Social Gracious

Killer Chocolate Cake for Granddad's Birthday

Killer Chocolate Cake

Tomorrow morning we head to Granny and Granddad's house to celebrate Granddad's birthday. Tonight we baked a cake to celebrate Granddad's birth. If it wasn't for him there would be no UberGeek, no Diva and no Eddie Haskell. Hopefully he'll enjoy it. He'll certainly need a good sized dose of insulin after a hearty slice. Thanks Granddad, we love you.

Killer Chocolate Cake for Grandad's Birthday

Cake Recipe

1 stick butter

1 box Duncan Hines Devil's Food Cake Mix

3 eggs (from chickens)

1 instant chocolate fudge pudding mix (not sugar free! use plain chocolate if you can't find chocolate fudge flavor)

1 1/2 c. water

1/4 c. vegetable oil

1/3 can Eagle Brand sweetened condensed canned milk

Preheat oven to 325 degrees. Beat butter, add pudding mix, beat again, add all other ingredients and beat again. I bake in three well greased 8" layer pans but you could use 2 9" pans. Bake 25-30 mins or until cake tester comes out clean. Cool for ten minutes then turn out on wire rack to cool. When cooled place one cake layer on cardboard round covered in foil. 

 

Ganache Recipe for Icing

16 oz Semisweet chocolate (I use Bakers brand)

1 1/2 c. heavy cream

4 tbs. butter

2 tbs. liqueur (optional) Can use any flavored liqueur to flavor chocolate or Brandy)

2 tbs. Karo light corn syrup

Cut chocolate into small pieces and place in large metal bowl add corn syrup and liqueur. Heat heavy cream while stirring until steaming, add butter and stir until melted. Pour steaming hot milk over chocolate. 

Let sit for a couple minutes then whisk until smooth. Pour half of chocolate mixture into a bowl and place in freezer. Let it sit 10 minutes in freezer, stir and check consistency, repeat this process until it is the consistency of frosting. When it is the consistency of frosting use it to frost between cake layers, sides  and top of assembled cake.  

When cake is frosted and assembled place it on top of a wire rack in your sink. Pour the remaining liquidy chocolate over the top and sides of cake.  Sometimes I smooth it out and sometimes I let it look like it is oozing over the top and down the sides. Depends on the look you want. Take cake out of sink on cardboard round and put in your freezer to harden up for 10-15 minutes. You can then garnish with chocolate shavings, fresh fruit or whatever you like. 

This cake is really impressive and pretty easy; the recipe originates from my mom. You needn't tell anyone that it is a doctored mix cake. I pass it off as homemade all the time and no one ever guesses. I rarely make things from a mix but this recipe is so good I make it again and again. UberGeek requests it for his birthday each year and I get requests for it at parties as well.

 

 

 

 

From Mumbai with Luv

 

A little over a month ago I initiated a support call with Microsoft. Having exhausted all our in house ideas to solve the problem we were experiencing, we reluctantly dialed in for assistance. Come to find out it was a Microsoft known issue, without a current fix. This resulted in multiple calls over several weeks. Because of the ongoing nature of the problem I got to know our Microsoft support contact's voice pretty well, and also her name, Nidhi. At one point I asked her where she was located, wondering if the support center was in the US or abroad. She answered that it was in India, Mumbai to be exact.  Over the course of the next few weeks we would occasionally exchange small talk while we waited for other members of her team or my team to join us on conference calls. Eventually, Microsoft determined a work around that was satisfactory to our team and solved our issue. Nidhi asked to give it a couple days to be sure all was well and then she reported that she would close out our ticket.

Finally Nidhi emailed me ask if she could close out our service ticket. I replied that recently one of our staff members had started a blog on our intranet using MOSS/Sharepoint, and although this had nothing to do with our original issue, I wanted to know if I could ask her a quick question   about it. She agreed and we set up a time to chat. It turned out to be a simple issue and she was able to quickly tell me how to fix it, although she admitted that she was not too keen a blogger. I told her that I myself had recently started a blog and she shared that she too had a blog outside of work. I told her I would email her a link to mine and asked if she could send me one to hers.

Sometime later I went to visit Nidhi's site, the primary blog, Nidhi's Blog, is about Sharepoint, but she also has a personal blog. Her personal blog hadn't been updated for a while but the post, Stomach Teaches Them All, was so poignant. The pictures of Nidhi were beautiful. It's hard to picture the person answering your support calls thousands of miles away, but if people pictured Nidhi they'd probably be less grouchy about calling India for support. I love to learn about different cultures and places in the world, so it was fascinating for me to read Nidhi's blog. As Americans, I think we forget what we bring to other countries when we outsource. Although we mourn the jobs we lose here, it makes me happy to think of the standard of living we help improve for other human beings around the globe. Nidhi told me in an email how she tries to shop for goods made by local people with her paycheck to help invest in the local economy.

Nidhi and I have corresponded a few more times since my support ticket closed. Then recently she left a comment here on the blog, asking me to take a look at something when I had a minute.  I clicked on the link she included; it took me to her personal blog,The water splash where she had written a post about me. Nidhi had been reading my blog and felt inspired to write more often in her own. You never know how you will be connected to the people in the world around you, or how you will be inspired by them. Back at you Nidhi, and much love to Mumbai!

 
Chowpati

The Last Ten Pounds

When I found out I was pregnant with my twins I went for my first weigh in and tipped the scales at 109 pounds. At that point in my life I was working out five to six days a week, lifting weights and doing cardio on a regular basis. My perinatologist (a physician who monitors high risk pregnancies) encouraged Haagen Dazs and basically whatever I wanted to eat to put on some weight early on. He needn't have worried, after a long and difficult pregnancy during which I spent fourteen weeks on bedrest, three of them in the hospital, I finished out my pregnancy seventy pounds heavier. Diva and Eddie Haskell were born just a couple weeks early, four days shy of full term. She weighed 6lb 4oz and he weighed 5lb 14oz. Having had so many complications during pregnancy it was by no means a foregone conclusion that they were going to be born so close to full term and at such good weights; we were thankful for that blessing. I never really cared that much that I was completely enormous. I had two dresses that I could wear at the end of my pregnancy and they were both handmade by a friends mom, simple jumpers. One was bright orange and the other bright blue, UberGeek called them the pumpkin and the blueberry. I was too fat to hit him.

I had been advised to bring clothing from the middle of my pregnancy to make the trip home from the hospital in. I soon discovered, that this advice may be fine for someone who has had a singleton birth, but not fine for someone whose abdomen height measures 59cm as opposed to 40cm for a normal full term birth. I was still relatively enormous, and nothing I brought to the hospital fit me. Since we didn't have any family in town to run to the store for me, I ended up going home in a nightgown. By then I was also swollen up like a giant grape from the IV they had given me fluids in, and post partum weepy, so I was a sight to behold. Nonetheless, I waddled off to our new minivan with my new family, about 20 pounds lighter than my arrival at the hospital a couple days before.

When we got home from the hospital my mom's flight had also arrived and I was never so happy to see her. Between my mom, UberGeek and I, it was all hands on deck to deal with the two crying infants, who seemed somehow, to soil mountains of laundry all day long. Days went by and the weight began to melt off at a relatively rapid pace as I returned to walking around the neighborhood with the kids in the stroller. People asked me how I seemed to be losing the weight and I told them the truth, there was really very little time to eat. I managed to clear a few cereal bars, an apple here and there and lots of water but that was it. It's hard to eat meals with a baby in each arm. We didn't eat and we didn't sleep either. That was how I lost the next thirty pounds. There was little time for any formal exercise except walks, I tried going running again about a month after they were born, but it was too soon and a miserable experience.

I started running again and was able to lose ten more pounds over the next couple of years. It's the last ten that have been the hardest. The only thing I seem to be able to make time to do is run. I grab my shoes, throw on my shorts and gear and go. Unfortunately, without conditioning and weight training, I am as of yet, unable to put my body shape back together again. Things are not exactly where I would like them to be. I am pretty sure it is unrealistic to expect to be 109 pounds again but I would like a little more lift in a few areas. I used to be able to exist on whole grains, lean meats and healthy veggies and for the most part I do have a healthy diet. I just can't seem to force myself to do the hard couple of weeks it would take to cut back, consume a lot less and lose those last few pounds. I think maybe I am grateful to my body for giving me the miracle of my kids, I don't necessarily want to deny it the very occasional cookie. I haven't the heart to beat it into submission with weight sessions, extremely strict diets and bidding goodbye to red wine in the tub. So I will forgive it the squidgy bits, feed it a relatively healthy diet, buy another pair of Spanx and learn to love it better.

A Rockin Lunchbox

I pack my kids lunches most nights, or mornings, depending on how lazy I am the night before. A little over a year ago I got sick of the usual lunchbag full of smushed sandwiches, assorted plastic bags, sandwich containers and other mess. I figured that there had to be a better solution. Wouldn't you know it, the Japanese thought of it long ago, the bento box. The first place I found hints and tips for packing a better lunch was Lunch in a Box, a really cool blog about packing a bento lunch. I don't claim to be at all as creative as the author of that blog as you can see from my picture but I try.

I bought two Laptop Lunch sets with extra plastic containers so I could wash the ones I brought home. Two of them were pricey but after a year I figure I have saved that much in Ziploc bags, disposable flatware (comes with a set of flatware), and juice or milk boxes. Plus I like the idea that there is less waste since all the pieces are washable and reusable. It comes with an insulated bag to put it in and the freezer pack I send  with it is still cold when the kids get home so it must work.

I like the idea of a bento box for myself. The Lunch in a Box site has a list of resources for adult and kid bentos. So far I haven't taken the plunge and rely on a reusable lunch bag and Ziplocs, but I could be next.

Sick Day Apple Pie

After yesterday's post I've had some requests for the apple pie recipe I made yesterday. It's the bomb! Seriously, it's the best apple pie I have ever eaten. It originates from Wendy N. on Recipezaar.com, my favorite spot for recipes. I used to use Epicurious all the time but some of the recipes are too high brow now that I have kids and I love that these recipes come from so many different sources. Here it is:

Yummy Crunchy Caramel Apple Pie

15 min prep 1 1/4 hours total time

For Pie

pastry for single crust pie (I use Pillsbury refrigerated rolled out thin and trimmed in the pie dish)

1/2 cup sugar (I used Turbinado raw)

3 tbs. flour

1 tsp. cinnamon

1 pinch salt

6 c. thinly sliced peeled apples (I used 5 granny smiths)

 

Crumb Topping

1 c. packed brown sugar

1/2 c. flour (I used 1/4c. white 1/4c. whole wheat)

1/2 c. quick cooking rolled oats (I didn't have quick cooking so I used regular, turned out fine)

1/2 c. butter (don't skimp, use the real stuff)

Final Topping

1/2 c. chopped pecans (I chopped my own but I think it would be prettier with those prechopped ones that aren't all mangled)

1/4 c. caramel ice cream topping

1. Prepare pastry for single crust pie, being careful not to stretch dough too much.
2. Place in pie plate and trim and crimp the edge (I used a deep dish) 
3. In large mixing bowl combine sugar, flour, cinnamon and salt. 
4. Add apple slices and gently toss until they are coated well. 
5. Transfer mixture to pie dish. 
6. FOR CRUMB TOPPING: Stir together brown sugar, flour and oats. 
7. Using a pastry blender, cut in the butter until topping resembles coarse crumbs. (I couldn't find my pastry blender and had to use two knives, what a pain) 
8. Sprinkle over apple mixture in pie.  
9. To prevent over browning while baking cover edges only of pie with foil. 
10. Bake at 375 for 25 minutes. 
11. Remove foil and bake 25-30 min more. (Mine seemed to be browning really quickly so I cut back the heat to 365 after the first 25 min) 
12. Remove from oven and drizzle top with caramel topping while still hot then sprinkle with pecans. 
13. Cool on wire rack and serve! 

Here is a link to the original recipe if you would like a printable version. 

Mama Don't Care

I was supposed to go running this morning but when I woke up I knew I wasn't going.  Everything ached and my head felt all snoggy; UberGeek gave me his cold.  He has been sick since Thursday afternoon so instead of having two kids, I have three.  UberGeek rarely gets sick, but when he does he goes down hard.  I probably get sick more often but I seem to remain functional when I do.  We had a babysitter all lined up for tonight and were ready for a night out but it was not to be.  Then later this morning, peeping under the blanket I had cocooned myself in, my son announced that he wanted an apple pie for dinner.  He has never had an apple pie, that I know of, before in his life.  I blew my nose, smiled at him and said, OK.  Then I added five granny smith apples and brown sugar to the shopping list I had made for UberGeek.  UberGeek had determined that he had about one hour of feeling not too awful, after his behind the counter decongestant kicked in, to make it to the grocery store and back.  

So you might be wondering why someone sick with a cold would say yes to baking a pie. I know it's a little crazy; I bake like a fiend. I bake because of my grandmother, Anna Mae.  When I was growing up I had an extremely close relationship with my grandmother.  She was up for pretty much anything.  If I said I wanted to make dill pickles (this happened) she would get out a canning book with a recipe and the entire kitchen would be turned into a pickle making factory before the night was through.  It helped that she lived in the country and had a huge vegetable garden, barn, two freezers, vegetable shed and various other storage buildings.  In all of these buildings lived the supplies to make, cook, build or do just about anything.  Want to ride a tractor, jump in a truck full of soybeans, shoot a squirrel, go swimming in the river, sun yourself on the beach, fish in the stream, jump down the sand bank, catch a crab with a chicken neck, bake a cake, sew doll clothes, upholster a sofa, refinish some furniture or ride a Depression era bike?  Knock yourself out, just don't use the good bath towels.  Seriously, except for the fact that my grandmother couldn't swim, she had game. 

I asked my grandmother many "Can I" questions. Can I drop my cat off with you for a few months while I'm between apartments? Can I have this extra baking pan, I don't have one? Can my friend come with me to visit? Can we bake this cake? Can we make dill pickles? Can you figure out how to reupholster this chair? Can we refinish this old dresser? Can I make doll clothes? My dad asked "Can I" questions too.  Can I park my bulldozer in your yard for fifteen years until it becomes a part of the earth? Can I build a horse exercise ring in your front yard (well, finish it half way and then leave it)? Can I take apart my gun and clean it on your dining room table? Can I show up at any hour, time, day with my brood at your house? My grandmother's answer was always, "Grandma don't care if you X."

The best part about my grandmother was that she loved me, not she loved me IF, she loved me. Unless I tried to throw anything away, didn't make the bed or attempted to use the good towels she was a good sport and sometimes my partner in crime.  Don't get me wrong, I was expected to use good manners, brush my hair if we were going up to the grocery and generally mind my Ps and Qs.  I also had to visit with lots of "old" people, who patted me on the head, gave me a bottled Coke and then made me sit on their salon furniture quietly for too long.  Once we got in the car to leave I would complain to my grandmother that some "old" people smelled too much like hard candy and pee and why did I always have to hug and kiss them. Her lips would twitch upward into a smile which she would attempt to shake off, she would reach into her giant purse and say, "Here, have a pep-mint."  Then she floored it in her big ol' car taking the hair pin turn to her house at a speed that I still cannot master. 

Baking was my grandmother and I's thing.  She also taught me to sew and sometimes to shoot animals making off with bounty from the garden, but mostly it was baking.  She had a big box of recipe cards to pick from and randomly I could just decide to make whatever I wanted with her help.  When I was old enough to drive and could come visit her on my own I can remember driving down the long straight lane and pulling up in front of the house.  There she'd be at the little window over the kitchen waiting for me, always.  Then we would hang out together talking in the kitchen and teasing my grandfather together until he went to bed. We were both night owls so we stayed up together until 11 or 12. Most of my life I could count on always having someone to call late at night, my grandmother was always up sewing, baking or working on a project, just like me. 

Anna Mae loved UberGeek with a passion, actually, everyone in my family does.  Just before our wedding one of my uncles said to me, "He's lucky, but you're really lucky."  Gee, thanks, what am I, chopped liver? She was thrilled to see us get married and was excited to be a great grandmother in years to come.  There was no reason to think she wouldn't be.  Her mother, my great grandmother lived to be 101. 

One morning I received a phone call from my family, my grandmother had gone outside to feed her beloved dogs but she did not make it out to them. She had an aneurysm and had been flown to the nearest medical center; my family said she seemed to be somewhat alert.  I was hundreds of miles away but I made plans to fly up as soon as possible. By the time I got there her condition had deteriorated but I thought she knew I was there. I told her everything I needed to; she died not long after my visit.

So it is that I bake with the kiddos; we bake muffins, cookies, cakes, pies and breads.  Sometimes when we are working together mixing and sifting and measuring I feel my grandmother's memory close to me and it makes me happy.  I give a lot of the baking away which I think is appreciated by my colleagues. If I didn't I'd be three feet wide. Today, when the kiddos asked to use the long apple peelings created by my apple peeler, corer, slicer as jump ropes in the kitchen, of course I said, "Mama don't care if you jump rope apple peels in the kitchen." It only took me a few minutes to damp mop the floor.

Kiddo Art Gone Wild

Just wanted to take a minute to give you a quick solution to all that kid art that might be piling up all over your house. If you have preschool or elementary aged kids the amount of cute art that comes home is astronomical. Personally I ship some of it off to my mom and sister, bring some to my in laws when we visit but there is still a TON leftover.  I can only bear to throw out the coloring pages so there is a high volume of projects.  Here is a great solution I found for only $5.00 at Michael's. I bought the 14x20 size and it has stored a year worth.  Each kiddo has one with their name and the school year (2008-2009) printed on the front.  Amazon doesn't sell them with free shipping yet so I have to actually go to a store to get them, quelle horreur. They have handles too, although you can't see it in the picture, so you can take them with you on trips to relatives and let them select the art they want! Mister Art sells them online for less than $5 but you have to pay shipping so I make the trip to Michaels.

 

Save the Floss Talk

Diva and Eddie Haskell had to go to the dentist recently.  We're pretty sure all of their genes split exactly evenly, Eddie Haskell got all of UberGeek's genetic material and Diva got all of mine. Undeniably they look like little copies of each of us, right down to their personalities. There is one exception to this, the dental genes.  At their very first real dental check up, where they actually did anything, we discovered that Diva had two, count 'em, two cavities.  Since I have been vigilant about them avoiding sugar, brushing their teeth and never allowed them a bottle at night I couldn't understand it.  The only explanation is genetics.

UberGeek has terrible teeth, each year we could take a European vacation for what it costs us to address his ongoing dental and periodontal needs.  Some time ago he was talking with his dentist over lunch at Sierra Grill about the remodeling of the dentist's bathroom.  UberGeek and his dentist share an interest in running and one of UberGeek's other coworkers bikes and does triathlons, so sometimes the three of them run into each other at lunch and talk about their athletic pursuits.  I was sure we had paid for a large portion of Dr. Neal's bathroom renovation.  We are thankful that UberGeek found Dr. Neal and Ponte Vedra Cosmetic Dentistry, prior to that time, his dental work was substandard and much of it had deteriorated and had to be redone.  UberGeek also requires special cleanings, scalings, root canals and all kinds of other procedures I know nothing about.  UberGeek is fanatical about his tooth care, he brushes at least twice a day, flosses and uses a special rinse.  Pretty much anything Dr. Neal recommends, UberGeek does.  His teeth have improved tremendously and yet they require constant vigilance.

I on the other hand, have a more relaxed approach to dental care.  For years I had no dental care at all.  I lived with my dad for six years and during that time I probably went to the dentist maybe twice. My dad's approach to health care is that you don't go until something hurts; there is no such thing as preventative care.  I can't remember ever going to the doctor when living with him, although I'm sure I must have at some point.  Despite the six year lack of dental care I never had a cavity until I was in my mid twenties.  Even then, they said it was merely a softish spot they would feel more comfortable filling rather than an actual cavity.  I've never had another.  I don't do anything special to my teeth, I brush them in the evenings, but sometimes I have a tiny piece of dark chocolate afterward.  I mean to get up and brush them again afterward, then I start reading a book or I just fall asleep.  I brush them in the morning too, a quick once over.  We have one of those cool automatic toothbrushes with a timer that let's you know when you've brushed enough; I never brush long enough.  I almost never floss.  

When UberGeek goes to the dentist it is a bit nerve wracking.  What will it cost us this time?  How many teeth have to become Bionic Teeth?  How much gum disease is present?  We await the dentist's report with baited breath, wondering if we have enough money in one of our free accounts for the grand total.  Each time I go to the dentist UberGeek awaits my report with equal excitement.  Each time he thinks I will get a different report.  It's almost always the same, I get the cleaning, they tell me to do a better job brushing, surprise, surprise, and then they lecture me about the importance of flossing.  Then Dr. Neal comes in and tells me that he would have to look really hard to find something wrong with my teeth and my teeth are a dentist's dream.  Last time I had a cleaning and x-rays Dr. Neal was out of town; his assistant called to tell me that he had read the films and my teeth were pretty close to perfect.  This drives UberGeek batty since everything, including our teeth, apparently, is a competition between us. He does everything by the book and his teeth are still a work in progress.  I'm a dental slacker and I get a glowing report. Until something changes, they can save their floss talk.  

I'm Becoming One of Them; I'm Not Sure I Like It

    
Geek in a Bubble

Recently I decided to develop a web form to help my clients gather their thoughts about what type of content they want on their websites. Really it's more than that, it asks them to consider how they want to store content, who will maintain the site, how they will be trained on the site and some other considerations. When I was developing the form it seemed pretty self explanatory to me. I looked it over again for grammatical errors then sent it off to my manager to take a gander at.  A reply came back some time later that the form might be a little intimidating for our users, my clients.  I mulled that over in my head for a minute, then I looked at the form again.  I needed to dial a lifeline, so I called Web Warrior Princess, a good liaison between the techie world and the world of normal people.  She does a good job of straddling the two, in attractive gladiator sandals, no less.

Princess received my form via email and I heard a polite silence at the other end, then came the suggestions, a number of them regarding the need to make the form less filled with technical jargon and obtuse geeky verbage.  Rereading my form with her I started thinking about my own journey from Family Therapist and teacher to Geek.  Just a few short years ago I didn't have any idea how to navigate the multitude of acronyms in the world of web content design and development and social media.  Now I am immersed in it, apparently to the point that I have forgotten how normal people communicate.  

I never think of myself as technical, part of the reason for this is that I always compare myself to more technical people, especially the one I live with.  I do content development, HTML, java script, web 2.0 stuff, some scripting, training, writing, graphics; I call this soft techie stuff.  UberGeek is hardcore, he developed a fingerprint ID system to control access to a restricted area of the Saudi Arabian embassy just after graduating from college.  He then went on to design, together with his geek partner in crime, De-Wek, a single sign on product used by several of the most renowned health care systems in the country.  This product won an award from the Microsoft Healthcare Users Group.  As if that's not enough, he single handedly designed a clinical imaging system to interface with Cerner's Millenium EMR as his current company was not happy with any of the products available to them on the market.  So, seriously, I don't feel that technical.  

 

If I get to feeling too big for my britches, I only have to cruise UberGeek's brother's profile on LinkedIn.  He is a software developer too and a data warehousing expert.  A few years ago, in his spare time, he developed a mobile device application that became so popular that Compaq bought it and included it as standard software on all their PocketPCs.  Umm, yeah, I don't feel that smart most of the time.  Probably the company I keep.  I continue to get geekier but I'm still small potatoes. 

When I was thinking about whether to apply for my current position, I was wondering if I would be technical enough for it.  UberGeek looked at me, the way Obama looked at Hillary at that famous moment during the campaign trail, and he said, "You're technical enough."  I think what I have to remember is that there is value in being able to straddle the world between geek and normal.  As I inch closer to geekiness I need people like Web Warrior Princess to pull me back from the precipice.  I like technology, but I like people more.  Social Media and Web 2.0 participatory features have no value if we lose their ultimate purpose, to connect us as flesh and blood human beings.  

Any Street in Suburbia, USA

It was a great day today, Wednesdays are my work from home day and they rock.  Not only do I get a lot of development and creative type work done without distraction but as a bonus I score an extra hour of family time without the commute.  Add an extra 45 minutes of time since I don't have to do hair or makeup or put decent clothes on and I also have time for a short run.  On top of this, after lunch UberGeek decided to work from home, this is quite rare.  We almost never work from home on the same days.  You would think we would since we have the ability.  We don't really interact when we work from home together.  I stay in the home office on my laptop and PC and he hangs out on the couch with his laptop; we rarely chat throughout the day.  I have learned over the years not to mess with UberGeek when he is working; he likes it quiet.  At work he is stuck in cubicle world and he surrounds himself with discarded servers so the hum drowns out the buzz of chatter around him.  When five o'clock rolled around today, though, it was like the Flinstones with the whistle sounding!  We jumped up and ran to the car together to go get the kiddos.

When we arrived at preschool UberGeek had another surprise, he wanted us to go out for dinner since we had to pick up a prescription for Eddie Haskell who had developed another of his raging ear infections.  I had already put a spaghetti pie out to thaw but I was game.  UberGeek suggested Joseph's Pizza in Atlantic Beach which is one of my favorite spots and the kids too.  Once there, we ordered, the kids got busy coloring and our food was out in no time.  The meals were delicious as usual.  The kids were happily slurping spaghetti which kept them occupied, UberGeek had a slice of pepperoni pizza.  I ordered the eggplant parmesan and it was easy to see why we are so fat in this country when they delivered it.  I kept   eating but I hardly made a dent.  Afterward we all had a kid sized scoop of gelato before we headed to our car.  There were so many beautiful moments today it's hard to capture all of them in a blog post.  They probably don't even sound all that beautiful.  Really just a quiet, productive day at work in the physical company of my husband, followed by some peaceful family time without any major mishaps.  To me it's beautiful.

A couple weeks ago I forced UberGeek to go see Revolutionary Road with Kate Winslet and Leonardo DiCaprio, nihilistic suburban angst for sure.  When the movie ended and we headed to the parking lot UberGeek said, "Well that was stupid, you live your life, you don't live anyone elses."  But I got it, I really did.  That ache you can feel inside when you realize that this is your life.  There won't be any up and moving to Paris.  There isn't really anything extraordinary about you, or no more than anyone else anyhow.  There is no next time, this is it.  There is that yearning for something else, something beautiful.

I guess what differentiates me from the nihilists is that I see beauty and meaning in the everyday. I have struggles and days that I wish for something more, but I'm also awed by the fact that my son can almost read.  My daughter can make up entire melodies and lyrics and sing them to me at any time of her choosing.  That an entire day like today with my family can be so amazing.  My heart swells when I finish a good race, or contribute to a worthy cause.  I see meaning in the good in the world that is all around me.