary...or tertiary...or entirely besides the point at the moment..! What an amazing couple of days!
Otherwise, I am still married, still hanging out at home - collaging, cooking, teaching Squidge to draw shapes and letters - still being a pain in the ass. Manwife and I have been playing NWN online with our buddy Joop (I am brynito, hit me up if you play and wanna go kill some shit and quest). It's a lot of fun, better than sitting around arguing with Squidge or having Manwife play one game while I'm on another. We are having intarweb issues, we see each other as offline when we play at the same time, which is hella lame. I say lots of cusses about it. Trying to figure out how to do a network connection or something. This may be easier if I get a laptop and do wireless networking, mayhap. My antiquated piece of shit has issues keeping up with the boys, que bummer.
Let's see...not much else to report, just connecting with old friends who are nice and not mean drunks to me, and others that are misguided but still nice, and doing brunch. I DO BRUNCH, it's a kick in the pants. Of course, we brunch at the crunchiest place around - local eggs and bacon and snausages and tatoes and java, mostly nice organic stuff and tahini and home fries with black beans and tarragon and salsa. Yum! And the local coffee roasters around here can't be beat - go find moka joe's and buy some!!
I am mostly just hanging out being flabbergasted and elated and grateful. I think if anyone deserved the cosmos aligning in their favor and heaping karmic rewards on them, it is my mother. I mean, the nice life with YB and having Squidge/Gooneybird around is great, and having a new son-in-law who is awesome and loved by all is nice too, but I was always worried this would never come to any sort of...resolution...?...I don't know the right word. But whatever it is, it's turned out in the best, most joyful and fabulous way possible. If I could meet my brother's adopted mom and dad, I would kiss them right on the mouth for keeping him safe and happy and letting him know my mom was out there and she loved him still. I really could.
The world is very strange and wonderful, I think you just have to look for it and choose it to be so.
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