• Family - Food

    Tend Your Garden

    September 28, 2021 - By 

    This is my second year gardening at the Kansas City house. I’m probably what you would call a “hobby gardener” – although due to the size of my garden this “hobby” is rather time-consuming in the summer. I’ve been gardening on and off for most of my life, although this garden here is by far the largest undertaking. I’ve learned some superficial gardening lessons over the years but the ones I’ve learned these past two years are impactful on so many levels. Or maybe I’m getting wiser in my 40’s, who knows? Each spring, I start daydreaming about seeds. I…

  • Food - Marriage

    Adulting

    May 28, 2020 - By 

    I love grocery shopping. It’s my happy place. I like planning the meals and making the list and then just wandering down the aisles putting things in my cart. I like listening to the music and muttering to myself over which avocado is the ripest. I even liked grocery shopping with the kids, for a while. Until we reached one of those Milestones Nobody Talks About: when they were old enough that nobody wanted to ride in the cart anymore and they spent the entire time running around like feral animals and touching all the things. Or, this. So let…

  • Family - Food - Fun

    The Marshmallow-Only Club

    May 24, 2019 - By 

    As I have mentioned in a previous post, the boys love Lucky Charms cereal. They don’t get to have it all the time — mostly because they are notorious for picking around the cereal bits and eating only the marshmallows. And I like to at least cling to some pretense that they are consuming a breakfast-food, not a bowl full of dehydrated sugar soaked in milk. But a few months ago, as I was wandering the aisles of the grocery store, I noticed the promotional box of lucky charms featuring unicorn marshmallows. Connor loves unicorns. They both love Lucky Charms.…

  • Family - Food - Parenting

    Mealtime with Small Children

    April 4, 2018 - By 

    I wrote a poem about how our dinner usually goes these days. Enjoy. Conducting a Meal I am the tuner of the room I am Magnanimous of patience I am calm, cool, and collected until I am not. Stop, I say, don’t whine. Don’t throw your fork On the floor don’t smear yogurt on your face. Wait, I say, come back here. You’re not done eating And the cat does not like to be pulled by her tail. I pause. Deep breath to fold in the yelling and I Take out my imaginary conductor’s wand Directing two small bodies back…

  • Family - Food

    Lucky Charms

    January 11, 2018 - By 

    Another cold winter day means school starting time is delayed 2 hours. I decided to take advantage of this and sleep until the boys woke up. Around 8 am, I heard Aiden in the living room, but he was being quiet and not demanding anything of me, so I proceeded to lay in bed for a while before deciding to get up.  After almost 30 minutes of this, I began to get suspicious. He had to be up to something. “Hi mom!” he chirped when I entered the kitchen. “I made breakfast for me and Connor.” And sure enough, he…

  • Family - Food

    Oh, Sweet Innocence

    June 24, 2017 - By 

    I left off one of the best moments from yesterday’s Cupcakes and Confessions post. I had put Connor to bed upstairs for his daily nap. While I was doing so, Aiden was in charge of stirring the cupcake batter. He takes after me, in that he’s a terrible liar. Just stick to the truth, kid.

  • Food - Marriage - RemoteDance

    The Sniff Test

    December 7, 2009 - By 

    Chris and I have differing opinions on when food in the refrigerator is still edible. For the most part, as long as the food item still passes the “sniff test,” I figure it is still edible. The only foods which don’t get the sniff test: bread, and meat. Bread does not get the sniff test because you can usually tell if it’s bad long before you need to smell it. It’s either hard as a rock, moldy, or (if it’s been long enough) hard and moldy. Meat does not get the sniff test because the thought of eating rotten meat…