What We're Eating This Week 43/52

Saturday:
Dive bar burgers for the grown ups, take-n-bake pumpkin-shaped pizza for the kids.

Sunday:
(I have book club, so screw them, is basically the thought)
Stovetop chicken bake, roasted cauliflower, applesauce.

Monday:
Jack requested tuna salad sandwiches.  NO PROBLEM, MAN.  Assorted fruit and veggies, pretzels.

Tuesday:
Steak, shrimp, baked potatoes, shredded Brussels sprouts with bacon, rolls, salads

Wednesday:
Kids: sandwiches and stuff at hockey
Ben: whatevs after hockey
Me: Giving a talk and hopefully having  drink/appy after?

Thursday:
WORLD'S BEST LASAGNA (i always add spinach to the ricotta cheese), garlic bread, green beans

Friday:
PIZZA.  Duh.

TWO days of pizza in one week.  WINNER!!

I am also going to make this banana bread into muffins and these brownie cookies.

Sudden onset PMS-- is that a thing?

Have you ever suffered from sudden onset PMS?  Like, the other night, I went to the movies with a friend, came home to a house of sleeping kids, and hung out with Ben for a little bit.  And then all of the sudden! I was SO MAD about... everything?  Nothing?  IDK.  I mean, it was fine.  I recognized my weird feelings and basically just went to bed.  But, yikes!

In other news:

Dorothy went on her first field trip, and she was so terrified of the bus that I had to go with her on the bus instead of meeting the kids there.  She has never one on the bus before, and she kept asking me if we were going to die.  Erm.

 We toured an apple farm and picked out pumpkins.  It was adorbs.

 And you know what? We wore matching boots.

This semester, I am still having a hard time getting my act together, and one of the things I am getting sloppy about is the library.  When to go? When to go back? How to include the ids even though they're busy, too, etc.

 (She wants to take this picture every time)

 READING IS MY FAVORITE.

 I mean!  I have so many titles on the shelf!!

 Make these.  You will not be sorry.  But maybe you should not let your kids help themselves. Do you know how much I ate in the name of evening things out?

Have a fun weekend!!

Bits and Pieces

The coffee shop next to my office changed hands and now it is a coffee shop straight out of Instagram only I suck at taking pictures.

 I have big plans to spend most of NaNoWriMo there feeling all gram-y.

Dorothy would really, really like to have homework.

 Cooper made a frame-able art project and was so thrilled when we framed it.

 When you find a color you like...

I wish I had more to say, but I feel like my ability to prattle is directly related to my picture stash, and I have done a bad job this week of taking pictures.

Dance class!

Do you ever feel like you are running around like crazy maintaining everyone?  All of the kids needed check ups and flu shots.  I needed a check up.  Harry needs to follow up with his other doctor.  ALL APPOINTMENTS all the time.  And then!  Work meetings.  Kid activities.  I almost never have time to do any actual work.  GAH.  I don't even want to talk about my book.  And right now!  I am eavesdropping on 2 moms talking about Daisy Scouts and thinking about signing up to be a troop leader.  STOP ME BEFORE I START.

Reading Big

Our campus common reading program started 10 years ago, when Harry was 2.  A the first author reception before the first keynote event, a political science professor that I admire brought her daughter, and I thought Oh how awesome!  Maybe someday I will be able to bring a kid with me who has read the book, too.  At the time, on the cusp of my thirties, with a toddler and a baby at home, this seemed really, really far away.

And then.  Last night.

Harry, who attends a junior high magnet school focused on environmental science, was so excited to read this year's common read The Death and Life of the Great Lakes by Milwaukee journalist Dan Egan.  He has been super stoked about the chancellor's author reception and the keynote speech, and last night, he was my plus one for both.

We skulked around the corners of the fancy reception eating desserts and drinking (decaf) coffee and just as we were about to follow a few water science grad students over to Egan (who had his teenage daughter in tow) for a signature in Harry's book, the program coordinators hustled him off to prepare for his talk.

So Harry got a milkshake to go with his reception Sprites.

The theater was packed with over a thousand students, faculty, and community members.

We eagerly anticipated Egan, and we were delighted by his engaging, hopeful, deeply personal talk

And then!  YOU GUYS!  During the Q and A, Harry leaped over me and strode to the back of the house to stand in the question line behind a microphone.  AND THEN, in a room full of over 1000 people, HE ASKED A QUESTION-- one that was thoughtful and engaged and to which Egan gave a very serious and substantive answer. (He wanted to know about the blue green algae blooms that threaten Madison's lakes every summer and what we can do about them).

I was so proud!  And I could not even believe that the child who could barely talk when the Go Big Read program began is old enough to participate in the program, read the book, and ask the author a question.

He had a more policy oriented question about Nestle and the 2008 Great Lakes Compact that he texted me for asking at today' smaller author event that he can't attend because school project (those pesky middle schoolers and their dedication to their studies).  I promised to ask it, but Egan was very deft at avoiding policy talk in any kind of specific way.  At first I was disappointed by this, but clean water is one of the few bipartisan issues in our town, and I think it's best for the lakes if it stays that way.

I can't wait for next year-- Jack wants to give the book a try, too, whatever it turns out to be.

MOTY! KIND OF SERIOUSLY.

I have seven thousand (conservative estimate) things on my to do for today and very little time (NO TIME, really) to do them.

So, of course, I am writing a blog post for tomorrow, which will be today when you read it because auto-pub.

Tuesday morning at 6:10, there I was exercising away on my elliptical in my basement horror chamber when I glanced at my phone and discovered it was Jack's half birthday.  Facebook reminded me, in fact, because it showed me a picture of Jack blowing out some candles on a halfcake in 2017.  I was like OH MY GOSH!  I HAVE A CAKE MIX IN THE CABINET, and I leapt off my machine to throw together half a cake.  I also made chocolate buttercream frosting, finished my work out, and threw the cake in the freezer after it came out of the oven.  BEFORE JACK WOKE UP.

When he and Cooper went to walk the dog, Dorothy and I frosted and decorated it.

 And also made banana ghosts.

 SURPRISE!

 Happy half birthday, Jack.

And thank you, Facebook, for letting me be a total MOTY this morning.

The last few days, a haiku

 Too cold for sports ball
outside. And yet. Soccer and
baseball all weekend.

Weeknight movie date

Sometimes it's fun to surprise the kids with a night that feels completely unexpected.

We did that on Thursday by heading to see Goosebumps 2: Haunted Halloween, which Cooper has been DYING to see. (And yes, there are actual good movies in the theater that I want to see right now, but I am a giver).

Look how excited he is!

 Ben, too, clearly. (Dorothy came straight from dance class)

 Jack and I probably love movies the most.  We will see ANYTHING

 A big hit!  Yuge!

We even ordered a pizza at the movie theater, so when we got home, it was time to just put everyone to bed.  Between school all day and move all night, it was like we didn't even have any parenting work to do, and the kids were so surprised/delighted by such a small outing.  Win/win for sure!