Christmas Planning
My in-laws (David's parents) when I asked them what they wanted for the family dinner we're having on Sunday with my mother and her boyfriend, hemmed and hawed for a minute or so about making requests, and then finally my mother-in-law admitted that my father-in-law likes ham... oh, and pumpkin pie... (pause)... and... I... really like scalloped potatoes...
And it went on like this for several minutes. So, here's what I'll be making Sunday:
ham
scalloped potatoes
butternut squash
corn
pumpkin pie
and I want to include some kind of winter green for balance. My mother always thinks salad is the best option, but a green salad at Christmas just seems so mundane. I'll probably do kale or mustard greens, which are both cheap and highly nutritious.
I wish my sister were coming, but baby Iris is of course demanding all her attention. My sister says she's planning to go back to work in February, but I honestly have my doubts seeing how obsessed about devoted she is to Iris.
Being home has been great. Spending time with my husband, with my cats -- poor Fenchurch missed me so much she's started licking her fur off, but I don't know if there's much we can do about that except give her tons of affection and attention. Which I have been doing, trying to get her to cuddle as often as I can. But she's timid and shy now, making me feel horribly guilty; I'm sure leaving again in a week will be even more painful than when I left back in September.
On an impulse this morning, we booked tomorrow night at one of our favorite hotels up on the northern coast, so we'll be traveling tomorrow and Friday. I'm really looking forward to getting away with David -- we haven't really travelled together for anything except moving between SF and LA in several years. I was even able to get a slight discount when I called the place by asking chirpily about their former 'web discount' in the midst of a babble about how we've stayed there several times in years past. The girl seemed so thrilled to have a booking that I think she's giving us almost a 30% discount on the published rate!
I have had to do a lot of cleaning since I came home. There were still some dishes from the day I'd left, and they were ghastly and moldy and quite scary. The bathtub was almost covered in grey mold, and the kitchen floor was terrifying. David's disabilities mean that he can get around on a day-to-day basis, and keep himself clean, but keeping up with the apartment is difficult. I think he's also developed claustrophobia because of his disabilities, and probably because of the environment in which he was raised: stacks of paper everywhere, clutter everywhere, very little organization, and a rather insane mother.
By the way, if you haven't been over to my more professional blog, you've been missing out on tons of photos. I went up to Tokyo on Saturday for a conference and got a window seat on the Fuji side. Fuji in the winter is just gorgous, so I posted a ton of photos. You can also keep an eye on my flickr account; frequently I'll take a photo on my Japanese cell and just email it directly there, bypassing the blog completely. As my prepaid cell phone over there includes unlimited mail/messaging for about $3/month, I take a lot of photos!
And it went on like this for several minutes. So, here's what I'll be making Sunday:
ham
scalloped potatoes
butternut squash
corn
pumpkin pie
and I want to include some kind of winter green for balance. My mother always thinks salad is the best option, but a green salad at Christmas just seems so mundane. I'll probably do kale or mustard greens, which are both cheap and highly nutritious.
I wish my sister were coming, but baby Iris is of course demanding all her attention. My sister says she's planning to go back to work in February, but I honestly have my doubts seeing how obsessed about devoted she is to Iris.
Being home has been great. Spending time with my husband, with my cats -- poor Fenchurch missed me so much she's started licking her fur off, but I don't know if there's much we can do about that except give her tons of affection and attention. Which I have been doing, trying to get her to cuddle as often as I can. But she's timid and shy now, making me feel horribly guilty; I'm sure leaving again in a week will be even more painful than when I left back in September.
On an impulse this morning, we booked tomorrow night at one of our favorite hotels up on the northern coast, so we'll be traveling tomorrow and Friday. I'm really looking forward to getting away with David -- we haven't really travelled together for anything except moving between SF and LA in several years. I was even able to get a slight discount when I called the place by asking chirpily about their former 'web discount' in the midst of a babble about how we've stayed there several times in years past. The girl seemed so thrilled to have a booking that I think she's giving us almost a 30% discount on the published rate!
I have had to do a lot of cleaning since I came home. There were still some dishes from the day I'd left, and they were ghastly and moldy and quite scary. The bathtub was almost covered in grey mold, and the kitchen floor was terrifying. David's disabilities mean that he can get around on a day-to-day basis, and keep himself clean, but keeping up with the apartment is difficult. I think he's also developed claustrophobia because of his disabilities, and probably because of the environment in which he was raised: stacks of paper everywhere, clutter everywhere, very little organization, and a rather insane mother.
By the way, if you haven't been over to my more professional blog, you've been missing out on tons of photos. I went up to Tokyo on Saturday for a conference and got a window seat on the Fuji side. Fuji in the winter is just gorgous, so I posted a ton of photos. You can also keep an eye on my flickr account; frequently I'll take a photo on my Japanese cell and just email it directly there, bypassing the blog completely. As my prepaid cell phone over there includes unlimited mail/messaging for about $3/month, I take a lot of photos!