work, school, work, school, soccer, work, etc.

Lots going on 'round here. It's a new school year and things are in full swing, including 2+ hours of homework every night. I must say, however, I do notice that this year the bulk of the important stuff is being done in class. Most of the work brought home includes things like reading, vocabulary and math worksheets. So far, the only time we have difficulty are the nights when H has soccer practice. It's a real challenge to get home from school, do the homework, race over to soccer practice for 1.5 hours, then get home for dinner. Clarinet practice is definitely at the bottom of the priority totem pole, and I'm very sad about that. H is doing okay though, and seems to be keeping up with the music lessons. Thankfully soccer will be over in three weeks and there will be more time for music. We almost had to pull her out of band because the school scheduled their band practice (2x per week) during math class! Of all the classes to miss! It's the only class that I can't help her with. After a couple weeks of phone calls and negotiations, we were able to reorganize the schedule so that she's missing 1 math class and 1 social studies class per week. She can deal with that.

I got a job. I guess there'll be more to write on that one later.

Oh menopause, all I can think of to say is "fuck you."

We're throwing a small party on Saturday...the first in a very long time, so I'm looking forward to some party cooking. This is a small group of our closest friends and I'm not planning fancy. This will be all comfort, all night. Turkey tetrazzini will be the main dish. I've never made it before, but found a recipe for it in a casserole cookbook I received last Christmas. The recipe is for 24 so we'll be eating it for a long, long time.

I had more, but it will have to wait for another time.

Didn't like the other title

I have extremely itchy, red spots all over my stomach, on the back of my legs and on my ankle. Chicken Pox??? Could it be??? And no cortisone in the house! I'm not feeling especially perky today, my stomach hurts, I have a headache and I can't seem to get warm. I think I'll take to the bed.

The cats are gone, thank god, although I doubt god had anything to do with it. I believe they may have become a meal to some other hungry, alley animal. We've got tons of them, although they mostly come out after dark so I usually never get to see them. I know there are opossum, raccoons, and rats the size of small dogs. Anyway, I don't want to dwell on their fate, I'm just glad they are gone, along with the presents they were leaving for me.

Hannah went to a sleepover party on Saturday night. I wasn't entirely comfortable with the idea, but agreed to let her go. Now I'm quite certain there will be no more sleepovers at this person's home. Without going back into all the details (Joe and I have discussed this endlessly) here are some of the highlights:

• 7-8 10 year old girls/one adult. I foolishly thought the woman's husband would also be at home to supervise, but he took the dogs and went to his mother's house for the night (!!). Even after his wife asked him to stay. Very responsible.
• When the pizza arrived, the mom left the 3rd floor condo to meet the delivery guy at the street level (instead of buzzing him up). While she was gone, the condo filled with smoke. Remember, no adult around. The girls freaked out, Hannah suggested they leave through the building's fire exit, and some of the other girls started yelling at her. Still no adult around and Hannah is in tears. They grabbed wet cloths to hold to their mouths and ran into the hallway. Finally the mom comes back with the pizza and calls 911. Turned out to be smoky ribs from the apartment below, but by this time some of the girls were crying, all were pretty freaked out, and in my opinion EVERYONE'S PARENT SHOULD HAVE BEEN CALLED. Of course no one was called because according to reports from two girls, mom wanted to be the one to deliver the information to the parents, but she wanted to wait until the next day. To make sure her daughter's party wasn't ruined?? Huge mistake, terrible judgment. TERRIBLE.
• One child had an allergic reaction to the housepet. Rather than calling the kid's parent, this mom DOSED the child with Benadryl...without calling the parents!!!!! This is so appalling to me. Despite the fact that this kid has taken Benadryl in the past, that is totally not the point. Can you imagine giving a child MEDICINE without checking with their parent first. God.
• With the permission of the birthday girl's mom, some of the kids smeared makeup all over a sleeping girl's face. Hannah and one other girl refused to participate. They both thought it was mean and tried to make that point, but since they had the mom's permission, the other girls went ahead with the joke. Of course the "victim" was upset afterward. I can't help but think, what if she had some sort of allergy to whatever the kids were smearing on her face? I dunno, I just don't think that shit is funny or should be encouraged.
• Anyway, there's more, but I really need to drop this if I ever want to get rid of my heartburn.

Needless to say, no more sleepovers or playdates at this woman's house.

Another Sunday Morning

My favorite day of the week...Sunday. Even though my body clock wakes me up like it's a school day, I don't actually have to get out of bed for hours, so I'm very happy to mess around with the computer, watch news programs and slip in and out of light sleep. The only thing that will slightly mess up my morning is getting up at 9 to get ready to pick up Hannah by 10. She's at a friend's house for a sleepover birthday party. I'll also stop at the store to pick up a Yahrzeit candle. Once we're back home I plan on sorting through the CSA box, prepping veggies for either storage or cooking, then get down to some cooking. In the pot today will be split pea soup. I've got a big ole smoked ham hock I defrosted last night, and leftover chicken broth from when I made chicken soup at Rosh Hashanah. Add carrots, onion and celery and wa-la, soup.

I also have fresh cranberry beans and fresh Lima beans that I still have in the pod, in the fridge. They keep for a good long while, but I really should do something with at least one type of bean today. For dinner I have a piece of coho in the cold storage drawer. I bought it Friday, but it has a layer of ice glaze covering it, so I'm sure its fine for grilling tonight. Wilted spinach with some toasted pine nuts and slivers of garlic will go nicely with the fish. I also have two huge heads of kohlrabi which I think I'll puree along with some butter, sauteed leeks and fresh thyme. Sounds good? I think so.

Last night I went to Park 52 in Hyde Park for dinner with the boys. I had such a huge vodka martini, I couldn't finish it. It sadly had two olives that were empty! No stuffed blue cheese, not even a pimiento. We wanted to share a pot of steamed mussels for our appetizer, but they were out...so far, not so good. Then dinner arrived and they were redeemed. I had grilled chicken paillard with mixed greens and the most luscious yukon mashed potatoes I've ever eaten. John had grilled shrimp with grits. The grits were excellent, with fresh grilled corn kernels and hot red pepper flakes. So creamy! Mike had a seafood fettucini that he seemed happy with. Dessert was a huge disappointment. No imagination! We had a choice of flourless chocolate cake, creme brulee, berries and cream, bread pudding, apple crisp, ZZzzzzzzzzzzz. I wish when a restaurant is thoughtful about their food, that would carry that thoughtfulness over to the dessert instead of just serving standard afterthoughts. Despite the boring dessert, dinner was very good.

I think it's time to make coffee and kiss my husband.

Dexter fans would understand

The kittens are now leaving us presents. This morning, on the back porch, a mere 6 inches from my back door, was another squirrel. This time it was dismembered and headless. What's with squirrel heads? They must taste very good because that seems to be the part these kitties like to devour. The rest of the squirrel was laid out in an extremely bizarre way, like the Ice Truck Killer paid a visit. It was Joe's turn to manage the cleanup, which he did quite well, even though he kept making retching sounds. I don't know why I did this, but when I opened the back door and saw the mess on the mat, I ran for my camera and snapped a photo. Why the hell did I do that?? I'm certainly not going to post it here and it's not something I want to keep in my archives. I guess if more presents turn up I could make some sort of art project with the pictures. Or not.

Speaking of dead animals, I bought a kick-ass pair of black leather boots at DSW the other day. Just like these, but with three buckles instead of two.

Yep, a very dumb thing

Okay, AN, I didn't adopt the five kittens, so I guess it could have been worse, but this situation is getting bad. This morning I looked out the window and saw all the kittens romping around in the grass. So cute. The mama cat was also out there. I started to count to see if they were all there...the mama, one black and white, two patchwork, one orange, one brown and one grey. Grey? I didn't remember seeing a grey kitten. The grey one seemed to be asleep and the orange one appeared to be grooming him. Oh, wait! That wasn't a grey kitten, it was a DEAD squirrel and the orange kitten had just finished eating it's head!!! EWWWWWWWWW! Yes, I know, that's what cats do, but not on my lawn furniture!

I went to the garage, grabbed a broom and shovel, and chased the cats away. Then I had to shovel up the squirrel and dump it in the trash. These cats have got to go. On Monday, after I drop Hannah at school, I'll head to the no kill shelter and rent a few humane traps. I'm certain I can trap the kittens, but perhaps not the mama cat. I actually don't want to trap the mama cat because after I get them in the traps I'll have to transport them in my car to the shelter so they can get the big snip. If I had the mama trapped in a box, I'm pretty sure she'd spray and stink up my car forever and ever.

I did a dumb thing

We have lots of stray cats partying in our alley. Some have been around for a few years, making more and more babies. About six weeks ago one of the mama cats gave birth to a litter of 5 in my neighbor's backyard. Yesterday all five appeared on our back steps, romping and playing and being very cute. They seemed pretty tame so I ran and grabbed Bubba's carrier thinking I would be able to catch a few and take them to a shelter. Of course they all took off when I got close. This morning they were back so I put out a bowl of food and sat on the back steps while they played nearby. I foolishly thought that if they got used to me, I'd be able to capture them with ease. I left the bowl of food on the back porch and went back into the house to do some laundry. When I returned, there were NINE cats in my yard! Nine fucking cats all partying on the food I left out. Every damn feral cat in the neighborhood is now in my yard, hissing at me. Little fuckers.

I almost forgot I have a blog

Blogging kind of went the way of knitting this summer. I was interested in neither, but am hoping that a return to more frequent blogging will also re-spark my interest in knitting. I find it difficult to knit in the summer...my hands get so hot and sweaty, feh. I've been thinking about socks lately and would love to hook up with a sock knitting class somewhere. I'll have to start googling around. I also find cooking during the summer somewhat tedious, so nothing too special has emerged from my kitchen in ages. There has been the occasional oven-baked ratatouille with bounty from our CSA box, and a few blueberry cobblers with fresh Michigan blueberries, but I wouldn't consider either of these too terribly exciting. I don't know why I haven't had much interest in cooking these days. I don't even have the excuse of a hot summer since it hasn't been HOT at all. I don't feel inspired. Even with the beautiful veggie boxes we receive each week, I just don't feel like cooking. Hmmm, losing interest in so many things. This is not a good sign. Tomorrow after I drop Hannah at school (first day back!) I will try to drag myself back to the gym. I think a lack of exercise has made me feel logy, thus the lack of interest in most everything else.

Since I last wrote here, the summer has come and gone. Here's a brief list of what went on over the summer:

• In early June my father died. He was sick for quite a long time with end-stage renal failure, but his death was actually triggered by an accident. One night, during the wee hours, he got up from sleeping (after taking an Ambien) and tried to go downstairs to get something to eat. He could barely walk as it was...add darkness and Ambien into the picture and you've got trouble. When he made his first step down, he lost his footing and tumbled down the entire flight of stairs. He broke a few ribs, both wrists and a few other bones. To make matters worse, my mom didn't hear him fall so he laid at the bottom of the stairs until morning when my mom finally woke up and found him. He died in the hospital about 4 or 5 days later, after falling again, trying to get out of bed. It was all pretty horrible.
• Much of the summer was devoted to cleaning out my dad's stuff, getting rid of old clothing, printing equipment, papers, GARBAGE. My dad was a pack rat and there was no rhyme nor reason to his hoarding (I guess there usually isn't). My sister and I found box after box after box of old papers dating back to the 1950's. Junk mail and old receipts. However, we had to go through EVERYTHING since every now and then we would find something important buried within all the shit.
• It finally culminated in a big two-day garage sale at the end of August. We sold (or tried to sell) all his tools, the lawn mower, clothes, shoes, books, you name it, we tried to sell it. At the end of the day we made just over $1K and handed it to my mom. That part felt very good. Getting rid of all his shit felt even better. The best part of the sale was when we sold his air compressor. Seeing someone walk away with that damn thing was like having a weight lifted from my chest. There is a story behind that compressor...for another time.
• In between all this we did find time to enjoy some of the summer. Hannah spent a week at camp while Joe, Mike, John and I vacationed in Minnesota.
• I spent much of the summer in physical therapy, recovering from my spinal surgery. The PT ended in early August and I'm feeling pretty good, I'd say 85%. While the surgery was a complete success, I do have issues with pain and tingling from time to time. Nothing too terrible, and I can certainly get used to living with a little pain. I don't regret having this surgery at all.
• We spent a long weekend in Michigan at a friend's summer home. That was nice and relaxing. 
• We had our entire house tuck pointed for a small fortune.
• Saw one or two good movies, including a midnight opening of Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince. That was loads of fun. We also saw Duck Soup in Grant Park one evening. We made a party of it with family, friends, good food and lawn chairs.

Tomorrow is the start of another school year and we have one more summer-type event to ring out the season. My friend and I took it upon ourselves to plan a block party for next weekend. We'll have the street closed off so the kids can ride around on their bikes, and we'll drag out the grills, sit in lawn chairs and drink cocktails. A perfect end to an imperfect summer.