ABC Thursdays: volumes C & Z

Car, our
We know a lot of people that live in this city without owning a car. And my hat goes off to them. I think it’s great and noble and preferable to not need your own car and rely solely on public transit. But, sadly, I am not one of those people. We have a car mostly because I wanted one. And I love it. We go through phases when we barely drive it at all. Sometimes all we do is move it across the street for street sweeping. But when we do use it, there are so many great places to go. We take it to state parks, zoos, beaches, the homes of family and friends, the aquarium, museums and on small road trips. I love that we don’t use it a whole lot, but even more, I love the freedom of having it when we want it.

Cookies, I make lots of
I make a lot of cookies. I really like cookies. I like to make Jumbo Chocolate Chip, Brownie Cookies, Sugar Cookies with frosting, Coconut Macaroon Kisses and Pretzel Cookies at Christmas. Today I made a new Oatmeal Cookie recipe that was just perfect. Chock full of nuts, cake-y, soft texture, hearty and delicious. Cookies are so awesome.

Cook
I also make lots of other foods that are not cookies. Right now I make dinner 5 nights a week. I make breakfast every morning except Sunday and I pack lunches for Andrew (and sometimes Dave) on school days. I’ve been through various phases of cooking, and right now I’d say I’m in my “sort-of-local-mostly-vegetarian-leafy-green-quick-to-prepare-whole-foods-bean-soaking-but-tomatoes-from-a-can-lots-of-cumin” stage. It’s delicious!



Zombie Costume Maker
This year for Halloween Andrew wanted to be a zombie. He plays a game on Dave's phone called Plants Versus Zombies...and he doesn't really know what a zombie is. He thinks they are little guys in suits. And I was fine with that. He could be a zombie and not only that, I had the perfect idea for Isaac. He could be a pumpkin! There is even a pumpkin in the game! But, Dave and Andrew agreed that pumpkins are lame. Isaac needed to be a zombie too. So, I made two zombie suits and bought face paint and turned my sweet little boys into sweet little zombies. And I must say, they are the cutest zombies ever. And not at all tired businessmen.

Zealous Blogger
It’s been four years now. Four years of near daily blogging. I started to blog as gift for myself. I wanted a voice. I wanted a platform to show off. I wanted something to help me organize my time. And my blog did that, and a lot more too. A lot of things that are important to me now have grown out of blogging. Because of my daily obsession, I take photos now. I take photography classes. I have a lovely camera and equipment. Also, I now feel much more comfortable writing because I feel like I’ve found a voice: a voice I like and that feels like me. I’ve pushed myself to bake better and more impressive things, learn more about design for my scrapbook pages and tackle hugely impressive projects like my city quilt. Sometimes I feel embarrassed about how much I blog. People must wonder if I have nothing better to do with my time. And so many of my entries are just okay, bordering on dull. I’ve thought about stopping from time to time, but when I push through those times, I usually hit some creative or relational breakthrough. And the growth is what makes it for me.