Saturday, July 12, 2008

“The hard part about being a bartender is figuring out who is drunk and who is just stupid”*

I was going to post with pretty pictures of colorful things but I can't be arsed (in Australia-speak) to find the camera, snap the photos, download them, crop them, and upload them. So you'll all just have to use your vivid (and in some cases, over-active) imaginations. Thank you for your cooperation.

Things I am digging right now:

- Bar towels. [A shot of fluffy, pristinely white stack of bar towels, just awaiting my boys' spilled juice, dribbled chocolate milk, and smeared baby food.] Over the years I have bought and tried every kind of kitchen/dishtowel I could find. I like the flour sack ones, but they aren’t that absorbent. Cheapie ones I get at the grocery store end up stinking – must be the icky fabric? I bought a six-pack of bar towels at TJ Maxx a few months ago and will NEVER buy any other type. They are absorbent, easy to clean, don’t smell, and cheap. LOVE ‘em.

- Sour cherries. [Close-up of big bowl of lovely, deep red, glossy cherries, stems, pits, etc.] The ONLY thing I miss about the old house is the yard. And in that yard, a sour cherry tree. But turns out there are two sour cherry trees up by the public park I take my kids to all the time. I have four pints in the fridge, awaiting pitting and baking into a sour cherry custard tart with sliced almonds.

- My goldfish. [Eh, he looks like every other goldfish in the world.] He’s FIVE years old. I KNOW. And just lately he’s been making the baby very happy, as Quarto watches him cruise around his little bowl...

- The ice cream truck. Four ice cream treats (a Fudgesicle, a Creamsicle, and two Sno-Cones), for four dollars. Can’t beat that with a stick!

- Small diapers. [Shot of Quarto's cute, eensy little size 1 diapers with baby Sesame Street characters gamboling about, juxtaposed with Terzo's size 6 monsters.] Quarto's come 120 to a box. As opposed to Terzo’s ginormous ones that come 48 to a box. Must...potty train...

- Heineken. [Food porn shot of sweating beer bottle, full of the elixir of life.] A summery change from my usual go-to, Bacardi rum and coke. Nice especially with barbecue.

-Trader Joe’s Pound Plus chocolate bars. [Another food porn shot of big fat chunky chocolate.] At 3-something a bar, a total steal. I started buying the bittersweet ones to bake with, then one day after making homemade pudding with bittersweet that H and I loved but the boys found too intense, I brought home a bar of the milk chocolate to try in the pudding. And then I bought a milk chocolate with almond. Nice big fat whole almonds in good Belgian milk chocolate. For THREE DOLLARS. I wish we had Two Buck Chuck but since we can’t, I am happy to have Three Buck Choc.

- My working vacuum! (Not!) [Um, maybe before and after photo of my disgusting-and-then-not carpets...] My vacuum was rated tops for pet hair. Yet I considered myself lucky if it picked up normal dirt. On a whim, when H went to price washing machine parts (flood in basement from broken filler-timer mechanism, oops), he took the vacuum to our guy to fix. It needed a new belt. No wonder the damn thing had been doing nothing. The rug I vacuumed this morning (before the damn belt snapped AGAIN) looks like new, with nary a cat hair to be seen.

- New Crocs [Jumble of colorful shiny new crocs in rainbow colors.] It was time for new Crocs for the boys. Primo picked royal blue, Seg wanted turquoise, Terzo requested orange. So cute. And I don't have to tie shoelaces.

- The pool. [Perhaps a shot of the expanse of cool blue water and frolicking children. Maybe. Or maybe a shot of the overweight, harried mothers (myself included)with swimsuits stretched to their breaking point and toddlers with water-swollen diapers about to explode...take your pick.] For the first half hour we were at the pool yesterday afternoon, Primo and Seg raced each other from end to end, over and over and over again. I couldn't have worn them out more if I'd tried...God bless the exhausting effects of sun, chlorine, and yelling.

What are you guys loving these days?

**********

*Richard Braunstein

11 comments:

Badger said...

Oo! I was just thinking I need to do one of these posts soon. Mine may or may not have pictures either.

Sarah Louise said...

Sour cherries--we had a tree in the house that got sold in January. Love me some sour cherries.

Am loving that lunch will eventually come, though it is coming slowly...

Am loving the short vw

Lisa said...

I am digging baby talk and baby smiles (my bug just hit 3 months), sitting on the back deck with coffee in the morning (because the bug thinks 5 am is a fine time to get up for the morning), riding in the jeep with the sides off, ice cream, flip flops. My 3 year old has crocs too (fake ones, red) and I am totally with you on no shoe laces!

Sarah said...

This is a fine list. I especially appreciate tiny diapers and the ice cream truck,

Velma said...

I am loving:
- central air conditioning;
- a day with absolutely nothing we HAVE to get done;
- the idea of being away from my kids and husband for 4 days.

Jess said...

I love that the two chased each other through the park and tired each other out looping the loop around the gazebo and throwing sticks in the water..

I love that we'll have grilled chicken for supper

I love that my butterfly bush plant finally bloomeed (okay, one flower. But it's so bright and blue!)

KPB said...

I'm coming over for a piece of that pie.

I find it so cute you guys actually have ice creams called fudgsicles. Adorable.


And it's funny you know, I was about to write a post about our fish and how much I love them, how much the boys love them, how entranced Grover is by them and just what a great pet they are.

Nothing. NOTHING tires kids out in a more thoroughly enjoyable way that swimming. Nothing.

Anonymous said...

Floating weightless in the swimming pool is a pleasure that's hard to beat these days, but if I could eat a bowl of pitted cherries while floating, that would be... orgasmic.

Jess said...

My vaccuum did that belt-snapping trick...I can't remember if I went through two or three before I gave up on it...needless to say, my floors need a vacuuming, bad (but most of the apartment is tile - don't worry, I'm not living in TOTAL squalor).

I love those pound plus bars, too - 1 bar of bittersweet = chocolate pudding 4x, plus a few nibbles while I cook. And the dark choc with almonds is my saving grace when I'm not eating dairy.

I'm loving the gelato place down the street - not as cheap as your ice cream man, but they do a killer hazelnut and always have new flavors (even when you go in two days in a row).

Caterina said...

I love this list! And you described everything so perfectly and creatively :)

I have to work on my own list.

Caro said...

Since I have an ear infection, I am loving 800 mg motrin at the moment.

But when I feel cheerier, I am stealing this post idea.

Have you tried the vegan oatmeal cookies at Trader Joes? They are to die for.

I pretty much ate a whole bag by myself.