Miscellany

You know the drill…a post full of random bits of things that don’t go together.

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I’m really happy that all of my tulips from Aldi came up.

I am not happy that the surround-the-bulbs-with-crushed-glass trick failed to deter the voles, and that all of the tulips except for those in pots are now dead.

At least I took a picture before they were eaten.

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I’ve been thinking about how grateful I am for the grace my kids show me. Sometimes, I have a really hard time seeing anything but my mothering faults, but the four cards I got on Mother’s Day all said very lovely things, which I think were quite sincere.

I know good and well that I am not the world’s best mom, but I’m glad my kids somehow see me that way!
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I can’t manage to save every cute/hilarious paper thing my kids produce, so sometimes I just take a photo and then recycle the item. Saves space and costs nothing!

I liked this exchange between Sonia and Zoe because of the juxtaposition of colloquial and formal language.

They’ve been writing fortunes (like you’d get in fortune cookies), and I’m hoping this one was meant for me.

(I think the other one says, “You will have a good time at the pool.”)

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On the food waste front, I recently rescued some wrinkly potatoes by making a half recipe of scalloped potatoes.

And when we had many bananas ripen all at once, I did a little preemptive food waste fighting by cutting them into chunks and topping them with peanut butter. My kids love this and they can down a lot of bananas this way.

I could have let them go until they were overripe and then made banana bread or banana chocolate chip muffins, but this was significantly easier. And faster.

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You know I’m a big fan of hand-me-downs.

Well, I saved all of my very-loved childhood dolls, thinking that one day my then-hypothetical children would play with them. How fun to hand down your toys to your children, right?

Given that I have three girls, you’d have thought my dolls would be very popular. But somehow, none of the girls have been interested in playing with dolls.

Last week, though, Sonia and Zoe got inspired, and so my Fisher Price My Friend dolls have gotten some love.

I suppose these are considered to be vintage by now.

Oh, man. I just looked it up on eBay, and yep, everyone’s calling them vintage. Dear me.

At any rate, I’m glad my beloved (vintage) dolls are being played with.

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Signs of a good meal to come (in my opinion): Chopped onions and cilantro.