Channeling Nigella

Some days...on rare days when the moon is blue and the planets align...I'm bitten by the baking bug. Today it was all about my Inner Domestic Goddess so of course I pulled out my copy of Nigella Express. She is my Idol, my Cooking Guru. Not only is she the laziest (not to mention messiest) cook around but her short cuts make perfect sense and the recipes are delicious.

On the menu: Banana Muffins. A sure fire way to make those black bananas disappear into golden, yummy sweetness that can't be beat. We've Two Variations on a Theme today: Mini Muffins with Peanut Butter Chocolate Chips, and a Loaf with Montmorency Dried Cherries.

My personal favorite is the cherries but the peanut butter/chocolate chip also go down nicely with milk.

The second key to my baking success today: Move the baking cannisters out from the pantry to the cupboard in the kitchen. Viola! I'm so much more inspired to bake when I can reach into the cupboard and in five seconds have the ingredients out on the counter before I have second thoughts...or my innate ennui reasserts control over me and I abandon my urge to bake. Before, with those silly cannisters in the pantry there were just too many steps involved and I'd quickly lose the desire to bake.

And of course when I do get bit by the bug I go whole hog and it's usually a baking extravaganza where several recipes are made and I'm exhausted by the end of the session. Not today. Today it was all about "express" baking with minimal effort for maximum results a la Nigella.




So I'm good for a while now...no more baking until the bananas go black again!

Teatime anyone?

Sick Day (or Misery Doesn't Love Company, or anything else for that matter…)

After a whole night of waking up hourly to answer the call of the J-Man (Achoo…Mama…..my nose….) I finally accepted it: J-Man has a cold, or flu or something. Initially figured it was allergies since he suffers terribly and 'tis the season. But no…he's sick. Undeniably sick.

So the living room is the sick room today. All decked out with a mattress, tissue bag, numerous boxes of tissues and most importantly: the tv remote. Yes, at our house being sick means guilt-free, unedited viewing all day of PBS Kids, Noggin or whatever makes my little guy stop whimpering continuously.

He is Misery personified today. He doesn't want anything, won't lay down and rest, just sits there looking pitiful. My day is filled with the sounds of "Achoo" followed by "Whaaaaaaaaa, ahhhhh, my nose, mama my nose…." Is this child incapable of sneezing into the tissue on his own? I guess so. If I don't succumb to the misery it'll be a miracle.

But finally…hours later he sleeps. I tiptoe around the house hoping to not awake sleeping sick boy because the quiet is so peaceful (apart from the inane and seemingly endless commercials on the tv-which I hate but tolerate if it makes him happy and keeps him sleeping).

Don't worry. I won't post the other picture of how my day is going. You don't want to see it. I thought the day couldn't get any worse…but no. Today the toilet decides to back up and overflow. So now not only do I have a whimpering boy to tend to I also have to stop everything to do a major cleanup of the bathroom. Granted, it did need a cleaning but I'd rather not do it because the toilet is being naughty.

So now my hands are chafed from cleaning. I'm cranky from lack of sleep. Hungry because I've not had a moment to feed myself anything beyond coffee and toast. And yes, it's Tax Day. I know, I know…it's not like I didn't know it was coming. But I also knew we'd owe so why rush to get them into the mail along with a check that's painfully large. Why not wait until very late on T-Day to rush to post office? Because, Murphy's Law dictates that today of all days when I need to do something Son gets contagiously sick, Toilet backs up, Hubby is in the field and incommunicado for the whole day, and all my Family are out of the county.

So it's just me…stuck at home with a terribly unhappy son, stressing about our taxes, seeing just how dirty my house is really is (thank you naughty potty) and doing endless rounds of laundry and dishes… Fun, fun fun! How's your day?

March Mosaic 2008

March 2008, originally uploaded by WackyAuntie.

Yep, my fun with Flickr continues. Love them mosaics! (But still I've yet to master getting the darn thing to fit on the blog-click on mosaic to see it in its full glory :) )

It's official...there's a baby on the way!

Megan's Belly Mar 23, originally uploaded by WackyAuntie.

Yep, Little Sis is officially pregnant and the belly is on the move...quite rapidly too!

We've had interesting conversations with the four-year old Munchkins about where babies come from. I tried the cabbage patch theory...not!...then tried the garden seed analogy...worked bit better. J-Man seemed to get the "Mommy-hole" explanation the best. (I'm already dreading the phone call from his Kindergarten teacher regarding this issue when he explains the whole baby thing to his classmates!) But Mr. J was very concerned about exactly how the baby will get out of Mey-Mey's tummy. I've been forbidden to photographically document the birth, so must console myself with lots of burgeoning belly shots over the upcoming months! I can't wait. Neither can Miss Mosey and she very loudly tells the baby daily just how excited she is and won't they please hurry up and get here! Poor baby...he or she will definitely recognize Mosey's voice from the get go!

Daylight or Tungsten...hmmm

This is what happens when I forget to switch camera back to Daylight from Tungsten setting. Not too shabby though and pretty cool. This lovely moody blue shot is totally unadulterated. It's a true blue happy-accident... ha ha ha...

But seriously folks, this proves my theory. I'm at my best when I'm not thinking!

Mommynesia

A phone conversation with my sister:

Ring, ring...

Sis: Hello?
Me: Hi..(basic friendly, polite sisterly chatter followed by) Does T have Photoshop Elements I can try?
Sis: How many times have you asked me that?
Me: Oh, I don't know, how many?
Sis: At least 3!
Me: Okay, so tell me again...does T have Photoshop Elements?
Sis: Yes, for the fourth time now.
Me: Oh goodie! So my goal is to get a copy to test drive. Remind me of that when I call the next time asking "Does T have Photoshop Elements?"
Sis: Next time I'll just lie and say "No, he doesn't"
Me: Oh...okay. But sis, remember we're victims of Mommynesia!

The above conversation is hard, quantifiable proof of the existence of Mommynesia, a new, scientifically discovered aspect of parenting: Mothers actually lose memory cells in their brains when they push out a baby during childbirth. These cells are lost forever, never to be restored, recovered or regenerated. They are gone...forever. The more children, the more cells lost.

Maybe that's what happened to Great Grandma: After child #7 her memory quota was gone and subsequent children just blended in with the rest. Her final tally: 14. So in actuality she probably had no idea she had that many kids! She did tell Mom once, "Oh honey, it gets much easier after the third and by the seventh, the older ones take care of the new ones."

Some days I feel like I've pushed out a 14-children's load of memory cells. The above conversation a case in point. But I do love my munchkin inordinately, even if he did zap my brain cells to smithereens!



See how adorable he is? How can I worry over a few lost memory cells . . . we all lose them as we get older. Besides I'll have the J-Man by my side, adoring his silly, forgetful Mother always (or at least until he's a moody teen-ager who won't talk or acknowledge his poor old Momma anymore).




It was worth sacrificing my memory to have this face to look at every day. Love you son!

Flickr...My new favorite thing

February 2008, originally uploaded by WackyAuntie.

Okay so the house looks like a bomb went off, laundry is piling up and meals are definitely uninspired. . . but I'm having a blast with Flickr! I'm ashamed to admit just how much time I've spent snapping, uploading and editing until the wee hours of the morning.

In order to not totally cross over into the realm of slovenly domesticity each day I try to accomplish some form of household drudgery. Today it was errands about town, yesterday it was the cat box and laundry. I think at some point this week I actually mopped the kitchen floor too.

So I guess I'm not a total failure as a hausefrau. At least I'm a creative one! Now if only I could figure out how to get the photo mosaic to upload correctly I'd be one happy woman. Guess it's another late night playing on the computer.