Except I hate the word haven because it rhymes with maven and maven is absolutely ridiculous and is overused and is right up there with a myriad of other cliched terms that I hate hate hate and people keep using them anyway.

Your home is a quasi-reflection of you – not the full picture, mind you, but a piece of it. My home is a mixture of my sense of style, mixed with my paltry budget, mixed with hand-me-down pieces from family and friends. It doesn’t reflect my tastes, necessarily, but it kind of does. I mean, we do what we can with what we have, right? We can’t all live in showplace homes.

I am very focused on the spaces around me. I want them to feel peaceful and I want my spaces to feel like mine. Perhaps that’s why one of the first things I did after the separation was to paint my living room. It’d been so long since I’d gotten to make a decision like that without having to consult anyone else in the process. It was tremendously liberating to browse paint chips and select a color – and with every inch of wall covered by a paint -laden roller, my home became more and more mine. This is a good thing because the house payment? Mine. Might as well like what I’m paying for, yes?

A fresh coat of paint is a great way to make an impact on the appearance of your home without too much of a monetary investment. And, unlike knocking out a wall, changing fixtures, etc., if you decide after painting that you’re just not in love with the new color, it’s fairly easy to remedy.

Those are my main criteria for home projects these days:

1) It can’t cost a fortune

2) It can’t be that difficult to do

So. You can see why I’m itching to paint something again. But what? I love my entry way color. My bedroom color. My laundry room. I could paint the girls’ rooms, but I want something in a shared space versus bedrooms.

My kitchen/dining room (they kinda blur together – they share a wall so if you paint one, you probably have to paint both) seemed the most logical answer.

And I’ve been stumped on the color.

And then I bought this teapot.

I’m not saying I want a turquoise kitchen, but somehow? I want to complement this teapot and the other turquoise things I’m now convinced I need. Someday. When I’m less broke.

That drove me to get this handy dandy iPhone app that picks complementary colors.

Whoa there, iPhone. That’s a whole lotta beige.

YUCK.

400+ words later, I get to the core of it: I need help picking a paint color for my kitchen.

Something bright. Something that will look nice with my teapot.

Lay it on me, HGTV watchers and would-be designers. Ideas…go.

2. I saw this in Chicago. I love graffiti. I was kind of not great this year during the walk about taking pictures (oh, hello there rain). I had tucked my camera back into the pouch on my backpack and so I missed taking a picture of some other graffiti I saw – it read “Yes My Love” and I don’t know why it was there, but it makes me wonder, you know. You’ve got a marker, you’ve got paint, you’ve got something and you’re leaving your mark (albeit, probably illegally) – and you say “Life Takes Time” or “Yes My Love” and it makes me wonder why, but it makes me smile also. Reminds me of the whole “Seek Joy” thing. I don’t mind that there are people who write these unexpected things that make me smile. Yeah, for everyone one of them, there are twenty of them writing indecipherable or obscene stuff… but that stuff somehow never fully registers in my brain.

3. I have been craving breakfast-y foods this week and I have yet to truly give in but oh, the number of times I have thought about french toast or some other carb-y delightful breakfast-y goodness. I suppose that this is where I mention that I’ve started to use the LoseIt app again and I’ve reduced the amount of fun things I’m eating. ANYWAY. For those who are able to partake of the yummy breakfast (or for me to give in to this weekend) here are some of my favorite recipes: Dutch Baby Pancakes, Overnight Caramel French Toast, or that yummy Crumb-Coated Nutella Stuffed French Toast. I’m not one who worships at the Church of Bacon, but those two french toast recipes are sweet and could use a little bacon.

4.In digging the archives for French toast recipes I found a post from when Pumpkin was two and apparently she was sick and she wasn’t a good sleeper then and she still isn’t all these years later. I imagine that when she’s twenty-something, she’ll be up late on whatever their version of the internet is complaining about not being able to sleep.

5. New single from The Civil Wars out this week.

6. Having felt so blah since returning from the Avon Walk (heeeeey, walking in the rain? Not that good for you), I’ve cut back on coffee by a lot and have been drinking tea instead. New love? Vanilla Rooibus tea (sans milk) from Starbucks. Yum. And I’m not even really a tea person. I miss coffee but… tea has helped a lot. Sipping lukewarm green tea as I type.

7. School’s out for summer. No summer “to do” list for our family – I see a lot of Summer Check Lists and ya know, I just don’t have it in me (or my wallet) to pull off some of those types of things. We’re gonna have fun when we can have fun and do what we can to enjoy it – and as much as I love a good list, I just can’t make myself do it.

8. I have yet to turn my AC on this season even though already there have been days where I’ve really wanted to. Buuuut when the furnace people came a few weeks ago (months? I don’t know. Time is a blur) they basically said, “Your AC is not going to make it through the summer; you need new motors.” Well, I am not ready to buy new motors, so… I’m babying the AC. And sweating profusely.

9. When I was with Toni at Camp Makearoo, she suggested I practice some gratitude practices to help muddle through the rough times and recommended the iPhone app Happier. Britt recommended the same app in a post yesterday. I’m kind of loving it – and it’s worth a peek, particularly if you’re having trouble with the whole glass half full thing, as I sometimes do.

10.  Tomorrow I get a manicure for the first time in I don’t know how long. I hope my cuticles are prepared to be beaten into submission because dang my hands look gross right now. Yay for taking the time to pamper myself (even if I should totally spend the money on motors for my AC/furnace).

I missed writing my Thursday Ten post this week. I missed writing it and I missed writing it. It’s the post I look forward to most each week – partly because I don’t have to be coherent or even have a point, and partly because it’s my way of catching up with y’all who read, and giving myself something to look back on – oh, that’s what I was doing then.

But. I just couldn’t.

I got back from Chicago, got back from 39.3 miles for the Avon Walk. I came home feeling not so fabulous. I got sick this year – and I’mma chalk it up to allergies a bit and walking in the rain a bit (like, 15 miles “a bit”). Then I found out my family was meeting with hospice about my grandfather. It feels like there’s been a lot going on all at once and I spent the entire week feeling like I couldn’t get ahead of myself, not even if I tried.

So…

I didn’t try.

And then I got a little hormonal (PMS can die in a fire. Or not. But I wish it could because YUCK YUCK YUCK I HATE EVERYTHING AND I’M RETAINING ALL THE WATER) and a little sad and a little tired and a little grumpy.

And in my head, when I’m feeling like this, in my head I am still composing posts and thinking of all the things I would say if I would just come here and say those things… and then I don’t.

I don’t know what my point is.

So I’ve included a pretty picture of Lake Michigan from the first mile of the Avon Walk.

It’s Sunday evening and there’s a new week in front of me. A new week where at one point, I’ll get to get dressed up and be a grownup for a little while. I’m kind of looking forward to that. A week where hopefully I can shake some of the fog from last week off and find a new beginning and feel a little less grouchy and a little more like putting one foot in front of the other.

Let’s see where it goes, shall we?

How to talk to children about dying, I type.

I find these articles, articles that tell me to be honest with my children and brief, but to answer all of their questions. Don’t say that dying is like the body going to sleep forever. What you say about after dying depends on what you believe.

The articles say that parents often avoid talking to their children about death – ostensibly to “protect the children” but in reality, it’s a method of avoiding. Let’s not talk about the difficult things. If we ignore it, it will go away. If we don’t talk about it then can it really be happening?

My family met with hospice yesterday.

“I thought about all of the things that everyone ever says to each other, and how everyone is going to die, whether it’s in a millisecond, or days, or months, or 76.5 years, if you were just born. Everything that’s born has to die, which means our lives are like skyscrapers. The smoke rises at different speeds, but they’re all on fire, and we’re all trapped.”

- Jonathan Safran Foer, Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close

The thing is… no one is saying that this is it. They’re not saying it’s days or weeks. In the hours that have passed since my mother called me with the news, I have been told numerous times that there are people who have had hospice care for years even. While I’m not naive to believe that that would be the case here, it has helped me find peace to know that there’s still time.

But.

While there’s still time, it’s important to make the most of that time, to take none of it for granted and to make sure my grandfather knows just how very loved he is, has always been, and how much better he has made my world.

My dad said to me on the phone yesterday, “Sarah, death is a part of life,” and I was angry at this statement. Though realistic, and though it’s true, the expression of this truth felt like he was crushing me, and ant beneath the heel of a boot. While I know he’s right, and while I know the statement wasn’t intended to hurt, it did.

That my grandfather is dying is devastating to me. Yes, it’s a part of that whole circle thing – but it’s the part that sucks for those of us who will be left behind.

“Dying was nothing and he had no picture of it nor fear of it in his mind. But living was a field of grain blowing in the wind on the side of a hill. Living was a hawk in the sky. Living was an earthen jar of water in the dust of the threshing with the grain flailed out and the chaff blowing. Living was a horse between your legs and a carbine under one leg and a hill and a valley and a stream with trees along it and the far side of the valley and the hills beyond.”
- Ernest Hemingway, For Whom the Bell Tolls

He has made his peace and he has lived an amazing life and he has loved and he is loving and we have loved and we are loving and I don’t know how my world will ever be the same.

When I was younger I remember standing in my front yard and the air was cool with a strong breeze, the clouds pushed through the sky by the wind. “The world must be spinning very fast today,” my mom said, and I laughed at her.

“It’s not the earth, mom, it’s the wind!” I replied.

“My dad always told me that it was because the world was spinning really fast.”

And it’s just like him to have said such a thing, and mom will tell you now that she never really believed that, but at the heart of it all, he’s a kind soul, with a light heart, and a goofy sense of humor.

“I’m in good with the man upstairs,” he told my sister during one of his hospital stays this past fall. Deeply rooted in his faith, I don’t doubt that he’s found his peace and he has comfort in what may be waiting for him – that perhaps to him this is not an ending, but a new beginning.

I’ve, uh… never been good at the faith thing – but I hope that his beliefs bring him hope and comfort.

“In the external scheme of things, shining moments are as brief as the twinkling of an eye, yet such twinklings are what eternity is made of – moments when we as human beings can say “I love you,” “I’m proud of you,” “I forgive you,” “I’m grateful for you.” That’s what eternity is made of: invisible imperishable good stuff.”
-Mister Rogers

Over the past 24 hours, I have thought to myself, how truly blessed I am to know while I still have the opportunity to tell him, how much I love him, how he has made a difference to me. How I’m grateful for every little moment – and every not so little moment – and I still get to tell him. He’s still here. Not everyone is that lucky.

As for what I’ll tell my children, I still don’t entirely know. I suppose I’ll tell them that great grandpa is old, and that bodies are similar to machines and to toys in that sometimes when they get older, things start going wrong, they don’t always work so well anymore. And sometimes, like that time when we were able to sew that stuffed animal back together, people and toys can be fixed. And sometimes they cannot. That we’ll be spending more time with my grandpa, their great grandpa, while we can. I’ll tell them stories about how when I was a kid, he always had candy for me like he always has for them now. How he told their grandmother that the world was spinning very fast. That he always kept pretzel rods and red Koolaid in the house. That when I was a kid and he’d call on the phone, we raced to see who could say “GOTCHA!” to the other first. That I’m sad because I love him, but that even when someone dies, we don’t forget them and that we get to keep the memories. That he’s still the same person, and there’s nothing to be scared of. And how he calls The Princess the smart gymnast and Pumpkin is the funny one and how much he loves them. I’ll let The Princess do handstands in the nursing home so he can see her and brag about her to the other residents. And when Pumpkin hides under a chair to be funny, I’ll let her because he thinks it’s funny too.

This part of parenting is hard.These things, these big heavy things that they’ll learn about from me and from life. I don’t want to be scared of these big things, because I don’t want them to fear them either.

This isn’t easy.

This is all just really really awful.

But I love him. I don’t want him to hurt.And I don’t get a choice in what happens, only what I do with the time we have left.

And so I will make it count.

2. And The Princess is now eleven years old. She was magnificently spoiled on her birthday and I am officially (though temporarily) tired of baking. Two cakes and 30+ cupcakes later, I think I went through all of my baking supplies at least once over the past weekend. Also? I hate frosting cupcakes.

3. With the upcoming weekend – with 40 miles of walking – HOURS of exercise ahead of me, you’d think I could just chill about missing last night’s work out. But – the night got away from me. Between picking up kids and hockey and dinner and vacuuming and un-birthdaying the house… not even remotely sure where the time went… only that I had no time to work out. It shouldn’t be a big deal, but “break a sweat daily” is so ingrained in my way of being that it felt really strange to park my fanny on the couch and do nothing.

4. Speaking of hockey…Good season, Red Wings. It was a bummer to see them lose last night, but that’s the way it goes sometimes.

5. The weather has been bizarre lately. Hot and then cool and then… tornado type weather and storms. Pumpkin decided to camp out with me the other night because of storms. Yeah. That wasn’t a whole ton of fun (or sleep).

6. Allergies. Do you have them? How miserable are you right now? I can’t believe how awful my allergies are, and I know I’m not the only one.

7. I back up all the kids’ CDs in my itunes (I have to back up The Princess’s latest Taylor Swift – but I keep “forgetting”), so occasionally when I’m listening to things on shuffle, one of their songs will pop up. I guess that’s why I’ve had Miley Cyrus’s “When I Look At You” stuck in my head for two days.

8. Just one more week of school for the girls and while the pace of summer slows life down a little bit, I still recall last summer and JUST HOW MESSY a house gets when two kids are home all day. Though I’m fortunate to have amazing family childcare and a LOT of help because of it, coming home to a destroyed kitchen always sets my teeth a bit on edge. Guess it’s time to lay some groundrules for the next three months.

9. I want a shelf lined with jars of sand from different beaches. I want to sit on a beach and watch the sun rise. I have very distinct moments of wanting to escape and I am equally called to the sounds of city and to the sounds of water. I guess it’s fitting that I’ll be in Chicago soon.

10. My kids’ school sells yearbooks. Like it’s become this money making enterprise now – Um, why does a second grader need a yearbook (she doesn’t) and who gets to listen when you don’t buy said yearbook because COME ON, middle school and up, but no one needs a year book for every year of elementary school. Um, sorry. I’ve just heard for the past two days, “Why didn’t I get a yearbook?” from Pumpkin. I feel very “get off my lawn” about it all – but… ridiculous.

It’s silly actually because all I did was follow the directions, and the recipe wasn’t that complicated, but it tastes complicated – and impressive. I made these tacos for someone who is an amazing cook, and when he enjoyed them, I was so pleased with myself. Ridiculously pleased with myself.

Maybe a little bit too much so.

When I was originally looking to make a list of things to cook, I got to item 40 or so on my list and got stumped. Joe from The Hungry Dudes suggested this recipe to me, the Chipotle Stout Beer Braised Beef Tacos. Immediately, I was intrigued.

And since Grand Rapids, Michigan is BEER CITY USA 2013, I surely had enough craft beers at my disposal to use for this recipe.

Originally, I thought I’d use Founders Breakfast Stout.

Only… I waited too long and KBS was bye-bye.

CRAP.

The recipe had suggested a stout with coffee notes… and well, that would have been pretty darn perfect.

I’m fairly beer dumb. I don’t really know a stout from a porter from an IPA. So, I enlisted some of my favorite people – who happen to be VERY beer savvy to recommend a few options.

Ended up with The Poet Oatmeal Stout from New Holland Brewing Company.

Have you cooked with chipotles in adobo sauce before? Yuuuum.

Granted, you only use TWO large peppers from this can, and so… I guess I better come up with other recipes to use ‘em, rather than waste the leftovers.

Raw meat. That’s… not pretty.

This recipe calls for a tri tip roast — a cut of meat I have never seen in a grocery store. Now granted, I’ve only started looking in the past few months, but when I decided I was really serious about making this recipe and making it soon, I started researching where I could buy a roast in Grand Rapids. Lucked out and found a local store on the first try — while I was there I also picked up some flank steak which I used for The Princess’s birthday dinner yesterday and DANG – amazing. I can’t say I’ll buy ALL my meat there, but for those times it really counts, I surely will. It’s leaner and waaaaaay easier to cook (and eat. I get grossed out with fatty pieces of meat. YUCK).

So, you’ve got all the ingredients and you sear that (expensive but lovely) tri tip and then you add beer and beef broth, like up there. While you’re doing that, you’ll want to chop up your onion. Your garlic (the recipe called for six cloves, so… I used nine).

Cut those chipotles in adobo.

Yeah. Those look gross too.

Then? Basically, your work with these tacos is DONE. Simmer for about three hours, flipping your roast over each thirty minutes. After the first hour, my house smelled like I’d been cooking with red wine, though I had used stout.

A beery-er person than I could probably tell you why, but all I know is WOW. For the hours this simmered in the cast iron enamel pot on my stove, my house smelled heavenly.

And then I threw together the pico. I was supposed to have red onion but I bought a white one by mistake. No matter. It was still good. Also? You can double this recipe. You should. Because you’ll probably wish you had more pico. It’s crazy easy. Except the chopping cilantro part. Chopping cilantro is a pain in the ass.

Yeah. I said it.

I need kitchen scissors, I think. Herb cutting scissors.

This was a total WIN all around.

I cannot think of anything I’d do differently (well, except have more flour tortillas on hand – even when I steam them, I can’t get corn tortillas to cooperate and not fall apart).

Well, scratch that. I’d have gotten it together enough to make margaritas or sangria with these tacos. NOTE: Most sangrias require overnight refrigeration. There will be no spontaneous making of sangria for you. Or anyone. Sheesh, sangria. Why so high maintenance?

Anyway – yeah, you’ll want a nice cold festive beverage to knock the edge off the heat of the tacos. Plan ahead for it. You won’t be sorry.

Make these. Make these. Make these.

(They were good, can’t you tell?)

Last week, your sister woke me up and the first words out of her mouth were, “Eight days until Princess’s birthday.” She was so excited about your birthday that it was her first thought upon waking that day. I don’t blame her; I’m pretty excited too.

I know that this has been a big weird crazy year, and I hope that we’re able to move past the chaos and the changes and the transition and settle into some new kind of normal. I kind of dig our house full of girls (well, and the dog), and I’ve been working really hard to do what I can to limit the disruption in your life.

It’s been hard, the times I’ve had to say, “No we can’t buy this” or “We can’t do this” — and I hate it as much as you do, however, in a way it’s been a blessing because I see you appreciating the small things more. I’m the mom, and it’s my job to make sure you have shoes that fit you – but it wasn’t until this year that you thanked me when I bought them for you. I’m doing my best to keep your head free of cares while I get back on my feet, but I know you can tell that it’s not always easy.

You’ve grown up a lot this year – and yeah, part of that is because of life and circumstance and part of it is because, well, it’s time. Just last week they had “the talk” at school. Also, I recently attended the orientation for middle school. And frankly? Nothing says “growing older” like a crush on a boy band where the members have ridiculous hair (someday you’ll laugh about this One Direction thing. Maybe. I laugh about liking New Kids on the Block when I was younger. Google them. You’ll laugh too).

Last week we baked biscuits for strawberry shortcake and I made you laugh by dancing around the kitchen to Vanilla Ice’s “Ice Ice Baby” (“You’re so proud of yourself that you know all the words to this old song, aren’t you?” you said to me). I love to make you laugh. And I love that we bake together. You’re pretty good at it, and soon I won’t even have to bother. You’ll take my Queen of Cookies crown (there’s not actually a crown, but if there were, we’d have it).

You are both extremely serious and extraordinarily silly and I like when silly trumps serious sometimes. You’re a kid. Life is silly. Please keep finding the fun.

We survived another season of gymnastics – you have a whole slew of medals now – and I’m fantastically proud of you. I don’t know where you go from here with it – you have an opportunity to go to a bigger and better gym — and I don’t think you want to. That’s okay, Princess. While I want you to have the opportunity to try a different place with a different style, it’s more important to me that you are able to hang on for your love of the sport. I don’t want this to be un-fun for you. I will follow your lead.

You’re extraordinarily smart. You…well, you always have been. I could sugar coat it or put on that “aw shucks” attitude about it – but, you were just born this way. Wish I could take credit for it, but dang, girl. You’re kind of just amazing by nature. It’s fun to watch your brain work.

I have no idea what this upcoming year holds for you – but I know that I will sit back and try to enjoy this ride. I imagine this is a year where you will start demanding more independence and thus it will be the year where I will have to learn a little bit how to let go and when to let go and when I still get to hold on. You are amazingly grounded with a level-head on your shoulders, and I’ve been blessed to have you in my world.

Eleven years ago today I first looked at your face and my world was changed, and daily you keep changing my world in all kinds of spectacular ways. Eleven years ago I officially became a mom, and though I’m not one to define myself solely by the fact that I am a mother, being a mother – being your mother – has shaped who I am more than anything else in my world ever has.

Sheesh. Where did all that time go?

Happy birthday to you, Princess. I love you with my whole heart and I am oh so very lucky to be your mom.

I love you,

Mom

6. After weeks of listening to her cough, I finally took Pumpkin in to the doctor’s where she left with a prescription for an inhaler and recommendation to take allergy meds. The inhaler actually seems to be helping already. Still coughing but not as much, so I hope she’s on the mend.

7. Watching my dog try to kill mosquitoes is pretty damn funny.

8. For a coworker’s birthday yesterday, I brought homemade strawberry shortcakes to the office. It was a nice change of pace but I made the mistake of bringing the leftovers home. STOP EATING THE HOMEMADE WHIPPED CREAM, SARAH.

9. What is it about people and granite countertops on these homebuying shows? Am I the only one who thinks granite counter tops are ugly (I actually typed that as “ughly” first – which is also appropriate)? On the other hand, butcher block counters? Sign me up.

10. Do you have a favorite candy? I love sweets but really try to limit what I let myself have because once I get a taste for something, I just want them a lot. Case in point: Gummy bears. I could probably eat gummy bears every day and not get tired of them. This is an old picture but I spent a lot of time last night thinking of gummy bears – despite the strawberry shortcakes – so…

When I originally put key lime cheesecake on my list, I selected a recipe I was sent for a vegan key lime cheesecake but the funniest thing happened.

I remembered I wasn’t vegan.

Also? I like the cream cheese part of cheesecake.

Also? I decided to make this cheesecake as a thank you for the folks who work in my mom’s office for their support – monetary and just general enthusiasm – for my participation in the Avon Walk for Breast Cancer.

So, I made a non vegan recipe.

The kids saw key limes in the store the other day. A one pound bag of key limes? Not too pricey. Cream cheese, on the other hand, kind of is. FYI, I almost always use neufchatel instead of regular cream cheese. I’ve never detected a difference in the quality of cheesecake and because of that, I kinda figure, why not reduce some of the unhealthy where you can?

Dear key limes (and graham cracker crumbs on my counter. Oy).

Not gonna lie, I feel a bit punk’d by the idea of key limes. They’re tiny little lime wannabes that produced very little juice and a whole lotta seeds. And one pound of key limes barely produced the 2/3 cup of key lime juice I needed.

(Later, I found this was okay – I think using the full amount would have made them TOO tart – this was just the right sour)

To juice the key limes with greater ease, I rolled them on the counter first, pressing hard against the lime with the palm of my hand, hoping to kinda squash all that juice out of the pulp.

It sort of worked.

Ugh.

Apparently the difference is that key lime juice is more aromatic and it’s more intense in flavor.

Um. Okay.

The end result (and I only had one bite – I told y’all I was sending this cheesecake elsewhere!) was tasty. It was a nice warm weather kinda cheesecake.

But I’m guessing using regular limes, though far less fancy sounding, woulda been WAY. EASIER.

2. And the mosquitoes remind me that my dog is late for his heartworm test and probably should start taking his heartworm medication soon. Crap. I hope the vet is open late some evening during the week.

3. The end of the school year brings all of this stuff that has to get done and it seems like it’s never ending (Didn’t I mention this last week?). Today it’s money due for a field trip, yesterday was Special Person’s day at The Princess’s gym. I wish I had all the time in the world to attend every little thing and the available brain space to remember every little thing. I suspect part of the problem is that I’m not getting all of the school papers (those pesky backpacks are like black holes)…

4. Seems like I spend a lot of time grumping about what’s wrong that I figured I would try to be a little bit more positive – and focus on what’s good rather than what sucks. I decided that yesterday after I was trying to open my garage door and the door raised a quarter of the way and then the motor stopped working and the door just slammed down into the pavement. Ugggggh. One more thang. At least it’s not snowy. Parking in my driveway instead of in the garage, it’s not a huge deal. But yeah, I need to get better about choosing what I let get to me and what I let roll off my back. (If I were to make a wish though, I’d wish for some calm)

5. The girls and I spent last weekend in Wisconsin – do you know how excited they were to realize the days we were traveling, they’d been in FOUR states (Michigan, Indiana, Illinois, Wisconsin). The drive there was smooth as can be. On the way back? I was grouchy, the kids were grouchy, and the toll roads were annoying the hell out of me. It didn’t help that Pumpkin asked, less than an hour into our five hour drive, “HOW MUCH LONGER?” Oh kid. We’ve got HOURS. But, I’m clearly home. We survived. It was fun to get away and spend time with friends and find some peace for a few days.

6. While we were in Wisconsin, my friends taught the girls the “Makin’ Bacon Pancakes” song – I think it’s from Adventure Time. I’m sure that didn’t help the five hour drive back to Michigan either. But, it makes the kids happy. I don’t love bacon OR pancakes so, sounds gross to me.

7. Round two of the playoffs, game 1. Annnd the RedWings lost. What a bummer. On the plus side? At least the game was over before 11 p.m. Here’s to a victory in Game Two. *fingers crossed* (Let’s go RedWings, clap clap clap clap clap…)

8. Remember that blog cooking project I have? Don’t worry, I remember it too. I found a recipe for a sourdough starter, so I’ll get that going and while that starter is…starting… I’ll finally give making hummus a whirl! The girls and I have a low key weekend in front of us. That’s SUCH a rarity these days. There will be hummus. And pita chips. Lots and lots of pita chips.

9. With less than 2 weeks until her birthday, The Princess has now given me a very very specific birthday list. She wants a yoga mat. I think I may get her one. Life is chaos, and if she can find peace that way, then that would be a super good thing.

10. Someday I’ll write my memoir and I’ll name it “Eating CheezIts At Midnight.” That’s what I’m doing now. Eating crackers, finishing up this post and getting ready for bed. I’ll wake up in a few hours, nice and extra specially bloated from all the salt. Hmmm yeah. Can’t wait. (I really love CheezIts. It’s almost worth it.)