Every time I think I'm going to have a chance to catch up on blogging, life gets ahold of me. Studying Turkish for 20 hours a week while Shannon works and has language classes along with being pregnant in a city this size seems to be taking its toll on me. I feel highly unproductive and like I spend so much time trying to do normal "life" that I don't have time for anything fun.
I think that having just moved (eek, like six weeks ago already?) is also taking its toll...all the loose ends from moving are slowly getting accomplished, they just take time, you know? So here are a few snippets of this weekend for me...and maybe it will help me justify why we still don't have light fixtures, why there are still plastic totes full of random things lying around to be put away, and why I still haven't cleaned most of our windows even once since moving in. One can hope, anyway.
Park time! The best time to go to the park on the weekends is before 10:00, since there's nobody there. Lane has free reign and we have no worries of her being bullied/knocked over/spit at (and yes, all of those have happened to her here).
Pizza: it's what's for dinner! I actually made pizza twice this weekend. I discovered that it doesn't take much longer to slice double the veggies, make double the sauce, and make double the crust. It made for about 20 extra minutes of work the first go around, but no extra work (apart from shredding cheese) the second go around.
We've been transitioning Lane to her "big-girl" bed. She has no problems at night, but for naps I lay down with her until she (and sometimes I) falls asleep. We'll fight the battle of getting her to lay still and fall asleep without me...later. I'm not up for it this month. (She currently has a thing for socks and wants to wear them all the time...hence the "nothing on except for socks" look.)
Yogurt-kiss marks on my pants (courtesy of Lane).
Dessert for after church. Brownies (these, without the "mocha" since I didn't have any instant coffee) on the left, the glaze for them on the right. We don't have a microwave, so I have to melt things and warm things up on the stove.
Every momma needs a break sometimes. Lane's new favorite show: Signing Time. She's already learned about five new signs (socks, flower, train, baby, doll, wash hands) in the ten or so days we've had two DVDs.
Ahh, Turkish. How I love thee (you're easier than Polish) and yet loathe thee (you're harder than Spanish)!
Nice days just beckon for us to play in water on the balcony.
One of my favorite pastries around here: a çikolata açma: a chocolate croissant. Few places have them, but one place, Ceviz Ağcı (The Walnut Tree-man), has fantastic croissants, warm on Sunday mornings, for only 1.25 lira (currently about $.70). I consider one my treat for pushing Lane the 1/2 mile to the park, the 1/2 mile to the bazaar, and the whole mile back.
My view on the way back from the park and Sunday bazaar. Our new stroller loaded up with my haul: bananas, grapes, zucchini, green beans, carrots, fresh basil, and eggs. We also stopped for three liters of milk on the way home. I bought less today than usual since we're (insert excited noises here) going on vacation later this week.
That girl has got some CRAZY bed-head!
Last but not least, what weekend would be complete without a load of cloth diapers to wash, hang, stuff, and put away? We wash every three days and are lucky to have a large enough supply (now that Lane only uses about five per day) that we can start the load after Lane goes to bed at 8:00 and not worry about hanging them until the morning. The first cycle is about 30 minutes long. We start the second cycle before we go to bed, and it finishes 2-3 hours later. I hang them first thing in the morning and fold them that evening or the next morning.
***Can you please, please go vote for me, if you haven't already? I'm only 12 votes away from the person in first place...***
That's okay, Lane, I'm a grown-up, and I still sleep in socks all year long. :)
ReplyDeleteI do the same thing when I make pizza, only I either bake it and freeze it or freeze the uncooked dough and pizza right in the pan.
ReplyDeleteI certainly miss those parks. A new park just opened with great playground equipment, but you have to pay to play.
Love the yogurt kiss mark! I have this thing I do with Matthew, where whenever his face is super messy with whatever he's eating (like yogurt or peanut butter) I'll ask him for a 'yogurt/peanut butter/whatever' smooch - so that I get to have it on my face too. He used to think it was so funny... now he's big enough to not make such a mess when he eats... and I actually miss it, lol.
ReplyDeleteCongrats on the nomination, too! I'll stop by to vote as often as I can. :-)
Wow, I complain about having had to learn French but Turkish looks a lot harder! Good luck!!
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