Six Random Thoughts

1. God Bless the Garbage Men.  Every Monday is garbage day, and it is a wonderful blessing in this house.  Not because we have very much garbage.  We usually only half fill up our small size bin.  It's because the garbage men and the garbage trucks make Bluejay and Chickadee SO HAPPY.  Nothing can pull us out of a funk like the arrival of the garbage truck. Often we run outside to see the first one.  The garbage man waves, and toots his horn for us.  And there are THREE different trucks that come throughout the day, one for garbage, one for recycling and one for clean green, so we never miss them all. Monday is a great day, thanks to the garbage men.

2. Comfort food.  I tend to cook the same "types" of meals all the time.  I am most comfortable with pasta.  If we need to eat vegetables or are fasting, I make some sort of vegetable medley over pasta.  If we need protein, I make some sort of sausage or meat sauce over pasta.  Sometimes I vary it with vegetables or meat over rice or polenta.  I almost always make a salad.  Boy am I creative.  Anyway, my husband really likes traditional American comfort food.  (I've noticed that this kind of comfort food generally has a "cream" component, whether it's cream of mushroom soup or anything that starts out as a roux or just a nice dollop of cream, especially sour cream). Last night I wanted to make something he would really like, so I did chicken fried chicken, mashed potatoes and corn, with, of course, gravy.  And not even a salad in sight.  It was a big hit.  Aaron loved it. I loved it too.  But, I was sweating after all the boiling and frying (there were three pots boiling on the stove in addition to the frying pan full of hot oil, and the oven was on to keep the finished chicken pieces warm).  Also, there was a LOT of butter and oil that went into that meal.  And this is coming from someone who loves butter so much she puts it on her croissants.  So I need to find a nice balance between comfort food and clogged arteries.

3. Restraint.  There was a Friends marathon on TV the other night.  I only watched two episodes!  That is restraint, my friends.  Especially since we're getting rid of TV again this week (we signed up for cable to watch the Olympics).  Why do I love Friends so much?

4. Bacon in the oven! There probably shouldn't be multiple food related points in each post.  But seriously, bacon cooked in the oven? Is one of the best ideas ever.

5. Time away from the kids.  My husband has been trying to give me an evening away from the kids each week.  This is a new thing, and very much needed.  To reciprocate, I told him to stay home the other evening while I took the babes over to a friend's house for dinner.  He used his time away to pick up the house.  I could not possibly be more grateful.  Thank you thank you to my most favorite person.

6. A.S. Byatt.  I mentioned that I'd started a new book, in my last post.  It is Possession.  So far, it is VERY good.  Best book I've read in a long time.  I am a slow reader these days, so bear with me, but if it's decent through to the end, I'll be sure to let you know.  Oh, and it's a "romance" in the literary sense of the term.