Stop the presses: This is NEWS

Sorry to light your pants on fire, but I made dinner and dessert tonight and do believe that constitutes a news flash. The day started in a sub-par way when I went to the farmers market and came home as tired as if I'd just climbed to the Empire State Building's second observation deck, singing and poo-poohing the elevator all the way up. I felt utterly pathetic and sank into just a bit of despair during which time I started puzzling Wine Country on my trusty card table. A greater sense of self-pity ensued, and then after I'd asked the boys seven times each to stop climbing up the back of my couch -the one Percy marks and Nutmeg kneads his nails on, so really why do I care at this point, but I do because even though they act like animals sometimes, the boys are actually humans who must/will learn proper behavior- I just dissolved into a fit of tears (not helpful in the congestion department), sent them upstairs and wallowed over a Riesling bottle whose color rendering really did not translate accurately between the box cover and the pieces.

I did manage to pull it all together, enjoyed a conference call with my writing group, bathed Ol, read him Polite as a Princess -again; curiously, he can recite the entire book and regularly applauds the princesses for their unparalleled Emily Post-like etiquette but he seems less enthused about incorporating these lovely ladies' suggestions into his own behavior. Alas.

Then I decided that come hell or high water, I would make my husband dinner. Fresh pesto with basil from this morning's market + sungold tomatoes + homemade ricotta + this fabulous perciatelli. It needed salt but after a generous addition of it was wonderful. I also made Amanda Hesser's plum tart which is so good it renders me speechless every time I make it, which is often. Last summer, I think I baked this about 87 times. Tonight, I didn't have enough plums so interlaced those I did have with fresh apricots. Gorgeous, yes?!?!?!

Puzzle, pluots

Oh man, I had to get out a card table for my newest puzzle -games- mostly because it was too large for our coffee table. Actually, it was mostly to stop my back from complaining about hunching over in less-than-optimal lighting. The combo of card table + yet another 1,000 piece puzzle suggests to me that my nerd factor has gone off the charts, like the mercury on a hot day. Even Jack is saying, "mom, what's up with you and the puzzles!" But whatever, if I'm a nerd, hear me roar (hoarsely but with assertiveness). The games puzzle was slightly less difficult than was vintage lunch boxes but more challenging than was travel posters. I know more about this than I wish I did, but alas. It's on to wine country next. I also chopped pluots- aren't they beautiful? Mom, I did not do anything with them. I simply chopped them while sitting down.

Turning a corner?

Today, I had a smashingly good breakfast of: Levoquin, Advair, Robitussin and a few other fun-time treats. This medicinal buffet just makes my stomach feel oh-so sated and good. NOT!

So I rounded things out with some of that granola I made a few days back + Greek yogurt and homemade jam. This combo plus the smoothies and chicken soup have been my trifecta-of-eats this week. It's like I'm on some sort of weird, probiotic-heavy detox; not my favorite diet but if I have to find a silver lining it just might be that I'll fit into that dress I bought in Italy last year. Yeah, that one I've never worn because I stupidly bought it after having thrown up for four days straight due to that horrid bug we all acquired in Venice. Why I did not put two and two together that one can only wear an extremely fitted, ivory-colored, drop-waist silk dress IF one is Barbie or Giselle or has just emerged on the other side of an unhealthy bender like PukeFest 2012 --read: not me in everyday life-- is beyond me. I must have been in some sort of calorically challenged fugue state when making that purchase. I should go try it on just for kicks. That would probably use up all energy I do have right now and then Tom would come home to find me horizontal on the couch looking like the wrath of god albeit very well dressed.

But really, I think I'm in the process of turning the corner. And that sure as hell better be the case because a) I'm really, double-dog over this pneumonia shit, and b) the BlogHer conference is soooon. I am to leave first thing in the morning on Thursday. Hell will have to freeze before I miss this cool event.

As a completely random and fairly snarky aside, there is a regular contributor to a site on which I'm active, and this person just thinks (s)he is the bomb. Like the end-all, be-all of knowledge in every arena (ridiculous) whilst maintaining a constant air of "you are a pathetic excuse for everything" when interacting with almost 100% of everyone else on the site. To myself I have just begun referring to this person as a "dutch oven fart of a human." I think that is really funny. Hee-hee, saucy Em-i-lis.