mac had his first soccer practice today. He's on a local rec team. Nice people, at least one other single mom. the boys seemed nice and well-behaved. I am THRILLLED that it's a fairly multi-culti group.

Then we went and bought cleats and shin guards and some shorts and shirts for practice.

He did some chores on the promise of a trip to Target so he could spend some of his saved up money. Over an hour at Target and he ended up getting nothing. The one thing I got (slip cover for recliner) will get returned tomorrow because it does not fit. Target fail! Then we went to the plant store and got mulch for new flowerbeds as well as some flowering plants to get in the ground and add some instant color. Now he's watching Angry Beavers.

My Grampa used to roast chicken thighs with cinnamon, sugar, and nutmeg sprinkled on the skin side. Light on the sugar.

They were heavenly.

Here's the toy.

Is there a companion Snow Miser figure to go with it?

I'm off to make crayons. I bet I'm going to burn my hands.

In my head making crayons is like making tamales, it kinda sounds like fun, but after doing it once and realizing how cheap they are to buy, never again.

I got my single-serving lemon-blueberry pound cake (ounce cake?)in the oven. I'm excessively pleased with myself.

Chicken thighs are not greasy if you skin them for the love of god, and throw them in a pot of rice with celery leaves, onion, garlic, roselmary and more black pepper than you think you need. Bring to boil, steam for 20 minutes, add seasalt to taste, serve. Aromatic, non-greasy, nom.

Chicken skin squicks me no matter what. Years of cutting up whole raw chickens, brrrr.

Can I get some get-healthy Buffista vibes for my brother? It turns out that he's still in the hospital, and might be until Monday. They want to do a stress test, and it being a Sunday tomorrow, there's a good chance they won't be able to until Monday. If that doesn't produce good results, they're going to put in a pacemaker.

He is only 49 years old and already had a heart attack 20 months ago.

Now I'm freaking out.

Health~ma for him Kathy. He's all kinds of monitored and looked after now, so that's good.

I just cut up a whole chicken last night. Turns out, when there are heads and feet to be dealt with going ahead and quartering the bird is easier than keeping it whole as for roasting. Or so it seems to me.

I know that America's Test Kitchen had what looked like a great way to roast the Thanksgiving turkey this past November--they just used turkey parts and cooked them on a baking sheet instead of keeping it whole.