Meal Planning Too Late at Night

Please give me a dish to go with the following:

1. Red cabbage salad (of some sort)

2. Sweet potato fries


And, as a bonus, tell me what you'd do with one large bulb of fennel.

The Chronicle's Proofreading Makes Me Cry

"Toxics"? Er.

(no subject)

I am in a stage where I am envious of parents of singletons. This might have something to do with the fact that the kids figured out how to climb over the gate that keeps them from the TV and the CDs and the fireplace. My girls love CDs (and DVDs) -- so shiny, so forbidden. I am reconfiguring the gate this afternoon.

I am envious because if I had only one kid to watch at a time, I would be a lot more mobile. In theory, at least. I try to keep that caveat at the forefront of my mind. We could certainly go for more short walks. It would also be easier to organize time-consuming events and art projects. To experiment with messy stuff, like fingerpainting or cooking. To read a book to one child without the other one trying to grab it away. We're in a big "mine!" phase now, too, and while overall my girls are good for their age on sharing and taking turns, they're also sisters and go straight to screaming and hitting (yes, hitting, and occasional hair-pulling too) faster with each other than anyone else.

And some of it is the season, and the weather. It's cold. It rains. It gets dark early. The bus is unreliable. Let's stay in and go a little cabin crazy.

And all of this will change soon enough, as they get older. I know it.

Meanwhile, I am trying to figure out activities to keep them from boredom, but that aren't too messy, too difficult, or too hard to implement. No wonder my kids love dress-up...

At least we seem to have worked through the naptime issues we were having for a few weeks here. Now one goes to sleep in the crib and one beds down on the living room couch (yay new couch!) or, yesterday, in a nest full of pillows and blankets in the playpen. It helps my sanity and energy so much to have even such a small break.