Year of Pleasures

2009 Year of Pleasures #50, 51, and 52

December 28, 2009

Somewhere along the way I seem to have missed a couple of weeks, but that’s OK because this month brought a whole lot of pleasure.

#50

Atti loves his dad so much. Bear was trying to set up the Christmas tree and Atti scooted over to help by slobbering all over his face.

But he didn’t seem to recognize him under the beard and glasses. Even dad couldn’t make Santa OK this year.

#51

We spent Christmas Eve with Bear’s family, and this was the first year with a kid’s table. My default instinct is to protect Atti and hover when he deals with typically functioning kids, keeping him with me and helping him to interact as much as we can, but this time we strapped him into a booster and stepped back. He did great.

It was totally one of those “My baby is growing up!” weepy mama moments.

#52

Atti’s still so young that we really wanted to keep presents to a minimum. The extended family spoils him with toys anyway, so we really don’t need to add much to keep him fully stocked.

Plus he’s got this full-time fuzzy playmate to keep him occupied.

Our big splurge for him – and it was a big splurge – was this crazy robot Elmo that sings songs and blows kisses and tells stories. We never would have spent so much money on a toy, but we’re hoping that it will help his development. Robot Elmo blows kisses and waves bye and uses his hands in all kinds of ways we’re hoping will rub off on him.

He and Gizmo have been equally fascinated.

Filed Under: Over the Top Christmas, The Good Life, Year of Pleasures

2009 Year of Pleasure #48

December 8, 2009

Gosh how I love the smell of wet concrete. It smells so clean and sharp. I don’t get it much here in San Diego, but it always reminds me of growing up in Seattle. It smells like childhood.

It poured buckets here yesterday. Sunny on Sunday, monsoon on Monday, and now we’re back to needing sunglasses. I think it was God’s birthday present to me.

Filed Under: The Good Life, Year of Pleasures

2009 Year of Pleasure #47

December 1, 2009

Did I mention I met Jon Hamm? He’s dreamy. And he just couldn’t have been sweeter.

Filed Under: The Good Life, Year of Pleasures

2009 Year of Pleasure #46

November 25, 2009

Meet Pearl.

Isn’t she a beauty?

I had a great little cobalt blue kitchenaid for about eight years, and it finally gave up the ghost a bunch of months ago after one too many batches of bread dough. It served faithfully like a good little soldier. She is missed.

We went a couple months without a mixer, because who has $300 just lying around for mixer emergencies, and finally we just said That’s It! We Need A Mixer!

Bear and I made each other a promise. If we stopped eating out and buying processed foods, then we could get the mixer now and then it would pay for itself by the end of the year. For the first month we were absolutely religious. I made homemade crackers, Bear brownbagged it for lunch everyday, and then the whole family got sick and picking something up on the way home was all any of us could manage.

But we still look for excuses to use Ol’ Pearl. She runs like a dream.

Filed Under: Stuff I Cook, The Good Life, Year of Pleasures

2009 Year of Pleasure #45

November 17, 2009

I guess I just need to get used to it. We’re in those toddler years where some days I have my little buddy and some days I have a tiny adorable petri dish. First a month long cough, then a cold, and now apparently the flu. And he is generous enough to share it with me every time. So I have tucked myself into the couch with a blanket and the heating pad, the remote control is in reach and I have a big ol Coke to drink, and I’m crocheting to distract myself from the aching body.

It’s not fun to be sick, but it seems to be the only way I can make myself just stop and chill out for a while.

Filed Under: Are you kidding me?, Stuff I Make, The Good Life, Year of Pleasures

2009 Year of Pleasures #44

November 10, 2009

We’ve been avoiding giving Atti any sugar, not because we’re evil parents who hate childhood, but more because I wanted to put off a fight as long as I could. This poor kid has me forcing so many things that are good for him, if he knew that sugar existed in the world, getting him to eat the few bites of spinach I can cram down his throat would only be that much harder. As long as he was unaware of sugar, it was one less thing I had to say no to.

I finally broke my prohibition the other day during a super traumatic doctor visit (more about that later), so when Bear made homemade Snickerdoodles this weekend, I figured I could be a nice mom and at least feel okay that there was no corn syrup involved.

Atti’s a fan.

Filed Under: Atticus, mama musings, The Good Life, Year of Pleasures

2009 Year of Pleasures #43

November 3, 2009

Atti’s had my cough for the last week or so, but today he woke up with a big snotty nose, a warm forehead and then threw up his morning bottle all over me.

That part wasn’t exactly pleasurable, but having a sweet snuggly boy who just wants his momma? That’s not such a bad gig.

I’ll be spending today on the couch, holding this little guy while he watches as much PBS as I can stand. Luckily I just bought a couple of new books to keep me from losing brain cells to Barney.

Filed Under: Atticus, mama musings, The Good Life, Year of Pleasures

2009 Year of Pleasure #42

October 26, 2009

Last Saturday, desperate to drink up the fall before it’s gone, we tossed the whole hacking, coughing family into the car and drove into Julian, a little mountain town full of apple orchards, gold mines, and quaint tourist trappings.

It was a wonderful day. Atti was at his best behaved, most snuggly and thoroughly adorable, we spent the whole day wandering around in the sunshine and eating apples in every form known to man, brought home juice and caramel apples and apple butter and more juice, and went to the last remaining open orchard of the season for fresh apples we’re turning into pies and tarts and baby food.

It ended up being a day perfect in it’s imperfection. The apple crop was weak this year, so the U-Pick orchards were all closed and we could only buy what was at the farm stand. We went for afternoon tea at a place that sounded like perfection and ended up being four pieces of bread eaten while seated in the middle of a store. We wandered through shops that sold truly unfathomable levels of junk to a captive audience. But we laughed the whole way through, enjoying our sweet little family and a perfect fall day, with loads of sweetness in our bellies.

Filed Under: Mushy Love Stuff, The Good Life, Year of Pleasures

2009 Year of Pleasures #41

October 20, 2009

I got some SERIOUS bounty from my Halloween Swap partner, Moriah of MLBStudios.

The plan was to swap three different versions of loveliness, and then repeat those lovelies for six items. But Moriah went above and beyond.

I love the mouth on this little Ms. Ghost, all puckery, she reminds me of Dolores Umbridge.

And then Mr. Ghost looks like she just said something totally scandalous.

This big bellied pair is my absolute favorite. I found them so dang inspiring, I wanted to just put the box down and go start messing around with paper clay.

I’ve done quite a bit of work with polymer clay, but a big problem for me is the weight of it. It’s not really conducive to ornaments because they get so heavy. These paperclay ornaments just make the wheels in my brain start whirring.

Moriah teaches online classes sharing all her knowledge about miniatures, polymer clay and paperclay. I can’t wait to sign up!

Filed Under: Over the Top Halloween, The Good Life, Year of Pleasures

2009 Year of Pleasure #40

October 13, 2009

I got this silver tea set from Bear’s grandma. It’s a beautiful set of actual silver, but I can’t bring myself to polish it up. I really don’t have much call for formal tea parties, and the patina on this is just too perfect to change. It looks like something that would be on Miss Havisham’s dining room table.

Filed Under: Over the Top Halloween, Year of Pleasures