A Letter

Dear Universe (and Children)

I am sorry I was so crabby this week.  Apparently, I have not only have Preggo Brain, Expanding Thighs, and a Ball Belly.... I am also hormonal.  Go figure.

I took a long walk with my husband tonight, while the kids played with their (fantastic) grandparents.  It's been a long time since the two of us did nothing to together, it seems.  I promised him tonight would not involve a shovel, and he suggested laying weed cloth...right up until the time we were supposed to go outside and get to work.  We put on our walking shoes instead.  My belly hurt.  I don't think I'll be taking up jogging any time soon.  *bounce bounce*  It was the best walk ever!  We live in such a beautiful neighborhood.

We split a banh mi for dinner....my lovely sister knew how much I craved those things during my earlier pregnancies, and she didn't forget.  Darling sister, it was lovely.  I don't remember the last time I bit into a raw jalapeno, cilantro, and mu shu pork, all at the same time.  There might have also been thinly sliced apple in there.  Banh mi are the best sandwiches in the world!  Can someone tell me how to make a banh mi-inspired panzanella?  (They're right up there with Grandma Mary's tuna fish sandwiches, and my dad's grilled cheese.  And can I include my husband's quesadillas in this sandwich category?)

I promise I cleaned my kitchen twice every day this week.  But I needed to do it 3 or 4 times a day, so you could never tell!  How come we can't go 4 hours without cooking or eating?  (Oh yeah- I promise I swept under the table every day, too.  In case you couldn't tell.)  This week we made apple cake for the girls at church, bread for us, crackers for snacks, soy milk for Mimi, creamy lemon pasta, pan-fried tofu, and lots and lots of oatmeal.  We had baked fish fillets one night, but there's no clean up there!  I thought I made enough for Wonder Daddy's dinner when he got home, but Ernie ate his after she finished hers- this fish was insanely crunchy and delicious!  Highly recommend Gordon's frozen battered fish fillets, I think they were halibut.  I had mine with lemon juice and sriracha, Ernie had hers with ketchup.  Mimi just used wheat bread to soak up as much ketchup before she sucked it off, and dipped again.

My dishwasher is running right now (after I made a new batch of dishwasher powder), my washing machine is running the second load of the night.  Ernie tried to wear a brown velvet tunic top (with a ruffly collar and cuffs) with orange madras shorts today.  She intended to finish the look with peppermint striped leg warmers, to meet my requirement that she wear long sleeves and pants if she wanted to stop at the beach while we were out.  I helped her find a pair of leggings, a plain t-shirt, and a little green dress instead.  Of course, the leggings had a hole in the knee, and were four inches too short, and one of her socks was pink with green polka dots, and the other I believe was striped.  Definitely laundry day.

Wonder Daddy called in the middle of our Very Lazy morning- 8:45, and I hadn't managed to eat breakfast yet!  Could I please go to the laundry hamper, find yesterday's pants, and describe the contents of the pockets for him?  Yes, that key is his.  Yes, it's the only key he and his business partner have to the building's restrooms.  Yes, he needs it today.  "What is he going to do?"  I asked.  How about I bring the kids in? he replied.

It took us almost an hour to get dressed and out the door, I missed the exit for his highway, I missed the entrance for his building.  We had a lovely time at the shipyards near by, though- the girls saw barnacles, mussels, sea gulls, flowers, ferries, trains, shipping containers, cranes, and trucks.  Traffic was so terrible we couldn't find a spot in the entrance lane for the freeway that I ended up on surface streets.  But, once we found our way back to the freeway, I realized my detour probably saved us about 20 minutes extra time sitting in traffic.  Mimi was asleep before we got home, ate an enormous lunch, then slept for about four hours.   She walked a LONG way through that park!

I packed all of Ernie's movies in bags and boxes and stuffed them away in the spare bedroom- the girls have been happier without them.  They can watch a video while I teach, which means they watch "Kiki's Delivery Service" Wednesday afternoon, and that's it for the week.  Monday afternoon they were too busy coloring, and today they couldn't get the video to work and I wouldn't go down in the middle of my lesson to see what the issue with the VHS player was (probably wasn't switched to VHS mode.)  Ernie looked a little hysterical when she realized she was going to miss her movie time, but rallied quickly when Mimi dragged out the box of musical instruments, and they set up a a din and a racket in the back room like you've never heard...unless you've been here when my kids are making music.  They weren't in the front room, I was OK with it.  I think it's good for my students' concentration sometimes!

Universe, let's have a great weekend, OK?

Love-
Myrnie