Quick Takes (volume 8)

-1-

We fired up the grill for the first time this spring on Wednesday. Yummy! We had burgers / marinated portabella mushrooms on homemade rolls, skewers of zucchini, onion, and orange pepper, and potato salad made with potatoes, watercress, spinach and rocket mix, feta cheese, spring onions, a few almonds and some dill. It was definitely a winner. 

-2-

I also tried making my own yoghurt this week. It turned out pretty good. We have a yoghurt maker, and I followed the instructions here. It is just plain, so I need to see about add-ins to jazz it up a bit. But it really made the kitchen stink when I was making it--did not expect that!

-3-

So, I don't think I am a bad mother, but I do wonder if I am missing something re laundry. All the other moms go on about how much extra laundry there is with a baby, but that doesn't seem to be true for us. Usually I have to throw Gus's stuff in with some of ours because I need an item of his before there is a full load ready.  Of course, I may have been known to just throw a towel on the bed when his diaper leaks rather than changing the sheets. Two nights in a row. But guess who was happy on morning #2 that she hadn't gone to the trouble of changing the bed the day before? Maybe this sort of thing explains the lack of extra laundry.

-4-

I sent in our census form this week! I was inordinately excited about filling it in, I must say. I opened it right up to start filling it in as soon as it came through the letterbox. And even little Gus got to be on it. :)  I had a few difficulties, though. Normally I am quite good at following instructions (if I do say so myself), but I kept missing the if yes, go to question 12 sort of things. I particularly noticed this on the question about our primary language. For Jon and me, I put English as the primary language and answered the next question saying we spoke it "very well". But when I had to answer the question for Gus, I was stumped. Does he speak English very well, or not at all? That's when I realised the second question was only for those for whom English is a second language. It all makes sense, now!

-5-

The other part of the census that made me scratch my head was the ethnicity question. Now, I consider my ethnicity to be white. But that isn't an option on the census. You have to choose White British, White Irish, or White other, if you are white. So I choose white other and write in American. Even though I don't think American is an ethnicity. But then for Gus, it gets even more difficult. He is obviously white British, but if I am white American, then he should be as well. Like I said, though, American isn't an ethnicity! So it feels really weird putting that down for him, who is not American the same way I am American. On the other hand, I feel like I am erasing my contribution to his ethnicity if I just put white British. So in the end, he gets white other as well, and I write in British-American. Stupid question. It's all just a social construct anyway. (If we're being really pedantic, I could put Irish and German for my ethnicity, as that is my ancestral heritage, but that seems even more ridiculous than putting American.)

-6-

Are you participating in the 84,000 novenas for Pope Benedict's birthday?  What a neat idea!

-7-

As I write this, I should be asleep. But the good thing about staying up too late is that I can sit here, in the quiet stillness, and watch my husband and my baby snuggle together as they sleep. How blessed I am!

Don't forget to go to Conversion Diary to check out more Quick Takes! And have a great weekend :)