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.

Comments

[samantha jo campen]

BWAH HA HA HA :-)

That's the first thing I'll say to you in October okay?

Love the book racks!

[Blake]

Speaking as an English major, with an MA in English, who teaches English and loves to read, I grant you my permission to venture into e-reader territory. When my mother bought me my Kindle, she said, "Because you love to read." And I thought, "Yeah, I love to read. BOOKS. Not screens."

I love my Kindle and the concept of leaving the house without it makes me twitch. In an unpleasant fashion. Do I still buy books? Oh my, yes. Sometimes I read them on the Kindle and then buy them just to have them on my shelf, because I will always be a bibliophile.

But the Kindle is so awesome. 700 page book? 11 ounces. Thirty 700 page books? Still 11 ounces. Just finished a book, but you're in bed and cozy and don't want to get up and get dressed and go to the bookstore to get the next? Non-issue.

Hard on the eyes? Not at all. User unfriendly? Easier than an iPhone. Geeky? Slightly.

If only they had such a device for chocolate cake, I would own one of those as well.

[HereWeGoAJen]

CHEATER! You stole my IKEA spice racks idea. (I know, I know, I stole it from loads of people on the internet.) But I actually went to IKEA three weeks ago to buy the spice racks to paint them blue and install them above Elizabeth's play kitchen kitchen. And IKEA was sold out of them. (Probably because lots of other people stole my idea too.) I'm going again tomorrow to see if they've restocked.

Seven pounds of cake sounds like a lot to me. Now, I don't at all think that is a bad thing, far from it.

Hooray for a new sister! I am getting one next summer and I am SO excited. We have too many boys around and this will even it up a little.

[Nic (notperfect)]

You must read A Discovery of Witches! It's awesome!

[Elsha]

Yay for resigning! (Or sort of resigning or whatever.)

Also, yay for an awesome sister-in-law!

And now a story about chocolate cake. So I was shopping with my parents at Sam's club (family reunion food!) and my parents have the business membership which meant we were there early. And early means they have out the little tray of pastry selections. So on the way out I grabbed what I assumed was a slice of chocolate chip muffin. Nope. Full on chocolate cake. And it was SO GOOD. Even at 8 in the morning, chocolate cake is delicious.

[Lindsay]

Man, no wonder you couldn't handle a 31st day. That is a lot of stuff. Hope the job stuff works out in a way that works for you and I would love to hear more about it. I don't know what your reasons were but I always always ALWAYS think about that post by Amalah where she talked about being stuck in traffic with her baby in the carseat behind her - being so close and yet totally unavailable to each other. It seemed like such a values thing for her (and for all the families that make it work) and it is so neat to see it really all work out in the long run.

[Holly]

Okay, the freezing of all the slices of chocolate cake is genius. I do piecemeal freezing of all other foods in my life, especially Clara's life, why not chocolate cake?!

[Katie]

Congratulations on making it through the month. I am sorry it was so craptastic. July has got to be better, right? RIGHT.

And I hope the job thing works out the way you need and want it too.

[Meredith]

I'm so glad your July is going better for you. The racks look awesome, the chocolate cake story made me laugh out loud since I am a huge fan myself. Excited for you about your decision about work! And excited that your family is expanding! And I love that you are sharing your witty banter on other sites....all very good stuff! Sending you hugs!

PS - Thanks for the book recommendations! I needed some new ones. Although - who am I kidding, I have like 2 months left and I wont be able to read for awhile. :(

[Eden]

Hmm. I like this post. A LOT! I wonder why?! I guess it's because I know I'm getting a whole new family that loves me as much as I love them. And a new sister that I would totally be friends with if we met in an entirely different way. Love the bookshelves and the green color. Looking fw to seeing you guys again after sportsfest.

[Sarah in Ottawa]

Congratulations to your brother and Eden!

On your behalf, I am so glad that the month of suck is over. And I'm also really excited for you re. work. I'm about to talk off a whole year unpaid after which Dave will be doing something huge, so it means a lot of changes for us, too. But I have no doubt that - in both our cases - it'll totally be worth it.

Also? I want to eat Charlotte right up. What a sweetheart!

[K]

I did not know about the freezing of chocolate cake. It actually tastes good upon defrosting?

I'm not doubting you, per se, just kind of processing out loud.

[beth]

I am SO torn about reading the Game of Thrones books as I LOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOVE the series and don't want to ruin it for myself.
I just finished People of the Book, by G. Brooks, AWESOMENESS. I use librarything.com to track my reading and get good suggestions. It also just told me that I passed the 60,000 page mark, pretty exciting!

[Shelly]

Damn but that medicated baby is cute. As is the 3 year old!!

I loved Discovery of Witches. Well,okay, there were some Harlequin romancey moments I could have done without, but I loved the premise and the non-Twilight-ness of it.

[BigP's Heather]

I just finished Pillars of the Earth by Ken Follett. Not usually something I would read but OMG, I could NOT put it down. I had to run out and buy the sequel (not too sequel-ly...like you have to read one before the other but the second one is a hundred years later so totally different characters).

So far, it is totally awesome too!

[BigP's Heather]

I meant to add that the reason I even picked the book up was because it was one of Oprah's book club books a few years back. So I gave it a shot.

[Temerity Jane]

I have been reading A Discovery of Witches for one hundred years. Not that it's bad. It's so good. It's just so LONG. And I haven't yet mastered parenthood enough to handle more than 10 pages at a time.

Also, sometimes we choose a restaurant based on whether or not I can get chocolate cake there. It's my favorite thing. This place, Claimjumper? It has a 6 layer chocolate cake or something insane like that, you have to take it home in a box that is near shoebox dimensions and you know what? Most disappointing chocolate cake ever.

[PinkieBling]

When you do get around to reading A Discovery of Witches (and you simpley must!), pace yourself. I tore through it over a long weekend and THEN found out the second book isn't out until next damn YEAR. AAARRGGHH!!! I'm looking forward to reading Game of Thrones, too. I'm reading Divergent right now and really loving it.

[Karen]

I hear you about not being able to handle one more thing. I gave birth (12 days overdue, NOT THAT I'M COUNTING) on July 8th, only to have them tell me early July 9th that the baby had to go to NICU due to fluid in his lungs. We spent three days in the NICU, brought the baby home Monday night, an hour before the worst thunderstorm I've ever seen rolled into our area.

Then we lost power. For two and a half days. During a heat wave. I wanted to go check into a fancy hotel, but I have a husband who can wire generators to power portable AC units, and the fridge, and we had been sent home with tons of ready to feed bottles, so...we stayed home and diapered and fed by flashlight, while trying to entertain our other three kids.

I was really just...done with THINGS.

[Swistle]

That cake idea sounds like it's exactly up my alley. I like cake, but only a piece. Then the rest goes bad, and that is a sad thing. And then I want cake later, and there is no cake.

How is the thawed texture/flavor? Any downsides? Perhaps we need Day 5, Day 10, Day 50, etc., reports on Cake Quality.

Yay for a sister-in-law! My brother married someone wonderful and it has been GREAT.

[Jen]

I'm going to Costco tomorrow. If I come home with a 7 lb chocolate cake, I'm TOTALLY BLAMING (THANKING!) YOU!!!

[Manda]

AAAAND I am special and commented on the wrong post. SIGH.

[Roberta]

Commenting very late, catching up on blog reading after vacation. Love this: "it was just Real Life kicking us in the shins on the playground." I have been a complete Game of Thrones geek since my brother in law introduced us to the series seven years ago. We have all the books in hard copy just because, even though we are reading the latest one on Kindle. Any time you want to geek out about the books or the HBO series, I am all over that. And WHOA, job news! You are so resourceful (I mean, you MAKE CURTAINS, lady!) you will figure out something awesome no matter what happens.