Bibliomama

I was prepared to rough it in the bush food-wise - Collette told me "just forget trying to eat healthy - it's easiest if you just buy crap." I went to Loblaws and crowded my cart with club pack boxes of every processed snack available, and filled in the spaces with chips and cookies. I only bought meat that had enough nitrates in it to last three weeks without refrigeration. I bought CHEEZ FREAKING WHIZ. I had not reckoned on my husband, "Hibachi Man". We had a Coleman stove, but I don't think he used it at all. He used a little Hibachi and the grate over the campfire. He also brought actual meat. He made hamburgers. He made steak and potatoes. And lit candles.  He made french toast and bacon.  He warmed up cinnamon buns in a cast iron pan over the fire.  Then there was the parade of giant hunks of meat, courtesy of Mark and Dan and Auspit . This is pork. This is beef.  ...wrapped in bacon.  It was fou

Go on the Dunes Walk Pose with your friends on top of a sand dune Embrace your friend warmly on top of a sand dune No wait, that's not what they're doing... Okay, try to throw your friend OFF the sand dune ...then drop him ...and run away Climb a tree. On a dune Do bunny ears. On yourself. Because YOLO Sit your ass down because Collette says to sit your ass down until someone takes your picture. Possibly related: climbing sand dunes is really freaking hard Realize you have no idea where the path is and begin to feel like a pack of exiled Egyptians with no manna in sight Find your way back to the parking lot with no small measure of relief and empty a good part of the dunes out of your shoes Go to the movies Photo bomb your daughter... ...repeatedly Build sand castles Spend quality time with a book and some popcorn by a campfire Play games   (Not me, to be clear. Trying to learn cribbage always makes me w

Someone emailed us this picture from outside the big stadium at this year's Little League World Series. Whoa.

So last week, we went camping. Car camping, which camping purists would dispute as real camping, and there were comfort stations (which Eve said was a really prissy term for a stone building with a toilet) and showers, BUT we slept in a tent instead of spending the day and then driving to a hotel, like this time and the time before . Of course, since this was the first time we booked a site (and were actually going to use it - we booked one last year, but something came up ), we cursed the forecast, and I fully expected that our friends would yank us from our vehicle and sacrifice us to the weather gods the minute we got there. The weather wasn't great, but it threatened rain more than it rained, and we had a great time anyway. Things I Didn't Hate That I Totally Thought I Would Hate: 1) Sleeping in a tent. The last time I slept in a tent was twenty or so years ago, on a canoe trip with Matt's lab group - he didn't actually come because he was writing his thesis.

So last Tuesday Eve and I were looking after a baby. And a dog.  At the same time.  It was really hard.  Then the baby went home, and I cleaned up the kitchen and finished an assignment, which made me feel like I was the MAN, all getting shit DONE. Eve's friend came over to see the dog. I was getting a headache. I took some Advil. I went down to do some laundry. I was having trouble moving around and I started not being able to move any of my limbs without moaning in pain. I thought this was probably not good. Matt came home and took the girls over to Eve's friend's house and then left for baseball with Angus.  I huddled in my chair watching The Mindy Project on Netflix, which meant I was alternately moaning in pain and laughing hysterically. I started to feel worse, so I moved to the bed. Just to illustrate how very very wretched I was feeling, I stopped watching The Mindy Project just after.... wait, I don't want to do spoilers....just af