Random picture

November, 2008. My mother-in-law asked me to take a family portrait.



I don't think this was quite what she had in mind.

Baking, baking, and more baking

We went on a mini baking binge this week.

Wednesday, I made whole wheat apple-nut muffins:






in addition to our usual bread.


(That's a lentil soup in the crockpot for that night's dinner. Soup and fresh-baked bread. Yum.)

This morning, Morgan had a hankering to make something, so she went through my cookbooks and settled on a raisin-spice coffee cake with a powdered sugar icing. She made the whole thing all by herself. As I said in an earlier post, this kid is becoming quite the little baker. It's also a lovely treat to have someone else make breakfast, so I'm doing all that I can do encourage her. =D

She cut into it and served it up so quickly that I didn't have a chance to get a "before" shot, just a remnants shot.



Nom nom nom.



Thanks, Mo! It was delicious!

Day off

The girls and I had the day off from school and work yesterday. Among other things, I'd planned to take them out for lunch and then head over to the Zoo, but they had a different agenda in mind.

Instead of visiting the monkeys, we made sock monkeys,




snuggled with a few cherished critters and got lost in a book (or three),




and spent some time searching for Africa and other places.



We didn't do any of the things I'd planned in advance.



It was a lovely day.

It's been too long

Time to blow the dust off both this blog and the camera.

Yesterday, Morgan wanted something sweet for an after-school snack. I told her she could make a batch of cookies.

So she did. Oatmeal raisin, from scratch.




The best part: she did it all by herself.





I do believe we have another baker in the family!

2008

I haven't forgotten about this blog. I just haven't felt like posting.

For those of you who hang out with us IRL and/or follow my super sekret writing blog, this is old news, but for the rest of you: 2008 was a challenging year. Frankly, I'm glad to see the end of it. I was sick for five months total in 2008, plus recovery; that's a lot of lost time. The good news is that I was finally diagnosed with ulcerative colitis -- like Crohn's disease, it's a form of IBD -- and am responding very well to the meds, as well as diet and exercise. In fact, I'm feeling better now than I have in literally years.

I suppose it's funny to think of a diagnosis as good news, and I'd be lying if I said that it hasn't been somewhat of a mental adjustment to get used to this new reality, but at least now I know what's been wrong and what I can do to make it better. Plus, wow. It could be so much worse. If i had my druthers, of course I'd have innards that work perfectly, but consider the alternatives. Yeah. It could be a lot worse.

Also, I can now get out of just about any chore I don't want to do by pleading illness. "The sidewalk needs to be shoveled? Hmm. I'd love to, really I would, but, oh dear, the UC's acting up. In fact, I'd better go have a lie down..." Ha ha ha. All right, I would not actually do that, but really, this is one hell of a get-out-of-jail free card, should I choose to play it as such. Neat, huh?

Flippancy aside, I must say that there were a lot of great things that happened in 2008. I don't mean to overlook them: a new niece, the girls' various accomplishments and experiences, the 3-Speed Tour, camping trips, the Eppley's visit, wonderful family and friends...And oh boy, I tell you what: after going through this, I will never take my health for granted again. The old adage of eat right, exercise, get plenty of rest has taken on a whole new significance for me. That's a good thing. It really is. But honestly, being sick cast a shadow over the year. I'm more than ready to move forward.

Welcome, 2009!