For the longest time after the girls came home, in the recesses of my subconscious mind, I kept waiting for life to go back to “normal.” I didn’t want it to, of course, nor did it make any sense; I just kept feeling like I’d wake up one day soon and someone would be knocking on our door to say, “Hey, thanks for watching these two cuties; we’ll take it from here. Goodbye and take care!” And then, after feeling very sad and confused, I’d go take one long bear nap and get back to life as I knew it.
Just this week I realized that the sensation of this new life just being a dream, or that I’d accidentally stumbled into someone else’s life, is pretty much gone. It now feels normal having these two little girls around. The house would be entirely too quiet and empty without their stuff strewn about, the pitter-patter of their feet in the hall, their constant shrieks and giggles. Instead, I find myself amazed that these girls will have a birthday in late June, and time is already passing too quickly. Better get used to it, I suppose.
Given that it’s Friday — and time to sit and chat about our week — here’s a drink that should keep any melancholic feelings at bay: a Bloody Mary recipe from blogger Anne Parker. This isn’t just any standard brunch classic; Parker has been perfecting her recipe for some time, she says, and uses pickled vegetables instead of the standard celery stalks. Not only that, she uses plenty of freshly grated horseradish, which is a must in any Bloody Mary that passes my lips. (And surely you have to agree that her photo above is just too lovely.)
So, with a big thanks to Parker for sharing her delicious version of a drink I love, here’s my high and low of the week:
Low: Two people I’m close to have parents who are dying, and it’s very sad. I’m at that age now where my peers are beginning to bury their parents. It’s always such a big thing to lose a parent, and I dread the day it’s my turn. May it not be for many more decades!
High: Having a family day together on Wednesday. Although we were pretty disappointed that seemingly everyone in the mid-Atlantic got snow but us downtown Baltimore folk, it was a treat to have B home in the middle of the week. We took a family walk in the rain, hung out by a roaring fire, and I even managed to start gathering our complicated tax info for our accountant. Yay to all of that!
Bonus question: Who handles the finances in your household? I get the honors around here. I pay our bills, do our banking, and handle our tax info and files. Before we married, B actually asked if I’d be okay doing this, since it wasn’t his strength. We make big financial decisions together, of course, and we have some rules about spending, but overall this arrangement has worked out pretty well so far.
Okay, now it’s your turn to grab one of those Bloody Marys and tell me about your week! I hope you have a slow weekend, and I’ll see you back here on Monday.
Image: Anne Parker for unruly-things.com
Hello, I'm Zoe Saint-Paul. I'm a writer, life coach, and new mama to twins who's trying to live "slower" in a speed-obsessed world. Here we chat about life and love, food and design, and everything in between -- all at the right pace. So grab some tea, pull up a chair, and join the conversation. Feel free to 
That Bloody Mary is truly a thing of beauty. I love the pickled vegetable touch, too! When spring finally gets here, looks like I’m going to have to pickle and can some veggies just for that purpose…
My high of the week: Unlike Zoe, I actually got to experience some of the snowstorm Wednesday, which I did entirely from indoors (it was really, really wet snow) — but it sure was pretty! Being snowed in makes me want to cook all the things, for some reason, so I made some muffins, vegetable stock, an elaborate fajita dinner…it was awesome.
Low: Breaking my French press last night. Sob! I just knocked it over on the counter while doing the dishes, and that was all she wrote. This is actually my third French press; they have all met similarly untimely demises — but I keep going back, because the coffee is just too good. I need to hurry up and get a replacement.
BQ: Well, as I’m not married, that would be me — but I sure do wish I had a wife to take care of my finances for me!
Sorry about your French press!
I think we need to make these Bloody Marys when you get to some spring canning…
I’ll actually have a Bloody Caesar — I like mine with clam juice!
Low: My mom’s flight got canceled because of the snowstorm that wasn’t. She’s been re-booked for this weekend, though.
High: Things are definitely looking up with breastfeeding and we’re getting decent sleep at night. John is sleeping in 3, 4, and sometime 5 hour blocks. At two weeks old, I’ll take it!
BQ: I handle the finances in our house. I’m very detailed-oriented and husband finds it a huge relief not to be doing the bill paying. He is a big picture guy so he manages investments (which I really don’t have clue about) and all the big picture stuff. We make a good team!
Well, yes, you Canadian, Bloody Caesars are a cut above… I’ll have to offer one of those soon!
SO glad to hear breast feeding and sleeping is on the upswing!
Why do I have the feeling that your financial files and upkeep is just a little better than mine??
Sadly, a Bloody Mary is a drink I could never get behind. Maybe someday when I’m a real grown-up!
Low: sigh. It’s a doozie. We started sleep training, and it seemed to be going very well. Then, abruptly, it reversed course and became AWFUL. now, effectively, I have trained my son to not ever go to sleep except while nursing. He hasn’t had a real nap in three days, there is no longer any schedule at all, and I’m staring around me in utter confusion and some despair. I could really use a good drink of some kind!
High: had a nice romantic evening with my husband after the baby went down for the night on Tuesday. He does a good job of helping me release stress!
Finances: oh. Not me. Ever. If I value our marriage!
So what is it about a Bloody Mary? It is just too, well, bloody??
I hate when you work hard to improve something and it only makes it worse. SO discouraging! Are you using The Sleep Lady’s stuff? I’ve always heard good things about it, but haven’t personally used it.
And yay for romantic evenings! I can’t wait for one of those again… maybe in another six months??
Love your emerging chapter in the story about your family!
High: I was telling a story about how awesome it is that my seven year old is learning Shakespeare so well that she draws analogies to his language out of life situations. (Picture me, playing a rare video game and getting gobbled by the pac men ghosts. She says, “mommy, you are like Macbeth, tied to a stake so you cannot fly!”) But I told the story wrong, misquoted Shakespeare, and my five year old interjected with the correct quote. That was cool.
Low. Silly work trivia/bureaucracy that takes too much time. I don’t have enough energy for my kids and really resent when it is taken up by such stuff.
BQ: Me. We agreed to that before we were married. I don’t think I could give up the control – I like to know what’s happening – but sometimes I wonder if it was a mistake since there is such burden that comes with it and I hate always being the cheapo bad guy.
Sorry about the snow. We are well into spring here – baseball season! Warm with lots of blossoms everywhere. Since I’ve never had to shovel, some powdery snow to play in sounds magical.
Wow, that Shakespeare story is so great.
I agree there are burdens to handling the finances. I don’t think I could give up control though, unless I thought my husband was way better than me in this, and he’s the first to say he’s not. Much more capable now than we were first married, though. Seems he’s discovered his German side the last few years
Yay for blossoms! They should be arriving here right around Easter.
We call it the New Normal around here…but that was before the TV show.
Low: A sick kid. And, sadly, not even a sick kid who wanted to be cuddled and relax. A sick kid who was bouncing off the walls and bored because I wouldn’t let him go outside with a 102 degree fever. Consequently, I got nothing done all week and now am way behind at everything.
High: Our Family Day! We’ve been home a full year now. Unreal. But all too real.
BQ: It’s me. By default. I hate it, but I’m the one who quit her job to manage the household, and this falls under “other duties as assigned.”
Congrats on celebrating your first anniversary as a family! What a big milestone. Would love to hear how you celebrated.
And ugh, hope your little one is better and you can catch up soon!
Oh my! I hear you!
My twin boys are now 10 months old, and some days I still catch myself trying to get to ‘normal’ too. But of course ‘normal’ at this point just wouldn’t do any more! Life is crazy with baby twins, but that’s exactly how we like it now!
And now I’ll go and fix myself a Bloody Mary!
^_^
Oooh, high for the week was having my brother in law visit and meeting my new goddaughter for the first time!
My low was only one snow day instead of two. (Kidding! I was super grateful for just one.) Actually, I can’t really think of a low right now. Charmed life, huh?
Bonus: Dan and I split finances- we budget together and I pay most of the bills while he takes care of student loans, handles reimbursements, and does the taxes. I definitely get the better end of that deal because I HATE taxes. They make me get all clenched up. But I think Dan prefers it that way any way- he wouldn’t trust me to do them correctly. And rightly so, I’d definitely botch them considering that one year I decided not to deal with my taxes because I needed to save money to spend a semester in Europe. That came back to bite me eventually. Oops!