Happy Friday

After a grey Saturday spent indoors, Sunday bright and beautiful, but not leaving our street, Monday we finally went out. Finn hasn’t been feeling well, so we took him to the doctor. (Poor baby apparently had a virus and now has an ear infection as a result.) Finn was feeling good after the appt, so we went out for lunch. Now it is Tuesday, it’s cold, cloudy, rainy, and still deep with snow & ice. They did shovel my walk at the store this morning, but I just couldn’t imagine anyone coming in (they don’t come when it rains!). So, since Finn is under the weather, school is cancelled, Sarah is sick, and Amanda has class, I decided to stay closed one more day and stay home with Finn. Now I am feeling anxiety about the store being closed, but I have no choice at this point in the day. And am officially going a bit batty. 4 days at home and three days with 0 sales is making me a little crazy.

Sunday was gorgeous – not a cloud in the sky, bright, sunny, with beautiful packed snow. I woke up early and had about an hour and a half to myself. We played outside and took it easy inside.

Earlier this week I browned some ground turkey, then cooked it with 2 cans of organic no salt added tomatoes, 1 can of black beans, 1 can of kidney beans, and 1 can of corn. I added cayene pepper, chili powder, and salt. It was fairly bland, but a good little meal, that I served three different ways! The first was for my light lunch with Christa. We had small bowls of it with a few wheat crackers. The next night, I used it as filling for “burritos” – just added a small layer of refried black beans on a tortilla, and the chili, plus some cilantro, fresh jalepeno, and a little cheddar cheese. Our snowed-in night, we didn’t have many dinner options. But luckily had fresh eggs from Will’s friend Brian’s chickens, leftover limes from my spa day, leftover tortilla chips from Chubby’s Taco fresh and ready in zip loc bags. Oh an a TEENSY bit of tomatillo salsa. I heated up the chili, cooked two eggs sunny side up. I layered the chips in a bowl, then added fresh tomatoes, cilantro, then the cooked egg, salsa, chili. Squirted some lime juice over it. YU-UM. I had this again for lunch today.

On fb this week, folks are changing their photos to their celebrity dopplegangers. I could only think of two people I’ve been told I look like: Hillary Swank and Molly Ringwald. I chose Hillary mostly because I haven’t looked like Molly in the early 80’s, since *in* the early 80’s. SIde note: You don’t really think of Hillary Swank as super pretty til you start digging up photos of her. I’m flattered to look like her even a little! But apparently I picked right, Dave Brown didn’t notice that it wasn’t me, and my own child pointed at the photo and said, “Mommy!” Some other friends changed their pics too – Paul is totally Anthony Michael Hall (or Joel McHale reminds me of Paul too). Sarah is totally Kate from Lost. When we were in our 20’s in the 90’s, Elizabeth looked so much like Alicia Silverstone in Clueless. Last night I was a little obsessed about figuring out who others should be – but not everyone looks like someone, so it’s tough! WIll and I could not come up with a good one for him. Dav should either be the fierce indian from Dances With Wolves or Keanu Reeves from Bill & Ted. Robin is def be Mike Meyers, and Joan should be Ginger from Giligan’s Island. For some strange reason, JJ from Good Times always reminds me of Dave Brown. Or Chris Rock or Dave Chappelle. (WHY do skinny black comedians remind me of Dave?? Bizarre!)

It snowed Friday night. On Saturday the sky was grey but it was bright with snow all around. We had a fire all day. We also had cupcakes, and WIll made cookies. We even broke out some hot chocolate, which Finn for the most part shunned – I have made him paranoid, and he is concerned about things being “hot” and possibly “burn you”. Finn & Will went outside for a little bit, but Finn wasn’t really into it (he hasn’t been feeling too hot this week!). Mainly we had a nice cozy day off.

Last week we decided to let Finn have breakfast at his table. Now he is pretty much eating all meals here. It is working out well – except dinner has always been a little challenging as is, and quite hard to get him to stay at the table for it. We have it in the kitchen for breakfast & lunch, and dinner is in the living room. If we’re watching Home Alone, (note: have seen this movie at least 20 times in last month..) he stays put. But, for the most part, it’s all good! He really enjoys eating here.

I must say the idea for Sarah to come and give complimentary 20 minute pre-natal massages to my customers came to me when I was feeling really depressed about the store. It was a huge success. We created a serene environment in my office and had 9 appointments. It was great to have her there with me all day. Sarah raked it in with tips, and with the looming threat of snow, our sales were literally 1700% better thanks to having her there. We’re definitely doing this again.

I’ve been all over the place mentally this month. I started out the year all suped up on goals for 2010. Then, life got in the way of goals. Here are the highlights:

Appearance: Cute days. Ugly days. Decent days. Fat days. Old days. Young days.
Money: We have none. The store has none. BUT – I have gotten more involved in our household budgeting, and have found that being more in control has really helped me not have fits about not being able to spend anything.
Love: Financial woes, Business woes, Being parents of 2-year-old woes = Will and I are often to occasionally on each others’ nerves and at each others’ throats. We have not had any date nights this month, which usually helps us to reconnect. We need to schedule one.
Work: Ugh. In some ways/some days it is SO fulfilling. But many days/many ways it just drains me of all happiness and fills me with headaches, chest pains. In particular, the financial side. Our sales are decent, but our overhead is SO high. I obsess over this day and night.
Social: I’ve been lucky to have lots of girls’-nights this month. Jen C and I went out for her birthday and had a great time. (We also have gone running together a couple of times – it is good to motivate each other!). Oh – and they had us over for a little make-your-own pizza party earlier too. I went to Durham for dinner with Kristen – great night!! I had dinner with Hayley and had great conversation about our businesses. I am getting to know Christa (Ronan’s mom) better too. I talk to Dave Brown almost every day like we did back when. Friends are good!
Looking forward to: A dinner with friends at Fearrington! My husband agreed to go since they ! Also, I can’t stop daydreaming about a fabulous 40th bday blowout. Stay tuned…
Home: OMG hate our house. Want new one. Or at bare minimum find time to paint our bedroom.

Overall, not feeling totally satisfied with life, even though I have many reasons that I should be. SHOCK. Not.

It’s been cold, but we still spend a little time outside! Oh, and we’re learning our backyard birds. Finn can easily identify: Cardinals, robins, chickadees, and juncos.

We’ve played with Finn’s buddy Ronan twice and his girl Vivi once this month. Ronan and Vivi were in Finn’s infant class at MMO. I really like both of their moms a lot too, so it is not only fun for Finn, but for me as well to get together with these friends. Side note: I LOVE this photo!! I mean, can you get any sweeter??