When I was eighteen I worked in a little cafe.  The pastry chef was Maria, who was about thirty.  Maybe thirty something.  She had a son named Leo.  She said that his little thighs were so cute and meaty that she just wanted to take a bite out of them, which made me think that she was very weird, and possibly a little ill.  But, now I know what she means.  And eighteen year olds I know think I’m weird. 

I also had a friend who was breastfed until she was four.  When she told me we were in high school, and I thought, Wow! that’s so hippy!  Lexy was weaned at four years and three months.  Heh.  (Elayne, say to yourself "She lives in California, she lives in California) 

All that is neither here nor there, but I was thinking about it.

On friday, I did chores; including – but not limited to

• steam cleaning the living room carpet
• steam cleaning the couch
• cleaning the kids’ bathroom
• banana bread baking
• kitchen clean up
• a real, honest-to-God, kneeling down on the floor with sponges, cleaning of the kitchen floor
• window and window sill washing
• did I mention scrubbing the floor???  (my muscles still ache)
• cleaning out and organizing the utility/tool shelves in the hall closet
• cleaning out and organizing the junk drawer in the kitchen

I also finished reading Snow (oops, heh, I typed ‘snot’) Falling on Cedars, and just started East of the Mountains, by the same author, David Guterson (who also wrote a book called Why Homeschooling Makes Sense, so you have to love him).  He is to novels what Merchant and Ivory are to film; lush and dense with detail in all the right ways, showing beauty in its hidden places in such a subtle way that it never feels like he’s saying, ‘Hey!  Look at this!  This is so beautiful and good!  See that??’   And the good kind of sad, the kind of sad that you don’t mind feeling because, well, because of its beauty, I guess.

I am going to go read.

Here’s an easy good thing to make for dinner!  Hooray for easy and good!  (get your mind out of the gutter)

Chili and couscous pie (best as I can remember it without going to the kitchen for the book)

• heat oven to 350
• lightly grease a 10 inch baking dish or pie pan (I’d use a deep one, though)
• bring 2 and a quarter cups water to a boil
• stir in 1/2 teaspoon salt, 1 teaspoon olive oil, and 1 and a half cups of instant couscous
• cover, remove from heat and let sit for ten minutes
• put couscous in bottom of dish and sprinkle with some (the recipe says a quarter cup, but I used more) grated sharp cheddar (or whatever you pick)
• add about three cups of your favorite (homemade or canned) chili (I used four cups.  We were hungry)
• sprinkle 1/3 cup minced onion, a 4 ounce can of diced green chilies, and more cheese over top
• bake for 30 minutes, or till cheese is bubbly
• let sit 5 minutes before serving