Contemplating with Myself

Wow.... I haven't posted anything for a while. I feel like such a slacker ;)

The other day on facebook, I wrote on some friends' walls... note that I hadn't talked to these people in about two years... and (shocker!!!) they wrote back on mine. The problem is that I don't really want to talk to these people anymore... I mean I do and at the same time I don't. I mean they're still my friends and all, but it's awkward now, 'cause I hadn't talked to them in so long. I feel like some kind of facebook stalker.

So, I haven't wrote on their walls yet, 'cause I don't really know what to say. I mean at the time when I first wrote on their wall, I thought i was a great way to regain and restore a old and dying friendship... but in actuality I realized that I have like NOTHING in common with these people any more.

I feel kind of guilty though, 'cause I should write on their walls 'cause they wrote back on mine. But I don't really know them anymore...

Speaking of friends on facebook, my cousin friended me on facebook. So, I was like "yea. sure. He's my cousin and all." Note that he is only 14. He messaged me today and asked me how I was and stuff like that.

But then I realized that their are things that on my facebook that I don't think I really want my younger cousins seeing. I mean, I don't have like drunk pictures or like porn on my page... it's just that I'm the oldest cousin. There are pictures of me on facebook that are mildly inappropriate in a sly kind of way. For example:

This is a picture from summer camp '09.

I don't want to de-friend him though, 'cause he is my cousin and all and I want to keep in touch with him. I mean I am friends with my parents, grandparents, aunts, and uncles on facebook. If THEY hadn't said anything yet, I don't think I should go making a big deal out of it. I'll let it go and see what happens.

What? What happened to coffee hour?!??!!?

I may have mentioned in the past that my husband is from Brazil, in South America, you know, where coffee beans come from? Where they speak Portuguese and the word meaning breakfast (café da manhã) literally translates to "morning coffee"? Yeah. Coffee is a big part of our life. Not in a get-the-biggest-vat-of-the-poison-you-can-and-chug-like-an-addict way, but more like a stop-and-make-time-for-each-other kind of way. I think it started back at our first date. I asked him to go to breakfast. He asked what time. I suggested 10a. He was trying to decide if that would work because he knew he couldn't wake up too early on Saturday, but he also knew that once he woke up he wouldn't be able to go very long without coffee. And he couldn't very well wake up, eat breakfast and have coffee, and then meet me for breakfast. The end of the story is that 10a worked perfectly, we parted ways about 4p and now here we are: married coffee people.

For us, coffee is essential at breakfast and in the afternoon. Sometimes we even have a third coffee after dinner with dessert.

Last week my husband had his teeth whitened by the dentist. They look great. But there's one big drawback: he can't have coffee anymore. It stains his teeth. And what's the point of having the dentist whiten your teeth if you're just going to stain them again?

No problem. He substituted warm milk and added a few tablespoons of coffee or cocoa. Cocoa beans also come from South America, afterall. And we carried on like nothing had changed.

Then we went to the pediatrician with Stella yesterday. She's having some strange symptoms with her digestion. You know, I really don't like reading about gross bodily functions when other people write it, so I'll spare you the details and trust that I've given you enough information. Anyways, we decide that the likely culprit is an infantile sensitivity to lactose. She's had nothing but breastmilk since she was born, though. There's no lactose in breastmilk, so where's the sensitivity coming into play? Oh, in my diet, that's where. It's possible that because I'm intaking milk-based products, that's causing her some trouble. The suggestion by the pediatrician was for me to cut all dairy out of my diet for a week and see what happens.

All dairy? ALL of it? Do you know what that covers? That's right: the milk I put in my several cups of coffee throughout the day. See, I'm really a latte kind of a girl. I don't drink coffee black. Ever. Nevertheless, it was give up the milk in the coffee, give up the coffee altogether, or let the kid continue to have her ever-so-pleasant symptoms. Alright then, black coffee it is.

This morning we sat down for coffee. Gone was the lovely milky white coffee in our cups. Also gone was our signature omelet (milk & cheese & butter). Instead we had coffee-like beverages and fried eggs. And toast. It was not the same. By the end of breakfast, I just looked at the remaining half cup of sweet black stuff in my bug and twisted my nose. Ick.

So the way I see it, we can substitute our coffee with mimosas and port wine (did you know that's from Portugal?) and hope for the best.

"Grace, there's a big chore you have to do."

Grace just came in the door from school at about 3:30p. It's Friday afternoon and she's ready to kick off her shoes for the weekend and relax. Frankly, I think she's already bummed that she had to go to school today since I think she and all her classmates were hoping for more snow overnight. They didn't get enough for the district to call a snow day, but there was enough to make our already snow covered driveway unable to be traversed by our little Honda Civic. My husband left town yesterday (in the middle of the storm) and thus clearing said driveway is left to us women of the house.

As Grace was pulling off her newly acquired varsity letterman's jacket, I told her I guessed she realized there was a big chore to do before the sun went down. She said yeah, she would get right on it after she got a snack.

Wow, that was easy.

I told her to remember to clear the front and back walks, too.

Huh? she asked. What do you mean the front and back walks?

She thought the big chore was cleaning the cat litter. Oh my. Imagine her reaction to understanding that in addition to her regular afternoon chore of cleaning the cat litter, she would have to clear our driveway.

Nevertheless, after a bowl of popcorn, she pulled her boots and jacket right back on and went at it.

Here's the view from my bedroom window:



Just so you can get some perspective of how long the driveway really is, here's two views from the first floor. I include the picture of the school bus going by for the full effect.



I stayed safely inside the garage to take these pictures. I didn't even put on shoes, I just slipped on my slippers. I snapped the pictures quickly before my arms got too cold since I was only wearing a short-sleeved t-shirt.

Imagine the joyous reaction I got when I snapped this last one out the back door:


By the time she was finished and came in, she called to me, "I know you took more pictures of me." Thrilled, she was, I tell you.

God, I love that kid. She's the greatest.

Where I am this week

Well, Happy New Year, all. I'm taking my good 'ole time getting back into it.

This week I'm posting every day at Midwest Parents. Yesterday I griped about post-holiday issues. Today I went on and on about how much I hate slumber parties. If you want more, keep coming every day. By Friday, you'll get my easiest recipe ever for baked apple. I promise.

So click on over to Midwest Parents and check out my writing. If you're jonesing for some of Grace's writing, I hear rumblings of a new post from her soon, too.