Procrastination

From the "I don't look like my Mom" file...





See, these pictures were taken last August (05) by the Ausable River in "downtown" Grayling, where my Mother now lives. I sooo don't look like my Mom. I don't care that people I had never met before stopped me in the store to ask if Edna was my mother... These people were probably a)intoxicated or b)paid by my Mom to harass her teen-age daughter or c)did I mention mind altering substances?
The boys do have her crazy-blue eyes.


From the "Why I will never be Skinny," file...

And I am o.k. with that...
I do love to eat good food, I love to cook good food, and obviously I like to read about good food. This is just what was handy, I have much more inspiration than this. I won't even mention the cook books. Who needs literature?

We are supposed to have company this week for dinner, someone I have not cooked for, before. I am quite nervous. The MIL has pointed out on numerous occasions that I have different tastes than people around here. I cannot help that I was born out of place in the Midwest, really meant to be a Californian, now trapped in this undulating landscape that cannot decide if it is Midwest or East Coast. Even The Mister, whom I love because he will eat anything I cook and like it, is raising eyebrows as I suggest dishes that catch my eye.
Oh, I have this little habit of trying new dishes when we have company. It isn't deliberate, I just generally don't cook the same thing twice anyway. It doesn't seem odd to have a new dish or twist every night for a week for the family, but if guests are involved, "YIKES!" So now it is a joke. And I still make something new when we have company. And since we have moved to this land of boring and manufactured cuisine, it is a bit of a test to see if these people are worthy of me bothering to cook for them again.
NO, I am not a food snob, I am simply defending my own culinary preferences. If you aren't the kind of person that likes some variety in your life, are we going to get along, anyway? Ok, maybe I am more of a snob than I like to admit. Maybe more defensive than I like to be, too.
It may be a non issue, we have been rescheduled once already.
Still, I am hoping for a run of good weather, I am hot to grill. I have fallen in love with grilled vegetables again this year.

From the "I should have taken a picture," file...
I made some muffins for breakfast this morning. (I had oatmeal two days in a row, had to get out of that rut.) They were beautiful until I pulled them out of the 400 degree oven and dropped them. Luckily only 4 landed on the floor (which had not been mopped, yet) and the rest landed in the hot oven... which is exempt from the 5 second rule because, well, it was hot. What a mess, crumbled muffin in the crease of the oven door. The ones that landed on the rack have nice little grill marks. Oh, yes, you know they ALL landed upside down. Still, they were tasty... just a basic muffin that I added orange oil to flavor, so subtle. yum.

Happy Birthday to WHOM?

Can this kid Celebrate or what? Quite a week, to be sure! Graduation, his own birthday party and 2 of his buddies' birtday parties, too! I do believe this sugar high will last a while.

So this is where the procrastination comes in... it is MONDAY, i.e. Housecleaning Day at Chez Mayhem... and likely you have noticed that I am posting on my blog instead of cleaning... Where to begin? It was bad after Easter/My Birthday, but now it is all the kidstuff, all over, and they are playing with it all, at once. How can I vacuum? How can I wipe? How can I rationalize? How can I motivate them to clean up if I cannot motivate my self? *sigh* I have finished the powder room, my usual starting point, so I know I will not be able to let the entire day go unkept.
In fact, I will go swap out the laundry loads and strip beds... right now.