Belly and The Bug: friends

Showing posts with label friends. Show all posts

Mr. Big makes me happy sometimes

Hi. My beloved Packers are heading to the Super Bowl. Yes, that's the first order of business on the docket. It fills me with such a ridiculous joy that I can't even put words to it. I. Am. Thrilled. THRILLED! And we're going because we beat the stinky Bears. And one of the biggest Bears fans I know is currently sporting a Facebook profile picture of me in Packer wear with a sign that says "Packers Rule, Bears Drool." It really doesn't get much better than that.

In non-sporting news....

We survived Christmas in Wisconsin. It was cold and white and the girls had the best time ever. They were SO into the holiday. We had gone over what would happen Christmas morning a zillion times: "When you wake up, wake me up and ask if it's morning. If it is, then we'll get up, walk down the hall, peek around the corner into the living room, and see if Santa came." Oh you shoulda seen their eyes light up when they saw full stockings, a giant pink dollhouse, and a pile of musical instruments. It was the absolute best! And, of course, as we moved into the opening of presents, they ripped the paper off with wild abandon. Between us and Santa, they got everything they asked for and so much more. Way more. Way too much more. Maybe they're too young to fully appreciate that, but I'm not. I'm very thankful that it didn't cause us any hardship to spoil them this year. As they get older and want bigger, more expensive stuff, this will not always be the case. I'm enjoying it while I can.

Then we came home. Back to the routine. But I had a little ace in my pocket - a wedding in California that I could look forward to. A quick trip by myself to see old girlfriends, wear a sexy dress, drink too much, dance and dance and dance and dance. It was all I had hoped it would be and more. I hadn't seen some of the other wedding guests in 10 years or more and there was something very gratifying about a) picking up right where we left off and b) being told that I looked better than ever. Shallow? Why yes! But who cares? It was fun. And a nice little ego boost. But the best part? Just hanging with some of my best girlfriends, including the bride. In the limo on the way to our post-reception-but-continuing-the-party party at the hotel, the bride insisted that everyone should sing "To Be With You" loudly and proudly. It's the corny stuff like that that I love - not only that she wanted to sing it but that we all knew all the words. We're dorks. And we celebrated that.... with a lot of booze. The morning came, um, a bit too quickly. Back to reality.

But you know what? Reality is pretty cool these days. Dude and I are doing well. Belly and Buggy are cool kids who keep me on my toes in more positive ways than negative lately. Could life be better? Well sure, but I'm trying to be focused on finding the joy in the little things. Sometimes thinking too hard about things leads to over-thinking which leads to seeing every last nugget of what's not "right." I'm just rollin' with my homeys for now.

Seeing this one through to completion

I have four draft posts that have not been completed since the last time I wrote on here. Ugh. All of them are outdated and so here I am starting number five. I will complete and post this tonight. I'm hell-bent.

First of all, I can't believe that it's freaking May 4th. Hello? Where is this year going? Spring has rocked around here - until the last week or so. We've had beautiful weather. The flowers have exploded around my house. I've spent time barefoot outside. Sundresses have made their way into my clothing repertoire. And then... we've had cooler than normal weather and knee socks are making a comeback on my lower extremities. I'd like to register a strong "WTF?!" with whomever is handling this ridiculousness. Stop it and give me back my warm, sunny days.

Second, my children are growing up. They're officially two and a half. They're in the middle of a big "out" growth spurt. They're using pronouns correctly. They're speaking in complete sentences. Just today I had a lengthy conversation with the Bug about President Obama. She informed me that he's a good man and she loves him. Belly then chimed in that he's awesome. What politically astute little peeps! But they're still not showing a strong interest in the potty. Several times a day, the toilet sees some pee action from them, but the buck stops at poop. WHY? I've been going along and not pressuring them while promising M&Ms to anyone who wants to do their number two business on the toilet, but my patience is growing thin. I'm so tired of diapers. Today, I changed five poopy diapers between the two of them, one of which was a blowout (you non-kid-having readers should know that this is not a reference to getting your hair did but rather to a diaper that leaks). The reason for this is that my mother-in-law was here cooking for the girls and Dude this past weekend. Friday night they went out for Chinese; Saturday night she made Meat Dish Supreme; Sunday night was Country Captain Chicken. As entertaining as it might be to go into the details of these dishes, I'm not going to. Let's just say that they have wreaked some gastro-intestinal havoc upon my babies.

And why was Mimi here? Because I was not! That's right - I had a vacation all by myself! Friday morning, I flew to Denver to visit one of my best girlfriends in the whole wide world and didn't come home until Sunday night. Lord knows I needed a vacation, but I thought that I would be a little more lonesome for my family while I was gone. I called home twice a day and the girls would say, "Mommy, come home!" That certainly gave me some pangs of homesickness, but they generally subsided after I hung up and picked up my wine glass again. Oh I had so much fun. I drank plenty, I was goofy, I made French food (actually took a French cooking lesson in which we prepared Boeuf Bourguignon and mousse au chocolat), I laid out in the yard, I slept uninterrupted, I didn't structure my day around nap time, I didn't change any diapers. I was free! I was Rachael! Let me be clear that I overflowed with love for my girls when I came home and snuggled them to sleep, but I would've happily stayed away a few more days. The break was very, very much needed. And I fully intend to do it again when I can.

I think that about brings us up to speed on the bigger things going on here at Chez Belly-Buggy. Except can I say that even with only five people remaining on American Idol, I'm already getting giddy with anticipation for the next season of So You Think You Can Dance? Because I really do think I can dance, just not like that.

Not for the faint of heart (or those who are pregnant)

Some dear friends of mine in LA, Ashley and Josh, just had twins. They'd been asking questions and I'd been offering my "sage" advice ever since they found out their dilemma/wonderful news. When she was 29 weeks along, Ashley went into labor. Modern medicine was able to almost stop it and she was put on strict bed rest. When I say "almost" stop it, I mean she wasn't dilating and stuff, but she still had regular contractions and was EXTREMELY uncomfortable. Josh was as amazing as humanly possible, looking after Ashley's every want and need. What an adorable couple! At 36.5 weeks (yes, the poor dear kept those babes in the oven for another 7.5 weeks of slow, slow LABOR), she was actually induced because she was having quite a bit of swelling in one leg. Then Ashley and Josh essentially went dark, not to resurface for two weeks with the whole story. We (their friends) knew that the babies had been born, but no names, no details, no joyous pictures were shared. I was beyond worried. After several days, Josh posted something on Facebook basically saying that the babies were wonderful and that they'd get back to us soon. As I said, it took two weeks. Their story is unbelievable. It is heart-wrenching and joyous and terrifying and WILL MAKE YOU CRY. For those of you who are pregnant and are not heeding my warning to stay away from this story (you know who you are), rest assured that all's well that ends well and it does end well. But FUCK, man. What a story.

Thankful

I have 90 other things I'm supposed to be doing right now: clearing the dishes off the table, folding laundry, cleaning up the kid debris that is all over the floor, making caramelized onion dip, baking pecan pies. And I will do all those things in the next two hours, but first I'm having a teensy glass of wine and writing this here post. Erika, Billy and D will be here in about two hours. Sissy is bringing them from the airport and I think Bri is coming over as well. I want the house to look good, blah, blah. But this is my last 10 minutes of quiet before the holiday officially begins.

I used to be better about the holidays. I absolutely love getting together with everyone and eating and playing games. It's the best! But as I get older, I'm finding that I have less patience for avoidable chaos. I have a harder time just going with it. Maybe it's an age thing or maybe it's because I've got two kids who thrive on structure that has made me way more structured than I ever was before. Whatever it is, I fear I'm getting a little uptight. So I'm focusing on being as easy going as I can be this holiday week. Everyone will have their own plans and agendas and I'm going to do my best to go with the flow. I am going to endeavor to only lay down the law when it comes to my girls and nap times and bed times and stuff like that. Because, my peeps, I need to get over the little things and give thanks for all the things this holiday is bringing my way.

I am fortunate enough to have multitudes of things for which to be thankful, so I'm only going to highlight a few (as I said, there's pie to bake!). And with that, I'm thankful for pie. I am beyond thankful for my tremendous family. We're something of a motley crew (as opposed to Motley Crue - I shared a wink with Tommy Lee once, but he is decidedly not in my family) and I really wouldn't have it any other way. I am thankful that I don't have to work right now and get to spend so much time with my growing daughters. I am thankful that we always have enough food - and it's good, organic stuff. I am thankful we have the Charmer to provide us shelter and warmth. I am thankful for all of my friends (who really fall in that motley family category). And I am thankful to have health insurance, a reliable vehicle, and my Wusthof knives. And also? I'm thankful for you, Internet Friends. I can't tell you how nice it is to have something - this here blog - that is mine all mine. I like writing it. I like hearing from you. It's an entirely good thing. There. Okay. I gotta go. I just heard the dryer stop.

I'm too late

The night after I wrote that last post about my old friend Michelle, I decided to google her. I hadn't done it in a couple years and you never know what'll turn up. It's a little tricky, though, because I don't have a location or anything like that to put in with her name. Two pages in, I found her obituary. She died last year. I think I almost passed out because everything went dark around me except for her name on the screen. I. Just. Couldn't. Believe. It.

The obit only gave her name, dates of birth and death, said she had been living in Milwaukee, and listed her surviving relatives. That was it. When I wrote about Michelle before, I didn't talk about her issues with drugs. She had them. I never thought she was addicted to anything but that's such an easy spiral to go down, especially when you've used for years. I don't know what happened to Michelle, but I would put money on her death being drug related. It completely breaks my heart.

I've been reaching out to old friends (whom I haven't seen or talked to in 14 years or so) via Facebook over the last few days trying to piece together what happened. So far I can't find anyone who kept in touch with her longer than I did. I feel like I need to know to have some closure. I will call her dad if I have to, but I'm trying to avoid that if I can.

In the meantime, I am profoundly sad. I can't believe that she was in Milwaukee and I couldn't find her. I can't believe that no one else seemed to know she was there either. And I can't believe that she's gone. Michelle was a dear friend whom I loved tremendously, even when I didn't know where she was. And if she had not introduced me to Dude all those years ago, my life would be wholly different right now. I cannot think of another friend who has had this significant of an influence on my life.

I don't know what else I can write here. I'm just sad and stunned and... everything.

**Additional note 11/23/09:

I wasn't able to make much headway by reaching out to old friends, so I ultimately ended up calling Michelle's dad (well, her mom's former boyfriend who was the closest thing to a dad Michelle ever had). His name was listed in the obituary and I found his number online. I wish that I'd known his last name all these years because he clearly could've connected me with Michelle. I explained who I was and why I was calling and he was very, very sweet. He said that she'd been in Colorado most of the time I was looking for her and had been back in Milwaukee for about a year before she died. Her death was a terrible accident that was the result of mixing the "wrong" drugs and alcohol. We chatted and cried for a few minutes about how much we loved her and then that was about it. So... I guess that's closure. Damn. I have a certain sense of relief in knowing that she wasn't some strung-out, lonely junkie but I'm not feeling any less sad about the whole thing.

My Michelle

When I was 18, I had a friend named Michelle. We were the best of buds, roommates and even waited tables at the same restaurant. Regardless of how much time we spent together, I never got sick of her. She was wacky and unpredictable and courageous and vulnerable. We lived in a five-bedroom apartment in Milwaukee, WI with a revolving cast of crazy roommates and it was the quintessential party pad. On any given night of the week, you could find random boys crashed on the couch or the floor or the couch and the floor. I was the baby of the house by about three years (Michelle was 25) and I enjoyed a certain level of protection from my debaucherous roomies. That's not to say that I didn't engage in some nuttiness. I won't lie. I did. But peeps, I saw some crazy stuff.

Anyway, Michelle is who introduced me to Dude. She had dated his brother casually but had ended it when she got back together with her ex. One day, Dude and his brother came into the restaurant where Michelle and I worked. I expressed an interest in Dude because he was hot and she set it up. As I said, she was a good, good friend.

Michelle had a rough childhood. Her dad wasn't around much. Her mother committed suicide when Michelle was thirteen. To say this scarred her is a gross understatement. She was terrified of abandonment. She often felt that she was to blame when things went wrong around her. She craved approval. After her mother's death, Michelle moved in with her grandparents. Her grandma was very loving and did what she could to provide for Michelle, even though they were people of simple means. Her grandpa was the kind of old guy who did not show emotion, did not exude a lot of positivity. Even though she was seven years my senior, I was incredibly protective of my dear friend.

Michelle ended up moving to Denver with her boyfriend. I spent the night there midway on my move from Milwaukee to Los Angeles. We stayed up late giggling. She came to visit me in LA not long after that and we were as close as ever. Some months went by and I didn't hear from her. I called her but her number was disconnected. I got in touch with her grandma who gave me her current number. Michelle and I kept in touch for a little while but then lost each other again. Dude moved in with me in LA. We got engaged. I wanted to invite Michelle to the wedding and again I called her grandmother. Except her grandpa answered the phone. He said that his wife was not available and I got the distinct impression that she had passed away. I explained who I was so he didn't think I was a telemarketer and asked him if he could either give me Michelle's phone number or pass mine on to her. He said, "I haven't talked to Michelle in over a year. I don't suppose I ever will again. The last I heard, the cops were looking for her and they thought maybe she'd gone to Mexico. Good luck, young lady." Click. Michelle often had shady friends and found herself in wild situations - she'd even married a one-legged Jamaican guy so he could get citizenship (I'm so not making that up) - but I was not expecting that.

I have never again heard from Michelle and I can't tell you the number of times that I've thought about her. If I had the chance to reconnect with anyone from my past, it would be her. More than anything, I'd like to know she's okay. Today is her 41st birthday.

Heavy, then happy, then hysterical

Heavy

Belly's eye surgery got scheduled today. December 16th. The day after my 35th birthday. I almost starting crying after I got off the phone. I know this is the right thing to do - so much so that it's pretty much in the "no brainer" category - but I feel sick about it. I cannot wait for all of this to be over.

Happy

On a happier note, the basement seems to have made it out of the water debacle unscathed! Everything is dry and clean and seemingly fine. Wahooooo!! Now I can spend all that money on Christmas presents (because Lord knows that's not hard to do). I've bought a few things already and I'm getting a little excited. I have always been a staunch believer in waiting to break out the Christmas cheer until after Thanksgiving is over. It only seems fair, right? But this year, I can't help it. For whatever reason that I can't explain, I'm gettin' downright cheery already! Maybe it's because this is the first year that the girls will be able to understand what's going on (to a certain extent). Or maybe it's because we're going to my sister's house in Arkansas and I haven't seen her family and my dad and stepmom in well over a year. Or maybe it's because this year is bound to be better than last. Or maybe it's all those retail ads that have been bombarding me since before Halloween (which is beyond wrong). I will try to contain it until after Thanksgiving, but I can't make any promises. I've already belted out "Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer" once this week. And I'm downright giddy thinking about watching "The Year Without A Santa Clause." Bring. It. On.

Hysterical

You know what's been cracking me up every time I think about it? The other day, the girls and I were driving somewhere and running late, as usual. The section of SE Division we were on has two lanes in each direction, but there was a truck in front of me driving down the center of the two lanes like it was one big lane just for him. I normally would've let the litany of expletives flow forth (Pick a lane, you blankety-blanker with your big blanking truck, thinking you own the mother-blanking road. Get out of my blanking way!), but I've been trying incredibly hard to have some restraint around the girls. So I said, "Dang it! Move over, TRUCK!" Pretty good, huh? But as soon as I said it, the Bug let out a long string of, "Dang it! Dang it, Daddy! Dang it! C'mon, Daddy. KA-MON, DADDY!" I totally whooped aloud as I tried to hold back laughing. It sounded exactly like me. I mean, EXACTLY like me. I immediately called Dude to apologize for saying that. I haven't the faintest clue when I said it or to what it was in reference, but I obviously said it. There can be no doubt.

My friend's two-year-old daughter outdid the Bug, though. The other day as they were driving along, my friend heard a little voice from the back say, "That's not a lane, jackass!" Sometimes it's a really, really funny thing to see - or hear - yourself in your child.

I heart Blaine

I am LOVING the internets right now. I just spent about 30-45 minutes watching my friend Blaine on BlogTV. An artist friend of his in Britain is doing a 24-hour BlogTV benefit to raise money to buy his young son a prosthetic hand. Trying to help him out, Blaine was on spilling celebrity stories from his many years of working at Spago (which is how I met him - I worked there from 1997 to 2002; Blaine still works there). Blaine also happens to be one of the funniest people I've ever met, better than most successful standup comedians I've seen. He even does impressions. Anyway, I haven't seen him in about two and a half years and all of a sudden there he was - talking to me, doing the celebrity impressions that I was calling off, telling the funny stories that I reminded him of from years ago, etc. We even got someone to give a $50 donation just to hear Blaine's Julio Iglesias impression. How fun and in-the-spirit-of-giving is that?

In the event you'd like to contribute, you can make a direct donation or check out the eBay auction of artwork here.

I raise my glass (of cheap-ass red wine) to all of my good friends. I love you peeps! And I'm fortunate to have so many.

Fall is my kind of bitch

This cracked me up so much that I'm posting it here. It's a status update and comments from Facebook (names have been replaced by initials to protect the guilty):

----

ES: FALL! It's here!

Comments:

RH: It suuuuure is.

ES: I'm in love with this weather. I want to roll around in it.

DW: I want to take it behind the middle school and get it pregnant.

ES: I want to eat it with a spoon. I want to rub it in my hair. I want to carry it around in my pocket. Seriously. It's a freaking perfect day.

ES: Exactly, DW! Me, too!

RH: Jeez - slow down, peeps. I like Fall, but I'm not looking for any kind of long-term relationship. C'mon...she ain't Summer.

ES: Fall has LTR written all over it; I'm never going to take it for granted or grow bored and start looking around at other seasons. This is it. The real thing.

JL: Like you've never looked at spring and thought, "damn, I'd like to rip me off a piece of that." Please.

ES: I do love a little spring after a long, cold winter, now that you mention it. But fall... TLA. BFF 4eva.

CE: I'm with JL. Fall's worth a couple lap dances maybe, but spring's the girl you buy a new car for just hoping you make it to the Champagne Room.

ES: You Oregon people are so desperate for sun after 5 months of rain that spring seems like an answered prayer. I've been there. I get it. Tennessee fall is pretty spectacular, though. It lasts and lasts.

KH: I 2nd that - fall is fantastic in TN.

JL: Yeah, Fall's great until you wake up one morning and discover she's gone and so are all your dvd's and favorite concert t's. You get sucked in every year.

----

Hahahaha! Funny.

Whelp, we've damn near done it

Dude comes home tomorrow and the girls and I are still going strong. We've kept very busy and the time has gone quickly.

Monday morning, we went to Swap 'n Play where we played with our girlfriends. That afternoon was pretty nondescript - chilled at home, received a giant bag of Asian pears from our generous neighbors, ran around up at the field by the middle school, ate blackberries out of the bramble; then dinner, shower, bed.

Tuesday morning we went to Uwajimaya. Oh Asian Grocery Store of My Dreams, if only you weren't out in the suburbs and I could come visit you without my hyper children trying to grab everything off your shelves and hanging precariously from the edge of the oyster tank. Sigh. That would be such a happy day. As it was, we spent an hour or so there with the girls going apeshit almost the whole time. I still managed to fill my basket with all sorts of delicious treats, though, and we had a most excellent Japanese-Chinese-Korean feast for dinner with Bri and Sissy. Tuesday was also Nanni day. I slipped out for a little shopping time and, my darlings, I'm happy to report that I bought The Most Un-Mom Shoes Ever. Behold:

And, and, and - they were only $17. Score and score! Now I need Dude to take me out so I can wear them with something little and black because, well, I don't think I'll be wearing those bad boys on any play dates with the girls, ya know?

This morning we were out the door early because it was the first day of Baby Circus. It was even better than I thought it would be. We did crazy-fun warmups and then played on the trapeze. It was W-O-N-D-E-R-F-U-L and I'm going to sign us up for the next six week session after this one so that we can continue the fun for the rest of the year. Not only did the girls go nuts for the trapeze, but I got to play on it, too! At one point, I sat on it like a swing and had both girls in my lap while someone pushed us. Now I think I want to join the circus when I grow up.

When we got home from Baby Circus, there were two great things waiting for us: 1) the cleaning ladies were just wrapping up their thang (always great to come home to THAT); and 2) there was a gorgeous bouquet of dahlias by the mailbox from my LOVELY friend, Shanna, just 'cause she rocks like that. Then the girls took an extended nap; I caught up with Glee on Hulu; ate bao for lunch. Around 3p, my friend Pamela and her 2-year-old daughter came over to play with the girls while I went to a doctor's appointment (I've really got some great friends, huh?). Blah, blah. Nothing to tell about that really. When I got home and was walking up the front steps, I saw everyone standing just inside the door. Poor little Belly was sobbing in Pamela's arms. That sweet baby had been crying inconsolably for five minutes just because she missed her mama. She threw her arms around me, buried her face in my neck and stayed that way for quite some time. I think she reached her limit on parents leaving and not being exactly sure when they're coming back. All night she was super clingy - wouldn't even let me go in the bathroom without her to get the toothbrushes at bedtime.

After showers were had and jammies were on, after milk was guzzled and teeth were brushed tonight - we all laid down on the girls' bed. Belly snuggled as close as she could, wrapping her arms around my neck and squishing her face against the side of my face. The Bug was lying next to me on her back, but scooched over so she was pressing her side against mine. She turned her face toward me and as she was about to drift off to sleep, she whispered, "Mommy. Baby Circus. Buh-bye. Tank Ooo!"

Yowsers - a week since my last post!

I have sat down to write something about 4 times in the last week, but there simply has never been enough time to complete a post. I just deleted all of my half-starts. Arg.

We went to Mom's for Labor Day weekend - always an adventure! We tried and tried to get out the door on Friday, but it didn't happen until 6:30pm which also happened to be dinner time. And so it was with a heavy heart that I introduced the girls to the saturated-fat-filled world of fast food. We stopped at Burgerville for dinner which was about the best option we had. The girls had a "fish and chips" that was really parmesan-crusted (and deep fried, of course) sole and some sweet potato fries. They loved every second of it. Then they promptly fell asleep as we drove the three hours through the Gorge and high desert to Mom's...in the dark (slightly nerve wracking). Visions of kid's meal toys and chicken nuggets probably danced in their heads.

Mom's was fun. Dan, Bri and Bri's boyfriend all came out for the weekend, too. We ate copious amounts because Mom only knows how to "cook for an army" - bbq ribs, smoked gouda macaroni and cheese, 3 kinds of cobbler, homemade ice cream, fried green tomatoes with gravy, pizza, apple pie, venison stew, etc., etc. Holy shit. It was all so good and so, so, so much.

Belly and the Bug had their first experience feeding chickens. And petting chickens. And nearly getting attacked by chickens wanting MORE BREAD BAAAAWWWWK!!! We've had lengthy discussions about chickens every day since we came home. And deer. Deer wander freely through Mom's town and we saw does and fawns every day. If a girl wanted to see deer and there weren't any in the yard at that precise moment, we'd walk around and always find them in somebody's yard within a two block radius. PLUS there's a creek near Mom's house. The girls had a big ol' time splashing around in it with sticks.

The one thing that wasn't all I had hoped it would be was the climb up Black Butte, just outside of town. We've done this hike before both the hard way - up the front, over the rocks - and the easy way - up the back, along the road. We of course opted for the easy way because we thought the girls would like the adventure. Well, two things didn't really go as planned with that. The first was that the road was steeper than we remembered from back in the day when we were kidless and fancy-free. And the second was that the girls just wanted to be carried aaaalllll the way up and aaaalllll the way down. Nope. No walking for those princesses. AND when we got to the top, it was extremely windy. This meant that the girls just fussed until it was time to go back down. My back still hurts from this misadventure.

Game playing is a must for my family and we played two games that were just AWESOME (courtesy of Dan). The first is called Quiddler. Google it. It's like a cross between Scrabble and Gin. I cannot imagine a better card game. The second is called Revolution! It's filled with back-stabbing fun for the whole family!

We got home Monday afternoon and I immediately started planning for a little soiree I was hosting Tuesday night. A friend of mine is going to Richmond, VA for a couple months and so I planned a "ladies night" at my house as a send-off for her. I had no clue what I was going to make for dinner but I knew I wanted it to be special. I started thinking Asian because it's easy to make and easy to impress people with it, but then one friend said she wanted to bring Brie and bread and another said she wanted to bring a caprese salad using tomatoes and basil from her garden. So...I switched gears and here was my final menu:

Zucchini ribbons with truffle oil and shaved parmesan
Cauliflower soup with Asian pears and creme fraiche
Pizza with figs, prosciutto, goat cheese and a balsamic reduction
Pizza with mascarpone, sauteed shiitake and chanterelle mushrooms with fresh thyme, caramelized onions
Chocolate flourless cake (which I couldn't unstick from the pan, so ended up being kind of brownies)
Plum-creme fraiche sorbet

Plus dishes brought by guests: the Brie and bread, caprese, potato salad and cayenne-chocolate brownies. Plus lots and lots and lots of red wine. It was a FEAST! And it was gooooooood. The fig pizza and the sorbet are now two of my favorite things ever. I will definitely make them again and again and again...when I'm not counting calories, which I have been doing for two days now after nearly a week of massive gluttony and delicious, delicious good times.

So, it's Thursday. Dude is flying to Boston on a red eye Sunday night and not returning until next Thursday afternoon. As luck would have it, his parents are arriving that night around 9pm for four and a half days. This is precisely the time that I should be getting my period, too. I want to get back into the blogging saddle and post every day or every other day, but please bear with me over the next almost two weeks. I might be crazy. I might be a ranting machine. I might be surprisingly calm. It's a total crapshoot.

We have been warmed

Last night, we finally had our housewarming party. I've been prepping for this gathering for the last week - tidying the house, getting the food stuffs in order. I had thought that it was going to be about 25 people, but the final number - including kids - was 46. Forty six people! I didn't even know 46 people in DC (outside of work)! We had a ton of fun and a ton of food and drink. I made the full spread of food and basically have zero leftovers. There were two bits left on each plate when the last guests left. I guess it was all good stuff! I was too harried to take pictures when the table was all ready (bummer), but here's what I put out:

Finger sandwiches: roast beef, arugula and horseradish on focaccia; and grilled eggplant, squash, portobellos, red peppers and sun-dried tomatoes with goat cheese and pesto on focaccia
Spinach dip
Caramelized onion dip
Chips
Endive "boats" with clementines, blue cheese crumbles, candied walnuts and a balsamic reduction
Mixed olives
Rice cracker snack mix
Figs, blueberries and strawberries
Brownies
Oatmeal-raisin cookies

And for the kids:

Whole wheat cheese pizzas
Cheddar bunny party mix

Beverages were assorted beer and wine, some N/A offerings and juice boxes for the kids. Halfway through the party it looked like there was still a lot of food on the table and I was worried, but then everyone kicked in to eating mode and it was really the perfect amount. I was so happy...and relieved!!

My friend Shanna brought a five-gallon bucket full of amazingly gorgeous dark red and pink dahlias from her garden and we made three large bouquets - two for the mantle and one for the table. I'm pretty sure they are my new favorite flower. These were in addition to the ginormous bouquet that arrived on my doorstep Friday afternoon from my old boss at TNTETDWTLAWBISITKWIRL who had heard about the party way back on the East Coast. (For the record: I love her. She is the girls' godmother. She was not the problem at that job by a long shot.) I do have some pictures of the flowers.

You should've seen the number of ridiculously cute kids here. They ran and played and colored and danced. And there were only a couple time-outs that I was aware of - NONE for my girls (can you believe it?!). Speaking of Belly and the Bug, they were very, very good and very, very excited to be having a party. One of my favorite parts of the whole event was watching the Bug repeatedly (as in multiple five-minute sessions) standing by the table, standing on her tippy tippy tiptoes to reach in the bowl for a chip, getting the chip just so in her hand, then reaching way way way up into the bowl of onion dip, scooping out a bunch, licking it off the chip, and double, triple, quadruple, quintuple dipping. When that chip was too soggy, she'd eat it and repeat the process. ONION dip, people. She didn't go for the brownies or cookies or cheddar bunny mix. The ONION dip. I love it. Later in the party, she got herself a big spoon and made short work of the blueberries on the fruit plate. I managed to get a picture of that, too.

I was afraid that I would spend the whole party worrying about there being enough seating, enough food, enough drink, enough FUN but I didn't at all. I just had a great time! And as is the case when an event that I've been planning for awhile comes and goes, I'm left thinking about what I should plan next. A good friend here in Portland is about to go away for a couple months, so I think I'll be having a "ladies night" sometime in the next two weeks as a send-off for her. I'm thinking lots of wine, lots of plates of "small bites" and stuff like that. I can't wait!

About 45 minutes after the last guests left (minus Dan and his girlfriend who stuck around), Jonas arrived. He was taking a red-eye last night to Costa Rica to pick up my niece and nephew from his ex-wife. We had planned for him to leave his car here and I took him to the airport. He brought with him the most adorable play kitchen I have ever seen that he made for my girls. It is THE BEST! Check it out:

And you can turn it so that the two sides are back to back!

Those little knobs for the stove? Those came from an old van that my dad had given to Jonas a few years ago. I love that Jonas thought to incorporate those. The girls saw this when they came downstairs this morning and I expect that their reaction is pretty much what Christmas morning will be like this year. They were so excited! They played with it aaaallllllllll morning.

So, here we are - successful party, happy toddler play kitchen, lazy Sunday afternoon. I'm ready for a nap.

A day at home

We have been out playing with friends every day this week and, while it has been GREAT, we're taking it easy today. Our big outing will be to the store in a little bit to stock up on booze and treats for tonight's Family Game Night (a monthly tradition that is in the process of being established with my three younger sibs who live in Portland). It's been overcast and in the 70s today - a perfect day to chill. Yesterday we went to Ikea and I bought the girls each their very own easel. We've been coloring and coloring and coloring! I think I'll break out the chalk here soon and introduce them to the world of chalkboards. Or maybe watercolors! The world is our art oyster today...so long as it all stays on the paper and not the floor or walls or books. I also think I'm going to make some parmesan-squash chips as an afternoon snack. Yum!

You know, I used to think I was pretty domesticated and crafty until we moved to Portland. I cook dinner at least five nights a week and like to color and stuff with my kids, but I'm nothing compared to some of the moms I know. They can fruits and veggies. They sew clothes for their kids. They use cloth diapers. I'm all, "Uh, I like Pampers best even though they're more expensive and I'll happily take your extra garden vegetables because I have a brown thumb." It makes me feel a little...dumb.

[Aside: I promise I have been very, very, very good about not swearing, but the Bug is walking around right now saying "Fuck. Fuck. Fuck. Sheeeeeet." Maybe she's saying something else and it just sounds like she's an offshoreman? I'm going with that.]

Anyway - I constantly find myself making mental notes of projects I want to do "when I have time" with no idea when that time will exist. Here's a sampling from my list:

- Make alphabet magnets using baby food lids (I saved a zillion of them for this project that I saw in a magazine forever ago)

- Plant some herbs in the window box outside the kitchen window

- Get all crafty and finish decorating Belly and the Bug's room

- Bake something delicious and nutritious every week

- Make "color books" for the girls

There are a zillion other things, too, and none of them seem as ambitious as sewing clothes or canning. Why can't I get it together? Maybe I'm just plain ol' lazy. Hmm....

In appreciation

I know I already put up a short post today, but I'm feeling compelled to write another one. I peeked in on the girls sleeping a little while ago and they were just...SO BIG. Where have my babies gone? There are two KIDS in that bed. The girls are both in a phase of incredible growth and I'm astounded by them every day. They use new words! They understand new concepts! And physically, it's hard to keep the place childproofed because what they can do and where they can reach today is further than yesterday. I'm terrified that I'm going to blink and they'll be starting kindergarten and then becoming teenagers and then leaving for college. I just want to clutch them to me and tell them to slow down! Belly said, "Holy mackerel!" tonight. The child only started calling me "mama" this year. And the Bug can jump. JUMP! That's supposed to be a 24-36 month skill. I'm immensely proud of them. And a little weepy. Sigh.

I am also feeling unbelievably lucky. Lucky that I am their mother. Lucky that I have been able to stay home with them this whole time (I hope that continues). And lucky that I have landed in a great town, in a great house, with my great husband, and making great new friends. This is really what I was hoping for when we decided to move here. At this very moment, I have no complaints. That's a good place to be.

Uh, I'm hot

It's in the mid-90s today and we're all a little sweaty here. Surprisingly, we're not very crabby (and by "we" I mean all three of us). Things could be worse. If it was this temperature back in DC, it would be disgustingly sticky and humid, too. But this heat is making me feel mighty lazy. The girls and I went to the Children's Museum with some friends this morning and this afternoon we've done nothing. Really. Nothing. We've laid around the sun room reading and listening to music. We've eaten half a bag of Veggie Booty. I made an iced coffee. They enjoyed nice cold cups of Portland's finest water. L-A-Z-Y, I tell you!

Yesterday, the girls and I drove out to Sauvie Island to visit a friend who recently had a baby. First off, that baby was SWEET. It gave me pangs of wanting another baby. But just one. JUST ONE. I figure that I'll start working on Dude in a couple years about adopting a baby. He says that he's done with babies, but I think he's scared that it'll be like having the twins all over again - which it won't.

Second, I'd never been to Sauvie Island before. It's 10 miles NW of Portland and BEAUTIFUL - kind of a cross between rural Wisconsin and the area around Somis, CA where Dude and I were married. The island is filled with u-pick farms - berries, vegetables, fruit trees, Christmas trees. I would've loved to have picked a bunch of berries with the girls (it's blueberry, raspberry and marionberry season), but we didn't really have time. I stopped at a farm and bought two pints of blueberries and two pints of raspberries on the way home. They are, without a doubt, the best raspberries I've ever had. They are HUGE and JUICY and totally melt in the mouth. I had intended to make a cobbler or something, but Dude and I pigged out on them last night. I could've eaten a pound of them by myself. We'll have to go back out to the island and pick some soon. If "u" pick them, they are $1.75/pound. Is that cheap or what??

On a more serious note, the cleaning ladies came this morning. I SERIOUSLY love that. One cleaning lady costs the same per hour as a baby sitter. Two cleaning ladies get the job done in half the time. It's the perfect justification and I hope that I can afford it forever. SERIOUSLY. Forever.

Adrift in a sea of boxes

Please pardon the lack of posts lately - my usual nighttime blog time has been filled with unpacking boxes. The girls have not been too keen on giving me the latitude needed to unpack during the day, so I have only a few hours every night to make headway. A lot of headway that simply does not make. BUT - Bri and Dan came over on Sunday and helped me make some progress. PLUS - Bri is coming over tomorrow evening; a friend and her daughter are coming on Thursday during the day to run interference with the girls; and Bri said she'd come hang on Friday during the day since she has a vacation day from work. The unpacking shall get done (whether I like it or not, I suppose).

This house is SO big. I'm used to being able to hear what's happening upstairs while I'm downstairs and vice-versa. That just doesn't happen here. In fact, I keep having to call out to the girls and locate them when we're all on the main level. I'll call, "BUUUUUGGGGGYYYYYYYYY!!!!! BEEEEELLLLLLLLLLLLYYYYYYY!!!!!" and I'll hear the patter of little feet in the distance getting closer and closer. Or not - and then I have to run in the kitchen and make sure they haven't somehow figured out how to put each other in the oven (everything else has been baby-proofed). They really are having a big ol' time scampering about. I love seeing them so happy. I can't wait until all of the box-chaos is done and they know where all of their stuff is. For the moment, their toys and books are out in the sun room. I'm also going to give them the bottom level or two of shelves in the library. And Jonas informed me last weekend that he's about to start building a play kitchen for them. I'm going to put it in the eat-in part of the kitchen so they can cook while I cook. How cute will that be??

In other news, Belly had an eye exam today. It was the first she's had since November and obviously the first time she's been to the pediatric ophthalmologist out here. I liked the doctor. He was very gentle and thorough. Belly HATED him...for most of the visit. She seemed to deeply resent the fact that he was all up in her grill and positively screamed with everything she had every single time he tried to examine her eyes. She's such a strong little kid that I couldn't hold her. Dude and I switched spots so he could try to snuggle her/hold her still. It only half worked. Finally, finally, finally she calmed down. Dude sat in the exam chair and held her on his lap facing out. I knelt in front of the chair and hugged her. Dude and The Bug rubbed her back. This was the only way that worked - but it WORKED. She let the doctor do a full exam and by the end of it, she was reaching out to touch his hands and his glasses and was pleasant. Then he gave her a sticker and I think she forgave him completely.

After all of that, there's good news and bad news that will ultimately be good news. The good: Belly doesn't need to wear her glasses anymore. This means the fighting to keep them on her is a thing of the past! How about an amen? Can I get an amen?! AMEN!! And how about a woot?! WOOT!!

Now, the bad that will ultimately be good: She doesn't need the glasses because they're not correcting her crossing. What she needs is surgery - probably within the next six months. I hate to think about my little baby-kid going in to surgery but I like the idea of having the problem FIXED. And putting the whole ordeal behind us. We're going back for a follow-up to today's exam in about a month and we'll get the full story on the surgery then. We understand WHY the surgery, but not the HOW yet. Today was totally traumatic and there was a lot to process, so we just left all the detail questions for next time.

It's a non-stop party here, isn't it?

Anyway - boxes are calling me. More soon.

About Face

Everyone seems to be writing blogs about Facebook these days - and I guess that's because we're all on it. And when I say all, I mean EVERYONE. My "friends" include a vast array of people from high school, my husband, my many siblings, my dad and friends from Milwaukee, Los Angeles, DC, Portland and everywhere in between. I was late in joining FB because I already had a MySpace account and it took so much work...I was reluctant to commit to yet another social networking site. But then my oldest (and often wisest) friend, Jillet, commanded me to join and I think I've been back on MySpace three times since. I thought - how simple and fun! And the crazy number of high school people adding me as a friend at all times of the day and night was astounding. It was like a virtual high school reunion except surprisingly enjoyable (even while sober).

But something has changed. I've realized that my "friends" list now includes my parents' friends, the minister who married us (although he is tres cool), friends of friends with whom I am only the merest of acquaintances, my Mormon aunt who says in her "25 random things" note that swearing "jars her soul," etc. You know - people that I don't necessarily need to have reading my latest status about my mini-crush on Eric Ripert (he's so hot in a perfectly polished and amazing chef kind of way) or seeing the middle school-era pictures of me posted by others or following my conversations about good break-up-and-make-up songs. It's really just TMI.

The way I see it, I have two choices: 1) I can censor myself more or 2) I can deny their friend requests. Either way, I don't like it. I'm very congnizant of the fact that FB is a public forum so it's not like I'm putting all my biznass up there for people to see, but I'd like to be able to say "effing" or "boobs" without worrying that somehow I'm offending people. And isn't it just flat-out rude to deny the friend request of someone I know (or kinda know)?

My panties are all in a bunch about this because some woman who was friends with my mom when I was a little kid (and is still close with one of my dad's friends) just sent me a friend request. I am 34 years old and I have not seen or spoken to this woman since I was probably 7 or 8. Am I the only one who thinks this is weird? I don't want to accept her as my friend on FB, but my older sister E says I have to out of politeness. Dude says I don't have to do anything I don't want to do. What to do?

For now I'm ignoring her friend request. I mean, I could accept her and it would probably be no big deal, but it really feels like a line has been crossed. I want to frolic online without the pressure of censure! I want FB to be fuuuuunnnn! Sigh. I'm sure this is no big deal and I'm wasting a ton of energy by fixating on it.

Belly and The Bug