Noteworthy and Not Worthy

Between rehearsals, family reunions, holidays, a sick toddler (breathing treatments, steroids and all), and catching some nasty "bacterial pharyngitis" (a fancy word for a really, really sore throat + persistent fever) myself, I've come up with plenty of excuses for neglecting my blog, and don't know quite when I'll get back into the habit of writing, which is really starting to make me quite sad. So let's start with a list. Things worth noting:

1. Hannah's first complete sentence has been "Mama, I went pee pee. Yaaaaaay!"

2. My nephew is kicking butt on his competitive swim team. I think he's up to like, a million first place ribbons now. I'm really, really proud of him.

3. Hannah has taken to picking out her own outfits in the mornings. She pulls things out and says in a high pitched voice "Le cute?"

4. She has also taken to putting French articles in front of everything. "Le pool. Le Ethan. Le bock bock. Le Mama. Le poo poo." It's very, very, le cute.

5. I finished reading Henry Miller's "Tropic of Cancer" and have moved on to Mary Roach's "Stiff: The Curious Life of Human Cadavers." I find them equally repulsive, but the latter far more entertaining. I'm also digging Neil Gaiman's book "Anansi Boys" which I picked up in the $3 bin at Books a Million. No matter how many books I knock off, my shelf gets heavier and heavier. Sometimes I wish I had 43 eyes. The odd number leaves room for error.

6. Barack Obama was in Kansas City yesterday. He paid homage to KC barbecue by eating at "Oklahoma Joe's." Nice.

7. Anyone looking for a quick diet, try taking amoxycillin with 3 cups of coffee a day. Ok, maybe that wasn't worth noting. Man, I'm running out of material already . . .

8. I almost have "Claire de Lune" memorized, and am tackling the Pathatique Sonata in this order: movement 2, movement 3, movement . . . 1? If you don't get that joke, get thee to youtube and take a listen.

9. A lot of my dreams take place at the theater now. I had one last night that our set was like one of those emergency blow-up rafts, where you just pull the tab and WHOOSH! Warbucks Mansion! WHOOSH! Hooverville! WHOOSH! White House! I think my subconscious is on to something . . .

10. My grandma is turning 90 in two weeks. How freakin' incredible is that?

I noticed on "Stat Counter" that a lot of you are coming here for recipes. To make it a little easier, I added a list of tags below my profile picture - just click on "recipes" and there you go! I'll return to normal blogging again some day, whatever that means. For now I'm just taking it all in while it's there for the taking. Believe it or not, I haven't been this happy in a long, long time.