What a week

The last seven days have been unbelievable, and unbelievably busy.  So now for the good, the bad and the ugly.


What a beautiful woman, inside and out

Last Sunday we drove up to Prescott to meet my great aunt Jeannette.  She's my father's aunt and lives in India.  She was here visiting her brother, my great uncle Norm.  His son Charlie, his wife Caroline and Jeannette's daughter Ginny rounded out the cast of characters.  All I can say is, wow. Every single person there was energetic, intelligent, interesting and vibrant.  But my great aunt stole the show.  Jeannette is 90 years old and in better shape than I am.  At 73 she decided to move to India, by herself, and has lived there ever since.  Now for the coolest part, she was a test pilot in WWII.  That's right, a female pilot, stationed nearby in Tucson.  I was absolutely fascinated listening to her tell me how she loved the advanced planes the most because she could really make them do acrobatics.  In fact, she was part of the ceremony that took place in DC a few years back, honoring all the female pilots.  Their records were sealed until the mid 70's, they received no benefits and were basically swept under the rug, despite having a better safety record than the men.  My great aunt was one of only 1500 women chosen for the program, out of 25,000 applicants.  Again, wow.
Now, the previous paragraph doesn't have a whole lot to do with food (actually, nothing) but I can tie it in to our Experiment.  While we were there we had pizza for lunch.  Orion wouldn't touch it and I found that one of my previous favorite foods no longer tasted right.  I like my pizza now.  Then, after an incredibly long day, we found ourselves on the road at 8pm, kids wailing, not having had dinner.  In desperation we took the next exit and ended up at a Chili's.  I've never been a fan, Mike likes to joke that I have a jihad against the chain, but when the kids are at the end of their ropes, you do what you have to.  Yuck.  Ick.  Blech.  Everything tasted the same.  A film of fat topped with salt.  It's bizarre how my taste buds have changed in such a short period of time.

Table at the Super Farm Market, kids in tow

Next up was a week of frantically spooling up for the Super Farm Market on Thursday nights.  As I mentioned, Ambrosia Candy Company is up and running.  Sophie and I spent the week creating gourmet candy in the shape of cows, chickens, teddy bears, moons and suns.  Last night was our first night as a vendor and it was so much fun!  I got to talk to a lot of great people, made some awesome contacts and sold some candy too.  Sophie is a born saleswoman.  She would go up to people and convince them that they needed a lollipop.  Plus, how can you say no to a face like hers?  She sold my first seven lollipops.  Oh, and Orion thinks the Pack and Play is in fact, hell.  He spent the night sulking in it.
It should be much easier from here on out but I'm realizing that we need to change our patterns a little bit.  We haven't figured out a good emergency system for dinners yet.  This past week was so busy that I didn't have time to follow my normal grocery shopping patterns.  Last night poor Mike inherited two hot, cranky, hungry little monsters and no food in the house to feed them.  I will take any and all suggestions on easy home-made meals.  I need to figure out a better way to freeze ready made dinners so that we have something for days when the world does not bend to my will (it does happen occasionally).
I think we're going to use this weekend to restructure, revamp, and revive.  Then, off to the next adventure!