Thursday, September 29, 2011

Playdoh Philosophy

The other morning, my husband and I had our very first meeting with a preschool.  Actually, it wasn't a preschool.  It was an elementary school with a preschool.  What that means is that you start your kid there as a preschooler and they matriculate through until they are in 6th grade when they prepare both you the parent and you the student to move into a private junior high setting and then onward to prep school and beyond.


Holy Lord, just writing that out is overwhelming.

We have an excellent situation with Little G.  His current family daycare is curriculum based and he is thriving there.  Starting on Monday, he will be attending full time.  But, he will be three next summer, and we feel that it is important for him to start his education in a preschool environment which means, believe it or not, that we are in the full throes of preschool searching rightnowthissecondevenaswepreparetohavebabynumbertwo.  You see, applications for most preschools are due in January, and visits are in October/November and uhh...yeah...did you realize that Monday is October already?  EEP!!

Anyway, this first school that we looked at was beautiful.  And we knew it would be.  But it was hard to have this one be the first one we visited because the bar is set so high...kind of like trying on the Vera Wang dress first - hey, once a wedding blogger, always a wedding blogger, right?  We have a list of about 6 schools we are interested in and they range across the board not only in curriculum philosophy, but in type.  For instance, we haven't ruled out Little G attending Boston Public Schools until at least 7th grade, so some of the preschools we are looking into are just that...preschools, after-which he would matriculate into the Boston Public School system.  But, there are also a couple of preschools that are part of a larger school process, like the one we visited today.  And then there are also a couple of Montessori schools thrown in there as well.

It is so daunting to look at our son and be faced with the task of setting up the best educational system for him for the rest of his schooled years...when he's only 2!!  I absolutely believe that from an educational standpoint, he will thrive in any of the preschool options that we have chosen to explore further...so after that, what sets each school apart?  As far as I can tell, it is the hope of what Little G will continue to do in school with his preschool education as the foundation.

I look at myself and wonder if I had been given a better chance in school, would I have been more successful in life?  This stems from a background of me having some focus issues that were never handled properly like they would be in today's school environments and my struggling with those issues all the way through college and into my professional life.  Conversely, would my husband be as successful as he is now if he hadn't had his mom champion for him to be in a private school.  The public school in their town tried to tell his mom that he was stupid, but she recognized that he had learning disabilities and fought until she found a private school that would work with him and his path in life was changed forever because of the education and support he received.  Side note: how awesome is my husband's mom?!

We still have a long way to go in this process but I have faith that we will make a good decision for our son and for our family.  However, in the meantime, if anyone knows of a post-school curriculum that focuses on sending your kid to preschool some day, let me know, because I'll sign right up for that..as long as I can paint on the easels and play with clay.

Tuesday, September 27, 2011

Home Stretch

Yesterday, my husband and Little G and I headed down to the bar at the end of our street to grab some wings and dinner. Yup. I had my baby in a bar. It was after the Pats had already lost and the Red Sox had lost game one against the Yankees, so the place was pretty quiet. They weren't even watching the second Red Sox game...that's how much faith they seemed to have in them. Instead, they had on a random game between the Packers and someone else.

During a commercial break, the commercial below started to play. It caught my attention right away when I saw the person suggest dear.sophie.lee as a new address for a Gmail account. I kept watching because I thought, 'well, Google is usually pretty clever, maybe this will be funny'. Fast forward a minute and a half and I was a sobbing, sniveling mess. Seriously. As in, they had to bring us more napkins because I couldn't stop crying.

Go ahead, watch at your own risk. For those at work, you can play this on mute and not miss anything but the seriously perfect instrumental music...you'll get the same point.



Ok...now go get a tissue and come back.

Yeah...so anyway, there I was in the middle of a bar with my husband and my toddler sobbing like a moron.  My husband had missed it altogether, but isn't too surprised when I cry at something on TV.  Little G kept looking at me like he was going to cry and saying in a pathetic little voice, "mommy crrrryyyying..." which just made me cry more.

When we got home, I downloaded the video and showed it to my husband and I cried all. over. again.

Ugh.

I think it is a combination of a bazillion things.  Not the least of which is that I feel completely inadequate when it comes to recording things that have happened in my son's life.  Sure, I have some blog posts and some pictures, but he doesn't even have a baby book.  I don't even know what his first word was or when he spoke it. -- although, to my credit, I DO remember his first sentence which was, "I throw the fork mommy!", to which I remember thinking, "great sentence...please stop throwing forks". --  So I felt a bit guilty about that.

Of course, then there's the fact that even when I'm NOT pregnant, I'm prone to crying at dog food commercials.  So with only 5-6 weeks to go, I'm even more hormonal and operating on less sleep than I'm used to so of COURSE I would cry at the notion of a father carefully sending all of the memorabilia of a child's life to that child via the many avenues that Google gives us to record our lives.

But in the end, I think what really struck me was this moment we are in right now.  These last weeks we have as a family of three plus the kitty.  Sure life is going to change and get harder and better and more awesome and more stressful all at once...and I am finding myself more and more prepared for that reality every day.  But for these moments in the next few weeks, I want so badly to hold on to this family that I have now.  This threesome.  This team.  I love my husband and my son and, yeah, the kitty, more than I can even bear to try to describe and the fact that we are in the home stretch of this pregnancy just waiting for the onslaught of change to wash over us is overwhelmingly exciting and frightening.

So yeah, I cried at a Google commercial in the middle of a bar.  You know what?  My husband and my son love me for it.  And my daughter will too.

Monday, September 26, 2011

Makin' Me Ovah

Back when I had time to watch TV, I was mildly addicted to What Not to Wear on TLC.  I never really sought the show out, but since it was on all the time on the weekends, it was never difficult to surf to whenever I was looking for some sh*t TV to watch -- side note: my sister and I both refer to the TV programing you watch mindlessly on the weekends as sh*t TV which isn't really a reflection of the quality of the programming, but rather the state of your mind after watching hours upon hours of stuff that really doesn't add to your life but that once you start watching you can't stop.  Other examples of sh*t TV include, but are not limited to, Real Housewives of Anywhere, any top 100 countdown from sexiest movies to craziest celebrity stunts and the last 15 minutes of every romantic comedy ever made -- thus I tended to watch a lot of it.


In a more weak moment in my life, I actually self nominated myself for the show recognizing that my closet was perfect for tearing apart and that I pretty much never step out of the house in anything other than jersey knit basics and maybe a pair of jeans (ill fitting ones, though).

Oddly enough, they never responded to my application.

So now we fast forward to the year 2011.  My poor husband has heard me moan and complain so much about my lackluster wardrobe and my inability to find things that fit me well and my hesitation to ever pull the trigger on wardrobe items that cost more than $20, thus continuing the cycle of misshapen shirts and poorly fitting mom jeans, that he apparently decided to do something about it.

For mother's day and my birthday and now our anniversary, he has slowly been depositing money into a gift card for Stilista, a personal consulting and shopping boutique concept here in Boston.  Basically, it can be anything from a short consultation to a full-on What Not to Wear experience complete with hair, makeup and the donation of everything in your closet deemed frumpy to a place where someone else can appreciate it.

Obviously, I can't actually participate in this experiment at the moment, what with my being 8 months pregnant and all...BUT, it certainly is something super-awesome to look forward to once I am removed from my yoga pants and maternity shirt restrictions.  And since last time I had a baby, I didn't exit from yoga pant land until many months after giving birth, I'm also counting on this gift as some sweet motivation to get me back to pre-pre-baby weight: as in, the shape I was in before having even that first one!   So really, even though I have yet to spend a dime of my cache, it already is the gift that keeps on giving!

So many thanks to my incredibly generous and thoughtful husband who took a risk that could have ended up with me in tears wondering if I would be able to hold on to a man who clearly thinks my style sucks as much as I think it does but instead has made me the happiest What Not to Wear contestant ever.

Wednesday, September 21, 2011

Project September - a new direction

Well, I fell off my picture project bandwagon and now I'm feeling rather disappointed with myself.  The problem is, I usually have an idea of what I want to take a picture of, but by the time I get around to taking a picture of it, I either don't have my camera or a phone nearby or I just don't feel like doing it because I know I won't have the time to upload it.  That and I put WAY too much pressure on myself to take an artistic, beautiful picture when I that really isn't my skillset.

So...

Instead, I thought I would catch up on the few that I missed recently by using the photo prompts as blog prompts.  Because, in the end, the purpose is to help me be a bit more creative in my thinking so who cares if its words vs. pictures, right?

Ok...here goes nothing...

9/10 - Today's Mood -- That Saturday was our annual block party and while I had visions of getting an amazing picture of my son bouncing around like a lunatic in the bouncy house to capture the joy of the day, the reality of the day was that I was having a bad day and was really in a bad mood.  I didn't know any other way of taking a picture of my bad mood, so I ignored it and instead worked on trying to better my mood

9/11 - What inspires me -- Ah yes...herein lies my age old problem.  I hate answering questions like this because I always get stuck thinking that my answer will be recorded until the end of time and I will never be able to say, 'shoot, that wasn't what inspires me...THIS inspires me...'.  So I was frozen with indecision.  Truly, what I should have done was take a screen shot of my Pinterest page, because that never fails to inspire me.

9/12 - Daily routine -- the 12th was a Monday and Monday's aren't a routine day at all.  But one thing I DO do every morning, is check my email on my iPhone while still in bed.

9/13 - Today's news -- hmmm...not sure what the news was that Tuesday.  In fact, I'm pretty sure I probably never even got a chance to see the news because Tuesdays are our busiest days and I'm usually out of the house with Little G all day

9/14 - The weather -- yeah...I don't remember that.

9/15 - Today's small pleasure -- Thursday's small pleasure is always going to bed knowing that the next day is a daycare day and I'll hopefully be able to get some work done

9/16 - In the bathroom -- A fun picture of Little G's bathtub frog would have been a great choice...especially against the pink tiled background.

9/17 - In the mirror -- We went to the Big E this day...my guess is I could have found a fun house mirror somewhere!

9/18 - What I wore today -- yoga pants...maternity shirt...sweater...  it's what I wear every day these days

9/19 - Where I feel good -- pretty much the only thing that doesn't ache at this point in my pregnancy are my elbows...which leads to the question...can you take a picture of your own elbow?

9/20 - Tea time -- I don't drink tea...but I did pass a Tea-vana store in the Pru yesterday and I thought about how much I don't like tea

9/21 - Sunday morning -- My husband gets up with Little G on the weekends...so maybe I should have taken a picture of the rats nest of pillows I leave behind when I eventually DO get up for the day ;)

Alright...now that we're all caught up, maybe I WILL try to take at least one more picture over the course of this monthly challenge.

And tell me...am I the only person on the planet who can't even handle one month of daily fill-in-the-blank-ing?

Tuesday, September 20, 2011

Creeps

Well today was a bust.  Tuesdays are pick-up day from our farm share but I had to go all the way into Boston to pick up something from my printer.  I had checked the weather and was expecting it to sprinkle...not pour.  Little G and I walked into our village and made a deposit at the bank and then walked to the commuter rail to catch what he affectionately calls 'the Daddy Train'.  We got into the city and I realized it was starting to rain but didn't think too much of it.

I had wanted to go to a local store and try out the rumble seat and the 'piggy back' which is a ride-on attachment that goes on the back of the stroller.  Unfortunately, they didn't have the latter in stock and the former only goes to 35 lbs.  Since Little G is already 32 lbs, that wouldn't have worked for us.

So we headed to the printers...but by that time it was raining really hard.  So I tried to put the rain cover on the stroller and Little G had a MAJOR conniption fit over it.  He screamed and thrashed in his stroller (another reason I'm glad to use the VISTA, which is a bigger stroller and strong enough to contain a thrashing 32lb toddler) until we got to the printers.  The building the printer is in has apparently been bought and is being converted into condos so there is a lot of construction around.  Today, there were picketers outside protesting one of the construction companies.  And even though it was pouring out, and even though it is a tight squeeze to get the door when there ISN'T construction or picketers, and even though I am VISIBLY GINORMOUSLY PREGNANT, when I swallowed my I'll-do-it-myself pride and asked for help with the door, the picketer I asked said "No." and sheepishly gestured to his sign.  Ass.  Hole.

Once I finally struggled my way into the building I had to wait for the elevator for over 7 minutes, which seems like nothing unless you are right in the middle of a construction zone with a screaming, thrashing toddler.  I finally was able to get the elevator into the basement and picked up my print job and made my way back up the elevator and through the tight, construction filled lobby and out the teeny door.  As I was exiting, another construction worker was entering and he apparently was so adamant about getting past the picketers that he didn't realize I had a stroller behind me and tried to push his way past me but couldn't get very far because of my stroller so I ended up running him over as I was trying to exit.

But none of that even compares to what happened next.  Because I had to go pick up our vegetables and it was still pouring, I decided to get on the bus that goes directly to the area in town where the stand is.  It was going to be a longer trip, but it meant that we would have less to walk on the other end.  I got on the bus and it wasn't air conditioned and it was hot and sticky and awful so I took my jacket off.  But underneath it I was wearing the same maternity tank top I had in the last picture I took for you all of my belly.  Not that risque, but form fitting.  At the next stop, a man got on who was ruddy and hulking in appearance and reeked of alcohol and cigarettes.  I tried not to make eye contact, but he sat down right next to me...as in there were a ton of empty seats and he sat down so he could be in close contact with me.  There was no place for me to go because the stroller was blocking my way.  He looked at me and said, 'when are you due'?  I shortly answered, 'I have six more weeks' and continued to ignore him.  And THEN he reached out his hand and looked like he was going to try to touch Little G on the leg but instead changed direction and got within inches of my stomach while mumbling, "may I?".  I glared at him right in the eyes and said, "NO. YOU. MAY. NOT."  He pulled his hand back, thankfully, and I continued to face the other direction while using the eyes in the back of my head to be super aware of whether he was going to try to lunge after me or Little G or something.  Thankfully, he decided at the next stop to get up and move to the back of the bus and at some point he must have gotten off.  But EW. EW. EW. EW. EW.  What. a. creep.

The day did get marginally better.  Little G whined and moaned and screamed and complained the entire 25 minute bus ride, but 1/2 way into the ride my husband texted to see if I had an umbrella and suggested he could come meet me somewhere to pick us up.  I'm not sure he was expecting me to take him up on the offer, but I sooooooo did. So he met us at the veggie stand and we drove home.

Phew.  I seem to be attracting the crazies lately.  Gotta love city livin'!

Monday, September 19, 2011

Entitled?

There have been a couple of incidents that have happened over this pregnancy that have really had my questioning the decency of human kind these days.  And I have to say, it isn't because I feel entitled to any special treatment because I'm pregnant, but rather because I feel like I'm entitled to people not flat-out being rude to me.  That said, both of these situations were pregnancy related, thus pregnancy driven.

The first occurred in mid-July just after the U2 concert in Philadelphia.  My sister and I were headed back to our hotel on the subway and the trains weren't air conditioned and were packed tighter than the T after the Pops on 4th of July...which for the uninitiated is SCARY-packed.

A man and his fiance were sitting down already when we got on the train and I certainly have no expectations for people to get up for me, since they rarely do it anyway, so I stood in front of them with my sister while the train continued to fill up.  The problem was that as it got more and more packed, I was getting more and more jostled and unable to find a place to hold onto so that I wouldn't fall over once the train started to move.  The doors finally shut, and thankfully I'm tall, so I was able to put my hand on the ceiling to keep my balance.  But with the overwhelming heat in the car combined with my being pregnant combined with with over crowding situation and my arm up above my head desperately trying to keep my balance, I was starting to get very dizzy.  I didn't want to cause a situation and ask the man to move because I could only imagine he would wonder why I didn't need him to move earlier...and quite frankly, I was afraid he would say 'no'.  But at this point, my belly was so far in the couple's face that they couldn't talk to each other.  My sister, told me afterwards that I looked like I was going to faint at any moment.  Eventually, a very long time later, we finally made it to our stop and out to the fresh air.  And I just wish I had had the opportunity to say to the man, "next time, when you see someone who looks like they could use a seat more than you, consider giving it up to them".  But instead I seethed.  I seethe well.

Then, this past weekend, my friends and I went to the Big E, the state fair for the New England States held in Western Massachusetts.  We had a great time and the day was lots of fun, but I would be lying if I said my body wasn't exhausted by the end of the day.  Towards the end of the day, we headed into the Better Living Center to find something from a specific vendor that my friend wanted to purchase something from.  There was a bit of a line, and my back was KILLING me and right across the exhibit space from where we were standing and waiting was an exhibit for Air Chairs...the kind that hang from ropes like a hammock, but are a bit more structured like a chair.  My father actually used to sell these chairs himself, I know the chair well.

I lumbered over to the chairs and sat down in one of the models.  A young salesman came up to me to tell me all about the chair and I told him, "I'm going to be honest, I'm not going to purchase a chair today, but it is very, VERY comfortable and I truly appreciate your letting me sit here".  I sat there for a few minutes and one of our friends came up to me and chatted with me for a bit.  I mentioned how comfortable the chair was and how I would TOTALLY buy one for our beach house...you know...some day...if we ever actually get to have a beach house.  While I was sitting there, pretty much 70% of the people who walked by the booth saw an extremely pregnant woman lounging in a chair who was clearly comfortable because of the blissed out look on her face.  100% of those people who noticed I was there, smiled at me.

Then, another salesman, in his 40's-50's, walked up to me and said very curtly, "So are you buying a chair or not?"  I started to answer him by saying, "I know, I'm in one of your chairs and I'm not buying one, but I truly appreciate the chance as a very pregnant woman to sit here...it is very comfortable".  He cut me off half way, and snarled, "you need to leave now".  I was pretty much in shock.  I mean...I get it...they need to sell chairs and it is the fair and people probably try to sit in them all day who aren't planning on buying them.  My dad used to deal with that all the time.  But you know what...my dad would have recognized that I was the PERFECT MODEL for just how comfortable those chairs were.  This man, instead, snarled, "I let you sit for 15 minutes" -- an out and out lie, by the way -- "you need to leave".

The funny thing is, on my way out of the fair, I told just as many people that I would have told about the comfortable chair about how rude the chair salesman was...so instead of being smart and using me for good publicity, he left a bad taste in my mouth and in the mouth of every person I have shared this story with.  Again, my being pregnant has SOMETHING to do with the situation, but I'm upset because he was rude.  And the thing is, I WOULD have bought an air chair some day in the future...maybe not from him, because who knows if I would ever find him again, but at some point I would have.  And now, I can honestly say I will NEVER allow an air chair in my home or in the home of anyone I love.

Extreme?  Sure.  Pregnancy hormones?  If you want to blame that, go ahead.  But I don't tolerate rude vendors - pregnant or not.

Monday, September 12, 2011

So much dresser love!

This is pretty much the closest I'll ever get to being famous, so please bear with me while I unashamedly brag...

As you know, I recently transformed a dresser by reverse stenciling a ship onto it.  I featured all of the details over on Musings, the design blog for FLOR.


Then, because I'm a megalomaniac, I maaaaaay have sent a picture or two to John and Sherry over at Young House Love, who featured the dresser on their Momformation blog over at Babycenter.com


Which apparently caught the attention of Brooke at All Things Thrifty...


And a few other bloggers who have emailed me to ask permission to post about the dresser.

But probably the coolest thing about all of this attention was when I typed in Reverse Stencil Dresser to my source-for-all-things-inspiration, Pinterest...look what came back:


Wow.  Just wow.  I seriously don't think I've ever received so many compliments on something crafty that I've dreamed up, ever.  Like, in my life combined.

Now, dear readers, I promise not to let it get to my head.  I truly promise.  Just as soon as I figure out how to collect some cash from you all.

I kid.

Have you ever had a project 'sweep' the internets?

Friday, September 09, 2011

Project September 9/9

Made it in just under the wire...





Lucky Charm




- Posted using BlogPress from my iPad

A few thoughts...


  1. I am not a mommy blogger.  I neither write grotesque stories relying on shock value about the horrors of raising children - nor do I write unattainable accounts of bucolic child-rearing bliss.  Mostly, I write as an outlet for my own processing.  If something isn't 'right' than I usually need to 'process' it and the best way for me to do that is by saying what ever it is out loud...or in this case, writing it on a post.  I generally don't need help processing the good stuff, so a lot of the good stuff never makes it to this blog.  But because of that, I seem to have potentially created a misnomer about my devotion to and love for my son not to mention how I feel about parenthood in general.
  2. I don't think people with less than 50 kids should give unequivocal advice on child rearing...myself included.  I only have a sample of one.  Soon I will have a sample of two...and that still won't be enough for me to be enough of an expert on anything parenting...I might have a lot of insight based on MY experience with MY child...but I am not an expert and neither is anyone else.  As they say with religion, if someone tells you they have all the answers, run away from them.
  3. I finally figured out the other day just what was so vilifying to me as a non-breastfeeding parent.  I was reading a parenting magazine and it had recently been breast feeding week so there was an article on the myths of breastfeeding.  One of the myths was that you can't breastfeed if you are sick.  Now, although I didn't get to breastfeed, even I know that if you are sick, you can and should still breastfeed.  But the article didn't just say that...it talked about how no matter how sick you are, and even if you are on most medications, breastfeeding is STILL the best option for your baby...which I know is true, but still, what that says to me is that formula is NOT almost as good as breast milk...what that says to me is even if your breast milk is tainted with most drugs and even if you're sick as a dog, your breast milk is by far a bazillion times better for your child than that icky formula crap.  It is THAT messaging that starts to eat away at one's confidence in the decisions they have made regarding nutrition for their child.  Oh yeah...that and the writing RIGHT ON THE CAN OF FORMULA that reminds us that 'Breast is Best'.
  4. I love ice cream. Last night I actually went out after dinner on a special trip just to get some.  My very first pregnancy-ice-cream-run in 1.75 pregnancies.  

That's all.

Wednesday, September 07, 2011

Project September



In My Garden

It has rained now for three whole days with more on the way.  Our garden is saturated.

Tuesday, September 06, 2011

Project September 9/6





At 2PM





I'm pregnant. I was in the bathroom.


- Posted using BlogPress from my iPad

Monday, September 05, 2011

Project September 9/5






On the TV




The TV was on for a bit while Little G was napping today...I actually only saw this snippet while passing through the room on my way upstairs to get some work done. My husband was watching tennis and most likely flipping back and forth to some baseball game. I'm pretty sure this was a spot for ESPN. I like that the glimpse of TV I got for the day is exactly what I captured.


- Posted using BlogPress from my iPad

Sunday, September 04, 2011

Project September 09/04



Today I love

The joy Little G expressed today while playing with his new sand and water table and the pride my husband has in designing and building it.

Guest posting over at What the Frock today!

Hi all!  I'm guest posting over at What the Frock today...It's my first ever guest post, so I hope you'll stop in and say 'hello'!

Just click on the picture to get started...


Saturday, September 03, 2011

Project September 9/3







The Indispensable



(photo of my husband reading in bed taken with my iPad at about 10:09pm)

I sort-of hate posting a picture of my husband for 'the indispensable'.  In my mind, he doesn't qualify for indispensable.  Indispensable, to me, is a THING that you could give up but you can't because you can't live without it.  So even though I couldn't live without my husband, I can't really give him up either, so I don't think he qualifies.  He is beyond indispensable.

- Posted using BlogPress from my iPad

Friday, September 02, 2011

Project September, cont'

Just in the nick of time, I have my Day 2 entry for the 30 Days in September project...


From High Up


I spent most of my afternoon on the floor tearing strips of Lotka paper for an invitation project.  At one point, I decided to stand up and took this picture.

Thursday, September 01, 2011

Project September

The other day while I was perusing Pinterest, I saw this fun list staring back at me.  Basically, it is a list of potential photographs to take for each day in September.


I apparently don't have enough on my plate already, so I thought I would participate on my blog.  And by 'participate' I mean, it is 4:00pm and I am JUST remembering to do this so for today I am coping out and posting an original self-portrait that you all see every time you come here to this ole' bloggity blog.  And I have absolutely no intention of seeing this through the whole month...because I'm bad with commitment like that.

How's that for a ringing endorsement for myself?  For those of you interested in the origins of this little project, you can read more about it over at Inspirations Scrap. For the rest of you...I present...

Portrait



After the excitement wears off...

...what does one DO with a bushel full of grape tomatoes?

So I haven't taken a lot of pictures of the veggie garden we planted this year, but the tomatoes are no less plentiful than they were last year...they're just a bit smaller. I thought I would be one of those mommy bloggers and plant a vegetable garden with Little G. We would carefully place the seeds in each compostable container and water them with love and then the plant would grow big enough to put in the ground and someday when we had beautiful, plump, red grape tomatoes, we would cheerily pluck them off the vines and gobble them whole letting the juice dribble down our chins.

Yeah. That never happened. If I recall, Little G only wanted to dump the dirt out of the pots, wanted to pull the plants out while we were watering them, and so far has yet to eat even one tomato - although he has bitten into them and then promptly spit them out at me.

Sigh.

So, since my husband doesn't eat tomatoes either, I have been in charge of eating a HUGE amount of grape tomatoes every week.


The picture above is NOTHING compared to the harvest I pulled in just before the hurricane the other day. And desperate for something to do with the hundreds of little tomatoes, I decided to improvise. And BOY did that work out great!! Of course, since I was improvising, I took no pictures, so you'll have to forgive me for yanking these pictures from other sources to help with the story of the world's-most-awesome tomato sauce!!

Basically, I washed the tomatoes, tossed the bad ones, and sliced each of them in half, lengthwise. I placed them all on a rimmed baking sheet and sliced up some onions very thinly and placed them on top of the tomatoes. Then I drizzled all of it with olive oil and sprinkled it with salt and pepper.


I roasted the tomatoes for an hour at 300 degrees and they came out all shriveled and concentrated and yummy. THEN I put all of it in the food processor with some fresh basil leaves and processed those suckers into quite possibly the most amazing tomato sauce I have ever produced. It was a bit thick...slightly less thick than hummus, but still...so intense in flavor I could have eaten it with a spoon.

Instead, I decided to continue improvising and sliced up some eggplant (since I hate eggplant and never know what to do with it, I figured it wouldn't hurt to sacrifice it for this recipe) and threw it on a baking sheet with olive oil and salt and pepper and roasted that for 2o minutes at 400 degrees.

When it was all done, I layered the sauce and the eggplant with some mozzarella cheese and some parmigiana cheese in a small baking dish and then tossed that in the oven at 400 degrees for twenty minutes.

The resulting dish was nothing less than FREAKING FANTASTIC!!!!!!!! It was a bit soft...as in, not too much bite, but the taste, OMG the taste! I can not believe for the life of me that I made something so darn yummy from all those darn tomatoes! AND...ha HA...guess who scarfed down my tomato sauce like there was no tomorrow?

Oh yeah...Little G. How ya' like THEM tomatoes, huh??

Have you ever stumbled your way into an awesome-sauce sauce?