Cooking Daddy

all together now: “how hot is it?”

this is what i just saw outside my office today (and no, he’s not dead… he’s just wishing he was):

I lost a friend today.

Without this friend this blog, in the form you know it, wouldn’t be around.  His name was Ron.

Ron was an older man.  When I found out I was pregnant, Ron was a full-time employee in the Appliances department I, at the time, ran.  He could have done my job with ease and run laps around me with time to spare, but that wasn’t what he wanted.  He taught me everything I know about appliances.  All he asked that I do was take care of the customer issues and he would take care of the rest.  We made a remarkable team.  I became one of the best MODs at 495 because of him.

Ron wanted to come in and do his job and leave.  He did plus some.  He was funny and smart and an all around remarkable man.

Monday night was the last time I will have seen Ron before I see him eternally laid to rest.  I think I got a bit of vomit on his shoe that day…

He didn’t say anything about it though, other than I need to take care of myself and not worry about “this” place.

So how is this person indirectly responsible for this blog?

Back to when I was pregnant.  I was scared out of my wits.  I was not prepared in any way shape or form.  I knew Paul wasn’t ready and that he didn’t want kids because he had all but said that.  I wasn’t even supposed to be able to have kids.

Paul and I had decided to give our baby up for adoption.  I told Ron that.  Ron took me to dinner one night to talk.  We went to Logan’s.  The one right by the Mall of Louisiana.  He listened to me cry about how unprepared I was, how stupid I was for getting in to this mess, and how I didn’t know how I would be able to live knowing I gave up, potentially, my one chance to be a mother.  He listened.

Ron never told me what to do.  He never told me I was wrong or bad.  What he did say is no matter what I chose to do he would back me up 100% of the way.  That meant a great deal to me because I respected Ron.  Ron was stable.  Ron was always ok.  He always seemed to know what to do.  If he said it would be ok then it would be.

Ron wasn’t biased like my mom.  He had nothing to gain or lose.

He helped me figure out how to tell Paul I couldn’t give my baby up.  For that, I am eternally grateful.

Others were there for me too.  Today isn’t about them though.  So, Mr. Ron here is a picture of the little girl who knows you as the tricycle man…

Sleep well Ron

”  Wow, babe!  You are the perfect man!”

Can you guess who made that statement?  I will give you a hint…it wasn’t a girl.

Paul said that to me this evening.  I know that I should be offended, but I find it absolutely hilarious.  I wonder what kind of example we are setting for Caroline sometimes.  In our household the traditional gender roles have been, if not completely skewed, blurred.

Tonight we were discussing the merits of the birthday gift we gave Caroline and Paul asked me if I had read the directions.  I, as per the usual, replied that I did not because, “I don’t need no stinking instructions”.  That is what brought on the aforementioned comment.  It is not only my complete and utter disregard of the rtfm rule that bends the gender boundaries in our household.  Paul is a guilty party as well.

If you can’t guess by the blogs title, Paul performs most of the cooking duties in the household.  He is also the one most particular on the “how to clean a dish appropriately” front.  I, on the other hand, for our first family father’s day, installed a new stereo in his car.

Now, to my credit (and his because otherwise we both need to seek help for a bundle of other issues), I am not a complete “dude”.  I do like my fair share of the “pretty”, I am just not willing to commit a great deal of time to it.  If a beauty regimen takes more than 20 minutes (including a shower), then it ain’t happening.  That is why I love you, person who invented the ponytail holder and headband.  I assume that it was one person who invented both doo-dads, because it makes me smile to think that so much awesome is contained in one mind.  And don’t get me started on jewelry… If it costs more than 5 dollars, 10 if it is an exceptionally special occasion, it isn’t worth it.  i like more practical things, like purses (shut it Brandon!).  You can carry stuff in them and they qualify as accessories!  Two birds, one stone.  Word.

Now purses, don’t get a great deal of  money either, maybe $20, if I am feeling loose with the pocket book.

I will say this for myself, I make 20 minutes of prep look good.

And don’t worry here is a picture of the real reason you came here.

It is a little old but hopefully I will find another more recent one to post soon.

Later….  Mom

hey, i’m here. i know i know, it’s friday and time for posting, the ipod just told me so.

buuuut it’s been an insanely busy week and this upcoming post involves sorting through over 1100 pictures, so it’s going to be just a little late. tomorrow maybe. sunday at the latest.

so hold yer horses, yea?

meanwhile, enjoy some light music:

(i don’t have any light music here, i was just giving you some space so you could go and select some light music of your own. what am i, a jukebox?)

see you in a day or two.

when you really think about it, doesn’t it seem like hot air balloons should pretty much always explode?  i mean, i know they do sometimes, but if you’ve ever seen them being inflated… i really think they should basically always fail.  i get the physics behind why they work and all that, but you just can’t change the fact that it’s a few hundred pounds of fabric attached to the biggest flamethrower this side of a zombie movie, and the guys at the controls always seem to be named Biff or Trent or “Ol’ No-Eyebrows” or something.

i dunno.  alls i know is that we saw some and i tooks some purty pitchers of em….

Read the rest of this entry »

so, time for another bimonthlyish update!

first off, i just uploaded a batch of 75 new photos to flickr, so head on over there to check em out when you get a chance.  those 75 were culled from a batch of 600 or so that i’ve been gradually combing through this past month.  there will be more to come, i assure you.

umm, what else?

ah yes.  liz and I did a spring cleaning thing a few weeks ago, and i managed to start and finish a little project i’d been planning since the girls moved in.  presenting……

the playroom!  huzzah!

yea, it’s not THAT exciting, but whatever.  now liz has her computer back, and caroline’s got floorspace to romp around on, and the books have a place to sleep. everyone wins!

lots of other things have happened since the last update, of course, but i’ll have more to say about all that in the next (soon to come, seriously) update.  maybe.