it was good that i stopped drinking, I’m telling ya. three weeks today, wooooooooooo-hoooooooooo. I feel better, lighter, my skin looks less blotchy, all good.

booze = crutch, but for me, the bigger issue is booze = health problems. (diabetes on both sides of family, alcoholism on both sides of family, my heart thing, weight, on and on.) And i’m sorry, i really don’t mean to be all preachy here, but when you’re turning to “mommy needs a little drinkie” every time you’re stressed out, it’s a bad example for the kids. I haven’t been doing anybody any goddamn favors, especially not myself. And the cost! Booze is so expensive, damn. So there is no good reason for me to drink, and a whole lot of bad reasons to do it.

there are different, better ways to cope. i’ve been working out every day, even if it’s just a weigh-in with the WiiFit and a fast walk, and getting enough sleep (what???) and, yeah. It feels good. It feels like a big weight lifted off my shoulders. We’re surrounded by booze, references to booze, “I got so drunk last night!” all over Facebook, and yadda yadda. We are cocktail nation.

I’m sticking with the virgin mojitos and virgin pina coladas this summer — looking forward to it. I’ve already confounded 2 bartenders by ordering virgin bloody marys at restaurants. (hint: you leave out the wodka is all, so easy!) “What? What? You mean… like with the olives and everything, and just tomato juice?” omg.

I’m in it for the olives, okay? and the celery, and pickled asparagus. Just no more pickling of the liver.

anyway. eating healthy is something we’re always striving for at Chez Wacky. Compared to the rest of Americans, we’re doing pretty well (vegetarian for Steve and the kids, mostly veggie for me, limited fast/junk food, limited processed foods, eating locally, in season, buying in bulk, blah blah blah). However. We have a long way to go.

here’s a good start:

Ultimate Detox Recipe: Easy Wilted Garlic-Sesame Salad

Toss dark green leafy vegetables in hot, garlicky oil for a cleansing — and delicious — dish.

4 servings, about 65 calories each

1 tsp. olive oil
1 clove garlic, minced
1 lb. spinach, stemmed,
or 1 lb. Swiss chard, stems sliced, leaves torn
or 1 lb. mixture of spinach and watercress
Salt and freshly ground pepper to taste
1 tsp. sesame seeds for garnish

Warm oil in large skillet over medium-high heat. Add garlic and stir until lightly browned, about 45 seconds. Add greens (do in two batches if necessary) and toss until just wilted, 2 to 4 minutes. Season to taste with salt and pepper. Sprinkle with sesame seeds.

Find more healthy recipes with the RealAge Recipe Finder.

I’m telling you, if it wasn’t for Facebook and all the goofiness over there, I might run out of ideas for my blog. (that’s where I found that recipe, thank you… Kris? I think :) Please go “like” Wacky Mommy if you haven’t already!!! pretty please?

what else? we gardened yesterday, it’s coming along. and went to the farmers market, which was kicking and in full-force. Oregon strawberries, tasty and sweet; sticky, addictive kettlecorn; monster-sized collard greens; more sticky icky kettlecorn; leafy parsley; dark purple new potatoes, just dug the day before and still wet from their wash… good day. Always nice to see our friends, and the vendors. Our favorite is the bug guy — we bought another praying mantis pod (will hatch 200 mantises, most likely) and 1,500 little lady bugs! I am hoping they stick around in the yard and don’t just fly away home. Make this home, girls! Get those aphids off my roses!

Now, to write. Cleaning up spelling errors still, tenses, all that. I don’t mind the tinkering and tightening up, it’s kinda fun. And it’s done!!! I am reveling in that. Damn. Happy Sunday, y’all.

xoxoxo

wm

Finn: “Why are you keeping these girls prisoners? Jerk!”

The King: “You don’t understand. I collect princesses because I want to marry one.”

Jake the Dog: “Well, why’d you capture six of them if you just want to marry one?”

King: “I’m collecting them all first, to make sure I make the right choice. You’re both too young to understand, but marriage is a serious thing and lasts forever. You can’t just rush into it, y’know?”

Finn: “Ice King, don’t do this. Just let the girls go. They. Don’t. Want. To. Be. Here.”

funniest show on television, just sayin’.

“give it away give it away give it away now”

DONE writing final draft of novel, DONE. 330 pages, almost 100,000 words. Now the editors can take over, DONE. Also i gave up booze — will be three weeks this Sunday. Just in case you wanted a Nancy update.

My son: “Which kid is he?”

My daughter: “You know, the one who has skinny jeans and a big head.”

My son: “They all look like that out here.”

I went out in the yard with Steve. So far he has built two garden beds out of stone; the wooden beds are next. One has strawberries planted in it, that we brought over from the old house; the other has green onions that were here when we moved in last year and that have re-seeded. I’ll take green onions and strawberry starts over a bouquet of roses for Mother’s Day any time. Thanks, baby.

(the gnome and mushrooms were presents from my family — my dream come true :)

I will tell you something else — there are a lot of slugs out there, and they are attacking my iris and the dahlias and everything else they can find. The dahlias are just barely shooting up and already they’re little nubs. I heard frogs while we were out there and frogs equal snakes and I do not care for snakes although the hawks seem to like them.

So I came back inside.

Today there was sunshine/rain/gray clouds/more sunshine/more rain/and… calm. My daughter gave me a beautiful piece of art that she made last week, and I also got a coffee cup that says Believe in People. I do.

Best Mother’s Day ever.

The end.

“I Try” — Ben Taylor

and Ben’s dad, with Carole King.

and… the Queen of YouTube, folks, Ben’s mom, Carly Simon. (She fractures me on YouTube, go find some of the clips and watch them. She’s hilarious.)

Happy Mother’s Day, y’all. Enjoy the weekend.

“There will never be/no love at all.” — Peter Tosh

“When my brain begins to reel from my literary labors, I make an occasional cheese dip.”

–- Ignatius Reilly in “Confederacy of Dunces”

“It is an ironic habit of human beings to run faster when we have lost our way.” — Rollo May

Today I actually want to write, so I will. I would prefer to not break up any kid fights, fix meals, do laundry, or take care of demanding cats. Thank you, universe, for helping on this. If you could, please?

Continuity is a bitch with novels, it turns out. (That’s what I’m working on. A measly little 315 pages and 91,061 words of continuity.) Because if I’m reading a novel, and in one spot the character is 24, and in another spot all of a sudden she’s 23, that distracts me and I can’t enjoy the book. I mean, unless we’re going back in time and I’m going along for the ride, that’s different. Nit-picky, nit-picky. I am no Marge Piercy, let’s just say that. I don’t need to be — there can only be one, when it comes to Marge Piercy. (Go read her if you haven’t already — astounding writer. Start with “Gone to Soldiers” and then read “Woman on the Edge of Time.” She wrote “Gone to Soldiers” as eight separate books, I think it was, then wove them together. Goddamn.)

Do you go over books with a fine-toothed comb, when you read, or is it just me? Please advise.

— wm

“A little song, a little dance, a little seltzer down your pants.” — Chuckles the Clown, “The Mary Tyler Moore Show”

Sun is out again today, it’s fantastic. A guy came by to look at our floors — hardwoods, here we come! (I miss the oak hardwoods from our old house, but that’s about all that I miss.) The carpets, the cats who shed about two pounds of fur per day — allergies, asthma. Enough. We’re getting the bids and I can’t wait until we get the project started. (Make that “finished.” heehee.)

We just got our new copy of the “National Geographic Kids Almanac 2012” in the mail, yay! (Free copy for review, so here’s my disclaimer. Again.) My kids really enjoy these almanacs, they’re jam-packed full of fun stuff.

And another disclaimer… now that I’m retired and working from home again (wait… I thought I was retired? OK, writing = not really retired, eh?), I’m going to check out the marketing sites a little more often, BzzAgent and Vocalpoint, for starters. So if I am reviewing products (that I’ve received gratis) I will let you know. I also highly recommend signing up for some of the marketing sites, if you like to check out new products, or if you (like I do) have kids at home who love getting freebies in the mail.

For example, I just wrote this, then went to check the mail. Voila! There’s a coffee cup (paper, wrapped in plastic) that says, “take a break from aftertaste.” OK. I open it up, and there we have… chocolate! No. Damn. Coupons! For Breve Creme — one free pint, on them. And a string of cents-off coupons. I would have rather had a free cup of coffee. It’s the middle of the afternoon and I could use a jolt. But this is all right, too. So there you have it. Breve Creme.

Just remember, I never promote something just for the hell of it, even though I know that sounded like it (Breve Creme… mmmm Breve Creme) and I’m going to continue to give you my honest opinions on stuff. (Even though you’ve never, you know, asked me for ’em.) Or I will, anyway, once I try out this creamer. Dammit, maybe I should stop by Starbucks after I get the kid from school. So no buy-offs here, got it? Got it. Good luck getting any book reviews out of me, though… so busy writing that I’m not able to read as much as I’d like lately. Ah, well.

Here’s a magical recipe from the Sweet Suzanne (go buy her book, too! She worked hard on it):

Baby Reds with a Sprinkle of Magic

Ingredients

2 pounds small red skin potatoes, halved or quartered
1 tablespoon, extra-virgin olive oil
2 tablespoons butter
Salt (if you want) and pepper (I used seasoned pepper)
2 tablespoons, 3 or 4 sprigs, fresh thyme, leaves stripped and
chopped

Directions

Fill a skillet 1/2 full of water and bring water to a boil. Add
potatoes, simmer 13 minutes until fork tender. Drain potatoes in a
colander. In the pan you cooked the potatoes in, heat over med-high
heat, the extra-virgin olive oil and butter. When butter melts add
potatoes. Season potatoes with salt, pepper and chopped thyme. Coat
and brown the potatoes, turning occasionally, 7 or 8 minutes.

QOTD
“What am I doing? Nothing. I am letting life rain upon me.” — Rahel Varnhagen