I made a Dutch baby for breakfast this weekend. Two out of three kids tried bites and then scrambled for cereal instead. (The remaining child added copious amounts of powdered sugar for it to be deemed edible.) We played board games and ate Thai food and watched TV under soft blankets. We played Wordle. The kids went from laughing together to fighting in 3.2 seconds flat. Yesterday we went to the nearby nature center and rejoiced in the warmth of temperatures over 32-degrees. The sun warmed our cheeks and the kids discarded their jackets and we remembered what it was like to enjoy the outdoors when the wind doesn’t take our breath away.
I listened to The Daily this morning and heard a Ukrainian woman talk about how it was spring there, too, how the sun was out and the birds were singing (Did I mention the birds who sang us to the bus stop this morning?) and she just wanted to enjoy spring and her peaceful life. I felt the parallels in my bones, both of us trying to rejoice in the promise of spring but only one of us consumed by the reality of war in our streets. That we’re different only by virtue of birth, nothing more.
I half-laugh at the warning at the beginning of The Daily episode, “This episode contains strong language.” As if there is any other kind of language for war.
After two years of pandemic, after George Floyd, after January 6th, after Afghanistan, you’d think we’d have learned to live with tragedy. It feels impossible, for the umpteenth time in the past however many years, to hold all of these tensions.
I bought iced coffee this morning on my way to pick up my groceries. I might balk at the increase in prices and yet I can still afford to fill my van with food to feed my family and pay a stupid amount of money for drive-through coffee. Driving home in safety is a given.
And I drove home, the sun shining down bright on another warm, hopeful spring-is-coming sort of day. I try to hold the parallels in my brain. I fling prayers that mostly resemble Anne Lamott’s Help, Thanks, Wow at the sky because I don’t know what else to do. Don’t know how else to hold this tension and bear it.
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Thing I’m Doing
I hate when my “thing” is all “throw money at a problem” and yet that’s really all I have the ability to do. NPR has a roundup of resources that are trustworthy and on the ground in Ukraine should you feel so moved and able to donate.
The other thing I’m doing is holding space for the stories. I can stand in one teeny-tiny, baby iota measure of solidarity with Ukraine by listening to their stories. I have again found The Daily to be a good resource for this.
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Around the Internet
Maybe the best thing I’ve ever read.
What with attending Iowa State University and marrying a guy from Iowa, I consider myself an honorary Iowan. This article about Casey’s gas station is everything.
My friend Molly (Who happens to be an Iowan—Molly do you love Casey’s?) is going through her old journals on her blog and it is a DELIGHT. Where my other millennial women at who based their entire afternoons around AIM chats?
I played The Sims again for the first time in over a decade during 2020 as a little pandemic treat and honestly, this article, about The Sims and food, seems like niche content created just for me.
I adored this essay on marriage and honestly could have written this paragraph: “When Bill sneezes, no matter how far away he is, it’s like a blast from an air horn aimed at your face…Every sneeze is an emergency. I don’t think I’ve ever not said “Jesus Christ” out loud upon hearing one.” Now every time Tyson sneezes I say, “Jesus!” (which is my standard response) followed by a muttered, “Always an emergency.”
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Eating
This was the recipe I used for the Dutch baby. Maybe your kids will appreciate it more than mine.
I’m planning to make patty melts this weekend and already looking forward to it. I use this recipe and it is a meaty, cheesy, umami perfection.
I had a horrible cold last week which left me with a slight sore throat so I started making vanilla malts with my immersion blender. I used roughly 1 cup milk + 4 generous scoops vanilla ice cream + 4-5 Tbsp. malt powder + a teeny dash of vanilla and it was DELICIOUS. Tyson prefers chocolate so I add 1 Tbsp. cocoa powder for him.
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Fun Things
The kids received this version of Ticket to Ride for Christmas. We fell in love with it so I gave what Caden calls “the parent version” to Tyson for Valentine’s Day. I know we’re late to the game (Pun not intended. Ha!) but everyone is right: it’s the best. Cue all of the expansion packs in our future.
I already raved about this fleece-lined jumpsuit on Instagram, but here it is again. I promise you need this in your life.
We hit up both the Mall of America and Great Wolf Lodge last week to celebrate the kids’ birthdays and it felt like one of the most “normal” things we’ve done in a very long time. Looking for more normal in the very near future.
