Thursday, August 27, 2009
Crisis
Every day this week has featured a crisis. Some pretty big, most small. At what point do you just call the week a wash and pretend it's over? Cause I'm at theoretically AT that point, and it's just Thursday afternoon.
Today's crisis was not immediately taken care of, as I was in a meeting and didn't listen to my friend's message on my voice mail. But when I did, my meeting partner and I rushed to her aid.
She had seen a rat.
Now, it turns out that the rat was in her yard, dead. Her dogs may or may not have killed it. (Good one, pups!) The rat was smallish. And though the day was hot and thus smell-inducing, we arranged quickly for someone to not only come remove the rodent, but to come and bait traps in case he/she had little friends.
Still. A rat is a rat. And we live in a well-appointed (infested) neighborhood and my friend cleans a lot, and it rocked her world. The house reeked of Clorox when we arrived to save her.
But truly: what is really rocking all of us suburban moms' worlds is the start of school. The start of schedules, logistics, juggling, negotiating, fretting, celebrating, shopping, paying, fundraising, emailing, typing, talking, talking, talking, socializing, meeting, driving, driving, driving, and waking (up early). My friend with the rat happened to have just sent her oldest to college, her middle to high school, and her youngest to middle school. IN ONE WEEK. No rat can compete with that horror.
So my meeting partner and I went over and consoled, and remembered the dead rat whilst simultaneously rejoicing in his/her demise. We all said a mantra over a jar of roses (from a perfect neighbor's yard)....to wish our children well, to help us relax and enjoy this wild life, to have rat-free homes, and to thwart the tropical storm currently brewing off the coast of our state.
And then we all left to drive carpool.
Today's crisis was not immediately taken care of, as I was in a meeting and didn't listen to my friend's message on my voice mail. But when I did, my meeting partner and I rushed to her aid.
She had seen a rat.
Now, it turns out that the rat was in her yard, dead. Her dogs may or may not have killed it. (Good one, pups!) The rat was smallish. And though the day was hot and thus smell-inducing, we arranged quickly for someone to not only come remove the rodent, but to come and bait traps in case he/she had little friends.
Still. A rat is a rat. And we live in a well-appointed (infested) neighborhood and my friend cleans a lot, and it rocked her world. The house reeked of Clorox when we arrived to save her.
But truly: what is really rocking all of us suburban moms' worlds is the start of school. The start of schedules, logistics, juggling, negotiating, fretting, celebrating, shopping, paying, fundraising, emailing, typing, talking, talking, talking, socializing, meeting, driving, driving, driving, and waking (up early). My friend with the rat happened to have just sent her oldest to college, her middle to high school, and her youngest to middle school. IN ONE WEEK. No rat can compete with that horror.
So my meeting partner and I went over and consoled, and remembered the dead rat whilst simultaneously rejoicing in his/her demise. We all said a mantra over a jar of roses (from a perfect neighbor's yard)....to wish our children well, to help us relax and enjoy this wild life, to have rat-free homes, and to thwart the tropical storm currently brewing off the coast of our state.
And then we all left to drive carpool.
Monday, August 24, 2009
Countdown
My daughter could not be any more excited about middle school, which starts tomorrow.
My son is also excited, and he's got great friends in his class, and his buddy Ytwo K is in there too (I KID YOU NOT), and I was told that we "won the lottery" in terms of teachers.
My poison ivy is even clearing up.
Oh, and OMFGMFJCGDG is Mad Men off to a ridiculously good start or WHAT?
I finished my depressing-as-hell book and am enjoying the mindless pleasures of another one.
A much-anticipated Netflix DVD arrived. HA HA hahaha HA HA! (spoiler alert)
Check with me next week to see how I'm holding up....but for now, I think I can hang with the best of them.
My son is also excited, and he's got great friends in his class, and his buddy Ytwo K is in there too (I KID YOU NOT), and I was told that we "won the lottery" in terms of teachers.
My poison ivy is even clearing up.
Oh, and OMFGMFJCGDG is Mad Men off to a ridiculously good start or WHAT?
I finished my depressing-as-hell book and am enjoying the mindless pleasures of another one.
A much-anticipated Netflix DVD arrived. HA HA hahaha HA HA! (spoiler alert)
Check with me next week to see how I'm holding up....but for now, I think I can hang with the best of them.
Tuesday, August 18, 2009
Saturday, August 15, 2009
Sorry no posting... the following all decided to go nuts this week: PTA, work, children's sports, and the dust and dirt in my house. But I didn't want to let the monumental event of the summer go unnoticed:
Mad Men premieres season 3 on Sunday night!!! AMC is a great place to visit, and they even have an iPhone app.
Jon Hamm's publicity tour has been a great success, apparently. Perhaps you enjoyed his mad baseball skillz....
Have you Mad-Menned yourself yet? Men'd?
Here's my daughter (notice the doughnut):
Also, which character are you - a quiz. At first try I was Roger Sterling. Then, Betty Draper. But don't we all want to be Joan?
Finally, those of you in the city - why not go watch in Times Square, with a brooch and some kitten heels? (can you believe this marketing campaign??)
I leave you with the Fug Girls, who always say it best:
"Ahhh, yes. That's the stuff. I feel SO MUCH BETTER. I'll take one of each. "
Mad Men premieres season 3 on Sunday night!!! AMC is a great place to visit, and they even have an iPhone app.
Jon Hamm's publicity tour has been a great success, apparently. Perhaps you enjoyed his mad baseball skillz....
Have you Mad-Menned yourself yet? Men'd?
Here's my daughter (notice the doughnut):
Also, which character are you - a quiz. At first try I was Roger Sterling. Then, Betty Draper. But don't we all want to be Joan?
Finally, those of you in the city - why not go watch in Times Square, with a brooch and some kitten heels? (can you believe this marketing campaign??)
I leave you with the Fug Girls, who always say it best:
"Ahhh, yes. That's the stuff. I feel SO MUCH BETTER. I'll take one of each. "
Thursday, August 06, 2009
Salad Days
My children always wrote "Salad" as mom's favorite food on those preschool quizzes (they also wrote "jazz" as my favorite music and "wine" as my favorite drink, and "be a mommy" as my favorite thing to do).
Salad is truly one of my favorites, and I'd be a hell of a lot better off if I ate it more exclusively. Not so hard to do this time of year. As I eagerly anticipate the Nora Ephron film "Julie and Julia", based on Julie Powell's blog that I used to read fairly faithfully, and Julia Child's life that I have admired from a distance, I find my thoughts moving towards slower, fresher food. It's easier to prepare and plan for such meals in the summer. Come fall, we'll be scrambling to boil pasta water, but for now, we're debating which salad we'll mix up using the heirloom tomatoes my husband picked up at a local market yesterday.
Nora, by the way, attempted Julia's salade nicoise on Good Morning America. YUM.
Our tomato debate is between the following from The Minimalist at the New York Times and his 101 recipes for summer salads:
2. Mix wedges of tomatoes and peaches, add slivers of red onion, a few red-pepper flakes and cilantro. Dress with olive oil and lime or lemon juice. Astonishing.
19. Mix cooked cannellini or other white beans, chopped cherry or grape tomatoes and arugula or baby spinach. Lightly toast sliced garlic in olive oil with rosemary and red pepper flakes; cool slightly, add lemon zest or juice or both, then pour over beans.
44. Make a crisp grilled cheese sandwich, with good bread and not too much good cheese. Let it cool, then cut into croutons. Put them on anything, but especially tomato and basil salad. This you will do forever.
45. Halve or quarter cooked artichoke hearts (the best are fresh and grilled, but you can use canned or frozen) and combine with cherry tomatoes, bits of feta or Parmesan or both, olive oil and lemon juice.
(If you click through to The Minimalist's article, do not miss the video on salad dressings. He advises adding a tablespoon of honey to a balsamic vinaigrette, and I love it!)
Also, a great salad blog post from Mighty Girl. Maggie Mason loves Oprah and while I don't, really, I liked the O magazine salad chart included in handy pdf form linked in this entry.
Salad is truly one of my favorites, and I'd be a hell of a lot better off if I ate it more exclusively. Not so hard to do this time of year. As I eagerly anticipate the Nora Ephron film "Julie and Julia", based on Julie Powell's blog that I used to read fairly faithfully, and Julia Child's life that I have admired from a distance, I find my thoughts moving towards slower, fresher food. It's easier to prepare and plan for such meals in the summer. Come fall, we'll be scrambling to boil pasta water, but for now, we're debating which salad we'll mix up using the heirloom tomatoes my husband picked up at a local market yesterday.
Nora, by the way, attempted Julia's salade nicoise on Good Morning America. YUM.
Our tomato debate is between the following from The Minimalist at the New York Times and his 101 recipes for summer salads:
2. Mix wedges of tomatoes and peaches, add slivers of red onion, a few red-pepper flakes and cilantro. Dress with olive oil and lime or lemon juice. Astonishing.
19. Mix cooked cannellini or other white beans, chopped cherry or grape tomatoes and arugula or baby spinach. Lightly toast sliced garlic in olive oil with rosemary and red pepper flakes; cool slightly, add lemon zest or juice or both, then pour over beans.
44. Make a crisp grilled cheese sandwich, with good bread and not too much good cheese. Let it cool, then cut into croutons. Put them on anything, but especially tomato and basil salad. This you will do forever.
45. Halve or quarter cooked artichoke hearts (the best are fresh and grilled, but you can use canned or frozen) and combine with cherry tomatoes, bits of feta or Parmesan or both, olive oil and lemon juice.
(If you click through to The Minimalist's article, do not miss the video on salad dressings. He advises adding a tablespoon of honey to a balsamic vinaigrette, and I love it!)
Also, a great salad blog post from Mighty Girl. Maggie Mason loves Oprah and while I don't, really, I liked the O magazine salad chart included in handy pdf form linked in this entry.
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