Where and What

Where have I been. What have I been doing. All good questions. As I look back since my last post, the answers are a blur of ... baby stuff, work stuff, and other stuff. All good stuff but as i said, a blur. Folks always say, time goes so quickly once you have kids. Agreed. I ponder back on these 6 months since the kid joined us on this earth... just 'yesterday' he was barely ever awake, needed constant head support, and woke often thru the night for food or just some mom-time. and 'now' he fights off naps, independently holds up his head and wants to sit up on his own, and snoozes 12 hours a night. Its all good stuff. But he needs me a little less - already. Time - going so quickly.

Where I have been? Work. Back to the reality of earning a living. paying the bills. paying for daycare. It feels good but doesn't all at the same time. The weekends - I soak up as much of the kid as i can because monday-thursday, I suffer withdrawl of him. His smell. His grin. His laugh. His baby mohawk. How he looks while sleeping. His babble sounds. Just Him:)

What have I been doing? Again work. Mom stuff. Kid stuff. Occassionally some cooking and reading. My two hobbies. Husband and I have this hobby discussion often.

"You have too many hobbies", I tell him.

"Theres no such thing as too many hobbies", He responds.

"Yes, there is. They consume too much of you, too often. And you are obsessed with all your hobbies."

"Obsessed - no. Its called interested."

"Okay, DEEPLY interested. But its a bit out of hand. First it was the bonsai trees and all the bonsais you had to buy, along with the supplies, tree food, books about them. Then Pearl Jam. Your fanclub membership. ALL their CD's. and then the CD's of all their concerts - its the SAME songs! Then the metal detector. The one you had wasn't good enough so you had to get a better one with more stuff. Rods. Coils. Then a couple websites you needed to join to talk with other detector people. OH and now its football season and the pittsburgh steeler games you can't miss. Like i said, too many hobbies!"

"You don't like that i have hobbies? Maybe you don't get it because YOu don't have any hobbies", he states.

"I don't mind that you have hobbies. There are just so many of them. And they're so time consuming. And, i DO have hobbies!"

"What are your hobbies?"

"Well..." LONG PAUSE.

"See?!? You need a hobby! Lets think of a hobby for you."

"No... I have hobbies. I like to read. I like to cook," i tell him.

"Why don't you do them? If they are your hobbies and you enjoy them... then you Do those things."

"Hello. I'm busy! Baby. Work. More Baby. More work."

"And when you aren't doing those things?"

"I'm asleep", I laugh.

So I vowed to him to spend a little more time doing my 'hobbies'. Even if that means some chores have to wait.

I finished reading "When Bad things Happen to Good People" which until page 100 i mistakenly thought was titled "WHY Bad things Happen to Good People". Somewhere around page 100, i said to self, 'this guy is nowhere close to answering his own title!' and glanced at the cover. Oh. WHEN bad things... Oh. Well. I began reading it for the WHY but, finished it anyway. Good. But not great. Now I'm reading "Peace Like A River" or am I? Does it count as actually reading if you've only read 1 page? I say it does. hopefully with the holiday weekend, i'll sneak in some reading time. And maybe buy a new book called "Moose" by Stephanie Klein.

I cooked up some new recipes lately. We're always whipping up homemade salad dressings because we eat a salad every night. Some recipes we loved, some husband hated and i just liked and others we agreed, weren't worth making again. The 'not worth making' ones i won't waste time writing about. A few of the good ones -

Chickpea Cutlets from the Veganomicon cookbook. I loved these!! Husband didn't end up trying them because of - well not sure why. Go Figure. Click here for this yummy recipe.

Hemp Omega Caesar Dressing from Kristens Raw. We both loved this dressing and agreed it was a nice change from our usual vinegarette. Recipe here

A 'recreated' Annie's Woodstock Dressing from Musings from the Shire blog. I love Annie's Woodstock Dressing in the bottle but it ain't cheap! So i attempted to recreate it with this recipe. I loved this dressing but didn't feel it was as good as the bottle, but still really good. Husband said it had too much soy sauce. So the second time i made it, i used half as much. Better. Recipe here

Red Jumble Crumble from the Urban Vegan. We both Loved this one! Its dessert so of course we did. Will definitely be making again and again. recipe here

Savory Shiitake Saute from the newly updated VegNews website. Loved how easy this was and we both really liked it. I did double the amount of mushrooms it called for and was glad i did. those shrooms shrink! Careful not to cook noodles too long - we did and it wasn't as good as if they were al dente. but for our first time using this type of noodle, we just didn't know how fast they cooked! husband even ate these leftovers a couple times for lunch. Click here for the recipe.

Mac n Cheese from VegNews again. I loved this one and husband said it was just okay. If i hadn't told him what was in it, i think he would have loved it. but he couldn't get past the fact there was one little potato in a pasta dish. I will definitely make it again though - great flavors. Recipe here

So, I dove into my hobbies as best I could considering I have a full time job, baby, two dogs, a house, chores, and well, there is the need for sleep. Husband asks where the clean works shirts are and i replied, still in the dirty clothes. He looks at me puzzled. I remind him I'm focusing more on my hobbies, less on chores, as he encouraged me to do. "Oh right", he nodds.

I plan on buying a couple new books (or getting a few for christmas!) as well as some new cookbooks that are meatless (again, christmas) so i don't have to veganize meaty recipes. Despite diving into my hobbies, the past two nights husband has eaten veggie burgers.

"I guess I'll have a veggie burger with chips again," he mumbles as he stares into the fridge, holding the door wide open.

"I didn't want to shop this weekend because we're leaving Thursday morning early," i remind him.

"Yea, but we do need to eat until Thursday."

"Theres plenty of stuff in the freezer."

He pushes past all the frozen bags of breastmilk, slowly naming off what he sees... "Frozen bananas, raspberries, apples, blackberries, a pie crust, veggie burgers, edamame, lima beans, peas, corn, vegan sausage... how can they call it that? sausage. I mean, its not." He sighs as he pulls out the veggie burgers. I remind him they're healthier, we have whole wheat buns, and be glad i didn't make lentil burgers.