Seven Quick Takes Friday, Vol. 49

Linking up with Jen and all, on time this week!

I

Sick toddler again this week, so I've accomplished very little. It's been a strange cold: he's had the sniffles and trouble sleeping since Tuesday, and on Wednesday--and only Wednesday--he had a fever around 101 F for just about 24 hours. Hopefully the rest of the symptoms clear up soon; he was up every 20-30 minutes all night last night, and we are all exhausted.

II 

This week's suppers worked out remarkably well despite having a sick child clinging to me and fussing--it's funny what actually sitting down on the weekend and planning out the week's menu will do to make that happen. Last week, we made a couple of pizzas (homemade, at least, but still) because I didn't have my act together. This week, though, I've actually managed real food like chicken pie and moose roast and goulash. A nice halibut fillet is thawing in the sink for tonight, and if Little Bear cooperates there will be peach muffins going in the oven soon.

III

Little Bear has discovered dancing. A very enthusiastic polka was playing last night, and he got all excited and started bouncing and twisting and head banging... I'm pretty sure most people don't picture Schubert when they think of head banging, but if that's the music he wants to dance to, I'm not complaining.

IV

I keep meaning to write about our thoughts on child spacing and such, because I've taken a lot of flak for it recently, but I never seem able to muster up the time/brain cells/nerve to write it out. So here, enjoy the quote I'd been saving from my eloquent husband on the people who mock me for hoping to have another child:

"Pfft, they're just silly. Ignore them. If they were like, You should play on the freeway!, you'd say, Pfft, you're silly. Right? So ignore them. They're silly."

V

Sunday night, I made a loaf of banana bread for my husband to take to work for breakfasts. Then he wound up working a funny schedule and having enough time to make egg sandwiches for breakfast most days. This afternoon, I realized that I was eating the last slice of the loaf. How did that happen? Yes, it's been a hard week, but did I really eat the whole thing without realizing it? I hope Matt had some of it and just never said anything about it... no wonder the scale hasn't been happy with me this week.

VI

I'm almost done making Little Bear's mittens! I know, I know, there's been snow on the ground here for how long now? But I have the inner layers of felted wool done, and just need to sew Velcro onto the wrist strap of the outer fleece layers. I'm making it easy on all of us by not bothering to give him thumbs and just making them dog bootie style; it's not like he needs to hold onto anything when he's playing out in the snow, and these will stay on him better. I'll post photos when they are finished!

VII

One of the local microbreweries just started serving their seasonal Oktoberfest lager, and we swung by their taproom yesterday evening to fill a growler of it to accompany the German supper my mother made last night (hence the Schubert polka). It wasn't bad, possibly my favorite of the beers I've had from that particular brewery. Lighter but definitely not pale, and it complemented the Wiener schnitzel nicely. It's fun to be able to try local craft beers like that, and since recycling is much less popular/feasible here, I love that breweries and increasingly liquor stores with taprooms will refill the reusable growlers so we don't have to buy and throw away new glass bottles.