Noel

Last week was the first time Jon, E and I hosted, and celebrated, Christmas together as a mini family of 3. We had guests over, and that was a whole thing unto itself that I don't feel like going into, but it ended up being an enjoyable two days of celebration and food. For the main entree, we had beef tenderlion that I had ordered from Baumann's the week before. It came pre-seasoned and all there was left to do was cook it. This became tricky of course, when I also had to juggle the other dishes.

For Christmas Eve, the appetizer was Cream of Mushroom soup, while the main was the Tenderloin with Red Wine Gravy, Roasted Veg, Mashed Potatoes, and Shrimp Scampi. Dessert was a Molten Chocolate Lava cake and some Mixed Berries, that came from a box mix we had bought from Sam's Club some time ago. Christmas itself was pretty much the same, except instead of Shrimp Scampi, we had King Crab legs, and Balsamic Vinaigrette Roasted Brussel Sprouts, and I think dessert was Ben and Jerry's ice cream. 

I am now trying to figure out what to make for New Year's Eve. We still have 1 lb of King Crab legs, and I'm hoping that tomorrow I can find a reasonably small sized ham at Aldi. We have some random Charcuterie that I suppose could act as an appetizer, but would that then be too much cured meats? I don't know. Somewhere this week I am also planning to make Sausage Stuffing, since I missed that during Thanksgiving, and perhaps also a Japanese Cheesecake (because I got a weird craving for it a few days ago, and didn't wait to pay $34 for it from a local bakery, although that's still a reasonably good price for a whole cake). 

Anyway, in early December I started work on a Christmas themed cross stitch pattern than spelled out Noel, and right until Christmas night itself I got as far as NOF. As of today I have finally finished the E, so looks like I won't be done with this until the new year. Hopefully it will be a calmer year ahead for all.

Late Fall Planting

Call me crazy, but I have just come back in from finally planting some daffodils, tulips, and crocus bulbs, and its early December. I remember reading somewhere that someone still got away with planting spring bulbs right around Thanksgiving, which was a week and a half ago, so maybe I'll get lucky. I was motivated partially by the fact that the weather today was nice, and that the weather the next two days will be a high of 17 degrees celcius. That and if I didn't plant at least some of the bulbs I had bought earlier before, I would regret missing out. Hopefully its still not too late, and that the squirrels will not eat the bulbs that I just planted. 

Months ago I embarked on a gardening and plant rampage. Almost every week I went and acquired new plants. I spent so much time out in the sun that I got noticeably darker, a shade I probably haven't been since I was a school kid back in Singapore. Since then I've injured and strained various body parts, covered our spare room with plants, and introduced fungus gnats to the interior our home. I came down from my obsession early last month, after my right arm was just in so much discomfort that I was having trouble sleeping at night, and I started struggling to take care of the many indoor plants I had purchased. This also coincided with leaf blowing and raking season, which not only tired me out but also really did a number on my right arm.

Today, my right arm finally feels 99% back to normal (hence doing some gardening today, even though I felt really lazy). Some of my indoor plants have been moved out of the spare room to the main living area, where I can keep a better eye on them. I have decided that I actually love pothos plants one of the most, and that they are thankfully very hardy. The calathea white fusion that I was obsessed with, has now since died and terrible shriveled death, the first of my indoor plants to perish, though it was quite a high maintenance plant to begin with. Oh well, I don't think I will get another one.

Anyway, I think I have finally hit a normal, more manageable equilibrium about plants. 

Coyote

Yesterday while driving home after a trip to Aldi with E, I came across a coyote after turning into our subdivision. At first I thought it was a lost dog, because it had no collar and I had never seen a dog at that house before, but then I realised it looked a little rough and wild. It very obviously wasn't a fox or a wolf, so that left it being a coyote? Anyway it stared at me for a while when I stopped the car to look at it, but then ran away before I could dig out my phone to take a picture and another car came by from the opposite direction. 

Right after we got home, I quickly unloaded our groceries and transferred E into the pram. I wanted to bring her for a walk and hopefully catch one of our neighbours outside during the the lunch break of her oldest kid. After dallying a bit outside of their house (like an awkward loser), I thought maybe they weren't coming out, so I decided to continue walking, and then spotted the coyote again running through the backyard of one of the houses on the corner. 

Just as I was staring at it turn to run away, one of the neighbourhood kids, R, came tearing down on his bike telling me about how there was a fox loose in the neighbourhood and how everyone was texting about it. I felt a little put out that I wasn't part of this text thing, but told him it wasn't a fox because I had just seen it over there. Then R started to freak out in an excited way ("I'm gonna get eaten!"), and then W came tearing out of his house on his bike and started freaking out too and complaining that he wanted to see it too, but was also scared. I told them that they probably had nothing to fear unless they were a chicken or a duck, but they didn't seem convinced.

Soon, W's Mom and sisters came out (the same neighbour I had hoped to catch) and I got more of the bigger picture from her. The text was that it was a coyote, and someone saw it earlier. Plus, she had also seen alerts from NextDoor in early Fall that there were coyotes spotted in areas not too far from us. I remembered later that Jon and I saw reports about coyotes off the I-170 and Ladue Road during Summer, and thought it was hilarious. Maybe it's the same one very lost coyote. Anyway after we walked R home, we talked outside her house. I said goodbye and was about to leave when we ran into another set of neighbours, and we started talking about the coyote again.

Anyway later when I did get home, I saw that I was actually texted about the coyote around 11;30am, right about the time when E and I left to go to Aldi. So that made me feel a little better. 

If you cannot tell this is the most exciting thing that has happened to me in a long time. Plus, coyotes always make me think of Wile E. Coyote. I don't think kids had that association anymore. Additionally, I also forgot that kids get weirdly scared of random things, and work themselves up into fits over it.

Birds and Critters

Ever since we set up the bird feeder, our house has become a bit of a hot spot for birds and critters in the neighbourhood. When we first moved in, all the squirrels looked kind of gaunt and unhealthy (even though some of my neighbours were apparently deliberately feeding them), but since the installation of the bird feeder, they now look quite filled out and healthy. We have also since gotten a chipmunk that has moved in and dug a small hole for itself in the mulch by the side of our front porch area, right next to the bird feeder. 

I've also now learned the name of a lot of common backyards birds, like the cardinal, blue jay, chickadees, mourning doves, woodpeckers, sparrows, nuthatch and titmouse, as a result of having a bird feeder and sort of getting into bird watching. Last Sat, most excitingly, we got a slightly rarer visitor, a Northern Flicker, which was poking around the backyard area. Jon managed to snap a picture before it bobbled off. 

Anyway I got motivated to write a short meandering post about this because now, we have so many fat squirrels, that when they run off the roof it sounds like a small stampede. And it has been happening increasingly often, as they are also undoubtedly fighting with each other up there on the roof leading to the sounds. As it is, I already see them fighting all the time for the prime spot right under the bird feeder, as that's where the birds toss the seeds they don't want, and squirrels aren't terribly choosy.

Life as a SAHM

Do you ever feel like there are so many small things that you could do to make your life better? Less frustrated, less annoyed? But that you are just too damn tired to even make the effort to do them. Like put away the silly pair of PJs you bought your toddler, that have been lying on the floor of the kitchen since you bought them a few days ago; because the thought of bending down to pick them off the floor, cut the tags off, and put them in with the rest of the laundry sounds like too much work to deal with right at this moment?

Well my life feels like this for a lot of the time nowadays. I am just bone tired most of the time. Though at least I finally did move and sort out that aforementioned set of PJs, which I bought on a lark at TJ Maxx the other day. It features Peanuts, the comic. I bought 24m size, but on reflection E will probably be swimming in it, oh well.

Da Gun

 "Da Gun" is my daughter's new favourite phrase. Everything she likes seems to be a Da Gun (pronounced Da like "Ta Dah!" and Gun like "Goon"). We first noticed her point to Saffron and say Da Gun, but now birds and squirrels that are outside our house are Da Gun, random pictures in books are Da Guns (like leaves, an owl, a wolf and a kid holding a big ball), and so are random things in videos that we show her (like I showed her one of a hamster just now).

Anyway her 3 most consistent 'words' now are Da Da, Ma Ma (though she refuses to say it when prompted) and Da Gun.

Elections 2020

The American Presidential Elections are tomorrow, and it feels like I'm waiting for a hammer to fall. And I am sure that I am not alone in thinking about tomorrow with great trepidation. I don't think I can ever run for politics feeling the way I do, thinking and worry about election days with such dread, feeling such a deep sinking pit in one's chest and stomach. 

I'm not sure what the international news media has been reporting, but I've been getting a lot of worried texts from family about possible violence on and during election day. So, even though I went to Aldi last week Thursday to get groceries, and have enough for the next day or two, I will go again later today to stock up. (I usually wait as long as I can, because it seems whole milk tends to expire somewhat quickly).

Between COVID and this very belligerent round of elections (AHEM, looking at all of the fanatic supporters of a certain orange-dyed rotund man), 2020 has constantly felt like one living in the US has been under siege, with no end in sight. What a world we live in.

Rainy Week

This week was a strange one. It was one of the rainiest weeks we have had in St Louis in what must be months, and then on Thursday it became very warm and sunny (29 degrees Celsius!), only to plunge to drizzly, grey, windy and cold on Friday again (7 degrees Celsius). Last night as I lay in bed trying to sleep and thinking of the weekdays that just passed (not that it really makes much of a difference, especially since Jon has been working this + the last few weekends), I had trouble remembering some of the days because it felt like E and I didn't do very much - though that of course isn't true based on further scrutiny.

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Monday: We had no plans and it was going to rain in the afternoon. We took what turned out to be our only neighbourhood walk of the week to drop off a costume at a neighbour's house. Ran into a neighbour, Lynne on the way and had a nice quick chat with her before E decided to follow another neighbourhood kid, R, who was walking his family's ancient dog (first time I've ever seen that dog), and I had to run after her. Then E napped after we got home, and while she napped I went outside to break down the branches of the Bush Honeysuckle I had been attacking/removing over the weekend, for waste pick up the next day. While I was breaking the branches down, Rob the lawn guy actually dropped by for a surprise visit, and I had a short conversation with him about the lawn and gardens.

I had originally intended to bring E to Schnucks to just get a rotisserie chicken after she woke up from her nap, but it turned out Jon was coming home early, and so he picked it up instead. For dinner I cooked noodles, veg, and fried eggs, and we had it with the chicken as a pseudo HK style dinner.

Tuesday: We had no plans, but I was bored and strongly considered going out, but I felt lazy. Finally decided to go out, and then the rain started and I felt kind of upset, but we got into the car anyway. Thankfully, by the time I drove south of the 64, it had stopped raining. I had to do grocery shopping at Aldi, and wanted to go to a Dollar Tree to see if they had any more Halloween stuff left (I planned for 60 kids, neighbours told me to expect 100 - gosh!), so I was headed to the strip mall in Kirkwood that had both of those stores right next to each other. I needed to use the bathroom though, so we ducked into a nearby Burlington Coat Factory, where I also purchased a bag of tapioca chips. Then as planned, we went to the Dollar Tree (no Halloween stuff left, urgh), and then Aldi (bought more chocolates for Halloween at least). On the way back home, I decided to stop off at Sugar Creek Gardens as I heard they were having a 50% sale, and ended up going home with a Dark Knight Spirea, while E decided to test the dirty stagnant water in every single bird bath for sale. In retrospect I really should not have let her roam.

When we got home, as E napped, I made Chicken Noodle soup. I had pre-chopped almost all the veggies and shredded the remaining rotisserie chicken from dinner the previous night. While that was cooking, I went outside and finally planted the Hydrangea and Rose Verbena plants that we have had outside for a while (any longer and I feared they would die from neglect, just like the other previous ones). E woke up, I fed her the chicken noodle soup, called my in laws, and then got a dinner of pan fried tilapia, baked asparagus and pilaf rice (from a microwavable bag, lol) ready. Then Jon came home.

Just when I was getting ready to wind down after bathing E and taking care of her the whole day, Jon called me downstairs - the kitchen sink was clogged. We had a kitchen garbage disposal installed and I had been happily throwing food scraps down, but now it seemed like it was clogged despite all the things Jon had been trying the last 20 mins (boiling hot water, plunger, etc.). After putting E to bed we ended up trying to work on fixing the sink (mainly Jon, with me assisting), but to no avail. At least he ascertained the clog was not in the garbage disposal, it was further down below. We both went to bed late.

Wednesday: I originally had a playdate with my friend Catie and her son S planned, and I had been texting her about the clogged sink since last night. Today I called our usual plumber and they said they could come out on the 27th Oct, a week away. Then I called a bigger company and they said they would send someone immediately, so I text to postpone the playdate to Friday. The plumber came quickly, and he was nice and more professional than our usual plumber, of course he also probably charged a lot more too. 

From Mike, I learned: 1) the clog was in the cast iron pipes, and cast iron pipes normally last about 50 years before issues start (the house was built in 1961), 2) it would probably cost 4k to jackhammer up the 10 feet of old cast iron pipes and replace with PVC pipes, 3) don't throw any food down the kitchen garbage disposal. even coffee grounds, 4) our house had old pipes for the toilets too, 3 inch vs. the standard 4 inch now (so I guess don't take any mega poops?), 5) our half of the unfinished basement was a plumber's dream because everything was nice and exposed. For all of this info, and an enzyme cleaner to flush out the pipes (in lieu of replacing them immediately), I got a bill for $420. He was a nice guy, so I gave him a bottle of Fitz's Root Beer, since we had so many at home anyway.

After Mike left I went with E to Schnucks, because Aldi didn't have any ground sausage yesterday, and I wanted to make meatballs for dinner tonight. It was drizzling, so I bundled both of us up. At Schnucks I noticed they had a special on T-bone steaks, as it was their sell by date. I ended up getting the steaks, even though it felt like a meal that would be celebrating something as opposed to consoling us for just forking out $420 because our house had a heart attack. It was raining somewhat heavily when we left the store, so I ran out with the groceries first, then ran over to the car with Boo Boo (luckily just under 10 meters away from the store exit). On the way back, I stopped at Circle K to get gas, something I had been stressing out for a while because hitherto to this, I had only gotten gas at Sam's Club, but our membership had just expired. Sounds silly to get stressed out about, but having to do new things + toddler always disproportionately worry me. But anyway I got the gas at 1.91 a gallon, and obviously have lived to tell the tale, lol.

Back home we played together a bit, then E napped. It had stopped raining by then, and just as I was about to go out to do some gardening, some workers from a construction firm approached me and asked if I wanted a free evaluation of our roof. I was initially very skeptical, but had recognised them from our neighbour's place when E and I passed by last week, and he had mentioned they were going to do roof work for him. Anyway I decided to let them take a look, and they said our roof looked good. It seemed like 1 guy was training the other, so I was more than happy to let them use our place as an example. While they were checking out the roof, I was planning out where to put the Spirea that I had purchased yesterday, and ended up digging a bunch of holes as I intended to go back to Sugar Creek Gardens and get more plants. Luckily the ground was pretty soft from all the rain, as opposed to dry and rock hard the way it was before. While I was out there working, I ended up having conversations with 3 different groups of neighbours, which made me pretty happy. The couple that always seems kind of grumpy told me that our house hadn't looked this good in years, and offered to loan a bulb planter. Another joked that now after seeing me, she felt like she had to start working on the garden. Then Jeannie came by and we had the most random conversation about Covid and City Museum. Finally Jon came home and I started cooking. Dinner was T-Bone steaks, green beans (including the few sad ones I finally harvested from the garden), baked potato, and a salad. 

Thursday: This was the warmest and sunniest day of the week. When I stepped out in the morning to refill the bird feeder, I was hit by an uncomfortable wave of heat and humidity. After E woke up, we hopped into the car for a quick trip to Sugar Creek Gardens, so I could pick up more 50% off plants. I ended up getting a Yuki Cherry Blossom (Deutzia), Sneezewort (also know as Peter Cottontail Yarrow, which sounds better), another Dark Knight Spirea, and a 6 pack of pansies, violas, and alyssum. When we got home, E and I went for a short walk down our cul-de-sac, and ran into a neighbour that we hadn't seen in months, mainly because E insisted on traipsing down her driveway (but her husband, Artie, had give me the go-ahead before). 

While E was napping, I went out in the hot sun (looking back, I must have been half mad), and dug more holes, and planted the Deutzia, Spirea, and 1 Sneezewort, before I ran out of time/energy. Then I had lunch before waking E up, and fed her more chicken noodle soup, before racing out the door to meet Jennifer and Ilse, and their kids A and L, at a nearby park. It was a fun time out, and as usually we somehow ended up trading kids, and I spent a chunk of time alone with A as he climbed up the pavilion and kept staring at the slowly spinning ceiling fan, while E ran off down some hilly patches of grass with Jennifer following behind. As A hadn't napped earlier, he got wiped out early and Jennifer left first, so Ilse and I remained for about another 30 mins, and we checked out the old cabins and water pump on the park grounds.

Dinner was Dan Dan Noodles that Jennifer had made, as a barter for me buying a toy broom set for A. All I had to do was boil the noodles. I also made extra veg and boiled some eggs to add on more nutrition. Dinner was really yummy, and we all really enjoyed it.

Friday: A complete 360 from the previous day, Friday felt like the coldest day of the week. Right when I woke up, I read a text from the contractor who was working on our kitchen that his men were coming to fix some last things, and so as I ate breakfast I cleaned the kitchen and put away things. Then I raced around like a mad woman doing some other small things as I got E ready for our playdate with Catie. At Catie's place, E had a ball as usual, and we enjoyed the fresh blueberry muffins she had made. The kids actually somewhat interacted together this time, which was lovely to witness as usually S is pretty shy.

After we got home, I put E down for a nap straightaway as she looked really sleepy, and then had lunch and watched an episode of Forensic Files. Then, I drank my 2nd cup of tea for the day and went outside for more gardening, ducking my head back inside ever so often to check if E had woken up. This time I ended up clearing out the turf from the garden beds. A few weeks ago I had covered sections of the grass by the driveway to kill the turf, with a haphazard, "Sorry for the eyesore! Flower beds in progress" written on the cardboard. I ended up sitting on a stool in the cold (7 degrees Celcius and damp + windy anyone?), while using a small hand hoe to clear the grass. Then I planted half of the pansies, violas, and alyssum. 

When E woke up, I gave her another blueberry muffin, and we spoke to my in laws over a video call. I started the prep for dinner, and then Jon came home, but the cooking still took a long time. For dinner we had a pseudo-German meal of beer bratwurst, kartoffelsalat, sauerkraut (from a can! LOL) and green beans.

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And that brings us to today, Saturday. Jon is still at work and E is finally awake (she got up as I was in the middle of writing about Thursday) and running around eating a banana and corn flakes. I plan to make a trip to Rolling Ridge and Maypop today to look at house plants (damn you Facebook stories!), and to pick up lunch for the 3 of us at Balkan Treat Box, before heading now. Ciao for now.

Happy Fall 2020

 Autumn is finally here, after a scorcher of a Summer. It's still very dry though, and hasn't rained in easily over 3 weeks. I used to never really notice the rain much before, inasmuch as it helped cool the air, but now with a garden I really notice the rain. A few weeks ago we got our lawn aerated and reseeded by a landscaping company, and right before they left, Rob, the manager, told me that I had to now water the lawn every 3 hours or else the grass would not grow. For the next few days before we installed a makeshift sprinkler system, I ended up wasting almost 45 mins every day just watering the lawn and feeling like a fool. Anyway now we have a very nice and lush green lawn, and probably a higher water bill to go along with it. 

Today, with E of course, I went to Michael's, Maypop and Menards, all in the Brentwood/Webster Groves area. At Michaels I picked up some random Halloween decor and miscellaneous items, and at Maypop (my second visit within a week!) I finally picked up the Chocolate Aglaonema that I had been eyeing, but passed on because it was $5 over budget. Thanks to a generous surprise venmo of $5 from Shirin, I got the plant. I also ended up buying a young Philodendron Hope, an Aeonium Kiwi succulent and a random squashy cactus that E had actually grabbed and knocked over when we were there earlier this week.

L - Philodendron Hope; R - Chocolate Aglaonema 

L - Aeonium Kiwi; R - Unknown squashy Cactus

I realise I haven't written up much on my vegetable growing in a while. Well, as a beginner gardener I mistakenly thought that all pesticides were the same, until my poor broccoli got eaten so thoroughly by cabbage worms that they were irredeemable (and I kept wondering why the insecticide wasn't working). Finally Jon pulled the broccoli out a few weeks ago because I couldn't bear to even look or touch them as they looked so horrible, and I replaced them with what looks like bok choy. The bok choy is still being nibbled on by cabbage worms, but I have now learned to use both Dipel Dust and to knock off the cabbage worms with a wood shim that I keep handy (because I still don't want to touch or get near any bugs). I laugh/cringe when I think of how naive I was when I saw the white butterflies around my plants and thought: Oh butterflies! How nice! But of course they were laying cabbage worms URGH. 

Anyway after I stopped overwatering my beans plants, they are now doing a little better and have started to grow actual beans. Again I think of how ridiculous my reaction was when I saw the plants growing small white flowers and wondering what the point was (It's a vegetable, so why does it bother growing flowers?). It's almost as if I forgot all about my Biology lessons, and the whole part about flowers preceding seeds (ergo, beans) was wiped from my memory. I felt quite daft when I realised that. 

So here are my beans, and you can see the bok choy trying to grow in the back a little. Also picture is the cover that I purchased, to cover the vegetables over night and to try and prevent the pests from getting to them. Next year I might try setting up a proper hoop thing as a cover.

At Menards I ended up purchasing some pumpkins for decor. Because our porch area is covered up by a bunch of Boxwoods (thankfully, as the front facing windows are very big), I decided to leave them under a tree closer to the road, so other people can see the nice pumpkins too. I hope this doesn't mean they will rot or get eaten by something though. I'm so new to all of this that I don't know if I have valid concerns or am being silly. Anyway lest disaster befall them soon, I took a picture for posterity.

Also pictured is the mulch I random threw under that tree when I was trying to get rid of some of it, when I was trying to tackle a garden bed closer to the front of the house. I have really been enjoying gardening, but I really have no idea what I am doing. I also managed to hurt my arms/wrists a few weeks ago, and keep telling myself to take it easy, but I also just planted some pansies and violas yesterday, and wrangled a 2 cu foot of Schultz Garden Soil today.

House Plants

 

My latest obsession seems to be house plants, mainly because I am running out of space for regular plants. I currently have 3 Blueberry shrubs that I am still figuring out where to place, almost 2 weeks after purchasing them from Lowes. I need to deal with them first, before purchasing any other outdoor plants, though I have a pretty good idea what my next purchase will be - some Hydrangea shrubs - though I am undecided with what sorts of hydrangea it will be.

Today was another plant nursery day for E and me, with a quick stop at Kangaroo Kids along the way (though we ended up not purchasing anything). We went to Sugar Creek Gardens, Rolling Ridge Nursery, followed by Maypop Coffee and Garden Shop. At Sugar Creek Gardens, our first stop, a nice middle aged lady offered me some milk weed, as they were going to toss it away and she didn't need so many milk weed plants, so I ended up with 2 pots of Butterfly Weed. This worked out really nicely as I wanted another Butterfly Weed plant one to accompany the other one I had planted last Saturday (which then wiped me out for the rest of the day, lol). Inside, on the grounds of Sugar Creek Gardens, I also found a Calathea White Fusion (the plant right at the back), which has been on my wish list for $20. I figured since I had effectively gotten 2 Butterfly Weed plants for free from Sugar Creek (approx. $16 at regular retail for that size), I could get the Calathea even though I should have been following a rough budget of $15 per plant. 

At our next stop, Rolling Ridge, I acquired the Peperomia Ginny front right) and the Philodendron Lemon Lime (front middle), and also bought the Insecticidal Soap for my poor vegetable plants after talking to some of the workers there. I also learned that they had a very poor opinion of Miracle Gro, which I have to say I 100% understand after seeing how poorly my broccoli plants have been doing in them. The guy there also told me to get some bricks to prop under my planters to improve drainage, which I guess I will do tomorrow.

Our last plant stop (last stop was actually Balkan Treat Box, where I picked up a seasonal Peach Pide for lunch/dinner) was Maypop. I ended up getting an African Violet (front left) there, though reading up on it now it seems like I might have signed up for trouble as they seem to be finicky plants. We'll see how things go.

After acquiring the Calathea White Fusion, my current house plant wish list is: 1) Triostar Stromathe 2) Ficus Tineke 3) Watermelon Peperomia. I really want to see a Persian Shield, though I'm not sure if I want one as a plant yet. 

More Garden Things

As of a week and a half after planting, my vegetables now look like this:

As a reminder, the left side is Schultz, and the right is Miracle Gro.

The beans in the Miracle Gro look slightly better, but that might also be because some of the leaves of the beans that were in Schultz were bad looking last week. I don't remember how they looked when I started - should have taken better pictures. Anyway the difference is enough to be marginal in my opinion.

The broccoli however, looks very different. The ones in the Schultz (even the random 2 in pots) look noticeably better than the ones in the Miracle Gro.

Miracle Gro:

Schultz:

Anyway, we'll see if this difference remains the same throughout, or changes as the broccoli continues to grow.

As a side note, today I went to the Home Depot at Brentwood after E and I had a playdate with C and her son S. The plants there definitely were more varied and nicer looking than what I remember of the Home Depot at Overland that Jon and I visited last weekend, but nothing really called to me except some watermelon starters that I sadly have no space for (BOO!), so I didn't get any plants. I did however, get some no melt suet and a suet feeder on a whim, plus a small watering can. Total bill was less than $6 with tax.

After the acquisition of the suet feeder, my bird feeding set up now looks like this:

Last week we actually made a trip to Florissant, because we thought that was where the closet Wild Birds Unlimited store was to us (for some reason, the Warson Woods location didn't show up). At the store we bought a squirrel proof bird feeder that is much more sturdier than the simple plastic one we had (that already showed remarkable chew marks from squirrel teeth). The 'squirrel proof' feature is a result of it having a spring at the top, and if a squirrel climbs on it, its weight closes the hole of the feeder. It was fun earlier this week watching the squirrels try to game the new feeder, but they evidently have been largely unsuccessful given how much bird seed there is remaining this week. 

The weird green patch on top of the mulch is right at the bottom of where the old bird feeder was, and where the old bird seed fell and sprouted. I even watered the patch a few times after they sprouted. That's another unplanned experiment I've got going on, to observe and see what happens to that bird seed patch.

Vegetable Starters

 

Last week when I was at Menards with E, I bought a bag of Schultz brand Garden Soil, because it was cheaper and I wondered how it would compare to Miracle Gro, the usual leading brand (and the only one I see around my Mother-In-Law's house). I decided to do a little experiment, putting the beans and broccoli starters I had on the left side in Schultz, and putting the beans and broccoli starters on the right in Miracle Gro (the 2 broccoli starters in the random pots are in Schultz, because I had extra soil + 1 lost kalanchoe that I just repotted yesterday after seeing it suffer for a while). 

So far to my dismay, the Miracle Gro beans look a little better, but they also did have the head start of about a day in a planter vs a starter tray. The broccoli however looks a little bit too similar for me to determine anything at this point (planted them on Wednesday last week), and I realise now that you can barely see them at all in this picture.

Anyway I am having fun, and enjoying checking up on my plants a lot.

634

 It's been about a week and a half since we have moved in to our new place at 634, and I suppose I'm now used to things around here, and have been able to form some sort of a routine with E. What is new about this place, besides having no kitchen (until the 27 of Aug! URGH), is the fact that it comes with a garden and lawn. 

Now I don't really care for lawns especially because I remember reading they're not really good for the environment because they require a lot of water and don't contribute to the environment (e.g. no shelter for animals, no pollen for bees, etc.). But having a lawn still means somewhat taking care of it, even though I don't need to bother with cutting the grass because we hired a company to do it. So yesterday, the day after a Derecho wreaked havoc all throughout the Midwest, I spent something like 1hr+ picking up all the fallen branches and twigs off the lawn, because I had seen the neighbour opposite do it and assumed it was a thing people do. 

The fun part however, is the rest of the garden, and I am now obsessed with my new hobby even though it makes me hot and sweaty - gardening. As a correlated activity, we also bought a bird feeder, though it's been attacked non-stop by squirrels, and so my next task is to swap it out and get a squirrel-proof bird feeder:

I planted some beans a few days ago in some cedar planters that we got from Menards using starters that we purchased from Hartke Nursery:

And yesterday I planted this shrub that I purchased from Dauster Greenhouse:

It's called a Proud Berry plant, and I chose it over others because I saw that it was labelled as a native plant, though I now realise that there's another more stringent category of native plants, those are are specifically native to Missouri. The more you learn I guess. 

My goal is to eventually have a nice garden that helps support the wildlife in the area, and to cover up the weird bare patch you see in the picture above, so people can't stare into our living room. I'd also like to grow some vegetables from seed one day, though I have just purchased some broccoli starters from the O.K. Hatchery and Feed Store today. Fingers crossed that all of this works out, unlike the 10,000x other plants I've killed before when living in Singapore.

Cooking in Bulk

The kitchen at the new house we are moving to is not yet ready, and won't be for the next 3 weeks (delays in the counter top delivery), so for the past few days I've been cooking up a storm and freezing as much food as I can. The meals I've made are:

1) Spaghetti Bolognese

2) White Bean Chicken Chili

3) Red Beans and Rice

4) Mac and Cheese with Broccoli 

5) Cottage Pie

And for snacking/dessert, chocolate chip cookies. 

I am utterly exhausted and spent now. Today alone, in between all the cooking, I went grocery shopping, loaded the car, drove to the new house and unloaded the car while dealing with Elizabeth. I really hope I can sleep tonight, and not spend another night worrying and stressing out about the move.

7553

I have a headache today, and feel a little dizzy. This could be because I didn't finish my tea today (something I just discovered when I got up to put the cup in the kitchen), because I got distracted playing with E. This could also be because I didn't sleep enough, and E woke me up at 3am crying for milk. Either way, I have a headache and don't feel great, and feel sensitive to sound. 

Just my luck then, that today of all days the new dog in the apartment building + an older dog decide to have a hallway 'conversation'. I kept hearing the howling barks ('wok woooowoooowoooowoooowoooo') going on and on and followed the noise upstairs (not hard in a 3 story apartment with 12 apartments only I suppose), and realised the new dog in 3A was howling away at the dog in 3D, with the 3D dog responding now and then. Now I've never heard the dog in 3D before, even though I knew it was there, so this is definitely the 3A dog's doing. I guess it must be the same dog I saw a few days ago, some shaggy looking medium sized thing of a breed I definitely did not recognise. It's new owners were trying to coax him up and down the stairs. Anyway I guess the tenants of 3A aren't home even though the lights were switched on inside, and so the dog was doing its howling thing. 

This is definitely one of the quirks of living in an apartment building, hearing all the noise around. I usually find it comforting though, hearing signs of life outside, and running into neighbours and making conversation. In New York there was Eric, who lived upstairs with his 2 (and then 1) dogs, and Steve and Alexandra opposite us. Here in this apartment there's Mike, Chastity, and Julie.

I've lived in apartments for most of my adult life, starting with when I lived in London. On Thursday however, we will finally be moving into our new house. I am simultaneously stressed out by the move as well as looking forward to a new chapter in my life. Meanwhile, the work to prep for it has been seemingly endless, and the the stressors many. It will definitely be an interesting change.

New Stamps

I went to the Clayton post office today after several months to mail off some packages and buy some stamps. I don't know if you know this, but I am a huge sucker for nice designs on stamps. If there is a nice and cute version, why would I want to boring pre-printed ones from those machines, or a pharmacy? So I usually wait until I go to a post office to buy a whole bunch of stamps at one go, thus ensuring we have a supply of nice stamps at home. These stamps were from my latest visit today, and apparently the fruit and vegetables ones just came out. The state and country fairs one however, is really cool and is actually a series of 4 stamps that forms 1 larger image:

So anyway, very cool. 

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For the last 4 days, I have been out everyday. Part necessary errands, part cross stitching and embroidering mania. I feel a little bad that I have been out so much in a pandemic, but as Jon pointed out it's also probably from feeling pent up at being home throughout the pandemic, and now feeling more comfortable with driving as we have a 2nd car. 

This phase kind of started last week Tuesday after I got a huge surge of anxiety from dealing with (and driving to) the new house. Now I am actively trying to tamp down this somewhat manic stage, because as I mentioned, I feel bad and irresponsible even though I take all the necessary precautions like mask wearing and carrying E inwards in a carrier. Though now given that I think I have finally finished all my errands, and have practically bought something like 50% of the entire DMC thread collection, I think I will be staying home for the next week, unless I need to do grocery shopping. 

This has been a list of all the places I have been since last Wednesday to today:

14 July - New House, Schnucks

15 July - Target, JoAnn Fabric

16 July (with Jon, as he had the day off) - Target, Hobby Lobby, Once Upon a Child (last 2 in the same strip mall)

18 July - JoAnn Fabric, Marshalls, Buy Buy Baby, Ross Dress For Less (all in the same strip mall)

20 July - JoAnn Fabric, Marshalls, Buy Buy Baby, Dollar Tree, Aldi (first 3 in the same strip mall)

21 July - Michaels, Walgreens

22 July - Hobby Lobby, Burlington Coat Factory, Aldi (all in same strip mall), Walgreens

23 July - Post Office, Target, UPS Store, Schnucks

DMC Threads

For the month of June, I read zero books. This was because I started cross-stitching again, and finally completed a kit that I had purchased and first started way back in 2014. In the interim, I've 1) finished two MAs, 2) gotten married, 3) had a child, 4) moved across the country, and lastly 5) purchased a house, so let's just say a lot has been happening since I first started this cross stitch, to when I finally completed it 6 years later.

Anyway I have since moved on to try my hand at embroidery, which to the dismay of my hands involves a needle that is a lot sharper. I have since managed to poke out chunks of skin, which really stings when I do housework. Bodily damage aside, this has also meant that as I move away from kits that come with prepared colour threads, I now need to purchase threads.

Enter the DMC embroidery shelf. Since I have started (or re-started) this particular type of craftwork, I have spent close to 15 minutes in front the DMC shelves at Michaels and (today especially), Joann Fabric. I am starting to think that E is close to developing a huge aversion to the sight of the DMC shelf, because I invariably end up spending far more time there than her toddler mind can appreciate. The DMC shelf means I will stand still there, bending forwards and backwards and shuffling too and fro as I pick the 'perfect' colours, all while she is just stuck to me in a backwards facing front baby carrier (safest way to bring her around in the era of COVID). It means I will not be moving from aisle to aisle, giving her new things to look at. For this ill-behaviour on my part, I will be subjected to 1) mask pulling, 2) face slapping, 3) audible complaining and some shrieking, 4) weird stretches and flinging about.

All this parental abuse is worth it I suppose, as I sit here in front of the computer admiring my new hoard. At 60 cents a skein of thread, it's a relatively cheap hobby to go wild on, though I feel the skin on my hands is already tingling in imagined punishment.

Snapshot

I was originally intending to write something a lot more in depth, now that things have opened up here a bit, but I am exhausted after cleaning. E and I have gone on a total of 2 playdates with our old buddies (old as in, knew before quarantine, lol) C and S, and met a new Mom and her kiddo, J and A, at Tilles Park.

E celebrated her 1st birthday last weekend, and Jon and I had a zoom party with her and our families. I baked a three tier carrot cake - the first carrot cake I've ever made, and also the first three tiered cake I've ever made - and had a freak out last Friday evening when I realised there was no way to put the cake into the fridge without it drying out, as we had no container. In the end, Jon went to Schnuck's last minute and bought two big aluminum trays meant for roasting turkeys, and taped them together, lol. Cheapest and most simple cake container ever. It's crazy to think that E is already 1 year old, and I am very glad. A year ago, it felt like I wouldn't make it as a Mum, but I guess I must have.

This week was a huge ball of stress trying to arrange things for the new house, while also taking care of this apartment and baby. I am glad that most of the pressing things have been dealt with, and that the end of the week has finally arrived.

Change in Tastes

In Spring 2019, when I was pregnant with E and bored in NYC, I used to go baby clothes shopping at the various Burlington Coat Factories nearby. Sometimes if I really liked a particular outfit, but it didn't match the right size and type for the season (e.g. no short sleeved dresses for Winter), I'd keep the style in mind and doggedly look for it in the other stores. A few times I was successful, a few times I would fail.

The above outfit is one example of an outfit that I fell in love with, and went around searching other branches for, until I got the right size. I remember thinking it was the cutest, cheeriest thing I had ever seen. I brought it home and showed it to Jon, and I still remember him saying it was "very yellow".

Well anyway, flash forward a year+ and E can finally fit in this outfit, but I am no longer in love with it. In fact, looking at it makes me wonder what I was thinking when I was pregnant. The pants are OK and still cute, but the top is very yellow, and of course yellow looks terrible with East Asian skin tones. And the print is awfully loud (though since E is loud I guess it matches?).

So far, E has only worn this outfit once. That being said however, she has played with the top and bottom a lot as I left them on the sofa and forgot about them after taking this picture a few days ago. She tugs at the clothes like she is trying to tear them apart, and plays some form of peek-a-boo behind them. At least she is getting some sort of use out of them.

St. Louis June 2020 Protests

Last night I sat in front of the computer, cross stitching, while watching a Facebook live stream of the protests in downtown St. Louis. I watched from the beginning of the confrontation, when the protesters first reached the city police HQ on Olive, to the police coming out in riot gear, to the peaceful protesters dispersing... and then all hell breaking loose. First it started with the protesters shooting fireworks, and then the police started firing tear gas in response. Finally, and it seemed like everyone ran away. Then the 7/11 got looted, and suddenly it was on fire, and then more fires were set. Meanwhile I sat there cross stitching, in the safety of my home, reading all the real time comments from other viewers. It was a moment to think about how social media has changed the way news is disseminated - but that's a musing for another time.

I went to bed after that, and woke up today to the news that more people were killed, and the police shot at. More stores looted and set on fire.

Jon and I don't live anywhere near the downtown St. Louis area, so it's not a sense of real anxiety that I feel right now, but more of a worry about the general high tensions and how it negatively affects the community. Of a sadness at seeing the places that we have passed by destroyed. Of a frustration that things have come to this; that a police officer in Minnesota thought that kneeling for 8 minutes on a black man's neck was appropriate use of force despite all the other past police brutality cases. Of confusion that I am being told by some on my more left-leaning friends on Facebook that condemning the looting is racist because black people should be allowed to perpetuate the same violence and inequality that they have experienced for the past 400 years (...on other black owned stores in their community?!? I don't get it.) Of another type of confusion - where do I stand in all of this as an Asian immigrant? I feel like a temporary visitor, this is not my country, and I should not intervene, but of course I support the Black Lives Matter movement.

There are a multitude of thoughts and emotions I have surrounding this, and no clear solution to any of the negativity. It's just a lot after weeks of economic depression from coronavirus shut downs. 

French Alphabet Blocks

This weekend was the first time I have purchased anything from Facebook Marketplace. Before, I was vaguely aware it existed, but used only Craigslist when I was purchasing 2nd hand furniture for the apartment I shared with Marina in 2015, and then 2nd hand wedding decor in 2017. Now one of my habits is to just go on Facebook Marketplace and look at the random baby things for sale near me.

Last Saturday however, I happened to go on and see that someone nearby had listed these blocks for $15. I had seen them online before (retails around $45), they come in a variety of languages, and thought they looked cool, but wasn't sure if they were worth the money. At $15 however, and in French (side note: Jon reads to Elizabeth in French, somehow his French is better than his Tagalog or Mandarin, lol), they were a steal.

Today I finally got round to cleaning then with a mixture of vinegar and water, and then I laid them all out on newspaper to dry and counted 32 blocks, which I thought was a little unusual. Then I went online to check the item on the official website and it says it comes in sets of 28. So I thought maybe more blocks were included by accident and flipped them all onto the animal side - but no, they were all in French too.

I am confused. What a weird mystery.

Baby Board Books List

E has a ton of books. Even before she was born, Jon and I already had some children's books in our possession, typically purchased by Jon because he liked the illustrations. I was also no stranger to the children's books, having started venturing into that section ever since K, my niece was born and I started babysitting R in late 2017/early 2018. Anyway, with this in mind, and how much I personally value books and reading, it should come as no surprise that E has quite a lot of books. She has maybe 50 board books, if not more. When I started writing this, she was doing her usual practice of taking some of her board books out of her wooden crate, flipping through them, and throwing a bunch around.

E just turned 11 months old a few days ago, and with this in mind, I want to create a list of her books that I like the most. Factors like quirkiness, and ease of reading helped me compile this list.

1. Indestructibles series of books

Books from these series are the ones I give to any one about to become a parent. I came across them in the Barnes and Noble at Union Square, and found the concept very interesting. These books are not very heavy on content, but the pages cannot be torn, either by a saliva soaking or use of force. They also don't fly very well when they are thrown, because they're very light lol. My sister in law told me they're good for distracting my niece in situations where they might get dirty, like during meal times, because they can also be easily wiped.

2. Nina Laden - Peek A Who?

Very short, easy to read, and contains a cute mirror in the last page for the baby to look at themselves. The little cut outs in the middle also make it easy for the child to flip the pages.

3. Curious George - I Love You

This book also contains mirrored pages, which are great. I bought this as a 'Valentine's Day' present for E after seeing it at the Barnes and Noble in Ladue, and it has genuinely become one of my favourite books because it's just so sweet. It has lines like, "I love you when you're cranky" and "I love you when you're messy", plus the illustrations are very cute.

4. Eric Carle - Colors (Bilingual)

I don't know how to even quantify how ironic it is that even though my second language is Mandarin, I feel more comfortable reading Spanish books to E (maybe it shows how much Chinese baby board books suck?). Anyway I like this book because the sentences are short and simple, the illustrations cute, and there's a little panel for the words in both languages that you can move, e.g. red/rojo.

5. Eric Carle - Brown Bear Brown Bear, What Do You See?

A beloved classic, I actually put off buying this book for a long time because I figured I could get it on sale or something since it was so ubiquitous. Eventually I bought it 2nd hand from Half Price Books on Delmar. It is a very silly book, which starts out normal seeming, and quickly devolves into the absurd - blue horses and purple cats anyone? Before becoming strangely meta and breaking the 4th wall. Also very easy and a quick read.

6. Sandra Boynton - Moo, Baa, La La La!

As a rule of thumb, all Sandra Boynton books are great. I would read Dinosaur Dance to E when I was still pregnant (apparently babies can hear and recognise the books they heard while in the womb? I don't know. I tried), but out of all of them, Moo, Baa, La La La! is definitely my favourite. It is short and silly, and became one of the books I ended up memorising early on really fast (Cows go Moo, Sheep go Baa, Three singing pigs go La La La!...)

7. Sandra Boynton - Happy Hippo, Angry Duck

This is another great book by Sandra Boynton. It teaches kids about moods, relating them to animals. At the end, it helps reiterate that bad moods are only temporary, and that the child is loved no matter what. A great book for helping teach emotional intelligence, especially when the child becomes older and starts throwing tantrums.

8. Emily Gravett - Orange Pear Apple Bear

One afternoon when I was still working at with my internship, I had to pass a document to another staff member at Grand Central Station in NYC outside of my working days. She was running late, so Jon and I ducked into a store inside to kill time, which turned out to sell kid's toys and books. That was when I first came across this book, and was so taken by it that I went home and saved it to an Amazon list. It was early 2016, and there were no young children anywhere near me, but that just shows how great this book is. Beautifully illustrated, very simple to read, and incredibly silly, this book features the same 4 words, orange, apple, pear, bear (well, and 1 'there!') in a variety of combinations and accompanying pictures like, "orange bear".

9. Lucy Freegard - Elephant

A purchase from an atas baby store in Ladue one Saturday morning, when Jon and I were waiting for a table at the Original Pancake House (their Dutch Baby Pancakes are to die for), this might possible be the most expensive board book that E owns at roughly $15. Most baby board books tend to hover under the $10 mark. Still, I had really liked the parts that I had seen when I flipped through the book at the store, and I fell more in love with it when I came home. It basically tells the story of a parent elephant and a baby elephant in rhyme and their time together. The last page however, tugs at my heart strings, "And when I am older and wrinkly and wise/I will remember just how quickly time flies. Each day striving to learn something new/making more memories to share with you." A great reminder how I should treasure my time with E, despite all the times she drives me crazy.

10. Jan Brett - The Mitten

Another old school favourite, this one is a little bit of a longer read (I'm lazy and impatient, OK?), but the silly story and illustrations make it all worth it. It tells the story of a lost mitten, and of how all the animals try to squeeze into it because it is comfy. It is an absurd tale, and the illustrations on the margins (marginalia anyone?) on each page are full of little jokes too, like on the large page when you see the grandmother puzzling over how stretched out the now-found mitten has become.

Honourable Mentions
11. Dr Seuss - Hop On Pop

No kid's library is complete without a Dr. Seuss book or two. E has quite a few of them, like Fox in Socks, but I prefer Hop on Pop more. Sometimes I feel lazy though, and don't want to spend the effort to read everything out. Come to think of it, I've not read this book to E in a few months precisely because of that reason, whoops. 

12. Martha Day Zschock - Hello St. Louis!

Stumbled upon this in Left Bank Books in Central West End one day, and could not resist purchasing it on the spot. Published just this year, this book details all the sights in St Louis like the Magic House and Lafayette Square in a cute and simply rhyming way. I definitely prefer this book to the only other St Louis-esque book we have, What's That Arch?

Circus Monkeys

Today for the first time, I thought of the phrase, "Not my circus, not my monkeys" in reference to a situation. I think it is a very good and apt saying, and I am pleased with it.

County Roads

The 2020 Covid-19 stay at home order/lockdown in St Louis city and county began on 23 March. Now, they're tentatively setting the reopening date for 18 May. I don't really know what to say about my feelings and thoughts at this point, because a significant amount of time has passed and I've gone through the whole gamut of emotions and thoughts at this point, with the main one lately being a sense of restlessness and boredom.

Anyway since this whole thing has begun, Jon and I began taking long meandering drives around the area, just to get out of the house. So far we have randomly driven to Eureka, Imperial, Arnold, Chesterfield and Ballwin. We have also driven the length of some major East-West roads in the area like Big Bend Road (which really does start with a big bend in Ballwin), Ladue Road, and Clayton Road.

Amidst all of this, E has also learned how to cruise (walk while holding onto things) really well, and has sprouted her top two middle teeth. It also looks like she has 2 more top teeth imminent too.

I don't really know how to feel about St Louis reopening again, because I don't really know what it will entail, and how our day to day lives will change, besides Jon being back at the hospital 24/7. 

Daylight Savings

Yesterday daylight savings started again and we 'lost' an hour of time. So if it's 11:12am now, it means that on Saturday 48 hours ago, it was actually 10:12am. Having lived in the West for a good number of years now, the whole daylight savings thing is not new to me at all, but for some reason this year it feels exceptionally disorienting. 

On Sunday, yesterday, the first day of daylight savings, Jon and I went out to run a bunch of errands and have lunch. Even though I knew there was daylight savings, it wasn't something I had thoroughly absorbed into my consciousness, and I was confused as to why I wasn't even feeling the least bit peckish at 11:45am, even though I had had a very light breakfast of cereal with milk. The same thing followed with dinner, which we had at 7pm, close to 8pm. 

Today however, a Monday, Jon is back to work and I am home with the baby as normal, and I feel even more befuddled. Of course baby has zero idea what daylight savings or even what 'time' is, but I feel thoroughly confused even though our normal sort of loose schedule of feed, play, feed, nap should remain the same. It doesn't help that the weather today is a weird dreary sort of cloudy grey, so it feels like I don't even have the outside sun as a guide to figure out if it's 8am or 1pm. In short, my internal clock feels completely confounded, and I'm sure this in in huge part of spending my day with creature(s) - can't forget Saffron too - that have no idea what daylight savings is but run their own internal clocks anyway. 

This whole daylight savings thing is really, really daft.

Another Baby Food Anecdote

Seems like one of the major topics I put effort into writing about nowadays is baby food. I have no idea why, but go along with the whim anyway.

Today I made blueberry, banana, and tofu puree. And while it tastes OK, I must state that it unequivocally looks like puke, more so than any other baby food that I have made before. And that I am 100% disgusted and feel slightly nauseous looking at it. I think this will be the last time I make this particular food combination for baby.

Baby Fish Porridge

A traditional baby food dish in Singapore is fish rice porridge. My Dad told me an anecdote about the cry room in the sanctuary of the church they attend in Singapore - that around a certain time all the babies/kids start getting hungry at the same time and the whole room turns into a disgusting and nauseating miasma of ang gor li fish and porridge. My Dad and Mum pointed out that they made that same dish for me to eat all the time, and like all other babies, I loved it too.

Anyway since I have become a Mum, my parents ask me every so often what I am making for baby to eat. And they keep suggesting the fish porridge idea. One qualm I've had about it was that I wasn't sure what kind of fish was suitable, and then in what proportions. Good luck trying to ask a fishmonger for ang go li here. But finally Jon got onto the bandwagon too, and wanted to make fish porridge for baby as well, as he's currently on a she's not getting enough protein sort of anxiety binge.

So finally today, I have attempted to make fish porridge. I put in half a cup of jasmine rice to boil, and about half of a fillet of swai fish (what is swai even called in Singapore?). After boiling for a while, I realised the rice had swelled up into a ridiculously large amount, to the extent that the amount of fish seemed too little. So, like any caring Mum, I ended up taking out spoonfuls of just plain rice porridge, so the proportion of liao to porridge would be higher. Then I mixed in some quasi-pureed peas that I had prepared yesterday, so that there would at least be something familiar tasting/fibre in the dish. I then ate the plain rice porridge, with a little bit of soy sauce, so it wouldn't go to waste.

Hopefully baby will like this dish, when I feed it to her later.

Classic Rock

When I drive, the only radio station I listen to is 103.3, the Classic Rock station. Or as Jon calls it, the Dad Rock station, with "Dad" referring not to him, but to my Dad. Specializing in 60's, 70's and 80's music, it plays exactly the kind of music I listen to at home anyway, minus a few bands like Stars, Metric, Muse, Linkin Park (my guilty pleasure) and The Arcade Fire. Jon laments my close-mindedness about music all the time, but usually goes along with it.

Anyway one thing I noticed about 103.3 is that they like to play music in spurts and clusters. For example in December, they kept playing ZZ Top's Sharp Dressed Man and Pink Floyd's Another Brick in the Wall. For a while it was The Car's Just What I Needed. Now however it seems to be the Steve Miller Band's The Joker - and I really really loathe this song. Another favourite for now also seems to be Rick Springfield's Jessie's Girl, which I don't like but at least can tolerate. The sheer number of times some of these songs were played were such that close to every single time I drove (maybe for a total of 1h a day?) I would hear one of them, and they became running jokes between me and Jon. Except The Joker of course, because every time it comes on I just rage inside.

The reason why I'm writing about 103.3 however, is that one day they started playing Green Day's the Boulevard of Broken Dreams, and it took me by surprise because of all things, Boulevard of Broken Dreams could hardly be considered Classic Rock, one reason being that it came out in the mid 2000s and I remember hearing it everywhere when I was in Secondary School. That, by some people's regard, Boulevard of Broken Dreams can be considered Classic Rock, makes me suddenly feel very very old. Says the almost 30 year old with a 7 and a half month old baby.

And that is all I have to say.

Deer Creek Shopping Center

Months ago before I had even arrived in St Louis with baby, my in-laws were first in town with Jon to help him set up the apartment. They visited one of the nearest Dollar Tree stores in our area at the Deer Creek Shopping Center, and my mother-in-law, upon seeing the other stores they had, wryly observed that it would be one of my most favourite spots... and she wasn't wrong haha.

Today was the first time I decided to take the car and baby out without a clear goal. Since my Mum has left, I have only been taking the car on Fridays, when baby has her swimming class. And then I try to bundle all the grocery shopping for the week on the same day, so there's no need to take the car on any other days. This has meant we have become huge homebodies, with the net effect of driving each of us slowly nuts because baby is very social and likes other people, while I start feeling cabin fever-ish because I also like novelty.

The main difficulty now that my Mum has left is that I need to bring baby along with me in the mornings and the evenings when I drive to send/pick up Jon, which on the surface sounded easy when I thought about it months ago. Reality has shown that it is more difficult however as because Jon goes to work relatively early, this means needing to wake baby up, which disrupts her sleep cycle and makes her very tired and cranky, feed and change her. Then when we get home, I am usually tired too from waking up a little earlier than usual, and I still need to contend with a cranky baby and make sure I time her naps. Baby waking me up in the middle of the night, and Saffron meowing up a storm at 4 am do nothing to improve the situation too.

So anyway, that today I finally decided to take the car on a day that I didn't have to, felt like an achievement. Baby and I finally left the house around 11:30 am, and our first stop was Aldi as we had run out of apples at home. Then we drove to Deer Creek Shopping Center, where I went to, in order: 1) McAlister's Deli for lunch 2) Ross Dress for Less, where I bought a whole bunch of baby stuff including reduced price Tommee Tippee sippy cups 3) Dollar Tree, where I also met a random middle aged lady who was telling me a little about how St Louis fell into decline as a city [highways, public transport, public school system, split into city/counties] 4) Marshalls, where I bought a reduced priced Stonewall Kitchen Lime Cilantro Aioli, and finally 5) Buy Buy Baby, where I had to return to the counter a second time because I finally found my 20% off one item coupon, and got back $2.60 in cash.

Now we are finally home, and baby is napping away after some protest. Going to have to wake her up soon, so we can go pick up Jon. Quite a nice and full day, coupled with good weather. I feel happy and accomplished.

Lessons from Beets as Baby Food

The day right after Jon, baby, and I came back from New York City, we went to Soulard Farmer's Market. It was the second time we were there - the first time we had gone was when my Mum was still around - and we wanted to stock up on fresh and cheap produce (emphasis mostly on the cheap). Beets were selling for about 99 cents a pound, and I recalled seeing some pre-made baby food in stores containing beets, so I decided to buy one to try it out.

I learnt several things from making beets as baby food, and some of those things are reasons why I will not be trying it again any time soon. 

1. Beet juice makes everything red.

Beet juice stains everything red. The first time I really noticed it was when I was peeling and cutting it for steaming. I thought it was amusing and it came off easily when I washed my hands. What I didn't count on however, was that because the beet juice also stayed on baby's face and clothes longer than the time an adult takes to prepare beetroot. That meant that baby's face was stained in beet splotches, and her clothes had to be rinse and soaked multiple times in order to get the beet juice out, and there were still lingering stains. Oy.

Also, baby still spits up a lot. Nothing is more alarming than seeing red spit up. For a nanosecond I thought she had some internal bleed, but no. It was just beet juice dyed spit up. Additionally, did I also mention that her poo was a disconcerting dark blackish colour? Almost like she had internal intestinal bleeding. Again, beet juice. But what was even more fun was that this poo, also dyed her backside. Because again, beet juice. So my baby had red stained splotches all over her arse for a short while. Charming.

2. Beets are a laxative.  

This meant that baby pooed. A lot. While I suppose this might be a good thing, I did not like having to clean it up. It also meant that I decided to forgo using the reusable diapers entirely last week in favour of disposables, because I really didn't want to be washing off poo every time I changed baby's diaper. 

3. Steaming beets makes the whole house smell like borscht.

I think this is mainly a good thing, except for the fact that there is actually no borscht. And I like borscht. So being able to smell borscht while not being able to eat it is incredibly disappointing. I also do not know where to find good borscht in St. Louis, as there definitely is no Veselka here.

And so here ends the list of things I have learnt while making and feeding my baby beets.