The Kitchen

This week, my kids have been sick. So I've spent a lot of time inside . . . maybe too much time. I've been looking at other people's blogs, and I've developed some blog envy. My blog definitely needs some work, so I've decided to try making my writing more interesting. By this I mean I'm going to try writing on one theme, instead of summarizing a multitude of activities in our family. I think the problem is I'm always in a rush because of the kids. I don't understand stay-at-home moms whose blogs are incredibly in-depth, to the point of quoting conversations with their children. How do they remember word for word what they say? I just don't get it. Anyway, here we go.

The kitchen in our house is a central place of activity, as it is for most homes with stay-at-home moms. So you can imagine my annoyance when outlet after outlet stopped working in our kitchen this week. Our house is the same age as my mom and dad (I won't say it's "old," it just isn't new). When we moved into the house after the remodel, there were already two outlets that weren't functioning, in addition to the overhead light. Our contractor was baffled by the electrical mess in our kitchen, and we put off getting an electrician until things got desperate, which would be now. Now, two more outlets have stopped working, including the outlet that our lamp is attached to that has been providing us light since the overhead light never worked. The only outlet left working is the one that the washer and dryer are attached to. So I'm just really hoping that this one doesn't stop working. Because once that one goes, we'll have to eat out for every meal.

Today Dottie and I made cookies using that final working outlet. This is another Dottie obsession: making cookies. Dottie developed her love for cookie making thanks to Aunty Em. Emily let Dottie help make Christmas cookies. That one time led Dottie to believe that every time she went to Mimi's house, she would get to make cookies. For the most part, Emily fed this whim of Dottie's. Now that Emily is gone, she asks me several times a day if we can make cookies. We usually end up making them once a week, which is bad for me in my post-pregnancy blob body. Well, today I gave in because she kind of behaved herself while I was teaching a piano student (Joe wasn't home). Dottie pulls a chair up into the kitchen and is right in on the action, putting her little hands on the electric mixer as I mix all of the ingredients together. Here are pictures from our cookie making venture.


And please, if any of you have any clues about what could be wrong with the electricity in our kitchen, please give us advice. Ask your husbands who are probably more savvy with such things than my husband.

Dottie making the cookies on our washer.
Rolling the cookies in sugar (they were gingersnaps). This was her specific job -- I rolled the cookies.

Dottie rolled a couple of baby cookies for herself.

Finished product of one of the baby cookies.

This is what Elliot did as we made cookies -- sat in his swing and smiled. There sure are a lot of pictures of Elliot in his swing . . .

On a completely unrelated note . . . This is what Dottie looks like when she does her own hair: