are things complicated yet?

Just the two of them

They play together, not in a real sense of course, but Claire is ever-eager to help her little sister do or get anything. She wants to show her everything about her world and how it works and Charlotte just soaks it all up wide-eyed and open-mouthed, as babies do.

In these moments, I sometimes feel like the aperture of my future opens itself just a tiny, tiny bit, and I get a half-second look at the lovely things ahead of us.

 

That was a fun airplane post a few weeks ago, wasn't it? Let's keep talking about that.

Our airplane was built in 1965 in Kerrville, Texas by the Mooney Airplane Company. They still make them today but they are much fancier than they were in 1965. (As one might expect.)

Mooney airplanes are known as "low wings" which means that you step up on the wings to board, rather than ducking your head underneath.

See? Low wings on our airplane:

And, a Cessna with high wings:

Our airplane only has one door, which is totally annoying, but it does cut down on the weight and make it more aerodynamic. (Or so I'm told. I have many internet degrees but Aerospace Engineering is not one of them.) We also have retractable landing gear that Chris manually pulls up and puts down with a lever. It is very 1965. See the flap under the wing up there? That's a panel that the wing gear goes up in. It's not mechanized like on a 767 where you push a button and the gear comes up automatically. Chris has to put some muscle into it.

This sounds like a pain in the butt, but it's actually kind of okay because fewer mechanical parts = less shit to break. And, believe me, when you fly something built when LBJ was the President, you are very interested in limiting your "shit that can break" window of opportunity.

When things break on our airplane, or have to be replaced because they've simply reached the end of their lifespan, it can get expensive pretty fast. Did you know that if you attach the word "airplane" to anything it suddenly it costs more? It does. For example, last Christmas one of the blinky lights on the belly of the plane stopped working. It's just a red blinky light, one of six on the aircraft, that lets other aircraft see us when we're flying at night. If you want to get real specific about it, it's called a "positioning light." Anyway, the blinky light was out. Simple. This sounds like it will be cheap, right? Perhaps a light bulb needs to be replaced?

Wellllll, not really. When we replace things on our plane we always try to find an old part that has been salvaged from another plane. It's way cheaper to get old stuff than buy new. In this case, we could not locate a used blinky light because it was made in 1964 and the motor that makes it rotate? Nobody makes that any more and they stopped a long time ago, so there wasn't a salvage option. We had to buy a new one.

One blinky red light: $500. For serious.

After we had it installed I told Chris, "Oh, Merry Christmas. I hope you looooove that blinky light. Let's go admire it right now, actually."

We don't need a blinky light to get airborne, but the FAA mandates the blinky light so...fine. It's one of the costs of ownership. Sometimes, things break and we have to fix them. It's a known factor when you buy an older aircraft.

Our Mooney is 46 years old, which is rather elderly to me. I mean, who wants to be flying around in something with 1960's technology? Well, a lot of people do. The mechanics of flight are pretty elementary and you don't need a lot of fancy whosits and doodads. Planes built in the 1960's fly just fine today, provided they have been properly maintained and the engine and other parts replaced at scheduled intervals. There have been some upgrades to ours over the years (most notably the addition of GPS) but none of these are FAA mandated. They are simply for pilot ease.

Chris does not have to renew his license every year or take a new test in twenty or anything like that. Once you earn a pilot's license, it's yours for life (unless you break the rules or something and then the FAA can yank it). You have to take a medical exam every year to make sure you're fit to fly (again, per the FAA) but other than that, it's fairly low maintenance. Chris does have an actual, physical license, issued by the FAA and it's kind of a cheap looking bit of paper. I think two or three years ago they upgraded to plastic. (FANCY!) You're supposed to carry it when you when you fly in case you get ramp checked by an FAA agent. But, Chris has never been ramp checked and he doesn't know anyone who has. (He carries his license like a good pilot should.)

Every year we send the plane to Tom, our mechanic, for an annual inspection. (Also FAA mandated. They are quite fond of rules over at the FAA.) He strips the airplane and the engine down and examines it in minute detail, performs Mooney-issued maintenance and tells us if we need to replace anything. This is how you get 50+ years out of an aircraft. If you stripped your car down to its cylinders every year and performed mandated maintenance as outlined by the manufacturer then it would probably last longer too. Aircraft are also designed to last this long. They're designed with the knowledge that some parts will wear out and be replaced but others will need to last longer (like the frame). So, it might be old, but it's not ancient (yet) in aircraft-speak.

This year, there were no blinky lights to fix, but our transponder and emergency locator transmitter (ELT) were busted. The transponder is what talks to air traffic control (ATC). When they sweep us with radar, it pings them back with our tail number and altitude. It basically tells them who we are and it made sense as the past few times we'd been up ATC had mentioned that they couldn't "see" us and they asked us to cycle the transponder on and off. That seemed to work, but at inspection it was pretty kaput. This is an important part and we can't fly without it. We ran into the same, "They haven't made this for a loooooong time" problem and we had to buy a new one. That kind of sucked.

The ELT is what they look for if we go down, to find where we landed or, um, crashed. It basically sends out some sort of ping so if we're in a mountain range or a desert they can find us, rescue us, render medical aid, etc. It's not important until the moment you need it and ours was so dead they couldn't hear it with the reciever right on top of it. We had to replace that too.

One ELT and one transponder: $800

Oddball stories that have no narrative thread, but I want to tell you about anyway:

On the radio we often hear about "jumpers in the air!" That means that a skydiving plane is nearby and everyone has jumped out. I have always wanted to see them plummeting towards the earth or see their chutes, but I never have. I think ATC (wisely) gives jump planes a wide berth.

Remember how I explained why we do not have air conditioning? Well, Chris found this device that will actually air condition the plane except it will take up ALL the cargo space, which means no luggage. Not feasible for us. But, the cool thing about it is that it's removable! So, in the winter when you don't need it you can take it out and recoup that space and weight. Neat, yes? It costs $5,000. FIVE THOUSAND DOLLARS. This is why we don't have air conditioning in our plane. It's heavy, it takes up too much space and 20 minutes of discomfort on the front and back end of a flight are not worth $5,000. No thank you.

It turns out I only had two oddball stories. Hmm, this is all I can think to tell you about the plane. If you have any questions, pipe up in the comments. Chris positively loooooves to answer your curiosities on this topic.

About the frozen chocolate cake from Costco

Well. Well, well, WELL.

I see that I am not the only person who enjoys a quality slice of chocolate cake. I had no idea that frozen cake would get so many of your eyebrows raised in a collective, "REALLY? YOU CAN DO THAT?"

Here is the whole story:

I've heard of people freezing cake rounds, in preparation for assembling a cake later, but I'd never heard of someone freezing the entire cake once it was all ready. But, you can! One can freeze cake after it has already been iced and assembled and it also actually tastes good once thawed. WHO KNEW?! I have to tell you it was not wholly my idea. My mother-in-law takes the credit on this one.

She showed up in June with a cake that she had frozen sometime in early May. It was billed as a Tiramisu Cake but it was really some sort of white chocolate raspberry cake (no idea how they got tiramisu out of that). She had frozen the entire cake, in the box, no plastic wrap or anything. She then stuck the cake in the car in June, drive it 5 hours to my house while it defrosted and we all had some "Tiramisu" cake for Father's Day.

I will be brutally honest. When I heard what she had done to that cake, the only thing I could think was,

"This is going to be terrrrrible."

I actually did not even have a slice with everyone because I was trying to watch how much sugar I was cramming in my maw (one month after giving birth). It was also not chocolate. My steadfast dessert motto is, "If it's not chocolate, I don't want it." Plus, there was also the part about how she'd frozen it and I thought it was going to be awful anyway. Totally not worth the calories. I was feeling very smug about not partaking in this dense, high-calorie cake that was probably not even very good anyway. (Also? NOT CHOCOLATE.)

Somehow, the cake got left in my fridge and later that night I had an attack of The Sugars and I helped myself to a slice (as you do one month post-partum), fully expecting to dislike it and throw it out.

Except, the cake was good. It was really good. It was not even chocolate and it was good.

Hmmmm. This set my mind whirring.

There is a cake at Costco I like to flirt with. I think it is called something like The Great American Chocolate Cake. It is four layers and it is chocolate heaven in a plastic container for $16.99. I like to drive by the cake and think about putting it in my cart, next to the baby. The problem is that it's enormous, there's no way we could eat it all and, perhaps more importantly, we do not have any business eating that much cake before it spoils. 

But, what if I froze the cake? That might solve my problem. (My completely invented, not even really an actual problem, problem.) I bought the damn cake, sliced it up and you know what happens next. IT WAS AWESOME. 

Go forth. Buy cake. Freeze it. Enjoy.

Thank God June only has 30 days because I could not possibly have dealt with a 31st

I don't even know where to start. It feels like the month of June was just so sucktacular we're still recovering from it, more than halfway through July. The dog, Jackson, the reflux and a handful of other unbloggable topics just pushed the level of Krazy to an unbearable level for so many weeks. It was honestly like we woke up every day, looked at each other and said,

"What? Another thing? Really? But...things were supposed to start getting better today. THIS? Is this really happening right now? Hit me. No, really, hit me. This has to be a nightmare."

But it wasn't a nightmare, it was just Real Life kicking us in the shins on the playground.

Now it's July and it's almost August (my least favorite month of the year) and time is doing that weird thing where it starts to speed up just when things get good. So, let's talk about those good things, shall we?

***

1. My brother got engaged! To a nice girl that we like love! Her name is Eden and they're getting married in February. When I first found out they were going to get engaged I thought my mom was about to tell me that they broke up. No, seriously, look at this conversation:

"I talked to your brother today and he told me that he had been avoiding calling me."

"Oh?" (This can't be good.)

"Yes, he said that he had something to tell me."

"Hmmm, he did?" (SHIT. She is going to tell me that they broke up. DAMMIT. I liked her! A LOT!)

"He said that he and Eden moved in together and he is going to ask her to marry him."

"ZOMGWTFBBQ!* You mean we get to keep her!?"

Yes. We get to keep her. She said yes. Wooo! I don't have a sister, only my dorky little brother, so this is big news for me. It is also big news because it means I will no longer be the only girl, which is a bit worrisome as I am very used to getting my way and not having to share (I mean, it has been this way for almost 33 years). But, I can share with Eden. I will happily share with Eden. I mean, she let me have her copy of Game of Thrones before she even read it so she is obviously going to be a totally awesome and my kind of sister-in-law.

2. Look at my (happily medicated) baby:

3. I resigned from my job. BOOM. 

4. Well, I didn't exactly resign from my job. I informed my employer that I only have 10-20 hours a week available at this point in my life and they're mulling over what they think of that. I may go back, I may not, but whatever the arrangement is it will not be full-time. Obviously, this is a huge, huge, huge change for us in a lot of ways and to be honest I'm just sort of starting to process what it means to me. I am sure I'll have more to say later.

5.I finished a project! I KNOW! I have a baby with reflux and an almost-three-year-old and I finished a flipping project. HOT DIGGITY DOG.

It's the IKEA spice racks as bookshelves. I spray painted them with some green stuff from Lowe's and Chris hung them up and I have to say, these suckers are cute. Have I made or bought proper curtains for her room yet? Nooooo. That's the same old blackout liner that I thumbtacked up the first week we moved in. Sorry, Claire. Not everything in your room can be classy all at the same time.

6. I started writing for Food Lush. I post on Tuesdays and still post on Wednesdays at Style Lush.

7. I bought all of the Game of Thrones books from Amazon last week, after I finished the first one that my (future) sister-in-law gave me. This is notable only because I decided some time ago to stop buying books in the first place because they take up so much space and it can be an expensive habit. (I refuse to venture into e-reader territory.) I read the first book in 48 hours and there was no way in hell I was going to wait until I got around to the library for the next one when I have Amazon Prime to hook me up by Wednesday.

It was SO good. I don't have HBO, so I haven't seen the show, but it was really good. After I read the first one I spent about two hours on Wikipedia reading about all the other books and the cast of the show and theories and WHOA there is a new book that just came out? I am about 100 pages into the second one. It's fun having a series that I'm into again.

The next book I want to read is A Discovery of Witches, because people on Twitter will not stop talking about it. I might have already put it in my cart. What are you reading these days?

8. I bought a 7-pound chocolate cake at Costco last week. Now, 7-pounds doesn't SOUND like a lot, but it is. This cake was probably a foot across and 8-inches high. Really good chocolate cake. Fudgy with chocolate shavings all over it and loads of chocolate buttercream. I had no occasion to buy it for. No birthday, special event, nothing. I just really wanted some quality chocolate cake, which is hard to find these days. Have you noticed this too? Chocolate cake, disappearing from dessert menus across the country? YES. It is actually happening. It is a Thing.

I have had more than a few dinners ruined by getting to the end and being all excited about some chocolate cake (a staple of the dessert menu!) and then seeing a bunch of fruit crap and butterscotch or caramel garbage and NO CHOCOLATE CAKE. Really, do they think men suddenly have the sole ownership of dessert choosing decisions? (They don't.) What is going on here? My theory is that chocolate cake is too lowbrow and common and simple for a pastry chef to get excited about and include on the menu. Chocolate cake does not get you a show on Food Network. Memo to Pastry Chefs: You are not too good for chocolate cake. IT IS WHAT YOUR CUSTOMERS WANT.

Anyway.

You will be so proud of me because I sliced that 7-pound cake of awesome up into about 16 slices, put each slice into a Ziploc and froze it.

Now? I have chocolate cake whenever I want. (Well, whenever I deem appropriate as "whenever I want" would be "every day for lunch.") I am a cake genius. I am eating cake right now.

 

*I saw Sam use this phrase on Twitter last week and I have been laughing about it for DAYS.

Two months

Two months. Damn. That went by fast.

This is where it would be appropriate for me to write a nice little post about what Charlotte is up to and how we are adjusting and record things like how much she weighs (Oh, wait! I actually have that information handy: 12 pounds, three ounces last week), but the truth is that the past four weeks have been haaaaaard and they involve not one but TWO reflux drugs, a lot of screaming and a lot of not sleeping.

Month two was difficult. Far more difficult than Claire's second month. Quick words escape me and what I would really like to do with this gift of free time when both children are sleeping (!!!!) is curl up with a glass of wine and fall into the black hole that is Pinterest and mentally redecorate my house with an imaginary budget.

So, that's what I'm going to do.