Riot and Frolic

A Hard Day's Night

 

11 Good Morning Good Morning

It would make more sense if I had used "A Hard Day's Night," wouldn't it?  But what fun would that be?  Plus, I like this song better.

 

As promised, I'll give you a run-down of my day.  This seems pretty self-important of me, but I actually took note of all this daily business, so I figure I might as well bore you with the details!

8:33am- Wake up.  Before the children?  Ah, a moment to check my phone then.  A little Facebook and Pinterest to start my day off with a very banal bang.  Note: Banal bang.  I hope you read that correctly.

8:43am- Hear a child.  Time to get going.  Throw on the running clothes, grab Mae Cake and throw her in bed with the G, take a google at ZooZoo and head out the door.

8:55am- Run.  Grrr.

9:13am- Return from the run to prepare breakfast (Waffle Wednesday!), eat breakfast, read the ladies some books, and clean up breakfast.

10:34am- Argue with the G about the upcoming weekend (before we leave for The Cleve; I'm stressed) and feed the baby.

11:00am- Stretch.  My back is killing me!  Continue stretching while talking to my ma on the phone and sorting laundry.  Try my new yoga poses.  I don't do yoga.  I just want to be able to do this.

12:05pm- Put the ladies down for a nap.  Sometimes I feel I do this as much for me as for them.

12:33pm- Make six layer bars and roasted chickpeas.  Drink coffee.  Oh, you haven't had roasted chickpeas?  You're missin' out.  I'll tell you how to make them soon, but here's a hint: you roast... chickpeas.  

1:04pm- Return work emails.  Why do I have these?  I don't really work.

1:28pm- Start packing.  So much stuff.

2:03pm- Get kids ready to drop off the G at work.  This takes a half an hour, no matter what. It's why I can never do anything spontaneously anymore.  

2:33pm- Grocery shop for the trip.  We have a very generous gift certificate to Whole Foods.  If I were single, I would shop here and buy organic and fantastic food.  But I'm not single.  Or rich.  Our awesome GC gets us ten items.  A $5 loaf of bread.  And they don't sell M&Ms.  Who doesn't sell M&Ms?  Health food stores, you say.  But they're low-carb!  They totally qualify as health food.  

3:31pm- Stress eating: granola bar and crackers.  Then mixing of trail mix: peanuts, almonds, raisins, and "milk chocolate gems."  Note: not M&Ms.  Lunch!  Macaroni with pesto, tomatoes, and mozzarella followed by Nutella on graham crackers.  Awesome.

4:15pm- More packing, which leads to the sorting of my dance makeup.  Yes, dance makeup.  Different that regular makeup.  

6:18pm- Get ready to go to the studio.  Last practice before the trip.  A couple of rounds of our dances before Mae Cake has had enough and won't let the G put her down.  

8:13pm- Bathtime.  Constant vigilance for pooping babies.  It's happened a few times.  It's gross.

8:57pm- Start dinner: peanut butter and jelly.  Feed dinner.  Clean dinner off faces.  

9:24pm- Bedtime: have a drink of water, read a book, get a kiss and a hug, talk about plans for tomorrow, blow kiss good night, and leave my bedroom light on for potty trips and "reading."

10:09pm- Dinner for grown-ups with my bestie!  Weirdly-cooked fish, weirdly-cooked acorn squash, and six layer bars.  I was a bit off my game.  

12:14am- Self-tanning.  Dreaded.  But this stuff rocks.

12:43am- Bedtime!

Slacker

I'm still alive, Auntie! It's been forever and a day (okay, a week) since I last wrote a post. I know you've been waiting on the edge of your seats for the latest and greatest news from the Brattiest.

After my last note to y'all, the G, ladies, and I drove out to The Cleve for a dance competition.  Or to pick up a stand-up bass.  Or to go to the playground.  Depends on who you ask.   

I didn't think I was stressed out about being back on the dance floor (or worse, back in a dance dress), but my total lack of productivity for seven days might speak otherwise.  We won't discuss how the competition went at this time.  Because it's not Friday.  Not because I don't have a good perspective on it yet.  Goodness no!

To catch you up, we drove 13 hours to Cleveland and back and I'm convinved my children are angels.  We picked up a stand-up bass amidst a mini-Bratt-kids-reunion at my awesome auntie-in-law-in-law's house and danced in a ballroom competition and didn't fall down (sometimes that's all you can ask).  

Mae Cake knows how to say "no," and does with gusto.  V got a haircut that I'm jealous of- a little 20s-looking bob with bangs.  ZooZoo is a smiley little Muppet Baby.

I'm working on two interesting posts about bread.  Does it make me lame that I find bread interesting?  

The Pinterest Project will return next week.  I really will regale you with the Tale of My Day tomorrow.  I also have a couple dance posts I'm dying to write up.  

But mostly, this post was to let all my die-hard readers (all five of you- kisses!) that I'm alive and well and that you won't have to live without me!

Obvious Things to Do

I have often heard people remark, "I don't know how you do it."  I'm assuming they're talking about juggling three little ladies, marriage, dancing, working in an official capacity, and writing all about it.  Not about my confidence in walking out of the house with no makeup, my hair in the ever stylish I-just-woke-up bouffant, wearing my slightly ill-fitting workout clothes which happen to have baby goo on them, and carrying three overflowing bags filled with my super-necessary stuff.

First of all, thank you. 

Second of all, it's not easy, but it's not rocket science either.  

I've figured out a couple things that make my life easier and my general outlook on life happier.  This is not advice, but it's "how I do it," so now you'll know...

- Exercise.  I happen to run.  I hate running, but love the time alone, the fact that it's cheap (just shoes!), and challenging myself.  That sounds so cheesy.  But every morning when I start my run, I think, "I don't think I can do this."  But every time I finish my run, panting and sweating at my doorstep, I think, "Screw you, Doubtful Pants."  It makes me put on my Believin' Pants before I do anything else.  Optimism!

 - Hobbies.  I like to crochet and write and listen to music and dance and cook and bake and watch TV series on DVD and snowboard and kayak and hike.  I try to do something I enjoy every day, duh.  Mostly, it's when the kids are asleep, but sometimes, we dig the same music (they really like Michael Franti and Jason Mraz and Feist and the Beastie Boys and The Heavy) and cook or dance or bake together.  Two birds!  One stone!

- Lists.  I have about four apps on my iPhone just for making lists: to-do lists, shopping lists, chores lists, list of songs I like, list of books to read, list of guys to post on the blog.  Then I have a few paper lists- ideas for the menu for next week, what's in the fridge (how much moldy food do you throw out?  it's a constant battle for me), what needs to get done today (completely different than a to-do list, mind you).  It might seem confusing, but I like to see things in front of me.  Visual learner!

- People.  I like seeing my peeps, but not too much of them.  I really love my friends and family.  I would love to cook food for everyone and pour them drinks... five days a week.  Those other two days, I want to stay in bed with the covers over my head, phone shut off, and doorbell ripped out to avoid any sort of social interaction.  It's not you, it's me.  Extroverted introvert!  

- Learning.  It's great to learn something new everyday.  Even if it's useless.  "Spatchcock", for example.  Useless fun!

Tomorrow I'm going to bore your Believin' Pants off with my daily schedule.  Then, I'm going to take you to the greatest place on Earth...  Cleveland.  Stay tuned, boys and girls!  Excitement!

Not Seven

But Six.  Six Layer Bars.  Because nuts ruin good desserts.  Just ask me.  Or my dad.  In other words, experts agree that nuts are lame. 

Need a sugar fix with an added health benefit of some coconut?  Give yourself ten minutes and wallah!

Yes, I said it: "health benefit of coconut" and "wallah."  Take that.  

Six (or Seven) Layer Bars

Ingredients:

- stick of butter

- sleeve of graham crackers

- chocolate chips

- butterscotch chips

- can of sweetened condensed milk

- coconut

- walnuts if you're lame.  Or if you like nuts.  Same thing. 

Heat your oven to 350 degrees.  Put your stick o' butter in a 13" x 9" pan and throw that in the oven until the butter melts.  Once it has melted, take it out of the oven.  Layer 1: complete.  You know it's good if the first of six layers is butter.  

Smash your sleeve of graham crackers into little bits.  In other words, crush them.  Sprinkle your graham crumbs over the melty butter.  Smoosh the crumbs down with a spatula to even out the layer.  Layer 2: complete.

Sprinkle butterscotch chips over pan of crumbs.  Layer 3: complete.

Sprinkle chocolate chips over butterscotch chips.  Layer 4: complete.

Pour sweetened condensed milk over all the sprinkled goodness.  Layer 5: complete.

Sprinkle coconut over the milky layer.  Layer 6: complete.

(You could sprinkle the walnuts here to make Layer 7: complete.)

Bake for 15-20 minutes until the coconut is golden brown.

Dig a fork into the simpleness of melted yum.  

List of Last Week's Labors of Love

- French bread that looks and tastes the part.  

Bonus: after a trip out to my great auntie's, some swanky new baguette pans with which to experiment.  More bread adventures next week!

- a fun new crochet project.  I am probably going to run out of my pretty yarn before I am done.  "Dye lot" is a myth, right?  

- realization that every time I use the word "myth," I think of the Muppet Movie.  Anybody?  Carol Kane?  Who's with me?

- Caprese sammies.  Tomato, mozzarella, pesto, balsamic vinegar on my BA bread.  Yum!

- feeding America.  HahaHA!  I'm not giving to charity; I just happened to make dinner for my friend, "America," a lot.  

- long hair.  It's real, people. 

- the thumbs-up to dance our first competition after baby this weekend from the only person who matters.