Well here I am at the end of 5, yes that's five days off of work. And just as exhausted as when I started, but that's another story. I made 5, yes that's also five pies in the last week, an alarming trend as I don't think I've ever made one before that I can remember. There will be 3 more in the next few months (3 crusts left in the freezer) and then it will likely be another 10 years before I make any more. The Williams-Sonoma recipe for Cheddar Apple Pie was heavenly, but doubt I'll ever want to spend 4 hours on one again. I had a craving, satisfied it, and moved on :) We had thanksgiving dinner with my aunt/uncle in Park Slope, their two kids home from college, and a couple others. They had rented The Polar Express for Douglas, and he was completely entranced. Friday he/I made his own polar express out of boxes, tubes, string, tape, and old plastic lids for wheels.
Yesterday, we made it over to MBV's parents late afternoon, intending to drop Douglas and catch a matinee of Walk the Line, the new Johnny Cash movie that we've both been dying to see. (I've become a huge fan in the last year, and really respect the man's music and single-mindedness.) We were too late for matinees, so had dinner and then headed out to Union Square to see the 7:15 show. Alas arriving there at 6:45 on Thanksgiving weekend, for a movie that just opened, meant we didn't get tickets till 9:50 and so had hours to kill. Which we did quite happily with Michael getting a haircut, and I mean a *haircut*. His Salvador Dali wannabe chin-length-chop wasn't working at all, and he had it chopped very short. I'm still getting used to it. Then we stumbled on the holiday craft fair in the Square and went to town on belated b-day gifts and completely enjoyed it ... lots of very cool handmade stuff. Then we found a huge Barnes and Noble, got coffee and found an unused pillar to lean against (every corner was full, the cafe mobbed, and people sitting/crouched/crumpled up in every possible spot). We browsed and sometimes drooled over a huge book of private gardens that gave new meaning to "life of unlimited funds and apparent leisure." I'm guessing 'apparent' may be a key word in many cases ... they certainly didn't appear lived in.
Finally off to the movie, barely getting seats, and a completely mesmerising 2 hours. I loved it, and found the acting truly amazing. They had the two leads do all their own singing/playing, and Joaquin Phoenix at least says he'd never sung/played before, which was hard to imagine after seeing the performance. Told a raw story in places, as expected, and certainly wasn't all flattering. Go see it :)
Getting back to the p's was a late affair, and I was completely done in. We ended up crashing at their place, and waking up just as Harvey was going off to meeting. Douglas made a beeline for Harvey's shelf of anatomy books, pulled down Gray's Anatomy, and started page by page from the back. He's completely obsessed with how the body/organs work, and is always asking questions and offering opinions both. He pored over every page, and was upset that we didn't wake GramGram up to ask her if we could borrow it before we left. I just ordered him his own copy (used on Amazon) so he can really dig in. Strange choice for a 3-year-old, yes, but this obsession has been going on for months. He ended the day with the gift of a kids cookbook, complete with color-coded measuring spoons, from our roommate's cousin who works at Borders. Especially nice considering she's never met him!
Well, was looking for a clever way to add it in, but if you made it this far, you get the bonus info that we're expecting kid #2 next July! Grin. Big grin. It's been a rough 6 weeks (and I'm at all of 7 so far) as things got off to a very rocky/suspicious start but seem to have settled down. That means I was convinced it was an ectopic pregnancy at first (embryo plants somewhere besides the uterus where it belongs), had all the signs, and scrambled to find a dr that could check me out. Thank God all was declared to be just as it should, and I have the requisite signs of complete and utter exhaustion most of the time (guaranteed to be done by 8pm, and yes it's 10:14), the beginnings of a belly and a growing pile of "can't wear anymore" pants. This seems cruel and unusual punishment at a whopping 7 weeks, but I'm told with #2 there's no avoiding it. I had barely a bump at 4 months last time! Such is life, and I better start searching e-bay for maternity collections :| Not my favorite part of pregnancy, but part of the deal. I'm looking forward to 6 weeks or so from now, when my energy ought to ramp up a bit if I follow the pattern with Douglas. Who, by the way, could care less about this so far, which is as expected. The implications will be come obvious soon enough for him ... the impending end of his 4-year-reign as only child :). Perhaps Gray's Anatomy will come in more handy than I'd hoped ... he did start in the fetal-anatomy section and was working his way backwards.