You wouldn’t know it from the smile on his face here… Sam did NOT like his costume this morning. (An Old Navy number I found at a garage sale for 4 bucks, yay!) Something about the paws at the end of his sleeves either freaked him out or frustrated him, I have no idea, but he started bawling like I was torturing him as I put the jacket on before the Hallowe’en party at daycare today. (And yet he was just fine with the pants moments before, go figure.) He was still crying off and on as I walked him to daycare, but I managed to coax a smile out of him finally. I didn’t take him trick-or-treating this year; I’m not sure he would really “get” it, I’m afraid he’d choke on some candy, lord knows I don’t need the treats, and no one seems to be trick-or-treating in our building anyway. (So I bought candy for nothing. *sigh* I’ll be taking those to work to share with the coworkers, otherwise I WILL eat them.) I will take him to houses in the neighbourhood nearby next year, when he’s old enough to say “twick o’ tweat” himself. Too bad he’ll have outgrown this costume by then; I’d have loved to dress up as Calvin. Oh well. Happy hauntings, everyone!

So I’ve been doing something lately that I’ve been meaning to do for a long time: experimenting with making bread outside the breadmaker. This is a light rye based on Mark Bittman’s “Easiest, Best French Bread” recipe. Needs some work yet, but the texture is so much better than breadmaker bread… Crusty, chewy… Yum! I’ve been doing lots of reading (especially Rose Levy Berenbaum’s The Bread Bible) and I’m enjoying the experiments… I’m totally hooked now!

My little guy is getting so big! He sure does love his homemade mac & cheese. And I love the red walls in the kitchen of my new place, even though it took five (yes, FIVE!) coats of paint to get them that colour. (I know, I’ll have to paint over it when I leave, or forfeit a portion of my deposit. I don’t care. Aaaaaanyway….)

It’s September, what can I say, it feels like time to go back to school, or in my case, go back to blogging. It’s been a busy few months — there will be lots to catch up on.

First up: Dude. He’s growing up so fast, before my very eyes. He seems to be adjusting to his new living arrangements, going back and forth between his dad’s and my place. Nowadays he’s generally eating well, sleeping better and better, and is in pretty good spirits most of the time. (It was rocky at the start, though, lemme tell ya… Good thing kids are resilient.) However… he does seem to be a bit speech delayed. He barely says any recognizable words at all besides “Up.” He actually seems to have lost a bit of ground, linguistically, since I moved out. Derek and I are doing what we can to encourage his linguistic development, and his daycare has begun the referral process for speech therapy (referrals take 6 months… at which point he may be fine, but if he’s not, we’ll be glad of the help, to be sure). He babbles lots of nonsense now, and he can follow simple instructions (if he feels like it… sigh), *seems* to understand much of what I’m saying (I think), but still… I worry. I’ve heard plenty of stories of kids (especially but not only) boys who talked late and who are fine today. Even so, any parents out there reading who have suggestions, ideas, support… I’d be grateful for them!

(Could this post have any more parentheses or ellipses…?)

Look what I bought from LisaLesa at the One of a Kind show in Toronto on Saturday! (Apparently I have a thing for sparkly shoes.) Yes, I admit that since the breakup, I have been spending a bit of money on renovating my look: new clothes, shoes, jewellery, glasses, fresh haircut and colour, a new tattoo (more on that one next week). Typical woman in that regard, I suppose. I’ll have to cut out that sort of indulgent behaviour soon… the single-parent lifestyle will be a bit more of a frugal one. Anyway, on Saturday, after I’d already bought an absolutely gorgeous ring (the all-silver version), I just fell in love with these totally unique, literally one-of-a-kind boots as soon as I saw them… and when they just happened to fit me perfectly on trying them on (even though they claim to be a size 7 and I wear a 7.5… they’re obviously a roomy 7), well, Cinderella just had to buy them. And hey, since I signed up for Lisa’s “Style Ambassador” program, I gotta tell you: if you’ve got a dull pair of shoes collecting dust in your closet, you can ship them to her to spiff up with a custom graffiti job — check out her website for details! Wearable art — my favourite kind!

Derek and I are in the process of splitting up. Have been for months… the most civilized, amicable, non-acrimonious separation imaginable. It wasn’t an easy decision, but it is a mutual one. We have made our decision public in stages — our immediate families and closest friends first, then slowly letting wider and wider circles of acquaintance in on the situation. But, procrastinator that I am, I’ve put off announcing it here. Nothing specific happened to cause the break — no infidelity or other drama/nonsense — we were always  very different people, and we just weren’t working as a couple any more, despite our great love for our son. So, I’ll be moving to my own apartment this summer, within walking distance of work and a new French daycare for Sam that takes kids at 18 months; Derek and I will be sharing custody 50/50. Eventually I’ll start posting about the transition — choosing, decorating, and moving into my new place, adjusting to life as a single working mom — here on the blog… just not quite yet. What I can say is this: I don’t know why, but I feel strangely certain that this decision is the right one for us, and that the future will be good. Anyway, if my radio silence has had you wondering, what’s what’s going on with me.

I don’t ever seem to get tired of soup. Here’s the one I made today — almost a stew. Very hearty… perfect for a snow day. It’s based on Mollie Katzen’s Minestrone from The Moosewood Cookbook. Sorry for the long absence; I’ve gone back to work, and let’s just say that blogging has become, well, less of a priority.

2 Tbsp olive oil
2 cups chopped onion
5-6 cloves garlic, minced
1 tsp salt
1 stalk celery, chopped
1 large carrot, diced
1 large parsnip, diced
1 tsp oregano
1 tsp basil
1 medium bell pepper, diced (yellow is pretty with the other colours here)
4 cups water
1 28-oz can diced tomatoes, including juice
1 1/2 cups canned kidney beans (other cooked/canned beans or chickpeas would be good here)
1 cup dry pasta, any shape (I used bowties)

1. Heat the olive oil in a big pot. Add onion, garlic, and salt. Sauté over medium heat for about 5 minutes, then add celery, carrot, parsnip, oregano, and basil. (She also calls for fresh black pepper here, which would have been good, but I left it out to keep the soup mild for Sam, then forgot to add some to my bowl.) Cover and cook over very low heat about 10 more minutes, stirring occasionally.

2. Add bell pepper (oops, I put it in with the other veggies… and it was fine), water, and tomatoes. Cover and simmer about 15 minutes. Add beans and simmer another 5 minutes.

3. Bring the soup to a gentle boil. Add pasta, stir, and cook until the pasta is tender. Serve topped with minced fresh parsley (if you have it… I didn’t) and grated parmesan (which I forgot… soup was delicious even so).

On Saturday we had Sam’s godparents over for a belated birthday dinner; they brought the main course, and I made the cake. At first I was just going to keep it simple and make a boring square cake, but that didn’t feel festive enough. So I did a bit of looking on Google Images for ideas for car cakes, since Sam is utterly fascinated by anything that has wheels right now. (Luckily he has more vehicle toys than I would have ever thought possible.) Holy cow did I see some impressive, gorgeous work out there, crazy realistic 3D racecar cakes – way more involved and complicated than I was prepared to do at the last minute on Saturday afternoon. But then I came across a picture somewhat similar to this, and I thought, OK, I can do that. So I baked a smallish rectangular carrot cake that I then cut to shape, with two large, shallow (flat topped) cupcakes for wheels. I used the traditional cream cheese icing for the body, Nutella for the wheels, and (again thanks to the wonders of the interwebs, because I really did not want to be making coloured icing and figuring out how to pipe it), cut out fruit roll-ups for decorations, with some large sprinkles to spell out his name. It is clearly a homemade, not professional cake, but I think it has a certain humble charm, no? At least not a candidate for Cake Wrecks, I hope… (If you don’t know Cake Wrecks, you should go check it out now: OMG hilarious.)

Anyway, here’s the fabulously moist, reasonably healthful carrot cake recipe I used, courtesy of my dear MIL Shirley. You will note it has NO DREADED RAISINS, although I suppose you could add some if you are one of those raisin fans…

Carrot Cake

1 cup grated carrot
3 eggs
1/3 cup vegetable oil
1 cup sugar (I used brown sugar)
1 1/2 cups whole wheat flour
1 tsp baking soda
1 tsp baking powder
1 tsp cinnamon
1/2 cup chopped walnuts (I chopped them finer than usual for Sam’s benefit, and toasted them in the oven as it preheated)
14 oz can crushed pineapple, drained

Whisk eggs, oil, and sugar together in large mixing bowl. Stir flour, baking soda, baking powder, and cinnamon together. Add to egg mixture and blend thoroughly. Mix in carrots, nuts, and drained pineapple. Pour batter into greased 8×8-inch baking pan. Bake at 350F for 40 minutes or until cake tests done.

Cream Cheese Frosting

125 g cream cheese (I double this)
3 Tbsp butter, softened
1 1/2 cups icing sugar (I halve this — I like a very cheesy, not too sweet frosting)
1/2 tsp vanilla extract
1 tsp lemon juice

Beat all ingredients together until smooth and creamy, and frost completely cooled cake.

1. Use my CPAP machine. Except for a couple of nights, have been doing pretty good on this so far this year. Wish it didn’t leave me feeling dehydrated, though (even with the steam thingie on). Even my eyes are red, itchy, and dried out.

2. Take my vitamins. Have been remembering most days. I have put a “pill organizer” on my shopping list next time I’m at the drug store to make this even easier: fill it with my vitamins once a week, stuff it in my purse to take to work, and then no excuses for forgotten vitamins.

3. Make Sam laugh daily. Needs work. Mama’s too serious, doesn’t play enough with Dude. This is the most important one, though, given that my time with him is now seriously curtailed since I returned to work from mat leave today.

Am I secretly hoping to eat better, be more organized, go to bed earlier, exercise more, lose weight, and get happier? Of course I am. But such resolutions are doomed to failure. I figure the three I’ve listed above are actually achievable, and will all contribute to improving my health, energy, and happiness.

OK, it’s late, time to GO TO BED!! I’m working tomorrow!! (And yeah, if you’re wondering: work is work. It was good to be back, despite the usual excess of rich food, and the usual dearth of email/mainframe/software access which will require hours on the phone with the Help Desk in India before it all gets sorted. *Sigh.*)

Oh, and speaking of laughing babies and work, here’s a fun article for today’s Link of the Day: Tell your boss: Research shows viral video watching increases productivity.

I made this little tree for the K-W Knitters’ Guild annual handmade holiday ornament exchange. (Ornaments do not have to be knitted, but they must be made by hand.) The ornament I made last year was sad and pathetic and was not picked until close to last (I certainly didn’t bother photographing it), so I wanted to make something a little more worthy this year, since some of last year’s contributions by my fellow Guild members were just spectacular, as was the case again this year. This little number is my own design, made up entirely out of my own head. I traced a tree shape from a cookie cutter on two layers of storebought felt (I wasn’t quite dedicated enough to make my own felt, especially since white wool doesn’t always felt reliably), then strung some pretty beads from my newly acquired stash donated by my friend Kristen and sewed them on. I sewed the two trees together with gold embroidery thread using blanket stitch, then stuffed the ornament with polyfill before finishing. I’m really pleased with the result, and as hoped, it was snatched up very quickly! I picked out a yarn ball made by one of my Guild friends, similar to this. (I should have taken a picture before putting away the Christmas tree yesterday.) Now I will always think of her when I hang it on the tree every year!