goodbye july

July has been something of a mixed bag, if I may. As I told Cardo, I'm not wishing away time (oh, definitely not), but I am so ready to move on from this month. I'm not exactly sure why, as I always start new months thinking I'll get more accomplished in the new month and then that never really happens.

I'll be especially happy when autumn rolls around. Autumn is my absolute favorite season. I often wonder if the 'autumn' of my life will be my favorite part of my life also. Hmm. (Yes, I think way too much.)

August will be somewhat momentous for us, if all goes as planned. Please note, I said 'for us.' We are pretty quiet people, so I don't think I'm talking about anything life-changing. (Or, am I?)

We are planning a trip to Disneyland at the end of next year. Right now, I'm thinking either October (before Cardo gets really busy at work) or the end of December (when things start calming down again at Cardo's work). To save money, we are really going to try to reel in our spending. More eating at home, less eating out. Our August challenge is to eat dinner at home all thirty-one days. I know that many people are struggling more than we are and I feel kind of like a jerk saying we are challenging ourselves to eat at home every night for a month, but there you have it. We hope it goes well. If it does, we'll put aside a bit of money toward our trip. I foresee lots of sandwiches and bowls of cereal and oatmeal in the coming weeks.

The biggest change facing our little family is the issue of Pic's schooling. Thoughts of Pic heading off to school have been swirling around my head from about the time she was born. I have particularly obsessed with the topic for the last year. In the last couple of months, we have come to a decision regarding the subject. More on this to come. I'll just say we're excited and a bit nervous.

So, goodbye July and welcome August -- I think I'm ready to face what you'll send my way.

vacation: accomplished

Cardo just went back to work after two weeks of vacation. We are just starting to try to return to a normal (for us) rhythm. Because I have a tendency to never get around to posting about what feels like a big outing, I'll post some highlights from our stops.

Cardo and I planned a series of surprises for Pic. We asked her if she wanted to know where we were going or if she wanted to be surprised and she chose the latter.

So, for our whirlwind vacation (Cardo was off work for two weeks, but we squeezed all of our big activities into one):


On our first day in California, we headed over to Briones Regional Park for a quickish (one hour) walk. There were cows! And cow poop!



Our first big surprise was the Conservatory of Flowers in San Francisco. I'm glad this was first. Pic wasn't at all thrilled about the guided tour I wanted to go on, so we only stuck around for five minutes. Then, we toured on our own. They provide little booklets with pictures and descriptions of the flora in each room. Pic decided we'd seek out the plants featured in the booklet, which ended up being much more fun.



Just one of the many awesome plants: a tortoise plant.


The highlight of the trip? The San Francisco Zoo. We've been here once before. Pic has been looking forward to a return trip for quite a long time. I enjoyed myself, but I couldn't help but wonder about the whole concept of a zoo. It seemed like the animals were very well cared for, but what effect does it have on animals who "belong" outside of such a structure? The animals are fed, instead of able to hunt for food. They live in very small groups. Hmm. Anyhow...


Surprise! Open your eyes, Pic, we're at the zoo!



Pic's favorite animal: the polar bear. Polar bears, and giraffes, have purple tongues, fyi.


The next day, we visited our second two surprises: the San Francisco children's museum and the Aquarium of the Bay.


At the museum, learning about how much strategy is involved in using the bathroom in outer space.



I was running out of picture-taking steam by the time we got to the aquarium, but I promise we were there.


We went home for a quick minute before heading out again for camping for a couple of days. My camera battery was just about dead, so it was taking forever for the camera to actually capture a picture.


One of the kids made this structure and then all of the kids took turns jumping over it (and all of the adults cringed with every jump, hoping they'd clear the sharp angle).

All right, so those were the highlights! Perhaps I'll post more pictures, but I'm not holding myself to that.

food offerings

Before we headed off for the vacation I might eventually get around to posting about, we went to a barbeque. I got it into my head that I needed to make a bunch of stuff to bring. I get like this. Either I want to make nothing at all or I want to make every recipe that's been persistently stuck in my head.

For that day, I tackled three recipes with varying degrees of success.



I made blueberry cornbread and a side of honey butter. The cornbread recipe is from one of the Moosewood cookbooks. (I'm never sure which Moosewood cookbook I've gotten a recipe from, because, alas, I own none of them -- I check them out from the library.) I loved the idea of this, but the middle was completely mushy. Il Fornaio and I were on the outs, it seems, at least regarding this dish. The baked parts were good, though. (For the honey butter, I just mixed honey and butter. I know this sounds like a total 'duh' thing, but I sometimes takes things too literally. For an entire summer, I was making honey mustard dressing that was just honey and mustard whisked together. Recently, I found out that people make that dressing with oil and vinegar and honey and mustard and probably some other stuff. Eh, mine worked for me.)

I also made the fabulous Catherine Newman's Gingery Napa Slaw. I'm not a mayonnaise fan, so I usually steer clear of cole slaw. But, guess what, this recipe has no mayonnaise. Perfect. Oddly, though, it still smells like more traditional cole slaw to me. This is such a quick recipe, and the dressing is good for two slaws. I used the rest of the dressing for a second head of cabbage while we were camping. (I just realized that I forgot the almonds on the camping trip. Oops. I think Cardo ate them all anyhow.) Please, please see Catherine's blog (linked through the recipe) for a much more appealing picture of this.

Finally, for dessert, I made the intensely chocolate brownies from my How to Cook Everything cookbook. I have since read that Bittman's sweet recipes aren't as successful as his savory ones, but I liked these. I have been moving farther and farther (further and further? none of those look like words to me right now) toward the darker end of the chocolate spectrum, so I prefer a strong chocolate flavor to a milky chocolate flavor. These were deeply, darkly chocolately. J pointed out that this was probably a good thing because one would be less inclined to eat the entire pan of brownies at once, but I would definitely not put it past me.

papercrafting (and a bit more)

In an effort to add more crafting to our lives, I recently checked out Papercrafts Around the World by Phyllis Fiarotta and Noel Fiarotta. I am absolutely in love with this book and the possibilities it presents, which is great because I've never been particularly interested in papercrafts before. I think I checked out the book before we went on vacation and that means it's due very soon. I'll either be checking this out again (and again and again) or I'll be searching for a used copy online (I'm not really in a position to be buying new books at the moment, and I have mixed feelings about this...I'll get into it another time).

I started out by making a list of the projects I might be interested in doing in this book, but I was writing down every single project. I kind of hope making the projects in this book will be a long-term deal for us.

Today, Pic and I started out very simply. I wasn't feeling so hot and I really just wanted to go back to bed and sleep. Our first project? Tangrams*:



According to the Fiarottas (the Fiarotte), tangrams are Chinese puzzles in which seven specific geometric shapes (the tans) are cut from a square and are then used to create pictures. Traditionally, the pieces are red, but I went with green and Pic went with black, her favorite color. The shapes from the book are a square, five triangles (of various sizes) and a rhombus. Hello, geometry discussion. I'm not sure if the shapes are traditionally always the same.

I arranged my tans to create some of the animals pictured in the book. I also made something that might have been a lantern and might have been a houseboat. Pic made a fox with a skirt (with an added rectangle left over from my paper) and promptly taped it together to hang on her bulletin board. She made one set of tans and I made three, so although her pieces can't be rearranged, there are still plenty of pieces to play with.

I recently bought a roll of magnetic paper stuff for us to cut up into geometric shapes for mosaics. I was thinking this could be great for road trips. We could bring the pieces and a baking sheet and we could create pictures on our drives. Tracing shapes and then cutting and coloring them will be a nice project to follow our tangrams.

Now, for the 'bit more'. This past weekend, Pic chose a hula hoop at a yard sale. She and I are at the exact same aptitude level with the thing: we can hoop for about 3.5 seconds. I am predicting lots and lots of practice in our future. Wish us luck with that endeavor.



Other than a post-rain/post-hail walk today, we didn't do too much around these parts. We spent about five minutes painting the previously-unpainted parts of our pinch pots and paperweights. Nothing much seemed to hold my interest for too long today. Well, until I went on something of a baking trip beginning well after it should have, but I'll write more about that later.

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* I swear that I have vacuumed that rug since the last time I posted a picture of it. I'm not sure why I bother, though.

it's a date

Yesterday, Cardo and I did a bit of anniversary celebrating. (Our wedding anniversary just past and the anniversary of us as an 'us' is upcoming very shortly.) This was a bit of impromptu celebrating: we were browsing the RN&R in the morning and saw a screenshot of part of Inception. I told Cardo that a few people had mentioned that they liked the movie and he said he was interested in seeing it. Pic took one look at the picture, in which two characters are brandishing guns, and informed us, 'You want to watch a scary movie. I will stay at Ms F's.' Cardo and I were fortunate in that Ms F promptly agreed to host Pic for the night. Spontaneous date night! Awesome!

I should mention that Cardo and I are completely inept when it comes to picking out movies to view in the theatre. This always leaves me especially disappointed for several reasons. I don't like to spend money on movie tickets and I like it even less when I don't even enjoy the film. I don't like the smell (or the taste) of (incredibly, fantastically overpriced) movie theatre popcorn. Movie theatres are eardrum-assultingly loud. I could be reading rather than watching He's Just Not That Into You. I don't like to not talk during a movie; in fact, I'm not capable of not talking during a movie. Wow. Don't you just want to invite me to see a movie now? Yeah, thought not.

I think last night's movie worked out well for a couple of reasons. It was such an unexpected date night that it had a kind of surreal and wonderful quality to it. I was bound to enjoy myself. Also, I knew absolutely nothing about the movie, except that Leonardo DiCaprio and Joseph Gordon-Levitt were in it. (This was neutral information. I don't have strong feelings about either actor.) While we were looking at the RN&R earlier that morning, I only incredibly briefly scanned Inception's review and I noticed their names. I didn't even look at the picture closely. I liked having almost no expectations of the movie. I just knew a few other people I know had liked it. Enough for me. I'll watch this again at some point. I think it deserves more than one viewing. I'm going to remain vague about the movie and leave it at that.

In somewhat unrelated otherness, I am on a reinvigorated Beatles kick. I have been wanting to listen to all Beatles all the time here. And, this leads me to want to see Across the Universe for a second time. I was hoping it'd still be available on Netflix's instant play thing. Alas, no. In the meantime, I'll sate this craving with bits and clips from youtube.

What else would you recommend I see? Any other movies worthy of a couple of hours of (kind of) undivided attention?

'you can't always get what you want...

...but if you try sometimes, you just might find, you get what you need.'

The chorus to this song has been stuck in my head a lot in the last week. Definitely not the whole song because, really, it's strange (at least to me). I often do this with songs: find a lyric or two that resonates with me and then dismiss the rest of the song.*

Cardo has always told me that one of the things he likes about me is that I know what I want. I haven't been so sure about that lately. Or, maybe I'm wrong. I do know what I want, ultimately. It's just that I keep going back and forth on how I'm going to get there.

I think I'm nervous about the upcoming couple of months and how they will shape a good chunk of our lives to come. I want to know that everything will work out for the best. I want to just jump into something without having to stop and analyze the situation to death first. (Hey, look at that, I do know what I want. And, because life is uncertain and messy, I won't be getting what I want. Ah, well.)

So, for now, I'm filled with a bit of uncertainty. It seems to me that to embrace certain opportunities is to disallow** myself other opportunities. I know that this is the way things work, but that doesn't mean that I have to be in love with the process right now, right? Right. At the same time that I love to see the evolution of our lives and our plans for our future progress, I am also constantly scared by this change. O, to be a brave soul...

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* I am definteily not the only one who does this. Just think about the whole 'I Will Always Love You'-as-wedding-song phenomenon.

** 'disallow' is a word, right? I am kind of exhausted at the moment, but it sounds okay.

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'The Rolling Stones - You Can't Always Get What You Want (Live 1969)(The Flying Dutchman)'
[The audiovisual quality isn't great, but I felt compelled to post the song.]

no score and seven years ago...

On Monday, Cardo and I reached our seventh wedding anniversary. We're continually marveling that we've made it this far and we're also continually making plans for many, many more years together.

I am truly thankful that we chose each other.

awesome art

I really, really enjoy Penjing and I had never even heard of it until last week. If only I had more patience. Ah, well.







As seen at the Conservatory of Flowers in San Francisco.

even more puzzling

Pic has had this puzzle forever, hence the two missing states. (Sorry West Virginia and Wisconsin) I'm sure they're here somewhere.

Pic has recently taken to doing this puzzle off of the board. The board still shows the state outlines in case she can't tell where the states go, but she hasn't needed to rely on this. Also, she understands that Hawaii and Alaska aren't really down to the southwest of the contiguous states. I know that her representation isn't exactly to scale, but she understands the concept.

We did another puzzle almost exactly like this at the Discovery Room today. We really are puzzle-people.

And, hey, eventually, Pic might be able to win Chandler's states game. (Seriously, did none of them learn that "Fifty! Nifty! United States! song? It's been with me since fifth grade. I would so win this game...as would so many other people I know.)

(And, yes, our rug did need to be vacuumed there. It has since been vacuumed and it has even more recently been made a mess again.)

sunbathing

I looked out onto our back porch the other day and this is what I saw:

i get by with a little help

I've been thinking about the importance of friendships a lot lately. I know that I depend on my friends (and, I suppose, I should presume other people feel the same), but I sometimes let myself forget that. Recently, I've been realizing that I need to be more open with my friends and more available to my friends. This is not the first time I've come to this realization and I'll probably have to remind myself again in the future, because that's just who I am. Ah, well.

So, for the rest of this week, I'll make an effort to reach out to more friends. I might not reach out to every friend I have, but I'll poke my head out of my shell a bit. As I mentioned in a previous post, I am still coming down off of a very busy vacation and I actually do need something of a cooling off period from that, so my contact might be nothing more than a hello on facebook or a quick letter.

As I said, I'll try to be more available (I know, I know, I keep saying this). I appreciate those who have patience with me regarding this. I'm consciously making an effort.

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The other day, we went to 5th St. Bakehouse and the Beatles seemed to dominate the music there. Then, again yesterday, at the library, the Beatles popped up (a Yellow Submarine book in the Easy Reader section of the kids' books). So, it's no surprise, given all that and my dwelling on thoughts of friends, that the following song has been stuck in my head for a good number of hours today:


"The Beatles -- With A Little Help From My Friends"

this is a test...

Can you spot the insect?



It was hard for me to make sure I was actually getting a picture of him/her/it. (Actually, it's much easier to see here than it is on the screen of my camera.)

We've been talking occasionally about the benefits of blending into one's surroundings. (There are definitely times when I'd like to be much better at this too.)

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We've been away from home an awful lot for the last seven days and I've begun to enter a kind of rehabilitation period, or something. My posts might be somewhat picture heavy for the next several days.

forty winks

During my time in grad school, my sleep habits were atrocious. Stress and lack-of-sleep whirled around me in a vicious cycle that led me to a dangerous depression among other problems. I've been out of grad school for over a year now and I've had an especially difficult past five months, for reasons I won't get into here and now.

For the past month or so, I've thought that I've been wallowing in a depression by sleeping an excessive amount. It took me until last week to realize that my body is demanding eight to nine hours of sleep a night. I can't recall having having such a consistent amount of sleep each night. I can't believe my sleep habits were so unhealthy that I didn't recognize a somewhat healthy sleep pattern for a good three weeks.

I say "somewhat healthy" because I still have a difficult time actually falling asleep -- I am having a difficult time "switching off" before sleep. It used to be that I valued my middle-of-the-night time because it was the only time I had to myself, as my family slept. Lately, though, I've been envying them that sleep.

I'll work on this sleep stuff. I'm sure I'll be experiencing another shift at the end of August when school starts up again. Ah, well.

in loving memory...

...or: please plant me a tree.

A while back, I noticed a sticker on the back window of a car: "In loving memory of [the person's name was here]."

I understand the sentiment. I understand that the driver, or whoever placed the sticker on the window, wants to remember her or his loved one and wants to share that memory.

However, I've asked Cardo to plant a tree in my memory. I don't want to be remembered on a car. To me, and I know this isn't an original thought, a tree represents life; a car seems to represent the opposite -- especially a car (like ours) that is fueled by lots and lots of gasoline.

puzzling

[I'm a bit burnt out right now, so I'll keep this short.]




It took Pic and me about three days to complete this 550-piece puzzle. I love it! It was definitely a challenge, but it was a great one. I couldn't pass by the table without putting together a piece or two...or thirty.

When I was younger, we'd buy puzzles from thrift shop and put them together. This was an activity my mom, my sister and I participated in. Pic has always been fond of puzzles. It's nice to be able to share at least some similar interests with her.

pic the sponge

For quite some time now, since before Pic was even talking, I've been conflicted about how much to share with her and how much to shield her from the pretty ugly stuff that can happen in this world. When I'd read aloud, from my own books, I'd silently read anything that seemed too violent. I feel that I don't want to censor anything from her, but I also don't want her to know that people can be so hurtful and hateful. I'd like her to never know the bad stuff, although I know that she'll eventually figure it out (not through first-hand experience, please, not through first-hand experience).

Anyhow, lately Pic has been on a Hercules kick. She has been watching the Disney movie and having me read the corresponding book to her. We were all watching the movie the other day and the subject of Oedipus came up. I'm not sure if he was mentioned in the movie (hmm?) or if I was just talking about him. When Cardo asked me who Oedipus was, I hesitated in answering him. Pic was right there. I wasn't sure that I wanted to tell her that the man in question had murdered his father. However, I didn't want to tell him, "I'll tell you later," so I gave him the basics of the story.

A couple of days later, in the middle of an unrelated conversation, Pic said to me, "Oedipus killed his dad and married his mom...but he didn't mean to." She's got an amazing memory. I constantly marvel at it, as my memory has never been stellar (one of the main reasons I do all of the writing I do).

She didn't dwell on the subject, but she did seem momentarily concerned. Then, she moved on to the next subject.

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I just looked up a synopsis of the story, as it's been so long since I've read the play, and I'm still not sure if old Oed had children with his mother or not.

'these are the sounds of silence'

I was composing a post in which I was attempting to express what is going on inside of me right now (I'm talking emotionally and mentally, not physically...just in case you were wondering), but I was wrapped up in a doozy of an extended metaphor and that post will need a bit of hand-written tweaking.

It's late and it's quiet. I can hear my own breathing, the fan in the next room, the ticking of the many analogue clocks and the clattering of the keyboard. Pic has been asleep for a while now. Cardo, who wasn't feeling well on our evening walk, has been asleep even longer. Snuggles (the no-longer-covert-cat) is here, in the den with me, stretched out on the floor, front paws crossed, asleep.

I, however, am awake. Six hours ago, I thought I was going to fall asleep where I was standing, but now, in the quiet, my mind is switching over to super-frantic-let's-think-about-everything-we-possibly-can mode. Where am I heading in life? Where is our family heading? What have I been doing with my life? Who am I, even, and what I am doing with my life right now? Yes, it's fun here in my head.

So, I'll stop and say we've been on a streak of a pretty good couple of weeks. There are many areas that could use improvement, as I see it. All of these areas involve me. However, we have been finding a new family rhythm and piecing together a new family path to follow (again, not being literal). Although I still worry much too much, I'm beginning to feel we're settling into a calm. It might not last, but I'm trying to embrace it while it's here.

It's nice to float on the calm surface every once in a while, especially as I don't float well and am too often pulled to the potentially-suffocating depths (both literal and figurative here).

I hope all is well with everyone else. I hope summer is treating everyone well. And, I hope to head off to sleep now. G'night.

some bakehouse love

The other day, as we were finishing up our lunch, a news-cameraman came into 5th St. Bakehouse. Here's the result of that filming:


[From KTVN, one of our local news stations. We're not in this video, which is obvious if you know us. Cardo and I are a bit camera shy (although Pic is definitely not) and we left before the cameraman really got down to work.]

The people there, especially Dan and Rosa, have been so awesome each time we've gone in. We're hoping they prosper.

I've still only had the sandwiches and ice cream there, but one day, I'll not be too stuffed to have an empanada or a scone or something.

mamma mia!

Cardo has introduced Pic to the world of Mario and Luigi. Right now, there are in the living room playing Super Mario Bros. on the Super NES. Actually, at the moment, Pic is more interested in watching Cardo play than in playing herself.

On a related note, Pic and I watched this video about five times the other day.


"Super Mario Beatbox"

Fun stuff.

blog sprint: oddity

One Minute Writer from Monday: Write about something other people think is odd about you.

Cardo was recently telling me of a conversation he had with a coworker. She thinks it's strange that I don't have a car. (It's been almost a full year now, since we sold my car.) She can't understand that I don't want to drive. I do like to drive, sometimes -- when we're on road trips. Actually, usually I'm the one reading aloud when we drive, as Cardo doesn't like to read aloud much, so it's best if I'm not the one driving, certo. I've gotten into listening to podcasts, so we'll be listening on our next long trip and perhaps I can do a bit of the driving.

Anyhow, we've realized that we spend less money when we only have one car. I know this sounds obvious. We didn't have car payments on either car. Cardo bought his used from a friend who let him make payments. He paid it off long ago. I had my car for about eight years and paid it off in just under six. We did, though, have to pay insurance on both cars. And, we had to pay for gas for both cars. Where we're really saving money, though, is on outings. When I did have a car, Pic and I would sometimes go out and wander in stores and spend money on things we most likely didn't need. Without a car, we have to carry whatever we purchase and it makes any shopping trip something of a trek, so we purchase less.

I haven't regretted selling the car. Cardo keeps saying things like, "When we buy you a car," but I really don't want to buy another car. There are times, like yesterday, when owning a car would be incredibly convenient, but we're getting by. (Kind of briefly: Yesterday, Pic and I needed to go to the post office to send a package for Cardo. We didn't take the wagon, because we were going to take the bus and end up at Cardo's work. The first bus we would have caught was ten minutes late and we had already left the bus stop and started walking down the road when the bus finally passed us. The second bus, at the downtown terminal never showed up for its scheduled stop. Because of poor planning on my part, we hadn't brought snacks and Pic was weepy with hunger by the time Cardo picked us up at the bus terminal on his way home from work. Ah well. Yesterday is over. We got by.)

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Yes, that was longer than one minute. I certainly don't type that quickly. I just think it's funny that Cardo's coworker finds me so odd for this decision.

from the mouth of the babe...

A few weeks ago, when we were walking to the library, Pic and I saw what I now think was a dead snake in the grass. Pic was between me and the snake and I wasn't taking any chances, so I kind of yanked her out of the way. After I explained to her why I reacted the way I did, she told me it was okay and she has, many times since, assured Cardo and me that she will yank us out of the way if we see any snakes. (Cardo is especially not fond of snakes, so Pic is extra-assuring with him.)

This incident has led to plenty of discussions about snakes. She informed me, on the way back home that day, that, "Sometimes snakes sleep long and sometimes snakes sleep around." That took me a minute to get. I thought she meant sometimes they sleep for a long time and sometimes they, well, you get it. It still makes me smile.

A couple of days ago, again on a walk to the library, Pic was wearing a flower-patterned skirt and a flower-patterned top. She informed me, "I'm the flower girl. The bees are going to pollen my shirt. They'll say, 'What a flower woman!' They don't even know I'm not a woman, I'm a little girl. (I'm not really a little girl.)"

We also had yet another snake discussion. According to Pic, "Kitty would like a snake-pet. He'd say, 'Mmm, a snack! Snake-pet!'"

Yes, our lives are being narrated and pondered at all times. I think this is at least in part because I have been doing this with Pic since she was born. I have been narrating everything. And, I'm constantly asking her questions. People used to look at me like I was crazy as I talked to my tiny babe while we grocery shopped. I figured, hey, she's a person, why wouldn't I talk to her? Now, I barely have to do any of the talking.

paging dr b

Pic has decided she wants to be a veterinarian. She doesn't want to be just any vet, either, she wants to be an emergency vet, or, as she refers to the profession, "an animal hospitaler." She's very specific about this.

Here she is at Savers, running her office. She was taking a call about a sick dog.



I think I see 4-H, or something similar, in our future.

drop me a line

I finally, finally got around to adding an e-mail address here. I actually just got rid of one (used for a different purpose) and was relieved, but here I am adding another e-mail address to my life. Ah, well. I did want to have a way for people to get in touch with me, if they chose not to leave a public comment.

So, if you feel so inclined, drop me a line!

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The address is over there on the right: duckpondletters@sbcglobal.net. You can also just click on the "email" link on my profile. Because I don't know how to use the e-mail program that automatically pops up on my own computer (I humbly admit), I thought it might be nice to spell out my own e-mail address for you all...y'know, in case anyone is as technologically clueless as I am.

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Also, about the address: "duckpond" and "theduckpond" were taken (no big shock there). I thought "duckpondletters" would be easier for most of my readers (all one of you) to spell out than "stagnoperanitre."

nourishment

We've been eating, yes, but what? Mexican-inspired cuisine, I guess. We'll go with that. Last night, we had Peach and Brie Quesadillas with Honey-Lime Dipping Sauce. I think they're something of an appetizer, but we ate them for dinner. Pic opted out of this, but she was missing out. I'd definitely eat them again.



(No, I don't ever really pick up the clutter in my dining room.)

Tonight, we made enchiladas. And, by "we," I mean, Cardo. I washed the dishes that had been accumulating since last night, while he made dinner tonight. We dined al fresco, which meant I didn't have to clear up the 550-piece puzzle Pic and I are working on. Enchiladas are becoming one of our go-to meals, as much as we even have go-to meals.



There are so many reasons I love Cardo. A couple: he helps out in the kitchen and, well, just look at his plate presentation!

More and more, I'm enjoying dining at home. Like I said, I have many, many more recipes to work through. I'm looking forward to it.

Are you all eating anything scrumptious lately?

green smoothie

This morning's smoothie was the best color! Whole milk, bananas, frozen peaches, spinach. It was very green, very thick and very tasty.