It’s raining again

making applesauce with mom, a photo by telfandrea on Flickr.

And suddenly I am making applesauce (seen here with my little helper) and squash soup and pumpkin muffins like a crazy woman.

It’s been a bit of a long, strange but good week. Jane has a bad ear infection but the antibiotics seem to be helping. Cate has been super-emotional. Lack of sleep? The stress of turning FOUR? I don’t know what the deal is but yesterday and today have been better. Maybe the rain is calming her. I certainly love it. I am up here in my office during naptime working on thank-you notes and going through a stack of papers and books and cups of tea and other random detritus on my desk. My window is open and the rain is coming down. Not a bad way to spend a couple of hours in October.

On Wednesday, Jane was feeling somewhat better after her nap and I was trying to be a good mother. The plan was to do a Fall craft and then have family dinner. We punched out leaves and owls and the girls glued them onto their trees. I may have had to draw the trees a couple of times before they looked like trees. Cate had to be threatened before she would consent to having her picture taken (or really, to do the craft at all). I kept saying: Mama is doing something FUN with you! Let me take your picture! Sigh.

fall craft day, a photo by telfandrea on Flickr.

fall craft day, a photo by telfandrea on Flickr.

After we did the craft, I went in the kitchen to make dinner and found I was missing a key ingredient. Sigh again. Telfer came home and we just bagged the family dinner (why is this so hard for us?) and fed the girls mini peppers and bananas on the way to Costco for a hot dog. Epic fail.

dark & stormy, a photo by telfandrea on Flickr.

But then, after the girls went to bed, Telfer made me a Dark & Stormy for the first time. It’s from Dinner, A Love Story (first link is to the blog, the second to the book). Truthfully, a Dark & Stormy + a good night’s sleep is exactly what I needed.

In other news:

I just made the girls’ birthday thank-you notes with this app. Love it! I emailed all of them but I had one printed and mailed to Nana (who doesn’t email). How cool is that?

We finished watching the first season of Homeland then shared the discs with Chris & Mendy. Utterly HOOKED. Good acting, good writing.

I am currently in a memoir mood. Read The End of Your Life Book Club by Will Schwalbe and My Berlin Kitchen: A Love Story with Recipes by Luisa Weiss and Running with Scissors by Augusten Burroughs. Loved all three and by reading any description of any of these books you will know if they are your thing or not.

Early tomorrow morning I am heading to Vancouver to run my second half-marathon with RaChelle this time. Why do I agree to these things? I am trying not to think about it too much. It’s supposed to rain, and rain hard, the entire time.