Scattered Sundays

Hey, good news! Unlike last week, our house didn’t almost burn down this week. Everything else after that is just gravy. House not burning down > everything else.

Troy’s birthday is this week and then Father’s Day is always the following week. Just like last year, I “gave” Troy the joint birthday/Father’s Day gift that all parents crave and desire. The gift of being ALONE.

He headed to his parent’s house at the ocean for a few nights and had a great time doing whatever he wanted without having to answer 1,981 questions about whether or not earthworms have buttholes. Again, the parent’s dream.

I used the solo time at home to crush my way through my photography to-do list. It’s so much easier to have the house to myself when taking food photos because I don’t have the share the kitchen, work around anyone, and I can listen to all the murdery podcasts I want.

Each summer the kids are home and I get really grouchy, yelly, and downright stabby trying to fit in photography while they’re destroying the house. Now that I’m using some flash equipment, it’s just more stuff for them to break, mess with, or ask questions about.

I’m sick of being the mean mom who is trying to run a full-time business during the summer. So, this year I tried a slightly different tactic. We’ll see if it works; only time will tell.

The goal in May was to photograph almost all the recipes I would need for the site through September 15th. I knew it was impossible, especially with the three of them being home sick for a week at the end of May. A house full of productivity destroyers. But, I was going to give it my all!

Many of the recipes are seasonal and the produce I need/want for them isn’t yet available at the farmer’s markets. There’s not much I can do about that, but I can greatly reduce the overall number of times I have to yell “OMG STAY OUT OF THE KITCHEN YOU FERAL CHILDREN”.

Even as I was cruising thru the photography to-do list, I kept adding more projects when I found good keywords for future posts. I also dehydrated pretty much every single herb that lives in my yard, and none of those were on my initial list.

I started this project in May with 46 recipes on the list, and as of today, I’m down to 17 left to photograph. And that includes one recipe that I have to reshoot because I hated the photos so much. The 2010 blogging version of me would have been thrilled with those photos, but the current blogging version of me said “heck no”.

Last Sunday we went to the Mariner’s game to celebrate two friend’s birthdays. I haven’t been to a stadium since WELL before the world shutting down in spring 2020. I think it had been at least 10-15 years since I had stepped foot into T Mobile field which I kept calling SafeCo field because it had been THAT long.

It was a fun trip, despite the fact that lines everywhere were nuts, nobody took cash to make it “faster”…but the systems kept crashing and vendors had to keep rebooting, and the torrential rain that happened, starting in the 4th inning.

The stadium has a moveable roof and they closed it in the second or third inning. It covers the entire stadium, except for one section. And naturally, it was the section we were sitting in. 🙂

The ushers let us know that we were all allowed to move to another section, but we were a big group, people were out getting food (see note about looooong lines), so it took us a very long time to decide to move. Once we did, it was 100% the right choice and we started to finally dry out.

Something that has definitely changed since the last time I was in a large arena, is the bag policy. I think it’s a combo of covid and likely the constant dangers of violence of the US society, but they now only allowed clear bags into the ballpark.

We couldn’t bring in a metal water bottle and had to shove everything we needed into a gallon Ziploc and then pay to use a locker at a street vendor’s outside of the stadium which seemed shifty as hell. I was pretty convinced our backpack would be gone when we came out of the game.

I don’t know how many games/events we ever plan to attend in the future, but I’m sure the clear bag policy isn’t going away anytime soon. I ended up buying this clear backpack for future use, and my sister jokingly asked me how it felt to return to the 90s and did I buy it from Delias.

Since Bennett was a baby we have joked about his “weird thumbs”. Like his fingers are missing a joint or something. We asked about it at a really early checkup (like 3 months maybe?) and the doctor said babies are bendy.

He’s been experiencing extreme muscle cramps for the last few months, and honestly, I didn’t think much of it. I had horrible leg cramps for years at his age, well into my tweens.

But then he started complaining that things were getting “stuck”. He doesn’t know the word for joints, but would say something like “my arm is stuck” or “I need to pop my ankle”. And not being able to “unstick” these things would cause pain and discomfort.

A few months ago I was reading an article in People Magazine um, The Economist, about a woman with Ehlers-Danlos Syndrome (EDS) and thought “hmmmm, that does a bit familiar”. And I tucked that nugget away in my head to marinate on a bit.

I often post photos of Bennett sleeping in my Instagram stories because 1) I’m creepy and 2) he sleeps in the weirdest positions. Like a pretzel that has been hit by extreme wind. I posted this photo below about 10 days ago.

A week before posting it, I had scheduled an appointment with Bennett’s pediatrician to talk about EDS and his hyper-mobility. And then wouldn’t you know it, a reader on Instagram who has EDS sent me a very sweet private message asking me if I ever had Bennett evaluated for EDS.

He’ll be seen in a week and who knows what our pediatrician will say/if he’ll refer us to someone. But, I thought I’d share the process we’re starting on the off chance that it will help someone else potentially identify EDS in their own lives.

I’ll keep you posted on this journey! These kids sure do keep us on our (non-bendy) toes with their random medical mysteries. See: Bennett’s PFAPA (Periodic Fever, Aphthous Stomatitis, Pharyngitis, Adenitis), and Jack’s 2-month bout with intussusception as an almost 7-year-old.

And last but not least, shout out to all the people who, in solidarity with this geriatric millennial, also complained with me about switching from a PC to a Mac. Update: I still can’t get the clock to stay locked on the screen when I’m in full-screen mode.

After 20 minutes of being down the rabbit hole of the interwebs, I’m finding this is something that is not possible. My tiny 5 ft 2-inch friend said she doesn’t work in fullscreen mode and thus can see the clock all the time. I told her that bigger people needed bigger screens and that fact was just science.

She did recommend this little cling sticker thing to me with the most popular Mac shortcuts, and it has been very helpful. Hopefully, this helps out another PC to Mac trasitioners. <—that is too a word, spellcheck. Pfft.

READER SPOTLIGHT OF THE WEEK

Laurie left this five-star review on our Instant Pot Beef Tips {Pin this recipe}:

I keep forgetting to leave a review! I have made this probably 6 times now! It’s a favorite with my hubby and boys! Usually have to tweak it here and there, but always get rave reviews! Try this it’s wonderful!
Thank you for posting the recipe!

ON SUSTAINABLE COOKS THIS WEEK

Strawberry Freezer Jam – The freshest tasting jam you’ve ever had, this Strawberry Freezer Jam Recipe is so simple to make. Just three ingredients and 20 minutes, and you’ll have homemade strawberry jam made by your very own hands. {Pin this recipe}

Creamy Vegan Aioli – This creamy Vegan Aioli recipe is an egg-free garlic miracle! It is a deliciously easy healthy sauce that goes with everything. {Pin this recipe}

Confessions – everyone’s favorite silly post of the month.

What are you having this week?