Category: About Me

About Me

2020

Autumn

A few years ago, a mormon bishop took it upon himself to inform me that my lifestyle was outdated, and that as a woman I needed to apply myself to a career instead of settling for being a simple stay-at-home-mom. He proclaimed this on a Sunday, while wearing a suit, with the authority of God and all that jazz.

And I thought to myself, “Wow, even the mormons don’t like me.”

If it was some sort of attempt at conversion, it had the exact opposite effect — and I’m still very much a stay-at-home mom. I guess the thing that people don’t understand is that I feel an enormous amount of passion about raising my children, and no criticism is going to change that. I’m not going to sell my soul for approval.

The one thing that I did take away from the exchange was that I am alone.

Totally, completely, alone.

I’ve met a lot of women who consider raising kids to be nothing more than a diversion from the ever-so-much-more-important career. Like paychecks are the only things that matter in life.

I’ve lived with the isolation ever since.

But here’s the funny thing about 2020: despite the lockdowns, social distancing, and rampant censorship, the one thing that I’ve learned is that I’m not alone.

There are a lot of people like me.

More than I would have expected, too.

We were just all too scared to say what we really thought before now.

Photo by Rakicevic Nenad on Pexels.com
About Me

Austrian cream cheese bars

Autumn

I jumped on the baking bandwagon.

I don’t actually know if that’s still a thing, or if people have burnt out on it by now.

But anyway, I’ve been baking WAY more than I used to. For the sweet tooth.

I made Austrian cream cheese bars, and thought that it would be fun to take a picture for the blog.

But before I got around to it, my two-year-old attacked them with a chopstick while I wasn’t looking.

So here you go. Yummy.

They’re supposed to have nuts on top, but I didn’t have any on hand.

About Me

Giving Thanks

Autumn

The depressing part is, this isn’t the first time my husband and I have tackled making a full-blown Thanksgiving dinner on our own. Heck, we’ve even got it down to an art, too. So, the number one thing that I’m most grateful for is that we have each other and our children.

Pro tip: Make dessert first, a day or two ahead of time. Keep a straw broom handy to chase the children away.

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We’re fostering a kitten, and while I was putting the frozen groceries away, he jumped into the freezer without my noticing and was consequently shut inside. I’m thankful that I heard him yowling while I was putting away the milk, and rescued him quickly — otherwise we would have been in for a very miserable surprise.

Now I get to be super paranoid about the kitten jumping into other appliances.

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Some people I don’t care for have sold their house and are moving out this week … Shh, don’t tell anyone I said that.

About Me

Ramblings

Autumn

Maybe this is a weird thing to say, but I feel like I’ve been having dreams about 2020 for most of my life.

They were heavily metaphored, of course, so it’s not like I’m having moments of deja vu and declaring myself a precog or anything like that. I don’t know what’s going to happen in the future, but I do have this sense of inevitability, like we’re all caught up in a inexorable dance that started a long time ago, and we must follow the steps to the end. Something incomprehensibly bigger than us is happening.

I have an intensely spiritual side to my personality. I know it hasn’t been shining through lately, but it’s still there behind the scenes. Whatever is going on, it very well might change our lives forever.

That said, I entered 2020 with a good feeling about this decade, and I’m sticking to it.

About Me

Brioche

Autumn

Pro tip:

Brushing a beaten egg on the top of bread dough before baking makes it come out shiny, and therefore more delicious.

As demonstrated on this loaf of brioche.

Not that brioche needs any help in the deliciousness department.

About Me

Personal Update

Autumn

I’ve started a couple of different blog posts, then decided that I didn’t want to share that much personal info. Indecisive LAWL!

Halloween was better than I expected. We made donuts, carved pumpkins, then put on costumes and went trick-or-treating. Honestly, I expected that we’d simply wander around an empty neighborhood before retreating home, but a good number of our neighbors came up with really creative ways for kids to “social distance” and still trick-or-treat. It was a huge relief, and they got to pig out on their haul after all.

Now it’s time to prepare for Thanksgiving and Christmas. Normally I’m excited about these holidays, but not this year FOR OBVIOUS REASONS.

I confess that I really miss making quick trips to the grocery store like it’s no big deal. The bright side is that I’m not indulging my sweet tooth with candy anymore, but damn I miss back when mundane errands were mundane.

I guess that some of that personal stuff that I’m not so sure about sharing is that I’m just getting so tired and I want my life back already. I want to bake sweet potatoes and celebrate Thanksgiving with my mom. I want to put together Christmas surprises for my family. I want to buy way too many snacks for New Years without worrying about other people in the grocery store.

Yep, totally whining.

About Me

Personal Note

Autumn

This is the time of year when I typically slack off from writing and put more energy into holiday activities, but there’s a good chance that this year is going to be completely different. For starters, I have no interest in taking the kids out Christmas shopping.

I might get more into holiday baking, since I’ve always wanted to make one of those chocolate yule log cakes, but have always been too intimidated to try. Might as well give it a shot.

It’s hard to say what the next two months are going to look like, honestly.

Writing is my selfish activity. I love children — my kindergarten dream was to be a mom — but they scream a lot and make big messes. Writing is how I maintain my internal balance so I can deal. With the way the kids have been acting of late, I’m going to be doing a lot of dealing this winter. I’m gonna need as much balance as I can get.

And cake.

I have no clue if I’m going to be slacking off or not.

About Me

Piano Therapy

Autumn

Through happenstance, we ended up with a free piano.

My husband and I have been jokingly referring to it as the ‘biggest mistake of our adult lives’, since the children have been excitedly pounding on the keys every chance they get. My husband taught our 8-year-old how to play ‘Mary had a little lamb,’ I taught her ‘Twinkle, twinkle, little star’, and we’ve been listening to her adorable little recitals several times a day ever since.

I can still slowly plink my way through simple songs, even though it’s been close to 20 years since I took lessons. At least I still remember how to read sheet music.

I’m wondering how feasible it is to fit in practice sessions every day when I have five children, a bunch of other hobbies and responsibilities, and the holidays are quickly approaching. But, at the same time, it feels wonderfully good to have my fingers dancing with the music.

Piano therapy.

Because it’s 2020.

(Seriously, things are getting weird around here).

So, this year I’ll be learning how to play Christmas carols.