April 21: Buttered Rum Meltaways

Autumn in April. It's 77 degrees outside, and my kitchen smells like turning leaves, college football and woolens.

Buttered Rum Meltaways (pg. 138) would be fabulous with a mug of hot cider. So it was a little odd to be baking them on the hottest day of the year so far. Note to self: excellent choice for Christmas cookies.

James was in Palm Desert for two weeks and is on his way home as I type. He's probably somewhere in the Portland vicinity right now (I asked him to moon downtown on his way through). In his absence, I've been flaunting the booze bottles, including the rum I used to make these cookies. Renee and I squeezed in two martini nights, and my vodka bottle served as a very able bookend for the past 12 days. I never did, however, crack the cosmo mix I got from the Safeway clearance display.

I guess it's one of those things; when given the freedom, we want to do all those things we normally never get to do. Hence the Absolut on my kitchen counter.

I didn't get to all the chores I said I'd do while he was gone. I didn't sort and print all my digital photos. I didn't go through the boxes of kids' artwork. I didn't work on my recipe collection. But I did savor every moment after the kids went to sleep, reading in bed late into the night. We turned off the TV early every evening and we didn't use the heat pump. Instead, we cooled the house the old-fashioned way, with open windows. We planted flowers and herbs. I washed my face twice a day. We sorted baby boy clothes for my sister's soon-to-be newborn. (It's a girl! No, it's a boy! No, we don't know what it is!)

It sounds like James enjoyed his break. He golfed, lounged, soaked, ate out and just chilled. I could hear the tension draining from his voice every day. I hope it stays that way.

Meanwhile, the boys are excited about his return. Christian just taped a note to the front door for him. Ian keeps asking when Daddy will be home. The dog and cat, I'm sure, are ambivalent.

I think he'll be surprised when he sees the yard. Things grow quickly in a two-week period in April. Especially the lawn.

The clematis, however, hasn't grown fast enough. I'll have some explaining to do there.

Other developments during his absence:

1. The school is recommending the accelerated math course for Christian starting next year. That means more homework for him and more Xanax/deep breathing for me.

2. Ian finished soccer. He won a trophy and thinks he's God's gift to pre-k sports. Next up: t-ball.

3. I bought two new pairs of jeans, four shirts, a pair of bling sunglasses and a bra. And I got my hair highlighted. I needed all of those items (or so I tell myself) due to my whopping gain of 2.6 pounds of muscle and 1 pound of fat. Well, except the highlights and the bling. That was just vanity.

4. I've decided that making the bed is over-rated.

5. Speaking of beds, I've also decided I like the left side better than the right. We'll see how that flies at about 12:15 a.m. tonight.

Speaking of tonight, I should get the boys to bed. But they're playing so nicely out there. No TV blaring, no yelling, no hitting.

Yet.

I need to get busy enjoying my last few hours of reading leisure. Curl up on the left side of the unmade bed with a good rum cookie and a mug of vodka, with the lamplight shining on my blonder streaks and my new bra dangling from the ceiling fan.

Okay, so maybe not the bra part. But the rest, definitely.

April 11: Orange-Cardamom Madeleines and Lemon Madeleines, Parts II

"GO TO BED!"

I think I have made this statement at least 400 times since Tuesday. It's Spring Break, and my boys refuse to go to bed.

As I type, Ian is passed out on the couch and Christian keeps prancing into the office to ask if the Easter Bunny is real.

It's 10:30 p.m.

"GO TO BED!"

I just wrapped up one batch of Lemon Madeleines and Orange-Cardamom Madeleines each. My contribution to Easter brunch at my Auntie Karen's house tomorrow. I'm exhausted. But not from the cookies.

It's probably from staying up until 1:30 a.m. this morning reading Metro Girl in bed. Quiet alone time is so precious that I'm willing to give up sleep to enjoy it. But now I'm paying the price. By 8 p.m. tonight I was on the verge of a panic attack. I blame the exhaustion and all the mysterious sounds I hear after dark. One night I was sure someone was on my roof.

This is all because my husband is lounging in Palm Desert. For two weeks. When I talked to him tonight he had just climbed out of the hot tub. His biggest problems? He shot a 97 today and our TVs down there don't have DVR or Tivo. His biggest challenge today? He had to convince the gardeners to trim the citrus trees for no additional fee.

He didn't have a four-year-old huck a small electronic blackjack game at the dashboard of the car while he was pulling into traffic. He doesn't have arthritis in both thumbs from repeatedly grabbing a 55-pound four-year-old around the upper arms to drag him to his room/hoist him off the floor/pull him off his brother. He's not having to watch the clematis die. (See last week's entry.)

Am I bitter? No, not really. Seriously. I'm glad he's enjoying himself. But I swear to God, I've never loved my job more than I do right now. I am so excited about going back to the office on Monday, words just can't express.

I felt bad, though, by Friday that the boys had been cooped up here while I worked most of the week from home. So, I shut down Regence early on Friday and took them up to Seattle to go plant shopping and have dinner with my mom. It was a fun afternoon and evening. The boys love their grandma and her plant store. They charmed everyone with their dimples and freckles. And everyone came home happy with a car full of new plants.

We bought a climbing rose, a clematis (yeah, I know--one's not going to cover it), a cute dwarf columbine, several other perennials and a bunch of herbs. We planted most of them today, out in the April drizzle. It was really nice. Until Ian yanked a bulb out of the ground and picked a fight with Christian. I'm sure our neighbors think we're trash.

Tonight Sam and Al stopped by for mac-and-cheese then followed us to Tukwila to watch Christian play soccer. It cost me $7 in quarters at the gumball machines to keep Ian half-way entertained, but it was worth it. Christian scored four goals and his aunt and uncle were so proud of him. I'm the mother of a soccer star!

Alright. He was just back in here asking about the freaking Easter Bunny. And I have to go put a nighttime diaper on a sleeping Ian. Ever try to lift a sleeping 55-pound child into a bunk bed? With arthritic thumbs?

I should tell Christian flat out that yes, there is an Easter Bunny. I've seen him myself. Many years ago in my Auntie Karen's front yard. He had a basket of eggs in one hand and a drink in the other.

On that note, I don't want to stay up too late and surprise the Bunny. It's time for me to GO TO BED.

April 4: Orange-Cardamom Madeleines

Mmmmm. Cardamom...

Orange-Cardamom Madeleines (pg. 210) smelled amazing even before baking. Butter, honey, sugar, vanilla--all good stuff. The final touch: an orange glaze. I might make these for Easter Sunday. You start baking cookies and writing a cookie blog, and people start expecting a higher level of baked goods.

It has been a beautiful weekend in Maple Valley. In honor of the first true day of sun and warmth, I went out and butchered my clematis.

I didn't actually mean to butcher it. I started out just thinning it. But one clip led to another, and before I knew it, it was nothing but a few hairy sticks coming out of the ground. I feel really bad. I know our neighbors are driving by and saying, "Oh my God! What did those morons do to their clematis!?"

Okay. I feel really stupid, too. But there's new growth on it! I swear. Just the same, I may pick up some new ones at the nursery. We had to plant the clematis six years ago to block the view of our heat pump from the road. Homeowners' association rules. Watch us get an "unsightly appliance" ticket or something this week because boy, that heat pump is fully visible now.

As I type, James and Christian are playing a loud and obnoxious video game. Ian is howling because he ran into a table and bumped his chin. Overreacting as usual. Actually, I think he's really crying because he wants another ice cream cone and I said no. The glutton.

Ah, chaos. Speaking of which, James leaves for Palm Springs at 4 a.m. Tuesday morning. I get to spend the next two weeks with the boys. Half of that time I'll be working from home. And don't think, dear reader, that it'll be some idyllic Spring Break, with me writing fascinating copy while the boys happily play Lincoln Logs at my feet in a beam of sunshine. That's a bunch of crap.

The boys will be begging for video games or TV and I'll be yelling at them to Shut the Hell Up. I'll have to leave the computer 52 times a day to serve food, clean up a spill, break up a fight, send someone to his room, let the dog in/out, mop up cat puke, pour juice, and turn off the TV. If it's nice, I'll be sweeping dirt off the hardwoods, throwing rocks out of the house and chasing Ian after the little escape artist levitates himself over the back fence.

It's going to be a long week.

I'll hold onto my sanity by looking forward to good things, like:

1. Going to the David Sedaris book-reading with Sam on May 1! Love that angry gay man.

2. Grilled cheese sandwiches, mochas and edamame for dinner while James is gone.

3. Sleeping in while "working from home."

4. The new Dave Matthews album! Oh my God. I'm so excited. Also, I have tickets to see Dave at the Gorge over Labor Day. Friday and Saturday nights. Again. It's the closest I get to going to church. ("And the congregation responds: People in every direction. No words exchanged. No time to exchange them.")

5. Martini Night!

6. Watching whatever I want on TV, April 7-22.

7. The end of Spring Break.

8. My new boots! I bought knee-high, high-heeled, ass-kicking boots. They'll be here in 3 to 6 business days. I'm currently on day 2. I swear to God, I clapped my hands like a toddler during story time right after I hit "Make purchase" on the Nordstrom site.

9. The whole bed. To myself.

10. Uh. Plant shopping at Sky Nursery.

I'm also looking forward to my sister Laura's baby shower the first weekend in May. I love babies. I even kind of liked mine. But other people's babies! Mmmmm. So sweet. Today, as a matter of fact, is Laura's birthday. Happy Birthday, LaLa!

She's having another girl. I hope that the family Curse of the Second Daughter doesn't fail us. Second daughters on my mom's side are hellions. Heh, heh, heh. I have two wild boys. It's only fair that someone share my pain. But just to be nice, I'll bake something fabulous for her shower.