Nothing to Report

I invented a new salad today that was super good, so since I have nothing to report (in spite of the extremely busy weekend of running around and partying we had), I'm going to share it with you.

I cook by feel, so bear with me. You take 5 apples (I used two different sorts, one sweet and one tart. I actually picked these apples off of actual trees with my own bare hands, but if you're not feeling quite that Martha you can just go to the grocery store. I won't tell.) and you cut them into fourths, core them, and then cut them into bite sized chunks. Throw them into a bowl with water and lemon juice so they stay white. Then you take however much vanilla yogurt you happen to have in the house (it was about 3/4 of a cup, give or take), add a couple tablespoons of maple syrup (until it tastes faintly maple-y, but not like pancakes - you just want a hint), and then enough apple cider to thin it into a dressing consistency - again, it was a couple tablespoons. Drain the lemon water off of the apples, then pour the dressing over the apples and mix well, taking care not to bruise them. Then you add chopped walnuts and those yummy orange flavored craisins, and chill. Serve cold. Yum!

BJ's mom and Ken came down for lunch, and I served that salad with my favorite sandwiches (grilled bread, cheddar cheese, avacado mash, ranch, turkey, bacon, lettuce, tomato, better than you can get at a restaurant, hubba hubba) for lunch, along with a carrot cake that I made with my own two hands. Unfortunately, the exertion of pretending to have things under control to this extent, combined with the rest of the weekend (see below), combined with having to lie down with each baby, separately, to get them to take their naps made me unconscious. That's right, I fell asleep right in the middle of her birthday visit, because I am the World's Worst Daughter-In-Law. So much for being Martha Stewart, I'm more like Rip Van Winkle.

Fortunately, BJ's mom had kids, too (obviously), so she understands... I hope.......

Yesterday we went to the Big City in the Middle for Caleb's birthday party - he turned one. His crazy parents got a 50 pound bag of flour and a tarp, and they let the kids play in it in the back yard, like a sandbox. It was really fun and messy. Then everyone hosed off and it turned to glue. Eek. Claire really liked the texture of the flour, but MG wouldn't go near it. She doesn't like to get dirty. Go figure. Fortunately I kept Claire out of the hose (too cold for babies) so she didn't get sticky. I smeared baby oil in her hair this morning (figuring that since oil removes adhesive, it would remove what was, essentially, paste) took a shower with her this morning and got it all off of her without any tears or frustration. She actually seemed to like the shower. This is a bit of a surprise, because MG screams like we're killing her whenever we try to put her in the shower.

Then last night, after a quick dinner, we went over to Brandon and Heather's to play a very evenly matched game of Trivial Pursuit - all three teams (we played couples with his sister and her husband) got to the center with all six pies at the same time. Brandon and Heather won, finally, which was expected because he is the master of all trivia. We laughed a lot; it was great fun.

Friday night BJ's dad and Nancy came down to watch the girls for us in exchange for dinner (baked ziti, also from scratch, I am bringing my "A" game, here) so that we could go see the play Hairspray at The Big School. It was terrific. One of the best features of living in a college town is all the great stuff to do - sports, plays, concerts, etc. - and it's nice to be able to take advantage of that stuff again. Mary Grace was up until 11 pm watching Lola, but it won't kill her.

You would think that being up until 11 pm on Friday and 10:30 pm on Saturday would cause her to sleep late, but no. She bounced out of bed at 6:30 am as always. I don't do mornings, so this is a source of a lot of conflict. I wish someone would give me a pill that would remove my need for sleep.

By the way, I hereby predict that my little ham is going to just love musical theater when she's old enough to appreciate it. It kind of runs in the family. I was in the local community theater production of The Sound of Music as a kid, as well as a few school things. My sister and I were in Oliver. My uncle has been doing community theater lately, although he tends to get typecast as the crazy uncle/nephew/brother (go figure). He was Teddy in Arsenic and Old Lace. Doug - you'd make a great Edna Turnblad. You need to talk the theater guild into doing Hairspray just for you! I can see it now!! Anyway, a tendency toward the somewhat dramatic tends to run in the genes (I can hear how stunned you are, ha). Mary Grace is going to eat it up, I just know it. She's going to get one taste of applause, probably about 6 years from now, and there will be no stopping her. Mark my words.

The new TV season started this week, but we only had time to watch a couple of shows ("Heroes," which we watched last year, and "Chuck," which is hysterical). We recorded the rest. At the rate we're going, we'll have new television shows to watch all the way through until next season. I think we'll need a bigger hard drive. It's fine by me, though. I'd much rather live my life and have my own fun than watch other imaginary people living their lives and having fun.

Hopefully there will be more cute baby stories next week, to bring this blog back on topic. I just didn't want you to think that I'd thrown my back out with all this cooking or something.