Six years

How can it be that another year has passed? And yet the yearning for aquatic-themed cakes continues unabated.

Wishing the very happiest of birthdays to the world's smallest budding oceanographer (but sometimes paleontologist): the mighty Miss B.

July numbers

This past month feels like it has been exceptionally crazy, and I see that the relative lack of blog documentation supports my blurred memory. I blame the combination of Miss B going on summer vacation, DP’s teaching going into high gear, and an(other) absolutely crushing work deadline for me. The heat didn’t help, and neither did the mental stress of transitioning into the second phase of moving (aka “you should be completely unpacked and settled in by now”) on top of everything else.

So what has been going on this month?

Wordless Wednesday

Active socially

Remember how I was lamenting having no one to cook for a while back?

Scratch that. First we hosted my sister and her gang a couple of weeks back. Then, DP, who is in the throes of teaching his first intensive seminar in his new position (eight students, 8-12 hours a week), decided that the least he could do in the way of hospitality would be to offer each of the half-dozen or so visiting guest speakers a home-cooked meal during their stay. Plus have a cookout for the seminar students and their families. Oh, and invite a prospective student or two (plus families) over for a weekend lunch. Oh, and reciprocate invitations to the people who had us over when we were camping out in the serviced apartment. Oh, and….

Wordless Wednesday

Paul Hawken: The High Cost of Cheap Food: Cooking for Solutions 2010

Tonic detox

If you don’t know me personally, here is an embarrassing fact about me you probably also don’t know: despite all the time I spend baking my own bread, making desserts from scratch, and buying one-ingredient food items, I can count on two hands the number of days I have gone in the past quarter-century plus without consuming tonic (aka soda, pop, fizzy drink—using “tonic” to describe a carbonated beverage is the linguistic stamp of an old-school Bostonian of a certain age, FYI). Specifically, Pepsi.

Interfamilial bonding

I don’t think posting on Sunday afternoon is the best way to optimize blog traffic, but it’s either this or slide into another week and whatever fresh mayhem is in store….

Summer vacation has officially begun chez RL. I wish I could say I hadn’t been posting because I’ve been too busy relaxing, but it wouldn’t be true. I have been having lots of fun, because we kicked off summer vacation with a weeklong visit from my sister S. and her family: BIL D. (previously mentioned as the BIL who can cook), and offspring Miss I., Miss R., and Mr. C. We took them to some our favorite local spots, and discovered some new places. And, of course, consumed a lot of food along the way.

DI who?

Even if you have no pretensions to DIY ability (and I absolutely don’t), it seems to be an inevitable part of owning a house (speaking from my vast almost-three-weeks’ experience). You can’t just call a contractor for every little thing; not only is it expensive and time-wasting, you might as well put a sign on yourself that says, “Hello, I am useless.” I’m related to people who’ve done their own lead paint abatement and cut and installed their own drywall; I reckon I ought to be able to figure out how to install a shade bracket.

Wordless Wednesday

Sign in the entranceway of the largest (and most surreal) sporting-goods store I've ever visited, Kansas City, KS, March 2010