Genius

I don’t know if I’ve explained this before, but Bliss is not the smartest kitten.

We call him “genius”

He’s also fat

But that’s another story.

Anyways, I’ve been sewing lately. And while genius cat is normally vaguely disinterested in what I do somehow he’s sure that EVERY SINGLE THING related to sewing is a toy for him.

Some of them I kinda get. Things hanging off the ironing board totally make sense to bat at.

But he’s a weirdly huge fan of patterns.

Helper

pattern on fabric? Even better!

If I make the mistake of walking away from a piece of fabric?

He lives there now.

The other night he was worried he hasn’t been helping quite enough with my sewing and settled his fat self in behind the machine.

Genius.

(I’m aware this has nothing to do with my overall blog. But 1. I do what I want 2. I’ve been sewing instead of cooking and 3. Bliss is fat because he EATS a lot. See how that ties in?)

New

There are some new things going on in my life.

1.We got a new bike rack!

(This photo sums up why I could never be one of those bloggers who puts a dozen pictures of themselves in every post. I am just too painfully attractive most days)

By “new” I mean we got the towers and bars from a family I used to nanny for, and then bought used bike racks at Rerack (which if you’re in Portland and need a bike rack is the place to go-super helpful, and cheap!)

So we’ve been getting in more bike rides. I broke down and bought spandex shorts. Hawt.

2. I got a new job! Part time, so I’ll still be teaching as well, but I’m working about 15 hours a week at a church so that’s fun. I get to travel to exotic places like Olympia and Spokane. Yay?

3. We got a new restaurant in our hood! And oh my word friends it’s legit. It’s called Verde Cocina and it’s mexican food with a focus on fresh and local ingredients.  They have a lot of vegetarian/vegan options and pretty much everything is gluten free. Delicious, and Hillsdale was in need of somewhere new to eat. We’ve been twice. The first visit I had the gringas

Which were pork tacos with mole sauce and garbanzo bean mash served with veggies and beans.

And the husband had the Buenos Dias which involved local eggs and bacon over veggies and beans plus tortillas (which they make in house)

We did a dinner there too. Our grill is out of gas. And somehow, repeatedly eating out wins over refilling it (or using the actual kitchen in August). Meals out have been winning lately.

And who doesn’t like an excuse to eat some salmon for dinner?

it came with the garbanzo mash and veggies plus blackberry salsa (which was fantastic-had some nice spice!)

Also exciting? Two doors down from Verde Cocina we’re getting a new brewery! More places to get crunk in our hood = better. Always.

and on not new notes, Bliss is an idiot, like always.

Ignorance really is Bliss.

What’s new with you friends?

Meet Mitzi!

This pretty thing is my new bike!

I have named her Mitzi, as she’s a Mixte frame.

My summer job is a nice straight shot from our house (fairly flat! with bike lanes!) so Mitzi is going to be my friend getting me to work.

(And if Mitzi and I don’t get along, there’s a bus that runs most of the way to work as well so that I won’t be stranded. Wins for everyone!)

I grew up riding bikes in the desert, so a road bike just seems so dainty to me. Such baby tires!

Now, I just have two important things to do:

1. Get over my fear of riding in traffic

and

2. Remember how to ride a bike. It’s been a while. Gears confuse me.

(Bliss is ready to coach me!)

What I’d like to do

Things I would like to do with my day:

Buy myself some pretty new Le Creuset things to play with

I tried to tell the husband this and he muttered something about needs vs wants. He needs to stop wanting to kill my dreams.

He asks weird questions like “What do you need a yellow grill pan for?”

When the real question is “How have you lived 25 years without a yellow grill pan?”

I’d also like to eat another blood orange

I’m amused by things with pretty colors. My maturity helps me connect with the kids I teach.

I’d really like to have lunch without the baby coming to help

(That would be a whole wheat tortilla with cheese, black beans, and asparagus. With sriracha and sour cream)

Baby helping leads to this:

He was helping drink my water. And upon knocking it over was even happier, as there was SO MUCH WATER to drink

And I’d like cook something interesting enough to be worth blogging about. There are only so many cat pictures I should be posting. I think we’re beyond that point.

Instead, here are some of the things I’ve been doing today:

I broke a shovel. Seriously.

I installed a hard drive!

My computer died. Life lesson kids: repeatedly dropping your laptop breaks your hard drive. Goodbye pictures and music, it was fun while it lasted!

And the most fun of all, I’ve attempted to clean all the things. We’ve been redoing our downstairs and next weekend my parents are coming to help with some full on remodeling. So where we’re knocking down a wall needs to be cleared out AND our house needs to be clean enough for a parent visit. Yay?

What do you wish you could do today?

(Note: CSN is sending me a product to review and the link above is part of that. Any opinions I give will come from my own gorgeous brain of course!)

ABC

All the cool kids have been doing that ABC thang

But I’m too hip to go around following memes. Anyways, I’ve been semi-MIA lately because my Macbook

Crashed this weekend! I thought it was

Dead, and started to mourn it. It has, after all, seen better days. I even looked up the

Education discount

For a Macbook air. But thanks to the

Genius bar it’s alive!

Hallelujah!

I was a single lady last week because

Josh was one a business trip

Kicking it single meant I had

Lots of takeout-food, not my poor cat!

Mexican from Cha Cha Cha and the

Next night, Hawaiian Time

Oh my goodness I do love takeout. HEALTH FOOD.

Portland also got snow last week, and a light dusting makes the city

Quit functioning it’s

Rather crazy

Since I don’t trust PDXers to not crash into me, I stayed in and

Took pictures with the cats

Unfortunately I think all the talk of takeout for dinner gave Takeout a complex and she wouldn’t pose. Thankfully my husband wasn’t gone

Very long and

Was back before I needed

Xanax from being by myself in the house.

(You have no ideas how many times I check the locks when I’m home alone). I’m so glad I have such a

Zeal for blogging and don’t use something like the ABCs to put together a post!