Thanksgiving

Apparently we survived it once again. Even with a broken oven. It decided to sop working while I was baking a cheesecake. Of course four of my dishes had to pass through the oven, including the beef tenderloin (I don't do turkey because I hate birds, dead cooked or alive) I intended to roast, that ended up being cut in filet mignons, and pan fried. I even made up a cognac and shallot gravy. But I was kind of mad for a while. Otherwise everything went well, yummy food I took six hours to prepare and that we ate in about fifteen minutes, but that's always the case. And I have plenty of leftovers, which is may favourite part. I may post my gnocci recipe here later. But I have to translate it from Spanish first, and that sounds like too much work after all the wine I drank yesterday. Which wasn't objectively a lot, some years ago it would have been a joke for me, a drinking appetizer. But given my recent lifestyle, a couple of glasses definitely get me on the mood. It's a pity that husband has to work the hole weekend... Hopefully we'll be able to go see the Zoo Lights tonight. I'm going to be very upset if we don't. Very, very upset. I am also salivating while I think about a big RJ Grunts Gruntburger. Mmmmmmhhhh...

Mad

Aren't you sometimes mad at the world with no justification? I have one of those days. Actually, it started yesterday. I'm specially mad at my husband for not being at home. Then I realize I don't mind it that much because I miss his presence, but because I miss the things he does, like taking care of the baby, who gets kind of crazy if he doesn't see his dad. I don't blame him, I guess that sometimes he must be done with seeing me. It happens to me to.
Then, the oven guy came yesterday, without the piece I told the appointment lady my son had riped off from the oven's door. Supposedly he is coming today, but, you know?it's Thanksgiving, busy times... That's the point, Kid, tomorrow it's Thanksgiving, and I need that darn oven fixed by then. Like with birthdays, I don't feel crazy about the holidays this year. I usually enjoy cooking, and decorating the house and the tree, but this year I feel like I couldn't care less. I have no clue about the reason. It's true that last year was amazing, and I will miss this year my German friend, Marina, who moved back to Germany. It was great having her and her family over, and planning the dinner together. The prospect for this year is not the same. Although if experience works, the occasions you expect the less from are the ones that give you the most. Let's see how that works.

Silly

They ask you five times in two minutes if you are mad or "de mal humor". You answer no the first four times. The fifth you are actually mad. Then the drama unravels. All in Spain-Chicago Skype video conferences. It's being going on for two days. Too long already. Isn't it silly?

Of Birthdays and Kid Rock

The other day was my birthday. I'm just one year from hitting 30, and it feels weird. It's like this part of me is about to die. I guess I had a crazy enough "teenagehood" that lasted until my early twenties, and it's hitting just now that it will never come back. Midlife crisis, anyone? As I do every year, when everyone says "How do you feel one year older?" I end up thinking that I'm not a year, it's a day, and hour, maybe even a minute older. That year doesn't happen in one day, it takes a whole 365 of them. I guess it's just another convention we have all agreed on, to have at least a happy day a year. They used to be happier, though. I used to be all excited in the weeks prior to my birthday, preparing some kind of party, hoping for the calls and cards... Waking up in the morning feeling like a kid, a happy one. Enjoying the celebration. That hasn't happened the last two years. I don't feel the excitement anymore. And everyone seems a little bit bothered by it, but I cannot live according to other people's expectations. Maybe it's due to the fact that I'm a mother now, and I got that excitement when little L's birthday approached, back in April. But I miss my own. I miss being a young girl. That may be the reason behind my apparent musical crash on Kid Rock. Of all people. In Spain he has only been seen in some tabloids because of his wedding to Pamela Anderson. I had never heard his music until some weeks ago. I heard "Picture" in the radio, and I liked it a lot. Then I heard "All Summer Long", and I liked it so much that I got the CD. The guy is wearing a fur coat in the cover. A fur coat. That's not me, my kind of music. Or maybe it is and it's not my kind of cover. I only know I love the song. It's a midlife crisis song. Perfect.

So apparently I blogged before...

Something kind of weird just happened. I was checking my friend A's blog, when I tried to read a comment, only to discover that it was done by me. From Blogger. But I don't recall having ever had a blog, not even a Gmail account until a couple of days ago... I guess that at the time I was a sleep deprived mom with a six month old baby, but it still felt creepy... This was just a mere year ago... And now I wonder... What else did I forget? What else did I do without intention?

Ditching classes/ De pira

I can't believe ditching a class can feel this bad. After all, I was terrible in High School, and spend a good amount of my college time in the cafeteria (Spanish cafeteria, aka coffee house). I guess that by Grad School responsibility had finally kicked in... And has stayed until today. For the first time I skipped my baby's swimming class. And although I keep telling to myself that he was very tired and would have had a miserable time, I still have the feeling that he is missing something. Which makes me think that I missed many, many things when I was younger. But then again, playing Trivial Pursuit for hours in a coffee shop called "La Ronda", where my friend and I used to meet fellow "delinquents", probably gave me the social skills I would never had gotten in the school. And it was way more fun. Until one day the owner of the place asked me if I needed help, thinking that maybe I didn't have a home to return to. At that point we decided that it couldn't continue that way, we had to change. So we started visiting different coffee shops.
Returning to the present, the Kid left today. It was supposed to be yesterday, but her flight got canceled and we got to keep her for one more night, enough to get an amazing tuna recipe. But we are already missing. I guess that the "I'm alone" feeling won't kick in until tomorrow. Today I'm too tired to feel anything. Curiously enough, I'm a little bit sad because I got yesterday my Mom's birthday present. Chasing it around Chicago Post Offices three weeks after my birthday had become a yearly tradition. We, humans, operate in rather weird ways. But "Dirty Sexy Money" will pick up my spirits tonight. I love the show, perfect for "tiempos de crisis". Enough for today.

Reminiscencias del verano or a cute rose from my mom's garden

So the kid visits Chicago and, what does she do? Did we go downtown, to the theater, or just walked through the city? No. She got me a blog instead. So this is all the kid's fault. But if the actual kid, my 18 month old baby boy allows me, I will probably get as hooked as I am to other silly things, like Facebook, Sim City, or gossip magazines. Only this is not that silly, I have to admit. I just need to warm up to it.