Bits and Pieces of Our Days: My cooking (sort-of-cooking), Next Food Network Star, and Ramona

First it was Atticus. Now, Anne-with-an-e has started classes, too. The rest of us are sitting back, taunting them cheering them on, and planning for the coming school year.

More to come soon about plans for Betsy's senior year, and Ramona's last year of elementary school.

(I was in a mild state of shock, however, when I realized that after this year, Ramona would qualify for various church/community activities that cover "junior high/high school, grades 7-12." Ummm? Eeeekk?!)

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With Atticus back to work, I've reclaimed my kitchen. In the first few days all I could handle was Little Caesar's, then tuna salad, and then I progressed to egg salad. (The egg salad totally counted as cooking because I had to boil the eggs. Heat and/or a dirtied pan = cooking.) 

This week I've managed to pull together teriyaki chicken with rice, and a Nikki Dinki-style taco salad (i.e., mostly veggies and beans, with a wee bit of meat) that got rave reviews from my former cook. Today I'll be making homemade pizza dough and freezing batches of it.

I'm adjusting, people, slowly adjusting. And on the up side, Atticus still likes to cook on the weekends. (I know. I have nothing to complain about.) 

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Speaking of Nikki Dinki and Next Food Network Star, I forgot to blog about it this year. We were stunned by the final three. Sputtering, really. We thought it would be/should be Stacy, Nikki, and Damaris. I'm sure Rodney's a great guy but his charisma must be one of those magical, in-person things. I just wasn't affected by it through the screen, and did not feel Giada's crushiness (i.e., I would not "follow him anywhere.") And Russell -- also a great guy, but I'm trying to eat healthier, buddy! Your culinary sins will not assist me in advancing to the next round! 

The girls and I were out of town, at my sister's house, when the final episode aired. Kathy is a NFNS fan, too, and this was the first time we'd ever been together to watch an episode. But Ramona could not bear the thought (too sweet!) of watching the finale without her daddy. So we did the next best thing -- we watched as he watched, and we did play-by-plays over the phone, right down to the finger-crossing before they pronounced Damaris the winner. We were happy, y'all.

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We like to eat cupcakes celebrate baptismal birthdays.

We recently celebrated Ramona's. So hard to believe that eleven years ago, she looked like this:

Scan of an eleven year old photo ... sorry. 

I love baptisms, love to cry at baptisms, love to remember my own baptism, and I really love chocolate cupcakes. (So much for healthier eating. Ummm, Russell?)