Meat. Yum.

As I think I've mentioned before, Martin's love of firearms has recently been rekindled. This is a great thing, partly because we live in a really scuzzy neighborhood and I feel a lot safer knowing I could possibly defend myself against an icky burglar without having to wait for the iron to warm up. Also this is a great thing because he is really excited to start hunting again, which makes me excited to cook with any meat he gets. Our fabulous neighbors will be moving at the end of the summer (*sob*) and we plan to buy their chest freezer from them. Even if Martin gets ONE deer this fall (and with the strange rules of hunting, he can legally and geographically have a chance at something like 16, so hopefully he'll at least get one!) we'll have meat to last a good while, and I can't wait to start eating it and cooking with it. I made chili yesterday and so wished I was making venison chili instead of beef, as I stood there stirring my pan full of ground beef that was literally being boiled in its own grease. Meat is so expensive! We buy the cheapest, worst-for-your-health meat from the store, but I would so love to be eating something better for us, and hunted by Martin. Needless to say, he's excited by the idea too. He also started looking up squirrel recipes on the internet the other day and he told me there are some really yummy looking ones. I would love it if he could shoot us some small animals--rabbits, squirrels--and we could make our dinners next summer out of our own meat and our own vegetables and herbs from our garden. I'm only bothering to grow the veggies that we eat the most--tomatoes, onions, peppers, squash. My neighbor Tara gave me a few broccoli plants too, and I'd like to try my hand at carrots, but I'm not getting my hopes too high for success. (Same with the onions, which I've never tried.) I'd like to try growing potatoes, but I don't think our summers are too warm.

Anyway... I reeeeaaaalllly need to find a place to set up my sewing machine and get to work. I am itching to make the girls some matching dresses, make Greta a quilt, for which I already have all the fabric, and make Anja her apron to match mine. I just don't have time to do it by hand, but I know I could make it in one naptime with a machine. Anja wants to be up at the counter anytime I'm making anything, which is wonderful, except that she always ends up covered in batter. Last night I made cornbread and she helped me stir it, and then she took a taste with the end of her finger.... she must've liked it, because she immediately stuck her whole hand in and started licking it off! Haha, good thing we didn't have guests....

We have a very busy weekend and week ahead of us, starting tonight. It's John Smooney's birthday so we're going to dinner with Martin's family for that, but Martin's been getting home a little later from work since it's walk-in season, and we still have to get John a gift on the way. Yikes! So we'll probably be late for dinner, but it's bound to be a good time all the same.

Tomorrow I am meeting up with some classmates from high school in the morning, and I'm really excited. It will be at least one old classmate and his cute wife and fabulous little girls, and possibly another classmate with her little boys! Then I'll have to make a cake in the afternoon because Greta is getting baptized tomorrow night! Surprise! We just planned this last night, but it all miraculously worked out, thankfully.

Saturday we will have to do more yardwork and housework because that blasted home tour is a week from tomorrow. I'm SO NERVOUS about getting my house ready. If you've seen it recently, you understand why. The place is a disaster area. My mom whipped us up some better curtains for the living room, complete with tension rods, so that's a ginormous help (actually, I thought my current curtains were fine, but nobody else thought so) and I've been offered the caretaking skills of a friend's 10-year-old daughter sometime next week. That will be a huge help too. So anyway, we'll work all day, then we're going to Watson's house for dinner because JOANNIE is in town!!!!! I have no idea why she's here!! But she texted me the other night and we've got dinner plans for Saturday and I'm super excited.

Sunday is Mother's Day, need I say more? We'll get together with both families early in the day, Anja can take a slightly later nap than usual, and while she's asleep, we will most definitely be working more on the house.

All next week: Get ready for the home tour.

In baby news, Greta has been doing much better lately. She hit the six-week mark and is suddenly a lot happier. She will happily sit in her swing! Just like a real baby! It feels so good to be able to get stuff done. Even if it's not everything I'd like to do in a day, I am accomplishing things, and that's a very good thing. Anja has not been sleeping so well during the night lately, and we are placing the blame on her teeth. She appears to have four molars coming in at once, and she's biting everything and everyone around her, as well as drooling like crazy.

In dog news, we took the dog to the vet yesterday and she's had medicine but she's still got explosive poo. Martin woke up this morning with quite a mess to clean up. He didn't want to leave me with her so he stayed home for the morning and took her out about every 30 minutes.

I would about kill for a fizzy cherry coke right now.