Spring Break--woohoo!

Mabes is on spring break this week. I had intended to do lots of fun things. Instead, on Tuesday, I had to take Annabelle to the doctor for a double ear infection (fourth this year, if you're keeping track). Later that afternoon, I found out that our main credit card number had been stolen and someone had racked up over $1100 in charges at various online beauty retailers. My cold kept getting worse, Annabelle has been super clingy, and I have serious back pain from holding her so much. My voice has been coming and going, and when I do have a voice, any talking is interrupted by long, uncontrollable coughing fits. Mabes helps this by saying, "I can't understand you, Mommy, you need to stop coughing." I haven't had a Diet Coke in days (that alone testifies to how I feel). Annabelle has only been taking 1 short nap a day and is so tired by 7 pm that she can't stand up. I finally went to the doctor this morning (Mabes was climbing the walls. Literally. I never got that phrase, but now I do. Apparently, kids attempt to climb walls when they're bored. I still don't understand why.), and got two antibiotics for my eyes/sinuses/throat/lungs. And the pickle on the crap sandwich that is my week? I finally decided on making simple, easy Easter dresses for the girls, but now I can't work on them because if I lean forward at all, my sinuses and right eye feel like they'll explode.

But then, just as I was about to get Annabelle ready for bed, Mabes yelled, "It's the delivery man!" I'm quickly trying to figure out what outstanding Amazon purchases I have and can't think of any. And then Dave brings in this:


I don't know if it's the week or my love of food or my awesome sisters or all three, but I almost cried.

I realize the cheesecake is still in the plastic here. Once the cheesecake is unwrapped, all bets are off.
No time for pictures.

Week: You've totally been redeemed.

The Dutch are brilliant.

It only makes sense: if your country has really good chocolate, why not make it a breakfast food?


Dave brought these back from the Netherlands--they were among the toast topping selection, along with the apricot jam. It's hot and humid here, so I decided to make brinner tonight. And as if breakfast-for-dinner isn't enough of a guilty pleasure, I topped my waffle with DeRuijter and whipped cream. It was fantastic, and it's okay since it's Dutch, right? Somehow I don't think shaving a Hershey bar over a waffle would be the same.

Today was a good day

And not only because I didn't even have to use my AK (for the younger generation, look it up).

I sewed! Started and finished a dress for Mabes. Granted, it's not the most complicated dress, and it kind of looks like a pillowcase with a bow on it. My mom could have made this dress in 45 minutes, and baked cookies at the same time. But this is me. If you look closely, there are gathered layers. And sleeves. And beautiful, straight seams. I didn't have my mom looking over my shoulder via Skype, as I had initially planned. I didn't even call her to ask what a basting stitch was or which edges were the selvages. (This is especially huge, as I still call her to ask how much salt to put in lasagna and what temperature to set the oven. Though now it's become more of an inside joke and a good excuse to call my mom and tell her what I'm making for dinner. Yeah, I'm 30.) I did call my mom to tell her about the dress, and she was very excited for me. I realized her tone of voice was pretty much the same one I get when Mabes shows me her latest drawing of our family, including Ricecake and Rocket. It's not a fake tone; I love Mabes' drawings and each time she finishes one I just want to--and usually do--squeeze her. It's nice to know my mom still feels that way about my minor accomplishments.

The downside of an all-day sewfest is that Mabes gets a little stir crazy, so we decided to go out for a walk around lunchtime. Just as we were about to head out, my friend Jen called to say she was dropping "something" by for me. I was trying to remember if I'd left a pan or Mabes' cup at her house. When she came to my door, she said, "I don't know if you already have some, but I saw these and thought of you."

My first thought was that she had somehow smuggled these in from a faraway Costco, since we had been lamenting the fact that Costcos here don't carry these tortillas. I must have eaten a whole package when I was visiting Sarah. But no, OUR Costco has them now. She said they were in a different spot than at other Costcos, so I'm wondering how long these gems have been hiding out there. No matter, I'm just thrilled to have these now. I thanked Jen profusely and told her these made my day. Tortillas. If you don't get why these are worthy of a blog post, then you clearly haven't tried them. I could--and have been known to--eat these by themselves fresh out of the pan. In fact, I may go have one or two now...

Oh--and I got my camera back! In researching this camera, I had read that sometimes there's a "lens error" that causes the camera to just stop working, and that if this happens, you're screwed and Canon won't fix it (according to bitter reviewers on Amazon). But given the sweet deal and the fact that my old Canon is still chugging along after 5 years, I took my chances and got it anyway. Then I got the lens error. So I sent it to Canon's repair center, hoping that they'd stick with the "7 business day" online estimate. Again, Amazon reviewers would have you believe that Canon will assume you're just giving your camera to them to play with and never return. So I was thrilled that it was fixed in less than a day and sent back via 2 day express mail. I'm very happy to have it back in excellent working order--the old camera was really starting to hurt my wrist.