Nine on the ninth

1. It was 32 degrees out today when I took Danny to school at 12:30. The truth about cold, windy, rainy weather in April is that I love it. Like big fat kiss you on the lips love it. I know there are a lot of people who have issues with the cold, windy, rainy and heaven forbid snowy weather in April. I am not one of them. I don't know why so many people are in such a hurry to get started on the hot, sunny days of summer. It is something I will never understand. Do they just love all that yard work? Today was a lovely weather day (and I'm probably the only person who thinks so and I'm totally ok with that).

2. I'm getting my very first mammogram tomorrow. Mam-o-gram-o. I'm going with a friend because that's how we girls like to do things. I'm not worried or scared about it hurting at all. I'm just dreading the embarrassment of someone seeing and/or touching my boobies. I'm going to just try to not make eye contact with the poor soul who has to assist me and probably make a few nervous jokes because sometimes I just can't help myself. When I was making the appointment, the lady asked if I had implants and I laughed and said, "I wish." Ha. I'm almost 40 and my grandma had breast cancer so off to the mamo-gramo I go.

3. I started making dinner at 4:00 today. Sometimes I do that. And then I let it sit on the stove (or in the oven) and come to room temperature while we wait for Daddy to get home. If it gets too cold, no problem. That's what a microwave is for. Today was my lucky day because the kiddos were invited to come play next door with their little buddies at 5:00 so I even had some quiet time. I washed dishes. For the second time today. To make room for the dinner dishes that would need to be washed. Hi. My name is Cathy and I wash dishes all day long.

4. I really want to take the kids (especially Danny) to this Lego exhibit on Saturday. It's probably almost as good as Lego Land. But this is free and Lego Land is totally not free. The description says that CNN named it one of the top 12 must see exhibitions in the entire world. That's pretty cool. 

5. Tomorrow will be 10 weeks until my 40th birthday. I have no idea how that happened but it did. Danny says I'm not old until I'm 60 so I guess I should stop talking about how old I am around him. He also says I'm not old because I don't have all those bumps all over my face like witches do. Speaking of bumps all over your face, Cate's been talking a lot about chicken "pops" lately and that you can catch chicken "pops" when chickens dance around you. Oh my.

6. A few months ago I got on a Brussels sprouts kick. I couldn't get enough. I ate them for lunch almost every day (well, just the week days because Dan thinks they're stinky so I didn't make them on the weekends when he was around). I've moved on and found a new addiction. Asparagus. Roasted in the oven with a little olive oil and kosher salt (doesn't that sound so very fancy?). It is so good. Especially the tips because they get brown and crispy and just so darn yummy. Dan doesn't understand why I like the asparagus so much because it's a weed. But it's ok because I don't understand why he likes artichokes. All that work scraping tiny bits off of all those leaves just to get to the middle and that weird looking heart thing. Yuck.

7. I've been watching Prison Break during my daily laundry folding and dish washing (and also late at night when I can't sleep but my brain is too tired to read). Hulu recommended it based on my past viewing preferences. Yikes. So I started watching it and I liked it. I watched the last episode this morning (there are only 4 seasons but I won't tell you how quickly I watched them all) during my laundry folding and Dan's shirts ironing party. It was mostly a good ending but had a sad part that I didn't expect and I cried. Then I thought it was kind of dumb that I was crying during the final episode of a show called Prison Break. I think I need to find a good book to read. Or a new show.

8. I made this yummy blueberry breakfast strata for dinner on Sunday. Cousin Jarrett said it's the best dinner ever and I should make it every Sunday. I think he ate 4 servings. I made a vanilla sheet cake for dessert. Why? I have no idea. Do you really need cake for dessert when the dinner part was kind of like a dessert? Apparently the answer is yes. It was yummy but really sweet. I wonder if it was actually sweet or my taste buds just haven't recovered from my 40 day abstinence from baked goodies. Who knows and who cares.

9. I went to Costco today after dropping off the kids at school. I wandered around in peace and quiet. It was nice until I almost started to cry. What a weirdo. Here's what happens when it's quiet enough in my head to actually think about stuff. All the stuff that I can possibly worry about, front and center. All the stuff I'm not doing but I should be doing, I think about it. All the overwhelming feelings of the overwhelmingness of life stuff/mom stuff/wife stuff/church stuff...it's all there. I didn't let any tears drip down my cheeks though. Don't worry. I guess all the noisy kids running around this house all morning long are actually doing me a favor. It's too hard to think about the bad stuff when I can't hear myself think. So thank you, dear noisy children. I almost cried at Costco today but at least I remembered the pita chips.