life of zombie

[mamajoan]

Well, we survived yesterday. It wasn't the best day ever, but we got through it with minimal drama, which I think is the best that could be hoped for considering how it got started.

I'm not sure what happened last night. I "lost" a few hours somewhere. We were doing the whole "no nursie when it's dark outside" thing, which makes Ruthie furious so she alternately screams and sobs, and then falls asleep for brief periods, etc. -- and at some point I woke up and looked at the clock and it was about 2:45am, and then some time went by and I looked again, expecting to see something in the neighborhood of 3:30, but instead it was 6:30. So I'm not sure what happened there; possibly I actually got a few hours of sleep? Hard to say. ;P

(I certainly slept at least a little bit, because I remember bits and pieces of a very odd dream involving dchenes and also something about my kids being trained as witches. buh?)

I did manage yesterday to make two new recipes!

#11 rice for breakfast: leftover cooked brown rice, mixed with a little milk, brown sugar, and cinnamon, heat until warmed through and thickened. Yum!

#12 improv couscous with zucchini:
3/4 cup couscous
1 cup water
1 large zucchini
2-3 cloves garlic
olive oil, salt&pepper, lemon juice

Boil water in small pot, add couscous, cover and remove from heat.
Grate zucchini on smallest holes of the grater. Squeeze thoroughly to remove as much liquid as possible.
Heat oil in frying pan and saute garlic until golden. Add zucchini, s&p, saute until zucchini starts to brown around the edges.
Mix zucchini into couscous, squirt with lemon juice, eat.

That was way too much couscous for that much zucchini, so next time maybe half as much couscous and try to get even more water out of the zucchini. Also some basil or such might be nice. But it was pretty good.

I also finished reading The Sunday Philosophy Club which was okay, and now am reading the next installment of the No. 1 Ladies' Detective Agency series.

Then this morning I decided I had better get my car's emissions inspection sticker done before I get a ticket. So I drove the kids to their various places and then went to the garage nearest Davis Square, where a very brusque mechanic took one look and said, even before he brought the car into the garage, that one of the lightbulbs over the rear license plate was burnt out and would cost $14 to fix. I thought that sounded like a lot to replace one dinky little lightbulb, so I told him I'd come back, and he was like, whatever. I think he was having a bad day, or maybe a bad lifetime. ;P

Anyway, I drove off, but then I thought, I should just get this taken care of now. So I drove to my mom's mechanic, because if you can't trust the guy who's been fixing your mom's car since you were in the single digits, whom can you trust? The guys at that garage wrestled with the cover on the license-plate lightbulb for a while, but couldn't get it off because it was so rusty. So they squirted some oil on it and told me to come back in a couple of days. But meanwhile they gave me the new sticker anyway. That's what I'm talkin' about. That's service, people.

So that's taken care of, yay. Now I just need to renew my Somerville parking sticker, but I have a whole month to do that.

Oh, and I don't think I mentioned that on Saturday while we were riding the bus all over creation just because Isaac wanted to ride the bus (insert massive rolling of eyes here), a guy tried to give Ruthie this ridiculous bright-pink stuffed animal. I think it was supposed to be a puppy. The guy was saying something about how he bought it for his daughter but now he and his ex-wife were having a spat. I said he should save it to give to his daughter. He said he isn't allowed to see her any more. So then I just said that we already have way too many stuffed animals (which is true) and thanked him, but no thanks.

Anyway, that was weird and uncomfortable. And I'd like to say I feel for the guy, but really, offering a stuffed animal to some random toddler on the bus? Is it just me or is that kind of creepy?

On the same bus ride, there was a little girl about Isaac's age who asked me if she could "see" (i.e., hold) Ruthie's teddy bear. I told her I didn't think that was a good idea. Ruthie can get kind of freaky if someone else tries to play with her bear.

Ruthie's way of saying "noodles" sounds to me exactly like "nursie," which is confusing. Isaac swears that they sound like two totally different words to him. (Have I mentioned that often lately I have to ask Isaac to translate what Ruthie is saying? I generally am pretty good at understanding Ruthie's words but sometimes when I can't, Isaac can.) Isaac has also started asking me how he said various things when he was a baby. I guess I started this recently by telling him that when he was a baby he called noodles "noo-noos." Now he'll randomly ask, "mama, how did I say marker when I was a baby? How did I say cheerios when I was a baby? How did I say box that the crackers came in when I was a baby?" LOL.

Comments

Just my 1/50th of a dollar!

[peterchayward.livejournal.com]

Is it just me or is that kind of creepy?

Honestly, I don't think so. I mean, I'm not a parent, but it seems that the guy was being nice.

Also, I've been in a similar situation myself (kind of) - someone was handing out balloons, and I took one. On the bus, there was a kid staring at it, so I offered it to his Dad, who happily took it. It made my day, being able to give something nice to a kid - I think that's all that it was.

[dchenes.livejournal.com]

I promise, I have no plans to train your kids to do anything. :)

[vanessa-musing.livejournal.com]

recipe #11 is also a good dessert, after a dinner that has leftover rice. we usually add raisins too, warm plump raisins are a big hit with the kids :)

[hawkeye7.livejournal.com]

My niece Reanne used to have trouble making certain sounds and would substitute others, making her speech an incomprehensible babble to me. But Jenette could provide a translation every time.

[shelbecat.livejournal.com]

About the teddy bear incident, last week at McDonald's, some stranger commented that Casey was sweet. Then told me about her son having a baby, but the mom was rushed into surgery. And the son wasn't allowed to see the baby anyway. It was all very random. Then she gave Casey a dollar. I was slightly creeped.

And Casey took it (she basically put it right in her hand) so I didn't know how to give it back. Weird.