Fresh on the heels of my late night Grammy watching, I rose this morning to hear the deejay confirm what I hoped not to hear: "all school buses in London Middlesex are canceled". Ai! Kids would be stoked; me not so much. I let them sleep in because really, why WOULD I wake them? I am definitely CUCKABONGA, but not THAT CUCKABONGA.
It is 10:21 am and I have decided to blog about the day.
Kids are homeschooling (each other - hahahaahahha!) at the kitchen table and Gwen just whined and bitched at her brother, who presumably hit or kicked her. Can you tell that I am concerned? I should be, actually. A week ago, Gwenzilla gave Nathanimal a "Level 10" smackdown that saw us hanging at The Children's Hospital for two hours, while N received 3 stitches above his right ear.
But for now, I'll let them fight in peace. :-)
My grand plans for the day, before I learned all buses were canceled, were to finish two short stories, go to the gym, grocery shop, make some soup, do some laundry, and shovel some snow. Now I've got the kiddos to help me with all this. And so, I have decided to chronicle our day, for fun. And because I know that whatever we do, it will be awesome and EVERYONE needs to hear about it. Heh heh. This is what I've accomplished so far, after rising at 6:15:
put in a load of laundry - so fun, cleaned my bedroom floor (last night, while I watched Beyonce dirty dance with Jay-Z, Gwen laid out 8 fashionista outfits from my closet at the foot of my bed for me to choose from this morning. grrrrrrr. Here's a pic of some of the ensembles. Love that purple orange combo, G!)
ate breakfast (coffee, rye toast with cinnamon honey and apple), read newspaper, checked email and Farcebook. I know. SO INTERESTING.
cleaned up breakfast dishes, worked on short story for very brief period, finished cutting out quilt templates and selected fabrics. This is what I'm making, btw:
This is a modern version of a clamshell quilt that I am in love with. I want to marry it! The clamshell is a traditional pattern and can look very fussy, depending one one's choice of fabrics. The tone-on-tone tans and funky pops of colour definitely make this version very fresh and modern. I will be making my own version with greys, purples and pale greens. I have posted a pic of some of my fabrics below.
image from craftsy.com
Looks quite ugly now, but trust me, it will be magnifique. I am rethinking that pink and grey in the lower right though.
In case you are wondering how I am managing to blog, it's currently "recess" :-). Now let me continue that list:
kids got up, they got dressed and fed themselves. I oversaw their efforts while tidying up the kitchen and dining room tables so that I could put them to work.
dumped another load of laundry on bed, hand washed lingerie (For those of you rolling your eyes at me, I am not trying to sound "all Martha", btw. I really did do this. It took 5 mins, tops. I put my linge in to soak earlier in the morning, and then all I had to do was swish it around, give it a bit of a scrub, rinse, wring and hang to dry). Snap.
forced children to "work" at table (they both have books with math and English lessons).
Nathaniel helped Gwen with reading. I decided that we would bake bread as part of our snow day. Again, if you are thinking that I am some uberorganized hausfrau, I can assure you that I am not. Can you hear me swear as I take this picture?
yelled at children to FOCUS. HOCUS POCUS FOCUS!!!!! while I looked for bread recipe. Found it!
made bread dough with N's assistance. Yes, we washed our hands. Yes, I am going to attempt to bake a baguette. Yes, I am really am loco.
Kids each kneaded dough for 6 minutes. They seemed to like this. I did not like flour all over my floor and counter, but I bit my tongue and sucked it up.
doesn't this look delightful?
bread before first rise
Cleaned up floor and counter. Complained loudly while doing so.
at 9:54am, I decided to write this blog and wrote down all the shit that I'd already done
handwashed silk blouse that has been sitting in laundry room waiting to be washed since New Year's Eve. Lamented vomit stain. KIDDING. Just wanted a reaction. As if I would vomit on NY's eve. As if I would EVER vomit on myself.
It is now 10:49. I am giving myself (the rest of recess) another 10 - 15 mins to blog.
12:31pm - more of list.
made lunch for evil offspring - Montreal style bagels with cream cheese and apples. Kids tried to sneak down to basement to veg in front of screens while I was in the loo. I screamed mightily when they came up.
forced children into snow pants. Went outside and shoveled, and entertained self and dog.
Nathanimal and Django. Nath had to "take him down" after he let him off-leash in spite of repeated warnings from me not to do so.
One of Django's tricks that I hate. It's called "HUG". Nath taught him this wretched trick, which basically amounts to the overlarge 80 pound poodle jumping on people. He knows better to try this with me or most adults, but if you're a kid, look out!
And still more of my list:
shaped loaves and got them ready to go into oven
wow, they almost look like an adult, as opposed to a toddler, made them
you are supposed to spray the loaves every 5 minutes with water so that they get a hard crust.
Seriously? And so that's what I did, after making myself a cup of chai.
Sighed.
I also learned that because French bread has no oil in it (oil is a preservative), that is why your baguette is stale the next day. Who knew?
And then I cheered, because this is what they looked like, after all that spraying and baking:
Oh mon dieu! C'est parfait!!!!
I can't wait to try these! I think they're my best effort to date. Yay, me!
Okay, I'm done with my list, let's face it, no one wants to hear more and it's time for me to veg. Have a great rest of snow day, peeps!
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