girlfiend

I was a vegetarian through most of middle and high school and my first year of college, but I was more of a pasta, french fries and pizza vegetarian than a healthy mix of vegetables, grains and proteins vegetarian. I eat more vegetables now that I’m a full-fledged meat eater than I did when I was veggie so it’s not that odd that after reading about some book I can’t remember the name of at Poundy I decided it would be best to try and eat primarily vegetarian for a while. I spent a few hours looking up recipes and when we went to the grocery store yesterday I stocked up on fresh vegetables and various legumes.
After putting the groceries away and the baby to bed I made a pan of Shepherd’s Pie (or Cottage Pie if you’re particular, since I made it with beef, not lamb), figuring I may as well get some meat in my system before a week of veggie soups and stews. Today I made two loaves of Oatmeal Wheat Bread and a huge pot of White bean, Kale and Roasted Vegetable Soup for tomorrow’s dinner. (We’ll eat the rest of the Shepherd’s Pie tonight since soups often taste better after sitting overnight.) Monday I’ll use the remainder of the kale to make Kale and Potato Galettes. Tuesday I’ll make Lentil Stew with Spinach and Potatoes to serve on Wednesday (stews also taste better the next day). On Friday, depending on my mood, I’ll make either Spicy Carrot Peanut Soup or Wild and Brown Rice Cakes and Ratatouille. Felafel, Scheherezade Casserole, Moroccan Harira, Fagioli All’Uccelletto and Farmer Cheese Dumplings are other recipes on the back burner.

I’m curious to see how this plays out. I don’t know that Boyfiend will take to all of the healthy foods. He may go through red meat withdrawal.

Right now I feel a bit dirty and ashamed because the first thing I clicked on this morning was the NSFW picture of Harry Potter’s penis.  (Don’t worry. The link takes you to the safe version.)

I know I’ve done this many times and there’s very little regular readers don’t already know, but since I’ve been tagged by  lisamechelle I’ll do it again.

RULES: Each player of this game starts off with 10 weird things/habits/little known facts about yourself. People who get tagged need to write a blog of their own 10 weird habits/things/little known facts as well as state this rule clearly. At the end you need to choose 5-10 people to be tagged and list their names. No tag backs…

1. I’d have a Bert-style unibrow if I didn’t pluck obsessively.

2. After reading the book Are You There God, It’s Me, Margaret when I was five or six I practiced raising my left eyebrow in the mirror until I could do it effortlessly. Now my eyebrows are uncontrollable. I have no poker face because my eyebrows give everything away.

3. People tell me I smile all of the time, which I find difficult to believe since I’m usually so damned cranky.

4. I read ridiculously quickly without trying. It was always painful in school when we had to read in class because I’d finish a good 10 minutes before everyone else.

5. The same goes with test taking. I always finish first and go back over my answers two or three times waiting until at least one other person has finished before turning it in. The standardized tests like the Praxis, where you’re not allowed to do anything when you finish are painful.

6. My fingernails are always dirty and uneven.

7. I am a terrible dancer. Truly terrible. So bad I had friends who used to show the part of their wedding video that featured my spastic dancing to everyone who visited their house. Fuckers.

8. My nickname for the Fiendling is Smooshy. Or Smushy. How would you spell it?

9. Aside from typos and a few lapses- Smooshy vs. Smushy- I am a naturally good speller.

10. When Uggs got popular a few years ago I was slightly bitter because the Uggs that I’ve worn as winter boots since 1997 were too water-stained to be fashionable. I’m not the type to wear them with miniskirts anyway.
I’m not tagging anyone, but if you choose to participate let me know in the comments and I’ll check it out.

Watching last night’s American Idol I was curious about what song Chris Sligh was singing. I googled him and found his blog which has been removed (I assume) as per the producer’s request. The about section read, “I am first and foremost a Christ-follower. I am also a rock star. I don’t feel the two are diametrically opposed. If you do…I feel bad for you.” Of course I know that the two aren’t diametrically opposed, there are plenty of Christian rock bands,  it’s just that he seems to have such a great sense of humor. From my experience with Christians (and when I say Christian I mean people who identify themselves as Christian before they’d identify themselves as writers or musicians or teachers or whatever else they may be- people whose whole identities are wrapped up in being saved by Christ, not just people who attend a Christian church) they aren’t usually so funny. Whatever. I didn’t like the song he sang, but he’s still my favorite of the guys so far.

You may recall that back in November, when I got the stomach flu the first time this season, I got a bit obsessed with the Food Network. Today, while the Fiendling* napped I somehow got completely wrapped up in Food Network bashing. I was on Phillyblog in the Food and Drink forum reading a post about Giada vs. Rachael Ray and ended up following a link to a guest post by Anthony Bourdain (a guy previously unknown to me) talking smack about Food Network personalities. Though I don’t agree with everything he writes (I think Paula Deen’s a good time) some of his opinions, especially his opinion of Sandra Dee (yes, she is pure evil), are right on. I ended up getting totally sucked into the more than 500 comments and still haven’t finished reading through them all. The debate is hilarious. Most of the commenters (commentators?) agree with him but some that don’t think he’s just bitter because he’s not as successful as the bobbleheads he describes. Since I’d never even heard of him until following the link to his post on someone else’s blog, I can see their points. (The debate within the comments, sort of reminded me of the war between Rogan and Mencia fans that takes place in the comments of this blogger’s post. I spent more than an hour watching the videos and reading the commentary Saturday night. My weekends are nothing but fun these days.)

The comments at the Bourdain post led me to a similar article from Matt at Deglazed. Matt’s take on the food network chef’s was even more entertaining than Bourdain’s. Again, I don’t agree with everything he writes, but dude, Bobby Flay is a cock and Rachael Ray is indeed a whore who makes buying Ritz crackers an altogether unpleasant experience. Here’s a quote from his piece about why Rachael Ray sucks.

-EVOO - Extra Virgin Olive Oil. That’s what she actually calls it: “E-V-O-O, Extra Virgin Olive Oil”. Note, I did NOT say she calls it “E-V-O-O.” If she just stopped there, it would be merely stupid. But she goes all the way to the level of “taking the short bus to school” by using the acronym, and then spelling out what it means for us right after. WHY?!? What is the point of using an acronym if you are then going to say what it means right after it? Pick one or the other! I don’t go around saying, “Yeah, I need some money from the ATM - automatic teller machine, but I can’t remember my PIN - personal identification number, so I guess I can’t check on the balance of my CD - certificate of deposit.” I would sound like a retard, and thus, I guess be eligible for my own cooking show.

Matt, in a different post, also linked to this Rachael Ray drinking game, which I can’t wait to try some time when I’m not on mom duty.

Today in my internet travels I learned that Sandra Lee probably slept her way to the top, Michael Chiarello isn’t (as I’d assumed based on his bizarre show where he invites young college guys over for dinner) gay, and monkeys (well, terry cloth monkeys )can make truffles. I was also reminded of the Two Fat Ladies and Ming Tsai, both shows that I loved that the food network can’t be bothered with any more.
* I need new pseudonyms. I’m sick of typing Boyfiend and Fiendling and initials are lame- suggestions?

Every time the Fiendling sneezes a strand of snot dangles from his nose like a pendulum, swinging back and forth until I wipe it with a tissue or until he smears it across his face where it sits, sticky, collecting lint and cat hair. When do babies learn how to blow their noses? There’s no point in getting dressed because anything I wear will have shiny smears all over it by the end of the day.

Last night was the first night in well over a week that I didn’t get any sleep and it sucked. I don’t know if it’s his cold or the fact that he’s getting closer and closer to full-on walking, but something woke the Fiendling up four hours after he went down and he couldn’t get back to sleep. Against my better judgment, knowing I wasn’t going to get any sleep either way, I brought him into bed with us where he nursed on and off all night, crying and tearing at my shirt when the milk source wasn’t readily available. All morning he’s been doing the same thing- tugging at me and whining, wanting comfort when all I want is to be left alone. I just want to take a nap without little hands slapping and scratching at me. I feel guilty for feeling this way, but fuck, I’m exhausted and I’m sick of being pawed and sucked on, especially since I know he’s not hungry. But that makes me feel worse because he justs wants comfort and I don’t want to give it.

My bronchitis, after a lovely interlude, has returned. I’ve been taking cough medicine, but it doesn’t matter. The bronchitis has a mind of its own and based on my last two bouts of it I’m sure it will linger until the spring. It’s not even worth going to the doctor. They’ll just prescribe an antibiotic that won’t work and cough medicine with codeine that doesn’t help me sleep through the night.

I made Beef Bourguignonne for dinner last night. It was a three day project. The beef marinated for a day, cooked for a few hours the next, then sat overnight because all of the recipe reviews online said it was better the next day. It was good. I served it with roasted garlic Yukon Gold mashed potatoes and creamed spinach which I made because I had heavy cream leftover from something I made though I can’t remember what. The other day I made buttermilk fried chicken which was also good and buttermilk biscuits which were not so good. For some reason they didn’t rise the way they’re supposed to. I wonder if my baking soda is too old. The last several batches of chocolate chip cookies I’ve made have been pretty flat too. For Valentine’s day I made chocolate cake with a mocha frosting. I prefer yellow cake to chocolate, but I don’t have a good recipe for it. Boyfiend prefers chocolate cake anyway. I suppose I could just buy a box of yellow cake mix, but it’s been so long since I made something like that from a box it would feel like cheating.

Yesterday my mom gave me a pair of pants. She told me that she was giving them to me because I don’t have any nice clothes. I responded that her comment was insulting and I do have nice clothes. She said that she never sees me in them. I said yes, because I only ever see her on my way to the gym. She conceded my point and apologized.

This is going to be a very long day.

Distracted by the toy in his hand, and lured by the See & Learn Piano (lights! music! mirror!) on the couch beside me, the Fiendling took three steps over to me all by himself.

Just a few developments for the record.

So far, the Fiendling’s twelfth month of life outside of the womb has brought us two sick visits to the pediatrician, sleeping through the night, a complete lack of interest in foods other than breastmilk, and lots of walking with the help of adult hands and appropriate walker-type toys. Another, not so pleasing to mom development is the always embarrassing lifting of my shirt to access his only food source now that he’s decided solids are for suckers. Oh, and at some point I think I may have mentioned that I thought he was actually saying the word cat. It turns out he was. It’s still the only word he says. No ‘mama’, no ‘dada’, not even ‘no.’ Just cat.

I won’t get into too much detail here- The Wonder Weeks tells me a sleep-interrupting developmental spurt is forthcoming and more teeth are sure to arrive at some point in the near future- but the sleeping through the night thing is fabulous.

So you know how I gained close to 60 pounds when I was pregnant despite that fact that I worked out 3 times a week and didn’t over eat? Then I had the baby and couldn’t work out for a while and once I could it was summer and I was at the shore a lot. During that time I dropped off of my gym’s FAB Club board. Once we stopped going to the shore I was back at the gym regularly, and as you know I lost the weight, but because it’s an average of six months worth of visits that get you on the board I was off for a long, long time. But now I’m back. As of February I’m back on the board, motherfuckers. I think they owe me a new FAB Club t-shirt.

The other night at knitting I was telling Madgirl that there are a few blogs I read even though I hate them. Some of the blogs I hate because they’re boring, yet I’ve been reading so long I can’t stop. Other blogs I hate because I find the writer to be completely odious.  It’s a sickness-  I just can’t stop. I feel the same way about my stupid baby message board. I despise 99% of the posters and think the majority of them are complete idiots but I continue to read it anyway. In fact, one of the blogs I read, despite the fact that the writing sucks and the content makes me want to smack the writer silly, is written by one of the more annoying mothers on the message board. Why I can’t stop reading it is beyond me, yet read it I do. Does anyone else do this, or is it just me?