We've been having unseasonably warm weather here this fall (which, according to the seven day forecast, willbe changing COMPLETELY next week!). The mornings are nippy and the evenings cool, but windows still (usually) make it open at some point during the day and I feel wrong drinking hot chocolate even though I want to.
Two weeks ago we carved our pumpkins to put on the porch. It's not usually an issue since the cool weather keeps them happy and perky until Halloween, but this year...this year is different. This year we should have waited a bit. This year...well, if you have molding, sad, pathetic pumpkins, you should at least make the most of it and have a little fun, right?
Sammy wants nothing more than for me to take it out. He's appalled I desecrated his little pumpkin...
Thought the first: I love corn chowder. It's one of my favorite go to meals in the fall / winter. Put I don't make it nearly as often as I would like because I can NEVER get the taste combo entirely correct every time. And my chowder usually comes out too watery. And takes a long time. But I was craving it this week and put it on the menu. Of course, with my back, I was ignoring everything and kept doing the "just a little longer" dance in my mind when it came to starting dinner. Finally, about 10 to 6, I knew I couldn't put it off anymore and thought I would give REALLY QUICK chowder a shot. I pulled out the pot just as Isaac came around the corner, early, from work. By the time he was in and his stuff put down the chowder was done. And it was the best chowder I've ever made in my life. Creamed corn, onion, leftover roasted chicken, garlic salt, pepper and flour whisked into a cup of milk. Topped with a little cheese and we were all loving it. I'm pretty sure it was the substitution of creamed corn instead of whole kernel. Will DEFINITELY be repeating that.
Thought the second: My nephew is babysitting for us this weekend. Circumstances came up and it was obvious that we needed to expand our babysitting roster and while one name came up, I was extremely hesitant over it for several reasons. But we couldn't come up with a better plan, so I reluctantly agreed. I (luckily) put off sending the email until the next morning and while I did so, I had another thought. My nephew is 14! 14!! HE might want some extra cash. He might want to babysit. I felt much better about asking him than asking our backup choice, and just hoped he'd want to. And...bingo! Lots of problems solved. I did have a moment of "holy cow I remember when he was born certainly he really isn't old enough right?"-ness, but I'm better and Sammy is so excited to have one of his favorite cousins (if you have to state that you are someone's FAVORITE does that negate the actual fact of the situation? Hmmm....) come and stay with him. And I'm excited Isaac will get to take the babysitter home at the end of the night, for once...but that's another story.
Thought the third: We've had some unexpected parenting things come up that reinforces to me that I don't know a gosh darn thing about parenting. The other night, during dinner, we sent Sammy to time out for refusing to eat (really for refusing to even try his dinner...bad mommy for not starting the whole "you eat what we eat" thing sooner. I KNOW.). When Sammy goes to time out, it's rarely with tears. He usually just goes and when his attitude is adjusted, he gets himself out and things are fine. That night we sent him multiple times and we were all a little frustrated. However, voices are rarely raised and nothing highlighted that more than Sammy, coming out of his third time out, saying, nearly on the brink of tears, "Mommy...we need to just talk about this". Heh. We're clearly a "talk it out" kind of family. Sigh. I wish the talking would have stopped time outs 4-6...
On Sunday in church, the kids were practicing for a program and I stuck around in the back to watch, waiting for the inevitable break down I just KNEW my kid would experience. It was something new, with singing and was ripe with opportunity for other kids to misbehave. A deadly combination for my boy if ever there were one. And so I waited and watched. And waited. And waited. And saw my kid up on the stand leading the music and listening and - at one point - actually singing. Huh. Who knew? Those expectations that didn't materialize kind of threw me for a loop and I was completely off my game to start MY lesson I was teaching right after. Just when you bob, you realize you really should have weaved...
We're talking the ones I will play ANY DAY over the original.
1. Shake the Disease - Hooverphonic
I just LOVE this cover. Top cover ever, as far as I'm concerned and this is coming from someone who LOVES the original a ridiculous amount and consider it one of my favorite Depeche Mode songs.
2. Cry Me A River - Glen Hansard
Um...We've covered this awesomeness, but what we haven't covered is that he really recorded it (as opposed to just a concert one off) and it's one pretty constant ipod rotation in my car.
3. Sexual Healing - Neil Finn Found HERE. Ish. And just wrong in so many ways, but I love it. I could also put Throw Your Arms Around Me or any Finn cover, really. I haven't met one I haven't loved (see: Lola).
(I really wanted to use It's Love (by the whole of the Finn Family), but couldn't find it anywhere. So, you should just go here and buy it. It's awesome.)
4. I See Red - Eddie Vedder
Probably the only Finn related song where the cover eclipses the original. Well, maybe Vedder's version of History Never Repeats, as well...or Stuff and Nonsense.
5. Come Together - Howard Jones
I REALLY don't like the Beatles. I never have. But, what I've learned recently, is that I like a lot of Beatles songs. As long as they aren't singing them. Case in point. Also? The Nudes cover of Norwegian Wood. (well...THAT'S a fun phrase to google!)
Honorable mention: Tell Me Something Good by the Glee Cast (I know...sue (ha!) me...)
I often say I'm lazy. The truth is, I'm really not, but I feel if I SAY I am, it minimizes expectations, you know?
I hurt my back a little over a week ago. The third day of the injury, I decided to plow through my to do list anyway. That was met with much pain and an angry husband who said "JUST REST OR IT WILL NEVER HEAL ALREADY!" except without the shouty because I'm not married to a shouty kind of guy...
So I took it "easy" last week. Ish. Mostly. And now my house is a sty. Seriously icky. And my to do list sits untouched. And I have a fabulous husband who does more than his fair share to help out. But it's amazing to me to see the effects of me being down for a week. I like to say that I don't do a lot, but the truth? The truth is I really do. And the evidence of that is all over my house. My desk. My work. And I'm really hating it. Who knew not being able to haul the vacuum down the stairs (though, even if it were down...)would have me this upset?
So, I'm trying to learn patience. I'm trying to learn to slow and relax and be. But in reality, I'm just biding my time until the bruise heals so I can book time with my chiropractor and get back to being my kind of lazy...
I've only ever seen real road rage up close once before. It was shortly after my divorce and I was headed to the store one day. Two guys got into it on the road and pulled into the parking lot right after me. They both bailed from their cars and started wailing on one another and then, when one of them had a cooler head prevail and tried to leave, the other continued to beat the car. I was truly frightened and didn't leave my car until they had left.
So...we nearly died Friday night. We were headed home from a fun filled day and, one the freeway, I was comfortably headed north in the fast lane, doing my usual 80-85 (speed limit is 75). All of a sudden, I found blinding headlights in my rear view. And then those turned to brights and then they started flashing. Back off and repeat. At first, I did my normal slow down, don't follow me bit. But when he didn't relent, I sped up again to my normal 83ish and figured if he wanted to go so fast he could come around. A couple of miles later, when traffic eased, he suddenly whipped around us and swerved back into our lane, very nearly side swiping our car. I'm REALLY grateful that Isaac saw it, not me. If I had realized during, I know I would have over-corrected and wrecked. We watched him for a little while longer, weaving in and out, but not near hitting anyone else. I'm suspecting he suffered from little man syndrome and only targeted us because we were CLEARLY smaller than his over-compensating gas guzzler.
I spent the rest of the ride home shaken and when another car slightly dipped into our lane, I nearly cried. I am not an angry person. I tend to let the crazy anger roll off my back. Even after living with someone with that type of constant anger, I still can't imagine what it is like to walk around thinking behavior like that is ok. Was his family in the car? Did they egg him on? Was his wife humiliated, but didn't know what to say...or worse, feel it wasn't worth a fight to say something?
It was a horrible experience and it took quite awhile for me to calm down. But I feel extremely blessed. Nothing happened. We were safe. The driver, though? He is the one who has to live with that constant anger. I hope he is able to get it in check before he really does hurt someone or passes that senselessness on to his family.
