Random Notes from a Sandwich Weekend

1.  Last night Ernie and I were so tired we thought we might die.  I don’t even know why as Owen’s birthday party was great and shouldn’t have been THAT exhausting.  Although Owen did fall asleep shortly after 7:00 before we even got him into bed.  Ernie carried him upstairs to bed and he didn’t wake until this morning for school.

2.  So Owen’s birthday party—–it was indeed great.  It was a joint birthday party for Owen and his friend Emma whose birthday was the day after his.  It was great to join forces and most of the kids had a great time.  My eldest son was somewhat foul not letting poor Duncan play with him and his beloved Luke. (See picture of Owen unsuccessfully trying to comfort poor Duncan.) I was pretty pissed at him until my mother told me a story about when she was 8 and she and another friend wouldn’t accept another little girl’s offer of candy because the little girl was a couple of years younger than they were and that the little girl cried and cried.  My mother had blonde curls and was a straight A student and we’ve always thought she was somewhat angelic as a child so this made me feel better.  Actually what it means is that she will never find fault with  her adored Leo…..

3.  Sunday morning I took Dad to church.  Oh man.  He is slower than ever….I’m going to have to start going over there earlier.  He really should be using a walker but he insists on his shillelagh.  I didn’t have time to take him doughnuts and coffee and I think he was a tad pissed even though he was polite about it.  And I don’t think I buckled his belt tightly enough as I was trying to rush him out the door to get there on time so I think the poor man thought his pants were falling down the whole time.  Ah well…you try…all you can do is try.  It’s hard to buckle a belt when someone is bent over….

4.  I made the most wonderful vegetable soup this weekend.  Well, chicken-vegetable soup I guess.  I was inspired by the post over at Growing Curious in which she talked about soup bubbling on the stove.  Whenever we cut up a whole chicken we throw the leftover bits in the freezer to save for stock.  Of course sometimes we throw those same pieces out a year later when they are freezer burned to death but the other day I took some out, threw some carrots, celery and onions in and let it cooks for much of the day.   Ended up with a rich brown (from the onion skins) chicken broth.  So on Saturday I pulled that out of the refrigerator and added some leftover roast potatoes, one leftover chicken breast and lots of cabbage, sugar snap peas, carrots and tomatoes in.  It bubbled away and turned into something amazing.  I tossed in a bit of oregano, salt and pepper and that was it….oh and a tiny drizzle of honey.  Ernie’s been making an effort to buy more organic vegetables and meat and I’m seeing a real difference.

5. Ernie’s firetruck cake was wonderful as always but in the chaos I forgot to get good pictures of it.  Here is one of Owen blowing candles out however…

6.  Owen cried this morning because he didn’t want to go to school.  He just curls up on me and buries his head in my neck.  We talked about the good things at school (his friends) and how hard it is do things we don’t want to do and about how Mommy REALLY doesn’t want to go to work today either.  My poor sweet pea.  Wish me luck talking with his teacher today……