November 19, 2005
ahhh . . .
I am feeling triumphant today–not only did I redesign the template for this site ALL BY MY SELF (a near-miracle in itself, what with me being the English major type and the one in my family who tends to say things like, ‘CPU? That’s what you do when someone has a heart attack, right?’) but I cleaned out Charlie’s closet, which was so crammed with god only knows what that we couldn’t get the doors closed (which was a problem the other night when his bedtime stall tactic was ‘The closet scares me! Close the doors!’). So Wade took the boys to the park and I took every damn thing out of that closet and filled up two trash bags of crap and a Luvs box of give-aways. Then I hid the trash and the donations before the boys came home, to avoid the inevitable and painful ‘No! We still play with that! And I can still wear those shoes! Don’t give that away!’ Don’t worry, I didn’t toss anything they ACTUALLY play with or wear (well, okay, I did put Charlie’s fancy Nike tennis shoes in the give-away box, because they are a size SEVEN and he wears a TEN now, but last week he found the shoes and has been cramming his feet into them in some wierd Michael Jordan-inspired foot biding ritual. And I can’t take it. And no I didn’t buy him Nikes, my mother-in-law did, and she got them on clearance for $7.00. Any other questions?)
And I had good intentions of cleaning off my desk, which is covered with maps drawn by the boys and books we have bought for birthday presents (but never delivered to the Birthday Children in question) and articles about Intelligent Design from the New York Times and bills to pay after the holiday and . . . ugh. And I was planning to write, today, about something really smart, like my theories about what might have caused Henry’s ADHD, or something fun like how very sexy my new pink suede shoes are. Instead, though, I think I’m going to fold laundry and watch college football. And give my poor brain a rest, while I ride the wave of my triumph over HTML and closet clutter.
Posted by Susan @ 1:21 pm • Uncategorized
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November 19th, 2005 at 2:30 pm, ieatcrayonz Says:
I’m SO proud of you and your new design. The neon green might be giving you that headache, though.
So that’s the trick to cleaning out the closets, eh? Send them and away and presto, all gone! There should be some kind of reverse psychology Santa symbol and a holiday for that.
November 19th, 2005 at 3:56 pm, adria Says:
Congratulations!!
The site looks great, and the green is nice.
I also wait until Daria is away to discard of old toys and clothes. It is just easier without all the questions and sad faces.
I hope you are having a nice cocktail while you watch football. And a piece of cake, yummmm.
November 19th, 2005 at 3:57 pm, MIM Says:
Great job on the site, woman! It really looks great.
November 19th, 2005 at 5:48 pm, the ockers Says:
Julie, you could sell the Nikes and anything else which is still in good shape on ebay. might get a few extra $ for more J-Crew shoes.
November 19th, 2005 at 7:10 pm, kyra Says:
yes! put those feet up! i LOVE the new design! and closet clean up frenzy dust must be in the air; i’ve been at it today as well. the last bastion of chaos and hell lives on in my own tiny office as i sit here atop leaning pisa piles of papers, donations, and books. ah well. mommy always gets her space cleared last. it must happen before wednesday, when the relatives begin their attack…
November 19th, 2005 at 10:03 pm, M&Co. Says:
One time I made the GirlChild “help” me clean out her closet. She said, “you are treating all my things like trash!” And I didn’t know how to respond because I WAS putting them in garbage bags to go into the big blue.
November 20th, 2005 at 4:29 am, the ockers Says:
sorry Susan, I called you Julie by mistake. How weird except that I had just been reading Julie @ a little pregnant and another JUlie @ Sisyphus and then I came to you and the name Julie just sorta popped out by accident.
also, a funny thing that’s happened to me twice now is that I take so long writing MY special receipe of Shepherd Pie into the “leave a comment box” (it takes me ages because I have to change all the measurements in your oz, pints & whatever system which is different to our metric)that by the time I’m done & ready to post, twice I’ve lost it to the gremlins. Anyway, I’ll try a third time lucky later on tonight once Nes is asleep. And sorry also that this post is as boring as waiting for paint to dry.
Clare
November 20th, 2005 at 6:41 am, the ockers Says:
Here goes again Susan,
“Addictive” Shepherds’s Pie
6oz Butter
3 oz olive oil
4 medium onions finely chopped
2 lb minced lamb, beef or veal (I prefer lamb)
4 carrots finely grated
3 cloves garlic crushed
5 rashes streaky bacon finely chopped
(optional 1 red or green pepper capsicum sliced finely)
(optional 1 lb button mushrooms thinly sliced -I prefer mushrooms but usually leave both out)
1 lb canned tomatoes crushed
2oz tomato concentrate or paste
6 to 8 oz red wine
4 tsp worchestershire sauce
4 to 8 oz beef stock
3 lbs potatoes cooked, mashed and kept warm
3 oz butter
2 oz milk
salt and ground black pepper
2 tbsp FRESH herbs (like rosemary, basil, oregano or thyme) or 2 tsp DRIED herbs (i like fresh oregano best)
1) preheat oven to 400′ F, Gas mark 6 or 200′ C.
serve with something green (salad or cooked veg) and red wine.
2) In a very large cooking pot, melt the butter with the olive oil over a gentle heat. saute onions for 6 minutes. add bacon, garlic and carrots and saute for another 5 minutes. do not burn. (add capsicum and mushrooms now if your including them)
3) brown off the meat in a seperate pan for 5 minutes. drain excess fat then add the meat to the onions and continue cooking for a further 5 minutes.
4) add tomatoes, wine, worchestershire, stock and herbs and bring to boil then simmer gently for 20 minutes. Add extra water if it looks too dry.
5)Place potatoes in a large mixing bowl and stir in the remaining butter, milk, and salt and pepper to taste. You can also add 3 to 4 oz of grated hard italian cheese (parmesan or peccorino is good).
6) season the meat with salt and pepper to taste then spoon the meat into an oven-proof baking dish and spoon the potatoes evenly over it. Using a fork draw decorative lines on the top and dot with tiny blobs of butter.
7) bake in the centre of oven for half an hour.
Good luck. oh and it freezes well too.
November 20th, 2005 at 6:55 am, Susan Says:
Hooray for Clare and her Shepherd’s Pie! Thanks so much!
And I’m so flattered that you would confuse me with Julie from A Little Pregnant–someday I hope to write half as well as she does (and she has a Charlie, too!).
Thanks, Clare.
November 20th, 2005 at 7:22 am, the ockers Says:
I promise never to call you Julie again Susan. Oh and my daughters full name is Nesta (In case you were thinking Nes sounds kinda weird). Nesta is welsh for Agnes. We like calling her Nes as in Loch Ness Monster…
also, I know the receipe sounds fiddley but it is moorish.
oh and it’s midnight here (even though it’s morning for you), so I’m off to bed. xC
November 20th, 2005 at 10:35 am, Misfit Hausfrau Says:
Congrats on the site! Looks fabu! I’m sure the closet does as well.
November 20th, 2005 at 12:10 pm, Candace Says:
I’d love to hear your theories on the ADHD, to see if they match my theories on Christopher. I’ll bet they do!
Hurrah for the cleaning and the putting up of the feet!
So do you wanna help me redesign *my* site?
Do ya?
November 20th, 2005 at 7:22 pm, theyellowwallpaper Says:
My, my, my aren’t you the productive gal!
I feebly tried to live up to your example and managed to organize my kids clothes. As for their closets - that’s for another day.
I like the design. It has a much more “Friday Playdate” feel. I have this sudden urge to stretch out on the grass and enjoy the sunshine.
November 21st, 2005 at 9:56 pm, Mary Tsao Says:
I’m so impressed about both the site redesign AND the closet cleaning frenzy.
I think both of those things are on my New Year’s Resolutions list, but I never thought of doing them now…