Blogging Tapas

...or a bunch of little things that don't deserve their own post.

1) Trader Joe's Sesame Chicken (or whatever their fake General Tso's chicken is called) is dinner crack. I add some fresh broccoli to at least give it the semblance of health, remind myself that it's better for me than Chinese takeout, put it over rice, and the three of us show it who's boss. I would also like to sing the praises of their Vegetable Marsala burgers, which are also highly addictive. Maybe like meth for lunch (but without the unattractive side effects).

2) I recently got my hair cut at a salon that specializes in people with curly hair, and learned some hair tricks so incredibly simple that it's just downright sad I'm only learning them as an old married lady. My hair is FOXY now, I tell you, but alas...there are no spaces on my dance card. Anyway, just drying my hair with an old t-shirt instead of a towel results in hair so much less frizzy that I almost want to tell random strangers. Unfortunately, I've also become a disciple of a line of hair products that are $20 a bottle. Good thing I don't shower all that much.

3)Eva has taken to describing herself as "shining," and since we make up songs about EVERYTHING, there's even a song about how she's a shining girl. The other night Mr. Milkweed was teaching a Kaplan class and I put her to bed, which I don't usually do. After her bath, I bundled her up in her towel and picked her up so she could grin at herself in the mirror. She said "Eva is a shining girl," and then turned to me with the sweetest expression on her face, patted my hair, and said "and Mommy is a shining Mommy!"

4) While we're on the subject of Eva: if we come up upon her when she's pooping, she'll say "Mommy come later!" I suppose this doesn't really sound cute, upon reflection, but it is.

5) OK, twist my arm and I'll talk about her some more. Ever since she received a tea set from my parents for Christmas, she's been obsessed with having tea parties. Today she invented a new game in which we "plant" the carpet in the playroom. Aptly enough, it's called "Planting."

To do this, we put on appropriate planting music (bluegrass)and dig holes for seeds, put them in, engage in a whole bunch of dialogue about what we're growing (she's generally always growing berries and peanuts, whereas I like to champion garden underdogs like kale and turnips), water it, and harvest it. Sometimes her My Little Ponies use their special powers to make the sun shine really intensely on something or another, and then the game kind of breaks down into a frantic dancing party in which all the Grateful Dead bears come out, wiggle around, and get thier diapers changed. Fun times!

6) I'm driving around with a realtor tomorrow. I'm so nervous, I could spit. Please, Real Estate Gods, let at least one house be acceptable, and let it have hardwood in it somewhere. I'm OK with refinishing it.

7) I've missed the last two Saturdays of work because of snowstorms. This has served as a painful reminder of the fact that missing that much income two weeks in a row blows, simultaneously with the fact that having so much family time two weeks in a row is pretty amazing. For the next month I'm pretty much not going to see Mr. Milkweed, who will be working his regular job, teaching night classes Tuesday and Thursday nights, and teaching a class on Sunday afternoons. As I'll be working Wednesday nights, some Friday nights, and every Saturday, we'll be doing the whole "ships that pass in the night" thing. As helpful as my little job has been, I'll be glad to ditch it some time in the third trimester.

8) It's the week before Valentine's Day! Time to rewatch this gem: