Happy Easter

Today's post will be a mish-mash of events. We had a lovely Easter meal, having become quite the...well, chefs is too strong a word. Quite the novice chefs, then. We pull out the cookbooks on Friday nights, along with our schedules, and plan meals for the week. I'd say we're  cooking 3-4 full dinners a week. Vegetarian Paella, Salmon & Asparagus Quinoa, Vegetarian Chicken Fajitas, and even ramping up simple dishes like spaghetti with marinara sauce by adding white beans and broccoli (recipe from Runner's World magazine.) It's fun, as most of the recipes are turning out to be not only edible, but tasty. Quite the new experience for me. We have two folders now in our kitchen. Green folder = recipes to try, Red folder = Tried & liked.

We just got back from hiking around our "mountain" property. I haven't been there all winter and I'm glad we went. It reminded me of why I want the cabin. Everything on the 38 acres is raw, natural, unvarnished. We climbed over huge pine trees uprooted by recent windstorms. We jumped on rocks to cross the creek as the wooden bridge we used to use now resembles an ancient Mayan ruin near collapse. We watched monarch butterflies trace the path of the creek and we got ambitious and scaled the hills covered in rotting logs and leaves to reach the far end of our property. It was beautiful and exhausting and nurturing, all at once.

Now we'll collapse on the couch, pull the leftovers out of the fridge, and eat more food than we need to while we watch the Carolina game.  The sun is shining, it's a cloudless 55 degrees, we have the windows open, and I'm going to go make hot tea and beg Blair to tell me where he's hid the dark chocolate.

Happy Easter, everyone.

Kitty Dental Extraction

Olivia on her favorite chairSometimes I wonder what the world is like from a cat's point-of-view. You go to bed one night and when you awake in the morning, instead of the normal routine you've come to expect, you're denied food. No explanation. The food dishes are there, the tall people are walking around the house like they always do, but no food.  You make small mewing sounds and sit in front of the dish to remind them, but they just scratch your ears and then ignore you.

On top of that, the female of the house scoops you up and puts you in the bathroom for 30 minutes with the door closed. Why? Are you being punished? Plus, now you hear food being put in the dish. Hey--I'd like to get a piece of that. But no. When the door opens, you spy the dreaded black travel bag. You struggle, but are thrust inside, zipped in, and carried to the car.

Normally you're in the car no more than 5 minutes, but this time you keep driving and driving and driving. Thirty-five minutes later the car stops, and you're taken inside a strange building that smells of cats. Your mom leaves and you're taken to a back room.

Now the terror begins. All you know is that you wake up. And when you do, for some odd reason, your jaws are tender, as if they'd been held open for an extended period of time. On top of that, you discover TWO teeth are missing! What sort of torture place is this, anyway?

Thankfully, mom reappears late in the afternoon to return you home. Where you disappear under a bed and refuse to speak to her for the next 12 hours. Fair enough.

Wouldn't that be a bizarre sequence of events if you had no way of knowing what was happening? As it stands, our little girl held up well. We have to give her horse-sized pills twice a day for the next 5 days and we're trying to ensure she eats only soft food. Challenging, as Lucy likes to shove Olivia away and eat the soft food for both of them. Blair actually stood over them as they ate this morning to make sure Olivia got her share.

I think Blair is the most traumatized of all of us. He did not like his little girl having to be put under and is now brandishing a cat toothbrush around the house as if he expects us to use it. Scary.

I'm glad to have Olivia home though. Out of habit, I kept looking around the house for her yesterday.  Even Lucy--yes, Lucy--missed her. I think. Let's just say she did.

Happy Easter Weekend.

Talking To A Mom

I love talking to my sister, the mother of a 4 and 1 year old, on the phone. We'll be in the middle of a conversation, as we were yesterday, when suddenly she'll break off and say, "Take your hands off him," and then continue our conversation as if nothing had happened.  Ten minutes later she again interrupts herself to calmly say to someone behind her, "Stop choking him." A few moments later, "I mean it."

I finally started laughing and she admitted that as a mom, sentences now come out of her that she never thought she'd utter. My favorite is from several years ago when her four-year-old was just one or two. We were on the phone and I could hear this low, semi-moaning, echo-y sound in the background.

"What is that noise?" I asked.

"Oh, that's just J----" she said. "He has his head in a bucket. He likes the echo."

Okay--maybe I'm missing a little something not having kids. But that's what nieces and nephews are for.

Car Shopping

We're car shopping. The 1994 Saturn station wagon I inherited from Blair's mother may soon be delivered down the line to another relative, meaning Dena gets a new car!

"New" meaning "used" of course.  I will never own a new-new car. Waste of money driving it off the lot. Years and years ago, we bought a brand new Toyota Corolla. The thing was cursed. Made me a believer that "new" doesn't always mean better.

So your role, loyal blog readers, is to offer your opinion on what type car Dena should get. Hopefully you will render your opinions in a nicer tone than my best friend Trisha who, when informed I had my eye on a 2002 Toyota Camry, blurted out, "That's a great car... if you're a hundred and five." (She loves me. She does. She just has a  hard time showing  it.)

Here are my requirements:

• Good on gas mileage. No SUV's!
• Safe. Reliable.
• 4 door. Automatic.
• Something that won't cost $1000 just to set foot inside the dealer service station (read: Lexus)
• $8-$11k range
• Looks decent. I don't care about sporty. My focus is no rust, dings, or mismatched doors.
• Average size. Don't want itty-bitty but don't want to haul around a sedan, either. Trunk space is nice.
• Sunroof is nice, but not required.

Resale value isn't important as I drive a car until it dies. Which is why this decision is vital. Whatever we go with, chances are I'll be driving it for the next 10 years.  There is an adorable neon green (my favorite!) Volkswagen Beetle for sale right up the street. The price is right and I considered it, but I think I'd grow tired of it after a year or two. Think long-term when choosing a car for me.

Are you ready? Okay... let's play...PICK... DENA'S... CAR!!!!!